Invasion from the Unknown (1.14.4) for Wesnoth 1.6 ONLY

[Iris]

"revivifying" ? My spell checker marks it as good.

I'll change "escapatory" to "escape"... I may have introduced it since my native language is Spanish and there is a word, "escapatoria", that is effectively equivalent to "way out" or "way of escape", etc. I wrote that ages ago so no wonder I made those silly mistakes.

And there are L0 enemies... just think of the Minor Imp.

About Elvish Ascetics being able to hydrate units... it's a feature. Healers and cures alike should be able to pour some water into the mouths of agonizing allies.

[Cheradenine]

Yup, "revivifying" is fine English, though not very common usage (thus the confusion, probably). The dictionary says "revivify" means "to impart new life, energy, or spirit to" which seems to be exactly the shade of meaning you were going for.

[ShikadiQueen]

That was probably introduced by Eric S. Raymond's edit, though. No wonder, all his edits in UMC or mainline are supposed to include rarely used or archaic forms of English for flavor. It's a good thing IMO though.

[Iris]

Invasion from the Unknown 1.10.4 has been released.

It is intended to be used only with Wesnoth 1.5.8. Although this Wesnoth has not been officially announced, if you dig into the mainline downloads page in SF.net, I am sure you will be able to find a clue...

Wesnoth 1.5.6 and 1.5.7 should work too except for the portraits. However, despite this statement, I won't give support to anyone using IftU in 1.5.6 or 1.5.7 if the issue falls under the category of crash a.k.a. segmentation fault or memory access violation (hint, hint).

Code: Select all

Legend: [D]: definitive | [P]: placeholder | [T]: testing | [U]: unstable

Version 1.10.4:
- Graphics:
    - Updated portraits: Igor [D], Galas [D], Mal Keshar [D], Anlindë [D],
                         Elynia [D], Lédinor [P], Mal Hekuba [P].

- Language and i18n:
    - Cleaned up usage of textdomains.
    - Brought back translations from WesCamp-i18n into the official
      distribution: French, Italian, Spanish, Turkish.

- Music and sound effects:
    - Removed battle6.ogg since it's been included in the official Wesnoth
      mainline distribution as suspense.ogg since 1.5.7.

- Scenarios:
    - Fixed a few typos or removed inexisting words.
    - 1 (Border Patrol):
        - Fixed a text overflow issue in the story screens.
    - 5 (Crossfire, Cursed Plateau):
        - Gave a more visible indication that Dark Adepts are recruitable in
          these scenarios.
    - 22A (Innuendo):
        - Removed a coffin that was floating over abyss.
        - Some "minor" revisions.
    - 23C (Broken Heart):
        - Some "minor" revisions.

- Units:
    - Balancing, including changes after mainline revision 32126:
        - Reduced Shaxthal Rayblade's movement costs:
            - Deep water: 4 -> 3
            - Shallow water: 3 -> 2
            - Swamp water: 3 -> 2
        - Increased Shaxthal Rayblade's defense on deep water from 10% to 20%.
        - Reduced Shaxthal Rayblade's defense on reef terrain from 40% to 30%.
        - Reduced Shaxthal Runner and Protector's defense on reef terrain from
          40% to 30%.
        - Reduced 'aragwaithfoot' movetype defense on reef and swamp
          water terrains from 40% to 30%.
        - Reduced 'aragwaithmounted' movetype defense on reef terrain from 40%
          to 30%.
        - Reduced Doom Guard's line defense on reef terrain from 30% to 20%.
        - Reduced 'impfoot' movetype defense on reef terrain from 50% to 40%.
        - Reduced 'impfoot' movetype defense on shallow water from 40% to 30%.
        - Reduced 'impfoot' movetype defense on swamp water from 60% to 40%.
        - Reduced 'demon' movetype defense on reef terrain from 50% to 40%.
        - Reduced 'demon' movetype defense on shallow water from 40% to 30%.
        - Reduced 'demon' movetype defense on swamp water from 60% to 50%.
        - Reduced 'undeadmountedfoot' movetype defense on reef terrain from 40%
          to 30%.
        - Reduced 'steppebasic' movetype defense on reef terrain from 40% to
          30%.
        - Reduced 'steppelusive' movetype defense on reef terrain from 50% to
          40%.
        - Reduced 'steppescout' movetype defense on reef terrain from 40% to
          30%.
        - Reduced 'mutantfoot' movetype defense on reef terrain from 50% to 40%.
        - Removed unused movetype, 'crawlerfoot'.
        - Reduced Steppe Savage's defense on reef terrain from 50% to 40%.
        - Reduced Elynia's defense on reef terrain from 50% to 40%.
    - Gave the Dwarvish Runesmith proper attack icons.

Notice the (un?)balancing changes.

[TheJM]

Hey, just want to say that I love this campaign.. Seriously, I couldn't stop playing it, I had to know how it would turn out.

(and I totally had the identity of the shadow master figured out.. )

Edit: oh, and spectre + berzerker potion = pure pwnage.

[Iris]

IftU 1.10.4 may fail to fix the heroes' portraits if you didn't use IftU 1.10.3 before; that is, you may not get Mal Keshar's portrait because it was a .jpg file path in earlier versions, and not a .png.

TheJM: Many thanks! I have just removed that possibility. Expect IftU 1.10.5 soon.

[TheJM]

Aww, I shouldn't have said anything..

Edit: btw, Spectrezerker + biomechanical = not so much pwnage cause of no drain and low Spectre HP.

[Theron]

IftU 1.10.4, part 1, medium difficulty (fresh start) / Wesnoth 1.5.8 / Mac OS X 10.5.6

Scenario, starting gold, turns/max. turns, statistics(recruits-recalls-advancements-losses-kills)
1 190 26/33 12-0-8-3-32
2 238 20/24 22-9-21-10-82
3 213 42/61 34-16-28-15-141
4 330 42/70 42-22-42-15-225
5a 220 19/29 46-29-47-15-263
6 227 29/37 46-40-56-16-362
7 100 37/60 46-45-57-16-437
8 100 22/30 50-62-63-28-480
9 372 23/41 52-75-70-28-564
10 362 37/59 52-84-75-28-725
11 623 19/19 87-100-81-114-849
12 - 32/38 87-100-81-114-905
13 650 22/- 194-100-83-213-931

Some comments are duplicate to my earlier posts.
But as the issues are still in 1.5.8/1.10.4 I have them here as well.

Scenario comments:
Scenario 1 (Border Patrol)
- The randomness in giving the initial unit and every play losing different unit types make for high replay value
- Quick and fun play.
- IMHO a good start is recruiting 2x (Shaman, Shaman, Fighter, Scout, Hunter, Archer).
- Leveling opportunity of some core units
Scenario 2 (A Real Confrontation)
- Recalling all veterans and mainly recruiting Civilians will usually ensure getting the heroic bonus (at least in medium).
- High replay value
Scenario 3 (Memories from the Depths)
- Much more linear than scenario 1 and 2
- Recalled some veterans and a few Sprites for the beginning
- Recruited lots of Sprites for the final fight
- The surprises are nasty only the first time you play this scenario.
Scenario 4 (Over the Sands)
- No more surprises on subsequent plays.
- But lots of new units to play with.
Scenario 5a (Crossfire)
- Taking advantage of the enemies also fighting each other is fun (much more fun than playing Cursed Plateau).

- 5a (Crossfire), 5b (Cursed Plateau):
        - Faerie spirits aren't supposed to be able to take the Ring of
          Regeneration.

- A Fire Faerie is still able to take the ring. (But I'm going to try out a "Super Sylph".)
Scenario 6 (The Moon Valley)
- The orcs are scared by high level units.
- Being stronger unitwise I tend to play carelessly (especially if it's late). This time I lost my Spectre.
- Remarkable bad luck on attack, normal luck on defense
Scenario 7 (The Elf and Goliath)
- No major problem
- I recalled an Elvish Sylph, my Super Sylph (ring of swiftness, ring of regeneration), a Forest Spirit, a Draug (to pick up the void armor) and a Blood Bat (for scouting).
Scenario 8a (An Errand of Hope)
- No major problem
- Nice introduction of using WCs
Scenario 9 (The Library)
- No major problem
- Only level where a naga is (partly) useful (at least in IftU part 1)? ("Collected" a Naga Myrmidon)
Scenario 10 (The Source of Light)
- No major problem
- Should a bat be able to shout (talk) at Igors house? In scenario 8a all a bat could say was "Neep, neep, neeeeep! (translated: 'Cave floor weak, cave floor weak!')".
- Normally I advance Igor to a Direwolf Rider. This time I'll try out a Goblin Pillager.
- I played with only a few units going for high starting gold in the next scenario.
Scenario 11 (Strike on New Knalga)
- Going for the heroic bonus (try 1)
-- Recalled (veterans) for only 2 turns (simulating having fewer gold)
-- 1 reload (to save Igors live - bad luck. As I feared a Goblin Pillager has to few HP.)
-- AI weirdness: AI uses two Chaos Invader to attack a Dwarvish Runesmith without weakening him before with a Chaos Invoker. Instead the Chaos Invoker attacks a Dwarvish Flamethrower. The AI killed them both but its units got severely wounded.
--Defeated NW and W enemies on turn 8 while blocking E
-- But for winning my forces are too scattered ...
- Going for the heroic bonus (try 2)
-- Recalling (veterans) for two more turns should work but this is nonsense (gold-wise).
- Going for the heroic bonus (try 3)
-- Strategy: reinforce dwarves (E, S and SW), block NW and W.
-- Recruited lots of level 0 units
-- It almost worked: On turn 19 4 leaders are dead. Would have killed the fifth on turn 20. Gold on turn 19: 247. Fault: Stopped recruiting to soon.
- Going for the heroic bonus (try 4)
-- Modified strategy #3 (recalling more veterans thus playing more aggressive towards NW and W)
-- Yes, I did it (on turn 19).
-- But ... the heroic bonus is an early finish bonus: 0 turns (finished early) * 59 gold/turn is 0 bonus gold.
-- Conclusion: The heroic bonus is not worthwile. Maybe I have more gold (250 gold -> retained: 200 gold) than playing just defensively (= do not own many villages) but I lost valuable units (1 Forefather, 1 Forest Spirit, 2 Elvish Shydes).
Scenario 12 (The Escape)
- No major problem
Scenario 13 (Face your Fate)
- No major problem

Unit comments:
- Elvish Scout: IMHO unbalanced advancement path: An Elvish Horseman is too strong
- Death Knight vs. Draug
While a Death Baron is preverable to a Revenant a Draug is better than a Death Knight (assuming they'll take the poisonous bow) and on par if wearing the void armor: having choices is good.
- Spectre vs. Forefather
Your former balancing of the Forefather is well done. A Spectre is a real alternative now.
(Sadly I lost it. And by the time I have another one a Forefather is an AMLA ahead.)
- Elvish Trapper: Missing defense animation
- Skeleton Rider: Missing defense animation
- Bone Knight: Not visible during movement
- Elvish Prowler: Missing defense animation
- Thunderwhhel: Missing defense animation
- Door: Resting restores HP - funny! Steadfast? Funny, too. Imagine a door attacking. BTW, doubling 0% resistances?
- To WCs converted units: How do I learn which characteristics are inherited of the former unit (e.g. a tree-like WC vulnerable to fire)? (The help is no help.)

Typos:
Storytext scenario 1
- [...] My father has led led [...] (double "led")
- [...] Recently the frequency and intensity of incursions has incereased [...] (should be "increased")
- [...] We can detect no single hand behind them, but it is as as [...] (double "as")
- [...] Most people sdo [...] (should be "do")
Scenario 8b (Secret City)
- King Asthorgar: Yes. The scourt dwarf [...] (scout?)
- Althurin: I would feel certainly disppointed and decepcionated [...] (deceptionated?)
Scenario 10
- Elynia: Indeed. [...] with specific instructions of concealing the decission [...] (should be "decision")
- Elynia: Predictably enough, [...] All those who disagreed with the decission [...] (should be "decision")
- Elynia: It's ironical [...] The fact that our civilization only rarely made mistaken decissions [...] (should be "decision")

[Iris]

Scenario 8b (Secret City)
- King Asthorgar: Yes. The scourt dwarf [...] (scout?)
- Althurin: I would feel certainly disppointed and decepcionated [...] (deceptionated?)

Made-up English fake-words. Thanks, my homeland! I so much love thee...

Thanks, I have fixed them in SVN accordingly. I nuked the "decepcionated", ignored "dippointed" (that typo wasn't in SVN), and replaced "scourt" with "escort".

I plan to drop the Elvish Horseman soon due to art requirements anyway, so the balancing issues will go away with it.

Scenario 4 must be rewritten and optimized.

Using lots of Civilians in scenario 2 is exactly what is intended.

I must make one of the part II scenarios a slaughter similar to scenario 11. As many have pointed out, part II is way too easy compared to part I.

[philippgerard]

I just wanted to thank you for providing this awesome campaign! It really forced me to play tBfW for days! It's funny, challenging and intense. I am looking foreward to act III!

[Iris]

Well, technically, this campaign is complete.

There is a sequel in development, but it won't be part of this campaign directly; for starters, it will be distributed as a separate campaign and will not be titled "Invasion from the Unknown III". It sure takes place immediately after IftU's epilogue, but it takes on a slightly different path.

No promises as to when it will be released to the public. I have written up to (not including) scenario 3, and I'm working on the storyboard for the rest.

[kele]

Hi!

I just started a translation of the campaign. But there is a little disturbance, what I don't undestand.

"The unit picks up the bow, and immediately feels a chilling energy coming "
from it, flowing to their body. Albeit it looks like an ordinary bow, they
take an ordinary arrow and shoot it to a nearby wandering snake, dealing
great damage on it, and apparently poisoning it too."

This is a narration, when a unit picks up a poisonous bow on 8th scenario. (text can be found in items.cfg)
So, one unit picks up the bow, but "flowing to their body". "they take an ordinary bow and shoot it..." Who are they? Or I misunderstood anything?

br,
kele

[AI]

'They' is used here not as 3rd person plural, but indeterminate 3rd person singular. (as opposed to he or she)

[kele]

Thank you!

[Iris]

You know people, when you don't post any complaints I assume everything is upside-down rather than "okay". So I suppose you have found many bugs for the time being. C'mon, share! Don't be afraid, I don't eat humans!

I'm currently working on a sequel, "After the Storm", which takes on the point were IftU left - the heroes going back to north, to find a way to reach Quenoth Isle (f.k.a. Zocthanol Isle). It will most likely be darker in tone and less "funny"; it will probably consist of two episodes with somewhat different storylines and no gameplay connection for plot purposes, and concentrate on character development and background story, rather than action and fighting.

I have already written a more-or-less detailed storyboard draft which is in a location in SVN that I'll let the keenest amongst you to figure out.

In other news, I have also been bugfixing IftU. A new release is approaching, although it will be (most likely) not compatible with Wesnoth 1.5.8 and earlier.