In which cases is it better to get intelligent units?

[beetlenaut]

In which cases is it better to get intelligent units?

Here's a case: If you are playing a challenge like HttT recruiting only shamans, or TRoW recruiting only mages, intelligence is essential. If you don't get half a castle full of intelligent units on your first turn (especially on TRoW), you might as well restart.

Actually though, I don't mind intelligent in most cases. A lot of people are saying things like, "It only saves you two turns or so on leveling up." Sure, but more importantly, it saves easy kills and XP for other units. If your first priority in a campaign is a healer and a unit with leadership, having one of them intelligent helps you get both of them sooner.

To my mind, intelligence should be more of a hint for an AI than for players.

Only if the AI were really good. The reality is that the AI is kind-of moronic, so making it even worse when using non-intelligent units is a bad idea.

[revolting_peasant]

- Healers (It is likely there are more used for healing than offense, so leveling them up is earlier is good, especially if they have no heal or a weaker heal at lower levels,)

From L1 to L2 it doesn't take them so long to level, and they have to be "gifted" with kill shots - but even for that, it helps if they're resilient over intelligent. So I wouldn't say Intelligence has a clear advantage here.

- Disposable Units (As one progresses in the campaign and your other "traited" units become leveled up, the ones with the Intelligent trait can be used more for cannon fodder. This is especially the case when playing Ironman instead of saving and loading for desirable results.)

It's a bit contradictory to have intelligent disposable units, since they're not as likely to level, but - yeah, I guess there's more of a chance they'll reach L2 with a bit of luck.

- AMLA Units (Mostly reserved for UMC campaigns, units that have special AMLAs may want the Intelligent trait so they can take advatange of said AMLAs, which are usually more powerful than simple traits.)

So, AMLA for non-unique units is typically (always?) +3 HP. Well, Resilient gives you that and more to begin with...

- Low EXP Campaigns (Whether it be short campaigns or campaigns that raise the amount of EXP to level up, the Intelligent trait can prove to be more useful here. Of course, as your other units catch up, the Intelligent trait may become less and less desirable.)

Also, dungeon levels with no healers. An L1 intelligent unit is likely to advance and heal during such a level. But almost no Mainline campaigns is low-EXP, and in dungeon levels you don't get to choose anyway...

[taptap]

The answers sound as if people mainly play L3 veterans throughout their campaigns and no one ever dies. I tend to play mainly with fresh recruits (apart from loyals and a few specialist units) and find intelligence not so bad. I end up with a fair share of intelligent veterans (I looked in my The Rise of Wesnoth save before the final, 18 of 35 L3 on the recall list are intelligent), because they tend to be the first to be available as replacement for casualties (I play with plenty of casualties as well, >100 in TRoW). I particularly value intelligence on mages (54 xp for L2 otherwise) and shamans (just have a hard time killing something for fast xp), that are somewhat painful to level otherwise. How would you ever have a replacement silver mage at hand without intelligence? On the individual unit I value other traits higher as well, but overall having two vets instead of one is better, even if the second just waits on the recall list.

[Sudipta]

The answers sound as if people mainly play L3 veterans throughout their campaigns and no one ever dies. I tend to play mainly with fresh recruits (apart from loyals and a few specialist units) and find intelligence not so bad. I end up with a fair share of intelligent veterans (I looked in my The Rise of Wesnoth save before the final, 18 of 35 L3 on the recall list are intelligent), because they tend to be the first to be available as replacement for casualties

Exactly my point. If u play all the campaigns on hard, u will lose some veterans. Especially in expert level campagins like TRoW, UtBS, NR. No matter how good of a player you are, some veterans will die, be it due to massive number of enemies, or high level enemies or just plain bad luck. In such campaigns having replacements for the veterans is crucial. And for those replacement units i prefer the intelligent trait

Besides in most campaigns u will rarely have to field a significant number of L3's except for the final battles. I too tend to play mostly with fresh recruits, and i only recall veterans with leadership or healing.

I suppose in the end, it all comes down to play-style. Different people have different play-styles, and the ability to allow for this is what makes Wesnoth such a great game. I prefer fighting mainly with new recruits and recalling few veterans because i feel it adds strategic depth to the game and increases my gameplay experience. On the other hand, if u want to use an army of level 3's and annihilate the enemy in half the number of turns, then by all means go right ahead. But all i'm gonna say is Play the mainline campaigns on hard and DON'T save-load every time someone dies.