The Mission Difficulty settings in SWAT 4 have a major impact on how player approach the game in the single player mode.
Description[]
When the player selects a single player mission, they can set the mission on four difficulty levels per the table below:
| Difficulty Level | Mission Score Required | Damage Modifier Against Player |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 0 | 0.5 |
| Normal | 50 | 1.0 |
| Hard | 75 | 1.5 |
| Elite | 95 | 1.5 |
Observations[]
The main consideration when selecting the diffculty level is the total mission score required to pass the mission, or more specifically how the player can keep as many suspects alive as possible while not breaking the Rules of Lethal Engagement. In general, the requirements on player skill to pass each diffculty level can be summed up as the following:
- Easy: Complete the mission objectives only.
- Normal: Complete the mission objectives while not incurring too much penalties under the Rules of Lethal Engagement.
- Hard: Complete the mission objectives without tiggering any penalties while adhere to police procedures.
- Elite: Complete the mission objectives while keeping everyone alive and uninjured.
Changes in Elite Force[]
Aside from modifying the mission score system, the SWAT: Elite Force has raised the easy difficulty damage modifier to 1.0. The score requirement to pass missions on Elite difficulty is also dropped to 90.
On certain missions, the difficulty level will also adjust the number of suspects spawn on mission, the types of body armors they wear and the amount of traps present on mission.
| SWAT 4 Gameplay Mechanics | ||
|---|---|---|
| Vanilla | Combat | Rules of Lethal Engagement - Bullet Types - Shotgun Ammo Types - Projectile Penetration - Off Map Support |
| AI | Command Interface - Archetypes - Morale | |
| Character Status | Character Damage Model - Incapacitation | |
| Game Difficulties | Mission Score - Mission Difficulty | |
| Multiplayer | How to Run Multiplayer - Multiplayer Game Modes | |
| SEF | Combat | Projectile Ricochet - Armor Shredding - Traps |
| AI | Personalities | |
| Character Status | Cardiac arrest - Weight and Bulk | |