New Campaign : Legacy

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New Campaign : Legacy

Post by Casual User »

Good afternoon!

I have just uploaded a campaign for Wesnoth 1.0 called "Legacy". I hope to make a 1.2 version soon.

It chronicles the struggles of a young nobleman trying to restore order into his lands after his father's death.

It feels fitting that, since my first campaign happenned in the Wesnoth world and concerned itself with peasents (with a decidedly populist stance), my second one does not take place in the Wesnoth world and is almost ridiculously aristocratic in its leanings.

Warnings

1. I have included in the intro the poem 'The Raven', by Edgar Allan Poe. With copyright expiring 70 years after the author's death and Poe dying in the 1870's (I think), I think I'm fine.

2. The campaign doesn't happen in Wesnoth, nor does it happen in the Wesnoth world. It happens in Rainnen, a land inspired from 18-19th century Austria. As such, I didn't feel I needed to obey Wesnoth conventions. I disrespected two:

i) TAGIR : There Are Guns In Rainnen. All of your units will have either muskets or pistols.

ii) TIRIR : There Is Religion In Rainnen. While there is no religious content and neither infirmation nor confirmation of religion in the campaign, the characters are religious, and arguably Christian.

3. The campaigns is written in a deliberate way to imitate both the concerns and the style of the so-called gothic novels of the victorian era.

4. The campaign is finished, but not polished. It's clunky at times, some scenarios don't quite have their 'hook' yet, and there might bugs.

An appeal

While the basics can't be changed anymore, I am very open to suggestions.

I am particularly hoping to 'spruce up' scenarios 5-6-7. If you can think of ways to make them better...

Also, as I've tried to make it more 'literary' (if that is at all possible) than most campaigns, so awkward moments or ill-phrased sentences are as bad as bugs. Report them if you see them.

And, of course, regular bug reports or bug fixes are always welcome.

So, hope some of you will try the campaign and tell me what they think about it.
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Post by Casual User »

Good afternoon!

I have uploaded version 0.11 of the campaign Legacy. No major changes, I've merely added a more substantial incitation to defend your villages.

BTW, I would like to say to anyone who may have tried the campaign to read the intro text before starting. It is, indeed, pretty long and not very well-written, but I've hidden clues for the campaign in it, some obvious, some less obvious...
Ewan
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Post by Ewan »

I get to give the first feedback? Neat :).

I started it up under 1.1.2, though, so the mismatch of combat styles was kinda annoying. The first time I went to investigate the undead, many of my men died - not until I defended the village rather than try to investigate the ruins at all did we survive. OK, but maybe a little hard.

Also, I note that there were no 'early finish' bonuses on early levels, which was incentive to sit around and milk villages before e.g. stepping onto the ruins; odd and probably in need of fixing.

Enjoyed the poem, and also the intro text (albeit long indeed!); the setting appeals. I guess I will try to start it up under 1.0 and see if things are better (although I have advanced several units prior to going through the trapdoor (which is where I left off today), so I'm a little reluctant!). Thanks for the new campaign :).
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Post by Ewan »

Continued feedback: I liked the assassin scenario - felt very Warcraftish, actually, but I am a fan of including small-scale encounters in the mix. Again, though, no early-finish bonus when I killed off the assassins :(.

Then, the game froze, as it failed to find the unit 'Vampire Lady' when sttempting to start 'The Crypt.'
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Post by zaimoni »

Wesnoth 1.1.x sequesters a number of campaign-specific units that were generally available in Wesnoth 1.0.x.

E.g., Vampire Lady would be mirrored from TROW.
Ewan
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Post by Ewan »

Right: restarting under 1.0 avoids the problem.

Poison is a huge deal in these scenarios, especially with the Crypt's absence of villages and no healer units available! Scary.
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Post by Casual User »

Sweet, feedback.

To answer some of the comments:
Ewan wrote:The first time I went to investigate the undead, many of my men died - not until I defended the village rather than try to investigate the ruins at all did we survive.
Perhaps, but be careful. You'll need leveled units for later on, and just waiting around in Herad and shooting down bats won't do it...
Ewan wrote:Also, I note that there were no 'early finish' bonuses on early levels, which was incentive to sit around and milk villages before e.g. stepping onto the ruins; odd and probably in need of fixing.
True, but unless you sit around milking villages for a very long time, the following scenario with no villages, and the automatic loss of 36% of your gold (at least) will mean you probably won't get to use the gold.

There are no early finish bonuses because that would have required a time_over condition, which didn't make sense in all scenarios.
Ewan wrote:Poison is a huge deal in these scenarios, especially with the Crypt's absence of villages and no healer units available! Scary.
Yeah, while the poison is a pain to deal with, I think it adds an interesting dimension to the scenario. The necrophages are the only true undead you'll face (except the leaders), and I liked the way that, this way, the units that get touched by the undead are sort of 'marked for death'.

You've given me an idea. It is said later on that Jan has some knowledge of medecine. In the next release, I think I'll present this right from the start by introducing him as a former battlefield medic, remove leadership from him (only the baron can give orders), and give him 'heals' instead.

'Heals' isn't much, but against the poison, you'll be glad to have it.

Anyone else tried the campaign?
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Post by Oreb »

Well let me download it first, it seems quite interesting
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Ewan
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Post by Ewan »

To answer some of the comments:

Ewan wrote:
The first time I went to investigate the undead, many of my men died - not until I defended the village rather than try to investigate the ruins at all did we survive.
Perhaps, but be careful. You'll need leveled units for later on, and just waiting around in Herad and shooting down bats won't do it...
Levellling is actually pretty fast for the units you get, especially as there's never any gold around so it's always the same guys. I only used ten units over the whole campaign, I think, and by the end they were mostly level 3.
Ewan wrote:
Also, I note that there were no 'early finish' bonuses on early levels, which was incentive to sit around and milk villages before e.g. stepping onto the ruins; odd and probably in need of fixing.
True, but unless you sit around milking villages for a very long time, the following scenario with no villages, and the automatic loss of 36% of your gold (at least) will mean you probably won't get to use the gold.

There are no early finish bonuses because that would have required a time_over condition, which didn't make sense in all scenarios.
I just figured that would make more sense than encouraging me to hit the 'end-turn' button several thousand times ;-). [No, I didn't actually do this...]
Ewan wrote:
Poison is a huge deal in these scenarios, especially with the Crypt's absence of villages and no healer units available! Scary.
Yeah, while the poison is a pain to deal with, I think it adds an interesting dimension to the scenario. The necrophages are the only true undead you'll face (except the leaders), and I liked the way that, this way, the units that get touched by the undead are sort of 'marked for death'.

You've given me an idea. It is said later on that Jan has some knowledge of medecine. In the next release, I think I'll present this right from the start by introducing him as a former battlefield medic, remove leadership from him (only the baron can give orders), and give him 'heals' instead.

'Heals' isn't much, but against the poison, you'll be glad to have it.
Yes, you will; and I like the switch of healing for leadership. The necrophages are especially tough with their resistance to gunfire. And the poison is handleable above ground, but in the crypt? Yikes.

One other thing (SPOILY...)
.
.
..
.
.
.
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.
.
.
.


...
.
.
..
..
.
...at campaign end, the bandits are still not dealt with. Sure, discovering that your father became a necromancer and tried to raise you as undead is a big deal, but from the village's perspective the bandits may be a bigger problem :). Seems like you need a final/climatic battle there. [I did like the repeated fading away with losses, especially in the currently-final above-ground battle, allowing me to bring those men back and turn the tide against the undead).
Last edited by Ewan on April 24th, 2006, 2:01 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Casual User »

Ewan wrote:Levellling is actually pretty fast for the units you get, especially as there's never any gold around so it's always the same guys.
XP requirements for levelling change with the difficulty setting. On HARD, you might change your opinion...
Ewan wrote:One other thing (SPOILY...)
That's a pretty big spoiler. Use size=2, or something. Speaking of which,

Spoiler:
Yes, the bandits aren't dealt with, but you've scared them off pretty bad, they probably lost a lot of guys. There were also some hints that the bandits might have been at your father's employ, so they might split.

That being said, a big battle would have been unrealistic. In a heavily wooded and hilly place like your lands, you can never actually get rid of bandits by killing them all because they'll always have where to run. You can only make it so they understand the neighborhood is too dangerous for them, so they leave.


Incidentally, I haven't updated the campaign yet because I've been having exams :x . I'll get to it pretty soon (only one left).
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Post by Casual User »

Legacy version 0.2 is up on the campaign server.

Changelog:

-changed Jan's ability and background story
-changed the 'revolt-simulation' system
-minor balancing changes

So, give it a try...

P.S. The SVN version I have is rather unstable. I think I'll wait 'till 1.2 is released (or whatever the next stable version will be called) before making the SVN version of Legacy.
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Re: New Campaign : Legacy

Post by torangan »

Casual User wrote:1. I have included in the intro the poem 'The Raven', by Edgar Allan Poe.
Reading this for the first time - how do you think translators should cope with that? Some languages might have an "official" translation but for the rest...
WesCamp-i18n - Translations for User Campaigns:
http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/WesCamp

Translators for all languages required: contact me. No geek skills required!
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Post by Casual User »

Torangan wrote:Reading this for the first time - how do you think translators should cope with that?
Well, Legacy isn't in Wescamp yet, so...

But, planning for the future, I don't know :P .

I know none other than Baudelaire made a translation in french, but as for all the other languages, I doubt we can find translations with an equal (or even approaching) level of artistic integrity.

I think the simplest way would be to leave it in english. I have a bit which is in latin at the end of the campaign, and I have no intention of translating it (although I can assure players it is topical).
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Post by Casual User »

Legacy version 0.25 is up on the campaign server.

Changelog:
-necrophages can no longer cross the river except at the bridge
-brigands should be more focused on capturing villages
-torches no longer 'attack' or block movement

This is probably the last update for awhile as I'll be spending the next three months (starting in a few days) away from my computer.

I'll try to make an update to 'Survival' as well before leaving.
rocket23
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HELLLLPPPPP!!!

Post by rocket23 »

Hi there,
How do I get through the crypt level? I just can't make it there, it's so very annoying. I've gone through the early campaigns to try to level characters up, and just can't get past it - and I have it on 'easy'.

Can anyone help?

Thank you
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