Scenario 6: The Siege of Elensefar

[Sly]

@jro : I have to admit that's not very clear but you should begin with the "A Tale of Two Brothers" and the "The South Guard" campains as ther best fit for beginners

And about Saving Elensefar or any level that you found yourself unable to beat with your current army, the "go back one or two levels" is alwas a good thing

Ah and mages are awesome at taking out fortified foes and undeads

[scott]

PS. Please don't respond to this with the "it's Free so don't complain / fix it yourself" argument.

Please consider playing on easy, perhaps? That's really the best solution.

Fixing the way the tombs work is on my long-term to do list, but as you gain more skill with the game you will be able to finish these levels more easily. I'm not sure if this one can be beaten with only L1 units in the most recent version, but that isn't the design goal either.

[jro]

Thanks, I do appreciate the tips about trying the other campaigns. Perhaps the tutorial could include that info? I guess I just sort of assumed that the main campaign was the one to play once you beat the tutorial. I hadn't considered playing the game on easy; except for Isles of the Damned (which I figured was supposed to be really hard), I breezed through all the earlier scenarios.

I decided to just wipe all my saves and give it a fresh start. I think that in the early rounds before I was placing too high a premium on finishing ASAP to get the bonus gold, and consequently not leveling enough dudes. I lost all the gold trying to stay alive on Isles of the Damned, ultimately making my team too weak to win the scenario (1 Knight, 1 lvl3 Elf Archer, 2 Trappers, 2 Merman Warrior, 1 Merman w/ Trident, 270 gold).

Edit after replaying: I got there w/ 3 Knights, 3 Merman Warrior, 2 E. Riders, 2 E. Rangers, 1 E. Captain, and 1 White Mage. I sent the knights in ASAP to kill the orc, killing him on turn 4 or 5, and secured the whole town by turn 9. But I lost 2 Knights, including one with 100 XP, in the process. I then suffered even more heavy losses (White Mage, a Ranger, a Rider, plus some dudes I had leveled along the way) in beating the undead lord, but I beat him on turn 25. I think I might retry from turn 1 and see if I can save my Knights. It's a hard scenario, for sure; I don't think there's any way you can beat it with the resources I had in my previous playthrough.

[cheerful coffin]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
medium, ver. 1.0.2

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
very clear. Kill the undead leader and orc leader.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The dialog is okay. However, it doesn't mention the fact that the thiefs will join the battle, even if you choose "help us inflitrate the city and we will do the rest."

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
kill the orcs before the undead joins the fray, and keeping the thiefs alive.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe instead of recapture a city full of dead people (orcs + undead conquered the city? somehow I don't think the citizen would survive), make the orcs and the undead besiege the city while Konrad arrives to reinforce the city? It would be more meaningful, though might be too hard to construct such scenario.

[turin]

Maybe instead of recapture a city full of dead people (orcs + undead conquered the city? somehow I don't think the citizen would survive), make the orcs and the undead besiege the city while Konrad arrives to reinforce the city? It would be more meaningful, though might be too hard to construct such scenario.

I must disagree - after all the undead are not inside the city, only the orcs are; and the orcs have no reason to kill the citizens.

My problem with the scenario is, I don't see why there are undead there at all...

[Flametrooper]

Just played this on a newer version, on medium. (I'm redoing the campaign, as I'm not quite satisfied with how I did last time) I recruited/recalled 2 keep's loads, made formation just south of bridge, put healers and leaders, etc., etc. But then the orc warlord came off his keep to get a village. Well it just so happened that it was in range of my almost-leveld Horseman and my experienced Knight. Backing the horsie up with a Captain, I charged, putting the horse down to like 10 HP and 2 XP away from leveling. Then I charged with the Knight, and bye-bye Orc leader on just Turn 4! However, i though I was sure to lose both horseman and Knight. Not so; an orc warrior attacked the horse, missed all attacks, and it leveled. The Knight also leveled to Paladin right quick. A reckless attempt, but I got lucky, and was able to finish quite fast.

[Elvish_Star]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
easy

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6 with an interesting tactical challenge compensated by the fact that I had enough ressources/leveled troops to rip through the scenario

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
very clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
clear, short enough, so decent
However the thieves coul explain the choices more clearly.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
understanding how to take foot in the village before the orcs could dfend the entrance and keep troops in the village/mass them in the bridge to prepare a dawn attack.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Remove many villages in the north and give UD a little more gold, so that once you conquer the village the tedious UD leader killing goes faster

[a]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
medium

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
very clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
it's quite good

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
killing the undead leader

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
add some other undead units than just skeletons

[Xandria]

(1) Medium, 1.1.7

Difficulty?
(2) 8. Neither orc nor undead are easy pickings... the terrain works against you all the time, too.

Objectives?
(3) Clear. Kill two hygienically challenged foes. Check.

Dialogue?
(4) It's ok.

Major challenge?
(5) Two of them. First, unkillable assassins who seem to have 100% defense on any terrain, the second was pushing through the cave towards the UD leader.

Fun?
9. Excellent scenario, challenging though playable.

Would I change something?
Yes. Add a shallow river from your home base to the river/moat around Elensefar so that merfolk you might want to recruit can join the battle alongside your foot units. Add some interesting dialogue. Also, the UD should be able to recruit also a ghoul or two, or perhaps bats... in a cave... bats.. ummm

[talkitron]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

medium

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

9

This scenario is too hard on medium. After a few romps on easy, users are encouraged to step up to medium difficulty. The earlier scenarios are not so difficult. But when you get here, you face an army of level 2 orcs you need to defeat quickly before an army of undead that your weapons barely scratch show up.

I could beat the scenario if I don't care about sustaining mass casualties. But I am sure the next scenario will require more leveled characters. So I have to go back and start the whole campaign over to get more experienced characters. No fun!

[Sly]

This scenario is too hard on medium. After a few romps on easy, users are encouraged to step up to medium difficulty. The earlier scenarios are not so difficult. But when you get here, you face an army of level 2 orcs you need to defeat quickly before an army of undead that your weapons barely scratch show up.

One word : mages

[scott]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

medium

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

9

This scenario is too hard on medium. After a few romps on easy, users are encouraged to step up to medium difficulty. The earlier scenarios are not so difficult. But when you get here, you face an army of level 2 orcs you need to defeat quickly before an army of undead that your weapons barely scratch show up.

I could beat the scenario if I don't care about sustaining mass casualties. But I am sure the next scenario will require more leveled characters. So I have to go back and start the whole campaign over to get more experienced characters. No fun!

How much gold did you have at the beginning? How did you find the Bay of Pearls in comparison?

[Lathai]

I'm in the middle of this one on hard (version 1.0.2). After finally managing to beat both leaders in Isle of the Damned, I must say the extra loyal white mage makes this scenario fairly easy (so far). Also, I usually only recruit the one merman warrior with the storm trident. After only playing this on medium, it was a little daunting to see the hordes of skeletons coming from the north, but they weren't that bad when I used the thugs from IotD and Elrian as a red mage, and the couple of white mages I picked up. Actually, at this point, I haven't gotten around to finishing the orcish leader who's just sitting on the western island.

[Lathai]

Oh, I forgot to say that if you recruit the merman on the northenmost hex, it can make it to the river in the same amount of time a EF would recruited on the next turn (or something like that).

[Quitch]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Medium, 1.1.8

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6, we crossed the water and formed a beachhead which the orcs failed to break, and thus they fell easily, just as the undead arrived.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Perfectly.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I found myself massively unclear on where I should await the thieves, and when they would be arriving. Was unsure whether I would be transported somewhere, or need to move troops.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Getting a foothold in the city.

Storming the undead fortress.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6, I like taking the city, and the way the AI holds back. Unfortunately the fun is soon removed once the undead arrive. They're not a threat if you defeat the orcs properly, but you have to suffer that tedious attack on their fortress. Man oh man was that boring. You've got to campt he entrance while you expand your options by using the side entrance, or take your chances inside.

All in all, I really don't think having the undead on this map serves any purpose.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Dump the undead contingent and just have a one off bunch of orc reinforcements turn up to hurry you along or something. The storming of the city is fun, everything afterwards is not.