Return to Noelren 0.7.6

[pyrophorus]

S23 (Battle for Weldyn)
Some external advice how to best cope with this situation would be interesting, but not from the author:
Pyro with his [very bad player skills ] never accomplished this mission without cheating, that's certain.

What can I say in reply to this tortuous infamy ? I solemnly state I won all the scenarios in my campaign without cheating in any way (not even savescumming). Of course, I know all the tricks and the winning strategies, but it's not so great an advantage.
BTW, it's not very difficult to win this one. Don't rush too quickly, let the dwarves and the cavalry come to your help. The mixed forest/hills terrain in the middle of the map gives you advantage. Just wait the foes run out of money and finish them.

After all, these incidents have a significant impact on the future of Wesnoth,
when all is properly said and done they´ll find their place in the chronicles of the capital Weldyn !
pauline

Fortunately, the Wesnoth story don't says much about the first dark age and its ending. Only someone named Garard finally took the throne and founded a dynasty (so I provided him a wife whose name is so difficult to memorize the chronicles said not a word about her). I had only to imagine some unbelievable events to fleshen this bare skeleton, but, in the darkness of this age, anything can happen without torning out the sacred Wesnoth lore.

Friendly,

[pauline]

@ pyrophorus: "... I had only to imagine some unbelievable events ..."
I rate this comment as "unjustified modesty". Tolkien explains more or less :
A good story-teller ushers the reader´s mind into a world where everything accords with the laws of that world. It is therefore "true".
This "BfW-inspirer" even goes so far as to say: “The moment disbelief arises, the spell is broken; the magic, or rather art, has failed.”
Failed ? That does not go for your campaign ! Au contraire: Your "spell" works so good that I wish you´d flesh out your plot even more,
add some details, unbelievable or not. Just one example: the kings crowning !
How often do we have the opportunity to witness such a historic moment in BfW ?
Our Garard will lay the foundation for a centuries-long dynasty !
He´ll reign for 53 years, quite an amount of time on that violent, warlike continet !
(Apropos: by all appearances, he seems to be about 53 at the time of his enthronement …this would make him 76 at the birth of son Garad II,
he´d father son Arand at the age of 85, and such sultry man full of life and vigor sureley went further than that in his remaining 20 years …
A long-standing proof of Wesnothion virility ! Can he claim the title "oldest father in the Wesnoth World " ? OK, too much off-topic.)

@ pyrophorus: ."... the chronicles said not a word about her. " (Note: this refers to Queen Patnaworsimeshiflormana !)
Well, not yet. This should definitely change when your campaign is ready, you filled in that blank in the Wesnoth lore.

S24 (The last battle)

Spoiler:

It came thick and fast, a whirlwind of activity and events: war on 7 fronts, everyone in the wrong place at the wrong time,
ignoring all qualms the champion-goodies took off. Fatal curiosity and unjustifiable underestimation of the baddies
put the final nail in the coffin. They ought to have known better by now !!!
Dieann and his hurray-squallers didn´t show up at the recruiting office (guess they´re cheering up the counterside again),
on the main site of combate it was, generally speaking, all up to the Noelren Wrath.
Of course, Undead with a 1-3 claw defense were not even a warm-up for the bearer of 114-5 Foregast,
but due to their number I couldn´t afford to ask Hamgral to retreat to his keep. Shaky situation …
SUCH risky decision wasn´t needed about the Nerins Lady, though: the heavily amla'd powerhouse never left her castle.
I´d have lighted a fire under her, it I only mastered your pyro technique, Pyro !

As soon as I had set eyes on my nightmare Akh Solen, I had glamour girl Lestiviel conk him and practice her fossilization-art.
A sly strategy ! … that went irreparably wrong as I found out many turns later.
(Reading up on this thread revealed: Sneezy reported a similar problem on 18 Mar 2012.)

Well then ? I had to lean on other untis to stamp out this bad-ass gang. Why not opting for Alfir, the spore dust collector !
I´d been missing the allies from "Gryphon Mountains" already, so I made him whisk all over the battlefield:
infinite MPs is a very rare feature that has to enjoyed abundantly ! So far, so good.
Heh heh, … THIS tactical move was certainly not my best one for this final challenge:
Folks, there´s worse, much worse than a vermin plague, it took 45 turns to fix the mess-up … all for nothing:
NONE of the heroes survived but Lestiviel … aaand the Robin Hood-like outlaw !
I somehow surmised that Noelren and the future of Wesnoth would not depend on those two survivors only ...

This "Last battle" turned out to be a "last but four", the "third last", then a "next-to-last" and finally the "very last" battle
until I could accomplish the mission. At least: all heroes were still alive … except the witch. Her extinguishment was a shock.
Maybe that old rooster just teleported her to join the hen party at his hut in the Grey Woods ...
Personally, I´d like to see this phony creep undergoing a more draconian punishment.

Among exceptional occurrences, a climactic scene: sweet Patti rising beyond herself, out of the blue !
Even Dolmandir was completely taken aback and ran out of steam, unable to put on a "Ora gadul maval"-show.
It would be nice if Lestiviel played a major role, too, but all in all:
This sceanrio and the battle for Noelren are awesome ! You've outdone yourself, Pyrophorus !

And now (dramatic fanfare): The entire future of the world of Wesnoth will be determined !!!
I´m nervous about the last part of RtN, expectant to see what the fate of my heroes would be,
eager for answers to ALL my still unaswered questions ...

S25 (Victory)

Spoiler:

As a finishing touch: a KISS-conclusion, crowning the richness of features in the preceding scenarios.
No more battles, hence a thoughtful reduction regarding the disenchantment of time and worlds "at the end of the night "
to equilibrate the campaign. Complexity is beautiful, but the more there is, the more that something simpler stands out.

Finally, we learn about the almighty magic of the ancient Telshar house: the universal remedy that has the power
to break the evil spell put over the fifth dimension, to stop the many-worlds melting process, to send a godlike daemon
and his terror troops to wherever, to reorganize a mix of places and a potpourri of races, to end the "Dark Age black-hole ",
to restore the secret kingdom, and to re-establish order in Wesnoth: "Begone " ... it's that easy. For the greatest things
are not accomplished in the clamor and display of superficial eventfulness, but occur pretty much unnoticeable !

"Most players don't read all the dialogues, and few are interested in a well written story ." Is that true ?
Sorta of worrying as to their intellectual horizon, no ? Well, I´m a constant reader, Glynnador´s exposé in the second scenario
is a key element of this tale, but having also carefully gone through the intro (no, not the one in the campaign,
but the abstract at the start of this thread) turned out the piece of luck to which I owe the full understanding of the implications
of the dramatic events that followed the memorable victory at Noelren, and the "sudden death" of all survivors.

Not everything comes to light in the end, needless to say that I´m still wondering. For instance, about the traumatic rendezvous
of Lestiviel and her stone-dead mother. It is to be feared that reanimation of her parents didn´t work as planned,
the heroic Elves High-Lord and ex-bearer of the Undead Slayer had to stay behind in the swamped Trolls´valley,
and the bulky statue of his more important spouse has been dragged along by Dolmandir and the unicorn to the cave at Noelren.
No doubt, a piece of work of treacherous nature !
At least, the poor constantly heartbroken daughter-heir will get to proper attention – at long last - ranking as "some kind of queen"
which lonely wields the power of worlds, lorn sovereign of the melting shop, solitary guardian of the communication channels.

The flip-flop of the queen of Noelren: giving up the mercilessness displayed at the elimination of Akh-Mahal in favor of kindheartedness
for Akh-Solen's benefit … let´s hope her gusto for streakers noble attitude is not to be regretted: there might be more staffs
where the first one came from, and it wasn´t her who went almost loopy over that nasty mage´s well-known constant saying …

(Epilogue)

Spoiler:

Will wonders never cease ? I am simply flabbergasted at the reason behind my landlord´s slackness in fighting: he was busy wooing
the winged island girl ! OK, it´s not known whether Garard is as faithful as the exemplary Beren, nor if Her Majesty-to-be will become
as decided in her love matters as she is in instantly exercising royal command authority. For now, let´s keep fingers crossed that she
will listen to the vigorous admonition of a future underling, and stand back from "improving things with magic". Another Morwyn-mishap
might compel the new king to face a cruel reality: he got a queen surpassing his dreams … and nightmares.

Some things can never be made simple, a quieter drama is watered-down by a gracious fade-out ...
So brave Alfir is "far too old ", eh ? He-he, time to face the facts ! The sensational island ranger was always quick to judge and jump to
over-hasty conclusions. We all know what's going to happen here ... Calling him lovingly an [censored ] won´t help: Naturally, Tiomen
wasn´t all too engulfed in sadness and despair with the departure of his number one girl, Boney might be better off with the elf, or
the Robin Hood-like outlaw, or making a perfect team with that hilarious rabbit-hole-digger ! Meh, waiting might pay off in the long run:
There´s a fat chance that our matchless hero not only qualifies "to enlighten the life " of a RtN-player !

Likes and dislikes
What starts off as one man´s kismet turns into something much, much bigger … and then returns to the beginning:
"A sad story" [sic], a tragedy of Shakespearean proportions, after all … despite so many good laughs.
Trying not to sound overly enthusiastic: I haven´t played any fantasy game that kept me so much dwelling on thoughts
about the story. Questions sprang up which – related to Wesnoth – I never would have thought possible.
That says a lot for the quality of this campaign and signals a gifted tale-teller !

Pyro provided some fine entertainment, a particularly interesting game that makes a lasting impression:
Adamant14 made a good point. I have no clue of the technical side, but experienced players acknowledged basically:
"this content is unique and truly pushes the boundaries of what can be done with the game."
If so: surprising that the author´s name hasn´t been fed in the "UMC Pioneer"-list yet.
His tricks surely cracked the limits of what I myself thought possible in BfW.

RtN is a plot in the Wesnoth world, acceptable to go into mainline – not only to show off the attractiveness of this game, but also
for filling a chronological gap, and in a very clever way. Though emphasizing more on story and adventures than combats:
there are enough battles to satisfy eagerness of slaughtering. Colorful characters fight for survival and justice,
the hero is courageous and generous, strong and sweet, noble in his manners and thoughts ... a perfect Wesnoth man.
We have new and known units (which have worked out heavily, arranged new equipment or advanced in handling their abilities),
funny missions, lots of new ideas … like a special menu with info about goals and how to achieve them.
A distinguishing asset is the opportunity of an unconstrained way of playing:
Wander the scenarios with a happy-go-lucky attitude (there is something satisfying about spearheading over powered characters !),
or a tough time with challenging battles (there is something astonishing about not being able to win them easily with all that over powered characters !).
Yes, it took me a while to get rid of "ordinary BfW-thinking", my next, now open-minded play-through will be even more interesting !
But whatever a player prefers, lastly, all comes down to the same: a kingdom lost, a kingdom won back.

My only "dislike" about this campaign would be: the all too subtle development. Sure, when "makers of all things" look over their opus,
thinking "Behold, it is very good !", then wailing and complaining is almost of no avail, crisis intervention by creators is empirically dubious.
Still, I´m looking forward to seeing ideas pop out of your imagination, Pyrophorus, and RtN marked as "final ". Even if the mills grind slowly ...

Spoiler:

[pyrophorus]

What can I reply o such a dithyrambic comment ? Maybe I can only thank and say I'm happy to give you such a pleasure with my humble work. I wouldn't imagine it creating this campaign.

And no, RtNt will not remain in the present state. Thanks to your comments, I will maintain and improve it.

By the way, I don't think my work will give me the acknowledgments you hope for it. I don't think it will be mainline one day, and I don't think I will get any user rank one day. But I care not. I price more your comments and appreciations, the time you gave to them, than any title and glory trifle. Your joy is my joy.

So, sweet my Lady, please accept the Foregast, the black sword, scepter of the Noelren house and all nigthmare bane. Bear it to good fortune in Wesnoth world or any other !

[yukipol]

The introduction "Sad Story" does not end when all the orcs are killed.
Is there a way to end it?

[pyrophorus]

Hi !
Actually, the scenario ends only when the hero is killed, not when all the orcs are killed.
And I don't really see how you could kill all the orcs with only a few level one units, and quite no gold. Using debug mode maybe ? I've nothing against it, but sorry, RtN will not work very well if you use it.
So restart the campaign, just let Tiomen the hero be killed and you will go to next scenario.

Friendly,

[yukipol]

No debug, just unusually bored and doing save and load.
Thanks for the info, I shall let him die.

[pyrophorus]

No debug, just unusually bored and doing save and load.
Thanks for the info, I shall let him die.

The campaign is not very difficult, even if at times, it seems impossible to fulfill the task. Use the "help & hints" menu if you are stuck and don't find the trick !

Thanks for playing RtN !

[yukipol]

I have seen various cases where the HP of a unit were larger than the max, but now I see a new one, where the XP is larger than the max, for a unit which, judging by the font color, is supposed to go up a level.

For the same unit, I noticed strange probabilities for fight outcome, but perhaps they are consequences of XP > max.

The unit is Lona, and the scenario is Finding Allies.

[pyrophorus]

I have seen various cases where the HP of a unit were larger than the max, but now I see a new one, where the XP is larger than the max, for a unit which, judging by the font color, is supposed to go up a level.

For the same unit, I noticed strange probabilities for fight outcome, but perhaps they are consequences of XP > max.

The unit is Lona, and the scenario is Finding Allies.

Hi !
Yes, you're right. Some units (in WML sense) like Lona, have no advancement, this because the character will dress a new unit later. But anyway, I should fix this and even carry over the experience of the character.
Thanks for you feedback. Hope you enjoy the campaign !

[yukipol]

In First Battle:
The Hint is to build a bridge, but it appears much simpler to have Tolivia recall a part of Garards army on the other side of the river.
She can get to a conveniently unoccupied Keep there and the recall works for her.
Turgan's forces are too small to offer a noticeable resistance.

[pyrophorus]

In First Battle:
The Hint is to build a bridge, but it appears much simpler to have Tolivia recall a part of Garards army on the other side of the river.
She can get to a conveniently unoccupied Keep there and the recall works for her.
Turgan's forces are too small to offer a noticeable resistance.

Yes, you perfectly win the scenario like that. Actually, there are many way to win all the scenarios, and it's intended. Other players enjoyed building bridges and it's OK to me.

Friendly,

[yukipol]

There are various little inconsistencies, like very powerful abilities of Tiomen and some others never mentioned in any info, or different menus produced by Ctrl + R and right-click mouse, or petrified units coming alive when saved file is reloaded (Treachery-II), but now I have encountered a more serious one in Treachery-II: an infinite loop that I could not break.
It does not seem to matter whether I avoid reloading altogether or let Patti fight or have her just stand still, etc..

[pyrophorus]

There are various little inconsistencies, like very powerful abilities of Tiomen and some others never mentioned in any info, or different menus produced by Ctrl + R and right-click mouse, or petrified units coming alive when saved file is reloaded (Treachery-II), but now I have encountered a more serious one in Treachery-II: an infinite loop that I could not break.
It does not seem to matter whether I avoid reloading altogether or let Patti fight or have her just stand still, etc..

Well, it's difficult to say anything with so little details. Could post a savegame ?

Friendly

[yukipol]

Treachery II:
I have been trying and failing to upload the last sequence I tried.
Is there a bound on the size of the upload?

[pyrophorus]

Treachery II:
I have been trying and failing to upload the last sequence I tried.
Is there a bound on the size of the upload?

Certainly (but I can't remember which), but I doubt it's the reason. What is the size of your file ?

Friendly,