How to Start as a Newbie

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Dennis
Posts: 35
Joined: April 26th, 2005, 2:07 am

How to Start as a Newbie

Post by Dennis »

Actually, this is my advice to a beginner:

1) Don't start with a campaign

2) Go to Multiplayer, and play the AI on Battleworld (set to infinite turns if you really want to slog it out to the end)

3) Choose "Rebels". Give yourself plenty of money at first.

4) When you start getting the hang of it, play around with changing the amount villages produce, and more importantly...

5) Play around with changing the leveling percentages. Leveling is crucial to the game, and understanding it is huge.

6) Change the time period so that you can recruit different troops.

7) Then play one turn for each race. (Hint: You can easily win with only Griphons!")

8) Having spent an enjoyable time, you are ready for a campaign.
Glowing Fish
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Post by Glowing Fish »

I wouldn't suggest Battle World, because it is so long it gets tedious.
I hope I am not dissing on anyone who loves that map, or made it, but for a beginner, I would suggest something less time consuming.
Try "Forest of Fear"
Don't go to Glowing Fish for advice, he will say both yes and no.
rezaf
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Post by rezaf »

I, as a player, like to discover things, like for example the unit upgrades you'll eventually get to in campaigns, so for me, starting out with everything available isn't the way to got.

IMO, playing a campaign first isn't too bad - should prolly be HttT or RoW.

However, new players should play on Easy, and they need to be aware that BfW deliberatley tries to set itself apart from the "competition", often leaving common sense behind it in the process.

"We know all the other car producers use round wheels, but the Wesnoth car is not like other cars, so we stick to our squared ones. If you don't like that, get another car instead."
rezaf

"This pisses me off!"
Urinal, the Elvish Marshal
Tux2B
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Post by Tux2B »

I think Httt is a good campaign to learn Wesnoth. You use units from different factions, and you play on all kind of terrains.
"There are two kind of campaign strategies : the good and the bad ones. The good ones almost always fail because of unforeseen consequences that make the bad ones succeed." -- Napoleon
Dennis
Posts: 35
Joined: April 26th, 2005, 2:07 am

Battle World is only long IF>>>

Post by Dennis »

You win it. I assume that in the begining, you'll lose or have such an overwhelming advantage that you can tell you're winning.

Whatever scenario you choose, play around and understand experience etc. You don't have to win it. I wish I had done that before even putting something on Easy to play.
Glurak
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Joined: September 18th, 2005, 4:12 am

Post by Glurak »

What I did was went through the tutorial, and then started playing HttT on easy. Then if I was stuck on a mission, I would try out a different campaign such as a player-made campaign, then try to beat the mission later.
Dennis
Posts: 35
Joined: April 26th, 2005, 2:07 am

Yes...

Post by Dennis »

...that's how we all started. But how often can you play HttT? It's so much better to start with some understanding and skills. You don't have to finish Battle World, just learn from it. It's enough to set as a goal the eradication of the group next to you, then replay against other races.

You get to field a small army quickly, and meet one. You learn to organize your forces under several terrains. You can understand levelling and healing.

It keeps HttT fresh for you. And it's fun!

That's my 2-cents worth. 'Nuff said.
Pythagoras
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Re: Yes...

Post by Pythagoras »

Dennis wrote:...that's how we all started. But how often can you play HttT? It's so much better to start with some understanding and skills. You don't have to finish Battle World, just learn from it. It's enough to set as a goal the eradication of the group next to you, then replay against other races.

You get to field a small army quickly, and meet one. You learn to organize your forces under several terrains. You can understand levelling and healing.

It keeps HttT fresh for you. And it's fun!

That's my 2-cents worth. 'Nuff said.
I think doing HttT on Normal is adequate for this. Each subsequent level demands new skills. On easy, its too easy and doesn't challenge you sufficiently to acquire the skills needed to succeed in campaigns.
Filin
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Joined: August 24th, 2005, 7:13 pm

Post by Filin »

rezaf wrote:I, as a player, like to discover things, like for example the unit upgrades you'll eventually get to in campaigns, so for me, starting out with everything available isn't the way to got.
I'm agree. I recently completed HttT and it was very intresting to find something new in every scenario. I feel that campaigns are the heart of Wesnoth and new players apparently should start from most gripping thing of the game.

I also think that normal difficulty is not so bad for beginners. A little citation from the GettingStarted:
Consider playing the campaign on 'Medium' difficulty level, especially if you have prior experience with strategy games. We feel you'll find it much more rewarding.
I think this is the very true. OTOH:
But remember, the aim is to have fun! You may have different tastes to the developers, so do what you enjoy most!
quartex
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Post by quartex »

I strongly suggest "The South Guard", a great learning campaign.
HaJo
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Post by HaJo »

For beginners, I can also recommand the campaigns "Tale of two Brothers" (Humans),
and "Orcish Incursion" (Elves).
-HaJo
wandering_rogue
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Joined: September 23rd, 2005, 2:54 am
Location: black bear country

Post by wandering_rogue »

From a recent (or current) Newbie:

I started 2 weeks ago by going through the first few scenarios of HttT on Easy. Then I read this forum and wiki and tried it on Medium which I'm still working on. The Easy level is good to find out about the rules and general game play, but I didn't learn much strategy. Medium forced me to learn stategy and remember (by analogy) back to the days of playing Risk or other strategy games.

Frankly, I don't think most newbies would even bother with other campaigns or scenarios since the others sound initimidating (at least they did to me).
"Metaphor is richer than reality." -SG
draphsor
Posts: 3
Joined: September 14th, 2005, 8:53 pm

Post by draphsor »

Speaking as someone who just completed HttT on Normal as a relative newbie, I think it's a fine way to start. I started out playing it on Normal, got up to Valley of Death, and found that I didn't have enough leveled units to make a decent stand of it -- among other things, I'd never gotten Konrad into combat at all, and at this point it was clear that there was no way I was ever going to level him because the opposition was too dangerous this late in the campaign.

So I checked out this forum, read some of the strategy tips, and started the campaign over with a better overall strategy. Made it through to the end with a moderate amount of save-loading. I found it a very enjoyable way to learn the game, and very addictive.

Oh, and I started with the tutorial as well. I think for someone who's familiar with strategy games in general the tutorial plus HttT on normal makes for a fine introduction. Yes I did have to start it over because of mistakes I made early on that I couldn't recover from later, but I found playing through those scenarios again to be every bit as fun as the first time.

My $.02.

Rollie
Dennis
Posts: 35
Joined: April 26th, 2005, 2:07 am

FOR THE NEXT NEWBIE...

Post by Dennis »

I appreciate all the postings about how people started with HttT. And as an experienced player, I can assure you that's how all of us started.

HOWEVER, just because you started with HttT and had a good experience, as we all did -- which is why we continued to play -- does not mean that's the only way to start... or even necessarily the best way.

So... in order that thread doesn't lose it's focus, and becomes an "I Love HttT" thread (which we all do), let me refocus on the concept that there might be better ways to break in. Would the next Newbie be so kind as to try starting with Battle World first just to see if that works? Call it an experiment and report back to us.
wandering_rogue
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Joined: September 23rd, 2005, 2:54 am
Location: black bear country

Post by wandering_rogue »

I suggest if you want a newbie to try out something other than HttT, then put it in at the end of the tutorial. Such as, You may want to try the HttT campaign, or visit the forum <link> for other suggestions.

I didn't read the forum until after I played the tutorial and a few scenarios on easy, and found it to be fun.
"Metaphor is richer than reality." -SG
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