Ok, this may be stupid but what if you want to keep units

[Arawn]

Just wondering, what if I don't want my units to die? Like, what if I find myself reloading every single time a unit dies? I know I sound like a wuss right now, but every time a unit dies I feel like I've failed them. I know they're not real but it's still wrong to let your troops die. So what strategies are there to keep units alive permanently? It looks like the luck element plays an important role, how can I use it to my maximum advantage?

[ancestral]

Just wondering, what if I don't want my units to die? Like, what if I find myself reloading every single time a unit dies? I know I sound like a wuss right now, but every time a unit dies I feel like I've failed them. I know they're not real but it's still wrong to let your troops die. So what strategies are there to keep units alive permanently? It looks like the luck element plays an important role, how can I use it to my maximum advantage?

There is honor in death, young one. It is a good day to die.

Suggestions? Play on an easier difficulty? Otherwise, no, you're going to continually have to reload every time.

Also, be aware you will hit a recall limit and won't be able to summon all your units.

[Lord-Knightmare]

Just wondering, what if I don't want my units to die? Like, what if I find myself reloading every single time a unit dies? I know I sound like a wuss right now, but every time a unit dies I feel like I've failed them. I know they're not real but it's still wrong to let your troops die. So what strategies are there to keep units alive permanently? It looks like the luck element plays an important role, how can I use it to my maximum advantage?

Use debug commands, especially :unit hitpoints=900 to immortalize your units.

[Maiklas3000]

For a unit that you don't wish to lose, compute the maximum amount of damage that your unit can sustain given the enemy units. If it could be killed, then don't put it there.

Be doubly wary of attacking as opposed to counterattacking once attacked. Try to finish off units that got wounded when they attacked your healthy units rather than attacking healthy units with your healthy units and risk getting wounded and then finished off on your opponent's turn. Unlike many other games, damage from attacking and defending is often symmetric in Wesnoth, so you should be selective in your attacks. Sometimes you can and should forego attacking on your turn.

Come well equipped with healers. 2, 3, 4, or more depending on the circumstance. Keep them in pairs and position them where they can heal the front line. Also, rotate wounded troops out of the front line.

Realize that not all units deserve to be saved. If you would not recall a unit even if it lives (like, say, a low XP fighter) then you might as well risk it in the hopes of boosting its XP to the point it is worth recalling. Also, units drain gold, except loyals and level 0's, so that's another reason to gamble your level 1 cannon fodder. You shouldn't waste them, though, except late in a scenario.

The A.I. is highly biased towards killing units without much regard to level. If you have a valuable unit that is in trouble, try tossing some cannon fodder into harm's way as a distraction. For example, if sea monsters are harassing your main force, they will usually be happy to accept the sacrifice of a spearman tossed into the water.

Blitzkrieg can protect your valuable units. To blitz, attack with your valuable units, kill the front enemy units, then establish a new front line with spam that can take some damage (e.g., dwarvish guardsmen or young ogres.) Your valuable units may have been wounded during their attacks, but they are now also behind the new frontline. You may be able to heal them and repeat the sequence on the next turn.

Remember, you can use part of a unit's movement points, then move another unit, then back to the first. This can help to protect wounded units.

There are the usual mantras of terrain, terrain, terrain and lines, lines, lines. Keeping your units on good terrain makes it unlikely they will be killed (though does not eliminate the luck factor) and keeping them in lines drastically lowers the chance they will be surrounded and killed.

Don't save-reload ever, except maybe if you need it to see how to get through a scenario before doing it for real. It's so much more rewarding to win cleanly.

[Velensk]

In order to make save-loading a bit more painful (and thus help break the habit) try whenever you open up you save typing 'nosaves' into the command bar (in order to get the command bar up press ':' and 'shift' at the same time. This way whenever you lose a unit you'll have to restart the scenario if you want to take it back.

As for keeping them alive in the first place just play well. There are so many things that go into that that we can hardly express them all in a post. I will say though that it does not help to fear death. Obviously you are going to want to avoid it however you can hardly win a war without risking that someone will die. Just try to make sure that if you do have to risk someone that it is an expendable someone.

The most important individual aspects of tactics that you should pay special attention to if avoiding loses is a primary concern would be ToD (frequently better to run at bad times), terrain, and formation (if you can limit the number of hexes that a unit can be attacked from you limit the total amount of damage that it can take before it gets a chance to retreat for healing). As always with Wesnoth manage your risks carefully especially on offense.

[ayearhasgone]

A big part of playing well in Wesnoth is stopping and thinking before you do your turn.

There are so many things that you have to take into consideration-- time of day, terrain, ZOC, hitpoints, and-- this is a big one-- what units the enemy can reach during a counterattack. When I first downloaded this game, I sent troops in with little thought, and even the easiest opponents tore me to pieces in short order. You have to plan a few turns ahead if you want to hold on to that army of yours.

That's not to say that losing that Elvish Captain or Silver Mage won't be painful.

[Anonymissimus]

I absolutely subscribe to everything Maiklas3000 says.
It is sometimes possible to keep all units alive by ensuring that none of the enemy's units can reach any of your units during his turn (ideally). In reality it is mostly only that to none of your units can be dealt so much damage during your opponent's turn that it can die.
Finish off those units that can reach you during your turn.

[Arawn]

Wow, thanks guys. For the record, I don't enjoy editing campaigns but I do have a tendency to edit the enemy's recruit list. I'll try to use Maiklas3000's advice.

[uzy5o]

Casualties are pretty much inevitable in this game. If you don't like units dying, play something like Fire Emblem.

[Maiklas3000]

To give an example of what I meant, here is a situation where I computed the maximum damage that the enemy could do and compared that to my unit's hit points:



(This is from the campaign Dead Water, scenario Wolf Coast.)

I wanted to know if it would be completely safe to move my Merman Brawler (marked by the red arrow) to the village. (A Brawler is a campaign-specific level 1 unit for the Dead Water campaign.) The 40% defense rating my unit has in the village is irrelevant. Within range of the village are two strong Wolf Riders, both with 6-3 melee (blade) attacks at this time of day (dusk.) My unit has 0% resistance to blade, so I just need to add 18 and 18 for 36. This is less than the unit's current 40 hit points, so it's impossible for it to die on the next turn if I move it to the village.

I computed similarly for my other units on this turn. However, I should note that I lost about ten Merman Citizens (which are level 0 units, like peasants) on previous turns. Some units aren't worth worrying about.

[Arawn]

I wanted to know if it would be completely safe to move my Merman Brawler (marked by the red arrow) to the village. (A Brawler is a campaign-specific level 1 unit for the Dead Water campaign.) The 40% defense rating my unit has in the village is irrelevant. Within range of the village are two strong Wolf Riders, both with 6-3 melee (blade) attacks at this time of day (dusk.) My unit has 0% resistance to blade, so I just need to add 18 and 18 for 36. This is less than the unit's current 40 hit points, so it's impossible for it to die on the next turn if I move it to the village.

That is awesome. I'll definitely do that next time I play.