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

[Passer2010]

It may be a little late to ask, but why don't you allow WC level to ghoul? I think it's an interesting design in IftU.

[Iris]

Because I intended the player to not be able to recruit or level-up Ghouls in this campaign, for no specific gameplay reason at all.

Plot-wise, I think it makes sense to disallow that option since the protagonist(s) generally frown upon the use of poisonous weapons*; plus the first necromancer available (in E1) is quite visibly weakened from the events of IftU.

* Ep. III Spoiler:

Yes, the other human-controlled side can recruit poison users starting from E3S3. That’s a deliberate narrative decision.

[MRDNRA]

Struggling a bit on AtS 1: Tears. Given the starting villages and my recall list I am generally recalling/recruiting about 12 units so as to break even in terms of gold while still having about 200 gold available. My recall list includes many level 3s (who I am not recalling yet, prefer to save them for last level). Having never actually completed this section of the campaign before I'm just wondering is it the last level of this part, or is it worth just recruiting/recalling what I can to complete it quickly. I'm not overly concerned about losing non loyal units (although I lost the loyal archer I got a couple of missions back quite quickly), I at one point lost a spectre or another level 3 and have enough lower level but still relatively veteran troops to get many more up to level 3. I am playing on easy difficulty.

[Iris]

Tears is the penultimate battle scenario for Ep. I (scenario 10 of 12 in the line-up), so you should proceed as usual. You should still make sure to have some high level units alive at the end of the next scenario.

[Kanzil]

Firstly, I love your campaigns!

Secondly,I am making my own campaign,set in the time of one of the Vikrens, and want to make links with your campaigns.A question:who is Avadyan from "Avadyan's keep".
Or is it such a minor detail you haven't thought about it?

Lastly,would it be rude to inquire as to how progress is moving on After the Storm?Is there a deadline as before?

Thank you.

[Iris]

A question:who is Avadyan from "Avadyan's keep".

A figure of legend that only came to be long after the Fall in the Far North. Here’s something I said on IRC a while ago:

03:14:28 <shadowm> I'd like to speak of Ada's legend somewhere anyway.
03:14:55 <shadowm> Maybe I could put a monolith with such an inscription in E3S4 instead.
03:15:32 <shadowm> Basically, there was this sorceress.
03:16:04 <shadowm> She united the human settlements of the Far North a century or two before IftU begins.
03:16:29 <shadowm> Through war, no less.
03:16:53 <shadowm> And then Raelthyn became the capital of the Far North and home to the Grand Council.
03:17:34 <shadowm> And in time, a sacred place of sorts.
03:17:57 <shadowm> In time it became the capital of peace or some stuff like that.

And a much less serious statement:

03:18:33 <shadowm> Hence its fall in E3S2 would have made thousands of people across the Far North simultaneously commit suicide in an act of hopelessness.

Lastly,would it be rude to inquire as to how progress is moving on After the Storm?Is there a deadline as before?

There’s no deadline since that approach didn’t work the last time. However, I’d like to get the next three scenarios (technically four, due to a cutscene) out together before August. The rest may take much longer.

At the moment, the next battle scenario (E3S4.1, Outpost of Hell) and its ending cutscene (E3S4.2, Gateway) are nearly ready awaiting playtesting and balancing. There’s also a major change to the Aragwaithi units that’s slowing down things.

[Astoria]

There’s also a major change to the Aragwaithi units that’s slowing down things.

Just one? You're being modest.

[Iris]

Okay, okay, a huge load of changes. From the preliminary changelog:

Code: Select all

* Units:
  * Updated Aragwaith units to match the faction from bumbadadabum's
    "The Aragwaithi" add-on. This has resulted in the following changes:
    * Protection only affects allied L1 and L0 units instead of any allied
      lower level unit
    * Ancient Banner abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Ancient banner resistances: impact 10% -> 20%
    * Ancient banner stats: HP 55 -> 61, MP 4 -> 5
    * Ancient banner attacks: sword renamed to scythe
    * Archer attacks: melee 6-3 -> 5-3
    * Captain abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Captain resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Captain stats: HP 43 -> 55, MP 4 -> 5
    * Captain attacks: spear renamed to glaive, 17-2 -> 18-2; sword renamed to
      glaive, 9-4 -> 10-4
    * Eagle Master stats: HP 48 -> 45, MP 7 -> 9
    * Eagle Master attacks: blade 9-3 -> 10-3, impact 15-2 -> 16-2
    * Eagle Rider stats: HP 36 -> 34, MP 7 -> 9, cost 21 -> 23
    * Eagle Rider attacks: blade 6-3 -> 7-3, impact 10-2 -> 12-2
    * Flagbearer abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Flagbearer resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Flagbearer stats: HP 34 -> 45, MP 4 -> 5
    * Flagbearer attacks: spear renamed to glaive, 13-2 -> 14-2; sword renamed
      to glaive
    * Greatbow stats: HP 43 -> 46, MP 5 -> 6
    * Greatbow attacks: melee 13-3 -> 10-3
    * Guard abilities: +steadfast
    * Guard resistances: pierce 20% -> 10%, impact 20% -> 10%, blade 30% -> 10%
    * Guard stats: HP 40 -> 52, XP 78 -> 64, cost 27 -> 28
    * Guardian resistances: fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Guardian stats: HP 51 -> 62
    * Lancer now has a female variation
    * Lancer stats: HP 40 -> 48, cost 38 -> 34
    * Longswordsman stats: HP 38 -> 46, MP 5 -> 6, XP 78 -> 88, cost 24 -> 27
    * Pikeman resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, impact 10% -> 0%, fire 10% -> 0%,
      cold 10% -> 0%
    * Pikeman stats: HP 44 -> 50, XP 94 -> 70
    * Pikeman attacks: melee 17-2 -> 16-2
    * Scout now has a female variation
    * Scout stats: HP 31 -> 37, XP 36 -> 40
    * Scout attacks: melee 10-2 -> 11-2
    * Shield Guard abilities: +protection, +steadfast
    * Shield Guard resistances: pierce 30% -> 10%, impact 30% -> 10%, blade
      40% -> 10%
    * Shield Guard stats: HP 54 -> 63
    * Shield Guard attacks: melee 16-3 -> 15-3
    * Silver Shield now has a female variation
    * Silver Shield stats: HP 54 -> 62, MP 8 -> 9, cost 38 -> 48
    * Silver Shield attacks: melee 13-4 -> 12-4
    * Slayer stats: HP 45 -> 53, MP 5 -> 6, cost 46 -> 62
    * Slayer attacks: melee 12-4 -> 11-4
    * Sorcerer renamed to Sorceress, no longer has a male variation
    * Spearman resistances: blade 20% -> 0%, pierce 20% -> 10%, impact 10% ->
      0%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Spearman stats: HP 30 -> 34, XP 38 -> 43
    * Spearman attacks: 11-2 -> 12-2
    * Strongbow stats: HP 35 -> 38, MP 5 -> 6, XP 80 -> 85, cost 31 -> 38
    * Strongbow attacks: melee 9-3 -> 7-3, ranged 8-4 -> 9-4
    * Swordsmaster id changed, breaking old saved games with the unit
    * Swordsmaster stats: MP 5 -> 6
    * Swordsman resistances: blade 10% -> 0%
    * Swordsman stats: HP 28 -> 32, XP 32 -> 39, cost 13 -> 14
    * Warlock no longer has a male variation
    * Warlock stats: cost 18 -> 21
    * Warlock attacks: staff renamed to kick, 6-2 -> 7-1
    * Wizard no longer has a male variation
    * Wizard attacks: melee 10-2 -> 7-2, ranged 11-3 -> 10-3

[Kanzil]

Thank you for your rapid,and useful, response.Avadyan will definitely be appearing in my campaign.

Regarding the deadlines approach,I probably agree

Your comment concerning Avadyan's death probably reflects the reaction if you were to disappear in the middle of making after the storm!

P.S Playtesting After the Storm?That must be a fun job!And Bumbadadabum you've changed your avatar again!

[Iris]

Avadyan will definitely be appearing in my campaign.

It’s Adavyan, and didn’t you say your campaign would take place in the times of the Vikren dynasty? As I said, Adavyan didn’t exist until one or two centuries before IftU, whereas that dynasty precedes the Fall itself (so they would be at least a thousand years apart) and ruled over the Empire of Wesnoth from Weldyn, not the post-Fall Far North.

[Kanzil]

Indeed.But it will,much like yours,contain more than one instalment(I know this is rather ambitious from a first time campaign- maker,but there's always the forums),however each will take place at different times.I feel the Aragwaithi are too good a faction to pass over.
The first instalment is almost ready,and I will be focused on the story,as my favourite part is the writing.

And thank you for the correction on the spelling.

[taptap]

Ehm, I suggested to switch cold-fire resistance of the fire faerie because having a weakness against fire is somehow strange in such a unit, but you just turned a 70% resistance to cold into a -10% weakness without adding anything in exchange. Did you? It is a pretty pointless unit now.

Edit: I mixed sth. up Fire Faerie wasn't the spirit after all but only the L2. Sorry has been a long time since I last saw them.

[Iris]

Ehm, I suggested to switch cold-fire resistance of the fire faerie because having a weakness against fire is somehow strange in such a unit, but you just turned a 70% resistance to cold into a -10% weakness without adding anything in exchange. Did you? It is a pretty pointless unit now.

Sprites and Fire Faeries have 10% resistance to fire damage. I thought this would be enough?

Although Sprites and Fire Faeries have -20% resistance to impact (Dryad has -10%, Spirit 50% since it’s a spirit unit), which seems rather ridiculous to me compared to the Elvish Shyde (0%) and the comparatively small Goblin Spearman (also 0%). Would increasing that to 0% for the whole line be a fair tradeoff?

[cerion]

Episode 3 is making a strong start so far, comments

Mission 1: Well balanced defensive scenario. The outlaw unit set is generally just cannon fodder, but on the plus side there's plenty of defensible terrain and I'm happy to sacrifice them to level up my loyal units and faeries.

Mission 2: Real edge of the seat stuff here. Only things that are a bit off are: 1) The bomb shaxthals get distracted very easily and chase irrelevant units. 2) Once you've killed the bombs and dealt with the first wave of attackers, there isn't much to do except kill off units trickling in one or two at a time (unless you really want to kill the enemy leaders, and I didn't want to risk my good units trying to rush down multiple scattered level 4's) so the scenario might as well be survive 15 turns instead of 20.

Mission 3: I beat this one by going full offensive. Which is a nice change. The SE enemy leader sent quite a few troops to assist on the western front and got overrun quickly, while the western fight got pretty hairy when the shaxthals joined the party. I was quite amused that the characters are as annoyed with the enemy leaders perpetually running away as the player presumably is by this point :p

[Iris]

Due to various recent developments, I’m fast-tracking version 0.8.1 so it can be released this Sunday (July 1st). It will include two additional completed (but not necessarily balanced!) scenarios, obviously part of Episode III. And as I previously hinted, it will also include many changes to the Aragwaith units in order to match bumbadadabum’s MP faction.

The rest of the scenarios comprising Episode III will be worked on as an atomic set, so they won’t be entering future releases until they are all completed; the first release with the full set will invariably be 0.9.0 and may take a long while to happen, as I had previously explained. I intend to continue pushing bugfix/balancing releases between 0.8.1 and 0.9.0, though.

Mission 2: Real edge of the seat stuff here. Only things that are a bit off are: 1) The bomb shaxthals get distracted very easily and chase irrelevant units. 2) Once you've killed the bombs and dealt with the first wave of attackers, there isn't much to do except kill off units trickling in one or two at a time (unless you really want to kill the enemy leaders, and I didn't want to risk my good units trying to rush down multiple scattered level 4's) so the scenario might as well be survive 15 turns instead of 20.

(1) is something that I am not sure can be effectively addressed with the current AI system yet, but I’ll try to get it fixed before 0.8.1. (2) is much more tricky, though.