What is Wesnoth?

General feedback and discussion of the game.

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I mostly think of Wesnoth as a

Turn Based Strategy
118
94%
Role Playing Game
7
6%
 
Total votes: 125

Invisible Philosopher
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Post by Invisible Philosopher »

turin wrote:In Freeciv (which i've heard is a lot like civ), little to no roleplaying is involved. You just create a nation, there is no plot, etc.

Am I missing something here? Is Civ really that different from FreeCiv?
No, they're very similar games. It all depends on how you interpret and think about it. It is possible to role-play in your mind even in (Free/)Civ. Or you can just interpret it as a bunch of numbers. In games that are supposedly "Role-playing games", you needn't treat them as such, either. You can just concentrate on getting as powerful as possible.
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General Ludd
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Post by General Ludd »

Well, I haven't played FreeCiv, so I couldn't really say. But Civilization does not have a plot-line in the sense of a wesnoth campaign, rather, the player makes the story as he plays... that's what roleplaying is. You roleplay a nation, and when you build your first library, meet another civilization, or explore the world, you are making the story.

I suppose it's mostly a matter of how the player looks at the game, rather than the actual game mechanics. But that's not to say that mechanics don't matter at all, because different games do lend themselves to different levels of roleplaying. I don't consider Civ3 to be a very good roleplaying game (and in turn not a good TBS), for instance because the way it is structured and the way the AI plays, it forces you to basically reduce the game to number crunching, and you can not act like a nation if you want to survive to the modern age, instead you have to act like a person playing a game... or perhaps more accurately, a person solving an equation. The AI does likewise, and because of that there is no atmopshere in the game, no sense of story or history, and no feeling of leading a nation. In otherwords, there is no roleplaying, and that leaves the game flavourless and uninteresting.
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Post by Dave »

I'm really not sure we have to put Wesnoth into the 'slot' of being a TBS game or an RPG. :)

I think the best description is that it's a TBS game with some RPG elements.

But that might not do it justice...to many the turn 'strategy' is misleading, since Wesnoth is often more about tactics than strategy...

David
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Post by Monkey »

what's the difference between strategy and tactics?
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Post by Dave »

Monkey wrote:what's the difference between strategy and tactics?
Dictionary.com wrote: The military science that deals with securing objectives set by strategy, especially the technique of deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft in effective maneuvers against an enemy
i.e. when Delfador and Konrad set out for the Isle of Anduin, that is their strategy. The tactics are how they actually capture the Island. The player has no control over the strategy, but does have control over the tactics.

(It could be argued that some of the higher-level aspects of capturing Anduin constitute strategy too though...)

David
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scott
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Post by scott »

The three levels of military doctrine are strategic, operational, and tactical. Strategic considerations are campaign-wide like Dave said. Operational considerations focus on a specific theatre and broad but specific threat and dictate what mix of forces are used and how they are employed (scenario-level in this case). Tactical dictates how engagements are fought to produce a favorable outcome. You could argue for this game that grouping, terrain manipulation, and choosing when to attack constitute tactics OR the actual fighting does, but we don't control sword-swings.
I think choosing the scenario-level approach is the most fun part of the game.
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lynx
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Post by lynx »

Of course it's a TBS. I tend to roleplay (arogant lich) on multiplayer games sometimes, but guess how the kids take it. :?
Emmanovi
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Post by Emmanovi »

Freeciv is a greatly simplified version of Civ. The later versions are especially partially RPing, as they contain negotiations and even characteristics. Plus, in things like SMAC, units are upgraded, and certain ones can be thought of as characters.
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xtifr
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Post by xtifr »

Emmanovi wrote:Freeciv is a greatly simplified version of Civ.
"Greatly simplified"? I've played Civs I, II, and III, and Freeciv, and Freeciv seems to me to be pretty near feature-complete with Civ II, and has some extra features borrowed from Civ III, as well as extra features of its own.
Emmanovi wrote: The later versions are especially partially RPing, as they contain negotiations and even characteristics.
That's an interesting argument, although it's a fairly minor feature of the game(s). The classic boardgame Diplomacy has (as the name suggests) quite a lot of diplomacy involved, but this is usually considered a strategic element, even though it could be used for role-playing--I've never heard anyone suggest that Diplomacy is a role-playing game! :)

Anyway, back on topic for a sec (if'n ya don't mind), I have to agree with Dave that Wesnoth is a TBS with some role-playing elements. I think it's pretty hard to argue anything else.
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