Stuck on SotBE:Civil War

[Maiklas3000]

I'm stuck on Son of the Black Eye's scenario "Civil War". I replayed the previous scenario many times to maximize gold, but 363 starting gold is too thin on this scenario. My roster is pretty good. I'm on version 1.11.12, nightmare. Base starting gold was reduced from 400 to 300 during the 1.11 versions. Any thoughts?

[beetlenaut]

Would it help if the time constraint was loosened? I haven't played this far in this version, but my problem on this scenario was always the time. Winning was not too hard, but I had to play recklessly and throw away high-level units to have any hope of reaching the signpost in 30 turns. (This is my complaint with this campaign in general.) Not having enough gold would make that unworkable, but having more time could make it unnecessary.

[Maiklas3000]

Yes, I would have won several times if it weren't for the time constraint. Yes, this campaign has a lot of time pressure. At least on nightmare, most scenarios would be extremely hard even with infinite time, but the time limits are intentionally tight to make it doubly tough. I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

I forgot to remind everyone that the Great Horde bonus is in effect here. (One less upkeep for each unit.)

Some specific questions:

Should I split my forces?
If so, does my leader go with the north ice force or the south mountain force?
Exactly where should my forces make their stands?
Are two Soothsayers sufficient? (I only have two.)
Trolls are obviously great here for sustaining lower damage and then self-healing. Slayers/Assassins help in the mountains. What other units should I consider key here?

[Theron]

i just won the scenario in my play through (Nightmare; 1.11.13).
The replay is in the mainline feedback thread: http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 53#p570453
My Gold: 382.
I have more leveled wolves and trolls but you have more leveled archers.
Otherwise our recall lists are comparable.

To answer your questions:
Split forces? No.
Move along the northern path.
Make your stand near the village at (38,9).
I used one (of my four) Soothsayer(s).
You need units with high damage output. But don't forget level healing and the ability to move more than 2 hexes on snow.

I don't know if the next scenario will be winnable. My gold is only 200+2 and I face 3 enemies with 800/150/150 gold.

[mattsc]

Maiklas3000, Theron: just wanted to say thanks for the comments and that I am following the thread, but won't have time to do anything about it until the weekend at the earliest. I'd like to give the scenario a go starting from one of your saves, but I don't expect to do better than you. So what's your suggestion as to what should be done? Just the turn limit (if so, increase by how much), or add gold as well?

For what it's worth, on my own playthrough I did split my forces and finished on turn 23/30, but that was on medium difficulty, of course, so it's not comparable.

I don't know if the next scenario will be winnable. My gold is only 200+2 and I face 3 enemies with 800/150/150 gold.

It might be. The enemies kind of trickle in rather than all arriving at the same time. I had 284 gold vs. 700+150+150 (again: this was on medium) and I don't remember that as being all that hard. But it's been a while, so I might be misremembering it. And 82 extra gold is a lot, of course.

[Theron]

I'd say the turn limit is OK but increase gold (+50?).
This gives the option to play like I did (and afford a bit of bad luck or just to train some rookies) or to play with a southern strike force.

I don't know if this would make medium difficulty too easy.

If the next scenario is unwinnable without lots of carryover gold it should be rebalanced separately.

Edit:
On second thought: If Kapou'e can't afford to spend another turn recruiting/recalling due to time constraints and the missing of his leadership ability during the initial fights more gold would only contribute to carryover gold.

Edit2:
Giving +50 gold (up to 4 more units) and enlarging the keep by 1 hex should work (I spent 3 turns recruiting/recalling).

Edit3:
I just realized that I'm missing Grüü's carryover gold. It should be given back to Kapou'e.
In my case this is 40 carryover gold.

[Maiklas3000]

I won by increasing the turn limit to 36 (winning on turn 35), but I don't recommend that. It makes the winning strategy kind of boring (though still difficult.)

I did finally win with the normal 30 turn limit using Theron's advice. Thanks! I won a couple turns early, but I was way negative on gold, so no carryover. I needed two save-reloads. It's still a nightmare.

I recommend reducing enemy gold and limiting their L2 recruits.

I don't mind the size of the keep or the need for several rounds of recruiting. I found it interesting to try different options. 2 1/2 rounds of spam and 1 round of recalls? Or 1 1/2 rounds of spam and 1 1/2 rounds of recalls? Or spam, spam, spam, spam, milking income, leaving Kapou'e in the keep for as long as possible?

By the way, I'm pretty sure there's another way to win. You can leave a very small garrison in the keep and along the southerly road, while Kapou'e and everyone else heads south into the mountains. Because the enemy moves towards Kapou'e, a manageable number will ignore Kapou'e and go towards the keep, maybe four units, one at a time. Meanwhile, your mountain force will be about to collapse. Now, no later than turn 14, send Kapou'e running north along the road, and then west to the signpost, stopping for nothing. All the enemy units that were attacking your mountain force will waddle off across the snow, trying to catch up with Kapou'e, giving your mountain force a chance to recover and then head for the enemy leaders. You may need a couple of rear guard escorts for Kapou'e, plus you have to worry about getting past the enemy leaders, so try to have him healthy before he starts his sprint. However, I did not actually win using this approach. I ran out of time before I could get to the southwest leader. More wolves would have done the trick.

[Theron]

Congratulations.
Good to know other unit mixes work, too.