SURVEY: A (Hopefully) More Accurate Popularity Contest

[Aethaeryn]

Since Hurt and Heals have gotten heavily inaccurate results recently, and since people don't usually give (good) reasoning, I decided to post a totally different thread with the intent of getting better results. The whole point of this is to get discussion going on these topics, many of which were touched by Hurt and Heal threads. In HaH threads, the discussion wasn't usually that good and it always ended when the thread got locked at the end of the game.

Basic Rules:

• After enough time to get enough responses (at least a week, more if necessary), I'll provide a tally. I'll also put together a little analysis based on the reasoning. The reasoning is the important part, which is why it's not simply 12 separate poll threads (besides not wanting to spam the forum).
• If you don't answer the "why" part at all, your vote won't count to the tally. If you aren't clear as to what unit/campaign/whatever you're talking about, it also won't count.
• There will be a separate tally for most favorite and least favorite so extremely divisive things (where a lot of people hate it and a lot like it) are displayed somewhat accurately.
• If you don't have a reliable answer to a question, just skip it.
• Feel free to change your mind, but only your last post which answers the survey will be counted.
• Discussion and debate on each of these points is welcome. That's the point of threads like these. Just make sure that it's clear that you're discussing a particular point and not voting again.

Hopefully after this thread is finished there will be plenty of data on what the diverse community thinks on various interesting subjects. No, it's not scientific, but the thing this thread has over random polls or HaH threads is that every response has some reasoning behind it, so people can better understand the tastes of the community. Maybe nothing will come out of this thread, but we'll see.

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?

What is your favorite faction? Why?

What is your least favorite faction? Why?

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?

What is your least favorite unit? Why?

What unit makes the best leader? Why?

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?

Old Intro:
Since hurt and heals have gotten so inaccurate results lately, and since people don't usually give (good) reasoning, I decided to post something totally different with the intent of getting more reliable results. There's going to be a separate tally for most favorite and least favorite so extremely divisive add-ons (where a lot of people hate it and a lot like it) are displayed somewhat accurately. After enough time to get enough responses, I'll see how it winds up and put together a little analysis thing. If you don't have a reliable answer to a question, just skip it. Discussion is encouraged, but you only answer the survey itself once. Feel free to change your mind, but only your last answering-question post will count in the end. The whole point of this is to get discussion going on these topics, many of which were touched by hurt/heal threads, but the discussion wasn't usually that good and always ended when the thread got locked at the end of the game. If you don't answer the "why" part at all, your vote won't count to the tally. If you aren't clear as to what unit/campaign/whatever you're talking about, it also won't count.

Also: Discussion and debate on each of these points is welcome. That's the point of threads like these.

EDIT: Slight title change (adding "SURVEY" in front) and rewriting intro for clarity.

[Aethaeryn]

My reply is a sample as to what is expected. (If you use the Queen's English, feel free to change favorite to favourite. It looks better, anyway.) It's actually a little shorter than I might have otherwise written because I'm short on time right now.

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
My favorite mainline campaign is Liberty because it is short (I never completed the longest of the campaigns) and often unique and fun. I also really liked the final fight, for Halstead. It was an enjoyable finale. Overall, it wasn't too stressful, but it wasn't a complete cakewalk.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
My least favorite mainline campaign is probably Northern Rebirth because it just drags on and on toward the middle to ending. That's probably one of the reasons I didn't finish it. Up until that point, it was okay, though. I also don't like having far too many options when it comes to recruiting.

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
My favorite add-on campaign is Ooze Mini-Campaign (sorry IftU fans, that's probably second). Ooze is short, but sweet. It has the most original scenario concepts to it. Scenario 3 is an RPG and Scenario 4 is like a MP survival (one of the few times one shows up in singleplayer). The one problem with Ooze is probably the length, though it was also abandonware for a while. I'm glad to see it back.

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
No comment. Haven't played enough. I tend to stay away from the terrible campaigns, anyway.

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
I would have to go ahead and say Default. All the others seem to lag behind in art, and I'm a very visual person. There needs to be more eras that utilize mainline units (like Era of High Sorcery) in fun and unique ways. Also, a lot of eras are bad in terms of balance and seem to just tack on factions because they're cool instead of having a consistent theme. I'm optimistic that some eras can catch up to Default one day, though.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Era of Myths, probably. Two of my three favorite UMC factions are in this era, I just think it is too stagnant in terms of progress over the last few years (it's one of the oldest eras, but doesn't look like it benefited from many years of work). I went into plenty of details elsewhere.

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Drakes. They're original, fun, and very aggressive. They require you to think differently with strategy. Undead are probably a close second. Drakes v. Undead is a really fun match.

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Swamp Elves (or Cave Elves, or any other kind of unoriginal UMC faction). Reason: bad art and unoriginality.

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Elvish sylph probably. Good movetype, good (arcane) damage, and all around pretty fun/powerful. All lvl 4s are great, but this is probably my favorite.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Dwarvish Thunderer. They miss too much on me. I'm awful with luck, and they are entirely reliant on luck. if anyone wants more details, I can link to one of my older rants.

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Drake Warrior. Best movetype, 6 MP, and all-around the fastest leader. I went into details on this elsewhere, as well.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Shock Trooper. Even with 5 MP (the quick trait) now, it still is basically a slow, walking death-trap in that armor, waiting to be jumped by burners or mages

[Darkmage]

Interesting initiative, i will try.


Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
The ones i've enyoyed most have been DiD and UtBS, but i will take DiD because Malin was a character i liked, i felt like oh man, the foolish lienautant exiles you for just trying to save your village and all those lives, including the one of the lienautant, then he focus on his master, he was Malin's pilar, if the basis collide, then the building is a living mess of ideas and feelings, when those prove not to work then it is only a sack of bones moving and thinking.
What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
A tale of two brothers, it just seemed to me too short, i hoped to use the mage a bit more than in final scenario and then everything ends.
What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
____________________________________________
What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
____________________________________________
Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Ageless era, it makes most eras enter in play, more variety, but definetly one not to be played to random since it is hard to even manage a few or the factions(and deafult is included!! which is a nice point in favour)
What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Don't really know what to say... maybe modern combat, but only a matter of likes, just i like medival like games/battles and not so modern(it is still quite ok, is not a criticism, it just didn't hook on me)
What is your favorite faction? Why?
Hummm... most of times undead, the non-trait units they have make me easier to think what to do, most guys equal, so keep your mind on the next likely possible AI movement, i feel much more free to move not relying on wow stron-res get the unit here, they are coming this side and is likely to deal more damege, and then some units get stuck.(other important reason is that my mind flies all around and forget different kind of units.)
What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Maybe drakes, i feel hard to survive nightime attacks on low def, and switching drake/saurian is not my strong point(i need polishing with the faction)
Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Ghost upgrades, shadow is good when killing things and move trough map, while wrait has drain, which keeps it healthier. Granted you play undead, also footpad is quite a good help when taking terrain for the short-leggerd guys and holding position.(i trying not to say my favorite unit is a lvl 3 because it seems like i don't like a lvl1 but i do a lvl3)
What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Hummm hard to say, so i will write the one i use less of the default, and is the lvl 1 dwarf thunderer, just because i like to rely on at least one hit, so i like lots 3-hit minimum, and 2-hit tought units, i know those massive one attack units are highly effective on low def(aka water most of units) and ensure high damage dealt, but most players tend to be quite cautious about that so you won't likely find an army crossing through the water.
What unit makes the best leader? Why?
I guess leadership unit if you have the battlefront near and want to have an extra boost(aka lienautant, elvish captain,and drake with leadership), also a deffensive unit, to make it harder to kill/suitable for defending if you are thight.(aka dwarvish stakwart[or the suposed-to-be lvl 2 steadfast])
What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Low health units(saurians, mages, thieves), or tactical units(scout units, skirimishers, poisoning). Just beacause they have another use, if leader is skirimisher and goes behind enemy lines makes the enemy tend to use more powerfull units to try and kill it, ok they usually have high def, but the enemy may: be lucky, have poisonous things, special abilities, magic, and maybe they will come all around you and have a nice ZoC over you.(aka orc slayer, rougue, duelis,t saurian skirimisher[lvl2], sky drake)


I will finish it later on.

[Charlotte]

Campaigns
What is your most favourite mainline campaign? Why?
Heir to the Throne, It was the first campaign I managed to finish without cheating, (nearly everybody cheats the first time they play wesnoth), it has some very likeable characters, a good story and some interesting scenario's, all in all my favourite.

What is your least favourite mainline campaign? Why?
Descend into Darkness, though this has little to do with the campaign itself (both the story and the scenarios were interesting and enjoyable) but more with my general dislike for the undead faction

What is your most favourite add-on campaign? Why?
Have to go with Invasion of the Unknown here, had a good story, fun battles (altough sometimes they lasted a bit too long..) and it was refreshing to see some older characters (either mentioned or joining your side), besides, the fairy-unit was a good addition (though i still wonder, if you go from level 2 to 3, one of the two paths makes your ranged attack weaker, why?)



What is your least favourite add-on campaign? Why?
At the moment, none. I have only downloaded a few so far and those only because I read about them on the forum over and over again and felt that I had to play them if they were good enough to be mentioned here so often

Factions and Eras
What is your most favourite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default, the same reason as Aethaeryn


What is your least favourite era (Default counts)? Why?
industrial (or however it is called, the one with guns), never got the hang of that one

What is your favourite faction? Why?
Rebels, their high evasion (in forests/mountians), ranger/close-combat attacks on nearly every unit and a good movement type (and often 6 or more MP's) makes them both versatile and fun.

What is your least favourite faction? Why?
Drakes, the way they ought to be played is nearly the opposite of how I prefer to play, making them not really enojyable for me

Units
What is your favourite unit? Why?
Elvish Shaman, she can heal your units and slow the opponents, has a high evasion and can become one of the best healers (flying healer!) or an extremely deadly magician.

What is your least favourite unit? Why?
The unit I like the least (still like him though) is the Beserker (and his predecessor, forgot his name). Though I understand hisuse I find that their low movement hurts them to mcuh, often I either have him unable to reach the weaker enemy units or in the range oif their stronger close-combat units.


What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Elvish Captain, giving the other units a 25% attack bonus, can survive quite a few hits and has a decent movement

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Any mage based leader, though their attack power is indeed incredible, they lack the ability to survive making it extremely dangerous to use their strenght on the front.

have fun.

[The1exile]

Campaigns
What is your most favourite mainline campaign? Why?
DiD. In my opinion it has the best difficulty progression - the last levels pit you against some really challenging foes (and with good justification for it too) and the story is excellent.
What is your least favourite mainline campaign? Why?
Probably HttT. The story's not bad, but it drags quite a lot - I was not surprised that Konrad and Li'sar suffered so quickly in the hurt + heal thread for campaign leaders.
What is your most favourite add-on campaign? Why?
Ooze mini-campaign. It's great fun.
What is your least favourite add-on campaign? Why?
Well, I haven't tried all of them, but of the ones I have, I really found Dead Water quite dull.
Factions and Eras
What is your most favourite era (Default counts)? Why?
Ageless. Duh
What is your least favourite era (Default counts)? Why?
Age of Heroes, as it's generally considered not as well balanced as Default.
What is your favourite faction? Why?
Rebels, because although they don't have a huge edge in multiplayer, where terrain is designed not to give advantages to specific factions, most campaign scenarios have a more realistic map, and so their forest defenders become far more useful.
What is your least favourite faction? Why?
Undead - their lack of variation, both in terms of traits and in unit paths, makes them rather sameish.
Units
What is your favourite unit? Why?
Silver mage. Teleport, woo.
What is your least favourite unit? Why?
Fencer. High defence doesn't make up for a combination of poor hp and poor damage. Strong resilient fencers can be alright, but then I'd much rather have an elvish fighter.
What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Depends on the era - in Age of Heroes, for example, units with level 4 progression sometimes get picked. Generally, though, I'd say lich (somewhat contrary to my view wrt faction but still). One of the liches in Liberty is especially annoying, but that's more due to a quirk of geography (read: sadism of creator).
What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Hmm. Probably White Mage, I guess.

[cretin]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
Decent into Darkness. He's not a goody goody, he does evil, for a good purpose, there is no clear right and wrong in his case. I like this, no solid who is good and who is evil, well less so than other campaigns.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
Hammer of Thurgasan. I just couldn't stay with the storyline, and push myself through the entire campaign.

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Dead Water (Tie with IFTU to be honest). Using the mermen, who could have guess they could get a fully fleshed out campaign of such quality? It adds a nice change from mainline campaigns.

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Do not remember it was so bad

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default Era, each race is unique in its play style, and is extremely entertaining to play. It is also highly balanced, so you know that there is no unfair advantage to one side over the other, just your playstyle.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Any era that just throws in even more and more and more and more and more. I dont want more, I want streamlined, efficient, entertaining and balanced. With each addition, yes you have some additional variations, but if you cant keep up with the updating of outdated sprites of the originals, animating the sprites, and working out balancing tweaks, whats the point of adding more in, which would throw everything out of sync, make it look bad, and possibly not entertaining to play.

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Undead, what can i say. I like the ghost drain and I find the undead just plain awesome. Yes shallow, but meh.

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Well to be told I dont like playing factions that look bad. If spritework is lacking, I dont like recruiting or using them. I remember the old deathblade, and I hated how it looked. I would purposely not hire it because I didnt like how it looked. Well this is not entirely true, but it is a major factor in what factions I play. Its like getting used to playing high end graphic games on an awsome desktop, then you get a comp that is below specs that can run the game, and play it that way. I like great animated Sprites.

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Wraith/Spectre. High resists, arcane attack, drain, and high movement make it fast and effective in melee survival.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Goblin spearmen (speargoblin?) I know it has its uses, it just pisses me off for some reason.

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Elvish Druid probably, the slow is useful in protecting herself from attackers, and the heal is a good support aspect to her.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
No question Shock Trooper, its asking for death. Low defense on anything but castle, and a horrible resistance against fire and cold make it... you get the point.

[gorgolok]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
My favorite mainline campaign is Liberty because it is short (I never completed the longest of the campaigns) and often unique and fun. I also really liked the final fight, for Halstead. It was an enjoyable finale. Overall, it wasn't too stressful, but it wasn't a complete cakewalk.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
My least favorite mainline campaign is probably Northern Rebirth because it just drags on and on toward the middle to ending. That's probably one of the reasons I didn't finish it. Up until that point, it was okay, though. I also don't like having far too many options when it comes to recruiting.

[keeping these in as it pretty much sums up my feelings on the issue]

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Don't know enough of them

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
See above

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default, I haven't really played any others and can't be bothered to learn them

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
No informed opinion

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Loyalists - varied units with lots of specialisation

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Knalgans - too slow, getting reinforcements to the front lines can be a real pain

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Bandit - look and sound effect are awesome, also I like the thug line in general, they mean business, no sidearm, just one big whacking stick.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Zombies - I mostly end up with them giving my opponent free XP, properly shielding them is often difficult, and then it's make a zombie - have the new zombie killed on the return attack (hoping at least the previous one was shielded properly)

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
I like the Bone Shooter - for no particular reason other than I like having a strong ranged attack and pretty decent resists.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Thunderguard - if I have to involve my leader in the fighting, I'd like more reliable damage

[Kalajel]

Alright, I'll give this a try…

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
The South Guard; it was the first campaign I tried, and aside frm the tutorial, I learned to play the game through it… The story is good, it gives lots of advice to new players, you have a good selection of troops, you have a moral choice to make mid-campaign, you face a wide variety of enemy units… All in all, a good campaign.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
I can't really answer this one since I haven't tried many…

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Ooze mini campaign, for many of the same reasons Aethaeryn mentionned. I also liked the fact at the end of the campaign, you had closure on many of the allies that helped you, and this encourages me to re-play the campaign so as to have more ally survive the last scenario so I can see what becomes of them…

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Again, can't really answer that since I haven't tried many campaigns…

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default. Since I'm still technically learning the subtelties of the game, I feel I should master the default factions before moving on to other, possibly more complex eras…

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Can't answer this since, I haven't really tried many era…

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Undead; I'm just an undead kinda guy I guess… I almost always end up playing undead in just about everything (like Bloodbowl, etc.). That and I find the undead have a good selection of units; they have 2 scouts (1 cheap and 1 strong), they have units that drains, others that poison, others that turn enemies into zombies which you can control, a lot of different damage types spread among their units…

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Drakes; I just don't know how to tackle them. I don't know how to play as them, I don't know how to play against them, and everytime the drakes are involved, I end up loosing… The drakes are just a riddle to me, one which I just can't figure out…

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
This question should be in plural; anything that can heal, either itself or other units, is a godsend for an eternal newbie like me…

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Again, this question should be in plural; anything with charge, because I always end up killing my own units when I employ it… even against half-dead enemy units…

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
I can't really answer this question as I feel this is one of the subtelties of the game I've yet to master… but I feel that anything that heals should be a good candidate…

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
I can't answer this question for roughly the same reasons as above…

[Velensk]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?

What is your favorite faction? Why?

What is your least favorite faction? Why?

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?

What is your least favorite unit? Why?

What unit makes the best leader? Why?

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?

Favorite mainline campaign: The Rise of Wesnoth. About the right difficulty level when played on hard. Provides a decent veriety of scenarios while focusing on standard gameplay. Maps tend to be about the right size for me to play the campaign one scenario at a time over an extended period of tiem.
Least favorite mainline campaign: the Eastern invasion. I simply don't like the feel of the gameplay in it.

Favorite add-on campaign: I do not have one.
Least favorite add-on campaign: I don't think that this one is still up, but the three tests of the undead man.

Favorite Era: Default. Quite simply the best put together, balanced, and polished era.
Least favorite Era: Ageless Era. I really don't think that the 'let's throw everything together and see what happens' is a good way to get fun, interesting, or balanced games. My experiances actually playing this era have been nothing but bad or boring. There are some eras I've avoided for reasons of name alone that might be worse but I havn't actually played them.

Favorite Faction: Knalgans. I love the combination of guile and brute force they use. In high level play they force you to play well to make use of your brute force when it is so situational and some of it on slow units.
Least Favorite faction: Northerners. I've never been good at them and I despise playing against a faction where I can lose with a 32:18 kill/loss ratio.

Favorite Unit: Thieves. Cheap quick and hard hitting. I like how their power is readilly available but position based.
Least Favorite Unit: Heavy Infantry. Slow and Expensive makes them undesireable for an agresive player and frequently they can be killed just as easilly as spearmen unless your enemy does not have the specialists to do it with. Spearmen are general more effective, efficent, and quicker.

Favorite Leader: Depends on the faction.
Least Favorite leader: Shock trooper. For all the same reasons as heavy infantry.

[Skrim]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
Delfador's Memoirs. It gives you a feel of actually going around Wesnoth saving the kingdom from the Undead, and the Orcs. You control about 3 different armies, which sometimes get combined here and there, and are able to control a wide, but not too wide, selection of units on a storyline basis(like how the Elves are present whenever Chantal and Kalenz are around, and how your original Loyalists are present whenever Lionel is around). The story is not bad either, a good prequel for HttT.
TRoW and SotBE would take second and third, though, not far behind.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
Eastern Invasion. It follows an Idiot Plot based around running like hell towards the north and then getting booted back down south before suddenly confronting the enemy. How completely interesting. Gweddry and Owaec are lackluster, forgettable characters and the alarmist narmish Dacyn is plain irritating. There were some extremely dumb missions, like Evacuation, in which you lose all your units with less than 6 MP, and Xenophobia, which features Elves and Dwarves present just to make it a 4-way battle, with no good storyline reason for why exactly they're fighting you or what they're doing there. The unit selection of a couple of Loyalists and Ogres, with Holy Amulets that can make anything strong against Undead, is pretty boring too. As are the maps.

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Never played one.

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Never played one.

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default. Best graphics, best balance, most interesting factions, most fun.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Ageless Era. I've never actually played it, but from what I hear, it's just a jumble of factions from other eras with no originality.

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Loyalists. They're versatile, terrain independent, and not too complex. They have a well-defined preferred ToD, and have no radically different internal sub-factions(like Outlaws/Dwarves in Knalgans, or Drakes/Saurians in Drakes).

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Northerners. They're Wesnoth's "horde" faction. I never liked the idea of cheap, individually weak zerg-esque units who win by sheer numbers. They're not too bad, as I do like all of the default-era Wesnoth factions to an extent, it's just that I like Northerners to a relatively lesser extent. Nothing is actually wrong with them as such.

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
There are lots of them. The Paladin, because it is impressively versatile, incredibly strong against the Undead, faster than the Grand Knight, and has a neat little healing ability. The Drake Blademaster, because it has awesome mobility, immense attack power, a decent ranged attack too, and pretty good durability. The Elvish Sylph as well, for it's power, mobility and versatility(slowing and arcane attacks). The Elvish Shyde too, as in my opinion it's the best healer around with it's mobility and slowing ability. The Elvish Sharpshooter too, since it's the most powerful archer in the game, and also the fastest and most accurate. The Orcish Slurbow too, because it's extremely versatile with a unique combination of blade, pierce and fire attacks which make it useful against just about everything. The Master Bowman too, because it is second in raw power to the Sharpshooter, but also has a strong melee attack and is very tough. The Silver Mage, Grand Knight, Cavalier, Nightgaunt, Spectre and Necromancer are also on my favorites list, but I think I'll stop now since this is getting too long...

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Hmm... Drake Glider probably. It's not that much better in mobility than the Fighter, yet it's combat strength is far inferior to the other Drakes. It's also fragile, combining the Drakes' vulnerabilities and poor evasion with low HP. And it's upgrades do not break this mold.

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Drake Warrior. Reasons mentioned by other people already. Second and third would be the Drake Flare and Elvish Captain.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Shock Trooper. You should know the reasons already.

[silent]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
The Rise of Wesnoth. Although the "suprises can be very annoying, it requires a lot of strategy and careful planning with gold and unit positioning/levelling which makes it fun in terms of difficulty
What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
A tale of Two brothers. It may be good for novices, but it's plot and length only make me want to complete it because it is there.
What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
N/A
What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
N/A
Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default. I only play default.
What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
N/A
What is your favorite faction? Why?
Drakes. Since they don't have enough campaigns for drakes (1/2 at best for main line), it is a real change to play them. To have very strong units converge on a helpless opponent from out of nowhere is really fun too, as well as good movement
What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Knalgans or Undead. I find either very hard to play, due to the incredibly fine line that comes from balancing the ratios of either adepts to other units, or specialist killers (thieves and ulfs) to everything else
Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Drake Blademaster. 16-3 attack base, 20-3 at day, 6mp and great movetype, as well as a decent ranged attack make it huge to deal with, and painful to attack, short of an elvish sylph
What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Heavy Infantry line. Way too weak, really only good against undead, and even then succumbs easily to adepts
What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Drake Warrior. Being able to bring 11-3 base damage to any desperate battle front, and have ranged retalliation make it extremely useful
What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
anything with <= 40 hp. Just far too weak to be a leader without risk of having a leader kill occur against you

[mabeenot]

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
The Rise of Wesnoth! As a history buff, I enjoyed seeing the founding of Wesnoth. It's a pity this campaign is considered so difficult (and therefore listed so low on the campaign selection screen) because it gives a great historical background for the world of Wesnoth that gives context and meaning to so many of the other campaigns. Oh, and sailing the high seas seemed like a fun break from the traditional land-based movement between scenarios we see in most other campaigns.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
This one is a tossup between South Guard and Eastern Invasion. They both have the same premise... a guy on a horse needs to crush some bad guys who are making trouble in the outskirts of Wesnoth. The player meanders around killing things with few captivating plot elements. Both campaigns feature two endings depending on a choice the player makes, but neither ending is exceptional. TSG might be a tad bit better than EI simply because the campaign branches off earlier allowing for a different experience in the last three or four scenarios. TSG is also shorter and therefore not as much of a time commitment. Overall, they're too similar and don't stand out when compared with all the other campaigns Wesnoth has to offer.

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
I haven't spent much time with the add-on campaigns. No comment.

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
N/A

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default is the best for serious play. I play AoH occasionally, mostly when I'm bored with Default.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Era of Magic. It's too goofy and not nearly as polished as other UMC eras with similar names (Era of Myths).

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Rebels. I get elves shooting arrows, woses hiding in the woods, and the occasional Sylph to sprinkle some fairy dust in my enemies' eyes. Oh, and my favorite Loyalist unit, the mage, isn't quite as loyal to the king as he seems...

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Undead... "I'm coming to get you!" *moves a couple steps* "I'm still coming to get you!" *moves a couple more steps* "Don't worry, I'll get to you eventually!" *elvish rider runs past undead units* "Come back here!" *drake player flies circles around undead units* "Taunting me, are you?" *gryphons decide to skip the whole undead army and eat the undead leader instead* "Thanks a lot, guys."

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Mages. The only thing better than a mage is a higher level mage.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Dwarvish Thunderer... "I'm gonna get you." *pulls trigger, nothing happens* "On second thought, I'll just stand here like an idiot."

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Is this based on the leaders available in default or any unit in the game? Great Mages blow everything away, but you typically don't start out with that leader. For a level 3 unit, I'd like a Loyalist General, Orchish Slurbow, or White Mage. If it's gotta be level 2, I don't mind a Dark Sorcerer... as long as a horde of flying units don't bypass my horde of slugs and snails.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Necrophage. A fairly slow unit with not much damage that can't even grow into a higher level. At least I can poison someone before they kill me...

[ancestral]

Since Hurt and Heals have gotten heavily inaccurate results recently, and since people don't usually give (good) reasoning, I decided to post a totally different thread with the intent of getting better results.

You're missing the point on what Hurt and Heal is. It's merely a game. It's not scientific and was never meant to be. I find it funny that you say the results are "inaccurate" as the results aren't meant to be scientific anyway. Hard to judge the results of H&H since there's nothing to base it upon.

In HaH threads, the discussion wasn't usually that good and it always ended when the thread got locked at the end of the game.

Correct. So I'm glad it has spawned some discussion here, as H&H is simply a game. This is good!

I suppose what I would do here is attempt to capitalize on everyone's feedback — capture this data, point out things that stand out, and discuss and propose solutions to improve Wesnoth. Otherwise, what's the point?

[Kess]

First things first:
I dislike this genre of games, I don’t really enjoy playing Wesnoth, though I love the feel of the game . I do not play much or often, when I do it is on the easiest difficulty and alone or with close friends. (My favourite Wesnoth-related thing to do is to follow the development.)

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
In general, those with RPGish feel, a good plot and nice looking maps. For instance The Hammer of Thursagan, I haven’t played it much yet, but I like the additional dwarf units and the plot is at least okay, I cannot remember anything strange with it anyway.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
In general, the hard ones, those with many units or epic battles. Heir to the Throne, might be because it was one of my first campaigns and I have played parts of it several times since, never completed it though, if I remember correctly I always get bored with it long before the end.

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
In general, MP campaigns and cooperative RPGs. Brotherhood of Light is a favourite, I’m in a game since many months back which we still have to finish, there is much to do and I have yet to get bored. And since it doesn’t feature many units it doesn’t take that much time, usually.

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
In general, survivals and competetive campaigns. I cannot really answer this question since I have consciously refrained from playing most. But one I have started but stopped playing soon is Flight to Freedom, while featuring Drakes I never managed to get beyond the first scenario... (As I am not putting much time in playing this game I prefer when Easy is easy and Hard is hard, most often Easy isn’t that easy, to me at least.)

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
In general, new creative units and art, especially in a fantasy/alien setting. Era of Myths have always been one of my favourites, and one that I have played the most.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
In general, “variations on a theme” eras (i. e. eras just adding or tweaking the standard era) and those which strive to look real, historical or otherwise boring. :p One of the eras I have tried which I like the least is Imperial Era, but there sure exist lots of others which I have deemed unworthy of my aesthetical sensibility to just try.

What is your favorite faction? Why?
In general, those consisting of colourful, fantastical and ranged attack units, preferably with healing of some kind as well. The merpeople and drakes are my favourites in mainline, the elementals and devlings in Era of Myths. Just of this moment I’d choose devlings, but that may just be because I played them a mere week ago.

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
In general, heavy artillery factions, mostly focused on close combat, especially if most units look similar. I want variety. I especially find most human factions boring. Cannot choose one of the lot. But, let’s say Loyalists.

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Units such as the Water Serpent since I love its graphics, units such as the Elvish Shaman since I like its abilities, units such as the Dwarvish Guardsman since I like its flexibility. Just to choose something: the Dwarvish Sentinel.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
Melee human units without backstory and a gray, boring appearance. For instance, the Pikeman since it looses ranged attack.

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Ideally, one with healing. But it depends on game type, of course. Trolls are fun in this aspect, somewhat. For example the Troll Hero.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
One with low movement points and no special abilities (an exception would be a scenario where most units have special abilities except the leader, o! what a joy). An ideal example of this are the Shock Troopers.

[thespaceinvader]

Units such as the Water Serpent since I love its graphics

This makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside

Campaigns
What is your most favorite mainline campaign? Why?
SotBE. A combination of having done all the character portraits, and it being the most interesting campaign from a characterisation point of view, as well as one of the better written ones with a more unusual premise.

What is your least favorite mainline campaign? Why?
Tie betwee EI and UtBS, cos i've never completed either of them on any difficulty, due to bugs and/or boredom, or that really annoying 'kills all your hard-won units' scenario in EI...

What is your most favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Don't have one - don't play many add-ons. Forced to choose, IftU, but only cos i've actually played it

What is your least favorite add-on campaign? Why?
Ditto.

Factions and Eras
What is your most favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
Default. most balanced, most complete, both art-wise and otherwise, most players etc etc etc. plus i don't really play other eras.

What is your least favorite era (Default counts)? Why?
None, don't play much other than default.

What is your favorite faction? Why?
Probably the Drakes at present. But then, they looks so shiny and new For play style, Northies.

What is your least favorite faction? Why?
Rebels. I find them really boring to play with, since in most confrontations, most of your units end up being blade melee, pierce ranged. It gets kind of dull.

Units
What is your favorite unit? Why?
Tough question. Art-wise, probably the Drake Arbiter or Warden. Overall, the Water Serpent still holds a special place, since it was my first mainline unit which I made from scratch myself. Usage-wise, probably the Dwarvish Lord - he comes in useful in more places in more campaigns than just about any other.

What is your least favorite unit? Why?
None, in particular. They all have their uses, mostly. If forced to pick, probably ogres. They're a little dull, and I never really thought they added much to the setting.

What unit makes the best leader? Why?
Probably the Elvish Captain or Drake Flare. Leadership.

What unit makes the worst leader? Why?
Dwarf Thunderguard or Troll Rocklobber. Slow, single attacks.