Journey Into the Dwarven Roots (Campaign for 1.16.x)

[Ashmyr]

I know that I have stopped progress for a long time, but I want to try and work on DK soon. I am going to playtest through all of my scenarios again, and take some notes on what I would like to change. If anyone has any suggestions or input on my scenarios, that would be immensely appreciated. Hopefully, I will manage to get three scenarios -- one of them dialogue, out by November.

[Gothyoba]

I have recently played the first two scenario of Dwarvish Kingdom and I decided to review it. I will try to do this for each scenario afterwards, unless I happen to get stuck somewhere along the way. I did this first review for two scenarios mainly because the first scenario was dialogue-only. First of all, I want to say that you have done an excellent job at this. Your writing is great, the strategic side is well-thought and the campaign is highly enjoyable, even more so than certain mainline campaigns. I liked the introduction of the relatively new setting, and the detached setting of at least these scenarios gives the place a sense of mystery, as though one is stepping into Wesnoth for the first time and discovering the lore. Certain things, such as some portraits, may look inconsistent with the main game, but I feel like they also make the campaign more unique. I also liked the way that the second scenario initially seemed far easier than expected only to realize that it is far more dangerous. I don’t think this was a bad thing, but rather contributed to the interesting aspects of the campaign. These scenarios have made me highly excited for what is to come, and I thank you for the work that went into this. I am also intereseted in the idea of the canon intorducing some of the concepts seen here in your lore. Introducing the event sand setting of this campaign feels unlikely, though I would be interested in seeing more cultural and societal differences within the same race in Wesnoth. Overall, I don’t have any major critique so far and the work done is very good. Thank you for providing this and putting in your hard work to make this campaign. I would laso like to put my current prediction for where Garhme is:

Around Lake Vrug? At this point my prediction is mostly random, but I guess it could be a possible location.

I would suggest to add a few more enemies at the start of scenario 2, perhaps at the very begining. Maybe a soldier could have been sent to keep any dwarves away? I think this would show the damage of the humans and help introduce the dangerous setting of the caves.

[Gothyoba]

I recently played the third scenario of Dwarvish Kingdom, and I would like to review it, as I said in my first review. I would like to start by saying that all the ponts I made in my first review still stand. This time I went into the scenario a little more prepared, though the amount of poisoned units was still challenging and provided a lot of the fun in the scenario. Those spiders were certainly hard (at least for me, I’m not a very good player)! I found the storyline interesting and I managed to gather a lot of xp. I also liked the diea of allying with a troll, it was quite interesting and somewhat surprising! Overall, I really liked the scenario and the story text was also quite interesting.

I would’ve made the wording in the scenario objectives a little differently. I don’t think the scenario was bad or unclear because of these, tohugh I would’ve done this differently. Saying exactly which tile the leader needs to go to feels weird. I would’ve simply said to follow the tunnel, and provide more mystery and uncertainty to the player. I certainly like to spend time looking for a place in cave scenarios! I am looking forward to new scenarios and I find the story to be quite compelling. As for my theories on the location of Garhme, this scenario implies that it is north of Knalga and Kal Kartha. Maybe its to the northern tip of the Heart Mountains like Knalga is at the southern tip? By the way, this scenario also mentions dwarvish clans to the south. Having this kind of idea in Dwarvish politics could actually be quite interesting.

[Gothyoba]

I just played the fourth scenario of Dwarvish Kingdom, and I have to say it is the best scenario in the campaign so far! It may have been relatively easy (though this may have have simply been my extra preparation), but the exploration was great and the battle was epic! The trolls seemd harder than they really are, though with the help of the drakes and some high level units they are highly satisfying and provide much experience. I also liked the way the placement of lava slowed down my units and kept everything to one path. The map was also well-made. Given that this seems to be a scenario largely focused on XP, I think there might be a great battle up ahead. I’m excited about what is to come next. I don’t think there is anything major to change in this scenario, though the team names for the drakes are a little strange:

Drakes,Garhme

I think just drakes would be fine. The extra Garhme is weird, and it also spoils the alliance if you happen to look at it early on. Overall, lime all the other scenarios, I really liked this scenario and the experience of playing it was quite nice.

[Gothyoba]

I thought I was going to stop at the fourth scenario today, but I eventually decided to play the fifth (and last, so far) scenario, so here’s my review. I will start by covering the campaign overall. Dwarvish kIngdom was a wonderful campaign filled with excellent pacing, a compelling storyline, challenging scenarios and many fot he ideas shown here are highly interesting. I enjoyed playing Dwarvish Kingdom, even more so than other campaigns. The last two scenarios so far showed perhaps some of my favourite moments here while I fought legions of trolls in epic battles that still weren’t too hard as to be unbalanced. I liked the worldbuildingof Garhme, and its disconnection to the outside world allows it to feel like I am stepping into this world for the frist time once again. While I may have given some minor suggestions her eand there, there is nothing major I would change in this campaign so far. That said, I woudl like to give the last of these small suggestions for now. I’ve noticed that the campaign gives a message saying that there is no next scenario, and it ends in an error message. I know you have not yet made the next scenario, though maybe removing the next scenario in the code would be best to remove this pop-up.

I am highly excited to seee what will come next from this campaign, and to see the story that will come of this. Thank for this, Ashmyr, and anyone else who may have contributed to this. My time with this campaign had some of the best moments in all my time playing Wesnoth.

[Ashmyr]

Thank you. I appreciate your kind words and thoughtful and concise review. I especially appreciate how you specifically said what you liked and didn't like. I have put a lot of effort into this, and I'm going to put more into it very soon. I hope that people will like it, and I'm really looking forward to revising it.

I would honestly really appreciate any kind of reviews from other people as well, I'm trying to get all of the gold and balance right, and if anyone has suggestions, I'm honestly all ears and I will be sure to credit you if you have a good suggestion!

[Ashmyr]

Oh jeez. I feel bad for how much the update has stalled.

I planned a big update for November, but a bunch of stuff happened, and I'm still working on that update. Life has been busy and I have been dealing with a kit, but I do expect to be able to finish the update sometime soon. I'm excited to work on this again, and if all goes well, the update will be out soon, and all advice is welcome.

[Ashmyr]

MARNE UPDATE
General Dulotmos has heard terrible news. His city, Marne, has fallen -- with the cause assumed to be a troll attack. But things are not always what they first seem...

Get ready for an epic journey through the outskirts of Dwarven civilization. This nuanced and morally complex journey will take you through ancient Dwarvish history, and some of the deepest secrets of Dwarfdom.

Be Advised: This is a text-heavy campaign on purpose, with a lot of dialogue and storytelling. It also handles very nuanced morality and conflicts.

This Update Features:
- 3 never-before-seen scenarios -- one of which is dialogue-only. *Liberation of Marne*, *Desolation*, and *The Price of Freedom*...
- Beautiful maps and character artwork provided by GreenScarab...
- Minor scenario tweaks, such as a couple of new easter eggs in *Feral Tunnels*, and one new event of non-linear difficulty in *Troll Domain*...
- Complex and nuanced conflicts between characters...
- The campaign has generally been designed to be HARDER...
And more!

Any advice or thoughts are welcome, here or on Discord. If you want to help me out, I do have specific things I'd like advice on, so feel free to tell me all about your thoughts!
Also, be sure to tell me about any nasty bugs that you encounter!
Keep in Mind.. this campaign is deliberately nuanced and text-heavy. I will not be revising this campaign to be much lighter on text, or more morally simplistic.

[Konrad2]

I'm giving my feedback on discord, but I thought maybe I should upload my replays for everyone. (Also, that way I'm kept in the loop for further posts. )

[demario]

I'm giving my feedback on discord

Which channel is that on? I see nothing in #umc-dev on irc logs

MARNE UPDATE
General Dulotmos has heard terrible news. His city, Marne, has fallen -- with the cause assumed to be a troll attack. But things are not always what they first seem...

Get ready for an epic journey through the outskirts of Dwarven civilization. This nuanced and morally complex journey will take you through ancient Dwarvish history, and some of the deepest secrets of Dwarfdom.

Am I doing something wrong? When I start the campaign, it tells me:

Code: Select all

20240203 00:00:00 error config: Macro/file 'SOUND:SLOW' is missing
at ~add-ons/Dwarvish_Kingdom/./units/Troll_Frost_Wizard.cfg:110
    included from ~add-ons/Dwarvish_Kingdom/_main.cfg:38

which from my experience shows that some of the WML is not up-to-date with BfW 1.16.
I see the previous iteration of the campaign is running on BfW 1.14, but this one makes reference to version 1.16.

[Straff]

The SOUND:SLOW and SOUND:POISON macros should no longer be used, because sounds for poisoning, slowing and petrifying no longer need to be played

So just remove the {SOUND ...} macro from the units .cfg

[Ashmyr]

I'm giving my feedback on discord

Which channel is that on? I see nothing in #umc-dev on irc logs

MARNE UPDATE
General Dulotmos has heard terrible news. His city, Marne, has fallen -- with the cause assumed to be a troll attack. But things are not always what they first seem...

Get ready for an epic journey through the outskirts of Dwarven civilization. This nuanced and morally complex journey will take you through ancient Dwarvish history, and some of the deepest secrets of Dwarfdom.

Am I doing something wrong? When I start the campaign, it tells me:

Code: Select all

20240203 00:00:00 error config: Macro/file 'SOUND:SLOW' is missing
at ~add-ons/Dwarvish_Kingdom/./units/Troll_Frost_Wizard.cfg:110
    included from ~add-ons/Dwarvish_Kingdom/_main.cfg:38

which from my experience shows that some of the WML is not up-to-date with BfW 1.16.
I see the previous iteration of the campaign is running on BfW 1.14, but this one makes reference to version 1.16.

He gave feedback directly to me on Discord.

This bug should be fixed on the latest version, so try installing the latest JIDR update on 1.16, but if that doesn't work for some reason, go to the Dwarvish King unit file and remove the {SOUND_SLOW} unit macro.

Be sure to tell me what you think after you finish!