9. Castle in the Ice

[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?

[Xindage]

(1) What difficulty levels and game versions have you played the scenario on?
1.18.0 - Incursion - Biased RNG
622 Starting Gold.
(2) How difficult did you find the scenario? (1-10)
8 - Restarted 5 times...
(3) How clear did you find the scenario objectives?
Ok I think, something seemed off I cant kinda point where/why.
(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?
Everything, see 8.
(6) How fun do you think the scenario is? (1-10)
3
(7) What, if any, are changes you would have made to the scenario to make it more fun?
Maybe take damage from snow per even turns or something like this, the pressure is way too high.
(8) Replay/Other notes.
Ok, I cant waste Gold, but i need another healer, while critters steal my houses and by last environmental damage, i know that this exist to pressure the player but after my 4th reset, i just decided to take what was nearby and rush to the castle, keeping all my units clustered to out-heal the enviroment.
I could not even check what happens if I kill the yet (this thing is brutal).

[Vendrick]

(1) Invasion, 1.18
(2) 6
(3) Clear
(4) The writing's still good. (It's nice that Wesnoth Drakes now have an established voice now.)
(5) The cold attrition makes any prolonged fighting dangerous and severely restricts unit positioning.
(6) 7
(7)
The gold attrition design is a novel concept and challenge for mainline, I'm pretty fond of it both narratively and mechanically.

The unit "flicker" that occurs when the cold damage is applied is slightly janky.

The wide open map, and scattered villages and gold piles suggest the player should explore or capture them, but I don't think either of them are worth it. They seem like trap options, since the cold prevents units from operating independently and surviving and the wildlife will steal unguarded villages.


Hahid's elixir (Dunefolk) gives Dacyn 100% Cold and Fire resistance. This makes Dacyn immune to the cold damage attrition and reduces damage from the Drake's ranged attack to 1. Paying 10 gold to give it to Dacyn rather than Hahid makes sense because Hahid has +4 regeneration and Dacyn will be using ranged attacks against Drakes.
The heroes can proceed straight through with Dacyn obliterating Drakes, while Grug (loyal Ogre), a quick White Mage and a Knight position themselves to kill the Yeti. It's pretty expensive - 40 gold plus upkeep and a slower advance on the main objective but the item from killing the Yeti is quite powerful.
I believe any ogre can pacify the wild ogres, but only Grug can recruit them. They're important as fodder in cause the Yeti gets good RNG.
The Yeti has a territorial AI - it won't pursue and attack units outside of a small area. The knight/paladin is positioned so the Yeti will attack and damage itself for significant retaliation damage and ignore the White Mage. Once the Yeti is damaged enough, I lure the Yeti off the mountain with a dying ogre so my paladin can get the item it drops when slain.
(The Knight/Paladin can't pick up the Plague staff again if dropped because its "unholy" and I want to keep a Chaotic Paladin, but most other units can drop the staff to switch alignments in a pinch.)
Other good options for the Yetiburger include loyal units and probably Owaec. Equally, the Yeti could be killed relying on the the Sentinel Shield and the Mage of Light's 60% defence, but it would take longer.
The Yeti can only rest heal, so there's some room for attrition before the cold becomes too dangerous.

Starting gold: 529
Ending gold, having killed the Yeti: 500