Silas- too strong? Not strong enough?
Because I take feedback- especially from patrons seriously, here's our first poll in a while about Welcome to the Multiverse.
The issue was raised that it seems sometimes that Silas is not fully displaying his powers or is being unnecessarily limited so that fights are harder than they should be.
I want there to be a balance between challenge and curb stomping moments. So what do you all think? Votes and comments are desired. As always, I can't get the options to be perfect and I know there is room between the options- but comments can be made to explain your exact position if you so desire.
Comments (23)
He could pull off a full kinetic bombardment that could level huge areas just from junk in his inventory
Silas has so many options that are just under utilized. Like his fris Nova. With his mana couldn't he just freeze the entire beach front into an icy kill zone?
There are definitely arguments for him just going all out in certain situations. But on the flipside you have Samveks encouragement to up his skills. It's really an argument that can't be easily resolved.
He’s gone through hell and back to be strong enough for this exact moment, let’s see him use it in all its glory!
What I’ve found is most engaging for me is when new, higher levels of the setting are revealed, and the character has to rise up through those layers and learn the new rules to meet new challenges with their new powers and can barely keep up. The Cradle series did this really, really well, where having godlike powers was necessary to fight the antagonist gods by the end. This approach can really tie into additional world building that keeps the story fresh and new even after several books. When the author seems to start introducing gimmicks like amnesia or major power restrictions or long term crippling injuries, that does frustrate me a lot because it feels like things are moving backwards. (Or if done just right, it can deepen engagement via character personality growth, but that’s not necessarily a big expectation for the genre.) I’d rather have the character rise to the challenge than see the challenges lowered to a gimped character. All that said, the approach you’ve had so far seems great. A setback here and there is fine and less Mary Sue?
Another option is just bad luck. No matter how strong you are, you have to make a mistake to avoid a bigger problem, and then there is bad luck... Or I didn't think someone was stupid enough to do that!
Well one of the issues with potentiality is that it makes it more likely for extreme things to happen to him.
It's a hard balance to strike, to strong and the story and fights are a boring procession, too weak and silas and the story become frustrating to follow I think you've done a decent job of providing him situations where he excels to display his current power and challenges to show he still has room to grow in power and experience Using characters like the shark forerunner who are limited to similar power but have vastly more experience is an interesting way to create that challenge
Thanks and yeah, I hope to use more foes like these. Obviously there are bigger threats both in terms of experience and in raw power or resources out in the greater multiverse.
I think the cleanest (but also probably hardest to write) resolution would be to give Silas smarter, more strategically dangerous enemies. Austensibly, incursions have been happening for a long time, and it wouldn't be surprising if participating organizations had countermeasures planned for particularly retrenchant worlds.
Whoa, let's not get crazy here. You want me to write smarter characters? Man that sounds like a ton of work... Lol. In general though, I agree with what you're saying. Silas has to continue to grow. And yes, that's what I'm been attempting to show with the first two incursions. They have options. And neither of these are even remotely a powerhouse out in the multiverse. They are refugees and a world that's only a hundred years beyond its own probationary period and is in the early stages of expansion. There are other threats out there for sure.
This is the Star Trek problem. The Crew of the Next Gen Enterprise never used the ship to its full potential. The reason for this is to have stakes in the stories they are telling and they made the ship be able to do things in later seasons that never occurred to them in earlier seasons for plot reasons. This is fine for one watch through from beginning to end, but loses complete verisimilitude on a rewatch. In the real world you know what the full (or close too) capabilities of everything, and the goal of any conflict is to end it a quickly and efficiently as possible to get the desired result. As a human being Silas should never hold back never drag out any conflict there is no such thing as overkill, there is only the risk of collateral damage that "might" be a concern.
I agree, but we do have to acknowledge that military tactics have evolved over time as different options were explored. Sometimes they are very old options brought back because people had fallen into one way of fighting. I mean the English knight was a terror on the battlefield despite some attempts to claim otherwise. Right up until new weapons made him obsolete. Life is change. But I agree with your basic premise.
If he cannot show he is strong enough to protect earth. The factions will spilt apart and then it becomes him running around trying to hold everything together. Vs doing his best to save the world.
As of now it’s hard to imagine a being matching up to Silas (same level anyway). He simply has so many advantages that not even other forerunners come close to. Reasonably he shouldn’t struggle fighting but it’s far more interesting if there’s a struggle. Maybe overwhelming numbers but Silas is too smart to let that happen. An ambush directed at Silas from a well informed incursion could be a challenge.
I enjoy seeing the awesome growth, but that can't happen without challenges and him simply steamrolling everything doesn't sound very entertaining. Not sure how best to balance that, but I'm not a writer.
Never have I been asked to choose between 3 very different options and wanted to pick all three. Let me explain. I generally prefer lower power levels because the struggle feels more real. The growth more meaningful. As such in every series your first two books are always my favorite (I still enjoy the entire series). So in that way I love the events where he's forced to be limited. I also love those epic moments where the main character really flexes his badassery. And feel like in wtmv there's occasionally an opportunity for it that gets missed. Ultimately if he's got the liquid Swartz, then put it in the tank already! Third, I have no complaints with the current balance of the combats. What a whirl, what a whirl!
He’s basically dominating everything on earth. It makes sense he would have to work for it when it comes to outsiders. Especially if he’s being limited inside the incursions. I was a bit surprised the natives were being limited. But I caulked it up to writer eccentricities. Lol
I'd never seen a series where the natives were limited against incursions and I do like to do different things from time to time. It also goes with the idea that the incursions are bought opportunities so those buying them might be able to buy various advantages. A limit on the power of natives in the one instance or a hidden start point for the other.
I think there is a good balance right now between overwhelming awesomeness, like Normandy, and the current battle in Sydney. I am MUCH more into Litrpg vs Progression, but in order to grow stronger in either, you need to be pushed to your limits. I'd like to see him being beaten down a little more, as he seldom seems to get really hurt, then rally and find a new use for Space Mana or increase attunement for it to swing the fight, you know? That's one of the things I always liked about Primal Hunter, how skills can evolve during use under pressure. I know that's not how you do things and not trying to compare directly, but I also have NO idea what your other 'systems' do, so maybe a little more mixing of them with Silas as time goes.. that does seem to be kind of where things may end up going eventually and that may address what i am speaking of. For now, I am happy with how things are. I feel like we have a good balance overall.
To be fair, the struggle is fine as a way to show "the multiverse be a big bad place" and it's cool knowing he is going to win. The disconnect for me is the years he has spent hunting training, he seems.to forget all the tools at his disposal. I say years, because if I remember, he was on the hu term world for a long time, and the portal takes sometimes months, so it feels like he might could be a little quicker to remember his training ing, tools, etc. He can still struggle, but maybe be a little more overt ( right word?") about his abilities and training.
Honestly on earth he should be destroying everyone and everything with ease, but outside of it I would like to see him challenged so it's difficult to answer
I get that. The options can't be made perfectly. And ironically, I'm in the middle of writing a chapter where he gets to cut loose.