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

[stargazer]

Hello, I downloaded the campaign yesterday and passed several scenarios at hard level.
But in scenario 7 of episode 1 (The Search for thePast), when I walked through the caves to gather information, I killed all enemies and touched all glyphs, but the scenario didn't end. I had a quick look at the map and configuration file but couldn't find what was the reason, since I touched all 5 (4 velvet +1 red)(?) information glyphs present in them. So what it wrong with it?

[Iris]

What Wesnoth version are you running? I just completed the scenario successfully on 1.10.1. If it’s not too much trouble, you could PM me a saved game of the completed scenario before triggering the last glyph so I could check what prevents it from ending there.

UPDATE: after a quick exchange, it turns out this isn’t a bug, at least not completely:

[...] you apparently missed the message sequence displayed when a unit that is not Elynia moves to the red glyph at 31,48, requiring her to move there instead. The scenario successfully ends then.

I’ll make a note to update the scenario Objectives accordingly when that happens.

[Iris]

Version 0.7.3 is out now.

This is chiefly a maintenance release addressing some known bugs, although there are a few balancing changes and some minor graphic updates thrown into the mix as well; most notably, Anya no longer looks quite the same at every level.

The changelog for this version follows:

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Version 0.7.3:
--------------
* Graphics:
  * New or updated unit graphics: Dusk Faerie, Night Nymph, Nightshade Fire.

* Scenarios:
  * E1S7 - The Search for the Past:
    * Update objectives accordingly to remind the player to move Elynia to the
      sealed glyph when she doesn't find it first.
  * E1S9.1 - The Triad, part 1:
    * Minor graphic improvements.
  * E1S12 - The Queen:
    * Fixed multiple "cannot show message" warnings.
  * E2S2 - The Heart Forest:
    * Tweaked the initial spawn locations of Allyna and her pursuers in an
      attempt to make the ambush event a little less frustrating.
  * E2S4 - Shifting Allegiances:
    * Various map and code changes to increase difficulty.
  * E2S12 - Fate:
    * Minor graphic improvements.

* Units:
  * New or updated descriptions: Chaos Lorekeeper.
  * Improved unit animations: Dusk Faerie, Night Nymph, Nightshade Fire, Faerie
    Avatar, Shaxthal Queen.
  * Optimized or fixed unit animations: Goliath, Sylvan Warden, Sprite, Fire
    Faerie, Dryad, Forest Spirit, Shaxthal Warlord.
  * Balancing:
    * Increased Forest Spirit's resistance to fire damage from 0% to 20%.
      * Note that this is actually a bugfix; the original fire resistance
        specified was 20%, but there was spurious left-over code switching
        it to 0%.
    * Increased Forest Spirit's resistance to arcane damage from -20% to -10%.
    * Decreased Forest Spirit's resistance to cold damage from 70% to 0%.

[Iris]

Version 0.7.4 is out now.

I expect this to be the last release of the 0.7.x series unless something major comes up later. The next release should be version 0.8.0, scheduled for May 1st assuming everything goes the way I planned in the meantime. 0.8.0 will contain the first three scenarios of After the Storm: Final (otherwise known as Episode III).

It’s perfectly evident at this point that it won’t be possible to achieve the version 1.0 goals very soon, which is why I decided to go ahead with the development of the third and final episode of the campaign immediately and turn it into a 1.0 target as well.

However, the importance of version 0.7.4 goes a little further than this minor change of plans.

In order to allow a faster release cycle and quick deployment of critical bug fixes, I have split the add-on in two packages. The first, original package contains all resources except music files, which are now provided by a separate add-on creatively titled After the Storm Music in the Wesnoth 1.10 add-ons server. Since neither the server nor the 1.10 client appear to have a problem with it, both add-ons are mutually dependent; this should minimize the chances of people installing the music package without the campaign.

This design will allow faster uploads at my end, and faster downloads at the players’ end (when not using Xdelta, anyway). I expect the 0.8.x release cycle to be fairly long and lively, assuming artwork and plot development go as expected. Given the nature of the music add-on, odds are it won’t see a lot of updates in the future; at the very least, it won’t be updated as often as the approx. 4.6 MiB campaign proper. People who don’t play with music or sounds enabled, or who simply cannot afford the separate 12.3 MiB download are not required to install the add-on, although the campaign menu entries will include a small warning accordingly.

Current users of 0.7.3 and previous versions will be asked to install the music add-on when upgrading or installing AtS for the first time.

Because of the aforementioned splitting and some other internal changes, I decided to fast-track this update instead of holding it until 0.8.0. The more testers, the better.

The changelog for this version follows:

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Version 0.7.4:
--------------
* Graphics:
  * New or updated unit graphics: Shaxthal Warlord Nar-Hamoth

* Music:
  * All current music tracks have been moved to a separate add-on,
    imaginatively titled "AtS Music". This add-on is now an optional dependency
    for those who can't afford downloading it or don't play with music enabled.
    When absent, the AtS campaign menu entries for each episode will include a
    notice stating so.

* Scenarios:
  * E2S5 - The Eastern Front:
    * Added a time-over dialog sequence.
    * Added an additional dialog sequence focusing on a specific
      player character.
  * E2S6 - The Voyage Home:
    * Added a time-over dialog sequence.
  * E2S7 - Proximus:
    * Added a time-over dialog sequence.
  * E2S8 - And then there was Chaos:
    * Fixed elves not getting the Loyal trait.
  * E2S9 - New Hive:
    * Fixed Shaxthal Worms changing colors when moving.
    * Reduced starting gold.
  * E2S10 - The Betrayal:
    * Fixed multiple "invalid WML array index" warnings at the start.
    * Reduced starting gold.
  * E2S11 - A Final Confrontation:
    * Made the glyph guardians a little more competent.
  * Healing glyphs no longer render affected units unable to attack on the
    same turn.

* Units:
  * Balancing:
    * Increased arcane damage resistance for most Shaxthal units from -50% to
      -20%.
    * Decreased Demon Zephyr's movement cost on deep water terrains from 2 to 1.
    * Decreased Demon Zephyr's movement cost on unwalkable terrains from 3 to 1.
  * Reimplemented NPC bird behavior code in Lua.
  * Renamed "Shaxthal Warlord" unit type to "Shaxthal Warlord Narhamoth";
    this breaks old saved games of E1S9.1 (The Triad, part 1) during turns.

[Luckystars]

Hello, I just wanted to say how much I appreciated your campaign, its currently my favorite series. The stuff you have done with it is simply amazing.
I have had one incredibly frustrating bug where loading the epilogue of After the storm episode 2 makes wesnoth crash when its about 99% loaded. I am currently on wesnoth 1.10.1 on mac o x and I did use :debug for some of the previous scenarios. I hope I can figure out the problem because I would love to see the epilogue of this wonderful campaign. I can send you the error report if you like but it is pretty long,

[Iris]

I have had one incredibly frustrating bug where loading the epilogue of After the storm episode 2 makes wesnoth crash when its about 99% loaded. I am currently on wesnoth 1.10.1 on mac o x and I did use :debug for some of the previous scenarios. I hope I can figure out the problem because I would love to see the epilogue of this wonderful campaign. I can send you the error report if you like but it is pretty long,

I am aware of this issue and I found a workaround before thanks to vultraz, which will be in version 0.8.0.

Unfortunately, I’m obviously behind schedule for various technical and non-technical reasons, and I’m not sure how much additional time will pass before 0.8.0. If you can find the data/add-ons/After_the_Storm/base-variables.cfg file in your user preferences dir and edit it, find the following line and replace it accordingly.

Find:

Code: Select all

namespace="Project_Y.After_the_Storm"

Replace with:

Code: Select all

namespace="Project_Y_After_the_Storm"

(In other words, replace the dot in that line with an underscore.)

EDIT: fixed link.

[Iris]

I just uploaded version 0.1.1 of After the Storm Music to the server. This release of the music package only contains one change in order to prevent Wesnoth from crashing due to an empty _main.cfg file (#16544 [Gna.org]).

[Teapot]

Hi,

I have a few reports on ONE scenario to make, I have played more than one of course but only that one I found problems
I wanted to finish the campaign and post a whole set of remarks but the fact is I play by spurs and now is not the time ^^

As a precision, I played with the 6th april release (last one except for the music still 1.0 but no problem to report)

Spoiler:

Scenario : Then there was chaos
• Overall high difficulty at start : you have to stall 4 castles at the beginning. Then the rest is super easy.
• Elves are way too stupid. Archer and acolytes (wannabe avatar) go to close combat vs revenant, and ranged vs bone shooter. Other things I forgot to note.
• When the enemy elves joins Elyna upon defeating the false lady of light, they get twice the trait "loyal"
• I think it's the 3rd time I have played this and only now do I realize you shouldn't massacre the elves I felt super-dumb when I saw they join you
• Tell me if you are interested in the replay file.

Good luck for the next part, I am impatiently waiting for it

edit : well now I've finished it again, one more thing :

Spoiler:

The Betrayal (turn 48.5 of my replay if you want it)
• Worms may eat away any unit, just be moving over it. The unit is then permanently destroyed, without any fight. If Elyna is the one targeted so, then you lose.

A Final Confrontation
• This scenario was super easy for me as I had both über-troops and moutains of starting gold (>1000) accumulated during the previous scenario.
• When against the infiltrator, I used flying troops to do her in. The funny thing is that Elyna "killed" her in place of my last executor, but doing negative damage ^^

[direfish]

I had a bit of a deja vu playing this campaign. It looks exactly like IftU: same enemies, same combat strategies, similar plot even. Need more variety here.
Writing could be improved also. The campaign is epic and you obviously want to convey a lot of lore, but at times i felt stuffed with text and it was hard to wade through it.
The last thing - ghosts and elven ancestors break the game.

[Iris]

I had a bit of a deja vu playing this campaign. It looks exactly like IftU: same enemies, same combat strategies, similar plot even. Need more variety here.

Riiiiiight.

The last thing - ghosts and elven ancestors break the game.

Except Elvish Ancestors aren’t recruitable or even defined in WML in this campaign.

[Iris]

Version 0.8.0 is out now...

... 16 days after the original deadline. Oh well. At least it didn’t take half a year like the last time I failed to meet a release schedule.

This version will most certainly not be exempt of flaws. It introduces the first three playable scenarios of Episode III (Final), plus two cutscenes; the playable scenarios haven’t been tested very thoroughly by my dedicated QA team or myself, and thus might be full of balancing issues, especially on difficulty levels other than Normal.

I guess I might as well take this opportunity to mention that Normal is, in fact, the only difficulty level I actually test.

There’s also a few bug fixes in this version, but nothing too important other than a voodoo fix for crashes affecting Mac OS X users at the end of Episode II (previously described in the forums). Somehow, I managed to forget to mention this item in the changelog this time; I feel this isn’t the only thing I forgot to do before releasing. Ah well, it probably isn’t my fault seeing as how I have to take care of so many things (cough art cough) for this campaign.

NOTE: The immediate implication of this fix is that you will need to run Fate (the final cutscene scenario of Episode II, not the whole episode) again if you want Anya’s and Durvan’s stats to carry over to Episode III.

The changelog for this version follows:

Code: Select all

Version 0.8.0:
--------------
* Scenarios:
  * Mal Hekuba now wears purple TC as he did in IftU.
  * E3S0 - Opening (Within):
    * New scenario.
  * E3S1 - Beyond her Smile (A Light in the Darkness):
    * New scenario.
  * E3S2 - Return to Raelthyn (Reckoning):
    * New scenario.
  * E3S3 - Amidst the Ruins of Glamdrol (A Path to Follow):
    * New scenario.

* Units:
  * Balancing:
    * Increased Chaos Hound's recruit cost from 18 to 20.
    * Increased Shaxthal Razorbird's recruit cost from 18 to 19.
    * Decreased Shaxthal Runner Drone's ranged attack strength from 8-3 to 7-3.
  * Fixed invisible Chaos Longbowman and Heavy Longbowman units due to missing
    graphics.
  * Fixed Elvish Trapper and Elvish Prowler disappearing during animations.
  * Fixed NPC bird code deleting the previous on-map unit when moving a
    bird to an occupied hex (i.e. worms in E2S9).
  * Removed Kri'tan.

[MRDNRA]

I look forward to eventually playing this campaign in full if I can ever get round to completing IftU on Normal difficulty. I have previously completed all but the last level of IftU on Easy as well! Have also played a few of the early levels of this campaign and from what I have seen it is quite good, although the 2nd level of the first episode is certainly made more challenging by not being able to recruit and level adepts in the first level!

[Teapot]

Feedback!

Spoiler:

• The story goes on smoothly, though we do not hear much of the ranger which is truly the low profile guy here
• I have Mac OS X, and your trick worked perfectly, I was able to get Elyna back to where she was in the former part

• * E3 S{0,1} : no problem to report.

Oh well I saw on my saves that I chose the hard difficulty ; which means I should have been crushed if well balanced I think, given that I'm not a good tactician. On the contrary, I manage to get away with very few (if any) loss. So I think you need to add starting gold for enemies.

• * E3 S2 : At start, it is a really messy scenario, where I though I would lose many troops. However Demolisher drones are not that fast. Moreover, you may lure them with a unit, and this *always* works because they play before others, so there is no chance to get rid of the bat/ghost before, to get the drone moving. Also, I found myself really pressured in the beginning and then enemies just stopped recruiting, so I suggest you add more GPT to enemies. Well, I think it is an interesting map since you need to build up a correct strategy to go through without heavy losses.

• * E3 S3 : It seems an interaction is attached to a Zephyr Demon south from the starting point. However I am not sure whether it did trigger the right way, since it was on the second turn of his attack that it finally talked.
Nice map again ; the drawback I found is the Shaxtal Warlord. First I didn't see it. Then when it was on the verge of attacking me, I had already engaged and stalemated the advancing enemy troops - I engaged them at the forest-village-castle tiles - so its leadership wasn't threatening. However, I did attack it and I found out that I couldn't attack it in fact. That was very unfair But then it was easy to stop him with a few grunts.
So what I suggest is a small increase in its move (one might suffice) to get him in the battle at the right timing, much more dialog to tell the player that he is here and likely to be invincible, and there's the issue of it not being able of killing my grunts... Maybe give him a magical melee attack ? I'm sure you will pull out something

And I think some passages (maybe the beginning?) of the diary might be fun to read during this scenario.

Thanks for your hard work!

[Iris]

Also, I found myself really pressured in the beginning and then enemies just stopped recruiting, so I suggest you add more GPT to enemies.

This problem isn’t specific to this scenario by any means, and I haven’t found a good solution yet. Increasing enemy income will only lead to a larger (potentially unmanageable) amount of enemy recruits at the beginning without solving the actual problem.

E3 S3 : It seems an interaction is attached to a Zephyr Demon south from the starting point. However I am not sure whether it did trigger the right way, since it was on the second turn of his attack that it finally talked.

The sequence in question only triggers once when engaging in combat from the third turn onwards; this is on purpose.

Spoiler:

Nice map again ; the drawback I found is the Shaxtal Warlord. First I didn't see it. Then when it was on the verge of attacking me, I had already engaged and stalemated the advancing enemy troops - I engaged them at the forest-village-castle tiles - so its leadership wasn't threatening. However, I did attack it and I found out that I couldn't attack it in fact. That was very unfair But then it was easy to stop him with a few grunts.
So what I suggest is a small increase in its move (one might suffice) to get him in the battle at the right timing, much more dialog to tell the player that he is here and likely to be invincible, and there's the issue of it not being able of killing my grunts... Maybe give him a magical melee attack ? I'm sure you will pull out something

Being absurdly strong and slow is his shtick, in fact. There’s already an exchange between Elynia and Anya after his name is mentioned suggesting there’s more to him than his rumored incompetence.

and there's the issue of it not being able of killing my grunts

That was probably just the RNG playing a prank on you. He killed pretty much everything I threw at him during my playtesting since he is the one who’s currently invulnerable, not his opponents. That might change as soon as I find a way to prevent him from dying even at low HP; ideally he should at least be able to be slowed by Elynia’s attack.

And I think some passages (maybe the beginning?) of the diary might be fun to read during this scenario.

The plan from the very beginning has been to introduce journal excerpts in most story text screens from this point onwards, but I decided against allowing the player to access the contents on their own; mainly because this allows me to exert a greater amount of control on the storytelling and only write what I deem relatively essential for advancing the plot.

That said, things will eventually get pretty unconventional for this campaign.

[Teapot]

Spoiler:

This problem isn’t specific to this scenario by any means, and I haven’t found a good solution yet. Increasing enemy income will only lead to a larger (potentially unmanageable) amount of enemy recruits at the beginning without solving the actual problem.

Then I have a suggestion : reduce the initial gold and increase income up to one up to two recruits/turn. This way, at start it will be almost as now, but with a steady flux able to launch another offensive in few turns should the player stop its advance.

and there's the issue of it not being able of killing my grunts

That was probably just the RNG playing a prank on you. He killed pretty much everything I threw at him during my playtesting since he is the one who’s currently invulnerable, not his opponents. That might change as soon as I find a way to prevent him from dying even at low HP; ideally he should at least be able to be slowed by Elynia’s attack.

When I understood he was invulnerable I just switched to defense, I stood without attacking him. I had Balder, Elyna, and I recruited 5-6 grunts and with the help of those two it was piece of cake to stall both the warlord and the remnants of its army outside the castle's walls, and destroy the latter. So this is why I think its true power is not so great once isolated.

Cheers!