I'm back, after a very long absence.

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A Guy
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I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by A Guy »

Hey guys - I was a former scenario developer who's been gone for probably around a decade by now. I am very pleasantly surprised that the community for this game is still active.
I'm currently playing the new undead campaign. Seeing another undead campaign pleases me - I have always wanted to expand on them more, beyond their typical roles as just convenient bad guys. I actually have a potential story in mind of my own...
Speaking of which, what new WML has been introduced since... about 1.10?
I'm just... a guy...
I'm back for now, I might get started on some work again.
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Atreides
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Atreides »

A guy has risen from the dead! <cheeky grin>

Having updated some wml from that old version, I'd say a lotta helpful stuff that is much easier than what they used to have to do. More coming for 1.16 too by the looks of it (although I'm ignoring 1.15).
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Pentarctagon
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Pentarctagon »

A list is available at viewtopic.php?f=21&t=47614 for 1.12 -> 1.14, and 1.10 -> 1.12 is linked there. Neither of these are comprehensive, though.
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A Guy
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by A Guy »

Much appreciate the information.

Guess I'll play around a bit with the campaign, then see what I want to do from there. Maybe some of the new tools will give me some inspiration.
I'm just... a guy...
I'm back for now, I might get started on some work again.
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The_Gnat
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by The_Gnat »

Welcome A Guy! :)
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A Guy
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by A Guy »

I did the new undead campaign. I felt the scenarios could have been more diverse - they generally just involved killing everyone or moving to a point - but I really like the uniqueness of having two leaders, and the flexibility it gives you later in the game.
Besides that, most of the maps involve you fighting enemies in an abundance of advantageous terrain for them - which, while it did make sense in a lot of cases (you were in their territory), tended to cause fights to become slow and frustratingly luck-reliant, as well as making progress through the map feel sluggish. That's not to complain about RNG in general - but your efforts will naturally be less consistent and more swingy when hit values are almost always below 50%. This was most notable for Ardryn-Na, who, for the earlier parts of the campaign, has no means to mitigate this whatsoever.
Because the advantageous defensive terrain for enemies in many maps is so abundant, it was often an exercise in futility to try to fight them elsewhere, encouraging brute force in general as opposed to strategic engagements. I would add quite a bit more open ground to some of the maps, in order to enable more strategic exploitation of terrain for fights, and increase the gold enemies get to compensate.

As for the story, I really liked it - it didn't whitewash undead as being secretly misunderstood or anything (which I wouldn't want it to), but gives more insight into the studious nature of necromancy.
It makes sense that, despite multiple liches existing, there are many necromancers who don't know the secrets of undeath, and have to research it on their own - after all, it isn't exactly the most open field. So even though others have discovered it, I didn't actually find it detract from the story that our heroes had to learn the secrets to becoming a lich themselves. I really liked the different perspectives offered by Ardryn-Na and Ras-Tabahn to show that necromancers aren't just a monolithic group hell-bent on inflicting death and destruction, but with varied views on how to spread what they see as a great triumph over death.
Elaborating on that, I especially liked Ardryn-Na's more innocent perspective - despite killing so many people, people who tried to kill her for raising the dead, she wasn't vengeful, but legitimately thought she was doing what was best for everyone. It contrasts well with Ras-Tabahn's jadedness, probably because he's old and is already extremely familiar with how others feel about necromancy. I was pleasantly surprised that Rash-Tabahn wasn't just disposed of in order to push Ardryn-Na forward, but remained a character in his own right throughout the entire campaign.

Overall, I really liked the campaign. I wish the maps were more interesting and encouraged more diverse playstyles, but I liked the campaign overall.
I'm just... a guy...
I'm back for now, I might get started on some work again.
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Lord-Knightmare
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

I felt the scenarios could have been more diverse - they generally just involved killing everyone or moving to a point.

Besides that, most of the maps involve you fighting enemies in an abundance of advantageous terrain for them - which, while it did make sense in a lot of cases (you were in their territory), tended to cause fights to become slow and frustratingly luck-reliant, as well as making progress through the map feel sluggish. That's not to complain about RNG in general - but your efforts will naturally be less consistent and more swingy when hit values are almost always below 50%. This was most notable for Ardryn-Na, who, for the earlier parts of the campaign, has no means to mitigate this whatsoever.
Because the advantageous defensive terrain for enemies in many maps is so abundant, it was often an exercise in futility to try to fight them elsewhere, encouraging brute force in general as opposed to strategic engagements. I would add quite a bit more open ground to some of the maps, in order to enable more strategic exploitation of terrain for fights, and increase the gold enemies get to compensate.

I wish the maps were more interesting and encouraged more diverse playstyles
Nice to see you have enjoyed SotA, if you have some suggestions on improving it, post your remarks/replays on the feedback threads of the campaign.
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Major_Swampy
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Major_Swampy »

Me too... :D
Sorry for my english, I'm not english native.
Regards, Swampy.

(Already mastered the LotI as 4 times until the end, so wanna me to play it again!?)
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Pewskeepski
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Pewskeepski »

Just wanted to pop in and express that I'm in a similar situation. After 10 years of absence from this game, I decided to return and make campaigns for it again. I'm happy to see the community is still thriving, although I do feel there's less happening on the forums. Everything's moved to discord, hasn't it? I have discord, but still haven't gotten into it. Call me old fashioned, but I like the ol' forum ways better. More formal and less immediate.

Glad to see a fellow Wesnothian return after a long absence!
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Atreides
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Atreides »

Pewskeepski wrote: April 14th, 2021, 5:07 am Just wanted to pop in and express that I'm in a similar situation. After 10 years of absence from this game, I decided to return and make campaigns for it again. I'm happy to see the community is still thriving, although I do feel there's less happening on the forums. Everything's moved to discord, hasn't it? I have discord, but still haven't gotten into it. Call me old fashioned, but I like the ol' forum ways better. More formal and less immediate.

Glad to see a fellow Wesnothian return after a long absence!
Oh someone after my own heart. I could never use discord. That's some sort of voice talking (so basically a conference call on the old telephone, eh) and the reason I've always liked using computers to communicate (since 1986 with a 300 baud modem callin g local BBSes) is that it allows me to write to express myself. I'm not a good talker. But I'm competent with the written word thanks to being an avid reader all my life.
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Iris
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Iris »

Atreides wrote: April 14th, 2021, 4:51 pm Oh someone after my own heart. I could never use discord. That's some sort of voice talking (so basically a conference call on the old telephone, eh) and the reason I've always liked using computers to communicate (since 1986 with a 300 baud modem callin g local BBSes) is that it allows me to write to express myself. I'm not a good talker. But I'm competent with the written word thanks to being an avid reader all my life.
Text and voice. And in any case, our voice channels are hardly ever used.

I wouldn't say that the Discord side of the community is significantly more active than the forums, honestly. People can get chatty at times, but they go off about specific subjects almost in a thread-like fashion. I'd just say the Wesnoth community has become fairly quiet over the years since the base game doesn't change a lot in a visible (player level) fashion anymore.
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Yomar
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Yomar »

Welcome back then, to these ppl that returned after so much time.
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Elven
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Elven »

we have new mushrooms :)
Creator of Greenie knižnica and Greenie Linux and Wesnoth unofficial LiveCD; Slovak/Czech translator and creator of many campaigns. Everything is here on one place.
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Atreides
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Atreides »

Elven wrote: April 17th, 2021, 6:10 pm we have new mushrooms :)
<Looks up guiltily> Sorry were these meant for everyone? Nom nom nom...
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Elven
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Re: I'm back, after a very long absence.

Post by Elven »

well, fungus terrains and graphics are changed in game
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