The Rise of Wesnoth 20 - Return of the Fleet

[LordWolfDan]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?

- 1.14.5, Easy

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

- 7

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

- Clear as ever

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

- Very good. Jevyan's anger and fog were a nice touch in this scenario. The revenge of saurians? I don't think so

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

- Fighting off the chocobones and finishing off the draug on the island, using only two level 3 mermen and Jessene

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

- 7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

- Nothing really, everything is fine here

[Konrad2]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?

1.14.5, Hard

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

5

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Good.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

Dealing with the loyal Chocobones. I'm really glad my Mermen spotted them in time to avoid disaster.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

Make the Chocobones belong to side 2 (they are the only ones without their very own reinforcements) and change the enemy teamname to Jevyan's Forces or Evil.

[Remellion]

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.15.14, Commander (Challenging) (i.e. medium); blind playthrough.
250 starting gold here (minimum starting gold for this difficulty)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
10/10. Minimum starting gold is quite brutal here, and on the hardest difficulty it would be even worse (I would replay The Vanguard to get more gold if that were the case). On this difficulty though, I somehow made it through on the first try regardless.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Perfectly clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Very rousing. The battle looks very intimidating - worse terrain and harder enemies with more gold than the previous scenario. But we cannot fail, for the refugees are still arriving!
The saurians and the cuttlefish arriving were good too - we're not the only ones who get allies to join in battle! (At least the dialogue wasn't "Look out, a cuttlefish has risen from the deep.") It adds to the sense that all odds are against us.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Minimum starting gold is brutal. Working out how to divide troops was interesting - how many west to beat back the undead, and where do we make a stand with the remainder? I decided to commit 3 merman entanglers to the west, along with some healers and paladins (for melee arcane), while some elite and levelling lawful troops held the forest just north of the starting castle.

The entanglers were perfect for bashing undead in the water with healing support. But the forest proved very, very difficult to hold, with the tanky units taking a long time to heal back. I had to retreat in the morning. The mages of light and paladins from the beach were essential in pushing aggressively at night to protect the main land force, but everyone almost died, even the mermen. The situation was under control only after the third day/night cycle. More starting gold would have allowed for a more comfortable rotation - carryover is important.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
10/10. The second straight scenario in a row with an epic all-out battle on multiple fronts.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No. (It was a close-run thing, but I did beat it blind.)

[Konrad2]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

1.16.1, Lord (Difficult)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

7, seemingly endless enemy income...

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Clear.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

Wading through the enemy reinforcements due to high income.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

7

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

-

Scenario stats:

Spoiler:

[LienRag]

1) 1.16.5, medium difficulty

(2) I'd say 6, I was just not very good at it

(3) Clear - "Kill the leaders".

(4) Average. You may want to build-up things for the Haldric-Jessene conclusion in next scenario, though.

(5) Finding where to make my stand, protecting all the essential characters.
I had to reload from start many times, and only won when I accepted to lose veteran units since I had many already and it was the next-to last scenario anyway.
I tried to use mermen to hold a line around the swampy patches just north of the forest (I sent them to the river but the enemy came close before that), I barely succeeded but Burin got isolated by the Saurians and there was no way to save him.
Finally I made the real stand closer to the castle, which allowed me to re-recruit peasants when needed.

(6) 5. It's quite fun but the surprises, as someone said before, just punishes the player for trying different strategies, which is a very bad thing.
Once I had mermen in the water, Chocobones were fun since I had the ability to scout so I knew what risks I was taking by sending my main units in uncharted territory, but if the player doesn't send mermen there before the Chocobones appear, it's too late to know about their whereabouts and the shore area becomes RNG land.
Same for Saurians, they're nice but if they are triggered by the wrong unit, you have no chance to save this unit - quite bad (and just through randomness) if this unit is important.

(7) Warn about possible surprises (in a subtle way, preferably) so that the player understands that he needs to scout.
Also, it would be nice to have Lady Jessene bring something like a dozen loyal peasants with her (or 0-level loyal ruffians). Since it's the next-to-last scenario, a few surviving loyals won't be totally unbalancing, and in the next scenario they would allow to try to stay in positive gold, which makes for more varied strategies than just "recruit until you're in deficit and charge".
Also, the undead in the sea never attacked the Storm Trident Hoplite that I sent against him, so I just had to zap him each turn until he dies (well, I had to retreat the Hoplite once to a village because the Undead's minions had wounded him, but that's all). That's weird behavior and makes the assassination way too easy.

[Traumflug]

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

Version 1.18.4, Biased RNG (experimental), difficulty Lord (Difficult) ( = hard)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

9

Quite a number of challenges and surprises, yet surprises done right: in some distance, so one has a chance to arrange before they arrive.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Very clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Very clear.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

As always, surviving the first wave of enemies without losses.

Second biggest challenge was dealing with the Cuttlefish. Once more it took me a while to recognize that one can simply walk away, they'll follow and are defeated on or near land much easier.

I didn't quite meet the walkthrough recommendation of 200-300 Gold carryover, though. The 186 I reached turned out to be enough, though, it gives 436 gold at the start of the next scenario.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

10

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

It's fine as it is.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

For dealing with the Cuttlefish I had to re-try two times. Also the occasional turn restart, because my first plan of movements didn't work out.

TRoW-Die Rückkehr der Flotte Aufzeichnung 20250522-221544.gz

(83.54 KiB) Downloaded 4 times

[fredbobsmith2]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on? Lord (Difficult) 1.18.5
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 7, good strategy and worthy sacrifices prevail again
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives? Clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario? Good, nice surprise coming
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? Chocobones
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? None

Recalled 3.5 keeps of units. First was mermen + loyal maulers, then 1 keep of expendable L2s (mostly advanced from the previous scenario), then a keep of L3 foot units (halbs, RG, arch mages) then a half keep of horse units. The mermen, maulers, and Burin went west to fight the undead, mostly trapping them on the shore. Both maulers were close to their first AMLA, which helped sustain them after repeated charges. The mermen and a silver mage, along with Jessene, later moved to defeat that leader.
On land, Ruddry went to trigger the cuttlefish, who were mostly fought on land (although some of them didn't come out and went south instead to bother the mermen). The first wave of orcs was met with the L2s, who mostly survived and were then covered for a time by the L3s during the second day, as they advanced across the open area just north of the north forest. The saurians ended up not getting triggered until the second night, at which point I threw the L2s at them and the orcs and lost all of them (fine and intended). I then swept into the leader, luring them out with horse units, and finished with a decent carryover (though not nearly enough to recall my massive list of veterans).

Results:
2 great mages
1 paladin, 1 GK
1 huntsman
357g carryover

Losses:
1 pikeman, 1 swordsman, 3 javelineers
1 netcaster