Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Feedback for the mainline campaign Heir to the Throne.

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Schierke
Posts: 37
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Location: Colombia.

Re: Scenario Review: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Schierke »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

Hard 1.8.3.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

2 (finishing it), 6 (finishing it while milking it for all the exp and gold possible, leveling mermans and not losing a single unit).

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear enough.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Random necromancer in random peninsula which i will kill for random reasons?, certainly not the best storyline.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

"Finishing it while milking it for all the exp and gold possible, leveling mermans and not losing a single unit."

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

6.

Killing little zombies makes me file warm on the inside.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

Uhm, some sort of background or storyline for the necromancer would be nice.
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hhyloc
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Re: Scenario Review: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by hhyloc »

1. Medium 1.8
2. 4
3. Very
4. It's OK I guess...
5. corpses
6. 7 I like the feeling of slice my way through corpse after corpse :D
7. More corpses!!!
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Orcus_Christ
Posts: 12
Joined: October 17th, 2010, 8:13 pm

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Orcus_Christ »

Content Feedback wrote: (1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
(1) Medium. Version 1.8
(2) 5. It wasn't hard.
(3) Crystal.
(4) The scenario felt random. "Here's a generic necromancer, fight him if you want."
(5) None.
(6) 6. Crushing the undead is always fun.
(7) More details on the necromancer.
Red_Herring
Posts: 5
Joined: October 13th, 2010, 8:03 am

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Red_Herring »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

Easy, Medium, Hard in 1.8.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

Easy: 1-3, Medium: 1-4, Hard: 1-5

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Go and kill that Necromancer or run like hell, simple.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Ok, the dialog was easy to follow. However, will someone please explain why there is a necromancer in this scenario and the next one. I do not recall the Queen making a back-room deal with some necromancers. So, why are they going rampant near Elensfar? What is their motive? Same goes for the Isle of the Damned scenario.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

None.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

It is all-you-can-level-up scenario, so go and smash up some zombies, vampire bats, random adepts. What can a person expect more? So 6/10.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

I do not mind seeing some deathblades and wraith in this stage. Considering the next scenario, it would give the users some fore-taste of what is coming down the alley.
Gerion
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Joined: March 28th, 2010, 11:01 am

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Gerion »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.8.3 Medium

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1. I think this is the easiest scenario in the whole campaign, even easier than blackwater port. Since alle Enemies are Level 0 units the only thing You have to do is to prevent being surrounded by enemies. And that is easy as pie.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear, but boring. It is just an intermezzo in the main campaign arc with no relation to the rest of the campaign. Even Konrad acknowledges that this whole scenario is just a way to train low level units.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2. Boring...

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Leaving it out, because it has no relevance to the story and even the leveling is more tedious than fun
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Maiklas3000
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) What difficulty level and version? Challenging (hard); 1.9.5; 226 starting gold
(2) How difficult? (1-10) 1 to run, 5 to kill leader, 8 to kill leader quickly with no losses
(3) How clear? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Weak.
(5) Challenges? A swarm of either Walking Corpses, Dark Adepts, or Blood Bats can easily kill a loyal unit.
(6) How fun? (1-10) 7
(7) Changes? Okay as is.
(8) Restarts/reloads Replayed from start to get a better overall result. No save-loads, though.

Replay attached. The strategy was to conservatively march straight towards the enemy leader. I found it helpful to have 4 Mermen and 2 horse units. In the screenshot below, note the fairly competent advance the AI is making with two Dark Adepts flanked by two Blood Bats and backed up by three Walking Corpses. It was a tense situation. I was able to take out both Dark Adepts, thanks to a Knight attack on the front Dark Adept and a Merman being able to move into the adjacent swamp for the killing blow on the rear Dark Adept.

Image
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vodot
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by vodot »

1. Difficulty: Challenging (hard); 1.8.6; my first campaign ever; 221g.
2. Challenge: 3. I won this scenario quickly, but my victory was arguably Pyrrhic. I made many mistakes.
3. Clarity: 10. Murder, Death, Kill.
4. Dialog: 5. Not much, but this was some of the cleanest and best so far. Still, not great- although the fact that I am currently almost finished with my yearly trip through The Lord of the Rings is probably affecting my critical lens a little. Ok, probably a lot.
5. Obstacles: 4. Damn Bats. Damn corpses. Learning to deal with undead was a challenge. Made lots of mistakes and lost exactly 3 units: all advanced, and all, looking back, completely unnecessarily.
6. Enjoyment: 8. I thought "this is going well!" Looking back, I should've slowed down.
7. Changes: Dialogue rewrite. Great scenario.
8. Restarts: 1; I think I lost Konrad to the Sorcerer once.
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Ninjuri
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Ninjuri »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
easy 1.10.2
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Okay
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
At the time i played this i was pretty new, so i didn't quite know the importance of experienced units, so i just took the easy way out and skipped it.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I don't know, i probably would have done it differently if i played it again, now that i have a little more experience.
Fate is against me.
Linthar
Posts: 77
Joined: September 14th, 2006, 12:16 am

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Linthar »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Medium 1.10.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Somewhat clear. I wasn't certain at the time why you would ever want to take the easy path, run to the sign, and give up all the experience, but looking back I realize now that doing so should give a large early finish bonus. Still it might help if the benefits of both options are pointed out given this is a campaign meant to be played by people new to the game.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
There wasn't much to the story, it was plain obvious filler that had nothing to do with the story of the campaign as a whole, nor was the dialog or setup interesting enough to really make the scenario memorable.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The sheer number of walking corpses can be a bit of a problem if you get careless and leave a unit in a position that is easily surrounded, and the dark adepts can deal a decent amount of damage but the terrain is so favorable for setting up defensive lines, that as long as you take things slowly there's very little danger.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
I'll see about a 6 if it's your first time encountering walking corpse spam from novelty 3 otherwise (I replayed the scenario once to try and better prepare for the next scenario. Didn't help because with each individual enemy giving only 4 xp it was very hard to focus enough experience into units to allow them to advance) Walking corpse spam is just not particularly fun to fight and the design of this map in particular means if you're careful you will never get overwhelmed, so you spend a lot of time watching your enemy move his units, without anything particularly interesting happening, and the enemy income is great enough that winning is just a slow unchallenging grind to slowly move close enough to capture his villages and kill him, and the worst part is with walking corpses giving only 4 xp it hardly feels like you're getting any sort of reward for killing them, and I left unlike pretty much every other scenario in the first two thirds of the campaign other then the first without feeling like there had been any significant changes to my army for good or ill as with all the zombies killing themselves on my defenders the experience got very spread out.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
The only suggestion I have that would not require drastic alterations would to be to add a few more level 1 units, so the player feels like they have a little chance to try and focus enough experience into a unit or two and see some advancements.
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Elfarion
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Elfarion »

Just a little note: When I ran Konrad to the signpost, I did'nt get an early finish bonus, just the 40% carryover of the remaining gold.
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Linthar
Posts: 77
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Linthar »

Elfarion wrote:Just a little note: When I ran Konrad to the signpost, I did'nt get an early finish bonus, just the 40% carryover of the remaining gold.
Ok in that case I have to question why escape is even an option. If running to the signpost gives that little advantage, then given how difficult most new players find the next scenario, having an escape condition seems to solely serve as a trap for new players who don't realize the value of trying to farm for experience or that the campaign is going to get much more difficult very soon.
SBak
Posts: 78
Joined: October 8th, 2011, 1:36 am

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by SBak »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Easy and medium 1.8.5, 1.10.2 and 1.10.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5. Though for a newbie this scenario can be particularly hazardous given the terrain and the number of Walking Corpses.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Pretty easy, defeat the grey-haired man in his pyjamas or run for it.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Contrived to say the least. Not sure whether the 'on the road they were set about by a strong band of the Undead' was an oversight or intended for comedy effect. Some things can come out of this. (1) Neither Konrad or his party have much sense of direction and probably have poor map reading skills. (2) The Undead are quite territorial and get upset when someone turns up on their patch.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The terrain, the day/night cycle (which is very significant in this scenario) and swarms of Walking Corpses. Oh and this Muff Malal character who gets upset if you take too many villages or get too close.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
Funnily enough this is one of the better scenarios in the campaign when it comes to fun. Just for a laugh I've gone into debug mode and fought back with a bunch of Walking Corpses so you end up with a bunch of them in the middle pushing each other about and Muff Malal furiously trying to recruit more - it was hilarious to watch.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

I think if you moved Muff Malal's keep to the west of the mountains rather than the south west it would make things much more interesting.

Also Muff Malal could easily give lessons to the Orcish leaders in the previous scenarios on how to recruit units.
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taptap
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by taptap »

A nice and easy scenario, very easy to underestimate the opposition and underrecruit though. Yet, I don't understand why avoiding an unnecessary fight is penalized, it is not like the player has to defend lines of supply. Fighting already gives you XP, the ordinary player won't need an additional monetary incentive to fight.

The bigger problem is that choosing this scenario is penalized later in the campaign by missing out on a number of potential recalls (of unit types not available otherwise) and several loyal units / reinforcements in a critical moment. This is simply not fair. It lets beginners (when playing unspoiled) suffer in comparison and makes it even easier for advanced players, who know about these things.
I am a Saurian Skirmisher: I'm a real pest, especially at night.
Doomchicken
Posts: 29
Joined: October 28th, 2013, 10:09 am

Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by Doomchicken »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.11, on the medium difficulty.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Crystal clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
How did they end up on a peninsula when walking to Elsenfar? Other than that, very clear but not that interesting.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Not getting bored and going to the signpost.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
3. Fighting the zombies isn't that fun, for some reason. There's no chance for tactically choosing terrain, just a slow push forwards.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Some opposition on the path to the singpost would make it an actual scenario rather than an optional XP farm, and a bit more varied terrain and more space to fight across would make the XP farm bit more fun.
SigurdFireDragon
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Re: Scenario 5a: Muff Malal's Peninsula

Post by SigurdFireDragon »

Played on 1.12.5 Hero (Normal) 348 Gold (I also went back to play Isle of the Damned, and continued on from that one)

I think this one could use something like a loyal peasant, thankful for being rescued, hiding in one of the villages.
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