Game difficulty

Game difficulty is a game mechanic in Fallout and Fallout 2.
==Overview==
Game difficulty can be set to "easy", "normal", or "hard". To change the game difficulty, click on "OPTIONS" in the main menu. 
==Characteristics==
===Fallout 2===
Game difficulty only affects:
*Initial skill values
**Combat and tagged skills are unaffected by difficulty settings.
**Active and passive skills are lowered by 10 (%) when the difficulty is changed from "normal" to "hard".
**Active and passive skills are raised by 20 (%) when the difficulty is changed from "normal" to "easy".
*Finding special encounterssnippet of code from worldmap.cc: https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout2-ce/blob/a8d3cdd1482a64ea8a3f2ea5664720b2e88bd2d3/src/worldmap.cc
 int effectiveLuck = critterGetStat(gDude, STAT_LUCK) - 5;
   int chance = randomBetween(0, totalChance) + effectiveLuck;
   if (perkHasRank(gDude, PERK_EXPLORER)) {
       chance += 2;
   }
   if (perkHasRank(gDude, PERK_RANGER)) {
       chance += 1;
   }
   if (perkHasRank(gDude, PERK_SCOUT)) {
       chance += 1;
   }
   switch (settings.preferences.game_difficulty) {
   case GAME_DIFFICULTY_EASY:
       chance += 5;
       if (chance > totalChance) {
           chance = totalChance;
       }
       break;
   case GAME_DIFFICULTY_HARD:
       chance -= 5;
       if (chance < 0) {
           chance = 0;
       }
       break;
   }
**"Easy" difficulty adds a +5 modifier to the luck roll required for special encounters.
**"Hard" difficulty adds a -5 modifier to the luck roll required for special encounters.
*Frequency of random encounterssnippet of code from worldmap.cc: https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout2-ce/blob/a8d3cdd1482a64ea8a3f2ea5664720b2e88bd2d3/src/worldmap.cc   int frequency = wmFreqValues[wmGenData.currentSubtile->encounterChance[dayPart]];
   if (frequency > 0 && frequency < 100) {
       int modifier = frequency / 15;
       switch (settings.preferences.game_difficulty) {
       case GAME_DIFFICULTY_EASY:
           frequency -= modifier;
           break;
       case GAME_DIFFICULTY_HARD:
           frequency += modifier;
           break;
       }
**"Easy" difficulty causes 15% less random encounters.
**"Hard" difficulty causes 15% more random encounters.
*Number of enemies in each random encountersnippet of code from worldmap.cc: https://github.com/alexbatalov/fallout2-ce/blob/a8d3cdd1482a64ea8a3f2ea5664720b2e88bd2d3/src/worldmap.cc
 int critterCount = randomBetween(encounterTableSubEntry->minimumCount, encounterTableSubEntry->maximumCount);
       switch (gameDifficulty) {
       case GAME_DIFFICULTY_EASY:
           critterCount -= 2;
           if (critterCount < encounterTableSubEntry->minimumCount) {
               critterCount = encounterTableSubEntry->minimumCount;
           }
           break;
       case GAME_DIFFICULTY_HARD:
           critterCount += 2;
           break;
       }
**"Easy" difficulty removes 2 enemies from each random encounter (but no less than the minimum enemies per encounter).
**"Hard" difficulty adds 2 enemies to each random encounter.
==References==
Category:Fallout gameplay
Category:Fallout 2 gameplay