Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

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Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Content Feedback »

(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?
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
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Afex
Posts: 4
Joined: March 26th, 2009, 12:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Afex »

1. Challenging (easisest). Version was 1.4.7.
2. 6, as i had farmed some gold.
3.The objectives where clear
4.The dialog was nice, one mistake i would fix. When I killed Sham Taum (sorry for possible mispelling) with Kapoue. Then Kapoue said the "Hey chief..."-dialog. It was pretty odd that he was shouting to himself, and then answering to that"Glad we killed him..." (Or something, cannot really remember). Maybe you could fix that.
5.Nothing really, some bad luck ocassionally.
6. The map was good for a final battle
7.9, it was nice to smash loyalists with 2k gold.
8.Nope
9.Nothing wrong with WML i think.

-Afex
silent
Posts: 244
Joined: February 20th, 2009, 5:53 am

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by silent »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Warrior (difficult) 1.6
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7. Difficult to cut through waves of humans, but with saurians it's a lot easier to get rid of stupid bowman and pesky mages. If I had not saved inarix, I'd think I'd find this scenario impossible since saurians are so key to finsihing off units and bloody dragoons, who I now seriously hate.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Crystal. This has to be one of the best and brutal battles I've played
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear enough, the explanation before the start of this scenario sufficed for dialogue
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Since most of my veterans were destroyed in the previous scenario, the first human wave was difficult to fend off properly
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
10. It is awesome to just hack through those stupid humans
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Shan Taum is pathetically weak, although i suppose that's what you get for slicing though his main forces, but it was a bit too easy to have 4 northerners crush his small force with some help from Howgath, walk up to his camp and squash him. He could be a bit stronger, to perhaps warrant sending forces towards him
Earl Lanbe'ch should be passive and not leave his keep. One failed attempt at killing an orcish bowman of mine allowed me to easily squash him with trolls.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Not that I can think of
(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? N/A
Benefuchs
Posts: 54
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 9:40 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Benefuchs »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
medium, 1.6

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5-6 (Having some gold and both orcish allies)

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Standard: kill all enemy leaders

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
nice twist in the storyline!
And Lanbe'ch's reinforcement troops should 'say hallo' in some way indicating that there will be more of them.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Lanbe'ch's infinite reinforcements - that wasn't clear to me at first. (Makes sense to keep the battle from going on forever, while not logical.)
Plus the AI's weird behaviour fighting enemys in different directions.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8, good terrain and nice big battle

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Shan Taum could indeed be stronger.
And it is strange, but interesting to start delayed because of Shan Taum's ambush.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
well, attacking too slowly.

(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?
N/A
BigCheese
Posts: 27
Joined: August 20th, 2009, 7:05 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by BigCheese »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
easy 1.7.6

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4 - Howgart III is a strong ally and Lanbec'h doesn't get nearly as much gold as in the last scenario;

(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 nice ambush intro

(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)
10 - good to finally kill those bastards

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
more roads near Shan Taum, so his troops move faster through the forest/swamp

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
none

(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?
n/a
pinkdwarf
Posts: 14
Joined: February 10th, 2010, 2:32 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by pinkdwarf »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Medium/Difficult, 1.6.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2, with lots of money, 6 orc warlords and some saurian soothsayers and if you kill the north-eastern enemy first.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I skipped it mostly. I found the "let the buzzards clean his skull. I wasn't joking about making it a mug" -part a bit weird. Gruu was amusing during the whole campaign.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Surviving the onslaught of loyalist level 2s and level 3s long enough enough to kill the north-eastern leader after which the strong brown AI will help with beating the loyalists. The weak orc allies mostly only made the scenario harder, because their suicidal orcish slayers gave a lot of experience to the loyalist enemy so they managed to level up a few times.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. There were quite many of this kind of maps in the campaign. Again it was just about taking a defensive position and surviving the strong but stupid rush for a certain amount of time. (See 5.)

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Both the orc allies could be a bit stronger and more defensive and the north-eastern opponent could be A LOT stronger. Even on medium the brown AI ally is almost capable of beating him alone and after that the rest is cakewalk.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No, although Gruu got dangerously low on health.

(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?
SagSchlahne
Posts: 6
Joined: December 12th, 2009, 9:23 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by SagSchlahne »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Challenging (easiest) - Version 1.7.15-1.8beta7

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8 - I played it earlier and it gets pretty tough because of the opponents reinforcements, but this time I couldn't manage it because my blue ally wouldn't spawn, green got slaughtered and my castle was already invaded when Kapou'e arrived there :/

(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?
Lovely, was well written and revealed the whole truth

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Gettin in my castle in time - impossible without the blue ally

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - it's a BIG slaughter :D

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

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Blue didn't spawn..

(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?
n/a
silent
Posts: 244
Joined: February 20th, 2009, 5:53 am

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by silent »

Bug in 1.8 stable. Al'Brock (blue ally to your side) doesn't even show up, as in his side is non-existent.
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zookeeper
WML Wizard
Posts: 9742
Joined: September 11th, 2004, 10:40 pm
Location: Finland

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by zookeeper »

silent wrote:Bug in 1.8 stable. Al'Brock (blue ally to your side) doesn't even show up, as in his side is non-existent.
Thanks, it's fixed now. You can fix it locally by removing the [store_unit] tag at lines 809-816 in Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/scenarios/17_Human_Horde.cfg, but you'll have to play that scenario again from the beginning then.
silent
Posts: 244
Joined: February 20th, 2009, 5:53 am

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by silent »

zookeeper wrote:
silent wrote:Bug in 1.8 stable. Al'Brock (blue ally to your side) doesn't even show up, as in his side is non-existent.
Thanks, it's fixed now. You can fix it locally by removing the [store_unit] tag at lines 809-816 in Son_Of_The_Black_Eye/scenarios/17_Human_Horde.cfg, but you'll have to play that scenario again from the beginning then.
Thanks, but probably not worth it since I've already won the campaign (lucky assassin distracted several dragoons :) )
shadowblack
Posts: 368
Joined: April 15th, 2010, 3:03 pm

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by shadowblack »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.8.4, Warrior (Difficult), i.e. (what I consider) Normal difficulty

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Initially 7, goes down to 3 later

(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?
Fine

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Killing the right orc on turn 1 so Kapou’e can get back to his keep as quickly as possible. After that repelling the first enemy attack. And finally reaching the enemy leader – my allies’ units started to get in the way.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9 – I enjoyed finally crushing Lanbec'h. Would be 10 if not the completely luck-dependent beginning.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Fewer orcs at start. Right now too much depends on luck.

Give more gold to Howgarth III – currently he’s pretty useless and the most he does is distract some of the enemy units – which is just laughable for someone who supposedly leads the Northern Alliance.

Give a warning when enemy reinforcements arrive, like in the previous scenario.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
I had to replay turn 1 several times due to either not killing any of the orcs blocking the way, or (in one case) killing the wrong orc. Once I managed to get Kapou’e out of the ambush the rest was easy.
Attachments
SotBE-Северния_съюз_повторение.gz
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You are a Dark Adept: You immerse yourself in the dark arts... potentially with great rewards...
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tr0ll
Posts: 551
Joined: June 11th, 2006, 8:13 pm
Location: canada

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by tr0ll »

  1. What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
    easy 1.9.1
  2. How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
    2, i had over 1100 gold and the blue and green orcs each recruited their 3 rounds of level 2 units before i even got Kapou'e back to his keep. i wasnt worried because in all the previous scenarios the enemy ran out of units about halfway through the turn limit. Howgarth did seem a bit weak but was never in danger.
  3. How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
    very
  4. How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
    it was obviously the last scenario. could have been a good scare but the initial surprise was easy to fend off.
  5. What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
    setting the AIs for allies correctly. for sensible advance it should be defensive rather then aggressive because they move fast units way ahead of their supporting cover.
  6. How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
    5, it was nice to finally be done the long campaign and resolve Shan Taum's treachery, and also meet Lanbec'h again.
  7. What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
    it was kind of annoying to have to recall my whole army after it was all in position at end of previous scenario. maybe this one could take place at slightly offset location.
    hmm also what happened to the elves?
  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?
Attachments
SotBE-Northern_Alliance_replay.gz
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Maiklas3000
Posts: 532
Joined: June 23rd, 2010, 10:43 am

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Nightmare; 1.9.2; 1009 starting gold

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6, because there was some chance of defeat for Gruu getting into trouble against Shan Taum and three crossbowmen and the eastern allied orc leader nearly getting himself killed, plus the western allied orc leader charged an Arch Mage that I had ZOC-corralled. (A Red Mage had leveled up.)

(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?
Good. Typo: "brought by none other then Shan Taum." Should be "than". There is also a then/than mixup in the epilogue.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
See #2. Inarix, Jetto, and a Pillager died in the attack on Shan Taum.

(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?
Make allied leaders stay put on "defensive" setting.

(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?
Once again, there are no comments.

* * *

Watching this replay will require major acceleration or patience.
Attachments
SotBE-Northern_Alliance_replay.gz
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Alarantalara
Art Contributor
Posts: 786
Joined: April 23rd, 2010, 8:17 pm
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Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Alarantalara »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Medium, 1.9.4

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1
Started with 1200 gold, orc allies had 700+ each.
East orc ally was thus able to defeat Shan-Taum by itself.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Victory message seemed too short. Partially made up for by conclusion, but since I wasn't doing anything on the last turns, seeing a random "Yeah" appear during an ally's turn was disappointing.

(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
Too easy and too many units on my side. My income was 17 gold per turn on the turn I won and I spent the last two turns doing nothing because the AI allies were going to win anyway.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Reduce the gold carryover amount from the previous scenario to 15%. The early finish bonus from the previous scenario is very swingy. With a 500 gold bonus for me and each of my two allies, we received more bonus gold than the enemy started with, not to mention the additional amount from the scenario start. Changing the bonus to 15% makes the total bonus gold about the same as if I alone received it which should help prevent such runaway victories.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Not even close. By turn 8 I was playing with no concern for losses.

(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?
No comments, but since there is no complicated code either that isn't in macros, it probably doesn't matter.
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Faello
Posts: 441
Joined: June 7th, 2005, 9:01 am
Location: Holy Office

Re: Scenario Review: SotBE 18 - Northern Alliance

Post by Faello »

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

Nightmare (Warlord), 1.8.5, no saves/reloads, 733 starting gold

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


6.

It's a long scenario that requires patience and a significant force of high level units to repel enemy attacks (at this point player should have a nice pile of lvl2 and lvl3 units on his recall list, thus it shouldn't be a problem). Player has to finish off the Shan Taum the Smug first, since his units are engaging Howgarth III reinforcements, that are necessary to pull off a succesful attack on the Earl's Lanbec'h keep. Fight can get rocky and chaotic at some points and player can suffer easily from bad luck here. I lost significant amount of lvl2 and lvl3 units (none of the OL-ed lvl3 and loyal units tho'), still it wasn't a big problem. Once Howgarth's army will grow in strenght and player will get the upper hand in the battle vs. Earl's troops, it's easy to lure Earl into a trap and finish him off.

Still, I'm not sure if it's possible to save Flar'Tar and Al'Brock auxiliary leaders without a command console. They're quite suicidal (I really liked them...oh well :mrgreen: )

24 losses, 106 kills + allied d/k

(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?

It's very interesting, I really liked that plot twist in the final scenario.

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

Keeping my veterans alive. Some of them didn't make it :P

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


8.

It's nice that there's no time limit in this scenario, player gets some freedom of choice thanks to it. I also like how the scenario was "naturally" divided on phases (A: destroy Shan Taum base B: kill Earl Lanbec'h).

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

I'd add player a possibility to give commands to allied commanders. Lack of such possibility is probably the main flaw of this excellent campaign :)

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

No.

Image
TOTAL Campaign Losses/Kills: 181 losses, 739 kills
CAMPAIGN SUMMARY: It's 9/10 campaign, it's quite difficult yet, aside from 2-3 scenarios it's not really a Nightmare, more like Hard level campaign. It has great plot and really nice characters - some of the scenarios are incredibly well designed - it's probably my favoured of all wesnoth campaigns. Only flaw that should be looked into is a possibility to give commands to the allied commanders (I'm pretty sure Legend of Wesmere has such a possibility implemented already). I wanted to thank the creators of this one for the fun time spent on playing it :)

Replay attached:
Attachments
SotBE-Northern_Alliance_replay.gz
Northern Alliance replay, Nightmare (Warlord) difficulty level, 1.8.5, no saves/reloads
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The yellow jester does not play
but gently pulls the strings
and smiles as the puppets dance
in the court of the Crimson King.
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