Enemy scaling
Every battle spawns enemies at an "enemy level" scalar that grows the longer your run lasts and the further from camp you fight. All enemies in a given battle share the same level; there is no per-enemy ramp.
The formula
At the start of a battle, the game computes a single enemy level scalar:
enemy_level = floor(days_elapsed / (days_per_level + mode_delta)) + distance_points
Where days_per_level is 20 on Normal and the difficulty mode shifts it, and distance_points come from a fixed table of distance zones (see below). Both terms are added together to produce the final enemy level for that encounter.
Time ramp (base 20 days)
Every 20 days on Normal, the time term adds +1 to the enemy level. Difficulty mode shifts the cadence:
| Mechanic | Easy | Normal | Hard | Very Hard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Days per enemy level point | 25 days | 20 days | 15 days | 10 days |
| Enemy level points by day 40 | +1 | +2 | +2 | +4 |
| Enemy level points by day 100 | +4 | +5 | +6 | +10 |
Distance ramp
Distance from your camp adds a flat number of enemy level points per zone you enter. On Normal, the zones are:
| Distance from camp | Enemy level points added |
|---|---|
| 1 - 2 steps | 0 |
| 3 steps | 0 |
| 4 steps | +1 |
| 5 steps | +2 |
| 6 steps | +3 |
| 7 steps | +4 |
| 8 steps or more | +5 |
| Far edge of the map | +6 |
Difficulty mode shifts all zone thresholds: Easy pushes each zone 1 step further away (so you can explore further before enemies scale), Very Hard pulls each zone 1 step closer (so enemies scale sooner).
Combined example
At day 40, 6 steps from camp, on Normal: floor(40 / 20) + 3 = 2 + 3 = 5 enemy level points. At day 40, 6 steps from camp, on Very Hard: floor(40 / 10) + (zone shifted 1 step closer, so 7 steps worth of points = 4) = 4 + 4 = 8 enemy level points.
A higher enemy level scalar translates to stronger enemy variants spawning in the encounter. The per-enemy HP and damage multipliers from Difficulty apply on top of that.