Overthrow features a comprehensive difficulty system that scales multiple gameplay aspects to provide appropriate challenge levels for different player preferences and server populations. The difficulty affects everything from personal economics to enemy AI behavior and stealth mechanics.
A campaign runs on one difficulty preset, chosen at start-up. Almost every number quoted elsewhere on this wiki is a default taken from one of these presets, which is why pages tend to say "by default" rather than giving a fixed figure.
Choose your difficulty based on your preferred playstyle and server population:
Best for: Solo players, learning the game, casual gameplay
Best for: Balanced gameplay, small groups, standard experience
Best for: Experienced players, larger groups, increased challenge
Best for: Very experienced players, large busy servers, maximum challenge
Best for: Highly experienced communities
A fifth preset ships alongside the four above. It goes further than Extreme in every direction: 8 to 12 defense groups at radio towers, up to 30 defense positions at a base, 4x placeable, buildable and vehicle costs, 1500 per recruit, a 3000-resource QRF ceiling, fast travel disabled while a QRF is running and its minimum distance doubled to 1 km, a QRF that needs 150 points rather than 100 to be beaten off, and the harshest disguise numbers in the game (0.5 effectiveness, seen through at 35 m, no detection-range benefit at all). It also starts the resistance at a threat level of 500. There is no dedicated page for it yet; the Settings reference lists its values alongside the others.
The difficulty system impacts these core gameplay areas:
Server administrators can set difficulty in the Overthrow_Config.json file:
{
"difficulty": "Normal"
}
The value is matched against the preset's name, so Easy, Normal, Hard, Extreme and Insane are all valid.
For fine-tuned control, server admins can use overrideDifficulty to customize specific settings:
{
"difficulty": "Normal",
"overrideDifficulty": true,
"startingCash": 200,
"gunDealerSellPriceMultiplier": 0.6,
"procurementMultiplier": 0.85,
"vehiclePriceMultiplier": 1.2
}
When overrideDifficulty is true, the custom values will override the difficulty preset values. Those four keys are the only ones the config file can override; everything else on the Settings page requires a mod.
For modders or server owners creating their own versions of Overthrow, see Settings
The difficulty system ensures that Overthrow provides an appropriate challenge regardless of your skill level or group size, scaling from accessible solo gameplay to intense cooperative challenges.