Battle for Wesnoth

[General Ludd]

I haven't had much time to play lately, but I might be up for a game or two later today.

[CapTVK]

I'm up for one as well tonight

[CapTVK]

Well, Ludd and me are even again

We played our favourites: Undead vs the Orcs. His bats, blood bats(!) and ghosts were as pesky as ever drawing valuable units from the main battle at the edge of a lake. just south of the center. Luckily I already had a couple of trolls at the front in a forest next to that lake. Arrows flew and axes fell but they stood their ground. Once one of them got promoted I was hammering bones faster into the ground then he could raise them.

General Ludd called in his final line of defense: the adepts. These undead sorcerors are the only ones that can take down a troll with cold blasts. They managed to take down my lvl2 troll but by then my reinforcements arrived....

...needless to say, the final line was broken...

[General Ludd]

I'm starting to get good with the Drakes the key is all in how you make use of the terrain (although I still think they need some boosts).

I've got a great replay of me using a text-book dragon strategy. It was a three player free for all, me the Drakes against Elves and Humans. We played one of the pre-made 3 player maps, and I started on the mainland (enclosed by a mountain range and the northwestern tip of the island) with humans on the other end (on a peninsula), and forests inbetween. The elves started to the south on an isolated island that would make geting to the fight very difficult for them.

The first thing I did was send out a raiding party that first feigned along towards the south cost of the mainland to make it look as though I was cutting off the elvish scouts swimming across (which I would've done had they been dumb enough to walk into me) But instead the elves went futher east (towards the humans) which suited me just as well. As soon as they turned, my drakes flew out over the ocean and bee-lined for the elf leader who was caught alone except for a single scout. It looked good at first, but unfortuntly my drakes got bogged down in a small patch of forest outside the castle and where all killed. A minor set back...

Meanwhile I sent my drake petites flying across the map grabing every town that the humans stepped out of, then promptly flying to another. With all the forest on the mainland the humans had little hope of keeping up with my drakes. Eventually, though, the humans where able to recruit enough soldiers that they could secure most of towns out of sheer numbers... but I wasn't too concerned. I'm a dragon, after all. These pathetic creature are no threat.

While that had been happening I was sitting in my mountains, hoarding gold and building up an army. Occasionally I would have to step out of my castle to scare away a particularily bold cavalryman, but for the most part the humans knew that the mountains belonged to the drakes, and they stood well clear.... atleast, untill they where able to build up a big enough army. Once they felt confident that their army was strong enough, every single human soldier turned towards the mountains and started marching. They aproached in a wide line to prevent my petites from speeding past them and capturing the towns they had just left, but they forgot something...


Drakes can fly. Just as the army reached the base of the mountains, my army of drakes took flight and flew out over the ocean. The humans didn't know what to do - their target had just stepped out of reach at the very last minute. Had they marched through all that forest for nothing? Many of them turned south to face the elves who where now just making headway into the mainland, while others saw the real danger and ran back to their castle as quickly as possible... but there is no way they could get there before the drakes, who could fly over the ocean and reach the human's castle in less than a day.

The human commander saw the impending doom flying towards him and considered fleeing into the forest to join his army... but that would put him and all his army right between both of his enemies. He decided to hold his ground instead, and quickly recruited anyone he could to defend his castle alongside him. As the drakes aproached, they slowed down momentarily and encircled the small peninsula, expecting to be able to fly in and decimate the human general in one quick rush.


But the humans where desperate. They wouldn't let the drakes herd them around like cattle and kill them at will anymore, so they threw caution into the wind and jumped into the water to fight the drakes before they could reach the coast. They where able to catch a drake or two off guard with this unexpected tactic, and even managed to kill one, but as soon as the drakes where able to react the humans quickly fell. With the castle defenses almost completely killed in this one last rush, the drakes made quick work of the few remaing forces, and the general.

Now battle hardened, the army of elite drakes turned to face the elves that where now aproaching through the remnants of the human army....

But, unfortunetly, that is where the game ended. It "crashed" when the human player left because he was hosting the game, and the elves didn't want to continue playing from the savegame for whatever reason. Not that I really mind... just killing the humans was satisfying enough for me, and I'd actually completely forgotten about the elves by the end of it.

[MattH]

I'm downloading it right now. Once I start to get the hang of it I'd love to play.

[CapTVK]

Try your hand on one of campaigns to get a feeling for the units.The orcish and undead campaign are a great way to learn about other factions beside the elves and humans.

Still, the best way to learn is by playing or observing in MP. Try out all the races (factions) to learn their strengths/weaknesses.

[CapTVK]

Nice game Ludd, i've been just reviewing the battle. Those Elves got a bit of a shocker after your drakes flew in and destroyed their wose!

To an early observer it would seem the humans were assured of victory. They controlled the mainland, had the elves bogged down on the beaches (to prevent them entering the mainland forest no doubt) and controlled the eastern isles with their nagas. Eventually he would have moved towards your castle in force.
Flying out your entire force to attack him directly was a brilliant example of stratagem. Still, it was a bit of a gamble and could have gone either way. Plus he still had some nagas nearby.

[CapTVK]

I'll be online tonight for a quick game if anyone wants too. Anyone care for a nice 3 player match?

P.S
Noticed an odd trend on the Wesnoth forums. Some players start a MP with the human player getting a large load of gold (600-1000) at the start. Not sure if they're playing against other humans or if they practice against the AI.

Playing against the AI or not. This sort of easyplay behaviour can't lead to good strategical insight. It doesn't force you to make decisive choices.

[General Ludd]

Man, between the forum games and NWN, I'd forgotten all about wesnoth.

[CapTVK]

As does the "Name the Game Competition"


Where goes the time...

[CapTVK]

Those poor dwarves....... apart from their melee skill they truly are the worst faction in the game.


Today I learned how effective Orchish assasins can be in combat. Weak attack and not that many HP but a very good defense ratio combined with poison daggers makes them the ideal hit&run unit for groups with slow moving units. Just move in, hit, hold out the counterattack and repeat until most units have been poisoned. The enemy must now advance with ever weakening units or retreat to a friendly village.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by CapTVK
Those poor dwarves....... apart from their melee skill they truly are the worst faction in the game.

From a drake's perspective those 'thunderstick' units are hellish.

[CapTVK]

Thundersticks dangerous!? Come on, they only get one shot and even then it's only a hit 2 out of 5 times.

[General Ludd]

Originally posted by CapTVK
Thundersticks dangerous!? Come on, they only get one shot and even then it's only a hit 2 out of 5 times.

Thundersticks do piercing damage, right? Drakes are weak to that, and they've got poor defense and are easy to hit in any terrain.

[CapTVK]

Originally posted by General Ludd


Thundersticks do piercing damage, right? Drakes are weak to that, and they've got poor defense and are easy to hit in any terrain.

The same goes for lancers and knights and i consider them a lot more dangerous then dwarves.

Btw, GC and I are online at the moment. Care for a quick match?