{"id":1620,"date":"2024-06-07T08:26:46","date_gmt":"2024-06-07T08:26:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quantitativediscussions.com\/aloneinthemythos\/?p=1620"},"modified":"2024-06-07T08:26:54","modified_gmt":"2024-06-07T08:26:54","slug":"model-for-scenario-difficulty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quantitativediscussions.com\/aloneinthemythos\/2024\/06\/07\/model-for-scenario-difficulty\/","title":{"rendered":"Model for scenario difficulty"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Toward a system to rate scenario difficulty<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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I am quite happy to write this article, as it feels that it is finally time to assemble a lot of concepts I introduced on this blog.<\/p>

How can we use the player resource trade model<\/a>\u00a0to assess the difficulty of a scenario?<\/p>

The whole idea of the resource trade model came from the fact that, from my humble perspective, the essence of the game of Arkham Horror LCG<\/a> is about trading player controlled resources toward XPs and favorable scenario resolutions.\u00a0<\/p>

But what makes the difficulty of a scenario? Is it the lack of player resources? The amount of tasks to complete to get XP\/ get a good resolution? The encounter deck?\u00a0<\/p>

The answer is some of each. In this post, we will create a difficulty rating based on evaluating what resources players gets to work with, and what they are required to do.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Trading resources …<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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… until the end.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Supply and demand <\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Definition of difficulty<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Before moving toward quantitative values, we need to give a good definition of what our model difficulty is. I propose the following definition for difficulty:<\/p>

The difficulty of a scenario is the ratio of tasks players need to perform to get to a favorable resolution, over the amount of resources available for them to spend and trade<\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>

To me, this definition is the one that makes the most sense. Intuitively, having extra clues to find, move to perform, etc… all make a scenario harder, while being given more rounds, having extra cards (such as story assets) make a scenario easier.<\/p>

The only thing that remains ambiguous is how to factor in the encounter deck. One could argue that dealing with the encounter deck is an additional task that the investigators have to perform, while another point of view is that the encounter deck takes away resources available to the player. Both are valid, but for our model, we will consider the later.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Resources available for players<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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What are the resources given to the players during a scenario?<\/p>

First, they will start a standard scenario with 5 cards and 5 resources. On top of that, they have a health and sanity pool (usually of 14 total health\/sanity), of which they can spend all but the last points without being defeated (so 12 total for most investigators).<\/p>

This, in the resource trade model, equate to 5R + 5×1.5R + 12×1.5R for a whopping total of 30.5R.<\/p>

Each round, they receive 3 actions (during the investigation phase), and one additional card and resource (during the upkeep phase). This equates to 3*2.5R + 1.5R + 1R =10R per round of play.<\/p>

They unfortunately also receive an encounter card during the mythos phase, which takes away some of their resources (to either deal with a treachery<\/a>, or manage an enemy<\/a>).<\/p>

The total amount of resources to be spent toward advancing the scenario for each investigator is therefore:<\/p>

Supply = 30.5 + #rounds * (10 – (average encounter card rating)).<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Tasks to perform in a scenario<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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E<\/span>While evaluating the amount of resource available for player is relatively straightforward, evaluating what is required to succeed in a scenario is more complex.<\/p>

First, Arkham Horror LCG does not have a clear “win\/loose” resolution except for the end of the campaigns. Yet, their is often a good incentive to aim toward getting to the resolution at the end of the act deck. The path toward this resolution will be qualified as “Minimal success condition”.\u00a0 Most often, this path will not reward the players with all the XP they can collect. the “Extensive success condition” will add both the tasks required to achieve the favorable resolution, and additional tasks require to maximize player XP.<\/p>

So, what are the tasks that player have to complete?<\/p>

– Collect clues to advance the act deck\/clear VP locations<\/p>

– Move between locations if needed<\/p>

– Manage enemies not in the encounter deck (that can enter play through any scenario effect)<\/p>

– Complete scenario actions<\/p>

Each of these elements can be quantified in our model.<\/p>

Collecting clues<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>

Collecting a clue of a Shroud X location is, rating wise, equivalent to fight an enemy that can’t deal damage and can be defeated in one hit.<\/a>\u00a0This has a cost of:<\/span><\/p>

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This is in essence the minimum cost for the investigator that balance the cost of boosting the skill to a value where the chance of succeeding is high enough, vs the cost of the lost action when the test is failed.<\/p>

For a investigator with base skill 3, and a standard night of the zealot bag, this equates to:<\/p>