Campaigning for dummies

[Atreides]

Another tip (so simple but hey we know what quality of campaigners we are addressing here no?) is to never play part of a scenario and save it and then come back to it after a long while. This also applies to a campaign overall. Best done in one fell swoop so that you remember everything.

Hmmm so to do HttT in one swoop what kind of IV feeding tube is recommended? Adult diapers too... (yes I started that campaign back in 2019 in 1.12 and am _still_ grinding through it even though I don't like it... because I could give mules stubborn lessons)

[lhybrideur]

LotI in one swoop

[beetlenaut]

I started that campaign back in 2019 in 1.12 and am _still_ grinding through it

I bet you are stuck because you don't have enough high-level units or gold on the play-through you are using. But, after five years of playing, you could probably reach the hardest scenarios with three times the resources you are "grinding through" with, if you just started over. HttT is kind of long, but I've completed it in a weekend, even when doing a meme run (recruiting only shamans for example). It was nigh impossible when I started playing, but is easy now. I bet you would find something similar.

This is my tip: If it's taking a frustratingly long time, start over, and it will be easier.

[Atreides]

This is my tip: If it's taking a frustratingly long time, start over, and it will be easier.

That thought has occurred to me. I still recall that I failed in that scenario with the griffons to get the eggs. I've read that it "unlocks" a unit later on. Alas... it's against my own self imposed rules. I gotta play the cards dealt to me. No redeals.

Besides, playing a campaign twice ruins it. Second time you know stuff you aren't supposed to know. Feels pointless to me. To me the point is to have an adventure like in real life. One try is all you get. Doing it over turns it into a sort of puzzle/arcade game where you plot out the best route by trial and error. I find that dull and uninteresting.

[Dyrcona]

That thought has occurred to me. I still recall that I failed in that scenario with the griffons to get the eggs. I've read that it "unlocks" a unit later on. Alas... it's against my own self imposed rules. I gotta play the cards dealt to me. No redeals.

Besides, playing a campaign twice ruins it. Second time you know stuff you aren't supposed to know. Feels pointless to me. To me the point is to have an adventure like in real life. One try is all you get. Doing it over turns it into a sort of puzzle/arcade game where you plot out the best route by trial and error. I find that dull and uninteresting.

Ah, but HttT is designed to be played more than once. With campaigns that have divergent paths, particularly those as different as HttT, I just have to play it more than once, choosing a different way through each time. I've played it through with every possible option, cause I'm a dummy like that. If that's not for you, OK, but there are some very interesting combinations of ways to go through HttT that make it more or less difficult. (I've done the same with Eastern Invasion for that matter, and I'm replaying Eastern Invasion now because it had some changes.)

I second the advice to start over, but you can choose a different path at The Bay of Pearls or anywhere else so it is like playing a different campaign.

Spoiler:

The units unlocked by getting the Gryphon eggs are not all that much more useful than horsemen.

[Dyrcona]

My advice on getting XP for your leader is to maneuver your troops so that the leader is always protected and can get the killing blow when necessary. Once your leader has leveled up, you can use the leader to soften up the enemy to help level up your other units. In campaigns where your leader has, or gets, leadership leveling them up is very important.

Ways to avoid getting your leader killed:

1. Use planning mode to move your units into the positions you think you want them to be in.
2. Check your enemy's movements. There are a couple of ways to do this. You can click on individual units to see where they can go, or use Ctrl+v to reveal all of your enemy's moves.
3. Guard your leader while they are weak so that no more than 1 enemy can attack them at a time. (This is a good rule for mages and other weak units, too.)
4. Keep a healer nearby or put your leader on a village with some guards around.
5. Don't be afraid to change the planned moves if you see something that you do not like, such as a powerful enemy unit could reach your leader.

Some general advice:

1. Use planning mode, especially when you're first learning the game/units, etc.
2. Don't over recruit/recall. Most scenarios only require 2 to 4 turns worth of recruits and recalls for success. Some do require more, but those are rare.
3. Recall higher level units later because they eat more gold. Let your first recruits grab some villages before you recall 3rd level units.
4. Don't be afraid to reload a save or to start a scenario over if you lose. (I understand that some players like to play with permadeath, but that's not for me.)
5. If you find one scenario impossible to beat, perhaps you should go back a scenario or two and replay that with the goal of getting a higher gold carryover bonus.
6. You can also restart a scenario at a lower difficulty setting. (I won't tell anyone if you do.)
7. Expect to have losses.
8. Sometimes recruiting a keep full of cheap units to throw at the enemy while your bigger units get into position works.
9. Don't forget to have fun. Battle for Wesnoth is a game after all.

[Atreides]

That thought has occurred to me. I still recall that I failed in that scenario with the griffons to get the eggs. I've read that it "unlocks" a unit later on. Alas... it's against my own self imposed rules. I gotta play the cards dealt to me. No redeals.

Besides, playing a campaign twice ruins it. Second time you know stuff you aren't supposed to know. Feels pointless to me. To me the point is to have an adventure like in real life. One try is all you get. Doing it over turns it into a sort of puzzle/arcade game where you plot out the best route by trial and error. I find that dull and uninteresting.

Ah, but HttT is designed to be played more than once. With campaigns that have divergent paths, particularly those as different as HttT, I just have to play it more than once, choosing a different way through each time.

You won't be susprised to hear that I find branching campaigns to be not much fun. First time I ever ran into such a thing as a youngster I was literally outraged that parts of the game had been "intentionally hidden". Of course I realized later that they were intended to be replayed. I was not pleased to find that out. : )

[Atreides]

[*] Don't over recruit/recall. Most scenarios only require 2 to 4 turns worth of recruits and recalls for success. Some do require more, but those are rare.

[*] Recall higher level units later because they eat more gold. Let your first recruits grab some villages before you recall 3rd level units.

[*] Sometimes recruiting a keep full of cheap units to throw at the enemy while your bigger units get into position works.

Thanks those seem pretty good. The first one I did figure out myself recently. I used to keep recruiting endlessly. Comes from being a wargamer used to long attritional warfare.

The second/third one are an eye opener. I always pick the very best recalls first. Reason is simply because I don't bother to do the math and figure out how much I'd need to save to recall them later but that's fixable. : ) I think I've also read the same advice elsewhere with a different reason: Cannon fodder first to die to the initial enemy rush, follow up with your elites as a sort of reserve to mop up the wounded enemies.

Recruiting has always been odd to me. In the wargames I'm accustomed to you have a high "income" and zero stockpile so the normal way to build new units is like on a production line. The limited building one can do in wesnoth always throw me off totally. That's probably why I gravitate towards games on large maps (Dominus, Inanna) where you can amass a large number of villages and thus an income big enough to build 2/3 new units/turn which you then shuttle off to whichever front most requires them.

Hmmm... I'm thinking I could perhaps tinker with smaller map settings by setting initial gold to 20 and income to 18. That'd recreate the environment I prefer maybe...