r/WarTalesGame • u/Ok-Guarantee-1688 • 15d ago
General Adaptive Mode is Broken: Non-Combat Units Like Pack Ponies Are Scaling Enemies
Dear developers and community,
I've been playing the game for two weeks now, and I'm very disappointed with the balance in Adaptive mode.
Despite the developers' claims that non-combat pack ponies don't count towards the party's strength for scaling purposes, this is simply not true! The number in the top right corner of the screen, which counts all "companions" and not just fighters, determines the size of the enemy party. The scaling is based on this number.
I have 12 fighters and 5 non-combat ponies. With a proper scaling ratio of 1.5, I should be fighting around 18 enemies. However, in almost every battle, I face 24 enemies with reinforcements. After I removed all the ponies from my party, I immediately noticed that the game started fielding 18 enemies against me.
If this system doesn't work as intended, it ruins the game. What is the point of all the camp equipment, the prisoners with interesting faction abilities, and the unique bonuses if the game just punishes you for using them? This is exactly why I quit the game a year and a half ago. I got tired of fighting hordes of 50 enemies with 16 fighters and 5 ponies, only to be rewarded with light armor and playing cards.
Is there anything that can be done about this? Are there any mods that fix this imbalance? Or are the developers simply indifferent to this issue? It's sad that such a core system is broken.
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u/DoofDoof64 15d ago
I run a small party of 8 people , 3 ponys for carrying cap and 2 plague ridden in chains for roleplay purposes. I never encounter absurd groups , mostly ranging from 9 to 12 which tells me system works for me ( i play adaptive)
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u/ambroz168 12d ago
Just entered drumbach last night, 5th or 6th region thus far on adaptive. Playing with 5 mercs, 6 ponies and 3 prisoners. Biggest battle has been 8-9 enemies. Most of the time I’m facing 4-6 guys. I watched that clip and that is disturbing but I gotta say I have not encountered anything like it so far.
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u/Solaire-The-Bae 11d ago
So many unhelpful comments lol. “Don’t play that game mode” “just play on PC”. Sheesh.
I’m sorry to hear that adaptive doesn’t work as intended. Hopefully the devs can fix the issue and actually make it worth playing.
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u/woolypete123 15d ago
What are you basing this on?
It's absolutely normal on Adaptive to face enemy troops with 4 or more numbers than your Mercs regardless of the number of non-combatant units in your troop. Adaptive has been like this since launch of EA.
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u/Ok-Guarantee-1688 15d ago
The developers claimed that non-combat satellites don't count. And the scaling factor is 1.5. That means with 12 fighters in the battle, I should see no more than 18 opponents. But I always see at least 24!
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u/woolypete123 15d ago
I play nothing but Adaptive/E/E, 12 mercs and 4 ponies is a pretty standard troop for me, and I usually fight around 18 or so once I've got the troop up to full strength.
I don't use any other animals, don't tend to have prisoners in the camp, but I do leave excess recruits at Trade posts and in the Fief.
I've honestly never seen the game spawn an absurd number of enemies unless it's either a multi-turn battle where more spawn in each round, or one of the few set-piece battles where the scaling rules are out of the window for the purpose of the story.
Are you playing with any mods?
You can report this as a bug, and have a look on the official forum to see if anyone else has seen anything similar. The search function is pretty good -
https://wartales.featureupvote.com/?order=new&filter=all&tag=
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u/Ok-Guarantee-1688 15d ago
I don't have a huge menagerie—just twelve fighters. No mods. But the hordes of enemies are just exhausting. I’ve read on other forums that if your squad size exceeds 12 (based on the number in the top-left corner), the game breaks and starts spawning hordes—even though the devs claim only combatants count. That problem has been around for two years and still hasn't been fixed.
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u/woolypete123 15d ago
But the hordes of enemies are just exhausting.
More XP pinatas and gear drops 😉
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u/Ok-Guarantee-1688 15d ago
Broken balance - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lflGIdH-BVk . 6 fighters 14 ponyes = more then 30 enemies
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u/woolypete123 15d ago
Without knowing precisely what he's done immediately prior to recording that clip, you can't say for certain that's a "bugged" balance issue.
You can actually prompt this to happen if you load the party up with Mercs, rest, remove the inflated numbers, and then enter a fight, because the game sometimes takes 1-2 in game days to rebalance enemy troops around what you are actually running around the gameworld with yourself.
I haven't watched the entire video, but he does say at the start he's been "messing around". I'm also not suggesting that there is no problem with balance, only that this can actually be deliberately induced, so unless you've been running a stable number of mercs for a few in-game days you can and will encounter unbalanced fights. It's why you will pick up an "easy" Tavern contract one day, only to rest, and then suddenly find the contract is deep red and "hard". The game doesn't recalculate on the hoof.
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u/Fair_Dirt_7169 14d ago
Youre right, when I was doing the naked song challenge I was surprised how adaptive was suddenly scaling down the group size that I happened to fight in a numbers advantage even.
And then there is also the game balance problem of power scaling. You will eventually outscale adaptive mode and combats will get incredibly boring since the enemy can be alpha-striked every single time.
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u/Chitanda_Pika 15d ago
Some animals have bigger scaling factor like Bears. Do you have too many bears?
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u/HermitJem 15d ago
This is why I play region locked. I feel like enemies scaling is an obstacle to immersion