The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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Sadaharu
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Sadaharu »

It's mega-quote time!
Celtic_Minstrel wrote: August 11th, 2018, 12:37 am
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am I think it's been mentioned a couple pages ago, but the description for Ariandela's ring is inaccurate. When she's level 3 I'm dominating Lv. 1 and Lv. 2 units.
I don't recall it being mentioned before; however I spotted it on my own, so it's already fixed locally.
Excellent! I find it a bit overpowered that I can leave her alone on a forest tile and have six Orcs turned to my side for the very next turn, but that's mostly because they steal XP from my Initiates.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am minor: mosquitos poison Kaden Kreuz and keep making frogs come out of the nests in the swamp scenario
Ooh, I should make the mosquitoes avoid the nests, for sure. Poisoning KK is correct though; he's a necromancer, not a lich, so he's poisonable.
The problem with his being poisoned is that he runs off to get healed and stops recruiting.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am Where does the trapdoor lead to? Looks like a loose end.
It leads to that lone tree near the elvish keep. This is revealed if you step on said tree, giving you an opportunity to open the trapdoor.
Oh, I hadn't spotted that.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am The nightaunt Terror of the Knight falls, fading out with a high keening until it has become totally transparent; and then, quite suddenly, the sound was abruptly cut off,
At the same time, Kaden Kreuz lets out a gasp of pain. It seems that maintaining hold over such a powerful creature has taken a toll on him.

>Again, tense confusion. And take the K off night! :)
That K was an intentional stealth pun, actually.
Well, it sailed right over my head. But I was playing at sometime-past-midnight, when I'm better at spotting typos and bugs but have less of a sense of humour.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am story: why does it take three days to get into the lair?
It's a deep hole and a difficult climb.
Hmmm, a bit like mountaineering.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am Why do i get this much gold from going into the lair? If I got less gold it might be a better incentive for me to let the orcs get to Kaden Kreuz first.
Seems like a good idea...
Feel free to implement it and pay me my royalties into a numbered Swiss bank account.;)
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
‘Though the relief at a job well done made the journey seem easier some_how, it did not improve the time.
>bad style
Please clarify?
There should have been an extra line there.
a) it should say ‘somehow’ instead of ‘some how’.
b) ‘improve the time’ doesn't sound right. It… well, honestly, it doesn't sound like a native English structure. As we say in the trade, ‘it sounds translated’.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am I'm glad that it's to be continued, I hope you can pull off making the sequel… will the units from this campaign be carried over to the continuation campaign as happens in many other serials, or will we have to recruit anew?
You'll recruit new ones. The sequel won't have the initiate unit, instead you recruit shamans (which upgrade to druid, sorceress, or treewalker) or adepts (which upgrade to mage or zealot). There are AMLAs too though, which replicate most if not all of the diversity of the initiates. Most of the significant characters will probably reappear as well.
OK, so I don't need to replay and save a dwarf steelclad whom I lost near the end of the campaign.

I see that many of the units don't have descriptions… I've already promised Eagle_11 some unit descriptions, so would you like me to try my hand at them if I prove good at doing the Ogres and what-not for Eagle_11?
Can-ned_Food wrote: August 11th, 2018, 1:36 amWhen I design interactive environments and puzzles, I always try to help the user distinguish between a disabled thing and an invalid one. My favorite example is a torch stanchion: if one of twenty is the operator for a secret door, then the user needs a message which indicates that the other nineteen are not simply inert decoration if they were to attempt a ‘pull’ or such action.

Perhaps a message if you land on the trapdoor but are unable to use it?

Code: Select all

### _"This door is locked from the other side."
### _"You need to open the door on the far end of this tunnel from the outside."
Bleh; something like that.
This sounds like a good idea.
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Celtic_Minstrel
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:35 am Excellent! I find it a bit overpowered that I can leave her alone on a forest tile and have six Orcs turned to my side for the very next turn, but that's mostly because they steal XP from my Initiates.
Well, as the corrected description makes clear, as a level 3 Enchantress she only has a 25% chance (per turn though) to dominate a level 2 unit; level 1 units are always dominated. I may tweak the mechanics further, but I'm going to stick with the general idea of it improving as she levels up.
Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:35 am The problem with his being poisoned is that he runs off to get healed and stops recruiting.
Hmm, I see... in this case I'd expect him to recruit, then run off to get healed...
Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:35 am I see that many of the units don't have descriptions… I've already promised Eagle_11 some unit descriptions, so would you like me to try my hand at them if I prove good at doing the Ogres and what-not for Eagle_11?
Um... I'll think about it? I'd kinda prefer to write the descriptions myself, to be honest, but...
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Sadaharu
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Sadaharu »

Celtic_Minstrel wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:50 am
Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:35 am The problem with his being poisoned is that he runs off to get healed and stops recruiting.
Hmm, I see... in this case I'd expect him to recruit, then run off to get healed...
The sequence, as it happened to me, was:
Turn 1) Necromancer goes off to attack errant mosquito units west of his keep, gets poisoned.
Turn 2) Necromancer returns east to his keep, takes 8 dmg. Recruits.
Turn 3) Necromancer moves to village to the east.
Turn 4) Necromancer gets unpoisoned; stays.
Turn 5) Necromancer heals 10 points; returns.
The turn (or two turns if he gets too damaged) of not recruiting denies his troops backup and their front line is overextended (I had the superpowerful Enchantresses/Sylphs anyway by that point, but this was playing on medium difficulty). Perhaps he and his troops could be instructed not to engage the mosquitoes directly? I don't know how hard that is to program so I don't know whether it is worth it.
Celtic_Minstrel wrote:
Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:35 am I see that many of the units don't have descriptions… I've already promised Eagle_11 some unit descriptions, so would you like me to try my hand at them if I prove good at doing the Ogres and what-not for Eagle_11?
Um... I'll think about it? I'd kinda prefer to write the descriptions myself, to be honest, but...
By all means! It's your work and they look better if all have been written by the same person (not least because you have the whole picture in your mind), but if you need anything drop me a line. :)

And sorry if I get too pedantic about language; as I said, it's my métier so i'm prone to overdoing it.
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

Sadaharu wrote: August 11th, 2018, 3:13 am And sorry if I get too pedantic about language; as I said, it's my métier so i'm prone to overdoing it.
Don't worry about it, I'm kinda the same way anyway. :)

I'll probably put up a new version tomorrow addressing most of the things Sadaharu pointed out and some other things as well.
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am I think the cold staff might be broken, or, at least, the undead seem to take 20 dmg from cold anyway. I'd better check.
I just tested in scenario 4 (the earliest you can get it) on a vanilla skeleton, and it seemed to be working fine. So unless one specific unit has the wrong resistances, or unless you can provide evidence (maybe even a replay), I'm going to assume there's no problem here.
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

So I have now uploaded version 2.0.1 to the add-ons server.
Changelog:
The person who couldn't win the last scenario because the leader was missing should be able to restart from the beginning of that scenario and finish the campaign, if they want to.
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Sadaharu
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Sadaharu »

Celtic_Minstrel wrote: August 11th, 2018, 1:55 pm
Sadaharu wrote: August 10th, 2018, 2:15 am I think the cold staff might be broken, or, at least, the undead seem to take 20 dmg from cold anyway. I'd better check.
I just tested in scenario 4 (the earliest you can get it) on a vanilla skeleton, and it seemed to be working fine. So unless one specific unit has the wrong resistances, or unless you can provide evidence (maybe even a replay), I'm going to assume there's no problem here.
*checks replays*

That is correct. It's a misreport, actually. I forgot to delete it from the preview page when I was going over them last night. My apologies.
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by gwen42 »

Celtic_Minstrel wrote: August 11th, 2018, 2:31 pmThe person who couldn't win the last scenario because the leader was missing should be able to restart from the beginning of that scenario and finish the campaign, if they want to.
YAY!!!! Thank you! :D
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Konrad2 »

Tracing the...
When the turns run out everything inside the caves is now a 'Rubble' hex. But. That's not really blocking the way. Maybe consider turning at least part of it into geniue cave hexes?

Battle at Port Lobur
So, I found some potions. Please tell me what potions I found. Thanks. ._.
The blue merman has no turn? That means, he can't attack and he certainly can't get healed by the village. You really hate him, don't you?
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

I think the blue merman has controller=null or something, so yeah. He's supposed to die, in any case.

You can always see how many potions you have by right-clicking an injured non-hasted unit, though sure, I can add an accounting every time you fine some as well.

I'm not quite sure what you mean on the first part, but it's game over, so does it really matter?
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Konrad2 »

Celtic_Minstrel wrote: August 15th, 2018, 12:12 am I think the blue merman has controller=null or something, so yeah. He's supposed to die, in any case.
Still made him survive. Take that!
I'm not quite sure what you mean on the first part, but it's game over, so does it really matter?
Well, it matters as much as adding special Death messages in case one of the important units die. It's just a question of...I guess style? And if 'it works' is enough, or if it's just a start.

EDIT: Scenario Objectives do not update when I complete Bonus Objectives.

Is the sea chart doing anything? (shipwreck in Sc3)

Why does Sc4 end once you defeat the Orc leader? (storywise)

Reinforcements of...
Instead of letting the turns go on...you start from turn 1 once you allied with the Saurians?
Spoiler:
This scenario ended with a 'You emerged victorious!' message, which is scary, as that normally only happens in the last scenario of a campaign.

Cheaper recall of Initiates only applies to those with special traits/abilities/stuff.

Into the Dread Marsh
So, Frogs can trigger more frogs. And also, something seems to have gone wrong, because that frog triggers them multiple times without moving..?
Attachments
Can't win like this.
Can't win like this.
BCoA-Into the Dread Marsh Turn 5.gz
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am EDIT: Scenario Objectives do not update when I complete Bonus Objectives.
What do you mean? Are you expecting the bonus objective to disappear once it's completed, or what?
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am Is the sea chart doing anything? (shipwreck in Sc3)
I think the intention was to deshroud the map, but looking at the code it seems I forgot to implement that.
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am Why does Sc4 end once you defeat the Orc leader? (storywise)
I... don't have an answer for that really? Does something about it strike you as odd?
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am Reinforcements of...
Instead of letting the turns go on...you start from turn 1 once you allied with the Saurians?
Yes.
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am
Spoiler:
I actually hadn't thought that far... but I imagine their proximity to the swamp is part of it.
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am This scenario ended with a 'You emerged victorious!' message, which is scary, as that normally only happens in the last scenario of a campaign.
Huh? What are you talking about? Doesn't that happen on every scenario?
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am Cheaper recall of Initiates only applies to those with special traits/abilities/stuff.
That doesn't make any sense, all initiates are the same unit type.

EDIT: Oh wait, if you're using an old save from 2.0.0, then the normal initiates might keep their old stats and thus have the higher recall cost; newly-recruited initiates, as well as any initiates affected by an [object], would have the correct cost. This is just a guess though.
Konrad2 wrote: August 15th, 2018, 6:44 am So, Frogs can trigger more frogs. And also, something seems to have gone wrong, because that frog triggers them multiple times without moving..?
I've disabled frogs triggering frogs now (for 2.0.2 which I expect to put up this weekend), but I'll take a look at that save later to see if there might be another issue lurking there.
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Sadaharu
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Sadaharu »

As an eternal optimist, I must point out that the frogs mean more XP, because if there are Orcs, they'll fight the frogs while I fight the higher-level undead, and if there aren't any Orcs, well, it's simply more XP. ;)
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Celtic_Minstrel »

Thinking about it, I suddenly wonder if switching to an enter hex event might have caused that. In particular, apparently enter hex can trigger if someone moves over the unit on that space, which might be able to explain what you're observing.

Preventing frogs from triggering it should be enough to fix this, I think, so I might not add further logic to ensure the hex is unoccupied.
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Re: The Black Cross of Aleron (formerly Besieged Druids)

Post by Sadaharu »

Looking at that pic has made me remember one thing: why do the enemy Nightgaunts prefer to target my highly armoured Steelclads rather than my highly vulnerable Initiates and Shamans? I lucked out: it was night and they had slipped through to my rearguard so they could have scored a kill or two rather than scratch my Steelclads. I played the turn twice and they did the same both times.

(of course, anybody who has ever modded a game knows that AI stands for Artificial Idiot, but still.)
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