6b. Soradoc

[Content Feedback]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(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?
(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?

[Vendrick]

(1) Invasion, 1.18
(2) 7
(3) Clear
(4) Dialogue continues to be good, with Owaec and Dacyn clashing. I also like the Soradoc map; it conveys quite well the dire straits of Soradoc's defenders. Nice to see that Mal-Ravanal's enjoying the invasion.
(5) The two L3 Undead units are extremely dangerous - the resilient Necromancer (83HP!) and a Ghast. The Ghast can deal 45 damage at night, and the Necromancer 48. The narrow front, time of day, the Necromancer's high income and incoming reinforcements make this part extremely dangerous.
(6) 9 - the strong storytelling of the gameplay itself, the tactical options available and the tension between the bonus objectives make it the best scenario (so far).
(7) The achievement for not killing any of the undead leaders is strange because that's the easiest and worst outcome.

On the replay: If only there were some kind of fast, impact resistant unit that could hit the Undead during day time. At least I have the Dunefolk (until my gold goes negative and their mercenary trait flips from +30% to -30% damage).
Poison makes the AI play incompetently (spreading attacks and targeting Gweddry in particular) and I exploited that.
The Necromancer seems impossible to pull from his keep with bait and waiting out night for the kill probably wrecks any chance of killing the other undead leaders.
My mages really delivered on the critical turn to attack the Necromancer. The actual target is reduce the Necromancer to ~24 HP and cause him to retreat rather than attacking. I got lucky though and damaged the Necromancer enough that he checked out of combat altogether and got killed while still on the village.
I didn't account for the chance the ghoul would die on the attack and expose Gweddry to another hex though.
The heroic bait spearman disrupts the advance of Mal-Ravanal's ghosts really well, as the lead ghosts stop to capture villages.
I close out with a major mistake with Owaec, who could have been killed if hit he had missed the skeleton. I've decided to blame Yannic though.

An Archmage is probably the best bet for clearing out the Necromancer without the knights from Mal-Ravanal's capital. I should have given Gweddry's illuminate to a more expendable unit (like the Dune Swordsman) in the previous scenario.

[sine_nomine]

Invasion, 1.18.0
First time I barely managed to kill three leaders and yannic miraculously survived with 1 hp. The ghost reinforcements seem rather passive, I probably could have ignored them entirely.
In retrospect I was extremely lucky for yannic to survive so long with no help. I tried replaying this scenario and was able to rush owaec to yannic while sending a single quick duelist to the escape point. Due to the defensive AI he wasn't attacked until the reinforcements appeared and only one enemy could reach him at that point.

[doofus-01]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.19.2+dev, Incursion
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
10, I haven't beaten it yet.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
It made sense, seemed appropriate.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
There just isn't enough time to reach the AI ally. I tried dashing north, taking out side 4, then dash west to clear out side 3 and block side 5, but that lets side 6 own the ally. I could slog through the river to take out side 6, then reach the ally and block sides 3 and 5, but then turns run out. All that while I had the Lich's recruits chasing me since I can't afford to waste resources dealing with them (they didn't seem very passive). I'm beginning to think 218g just isn't enough to pull this off. I don't have the good luck or dunefolk of the previous reviewers.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe the AI ally could be transferred to player control? Save-the-idiot-AI scenarios are usually pretty frustrating. I'm assuming this guy is important, if he's just a minor bonus then never mind.

[fredbobsmith2]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on? Invasion (Difficult) 1.18.4
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) 8
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives? Clear, though maybe I missed that killing 3 leaders would also trigger meeting Yannic?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario? Very good, another great example of the main characters' dynamic.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? Right strategy; the walkthrough suggests crossing the river to the west which is a terrible idea. I recalled for 2 turns, one keep of high level mages then one partial keep of knights and a spearman to distract the ghosts a bit. The knights and mages went straight north and blasted the necromancer, I got a little lucky with the charges hitting and didn't have to use my archmage. Then the knights went west into the city to kill the ghast leader and help out a bit, while the rest went to the north leader and Gweddry went for the exit. I reloaded the very last turn one time because Yannic left himself open and got killed, it may be nice if he knew to screen himself a bit better.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 8, intense with alot of pressure again like 4c.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? None, very good amount of pressure but the scenario is surprisingly do-able.