[POLL] What mainline campaign you like most?

[Aldarisvet]

Posting the question here because all other places for mainline feedback simply locked for thread creating. But possibly this is a good place because this subforum is quite active.
Also there is a limit of maximum 15 options in the poll and we have 16 campaigns so I excluded Heir to the Throne as an obviously out of the competition, foundation campaign. You can only vote for one campaign.
This poll is just for curiosity, nothing going to happen as a result of this poll, or at least I myself do not imply something.

[Sire]

I voted for The South Guard.

Not only it is an excellent introductory campaign for first time players, it has a gripping story and even a branching path that will lead the player down to a separate set of scenarios and a different ending. It was also one of the first campaigns I've played (I think after An Orcish Incursion).

Other top campaigns would be A Tale of Two Brothers and Liberty. While AToTB is a simple and short campaign, I say it is one of the most polished ones due to the extra story art (HttT has a few, but not enough for the entire campaign and is not on the floor for discussion. Rise of Wesnoth also has a few, but the artstyle is out of place for modern Wesnoth). Liberty has its unique mechanics and gameplay not really found in Wesnoth (a stealth mission and the finale of Halstead), and is a memorable campaign.

I'll put my thoughts on the other campaigns in spoiler tags to keep the main discussion clear.

Other Thoughts:

An Orcish Incursion
- A simple beginner campaign. Nothing spectacular about it, but it gets the job done for being a basic Elvish campaign.
- Honestly, the only memorable moment is probably the finale when the player could sneak some Rangers and assassinate the enemy leader.

Legend of Wesmere
- I have not really played Legend of Wesmere, as I have only gotten to Scenario 2, but it bears the luxury of being a multiplayer campaign. Sadly, I never really got the chance to play it all the way through in multiplayer due to various problems my friend and I encountered when doing so.
- From what I've glanced off of the files, it seems like a good campaign, but I just haven't played it yet.

The Eastern Invasion
- I have not played EI, but it is one of the campaigns I really want to get around to playing. Again, glancing off of the scenario files, it looks interesting to play.

The Hammer of Thursagan
- I played a bit of ThoT, but have not finished it. I think I was on Scenario Five, which was a harder scenario for me, and that may be why I stopped playing.
- Honestly, I don't remember much about this campaign. I think it is supposed to flesh out some of the lore, but I don't remember much of anything...

Descent into Darkness
- I honestly know more of Keshar because of IftU than from his origin campaign
- Thing is, I don't remember much of DiD besides the "master" betraying the "pupil", and hating orcs. Then there is that odd "looping finale", which can confuse players who are seeking to finish the campaign.

Delfador's Memoirs
- I expected more out of this campaign. It was serviceable and has some cool ideas here and there, but some of the lore (especially the whole nature of the Undead and a separate realm) seems out of place, even for a Mainline campaign.
- The map design is also rather poor, in my opinion. DM's maps could use an overhaul, as well as the campaign in general. The final scenario did not really deliver on being the "finale", being extremely easy to beat.
- However, the unique recall system, while somewhat confusing at times, is probably the trademark of this campaign.
- If I ever get around to working on mainline stuff, I plan on reworking Delfador's Memoirs.

Dead Water
- I have not really played Dead Water outside of the first scenario, because I am a bit too aggressive a player. Common Wesnoth tactics is to take full advantage of terrain and time of day, retreating when need be, but I guess I really didn't have the patience for that when I originally played.
- I need to get back to playing Dead Water properly one of these days...

The Sceptre of Fire
- I have not played TSoF, and besides being a Dwarf campaign, have no real opinion of it.

Son of the Black-Eye
- This campaign looks interesting as it is the only Northerner campaigns around, and the scenario files paint it as an enjoyable campaign.
- Of course, I have not played SotBE, but it's another campaign on the list to play.

The Rise of Wesnoth
- Probably one of the more important campaigns lore wise, the story art just seems so out of place from current Wesnoth standards.
- I have not played Rise of Wesnoth, but may get to it eventually.

Northern Rebirth
- Follow the pattern of the red text, and one should understand its meaning.
- Apparently a campaign filled with large battles, so much so that it may put off players from playing it. I found out the hard way how "large battles" impact Wesnoth, so I'm somewhat worried when I get around to playing NR if I'll enjoy it.

Under the Burning Suns
- Perhaps the most unique campaign in mainline, UtBS uses a variant on Elves and a completely different time schedule, as well as using some AMLA advancements. It also has a boss fight at the end!
- I loved UtBS, perhaps more than The South Guard, but TSG wins out because of its accessibility.

[Inky]

It's no secret which mainline campaign is my favorite. Too bad there isn't room for HttT as it's also one of my favorites.

My random thoughts on individual mainline campaigns...

Spoiler:

Heir to the Throne (played 3 times)
-One of my favorite campaigns; it's really fun to use all the different unit types.

An Orcish Incursion (played 3 times), A Tale of Two Brothers (played 2 times)
-Not much to say; these are meant as tutorials (which they do well) so they're not too interesting tactically.

The South Guard (played 2 times)
-The final scenario for the elf path is terribly anticlimactic, while the final scenario for the bandit path is epic.

Liberty (played 2 times)
-A very fun campaign, especially the final battle. Down with the Queen!

Legend of Wesmere (played 3 times)
-This is one of my favorite campaigns (I love playing elves), but it has always had some balance issues and recent changes have only made them worse. Scenarios range from brutally hard to ridiculously easy; I hope that someone will go through and rebalance it one day.

The Eastern Invasion (played 2 times)
- Generally a fun campaign with an epic final battle (referring to Weldyn under attack; The Duel is rather anticlimactic and Weldyn besieged borders on unplayable.) Though it does contain that infamous random recall list wiping scenario, which, personally, I did not like.

The Hammer of Thursagan (played 2 times)
- I generally found this campaign to be pretty bland (due to very repetitive map design). Let's just not get started on the final level.... (read the scenario feedback thread if you don't know what I mean).

Descent into Darkness (played 2 times)
- My campaign motto: Just use nightgaunts (an unusually high number of scenarios are won by just by nightgaunt leader assassination.) While fun, this campaign does not really showcase the full undead faction (The UMC Secrets of the Ancients does a much better job.)

Delfador's Memoirs (played 1 time)
- I did not like this campaign because of the confusing way it constantly messes with your recalls (now you see your recall list, now you don't...)

Dead Water (played 3 times)
- My favorite campaign, and one of the most tactically interesting due to the need to carefully manage both terrain and time of day.

The Sceptre of Fire (played 2 times)
- I did not like how, halfway through, this campaign simply devolved into a whole series of running scenarios. Very anticlimactic.

Son of the Black-Eye (played 1 time, before it was rebalanced)
- This campaign recently got rebalanced to be brutally hard. I started to play the new version (on nightmare) a while back and got brutally destroyed, so I decided to come back to it later. I strongly disagreed with the decision to make a mainline campaign so difficult that two of the best campaign players on the forum had to save load to beat it and I wonder whether it is even beatable without saveloading*; however it seems like the devs specifically wanted to make it ridiculously difficult so there is no point in trying to argue.
*Or restarting from the beginning so many times that you get positive stats; this is basically the same thing

The Rise of Wesnoth (played 2 times)
- One of the best campaigns in mainline, only slightly marred by some nasty and arbitrary triggered events.

Northern Rebirth (played 1 time)
- My least favorite campaign; there are some good things going for it, but it is plagued with issues (in my opinion), the worst being the need* to abuse the two immortal white mages, which just seemed silly to me.
*Of course you could just not do it, but it would make your life much, much more difficult

Under the Burning Suns (played 2 times)
- An extremely fun campaign, only slightly ruined by some nasty triggered events. I'm really looking forward to the remake!

[taptap]

Well, I voted TRoW mainly because it was the last one that I played ... it suffers from tomato effects here and there. Other than that I liked Dead Water and South Guard well.

[Paulomat4]

I voted for dead water because it is simply an excellent campaign that I like very much. The rise of wesnoth, under the burning suns and liberty were great as well

[Velensk]

Also voted TRoW.

My other votes if I could, would go to Liberty and SotBE.

[Otengam]

I wonder if some of the votes made here are because some people haven't had the time to play all the campaigns, or have forgotten some others and have only played/remember ones that sound interesting or are more fresh in the memory. I can see this as a good reason for trimming/archiving some of the campaigns or re-organising the campaigns into some order so there's more of a progression.

[n64lord]

I voted Liberty. I know that other than the final scenario, it's really 8 beginner difficulty missions, and even heir to the throne has at least 3-4 intermediate levels on its hard mode, which liberty lacks, but it's the levels are easy in a fun way, instead of being a simply matter of being overpowered or the AI having a gimped recruitment list.

I also appreciate the smaller scale of the story, and enjoy playing as outlaws, even if they aren't portrayed like in Water Margin, or something similiar. The final mission and its epilogue just fit together so well, especially for me, since I played badly and had to desperately count out the enemies movement when I attacked the final tower.

I don't have anything against the "generic feeling" campaigns like HoT, SoF, and Totb, since I feel like they define the core gameplay well, without overstaying their welcome, As much as I applaud the innovative "outlier" content for their creativity, I'd be upset if every campaign demanded that I learn a whole new set of mechanics just for it.

I actually think most of mainline is ok to good, except Legend of Wesmere and Northern Rebirth. They both slow to a crawl during several of their levels as you slog through a big horde of enemies, and then the next chapter, you run into a super-short turn limit level (or in the case of LoW, something where the objective is short and easy but the map is large anyway). They're just both built on extremes and don't flow very well. At least NR has a good story.

I would say that Rise of Wesnoth or Under the Burning Suns are the most consistent and well made but Liberty is my favorite because my experience was more personal. I do like hard gameplay, but I don't think Son of the Black Eye is quite as playable as them.

[Jozrael]

Under the Burning Suns (played 2 times)
- An extremely fun campaign, only slightly ruined by some nasty triggered events. I'm really looking forward to the remake!

Remake? Wat! This would end a very long wesbreak for me...

[beetlenaut]

Remake? Wat! This would end a very long wesbreak for me...

It won't be for a while yet. I get the impression that it might not make it into 1.14.

[johndh]

I voted for UtBS mostly because of Kaleh's character and how he relates to the plot. I really felt his determination to save the last of his dying people as more and more of them are massacred by monsters, enemies, and natural(ish) disasters. The campaign is fairly difficult and this lines up with the theme of desperation and dread as the Quenoth get gradually killed off, and the thirst mechanic was a nice touch that I was wish got used a bit more. It was also nice to have more agency over the protagonist's advancement.

[Jozrael]

Remake? Wat! This would end a very long wesbreak for me...

It won't be for a while yet. I get the impression that it might not make it into 1.14.

Who is making it? Is there a gh branch the work is being done in that can be contributed to?