Secrets of the Ancients (Undead Campaign)

[beetlenaut]

Story
From the Journal of Ardonna of Tarrynth:
It's unfair that we humans must die after so few years. Though this is the natural order, we need not embrace it! The lords on the Green Isle knew how to live forever. Pursuit of that knowledge was declared illegal by King Haldric I, but I believe it is worth the risk: If I can rediscover the secrets of the ancients, not only will I cheat death, I will become a hero to the whole continent!

Design Considerations

• Many battles are against unusual enemies.
• Contains a wide variety of maps and tactical challenges.
• The player must use many unit types to succeed.
• Has a compelling story and characters — not placeholders.

What Can You Do to Help?

• Post a review in the feedback thread.
• Improve my artwork. Anything is appreciated, but I have a wish list, too.
• Report a bug in this thread if you find one.

Changelog

0.3.0 - Chapter 1 released.
0.3.1 - Balancing adjustments.
0.3.2 - Small improvements to scenario 4.
0.3.3 - Scenario 4 mostly rewritten.
0.6.0 - Chapter 2 released.
0.7.0 - Three more scenarios released; the first half of Chapter 3.
0.9.8 - Complete campaign finally released! Some minor rebalancing as well.
0.9.8a - Fixes a bug on scenario 6.
0.9.9 - Balancing changes on Abandoned Outpost for easy and normal. Some polish and code cleanup.
1.0.0 - A bit of balancing and some polish.
1.0.1 - Now using the new ancient lich sprite for all liches except Ardonna. A few small cosmetic tweaks.
1.0.2 - Some improvements to the ship art by Wussel.
1.0.3 - Lots of small changes including a few minor bugfixes. See the discussion on the feedback thread for a list of the more visible changes.
1.0.3a - Workaround for an engine bug.
1.0.3b - Two minor bugs (related to the last changes) found and fixed.
1.1.0 - Lots of changes and a few minor bugfixes. Forum post here with more details.
1.1.1 - A few minor visual bugs fixed, uploaded to 1.13 server.

Art Wish List (minor spoilers)

• NE facing Dark Adept
• Double-scale versions of Dark Sorcerer and Ghoul for story art
• Undead wolves (Having them change into a horse and rider is just bizarre.)
• Animations for Sleepwalker's ancient lich (used for Ardonna) that are better than my pathetic attepts.

Translated into Magyar (Hungarian) by WhiteWolf.
Translated into Japanese by RatArmy.
Translated into Russian by iven, olga_flox, and marat
Look for it on the 1.12 and 1.13 servers. From the author of Dead Water and The Founding of Borstep.

[Turuk]

What Can You Do to Help?
Give me balancing feedback. I believe it's balanced on "Difficult", but I'm less sure about the rest.
Tell me what you think of the story.

I cannot draw, but I would be happy to play through to help with balancing/story review.

Look for it on the 1.11 server. From the author of Dead Water and The Founding of Borstep.

I do not know if you are still in the process of getting it out there, but in case you thought it was uploaded already (I wasn't sure by your tense and "releasing today" comment), it is not there.

[Iris]

Look for it on the 1.11 server. From the author of Dead Water and The Founding of Borstep.

Not the 1.12 server?

[beetlenaut]

it is not there.

I wanted to put the topic-id into the .pbl file, so this post had to exist first. Then I had some upload trouble. Try again. It should be there now.

Not the 1.12 server?

Wait, the 1.12 server is up? I uploaded it with BfW 1.11.15. What should I have done?

Edit: The web interface shows it on 1.12. I guess that's what I meant. The server name is not show from within BfW, so I thought we were still using 1.11.

[Velensk]

Two things one for Turuk one for Beetlenaut

@beetlenaut: You say that you don't fight the same enemy twice except at the end, for a 18 scenario campaign that's impressive.

@Turuk: this probably isn't the best place to ask this but could you please finish my campaign first

[Turuk]

I wanted to put the topic-id into the .pbl file, so this post had to exist first. Then I had some upload trouble. Try again. It should be there now.

Fair enough, I am a bit impatient, I do apologize.

@Turuk: this probably isn't the best place to ask this but could you please finish my campaign first

Also a fair point, I should finish what I started. Though I can honestly say I have not played any other campaign, I was just back to working on fixing up an abandoned campaign.

I promise I will play through both, I've just been struggling with Magestic on Hard.

[Iris]

Not the 1.12 server?

Wait, the 1.12 server is up? I uploaded it with BfW 1.11.15. What should I have done?

Edit: The web interface shows it on 1.12. I guess that's what I meant. The server name is not show from within BfW, so I thought we were still using 1.11.

Yep, that is the 1.12 add-ons server, serving 1.11.10+ and 1.12.x. The 1.11.x add-ons server is used by 1.11.0 through 1.11.9 only.

[Turuk]

S1
-I liked the style of the introduction, and that this first scenario fits with her story. There's no sudden jump into a major battle with a random happenstance enemy, but the enemy fits what you would expect as she ventures forth (vague for the sake of not spoiling anything)
- I am playing on Difficult, and this scenario is deceptive. When it starts off, you don't think it's going to be too bad, but there are enough enemies constantly moving around you that halfway through, I started having to pay more careful attention.
-Difficulty could be ramped up a bit.

S2
- Scenario fit in perfectly with story progression, and still believable. Also, I like the logic in the change in her recruiting/the reaction of the enemy to her presence.
- This one started out easy, but my gold was a bit less stellar than it should have been, so I engaged in some dancing around in order to make sure I was always in a good position as I ran out of money to recruit by the time I had more options.
-Same as first, for being the hardest difficulty, it could be ramped up a bit.

I'm trading off between this and SWC for Velensk, so S3 will have to wait until tomorrow.

[GodlyDragon]

HI, I'm just here to report a bug on 1.11.10: I just can't play at your campaign, here is the problem: Impossible de charger cette(ces) extension(s) en erreur :
Secrets of the Ancients

Please report this to the author or maintainer of this add-on.

Details:

Macro/file 'MISSILE_FRAME_CHILL_TEMPEST' is missing
at ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/units/Necro_Ancient_Lich.cfg:107
included from ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/_main.cfg:49
I hope you will fix it soon, I'm most eager to play to your campaign

[Crow_T]

I look forward to this, I enjoyed the Founding of Borstep, both in story/playing as well as the clever coding tricks that make for a unique experience.

[Wesbane]

Macro/file 'MISSILE_FRAME_CHILL_TEMPEST' is missing

Sorry to disappoint you, but this is not a bug, merely a sign that you are using outdated version of wesnoth (1.11.10). Mentioned macro is part of a core game. Easiest way to solve this problem is to update your game. Optionally you can remove reference to that macro in listed file.

[UK1]

As a very vocal proponent of undead since 1.4, I'm glad to see they're getting another campaign.

@Velensk: I loved all of your campaigns. Where can I find your new one?

~Ukraneean

[Turuk]

As a very vocal proponent of undead since 1.4, I'm glad to see they're getting another campaign.

It's a well-written one as well too.

@Velensk: I loved all of your campaigns. Where can I find your new one?

Swamp Witch Curse

[Crow_T]

Well written indeed, it was like I was reading from a novel.

I just blew through this today (on normal) and the cliffhanger ending is killing me

In terms of balance it seemed pretty challenging, I have no idea how one could beat Blackwater on hard or challenging, I squeaked by this, and went back and tried a few times to do better. It's pretty relentless.

[Adamant14]

The campaign won't load.

Battle for Wesnoth v1.11.11
Started on Tue Jun 10 15:26:31 2014


20140610 15:28:32 error config: Macro/file 'MISSILE_FRAME_CHILL_TEMPEST' is missing
at ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/units/Necro_Ancient_Lich.cfg:107
included from ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/_main.cfg:49
20140610 15:28:32 error config: error reading usermade add-on 'C:/Users/Myname/AppData/Local/Battle for Wesnoth 1.11.11/userdata/data/add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/_main.cfg'
20140610 15:28:32 error config: Macro/file 'MISSILE_FRAME_CHILL_TEMPEST' is missing
at ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/units/Necro_Ancient_Lich.cfg:107
included from ~add-ons/Secrets_of_the_Ancients/_main.cfg:49
20140610 15:29:03 error general: unknown scenario: '01_Slipping_Away'