After the Storm 0.10.18.1 [Wesnoth 1.14.x & 1.15.12+]

[Matherton]

I cheered out loud when I saw that there was an After the Storm update at last. I am now playing AtS on 1.9.8 and IftU on 1.8.6 simultaneously, switching back and forth between turns. So far, AtS has been solid- I was not at all sure I could beat Civil War in the North, but I did at last (oh, I am playing on easy, by the way) by holding the position in the middle until I ran out of money and then fleeing down the path to the SW and hiding in the woods until the turns were up. Is there a better way? Also, would I have lost if one of the two elf armies had killed the leader of the other army? I am guessing I would. By the time the turns were up, green was in a good position to kill blue in a couple of turns, but wasn't there yet. You seem, by the way, to be good at designing the sort of scenario where everyone is trying to kill everyone else- this was brought home to me when I found myself playing Civil War on 1.9.8. and IftU's Crossfire on 1.8.6 at the same time.
Terror at Dusk seems breathtakingly hard. I have tried a couple of different strategies, and each time I have gotten discouraged and started the scenario over. I noticed that Civil War had no gold carryover, and of course would not have an early finish bonus, so I guess the 400 gold I start with is immutable. Anyway, I am going to try again, sending all or most of my force straight up the map at the enemy there, which seems like the best approach.
I was hoping that I'd get some humans on my recall list after Civil War, but the limitations of troop type in AtS is in itself interesting.

IftU is one of my top two favorite add-ons of all time, and I am excited that you've extended the storyline yet farther. AtS has lots of dramatic possibilities, and I can't wait to find out what happens next.

[cerion]

I upgraded to 1.9 just to playtest this, very enjoyable

Not sure what's up with recalls after The Triad: the scenario objectives in that mission say that the loyal units created there can't be recalled in future missions, but they do join the recall list

Also, all undead/fairies on the recall list that weren't in the mission disappear. Hope this isn't intentional because from a strategy viewpoint it's very annoying - not only does the player feel arbitrarily penalized for levelling certain units, but he has no clue what units are "safe" to level up in future because this might happen again.

Spoiler:

Seriously, losing Galas is bad enough! Great plot twist and it was a real shock to lose the main protagonist so far, but I would prefer if he actually made a heroic sacrifice to save Elynia rather than just being passively killed

Some other things that worked well: The scenario balance between AI factions in Civil War / Bay of Tirigaz is really good on normal, and the plot/backstory is compelling

[Theron]

AtS 0.4.0, medium / Wesnoth 1.9.9 / Mac OS X 10.6.8

// Bugs
Same loss of carryover gold between "Bay of Tirigaz" and "The Search for the Past" as reported in http://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php ... 09#p482509
Scenario 5: Ended with 146 gold to carryover
Scenario 6-1: Starting gold + carryover gold = 0 + 146 = 146 (OK)
Scenario 6-2: Starting gold + carryover gold = 0 + 148 = 148 (OK)
Scenario 7: Only starting gold (280). I expected 428 = 280 + 148
If it is intended to start scenario 7 with only default gold I think scenario 5's objectives should state 0% carryover (instead of 40%).
---
Similar loss of carryover gold between "The Search for the Past" and "Fear".
Maybe there is something special about these cutscene-scenarios.

(I have all start-of-scenario-saves and replays stored in a save place in case you need them.)
---
In "Fear" I have injured units on the recall list.
While HP are restored on recall units remain poisoned.

(Attachments: replay of 7 and start-of-scenario 8 )

// Balancing comments
In all scenarios but "Terror at dusk" it is possible to get through without regrettable losses.
scenario recruits-recalls-advancements-losses-kills
1 9-0-0-2-18
2 10-5-10-0-47
3 14-14-12-27*-81 *mainly cannon fodder
4 5-13-4-6-38
5 4-17-9-0-58
7 6-5-6-0-70
8 2-13-1-0-36
I consider all parts of scenario 9 to be cutscenes with fighting only to add flavor.
But as these scenarios are all brand new there may be more challenges with a new version.

// What to do now?
Should I continue with "Tears", replay a few scenarios or start all over (after updating to 0.4.1a)?
Or should I give hard a try? …shudder

[Iris]

Also, all undead/fairies on the recall list that weren't in the mission disappear. Hope this isn't intentional because from a strategy viewpoint it's very annoying - not only does the player feel arbitrarily penalized for levelling certain units, but he has no clue what units are "safe" to level up in future because this might happen again.

Definitely not intentional, although I didn’t stumble upon this during my playtesting. What Wesnoth version are you using?
I had read this as the entire recall list disappearing; sorry about that, it’s definitely my fault and it’s fixed in 0.4.2.

In "Fear" I have injured units on the recall list. While HP are restored on recall units remain poisoned.

ISTR this is a bug in Wesnoth, actually. I’ll check other campaigns later.
Actually, this seems to be a problem with the way PUT_TO_RECALL_LIST and recalling work.

[Theron]

// Replay bugs
Just loading the replay of the placeholder scenario "Tears" leads to a reproducible segfault:
29.09.11 21:26:09 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] 20110929 21:26:09 error config: Illegal tile in map: (Rb^Xp) 'Rb^Xp'
29.09.11 21:26:09 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] 20110929 21:26:09 error config: map could not be loaded: Illegal tile in map: (Rb^Xp) 'Rb^Xp'
29.09.11 21:26:09 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] The map cannot be loaded.
29.09.11 21:26:23 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] 20110929 21:26:23 error engine: Trying to recall on invalid location!
29.09.11 21:26:23 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] 20110929 21:26:23 error engine: Trying to add Mal Keshar -
29.09.11 21:26:23 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Mal Keshar at an invalid location; Discarding.
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextSetFont: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextSetFontSize: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextSetTextMatrix: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextClearRect: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextSetRGBFillColor: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] Thu Sep 29 21:26:24 mba Wesnoth[167] <Error>: CGContextShowGlyphsAtPoint: invalid context 0x0
29.09.11 21:26:24 [0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167] 20110929 21:26:24 error display: could not open image 'terrain/.png'
29.09.11 21:26:45 com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[125] ([0x0-0x15015].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[167]) Job appears to have crashed: Segmentation fault
29.09.11 21:26:45 ReportCrash[172] Saved crash report for Wesnoth[167] version 1.9.9 (1.9.9) to /Users/marsch/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Wesnoth_2011-09-29-212645_MBA.crash

Some replays may lead to crashes, e.g. "Fear". How to reproduce:
Load the replay.
(Skip animation=yes)
Replay the complete scenario.
Press "reset to beginning".
=>
29.09.11 21:34:31 [0x0-0x1b01b].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[195] 20110929 21:34:31 error display: could not open image 'terrain/.png'
29.09.11 21:35:38 [0x0-0x1b01b].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[195] Assertion failed: (!wml_triggered), function place_recruit, file /Users/simon/source/wesnoth/projectfiles/Xcode/../../src/../src/actions.cpp, line 644.
29.09.11 21:35:39 com.apple.launchd.peruser.502[125] ([0x0-0x1b01b].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[195]) Job appears to have crashed: Abort trap
29.09.11 21:35:39 ReportCrash[203] Saved crash report for Wesnoth[195] version 1.9.9 (1.9.9) to /Users/marsch/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Wesnoth_2011-09-29-213539_MBA.crash

I'm not sure if these issues are AtS only or more general and should be reported on gna.

[Iris]

Version 0.4.2 is out!

The changelog follows:

Code: Select all

* Scenarios:
  * Removed player income in scenario 6 and 7 cutscenes.
  * 06 - Quenoth Isle/Elves of a Different Land:
    * Fixed gold carryover for scenario 07.
  * 07 - The Search for the Past:
    * Remove poison/slowed/ambush status from units at the end to avoid recall
      issues in later scenarios.
  * 07 - Resolutions:
    * Fixed gold carryover for scenario 08.
  * 09 - The Triad (part 1):
    * Fixed undead and faerie units in the recall list being killed in turn 2.

Hopefully I didn’t miss anything above other than the following, which I have postponed for 0.4.3:

Not sure what's up with recalls after The Triad: the scenario objectives in that mission say that the loyal units created there can't be recalled in future missions, but they do join the recall list

About the poisoned recalls in scenario 8, the actual fix, as noted in the changelog, is in scenario 7 — namely, in the victory event. Unfortunately, this means you only get to enjoy the fix if you start over from scenario 7. Since the bug isn’t a show-stopper with Elynia hanging around Galas, I have decided to keep it this way.

I'm not sure if these issues are AtS only or more general and should be reported on gna.

As I always say, WML is not meant to crash to Wesnoth. I suspect the replay engine could be suffering from various bugs at this time since 1.9.x’s codebase is unfortunately still undergoing massive changes.

[cerion]

Thanks for the quick fix, but the update isn't working for me on 1.9.9 for some reason: "a problem occurred when trying to create the files necessary to install this add-on"

[Iris]

Oops, I didn’t fix the poisoned recalls bug as I thought — I screwed up a WML command.

I guess that’ll be for 0.4.3 too.

EDIT: There appears to be a bug in 0.4.2 causing saves to get corrupted after scenario 7. I’m looking into it.

EDIT2: It’s the exact problem I just mentioned above that causes saves corruption after scenario 7. 0.4.3 coming now.

EDIT3: If you have to hand-fix your saves, make sure to decompress them with gunzip, winrar, whatever, and edit them with a text editor to remove the following faulty block found under the replay_start.variables node; note that the hitpoints value will vary:

Code: Select all

		[]
			hitpoints=33
			moves=0
			[status]
				poisoned=no
				slowed=no
				uncovered=yes
			[/status]
		[/]

[Iris]

Version 0.4.3 is out!

The changelog:

Code: Select all

* Scenarios:
  * 07 - The Search for the Past:
    * Fix the poisoned recalls bug for real now; this also fixes an ugly case
      of saved game corruption resulting from that.
  * 09 - The Triad (part 1):
    * Don't allow cutscene helpers to be put into the recall list.

[cerion]

Completed scenario 10 on 0.4.2, guess we're not really supposed to have those loyal orcs after all Although recruiting expendable grunts for 12 gold to cover the more important units is probably a better strategy than trying to keep loyal orcs alive in any case.

[artisticdude]

So I recently found some time to test the recent update out. Running v0.4.3 on Wesnoth 1.9.7. I really have to compliment you on the writing, it achieves a nice balance of being formal without being stuffy, which is hard to do in my opinion.


I don't really have anything negative to point out for any of the scenarios except the very last working scenario, "Tears":

> In the 'Tears' scenario, Galas is on the recall list (I just recalled him and then used him to recruit while Elynia out to fight, but the player could potentially move one of them to a captured keep and recruit from there while simultaneously recruiting from the player's original keep). I assume that wasn't intentional?

> It may be just me, but I think the 'Tears' scenario is too difficult. I can survive the first wave fine, but the second wave is too strong for me, and I run out of gold before I can recruit enough troops to cover the loses I've taken from the first wave. I'd suggest either increasing the player's starting gold, or decreasing that of one or both of the enemy leaders. Or maybe place a few more villages closer to the player's starting location. Although to be honest, it may just be my sub-par strategical skills or something I'm just not picking up on in the scenario that is killing me here, so I've included a replay. It ends with Horo getting killed, so maybe I was just overusing my heros?

Anyway, glad you've decided to come back to this. Great work so far, and I'm looking forward to further updates.

[Iris]

> In the 'Tears' scenario, Galas is on the recall list (I just recalled him and then used him to recruit while Elynia out to fight, but the player could potentially move one of them to a captured keep and recruit from there while simultaneously recruiting from the player's original keep). I assume that wasn't intentional?

Indeed it’s not intentional at all. I even had safeguards at the end of 8 pt. 3 to help in case a certain WML feature didn’t work correctly in older versions than 1.9.9:

This isn’t just a code spoiler, probably:

Code: Select all

        [harm_unit]
            [filter]
                id=Galas
            [/filter]
            [filter_second]
                id=Elyssa
            [/filter_second]
            [secondary_attack]
                range=melee
            [/secondary_attack]
            kill=yes
            animate=yes
            fire_event=no
            amount="$galas_store.hitpoints"
        [/harm_unit]

        # FIXME: remove some day when Wesnoth works more consistently

        [if]
            [have_unit]
                id=Galas
            [/have_unit]
            [then]
                [kill]
                    id=Galas
                    animate=yes
                    fire_event=no
                [/kill]
            [/then]
        [/if]

I’m not going to force anyone to upgrade just yet, since I’m aware how much of a PITA downloading Wesnoth can be for non-SVN users and I also know 1.9.8 and 1.9.9 may be full of regressions for more specific use cases. However, this still looks suspicious to me.

> It may be just me, but I think the 'Tears' scenario is too difficult.

Indeed it is. I made it significantly easier in SVN so it should be more of a mild breather scenario.

Spoiler:

Scenario 11 is intended to be really difficult in exchange, though.

[Theron]

AtS 0.4.3, hard / Wesnoth 1.9.9 / Mac OS X 10.6.8

// Errors and warnings in replay of "Tears"
Messages like …
04.10.11 09:11:48 [0x0-0x1a01a0].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[8377] 20111004 09:11:48 warning engine: variable_info: retrieving member of non-existent WML container, temp_NPC_target.y
04.10.11 09:11:48 [0x0-0x1a01a0].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[8377] 20111004 09:11:48 error config: invalid move_unit_fake destination: 36,22
04.10.11 09:11:48 [0x0-0x1a01a0].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[8377] 20111004 09:11:48 error engine: Cannot unstore unit: recall list is empty for player 4 and the map location is invalid.
… are caused by the patrolling razorbirds.

// Image error in replay of "Tears"
04.10.11 09:14:44 [0x0-0x1a01a0].org.wesnoth.Wesnoth[8377] 20111004 09:14:44 error display: could not open image 'units/elves-quenoth/shaman-heal1.png'

// Medium vs. hard comments
IMHO the increase in difficulty is well done.
While there is less room for mistakes in hard one does not need a complete different strategy.
Even my stats are similar (at the end of "Fear"):
difficulty recruits-recalls-advancements-losses-kills
medium 50-67-42-35-332
hard 52-62-47-35-356

// "Tears" comments
It took me several tries to find a satisfying unit composition.
But once found the scenario isn't that hard (see my attached replay).
The major challenge is: Not to forget about the range and attack power of the assault drones and accidentally move a unit into range which could be killed if unlucky.

// Replay issues
Reproduced the crash with the replay of "Fear" - I'll file a bug report.

EDIT:
Now with replay of "Tears".

[cerion]

Tears didn't seem all that bad with a mix of veterans (elves, sorcerers, ghosts) and level 1 orc grunts backed by Quenoth Captain leadership. I do agree that the assault drones that sit around waiting to pounce on any unit that moves in range are pretty annoying.

[Iris]

Version 0.4.4 is out now!

The changelog for this version follows:

Code: Select all

* Scenarios:
  * 10 - Tears:
    * Made significantly easier.
    * Fixed missing gold carryover from scenario 08.
  * 11 - Return to Wesmere (part 1):
    * New scenario.
* Units:
  * New NPC bird behavior code.

Not mentioned in the changelog are fixes for a few missing image errors (which weren’t fatal anyway), and a side-effect of the new NPC bird code being cleaner console output, that is, no “invalid move_unit_fake destination” or “retrieving member of non-existent WML container” errors/warnings should occur from now on. There’s also a couple of grammar or spelling fixes in this version.

Scenario 11 part 1 was nightmarishly difficult to balance, and it might be too easy or too hard in this and the next few versions. For now my primary focus will be to complete the requirements for version 0.5.0, but if you find any important bugs in the meantime, I’ll keep pushing new 0.4.x versions as quickly as I can.