General tips

Share and discuss strategies for playing the game, and get help and tips from other players.

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telex4
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General tips

Post by telex4 »

Hello, I'm new to the game... I just started playing yesterday after seeing 0.6 come out, and so far, I really like it :)

I have to admit, I didn't realise you could recall units until I read a few threads on this forum. Since it's not covered in the tutorial, and I tried the option on level one, found it didn't work and forgot all about it, maybe it'd be a good idea to have a second scenario in the tutorial?

But anyway, what general tips can people give? I've found that ganging up on one unit keeps my units healthier and is a quicker way of killing off the enemy, but how do you balance that with the need to rush out and take villages at the start?

At the moment, I don't spend very long thinking in between moves, and I tend to lose units who get encircled. I'm generally winning just through slogging it out and pushing the enemy back until they have no villages and I can get a few units to attack their leader. This is fine, but I'd like to get better and not have to take two goes at every scenario - one to work out how it will play out and the second to win it :)
KK_r
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Post by KK_r »

I don't spend very long thinking in between moves, and I tend to lose units who get encircled.
I've found that not letting units get encircled and level you units up is a good tactic ;) otherwise I'm lousy when it comes to games. If you want you can use Konrad as bait as the AI always tries to attack him.
Pushnell

Post by Pushnell »

One general tip that lots of BfW "noobs" don't realize how to do is levelling up troops through very careful losing :)

You are going to lose troops, that is inevitable, but you must select & plan on which to lose. You'll generally have a few troops that are of "intelligent" nature, which means they level up faster. What you'll want to do is bring in your other less mentally-equipped troops :) to wail on the enemy, and just before you kill them, bring in your intelligent trooper & let him get the finishing move. This is because all troops earn experience for all battles, but you earn a -lot- of experience for actually killing the enemy. Repeat this a few times with a level-1 troop, and he should be level-2 in no time :)

The other thing is making sure you can get the troops you're targetting for training back to villages safely. They do need to heal from time-to-time, so make sure they have an escape route so they don't get trapped in. Unless I have an uber-trooper (lvl3 or above), I never send in a unit I'm trying to level-up without at least one sidekick, because he can at least block the enemy's movements while my hero escapes.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of the Shaman, and especially those who are leveled up :)
lala

Post by lala »

create captains and marshalls for a better fighting of the lower level army, and keep recruiting lvl1 at the start of most scenarios, as they are a less painfull loss than higher level soldiers.

And try the whole range that is at your disposal. It's fun!
ultraviolet

Post by ultraviolet »

More tactics:
1) As you realized, combat is usually won by ganging up on something, so try to maneuver your units so many can attack one, but at the same time try to keep them protected. One way to protect them is to move them in lines or groups so only 2 enemy units can attack any one unit.
2) Pay attention to the terrain modifiers, which you can see in the status display or read by describing the unit. For example, elves on the edge of a forest can be great, because they're very hard to hit but the enemy units will be easy to hit.
3) Pay attention to melee versus ranged and overall unit capabilities. For example, elvish fighters are much better at killing orcish archers than elvish archers are. An orcish archer's dagger is so weak melee attacks on it are almost free. Vice-versa, big melee creatures with no ranged attack like orcish grunts, trolls, and ogres, can be better handled by standing back and firing arrows and magical attacks. This works better with higher level units though.

Strategy:
1) The game is all about experience. My first time I just focused on winning each scenario, and I got stuck when I got to Gryphon Mountain. The second campaign I focused on money, and got through Gryphon Mountain by entering with a lot of money, but stuck again at Mountain Pass. Finally, I had to go back and build up some powerful units right from the beginning.
2) You may lose some units, but if you're careful you can keep almost every unit alive, at least in the first four or five scenarios played on easy. It helps to have overwhelming numbers though. Every time a unit gets into the red, run it back from the front, and move fresh units between it and the enemy.
3) As others said, you get a lot more xp for the kill, so give the final blows to the units you most want to advance.
4) Some scenarios require a lot of strategizing. For example, on Isle of Anduin it is best to get the AI to split its forces by sending some units up to the northwest, and some down south. If you focus in just one direction, so will the AI, and you may be overwhelmed since it starts with more forces.
Dave
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Post by Dave »

ultraviolet wrote: 1) The game is all about experience. My first time I just focused on winning each scenario, and I got stuck when I got to Gryphon Mountain. The second campaign I focused on money, and got through Gryphon Mountain by entering with a lot of money
How did you enter Gryphon Mountain with alot of money? After the Valley of Death, most players are completely bankrupt!

David
miyo
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Post by miyo »

You can start WesnothTips or GettingStarted in our Wiki and put tips there...

- Miyo
ultraviolet

a lot of money

Post by ultraviolet »

Well, by "a lot of money" I mean 271 gold. I did that by entering Valley of Death with 649. I played it four times and ended with 212, 218, 248, and finally 271. Now I play Valley differently, I actually kill all the enemy commanders by sending 1 paladin and 1 knight to each potion (which the knight gets), work the two pairs around the enemy forces, and each pair can kill one commander. Then the white mages who come in with Li'sar can kill the SW leader. I get the impression this won't work in 0.6, since the units will survive the death of the commanders. I'm playing 0.5.2cvs. In all cases, my leaders sit tight in the center of the castle, and summon enough units to fill the castle, but not the moat.

But of course, your next question might be how do I enter Valley with 649? Keep in mind I was playing on easy, and not paying any attention to experience, which means I sacrificed some units to win each level quickly. If you're playing for gold, you can really optimize a combination of grabbing villages early, winning quickly, and summoning no more forces than necessary to win. And it kind of builds from scenario to scenario. In that campaign, my entry gold at each level was 100, 151, 123, 440, 488, 588, 649, 271, 186, 216. I played Isle of Anduin and Bay of Pearls twice, and took the better game, and I played Valley of Death four times and took the best game. The rest I played once. But with 216 I could not win Mountain Pass no matter how many times I tried, because I was still working with mainly level 1 and some level 2 units.

One annoyance: when I first won Valley of Death in my first campaign, I came out negative, and got 100 gold for Gryphon mountain. But once I played it well enough to come out with 30 gold, and I only got 30 gold for Gryphon Mountain! Is that how it is supposed to act? I expected any starting number <100 to be bumped to 100, not just <=0.
Dave
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Re: a lot of money

Post by Dave »

ultraviolet wrote: One annoyance: when I first won Valley of Death in my first campaign, I came out negative, and got 100 gold for Gryphon mountain. But once I played it well enough to come out with 30 gold, and I only got 30 gold for Gryphon Mountain! Is that how it is supposed to act? I expected any starting number <100 to be bumped to 100, not just <=0.
This was a bug in earlier versions of the game, but is fixed in 0.6 (and maybe in earlier versions, I can't remember).

David
telex4
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Post by telex4 »

I might put together a "get started" guide when I get some time, and when I feel I've worked it out enough :) I still don't quite get the difference between, for example, an Elf Hero and an Elf Captain.
yawningdog
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Post by yawningdog »

Elven heroes are better fighters, but captains have the Leadership skill, that allows them to command 1st level units (units within 1 hex gain a +1 bonus when attacking).
fmunoz
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Post by fmunoz »

Some explanations abiut heros & captains are planned in the 2nd level of the tutorial :-) (wait till 0.6.2 or 0.7.0)
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