Kalevala : The Iron Age
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Kalevala : The Iron Age
I'm going to create a new campaign based on Finnish mythology. The campaign will not be placed on the Wesnoth continuum.
I will create and use a few custom races for the campaign (which will probably still look like original units since I am and have no graphics expert.) The races are discussed in http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11812 .
I have a story I have been developing lately, and now I'd like comments about it. The story has elements of the Finnish folk epic Kalevala (and some other classics), but mostly features events outside it.
I'm interested in using already-made maps and scenarios (with necessary modifications) as part of the campaign. The restriction is that the maps need to look Nordic: lots of forest, swamp and (in winter) snow. If you know of some such maps, please give a hint.
To Finnish readers: In this script, I have deliberately simplified some story points. The final dialogue will be closer to the original (I may even do it in verse).
The story:
---
BATTLE 0 : Escape from Pohjola
You (name needed) and your friends are level 0 slaves in the northern land of Pohjola. One day, you have been able to revolt. Now you are trying to escape to the land of your ancestors.
Objectives: run for the boat before time runs out.
Someone has taken the boat, but a friendly water creaturess, called Aino, will help you. She takes you to her land under the water, where you live as man and wife.
---
BATTLE 1 : The defense of Kalevala
One day, you grow tired of living under the water, and want to see your parents and home-land again. So, Aino releases you, but vows you to come back. You are greeted in your land, Kalevala, by your mother, and the elders of the tribe. You like your life on the land, and don't want to go to water any more.
A few years later, a shepherd-boy (name needed) comes from the fields, panting, and claiming to have seen troll-like creatures to appear. The unbelieving tribal elders send you to investigate. Encountering the trolls, you light the alarm-fire. Now you must organize the defense of the nearby village, where also your mother lives, and survive until the tribal elders save the day.
Objectives: Hold the village at all costs, until the tribal elders (who actually are the incredibly powerful Finnish gods Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen) come to your rescue.
Note: The shepherd boy you receive here will become, in time, your most powerful unit (a singing enchanter), if allowed to live.
---
BATTLE 2 : Rock in the North
You are sent with Väinämöinen, the age-old wise singer-enchanter-god, to investigate the origin of the trolls. You venture far north, and finally come to a giant mound. The leader of the trolls comes forth, and challenges Väinämöinen into a kilpalaulanta (duel of knowledge). Whereas this seems to end up in a draw, you grow restless and interrupt. A battle ensues.
Objectives: Defeat the troll leader (who most probably has run to the deepest bottom of its cave until you get it).
After defeating the troll leader, you pick up its giant battle-axe. The trolls surrender, agreeing to spend the next 1000 years underground. You return to Kalevala victorious.
---
BATTLE 3 : A new beginning
When you were away, most people in Kalevala have abandoned their old faiths and become Christians. Enraged of this, Väinämöinen gets to his boat and sails away, never to return. You and your friend, the smith-master (name needed), decide to leave the settlement rather than to convert, and journey to a new place to build your settlement. Unfortunately, fur trappers from Pohjola have set camp in your chosen area, and a battle ensues.
Objectives: defeat all enemies (?)
Congratulations! You have successfully founded New Kalevala (name needed), and can continue to live the ways of your ancestors.
---
BATTLE 4 : In search for allies
Your new settlement needs allies, and, in addition, you are in the age to take a wife. You sail to the island of Saari, just to find that it's been taken over by the Swedish crusaders. Battle ensues. You are assisted by Aino in this battle, but you ignore her pleads to join her again.
Objectives: defeat all enemies (?)
You liberate Saari. During the party thrown in your honour, you sleep with many women. The most beautiful one, Elina, you take home as your wife. Your alliance with Saari is secure. You gain can now recruit a new type of unit (not decided yet.)
---
BATTLE 5 : The Toijan war
When you were hunting animals, a young noble from the village of Toija came and stole your newlywed bride Elina. You wish for revenge, and soon afterwards, battle ensues at the gates of Toija.
Objectives: capture Toija (?)
You have your bride back. She's not really willing to come back, but you take her anyway.
---
BATTLE 6 : Lost in the forest
You become lost in the forest. This actually lasts for ten years. You may probably recruit sinipiika (forest spirits) during your journey.
---
BATTLE 7 : Courting the Maiden of Pohjola, part 1
Yet one beautiful daughter of the Pohjolan ruleress Louhi has been raised into the age when she can be wed. You travel there regardless of the warnings of your mother and wife, trying to woo the maiden and strike an alliance at the same time. Louhi, who likes to give out impossible missions, sets you to hunt the elk of Hiisi (forest god). You have to face at least trolls and sinipiika before you get to shoot the elk.
Objectives: Shoot the elk (this must be done by yourself and not by any other unit.) This is a winter scenario.
You return to Pohjola with the elk.
---
BATTLE 8 : Courting the Maiden of Pohjola, part 2
Louhi has another mission in store for you. You must shoot the swan on the river of Tuonela (land of the dead) to win her daughter's hand.
Objectives: Shoot the swan (by yourself), and return home alive. This is a cave scenario. From the other side of the river, an endless stream of undead units crawl to you. Be quick.
You return to Pohjola with the swan.
---
BATTLE 9 : Crashing the Wedding
You return to Pohjola only to see that the beautiful girl has already been wed off (to whom)? This is an outrage. You decide to crash the wedding in the hard way.
Objectives: Defeat Louhi.
You defeat Louhi, only to see her transform into a giant bird and fly away.
---
BATTLE 10 : Fish Food
Louhi has Summoned Iku-Turso, a horrible sea monster, to aid her! Be quick and defeat her again, before you all are eaten.
Objectives: Defeat Louhi again, before Iku-Turso destroys your whole army. It should not be reasonably possible to defeat Iku-Turso.
You defeat Louhi, who surrenders to your might. You plunder Pohjola, and take the maiden with you.
---
BATTLE 11 : The Iron Men
You return home victoriously, only to see Swedish Crusaders having overrun your settlement. Push them back.
Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.
When you return to your village, you see your house burned. Those dearest to you are not there, either killed or taken into slavery.
---
BATTLE 12 : Revenge!
You set sail to the Swedish capital of Sigtuna, full of hate and revenge, ingoring the pleads of your wife. During the trip, Aino comes along and pleads you again to stay with her instead. You curse her, and land on Swedish soil, preparing for battle.
Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.
You capture Sigtuna, and burn it on the ground. (This may actually be a historical event.) Having had your revenge, you set sail for home.
On the way home, Aino interrupts you, backed by the Water God Ahti. You no longer have a choice, you must join her now. If you jump off the boat now, your friends may go home safely, otherwise they will drown with you in the storm.
I will create and use a few custom races for the campaign (which will probably still look like original units since I am and have no graphics expert.) The races are discussed in http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11812 .
I have a story I have been developing lately, and now I'd like comments about it. The story has elements of the Finnish folk epic Kalevala (and some other classics), but mostly features events outside it.
I'm interested in using already-made maps and scenarios (with necessary modifications) as part of the campaign. The restriction is that the maps need to look Nordic: lots of forest, swamp and (in winter) snow. If you know of some such maps, please give a hint.
To Finnish readers: In this script, I have deliberately simplified some story points. The final dialogue will be closer to the original (I may even do it in verse).
The story:
---
BATTLE 0 : Escape from Pohjola
You (name needed) and your friends are level 0 slaves in the northern land of Pohjola. One day, you have been able to revolt. Now you are trying to escape to the land of your ancestors.
Objectives: run for the boat before time runs out.
Someone has taken the boat, but a friendly water creaturess, called Aino, will help you. She takes you to her land under the water, where you live as man and wife.
---
BATTLE 1 : The defense of Kalevala
One day, you grow tired of living under the water, and want to see your parents and home-land again. So, Aino releases you, but vows you to come back. You are greeted in your land, Kalevala, by your mother, and the elders of the tribe. You like your life on the land, and don't want to go to water any more.
A few years later, a shepherd-boy (name needed) comes from the fields, panting, and claiming to have seen troll-like creatures to appear. The unbelieving tribal elders send you to investigate. Encountering the trolls, you light the alarm-fire. Now you must organize the defense of the nearby village, where also your mother lives, and survive until the tribal elders save the day.
Objectives: Hold the village at all costs, until the tribal elders (who actually are the incredibly powerful Finnish gods Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen and Lemminkäinen) come to your rescue.
Note: The shepherd boy you receive here will become, in time, your most powerful unit (a singing enchanter), if allowed to live.
---
BATTLE 2 : Rock in the North
You are sent with Väinämöinen, the age-old wise singer-enchanter-god, to investigate the origin of the trolls. You venture far north, and finally come to a giant mound. The leader of the trolls comes forth, and challenges Väinämöinen into a kilpalaulanta (duel of knowledge). Whereas this seems to end up in a draw, you grow restless and interrupt. A battle ensues.
Objectives: Defeat the troll leader (who most probably has run to the deepest bottom of its cave until you get it).
After defeating the troll leader, you pick up its giant battle-axe. The trolls surrender, agreeing to spend the next 1000 years underground. You return to Kalevala victorious.
---
BATTLE 3 : A new beginning
When you were away, most people in Kalevala have abandoned their old faiths and become Christians. Enraged of this, Väinämöinen gets to his boat and sails away, never to return. You and your friend, the smith-master (name needed), decide to leave the settlement rather than to convert, and journey to a new place to build your settlement. Unfortunately, fur trappers from Pohjola have set camp in your chosen area, and a battle ensues.
Objectives: defeat all enemies (?)
Congratulations! You have successfully founded New Kalevala (name needed), and can continue to live the ways of your ancestors.
---
BATTLE 4 : In search for allies
Your new settlement needs allies, and, in addition, you are in the age to take a wife. You sail to the island of Saari, just to find that it's been taken over by the Swedish crusaders. Battle ensues. You are assisted by Aino in this battle, but you ignore her pleads to join her again.
Objectives: defeat all enemies (?)
You liberate Saari. During the party thrown in your honour, you sleep with many women. The most beautiful one, Elina, you take home as your wife. Your alliance with Saari is secure. You gain can now recruit a new type of unit (not decided yet.)
---
BATTLE 5 : The Toijan war
When you were hunting animals, a young noble from the village of Toija came and stole your newlywed bride Elina. You wish for revenge, and soon afterwards, battle ensues at the gates of Toija.
Objectives: capture Toija (?)
You have your bride back. She's not really willing to come back, but you take her anyway.
---
BATTLE 6 : Lost in the forest
You become lost in the forest. This actually lasts for ten years. You may probably recruit sinipiika (forest spirits) during your journey.
---
BATTLE 7 : Courting the Maiden of Pohjola, part 1
Yet one beautiful daughter of the Pohjolan ruleress Louhi has been raised into the age when she can be wed. You travel there regardless of the warnings of your mother and wife, trying to woo the maiden and strike an alliance at the same time. Louhi, who likes to give out impossible missions, sets you to hunt the elk of Hiisi (forest god). You have to face at least trolls and sinipiika before you get to shoot the elk.
Objectives: Shoot the elk (this must be done by yourself and not by any other unit.) This is a winter scenario.
You return to Pohjola with the elk.
---
BATTLE 8 : Courting the Maiden of Pohjola, part 2
Louhi has another mission in store for you. You must shoot the swan on the river of Tuonela (land of the dead) to win her daughter's hand.
Objectives: Shoot the swan (by yourself), and return home alive. This is a cave scenario. From the other side of the river, an endless stream of undead units crawl to you. Be quick.
You return to Pohjola with the swan.
---
BATTLE 9 : Crashing the Wedding
You return to Pohjola only to see that the beautiful girl has already been wed off (to whom)? This is an outrage. You decide to crash the wedding in the hard way.
Objectives: Defeat Louhi.
You defeat Louhi, only to see her transform into a giant bird and fly away.
---
BATTLE 10 : Fish Food
Louhi has Summoned Iku-Turso, a horrible sea monster, to aid her! Be quick and defeat her again, before you all are eaten.
Objectives: Defeat Louhi again, before Iku-Turso destroys your whole army. It should not be reasonably possible to defeat Iku-Turso.
You defeat Louhi, who surrenders to your might. You plunder Pohjola, and take the maiden with you.
---
BATTLE 11 : The Iron Men
You return home victoriously, only to see Swedish Crusaders having overrun your settlement. Push them back.
Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.
When you return to your village, you see your house burned. Those dearest to you are not there, either killed or taken into slavery.
---
BATTLE 12 : Revenge!
You set sail to the Swedish capital of Sigtuna, full of hate and revenge, ingoring the pleads of your wife. During the trip, Aino comes along and pleads you again to stay with her instead. You curse her, and land on Swedish soil, preparing for battle.
Objectives: Defeat all enemy leaders.
You capture Sigtuna, and burn it on the ground. (This may actually be a historical event.) Having had your revenge, you set sail for home.
On the way home, Aino interrupts you, backed by the Water God Ahti. You no longer have a choice, you must join her now. If you jump off the boat now, your friends may go home safely, otherwise they will drown with you in the storm.
Campaign uploaded
I just uploaded the first version (0.0.0.1) of the campaign, with 4 new unit types and Scenario 1 : Defense of Kalevala. I also uploaded the unit pack. Hope everything is all right with it (I'm not sure about that.) Also, I made and tested the scenario with 1.0.2 only, hopefully it works with other versions.
Maybe this campaign could be even Wesnothized, if there is a free northern corner of the world left with forests, swamps and lakes. If there is not, well, we can always take it from somone...
Maybe this campaign could be even Wesnothized, if there is a free northern corner of the world left with forests, swamps and lakes. If there is not, well, we can always take it from somone...
-
angelafodale
- Posts: 4
- Joined: November 17th, 2005, 12:03 pm
Moved to 1.1.7
Updated some units, thrashed the old version and went with 1.1.7. Hope this time works better.
I still need the separate unit pack for some reason. When I'm trying to combine the unit pack and the scenario, it won't show any new unit graphics.
I still need the separate unit pack for some reason. When I'm trying to combine the unit pack and the scenario, it won't show any new unit graphics.
Campaign plan revisited:
Summer means that out of 6 hours, 4 will be daytime and 2 dawn/dusk. Winter means 2 dawn/dusk and 4 night. Spring and autumn are normal.
Until now, I've been using Battle 1 mostly as a test-bed for the new units. Now that all the most important units are sketched, I hope I'll have time to work on Chapter 1 during the next weekend.
Chapter 1
Battle 0 : Escape from Pohjola (summer). Enemy : Lapps
Bring your leader to a given point. Practically, this means overrunning an enemy leader. You can only recruit slaves in this scenario.
Battle 1 : Defense of Kalevala (autumn). Enemy : Trolls, Ally: Finns
Defend your home village until reinforcements arrive (5-7 turns.) This might mean taking heavy casualties. You can no longer recruit slaves. Jouko (Shepherd-boy) joins you in this scenario.
Battle 2 : Rock in the North (winter). Enemy : Trolls
Attack the enemy and destroy them in their mound. You have Väinämöinen (Ancient Sage) as a guest unit.
Battle 3 : A New Beginning (spring). Enemy : Lapps, Neutral : Bears
Defeat the enemy leader. You can free their slaves by surrounding them and gain free units. You have Viljo's mother (Healer) and Tuira (Chieftain) as guest units.
Battle 4 : In Search For Allies (summer), Enemy : Swedes, Ally : Finns
Defeat the enemy leader. This is Defense of Kalevala in reverse - you have to save King Lemminkäinen before he and his troops are overrun. You have Aino (Mermaid) as a guest unit.
Battle 5 : Ilmarinen's Revenge (autumn), Enemy: Estonians (Finns), Enemy : Danes (Swedes)
A three-way battle. The Danes have a 2-to-1 superiority to the Estonians, but if you move quickly enough, you can have the Estonians surrender to you and use their units. You have Ilmarinen (Blacksmith) as a guest unit.
Battle 6 : The Toijan War (summer), Enemy: Finns
Defeat the enemy leader. Attack. You have Tuira (Chieftain) as a guest unit.
Battle 6b: Lost in the Woods (summer, optional), Enemy: Elves, Bears
This scenario will only be available if you still have Jouko. Discover the treasure caches under Will'o'Wisps and free Jouko from the forest.
-----
Chapter 2
Battle 7: Courting the Maiden of Pohjola I (winter), Enemy: Elves, Trolls, Bears
Shoot the elk of Hiisi.
Battle 8: Courting the Maiden of Pohjola II (winter/cave), Enemy: Undead, Trolls
Shoot the swan from the river of the dead (your leader should be the only one capable of doing this) and return to the surface.
Battle 9: Crashing the Wedding (spring), Enemy: Lapps, Trolls, Elves
Defeat Louhi.
Battle 10: Fish Food (spring), Enemy: Lapps, Sea Monster
Defeat Louhi again, before the sea monster eats all your men.
Battle 11: The Iron Men (summer), Enemy: Swedes
Defeat all enemies. Aila (Witch) joins you in this scenario.
Battle 12: Revenge (autumn), Enemy: Swedes
Defeat all enemies.
Summer means that out of 6 hours, 4 will be daytime and 2 dawn/dusk. Winter means 2 dawn/dusk and 4 night. Spring and autumn are normal.
Until now, I've been using Battle 1 mostly as a test-bed for the new units. Now that all the most important units are sketched, I hope I'll have time to work on Chapter 1 during the next weekend.
Chapter 1
Battle 0 : Escape from Pohjola (summer). Enemy : Lapps
Bring your leader to a given point. Practically, this means overrunning an enemy leader. You can only recruit slaves in this scenario.
Battle 1 : Defense of Kalevala (autumn). Enemy : Trolls, Ally: Finns
Defend your home village until reinforcements arrive (5-7 turns.) This might mean taking heavy casualties. You can no longer recruit slaves. Jouko (Shepherd-boy) joins you in this scenario.
Battle 2 : Rock in the North (winter). Enemy : Trolls
Attack the enemy and destroy them in their mound. You have Väinämöinen (Ancient Sage) as a guest unit.
Battle 3 : A New Beginning (spring). Enemy : Lapps, Neutral : Bears
Defeat the enemy leader. You can free their slaves by surrounding them and gain free units. You have Viljo's mother (Healer) and Tuira (Chieftain) as guest units.
Battle 4 : In Search For Allies (summer), Enemy : Swedes, Ally : Finns
Defeat the enemy leader. This is Defense of Kalevala in reverse - you have to save King Lemminkäinen before he and his troops are overrun. You have Aino (Mermaid) as a guest unit.
Battle 5 : Ilmarinen's Revenge (autumn), Enemy: Estonians (Finns), Enemy : Danes (Swedes)
A three-way battle. The Danes have a 2-to-1 superiority to the Estonians, but if you move quickly enough, you can have the Estonians surrender to you and use their units. You have Ilmarinen (Blacksmith) as a guest unit.
Battle 6 : The Toijan War (summer), Enemy: Finns
Defeat the enemy leader. Attack. You have Tuira (Chieftain) as a guest unit.
Battle 6b: Lost in the Woods (summer, optional), Enemy: Elves, Bears
This scenario will only be available if you still have Jouko. Discover the treasure caches under Will'o'Wisps and free Jouko from the forest.
-----
Chapter 2
Battle 7: Courting the Maiden of Pohjola I (winter), Enemy: Elves, Trolls, Bears
Shoot the elk of Hiisi.
Battle 8: Courting the Maiden of Pohjola II (winter/cave), Enemy: Undead, Trolls
Shoot the swan from the river of the dead (your leader should be the only one capable of doing this) and return to the surface.
Battle 9: Crashing the Wedding (spring), Enemy: Lapps, Trolls, Elves
Defeat Louhi.
Battle 10: Fish Food (spring), Enemy: Lapps, Sea Monster
Defeat Louhi again, before the sea monster eats all your men.
Battle 11: The Iron Men (summer), Enemy: Swedes
Defeat all enemies. Aila (Witch) joins you in this scenario.
Battle 12: Revenge (autumn), Enemy: Swedes
Defeat all enemies.
Just a note so that no-one thinks this campaign to be dead:Jgrr wrote: Until now, I've been using Battle 1 mostly as a test-bed for the new units. Now that all the most important units are sketched, I hope I'll have time to work on Chapter 1 during the next weekend.
In a discussion that was taking place in another thread, Scott recommended to write the complete script first (with all the maps, events and dialogue), and possibly offered (I still don't believe it
) to code it all to WML after that. Anyway, I'm taking that approach, so I expect to take a few (2-3) more weeks to finalize the script into such a fashion that I'll be really satisfied with it. Kalevala out - stay tuned. 
I saw the campaign on the dev campaign server, downloaded, and it didn't work (it looks like you uploaded it there in the hope of it working with other versions than 1.0.2?). It's fairly hopeless, I'm fairly sure, to hope for 1.0.2 campaigns to work with the dev branch (or even less with the upcoming 1.2), so IMHO this should be removed from the dev campaign server at least until it'll get adapted so that it actually works.
This is strange. I have already ported the campaign to 1.17, I can run it on my own machine, and (as I can see here) someone else has also been able to run it (since the features discussed were such that they were not present in the 1.0.2 compatible version). Actually, the campaign description should say which version it was designed for. If version 0.0.0.1 (the one for 1.0.2) is still dangling somewhere, you may remove it.zookeeper wrote:I saw the campaign on the dev campaign server, downloaded, and it didn't work (it looks like you uploaded it there in the hope of it working with other versions than 1.0.2?). It's fairly hopeless, I'm fairly sure, to hope for 1.0.2 campaigns to work with the dev branch (or even less with the upcoming 1.2), so IMHO this should be removed from the dev campaign server at least until it'll get adapted so that it actually works.
Note that you also need to download Kalevala Unit Pack for the campaign to work (this can be considered a bug, but I couldn't figure it out how to work it properly.)
-
littlebeast
- Posts: 121
- Joined: June 8th, 2006, 8:50 pm
I downloaded the packs... both of them... and I didn't see the slave level you were talking about. What happened to that?
Hiatus, epitome, colonel, sadist, Tucson, behemoth, quixote...
Okay, how many of those did you pronounce wrong?
My (very incomplete) campaign.
Okay, how many of those did you pronounce wrong?
My (very incomplete) campaign.
Day cycle/Morale
Notification bump... the completion of the campaign has been slower than expected, mostly for the reason that whenever I write down a good idea, I seem to immediately come up with two new ones. Currently it seems so that I'm dropping the elk hunting scenario as "too similar", and possibly adding some bizarre "land of the dead" scenario instead (it would come after the Shooting the Swan scenario, though I still have problems connecting it to the story correctly.)
Well, for the main reason of this post... I have two general campaign ideas, one (seasonal day cycles) I'm definitely going to implement, but don't know how, the other (morale) I'm still not sure about.
Seasonal day cycles: Since we are far north (post 55 degrees latitude in every scenario, 65-70 in some of them), the summers tend to be very sunny, and the winters to be very dark. At least one scenario takes place during wintertime past the polar circle, when there's no sun at all. This will have to be reflected somehow. The simplest schema is:
0 25 25 0 -25 -25 (normal)
25 25 25 25 0 0 (summer)
-25 0 0 -25 -25 -25 (winter)
The other variations include using midday/midnight as singulars, creating something like
10 25 10 -10 -25 -10 (normal)
25 25 25 10 -10 10 (summer)
etc
or using 8 turns per day.
Does anyone (except UTBS) have experience on variable day cycles?
Morale: the idea was bashed to death by almost everyone at the Ideas forum (which was later set on a flame war), but I'm giving a refined version another chance here. For each scenario, each casualty reduces your morale by a certain number of percentage units dependent on the scenario. This will directly affect the damage dealt by your units. After a certain number of casualties, each subsequent casualty will cause a certain percentage of units to desert (return to recall list). Deserted units can be "rallied" back in the battle as normal recalls. Loyal units are not affected by morale and won't desert.
So, basically there would be three scenario-dependent parameters: the morale hit caused by a casualty, the number of acceptable casualties, and the desertion percentage after that. In attack scenarios, especially when attacking trolls during midnight, or descending to the caves to reach the River of Death, these would be higher (ie 10%/5/50%), in homeland defense, these would be substantially lower (ie 2%/no desertion) This chould also be applied some of the enemies - enemy Finns and Lapps would also suffer morale hits, Crusaders in their zeal a little less, and all other kinds of creatures would be immune.
Does this sound like an impossible concept, even in a campaign? How about implementation issues, is this doable within the current WML?
Currently it seems so that I'm dropping the elk hunting scenario as "too similar", and possibly adding some bizarre "land of the dead" scenario instead (it would come after the Shooting the Swan scenario, though I still have problems connecting it to the story correctly.)Well, for the main reason of this post... I have two general campaign ideas, one (seasonal day cycles) I'm definitely going to implement, but don't know how, the other (morale) I'm still not sure about.
Seasonal day cycles: Since we are far north (post 55 degrees latitude in every scenario, 65-70 in some of them), the summers tend to be very sunny, and the winters to be very dark. At least one scenario takes place during wintertime past the polar circle, when there's no sun at all. This will have to be reflected somehow. The simplest schema is:
0 25 25 0 -25 -25 (normal)
25 25 25 25 0 0 (summer)
-25 0 0 -25 -25 -25 (winter)
The other variations include using midday/midnight as singulars, creating something like
10 25 10 -10 -25 -10 (normal)
25 25 25 10 -10 10 (summer)
etc
or using 8 turns per day.
Does anyone (except UTBS) have experience on variable day cycles?
Morale: the idea was bashed to death by almost everyone at the Ideas forum (which was later set on a flame war), but I'm giving a refined version another chance here. For each scenario, each casualty reduces your morale by a certain number of percentage units dependent on the scenario. This will directly affect the damage dealt by your units. After a certain number of casualties, each subsequent casualty will cause a certain percentage of units to desert (return to recall list). Deserted units can be "rallied" back in the battle as normal recalls. Loyal units are not affected by morale and won't desert.
So, basically there would be three scenario-dependent parameters: the morale hit caused by a casualty, the number of acceptable casualties, and the desertion percentage after that. In attack scenarios, especially when attacking trolls during midnight, or descending to the caves to reach the River of Death, these would be higher (ie 10%/5/50%), in homeland defense, these would be substantially lower (ie 2%/no desertion) This chould also be applied some of the enemies - enemy Finns and Lapps would also suffer morale hits, Crusaders in their zeal a little less, and all other kinds of creatures would be immune.
Does this sound like an impossible concept, even in a campaign? How about implementation issues, is this doable within the current WML?