Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

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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masuat
Posts: 8
Joined: October 22nd, 2013, 10:26 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by masuat »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Hard, 1.10.6
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Not too hard once you know what's coming, 6

(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 enjoyed it, the unreasonable dwarf king is a great character, and I like that the elves are back and mad as hell

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Unsure of the setup. What will the enemy dwarf recruit and how will he behave? Who is the enemy that is obviously going to set up camp at the empty keep to the southwest? Not a fixable issue, but was the most 'challenging' part

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
Very fun. 9

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None in particular
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Yes, I restarted the scenario when my initial rollout of units was bad and I knew I was stuck in a bad situation once the elves reached me. I also lamed the rng to kill the enemy dwarf leader in one turn, since I would have lost a hero otherwise. I got lazy.
(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?


I like this scenario a lot. You get a lot of gold to come up with a big army and clash with two other big armies while desperately trying to fulfill the objectives. I tried to bait the dwarves to meet my army at the west exit while my heroes entered from the east, but I couldn't keep the north exit blocked off and sacrificed the two loyal bodyguards to screen my leader while he travelled to the east exit. The map is really well designed. Although the area that most of the battle occurs around is pretty small (area outside west exit wrapping around to north exit) the terrain is very well chosen and spurs a lot of decision making and strategy. Where the snow tiles are coupled with the enemy lines, getting your units where you want (ex. to surround and block enemy units) becomes difficult and every move is important. At first I thought it would be very difficult to survive two armies who had 700 gold in total, but then I focused on the objective. Once I moved my heroes into the cave, I had to make sacrifices to keep them alive in the chaos. It was a very satisfying scenario.
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D-Wade
Posts: 68
Joined: February 11th, 2013, 8:04 am

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

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)
7

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear for me.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I'm not so sure why the elves and the dwarves should unite. It seems a little bit flat. When the elves first arrived, I rather thought that it would transform into a threeway.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The problem with this campaign (and dwarves overall) is their lack of healers and in this scenario the lack of houses around the cave. Your units might be able to handle the onslaught, but their live totals get dwindled down quickly so that you end up losing some veterans.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe the dialogue needs some more reasoning but other than that it's fine.

(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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Inky
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by Inky »

(1) Level and version? Hard (Lord), 1.12.4, 362 starting gold.
(2) Difficult? (1-10) 8
(3) Objectives? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Fine.
(5) Challenges? Dwarves on the mountains, Elvish marksmen.
(6) Fun? (1-10) 8
(7) Changes? Seems fine as is.
(8) Restarts? None.

I try to just sit on the mountains near the starting keep and wait for the dwarves to come to me, but they really hate leaving their mountain terrain. Probably should have occupied the mountains next to the cave instead. I play pretty badly here but this is the last true combat scenario of the campaign, so you don't really need a good result.

Finished turn 20/24
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shadow12
Posts: 98
Joined: November 6th, 2015, 1:06 am

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by shadow12 »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Hard, wesnoth 1.10.5, iPad app ver 1.0.4
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 10, I had the worst luck I've ever had! My guys couldn't kill enemies that had only 1 or 2 hp. I repeatedly lost a lot hp when attacking while the other guy lost none. It went on and on. To top it off, the Thunderguard kept puffing air out of his thunderstick. I reloaded 8 times in a row (I counted) but he just couldn't light his fire. I renamed him Puff the Magic Dragon. :shock: I think the Shorbear Clan had a home court advantage. I've never had such bad luck playing a scenario!
Edit: I am gonna take a break on this campaign. I will come back to it later.
(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 is a good story.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? see #2 rant
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 1, sorry. The main battle takes place in a such a small area between the two dwarf keeps. This scenario is so dependent on luck that bad luck makes it frustrating.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? Dwarves fighting dwarves is not as much fun as dwarves fighting something else. Spread the keeps out to use more of the map. Have more options to plan and use strategy. Different terrain between the 2 dwarf keeps, like a river or a big valley.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario? Yes.too many to count. Bad luck or my game play sucked, or both.
Sometimes life unexpectedly throws a Troll or a nasty Queen Naga in your path.
sine_nomine
Posts: 39
Joined: April 30th, 2016, 11:34 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by sine_nomine »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Difficult (Lord), Wesnoth 1.12.4
473 starting gold
(plenty to spare)

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

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear, but the alternate objective is missing. It should say "kill elf leader (early finish bonus)". As it, it just says the scenario has no early finish bonus.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Starts out fine but there's no dialogue after you win. After you kill the elf leader the scenario just ends. Why don't they just take the tools and go home?

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Fighting dwarves in their cave. Not a whole lot you can do aside from throw units at them. Afterwards it's a matter of cleaning up some elves. No point in hiding in the cave when you can just walk over and kill a defenseless elf leader and get more gold for it.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5, you get to have a somewhat proper fight with the dwarves in/around their cave. The elves don't contribute much.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
If you want the player to have to hide in the cave, you need to make the enemy more threatening.

(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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Konrad2
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Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by Konrad2 »

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

1.14.4, Hard

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

4

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

Mostly clear. (I was unsure if the places for the 'gates' counts as cave interior or not.)

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

Fine. Much madness.

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

Getting into the caves before all of the elves arrive.

(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?

Add waves of elvish reinforcements.

(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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LordWolfDan
Posts: 216
Joined: September 30th, 2018, 7:31 am

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by LordWolfDan »

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

- 1.14.5, Normal

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

- 6

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

- Clear, though I didn't expect that I had to move EVERY unit inside the caves, only loyal and plot-important ones

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

- If Ruby of fire does really corrupt people, then why not explain it a bit. Durstorn is such an unlikable sonofab... Also, enemy dwarf allying with elves was kinda bland

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

- Fighting the enemy dwarves in the mountains

(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?

- Explain a bit better how Ruby of Fire has negative effects on characters

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

- No
devavrata
Posts: 119
Joined: August 30th, 2012, 8:59 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 5 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by devavrata »

Content Feedback wrote: March 11th, 2008, 11:19 pm(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Battle for Wesnoth 1.8.3, Easy, Battle for Wesnoth 1.10.7 Medium, Battle for Wesnoth 1.12.5 Hard
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Not clear. Who are the heroes? I wouldn't learn anyway, as there always is an option better to retreat - fight! This is one of those "Flee, you are overpowered" scenarios of Battle for Wesnoth where you can win. And then, that option is missing from the scenario objectives.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear, yet again one of the reasons the campaign is not appealing - your side is a treacherous side that would turn against their own kin.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Fighting two enemy armies at once.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It is fine as it is.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No
Konrad2
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Posts: 3330
Joined: November 24th, 2010, 6:30 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SoF 6 - Hills of the Shorbear Clan

Post by Konrad2 »

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

1.15.8, Lord (Difficult)

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

7

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

Crystal.

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

Clear.

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

Conquering the caves before the elves arrive in force.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8, finally figured out how runes work.

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

-

Scenario stats:
Attempt 1
Spoiler:
Success
Spoiler:
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Success
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