2024 Power Level Update

[kind tulip]

We’re introducing an update to all player unit power levels!

Power Level (PL) is a secret value that every unit in Stream Raiders has. This value depends on the unit and its level. Technically, the higher the PL the better the unit. This whole system is what our game uses to predict how much Power Level will a Captain bring to their next battle. It does that by adding all PLs from all units placed in the last battle (both from the Captain and all the Viewers). And with that Total Power Level, it tries to place a similar amount of PL in Enemy Units.

This system is key for Raiders, because it allows us to serve every Captain a battle tailored for them and their audience. But, as many of you might know, in reality, it doesn’t fare so well. The main problem that this system has is that it forces Captains to pay a heavy toll after each battle in which powerful units were placed. If powerful Legendary units are placed in one battle, in the following battle the Total Power Level will increase but the Legendary unit will be in cooldown. So they will have to face more power with less resources available. That’s an unintended toll. Something similar happens when a sudden influx of new viewers place with them and then leave. Their power skyrockets and if the viewers don’t stay, they face impossible battles afterwards until their Total Power Level stabilizes again.

We see too many Captains trying to scale down their power in many ways. Some have to monitor what people are placing in their battles. Others look for easy battles and placing the units with lowest PL to bring their total down again. And others just bite the bullet. None of these are situations we want Captains nor Viewers to experience.

So, starting tomorrow we’re trying a new approach to PL.

From now on, all units (with one exception) will have their PL universally normalized.

Independently of their Rarity, Role, DPS, Health and other abilities, the only factor our system will take into consideration for PL will be the unit’s LEVEL. So, placing a lvl 10 Warrior, a lvl 10 Orc Slayer and a lvl 10 Saint will add the same PL as placing any other 3 lvl 10s. And, as it was before, making a unit EPIC will not affect its PL.

For the ones curious about numbers, the PL value will be level times 3. So a placing level 10 will add 30 PL to a battle.

Captain units will bring more PL, but they also will be normalized the same way. Their PL value will be level times 7. So a level 10 Captain unit will bring 70 PL to their battle.

The exception to this will be VIEWER FLAG BEARERS. That unit’s PL will be equal to its level instead of level times 3. So a Level 1 Flag Bearer adds 1 PL, while a Level 25 adds 25 PL. Captain Flag Bearers count as all the other Captain units. This exception will be used because Flag Bearers can be very low-impact and we don’t want new players to be unwelcome for placing less than optimal units.
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How do we expect the game to change because of this?

First of all, Uncommons, Rares and Legendaries will not make future battles harder. So we expect people to be less wary about using the best units in the game. We hope to see more Orc Slayers and Templars in battles!

This also means Captains will face less steep changes in their games. The factor that will impact their Total Power Level the most will be the number of viewers. So this will not fix the issue with “chest snipers”. But at the same time, they will be able to handle tougher battles by placing their best units when the scaling gets too high, knowing that they will be able to stabilize their PL naturally a couple battles afterwards.

Battles will generally be easier for low level Captains. This will happen because currently, low level units have way higher PL values than “level times 3”. We already wanted to introduce some fixes here, so it’s not a big deal, but we might need to do other adjustments later to enemies so low level battles are still challenging.
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Are there downsides to this system?
This system will make the game easier in general. Maybe too easy. We expect that to happen and we will use other systems to make the game balanced again once we get some data.

Healers will have more PL than before. We don’t think this will be too impactful, since the use of cheap Uncommons, Rares and Legendaries will offset their “heavy” cost. But that’s a downside.

Captains will still be able to manipulate their PL by asking for low level units and Flag Bearers. If this becomes a problem, we might also look for solutions outside this system.

The new PL values and formula might not be accurate. We might need to tweak it a little after we gather some data. We hope this change will make the game friendlier and less punishing! So we hope you like the changes!

Let us know what you think!

[kind tulip]

FAQ.

What game modes does this affect?
A: Campaign and Dungeons. Versus already has a system like this in place.