The Unstoppable Legion - version 0.6.0 - but for Wesnoth 1.2

[Chris NS]

WARNING: SPOILER

Try not to kill any drakes. If you can hold out for four turns, the drakes will switch sides as soon as Zharagorn appears. If you kill any drakes, they will delay joining your for one turn per drake killed. Hence why Deuterus encourages you to avoid bloodshed.

I don't want the drakes to kill the northern leader though. Maybe I should put an [avoid] tag in the AI to stop them getting too near the leader. This will force you to do the fighting yourself on the easier levels, and prevent the drakes from getting slaughtered on the harder levels.

The priests have long since gone - they fled to get away from Zharagorn's forces and the drakes moved in.

If you think this isn't made clear enough in the dialogue pleasesay so.

[Ewan]

Naah - I thought that the intro dialogue was pretty clear that I *should* avoid killing drakes - tough, when they kept sending missile guys at my knights! - and I even guessed the negative impact of killing them from the 'repay tenfold' dialogue comment. If there were any units other than Deuterus that could attempt to get to the temple, it would be better, I think; perhaps one winding hill route through the mountains for horse access?

This also caused trouble when recruiting dwarves - just too long a lag for Viktor to get around to the temple, especially in the face of hostile drakes.

As it is, though, it seemed pretty clear that getting to the temple was *vital* while not killing drakes was only *nice* - fair enough.

Nice to have such rapid response from the author )

[Chris NS]

The intended stratagy for this is:

1) Recall as many high-level units as you can - preferably ones that can soak up a lot of damage.

2) Move northwards a little, preferably grabbing the three villages. Don't go much further or a death-free battle will be unavoidable.

3) Wait for the drakes to attack you. It might help to wound some drakes to force them to retreat, but try not to kill them (and hope none of them get themselves killed).

4) I prefer to keep Deuterus with the rest of the troops. He can slow one of the more annoying drakes and keep fellowtroops healed.

5) Once the drakes join your side, THEN make a break for it. Get Viktor to the temple ASAP. (You might also want to send a faster unit to release Prince Sven and Golran earlier.)

6) Whilst you are waiting for the dwarves, use you other units to help the drakes fight off the dark forces, but don't put them in any real danger - the drakes will do that for you.

7) Once the dwarves arrive, Kick Ass (TM).

If people are having trouble holding out without killing drakes, I might bring the appearance of Zharagorn's forces forward one turn on easy. If you're still having trouble, post me a replay so I know what you're doing.

[Ewan]

Just re-played, using your suggested movement for the first couple of turns. That avoids drake attack - but then it's all trivially easy, with Viktor making it to the temple on I believe T9, just in time for the Drakes to defeat the northern horde (and after disposing of the southern horde using only the recalls, which I picked from L2 instead of L3 forces: one knight, one hobilar, two bowknights).

I'll attach the replay in case it's of help. I've given it a fake .jpg extension to comply with the attachment rules - delete that!

[Mellor]

I've played through "A Test of Valour" twice without finding the hermit in any village. Is timing an issue -- i.e., getting to a village before allies or enemies?

Thanks.

[Chris NS]

You can't. You can only find the holy water he left behind.

If you want to learn the fate of the priest, play "The Front Line".

[bignall]

I've gotten to The Dwarf and the Lich, but when the 13th turn starts and Mal-Margheera is supposed to come on, I get the following message:

error engine: could not de-serialize unit: 'load_game_failed: Attempt to de-serialize an empty unit'

and after the conversations, there is no Mal-Margheera unit for Deutreus to attack. Any idea what's going on and why he's not appearing and what I can do to fix it?

I'll attach a save file from turn 12 and the autosave for turn 13 so you can see what I mean.

Wesnoth version 1.2.1

[Chris NS]

Oh, no, not again. Are you using the latest version of The Unstoppable Legion (0.3.3)? If not, download that version and it should work (although you may have to go back one scenario first).

If so - bugger, I thought I'd fixed that bug.

(Other solution is to hack the WML and rename one of the other undead units "Mal-Margheera".)

[bignall]

Yes, this is version 0.3.3, I just downloaded it yesterday or the day before. So I guess the bug is still there... I'll hack the WML so I can continue

[Chris NS]

O.K. Since this seems to be a show-stopping bug, I have done an emergency release of 0.3.3.1 on the server. The store_unit/unstore_unit system has been replaced with deleting Mal-Margheera at the beginning and placing a new Mal-Margheera later. Also changed drums.ogg to work better with the Wesnoth music player, that doesn't quite loop properly.

To save a large download, and to prevent aritifically inflating download figures, here's the revised scenario 6.

EDIT: Oh, and if you are playing Wesnoth 1.2.2-1.2.3, you'll need to go back to a previous save before the scenario starts, otherwise the change won't work.

[santi]

I tried again on hard with the new version and was able to get past the first scenario(and move on) down to the front line. My general remark is that the low turn limit gives the luck element a much more important role than usually in Wesnoth. For instance the first scenario I was able to win on the very last turn after Hubert hit the enemy leader in his keep, where
chances were against that hit. The point is that with the low turn limit one may have to make poor strategic decisions. On the second scenario
I resorted again on the assasination strategy, with Deuterus sneaking in from the west along with a cavarlyman, and was able to get the kill by turn 7-8, which again was lucky since Deoran fell in a single turn without taking down any enemies and the front was basically collapsing with the
dark riders coming from behind. On the third scenario I was able to kill the skeleton leader, but was still a couple of turns away from finishing off
the main leader. Of course holding out was no problem, but
kicking the baddie's *** is more fun....
Same thing with the Front line. I gave Victor the holy water, but
I think the holy water's effectiveness has been toned down since I last played this, if I remember right. Plus the skeletons basically gather around the entrance of th road to their keep instead of attacking
which makes it even harder to beat the turn limit(in addition to the AI's
rather dismal handing of the allied troops...)
So I really think adding a couple of turns would be a good idea....

[Xandria]

This is certainly a refreshing campaign. Is it more or less finished already? So that I could play it again.

As for the Race against time: its difficulty is quite random, depending on where the demons spawn, and whether they choose to blast your guys or head off towards those chasing you.

Generally, it's easy to pass it, but hard to gain something for the levels to come. I used lots of fresh horsemen to run down any demons, due to their low defense and quite weak melee. Sort of hard to keep them alive. Loaded a bit, mainly to find the optimal course of action.

Certainly, it is an interesting scenario. I played it on medium, the gold amount I don't remember, but it was sufficient to recall several leveled troops and to buy a heap of fresh horsies.

As for the turn limits: I'd relax them a little, unless the turn limit is the whole point of the mission in question. Why should I lose a pitched battle just because turns ran out?

[Chris NS]

Ooh. All quiet, then two detailed responses at once.

The turn limits are currently chosen with a suitable early finish bonus in mind. In More Than a Match and Race Against Time, the idea is that by the time the turn limit is reached, you'd probably already be swamped by the enemy you are fleeing from if you haven't completed your obejctive. (Indeed, if you lose by turns running out I'd be surprised you're not dead already.) That way, you should get to the level with either a few turns to spare (and therefore get a small early finish bonus) or you're dead.

In An Unlikely Hero and A Test of Valour, the optional bonus objective is meant to be tough to achieve within the time limit. One tactical decision that has to be made is whether it is worth risking a high-level unit to defeat the main baddie. You should certainly resist the temptation to try to defeat a baddie in less time than you need.

I think I might add a couple more turns to The Front Line though. I've noticed that one's tough to complete in the time limit, and whilst this has to be balanced against the two parallel scenarios, the other two are easier to complete and seem to be easier to stockpile gold.

I certainly haven't changed anything about Holy Water, and I don't think it's been changed in the 1.2.x branch. I'll need to think about what to do when this migrates to 1.3.x, but that is yet to come. I'd be wary about giving Viktor the holy amulet myself. Most of Viktor's foes are not undead and therefore have resistance to holy damage, and it's a detour away from his destination.

In Race Against Time, I am a bit wary of the randomness, partly because there are no similar scenarios that have been balanced. Part of the strategy in this is to persuade the demons and dark legions to fight each other, so you should never fight a demon that is likely to go for a dark rider instead, and try not to get any valuable units wounded too much as they are very difficult to protect. Defeating Haatan Avery is now harder, but there is a more rewarding bonus for doing so.

Oh, and whilst recalling lots of horsemen may clear the way ahead, if this stops you recalling experienced troops, you will lose them. Be careful. This scenario and the next one are, as a much as anything, challenges to not lose too many experienced units. There is a story reason why Viktor's forces have to be weakened, but you'll have to wait.

[Xandria]

Well, it was quite easily possible to save every horse worth saving I had, with recalls being cheaper than buying the guys on medium difficulty, at least. Losing a few on the run is almost inevitable.

[LordDeth]

This campaign is incredible. The only complaint I have is that it isn't finished. I want to know what happens! Keep up the excellent work!