Promised Land | Goblin Campaign (1.8): Version 0.8.8

[monochromatic]

Some helpful links: Promised Land Art Thread

Current version: 0.8.8
Scenarios complete: 4 of 9

This is the thread for the campaign Promised Land. The campaign is currently on the 1.8 add-on server. It's currently about halfway complete. Although there are only 9 scenarios, most of them are long-ish and have (IMO) varied objectives. Please post your comments/ideas/bugs here!

Promised Land - Fill this form for each individual scenario.

(1) Please name the scenario, difficulty, and version of of the campaign you are using.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? [1-10]
(3) Are the objectives clear? If not, how would you re-word it?
(4) Are there any major balance issues? if so, please describe in detail.
(5) Is the story compelling? If not, please state why.
(6) How much did you like the scenario? [1-10]
(7) Is there any change you would like to see implemented? If so, please describe in a somewhat detailed fashion.
(8) Bugs. List them all here.

Thanks again!

Note:

I dislike having many releases with lots of little updates, and prefer less updates and more new/update content in each. But I'm always trying out new stuff, which may or may not haves bugs. So in order to do that without updating that every time someone finds a bug, I'm hosting a beta-testing group over PM's that tests the campaign for bugs in the newer stuff. Obviously there will be more releases, and lots of little updates in each. So PM me if you'd like to help out. Thanks~

Original Post:

Hi everyone,

I am writing a new campaign called "Promised Land". I'm planning it to have 8 scenarios with an epilogue. Intermediate level, so not too hard, and not easy either. For 1.7.15 (and 1.8!!). The storyline:

Spoiler:

After Tallin and co. established the "Northern Alliance", it said many different races came together to work into recreating the Northlands. But after Tallin, an ambitious human named Caercyn resolves to have the humans claim superiority over the other races. He basically drives many races away and then sends the army to take over different areas not under the Alliance's control. Prinak (the main character) is a goblin "leader" under a group of orcs that broke off from the Alliance living in the far north. Tired of his life, he manages to escape, allying with ogres and eventually trolls, eventually ending in which he clears a cave from undead, making it his new home for him and his allies. Along the way he fights the Alliance army, orcs, and elves. Promised Land implies leading a group of people into a new life, which kind of is the idea of the campaign. Note: storyline under re-construction.

I'm not posting this on the add-on server yet, because I made many new units, using sloppily done placeholders (identical images from mainline plus an old sprite from 1.6), which kind of destroys the gameplay experience. And I have no abilities with images. At all. So I'm going to the Art Workshop and see if there are an artists that have time in their busy schedules so they could help me out with sprites . But for now, I have one scenario working, so I'm posting it here for you guys to test balance/new ideas/etc.

EDIT1: Eh, I forgot to code some units...I just got a suggestion to post on the add-on server anyway, so I'll update that unknown swordsman stuff then.
EDIT2: Network communication error. Will wait until later in the day.
EDIT3: On the add-on server! Posted another untested scenario and a few updates. So, I'm removing this attachment...

[boru]

I think it's a good strong start

Spoiler:

I'm not experienced enough to give much comments on balancing. I took the strategy I usually do when it comes to "move the leader to the signpost" scenarios, namely, recruit a bunch of expendables and send them off in the opposite direction to fake out the AI, then send leader toward the signpost on the path that appears to give the least resistance. So I didn't engage in enough combat to say much about the balance, except of course that level 0 goblins would probably not fare well unless they seriously outnumbered their opponents.

From the storytelling angle, you are hitting us with a lot of information up front. There's the stuff with the Northern Alliance, then establishing the goblins as the lowest pecking order of the orc army, then the goblins see their chance to escape. It's all good, but you'll need to spend more time developing it, either with a longer narration at the beginning or more dialogue, or both. Personally, I would really like to see a scene where the elves and dwarves walk out on the alliance. That would give it a much more dramatic punch than it currently has in a quick summary.

[monochromatic]

hmm...I'll see... I want to finish writing the scenarios in the campaign first, and maybe then I'll add a cut-scene for the beginning as you suggested

[Hulavuta]

Downloaded it, and I really enjoy it! I love Goblins, they rock.

Three things:

1. The Goblin Hunter doesn't have any attack frames. If you want some that fit his design, I have attached some.

2. Some religious references, like when he says "The Lord told us to go after them!" I know they mean their leader, but maybe saying "Lord (name) told us to go after them!" would work better. The Promised Land is a little religiousy but it's not a big deal. I for one am not against religious references but I think the developers are. (Or I'm just an idiot and think that they are references but they're not.)

3. The Mounted Goblins are a little too weak. I found myself not using them at all. Maybe you should raise their attack power a little bit or something. Iunno.

Anyway, Great Job.

[monochromatic]

Downloaded it, and I really enjoy it! I love Goblins, they rock.

Three things:

1. The Goblin Hunter doesn't have any attack frames. If you want some that fit his design, I have attached some.

2. Some religious references, like when he says "The Lord told us to go after them!" I know they mean their leader, but maybe saying "Lord (name) told us to go after them!" would work better. The Promised Land is a little religiousy but it's not a big deal. I for one am not against religious references but I think the developers are. (Or I'm just an idiot and think that they are references but they're not.)

3. The Mounted Goblins are a little too weak. I found myself not using them at all. Maybe you should raise their attack power a little bit or something. Iunno.

Anyway, Great Job.

Thanks for the detailed comments!

1. Telaron is so far helping creating all the sprites for the new units. The current ones are mostly placeholder.

2. Ah, ok. I'll just keep the title and try my best from anything religious getting into the texts.

3. I'm was already thinking of taking out the lvl0 wolf rider and lvl0 leader. Good there is a reason to reinforce my thoughts from the next release, you will be able to recruit wolf riders directly and Prinak will be lvl 1.

[Unnheulu]

First scenario talking:

Goshnak:

You stupid goblins! Get over there an delay the dwarves while I come with the rest of the forces!

It should be and

Prinak says "Alright", maybe he should say something like: "Ulright Boss..."

Also he says "I'm sick of being under orcs" Don't you mean "Under the control of orc?"

Hehe, I'm not sure how Owoddry is meant to be pronounced

Welsh (Oh w o th ree) or english (Oh wod ree)?


And why don't the goblins have traits like weak, or slow?

On scenario 2, I'm not sure who the named people are...

[monochromatic]

First scenario talking:

Goshnak:

You stupid goblins! Get over there an delay the dwarves while I come with the rest of the forces!

It should be and

Prinak says "Alright", maybe he should say something like: "Ulright Boss..."

Also he says "I'm sick of being under orcs" Don't you mean "Under the control of orc?

Whoops. Fixing in next release.

And why don't the goblins have traits like weak, or slow?

On scenario 2, I'm not sure who the named people are...

The goblins should have those traits. If not it's probably a bug. But if you're talking about the wolves, wolf riders and such get normal traits. And leader...he'es just awesome
What do you mean names in scenario 2?

[Unnheulu]

The names in the scenario objectives, sounds like you have a bug then.

[monochromatic]

Oh, yup. Since I turned on fog, I didn't let you know which leader is which! Probably will release a less-buggy version later today.

[monochromatic]

Since this poor thread fell back all the way into the 4th page already, I'll double post (just this once!) and bump it, and I'll say I'm just wrapped up with finals now. In fact, a new scenario should be out by the end of this weekend. And that nasty bug in the 4th scenario...

EDIT: Yuup. It's out! Sorry for the delay everyone. Since finals are about to be wrapped up, I'll soon have time to finish this.

[Frigeridio]

EDIT: Yuup. It's out! Sorry for the delay everyone. Since finals are about to be wrapped up, I'll soon have time to finish this.

Ok, some feedback:

detour: the objectives are confusing; when you reach the north end of the road (with your leader, Prinak) nothing happens. Instead you have to defeat the Ogre leader; I was thinking, "let's don't kill the Ogre leader, since the ogres are needed to delay the orcs chasing me..."
Maybe you could give the choice to escape without killing the ogre leader -> clash, but no ogre recruit; or you kill the ogre leader and get the ogres. Maybe as well some good defensive position would be nice to delay the advancing orcs ( at least as long as the kill'em all landslide is not functioning...) especially if you decide to kill the ogre leader.

clash: I found the complete orc army following me in detour in my recall list - including Hugdush, the orc leader from detour! This surely is a bug...

That's it for the moment as I haven't played further yet

[monochromatic]

Thanks Frigeridio! Clash is the last scenario so far, so you practically at the end of what I've finished so far.

I'm having some problems with Detour for some reason, I just took out the landslide thing in the most recent version, I think... I'll adjust the objectives as noted. But ogres are pretty much required in a later planned scenario. So I'll make it that you have to kill ogre

For Clash, I have no idea. I'll have to look into that. Oh, wait. I think I know what I did wrong. Fixed.

[boru]

Fixed? I'm still getting the entire orc army in my recall list.

The other problem mentioned by Frigeridio is still here. In Detour, the objective says "make it to the north end of the road" but you can't win unless you kill the ogre leader.

In Clash, the objective is "Move the units you want to rescue to the signpost. Prinak must enter last." Yet there is no signpost, and if I move anyone other than Prinak to the end of the road, they won't exit.

By the way, I'm not sure you need a scenario like "Clash" at this point. At least in my case, most of my higher level units bought the farm in the scenario before it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

[monochromatic]

@boru I was going to upload a fixed version, but I didn't. Because it's going through some EPIC changes. Longer scenarios, combination of Detour and Clash into one scenario, and much more. I am currently doing some playtesting, and unfortunately it'll be a while before I can re-upload. If you want to help playtest, just pm me.

[boru]

A Hasty Escape

(1) Please name the scenario, difficulty, and version of of the campaign you are using.

NORMAL 1.8.2

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

5

(3) Are the objectives clear? If not, how would you re-word it?

Yes, but see below

(4) Are there any major balance issues? if so, please describe in detail.

It’s very tough to balance goblins against two other teams, especially when the orcs are going to turn on them eventually. At this point, I think it’s too easy to kill the dwarf and human leaders (believe me, if I did it, it was too easy!) however I can see that it could be made too hard to win. I’m really not sure what the answer is to this. Maybe you need a larger map where the leaders are more remote? Just a thought.

(5) Is the story compelling? If not, please state why.

I think it’s good. The opening cutscene works well, although you might want to polish the dialog a little. The orcs ought to totally go wild over the idea that their shaman left with them (unless Rampo is discredited or dishonored for some reason, why would he be included with the goblins?)

(6) How much did you like the scenario? [1-10]

8

(7) Is there any change you would like to see implemented? If so, please describe in a somewhat detailed fashion.

(8) Bugs. List them all here.

I never got Prinak to the signpost, but managed to kill the dwarf leader while attempting to level up a wolf, and the orcs killed Owoddry. This results in a victory, with none of the closing dialog or the business with Rampo getting on Prinak’s wolf.


Into the Wild

(1) Please name the scenario, difficulty, and version of of the campaign you are using.

NORMAL 1.8.2

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

9 because of the turn limit. If you gave more turns it would have been about 6 or so. Most players really don’t like when they run out of time, btw.

(3) Are the objectives clear? If not, how would you re-word it?

I think I would have said “Escape South” or “Escape the Human Army.” Or even “Defeat enemy leaders,” since that is a way to win. Simply saying “Escape” is a bit vague. Not major.

(4) Are there any major balance issues? if so, please describe in detail.

No

(5) Is the story compelling? If not, please state why.

Overall, I would say this is the best scenario of the campaign. Leadership ring is a nice bonus. The dwarves are too easily befriended. I think they’d at least demand payment upfront for their service, and maybe demand that you defeat the elves.

(6) How much did you like the scenario? [1-10]

8.5

(7) Is there any change you would like to see implemented? If so, please describe in a somewhat detailed fashion. -

Maybe you don’t want to give the ability to level Eronk into a rabid wolf? Just a thought.

(8) Bugs. List them all here.

The first dwarf encountered (in the village at 4,2) is still hostile after I wiped out the humans.
When Prinak is level 2, the sound of his melee and ranged spears are not heard.
When Rampo appears, we get a little black box with nothing in it. You need to make your object silent in order to fix this.
Augasil does not say his lines when Prinak asks if he can fix the keep. When Augasil returns he has lost his experience from the elf battle.
You win if you defeat all enemy leaders.
After victory, Augasil does not say his lines.


Mountain of Danger

(1) Please name the scenario, difficulty, and version of of the campaign you are using.

NORMAL 1.8.2 (still)

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

9

(3) Are the objectives clear? If not, how would you re-word it? -

If you lose Eronk, you are defeated (not in objectives)

(4) Are there any major balance issues? if so, please describe in detail.

It’s difficult, but as long as you stay one step ahead of the orcs, you’re good. The orc warriors may be a bit too much.

(5) Is the story compelling? If not, please state why. -

At this point the story is reminding me very much of the Rise of Wesnoth and a few other campaigns where your team goes from one spot to the next, getting clobbered by everyone they meet.

(6) How much did you like the scenario? [1-10]

5 .. I think it gets a bit boring when you come around another corner and find another 4 or 5 ogres, it was a tough battle but not as interesting as the previous one.

(7) Is there any change you would like to see implemented? If so, please describe in a somewhat detailed fashion.

(8) Bugs. List them all here.

We bid the dwarves goodby in the last scenario, but they are in the recall list.


Clash

(1) Please name the scenario, difficulty, and version of of the campaign you are using.

NORMAL 1.8.2

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

0

(3) Are the objectives clear? If not, how would you re-word it?

Please show where the signpost is!

(4) Are there any major balance issues? if so, please describe in detail.

The orcs and humans don’t seem to be recruiting much. I saw one orc by turn 6, one human by turn 7, by that point Prinak was at the end of the road, so I just sent him there.

(5) Is the story compelling? If not, please state why.

Too similar to the one in HttT — not sure why you’re doing this.

(6) How much did you like the scenario? [1-10]

0

(7) Is there any change you would like to see implemented? If so, please describe in a somewhat detailed fashion.

Honestly, I would scrap this particular scenario entirely, unless you have something amazing up your sleeve.

(8) Bugs. List them all here.

Murin fires first then says, “Let me show you my archery skills.” Then he joins the side. Seemed like an odd choice of words to me.

No one except Prinak can exit when they reach the invisible signpost.