Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Feedback for the mainline campaign Descent into Darkness.

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Pewskeepski
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Pewskeepski »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Summoner (Difficult), 1.11.2

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6.

(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?
Intriguing.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
There weren't really any. My original plan was to avoid the grass plain and deal with the two southern leaders. But turn after turn I kept getting drawn more and more to Borth's forces, and eventually I found my army separated. Regardless, I swept the battlefield clean :)

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. I felt very good about the end results in this one. I advanced many units, and only lost 2! (a Skeleton and a Ghost)

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Can't think of anything.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Nope.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
OK.
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flammstrudel
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by flammstrudel »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.10.2 Summoner (difficult) – no reloads

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6/10 Depends on the unit roster of the opponents. Will be harder if they get lots of crossbow orcs.

(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?
I liked it.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
First time I recruited exclusively ghosts and fought a big battle in the central swamp. But in the end the terrain advantage was not worth fighting a war on three fronts, there are also some scattered wood tiles – crossbow orcs just love to camp there. And you are going to need some leveled Dark Adepts anyway, since Wraiths and Spectres suck at engaging castle camping tier three orc warriors. Next time went around the map counterclockwise and this way it was a lot easier.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8/10 Very entertaining.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Don't know.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Failed first attempt with high losses.
devavrata
Posts: 119
Joined: August 30th, 2012, 8:59 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by devavrata »

Content Feedback wrote:(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Battle for Wesnoth 1.8.3, Easy/Medium/Hard
Content Feedback wrote:(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8
Content Feedback wrote:(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear. It is possible to win without recruiting or recalling - I managed to do it on easy, but failed to get it on medium or hard.
Spoiler:
Content Feedback wrote:(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear.
Content Feedback wrote:(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Getting the orcs coming up on you all together. You need to figure out a way - which of course, has something to do with moving towards one of the orc groups in order to knock it out before the rest come.
Content Feedback wrote:(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8
Content Feedback wrote:(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I expected this scenario to be the final battle against orcs, but it gets softened because of the plot - the story needs some orcs to head back to Parthyn in order to Malin getting back there.
Content Feedback wrote:(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No.
Content Feedback wrote:(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
-
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Maiklas3000
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Maiklas3000 »

(1) Level, version, gold? Hard, 1.11.15, 409 starting gold.
(2) Difficult? (1-10) 5 or 6.
(3) Objectives? Clear.
(4) Dialog? Okay, but the prologue says that the orcs cornered our hero and forced a fight, whereas the first words are spoken by Malin, who sounds like he is the one picking the fight. I suggest the orcs get the first words, something like, "Aha! Now we have you cornered!"
(5) Challenges? I sent three Shadows to assassinate the middle leader. I had intended to send along a Ghost or Vampire Bat to sit in for the missing fourth Shadow, but I forgot in the heat of battle. It still worked. I was so eager to send off my assassination squad that I allowed the enemy to get over the river, which made for a bit of an uncomfortable struggle there. I got careless and lost a Nightgaunt on the turn it advanced. Still, lots of other troops advanced, so not too bad an ending. I finished on turn 11/30 for lots of gold.
(6) Fun? (1-10) 8.
(7) Changes? See #4.
(8) Restarts? No restarts. No save-reloads either.
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Inky
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Inky »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
1.10.4, hard, 438 starting gold

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8, very difficult.

(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?
Lots of high level orcs converging on you from two fronts.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - pretty fun, hard to keep units alive though.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It's fine as is.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Yes, under recruiting the first few times (I don't like to spend all my gold). After getting overwhelmed I spent all my extra gold on cannon fodder such as skeletons and bats, which helped a lot in keeping the important units alive.
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max_torch
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by max_torch »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Hard 1.12.0
(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?
Well orcs really have no depth. To all their enemies they just say: 'Shut up now time to die!' or 'We'll kill you tree-shaggers!'
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
dealing with several fronts at the same time.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8. Nice to have an all out large war and kick three orc butts.
(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?
Yeah I didn't micro my north force properly so I had to restart few times.
(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
I don't know.
Replay:
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czarkoff
Posts: 12
Joined: May 3rd, 2015, 5:39 am

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by czarkoff »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Easy, 1.12.2.

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7

(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 was a bit disappointed when last orcish leader fled.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Defending dark adepts. This is basically the only level where I could level them, and grunts tend to tear them in pieces quickly.

(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?
I'd make orcs hire more trolls. Basically, at this point I had some good skeletal forces, and I didn't have any trouble keeping them alive.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Not this time. I played this campaign before, and I tried to kill southern orcish force with skeletons only to have them wiped out quickly and decisively.
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Entengelaende
Posts: 16
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Entengelaende »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on? Hard, 1.12.6
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 5
(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? Okay
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? Levelling up some units for the following levels
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 10
(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? No
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Britannicus
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Britannicus »

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

Challenging, Version 1.12.6

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

Probably around 6.

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

Crystal clear.

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

Nice banter in the beginning, little twist at the end, solid.

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

Balancing two fronts while leveling different tiers of units. Near the end, a ridiculously unlucky roll that cost me the Necrophage I had been grooming.

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

8. Somewhat unusal map layout, good challenge, all around enjoyable.

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

Nothing really comes to mind.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Bad recruiting choices on my first attempt.
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Konrad2
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Konrad2 »

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

Challenging, Version 1.14.1

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

Maybe 6-7?

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

Crystal clear.

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

I enjoyed it.

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

Figuring out where to send how many and what units. So basically the usual, but on a larger scale and times two.

(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?

No idea.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Risking too much.
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LordWolfDan
Posts: 216
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by LordWolfDan »

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

- 1.14.5, Normal

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

- 6

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

- I like it. Malin's introduction speak is well portrayed, the orcs trying to "un-kill" Malin's army is kinda amusing. However, Darken Volk seems to hide something from Malin. I may not trust him anymore

(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?

- None actually

(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?

- Have orcs recruit one keep of lvl 2 orcs, not just lvl 1

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

- No
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ElvishMystical0
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by ElvishMystical0 »

Content Feedback wrote: March 11th, 2008, 8:35 pm (1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Versions 1.10, 1.12 and 1.14 medium and hard.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
This is no more than a 2-3 provided you have enough gold and a half decent recall list. .
(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?
It was underdeveloped. A bit like the map.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
I was kind of grateful that this was a war against Orcs because to be honest, on this map against Loyalists, Drakes, Outlaws and even Knalgans as Undead I would be dead meat.

My biggest challenge was dealing with the inconsistencies of not a very good map (IMHO) rather than dealing with the Orcs.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
I'll give this a 2. If you can get enough units to the bridge south of your keep and send a few units north for the night - and hold those positions - then you've won the scenario. This is because you will have the Orcs on the flat at night or fighting from the water. All you have to do is withstand the Orcish first night rush and then it's a case of picking the units off one by one.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
This scenario for me undermines the whole campaign. This is a very good mainline campaign. It teaches you how to play the Undead, which is a powerful faction. Playing the Undead isn't the easiest or most straightforward but it's not as hard or difficult as say playing Drakes.

So far so good, you've created a campaign and scenarios which allow people to focus on the different Undead units. Players have faced mainly Orcs and they've learned how to deal with blade, pierce and fire. But not impact. If you go into MP and play Undead against Northerners rest assured you're going to be dealing with impact and Trolls.

Later in the campaign, starting with after this scenario, you're expecting the player to face opposition not just from Northerners or Orcs, but also Loyalists and other Undead. The Dark Adept line is a major offensive line, as important to Undead as pierce is to Elves and blade is to Northerners. You cannot be too experimental against Loyalists or Outlaws as you can against Northerners.

There needs to be terrain between both keeps which is just as favourable to Orcs as it is to the Undead. I don't know.. hills, swamps and mountains?

See the map as it stands you know that the AI is going to recruit Orcs and send them towards you the most direct route which means onto the flat and into the water. Even using impact a Troll Whelp fighting Undead from water is a dead Troll. They're not that good on open terrain either.

I think without redesigning the map so that Orcs don't end up on terrain which is unfavourable to them is worth the developers considering.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No. Not even close.
Mawmoocn
Posts: 154
Joined: March 16th, 2019, 3:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Mawmoocn »

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

1.12.6, Hard, Bat and loyal units only gameplay

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

8

(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?

Start of his crazed speech to madness.

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

Figuring out how to kill them all.

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

10

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

No idea comes up to mind

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Trying a wrong strategy.

Death of his teacher because I made him go alone.

It took some time to know to how use bats on this map, a lot of enemies are swarming me and I barely managed to kill the other leader using Malin.
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josteph
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Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by josteph »

ElvishMystical0 wrote: April 17th, 2019, 7:29 pm I think without redesigning the map so that Orcs don't end up on terrain which is unfavourable to them is worth the developers considering.
Note that this campaign was completely revised in 1.14.7. Among other things the map of this scenario was redesigned.
Mawmoocn
Posts: 154
Joined: March 16th, 2019, 3:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DiD 5 - Orc War

Post by Mawmoocn »

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

1.14.8 (1.14.7), Hard, Bats and loyal units

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

Failed, Posting for completion of review.

(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?

No comment

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

Instantaneous killing of units. Luck is required.
Your enemies could recruit fresh batch of units while your stuck with wounded units. It would work only if you have high killing potential both in range and melee damage.
Small map means, fast deployment of troops, but it would bad if your caught unprepared without no spares of units to sacrifice.

Anyways, if you’re unlucky, within 4 turns, the game is decided.


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

No comment

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

No comment

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

Because I’m using bats only..., lack of strong replacements to kill other enemies.
Very fast enemy unit recruitment, often picks high level units.
Goblins are very dangerous as a level 0 unit....
Combined with a small map, it makes thing a bit... funny :lol:


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