Re: Swamplings - v1.1.7 - for 1.8 and 1.9

[boru]

Okay, my code works in 1.8 but fails in 1.9.

I'll fix this as soon as I figure out how to.

EDIT:

Chris, thanks for reporting this. There is a new version of Swamplings now on the 1.9 server, which fixes the counting of bats.

[Waz72]

Hi I've played your campaign with 1.8.1 and campaign version 1.1.5e -at medium difficulty , I've finished it and I really liked it a lot, I couldn't stop playing !! Swamp goblings are great and I loved when they became wolf riders !! Great story and dialogues!
I've found no major bugs ,just two little issues:

1 in the " Meet mr. Blydd " scenario when you get to use the archduke's keep , I can recall Eeep and Kennison more than once, and I cannot recall Misris ( which I'll never ever get to recall or see for the rest of the campaign )
2 the nucturne goblin is in my opinion a bit weak for a lvl 2, his distance attack is worse than the moonbeam (his lvl 1 unit) although it slows down enemies ... you should improve that.

Nothing else to say , really an overall great campaign that kept me hooked for days.
Keep up the good work
Waz

[Waz72]

Two more things : I've played the first scenarios ( the first 3 if I remember right ) on an older version - maybe 1.1.0 - so that could explain the recall list bug I've had ; I didn't use the thundergobos much , it was hard to get them to the carovan and I preferred to use wolf riders and bats in that scenario, and the thundergobos seemed to me a lesser version of the 2 dwarves I already had , so I didn't recruit them later on ...
Thanks again for such a great campaign
Waz

[boru]

Waz72, many thanks for your comments. I'm glad you liked the campaign so much.

You're not the first to report problems with the recall list in Meet Mr Blydd. I keep going back to it and testing it, but it always works fine for me. I cannot reproduce the bug. I always get exactly one Eeep, one Kennison and one Misris. If you happen to have a saved game from this scenario, please post it here. It might help me squash this once and for all.

Are you certain you played the 1.1.5e version from the beginning, and didn't update the campaign while playing it?

As for the Nocturne, the slowing attack is meant to be a big improvement over the Moonbeam, but I think I will give him a non-slowing 5-3 hatchet attack in addition to the club and bolos, which should make him a bit more powerful without making him too strong for a level 2.

EDIT:

Two more things : I've played the first scenarios ( the first 3 if I remember right ) on an older version - maybe 1.1.0 - so that could explain the recall list bug I've had ; ...

Okay, after reading this a second time, I finally got it through my thick head. There were definitely recall list bugs in the earlier versions of this campaign (released August or earlier), and once those bugs are in your saved game file, they aren't fixed by downloading a new version.

[Waz72]

Thanks Boru , so now I guess I'll play the campaign again with the new version from the beginning !!
Waz

[bigkahuna]

Hey Boru, I started playing your campaign and I really like it! On 1.8 I stopped before Exodus, but this time I am onto Rogue's Reward. I am playing on Easy (wimp), version 1.1.5e, BfW version 1.9.2.
A few nitpicks:



A. you can't really do much about this, but I am getting kind of bored of only being able to recruit level 0s... Really killing me here

B. On the bat scenario, Ronry is moveable and on side 1. I used him to heal all my units and won the scenario fairly easily. On the 1.8 version, he just stood still and I had to do it alone. Not sure if this was a bug, or intended.

C. On "It Takes a Swamp Goblin", I had a LOT of trouble. The initial escape went fine at first, but when I got up to the part where the passage closes, a bunch of guards were still left behind, and more kept coming. I had to save/reload about 10 times before I made it, because all the guards had to be in a certain position or you could not squeeze past them. On the way to the trapdoor, Clammie had about 10hp and the Duke guy (forgot his name) had about the same halfway through. The only way I won is save-loading until Clammie got his AMLA and then save-loading so the Duke could get a hit in. When I made it through the trapdoor: WOAH - major rat overload. It got kind of annoying. Just a thought, there.

Besides these, the campaign is great so far. I REALLY like the storyline and dialogue; those are one of the campaign's greatest strengths.

[boru]

bigkahuna,

Thanks, I'm really glad you're liking the campaign so much.

A. You will eventually get to recruit some non-zeroes, namely Wolf Riders and some level 1 custom gobos. The basic spearman can level up to some custom units too.

B. I just tested this scenario again and it seems that Ronry is working as intended. That is, he's on side one and he can move around while you're doing the bat charming. Then he meets up with Ronry and gets paralyzed. Seems to be working properly here. The scenario is easier in 1.9 because the game no longer permits an attack on a charmed unit and ends the attack after the bat is charmed, so it's much less likely to accidentally kill a bat.

C. Did you use all three secret passages in this scenario? It shouldn't be too hard if you use all three. If you open the third one too soon, you can just shut it again and wait for the guards to move on. Then you'd have to fight a couple of them but it shouldn't require any saveloading.

I hope that is helpful to you and thanks again for your comments.

[Seddyrocky]

I just had to say that storywise, this was among the best, if not the best, campaign I played here. (And I have played quite a few ^^). It was a little difficult at times, but on a second playthrough on some maps, it was much easier. I replayed the helping of the poisoned mage just to see if I could save him But alas...

So: great, great job. Really impressed.

[boru]

I just had to say that storywise, this was among the best, if not the best, campaign I played here. (And I have played quite a few ^^). It was a little difficult at times, but on a second playthrough on some maps, it was much easier. I replayed the helping of the poisoned mage just to see if I could save him But alas...

So: great, great job. Really impressed.

Hey, thanks for the kind word, friend.

Spoiler about Ronry the mage:

Spoiler:

The guy is doomed. Sorry, but if you had a white mage for the rest of the campaign, it'd be fantastically easy.

[Jabie]

Excellent campaign so far, though I'm only part way through (just completed scenario 5) If the standard is maintained throughout, this campaign should seriously be considered for mainline.

Notes so far:

Scenario 1: The bowmen were a bit of a surprise. Maybe there should be foreshadowed. When the second last to last horseman is killed, Clammie could exclaim: "This is our swamp. Flee whilst you still have the chance." to which Eeep could reply: "Don't get cocky. My wolves can smell more than the dung of horses."

Scenario 2: Kept killing the bats, or having them killed by the next bat. Ran out of time first time round, cos I either kept missing the bats at 2 x 40% or did them too much damage and the next Bat killed them. You could lower the damage and make it a x3 weapon to increase the chances of hitting.

Scenario 3: Suarians on their home turf. The Slow attribute *really* hurts Goblins recruits on this scenario. I hired about 50-50 Goblins to Bats, mostly as a screen for my Loyals, who I was trying to level up without risking too much. I have to relaod a fair bit all the same, because the wild animals pretty much all went for me. It would have been nice if they shared the love with the Saurians a little more. Also, is Fog of War necessary? The Goblins have lived in this swamp all their lives, if anyone kows whats going on it's going to be them.

Scenario 5: This is a great scenario, but it still needs some work. Part 1. I sussed out who the "Archduke" was on turn 15 / 15. I reloaded from turn 1 to save time.

Part 2. You should disallow the pursuers from having the Quick attribute. This gives players a little more leaway of they take the wrong path or fail to spot the secret door.

At the rope bridge I inadvertently put Clammie into position first, so I got a very odd dialogue (because he hasn't been shown how to use the rope) then my ally used the rope and Clammie ran round the pond to give him a push... and face the oncoming hordes.

In the columns part, I just stepped one space at a time and didn't trigger any traps. I'm pretty sure I didn't follow the prescribed route. When you have to open the second secret door, it got very luck dependent. Sure, there's a timing element, but I had some appalling luck and it took me about three rounds to get past a bowman. By this time, my enemies were on my tail and my ally died after I *almost* got back to the trapdoor. A village at 38,17 is recommended.

Some of my enemies were particualrly suicidal. They headed into the Pascals columns section to South West and hung around there for no good reason. Maybe you should get rid of the section, or just put a small store room with 50 Gold Piece statuette inside to tempt greedy players.

If you set off a secret door, then use Undo, then set it off again, it'll reverse the secret door.

Part 3. Loved the "I've seen their wages" line. The Heroes ought to get a free rest (+8HP) Yes I know that there's a nearby village, but both of my heroes had taken some serious damage and you can only heal one at a time. Something along the lines of Clammie: "I could do with a breather." Kennison: "My dear goblin, the last thing I want to do in this fetid slime-pit is breathe!" Clammie: "But I'm tired and legs ache." Kennsion: "If you must. But I beg of you, do not to take too long. Eau de toilette is sooo last season."

It's not clear that you need to left not right. i wasted several turns before I sussed that out.

I struggled to make any progress past the rats. They blocked the bridge, and each time I killed one, another took it's place. Yes, I know I'm meant to leapfrog my heroes, but I was struggling to keep them healed and running them back would have lost vital time. Putting a village at 22,23 (perhaps Greta's) would have helped enormously. I got out on about turn 57 / 60.

[boru]

Jabie, I'm glad you're enjoying the campaign. Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed bug report.

What difficulty level are you playing on? The reason I ask is, if you flip back a few pages in this thread, you'll find people chiding me for making these very same scenarios too easy. If you're playing on normal, you may find an easy game to be more to your liking. The campaign is not balanced yet, that will require a lot more bug reports and tweaking, so an "easy" game of Swamplings is not yet comparable to "easy" in a balanced campaign.

Scenario 1: The bowmen were a bit of a surprise. Maybe there should be foreshadowed. When the second last to last horseman is killed, Clammie could exclaim: "This is our swamp. Flee whilst you still have the chance." to which Eeep could reply: "Don't get cocky. My wolves can smell more than the dung of horses."

The bowmen were added a short while ago to increase the challenge. I'm not certain if I'll stick with them or do something else. The scenario was too easy when it was just horsemen.

Scenario 2: Kept killing the bats, or having them killed by the next bat. Ran out of time first time round, cos I either kept missing the bats at 2 x 40% or did them too much damage and the next Bat killed them. You could lower the damage and make it a x3 weapon to increase the chances of hitting.

I tried lowering the damage, but then you almost never kill a bat and that is extremely boring. In the new development branch 1.9, this scenario plays out completely differently. Bats are almost never killed. In 1.9, the game prevents you from attacking a charmed unit, even if the unit is charmed in the middle of your attack. So the second attack is stopped. It's a real yawn festival. So I'll probably change the wand of wonderment to give one huge attack instead of two small ones. Or, maybe I can fix it so the charm occurs after the two attacks ... hmm ...

Scenario 3: Suarians on their home turf. The Slow attribute *really* hurts Goblins recruits on this scenario. I hired about 50-50 Goblins to Bats, mostly as a screen for my Loyals, who I was trying to level up without risking too much. I have to relaod a fair bit all the same, because the wild animals pretty much all went for me. It would have been nice if they shared the love with the Saurians a little more. Also, is Fog of War necessary? The Goblins have lived in this swamp all their lives, if anyone kows whats going on it's going to be them.

Yeah, this is a tough one. The only villages are the ones in the northern part of the map. You may not be able to give your loyals much XP in this scenario, so it would be a better strategy to recruit instead of recall. Quantity beats quality here. In normal difficulty you should have at least enough gold for ten gobos and ten bats, if you don't do any recalls. That ought to give you a strong enough shield for Clammie and your NPCs. Don't worry about advancing too far in the first 7-10 turns. You have 30 turns to get Clammie to the signpost so don't take unnecessary risks. Slow units can be useful to shield injured units. Don't advance injured units, let them get +2 healing for standing still.

In my testing, the wild animals frequently go for the saurians. I tweaked the AI so that, if they have the chance to attack a saurian or one of your team in the same turn, they will target your team. It took me a bit of work to fix it so the fog of war parts when an attack is going on between the saurians and the animals. Therefore I am a bit reluctant to take it all out.

Scenario 5: This is a great scenario, but it still needs some work. Part 1. I sussed out who the "Archduke" was on turn 15 / 15. I reloaded from turn 1 to save time.

No need to reload. As long as you find Kennison by turn 15 you're okay. Plus you are racking up gold from any captured villages. If you reload, that gold will vanish.

Part 2. You should disallow the pursuers from having the Quick attribute. This gives players a little more leaway of they take the wrong path or fail to spot the secret door.

I'll give that a try, it sounds like a good idea. I suppose this plays out very differently if you happen to get a quick Kennison or not.

At the rope bridge I inadvertently put Clammie into position first, so I got a very odd dialogue (because he hasn't been shown how to use the rope) then my ally used the rope and Clammie ran round the pond to give him a push... and face the oncoming hordes.

oops - will fix in the next update.

In the columns part, I just stepped one space at a time and didn't trigger any traps. I'm pretty sure I didn't follow the prescribed route. When you have to open the second secret door, it got very luck dependent. Sure, there's a timing element, but I had some appalling luck and it took me about three rounds to get past a bowman. By this time, my enemies were on my tail and my ally died after I *almost* got back to the trapdoor. A village at 38,17 is recommended.

There is more than one way to get thru the columns without triggering the traps. How is the second door luck dependent? A village at 38,17 seems a bit too close to the one at 38,15. It's roughly seven moves away, so you'd get there in two turns. And with so many guards on your tail, resting in a village won't help a severely injured unit.

Some of my enemies were particualrly suicidal. They headed into the Pascals columns section to South West and hung around there for no good reason. Maybe you should get rid of the section, or just put a small store room with 50 Gold Piece statuette inside to tempt greedy players.

They're after the villages to the south. It's meant to be a little joke about the AI, but you're the second person to consider it a mistake, so I may just remove it entirely. No big deal either way, it's only there because it amuses me slightly.

If you set off a secret door, then use Undo, then set it off again, it'll reverse the secret door.

Yes, or you can just step out of that hex and return again. This is intentional. I think that a door that can be opened but never be shut would be unrealistic. Also, you can have a lot of fun with this. You'll probably never kill all the guards but you can soften them up by forcing them to circle through the trapped columns in the northwest a few times.

Part 3. Loved the "I've seen their wages" line. The Heroes ought to get a free rest (+8HP) Yes I know that there's a nearby village, but both of my heroes had taken some serious damage and you can only heal one at a time. Something along the lines of Clammie: "I could do with a breather." Kennison: "My dear goblin, the last thing I want to do in this fetid slime-pit is breathe!" Clammie: "But I'm tired and legs ache." Kennsion: "If you must. But I beg of you, do not to take too long. Eau de toilette is sooo last season."

Jumping into the sewer with two badly injured units will not end well. I'd recommend restarting the scenario if Clammie and Kennison are both in the red area of their HP bars. I don't think a "free rest" would help much in that case. You'd get a similar result from swapping one guy out of the village and the other one in, it would just take an additional turn, and you've got at least 20 turns left by that point.

It's not clear that you need to left not right. i wasted several turns before I sussed that out.

I thought that was a rather clever ruse, actually. Maybe just a tomato surprise, but it took me awhile. You ought to have enough turns to get through the area, despite the misdirection.

I struggled to make any progress past the rats. They blocked the bridge, and each time I killed one, another took it's place. Yes, I know I'm meant to leapfrog my heroes, but I was struggling to keep them healed and running them back would have lost vital time. Putting a village at 22,23 (perhaps Greta's) would have helped enormously. I got out on about turn 57 / 60.

Why would I need to add a village if you got out on turn 57 without reloading? You successfully beat the scenario. Not trying to sound harsh, I just don't see the problem.

=====

EDIT: After more testing today, I found a bug which intermittently places two guardsmen inside the secret passageway. This is only intended to occur in hard games, not in other difficulty levels. Anyone who encounters this bug will find this scenario much more difficult than intended. This will be fixed in the next update.

[Rowanthepreacher]

Hey, I played this through on normal and it thoroughly blew me away. It's got a great story, a little humour and requires an entirely different tactical approach to other campaigns. It manages to be epic on the goblin scale.

I'd have to agree with the people complaining about the Saurians, because they're as numerous as the goblins, have positive stats, rather than negative ones, and they have tremendous defence on every kind of terrain. I'm still not sure how I managed to defeat them on "normal", when I'm accustomed to wiping the floor with my foes on "hard".

Are cutthroats in the mainline campaigns, or are they especially for Swamplings? I was umming and erring over Eeep's final upgrade, and I am sooooo glad I chose cutthroat. For 1/3 of every mission, he is a glorious brazen god, and during the other 2/3rds he's just plain awesome. During the Dire Cave mission he singlehandedly cleared the area that for me.

P.S. Great work. I registered just to tell you how awesome this campaign is. The characters engaged me in a way that every other campaign has simply failed to do, and explored interesting tactical territory.

P.P.S. Thundergobos make everything very easy. Double upgraded thundergobos (when you get the option to have 2 shots per turn) are spectacularly overpowered. I know that cheap spearmen -> thundergobo is supposed to be the point of the mission in which they appear, but since you've got ages to complete that mission, you can happily hold off the skinks and mass produce them and never use anything else in any mission thereafter. I almost gave my best double shot Vundergobo the multispear....

[boru]

Rowan,

I'm glad you enjoyed Swamplings. Thanks for taking the time to tell me about it.

So where exactly did you have trouble with the Saurians? It sounds like you found the Thunderstruck scenario easy, so I'm guessing it might be Exodus. Exodus can be a lot harder if you push Clammie toward the signpost too soon. Next time around, let him stay on the keep and recruit for an extra round, and I think you'll see a big difference.

The Cutthroat is a custom unit I created for this campaign. It's not as finely balanced as the mainline units, just something I added for fun. Like the Thundergobos and Vundergobos, they are probably overpowered as you say, I'll take a look and make some adjustments if I get a lot of complaints.

Thanks again for your kind words.

[Insinuator]

Ok, I'm going to hold off on commenting on the scenario's artistic qualities until I finish and just give a bug I got playing through on "Normal" in v1.9.4. This occurs at the very beginning of the scenario. I don't know how or if it impacts gameplay.

"Invalid WML Found: Macro "RECALL_OR_CREATE_UNIT" is scheduled for removal in 1.9.4"

[Alarantalara]

The message you saw will have no effect on gameplay until 1.9.6 (or maybe 1.11, I'm not exactly sure what two versions later means), at which point it will stop working. boru will have to eventually change it, but it won't affect you (other than possibly being annoying).