Scenario 19b: Swamp of Dread

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Scenario 19b: Swamp of Dread

Post by Content Feedback »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
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zol
Posts: 161
Joined: July 12th, 2006, 4:31 am

Post by zol »

medium, 1.1.7
I haven't finished it; this is before I forget.

At the far end of the map, my Gryphon Rider is killed.
This triggers the breastplate bit, which auto-pans to the main party.

And a decision box "Do you want this unit to ...".

Of course, I cannot pan anywhere else to see what breastplate or where, so I choose "yes".

"Only a mighty warrior..." now.

So, the breastplate appeared at the GR's death, rather than, say, that of a skelly.

Being dead obviously doesn't qualify for wearing it, but I was going to try giving it to my MoL (Well, it would suit my play style, okay :P . Except that it is too far away to bother trying on this occasion.)

But now I'm thinking, What is a "Mighty Warrior"? a level 3 unit with a preference for melee and, er, lots of HP?
Not sure sure that there's much choice to be wise about...

That's the downside with colourful writing - Not against it. It just has to be translatable into game terms.
I thought much the same about "Force Li'sar's surrender" after all the "Kill" objectives as well. Uh, steal her teddy bear? :wink:
finite, infinite, definite
scott
Posts: 5243
Joined: May 12th, 2004, 12:35 am
Location: San Pedro, CA

Post by scott »

zol wrote:medium, 1.1.7
I haven't finished it; this is before I forget.

At the far end of the map, my Gryphon Rider is killed.
This triggers the breastplate bit, which auto-pans to the main party.

And a decision box "Do you want this unit to ...".

Of course, I cannot pan anywhere else to see what breastplate or where, so I choose "yes".

"Only a mighty warrior..." now.

So, the breastplate appeared at the GR's death, rather than, say, that of a skelly.

Being dead obviously doesn't qualify for wearing it, but I was going to try giving it to my MoL (Well, it would suit my play style, okay :P . Except that it is too far away to bother trying on this occasion.)

But now I'm thinking, What is a "Mighty Warrior"? a level 3 unit with a preference for melee and, er, lots of HP?
Not sure sure that there's much choice to be wise about...

That's the downside with colourful writing - Not against it. It just has to be translatable into game terms.
I thought much the same about "Force Li'sar's surrender" after all the "Kill" objectives as well. Uh, steal her teddy bear? :wink:
The armor drop when the gryphon is killed is a bug, and it's fixed now. Mighty warrior is pretty liberal in this case just to avoid the confusion you bring up. If the player thinks a unit could be considered a mighty warrior, it will probably work. Here's the list:

Code: Select all

type=Fighter,Commander,Lord,Princess,Battle Princess,Elvish Lord,Elvish High Lord,Elvish Fighter,Elvish Captain,Elvish Hero,Elvish Marshal,Elvish Champion,Elvish Ranger,Elvish Avenger,Horseman,Knight,Lancer,Paladin,Grand Knight,Dwarvish Fighter,Dwarvish Steelclad,Dwarvish Lord,Dwarvish Guardsman,Dwarvish Stalwart,Dwarvish Sentinel
The only units not on the list are mages, druids, and the elvish archer, since I don't think they're all that mighty. Regarding Li'sar's surrender, didn't the parenthetical note help make the objectives clear? Are you playing in a different language?
Hope springs eternal.
Wesnoth acronym guide.
zol
Posts: 161
Joined: July 12th, 2006, 4:31 am

Post by zol »

scott wrote:Regarding Li'sar's surrender, didn't the parenthetical note help make the objectives clear? Are you playing in a different language?
Sorry, yes. It was a while ago. Perhaps I am thinking of an earlier version.
Re: "Mighty Warrior", I don't want you to feel pressured about that as I'm sure most people will use common sense and not worry if their first guess is wrong.
finite, infinite, definite
Sombra
Posts: 273
Joined: August 11th, 2006, 6:38 pm

Post by Sombra »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on? medium / 1.18
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) : 4
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives? 9
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario? Dialog 4 /Storyline 8
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? Time constraints to kill all deathknight in time
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10) 7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? - For an experienced army the enemy is no real challenge / Somehow after the storyline "mighy sorcerer etc. I felt the undead have been a real pushover. I would like to that it is not necessary and nearly impossible to kill the mayor bad guy . The map from my feeling could feel more valley of the dead. You should be glad you escaped but didnt do a mayor cleanup of the swamps while passing through (You are fleeing right ?? )

(8) What language do you play in, if not English? (You can omit this if you play in English) German
fyo
Posts: 29
Joined: September 7th, 2006, 9:56 am

Post by fyo »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
medium 1.1.11 (1.2rc1)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
Easy, but annoying. Hard to quantify in a single number. Using the number of times I had to reload as a way of estimating difficulty:
8 (I don't think it makes a difference if you kill all the knights or not (I did), since you need to kill at least the middle one anyway and the others will keep annoying your flanks, so you might as well just finish them off).

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Crystal.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Decent, although dialog from the previous scenario doesn't really match up with the goal of this scenario.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The *only* problem in this scenario is keeping track of which enemy units are where. The "show enemy moves" (ctrl-v) is completely useless on this map - at least it was for me. I use it extensively on all maps, but on this one, there are just too many enemy units with long range and they are all around you. It was, at least for me, almost completely impossible (without spending a lot of time on it) to avoid being hit by a unit I hadn't noticed.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
6

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I like the premise of the scenario, but the issue with units I hadn't noticed hitting me was just unbearable. The "show enemy moves" option wasn't effective (for me) at all. Maybe adding some sort of direction vectors to show where the enemy unit is that can move to that spot. If that becomes too messy, maybe a color-gradient centered on each enemy unit. Heck, even being able to zoom out would solve most of the problem, since then it would be possible to get a feel for the shape and center of the highlighted areas. As is, everything was just highlighted and even the numbers don't really make it any better.

Other than that, I think the scenario is too easy. Quite a contradiciton, I know, but from the dialog of the previous scenario, it seems like this should be more of a "run for it" / "try to escape" scenario and not a simple "kill all".

Also, the Lich wasn't recruiting units (at least after the first few turns). It wasn't until I killed the last knight that he recruited another unit (and only one, since he left his keep in order to heal on a village).
cph
Posts: 129
Joined: May 12th, 2007, 4:29 pm
Location: London, UK

Post by cph »

1) Medium; 1.2.4
2) 4
3) Clear
4) Good
5) Lack of cover & poor mobility made it tricky. Any coordinated attack from the undead can kill units given the lack of defensive terrain, so it's vital to keep pushing cannon fodder out in front; I got overstretched at one point and they killed Li'sar.
6) 6
7) -
8 ) start gold ~900
SumnerH
Posts: 15
Joined: January 9th, 2008, 6:01 am

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by SumnerH »

I'm following the advice to rank 10=hardest scenario in the campaign (Seige of Elsenfar), 1 = easiest (Elves Besieged)

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Medium, Wesnoth version 1.4
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10) [1]
6
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Clear, sort of meh story-wise
(5) What were your major challenges in completing the scenario?
Figuring out how many troops I needed to complete it safely. First time I had too few, lost some key levelled loyal troops. Second time I overrecruited; it's definitely a "weather the storm and then mop up" level, and I was expecting it to remain tougher than it really did after the first battle.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. Fairly fun, especially if you are't sure what troops you'll need and so have Konrad at the base and all the walking corpses head over that way.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Start the enemies off with slightly less gold but more villages, so the initial battle is somewhat toned down but things stay heated longer. Or slightly less gold but free reinforcements for some of them on turn 5 or something.
zyx
Posts: 0
Joined: May 2nd, 2008, 9:29 pm

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by zyx »

(1) Medium - 1.4.1
(2) 2
(3) Clear
(4) Clear and interesting
(5) No defeated units.
(6) 5
(7)
(8) Polish
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Buddy Jimm
Posts: 48
Joined: July 25th, 2006, 11:54 pm

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by Buddy Jimm »

Whoo, totally forgot I never finished reviewing these. Then again, they're mostly great from here, but now I'm addicited again. :E

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?

Medium, 1.3.17

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)

5. Probably about right for this map.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?

Clear.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?

Clear.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?

The 'weather the storm' approach requires some patience. I spent the first half of the game in the corner of the map rotating troops, and the other half screaming CHAAAAAARGE! Having veterans that are effective against undead (Steelclads, Storm Trident Hoplites, and White Mages/Mermaid Priestesses all come to mind) are critical, but at this point in the campaign, I almost always have most of these.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)

7. It's funny, in the old days I never actually bothered to come this way. It contrasts rather highly with the touch-and-go Gryphon approach of Snow Plains. That's rather nice.

Those fine Walkthrough contributors suggest giving Li'Sar the void armor. Let me just say... Good ide'er. Test of The Clans required a much lower dose of ibuprofen thanks to this.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?

Not much. Maps where one can make good strategic use of mermen are frequently welcome.
After death, the doctor.
ScouSin
Posts: 4
Joined: January 14th, 2009, 7:51 am

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by ScouSin »

(1) I played this on the middle difficulty on 1.4.7.
(2) 7. It kept me on my toes, to say the least. I could've lowered the difficulty significantly if I followed a different strategy, or made it much harder if I made poorer decisions.
(3) Completely clear.
(4) I liked how the armor was analyzed by Delfador, that was all the really stood out though.
(5) Because of the starting gold, the enemies all threw units which for the most part came at the same time. I had a group along the top and a group along the west. A smarter decision would have been to just sit at the start, and abuse the river to cut down the enemies. But after the big rush was dispatched, the map was instantly much easier.
(6) 6. It was really a typical map, but I did get to do something I hadn't yet done: One-hit a death knight with my paladin. I enjoyed that very much.
(7) I'd find a way to make it so the enemies create a more gradual amount of enemies, rather than just sending a million at the start, and nothing at the end. In other words, lower their starting gold, but increase their income.
silent
Posts: 244
Joined: February 20th, 2009, 5:53 am

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by silent »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Medium 1.4.7
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7. It's quite challenging to figure out an exact plan to counteract the many death knights and to get at the Lich
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very clear. Except The Void armour bit. I think you must kill all death Knights to get it (That is how I got it)
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
I quite liked it when Delfador reveals the Lich's past.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Eliminating Wave 1 of the undead, and getting around the walking corpses to get at the Blue Death Knight
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7. Use the terrain to your advantage. Also Guardsmen were a suprising help
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
None.
BigCheese
Posts: 27
Joined: August 20th, 2009, 7:05 pm

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by BigCheese »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
medium, 1.7.3

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6 - because of the time limit (when going for the "kill all deathknights" bonus)

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
clear, I liked the historical excursion at the end

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
getting through the zombie wave without slowing down (time limit) and camping it out

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8 - undead swamp swarming! being able to use mermen on the whole map

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
give the AI (at least the lich) more base income
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Majki-Fajki
Posts: 35
Joined: March 8th, 2009, 10:32 pm
Location: Pila, Poland

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by Majki-Fajki »

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
Medium. 1.8.0

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7 is fair.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Dialogues and story are nice. Love the part, when Lich losses HP due to having control over his knights.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Slowly advance through the swamps. My tactic was recall lvl.3 dwarfs and Highwaymans (agianst skeletons and zombies). Ghosts was taken care of by 2 mages and Conrad with fireballs. I divided them into 2 groups accompinied by Shydes. I massacred them all on the way.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9 - one of my favorite maps.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe each knight summons diffrent creatures? One Knight is "Lord Of Souls" (ghosts, whraiths), next "Master of the Bones" (skeletons!), etc.
(8) What language do you play in, if not English? (You can omit this if you play in English)
Polish.
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Sam-Lloyd
Posts: 12
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:32 pm

Re: Scenario Review: (HTTT) The Swamp of Dread

Post by Sam-Lloyd »

(1) What difficulty level and version of Wesnoth have you played the scenario on?
Challenging 1.8.1

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Quite interesting about the history of the lich

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Absorb the attacks with minimum loss and decide when to strike

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7, Quite fun

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Well, I didn't know about the combo Scepter of Fire + Void Armor for Li'sar. This makes "Test of the Clan" more difficult
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