Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

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Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

Post by Content Feedback »

1) What difficulty levels 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?
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
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StandYourGround
Posts: 256
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by StandYourGround »

1. Medium, Wesnoth version 1.7.0.

2. 10 the first time I tried it, but then I started over and eased off on recalling too many Heavy Infantry, and emphasized on Knalgons and Mages. Then, it was much easier, like a 4.

3. Very clear. Close the portal. I thought it was interesting that first it said "Move Delfador to the Portal and then back to the keep", but then after the portal closed it changed to "Move Delfador back to the Cave", aka the origin mine entrance terrain, which was strangely missing from the map, though the hex it had been on on still functioned as an entrance.

4. Very interesting, but after I killed the Lich bringing reinforcements, the dialogue when closing the portal was far from clear at first, since Delfador was replying to words the Lich would have spoken if it were still there. I would suggest making the Lich's "spirit" talk on event of the Lich's "death". Also, a little dialog to explain the purpose of the glowing green-blue glyphs (if there is one) might be cool.

5. At first, it was figuring out what to recruit/recall. After that, the next challenge was fending off (and eventually killing) the Lich and his reinforcements with little loss. At least the Dark Adepts were no problem, thanks to my Ulfserkers.

6. Very fun, but I think it became my ultimate favorite the instant after I sent an Ulfserker to attack a Dark Adept. That laugh was a nice touch. :twisted:

7. Replace the Dark Adept leader with something a little stronger, at least a Dark Sorcerer. Killing him was far too easy, though entertaining.

8. No.

9. I don't know WML.
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lotsofphil
Posts: 128
Joined: March 27th, 2009, 4:45 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by lotsofphil »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on? Medium
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? 9
(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? Fine.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario? No healers, slow terrain.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? 7
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun? None.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario? Delfador got himself killed fairly often.

This one is pretty tough.
Eassoth
Posts: 2
Joined: June 15th, 2009, 6:50 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by Eassoth »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
"Mage"/Medium

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
2 or 3. Delfador killed the corner (Deathknight?) boss, and I had a paladin charge the Dark Adept boss. Melee units eat Liches, so killed the Lich boss was surprisingly easy too. The only scary thing in the scenario are those Banebows. Ouch!

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Very unclear. The first instructions were to move Delfador to the portal so that he can close it, then move him back to his keep. Which keep is his? At this point, you don't know that the Lich is going to appear in the north keep. I just assumed I'd figure it out after I got to the portal. Then... I get to the portal and the Lich appears- changing the objectives. The Lich gets down to me before I get my army halfway across the map and all of his little army get crushed by mine in one turn. Then the objective reverts back to the original one... to return Delfador to his keep. At this point, I'm on turn 18/40, and I spend the next 22 turns trying to figure out the right hex to put Delfador on. I tried every brown keep hex, the entrance mine hex, all the hexes around the mine, and every hex in the north keep. Mission failed with every enemy on the map killed.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
It was fairly anti-climactic in the way the Lich is so easy to destroy. Also, the enemy forces can't reinforce themselves naturally- they have to wait for the Lich boss. This led to divided forces that were easily dispatched. The dialog was much better in the other scenarios. This one seems rushed/out of place.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
The scenario was unfinishable because the objectives were unclear and/or winning conditions were removed.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
2 to 3 (ice is a great way to complexify army coordination)

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
1. More outcomes need to be accounted for. It seems like the scenario is completable if you do it in some way other than what I did.
2. Add more Lich dialog.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
See above. I did revert to a previous turn one time when I sent my Paladin in against the Banebows. One Banebow killed him from full health. :/

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
I don't know WML, but am considering learning it to help out with this campaign. It's been a great campaign so far (except for this scenario).
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StandYourGround
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by StandYourGround »

As soon as I figured out the right strategies, I found this level very easy.

My first keep of recruits was 2 Shock Troopers, a pair of White Mages, and ArchMage, and a horseman to be a fodder/village grabber.

I placed the Shock Troopers on the rocky hill terrain next to the river to attract the Banebows, with one White Mage to heal them. I then recruited a few steelclads, an ulfserker (for the Dark Adepts, of course), and some fighters. Having the Dwarfish Lord with me was also very helpful.

The Banebows ran for my Shock Troopers like moths to light. They fought from the water, my troopers from the higher ground. I gave a dwarf and the White Mage some good XP patching off the wounded undead that made it past the river. I also had Delfador hang around for a few turns to finish of the river attackers while my dwarves that crossed the river further north prepared to flank the rest of the undead. Both of my Shock Troopers easily became Iron Maulers, and once the Banebows and their buddies were gone, they began their snail slow trek to join the rest of the action, and one made it far enough in time to deal killing blows to the Lich and some of its escorts.

Meanwhile, I put the Dwarves to work hammering the second wave of undead defenders, and always had my Ulfserker ready to snuff out the Adepts before they could be much use, keeping him well protected by a fighter and healed by my other White Mage.

When the Lich showed up, the main battle was already pretty much finished, as the Death Knight was all alone sending only one recruit at a time to keep the fight going. He also sent a Chocobone on a desperate attempt to regain villages, which a pair of Dwarf Fighters put a stop to. My Horseman was killed drawing fire from the Lich's troops, but the delay it caused gave me plenty of time to reposition my Mages and my Dwarfish Lord to defend against the reinforcements. I lost one of the White mages in the process, but defeating the Lich's troops was fairly easy, thanks again to the Iron Mauler for preventing my left from being flanked and also killing the Lich.

After that, I just had to finish off the Death Knight, close the portal, and march back to the exit. It was overall a slightly challenging, yet fun level. Also quite easy once I figured it out.
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Majki-Fajki
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by Majki-Fajki »

1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Medium.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7 - lost few good mages there.
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear. Except ending - there's a glitch. Mine (as terrain) dissapears when new objective comes.
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Very. Specially when Big Lich appears. I also loved Delfador's lines, when he hits Undead.
(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Try not to lost mages. My tactic at the beginning was to charge with mages through ice. Few turns later I restarted scenario. I assembled diffrent team - with shock troopers. I moved north, to the castle. On my way, Big Lich appeared right in the middle of my team. Lol. He said his lines and the embraced 4x19 Delfador's nuke. Rest of his units was slaughterd too. Then I moved south. From there, mission became easy.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8 - It's hard and smart.
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
I guess none.
(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
At the beginning when I decided to rush through ice.
(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
N/A
cph
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by cph »

(1) Great Mage, 1.8.0
(2) 3
(3) Clear.
(4) Okay.
(5) Nightgaunts surprising me. Having enough 'quick' units in the recall list so lumbering over the ice wasn't too laborious.
(6) 4
(7) On the second time Illah-Malal appears, he just charged at me alone and was chopped up by my steelclads. If he wants to reappear then he should probably get some new gold so he has some forces to chase me with.

And the portal guards are entirely passive after their first recruit; having dragged my force across the ice, it would have been more interesting if they had a few units there to resist me.

(8) No.
Gerion
Posts: 49
Joined: March 28th, 2010, 11:01 am

Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by Gerion »

1) Medium
(2) 3. All scenarios starting with "save the king" until the end are ridiculously easy, because the opponent never has enough firepower to seriously harm you. And since you change the units every few scenarios, it is not even that bad to lose some units
(3) Unclear. In the beginning I was wondering which keep was meant with "return to the keep". The second objective was very clear though...
(4) The scenario is necessary because it is the fight that decides the fate of the portal, but that was, what I expected in the first place. An epic fight that decides the fate of the continent. Instead it was just "go across the ice and stomp every resistance to smithereens"
(5) No big challenges... the only challenge was to fight atop the ice because the defens is simply horrible there
(6) 3. Pretty anticlimatic...
(7) The Lich should be harder. The last 6 or 7 turns were just retreating to the tunnel, because there was no opponent left on the map
(8) No
shadowblack
Posts: 368
Joined: April 15th, 2010, 3:03 pm

Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by shadowblack »

1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
1.8.2, Mage (Normal/Medium/whatever you call it)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
7 – compared to the previous scenarios this one was rather challenging

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Initially clear, but then the initial objective turned out to be MISLEADING! I HATE misleading objectives! There’s a HUGE difference between the initial one and the final one. Initial task: bring Delfador to the marked location and then bring HIM (ONLY him) back to the starting keep. True objective: bring back ALL of your troops, and Delfador must be last. That’s something quite different.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Disappointing. Why did Delfador suddenly decide to flee after defeating stronger enemies before? And why is that keep in the NE there? It’s almost as if elves are going to come and help me, but instead a bunch of undead arrive, and they can’t even recruit because by that time Green is out of money, so they are stuck with the newly-arrived units.

I like Delfador’s comment when he first kills an undead (both in this mission and in the previous one).

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Defeating all enemy forces without too much casualties since I was on unfavorable terrain.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
1 – I HATE being forced to run away from a clearly weaker foe!

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Allow us to win be defeating all enemy units instead of forcing us to retreat. It’s really stupid having to “hurry up” to the tunnel entrance when there’s not a single enemy left (‘cause I killed them all). Or at least make it clear from the start that ALL of our units must get back to the tunnel, not just Delfador.

Also, it might be a good idea to let Illiah-Malal receive some level 3 reinforcements every turn (or every second turn) and/or make Iliah-Malal invincible for this battle only so that retreating would actually make some sense.

Another possibility is to make Iliah-Malal team 4 and allow him to recruit in the NE keep instead of coming after me and getting killed. With a lot of undead chasing my army running away would make (some) sense.

In short, if you’re going to force us to retreat at least provide a good enough reason why.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Bad planning forced me to start over once.

Suddenly changing the objective almost made me start over again, with a different – faster – initial recruit.
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Maiklas3000
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by Maiklas3000 »

1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Most difficult; 1.8.4; 249 starting gold

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

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
I wasn't sure if more than one unit would be allowed into the tunnel on a single turn.

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

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Two Draugs can kill Delfador in one turn, and it's quite likely on ice.

Lost my only Royal Guard, ouch.

Ice is an alien place to fight. I had some gimpy 5 MP Mages, including an Arch Mage, who never got into the battle.

I thought I could wipe out all the enemy instead of retreating to the tunnel, but I decided to take the safe way out and retreat, sacrificing a steelclad to do so.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
9

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
The two guardians of the portal, the leaders, just sat there. It was kinda spooky, but it also seemed broken. I would have thought they would attack, at least after the portal was gone and they're out of a job.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Death by Draug duo, restarted from turn 1.
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Thrash
Posts: 223
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Re: Scenario Review: DM 18 - The Portal of Doom

Post by Thrash »

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

1.8.4, Hard, 245 starting gold

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

5

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

Same complaint as others with the change from "Get Delfador back to his keep" to "Get everyone back to the mine"

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

Why is Delfador running? He's more than capable of kicking Malal's butt here.

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

Bonebanes - lost one Paladin to them. Hard to avoid given limited mobility.

Realizing that Malal and his gang weren't all the tough and I should just turn around and kick their butts instead of running.

(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?

If you really want Delfador to run, make Malal's recruits tougher.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?

No.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?

Seems fine.
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santosis
Posts: 74
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Re: Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

Post by santosis »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Medium, 1.8.5

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8 - Took two attempts, suffered quality losses

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
X marks the spot, run away!
(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
Solid. One weak point--it might be with game play more than dialogue. I killed the big baddie leader, his prattle over my inability to kill him in this world was a bit underwhelming. Leave him in his keep.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
My first play, I only recruited one turn. That was silly. On my second turn, I recruited for two turns.

Deciding what units to sacrifice was probably the biggest challenge. I lost a red mage, a white mage, and the leadership soldier (I forget his name). I sent a high XP knight north, he occupied three units and leveled to paladin.

I finished in round 17/40 with -196 gold and will carry 44 gold over to the next level. There goes all that wealth from the last scenario...

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7 - The terrain difficulty makes for an interesting challenge. Its never too fun watching quality units die.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Probably fine as is, with the exception of how easy it is to kill the enemy leader.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Lack of recruiting, lost my leader once.
dsa
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Re: Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

Post by dsa »

1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Hard, 1.9.3

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6, after I found the right strategy it was quite easy. At first I felt somehow urged to hurry up and engaged the enemy in the snow, which led to casualties on my side. I overthought my strategy and took a defensive position in and near my keep. The terrain advantage was so high, that I lost no units. Illiah-Malal and his units were no problem either, because they made no united attack.

The really strange thing came afterwards, when Delfador closed the portal: Illiah-Malal reappeared, but was alone and therefore no problem. With no enemies left, it meant I was completely alone on the map by turn 25, but the scenario was not over. As far as I can remember, this is a situation I never encountered before during my playing of Wesnoth.

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
As there were no enemies left, I did not even notice, that the objectives change from bringing back only Delfador to bringing back all units. I realized this only, when I looked in the forum, but it is definitely something, which should be changed.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
As there were no enemies, the statement of Delfador to flee quickly makes not much sense. I did not even understand, why they have to flee at all.

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Avoiding fights in the snow.

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
7, interesting but with some flaws.

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
A situation, where there are no enemies, but the scenario continues should be avoided. I think Illiah-Malal should stay in the northern keep and be very difficult to kill. Therefore he should have his own team, so he can have his own gold and a high base income.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Yes, one restart to alter my strategy.
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GagarinGambit
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Re: Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

Post by GagarinGambit »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Hard 1.8.4

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6, challenging. The main difficulty lies in keeping your units alive; those Nightgaunts in particular are a pain. Perhaps I'd fair better had I not marched against the undead immediately (at the expense of no gold carryover).

(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Clear enough, although the objective change complicates things a little.

(4) How clear and interesting did you find the dialog and storyline of the scenario?
"Join me or die"? Come on, that's a silly archetypical "evil" line. I understand that Delfador's adversary is supposed to be like this, but it would be much more interesting if he had a more unique personality. For instance, he could have a moral explanation for opening the portal, which could lead to interesting discussions between the two of them. Delfador's does have a distinct personality, why his opponents shouldn't?

(5) What were your major challenges in meeting the objectives of the scenario?
Keeping my mages alive; maximising damage dealt with so limited mobility.

(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?
Dialogue, see above. You can also allow winning if the player defeats all enemies (no point doing nothing but moving your troops through ice during several turns, and the player should be awarded with extra carryover gold for clearing all resistance); alternatively, there should be a constant supply of undead coming from the north, so you'd really need to retreat.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
No (although Delfador was gravely injured by the end)
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Pewskeepski
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Re: Scenario 18: The Portal of Doom

Post by Pewskeepski »

(1) What difficulty levels have you played the scenario on?
Challenging, 1.9.4 (234 gold)

(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
6

(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?
I'm not sure abut the "Join me." line. I think Iliah-Malal is smart enough to know that he wouldn't accept considering how Delfador determined that his portal was evil, and how he came out of the land of the dead without being corrupted.

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

(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
8: Quick and awesome!

(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Allow Iliah-Malal to recruit. That would make him move to Chantal's long lost keep, and ultimately make it more intense.

(8) Was there any event that caused you to lose the game and forced you to reload or restart the scenario?
Nope.

(9) If you know a bit of the Wesnoth Markup Language - do you think that the WML of this scenario is clear and well commented? If not which part would you like to be documented better?
Fine.

(10) How well did you find the map for the scenario?
The elven keep is no longer elven. Other than that, it's good.
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