Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Feedback for the mainline campaign Heir to the Throne.

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Faello
Posts: 441
Joined: June 7th, 2005, 9:01 am
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Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Faello »

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

Challenging (Champion), 1.9.6, no saves/reloads, 129 starting gold

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

6 for killing a leader, probably much lower for just surviving.

Mokolo Qimur (Orcish Warrior) has 220gp and uses it well on lvl1 units. Sir Kaylan (Grand Knight, ally) has only 40gp and he sents only lvl2 knights, one after one with a few break turns, so he's not much of help aside from first knight attack. If player wants to go for a leader-kill, he needs to put some baits in the central forest and count that they'll survive a bit longer than they should. It gives a time to the rest of the army for some flanking manouver. Captain boosts your chances a bit in this one, altough I lost mine but it was acceptable exchange for a bonus unit on this difficulty level - Simyr <lvl2 loyal, intelligent knight>. Finished it in turn 8/9.

4 losses, 11 kills in this one.

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

Crystal clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

It was very interesting, I like to encounter powerful allies like Sir Kaylan - it stresses out the power of their opponents during the campaign too.

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

Launching a successful leader-kill attack.

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

9.

It's a well designed scenario with some advanced manouver skill training, I really like this map and bonus for completing alternative objective is sweet.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

No changes required, it's good as it is.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Yes, losing Delfador during first trial. Passed it on second.

Replay attached:
Attachments
HttT-Blackwater_Port_replay.gz
Blackwater Port replay, Challenging (Champion) difficulty level, 1.9.6, no saves/reloads
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The yellow jester does not play
but gently pulls the strings
and smiles as the puppets dance
in the court of the Crimson King.
WanderingHero
Posts: 169
Joined: May 30th, 2011, 2:03 pm
Location: Uk, London

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by WanderingHero »

(1) Normal
(2) 4 ... because I was playing under the sub objective "try and farm experience"
(3) Pretty clear
(4) So so.. but hardly gets me gripped on Konrad's journey
(5) Not dying
(6) 7 actually pretty fun, though maybe because I was aggressive
(7) If the player is too passive, make them more aggresive. That might deal with the people who find the scenario dull. Give a hint that you should start feeding your mages exp (I HATE VALLEY OF THE DEAD)
(8) Recklessness, greed and misc N00bishness
Skaithe
Posts: 25
Joined: July 13th, 2011, 8:41 am

Post by Skaithe »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
v1.9.7 High Lord - Hard

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

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
No problems.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Still kept our flight interesting. Introduction of riders and Haldiel was cool.

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
Keeping vets alive, not too bad though.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7
Attachments
HttT-Blackwater_Port_replay.gz
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vodot
Posts: 97
Joined: October 12th, 2011, 5:32 pm
Location: Camas, WA

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by vodot »

(1) Challenging. v1.8.6
(2) 3. After my pounding in S1, I handled this easily and farmed the streams of wimpy orcs for XP. Almost picked up my first L2 here and had 6 or so good options for recall in S3.
(3) 10.
(4) 5. Not much dialog. Simple.
(5) I was over aggressive with Konrad the Weak and lost him once; otherwise this was easy. I did not receive any assistance from my Ally and destroyed these much weaker (than S1) Orcs and Trolls.
(6) 7. This is the scenario that got me into the game; aaaaaalmost getting that first L2 was a great hook into S3.
(7) I feel like this was intended to bolster my ranks for scenario 3; if so, then it was great. I could've taken more pressure, however. I lured the Orcs into the eastern trees and just slaughtered them, never needing to retreat to the castle and Grand Knight at all.
cyningstan
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Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by cyningstan »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth...?
Medium, 1.8.6.
(2) How difficult...?
7/10. Won with some losses on the third attempt. I spent the last couple of turns retreating towards the town and licking my wounds, letting the allied horsemen deal with the orcs for a while.
(3) How clear...objectives?
Reasonably clear. Having experienced changing objectives in The South Guard, I had thought wrongly that I'd need to move my units to the ship to finish the scenario.
(4) How clear and interesting...?
The story was very clear. Except that, having run northwest from the orcs, it was slightly confusing that they appear in the west of the map.
(5) What were your major challenges...?
Keeping my principal characters alive! Horsemen were falling thick and fast around me, including my own loyal horseman who I thought I'd placed reasonably safely. I had no option but to expose Konrad and Delfador to danger occasionally. With hindsight, perhaps, I should have kept my forces near the town instead of following the allied horsemen into the attack.
(6) How fun...?
7/10. Good fun!
(7) What...changes...?
I can't think of any. It would be difficult to clear up my confusion about getting to the ship without spoiling the story text with "technical" game details.
Damian Walker - fell in battle at Elensefar...
Laurent
Posts: 6
Joined: April 1st, 2012, 11:52 pm

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Laurent »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth...?

Hard 1.10.1

(2) How difficult...?

5/10 quite an easy scenario but second objective is hard to reach

(3) How clear...objectives?


First objective : survive
Second objective : killing the orc leader

(4) How clear and interesting...?

First time u can use horsemen --> nice

(5) What were your major challenges...?


Hard to kill the orc leader in only 9 turns even with 5 or 6 horsemen.

(6) How fun...?


First time u can really level up some units, simple scenario, small map --> 8/10

(7) What...changes...?


More help from the ally maybe
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Ninjuri
Posts: 167
Joined: April 28th, 2012, 2:59 am
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Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Ninjuri »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
easy 1.10.2
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3
(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?
It was pretty interesting getting some insight into how some of the kingdom is independent of ahsaiereve. It was also my first time learning how to use horsemen which was pretty cool.
(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
None.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None, the pieces of forest and hills served well for my elvish units and the flat land around it served well for the horsemen.
Fate is against me.
Svistwarrior273
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Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Svistwarrior273 »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Normal, 1.10.3
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
1-2
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
crystal.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I think that pretty good.
(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
None.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6-7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Sir Kaylan should recruit only horsemen.
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Seldam
Posts: 24
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Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Seldam »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
medium, 1.10.5;

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4 - I found it pretty okay.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialogue and storyline of the scenario?
Wakes my interest. A solid 6.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
---

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I found it nice.
Attachments
DT-Der_Hafen_von_Schwarz...__Seldam.gz
Replay.
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Linthar
Posts: 77
Joined: September 14th, 2006, 12:16 am

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Linthar »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Medium 1.10.5

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

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The dialog was nothing special, but I do like the sense of progression in the first few scenarios. The previous scenario your objective was to run away, and now I'm expected to actually stand and fight even if it's only for a short while.

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
There weren't all the many challenges to completing the scenario. All it took was understanding how to set up a proper defensive formation and knowing to not get greedy and try to be aggression at night, and I had enough past exposure to the game to have learned that much.

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

7. The scenario was pretty much ordinary small scale combat, which is fun but mainly because the underlying mechanics of the game are fun then any specific element of the map itself, and the survive x turns mechanic really doesn't come into play as the enemy doesn't put enough pressure to make it likely I would lose before then.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

I wouldn't change anything. While the scenario doesn't prove to be the especially interesting, for a campaign meant to be played by people new to the game, a small skirmish to get them used to actual combat is precisely what the campaign needs early on.
SBak
Posts: 78
Joined: October 8th, 2011, 1:36 am

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by SBak »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Easy and medium 1.8.5, 1.10.2 and 1.10.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Relative to other scenarios, if we just talking about the scenario objective of holding out until the end of turns it's a definite 10. The Orcs are lucky if they see turn 6, and they can only dream about surviving to the end of 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?
Interesting enough, but it looked much more like a seaside resort for Orcs than it did like a port.

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
Getting XP for my units especially on Easy. At first I could never quite work out why Sir Kaylan's horses could cleanly take out almost any unit on the map and mine couldn't and it took me some time to work out that he was sending Paladins down to the Orcs.

Getting the hang of using Horsemen took me a while as a result. I went through a stage of charging Orcish Grunts and Trolls (following what I thought was an example) which resulted in both Orcish Grunt and Horseman ending up with 2-3HP. But this is where I start recruiting Horsemen and Scouts and trying to get XP for them as well as Archers and Shamen.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5 - this scenario never really lasts long enough to be fun, especially on Easy and I tend to feel railroaded into finishing the scenario as quickly as possible.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Does Sir Kaylan really need Paladins in this scenario? Why not just Horsemen or Knights?

Or alternatively, why not introduce players to the concept of Cavalrymen and Horsemen, and Sir Kaylan uses the Cavalrymen and the player gets to use the Horsemen? I know that this would give the player three horse units but given the effectiveness of the Elvish Fighter and the mobility of the Elvish Scout even at 17gold I doubt many players would find much use for Cavalrymen.
Kente
Posts: 30
Joined: September 30th, 2013, 5:18 pm

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by Kente »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.10 and normal and difficoult level

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4

(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?
good

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
level up some horseman

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
4

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
it's a small scenario to let you become familiar with horseman, i mean it's good enough, but there is very few strategy in this map
ChargeofAddryn
Posts: 6
Joined: November 27th, 2013, 6:50 pm

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by ChargeofAddryn »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?

This time around it was on 1.11.7 and on Medium difficulty.

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

Due to the separate scenario objectives I would rate this slightly differently then the last one. I will put it at a 6 because I lost an extra unit compared to the last scenario. I also had to reload at some point due to an accident where I did not read Konrad's xp correctly and assumed the AI would not attack him since they could not kill him in one attack and in one combat he would level. Unfortunately his xp was actually 2 points below leveling (a dumb mistake on my part) and he was killed. At which point I loaded an auto save a bit before and re-positioned. I don't like doing this an it honestly surprised me. I was surprised that I lost a ranger I had leveled the last scenario, but I was able to nearly get two knights and get my ranger back. I was able to get a druid as well, so I am happy :D

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

Again this scenario is very clear for me. I tend to like killing the enemy leader best as its a bit harder but much more fun. I like that it has the "hold out till time ends" option, especially for newer players who may not understand the game.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Good, the lines were nice and I have always liked the bit of story behind Sir Kaylan. Things like that give Wesnoth depth and make it more enjoyable. I also liked the bit of teaching regarding loyal units. I remember a long time ago when I played this I didn't really care about Haldiel as a units, I didn't get why a little bit of upkeep was so important. Now I get him leveled to a Grand Knight ASAP and I can get a level three into combat with hardly any charge.

(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?

Not any major challenges really. I had a bit of a hard time keeping a couple of my horsemen alive and lost on (I had a total of two losses, one being a horsemen the other being a ranger) and losing horsemen is never fun, you can't recall them cheap in the next scenario ;) .

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

Another 7, though this is personally one of my favorite scenarios and I like all the scenarios leading up to the Elensefar siege. Its made enjoyable by the inclusion of a new unit I like and that is one thing that makes HttT good, it doesn't just introduces you to parts of the game, it still serves its purpose as a mainline campaign without feeling like its constantly "teaching you".

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

None. Everything from the map to the objectives to the dialogue is good. I have no complaints.

An extra thing I would like to mention is how the description by Kaylan of horsemen literally made me better with them. Years ago when I first decided to actually try and use them those words just started echoing in my head and I understood the units better. So great job on that, its an absolutely perfect line which embodies the unit IMO.
line
Posts: 94
Joined: January 11th, 2012, 9:21 pm

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by line »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Champion (Challenging) 1.11.6, Shamans only (and loyals)
170 starting gold, enemy: 220, ally: 40
Finished turn 9/9

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
I read in the forum that Konrad can be used for distraction, so I sent him north, while everyone else kept south to sneak around and get a shot on the orcish leader. One shaman levelled up just in time so I could attack the orcish warrior with Delfador and a sorceress. Honestly, the killing blow by a charging horseman was luckily though no save-loading was used.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Once you send Konrad north your main force marches nearly untouched to the leader. Still there’s little time to kill the orcish leader. Things get even harder, when he flees to the north.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
It’s misleading. The map will make the player think, he should defend in the wood, keeping the orcs on the plain. But that will get you encircled and cost some units. I admit I did not expect it’s possible to kill the orc leader.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe there could be hint in the dialogue about some distraction by Konrad and a sneak-around-shot at the orc.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
None.
Attachments
HttT-Blackwater_Port_replay.gz
shamans only
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line
Posts: 94
Joined: January 11th, 2012, 9:21 pm

Re: Scenario 2: Blackwater Port

Post by line »

Champion (Challenging) 1.11.12, Shamans only (and loyals)
164 starting gold
Finished turn 8/9 thanks to the orcish leader who left his keep to attack a shaman.

I had to replay several times from start, because I wanted to kill the leader but failed due to the time limit.
Attachments
HttT-Blackwater_Port_replay.gz
shamans only
(24.14 KiB) Downloaded 695 times
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