I'm going to repeat what I said in another post about assignments difficulty. They are really not that hard (and I really wouldn't mind one more level of difficulty). A lot of people have done all of them. If you have trouble, either you are selecting wrong: dome, main gadget, keeper, and/or additional gadget. That, or your mining strategy is far from efficient.

Of course, that does not invalidate your feeling. And I get the need to vent :D If you want some help, it's best to join Dome Keeper Discord to discuss strategies with people there.

I was the person you said this to before. I still disagree. And Zack Blacks comment on RNG lottery is a bullseye. The fact that you cant agree with that is kinda odd. You can still have your other valid thoughts also of course.

This basically feels like winners bias in a lot of ways.

Also just to clarify. I'm not talking about a crazy overhaul. Little tweaks here and there can make a world of a difference.

What i found is that most times people struggle with the difficulty, they are strip mining. Strip mining is a really bad strategy in dome keeper, purposefully so. It takes out most of the thinking and replaces it with a simple protocol on how to proceed.
There is only one thing strip mining is good for: not missing a single resource. It's a really bad in terms of resources over time. If you strip mine i think the challenges will be incredibly difficult and i'd advise to try some different strategies. You want to optimize how many iron you can find in a short time, and you can totally afford to miss some resources that you can go back to later. The lower deposits are also so much bigger, so going down really pays off.

I don't think it can be all attributed to luck if there are plenty of people who can beat the challenge any time, on every run. But i can totally see how the challenge feels unbeatable and down to luck if the loadout and strategy don't fit the challenge well.

Challenges meant to be... challenging? Nobody force you to do challenges if you constantly feeling frustrated, there are even no achievements for them.
It is a matter of chosing right gatgets and the dome and managing your time at first place.

All good advice. :-) I'm no stranger to difficult games (beaten all the Souls/Elden) I've gotten all the challenges now except for the cobalt run. I would not - under any circumstances - call these "easy." Any yes, like climbing a mountain, I'm doing these simply just because they exist on the title screen. I could argue that there are no *real* achievements for Steam achievements either, haha. You just get an icon in your history highlighted. Anyway - I still feel that some of these are weirdly imbalanced. Even when I posted my original message, I had already completed a half dozen of them (some on my first try), while others are just.. maddening. Upside down is the only one that you don't get a starting gadget on, and cobalt run you get 18 waves instead of 20 because "reasons". Like I said, I've failed this one with 19 cobalt so many times I've lost count. It's just right on the edge where you have to get really lucky.

Yeah, the assignments are not equal in difficulty. Some are way harder than others. I think that's ok to a degree, but of course there is a limit to what feels ok still.

For the cobalt recovery, are you using probe or prospection meter? Converter? Shredding unneeded gadgets?

Originally posted by René - Bippinbits:

For the cobalt recovery, are you using probe or prospection meter? Converter? Shredding unneeded gadgets?

Yeah I've tried so many different approaches, with the main goal of shredding every recovered gadget/supplement.

Dude I'm doing the Projectile Hell assignment now, the NORMAL one, not the challenge one, and it's ridiculous. The rate they begin to projectile spam and multiply is absurd. The game is great but if the challenges are this frustrating on normal I can't imagine the others. I'm using drones and tried artillery, laser, and tesla. The only thing I can think now is sword to reflect but I can't see that being effective enough.

finally down to that last 4 challenges on challenge mode... honestly it gets frustrating sometimes, but as long as i have a nice movie or music or something, i don't mind the repetitive nature of the game. tbh, the best bit of advice i ever got was that the domes have different amounts of health.

Originally posted by Coach's Coach:

Dude I'm doing the Projectile Hell assignment now, the NORMAL one, not the challenge one, and it's ridiculous. The rate they begin to projectile spam and multiply is absurd. The game is great but if the challenges are this frustrating on normal I can't imagine the others. I'm using drones and tried artillery, laser, and tesla. The only thing I can think now is sword to reflect but I can't see that being effective enough.

Sword plus either Orchard with Canopy (and you want to upgrade it fast) or with Shield and Reflect ability. Sword's bounding pad at full upgrade covers like 1/4 of the dome so that help a lot too. On top of that spire if fine as is hammer with supplement (kills most monsters in one shot). Resurrection supplement for the dome is also good for this challange.

Originally posted by René - Bippinbits:

What i found is that most times people struggle with the difficulty, they are strip mining. Strip mining is a really bad strategy in dome keeper, purposefully so. It takes out most of the thinking and replaces it with a simple protocol on how to proceed.
There is only one thing strip mining is good for: not missing a single resource. It's a really bad in terms of resources over time. If you strip mine i think the challenges will be incredibly difficult and i'd advise to try some different strategies. You want to optimize how many iron you can find in a short time, and you can totally afford to miss some resources that you can go back to later. The lower deposits are also so much bigger, so going down really pays off.

I don't think it can be all attributed to luck if there are plenty of people who can beat the challenge any time, on every run. But i can totally see how the challenge feels unbeatable and down to luck if the loadout and strategy don't fit the challenge well.

If you guys are talking about the Guild Assignments, I oneshot most of them while mostly strip mining. There were a few of them that required multiple attempts like Upside Down, but most of them were relatively easy. Looking forward to more content.

They are stupidly difficult. Some people want easier...in fact it seems many do for this game. It was one of the mentions in reviews that almost made me not get the game and I now know why.

I don't like wasting time on unnecessarily difficult and repetitive games anymore. Life is too short.

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk:

They are stupidly difficult. Some people want easier...in fact it seems many do for this game. It was one of the mentions in reviews that almost made me not get the game and I now know why.

I don't like wasting time on unnecessarily difficult and repetitive games anymore. Life is too short.

You are not forced to do challenges if you dont want to think about strategies a bit. There're even no achievements for them. Main relic hunt has its own difficulties, choose the one you can handle. So your words about "unnecessarily difficult" is not true.

Originally posted by 1mbalanced:

Originally posted by Sparrowhawk:

They are stupidly difficult. Some people want easier...in fact it seems many do for this game. It was one of the mentions in reviews that almost made me not get the game and I now know why.

I don't like wasting time on unnecessarily difficult and repetitive games anymore. Life is too short.

You are not forced to do challenges if you dont want to think about strategies a bit. There're even no achievements for them. Main relic hunt has its own difficulties, choose the one you can handle. So your words about "unnecessarily difficult" is not true.

We aren't forced to play any games. We do it for fun! The challenges are just not fun to try for anymore.

Strategy? The upside down one is just harder even though reverse gravity actually is helpful. A huge part of it is just luck, not strategy.

There should just be an easier option for people to play. Enough people have complained about the difficulty or asked for it.

Strategy meaning is to pick right gatgets and spend your time mining wisely.
You easily can do assignments, but challenges meant to be challenging. Again, the game has various options (and even difficulty choice) to play - regular maps, prestige, guild assignments, even mods at least! If you can't do well with challenges, just skip them. Looks like you are not able to adapt to difficulty of challenges, which are meant to be challenging, what is the point of whining about it then? Play other modes.