[Historical] Scenario Review - EI 5 - The Northern Outpost

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[Historical] Scenario Review - EI 5 - The Northern Outpost

Post by Content Feedback »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions 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?
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Jgrr
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Post by Jgrr »

(1) Medium, 1.1.7
(2) medium difficult (5)
(3) after reading the dialogue, even the village part seemed logical
(4) Nice storyline (but I still want to know more!)
(5) Finding the correct way to divide my troops (one group to blast the UD = royal exp for magi, the other group to trample the outlaws (my group was so small that it was wiped out, load+save caused situation where the outlaws appeared next to the UD castle, and the UD started to sort it out with the outlaws)
(6) 6 (+1 for finally having horsemen, the reason for anyone to play Loyalists in the first place :)
(7) It's imo a bit frustrating to get a sudden 7 outlaws suddenly from one village, to wipe out your group even during daytime. But still, good scenario.
<X> Pillager
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Post by <X> Pillager »

Thanks for all the feedback. ;) I agree with most of your criticisms - I intend to rewrite some of the dialogue to add more info on the characters.
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cph
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Post by cph »

1) Medium, 1.2.4
2) 7
3) Clear
4) Good
5)
Rushing around between villages, since the 20 turn limit doesn't leave a lot of time to visit every village if you have just 1 main force partly composed of spearmen doing the hunting. In the end I threw caution to the winds, was running lone spearmen to villages to speed things up, and got fairly lucky to kill the outlaw leader before the last group of bandits could react.

The undead are tricky too; initially it appeared that my ally would kill them before my HI & mage would get there; then within a turn or two all the allied troops were dead, and my HI and mage had a close fight to finish the remaining undead.

6) 5
7) -
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TL
Posts: 511
Joined: March 3rd, 2007, 3:02 am

Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by TL »

(1) Medium, 1.3.6
(2) 4
(3) Very clear
(4) Clear, a little bland. The bit with Dacyn using magic to expose the bandits seemed more arbitrary than interesting.
(5) Owaec is a freaking [censored].
(6) 3. Playing hunt the bandits is interesting, but Owaec manages to suck the fun out of any scenario he's in.
(7) Please allow us to let the undead slaughter Owaec. It sucks having to babysit his useless ass all campaign. Besides, he clearly has a death wish as evidenced by the numerous times he voluntarily moves his infantry out of the way to let skeletons come in and kill him.

I apologize for venting, but "protect the sidekick" scenarios always bug me even when there aren't AI deficiencies to contend with. Even after you gain control of Owaec in future scenarios he continues to be an irritating liability.
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Orcish Shyde
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by Orcish Shyde »

(1) Medium, 1.4.5

(2) 10. Impossible.

(3) Clear and logical

(4) Clear enough. Requiring Dacyn's magic to spot outlaws bugged me a little though.

(5) Running around the villages. There isn't enough time to guarantee that that [censored] outlaw leader will show up.

(6) 6. Playing hunt the bandit was interesting but the implementation ruined the level.

(7)
- Give the player control of Owaec's faction, like you can control Gruu's reinforcements in that scenario from Son of the Black-Eye. The AI isn't designed for interesting objectives.
- Having done the above, allow Owaec's faction to trigger bandits.
- Instead of having the bandit leader randomly spawn, make him appear once the player has captured a set number of villages; failing that, have him kindly reveal himself and build a keep, since I'd rather have a boring straight fight that works than an interesting mission that doesn't.
- Change Owaec, his sprite is stupid, he has exactly the wrong number of moves to get through difficult terrain on horseback, and he is made of paper. In fact, make him start off as a L2 Deoran from The South Guard, or remove him from the campaign entirely, or just make him not mission critical.
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miekka
Posts: 62
Joined: December 30th, 2007, 2:48 pm

Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by miekka »

1. medium 1.6.5
2. 3, I wouldn't have needed to send any troops at the undead leader at all, the ally took good care of it
3. quite clear
4. very nice
5. killing the assassin
6. 5
7. the undead leader could recruit more
Daiker01
Posts: 9
Joined: November 29th, 2009, 9:40 am

Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by Daiker01 »

(1) Version 1.8.0 on Medium
(2) 4
(3) Very clear
(4) Good
(5) Sometimes a large number of bandits would pop out of a village, taking me by surprise
(6) 7
(7) Maybe less villages and less turns, so you don't chase bandits all around the map
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Maiklas3000
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
challenging; 1.8.3

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

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear, but I found myself wondering what happens if one village remains, the bandit leader is not yet found, and then the allied player captures the village.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I'm rarely interested in dialog. The scenario itself I found different and interesting.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
This is one of those scenarios that would be difficult to understand and beat the first time out without reading the Wiki (and I don't really like that.) However, the Wiki for this scenario needs improvement.

The Wiki says that we picked up the amulet in a previous scenario with a spearman, but the Wiki for that previous scenario said to pick it up with Gweddry. Now it's telling me to pick it up with Gweddry again. Although the two sections were obviously written by different people, I got so confused that I didn't even consider what probably would have been the best choice for the amulet... a horseman (for the ultimate goal of grand knight.) The undead were dead by the time my fast spearman picked up in the amulet and got over there. Well, he got in one hit on the last undead.

Another thing the Wiki said was to use shock troopers to search villages. Why?! Except for recalling one fast shock trooper, I went with horses (and some fast spearmen.) Speed is important, since you might need to search every village. I don't like relying on luck to win a scenario.

The bandit leader was found by my second group, the one that had assaulted the undead, and that combat was tense and interesting. I lost a low XP horseman, no biggie. After a brief stand, the bandit leader chose to run, which was unusual and interesting, though counterproductive with my horse units all around.

(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?
To be more realistic, the two villages near the undead base should be undead-flagged or eliminated entirely. It's also helpful to the player, since he might not have many units down there.

The middle of the game is a bit too quiet, with zero enemy units on screen. However, it's probably not a good idea to make the undead more time-consuming to dispatch. The player needs to kill the undead quickly, so that he can split his forces into two village-searching groups to ensure that there will be enough time to search all the villages.

The assault on the undead across an open plain would be quite challenging without a white mage, and I produced one in just the previous scenario (and agonized over the choice of white or red mage.) Dacyn is not around. Is there something in the storyline that said he would be gone? If not, put him in the scenario and toss 50 extra gold to the undead to compensate.
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zookeeper
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by zookeeper »

Maiklas3000 wrote:Dacyn is not around. Is there something in the storyline that said he would be gone?
Yep.
Dacyn wrote:"I think I may be able to help you. I am a mage; I believe I will be able to cast a spell that will reveal them if you enter the villages. However, I won't be able to help you in battle."
Although it's a bit silly, so I might end up removing that part altogether and just let him join in as usual.
Thrash
Posts: 223
Joined: June 25th, 2010, 1:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by Thrash »

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

1.8.3, Medium, 487 starting gold

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

5

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

I think they are as clear as you can make it, the village bandit hunt sort of has to be experienced to be understood.

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

OK

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

Time is the big one, you need to take a little risk to search all the villages. The directions on the wiki are too conservative (more later).

The second is knights just missing over and over... it took me a couple turns to clear some villages.

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

8 - the village hunt is fun and different.

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

I had a problem with one of Oweac's troops beating me to a village and then camping there so I couldn't get into it. Turns out I found the leader elsewhere, but I was concerned I might have gotten screwed for a time. Don't know if this is a potential playability problem. Perhaps his troops could return to his camp once the undead are dead or something similar?
Maiklas3000 wrote:Another thing the Wiki said was to use shock troopers to search villages. Why?! Except for recalling one fast shock trooper, I went with horses (and some fast spearmen.) Speed is important, since you might need to search every village. I don't like relying on luck to win a scenario.
I agree, you need speed for this. Using Shock Troops you would never finish in time. I used the knights I just saved from the capitol for this along with Gweddy and and a white mage.

And you can't take the time to surround each village - once I had troops in range, I just ran one unit in - if bandits appears, the rest of my troops would swoop in, if not, they could move towards the next village. Otherwise you are taking 2-3 turns per village guaranteed.

Also, the wiki makes it sound like Owaec doesn't need much help (a spearman and a white mage), I tried that and by the time they got to the fighting Owaec's contingent of mages were gone and they were on their own and overrun. A white mage and 2-3 shock troops are a better bet.
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monochromatic
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by monochromatic »

turin wrote:(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Normal 1.8.3
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1 - disappointingly easy after Mal-Ravanal's capital. A White Mage + Gweddry took care of the undead with Owaec and the Knights took care of the bandits. One paladin charge and the leader was...yeah.
(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?
Interesting how Owaec is a much better boy than Dacyn and Gweddry; he's more responsible.
(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)
3 - after Mal-Ravanal's Capital, this was a let-down.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
More undead. Give him enough troops to kill Owaec and then let's talk (i.e. for the player to send reinforcements.
dsa
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by dsa »

(1) What difficulty levels and what version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Challenging, 1.8.4.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2, with over 400 gold my only "challenge" was, not investing too much money. With only 50 gold the undead were more or less irrelevant. The thieves weren't a problem either, because I found the leader quite fast.

(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?
None.

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

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Give the undead more gold, to make them somehow relevant.
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BfWEthnographer
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by BfWEthnographer »

Content Feedback wrote:(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Normal; 1.8.5
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5
(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 found a bit strange how, at the beginning, Dacyn disappear with only a little mention that he'll be back when enemies are destroyed.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
mhmh don't know. i went through it relatively easily. However, keeping units with different speeds in formation while moving them across the map it's not easy (and at the first attempt, you don't know whether or not there will be enemies in the village)
(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?
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podbelski
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Northern Outpost

Post by podbelski »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.9.8, top difficulty, no reloads

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

(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 didn't read the dialogue deeply, so in the end did not understand what Dacyn was doing, he stood near the castle conjuring some spell...

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
no

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
quite fun, but again too simple. The feeling is this campaign of a "Novice", not " intermediate" level. Also, the toughest scenario so far was the 1st one, and I don't like when it's made this way.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Undead were too easy to defeat.
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