1.12 SP Campaign, Fate of a Princess (& Northern Forces)

[breversa]

Yep, that's exactly what I meant : the last leader in Orcish coalition suddenly gets a +200GP AND 80 income once he's alone, alowing him to recruit 5-6 full health units every turn. I think the +200GP bonus should be enough, although I can't really find a justification, except for gameplay purposes...

[SkyOne]

Thank you so much, breversa and Giventofly08. Those are what we need to hear.

First off, great campaign so far; tons of fun and variety. However I do have to agree with what Breversa posted. I like playing campaigns on hard, and the campaign has caused quite a lot of frustration in that it's near impossible to get to the leader in the turns provided. I've had to extensively reload some rounds for the sole purpose of almost having to hit 80% on everyone to even have a chance at the leader. I don't know how cheap southern orc units are, but on the Coalition of Orcs map I split my group into 2, killed both leaders in the corners and converged on the final leader with about 12 turns out of the 22 left. By the time I got close enough to the final leader I was on turn 21 and most of my guys were severely injured and it took a lot of reloads (even though most of my guys were already max leveled) to punch through to have a chance at the leader before time expired. They were getting about 60 gold a turn, and creating 4-5 new level 2's every turn...makes it awfully difficult and quite frustrating if you have one bad turn. Other then that though, great work man.

Thank you for playing and posting. You are a precious player for us because playing on the hard difficulty. But sorry for your frustration. It was not in purpose to give it to any players. It was supposed to be enjoyable, but sometimes, it goes a wrong way. The strategy to finish up the scenario is absolutely right. So I will reduce the enemy's income on the next edition which is working on already. You are playing in BfW 1.6.x, right?

- I made the mistake of dismissing my elven recruits, prefering to recruit fresh and cheaper ones rather than recalling them. To my bad surprise, I discovered that I could not recruit them anymore... and that I'd have to make do with peasants and woodsmen (and later drakes). Maybe a word of warning at the start of scenario 2 would be a good idea ?

Yes. It should be noticed on the scenario although all elves who recruited on scenario 6 will be back on the recall list on the scenario 19.

- Zylvia's Shield AMLA seems to do nothing. Her description always shows here as having 0% VS everything (save one -10% weakness). And BTW, once I chose the Orichalcum Foil AMLA for my leader, I couldn't choose it again later, while I could choose the Magical Amulet AMLA several times. Is that normal (or do I remember wrong ?) ?

Yeah, It seems the unit profile does not change at all in the middle of the game, but if you look carefully, you can see enemy's damage of hits has been decreased after Zylvia took the shield. Just like any pickable weapons, it does not show on the unit profile. And both of Háwclyn's AMLA (orichalcum foil and royal talisman) are two times each, except AMLA DEFAULT because they will be too much if keep raising up.

- The Staff of Speed and Health Potion (it may not be their exact names) in scenario... huh... were you first meet trolls are too far away from the main battle zone : When I discovered them, I reloaded from the start of the battle, sent my white mage to get the option and his assistant to get the staff, but they were so far that the battle was over before they could join in the fight.

Good point! I have just started working on it. Either the terrain-change or the teleport will be on the next edition probably after taking the potion.


I appreciate your post, breversa and Giventofly08.

[Giventofly08]

No problem man,

For your testing purposes I'm playing it on 1.6.3 but it's a slightly older version of what you had (for instance Princess Ameck still has no ZoC (which makes it a nightmare lol).

The only other thing that I've noticed is in the last campaign when you're going for Gulder..the 2nd ai king (purple) is untouchable. In my case I do everything I can to keep loyal units alive (especially on hard as they're invaluable each round). But on the last level I have a total of 7 guys, the problem being that the purple AI is able to produce 4 level 2's each turn, so in reality whatever he produces i'm able to kill but that's about it, I think I've subsequently been able to advance 1 hex at a time, but one bad turn and someone is screwed (especially with the no ZoC lol...I've been burned on that a few times as I just forget about it).

Although I did completely gimp the level right before it (where you have to get underground in Dorest). Hawclyn had like 168/170xp and full health, so I just ran him around everyone to the top left and straight down and he subverted the entire ai so I still had 9 turns to spare ) Just something to think about if you wanted to change that up at all...(realistically I don't know how I would have gotten there if I didn't get to that point lol).

And in my case Zylvia's shield thing does work (as right now she's at 20% resist all).

Thanks again man.

[breversa]

Yes. It should be noticed on the scenario although all elves who recruited on scenario 6 will be back on the recall list on the scenario 19.

Glad to know I did not level them up in vain ! ^^

Yeah, It seems the unit profile does not change at all in the middle of the game, but if you look carefully, you can see enemy's damage of hits has been decreased after Zylvia took the shield. Just like any pickable weapons, it does not show on the unit profile. And both of Háwclyn's AMLA (orichalcum foil and royal talisman) are two times each, except AMLA DEFAULT because they will be too much if keep raising up.

You're right ! By hovering the pointer over her HP, I saw her resistances à 20% (one 10%) after two shield AMLAs. !
However, adding a note stating that you can get X AMLA Y times would be usefull, IMO.

Good point! I have just started working on it. Either the terrain-change or the teleport will be on the next edition probably after taking the potion.
I appreciate your post, breversa and Giventofly08.

You're welcome ! I appreciate your campaigns to begin with !

[Giventofly08]

Actually....scratch my last comment about the final level...I'm an idiot and didn't even think of building on their keep for some god forsaken reason...

I'll keep playing to see if I run into the same problem though later on.

[SkyOne]

Thanks again, breversa and Giventofly08.

The bug-fixed version, 0.3.8, is on the 1.6 add-ons server.

changes:
modified and balanced scenario 12, Mountain Path, and 16, Coalition of Orcs, as reported.
removed "ZOC=no" for some of units.
New color for Snow Shaman/Druid/Fairy unit.

When an unit takes the blue potion (Potion of HP), another potion will appear on the scenario 12 now. If the unit takes it, the teleport is possible only the scenario. (thanks breversa) Hopefully, it works fine.
Crossing versions are just fine with the version 0.3.7.

thanks

[Giventofly08]

Having to restart the final fight as I just took to long to kill the 2nd king it seems and having to understand the map etc. (initially I wasted a turn or two trying to figure out where that dissapearing cavewall was lol.

Downloaded the update so I imagine the ZoC on Ameck will prove huge to move down the area. I'll let you know how it goes (may be a day or two :p).


Edit: Ameck's ZoC is still 0 (meaning guys can walk right past her) I dl'ed the update and loaded the save to start that mission..(could be a newbie error) but do I need to start completely over for the update to apply? or is it retroactive to previous saves as well?

[SkyOne]

Edit: Ameck's ZoC is still 0 (meaning guys can walk right past her) I dl'ed the update and loaded the save to start that mission..(could be a newbie error) but do I need to start completely over for the update to apply? or is it retroactive to previous saves as well?

Oh, sorry! That is right. The most of codes on the unit files are read at the first appearance, then saved for campaigns, except the animation's one. So Probably, restarting on the scenario 14, Eisheim, is needed to remove ZOC for Princess Ameck.

[shisui]

Scenario: Zlud's last Stand --

On the turn in which I kill the 3rd leader, Eämeral parked a Captain on tile (4,18) -- which causes some inconvenience in satisfying the revised victory conditions. On subsequent turns, I could not move the captain as he had nowhere better that he wanted to be --> unwinnable scenario.

Workaround: rollback & delay my victory for a turn.
Better fix: displace any unit on (4,18) if present.

***
PS: I do have a correct ZOC for Ameck now. Thank you.

[breversa]

Hi,

I don't really understand what you mean by "possible teleport", but never mind, I'll get it when I replay it.

I'm now at The Battle of Prestim, and I'm wondering why the two Apocalypse Drakes (Dodora and Gadora Matursk) are loyal, while Ghidsaurs the Fire Dragon is not, which makes a high upkeep cost. I'm not yet through the battle, but the small number of villages, combined with the rather high income of the ennemies, make gold management look like a critical element in this battle (even more than the others).

[Giventofly08]

Hi,

I don't really understand what you mean by "possible teleport", but never mind, I'll get it when I replay it.

I'm now at The Battle of Prestim, and I'm wondering why the two Apocalypse Drakes (Dodora and Gadora Matursk) are loyal, while Ghidsaurs the Fire Dragon is not, which makes a high upkeep cost. I'm not yet through the battle, but the small number of villages, combined with the rather high income of the ennemies, make gold management look like a critical element in this battle (even more than the others).

I won't lie (not trying to talk down on you), but I rolled through that battle without a restart or anything. I basically just went south/southwest and backdoored into the main king and killed him with about 9 turns to spare.

**************************************

That being said, I replayed the final battle (even with no ZoC for Ameck, so that was a slight time waster) But I just stood on Gulder's castle on turn 43 (and I mean I was having to do an extreme amount of killing the whole way (I wish I had the stats for just this map...lol but overall for amusement I'm at 38556 inflicted 14153 taken with 827 kills and 84 losses)). But back on track, I stepped on his castle and he does the teleport backwards etc and all I can do is go...are you kidding me? (by that I mean there's no way I can get over there in 3 turns (with the new guys he spawned etc). I don't really even think I could have gotten there if there were no more units on the map, and I literally mean I was basically doing everything I could). A big problem is the terrain being nonconducive to any unit you produce so the undead can roll right through them, so combine that with the sheer volume and it's neigh impossible). Granted if I was using the ZoC it might be doable as I could have shielded guys better, but aside from that I would recommend toning down the income of the ai's to have a remote chance.

I'll finish out and let you guys see the replay (if it lets me save it, and if you guys have an email I'll send it to you, so you can see first hand how hard it is).

Also you may want to go over your dialogue when you meet Gulder the first time, there are about 5-6 misspellings in that dialogue sequence.


Ninja Edit: won't be able to play anymore today, but I should be able to try out a theory (based on the map programming) Just have to go back a few turns to try and implement it. Either way, if it works then you have to be bored like myself to even consider it haha.

[breversa]

I won't lie (not trying to talk down on you), but I rolled through that battle without a restart or anything. I basically just went south/southwest and backdoored into the main king and killed him with about 9 turns to spare.

No worries, and thanks for the hint.
I've only started it yet (lunch break was soon over), and we may have different playing styles : I hate losing units, thus find many battles to be harder to me than to others who see no/less problem in losing theirs. I might try a woodsmen/peasant spam tough...

EDIT :
South then east attack along with level 0 spam and saurian diversion did the trick. Thanks dude !
However, the objective state "Defeat the ennemy leaderS", while only killing the orcish sovereign is enought to trigger the victory. Is it a bug, or is the objective mis-labelled ?

[Giventofly08]

I won't lie (not trying to talk down on you), but I rolled through that battle without a restart or anything. I basically just went south/southwest and backdoored into the main king and killed him with about 9 turns to spare.

No worries, and thanks for the hint.
I've only started it yet (lunch break was soon over), and we may have different playing styles : I hate losing units, thus find many battles to be harder to me than to others who see no/less problem in losing theirs. I might try a woodsmen/peasant spam tough...

EDIT :
South then east attack along with level 0 spam and saurian diversion did the trick. Thanks dude !
However, the objective state "Defeat the ennemy leaderS", while only killing the orcish sovereign is enought to trigger the victory. Is it a bug, or is the objective mis-labelled ?

np man

and yeah I wondered that myself when that happened to me (in terms of the middle king dying ended the map).

I'm the same way as you though, I hate losing a level 3 guy or something due to bad luck (<+75 taken etc) Which is frustrating as no other. Anyway, time to see if my backup plan on the final map works. Shame I don't have better guys with cave movement/defense lol.

[Giventofly08]

Okay, well initially the plan should have worked, with the villages behind the castle I assumed you were meant to capture one and teleport over there etc. However, the fact that it was all deep water made that nearly impossible. I couldn't use saurians to get there, meaning the only options were drakes or Eameral (sp) or Shoko, which considering drakes have been getting torn to shreds the whole map makes it extreeeeeeeemely difficult. I mean one bow guy can pretty well kill any drake (or severely severely cripple him). I had to redo the final 6 turns or so pretty frequently because of this reason. First time I got my skirmisher over there, then realized he couldn't get across, and for that matter, no one could so it was like...well that's just great (and frustrating to no end). Eventually though I did beat it with a turn to spare but that was basically building all my attacks/defenses around protecting shoko to get her ass over there in time without getting reamed. etc.

I really liked the campaign overall, was a great set of maps (albeit movement made some frustrating things). The main thing is for the final map, I'd redo a little dialogue to try and let the player know you will need to fly or something, As there's no way in the world I was getting a drake over there in time, based on how slow they go over caves etc and how easily undead tear them apart. My only other recommendation towards that map is to take the 2nd king and lower his income/gold by about half. I wasted about 15-20 of my turns getting past him, which then leads to frustration when you move all your guys up to fight the shadows, only to realize the wall opened behind you so you have to backtrack etc.

If you guys would like I'll email you a copy of the replay of mine so you can take a look and see what kind of changes to make, or what I was referring to. For the most part though just be a bit careful of the amount of income you're giving kings in general, while it's nice to constantly be fighting someone and it was no cake walk, it's annoying to know that your guys are going to continually get pummelled while the king just makes new ones over and over, it's a war of attrition at times and with such a low turn number on some maps you just can't afford to stop for a minute and heal back up which was the biggest frustration. I think I beat about 8-9 of the maps on the final turn or turn right before and that was due to rerolling 4-5x to kill 1-2 castle guys then have Halwcyn run up there and keep rerolling til he killed the king.

Other then that great job though, just a little bit more balancing and it'll be terrific (and a few more subtle hints..like at the end put a mini dialogue that says you'll hvae to fly across (a few turns in advance or when the river is in sight so the player knows, etc).

[SkyOne]

We appreciate your comments and suggestions, Giventofly08. They will help the future development.

The version, 0.5.0, is on the 1.7/1.8 add-ons server.

A major change is included on this edition.
Two scenarios have been added in the part one as the scenario 5 and 5b. So each number of scenario id and map-files has been raised up after scenario 4. These changes make crossing the version with the version 0.4.x no longer available after scenario 4.

'Level=2 Shadow Mage' is now able to advance to 'level=3 Shadow Lord' because of the extension of scenarios in the part one.
The stoned status has also been fixed on this edition by mich.

The campaign currently:
As a totaling, the first eight scenarios are the part one, and remaining seventeen is the part two on BfW 1.7/1.8.


thanks