Nightmare to the Throne

Discussion and development of scenarios and campaigns for the game.

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beetlenaut
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Nightmare to the Throne

Post by beetlenaut »

I added a nightmare difficulty level to Heir to the Throne! I put this version of the campaign on the 1.16 add-on server. I'm not aiming for this difficulty level to be added to the mainline campaign (though I wouldn't object). I just hadn't played BfW for a long time, and then I had an idea....

I think I am out of free time for the moment, but there are still some things that could be worked on: The branching paths after "A Choice Must Be Made" are not playtested as much as the other scenarios, so they could probably be made harder, but I'm not sure by how much. One or two other scenarios might also benefit from the same treatment. Feel free to give me recommendations, especially if you have beaten other mainline campaigns on nightmare. Also, a new text domain still needs to be added.

There are two small changes that affect all difficulties: You can now order Li'sar to move or not in "Hasty Alliance," which can prevent her from leaping out behind your screening units and attacking a level-3 troll. Also, a unit that gets killed by lava in "Scepter of Fire" gets scrolled to for a dying scream instead of just silently vanishing from the game. (Both of these changes involve new strings, but could be added to the mainline campaign when it's allowed. And IMHO they should be!) Everything else should work just as before on lower difficulty levels, but I didn't playtest them, so it's possible that I introduced a bug. Let me know if you find one.
Campaigns: Dead Water,
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

Woah, a 4th difficulty level...Hmm, I wish the bonus rewards for S19C and S20B would be revised to be something more usable. The current ones don't compensate for the hassle those two scenarios are.
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dwarftough
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by dwarftough »

Yeah, Wose lore is written in the comment to be a reward because "it doesn't change anything significantly as there is little woods afterwards" (I think I've seen that explanation in the comments). I believe this isn't the best way, and for the hidden hard path better give a good reward (sorry for posting it here, it's probably the feedback on the mainline HttT but knyght has mentioned this and I remembered)
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by beetlenaut »

dwarftough wrote: October 31st, 2021, 2:05 pm Wose lore is written in the comment to be a reward because "it doesn't change anything significantly as there is little woods afterwards
It does say that, which is strange. I usually go through the marshes because the void armor is the nicest item. That gives you a good tank unit, so it does change things. However, I'm not going to change the book unless it's changed in mainline.
dwarftough wrote: October 31st, 2021, 2:05 pm Hmm, I wish the bonus rewards for S19C and S20B would be revised to be something more usable.
What I did do was change the experienced sergeant into an experienced lieutenant. That should make it just possible to level him up to a level-4 leader in time to be useful--I'm assuming you are using mostly level-3 units at this point. (If you are playing this still, feel free to use the debug commands to give the guy 70 more XP!).
Campaigns: Dead Water,
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by beetlenaut »

I finally had time to playtest the Cliffs of Thoria, Underground Channels, and Snow Plains. They are more nightmarish now. The Cliffs and Snow Plains will be seriously painful (maybe not even possible) without a few sylphs, but if you are not playing HttT with an air force, you are doing it wrong! Besides, there is always the swamp path.
Campaigns: Dead Water,
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and WML Guide
plantpaladin
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by plantpaladin »

Hi I got stuck at Northern Winter. Got 239 gold. Got any advise?
Recall list:: 2 Shyde 1 Paladin 1 Knight 2 Champions 1 Hero 1 Almost leveled Scout
Loyal 1 White mage 1 Fugitve 1 Avenger 1 Assasain + 1 Rogue + 1 Thief + Mermen(Useless on this map?)
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by Lord-Knightmare »

plantpaladin wrote: December 18th, 2021, 7:45 pm Hi I got stuck at Northern Winter. Got 239 gold. Got any advise?
Recall list:: 2 Shyde 1 Paladin 1 Knight 2 Champions 1 Hero 1 Almost leveled Scout
Loyal 1 White mage 1 Fugitve 1 Avenger 1 Assasain + 1 Rogue + 1 Thief + Mermen(Useless on this map?)
I'd suggest recalling the Shyde and 2 Champions and Avenger. Using kalenz and Delfador with them to melt down enemies as you need to be killing more than being killed. At least that's how I did it in the Hard difficulty. recalling the loyal white mage also helps if you can level him up. Also, why so few?
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beetlenaut
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by beetlenaut »

plantpaladin wrote: December 18th, 2021, 7:45 pm Hi I got stuck at Northern Winter. Got 239 gold. Got any advise?
I'm concerned about your lack of high-level units--especially magical fire power. I'm not sure I could win this scenario with that recall list myself. You do have some good melee units, but the enemy units hit back hard at this point in the campaign.

Like Lord-Knightmare said, the only way to avoid taking too much damage from strong enemy units is to kill them quickly. For that reason, I like to concentrate on magical units and mobility. That made my recall list much different than yours. I did have two Paladins, a Champion, and two Shydes much like you did, however, I also had four Sylphs, one Silver Mage, a Great Mage, and two Red Magi. I was able to recall most of those, so it wasn't too hard. (It still took a few tries to get through with acceptable losses though.)
Campaigns: Dead Water,
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by plantpaladin »

Ok made it through. Critical part was T8 letting the enemy try kill my Champion with his Wolfpack at day.
I like Heroes/Champions, better than Spearmen at making enemies regret their attacks.
I also realize you were right on lack of mobile attack power, had to resort to Scout Spam after killing first leader.
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plantpaladin
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by plantpaladin »

Ok finally done with campaign. Adding my experience of the mission which stood out.
S5B Isle of the Dammed force you to use the 3 mermen with ranged attack from S4 +1 decoy to lure and kill south leader.
S9 The Valley of Death forces you to lose loyal units to the huge numbers of Chocobones(went south)
S10 Gryphon Mountain; Gave up on Gryphons, dint have enough flyers/elven cavalry.
S12 Thank you for aid, I should've gotten sylphs earlier as you need fast units for second leader.
S13 Have to RUSH north to activate village for info and uncle and then rush for exit.
S15 The Lost General. Lost Assasain/Shyde to get through ZoC fast enough to save dwarf.
S17 The Sceptre of Fire Had to reload to get a passable way 2 times.
S23 Test of the Clans was too hard without gryphons or guardsmen. Restarted from S15 and parked 2 Senintels on central villages south of lake.
S24 Can't spam knights as on normal. You run out of money before they run out of troops. Used normal army instead and a few knights.
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by HenryY2020 »

For those who are stuck on the first scenario on nightmare difficulty, recruit shamans only and use them to slow down Knafa-Tan's units. Learned this the hard way.
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Re: Nightmare to the Throne

Post by beetlenaut »

Two things to note: You can use Chantal's troops to get you through turn 5 and/or 6 with few losses of your own. Also, the AI won't usually attack Delfador if there are other, weaker units nearby, so he can survive at least one turn exposed.

I think I played better in the second one, and I finished in better shape for the second scenario. I did also get some overall luck though, so maybe that was actually why. (Hopefully these will load properly for you. They are pretty old.)

Edit: I guess you figured out a way to do it. I didn't get only shamans, but they are valuable here.
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Campaigns: Dead Water,
The Founding of Borstep,
Secrets of the Ancients,
and WML Guide
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