Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Feedback for the mainline campaign Sceptre of Fire (not to be confused with the Heir to the Throne scenario of the same name.)

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santosis
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Joined: October 11th, 2010, 12:04 am

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by santosis »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Challenging, 1.8.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7 - See 5 below

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Got it, move the caravan.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The turn I killed the elven leader, he prattled on about reinforcements. None to be seen. Reading the other posts in this thread, I see I killed him just in time.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
My first attempt, I moved my caravan too quickly. My second attempt went much smoother--I waited a turn or two for the humans to wipe out the elves, then moved the caravan east. I also brought one keep of dwarves south to kill the unprotected elven leader.

I finished in round 10/24 with 134 gold and will carry 188 gold over to the next level.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - Its an interesting challenge for a first scenario- although given how far the dwarves start from the elves, and how buff the humans are, its really hard to level any troops.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Not sure if I would mess with it.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Yes, moving my caravans too early.
Cel
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Cel »

1.) 1.8.6, normal

2.) 5

3.) very clear

4.) very good

5.) When I tried to move my caravans right away I failed, because of the elves. It was easier for me to ignore the caravans and to kill the Elvish Leader.

6.) 8

7.) I think it is strange, that it is easier to kill the Leader, than to bring the caravans iup.

8.) The Elves got one of my caravans, when I tried to move them up.
sorry for my English...
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taptap
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by taptap »

1.9.9, Dwarf Lord

Nearly impossible to move the caravans, leader kill quite doable, but even then I needed Alanin to support Haldric and subtly lead his troops to take out the most dangerous units (archers - at least when Haldric recruits only one longbow and the rest swordsmen) first by wounding them with Alanin. Otherwise he was attacking shamans all the time until the archers killed everything. "Predict your ally scenario for ten moves and then hopefully the elf is dead." Can be hard if you don't get enough quick recruits. Most difficult scenario of the campaign until now (did not yet play the last two), which is in general pretty easy. Doubt this is intended.

Changes: Make other strategies but leader kill viable on hard. Give me two scouts somewhere in a forward position or whatever. Change name from Haldric to Ambassador or something. The king nearly killed in a meaningless skirmish at the border, really?

The bargaining dialogue isn't appropriate. Elvish warlords are a bit strange, too. "This is my road, yeah." Throughout the campaign most heroes behave immature.
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Pewskeepski
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Pewskeepski »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Steelclad (Challenging), 1.10.0 - 100 Starting Gold.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4.

(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?
Immature. The elf talks in a very crude-like manner, and it'd be better if some units appeared around his castle when he talks about his reinforcements. Also, Haldric opens with the reason why he is here, but never says who he is. Even after Rugnur asks him that very question. Not to mention the conversation between Rugnur and Haldric could be more serious altogether.

One more thing: Because of the long distance between the characters, the dialog could be changed in a way that will prevent the player from to deal with a lot of scrolling up and down between short messages. For instance when Haldric says "Correct. However, we have a problem with it.", he could just go on from there and say "Some form of magical aura makes those around the stone act... strangely. I noticed it with my father. The longer he stayed near the stone, the more arrogant, almost evil, he became."

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
There weren't really any. Killing the elf leader is about the most simplest thing to do.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Make getting the caravans to your castle easier then killing the elf leader. The elf leader should get his reinforcements about two turns earlier.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Nope.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
There aren't a whole lot of comments, but the code used is pretty simple for the most part.
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Koo
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Koo »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Hardest; 1.10.3

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5

(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?
It's nice. I like long stories.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Not move caravanas too close to elves.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6.
It is easy to escape (I kill enemy's leadder 1 turn before escape last caravan to dwarf's keep).

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I kill Glindur(Elves capitan), and it is weird to see him in next scenario.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Once. I moved caravanas straightforward in NE direction, it was mistake.
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rmj
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by rmj »

1.11 Medium difficulty

This has really changed from the previous version, but I'm not sure for the better. The earlier version was too easy--one could frequently kill the elf leader. But it is strange and worrisome to start with 0 gold since I expected the loyalists to fight as poorly as before and probably not protect the caravan. They were, however, far more effective here.

But the change is not entertaining since there is so little to do: move the caravan and Alanin. By the time the first recruited dwarf arrives the scenario is over half completed. I think this scenario would be improved by giving Rugnur enough gold to recruit two units at turn 1 and reducing the King's gold accordingly.
rmj
Rhylla
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Rhylla »

(1) Easy
(2) 3-4
(3) Crystal clear
(4) It was ok.
(5) Keeping the caravans alive.
(6) 7
(7) Maybe the King could not have had so many veterans, so it would have taken more planning to get the caravans through safely. Also, I normally kill Glildur before the caravans get to the castle, and it is really weird to see him the next scenario. Maybe, right when what would normally be the death blow comes, he runs away, and then comes back in the next scenario?
(8) Once, when a caravan got captured, but other than that, nope.
Sandman25
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Sandman25 »

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

Medium, 1.11.8

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

8.

(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?

Very clear and interesting.

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

I failed to win it in 1.11.8. I won it easily on first try in 1.10.7, basically humans destroyed almost all elven troops before I arrived. But it is quite different in 1.11.8. I tried different approaches:
a) Retreating with caravans and cavalry. Human leader died, game over.
b) Retreating with caravans and using cavalry to help humans. Cavalry died, game over.
c) Using caravans to trigger first strike from elves. It worked and humans were winning the fight easily but they didn't protect the caravans and in 2 turns one of the caravans was dead. Stupid humans ran far from their leader trying to kill the farthest elves they could see and ignored 2-3 elven units near human castle. I reloaded several times and tried different things: protecting my wounded caravan with my healthy caravans/cavalry, healing it in a village etc. but still in 3 turns either the wounded caravan or the protecting caravan were dead, game over.
d) Buying many scouts and making elves divide their army by sacrificing some scouts. It almost worked, except the cavalry died again.

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


1. It could be higher with ability to give commands to allies.


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


Allow to lose the cavalry without losing the game. As of now, I gave up playing the campaign. Basically I hate scenarios where I should protect allies, it makes me feel I am playing RTS.

Edit. I tried protecting humans with caravans again and finally was lucky to survive until turn 8 when 4 scouts and leader killed elven leader.
TheCripple
Posts: 103
Joined: March 19th, 2011, 3:30 am

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by TheCripple »

1) Version 1.10.7, Steelclad difficult level.
2) 2. It was extremely easy, and I won with no casualties. That said, there have been easier.
3) They are pretty obvious, but exactly where to move the caravans to is unclear. Killing the elf leader was more obvious.
4) The dialog was mostly fine. However "Die Dwarvish scum, in the name of Landar" "Yer precious Landar can kiss my axe" was triggered when Alanin was attacked, which is somewhat odd.
5) There weren't any.
6) 3. First chapters tend to be less interesting, but this one could have benefited from the elves more aggressively targeting the wagons. As it was, they could be shunted off to one corner and ignored pretty easily.
7) The dialog described in 4) needs to not happen for Alanin. Better attacks on the wagons would also help.
8) No.
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D-Wade
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by D-Wade »

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

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2 - I couldn't do much. Before I had even reached the elven leader, Haldric already killed him.

(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?
Clear and interesting. The only thing that somewhat bothers me is the whole "shouting over the map thing" but that occurs in every scenario and every campaign.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
There was no challenge. I did not even need to recruit any units.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2 - After two or three turns I realized that there was nothing for me to do. Haldric demolished everything.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Either make the elven troops stronger or Haldric weaker. Also place the dwarven fortress closer to the elves so they can be reached quicker.


(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No.
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doofus-01
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by doofus-01 »

A Bargain is Struck is the first scenario of the Sceptre of Fire campaign.

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
normal, 1.13.1

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

(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?
It was OK.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None. The AI sides do all the work.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
4

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
My attempt at improvement is in pull request 436.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
no

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
It looked clean to me.
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Inky
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Inky »

(1) Level and version? Hard (Lord), 1.12.4, 100 starting gold
(2) Difficult? (1-10) 9, also need good luck to kill the Elvish leader. Honestly I found this scenario to be the most difficult out of the entire campaign.
(3) Objectives? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Fine.
(5) Challenges? Killing the elvish leader before the humans get slaughtered.
(6) Fun? (1-10) 3 There is only one way to do this (kill the leader ASAP) and it's quite RNG dependent.
(7) Changes? Less gold for the elves initially? And I don't like the surprise of reinforcements on turn 10. The first time you play this scenario it's an automatic game over. Some kind of dialogue warning would be nice.
(8) Restarts? Several (to scenario start)- human leader dying, loyal dragoon dying; not killing elvish leader fast enough.

Strategy: There's basically only one way to do this (on hard): recruit all scouts (5 on turn 1, 1 on turn 2) and run as fast as you can to distract the elves / kill the elvish leader.

Finished turn 9/24
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sine_nomine
Posts: 39
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by sine_nomine »

I felt like replaying a short campaign and decided on this one. All of the missions have interesting objectives that don't necessarially involve killing the enemy, but the campaign is very easy and many of the side objectives go to waste because it's easier and more rewarding to simply kill the enemy (in the first, second, and in hills of the shorbear I killed the elves even in a blind playthrough). This time I decided to take that to the extreme and aim for a complete victory.


(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Difficult (Lord), Wesnoth 1.12.4

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6 to kill the leader

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear but irrelevant; the alternate objective is the only one that matters.

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Humans dying before dwarves arrive or elvish reinforcements while out of position. With a full team of scouts you have enough mobility to reinforce the humans and to reach the elvish leader (send your turn 1 recruits along the path and your turn 2-3 recruits through the mountains). Even if it takes a couple turns to kill the leader you're blocking most of his castle which prevents him from recruiting. It's best to draw out the scenario as long as possible, just let the elf recruit one or two units each turn for you to kill. You can use your caravans to block some attacks during the main battle and later on they can sit on the elf's castle to prevent him from recruiting. Don't let the human ally's leftover units kill the elf leader while you're trying to obtain experience points.
Some other notes:
- I feel like dwarvish scouts are a bit too good.
- I don't try to give alanin any exp since he's not worth levelling.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
4, you have an overly simple unit composition, the whole caravan gimmick is basically irrelevant, and most of the scenario depends on a battle between AI.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
A fun version of this scenario should involve sending troops to support the humans then using the terrain to hold off the elves as you move the caravans to your keep.
Maybe the map could be made bigger and the elvish reinforcements could come sooner, so that you can't reach and cover the elvish castle before they arrive.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
When I first played the campaign this was the only map I needed to restart in, because the humans died or the elvish reinforcements caught me off guard. Once you're aware of the tricks it becomes fairly simple but you can still lose if your luck is very poor.
This time I restarted a couple times for better exp.
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lujo
Posts: 27
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by lujo »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

Highest, 1.12.?

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

10 - See 5 below

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

They were clear.

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

It was refreshingly lively and humane. By far the best writing I've seen so far.

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

At the highest level the scenario sort of comes down to luck, because the allied human commander just gets killed at random times. This accounts for the 10 in difficulty. Once the elves start reinforcing, elven riders can just assassinate the human lord (who is not allowed to die) at any point. Not to mention that he has a tendency to walk out of the fort and into a fight if it happens close enough and just randomly die.

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

1

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

I'd make the survival of the human lord not mandatory. There's too little you can reasonably do about it. I'd possibly also keep the number of caravans at 4 at all difficulty levels.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

The death of the human lord. The one time I won the scenario I had to reload the game in the dumbest possible way several times - I only needed one more caravan to enter, but the human lord had a horseman wacking at him (the rest of the elves were lured away). So I had to basically reload until the elf missed all the attacks, and if I left my entire army with the human to defend him, the elf army would have just slaughtered them all.
Konrad2
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 1 - A Bargain is Struck

Post by Konrad2 »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

1.14.4, Hard

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

2

(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?

I liked it.

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

Picking the right way to decimate the elf.

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

2. This is not living up to the 'Expert' raiting of the campaign.

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

Change at least some of the mountains to snowy mountains, to disable the fast route to the elvish leader. (See replay.) Or give the elvish leader some guards.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

None.
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