Flight to Freedom (drake campaign)

[rubik-cube]

As I've read from a previous posting http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 7252#47252 it seems to be a feature, not a bug that Malakar does not appear in "The Drake Escape" (if some of the enemy leaders are killed by the ghosts before). But maybe this should be noted somewhere, or at least be motivated by the story somehow.

[MadMax]

As I've read from a previous posting http://www.wesnoth.org/forum/viewtopic. ... 7252#47252 it seems to be a feature, not a bug that Malakar does not appear in "The Drake Escape" (if some of the enemy leaders are killed by the ghosts before). But maybe this should be noted somewhere, or at least be motivated by the story somehow.

It was a bug, one that has been long since fixed.

[rubik-cube]

It was a bug, one that has been long since fixed.

Then it either has mysteriously reappeared or I did something wrong:
I hve Wesnoth 0.9.2 on a gentoo linux box here and just re-loaded the "Flight for Freedom"-Campaign from the server. Or would I have to delete the old version of the campaign first?

[MadMax]

Try replaying from Landfall.

Or preferably, from the beginning, as there have been MANY changes since the version that you were playing to produce this bug.

[hiryuu]

Am I missing something in The Manor?

The spears don't do any more damage than the normal attack and nothing in here is especially vulnerable to pierce. You wind up taking on ghosts and spearmen, in melee, with your 30% defense and no healing. Most of the team is off nursing their wounds as best they can while ghosts appear out of nowhere.

Are the spears supposed to be ranged, or something?

[MadMax]

The spears don't do any more damage than the normal attack and nothing in here is especially vulnerable to pierce. You wind up taking on ghosts and spearmen, in melee, with your 30% defense and no healing. Most of the team is off nursing their wounds as best they can while ghosts appear out of nowhere.

Are the spears supposed to be ranged, or something?

You'll want those spears in the next scenario.

The way I beat it is to rush the enemy coming from the top. Don't worry about the forces coming from the west, there are not very many. Getting the spears is not the primary objective, as you can recruit some slaves with the extra gold to grab them near the end.

However, I will experiment with a one-time ranged attack like the spearman has.

[MadMax]

NOTE: This update breaks all in-game saves (NOT beginning-of-scenario saves) for the following scenarios:
Southern Shore
Open Ocean
Landfall
Blockade


6/22/05
Update:
version 2.9.1

SHOULD be compatible with 0.9.2CVS
missing newline at end of Flight_Freedom.cfg fixed
FtF's Pirate Galleon does not override the in-game Pirate Galleon
new graphics for the Driver
balancing changes to Rebellion and Manor, Malakar has leadership in those scenarios

[bonehead]

I've gotten as far as River of Skulls. An interesting scenario. The orange, green and blue opponents are interesting and challenging, and take abit of thought to defeat.

The white/purple alliance to the south of the map howver, is not even theoretically possible to defeat on medium. Even knowing which passage to travel, it is not possible to get past the single-wide chokepoint into the double -wide passageway. I've gotten there by turn 9 with half-a-dozen level-two burners/clashers backed by a level 3 leader. Turn 10 is too late, the chokepoint already has two units in it, and it does not seem possible to get past the two golems faster than that even with a level-two burner backed by a level-three leader (doing 3-6 fire) or a level-two clasher (doing 4-3 slash).

Here's the problem: At the point where the passageway opens up from one-hex wide to two-hex wide, progress is impossible due to ZOC. Even if your attacker manages to kill one dwarf a turn, standing in the 1w passageway, the second dwarf unit's ZOC in the double-wide passage prevents another attacker from moving forward. Normal strategy for dealing with this is to a) either wait him out, rotating units, or b) back up to an open area and allow for a bigger battle.

I've tried both. For 70+ turns. I'm in no danger of losing units catastrophically, indeed, I'm leveling burners and clashers without any realy problems. Purple and white, however, can each purchase at least one unit a turn for 50+ turns each, so that there is NO WAY to get past the chokepoint. A sindle second-level drake (backed iwth level three leadership) can kill a first-level dwarf unit in 2-3 turns (3-4 for steadfast units). This is 1/5th to 1/6th (to 1/8th) the enemy unit production rate. It is not possible to proceed even with your attacker killing a defender every turn! You would need either a unit with skirmish, a unit that could kill and move or a unit which could kill more than one enemy per turn. Since none of the above are available, River of Skulls is an impossible scenario.

[MadMax]

I've gotten as far as River of Skulls. An interesting scenario. The orange, green and blue opponents are interesting and challenging, and take abit of thought to defeat.

The white/purple alliance to the south of the map howver, is not even theoretically possible to defeat on medium. Even knowing which passage to travel, it is not possible to get past the single-wide chokepoint into the double -wide passageway. I've gotten there by turn 9 with half-a-dozen level-two burners/clashers backed by a level 3 leader. Turn 10 is too late, the chokepoint already has two units in it, and it does not seem possible to get past the two golems faster than that even with a level-two burner backed by a level-three leader (doing 3-6 fire) or a level-two clasher (doing 4-3 slash).

Here's the problem: At the point where the passageway opens up from one-hex wide to two-hex wide, progress is impossible due to ZOC. Even if your attacker manages to kill one dwarf a turn, standing in the 1w passageway, the second dwarf unit's ZOC in the double-wide passage prevents another attacker from moving forward. Normal strategy for dealing with this is to a) either wait him out, rotating units, or b) back up to an open area and allow for a bigger battle.

I've tried both. For 70+ turns. I'm in no danger of losing units catastrophically, indeed, I'm leveling burners and clashers without any realy problems. Purple and white, however, can each purchase at least one unit a turn for 50+ turns each, so that there is NO WAY to get past the chokepoint. A sindle second-level drake (backed iwth level three leadership) can kill a first-level dwarf unit in 2-3 turns (3-4 for steadfast units). This is 1/5th to 1/6th (to 1/8th) the enemy unit production rate. It is not possible to proceed even with your attacker killing a defender every turn! You would need either a unit with skirmish, a unit that could kill and move or a unit which could kill more than one enemy per turn. Since none of the above are available, River of Skulls is an impossible scenario.

I will experiment with opening up a second passage near the first, which should open the possibility of bumping off two enemies in one turn, allowing your units to enter, although you will still probably need a level 3, as one unit will get attacked from more than one direction.

[King Arthur]

MadMax, could you please give less units to the enemy on the first map?People who don't use acelerated speed have to wait a long time to play, and you can make him impossible to be beaten with lesser units.

[MadMax]

MadMax, could you please give less units to the enemy on the first map?People who don't use acelerated speed have to wait a long time to play, and you can make him impossible to be beaten with lesser units.

Sure.

[MadMax]

7/03/05
Update:
version 2.9.2

balancing change to River of Skulls, second chokepoint added parallel to the first
mid-scenario objectives changes work properly now
enemies in Survival do not recruit infinite numbers of units
in Caravan, the caravan's movement points reflects its actual movement

[DavidByron]

Still looking for comments on this campaign?

I've only played scenarios 1-4 so far. I guess I don't like the tone which seems a little silly in places. The Manor is a nice puzzle though.

Let's see.
Scenario 1. This seems very reminiscent of "Elves Beseiged" only much too over the top. The preamble says the Drakes saw the humans disembarking but that happens only one turn 1. There's a map of presumably the Drake homeland but I'm not sure why it's there if they get captured immidiately. The objectives of this scenario are confusing because ... well the optimal solution is probably to spend no money. It's not as if any people you recruit are recallable.... or likely to survive or get any XP. And it makes no sense at all to keep the cash you had before you were a slave in your period of slavery. Does this scenario ever connect back later on? If the Drakes were just fighting for some reason like until reinforcements arrived, or holding off the humans while someone else escaped or what have you it would make sense. As it is it might be better to just have the entire scene choreographed and start the game in scenario 2. The number and level of the troops is just silly over the top too. This guy's a duke? With this sort of force he could take the crown. And then he gets beaten up in 2 scenarios time by unarmed slave revolt. Tone the unbeatable force down a LOT. Also when malakar is defeated don't make him say "Help" unless he's supposed to come over as a right wuss who get's more heroic over the story (character development).

Sceanrio 2. I hate the concept of "Mind control spells" used in the background. In any case it looks like they are using guards with whips not mages with mind control spells. Get rid of the "mind controll spells" line. Wesnoth doesn't feature such a thing as yet. Maybe instead have the idea that "The Duke is holding our hatchlings as hostage" or something. But then you'd need a scenario to rescue them, which could be the manor one, but that scenario's fine as it is so maybe the hatchlings are held somewhere on the map in #2. I guess that doesn't matter though. It's implicit I suppose, or could be.

Scenario 3. This is a neat little scenario. I like getting 50% bonus on the hatchlings with Malakar's leadership bonus. Love the decoy armory. It's easy to win if you essentially ignore the armory. I had a bug where an enemy tried to come up through the trap door and ended up "in" the wall with a defence of 90%. Nice being able to use the XP from breaking down the armory door to help level a Hatchling up. I like the fast pace of it but maybe there should be a plot reason for the need for speed? Maybe Malakar says that if they can capture the Duke they can use him as a hostage to get away from the rest of the guards who are presumably going to be trying to put down any slave revolt fast. You need a good bit of gold to win so if you decide to stop the cash from scenario 1 being held over you'll need another way to get some.

Scenario 4. (Caravan) this one sucks. Ok why is Malakar so interested in attacking a carvan anyway? I guess cash is a good reason if he ever did anything but fight... except the Manot gets you a bunch. 2nd why does the caravan have less attack than a bunny rabbit (and I don't even mean a strong one). Seriously those animals are nice to look at but their attacks are way overdone. I had a hawk that was 6-4 attacking me. Don't even get me started on those Elves and Wolves.... Also I'm confused about my recall list. I was expecting the units in the recall list to be transformed into proper Drakes after Malakar transforms. I don't like having slave units to recall when they just became free Drakes. At least call the Drake Slave you can recruit, a "Drake youth" or "Unarmed Drake" or something. Youth I suppose since the armory doesn't help them either. Anyway it appears to be trivial appart from the annoying wildlife. The whole thing needs to be revised. Wouldn't the caravan have guards or something? Maybe have more than one carvan unit. And give the caravan unit at least as much melee as a bunny rabbit please.

The animals in Scenario 2 don't play a part but are still overdone on damage. Rabbits and chickens should be 0-1. The hawk maybe a 1-3. The wolves and horses could be 2-3 or 3-2. I mean the wolves are currently 33% nastier than a Warg with a goblin warrior sitting on it... and much slower for some reason.



Slave revolts are an interesting feature of US history. They usually don't go well because the ruling class has all the advantages. As I understand from reading the comments in this thread you have the Drakes becoming something of a criminal mob, (beating up a caravan, teaming up with pirates) as they attempt to flee back towards home -- a basically sound approach to an impossible dream. What else could they do indeed?

[DavidByron]

Scanarios 5-9
The Blue River: More of a Bay than a River... What is the point of that huge long causeway which skims the side of the river? Who would build that bridge?! It's tactically interesting because you can lure the enemy onto the bridge and then set up a killing zone at the head where they can be attacked 3 for one. That's pretty funny and shows off some Drakish skills well. (Don't try it on the patch surrounded by shallow water. Maybe if the causeway went to join up 3 of the river cities? if you moved it West a few hexes it could join 3 out of 4 of them and have a purpose --- trade with the river dwellers?

It's also possible to lure the land forces into the shallow water areas. Again a nice touch. I think the water tactics sets up the piracy thing well, except it might be better if the pirate joins you after the demonstration of Drake sea power. Btw all the ex-slave units from scenario 2 are loyal but the loyal trait doesn't appear on their description. Perhaps so many loyal troops is excessive? This is the first real battle and with all the cash from Carvan it was easy but interesting.

Scenario 5: Southern Shore - but there's no shore! Interesting choice to go with either Drakes or Pirate Schooners. However it's a money loser as are many scenarios because you feel you have to recall/recruit a certain number and the scenario is short and has few villages. Possibly this is deliberate? Is there a way to decouple early finish bonus from number of villages?

Scenario 6: Open Sea. A puzzle scenario in a sense.

Scenario 7: Landfall. I attacked and sank the human ship before landfall and then waited for the spirits to kill the orc (almost) before I set foot on land (about turn 52). Fair solution? It looks like the spirtis are vulnerable to fire so they ought to be easy kills for the Drakes.

Scenario 8: The Drake Escape. Cute name but might be a better name for a different scenario. Hmm. Anyway another one where you can just avoid combat, or else take out the Elves. The campaign is light on fighting at least potentially (which is not a bad thing) so you could end up with few leveled troops.

Several campaigns have enemy forces that are mutually hostile. Maybe a message should make this cleaer? The pirate is annoying with his "A spirit has attacked!" dialog. Some of the dialog is annoying and other moments are funny. Put in some more funny lines because I don't think Mlakar is going to draw over much sympathy with hsi religious bigotry and other stuff.

Pirate: A spirit attacks!
Malakar: You siad that last time. It didn't attack it just appeared!

Pirate: A spirit attacks!
Malakar: Are you going to say that EVERY time?

I also think the bit about the Humans and Orcs beating each other up for a while and then allying is priceless. It might be even funnier if later on they start attacking each other again.

But I don't know if you want to turn this into a comedy.

[DavidByron]

At the beginning of "The Rebellion" there's a shot of Malakar in Drake form in a one hex fortress which is then wiped off the map. Any way to prevent this?

I guess Prax III is just a baron and not the same guy who enslaved the Drakes in the first place. Just a plantation owner dude. He doesn't seem to attack back (even with perfectly safe ranged attack) in The Manor scenario. Is that a feature?

In "Caravan" it isn't obvious at first that the Wolves are enemies of the Elves and the Caravan whereas the Elves are allied with the Caravan. One cheap solution is to let the Elves and Wolves beat each other up and wait for the caravan to come closer (another cheap solution is to recruit fast flyers and race to the Caravan before the Elves mobilise). Of course if you have money over the 100 minimum there's any number of solutions but The Manor is quite hard and gives you almost no money for an early finish. Maybe some dialog from the Elves at the beginning of the scenario would explain that they are (for some reason?) essentially protecting the human caravan.

The Blue River: It might be nice to allow recruitment of pirate units later in the game or following the defeat of the Elves in this scenario. The icon for Kogw looks more like a junior pirate (level 1) than a crusty level 2 leader. If you ever got a better icon for Kogw you could use the current one as a pirate level 1. The Drakes could use a unit with a decent defence. You could make pirates' move/defence the same as thieves and rougues.

Malakar and Kogw get into their comedy act pretty quick together. The whole thing about what the pirate is going to swear by is pretty funny although could be tightened up further. The Drakes make such good pirates I think a scenario or two where they do some genuine piracy would fit in well. Something like attacking a town and disappearing before the fleet arrives, or attacking a merchant ship at sea.

The Open Ocean: Kogw and Malakar have another disagreement. Kogw says run, Malakar says fight. It might be nice to have a fight option. perhaps have a small two/three hex fortress in the top corner there. Maybe cut the message where Malakar backs down and agrees to Kogw's plan... Malakar doesn't seem to be a guy to ever admit he's wrong.

In Landfall the scenario objectives are confusing. Initially you are told to land at the pier, although it's not identified exactly where that is. Maybe you should show a flag or something on the fortress you're headed for... Anyway the other objective is to defeat both leaders... but at the start of the scenario there's only one to defeat. The chat about the history of Wesnoth and the legend of the island is ok. But why do they bother to go ashore on the island if it's as bad as all that? Perhaps have Malakar pooh-pooh the whole thing as a bunch of human nonsense?

When the human boats arrive you need to update the scenario objectives. or else just phrase it as "eliminate all enemy leaders".

The Drake Escape: The motivation for abandoning "the Unforgiver" and going further inland seems to be the appearance of the fleet chasing the pirates and former slaves. However no particular rationale for heading towards the caves is offered. On the basis of past performance I'd expect something like,

Kogw "We must head for the caves"
Malakar "Do you think we are bats? Wings don't work very well underground. Neither do cold blooded Drakes."
Kogw "I don't have time to explain"

or else explain why the caves are a better idea than just fleeing South.

The icon for the Unforgiver shows up briefly at the start of the scenario on a fortress hex in the middle of the plains. I assume that the HttT scenario "Plunging into the Darkness" which doesn't have a fortress, has some code for handling these initial changes to the default unit appearance and fortress appearance?