KF2 Wave Length Test: XP, Dosh and ZED Counts (Short vs Long)

This is a translation and paraphrase of a Korean-language experiment (November 2016) asking which game length gives experience faster. The author noticed that ZED counts and dosh differed between short, medium and long games, and wanted to compare XP, since XP per ZED might be the same and bosses are killed more often in short games.

Setup

• Normal difficulty, offline, short and long game lengths tested.
• Same level-22 Field Medic for all runs.
• Same map for all runs: Outpost.
• The author notes that choosing offensive skills would have made runs faster. The medic playstyle plus logging rewards slowed the author, so normal clear times should be faster.

Test setup.

Short game (4 waves, Normal, offline)

Short game data.

ZEDs per wave: 21, 27, 29, 35.

ZED	XP	Dosh
Cyst / Alpha Clot / Slasher	8	15
Gorefast	11	25
Bloat	17	36
Crawler	8	21
Stalker	8	32
Siren	11	53
Husk	15	36
Scrake	34	218
Fleshpound	35	420
Boss	1291 XP	not counted

Long game (10 waves, Normal, offline)

Long game data.

ZEDs per wave: 21, 23, 27, 27, 29, 29, 29, 34, 35, 35.

ZED	XP	Dosh
Cyst / Alpha Clot / Slasher	8	7
Gorefast	11	12
Bloat	17	16
Crawler	8	10
Stalker	8	14
Siren	11	24
Husk	15	16
Scrake	34	72
Fleshpound	35	192
Boss	1291 XP	not counted

Results

• A ZED gives the same XP regardless of game length, and boss XP is the same.
• The per-wave minimum and maximum ZED counts are the same, but the long game spawns almost three times as many ZEDs because of the wave count.
• Total dosh is nearly equal (short 10,224, long 10,266). Each ZED pays a little over twice as much dosh in the short game, and the last ZED of each wave gives bonus dosh: roughly the high 300s to low 1000s in the short game, and the mid 100s to mid 800s in the long game.
• Time and total XP: 34 minutes for 4,409 XP (long) versus 17 minutes for 2,525 XP (short). Time differs by a factor of two, XP by about 74 percent.

Conclusion: to level up faster and more efficiently, play several short games.

Other findings

The author expected dosh to be balanced, but with over 10,000 total dosh and different ZED counts the difference was just 42, which the author praises as the balance team's work. ZED order is more fluid than expected: strong ZEDs still come later and weak ones earlier, but Stalkers, Bloats and Sirens appear in varying order, a ZED may appear in one wave and not the next, and a Husk that came in wave 2 in one game may come after the Scrake in another.