Scenario 3: Isle of Alduin

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Scenario 3: Isle of Alduin

Post by Content Feedback »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? [2]
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

[1] preferably, this should be rated relative to other scenarios in the campaign, such that the easiest scenario in the campaign is rated '1', and the most difficult '10'. i.e. even if you didn't think the campaign is very hard, you should still rate the hardest scenario '10'.
[2] this question has been adjusted from previous surveys for clarity.
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Elvish_Pillager
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Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by Elvish_Pillager »

(1) Easy, Medium, Hard
(2) 4.....this scenario, though, is a bit harder on easy and easier on hard than others.
(3) Completely.
(4) Somewhat, though it didn't say much and seems a bit insufficient for such a moment.
(5) The orc leader retreating and recruiting. About half the time I can catch him on the grassland for no apperent reason, which makes the scenario much easier.
(6) 5
(7) No idea.
It's all fun and games until someone loses a lawsuit. Oh, and by the way, sending me private messages won't work. :/ If you must contact me, there's an e-mail address listed on the website in my profile.
Dacyn
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Post by Dacyn »

1=Easy
2=5
3=very
4=very
5=leaders getting killed...
6=4
7=The mage part is annoying because the player has already probably recruited a castlefull, so he must wait until he collects 21 gold from villages... and by then it is probably too late for them to be useful. I would suggest having the mages be part of the intro sequence...
scott
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Post by scott »

(1) medium, for the most recent version
(2) 5
(3) very clear
(4) ok...
(5) getting the enemy to split his forces. strategy will make or break you on this scenario
(6) 9, if frustration makes it fun. It is fun because you really have to think. If your strategy isn't tip top it is almost TOO hard to win, but with the right plan you can make it manageable. So, this might be the epitome of a Wesnoth scenario
(7) adding the forest in the NW corner was probably all I would have done. so nothing.
pjr

Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by pjr »

Dave wrote: (1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Easy, Normal
Dave wrote: (2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
5
Dave wrote: (3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very clear.
Dave wrote: (4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Very clear dialogue. The storyline is adequate.
Dave wrote: (5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? [2]
I never have enough gold to recruit/recall more than one castle of units. This makes it very difficult unless there are several level 2 units available.
Dave wrote: (6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8
This is the first scenario that presents a real challenge every time.
Dave wrote: (7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
It might be interesting to randomise the location of the mage.
Integral
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Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by Integral »

Dave wrote:(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Only Medium recently (Easy sometime last fall)
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
5
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
KILL EVERYTH....I mean, quite clear.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I like it now :) -- it makes a lot more sense than it did in earlier versions.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? [2]
Before I knew what I was doing, I tried to sit behind the river and kill the orcs as they came across. The problem was, of course, that they then got all the villages and sent more attacking units than I could kill...

The major challenge on this scenario is grabbing some villages at the beginning -- the northwest villages and a few villages due south of the starting location -- and holding them against the first wave of attack; if you can do that, you can recruit enough Elves to overwhelm the Orcs. I've found that with the changes to the game and/or level, it's effective now to send everything you recall at first west, then send everything you recruit later south -- you can build up forces to the south just quickly enough to counter the bits of the Orc army that attack from that direction.

This is the first scenario where it's really critical to have mutiple high-level units available for recall.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
10 - I like Anduin; it's the first "real" battle in the game, and a nice balanced scenario.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I really don't like the fact that the Orcs recruit Lizardmen -- isn't there a proposal for a goblin unit to replace them?

Daniel
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Post by Bandobras »

(1) Easy, Medium
(2) 5
(3) perfectly clear
(4) A litle short. Perhaps there could be some more talk about mages at the beginning and the ablility to recruit. Then the village (should be randomized) would only yield a free mage and some more chatter.
(5) defending on the western front, before I read that Delfador is good at that (and I play 5HP/100XP so I use him without sorrow now). With Delfador defending the west is easy if only I manage to lure some of the forces to the forest by my castle. The AI is somewhat unpredictable, though. Good. :)
(6) 7 --- A lot of wide-winded strategy after this simple map of Blackwater Port. Nice, but AI seems to be a little bit lost on such a large, non-linear map. One turn it attacks all forces west, two turns later it has moved all the units east and is lured further north into the forest. One turn it passes my lines with scouts to take my villages, on the next the units go back to pound on some strong unit of mine. On many replays this has saved Delfadors skin or my hoard of northwest villages.
(7) Make AI pay more attention to capturing my villages and be more cautios in attacking units in a forest (this may also make viable the brave player strategy of starting by fortifying the forest close to the orc keep).
ott
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Post by ott »

Relative to wesnoth-0.8:

(1) Levels: medium, easy, hard

(2) Difficulty: 5-6

(3) Objectives: clear

(4) Dialog/storyline: clear

(5) Challenges: learning importance of day/night cycle, dealing with saurians, balancing taking villages in the early stages with being able to defend them, winning without overspending (on hard).

(6) Fun: 8

(7) Changes: stop the enemy leader from running out suicidally when the player's army is approaching. Get the AI to use the mountains on the E side of the lake more.
hellerup

Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by hellerup »

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

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
3 - one of the easy ones

(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?
Fairly clear.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
As this is the first scenario that requires two fronts, that was my main challenge. Especially on the western part of the island it's easy to place horsemen or mages in a possition where fast enemies can hit it - well, easy if you're not paying enough attention anyways.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6 - a bit easy, but I like the map, and I like the strategies requied to defeat it.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I think it's a fun map, and I can't really say I would change it.
daloser
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Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by daloser »

Dave wrote: (1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? [2]
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
1 - E,M
2 - 5E, 7M
3 - Clear
4 - Good
5 - Not having enough units but see #6.
6 - 9 First time in the game the player has some strategic options. Send an all-out attack down one side, split your forces, or send a feint down one side and the main force down another? It all depends on the # of units and gold you have collected so far. This scenario was the one that first got me hooked on Wesnoth.
7 - None, its near ferpect.
allover
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Re: Scenario Review: Isle of Anduin

Post by allover »

Dave wrote: (1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Easy, Medium
Dave wrote: (2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
3, 3 - The first time through, my xconq/frecciv-adapted strategy worked just fine: collect all the villages, hold off the orc until you can build up an unstoppable force, then crush him. Later, worrying about levelling, it was a little harder, but by the time I got there on Medium, it wasn't too hard. I was able to tie up the southern forces chasing my scouts. Here, the extra enemies on Medium helped, because my fresh scouts survived by leveling...
Dave wrote: (3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very clear.
Dave wrote: (4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Good, more or less. I did wonder what became of Seimus, though: at first I thought he would join us (although of course an extra Arch Mage would be a bit overwhelming at this point in the game) and then I wondered what was up. Perhaps "While you free the mermen, I will begin training mages." Perhaps in some later scenario some of his trained mages could arrive and join you? Or be another faction...
Also, in BoP, it has been pointed out that it's awful difficult to actually save the mermen, nor do you have any real reason to. Perhaps "Asheviere has enslaved the mermen to collect pearls for her. She needs the wealth to pay her Orcish allies." Of course, while you're supposed to free the mermen in BoP, it's not actually required to win...
Dave wrote: (5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? [2]
If you can bottle up the enemies right off the bat, not much. Early on, a pair of Wolf Riders came racing up the west of the island, only to fall in battle with Delfador, a mage, and an elvish fighter without capturing any villages. Had they gone on to capture a bunch of villages, I would have had to waste time chasing them around the island while waiting to recruit more.

I should say, though, that the time it takes your troops to get to the front requires careful planning.
Dave wrote: (6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8 - a nice set battle. Sort of a classic strategy game fight. Too many of these would get boring, but this one is nice, and early on so people get the feel for Wesnoth better.
Dave wrote: (7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
No suggestions 'til I've finished the scenario...
Glowing Fish
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Post by Glowing Fish »

1. Easy
2. 6 or 7
3. Very clear, to kill all enemies
4. They explained what was going on pretty well
5. Bottling up the enemy forces so they couldn't take villages and recuit even more, while at the same time not losing my own forces. And, of course, dividing my troops down both sides of the map.
6. 7 or 8. It's straightforward, yet presents a strategic and tactical challenge.
7. I think it stands pretty well as it is now
mikekchar
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Post by mikekchar »

I'm very late in this discussion, but...

(1) Only easy
(2) 3 to 6
(3) Very clear
(4) So-so. I agree with the other comments about making the mages a little more intriguing.
(5) Well, the first time I played this, I did just what everyone else did. I found the scenario moderately difficult for me (especially since I didn't know how to use knights properly).

However, I discovered something interesting lately. I can recruit a small force and whip down to the south, completely ignoring the west. The AI will split his force anyway, trying to take all the villages to the north west.

I gather my forces at the southern pass between the hills and the forest. The AI will get pinched here and I can pick them off relatively slowly.

Since I don't have the skill yet to level up in the earlier scenarios, I use almost all lower level units here. IIRC a few each of archers and fighters (emphasizing archers), 2 elvish druids and one mage. I get the other free mage, Delfador and Konrad for free.

The idea is to wipe out his main force quickly before he recruits too much, and then march in and kill him. I end up with oodles of money bonus, but not much XP.

Of course, it leads me to use another unorthodox strategy in the next scenario where I win pretty much exclusively through the use of mermen...

I don't know if this strategy would work on harder levels, but it might defeat the purpose of the level (teach strategy and give the player a chance to get some XP).

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

Sorry, I like them all so far.

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

I don't know why, but the lizard guys always seem to go north. I suppose because they are fast units, they go after the villages. However, they are pretty tough guys, and not exactly scouts. If they would challenge me earlier, my strategy wouldn't work.
BigMoney
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Post by BigMoney »

Played twice, both on normal. I'm new, and was challenging but not too hard. The objectives were crystal clear. The dialog and storyline were fine. Scenario was fun, but haven't played enough to rate against others.

Having the split terrain was challenging. Approaching this game as a newbie with a resource mindset I wanted to control more villages than the enemy and outearn/outproduce him. First attempt I tried going south and blocking him off from east side by using the southern forest as cover, but I couldn't hold the NW villages while sending replacement troops to the south. Second try I planned to send troops to choke and control the western half while conceeding the SE and E to the orc and using my close forest for defense. As it turned out it was a tough fight in the west--but I won it--and he hardly sent anybody east. I basically owned the map and then pummelled him.

(I am learning that this isn't a resource game, though...especially on later levels! At least not as far as villages & income)
Dave
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Post by Dave »

BigMoney wrote: (I am learning that this isn't a resource game, though...especially on later levels! At least not as far as villages & income)
This is an interesting observation, I think. Indeed, in Wesnoth acquiring villages can often be far less important than other objectives.

Initially I didn't like it that strategies were flowing in this direction, away from villages being so important. But now I don't mind it so much: I think it gives the game a unique feel.

David
“At Gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.” -- Ian Fleming
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