[Historical] Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Feedback for the mainline campaign Eastern Invasion.

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flammstrudel
Posts: 74
Joined: April 13th, 2013, 9:08 pm

Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Outpost

Post by flammstrudel »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
1.10.3 hard (Challenging - Royal Guard)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
4

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
No real challenges. I recruited nothing but HIs, that counters pretty much anything they throw at you. I won't rate it 3 or 4 because its pretty easy to lose Gweddry to the damn bats (almost happened to me). Guess it's harder if you are obsessed about leveling the right units, but nowadays I don't have the patience for stuff like that. Got two intelligent/strong Shock Troopers (yay!) and settled with it.

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

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It's okay the way it is.
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Inky
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Outpost

Post by Inky »

(1) Level and version? Hard, 1.12.4
(2) Difficult? (1-10) 8
(3) Objectives? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Fine.
(5) Challenges? Bats targeting Gweddry, undead at night
(6) Fun? (1-10) 9
(7) Changes? -
(8) Restarts? One to start - I only managed to level 1 shocktrooper the first time so I replayed for a better result.

Strategy: I recruit 2 sacrificial dragoons which grab the undead villages during the day, causing many of the undead to arrive a turn later (e.g. dawn instead of second watch) which is crucial. I get very lucky with RNG and manage to level several shocktroopers. I strongly favor those with quick and fearless traits (the best possible, I think).
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Poison
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Outpost

Post by Poison »

(1) Level and version? 1.12.5 Royal Guard (Challenging), 120 Gold
(2) Difficult? (1-10) I have a feeling that this will be a tough campaign...
(3) Objectives? Survive , gotcha.
(4) Dialog? Great.
(5) Challenges? Poor HI defense, Hi speed, HI not hiting, undead swarming at night, having to get HI out to hit archers first or else, bats flying everywhere, literally everything!
(6) Fun? (1-10) Oh yes, running for your life is very entertaining. Where does the healer go? 8.
(7) Changes? Make enemies richer to get out more units to fill the map :P
(8) Restarts? Yes, I started the campaign again and tried to have a decent mage, something not so easy I'm afraid.
LordWolfDan
Posts: 216
Joined: September 30th, 2018, 7:31 am

Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by 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)

- 5

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

- A bit unclear. At first, I though I had to defeat all three enemy leaders, but with limited gold amount, Dacyn's sudden disappearance and re-appearance and enemies getting reinforcements, I had to play until Dacyn's return and retreat into the trapdoor

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

- I like it. The revelation of Mal-Ravanal, the campaign's villain, and the fear he emits, is nice start.

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

- Surviving the second wave of enemies (after Dacyn returns)

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

- 6

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

- If possible, defeating at least one leader should give you 50-100 gold.
romans1x20
Posts: 4
Joined: January 11th, 2019, 5:55 pm

Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by romans1x20 »

Heavy Infantry and spearman are useful. I have 4 spearman to hold village beyond rivers so bat are less annoying, steal less village in the forest, and I keep earning gold for HI holding the castle. Some said cavalry works but I don't think so as they can't do the task. HI do well in castle and take less damage while more exp. I get 4 lv2 HI in 2nd scenario and 6 in 3rd.

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
failed for hard many times, thus medium
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
medium 7 hard 10
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
some hints for the tunnel
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
for medium, interesting in day with many HI , not interesting at night
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
hard is just too hard. waves of undead while bats keeps breaking the line and steal village when I don't have enough money.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6 waste me many time to find the right way
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
some hints for the tunnel and timing
Konrad2
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Re: Scenario Review - EI: The Outpost

Post by Konrad2 »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
1.14.5, Hard (Challenging - Royal Guard)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8, because I didn't want to lose any units.

(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?
It was...well. Uninformative? Dacyn seems to know stuff, but he isn't exactly forthcoming with any kind of knowledge.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Keeping my people alive/destroying the skeletons fast enough to avoid being swarmed.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7, it kept me at the edge of my seat thinking 'Where are you Dacyn, save me!'

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
-
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DeliciousRoastPotato
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Joined: October 27th, 2019, 4:28 am

Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by DeliciousRoastPotato »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
1.14.5, Hard (Challenging - Royal Guard)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8

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


(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
It was fine. Whether that means short and sweet or just adequate will depend on how it plays out.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Trying to defend, I had a very difficult time - it seemed pretty much impossible, at least to me as a new player.

Once I decided to bum rush the middle guys forces, things started looking better. Being a new wesnoth player, my leader died a few times, but then I figured out that I don't completely rush the middle guy, just kill his forces, and then move north to kill Blue's forces. This let me destroy the middle forces during daytime, avoid purple's forces during nighttime and then early morning I ran just my leader back to the keep to recruit a bunch of heavy infantryman to defend for the final few turns. In retrospect, I probably could've made the second round of recruits purely mages as well.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
10. It was nice to have a weird tactic work.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Fine as is.
Xindage
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Joined: August 2nd, 2018, 12:56 am
Location: Brazil

Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by Xindage »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.15.7, Normal (Normal - Swordsman)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Difficult was very random it takes base so much in RNG of the enemies. (around 4?)

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The dialogue was too simple for my taste. for example, there's no taunt from any side, and killing any the necromancer should have some dialog.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Killing at least one leader. This was a lucky run.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5. Ok scenario, but the mage disappearing without previous warning is evil.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Considering how the others campaigns are evolving this one need some work too.
First it's strange not having bowman, and most of the campaign can be done using only High infantry so going ahead:
Scenario should start at dusk, (necromancers attack at night right?) with this give more turns to player kill one leader.
Killing one leader should drastically increase the other leaders income by 26i and after the lich leaves increase it by more 26i the intention should be slowly pushing player back instead just instant-spam units against the player. I dunno but i think the intention of this scenario is force the player to retreat by knowing that he cant win it, not because the other side magically recruited more units than me out nowhere.
And killing one leader should give a bonus of some sort.

(8) About the replay.
Just mass spamed HI and rushed forward to the green keep, killed it and them hold back the other sides and i gained much xp. (i could actually win it giving me more time).
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mal_shubertal
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Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by mal_shubertal »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.16.6 Royal Guard (Difficult)
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7. Lots of enemies, lots of losses.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear enough
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
clear enough. Gweddry doesn't have much of a distinct personality so far, hopefully that changes as the campaign goes on. Dacyn is like Gandalf in the Hobbit: mysterious and powerful wizard who always has to run off just when he would be most useful, lol. I like the slow drip of hints about the relationship between Dacyn and Ravanal, building suspense.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Ambition. I tried a bunch of times to kill all three leaders, then finally gave up and just settled for rushing the middle leader, which also took me several tries to get right.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5. The enemy recruits 90% skeletal undead, so it's a no-brainer for you recruit 90% HI, which leads to pretty boring combat. On the other hand, I liked how each leader recruited slightly different units, and Dacyn disappearing and reappearing keeps you on your toes.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
More variety in the enemy's recruitment. You can technically recruit spearmen and cavalrymen in this scenario, but because the enemy recruits almost exclusively skeletal undead those units are pretty much useless compared to HI. Even mages are basically optional on this scenario, I only got one because I wanted to start working on another healer. If the enemy recruited dark adepts and ghosts, it would encourage the player to recruit more cavalry and mages to counter, and would make for more interesting tactics. More variety in terrain would be good too.
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egallager
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Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by egallager »

mal_shubertal wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:42 am (1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.16.6 Royal Guard (Difficult)
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7. Lots of enemies, lots of losses.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear enough
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
clear enough. Gweddry doesn't have much of a distinct personality so far, hopefully that changes as the campaign goes on. Dacyn is like Gandalf in the Hobbit: mysterious and powerful wizard who always has to run off just when he would be most useful, lol. I like the slow drip of hints about the relationship between Dacyn and Ravanal, building suspense.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Ambition. I tried a bunch of times to kill all three leaders, then finally gave up and just settled for rushing the middle leader, which also took me several tries to get right.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
5. The enemy recruits 90% skeletal undead, so it's a no-brainer for you recruit 90% HI, which leads to pretty boring combat. On the other hand, I liked how each leader recruited slightly different units, and Dacyn disappearing and reappearing keeps you on your toes.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
More variety in the enemy's recruitment. You can technically recruit spearmen and cavalrymen in this scenario, but because the enemy recruits almost exclusively skeletal undead those units are pretty much useless compared to HI. Even mages are basically optional on this scenario, I only got one because I wanted to start working on another healer. If the enemy recruited dark adepts and ghosts, it would encourage the player to recruit more cavalry and mages to counter, and would make for more interesting tactics. More variety in terrain would be good too.
Hey while you're here, could you take a look at the "my Outpost hurts Hard" thread in "Strategies & Tips" please? https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?p=678414#p678414 I've been trying to see which checkboxes in #4145 can be checked off, and that thread addressed some of them.
mal_shubertal
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Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by mal_shubertal »

egallager wrote: January 27th, 2023, 10:45 am
mal_shubertal wrote: January 27th, 2023, 2:42 am
Hey while you're here, could you take a look at the "my Outpost hurts Hard" thread in "Strategies & Tips" please? https://forums.wesnoth.org/viewtopic.php?p=678414#p678414 I've been trying to see which checkboxes in #4145 can be checked off, and that thread addressed some of them.
Hi! It seems from that thread that the main complaint about this scenario was that it was just plain too hard and required either too much luck or too much meta-gaming to win. Based on this playthrough, it was definitely still hard, but not unreasonably so. My stats in the replay I posted say I wasn't particularly lucky, and I was still able to easily get to the trap door in time without needing to depend on knowing which turn it would appear. So I would say that whatever changes were made to make it easier were successful.
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Atreides
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Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by Atreides »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
easy, 1.19, biased RNG, road move bonus - no reloading

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

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

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
it was great, smart stuff, realistic and believable

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
none

(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?
see #6

Good start to what appears to be one of the better campaigns. I'd recommend this as first campaign to play for newcomers to Wes.
Xindage
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Re: Scenario Review - EI 1 - The Outpost

Post by Xindage »

Xindage here again, after a long time without playing this game I decided to come back, most after noticing that this campaign get updated.
(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.18.0 - Incursion - Biased RNG
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5 For just to survive.
8 If I consider trying to farm xp.
You see defending the first wave and trying to level up some units is not that hard, still I had to sacrifice few units in order to get better ones.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Its ok.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
The start is fine, there's 3 enemies nearby and we have to get ready to the fight, but I must admit that having Mal-Ravanal coming into the scenario to summon more foes is just the cherry of the cake, it added much personality to the first scenario and I loved that.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Thinking in what I could do to get some extra XP and trying to avoid losing important units.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - Its better than the previous version indeed, and you can really fell pressured to escape now, unfortunately I miss being able to kick one of my enemies butt.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Allow the player to gain some ground before dumping the map with an impossible number of foes, that forced me to leave too fast.
(8) Replay/Other notes.
I finished this scenario with a low number of units but having 2 mages already evolved really worth.
Worth mentioning as well that the appearance of the scenario is way better as well, thumbs up for the devs.
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