Scenario Review: (UTBS) 2. Across the Harsh Sands

[Konrad2]

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

1.15.15, Champion (Nightmare)

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

7-8, it's easy out of time due to the restrictions on healing and dehydration in general.

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

Crystal.

(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?

Not getting greedy for xp.

(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?

-

Scenario stats:
Fail (1)

Spoiler:

Success (2)

Spoiler:

[Sandsculpture]

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

1.17.17, Warrior(difficult)

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

5.

Spoiler:

The sands slow all the enemy sides. Players can choose when to fight them

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

Crystal.

(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?

No.

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

9.

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

-

[Scaramush]

Shouldn't AI also be suffering from thirst in the 2nd scenario? meaning outlaws

[Seansy]

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

1.18.2, Champion (Nightmare)

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

First playthrough 7. Second playthrough 5. Third playthrough 3

(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. Outlaws existing in a post apocalyptic world with no laws is hilarious to me.

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

Giving experience to the right units. Realizing that leveling my Mystic from the first scenario in a Sun Singer would help tremendously with dealing with the Ghosts to speed up clearing the level and also get extra experience.

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

9. All the scripted events were fun and added to the experience. The dehydration/thirst mechanic made a lot of sense and added to the uniqueness of the scenario.

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

Renaming the outlaw units to something else to fit the scenario better.

[fredbobsmith2]

1) What version and difficulty level did you play the scenario on? Champion (Nightmare) 1.18.4
2) Do you think the difficulty is adequate to the level? Maybe? Certainly a very difficult scenario, and knowing the scenario in advance is essentially critical, so that enemies are engaged at the right ToD.
3) Was there any event that caused you to almost instantly lose, or made the scenario unplayable without reload? No, but I did reload so that the red mage would spawn on a turn where I could move her into my main troop immediately, instead of getting a turn of dehydration. I also replayed this scenario 3 times, as the first 2 times I got bogged down fighting the last bandits
4) Do you like the storyline and the dialogues? If not what part/character lags behind or what would you like changed? Yes, it's great, nice allusions
5) Do you think the scenario was fun? Please write down some thoughts about gameplay, mood etc. Fun, but very challenging. Knowing that carryover is important lends a strong sense of desperation to finishing the scenario, but at the same time it's very important to get experience.

I recalled the sun singer, an experienced scout, 2 quick fighters, and 2 taurochs. As suggested in another post I made a point of fighting the ghosts for exp, and so as to not be overwhelmed during the night. After a few tries I think the ideal pattern is to mostly move/heal during the nights, and fight during the days, and it is necessary to force the ghosts to retreat to effectively heal at night. Hence I slightly delayed my advancement to the first oasis, opting to first fight only the ghosts during dusk/dark. Then I fought the scorpions the second day, healing injured units for 1 turn, and moved onwards around second dusk. In advance of the Long Dark I made sure to force the ghosts to retreat before advancing to meet the next enemies. My scout took the ring and triggered the ogres early so that I arrived to the ogres mostly dead, and fought the bandits starting from around Long Dark 3. Notably, taurochs are very vulnerable to trappers at night, so I mostly kept my distance or picked off stray units until really committing during the next day. I healed another turn at the oasis around the third night (second short dark) then advanced to pick up the mage on the fourth day. Before fighting the castle ogres I again fought off the ghosts, so that during the night I could heal some units during the long ogre fight. I started the fight with the last bandits around turn 35, but triggered them early with the scout so that I fought them mostly in the sands and not the hills near their base.

Results:
1 sun sylph
Zhul to druid
Nym: accurate strikes, faster strikes, stamina (I didn't realize there was no holy water and was hoping she'd carry it)
Kaleh: bowmanship, stamina
170g carryover