The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Feedback for the mainline campaign The Rise of Wesnoth.

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taptap
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by taptap »

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

Lord (Challenging), 1.10.0, ±200 gold

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

7

I ended the previous scenario with a slightly odd unit composition as I had 2 trappers one of them about to level. So swamp holding wasn't really a problem. (+ Lady Outlaw and Burin L3, two White mages, filled up with loyals, poachers, footpads, mage, thug, spearman.)

(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?

Good.

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

Not recruiting too much poachers, defending villages against bats, turn limit, underestimating impact-resistant scorpions. I played it slowly as I don't have the forces suitable to rush the nearest leader, unlike what the walkthrough says going slowly is possible. (No levelled horses.) I managed to barely finish in time by offering a tasty bait to lure out the final leader in the second run. (The first time I failed because of the turn limit.)

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

8

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
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roidanton
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Joined: September 7th, 2012, 10:41 pm

Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by roidanton »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Hard, iPad.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Challenges, which challenges ?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
1
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

It's a really large map with three enemies scattered over that large field and a lot of room in between with little to no action.

Taking out the NE-leader is almost a piece of cake and if you decide to go back over the ford and then south, then you'll spend several boring turns just walking with only very little enemy contact and when you finally get to the southern leader, he's alone in his keep and goes down very easily. And then, it's several turns walking again. I already split up my forces when I saw the lonely leader, send almost everything immediately over the ford and just a small assassination task force to deal with him.

By the time you get to the eastern enemy, you'll realize that he's stronger, has more troops and apparently gold left - but you only have very little time left. I had to rely on Lady Outlaw's immortality to win this.

Maybe the dialog could somehow suggest that moving down south from the NE leader is better - or fill that empty void somehow, a few bats maybe ?
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by line »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Lord (Challenging) 1.10.3
310 starting gold,
Finished turn 25/33

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Winning is easy, it’s just about avoiding critical losses.
At first, I didn’t dare (and also didn’t see the necessity) to rush to the northern leader. Even though, as mentioned by taptap, the walkthrough says otherwise. Due to the dark adepts the northern leader recruits, I was afraid of losing a unit. Therefore, I made camp on my side of the river. Water and swamp were protecting me from getting encircled. In addition, poachers are doing well in swamps, so there was no danger from my static behavior here.
I sent a second group to the south. Knowing they will face lvl-2 undead, this was the larger group, with mostly melee impact damage (Burin, HI, thugs, footpads) and mages.

(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?
The fog in combination with invisible shadows, keeping alive and upgrade my (southern group) lvl-1 troops against the lvl-2 undead.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. The fog is letting enemies pop out from nowhere, so you have to move cautious. Even though I played this one several times, I nearly got caught by some enemies (once 3 scorpions nearly killed a HI, another time I had to save a mage).
In the end you are rewarded with a knight and a white mage (that’s why I did not go to the midlands), so no chance not to be happy with it.

(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?
Combination of fog and quickly moving undead.
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Maiklas3000
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) Level and version? hard, 1.11.15, 311 starting gold, no Lady Outlaw.
(2) Difficult? 6.
(3) Objectives? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Good.
(5) Challenges? A couple of posts above suggest the walkthrough is wrong about suggesting a blitzkrieg on the northeast leader. I wrote that part, I think. It was not wrong, just outdated, written for 1.9. I have now updated it for 1.11. Now it's actually best to be conservative in your attack on the northeast leader. (However, I revised the walkthrough to be vague, in case things change again.) The main change in the scenario is that now Walking Corpses often just sit in front of you and don't attack. This is a general problem with the new AI. This means you can take your time dealing with them risk-free. Another case: I had a fatally wounded Knight facing a wounded Necrophage, both on 40% defense, and the Necrophage ran away! No other units were around. I think the Necrophage would have had a higher chance of killing my Knight than being killed itself. Wuss.
(6) Fun? 9. I really like this scenario. Perhaps because I split my forces after taking out the northeast leader, the subsequent small skirmishes were challenging, not a boring cleanup.
(7) Changes? See #5. Try jacking up the aggression of the AI, at least for the northeast leader's side. The paranoia of the new AI is unbefitting undead, IMO, but it does make for some spooky games of cat-n-mouse, as powerful but wounded undead units retreat into the fog to seek medical attention or move towards easier prey. It's just not appropriate for the northeast leader's Walking Corpses and Vampire Bats. Some Soulless and Blood Bats might also help encourage the AI to attack. Also, as I said in my previous review, it would make more sense to give the loyal White Mage in the previous scenario. That would keep the two scenario paths more equal, and also fix the problem of players getting to the third scenario only to find that it's unplayable without a White Mage.
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Theron
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by Theron »

difficulty: HARD / wesnoth version: 1.11.15

Stats:
Scenario, starting gold (default+carryover),turns/max turns,recruits-recalls-advancements-losses-kills
4 100+185 30/33 9-14-11-6-68

Comments:
Wraithes, Shadows and Blood Bats are very dangerous because often you don’t see them coming.
It was stupid to recall 2 HIs on turn 18 in the hope of feeding them kills (slow guys …).
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taptap
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by taptap »

Lord / Challenging. 1.12.2, 302 gold. I always figured I had to go through the swamp, as I am supposed to be fleeing. I really hate splitting my army. I even managed to get it wrong and my southern task force was decimated in the first run, due to accidentally luring the skeletons in the wrong direction with an overeager footpad and not being able to do damage in daytime. Started from scenario start and finished turn 26. Got lucky that one of the shock troopers survived against the odds.
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shadow12
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by shadow12 »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on? Lord, Wesnoth 1.10.5, iOS app ver 1.0.4
Ended on turn 33/33 (5 losses, 74 kills.)
Starting gold 263, Finishing gold -52, Carry over gold 0
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 10
(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?
My favorite line was when Prince Haldric said he was missing his father, and Lady Outlaw said, "I'd drop the sentiment and pick up your sword." Classic.

However Lady Luck was not smiling on Lady Outlaw. She died a Wesfolk Lady on turn 13. Her parting words were, "Bah, I'm not dying today. Poof!" and vanished in a puff of smoke. Her death didn't worry me because I thought she would appear in the next scenario, but she wasn't there. Darn! I would have went back and saved her. First she promised to leave... and she came back to fight...then she said she'll be back... and she is no where to be found.

I wonder if her death is permanent if she dies in this scenario and onward. :hmm:

* Edit:
Spoiler:
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Almost running out of time. My teams split up at the fork in the river, it was the only way to get to the kings fast enough.
Lots of enemies, surprise! out of the fog, and surprise! out of the water. On both sides of the river.
Swarms of Deathblades, Bone Shooters, Dark Adepts and Necrophages coming from the south.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 8. It was tough, but fun!

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? Good as is.
Sometimes life unexpectedly throws a Troll or a nasty Queen Naga in your path.
Hestelvar
Posts: 36
Joined: July 29th, 2016, 7:41 pm

Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by Hestelvar »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Easy. 1.13.4

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6, if I hadn’t recruited as heavily or had less starting gold this scenario would have been much harder.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Couldn’t be clearer - defeat all enemy leaders.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialogue and storyline of the scenario?
The Minister Endren dialogue struck me as too brash and modern, otherwise good. Also isn't Haldric curious about what a white mage is doing in a swamp crawling with undead?

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
None, though getting poisoned, ambushed, and losing villages to bats or ghosts were inconveniences.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8, very good. Tense due to fog hiding the varied and numerous enemies. Plenty of strategic choices.

(7) What, if any, are the changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Very good as it is! Perhaps raise the minimum starting gold so that on Easy so it is winnable without carrying over large sums.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
None.

Remarks
Much tougher than Midlands.
Never reached the southeastern temple as my northern force crossed the river and finish the final/eastern leader quickly.
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Replay with Wesfolk
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Thrash
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth: The Swamp of Esten

Post by Thrash »

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

1.12.6, Normal

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

8/10

(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? 

Fine.

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

Starting with only white white mage was tough (In a previous level I chose to make my second leveled mage a red mage which I regretted). This caused real hardship trying to fight on two fronts with so much poison. If the white mage had been in the closest temple it would have been much easier but fate was not on my side.

I had two restarts. The first time I was conservative going east and got bogged down at the first ford and was overwhelmed by the attack from the south. I had only recruited two keeps plus one or two units as the wiki suggested and at least with only white mage I wasn't able to hold off the attackers given the combination of poisoning and flanking bats.

The second time I recruited more heavily and blasted to the east, killed the first leader and then started south down the east side of the map, but my infantry and other slow units got bogged down in the terrain, caught from behind by enemies from the west and slaughtered. For a bit I tried to keep my army together, but realized with slow units I would run out of time. So I pushed ahead letting leaving my slow units to fend as best they could (only one infantry survived, but it did level). I did manage to finish, but under time pressure and I lost so many units I played a third time. I also never did find the second white mage as it was in the one temple I didn't get to.

The third time (replay attached), I split from the very start, sending only relatively fast units east and the rest of my forces south. This was hard with only one white mage, but my west units managed to push hard and hit the right temple before having to retreat under assault losing a few units. I was then able to regroup on the west and methodically work my way down both sides, which kept me from getting flanked.

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

7. White mage hunt is interesting, as is having to negotiate the terrain.


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

Is it beatable on hard starting with only one white mage (and not being lucky to have the free white mage in the closest temple)?
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LordWolfDan
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

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)

- 6

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

- Pretty much clear

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

- It's good, I say. Edren (the white mage) seems to be a good ally for the future scenarios.

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

- Being bogged down by scorpions and mudcrawlers, as the impact weapons were useless against these

(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?

- Dunno, change the dying lines of dark sorcerers or something
Konrad2
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Post by 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)

6

(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?


I enjoyed their banter and the story.

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

Taking into account that I have limited vision and most likely won't see bats/ghost/scorpions coming.

(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?

-
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PorkSol
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Post by PorkSol »

8 recruits, 10 recalls, 5 advancements, 2 losses, 49 kills, +2% inflicted, +0% taken
Ended turn 17/33, 231 gp. Start with 397 gp next level.

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

Hardest available, 1.14.7 , 337 starting gp, no reloads within map but plenty of restarts

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

5 to win, a bit harder to avoid significant losses and win in a timely fashion.

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

No complaints

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

Winning in a timely fashion, while avoiding significant losses and not over-recruiting. I may have over-recruited on this run.

I recruited / recalled 3 castles worth, 8 recruits and 10 recalls, this may have been too many.

I easily overwhelmed the enemy, but faced challenges with killing the Northeastern leader in a timely fashion, without losing anybody.

He's quite easy, but your units can get overwhelmed. In my final run I got some decent luck and killed him quick with two knights and a horseman, but you can hold out for quite a while if you miss the kill on that round. The previous run my knights held out against him all night after a failed rush and would have been fine except for scorpion sneaking behind my lines and killing someone. Still, if he gets back behind his zombies, you might end up losing a damaged knight.

The other challenge was not losing anyone to level 2 undead coming out of the fog. This can depend on the enemy's recruitment, it's better if they get units of differing speed, so they trickle in gradually. If this happens, the enemy does not have enough gold to recruit a big force, and you will just be clearing units piecemeal.

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

6, would be 7 if not for the issue with the temples, see below.

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

I'm not too impressed with the highly random nature of the temples, given that this is a map you need to play efficiently on.

First of all, it's kind of a big deal if your loyal white mage joins early or late... he probably should have joined automatically at the end of the last scenario, so we would have the option to pick the other scenario.

Secondly, the map gets a lot easier if the random temples give you the following result... white mage first in the temple by the castle, then monsters in the temple by the north east leader, then gold in the out of the way temples. One of the temples is so far away that it would be hard to bring an army to open it.

Since this is a map where you kind of need to be efficient, this encourages restarting too much. I guess I would like to see the mage removed from the temples, and the temples moved to be in roughly similar positions, where you can bring an army to clear them, without diverting too much.

Also, the enemy recruitment is a little weird, if they recruit ghosts and vampire bats they will run ahead of the skeletons. This can mean they get a cheap kill on a unit, but it will also mean that the enemy trickles in piecemeal, resulting in gang-up kills of isolated units rather than a pitched battle. Not sure if this is desired or not.
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Remellion
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Post by 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.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
5/10. The main difficulty was in determining where the enemy is coming from, and what to do about it. Without the outlaw troops, I'd need to rethink this.

(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?
This poor dwarf, dragged around on an adventure in decidedly undwarflike territory.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Last time it was mountains, this time it was swamp. Poachers generally do poorly against undead, but they do provide utility in covering swamp hexes on the flank. Footpads are also good with both mobility and skeletons. The undead from the south were the main threat, especially at night.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7/10. There is a sense of progress in pushing through the swamp.

(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?
Yes - on my first attempt, I dealt with the undead temple next to my base, beat the north leader and repelled the southern undead, then made a mistake and exposed Haldric to 3 hexes in daylight. What do you know, there were 3 enemy units too. Some good hits later, dead Haldric. (Attached replay is the second attempt, successful.)
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Konrad2
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Post by Konrad2 »

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

1.16.0, Lord (Difficult)

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

6, it would have been more difficult without the Heavy Infantrymen.

(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?

Coordinating my troops so I don't waste too much time in the swamp.

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

5, it's a swamp.

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

-

Scenario stats:
Spoiler:
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LienRag
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Re: The Rise of Wesnoth 4a - The Swamp of Esten

Post by LienRag »

1) 1.16.5 intermediate

(2) 7 - Fog and bats are a deadly combination. The first enemy east is a wimp though, that helps a lot. So maybe a 5 ?

(3) clear

(4) Quite good. The "cult" aspect is underdeveloped, though.

(5) Enemy come from everywhere ! Also, not getting units encircled beyond any hope.

(6) 7 - It feels both overwhelming at first but the player is actually able to get some successes if s/he plays well (due to the eastern leader being a wimp) so it makes for a quite interesting experience. Also it's the first fog scenario, which is a welcome change (before it becomes a tired trope later).

(7) Not sure, actually. Maybe have one of the leaders make a last stand (but you have to hint at it, maybe by developing the "cult" aspect), probably the last one surviving ?
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