The South Guard

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 2nd, 2005, 3:20 pm

PDF wrote:Do you have the latest SG version ? I downloaded mine only 2 days ago.

I suppose it's not obvious because I use a different name on the campaign server, but I'm the author.

PDF wrote:Anyway, renaming it to stg else (SG_GUARD for example) makes it work

It may be that some other campaign you have has defined the GUARD macro and that's causing the conflict. So, I've appended SG_ to all my macro calls. Thanks!

So I've played Retaking Westin, and even on Easy I was totally annihilated, the roaming village-burning bandits are very hard to stop !

I'll take a look at it. What units were you (mostly) using? They only burn villages that you've taken, so when you get one, hold it!

- b.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » January 2nd, 2005, 5:38 pm

Aelius,
Sorry for the confusion, indeed I didn't know you were the author !

As for the macro it's strange, I'd have supposed that only the played campaign macros were read, not the rest - else it'd be quite difficult to avoid duplicates...

Retaking Westin : I used a mixed force of Spearmen and Bowmen, with some peasant fodder. But both of them aren't able to stand more than 1 thug (so garrisoning isn't a very good option) and are on average slower than the various rebels - so can't catch them either !

I took Westlin quite early (maybe turn 8 or so), but I suppose the real problem is that I didn't prepare to defend the villages vs destruction, so my income became too low. The scenario is very difficult on the first try mainly because of this extraordinary feature (village destruction), on retrying it'll surely be manageable.

Thanks for this fun campaign, keep on the good work !

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 2nd, 2005, 5:57 pm

I've posted a new version that fixes the macro issues (I think...) I'll see what I can do about adding some events to make Retaking Westin easier on the first shot.

I really want a good image to put over the desert when the villages get destroyed, but I'm a terrible artist...

Thanks for playing!

- b.

scott · Post by **scott** » January 2nd, 2005, 6:34 pm

Re: retaking Westin

If you make the eastern ford wider, that might help stem the right flank of outlaws and give you more time to build up forces there and prevent them from getting behind you and killing your villages. You could try it and see if it works that way.

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 2nd, 2005, 6:49 pm

Out of curiosity, did you all find the mermen in the swamp village in The Kerlath Border? I've found that being able to recruit mermen is a great help in Retaking Westin. Maybe i'll put in a hint about the swamp village in the first scenario.

- b.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » January 2nd, 2005, 8:01 pm

aelius wrote:Out of curiosity, did you all find the mermen in the swamp village in The Kerlath Border? I've found that being able to recruit mermen is a great help in Retaking Westin. Maybe i'll put in a hint about the swamp village in the first scenario.

- b.

Yes, I had them, but in Westin I didn't think about recruiting mermen before I was broke and could'nt afford it anymore...

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 2nd, 2005, 8:06 pm

Maybe I'll have you get some gold when you finally land in Westin. Would 50 be helpful without being unbalancing?

Also, what difficulty level are you playing on?

- b.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » January 2nd, 2005, 8:51 pm

aelius wrote:Maybe I'll have you get some gold when you finally land in Westin. Would 50 be helpful without being unbalancing?

Also, what difficulty level are you playing on?

- b.

Rather than gold, maybe a "militia levy" of a bunch of peasant in Westin could be inserted to help village defense. Event will follow the bandit event starting the destruction.

And hum, I was playing on Easy

. I started on Medium but couldn't event win the first scenario (time ran out) so I restarted on Easy

!

On another topic I find Deoran on level 2 is quite poor for a level 2 unit, he's much weaker than a Knight, with Mace 5-2 and Lance 8-3...(A Knight is Blade 8-4 Lance 14-2) !

Edit : another "bug" : in SG_AMBUSHER macro it looks like you forgot to assign "SIDE" variable (ie there's no side={side} assignment)

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 2nd, 2005, 9:13 pm

PDF wrote: Rather than gold, maybe a "militia levy" of a bunch of peasant in Westin could be inserted to help village defense. Event will follow the bandit event starting the destruction.

That's a much better idea. I'll work on something like that. I've made some subtle alterations to the map that should make it easier too.

PDF wrote:And hum, I was playing on Easy . I started on Medium but couldn't event win the first scenario (time ran out) so I restarted on Easy

I haven't done any balancing on medium or hard whatsoever yet. I may set it so you can only play on easy until I get a chance to.

PDF wrote:On another topic I find Deoran on level 2 is quite poor for a level 2 unit, he's much weaker than a Knight, with Mace 5-2 and Lance 8-3...(A Knight is Blade 8-4 Lance 14-2)

I'm very open to suggestions. The Lancer commander is just a stub right now. I'd like to add some impact damage to make him worthwhile against the undead, and keep the x-3 charge attack. I may bump him up to 6-2 and 9-3. I wonder if it's possible to make an attack "charge" and "marksman" - That'd be nifty for my hero!

PDF wrote:Edit : another "bug" : in SG_AMBUSHER macro it looks like you forgot to assign "SIDE" variable (ie there's no side={side} assignment)

Fixed. Thanks.

- b.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » January 3rd, 2005, 12:32 pm

Aelius,
Re Deoran
Look at a Knight : 58 Hp, Move 8, Blade 8-4 and Lance 14-2
A Lancer (other upgrade of level 2 for Horsemen) is 48 HP, move 10, Lance 12-3.

I think you want to have Deoran somewhere between, as an "inferior" lancer but still x3 and some melee ability as a Knight. IMHO a Knight is much better than a Lancer, because indeed it does not rely too much on the Lance, which is a very dangerous weapon for its wielder due to the double damage received..

So something like 52 hp, Move 8, Mace (or Blade) 7-3 and Lance 10-3 is justified. A x2 melee attack is quite weak for a fighter type. And after all Deoran is the hero of the campaign !

About "marksman" and "charge" : WML reference indicates an attack can only have 1 special effect, so it's not possible...

scott · Post by **scott** » January 3rd, 2005, 2:48 pm

I wouldn't buff him up too much. If you make him a superhero I think it would make the campaign less fun. A non-charge mace attack would be nice though.

He's not as good as a knight or lancer because he isn't a knight or lancer. He does have leadership, however, which makes a big difference if he's used as a leader. It may be a good idea to have him start out at level 2 and give him a level 3 so we can capitalize more on the leadership.

For the current L1/L2 combination, I think the movement and HP are right on. I would up the mace attack but not the lance attack (48 damage is a lot). If you did a L3, then you know, go for it.

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 3rd, 2005, 8:24 pm

I've figured that Deoran is a new commander, probably with about a year under his belt, but a year without many battles. He's thrown into a bad situation and rises to the occasion. So I think it's fair that he's not as buff as the knight or lancer.

I hadn't really realized that his leadership was almost worthless at level one. I suppose I could just bump both of the levels up one.

I'd prefer not to add a mace attack to the Horseman Commander - That's what really differentiates the Lance Commander, and rewards you for leveling him by the time you're fighting swarms of undead.

- b.

silvermane · Post by **silvermane** » January 4th, 2005, 1:31 pm

'The Choice in the Fog' scenario is strangely won right after the first turn, dunno why.

Similarly 'The Messenger' is lost after the first turn, presumably because Sir Gerrick isn't created.

silvermane

aelius · Post by **aelius** » January 4th, 2005, 9:14 pm

Two silly mistakes, not changing code I use to test and debug the scenarios. A fixed version is up on the campaign server.

How have you found the scenario up to that point?

- b.

PDF · Post by **PDF** » January 5th, 2005, 10:15 pm

Aelius
I restarted "Retaking Westin" with the new 0.4 version, but game crashed on turn 2 (Ai turn), stderr says :

Code: Select all

loaded map: 40,35
showing intro sequence...
showing intro part
Having defeated Urza Mathin, Deoran immediately instituted regular patrols of the whole countryside.  His men reported bandits roaming freely over the border, terrorizing the peasants and villagers.
intro sequence finished...
error engine: player not found!
error engine: player not found!
error engine: player not found!
error engine: player not found!
closing audio...
final closing audio...
done closing audio...

Is this a scenario bug, or maybe do I have to restart the campaign ?