Wesvoid campaign

[Invisible Philosopher]

Wesvoid 0.3 is here, with a new scenario, The Spider's Fang (for a total of 3 real scenarios so far). It uses a lot of complicated WML trying to get the AI to do what I want, so let me know if you see anything going wrong. I made the number of turns in all the scenarios depend on difficulty level. Also, I'd like to know about balance - is it too easy or too hard? Be sure to tell me what difficulty level you're using.

[Ewan]

Still unable to open this (OS X, 0.8 but also 0.8.1) - 'map not found' error. Is thre, in fact, some alteration of directory structure needed other than putting everything into 'campigns' as is?

[Invisible Philosopher]

No idea. What do you mean, "Map not found"? (details of what actually happens?) It works to put everything in Campaigns for me (that's how it's designed). Did you put the Wesvoid folder into campaigns in addition to Wesvoid.cfg?

I just had a thought: if you're doing everything right, then try deleting your caches.

[Ewan]

Caches deleted (again). Same problem:

After selecting campaign and difficulty level, I get a dialogue box "The game could not be loaded: load_game_failed: Map not found.

Then back to Wesnoth initial menu.

[Invisible Philosopher]

New scenario, The Ritual of Crelanu's Book. Due to a glitch in custom terrain graphics, the Impassible Cave displays as blackness in 0.8.2 in Spider's Fang. Other than that, I believe I have updated it to 0.8.2 standards (only works properly with 0.8.2 now). Hopefully this update will also fix Ewan's problem.

[Circon]

It was very hard.

I pulled off a distract units- move fencer- block enemy ZoC - teleport in mage- maneuver on The Lich's Claw. I also had to make sure I was at the right time of day (Morning). On easy.

I think it should be made a LITTLE easier...

What's up with "The Ritual"? (Can't look at it right now, for obvious reasons) I hope they're sealing or unsealing the book... both would be contradictory (to themselves, or the TDH campaign) and they can't be performing it yet without the last ingredient.

[Invisible Philosopher]

Easier, OK.

I like how it makes you use your main character, but yeah, it's too hard currently.

in Crelanu's book, before we hid it. I thought it would be useful, so I copied it down.

The ritual summons the greatest evil in the land [supposedly Asheviere]. Needless to say, it doesn't bring along its royal guard.

They are not doing anything with Crelanu's Book itself, just a dark ritual copied from its pages. Crelanu's book has already been hidden away, long before this campaign begins.

They cannot begin the ritual until Emeric gets the ingredients (by completing the first three scenarios). Then the ritual happens, at the beginning of the next scenario, The Ritual of Crelanu's Book.

[MadMax]

So you pinched the clipper graphics from me. Good job .

But that's okay, you can use them. It's all GPL.

Anyway, I will have to admit this is a good, well-written campaign.

[Invisible Philosopher]

Although a recruiting a host of mages isn't too hard to win with in The Lich's Claw on Easy mode (see replay... they were incredibly unlucky, but they still won). I'll just increase your starting gold on easier difficulty levels for that. And I'll look into making the later scenarios be a little easier, too.

[Invisible Philosopher]

Ok, here's an easier version. BTW, thanks for the feedback, both of you.

[Ewan]

Still don't know what the problem *was* but it has not reoccured with the new 0.8.2 version.


Now to actually play this!

[Ewan]

Ok, here's an easier version. BTW, thanks for the feedback, both of you.

More feedback: playing on easy, the Lich's claw is trivial (but that's OK for the first scenario on easy), the eye is not hard but enjoyable, and the spider is tough (but not *too* tough. I should probably not have bothered killing the necromancer).

The ritual, though, is way off balance. By the time I get to move I have already lost! I'll re-play and check, but even with lucky #s, it seems pretty silly.

Being able to move the mages would be one way to alleviate this.

Incidentally, from a plot standpoint, one guy turns up who is far stronger than th combination of the land's best mages? And then vanishes rather than fight himself? All pretty odd .

[Ewan]

...the intro sequence graphics etc. for the ritual scenario are just great.



Edit: OK, after a few replays I finally managed to get through. As noted previously, the problem is the mages of the council - they do *not* behave sensibly, so trying to keep them from getting themselves killed is tough. Even in my win, there were a couple of times where one more hit on a mage would have meant defeat.

Sugestions for possible fixes: a slightly bigger castle, allowing for more recruits and a little more protection? [one more hex to the north?]. Or, control of the mages (that would likely make it a little too easy, though not much).

Note also that you're pretty much forced to recall your best units on move 1 to hope for survival, and they are likely to die - and this after scenarios without too much uplevelling possible. That may not be bad, just for info/my opinion.

And to echo others: apart from the plot oddities in that scene, the campaign is just great - I would rate it at the top of wesnoth's campaigns for interest and variety thus far. Kudos.

[Invisible Philosopher]

Ok, here's an easier version. BTW, thanks for the feedback, both of you.

The ritual, though, is way off balance. By the time I get to move I have already lost! I'll re-play and check, but even with lucky #s, it seems pretty silly.

Hmm, I did adjust some things for difficulty level there, but not the mages being killed. They shouldn't die in one turn though. I thought I gave them a decent chance to flee. Yeah, you're dead if you don't have melee-based recalls. Guess what, I'll give you more castle hexes to protect the mages in easier difficulty levels.

Incidentally, from a plot standpoint, one guy turns up who is far stronger than th combination of the land's best mages? And then vanishes rather than fight himself? All pretty odd .

Let's just say he's drawing on the power of the [Wes]void, but physically he's still vulnerable. The thing that I thought was odd but unavoidable, though, was: how come he takes a while doing stuff and the mages can't react? I thought, maybe they're too busy in the ritual, but, that is a little strange plot-wise. I'll try to explain the source of his power more in later scenarios - once I decide what it is myself!

EDIT: Maybe he doesn't have any real reason to bother personally defeating all those mages. He is (presumably) arrogant.

P.S. I'm off to put this campaign in the Wiki.

[Invisible Philosopher]

Okay, The Ritual is somewhat easier on Normal and significantly easier on Easy now (in Easy, you can even recruit Spearmen). If you're having trouble with the allied mages getting killed, do try recruiting your own. They work fairly well as lures. They're even better when they're damaged.

You need to be aggressive enough that you don't leave the allied mages to fight and die. Be out there killing the enemies and being targets for the enemy to attack.

I wish I could make the allied AI smarter, but I've already done a lot for it - the first time I tested, they charged in front of you to their certain death! Right now I think they do fairly well. Basically, they aren't allowed to go too far west, and they flee to a village if they have less than 40 HP.