The Ravagers - SP campaign for Wesnoth 1.16 [Feedback and development]

[white_haired_uncle]

true north: wartug has hate of wounds, which in the intro says heals half, but in the unit description says heals all. I don't have any unit that can land a single blow powerful enough to kill him from 41% HP. He's afraid of cold, so I guess I'll have to hit him with the unit I don't have which does cold damage.

OK, I checked this and you're right, this is the case, but it's not broken. An enemy is either normal, terrified, or enraged. There is no double-enraged and stuff like that. If you have a cold attack to terrify it that's cool and makes your life easier, but it's not necessary to beat Wartug.
A regular combat will look like this: yes, you will eventually lower his HP below 40%, then he will become enraged, and you must defeat an enraged enemy. It's hard, but can be managed, the point is, he won't become "even more enraged" when you lower it below 40% again. Nothing will happen, and you can kill him eventually. The trick here is to cleverly manage your high-damage units, so that they are all ready to attack the moment you enrage him, and thus leave him no chance to have an own turn while being enraged.

The description was indeed wrong though - I've fixed that, and new they really only heal up by half of their max HP. It's close to a full heal (90%), but it was indeed wrong in the tutorial. And the damage buff effect was also out of sync with the descriptions, I've fixed those too.

I've uploaded 1.1.22 to the add-ons server. It packs quite a lot of changes, improvements and fixes. For freshly started games, in the preferences menu it is now possible to customize at any time, which music packs should be used for the scenario playlist. For saved games all packs are used (the default setting), no change here.

Changelog 1.1.22:

1.1.22
- Fixed Earl Ergrond's bugged spawn behavior on map 24
- Small embellishments to map22
- Clarified 'pickpocket's tooltip. Taking gold from a side without gold is no longer possible
- Slightly buffed charge attack of Mounted Sergeant and Captain
- Fixed potion animation of dwarvish brewer line
- Excluded 'Defeated Warlord' from the help menu
- New unit: Silver Archmage, advancing from Silver Mage
- Reworked the Rabbit animal: new sprites and variations
- New Epic enemy: the Killer Rabbit
- Fixed possible broken dialogues with epic enemies in sidequests
- Improved reaction time of engine for Dayton going over 100% at free rounds (response is now immediate and flavour text of the drink is no longer played)
- Added [cancel_action]'s at the death of heroes to avoid multiple [endlevel]'s warnings in case of area damage multi-kills.
- Small QoL improvements to the drinking window
- Cutscenes and Inn sessions no longer contribute to slow intoxication reducing
- New status: vitality: this status will heal a unit by 5 on turn end until it is fully healed or is damaged again. Receiving vitality will clear poison bleeding or burning.
- Units received Vitalize ability to give vitality: Dwarvish Brewer, Dwarvish Brewmaster (this is a preparation for the Ice Diamond expansion)
- New special drink: Bloodshade, will be rewarded by Father Hillas in Faith in Fire expansion
- Fixed empty name for undead (and other possible nameless units) in drinking menu
- Added AI controller to give orders to allied AI players on maps 6, 24, FoV-4
- Killing Gair or Lurm now result in defeat
- Nerfed Hate of Wounds to give 20% damage bonus and fixed the healing to fit description amount
- Changed campfires on map6 to illuminate instead of changing time of day
- Further improved QoL in the Campaign preferences menu and added options for music packs
- Typos

What would happen if you enraged him, then terrified him? Could he then be enraged again?

Of course the save is gone, but when I first encountered hate of wounds I did something like that, I'm not sure of the exact sequence, but I was left convinced that you had to be able to deal a single killing blow from over 40% HP.

[EarthCake]

@white_haired_uncle the orc leader cannot be enraged or terrified at the same time. That means that if you succeeded to terrify enemy leader and then enraged him, he'll only be enraged, and vica verse.

[white_haired_uncle]

@white_haired_uncle the orc leader cannot be enraged or terrified at the same time. That means that if you succeeded to terrify enemy leader and then enraged him, he'll only be enraged, and vica verse.

Thanks, but my question is what happens if you (can) do both? If he's enraged, and then you terrify him, what happens if he then drops below 40% HP? Does he switch back to being enraged again? Does he now have 20% more HP than he started with?

I THINK what I did was to terrify Lurm (which was the objective, should have been done right there), then hit him with a hero, got a message that said basically, "No, you have to hit him with a hero", then he went enraged, so I terrified him again, hit him with a hero, got a message that said basically, "No, you have to hit him with a hero", then he went enraged... and I cheated killed him and moved on. I may have to go back and see if I can I can figure out exactly what I did.

[WhiteWolf]

What would happen if you enraged him, then terrified him? Could he then be enraged again?

Thanks, but my question is what happens if you (can) do both? If he's enraged, and then you terrify him, what happens if he then drops below 40% HP? Does he switch back to being enraged again? Does he now have 20% more HP than he started with?

Yes, the statuses can switch to the other if it is triggered. So a terrified enemy can become enraged again if you trigger it. (And if you terrify him again, he switches to terrified).
I'd have to check the code (which I'll do later and come back with an edit) because I don't remember if the status bonuses are simply removed when switching, or if they accumulate. If they are always refreshed (which I think is the case) then when he's enraged he'll have rage bonuses, then if he's terrified he'll lose all of that and have terrified stats. If he's enraged again, he loses the terrified stats and gets back the rage bonuses, so he'll be in the exact same state (bonus-wise) when he had been enraged for the first time.
If the bonuses accumulate, then when he's enraged for the second time, he should have the bonus from the first rage, the negative from the terrify, and the bonus from the second rage.

I THINK what I did was to terrify Lurm (which was the objective, should have been done right there), then hit him with a hero, got a message that said basically, "No, you have to hit him with a hero", then he went enraged, so I terrified him again, hit him with a hero, got a message that said basically, "No, you have to hit him with a hero", then he went enraged... and I cheated killed him and moved on. I may have to go back and see if I can I can figure out exactly what I did.

He was terrified, you hit him with a hero and it said, "No, you have to hit him with a hero?". That doesn't sound right, it should have resulted in victory. I'll check on that scenario, but it has worked fine for long now. However, I'm not sure what would happen if, let's say, Lurm was on some 41% HP when he was terrified, and then you hit him with a hero. The blow should kill him, though the drop-below-40% event might trigger first, in which case the execution may abort. I'll check what's the behavior in this case. The "No, you have to hit him with a hero" message is still uncalled for though...
Do mind that Maggoth is too clumsy to be able to execute terrified enemies, he is not eligible for this. You must try with any other hero (Dayton, Elvy, Dothar, Gallien, Milla, Tharos. I can't recall if Wulfius or Wolfras count here.)
If you do retry it, will you post your results?

[white_haired_uncle]

I've had limited success reproducing the issue.

Turn 20: the last save I still had. I started here, and just cheat killed all of his underlings to keep them out of the way.

Turn 25: the last turn.

The first time I tried this, I moved the crossbowman in and terrified him. Then I attacked, and missed, with Elvy. When I then hit him with Gallien, he became enraged. Hopefully this will show up okay in the replay I created, I can't figure out how to jump to the end without watching every turn.

I tried it again a few times and every time Elvy gets a hit and kills him. I'm wondering if the first time he lost his terrified status when a hero attacked and failed?

Doesn't look like it. While I was messing around trying to figure this out, I started wondering what would happen if Lurm bled or took a defensive hit that put him below 40%, or killed him. The result was the turn 30 save. I was able to miss him completely, once, with Elvy and he retained his terrified status. But if she hits him, he goes enraged.

Sorry if this is about clear as mud, but if you mess around with these a few times I'm pretty sure you'll see some odd behavour(s).

[EarthCake]

(9) Linanir -> Lintanir
"Who dares disturb my peace?" -> "Who dares to disturb my peace?"
advanture -> adventure
inreadable -> unreadable
"I say with Doresters we are large..." -> "... we have large..."
historan -> historian

One weird thing I have noticed is that Red Jon's name in Inn is Inkeep Red Jon, but his unit type is Innkeep.

Epic enemies:
(Epic enemies = more than 50 free XP )

What is actually considered as a crucial story point? (Feel free to PM me.)

Spoiler:

I would suggest using a background loading from 1.14 when Dayton drinks too much.

Spoiler:

Riddles/Puzzles:
I am not sure which number is it, but it is one with barber. I typed shaver since English is not my native language, and I got wrong, but I think that "shaver" should also be accepted for people whose native language isn't English.

When approaching Red Jon to talk to him:
yourn -> yours

CT:
"Damn, am I moved to hear that." What is the meaning of this? Maybe it should be: "Damn, I am moved to hear that."

CT1:
clinck -> click
then -> than

CT2: Willis's -> Willis'
Shouldn't the name of scenario be "The Valley of Death"?
trecharous -> treacherous

I think that Trainkill should be implemented for maximum level units instead for level 3 units only. Let's take an example: (This is spoiler for CT though.)

Spoiler:

We can recruit Saurian Augurs in CT2 scenario, which can advance only to level 2. So this ability doesn't work on them, which mean they waste experience if they kill some unit.

CT2: Desert Cannibals are very bad placed in their 72x72 sprite images. Take a look how they look:

I think Cannibals' race should be Dunefolk instead of Human.
or -> our
alligenace -> allegiance

CT3:
Short, our battle shall be... -> Short our battle shall be...
now -> know
beautious... I am not sure what this means. Maybe you thought beautiful /beauteous

How does Etiline know elf leader's name is Vezymir?

[WhiteWolf]

Doesn't look like it. While I was messing around trying to figure this out, I started wondering what would happen if Lurm bled or took a defensive hit that put him below 40%, or killed him. The result was the turn 30 save. I was able to miss him completely, once, with Elvy and he retained his terrified status. But if she hits him, he goes enraged.

So it seems this is what I have been wondering about here:

However, I'm not sure what would happen if, let's say, Lurm was on some 41% HP when he was terrified, and then you hit him with a hero. The blow should kill him, though the drop-below-40% event might trigger first, in which case the execution may abort. I'll check what's the behavior in this case.

And it turns out the behavior is indeed a little unexpected: the enrage event happens before the execution event. It means, that in your turn 30 save if you attack with Elvyndiel and hit, it will first calculate damage, that triggers rage and Lurm heals up. The execution event would only check in then, but since Lurm is already enraged, it won't pass.
I can't say this is intended, but I wouldn't say it's a bug, it's just how things work. Here's what I think you're missing though, and you'll see why this behavior is no problem at all: the terrifying and the execution can happen in the same attack.
In your turn 25 save you already have 3 units standing around Lurm. Move in with Elvyndiel and attack: This is going to set Lurm terrified, because he is attacked while surrounded with 4 units, and the first actual hit from Elvy in the attack is already going to execute him. It's recommended to try with Elvyndiel's ranged magical attack - it has a high chance of hitting, and the first hit will be an execution.
It's similar for terrify conditions that actually require a hit: for example in fear of arcane: if Elvyndiel is dealing the arcane hit, it will terrify the enemy, and a second hit within the same attack will surely execute the enemy.

And, if you still manage to create a situation like on turn 30, all is not lost, you can still bag a victory, still in that turn. Here's how: attack Lurm with a unit that is likely to survive, in this case I used the archer on 6,22. A successful hit will set Lurm enraged, but now he is surrounded by 3 of your units. Move in with Elvyndiel's ranged attack and that's it.

"Who dares disturb my peace?" -> "Who dares to disturb my peace?"
yourn -> yours
clinck -> click
Short, our battle shall be... -> Short our battle shall be...
"Damn, am I moved to hear that." What is the meaning of this? Maybe it should be: "Damn, I am moved to hear that."

These are intended archaic spellings or indicating a character speaking poorly. I did misspell clink though. And there should be an ! mark at the end of "Damn, am I moved to hear that!"

One weird thing I have noticed is that Red Jon's name in Inn is Inkeep Red Jon, but his unit type is Innkeep.

Both should be Innkeeper in fact, but I just didn't start renaming him everywhere yet.

Epic enemies:
(Epic enemies = more than 50 free XP )

What do you mean by free XP? Are they that easy to beat?

Spoiler:

I would suggest using a background loading from 1.14 when Dayton drinks too much.

Spoiler:

Riddles/Puzzles:
I am not sure which number is it, but it is one with barber. I typed shaver since English is not my native language, and I got wrong, but I think that "shaver" should also be accepted for people whose native language isn't English.

#1 is a to-do I accept the suggestion in #2, English is not my native language either, so there can always be passable synonyms I had not thought of.

Shouldn't the name of scenario be "The Valley of Death"?

Almost all maps start with "The", I omit it whenever possible.

I think that Trainkill should be implemented for maximum level units instead for level 3 units only. Let's take an example: (This is spoiler for CT though.)

Spoiler:

We can recruit Saurian Augurs in CT2 scenario, which can advance only to level 2. So this ability doesn't work on them, which mean they waste experience if they kill some unit.

It makes sense, I'll think on this.

CT2: Desert Cannibals are very bad placed in their 72x72 sprite images. Take a look how they look:

I think Cannibals' race should be Dunefolk instead of Human.

I wonder how it did not hurt my eyes before (the sprite wasn't 72x72, that was the reason for the misplacement). It's fixed now, and they are Dunefolk.

EDIT:
beautious... I am not sure what this means. Maybe you thought beautiful /beauteous
Misspelled the "i".

How does Etiline know elf leader's name is Vezymir?
She doesn't. Replaced that for ", my lord."

[EarthCake]

Inn, when talking to Lory:
intenionally -> intentionally

FoV:
distured -> disturbed
attrackted -> attracted

FoV Another Victim:
appearantly -> apparently
It is weird that I actually can recruit Ravagers in this scenario.
What does "oid" mean?

[WhiteWolf]

It is weird that I actually can recruit Ravagers in this scenario.
What does "oid" mean?

There are no keeps to recruit anything from. For long I wasn't aware that ctrl+r works always and shows the recruit list, therefore I did not always hide the list on maps that don't have valid keeps anyway. It's just aesthetics though.

human-...oid: a "humanoid" with the speaker pondering his words in between.

[EarthCake]

I am not sure if this actually is a bug, but Councillor Morvian keeps his units in the castle, and is not aiding me in the battle in (FoV4) The Flight.

Here is a screenshot:

Maybe I am wrong, but I thought there were no epic enemies in Sidequests?

If I get epic enemy in Sidequest, in example FoV, why Baldor and Hufin say it is my imagination when I was talking with Lory.

[Major_Swampy]

I had tried to redownload and using your MP era, but when entered Multiplayer mode, gets error at three times:

Code: Select all

Macro/file 'BUILD_TRS_MUSIC' is missing
    at ~add-ons/The_Ravagers/utils/summarise.cfg:612
        included from ~add-ons/0Era_Of_The_Ravagers/_main.cfg:29

Please fix your era, Whitewolf.

[WhiteWolf]

I am not sure if this actually is a bug, but Councillor Morvian keeps his units in the castle, and is not aiding me in the battle in (FoV4) The Flight.

Here is a screenshot:

In_castle.png

It's supposed to be a very defensive AI, but not THAT defensive. It might depend on the difficulty, which do you play at?

Maybe I am wrong, but I thought there were no epic enemies in Sidequests?

If I get epic enemy in Sidequest, in example FoV, why Baldor and Hufin say it is my imagination when I was talking with Lory.

No, they are not outright banned from sidequests, if Dayton is still the narrator. The guys reacting in the Inn should be fitted accordingly though, that's indeed kind of weird right now.

I had tried to redownload and using your MP era, but when entered Multiplayer mode, gets error at three times:

Code: Select all

Macro/file 'BUILD_TRS_MUSIC' is missing
    at ~add-ons/The_Ravagers/utils/summarise.cfg:612
        included from ~add-ons/0Era_Of_The_Ravagers/_main.cfg:29

Please fix your era, Whitewolf.

Ah yes, sorry, I forgot to update the era accordingly to the changes in 1.1.22. It's updated now, you can download 1.1.4 of the Era and it should work fine

[EarthCake]

I am playing on Mayhem. After some further examination, I have found out that AI moves units from his keep only when has more gold to recruit, or there are enemies within reach, but then not with all units.

[WhiteWolf]

Well, on every easier difficulty, that AI has more and more gold, so that could be the reason why it moves its units better there. I'll finetune it better, see what happens.

Note: in 1.1.22 there is an Instruct Ally option which lets you order him to be more aggressive, and protect your side or a location. The AI has a hardwired avoid aspect that bans him from leaving the castle walls, but getting him to line up there should be possible.

[Major_Swampy]

Ah yes, sorry, I forgot to update the era accordingly to the changes in 1.1.22. It's updated now, you can download 1.1.4 of the Era and it should work fine

Ah, it works, it can be playable, thanks.