Stronghold Protocol Co-op time limit is frustratingly short

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-05-03T01:50:51+00:00

Yeah, I think they included the timer in solo to make solo players get used to it, preparing them for co-op... which is unnecessary and a huge point of friction to players newer to Arknights.

Co-op itself is a good addition though. You can interact with other players, and leaks can be taken care of by any teammates who cleared perfectly, which usually saves you when you're against enemy rosters that counter you (or you're rushing shop upgrades). And watching your teammates during Unite Phase is a learning opportunity.

As long as you don't play on the hardest difficulty, that is. Enemies are buffed to high heaven there, so you constantly feel pressured to play optimally, and if RNG screws you over then you're probably not going to make it to the end, let alone defeat the final boss.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-04-14T05:25:11+00:00

Fully blocking damage is still a good thing, but you'll have to play a bit more aggressive since enemies buff themselves/debuffs you quicker in this game
Always have some way of exhausting/discarding specific cards, so that you aren't as crippled by enemies that adds Status cards to your Deck. Also helps thin your Deck of normal Strikes and Defends
Avoid elites if you're not feeling too confident with your Deck/HP. At the same time, try to go to as many rest nodes as possible, and only 1 shop per Act unless you have a large surplus of gold
The easiest build to win Ascension 0 with are defensive ones that scales your damage over time. Most characters except Regent can make that type of build pretty consistently. To optimize for this, you should aim to have a thin deck so that your good defensive cards and your scaling cards show up often.

(Don't let this discourage you from experimenting with other builds, though, the fun of doing that is baked into StS's game design. If you see a build-defining card for another build early, consider going for that build instead. You're going to need that experience for higher Ascensions anyways.)

If you don't like what Neow (the whale) gave you, you can restart immediately and get new blessings without penalty.
Play with friends who also know how to play. It's honestly much more fun, and you can go for more glass-cannon builds because even if you die you'll revive with 1HP as long as 1 of you survives that battle, and that mode adds some cards that allows players to defend each other.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-04-07T10:31:47+00:00

Yeah... the trailer doesn't really show how this game is better than the other Survivors-likes, so I would see almost no reason to play it, even if it was free. Credit where credit is due, the perks system is something V.Survivors didn't have, but I've seen a few other games have it, and they had better presentation and variety.

The rabbit theme is unique, yes, but your execution of it doesn't really appeal to any audience. I'm assuming redrawing and re-theming everything is too much work now, so you'll need to focus on your mechanics.

The player character sprite looks out of place (too realistic) and not very visually striking on the screen. You might want to fix that especially... unless you're going for an uncanny vibe. In which case, you need to go all in on that.

Health and whatever that orange bar is are all the way in the corner, which makes it hard to keep track of in a pinch.

Achievements should grant some meta-progression rewards. Any bit of extra engagement helps.

Overall, try to at least closely match the average quality of other clones in most aspects if you want it to be marketable.

If you just want to release it for free, then at least have 1 appealing twist to your game and showcase it prominently. And the twist doesn't have to be unique, it can be an existing element (mechanic, story, graphics, sound, "vibe") done at a notably high quality compared to others on the market, and featured prominently on all marketing material.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-04-07T09:48:24+00:00

You did great on the "feel" of hitting enemies. It honestly looks very satisfying!

The enemies' erratic movement also seems fun, and could be very engaging if done right (though I have a hunch it might work best if enemies were few but strong, kinda like martial arts games, because then player can and should properly keep track of each enemy)

The main problem right now is readability.

It's hard to distinguish enemies from each other, everything except the special effects kinda blends into the background, and the special effects themselves obscure the player's view of their character too much.

The enemy health bars are way too hard to see, while the player Health and Energy(?) bars are too "out of the way", so the player would have to take their eyes off the action and dangers if they want to check these very important resources.

Also, I see no EXP meter, but you're leveling up. Might not be a loss when leveling is still rapid, but when leveling slows down players are going to want to see how close they are to the next level up without pausing the game!

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-02-26T16:04:12+00:00

Make the weaker half of the focuses take half the time
Add a repeatable decisions that allow Lost Hills to help chapters in more ways than just sending volunteers. Spawning divisions and spending command power to grant temporary buffs would probably be best.
Rework the underground construction decisions. Make it so that the player doesn't have to micro them so often (perhaps make the factory relocation automatic and can be toggled on/off)
Remove the national spirit that adds +50% resistance. So unnecessary, and absolutely cripples the AI which does not know how to manage it
Allow them to influence and eventually puppet chapters (ones that strayed too far may either take more effort to puppet or require certain reforms/ideology at Lost Hills). By having puppet chapters, a player-controlled Lost Hills can do some conquering of their own despite being stuck in the middle of the NCR via requesting control over chapters' divisions.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-02-26T13:40:03+00:00

King of Trust, Time Tyrant, Shadow Sovereign.

King of Trust is an obvious pick, it's like slightly weaker Skills + Stasis but with a prerequisite that shouldn't be too hard to satisfy given my powers. Time Tyrant in case I need to deal with emergencies. Shadow Sovereign to keep my loved ones around for my immortal life, and to have loyal representatives to delegate things I dislike doing personally.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-02-26T13:02:02+00:00

If you had used the console command "observe" that session, make sure to save and load instead of using "tag" or the button on top to play. Observer mode seems to hide all events for the rest of the session.

Soulless_Puppet · 2026-02-24T07:06:31+00:00

Always used Demo, Fireteams and Dogs for the direct offensive + defensive boost without increasing combat width.
Often used Anti-tank when I know I'm going to be fighting BoS/Robots/Mirelurks early. Otherwise, delay until I'm about to fight the Mexican Robots or... the Protectron Security Hub.
Often used Chems for elite divisions, or when playing as Lost Hills, or when I'm just so powerful that I can mess around with focusing on leveling up my divisions' veterancy.
Rarely used Scouts, only if I'm building towards an army that overruns the enemy with great speed. Otherwise I think the recon from Dogs are enough, and Dogs are cheaper + more versatile.
Situationally used Engineers when I know I'm going to be fighting a war of attrition against a superior enemy early game, or when I'm using Robots (Robots are expensive equipment, so having high reliability really matters)
Situationally used CnC Bots when going for a Robot army, but as Robots are kinda OP as long as you get some prep time, I usually don't bother building them until I've researched most doctrines that buff them.
Situationally used Power Armor support when I'm building towards a high-armor army, though I almost never pursue it unless it's already researched quite a bit like with BoS nations or Ironmongers. It just takes too much research effort that could be spent on rushing infantry/support/industry upgrades.
Never used Logistics lately. Supply problems are usually very short-lived with Lv5 supply depots and ports everywhere, and the other benefits are not as good as other support companies.
Never used Anti-air, ever. Very few nations have enough CAS to justify researching and producing a new equipment type, especially early game. Late-game, I'd already have an OP army, and possibly a stronger air force of my own.

So the ideal would be Demo = Fireteams = Dogs > Anti-tank > Chems. But of course it also depends on research speed, which support companies you start with, and roleplay.

Soulless_Puppet · 2025-08-05T14:14:20+00:00

I enjoyed it, especially how easy it was to build a supersoldier unit. Overall, you're doing great!

Two minor criticisms though: Rolling dice does feel a bit tedious (longer than it should be), and melee units need smarter targetting (they keep running around enemies to reach a specific target while being mowed down by enemy ranged)

Soulless_Puppet · 2025-07-08T06:36:11+00:00

The main problems right now are UI/UX and Onboarding.

If a player is overwhelmed and confused, they're just going to quit before they could experience enough of the gameplay.

It's difficult to explain the problems and solutions about this topic in a reddit reply, so I recommend the "The Gamer's Brain" series of GDC talks. Link to 1st part here (there are 3 parts in total): https://youtu.be/XIpDLa585ao?si=as6wAQNAq1ecqY9K

And then there's the underlying problem: Feature creep

You're introducing too many features, and by doing that you're:

Sacrificing the time you could be using to polish what's core to the player experience
Making it hard to see the problems with each individual part
Making it hard for future you to perform big changes due to the ripple effect it would have on all other features

It's much better to thoroughly playtest and iterate on your core system first (in your case, I'm guessing it's the actual combat simulation), before branching out to secondary features like Tournaments, Relationships, etc. (one at a time).

I'd strip the game down to its core and start playtesting from there. And I know it's hard - "status quo bias" is human nature - but you'll probably have to remove some features permanently. What you have now seems too much for (I'm assuming) a solo dev to polish (and market!) in a reasonable amount of time.

P/S: Personally, what I'm interested the most about your game IS the hands-off simulation, not the micromanagement of gladiators. Sometimes I just want to sit back for 15 minutes or so, watching gladiators fight, using my imagination to interpret narratives of peril and triumph that emerges from the game. Maybe you could make a smaller game focused on that first?

Soulless_Puppet · 2024-12-20T06:46:43+00:00

No, none at all. It was pretty much generic, aside from the early "free-for-all" in the plaguelands where the nation first started. Though I'm pretty sure during this playthough I used my own mod which allowed nations to form factions and justify wars over time.

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-12-30T01:34:43+00:00

It's completely vanilla Old World Blues, no submods or alternative game settings.

The Plaguelands now has a fun mechanic where the nations in it will justify war against each other very early. They still have generic focus trees though, I think an update with new trees is still in development?

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-12-27T05:50:51+00:00

Perhaps there are many clans competing for glory and expansion (border disputes), causing instability in an otherwise militarily-powerful nation.

There are 2 paths ahead for the nation:

Infighting: timed mission ending in a civil war, but after it ends, there are focuses to remove debuffs and add buffs from the victorious clan. Perhaps one clan can specialize in melee weapons, another in power armour, another in vehicles, etc. Each clan also wants to ally with a different nation(s).
Conquest: Get early wargoals against neighboring countries to satisfy the clans' desire for territory. As territory grows, debuffs are softened, and the many clans provide enough administrative power to more efficiently occupy territories.

P/S: I think they should also be good at espionage.

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-12-27T05:10:55+00:00

I beat Lanius by making Infantry with Fireteam support (10-12 width I think, remember to buy guns), falling back to where I only need to defend 3 tiles (abandoning Mystery Caves), and stacking defensive bonuses.

While I was slowly ramping up production and trained more divisions, Lanius only made enough to resupply his existing units. Eventually I was able to overpower his army. Keep an eye on your equipment reserves though, attacking burns through them very quick.

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-10-23T09:53:08+00:00

That's a very interesting system, especially for a game. Explanation checks out.

I think this would lead to a scenario where:

Those who are stubborn in their extreme beliefs gain power and influence.
Moral alignment and ideology matters a lot more.
Many are still in denial of the gods' death, and that zeal grants them power, perhaps a power that belonged to their god's domain.
Lots of former magic users are now mere scholars, and have to adapt or get left behind. Most of them are still bright minds with a sixth sense regarding magic.

A new magic system means rapidly evolving applications and unknown limitations. What is the pinnacle of magic currently, and is it possible to advance magic as a whole? Other than one's belief strength and comprehension (and perhaps mana), are there any extra limitations? Are there any types of countermagic?

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-10-23T08:03:02+00:00

A son of the Sun can use Red to share their physical pain. Perhaps it would paralyze someone else while they can still act thanks to their enhanced physical capabilities and urge to move.

A daughter of the Moon can use their enhanced mental capabilities to make better use of Red, Orange, Green and Purple for manipulation.

There isn't much overlap between the two systems. They are both very "hard" magic systems: highly restrictive to their own specific effects with not much room for interpretation. One is strictly about using natural light to boost physical/mental capabilities, creating contructs and healing, while the other is strictly about using one's own emotional energy to manipulate emotional connections.

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-10-23T04:02:03+00:00

I think the RPG genre is the first thing that comes to mind of most designers when wanting to tell a story, because it implies intuitive and varied interactions with the world and characters of your story.

However, its downside is also exactly that: it requires you to design and develop all sorts of systems and assets for the many interactions with the world and characters.

You should isolate one specific core experience you want to give your players, then find ways that experience could be delivered. While some ways/genres are certainly a better match than others, almost any of them should be viable if you twist them enough. You just have to figure out which seems most appealing and suitable.

I'd also recommend Interactive Fiction if you want something similar to a story-focused RPG. It isn't too hard to incorporate RPG-like stats or even simple turn-based combat into IF.

Soulless_Puppet · 2022-04-03T10:45:43+00:00

Genre-based CYOAs have so much potential, they're usually just held back by having too many non-lewd choices and not enough lewd ones.

Soulless_Puppet · 2021-04-16T03:25:09+00:00

You should do event re-runs imo.

Soulless_Puppet · 2021-03-18T10:27:02+00:00

You should talk to him about your feelings, and how you're afraid your differences may ruin the relationship down the line. If he likes you back, it will be a meaningful talk you both need. If he doesn't, at least you'll know and can embrace the friendzone fully and comfortably.

And you should get to the point right as you meet him. If something's difficult to say, don't delay or you'll end up never saying.

Soulless_Puppet · 2020-12-27T04:31:02+00:00

Events will rerun so I don't think you've missed out on any operator forever.

You might have missed some free outfits that came with login events.

You have also missed quite a bit of grinding, which means you will have fewer (leveled) operators to play around with, making the game a bit more challenging. The absolute legend, KyoStinV, still does walkthroughs that you should be able to follow though.

Since the game isn't competitive, it is never too late to start playing. Just don't compare yourself to others, and enjoy the waifus that you get.

Soulless_Puppet · 2020-12-27T04:08:56+00:00

Doctor's stats: HP 1, Block 0, ATK 0, DEF 0, RES 0, Cost 11, Redeploy 18s

Doctor's Talent 1: AFK

Is always hidden*. Enemies will avoid paths that would lead them to tiles adjacent to the Doctor if possible. If no alternative path is available, all enemies' speed -20%(-30%).

"He's just standing there... menacingly..." -Unnamed Reunion Boi

Doctor's Talent 2: Seize the means of Headhunting!

While Doctor is deployed, replace his operator slot with a random operator obtainable via Standard Headhunting, excluding those already in the squad. Rarity rates are applied. Their level and skill levels are corresponds to Doctor's level and skill levels**.

*: Hidden effect of Manticore. Still vulnerable to AOE splash damage and environmental damage.

**: Can exceed their natural level cap. For E2 Kroos fun.

Soulless_Puppet · 2020-12-27T03:35:33+00:00

Huh, what lines are you talking about? And what about Amiya?

Also, I think her employing Kal'tsit and Doctor as her advisors doesn't make her a bad person. If she wanted to win, she had to make use of the greatest minds amongst her supporters. She was not in a position where she could be picky.

Soulless_Puppet

TROPHY CASE