Play rank system explained

Today's post gives you the first insight on one of Söldner-X 2: Final Prototype's major new features. In case that you have been following earlier announcements, chances are that you have already heard about it. If not, don't worry, you can find a lot of in-depth details in this blog post.

First of all let's start with some background information. When you play Söldner-X 2 for the first time, you will find two difficulty settings in the options menu, called "Beginner" and "Normal" mode. You can unlock further difficulties during the process of the game but let's now focus on the dynamic difficulty mode, the play rank system.

To make Söldner-X 2 on the one hand fair and attractive to new players, yet on the other hand challenging and rewarding for those who like to invest more time and get the maximum out of the game, the play rank system measures the player's performance and automatically adjusts the game's dynamic difficulty setting, which is then reflected in the play rank.

The play rank gauge (see picture below) contains the following elements:




Play ranks range from G (being the lowest) and increase up the alphabet until A (which is the second highest) and finally S (which is the most superior and highest rank). All play ranks are linked to a score multiplier. The higher the play rank, the bigger the score multiplier (multipliers will go up in excess of 40x). In other words, better ranks can and will eventually lead to (much) higher scores.

Apart from the score multiplier, what will change in terms of game play? Here are some (but not all!) game play changes you can look out for:

• The overall number and types of enemies on screen
  
• Density of bullet patterns
  
• Enemy shot frequencies
  
• Overall number of other threats (such as rockets and mines)
  
• Your ship's collision damage
  
• Berserker mode self-healing time
  
• Differences in boss battles
  

If you are keen to boost your rank (and your score), here are some early tips what you have to keep in mind:

• Avoid or minimize collision with any threats on screen (enemies, bullets, objects, et al.). It's the most obvious one, isn't it?
  
• Don't miss too many enemies. The more enemies pass by unharmed, the harder it becomes to increase your rank.
  
• Try to beat larger enemies (such as sub bosses) within a short period of time to give yourself a rank boost.
  

Last but not least, here's one more work in progress shot of what you can expect on S rank. The shot is a little bit older and doesn't 100% reflect the current development status, but wasn't released so far. Enjoy!
 
That's it for today. We will still post another update on the exact score multipliers once we are close enough to release. Until then, stay tuned for more coverage in the near future.