After the Storm 0.10.18.1 [Wesnoth 1.14.x & 1.15.12+]

[Teapot]

Aaaah! Glad to see the 2 scenarii "done but not yet balanced" for such a long time almost there!

So, I played again those scenarios (2 and 3, hard difficulty) to save all the loyal units. Well, the flaw of (1) I also mentioned before is something worth addressing.

My strategy (which led me to no death of loyal units) was to :
• recruit 2 bats to stall the western drone
• recruit units to send everywhere, dispatch everyone but Elyna
• at last, recruit ghosts to stall the western leader with Elyna
In the end, by turn 10 or so I was really out of trouble, even though not finished at the northern part.

So as I said maybe just letting IA playing before the drone might just solve the thing since whatever the drone, the swarm of each leader is enough to kill any bait I think.

Oh ! As for (2), when I was at this point I though it was nice that the risks decreases. After all this work you get to level your units, and the more you manage to kill those level 4, the more experience you get so it's nice! (I managed to kill the western ones who are lvl 3, the level 4 were way too dangerous ^^)

About the third scenario, is quite easy when you know what will occur. I had many loyal (leveled up) units, and the warlord poses no treat at all since he is so slow.

[Iris]

Version 0.8.1 is out, right on schedule!

Just like the last time, this version will definitely not be exempt of flaws. You will most likely stumble upon dreadful bugs along the way, and I will need your help to fix them — make sure to report them in this forum topic as usual!

Special thanks go to bumbadadabum for kindly providing a patch to integrate the changes to the Aragwaithi faction from his multiplayer add-on (The Aragwaithi in the 1.10 add-ons server) into AtS. 0.8.0 users shouldn’t have any game-breaking problems playing with their old units from saved games of E3S3 (Amidst the Ruins of Glamdrol), although some animations may not display correctly. If in doubt, restart from the start-of-scenario save for E3S3.

Also note that due to an internal change, if you load the start-of-scenario save for E3S4 (Outpost of Hell) from version 0.8.0, you will see the standard loadscreen twice. This is normal and intended, and only affects old saved games for that scenario.

This release is a turning point for various reasons I had already explained a while ago. The good thing is that once scenarios stop landing in SVN, I no longer need to worry about release schedules and pacing. I can now start pushing bug-fix releases as necessary, without affecting the development of the campaign finale.

It is also a turning point in other senses that attentive players will most certainly realize on their own. But in case someone feels disappointed by certain developments: I left enough clues scattered everywhere before, and everything is going according to plan. The bottom line is: if you don’t like the story and you can’t ignore it, don’t play the campaign. And just to be clear, it has never been my intention—at least since I resumed its development in 2011—for it to be eligible for mainline or anything like that.

The changelog for this version follows:

Code: Select all

Version 0.8.1:
--------------
* Graphics:
  * New or updated unit graphics: most Aragwaith units (wayfarer).

* Scenarios:
  * E2S3.1 - Unrest in Raelthyn:
    * Updated to use Aragwaith units.
  * E2S8 - And then there was Chaos:
    * Fixed elves who are initially Loyal getting a duplicate
      trait when switching allegiances.
  * E3S2.1 - Return to Raelthyn:
    * Minor map balancing changes.
  * E3S4 - Outpost of Hell (Gateway):
    * New scenario.
  * E3S5 - Pass of Sorrows (Gathering Storm):
    * New scenario.

* Sound effects:
  * Added hit and death sounds for Doors.
  * Added additional explosion/thunder sounds.
  * Added magic glyph sounds.

* Units:
  * Balancing:
    * Removed marksman special from the Demolisher Drone's ranged attack.
    * Increased Sprite's impact resistance from -20% to 0%.
    * Increased Fire Faerie's impact resistance from -20% to 0%.
    * Increased Dryad's impact resistance from -10% to 0%.
    * Increased Aragwaith Seer's HP from 39 to 44.
    * Increased Aragwaith Seer's melee attack from 7-2 to 8-2.
    * Increased Aragwaith Seer's ranged attack from 8-3 to 10-3.
    * Decreased Shaxthal Razorbird's melee attack from 10-1 to 8-1.
    * Decreased Shaxthal Thunderbird's melee attack from 13-1 to 10-1.
  * Gave Doors a unit icon for the sidebar and the attack dialog.
  * Updated Aragwaith units to match the faction from bumbadadabum's
    "The Aragwaithi" add-on. This has resulted in the following changes:
    * Protection only affects allied L1 and L0 units instead of any allied
      lower level unit
    * Ancient Banner abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Ancient banner resistances: impact 10% -> 20%
    * Ancient banner stats: HP 55 -> 58, MP 4 -> 5
    * Ancient banner attacks: sword renamed to scythe
    * Archer attacks: melee 6-3 -> 4-3
    * Captain abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Captain resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%,
      pierce 20% -> 10%
    * Captain stats: HP 43 -> 55, MP 4 -> 5
    * Captain attacks: spear renamed to glaive, 17-2 -> 18-2; sword renamed to
      glaive, 9-4 -> 10-4
    * Eagle Master stats: HP 48 -> 45, MP 7 -> 9
    * Eagle Master attacks: blade 9-3 -> 10-3, impact 15-2 -> 16-2
    * Eagle Rider defense: mountain 60% -> 50%
    * Eagle Rider stats: HP 36 -> 34, MP 7 -> 9, cost 21 -> 23
    * Eagle Rider attacks: impact 10-2 -> 12-2
    * Flagbearer abilities: +leadership, -protection, -steadfast
    * Flagbearer resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%,
      pierce 20% -> 0%, impact 10% -> 0%
    * Flagbearer stats: HP 34 -> 45, MP 4 -> 5
    * Flagbearer attacks: spear renamed to glaive, sword renamed to glaive
    * Greatbow stats: HP 43 -> 46, MP 5 -> 6
    * Greatbow attacks: melee 13-3 -> 10-3
    * Guard abilities: +steadfast
    * Guard resistances: pierce 20% -> 10%, impact 20% -> 10%, blade 30% -> 10%
    * Guard stats: HP 40 -> 54, XP 78 -> 64, cost 27 -> 28
    * Guard attacks: melee 12-3 -> 11-3
    * Guardian resistances: fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Guardian stats: HP 51 -> 62
    * Lancer now has a female variation
    * Lancer stats: HP 40 -> 48, cost 38 -> 34
    * Longswordsman stats: HP 38 -> 46, MP 5 -> 6, XP 78 -> 88, cost 24 -> 27
    * Pikeman resistances: blade 20% -> 10%, impact 10% -> 0%, fire 10% -> 0%,
      cold 10% -> 0%
    * Pikeman stats: HP 44 -> 50, XP 94 -> 70
    * Pikeman attacks: melee 17-2 -> 16-2
    * Scout now has a female variation
    * Scout stats: HP 31 -> 36, XP 36 -> 40
    * Scout attacks: melee 10-2 -> 11-2
    * Shield Guard abilities: +protection, +steadfast
    * Shield Guard resistances: pierce 30% -> 10%, impact 30% -> 10%, blade
      40% -> 10%
    * Shield Guard stats: HP 54 -> 66
    * Shield Guard attacks: melee 16-3 -> 15-3
    * Silver Shield now has a female variation
    * Silver Shield stats: HP 54 -> 62, MP 8 -> 9, cost 38 -> 48
    * Silver Shield attacks: melee 13-4 -> 12-4
    * Slayer stats: HP 45 -> 53, MP 5 -> 6, cost 46 -> 62
    * Slayer attacks: melee 12-4 -> 11-4
    * Sorcerer renamed to Sorceress, no longer has a male variation
    * Spearman resistances: blade 20% -> 0%, pierce 20% -> 10%, impact 10% ->
      0%, fire 10% -> 0%, cold 10% -> 0%
    * Spearman stats: HP 30 -> 34, XP 38 -> 43
    * Spearman attacks: 11-2 -> 12-2
    * Strongbow stats: HP 35 -> 38, MP 5 -> 6, XP 80 -> 85, cost 31 -> 38
    * Strongbow attacks: melee 9-3 -> 7-3, ranged 8-4 -> 9-4
    * Swordsmaster id changed, breaking old saved games with the unit
    * Swordsmaster stats: MP 5 -> 6
    * Swordsman resistances: blade 10% -> 0%
    * Swordsman stats: HP 28 -> 32, XP 32 -> 39, cost 13 -> 14
    * Warlock renamed to Witch, no longer has a male variation
    * Witch stats: XP 44 -> 54, cost 18 -> 22
    * Witch attacks: staff renamed to kick, 6-2 -> 7-1
    * Wizard no longer has a male variation
    * Wizard attacks: melee 10-2 -> 7-2, ranged 11-3 -> 10-3

[Iris]

And now that the stupid and boring announcement is out of the way, I’m going to backtrack a bit here.

Episode 3 [...] Mission 2: [...] 1) The bomb shaxthals get distracted very easily and chase irrelevant units.

So, I played again those scenarios (2 and 3, hard difficulty) to save all the loyal units. Well, the flaw of (1) I also mentioned before is something worth addressing.

Every time I play this scenario, it seems to be working just as I intended from the very beginning, not being absurdly difficult (it is just the second scenario of that episode, after all) while being definitely intimidating. It did seem rather frustrating at first, but that might be because I wasn’t really too familiarized with the Aragwaith faction (yes, really, shame on me) back then. Now that I have learned better, I pick better recruits and it feels more balanced overall, except for the part where the enemy leaders run out of gold and become sitting ducks.

As for the payload drones, they were always intended to be mostly a distraction that the player would have to cope with while dealing with the initial influx of enemy recruits for the first few turns. They also provide a unique (for AtS) challenge of sorts in distracting and attacking them with the right combination of units and attacks to minimize the inevitable player casualties, and potentially abuse their Demolition ability to take down two or more of their own allies at the same time.

I think they are as persistent as possible in regards to reaching Ada’s Keep. More persistence could potentially render them pointless as enemy units — they don’t have stats derived from the other Shaxthal L3s just for show, after all.

[cerion]

E3S4 - Shapeshifters

- Bug? Code starting at line 1885 appears to turn all eligible units into shapeshifters
- The shapeshifter unit is gamebreaking:
- Skirmisher units should not also be walking tanks (unless player went out of his way to level Spectres, there's no other recruitable arcane damage or any 25-1 type units to fight against Physical Endurance)
- Level 3+ stats on a level 2 unit (compare: Assassin)
- Free (Skirmisher!!) move/attack when it spawns after a Chaos Invader dies is unfair

[Teapot]

Nice story there! I'm already eagerly waiting for the next release : x
Now, feedback!

Spoiler:

@cerion : Shapeshifter are definitely difficult to handle, but not impossible. Here, the necromancer (arcane resist+arcane attack) comes in handy, just like the slow ability of the loyal Elvish Shyde and of course Elynia. And ghosts+ of course.
So at first I got trashed by that supposedly weak first opponent. But, as long as you don't kill those chaos swordsman, you're safe. And then I feel that, like this, this morphing thing is more a hindrance than a help to them, as you can close in without the creature inflicting heavy damage on you.
On the orcish side, there is no slow nor arcane so it's a bit harder, but they are rarely seen and you may poison them, which is better than nothing.
So as for me it's nothing gamebreaking !

Path of Sorrow : small bug : the monolith isn't unactivated after Elynia sees it. Other unit will trigger a message that Elynia should see the monolith.

Story : The Necromancer girl is *really* non-charismatic at all ! It must be hard for her taking the place of Mal-Keshar. Give her more talk

[Iris]

- Bug? Code starting at line 1885 appears to turn all eligible units into shapeshifters

There are two prerecruit events: one starts at 1855 and the other at 1885. The first one turns a new enemy recruit into a Shapeshifter based on some randomness, and only after the second event has fired to ensure there’s always at least one Shapeshifter in gameplay. The second event can only trigger exactly once (first_time_only defaults to yes) for the first eligible recruit.

- Skirmisher units should not also be walking tanks (unless player went out of his way to level Spectres, there's no other recruitable arcane damage or any 25-1 type units to fight against Physical Endurance)

Right. They were initially conceived as L1 units, later L3, and then back to L2 so their stats can be a tad off for this reason. I am going to correct that in SVN, but not by much:

• HP: 47 → 44
• Melee: 8-3 → 7-3
• Ranged: 9-2 → 8-2

The general intention is to force the player to use Anya (who presumably is already L3 at this point and thus can teleport) and Irylean to fight these rare enemies.

- Free (Skirmisher!!) move/attack when it spawns after a Chaos Invader dies is unfair

This is not intentional, though.

[cerion]

Maybe I just had extremely bad luck with the spawns because 6/6 invaders spawned shapeshifters for me leading to a loss via hero assassination - I'll try it again. Thanks.

[cerion]

Ok, now the NE leader decides to recruit 1 invader instead of 6 and the start is about 100 times easier :p I don't suppose there's a way to fix the recruit order to avoid the difficulty being so random?

And there's an imp with both Slow and Quick traits, lol

[Iris]

Version 0.8.2 is out.

The changelog for this version follows:

Code: Select all

Version 0.8.2:
--------------
* Scenario:
  * E3S4.1 - Outpost of Hell:
    * Limit Demon Shapeshifter spawns according to the difficulty level.
    * Recall all loyal side 2 units for free at the start.
    * Reveal Demon Shapeshifters with their remaining moves and attacks set to
      zero during their controlling side's turn.
  * E3S5 - Pass of Sorrows:
    * Improved handling of non-Elynia units stepping on the monolith location
      both before and after its "activation".

* Units:
  * Balancing:
    * Decreased Demon Shapeshifter's HP from 47 to 44.
    * Decreased Demon Shapeshifter's melee attack from 8-3 to 7-3.
    * Decreased Demon Shapeshifter's ranged attack from 9-2 to 8-2.

[Teapot]

Oh! I have another bug to report.

I had deployed a bomb near one of those "Matrix flow system", and at the beginning of IA's turn it had recruited a unit (crossbowman). But when it did blow up, the crossbowman wasn't injured at all.

And, about the last character of the last scenario, I would expect no less than 14 - 6 as her ranged attack (she needs to be at least as powerful as Delfador!)

[cerion]

I had deployed a bomb near one of those "Matrix flow system", and at the beginning of IA's turn it had recruited a unit (crossbowman). But when it did blow up, the crossbowman wasn't injured at all.

Playing with the bombs is lots of fun (especially setting traps and baiting enemy leaders with them.) I've seen enemy units surviving with 1 hp too though, possibly because they're shapeshifters, which seems a bit odd. Also, I noticed all the carried bombs go off when the boss spawns, which was confusing the first time it happened (I wondered why a few units had gone missing from the field) because there's no warning for this.

[Iris]

Playing with the bombs is lots of fun (especially setting traps and baiting enemy leaders with them.) I've seen enemy units surviving with 1 hp too though, possibly because they're shapeshifters, which seems a bit odd.

This is admittedly motivated by an internal design concern with regards to the interaction of the shapeshifters’ reveal event handler and the demolition code, but story-wise it makes sense to me given that they are meant to be more durable than other creatures; they can re-form their body as they will or require, and I’d expect them to be able to survive an explosion and the falling debris.

Also, I noticed all the carried bombs go off when the boss spawns, which was confusing the first time it happened (I wondered why a few units had gone missing from the field) because there's no warning for this.

Only the explosive charges should disappear, not the units that are carrying or standing on them — except for the ones that are clearly detonated on-screen within the units’ range, of course. I’ll have a look at this.

[cerion]

Playing with the bombs is lots of fun (especially setting traps and baiting enemy leaders with them.) I've seen enemy units surviving with 1 hp too though, possibly because they're shapeshifters, which seems a bit odd.

This is admittedly motivated by an internal design concern with regards to the interaction of the shapeshifters’ reveal event handler and the demolition code, but story-wise it makes sense to me given that they are meant to be more durable than other creatures; they can re-form their body as they will or require, and I’d expect them to be able to survive an explosion and the falling debris.

Oh yeah, there's nothing wrong with them surviving since they are a large part of the scenario's difficulty, but the explosion immediately revealing their shapeshifter form would probably make more sense.

[Iris]

Also, I noticed all the carried bombs go off when the boss spawns, which was confusing the first time it happened (I wondered why a few units had gone missing from the field) because there's no warning for this.

Okay, I checked and tested the code a few times again but I didn’t see units disappearing without reason — that is, besides those that were within range of the deployed charges.

I did notice a couple of other issues that are now fixed in SVN for 0.8.3. The fixes in question are:

• Make sure to remove the demolition ability overlay from units when the siege charges are disabled by the boss event.
• Prevent log spam about retrieving non-existent WML variables immediately before and after the boss event.

Since nothing of this seems major to me, I’ll wait for more bug-fixes to accumulate (and potentially E3S6 to land) before releasing.

[Rwlyra]

Hiho .) I tried AtS when it was first uploaded and later around 0.7 (got to 08_Fear) and now at 0.8.2 and I see you still didn't do anything about the gold carryover. It almost feels like cheating, having 300 gold right off the bat in 02_HighPass on hard... Bonus gold pool is huge in every scenario and it makes each battle a trivial affair... by 5th map you can just clear everything with your leveled units and even if you play recklessly and lose a lot it doesn't matter because you can field more and more new ones =/ It's just not engaging

I can't help but compare it to IftU (where even halfway into the campaign it's a challenge on normal... and then it gets harder <3) Gold was scarce and every once a while you got into situations where you HAD to use (and lose) your precious and cared-for elven champions and necromancers!

There are no such situations in AtS (there was 03_Civil_War but you nerfed it at some point lol)
Hope the feedback made some sense .)
I might upload some replays later if you want to see what I was talking about

PS: Just went through Civil War again (on hard) and while objectives state that there's no carryover or early finish bonus, I somehow start next scenario with 330 gold (had 220 in last turn of 03)