The Sceptre of Fire

[turin]

All of the scenarios should work correctly in 1.3.4 (which just came out). You'll have to restart each scenario to get it to work, but you shouldn't have to replay the whole campaign. If there are any problems with 1.3.4 please tell me, I want to fix them.

[zookeeper]

All of the scenarios should work correctly in 1.3.4 (which just came out).

Really? I was sort of under the impression that not everything was fixed yet...oh well, I'll start another playthrough shortly and try to check if I spot anything.

By the way, have you thought of setting the minimum starting gold of each scenario to be such that the current scenario could always be beaten with that? I think currently if you drop to minimum gold (which I think is just the default 100 in the whole campaign, or am I wrong?) some of the later scenarios can be practically impossible (which is the case in several other campaigns as well).

[turin]

All of the scenarios should work correctly in 1.3.4 (which just came out).

Really? I was sort of under the impression that not everything was fixed yet...oh well, I'll start another playthrough shortly and try to check if I spot anything.

I went through and attempted to fix everything, though I might have missed something.

By the way, have you thought of setting the minimum starting gold of each scenario to be such that the current scenario could always be beaten with that? I think currently if you drop to minimum gold (which I think is just the default 100 in the whole campaign, or am I wrong?) some of the later scenarios can be practically impossible (which is the case in several other campaigns as well).

Good idea. Of course, I can't really guarantee that it will be beatable with both minimum gold and a small number of advanced units...

[zookeeper]

By the way, have you thought of setting the minimum starting gold of each scenario to be such that the current scenario could always be beaten with that? I think currently if you drop to minimum gold (which I think is just the default 100 in the whole campaign, or am I wrong?) some of the later scenarios can be practically impossible (which is the case in several other campaigns as well).

Good idea. Of course, I can't really guarantee that it will be beatable with both minimum gold and a small number of advanced units...

I think it's fine that way. AFAICT people more often have a lack of gold than a lack of advanced units, and the gold part is much easier to fix too.

[friar tuck]

In scenario 7, is there anything I'm missing completely?

On medium, there are five outriders, two of which can kill alanin (who's level 2) in one turn.

If I don't go to a village, the outriders just come and kill me.

If I go to a village, Alanin is stopped for the time being, so he always stays in easy reach of the outriders.

On the first village, I get two spearmen. Each is killed immediately by two outriders. This leaves one to reduce Alanin to half LP.

On the second village, I get one spearman, by no means enough to hold off five outriders, even if they wouldn't come like sharks after the wounded Alanin.

If one of the spearmen survives, it seems like pure chance even on the best terrain.

Is there any tactical way (apart from saveloading into a parallel universe where outriders never hit) to survive this scenario?

Is it an absolute requirement that Alanin must be level 3 when going into this scenario?

[turin]

Is it an absolute requirement that Alanin must be level 3 when going into this scenario?

No. I've never had him level 3 when I get here.

[joshudson]

I was level 3, my roommate was not. It's beatable, but hard.

[friar tuck]

I was level 3, my roommate was not. It's beatable, but hard.

Anybody care to give me a clue how?

I also "beat" it by retrying at least 12 times until the first two spearmen survived the first turn by sheer luck (standing on hills and forest, respectively).

If this happens, things go uphill dramatically. The spearmen do a lot of damage to outriders, so they can kill a couple of them in the second turn (leveling up) and after that alanin can ride almost unhindered.

Alas! so far I found no way to bring this situation about intentionally, but had to rely on a favourable turn of the RNG. Not that problematic because the interesting part happens in turn 1, but I feel quite the n00b about it

[friar tuck]

I reached scenario 8 and found the altar, but it is standing on lava.

Is this intentional?

How can I get Thursagan on it?

Oops, maybe this is again a vertical misalignment problem as for scenario 6? Should I edit the cfg file? In which way?

Second question: Can I influence who's recalled? A couple of guys are coming, others not. Unfortunately this way I'm starting with a negative income of 16, without much chance to capture villages with all the bats flying around. This is eating up all my gold. I only hope the next scenario can be beaten with default gold

[turin]

I reached scenario 8 and found the altar, but it is standing on lava.

Is this intentional?

How can I get Thursagan on it?

Oops, maybe this is again a vertical misalignment problem as for scenario 6? Should I edit the cfg file? In which way?

The vertical misalignment problem is probably the reason. Instead of editing the cfg file, I would advise going into the map file and copying the first line to a newline right below it. That'll fix the vertical alignment problem.

Second question: Can I influence who's recalled? A couple of guys are coming, others not. Unfortunately this way I'm starting with a negative income of 16, without much chance to capture villages with all the bats flying around. This is eating up all my gold. I only hope the next scenario can be beaten with default gold

You can't influence who's recalled, it takes your best units. Don't worry about the gold, you won't need it.

[friar tuck]

The vertical misalignment problem is probably the reason. Instead of editing the cfg file, I would advise going into the map file and copying the first line to a newline right below it. That'll fix the vertical alignment problem.

That worked great, thanks.

Still (ignoring the danger I'll go on your nerves) I've got some questions:

• * I went straigt down the tunnel to the altar and after I'd reached it, strangely everybody seemed to ignore me. The dwarves and elves were walking around aimlessly (in the sense of walking somewhere and walking back in the next turn) and the bats were swarming around me, but not attacking. I never even saw the dragon because he stayed in his keep. I got the impression that the elves and dwarves somhow lost "contact" after I got one complete "wind" of the tunnel between us, and the bats were too afraid to attack a non-wounded dwarf. But what about the dragon? Same stupid movements again, btw, in the following scenario: The violet and green trolls/orcs were just stupidly walking into the walls in the rough direction of my troops. AI problem?
  
  It was much much more fun the previous attempt when I tried going directly for the elves. That worked surprisingly well (man do these elves suck in caves) and I almost reached the keep. But the end of the tunnel was a bit of a choke point where I could kill at most two elves a turn, while their leader recruited three, so they sorta started to pile up...
  
  Still, much more fun than just waiting it out for nine turns until the sceptre was forged.

• * I'm wondering why the bats aren't attacking the pursuing dwarves and elves? The story doesn't suggest they should be allies.

• * When trying to attack another dwarven lord, I noticed that Rugnur (in fact, all the heroes) has no traits. Is this intentional?

• * In the next scenario, I find a rune inside a cave wall. I assume someone is supposed to step on it, but this is impossible. Will the same trick (duplicate the first line of the map file) work here as well?

[turin]

I went straigt down the tunnel to the altar and after I'd reached it, strangely everybody seemed to ignore me. The dwarves and elves were walking around aimlessly (in the sense of walking somewhere and walking back in the next turn) and the bats were swarming around me, but not attacking. I never even saw the dragon because he stayed in his keep. I got the impression that the elves and dwarves somhow lost "contact" after I got one complete "wind" of the tunnel between us, and the bats were too afraid to attack a non-wounded dwarf. But what about the dragon? Same stupid movements again, btw, in the following scenario: The violet and green trolls/orcs were just stupidly walking into the walls in the rough direction of my troops. AI problem?

Sounds like it... I guess they're not targeting you strongly enough. :/ I'll see what I can do to fix this.

It was much much more fun the previous attempt when I tried going directly for the elves. That worked surprisingly well (man do these elves suck in caves) and I almost reached the keep. But the end of the tunnel was a bit of a choke point where I could kill at most two elves a turn, while their leader recruited three, so they sorta started to pile up...

Still, much more fun than just waiting it out for nine turns until the sceptre was forged.

I'll look into making the elves more of a threat.

I'm wondering why the bats aren't attacking the pursuing dwarves and elves? The story doesn't suggest they should be allies.

They are indeed allies for some reason. Probably to make sure the elves don't go for the bats, and instead go for you. I could change this, but I'd have to mess with the AI settings so they target you not each other...

When trying to attack another dwarven lord, I noticed that Rugnur (in fact, all the heroes) has no traits. Is this intentional?

No, and I could give them traits, but it's not really a priority right now. It would be more for flavor than anything else. But let's see, what would be appropriate for whom...
My guesses would be...
Rugnur: Quick, Resilient
Alanin: Strong, Intelligent (though giving him intelligent will actually make a difference, since getting him to level 3 makes a big difference on scenario 7)
Baglur: Strong, Resilient
Thursagan: Intelligent, Strong
Durstorn: hm... Strong, Quick?

In the next scenario, I find a rune inside a cave wall. I assume someone is supposed to step on it, but this is impossible. Will the same trick (duplicate the first line of the map file) work here as well?

The same trick will work, EXCEPT you'll have to do the same for every file in the 9_overlays/ directory. There are 10 of them, IIRC. But it will still probably be quicker than editing the scenario file.

[zookeeper]

No, and I could give them traits, but it's not really a priority right now. It would be more for flavor than anything else. But let's see, what would be appropriate for whom...
My guesses would be...
Rugnur: Quick, Resilient
Alanin: Strong, Intelligent (though giving him intelligent will actually make a difference, since getting him to level 3 makes a big difference on scenario 7)
Baglur: Strong, Resilient
Thursagan: Intelligent, Strong
Durstorn: hm... Strong, Quick?

Remember healthy; I'd be thinking about Rugnur (quick, healthy) or Baglur (healthy, resilient), if anyone.

[turin]

No, and I could give them traits, but it's not really a priority right now. It would be more for flavor than anything else. But let's see, what would be appropriate for whom...
My guesses would be...
Rugnur: Quick, Resilient
Alanin: Strong, Intelligent (though giving him intelligent will actually make a difference, since getting him to level 3 makes a big difference on scenario 7)
Baglur: Strong, Resilient
Thursagan: Intelligent, Strong
Durstorn: hm... Strong, Quick?

Remember healthy; I'd be thinking about Rugnur (quick, healthy) or Baglur (healthy, resilient), if anyone.

Oh, right, healthy... I would say Baglur: Resilient, Healthy, but I'm not sure. Then Durstorn could be Resilient, Strong.

[friar tuck]

When trying to attack another dwarven lord, I noticed that Rugnur (in fact, all the heroes) has no traits. Is this intentional?

No, and I could give them traits, but it's not really a priority right now.

Of course it's not a bug or anything. But one is accustomed to campaign heroes being special characters of some sort, and in fact here the heroes are even more plain than random units.