[HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

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GoatGoat
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Joined: October 31st, 2015, 12:07 am

[HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by GoatGoat »

Hello there, long time Wesnoth player here, but I never, ever got good at the game. I'm replaying Heir to the Throne, and I'm on Normal difficulty. I'm very bothered by missing out on any loyal units, and especially having any loyal units die on me, yet all of the Merfolk rescued in this scenario are marked loyal. There is one Merman Warrior to the northwest of the map guarded by a Naga Fighter, and a Naga Warrior and this difficulty, and I'd like to rescue this unit, so I can't just hold my loyal merfolk back in this scenario.

Anybody willing to share some tips or a replay? Thanks very much.
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Inky
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Re: [HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by Inky »

A fairly reliable way to keep all merfolk alive in Bay of Pearls is to retreat them all south onto land during the first dusk/night; the nagas will follow onto land where they have poor defense and are easily wiped out by your land forces. Then at the next dawn/day, you can send the merfolk safely back into the water.
For the two level 2 nagas in the northwest, if you lure them out one at a time during the day they shouldn't be a problem.

Here's my replay (from my scouts/loyals only playthrough) where all the merfolk live (though, as you probably know since you've played the campaign, there's not much point in doing so since they don't get much use in later scenarios.)
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GoatGoat
Posts: 20
Joined: October 31st, 2015, 12:07 am

Re: [HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by GoatGoat »

Inky wrote:A fairly reliable way to keep all merfolk alive in Bay of Pearls is to retreat them all south onto land during the first dusk/night; the nagas will follow onto land where they have poor defense and are easily wiped out by your land forces. Then at the next dawn/day, you can send the merfolk safely back into the water.
For the two level 2 nagas in the northwest, if you lure them out one at a time during the day they shouldn't be a problem.

Here's my replay (from my scouts/loyals only playthrough) where all the merfolk live (though, as you probably know since you've played the campaign, there's not much point in doing so since they don't get much use in later scenarios.)
Just watched your replay, and now I feel ridiculous. I didn't think the AI would actually send the Nagas on land, so I never tried it. And yeah, I'm well aware of how you don't really need to keep them, but it really bothers me to lose any loyal units. Thanks a bunch.
kjn
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Re: [HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by kjn »

"The Bay of Pearls" is one of my favourite scenarios, partly because of that it feels like a major battle due to the partly conflicting goals and the two fronts.

The only merfolk you really need to keep alive is the one that picks up the trident (preferably Kaga, the fast one). By keeping down the operational tempo during the night and dawn/dusk and keeping a tight formation among the coral reefs you can likely keep the casualties down to managable levels, ie one or at most two fighters.

I still haven't been able to work out how to best pick up the trident. As for the naga guards in the northwest, I usually free the enslaved merfolk in the cage and use them to try to fight the warriors. With luck, the initiate and the hunter can get the killing blows.
Tad_Carlucci
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Re: [HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by Tad_Carlucci »

I usually start with a holding action on land in the south-west while my naval forces hold off the initial rush then gang up on the sea boss. Then, while they're healing I rush the land boss. Back at sea, I sortie a few units in a loop to get the trident, pull back a hex, and take the guardians one-at-a-time. I hold of on the final blow for the land boss until I get the free, fresh (but usually unneeded) units from the cage. I can usually get an upgrade on one or more units bleeding the last few XP needed from the land boss while waiting for the navy to mop up and free the POWs.
I forked real life and now I'm getting merge conflicts.
GreenCelt
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Joined: May 9th, 2018, 12:51 pm

Re: [HttT] Keeping Merfolk Alive

Post by GreenCelt »

I've played HttT off and on since 1.08 at Normal and have had to restart from the beginning several times when I was too weak to win some of the later scenarios. Different strategy suggestion: Free all the mermen in the southern cages, even the one closest to Dwaba-Kukai, fighting the nagas opportunistically and probably killing Bugg. then head to the western edge and the cage and triton, which I prefer giving it to a high HP fighter because I intend to promote both him and the initiate and send them in harms way in this scenario and in IotD.

BTW Great game - Thank you developers!
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