Imperial Era Campaign - Epic of Vaniyera

[turin]

Announcing a new campaign by Oreb, with turin (i.e. me) as editor, powered by the awesome might of the Imperial Era. It has been uploaded to the 1.3.14 add-on server.

It's called The Epic of Vaniyera, a name that should be familiar to anyone who has played the other two IE campaigns. It deals with the early years of Vaniyera's life, almost seven hundred years before the events of The Fall of Silvium, and with the rise, not the fall, of the Lavinian Empire. That's all the spoilers I'll give.

Now, technically, this is just part one of the campaign, subtitled "Anabasis of the Emperor", but that title doesn't make an appearance in the download because the campaign does stand alone and we don't know if part two will ever be written. But part one is scenario-complete - six scenarios long plus two talking.

This campaign is, I think, on the easier side - I was able to beat it on normal without losses, which I definitely can't do with any of the other campaigns I've written - so it would probably be a good introduction to the Sidhe faction.

As always, any C&C is appreciated. Without comments the campaign can't improve.

[l'ultimo cruco]

Hi,

first of all: nice to have another imperial campaign.

That said in "Remnants of the past" the keep disappears after your first turn, which means you can only recruit/recall three units.
Is this intended, or is this a bug?
If it is intended, you might want to add a sentence in the start saying something like "only few can join our group, otherwise the spirit of the old will not appear..."

Haven't played further yet.

[turin]

That said in "Remnants of the past" the keep disappears after your first turn, which means you can only recruit/recall three units.
Is this intended, or is this a bug?
If it is intended, you might want to add a sentence in the start saying something like "only few can join our group, otherwise the spirit of the old will not appear..."

Yeah, it's intentional. I don't want the user recalling an entire army - it will both make this scenario too easy and waste all of the player's gold so they'll be broke the next scenario. The implementation was rushed, though, and I never got around to putting in a warning because ideally it'll be be obvious from how it's set up... you'll see what I mean once I get around to fixing it.


But anyway, yes, you can only recall three units on this level. I advise you recall only Raindancer line units; probably a warmage and two windlashers or vice versa, or their level-ups if you already have them.

[Darth Jordius]

Hm, well I haven't had enough time to play it, (which means I'm currently downloading it, should be done already) but I can guarantee that I will add my comments and criticisms sometime tomorrow or Monday. I've often wanted to have an Imperial Era campaign, it's been my favorite era for quite a while.

[Urs]

Nice. I'm having major bad luck with the RNG right now, but oh well...

BTW, I noticed that custom server icons are allowed now - will the rest of the Orbivm add-ons get the same treatment?

[turin]

BTW, I noticed that custom server icons are allowed now - will the rest of the Orbivm add-ons get the same treatment?

Actually, what's happening is that I can reference an image from the IE in the icon= field, so that if you have the IE installed, it will display it. I had done it with the other campaigns as well, but it wasn't showing up because I accidentally put "icon=units/human-lavinian/legionnaire.png" and "icon=units/human-marauder/warrior.png" instead of the proper lavinians and marauders.

I'll fix it in the next release, but I don't think it's worth uploading again immediately.

[Exchelsia]

Well, I'm not done with the campaign yet, but I was a bit confused as to why Vaniyera is a veiled blade in this campaign, but he is a thunderblade in Alfhelm the Wise. Is this explained later in the campaign, and have I just not gotten to that point, or what?

Note: I'm currently on Retribution.

[turin]

Well, I'm not done with the campaign yet, but I was a bit confused as to why Vaniyera is a veiled blade in this campaign, but he is a thunderblade in Alfhelm the Wise. Is this explained later in the campaign, and have I just not gotten to that point, or what?

Note: I'm currently on Retribution.

It's not explained in this campaign, though it will be if part II ever gets written, but it is explained in "Fall of Silvium", the other of the three Imperial Era campaigns made so far (and actually the first one to be made).

[Exchelsia]

Yeah, I did start that campaign, but even on easy, it was a bit hard for me. That was a little while back, but I'm not very good. I got to the scenario where you had to fight the marauders and the other Imperator, but I couldn't beat it, so I just gave up on that campaign.

[Gauteamus]

Reaction: Anabasis is greek, while emperor is of latin origin.
Would something along the lines of "Ascent of the emperor" be less awkward?
"Anabasis of the Basileios" may be abit on the far side.
Why are english-speakers so obsessed with foreign loanwords anyway?

[Blarumyrran]

"Anabasis of the Basileios" may be abit on the far side.
Why are english-speakers so obsessed with foreign loanwords anyway?

the title was basileus, not basileios, AFAIK. if thats really in that campaign, it should be fixed.

[Bosque]

Howdy, I ran into some funkyness with leaders. In the mission where you must help your ally defend their castle from 3 other leaders (I think it's the 4th?), if you beat the two Lavinian leaders, then the Marauder leader surrenders to you and will fight for you. In the missions following that HE becomes your leader and you have to recall Vaniyera.

They both feature gold crowns, and once you recruit Vaniyera, it will always tell you must have a leader on a keep to recruit or recall units. Even if Athus or Vaniyera are in the keep. Once you have 2 leaders, neither of them works.

[turin]

Howdy, I ran into some funkyness with leaders. In the mission where you must help your ally defend their castle from 3 other leaders (I think it's the 4th?), if you beat the two Lavinian leaders, then the Marauder leader surrenders to you and will fight for you. In the missions following that HE becomes your leader and you have to recall Vaniyera.

They both feature gold crowns, and once you recruit Vaniyera, it will always tell you must have a leader on a keep to recruit or recall units. Even if Athus or Vaniyera are in the keep. Once you have 2 leaders, neither of them works.

Thanks for the bug report. I know exactly what caused this. I also thought I already fixed it, but apparently not.

If you want to fix it for your install (since the next version of the campaign won't come out for a while, probably), just find the line

Code: Select all

{MODIFY_UNIT description=Athus side 1}

and add below it

Code: Select all

{MODIFY_UNIT description=Athus canrecruit 0}

or, if you just want to edit your savefile so you don't have to replay the scenario, find where the unit with description=Athus is described and remove the line the reads canrecruit=1.

[jon316]

I'm not sure what causes it, but the bug that is previously mentioned here isn't this same thing. What I have trouble with in this exact scenario, though, is that if I don't send Athus directly south just one space, I cannot recall/recruit the 3rd unit because it'll tell me that I must have a leader in the keep. It confuses me as to why this exactly happens, but the two still have the gold crowns too.

[shisui]

Wesnoth v.1.5.9 on Mac OS X 10.5.6
Downloaded the campaign a few days ago. Running in EASY.

I am having real trouble wth EoV-Arendian Border.
The problem -- I am being overrun by boltriders. There are currently about 30 of them running down my futile efforts to throw troops in their way.

The problem appears to be that the cost for Jacov to recruit them is "1" each. He seems to think this is good value and recruits more every time he makes it into positive cash. Thus, he can consistently manufacture more cavalry faster than I can heal the damage that I take from killing the leading edge.

Can you please tell me how to change the recruit price & what you recommend as a more appropriate entry?

***
Other, less disruptive bugs --
I promoted Vaniera in my last attack defending the fortress. In the next scenario Vaniyera returned as level 2 [Leader] and I had a SECOND Vaniyera (level 3) which I have been able to recruit ever since. I have not been able to promote him again to see if I get yet another Vaniyera. However, regardless, I suspect this is not the intended behaviour. (But it sure helps, having 2 assassins)

***
Also in ArendianBorder -- Turn 1 NPC recruits generate errors --

At difficulty EASY, trying to recruit a: archer but no unit of that type [Drewyn]
At difficulty EASY, trying to recruit a: archer but no unit of that type [Jacov]
At difficulty EASY, trying to recruit a: fighter but no unit of that type [Jacov]

--> Both NPC Arendians recruit only level 2/3 cavalry.

***
At the ancient battlefield --
I would really appreciate it if the dialogue warned me that I may only recruit for one turn.