Under the Burning Suns
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0.3.3 has been released! Becuase the campaign server is down currently, you can download the campaign from my website instead. I'll post a version to the campaign server as soon as it is back up again.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/quartex/
0.3.3 changelog
scenario 3:
-the recent change in scenario 2 of making the oasis into both desert and shallow water tiles means that they player can now quickly travel through the oasis in the center of scenario 3, and use it for healing without sacrificing his defense. I predict that this will make this level slightly easier and less frustrating for players.
scenario 4:
-lowered income of enemies, increased income of player
-lowered attack depth of orcs in caves
scenario 5:
-lowered troll leaders income on "Normal" difficulty slightly
-lowered income for final troll and dwarf bosses
And most importantly I have added the new desert elf artwork. Thanks to emdot for help creating the desert elves. I realize that these unit images aren't perfect. They are still a bit monochrome for my tastes (ie: just colored with shades of light brown), but are much more appropriate for my campaign world than the latex green elf images. But like all my artwork, they are a work in progress, and if you have ideas on how to improve a unit, by all means, write me.
I realize thast adding all these new graphics increase the file size of my campaign to around 2 MB. Sorry if this makes it difficult for people with slower connections to download my campaign. But I think adding the new artwork is worth it.
http://members.lycos.co.uk/quartex/
0.3.3 changelog
scenario 3:
-the recent change in scenario 2 of making the oasis into both desert and shallow water tiles means that they player can now quickly travel through the oasis in the center of scenario 3, and use it for healing without sacrificing his defense. I predict that this will make this level slightly easier and less frustrating for players.
scenario 4:
-lowered income of enemies, increased income of player
-lowered attack depth of orcs in caves
scenario 5:
-lowered troll leaders income on "Normal" difficulty slightly
-lowered income for final troll and dwarf bosses
And most importantly I have added the new desert elf artwork. Thanks to emdot for help creating the desert elves. I realize that these unit images aren't perfect. They are still a bit monochrome for my tastes (ie: just colored with shades of light brown), but are much more appropriate for my campaign world than the latex green elf images. But like all my artwork, they are a work in progress, and if you have ideas on how to improve a unit, by all means, write me.
I realize thast adding all these new graphics increase the file size of my campaign to around 2 MB. Sorry if this makes it difficult for people with slower connections to download my campaign. But I think adding the new artwork is worth it.
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
-
cevans
Bugs
I seem to be having a few problems with the latest version (0.3.3):
1) Lvl 4 Zhul doesn't actually illuminate, that ability is just listed in the description.
2) When the cloaked figure jumps out, in my case, he replaces Nym. When I kill the cloaked figure, Nym comes back, apparently with full health, and talks a bit. Then the event for her death is triggered, with no explanation of what is happening, and I am defeated. Is this the intended outcome?
Also, one of my favourite aspects of scen. 2 is that the water was regular shallow water, with low defence and movement. This, in my opinion, necessitated interesting strategies - when healing, one was vulnerable, and could not escape quickly. Not only did this seem reasonably realistic, but it was something that was not to be found in any other campaign I had played. I would very much like it if you would leave that in, and maybe add more grass around the oases where people can put units if the don't want to be vulnerable.
1) Lvl 4 Zhul doesn't actually illuminate, that ability is just listed in the description.
2) When the cloaked figure jumps out, in my case, he replaces Nym. When I kill the cloaked figure, Nym comes back, apparently with full health, and talks a bit. Then the event for her death is triggered, with no explanation of what is happening, and I am defeated. Is this the intended outcome?
Also, one of my favourite aspects of scen. 2 is that the water was regular shallow water, with low defence and movement. This, in my opinion, necessitated interesting strategies - when healing, one was vulnerable, and could not escape quickly. Not only did this seem reasonably realistic, but it was something that was not to be found in any other campaign I had played. I would very much like it if you would leave that in, and maybe add more grass around the oases where people can put units if the don't want to be vulnerable.
Cervans,
Zhul did have illuminates, the hexes around her were illuminated, but the line of code adding the halo graphic was missing. I'll add it.
Having Nym disappear and come bac when the cloaked figure dies is intended. Her dying right afterwards is not. Will check this too.
You make a good point about the oasis. People have been commenting that scenario 2 was too hard, and so I thought making the oasis easy to move into and easy to defend in would help make healing and the scenario overall, easier. You have a good point about the tradeoff being an interesting strategic element, I'll think about turning it back.
Edit: I've tested the cloaked figure event several times and oddly enough the bug only happens when Nym is the elf who disappears. Other units I've tried work fine. What make Nym special? I'm not sure.
Zhul did have illuminates, the hexes around her were illuminated, but the line of code adding the halo graphic was missing. I'll add it.
Having Nym disappear and come bac when the cloaked figure dies is intended. Her dying right afterwards is not. Will check this too.
You make a good point about the oasis. People have been commenting that scenario 2 was too hard, and so I thought making the oasis easy to move into and easy to defend in would help make healing and the scenario overall, easier. You have a good point about the tradeoff being an interesting strategic element, I'll think about turning it back.
Edit: I've tested the cloaked figure event several times and oddly enough the bug only happens when Nym is the elf who disappears. Other units I've tried work fine. What make Nym special? I'm not sure.
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
New version 0.3.4 now on the campaign server. Should fix cervan's bugs.
0.3.4 Changelog
-Desert Stars now have halos around them
-Fixed bug with Nym dying right after cloaked figure disappears in scen 5
-Made oasis shallow water again (so I undid the change in 0.3.3)
0.3.4 Changelog
-Desert Stars now have halos around them
-Fixed bug with Nym dying right after cloaked figure disappears in scen 5
-Made oasis shallow water again (so I undid the change in 0.3.3)
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
No, I'll have to go back to fix it in scenario 4. The odd thing was that at least in scenario 5, Nym didn't die, instead her death event was just being called somehow. So the unit survived, it was just her death message was being printed and "end scenario" command was being called. This happens with other heroes in scenario 4? I'll have to go back and test and fix it.emdot wrote:
It was also in scen 4. Tested with other heroes - the same bug. Was it also fixed?
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
Once again I'll post my pleas for strategy advice. I'm playing A Subterrenean Struggle on Easy. Spoilers Below:
If you choose the branch wherein you help the dwarves against the trolls, how in all holy hell do you get any sort of army across the giant pit of lava? Because your elves are slow and the lava's deadly you get strung out. There's a Phoenix guardian who comes back to life as soon as you kill him, and four or five trolls waiting on the other side for you!
I went into that battle with: 2 Desert, 2 Shamans, 3 Champions, 3 Prowlers, 2 Captains, 1 Sentinel, 1 Avenger, 1 Steelclad, 1 Berserker, and 1 Stalwart and about 20 level one units. I have about a thousand gold, so I can pour an endless stream of level one units into the cave, but they're easy pickings for the Phoenixes.
Here's what came out the other side: 1 Shyde, 1 Stalwart, 1 Prowler.
Are there some tactics I'm not seeing? If not, I'd really advise toning this down, balance wise. The combination of the lava, the perma-Phoenix, the magically appearing Phoenixes, and Trolls waiting on the other side make this a blood bath.
Even after I cleared the other shore, I ran out of turns (!) because the perma-Phoenix keeps coming back to life making it difficult to move an army across.
Bloody slaughter it was.
- b.
If you choose the branch wherein you help the dwarves against the trolls, how in all holy hell do you get any sort of army across the giant pit of lava? Because your elves are slow and the lava's deadly you get strung out. There's a Phoenix guardian who comes back to life as soon as you kill him, and four or five trolls waiting on the other side for you!
I went into that battle with: 2 Desert, 2 Shamans, 3 Champions, 3 Prowlers, 2 Captains, 1 Sentinel, 1 Avenger, 1 Steelclad, 1 Berserker, and 1 Stalwart and about 20 level one units. I have about a thousand gold, so I can pour an endless stream of level one units into the cave, but they're easy pickings for the Phoenixes.
Here's what came out the other side: 1 Shyde, 1 Stalwart, 1 Prowler.
Are there some tactics I'm not seeing? If not, I'd really advise toning this down, balance wise. The combination of the lava, the perma-Phoenix, the magically appearing Phoenixes, and Trolls waiting on the other side make this a blood bath.
Even after I cleared the other shore, I ran out of turns (!) because the perma-Phoenix keeps coming back to life making it difficult to move an army across.
Bloody slaughter it was.
- b.
La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien àajouter, mais quand il ne reste rien àenlever. - Antoine de Saint Exupery (of course)
Point taken, Aelius. Things will be much easier in the next update.
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
Subterrenean Struggle has been one of my favourites so far. It's a pretty epic slugging match, and really lets you work on good tactics. I just haven't found the ones for dealing with the lava pit!
Your campaign continues to impress.
- b.
Your campaign continues to impress.
- b.
La perfection est atteinte non quand il ne reste rien àajouter, mais quand il ne reste rien àenlever. - Antoine de Saint Exupery (of course)
Hi there everyone! My first post to this forum. The following are some notes from my play-throughs of the campaign so far. Sorry in advance about the length.
I've played through the campaign twice now (0.3.0ish and 0.3.4), both on medium.
I've been bitten by the invisible Desert Hunter bug, as described earlier (playing 0.8.11). Quitting and restarting solves it, as described.
I really like the campaign. It's huge fun and has lots of fun encounters. The polished text really makes the atmosphere.
"The Morning After" is the most original introduction I've yet seen. The lack of hiring creates a really effective atmosphere, but the level of difficulty is just perfect. Finish only a few turns short of scenario end.
"Across the Harsh Sands" is probably my favourite scenario. It's really not that diffcult when you figure out a key strategy: move by day in a triple line with a core of two healers---key goal for TMA is to advance at least one of the shamans. I think the undead are too weak in 0.3.4. Bring back the corpses! I do think the "a few kills and they vanish" rule is a nice addition. The Ogres are by far the most challenging encounter on the level. Thank ghods for the Desert Hunter line! In the latest game I encountered one weirdness, which I'm not sure was intentional: killing a non-leader female outlaw triggered the surrender event. Also, annoyingly, I've had Black-hand units sit on the reward for several turns. They seem to surround your units even after turning friendly. Money is an issue at start, but I finish way early (in 30-35 turns, 5 extra turns spent figuring out BH movement), which helps a lot in scenario 3. I've never triggered the avenging ghost in the castle I've seen mention of.
"A Stirring in the Night" the night is excellent too. It made me change my pants the first time I played it through. It's just evil, but in the best possible way. Money gets tight after the "Holy Crap!" event.
"Decending into Darkness" is a tough slog. Coming out of SitN, money is tight, so going at first is slow, but the early villages balance that nicely. The generous time is needed, but money is usually ok by the end, especially with the secrets. One weirdness: Zhul was a Desert Star by this time, and was the unit replaced by the assassin. Amusingly, the assassin continued to show the halo. I don't think the halo effect was working, but the glow graphic stayed on.
"A Subterranean Struggle" is the scenario I have most issue with as presently configured. It really, really, really wants to be split into three scenarios. The split point is obvious, and, since you've done the hard work already---the scripting, shouldn't be a huge deal. A case can even be made for four: an intro scenario before you get to the battle. I've only played the troll-ally side so far. I've been meaning to go back and try the dwarves, but I haven't yet been able to muster up the fortitude for such a commitment. In any event, this is a tough level, given the elves' lack of defense. Those thundersticks are really effective when your best defence is 40%, and all too often 20%. I went through a lot of upper level units here, but something tells me that I was supposed to.
The final scene was a surprise too---it would have been nice to have a warning about the departure. By that point, I'm losing 40 levels of kills---she was 4th level. The reward, though it remains to be seen how useful it is, seems like a poor exchange. Besides, given all the easter eggs, by that time you're rolling in special melee attacks (holy, cold, firststrike+hp, now fire). A ranged one would be really nice. How about fire arrows? There are lots of Avengers/Sharpshooters at that point. Prowlers even.
Both the Prowler and the Sentinal have a bad attribute "skirmish" instead of "skirmisher" (as of 0.3.4). Note that the bad attribute sometimes screws up the text display on the right-hand panel. Editing the unit cfg files stopped the text corruption.
Finally, a few words on the Desert Star: a really nice idea, but a lot of effort to advance an auxillary for too small a payoff. I think you're on the right track though. My package of ideas:
- the halo, as you've done
- perhaps reduce combat effectiveness marginally, but make her attacks holy (at least melee, perhaps thorns as well---the pricks of conscience!)
- bump up her defenses significantly, perhaps 20% all around---her gods protect her from harm and repell evil.
- remove mention of Mage of Light from the second sentance of her description.
Sorry if this comes off as too critical. I think you've got a really excellent campaign here and can't wait to see you finish it.
I've played through the campaign twice now (0.3.0ish and 0.3.4), both on medium.
I've been bitten by the invisible Desert Hunter bug, as described earlier (playing 0.8.11). Quitting and restarting solves it, as described.
I really like the campaign. It's huge fun and has lots of fun encounters. The polished text really makes the atmosphere.
"The Morning After" is the most original introduction I've yet seen. The lack of hiring creates a really effective atmosphere, but the level of difficulty is just perfect. Finish only a few turns short of scenario end.
"Across the Harsh Sands" is probably my favourite scenario. It's really not that diffcult when you figure out a key strategy: move by day in a triple line with a core of two healers---key goal for TMA is to advance at least one of the shamans. I think the undead are too weak in 0.3.4. Bring back the corpses! I do think the "a few kills and they vanish" rule is a nice addition. The Ogres are by far the most challenging encounter on the level. Thank ghods for the Desert Hunter line! In the latest game I encountered one weirdness, which I'm not sure was intentional: killing a non-leader female outlaw triggered the surrender event. Also, annoyingly, I've had Black-hand units sit on the reward for several turns. They seem to surround your units even after turning friendly. Money is an issue at start, but I finish way early (in 30-35 turns, 5 extra turns spent figuring out BH movement), which helps a lot in scenario 3. I've never triggered the avenging ghost in the castle I've seen mention of.
"A Stirring in the Night" the night is excellent too. It made me change my pants the first time I played it through. It's just evil, but in the best possible way. Money gets tight after the "Holy Crap!" event.
"Decending into Darkness" is a tough slog. Coming out of SitN, money is tight, so going at first is slow, but the early villages balance that nicely. The generous time is needed, but money is usually ok by the end, especially with the secrets. One weirdness: Zhul was a Desert Star by this time, and was the unit replaced by the assassin. Amusingly, the assassin continued to show the halo. I don't think the halo effect was working, but the glow graphic stayed on.
"A Subterranean Struggle" is the scenario I have most issue with as presently configured. It really, really, really wants to be split into three scenarios. The split point is obvious, and, since you've done the hard work already---the scripting, shouldn't be a huge deal. A case can even be made for four: an intro scenario before you get to the battle. I've only played the troll-ally side so far. I've been meaning to go back and try the dwarves, but I haven't yet been able to muster up the fortitude for such a commitment. In any event, this is a tough level, given the elves' lack of defense. Those thundersticks are really effective when your best defence is 40%, and all too often 20%. I went through a lot of upper level units here, but something tells me that I was supposed to.
The final scene was a surprise too---it would have been nice to have a warning about the departure. By that point, I'm losing 40 levels of kills---she was 4th level. The reward, though it remains to be seen how useful it is, seems like a poor exchange. Besides, given all the easter eggs, by that time you're rolling in special melee attacks (holy, cold, firststrike+hp, now fire). A ranged one would be really nice. How about fire arrows? There are lots of Avengers/Sharpshooters at that point. Prowlers even.
Both the Prowler and the Sentinal have a bad attribute "skirmish" instead of "skirmisher" (as of 0.3.4). Note that the bad attribute sometimes screws up the text display on the right-hand panel. Editing the unit cfg files stopped the text corruption.
Finally, a few words on the Desert Star: a really nice idea, but a lot of effort to advance an auxillary for too small a payoff. I think you're on the right track though. My package of ideas:
- the halo, as you've done
- perhaps reduce combat effectiveness marginally, but make her attacks holy (at least melee, perhaps thorns as well---the pricks of conscience!)
- bump up her defenses significantly, perhaps 20% all around---her gods protect her from harm and repell evil.
- remove mention of Mage of Light from the second sentance of her description.
Sorry if this comes off as too critical. I think you've got a really excellent campaign here and can't wait to see you finish it.
Bonehead, Aelius, Emdot and everyone else who has been waiting for an update, sorry, I've been busy this weekend. I'll try to get something out by tuesday or wednesday.
Bonehead I really like your detailed feedback, it is very useful. I'll see what I can do fix some of those bugs. I hadn't thought about issues such as the friendly outlaws camping on top of the holy water. I think I'll make them all flee after your victory instead. Glad you are enjoying the campaign, it's a pleasure to reading your comments and it gives me the motivation to keep pushing onwards.
Bonehead I really like your detailed feedback, it is very useful. I'll see what I can do fix some of those bugs. I hadn't thought about issues such as the friendly outlaws camping on top of the holy water. I think I'll make them all flee after your victory instead. Glad you are enjoying the campaign, it's a pleasure to reading your comments and it gives me the motivation to keep pushing onwards.
Creator of Under the Burning Suns
I have two bugs:
first: The female desert archer line have different movement costs
(cave and tundra). Would be good, if you make your own movement
type for the desertelfs (one for float to). Then changes would be
easier.
second: Your loyal macro uses id=intelligent. (I think, it has no effect, but
should be changed.)
first: The female desert archer line have different movement costs
(cave and tundra). Would be good, if you make your own movement
type for the desertelfs (one for float to). Then changes would be
easier.
second: Your loyal macro uses id=intelligent. (I think, it has no effect, but
should be changed.)
great campaign, very interesting scenarios (especially TMA and the oasis one (where I also employed the "two healers in the middle" strategy)).
I noticed four bugs in the troll/dwarf scenario:
- a desert shyde called "Test" appeared in the upper right corner, a dwarven tomb. After taking the goodie, she had to kill a ghost, but couldn't leave the room.
- Going north, the dwarves would fire their charges and seal off one tunnel and attack my troops in the other one, despite the fact that I was allied with them. They did however not follow me after I retreated.
- The dwarf who tells you to kill the last troll leader gives its location as north/south. Since one can't punch him for that, I'd prefer a more direct insult, if I have to be insulted at all.
- When the assassin appeared in the lava cave, it slowed Kaleh. Unfortunately he stayed slowed after the assassin was dead, but only while in the lava cave. Once I moved him outside, he was back to normal. Unfortunately I had to step into lava twice to get him out.
I'd also like to echo Aelius comment concerning the lava pit. For one, it isn't immediately obvious that this is where one is supposed to go (see direction-bug above). And it's incredibly hard.
One way to make it easier might be to stop respawning the fire spirit after the trolls on the other side are dead and perhaps even replace some lava with regular tiles after that (it took me something like 10-20 turns to get across and another five to get to the last trolls in the south-east corner, another 10+ to break through their ranks (since I had to rotate a small force).
Alternatively the spirit might respawn only every other turn, that would provide some temporary relief. As it is, one is best off reducing it to 1-2 hitpoints, because then it flees and tries to regenerate.
A third option might be to provide a more continuous path (or two alternative routes) across the lava, so it doesn't take so much time and it's easier to send back a wounded unit.
Concerning the assassin: First time he replaced an unit of mine I immediately went back to an earlier save and left that field empty. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to consider going the other way round: IF there is an empty space next to Kaleh, put the assassin into that space, otherwise wait another turn and try again.
Technically one could then avoid the assassin by keeping Kaleh surrounded at all times, but I doubt player would go for that, since it's too much hassle, especially given the lenght of the scenarios.
Concerning the undead scenario: It hurt to loose Garak (?), and I was a bit miffed that killing both undead did not appear to gain me anything at all. Btw., using liberal save/reloading on "easy" I had them down at turn 8, IIRC.
That said, it's an excellent campaign, lots of fun and innovation (especially TMA and the oasis scenario).
I noticed four bugs in the troll/dwarf scenario:
- a desert shyde called "Test" appeared in the upper right corner, a dwarven tomb. After taking the goodie, she had to kill a ghost, but couldn't leave the room.
- Going north, the dwarves would fire their charges and seal off one tunnel and attack my troops in the other one, despite the fact that I was allied with them. They did however not follow me after I retreated.
- The dwarf who tells you to kill the last troll leader gives its location as north/south. Since one can't punch him for that, I'd prefer a more direct insult, if I have to be insulted at all.
- When the assassin appeared in the lava cave, it slowed Kaleh. Unfortunately he stayed slowed after the assassin was dead, but only while in the lava cave. Once I moved him outside, he was back to normal. Unfortunately I had to step into lava twice to get him out.
I'd also like to echo Aelius comment concerning the lava pit. For one, it isn't immediately obvious that this is where one is supposed to go (see direction-bug above). And it's incredibly hard.
One way to make it easier might be to stop respawning the fire spirit after the trolls on the other side are dead and perhaps even replace some lava with regular tiles after that (it took me something like 10-20 turns to get across and another five to get to the last trolls in the south-east corner, another 10+ to break through their ranks (since I had to rotate a small force).
Alternatively the spirit might respawn only every other turn, that would provide some temporary relief. As it is, one is best off reducing it to 1-2 hitpoints, because then it flees and tries to regenerate.
A third option might be to provide a more continuous path (or two alternative routes) across the lava, so it doesn't take so much time and it's easier to send back a wounded unit.
Concerning the assassin: First time he replaced an unit of mine I immediately went back to an earlier save and left that field empty. Perhaps it might be worthwhile to consider going the other way round: IF there is an empty space next to Kaleh, put the assassin into that space, otherwise wait another turn and try again.
Technically one could then avoid the assassin by keeping Kaleh surrounded at all times, but I doubt player would go for that, since it's too much hassle, especially given the lenght of the scenarios.
Concerning the undead scenario: It hurt to loose Garak (?), and I was a bit miffed that killing both undead did not appear to gain me anything at all. Btw., using liberal save/reloading on "easy" I had them down at turn 8, IIRC.
That said, it's an excellent campaign, lots of fun and innovation (especially TMA and the oasis scenario).
markus_2 thanks a ton for all the comments. They will be implemented.
-The test desert shyde is a mistake, and shouldn't be there.
-When you ally with the dwarves you shouldn't be able to enter those northern tunnels, so so should never encounter those hostile dwarves, another bug.
-The dwarf who tells you to kill the troll leader made a directional mistake. I meant to say north, to tell the player which way he is supposed to continue.
-The problem of Kaleh staying slowed in the lava cave seems really odd. I'll look into it.
-The Fire Phoenix is supposed to stop appearing after the troll shamans are attacked. It shouldn't keep reappearing afterwards. And I will make the lava cave easier.
Thanks again for the feedback, your points will be looked into.
Claus: I forgot to edit the female desert archers too. For now I'll stick with just editing the movement types instead of creating whole new ones. I'll also fix the loyal bug, I didn't notice it wasn't working.
-The test desert shyde is a mistake, and shouldn't be there.
-When you ally with the dwarves you shouldn't be able to enter those northern tunnels, so so should never encounter those hostile dwarves, another bug.
-The dwarf who tells you to kill the troll leader made a directional mistake. I meant to say north, to tell the player which way he is supposed to continue.
-The problem of Kaleh staying slowed in the lava cave seems really odd. I'll look into it.
-The Fire Phoenix is supposed to stop appearing after the troll shamans are attacked. It shouldn't keep reappearing afterwards. And I will make the lava cave easier.
Thanks again for the feedback, your points will be looked into.
Claus: I forgot to edit the female desert archers too. For now I'll stick with just editing the movement types instead of creating whole new ones. I'll also fix the loyal bug, I didn't notice it wasn't working.
Creator of Under the Burning Suns