Siege of Elensefar: AI keeps crushing my units

[is_this_allowed]

TDLR: holding the river and waiting in the forest do not work because I don't have enough gold. Replayed previous scenarios but it didn't help much.

I am playing Wesnoth version 1.14.17 and in particular the campaign The Heir to the Throne on the highest difficulty and now I am stuck on the Siege of Elensefar scenario. I start with 120 gold pieces and some level 2 units and others close to level advancement but this is not enough to even last more than ten turns. I have tried several strategies including occupying the two towers that form a bottleneck on the bridge at the entrance to the city but despite the support of the white mage the blockade does not last long. The firepower the opponent is able to project is overwhelming compared to the small number of units that can be recruited with the initial amount of gold. Forcing the enemy to fight in the river does not work either because in any case the elves' defense on the plains is 40 percent, and although this is still advantageous to me, the opponent's ability to recruit new recruits negates any defensive advantage. Holding position in the forest in front of Konrad's castle does not work because of the monstrous amount of enemies coming over from every direction. I have tried replaying the previous scenarios several times starting from the Bay of Pearls getting a good result but the Island of the Damned is impossible to complete with a satisfactory result, killing one or both enemy leaders, and without using all the turns. I have completed this campaign a couple of times in the past but on hard mode it seems impossible. I try to attach a replay, which is just one of many attempts and various strategies, to show how the opponent manages to wipe out all my units easily in a few turns.

[Orek]

Useful links:
Past discussion of Siege of Elensefar
Replay by Poison in 1.14.7
Replay by Zrevnur in 1.14.9

General advice:

1. 80% preparatoin in scenario 1~5 + 20% strategy in this scenario = success
   Preparation is so much more important than how to play this scenario itself.
2. More gold
   Almost all successful replays start with 200~300 gold.
3. More advanced, or close-to-advancement units
   Recalling 5~10 level 2 units is the norm.

I have successfully finished this campaign 3 times on challenging(hardest) difficulty in 1.14.17 under the permadeath principle (no save-loading even between scenarios), so I can say for sure that finishing this scenario with a satisfactory result is possible without relying on good RNG. Currently, I am writing a walkthrough based on my experience, and it is expected to finish in several weeks. All 3 runs were recorded while playing, so the walkthrough will include YouTube videos. In the meanwhile, my replays in scenario 1~6 from a practice permadeath run are attached here. I hope you find a way to beat this challenging scenario and the rest of the campaign.

[gnombat]

I start with 120 gold pieces and some level 2 units and others close to level advancement

But ... where are they? I looked at the replay and there were no recalls at all (other than the one who was auto-recalled at the beginning of the scenario). You really need to have a big, powerful army of level 2 and/or level 3 units to have any chance of winning this scenario at the hardest difficulty. If you don't have that, it may be better to re-start the campaign from the beginning and focus on leveling up more units this time.

I have tried several strategies including occupying the two towers that form a bottleneck on the bridge at the entrance to the city but despite the support of the white mage the blockade does not last long. The firepower the opponent is able to project is overwhelming compared to the small number of units that can be recruited with the initial amount of gold. Forcing the enemy to fight in the river does not work either because in any case the elves' defense on the plains is 40 percent, and although this is still advantageous to me, the opponent's ability to recruit new recruits negates any defensive advantage. Holding position in the forest in front of Konrad's castle does not work because of the monstrous amount of enemies coming over from every direction.

The third possibility (which I've marked in bold) is generally the way things go on the hardest difficulty. Someone once pointed out that it's basically a "Siege of Elensefar" in reverse - you're the one who is besieged. Generally you want to position your units in the forest and/or your starting encampment, and the orcs will likely attack you there. But again, you need a very strong army to survive this.

[beetlenaut]

The difficulty levels in BfW make a big difference, and it sounds like you are playing at too high a level. You need to be able to survive with more resources left. At the beginning of Elenesefar, you should have 6 to 8 leveled units and hopefully over 200 gold. With some practice, you will find this surprisingly easy to get.

I recommend that you start all over on normal difficulty--you are only 16% of the way through, and it's not going to get any easier! This time, pay more attention to leveling units: try to give a kill to the same one or two units every turn. I would also suggest going the other way after the Bay of Pearls. You can get a good loyal unit on the Isle of the Damned, but you can get a ton of experience and gold on Muff Malal's Peninsula.

Also, you should upgrade to 1.16. Most people don't have 1.14 any more and won't be able to load your replays.