Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Feedback for the mainline campaign The Hammer of Thursagan.

Moderator: Forum Moderators

User avatar
Content Feedback
Battle for Wesnoth
Location: Wesnoth.org
Contact:

Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Content Feedback »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(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) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Mainline Campaigns: Scenario FeedbackDevelopment & Overall Feedback
User-made Add-ons: Feedback
User avatar
Turuk
Sithslayer
Posts: 5283
Joined: February 28th, 2007, 8:58 pm
Contact:

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Turuk »

To sum up my feelings on this scenario.

:annoyed:

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Lord (Challenging) 1.5.7

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
9. But not for the reason you would think. This was a mad dash scramble rush run scenario. The three orc leaders send all roughly 35 of their troops to assault the dwarves. They could care less about me. Which would make this a cakewalk, except that the blue dwarf leader cannot be allowed to die and he recruits only level 1s to their level 2s, and his recruitment numbers only match a single orc leader's. I had to recall all my veteran units and form three strike teams to attack the leaders. Each force moved as fast as possible and killed the leaders who have no protection because all their units were sent east. This meant that out of 35 turns (long scenario length), I finished in 8. 8!

(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?
Good, I especially liked the dialogue between the two dwarves at the end which mentions the Hammer being used as a weapon and foreshadows a bit.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Killing the orc leaders before they killed the dwarf ally.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2. While the rush scenarios can be fun, the fact that this is not a rush scenario but is instead intended to stimulate the player helping to break the orcish siege of the dwarf stronghold... I did not care for it.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Make the orcs at least split their forces to come after the player, or make the dwarf ally strong enough to hold them at bay while the player fights through to kill the orcs/save the dwarf. I was disappointed when the title/dialogue indicated I would be breaking a siege, only to find out it was more of a rush assassination mission.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Reloaded when the dwarf ally died on turn 7 my first time around when I thought I could take out the leaders one by one.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
Looks fine to me.
Mainline Maintainer: AOI, DM, NR, TB and THoT.
UMC Maintainer: Forward They Cried, A Few Logs, A Few More Logs, Start of the War, and Battle Against Time
Benefuchs
Posts: 54
Joined: February 24th, 2009, 9:40 pm

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Benefuchs »

(1) 1.4.7 , medium
(2) 3
(3) clear
(4) short, but nicely said (playing german version, so I'm not sure if it is the same in the original)
(5) none
(6) 4
(7) orcs could have been a bit stronger and could attack me and not mainly my ally
(8) no
(9) N.A.
Bjartmarr
Posts: 12
Joined: September 16th, 2007, 8:31 am

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Bjartmarr »

(1) 1.6.0
(2) 3
(3) clear
(4) clear and interesting
(5-8) This scenario is not fun, because there is no strategy involved. Summon your veterans, hope they have the "quick" trait, and go get the easy kill on the enemy leaders before their horde kills your ally. *yawn*. For a better challenge, could you make the allied AI summon guardsmen, and keep them near the keep so that they survive long enough for the player to actually get into the fight? As it is now, your ally's troops just run out into the forest where their 30% defense mean that they're meat on the hoof.

Perhaps you could have the enemy AI defend its leaders a little better, too. As it is, you need to win on or before turn 7, which is just boring.
zaimoni
Posts: 281
Joined: January 27th, 2005, 7:00 am
Location: Linn Valley, KS U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by zaimoni »

Mythological wrote:(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Easy [Wesnoth 1.6.2]
Mythological wrote:(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4, but I found it natural to send out three strike forces at once. It's a 10 (automatic defeat) if you don't do that.
Mythological wrote:(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Transparent.
Mythological wrote:(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Reasonable. It would have been nice if the orcs had some starting dialog indicating why they're so insistent on going after the Kal Karthans.
Mythological wrote:(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Choosing the right strategy on turn 1 (the recall choice for the southern strike force is finicky).
Mythological wrote:(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6. There's no flexibility -- you have to get what to do exactly right on Turn 1, and there are no practical minor variations.
Mythological wrote:(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It was really strange how the orcs did absolutely nothing about the three strike forces. I'd seriously consider a slightly lesser weight on Kal Karthans.
Mythological wrote:(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No.
Mythological wrote:(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
Yes, the WML is clear and well-commented.
LucasBeer
Posts: 1
Joined: July 16th, 2009, 11:02 pm

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by LucasBeer »

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

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8. Had to rush to the gate in the east with my fastest units and still I had to reload several times in order to save the leader.

(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?
Not much dialog. It would have been interesting to hear the leader of the West Gate plea for help.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Rushing. It didn't matter if I attacked any of the three leaders, they ignored me completely and rushed to the right, ganging up on the weak dwarf who got clobbered like there was no tomorrow.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5. Running is no fun :(

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Either make the leader of the West Gate a whole lot stronger or make the orcs attack me besides ganging up on the AI dwarf.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Yeah: the AI dwarf getting clobbered.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
I don't know WML.
Eponymous-Archon
Posts: 558
Joined: February 1st, 2004, 6:17 pm
Location: New Jersey, USA

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Eponymous-Archon »

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

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
10. It's just a mad dash to get to the other side. I've yet to win it as my force doesn't make it before the dwarf king is killed. The orcs don't care a whit for my forces and he can't hold out.

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

See above.

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

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Have the orcs pay attention to my forces. Have the dwarf king retain some protective forces of his own. He could easily hold out if they wouldn't be so aggressive.
The Eponymous Archon
cph
Posts: 129
Joined: May 12th, 2007, 4:29 pm
Location: London, UK

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by cph »

(1) Lord, 1.8.1
(2) 3
(3) Clear.
(4) The start is okay, the end is excellent.
(5) No problem really - the enemy all go east, and (as I wasn't expecting that) my recruitment was major overkill, I could have stood around with half my units and still won.

Time was tight, the ally was probably 1 turn away from defeat when I got to the south orc boss. But, on a first attempt, there wasn't much I could do to go faster, just keep marching and hope I got there in time. As it happened I did so it seems easy.

(6) 3 - it's a walk in the park with 3 passive orc bosses to topple on the way. It would have been more interesting if the ally had died - I would have had to replay with a strategy to reach the bosses faster.
(7) There ought to be some sort of obstacle to defeating the orc bosses. Time, on its own without any obstacles, just isn't interesting - it's just a question of whether I get to the target before or after the ally falls. Perhaps one orc boss turns on you while the other two go after Kal Kartha - then you have a fight with time pressure, and may need to sneak units around to take out the other two bosses in parallel with defeating the first one.
(8) No.

Reading others' comments, I suspect the scenario has been made easier in 1.8.x. I finished on turn 11 on the first attempt, without 3 strike forces and without sending any force to the south orc boss until defeating the other two. Basically I recruited a big army for a battle, got into the hills, realised what was unfolding and impromptu split my force to attack the north and central orc, then went south. And that's at Lord skill. The bonus gold that the ally gets around turn 6 or 7 was certainly vital to keep him alive that long.
ManiacTehGreat
Posts: 7
Joined: May 6th, 2010, 11:40 pm

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by ManiacTehGreat »

I only had one turn time to battle the orc leaders before my ally got killed. That one turn was not enough to kill the leaders. The success of this scenario depends too much on luck.
monochromatic
Posts: 1549
Joined: June 18th, 2009, 1:45 am

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by monochromatic »

Mythological wrote:(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Normal 1.8.3
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4 - Not sure about above. In 1.8.3 the ally gets reinforcements, thus when I killed the leaders, he seemed like he could hold for quite a bit.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
The objectives make almost no indication that you can't dawdle and have to tush into the scene.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Good. More interesting than most.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
3 - less interesting than Invaders.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Buff everyone. The orcs and the allied dwarves. This needs to be a BIG battle!
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Nope.
(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
Didn't check.
User avatar
Maiklas3000
Posts: 532
Joined: June 23rd, 2010, 10:43 am

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
hard; 1.8.3; 207 starting gold

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3

(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?
One of the characters talks about a siege. What siege? Besides our few units, there are only three enemy and one friendly on the battlefield at the start. This is one of my general beefs about Wesnoth. I'm sure it's a zillion times easier in the WML code to just say "leader goes here, 300 gold, go", but it would be a lot more realistic to, say, take a snapshot of the last turn of my replay and use it to position a bunch of units, some wounded, for the start of the game. Then it would look like a siege. (Just need to kick the orcs out of the allied leader's stronghold so he can hold out longer.) Give the orc leaders less gold, as they would already have a lot of forces on the map and would just be calling for reinforcements to engage the player. Make them ambivalent whom they attack, and then it should be much more interesting. Of course, you'll have to play balance it from scratch, but it's kinda broken now anyway (too easy.)

Other than that pet peeve of mine, I love the dialog, especially the weirdness of witness culture.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The main challenge was realizing that it was going to be a cakewalk. The large number of turns is deceiving, since it can all be over very swiftly (and pretty much needs to be.)

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
See #4.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
It's good.
Attachments
THoT-The_Siege_of_Kal_Kartha_replay.gz
(33.04 KiB) Downloaded 1489 times
Thrash
Posts: 223
Joined: June 25th, 2010, 1:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Thrash »

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

1.8.3, Medium, 160 starting gold

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

Not sure how to rate this, a lot of luck involved.

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

It's a little misleading in that you think you need to defend your ally when really it's an assassination job.

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

Good

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

The first time I played, the orcs were in Ally's keep before his second gold wave arrived on turn 7, so he couldn't recruit and was dead by turn 8 before I had any chance of killing the leaders. Second time he defended better, still holding out well until turn 11 when I won.

The major challenge was coming up with three good, quick strike forces. The unit I ended up sending north was too weak, particularly since they ran into a wolf en route who badly injured the mage, basically making him too weak to attack without serious chance of death. Then those dwarves just couldn't hit, so while I had the other two leaders dead at turns 7 & 8, it took until turn 11, when my middle strike force arrived to help, before I could kill the northern leader.

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

4, it's a pick a direction and go, after that it's all tactics.

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

I think make the orc attack more balanced between player and ally. Cut out ally's turn 7 gold influx to balance.

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

First time ally got killed before I had a chance to reach orc leaders.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?

Looks good.
Attachments
THoT-The_Siege_of_Kal_Kar..._replay.gz
(33.49 KiB) Downloaded 1002 times
User avatar
turin
Lord of the East
Posts: 11662
Joined: January 11th, 2004, 7:17 pm
Location: Texas
Contact:

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by turin »

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4. Even though I didn't realize how screwed up the scenario was, it was fairly easy to adjust and win. I got a bit lucky with my ally not
dying though; he was a turn away from it when I killed the last leader.

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Good. But it sure sounded like the orcs were interested in attacking me... why didn't they?

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None. I got lucky, I think.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2. Racing to kill un-defended leaders with high-level units before a character dies on a side of the map you have no control over is not my idea of fun.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
If you want it to feel like you have to charge in to save the dwarves, then don't show that half of the battle and make it a really tight turn count. If you want a decent battle, as the 35-turn limit suggests, make the orcs want to attack you and not just the other dwarf leader. But the scenario as it currently stands is just stupid.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No, but I got lucky.
For I am Turin Turambar - Master of Doom, by doom mastered. On permanent Wesbreak. Will not respond to private messages. Sorry!
And I hate stupid people.
The World of Orbivm
santosis
Posts: 74
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 12:04 am

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by santosis »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Medium 1.8.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3 - I had read this thread, so I knew to rush my troops.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
As others have noted, I wouldn't have thought to rush the bosses based on the dialogue. Perhaps the loremaster could say something like "We must charge their camps before they overrun Kal Kartha! Quickly men!"

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Solid, especially the end dialgoue. It establishes suspense.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
I recruited all my quick troops and some resilient lvl 3's. I sent lvl 3's south through the forest (along with my hero), a few other lvl 3's straight east w/ Angarthing, and all other troops north.

I finished in round 9/35, with 7 gold. I will carry 225 gold over to the next scenario.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - It is an interesting twist, if perhaps a little bit too easy.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Perhaps the bosses could keep personal guards? Also, could the ally AI keep his troops in the mountains and be more defensive?

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Lost a white mage in my haste to get north.
Yrth
Posts: 25
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 4:26 pm

Re: Scenario Review: THoT 10 - The Siege of Kal Kartha

Post by Yrth »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Hard, 1.8.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3, the only difficulty is when your ally dies too soon, that is just bad luck and you can´t do anything against it, not very encouraging

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
The objective is clear, the required gameplay however only reveals after you realize that all orcs are attacking your ally

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Just rushing and hoping for some luck

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2, everything has been said already, this scenario requires urgent refinement

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Make the dwarfs more sturdy, some l2 units, make sure there are some orcs left to defend their leaders

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Realizing too late what strategy is required

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
...
Post Reply