Scenario Review: (UTBS) 6.2 In the Domain of the Dwarves

[Korakinos]

When I save-reload at the beginning of the scenario, but after the wall has been torn down and the first group of dwarves is visible, their leader disappears. The other dwarves are unaffected (so far, I have not continued the scenario after the leader's disappearance). A save-reload with the wall still intact does not cause this.

This is on version 1.10.3 .

Should I report this in the bug tracker?

[Alarantalara]

I've fixed this particular bug (it's still in 1.10.4, and 1.11.0), but in general, reporting on the bug tracker is preferred since many developers do not follow the forums closely, causing responses to the bugs to be delayed or non-existent.

[Korakinos]

Okay, next time on the bug tracker. Thank you for fixing!

[Maiklas3000]

1) Version, level, gold? 1.11.15, Nightmare, 359 starting gold.
2) Adequately difficult? It's plenty difficult if you play without save-reloads. What makes it especially difficult is things jumping out at you, possibly killing a critical unit. Mostly I mean the bats and tentacles, but also a berserker can come out of nowhere. I wouldn't object if you wanted to make it easier, like by getting rid of all the Dread Bats except the leader bat, but it could also remain the same.
3) Reloads? After several losses, I was finally able to win with no save-reloads! Plus I got the bonus belt! Plus I finished one turn early and with positive gold! It helps to be paranoid and go slow as hell. There is enough time, if you already know where everything is. I didn't remember this, but you lose some units automatically after this scenario, so you can look in the walkthrough if you want to know which units are expendable.
4) Dialog? Super. I'm impressed by the funny dialog by the drill sergeant. Depending on whether a troll, elf, or other (Dust Devil) encounters them, there are three slightly different dialogs! I think you should move the trigger hex one closer. Right now it can be triggered when you are just around the corner and don't seem to be in line of sight. Also, the dialog foreshadowing tentacles ("something moving") when you step into the water can be triggered after you have killed all the tentacles.
5) Fun? It's fun and a really great scenario. The mood is spooky and keeps the player feeling uncomfortable by putting him in novel combat situations. I've never liked how the rune key works, though. The key shouldn't teleport to whomever needs it. A password could be communicated, so that would make more sense.

[nuorc]

1) What version and difficulty level did you play the scenario on?
1.12.1, Medium

2) Do you think the difficulty is adequate to the level? If not describe the issue that made the scenario to easy/hard.
n/a.

3) Was there any event that caused you to almost instantly loose, or made the scenario unplayable without reload?
This whole scenario is such an 'event'.

4) Do you like the storyline and the dialogues?
ok, maybe a bit lenghty.

5) Do you think the scenario was fun? Please write down some thoughts about gameplay, mood etc.
First: Maybe take some villages a bit away from the enemy leaders, so they're a little earlier accessible and at least increased upkeep because of levelling is kept in check.

How fun was this? 0/10. Terrible. Nearly made me quit the campaign. Identify segments and act according to script the next time. Maybe I hit a streak of bad luck, but every outcome seemed to be pure luck.

Spoiler:

The cornered ally and the attacking bats: roll the dice a few times and you will get greatly different results the player can't influence.

Dear Author(s): If you place units we have to fight and they act when the see us, fine. By now I feel like it's always 'the enemy can't see him, but the scout sees a certain hex and now some deus ex machina-thing will go off'. I'm getting tired of it. It feels over-abused, a non-enjoyable, forced, gaming experience. Bad story telling.

The exact time and hex I learned to hate this scenario and some of the principles of this campaign was behind the guard, before the bridge. Seeing a certain hex will activate the scripted guards. You have to know when it's triggered and what to do else you fail and die (or massively lose time if retreating). I did a lot of stuff that turn, didn't save, triggered event: everything was ruined. I got punished for scouting and not save-loading.

Showdown: Like the scenario before, I have to fight deadly dwarves at chokepoints. Repetitive. I now know about the hidden goodie: will not replay to get it.

Edit: As the instructor/pupils idea is re-used shortly after (and the other installment seems tactically more interesting to me), maybe cut it out here; make it four regular enemies, the area more accessible, the cornered ally behind a chokepoint, and the player's decision might influence the outcome more.

[Inky]

1) Level, version, gold? 1.12.5 nightmare, 386 starting gold
2) Adequately difficult? 7/10, not that hard but those bats will probably kill some of your units...they killed my favorite prowler, sniff.
3) Reloads? No restarts/reloads
4) Dialog? -
5) Fun? I personally dislike scenarios full of bottlenecks.

The hardest part of this scenario was the dwarves suddenly appearing on the bridge, which was a nasty surprise. I used the cowardly strategy against them- retreated everybody all the way back to the castle in the south and let the dwarves come one by one into the bottleneck where I picked them off. I was really afraid this would make me run out of turns, but I still finished turn 51/56, so there's plenty of time. (Also went way negative on gold, but you don't need any carryover so it's fine).

[UnwiseOwl]

1) Version? 1.13.7, Challenging (new elves)

2) Adequately difficult? Probably about right. Doable with a small force of loyals if you want to, but hard enough to pose a challenge to a player with a decent army. I think the ghost defending the amulet could afford to be a wraith, perhaps.

3) Reloads? I came very close in the lake when both Kaleh and Nym were set upon by bats. Also almost got Zhul killed coming out of the lake (poor movement areas with high CTK like lakes often cause risky situations), but these probably wouldn't be so bad if I'd recruited more units.

4) Dialog? Was honestly a bit disappointed that the hermit wasn't named Gollum, but you can't have everything.

5) Fun?
A decent famine level. Very slow in parts, but about right for the difficulty. Oh hey, it's Grog!
It's possible to get units stuck behind the cave wall if you put them down the corridor to the East and then trigger the wall collapse so that Zurg leaves. Either don't put up a wall here or don't allow the player to go down there in the first place.
It's possible to be stuck for a really really long time before the bridge as you clear out the guards there if you didn't manage to get control of the Southern end of the bridge. I'd recommend opening up this chokepoint a little so it's not a single hex across. The 'charges' could easily block up a spot bigger than one hex, so there's not really a story reason not to do this.

[Thrash]

1) What version and difficulty level did you play the scenario on? Please do not submit feedback from pre 1.4.

1.12.6, Challenging (medium)

2) Do you think the difficulty is adequate to the level? If not describe the issue that made the scenario to easy/hard.

Yes, it's a good tough challenge.

3) Was there any event that caused you to almost instantly loose, or made the scenario unplayable without reload?

Yes, several times you facing a couple L2+ Thunderers all hitting. And the first time I ran into the bats and just wasn't prepared for how nasty they were.

4) Do you like the storyline and the dialogues? If not what part/character lags behind or what would you like changed?

Yes, but the amulet plot line lost me. I even found the glyph before I found the amulet, but didn't put the two together. In part it wasn't clear to me I got the amulet since I didn't pick it up like other items. Then it was weird because Zhul, who got no where near the hermit and the amulet could put it on and open the crypt. Maybe replace the amulet with another identical glyph that opens the first glyph (maybe even teleports you there to save a trek across the lake)? That would be a much bigger clue as to the connection. I ended up replaying the last 10 or so turns to get the belt, which is what you see in the attached replay.

I swear I saw a message about the tentacles appearing a turn before they did.

I killed the bat chief. It's weird it doesn't fight back.

5) Do you think the scenario was fun? Please write down some thoughts about gameplay, mood etc.

Yes, very good, nice twists and turns.

[Konrad2]

1) What version and difficulty level did you play the scenario on?

1.14.7, Champion (Nightmare)

2) Do you think the difficulty is adequate to the level?

Yes, the turn limit seems to fit.

3) Was there any event that caused you to almost instantly lose, or made the scenario unplayable without reload?

No. (But I played it before, so...)

4) Do you like the storyline and the dialogues?

I like them.

5) Do you think the scenario was fun?

Yes.

[devavrata]

1) What version and difficulty level did you play the scenario on? Please do not submit feedback from pre 1.4.

Battle for Wesnoth 1.8.3, Easy, Battle for Wesnoth 1.10.7 Medium, Battle for Wesnoth 1.12.5 Hard

2) Do you think the difficulty is adequate to the level? If not describe the issue that made the scenario to easy/hard.

Hexes with low defence bonus (30% at caves, 20% at water), are the most difficult thing - your elves are constantly taking damage, even if you rotate your elves to preserve the injured ones, you'll quickly end up with all of your elves injured. Healing is critical.

3) Was there any event that caused you to almost instantly lose, or made the scenario unplayable without reload?

No.

4) Do you like the storyline and the dialogues? If not what part/character lags behind or what would you like changed?

The dialogues are OK, specially the ones from the dwarves.

5) Do you think the scenario was fun? Please write down some thoughts about gameplay, mood etc.

Time can get tight, specially because of choke points. The "skirmish" ability from Nym and some other elves comes in handy; they can ignore zones of control and go around enemies so the choke points become easier.