Vix: Looking for 1.9 Betatesters for Version 0.3

[TheJM]

This sounds really fun, I'm gonna go download it and play.

edit: Actually because Nexon is totally [censored] (they never ever meet their patching deadlines) and I really like this campaign here it is now.

LOL, I see some things never change..

[Elvish_Hunter]

Hi artisticdude,
I played Vix 0.2. While playing it, I encountered some bugs:
Scenario 1:
1) In the Saurian Spellcaster unit description you wrote:
"Spellcasters are the elite of the saurian magic users, capable of unleashing devastating blasts of magical energy at their foes while using their powers to restore injured allies. Few magic users make it this far, and those that do are held in high honor by their clanmates."
But Slissra doesn't heal any unit. In the unit cfg file you wrote:

Code: Select all

[abilities]
	{ABILITY_EXTRA_HEALS}
[/abilities]

but I don't remember this macro in mainline. Probably you'll have to define this ABILITY_EXTRA_HEALS. What was this ability supposed to do (heal+4, heal+6, heal+10 + cure, ...)?
2) Hex 14,44 is Deep Water, not your custom Deep Water. This means that no unit can go on this ship.
3) Triggering the Ghosts, Vix says:
"I've heard these creatures are resistant to spears and javelins, but can be destroyed easily by magic. Our magic users should make short work of them." But they're extremely resistant to cold (saurians' magic) and retaliate with cold, which is very dangerous for saurians.
Scenario 2:
4) At line 341, in the event that manages the pigs being loaded on the ships, there is

Code: Select all

first_time_only=yes

You should change it with

Code: Select all

first_time_only=no

otherwise the scenario doesn't work (I tested).
5) Tusker unit has no sounds at all (attack, hit, die, ...).
6) If a loyal or hero (Slissra) unit picks a tusker, after leaving it on the ship, the unit loses its bronze ring / silver crown. This happens because, after this, the code replaces ALL the unit overlays with a blank-hex.png overlay. A good solution will be an [if] tag:
- if the unit is Slissra, it will have again the silver crown
- if the unit is loyal, it will have again the bronze ring.
I hope that you'll find this bug report useful. Until now, good campaign!

[Neilarmius]

Scenario 1 has a small bug in that it is still possible to move to the deep water even after the ships have left. I suggest simply replacing with shallow water.

Scenario 2 has a massive bug in that after the first two bits of meat the WML broke and the units weren't able to drop meat off any longer when standing on the boats. I kept trying and then allowed the turns to run out resulting in defeat.

Played on easy, 1.7.12-1.98 beta.

Is there a reason Saurian Guards don't level into Saurian Champions? The graphics look like they do. You might be interested in using some of the Saurians from Dark Blood Alliance. The archers have poison which is relevant to your campaign. I love the look of pikeman and adept lines.

Please consider smaller maps. Slogging around turn after after turn is not fun. On the hunting scenario I had killed all the life on the island without evening visiting the top half of the island.

[Gambit]

6) If a loyal or hero (Slissra) unit picks a tusker, after leaving it on the ship, the unit loses its bronze ring / silver crown. This happens because, after this, the code replaces ALL the unit overlays with a blank-hex.png overlay. A good solution will be an [if] tag:
- if the unit is Slissra, it will have again the silver crown

Sorry bout that.

Please consider smaller maps. Slogging around turn after after turn is not fun. On the hunting scenario I had killed all the life on the island without evening visiting the top half of the island.

Well it's not like you have to explore the entire island anyway. They're just stopping to reprovision the ships, not conquering it for Spain. It adds to the flavor to have more than what you need IMO. It's like... this island was here before us. It doesn't exist only as a plot point (there's probably a tvtrope for that).

[TheJM]

Hey, just wanted to say that I really enjoyed it so far. I noticed some bugs, but I think everyone else has covered what I had noticed.

I'd have to ditto what Gambit said about the maps. When I started the first scenario, I was like "WOAH HUGE MAP" or something like that. It didn't really bother me while I was playing it though. The only thing that really annoyed me was that I moved my whole force up to where the ships were before realizing that all I had to do was sneak in a few units and take the ships. Meaning I had to move whole force back down to where the ships were. It was a bit annoying. :/

[Neilarmius]

Point accepted on the provisioning island.

What about expunging 5 tiles or so that lie between the start point and the port on the first scenario e.g. the gap between the ghost city and the river. I don't really understand why the boats move so far away. Running down the coastline to get on board involved turn after turn of auto-moves.

The Orcs had taken a beating yet prevailed thanks to me mashing up the north humans but were still a million miles away. They posed no threat chasing after me (perhaps this is a more of a threat at increased difficulties) yet I was denied the treating of defeating them (in my efforts for early finish).

[artisticdude]

I don't really understand why the boats move so far away.

The idea behind that is twofold:

(1) The saurians want to make sure the ships are far away enough so the enemy won't be able to board them easily

(2) it's closer to your 'base', which, depending on your strategy, is where at least some of your troops and/or leader might reside for the duration of the battle. I personally like to keep my leader on his keep unless I feel safe in doing otherwise, which I don't in this scenario.

Perhaps these aren't the best reasons, but I'm gonna have to wait until all the scenarios are done before attempting to balance the campaign,

Thanks to everyone who caught the bugs, apologies for not rooting those out earlier.

[Hulavuta]

I would suggest that a character mentions sneaking to get the boats.

Also, I don't know if this was supposed to happen, but I got Vallin (The Lieutenant who betrays the humans and joins you) onto a boat, and could use him next scenario. Was he supposed to betray you or something? If not, I think it would be a nice twist it he did.

[Captain_Wrathbow]

Was he supposed to betray you or something? If not, I think it would be a nice twist it he did.

Don't tell artisticdude that I'm onto it, but I think that's going to happen later. ; )

[artisticdude]

Don't tell artisticdude that I'm onto it, but I think that's going to happen later. ; )

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

He may or may not betray you, I'm not going to say at this point. But if he does, the reason he didn't betray you in the first scenario is because:

(1) I felt it would be better if he betrays you later, as it would link the storyline better

(2) It would be just one more thing in the first scenario, which is already pretty crowded

(3) If you have to wait till later to find out whether or not he's trustworthy, it makes you want to continue the campaign more

Unfortunately I haven't had much time to work on Vix recently (a fever of 103.8 is no fun, and doesn't help my already fragile work ethic ), but I'm gettin' this show back on the road.

[Hulavuta]

Hmm, but what if you choose to let him die in the first place? Would that screw up the story?

[TheJM]

Haha, good point. Who would refuse a free recruit though?

[artisticdude]

You could let him die, but you'd never find out what would happen. It's just a cool twist that adds something to the storyline. So if something happens later on, it would only happen

[if]
[have_unit]
side=1
[filter]
id=Vallin
[/filter]
[/have_unit]
[then]
#...
[/then]
[/if]

I actually originally envisioned this campaign as an RPG, but I got discouraged due to the technical problems I encountered, such as the inability to create an inventory without an impossibly long set of variables. Hence it currently exists in the form of a regular campaign, but this one element of Vallin's possible betrayal was inspired by some of the RPGs I've played, most notably Spiderweb Software's Geneforge series. I like to think it makes the campaign a lot more unique and interesting, but that's for the player to decide.

[Gambit]

Haha, good point. Who would refuse a free recruit though?

I figured he would alert his buddies to my position. He was very quick and willing to betray his last team after all. Sniviling worms are not the kind of men... er lizards I want in my ranks.
Though I suppose, being fluent in WML, I could have peeked and all would have been well.

but I got discouraged due to the technical problems I encountered, such as the inability to create an inventory without an impossibly long set of variables.

QFT.

[Gambit]

Mini Bump

I finally got to play the latest version. Players may not have enough units left from scenario one to complete scenario 2. Perhaps on easy (and medium) you could give them keep and one hex of castle in the wooden fort style?