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Battle for Wesnoth User's Manual
================================
Preface
-------
The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme.
'Build up a great army', gradually turning raw recruits into hardened
veterans. In later games, recall your toughest warriors and form a
deadly host against whom none can stand! Choose units from a large pool
of specialists, and hand pick a force with the right strengths to fight
well on different terrains against all manner of opposition.
Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played out. You can
battle orcs, undead, and bandits on the marches of the Kingdom of
Wesnoth; fight alongside dragons in the lofty peaks, elves in the
green reaches of the Aethenwood, dwarves in the great halls of Knalga,
or even merfolk in the Bay of Pearls. You can fight to regain the
throne of Wesnoth, or use your dread power over the Undead to dominate
the land of mortals, or lead your glorious Orcish tribe to victory
against the humans who dared despoil your lands.
You will be able to select from among over two hundred unit types
(infantry, cavalry, archers, and mages are just the beginning) and
fight actions ranging from small-unit ambushes to clashes of vast
armies. You can even create your own custom units, and write your
own scenarios – or even full-blown campaigns. You can also challenge
your friends – or strangers – and fight in epic 'multi-player'
fantasy battles.
Getting Started
---------------
The World
~~~~~~~~~
The known portion of the Great Continent, on which Wesnoth abides, is
generally divided into three areas: the northlands, which are
generally lawless; the kingdom of Wesnoth and its occasional
principality, Elensefar; and the domain of the Southwest Elves in the
Aethenwood and beyond.
The Kingdom of Wesnoth lies in the center of this land. Its borders are
the Great River to the north, the Lower Hills in the east and south,
the Green Swamp to the southwest, and the Ocean to the west. Elensefar,
a once-province of Wesnoth, is bordered by the Great River to the north,
a loosely defined line with Wesnoth to the east, the Bay of Pearls to
the south, and the ocean to the west. There is no government of the
Northlands. Various groups of orcs, dwarves, barbarians and elves
populate the region. The northern and eastern borders are not defined, the
southern border is the Great River, and the western border is the Ocean.
Over the land are scattered villages where you can heal your troops
and gather the income required to support your army. You will also
have to cross mountains and rivers, push through forests, hills and
tundra, and cross open grassland. In each of these areas different
creatures have adapted to live there and can travel more easily and
fight better when they are in familiar terrain.
The Creatures
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In the world of Wesnoth there dwell humans, elves, dwarves, orcs,
drakes, saurians, mermen, nagas, and many other races yet more obscure
and wondrous. In accursed lands walk undead and ghosts and specters.
Each has adapted to particular terrains. Humans inhabit primarily the
temperate grasslands. In the hills, mountains and underground caves
orcs and dwarves are most at home. In the forests the elves reign
supreme. In the oceans and rivers mermen and nagas dominate.
For game purposes, the races group into factions; for example, orcs
often cooperate with trolls, and elves or dwarves with humans. Some
other factions reflect divisions within human society -- loyalists
vs. outlaws, for example. In most campaigns, you will control units
drawn a single faction. But sometimes factions make alliances with
others, so you may face more than one faction in a scenario.
Finding Your Way
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Wesnoth first starts it displays an initial background and a column
of buttons called the Main Menu. The buttons only work with a mouse. For
the impatient, we recommend you: click the "Language" button to set
your language; then click the "Tutorial" button to run the tutorial;
and then play the campaign, "A Tale of Two Brothers" by clicking the "Campaign"
button and selecting it from the list provided.
image:images/main-menu.jpg["Main Menu"]
Tutorial::
The tutorial is a real, but basic, game which teaches you some of
the basic controls needed to play the game. Winning or losing is not
important here, but learning what to do is. Click the Tutorial button to
play. In the Tutorial you are in the role of the prince Konrad or the
princess Li'sar, learning from the Elder Mage Delfador - pay attention
or he might turn
you into a newt.
Campaign::
Wesnoth was primarily designed to play campaigns. Campaigns are a series
of connected scenarios. Click this button to start a new campaign. You
will be presented with a list of campaigns available on your computer
(more can be downloaded if you wish). Select your campaign and click
OK to start or Cancel to quit. Each campaign has a difficulty level:
easy, medium (normal), and hard. We recommend medium as this level is
challenging, but not difficult. You may not change the difficulty during
the campaign. In case you have serious problems fighting your way
through easy difficulty, the guide about
<<basic_strategy,Basic Strategy>> will surely help you. Once you have
selected the difficulty, you will start with the first scenario of the
campaign.
Multiplayer::
Click this button to play single scenarios against one or more
opponents. You can play the games over the internet or at your computer,
against computer or human opponents. When you select this button a
dialogue will appear and allow you to choose how you want to play the
scenario. To learn more, see <<scenarios,scenarios>>.
Load::
Click this button to load a previously saved game. You will be shown
a dialogue listing saved games. Select the game and click Ok to load
and continue, or Cancel to return to the Main Menu. If you select a
replay game, you can check the Replay check box. The loaded game will
make all the moves from the beginning while you watch.
Add-ons::
Click this button to enter the content server where a whole lot of
content created by normal users is hosted. Among the things available there
are many campaigns, multiplayer eras (defining factions for multiplayer
games) and multiplayer maps. With the "Remove Add-ons" button you can remove
them again once you do not want them anymore.
Language::
Click this button, select your language, and click OK to use it, or
Cancel to continue with the current language. The first time Wesnoth
starts, it defaults to English or your system locale if that can be
determined, but once you change it, it will start in that language.
Preferences::
Click here to change default settings.
Credits::
Click this button for a list of major Wesnoth contributors. You
will often be able to reach them in real time at
irc.freenode.org:6667 on #wesnoth.
Quit::
Click this button to close Wesnoth.
Help::
Click this button to open the integrated in game Help System. It will provide
you with information about units and all other gameplay relevant things of the
game. Most of those things are mentioned in this manual.
More::
Click this button to read the next little tip from the "Tome of Wesnoth".
Envelope::
Click this button (the icon of an envelope) to open a dialog where you can
enable summary uploads which will help us to further balance campaigns. This
option is not active by default and all data submitted will be anonymous.
Game Modes
~~~~~~~~~~
There are two basic ways to play Battle for Wesnoth:
- Play a sequence of connected scenarios, known as a campaign, against
the computer.
- Play a single scenario against computer or human opponents.
Campaigns
^^^^^^^^^
Campaigns are sequences of battles with a connecting
storyline. Typical campaigns have about 10-20 scenarios. The main
advantage with campaigns is that they allow you to develop your
army. As you complete each scenario, the remaining units at the end
are saved for you to use in the next scenario. If you choose not to
use a unit at all during a scenario it is carried over to the next, so
you don't lose units you don't use.
The campaign is the primary form in which Wesnoth is intended to be
played, is probably the most enjoyable, and is the recommended way for
new players to learn the game.
[[scenarios]]
Scenarios
^^^^^^^^^
A single scenario takes about 30 minutes to 2 hours to complete. This is
the fastest way to play, but your units are not saved and you cannot use
campaign units. You can play scenarios against the computer or against
other players either over the internet or at your computer. Scenarios
are accessed through the "Multiplayer" button on the main menu.
In general multiplayer games are played against other players via the Internet
(you can also run them on your LAN if you have one). All these games are
co-ordinated through the Wesnoth multiplayer server. Multiplayer games can
take anywhere from 1 hour to 10 hours, depending on how many players
there are (and the size of the map). The average time is between 3 to
7 hours. Games can be saved and loaded as many times as you like. So,
it's possible for some games to last 1 or 2 weeks, even though the play
time is only a few hours. You cannot carry over units in multiplayer
from one scenario to the next, so building up your army's strength is
possible only within the scenario.
There are several possible options you are provided with when clicking on the
"Multiplayer" button:
image:images/multiplayer.jpg["Multiplayer dialog"]
Join official Server
++++++++++++++++++++
This option directly connects you to the official server. You will end in the
lobby where you can create your games as you wish and where many games are
already open and maybe some players already waiting to join in a new match.
Connect to Host/Server
++++++++++++++++++++++
This option opens a dialog box allowing you to enter the address of the
machine to join. In this dialog
there also is the button "View List" that does show a list of official servers
that can be used as backup if the main server is currently not available.
A rather complete list of official and user setup servers is listed at this
website: http://wesnoth.org/wiki/MultiplayerServers[Multiplayer servers].
To be able to start a multiplayer game without using an external multiplayer
server, you have to start the server, which is usually named 'wesnothd',
yourself. Then you have to connect to your
own machine in the 'Connect to Host/Server' dialog by typing 127.0.0.1 as
adress to use. Other players need to be able to connect to your
port 15000 using TCP to play with you on your server. If you are behind a
firewall, you will probably need to change your firewall settings to allow
incoming connections to port 15000, and tell your firewall to forward such
traffic to the machine hosting the game. You should not need to make firewall
changes to join games hosted on a public server or by someone else.
Local Game
++++++++++
This creates a game just running on your computer. You can either use it as
hotseat game where everyone plays at the same computers by taking turns in
the 'hotseat'. Hotseat games will take about the same time to play as games
played over the Internet. Or you can just play a scenario against AI
opponents rather than human players. This can be a good way to become familiar
with the various maps that are used for multiplayer games before playing
against real opponents. It can also be used as a simple way to explore
the capabilities of units from the different factions by choosing which
faction you will play and which faction your opponents are in these games.
Of course, you can also mix both in one game. That is, play together in
a game with a friend against an AI opponent.
[[game_screen]]
The Game Screen
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
image:images/game-screen.jpg["Game Screen"]
Regardless of whether you are playing a scenario or a campaign, the
basic layout of the game screen is the same. The majority of the screen
is filled with a map which shows all of the action that takes place
in the game. Around the map are various elements which provide useful
information about the game and are described in more detail below.
image:images/top_pane.jpg["Top Panel"]
Across the top of the screen from left to right are the following items:
1. Menu button
2. Actions button
3. Turn counter (current turn/maximum number of turns)
4. Your gold
5. Villages (your villages/total number of villages)
6. Your total units
7. Your upkeep
8. Your income
9. Current time or time left (in timed multiplayer games)
10. Current hex type
11. Current hex position (x-coordinate, y-coordinate)
image:images/right_pane.jpg["Right Panel"]
Down the right of the screen from top to bottom are:
1. Full map, scaled
2. Time of day indicator
3. Unit profile for last selected unit
4. End Turn button
Recruit and Recall
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When you first start a scenario or campaign you will only have a few units
on the map. One of these will be your commander (identified by a little
golden crown icon). Your commander is usually placed in a castle on a special
hex called a keep. Whenever your commander is on a keep (not only your
own, but also the keep of any enemy castles you capture) and you have
enough gold, you can recruit units for your army. In later scenarios you
can recall experienced units that survived earlier scenarios. From here,
you can start to build your army to conquer the enemy.
The first thing you will probably want to do is recruit your first
unit. Press `Ctrl-R` (or right click on an empty castle hex and select
"Recruit") and you will be able to recruit a unit from a list of all
the units available to you. Each recruit is placed on an empty castle
square. Once you have filled the castle, you cannot recruit any more
until units move off. Your opponent's commander is similarly placed
on its castle keep and will begin by recruiting its troops -- so don't
dilly-dally looking at the scenery, there's a battle to be won.
At the end of each successful scenario, all your remaining troops are
automatically saved. At the start of the next scenario you may recall
them in a similar way to recruiting. Recalled troops are often more
experienced than recruits and usually a better choice.
Your Army
^^^^^^^^^
All game types use the same soldiers, called units. Each unit is
identified by Race, Level, and Class. Each unit has strengths and
weaknesses, based on their Resistances, current Terrain, and Level. Full
details are in the in game help.
Life and Death - Experience
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
As your troops gain battle experience, they will learn more skills
and become stronger. They will also die in battle, so you'll need to
recruit and recall more when that happens. But choose wisely, for each
has strengths and weaknesses a cunning opponent will quickly exploit.
Victory and Defeat
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pay careful attention to the Objectives pop-up box at the beginning of
each scenario. Usually you will achieve victory by killing all enemy
leaders, and only be defeated by having your leader killed. But
scenarios may have other victory objectives - getting your leader to a
designated point, say, or rescuing someone, or solving a puzzle, or
holding out against a siege until a certain number of turns have
elapsed.
When you win a scenario, the map will gray over and the 'End Turn'
button will change to 'End Scenario'. You can now do things like
changing your save options or (if you are in a multiplayer game)
chatting with other players before pressing that button to advance.
Gold
^^^^
Your army does not fight for free. It costs you gold to recruit units
and gold to maintain them. You start each scenario with gold carried
over from previous scenarios (although each scenario ensures you have
at least a minimum amount of gold to start if you didn't carry over
enough from previous scenarios) and can gain more by meeting scenario
objectives quickly and, during a scenario, by controlling villages. Each
village you control will give you two gold pieces income per turn. When
you first start a scenario it is usually worthwhile to gain control of
as many villages as you can to ensure you have sufficient income to wage
war. You can see your current gold and current income at the top of the
screen as described in the section on the <<game_screen,game screen>>.
Save and Load
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
At the start of each scenario, you have the option to save it. If you
are defeated, you may load it and try again. Once you have succeeded,
you will again be asked to save the next scenario and play that. If you
have to stop playing during a scenario, you can save your turn and load
it again later. Just remember, a good Battle for Wesnoth player never needs to save
during a scenario. However, most beginners tend to do so rather often.
Playing
-------
Controls
~~~~~~~~
These are the default control keys. You can change them to your taste
using the Preferences menu.
.Controls and hotkeys
`--------------`--------------------------------------------------------------
F1 The Battle for Wesnoth Help
Arrow keys Scroll
Left click Select unit, move unit
Right click Main menu, cancel action
Middle click Center on pointer location
Escape Exit game, exit menu, cancel message
Ctrl-r Recruit unit
Ctrl-alt-r Repeat last recruit
Alt-r Recall unit
u Undo last move (only deterministic moves can be undone)
r Redo move
m Message another player (in multiplayer)
ctrl-m Message your allies (in multiplayer)
Alt-m Message everyone in the game (in multiplayer)
Alt-c View chat log
n Cycle through units that have movement left
N Cycle through units that have movement left, in reverse order
Space End unit turn and cycle to next unit that has movement left
Shift-Space Make currently selected unit hold position (end its movement)
Alt-Space End this player's turn
Ctrl-Space End turn
Ctrl-v Show enemy moves (where the enemy can move next turn)
Ctrl-b Show potential enemy moves, if your units were not on the map
Ctrl-j Show scenario objectives
Ctrl-f Toggle full screen/windowed mode
Ctrl-a Toggle accelerated game mode
Ctrl-g Toggle grid
Ctrl-c Clear onscreen labels
Ctrl-s Save game
Ctrl-o Load game
Ctrl-p Go to Preferences menu
Ctrl-q Quit game
/ Search (find label or unit by name)
t Continue interrupted unit move
+ Zoom in
- Zoom out
0 Reset zoom to default
Ctrl-n Rename unit
1-7 Show how far currently selected unit can move in that many turns
l Move to leader unit
d Describe current unit
Ctrl-g Toggle grid
Alt-k Toggle shroud
S Update shroud now
D Delay shroud updates
Alt-l Attach a text label to a terrain hex
Ctrl-l Set team label
Alt-s Show status table
s Show statistics
Alt-u Show unit list
Ctrl-alt-m Toggle muting of game sounds
: http://www.wesnoth.org/wiki/CommandMode[Command mode]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gold
~~~~
Each side is given some amount of gold to begin with, and receives 2
gold pieces per turn, plus 1 more gold piece for every village that side
controls. In a campaign, starting gold is the greater of 80% of the gold
you ended the previous scenario with, and a minimum amount defined by
the scenario, which is typically lower as the difficulty level increases.
Recruiting and Recalling
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
image:images/recruit.jpg["Recruit dialog"]
The major use for gold is to build your army by recruiting new units
or recalling units from previous scenarios in a campaign. Units may be
recruited or recalled when the leader is on a keep whose castle has at
least one vacant castle hex.
- Right-click in an empty castle hex and select Recruit to recruit new
units from the list that is presented. The cost to Recruit depends on
the unit, but is usually between 10 and 20 gold.
- Right-click in an empty castle hex and select Recall to recall units
from previous scenarios. Recalling costs 20 pieces of gold per unit. See
<<unit_recall,recalling units>> for more information.
Upkeep
^^^^^^
Each unit also has an upkeep cost. The upkeep cost is generally equal to
the level of the unit, unless the unit has the "Loyal" trait (<<traits,see
below>>). Units that are not initially recruited - i.e. the leader or
those that join voluntarily - usually have the Loyal trait. Upkeep is
only paid if the total upkeep of a side's units is greater than the
number of villages that side controls. Upkeep paid is the difference
between the number of villages and the upkeep cost.
Income
^^^^^^
So, the formula for determining the income per turn is
2 + villages - maximum(0, upkeep - villages)
where upkeep is equal to the sum of the levels of all your non-loyal
units.
If the upkeep cost is greater than the number of villages+2 then the
side starts losing gold, if it is equal, no income is gained or lost.
Units
~~~~~
Battle for Wesnoth has hundreds of unit types which are characterized
by a rich set of statistics. In addition, individual units can have
specific <<traits,traits>> that make them subtly different from other units
of the same type. Finally, campaign designers can add unique units to
their campaigns to further expand the options available to players.
The basic statistics for a unit include its hit points (HP), the number of
movement points it has, and the weapons it can use and the damage they
do. In addition, units have other characteristics, such as alignment
and special abilities, that are described in more detail below.
Alignment
^^^^^^^^^
Every unit has an alignment: lawful, neutral, or chaotic. Alignment
affects how units perform at different times of day. Neutral units are
unaffected by the time of day. Lawful units do more damage during the
day and less at night. Chaotic units do more damage at night and less
during the day.
The two "day" and "night" phases are differentiated as Morning, Afternoon
and First Watch, Second Watch, by the positions of the sun and moon in
the time of day graphic.
The following table shows the effects of different times of the day on
the damage dealt by lawful and chaotic units:
.Time of the day and damage
`-------`----------------------------------------`---------------------`-------`------
Turn Image Day-phase Lawful Chaotic
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1 image:images/schedule-dawn.jpg[] Dawn -- --
2 image:images/schedule-morning.jpg[] Day (morning) +25% -25%
3 image:images/schedule-afternoon.jpg[] Day (afternoon) +25% -25%
4 image:images/schedule-dusk.jpg[] Dusk -- --
5 image:images/schedule-firstwatch.jpg[] Night (first watch) -25% +25%
6 image:images/schedule-secondwatch.jpg[] Night (second watch) -25% +25%
Special image:images/schedule-underground.jpg[] Underground -25% +25%
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Keep in mind that some scenarios take place underground, where it is
perpetually night!
For example: consider a fight between a Lawful and a Chaotic unit when
both have a base damage of 12. At dawn and dusk, both will do 12 points
of damage if they hit. During Morning or Afternoon, the Lawful unit will
do (`12 \* 1.25`) or 15 points, while the Chaotic unit will do (`12 \*
0.75`) or 9 points. During First or Second Watch, the Lawful unit would
do 9 points compared to the Chaotic unit's 15.
If an equivalent Neutral unit were fighting, it would always do 12 points
of damage regardless of the hour.
[[traits]]
Traits
^^^^^^
Units have traits which reflect aspects of their character. Traits are
assigned randomly to units when they are created. Most units receive
two traits.
The possible traits for most units are as follows:
Intelligent::
Intelligent units require 20% less experience than usual to advance
(Trolls do not get this trait).
Intelligent units are very useful at the beginning of a campaign as they
can advance to higher levels more quickly. Later in campaigns Intelligent
is not quite as useful because the After Maximum Level Advancement (AMLA)
is not as significant a change as advancing a level. If you have many
'maximum level' units you may wish to recall units with more useful traits.
Quick::
Quick units have 1 extra movement point, but 5% less HP than usual.
Quick is the most noticeable trait, particularly in slower moving units
such as trolls or heavy infantry. Units with the Quick trait often have
greatly increased mobility in rough terrain, which can be important to
consider when deploying your forces. Also, Quick units aren't quite as
tough as units without this trait and are subsequently less good at holding
contested positions.
Resilient::
Resilient units have 4 HP plus 1 HP per level more than usual.
Resilient units can be useful at all stages of a campaign, and this is a
useful trait for all units. Resilient is often most helpful as a trait when
it occurs in a unit that has some combination of low hitpoints, good
defense, or high resistances. Resilient units are especially useful for
holding strategic positions against opponents.
Strong::
Strong units do 1 more damage for every successful strike in melee combat,
and have 1 more HP.
While useful for any close-combat unit, Strong is most effective for units
who have a high number of swings such as the Elvish Fighter. Strong units
can be very useful when a tiny bit of extra damage is all that is needed to
turn a damaging stroke into a killing blow.
There are also some traits that are assigned only for certain units or
only for units of a certain race. These are:
Dextrous::
Dextrous units do 1 more damage for every successful strike in ranged combat.
Dextrous is a trait possessed only by Elves. The Elven people are known for
their uncanny grace, and their great facility with the bow. Some, however,
are gifted with natural talent that exceeds their brethren. These elves
inflict an additional point of damage with each arrow.
Healthy::
Renowned for their vitality, some dwarves are sturdier than others and can
rest even when traveling.
Healthy units have 2 more HP than usual and rest heal 2 additional HP after
each turn they did not fight.
Fearless::
Does not suffer from a negative attack bonus during its unfavorable
time of day (Trolls, Walking Corpses).
There are also some traits that are not assigned randomly.
These traits can either be assigned by the scenario designer or are always
assigned based on the unit type:
Loyal::
Loyal units don't incur upkeep. Most units incur an upkeep cost at the end
of every turn, which is equal to their level. Loyal units do not incur this
cost.
During campaigns, certain units may opt to join the player's forces of their
own volition. These units are marked with the Loyal trait. Although they may
require payment to be recalled, they never incur any upkeep costs. This can
make them invaluable during a long campaign, when gold is in short supply.
This trait is never given to recruited units, so it may be unwise to dismiss
such units or to send them to a foolish death.
Undead::
Undead units are immune to poison, also drain and plague doesn't work on them.
Undead units generally have 'Undead' as their only trait. Since Undead units
are the bodies of the dead, risen to fight again, poison has no effect upon
them. This can make them invaluable in dealing with foes who use poison in
conjunction with their attacks.
Mechanical::
Mechanical units aren't alive and thus are immune to poison, also drain and
plague doesn't work on them.
Mechanical units generally have 'Mechanical' as their only trait.
Unit Specialties
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Certain units have special attacks. These are listed below:
Backstab::
This attack deals double damage if there is an enemy of the target on the
opposite side of the target, and that unit is not incapacitated (e.g.
turned to stone).
Berserk::
Whether used offensively or defensively, this attack presses the
engagement until one of the combatants is slain, or 30 rounds of attacks
have occurred.
Charge::
This attack deals double damage to the target. It also causes this unit to
take double damage from the target's counterattack.
Drain::
This unit drains health from living units, healing itself for half the amount
of damage it deals (rounded down).
Firststrike::
This unit always strikes first with this attack, even if they are defending.
Magical::
This attack always has a 70% chance to hit regardless of the defensive
ability of the unit being attacked.
Marksman::
When used offensively, this attack always has at least a 60% chance to hit.
Plague::
When a unit is killed by a Plague attack, that unit is replaced with a
Walking Corpse on the same side as the unit with the Plague attack. This
doesn't work on Undead or units in villages.
Poison::
This attack poisons the target. Poisoned units loose 8 HP every turn
until they are cured or are reduced to 1 HP. Poison can not, of itself,
kill a unit.
Slow::
This attack slows the target until it ends a turn. Slow halves the damage
caused by attacks and the movement cost for a slowed unit is doubled. A unit
that is slowed will feature a snail icon in its sidebar information when it
is selected.
Stone::
This attack turns the target to stone. Units that have been turned to stone
may not move or attack.
Swarm::
The number of strikes of this attack decreases when the unit is wounded. The
number of strikes is proportional to the % of HP/maximum HP the unit has. For
example a unit with 3/4 of its maximum HP will get 3/4 of the number of
strikes.
Abilities
^^^^^^^^^
Some units have abilities that either directly affect other units,
or have an effect on how the unit interacts with other units. These
abilities are listed below:
Ambush::
This unit can hide in forest, and remain undetected by its enemies.
Enemy units cannot see this unit while it is in forest, except if they have
units next to it. Any enemy unit that first discovers this unit immediately
loses all its remaining movement.
Concealment::
This unit can hide in villages (with the exception of water villages), and
remain undetected by its enemies, except by those standing next to it.
Enemy units can not see this unit while it is in a village, except if they
have units next to it. Any enemy unit that first discovers this unit
immediately loses all its remaining movement.
Cures::
A unit which can cure an ally of poison, although the ally will receive no
additional healing on the turn it is cured of the poison.
Heals +4::
Allows the unit to heal adjacent friendly units at the beginning of each
turn.
A unit cared for by this healer may heal up to 4 HP per turn, or stop
poison from taking effect for that turn.
A poisoned unit cannot be cured of its poison by a healer, and must seek
the care of a village or a unit that can cure.
Heals +8::
This unit combines herbal remedies with magic to heal units more quickly
than is normally possible on the battlefield.
A unit cared for by this healer may heal up to 8 HP per turn, or stop
poison from taking effect for that turn.
A poisoned unit cannot be cured of its poison by a healer, and must seek
the care of a village or a unit that can cure.
Illuminates::
This unit illuminates the surrounding area, making lawful units fight
better, and chaotic units fight worse.
Any units adjacent to this unit will fight as if it were dusk when it
is night, and as if it were day when it is dusk.
Leadership::
This unit can lead friendly units that are next to it, making them fight
better.
Adjacent friendly units of lower level will do more damage in battle.
When a unit adjacent to, of a lower level than, and on the same side as a
unit with Leadership engages in combat, its attacks do 25% more damage
times the difference in their levels.
Nightstalk::
The unit becomes invisible during night.
Enemy units cannot see this unit at night, except if they have units next to
it. Any enemy unit that first discovers this unit immediately loses all its
remaining movement.
Regenerates::
This unit will heal itself 8HP per turn. If it is poisoned, it will
remove the poison instead of healing.
Skirmisher::
This unit is skilled in moving past enemies quickly, and ignores all enemy
Zones of Control.
Steadfast::
This unit's resistances are doubled, up to a maximum of 50%, when
defending. Vulnerabilities are not affected.
Submerge::
This unit can hide in deep water, and remain undetected by its enemies.
Enemy units cannot see this unit while it is in deep water, except if they
have units next to it. Any enemy unit that first discovers this unit
immediately loses all its remaining movement.
Teleport::
This unit may teleport between any two friendly villages using one of its
moves.
Experience
^^^^^^^^^^
Units are awarded experience for fighting. After obtaining enough
experience, they will advance a level and become more powerful. The
amount of experience gained depends on the level of the enemy unit and
the outcome of the battle: if a unit kills its opponent, it receives 8
experience points per level of the enemy (4 if the enemy is level 0),
while units that survive a battle without killing their opponents are
awarded 1 experience point per level of the enemy. In other words:
.Experience bonuses for killing or fighting enemies of different levels
`------------`-----------`-------------
enemy level kill bonus fighting bonus
---------------------------------------
0 4 0
1 8 1
2 16 2
3 24 3
4 32 4
5 40 5
6 48 6
---------------------------------------
[[unit_recall]]
Recalling units
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
After you complete a scenario, all surviving units will be available to
recall in the next scenario. You are not able to move or attack with
a unit on the turn you recruit or recall that unit. A Recalled unit
retains its previous Level, Experience Points, (sometimes) any magic
items acquired, and will arrive with full hitpoints.
Moving
~~~~~~
Clicking on a unit identifies all the places it can move on its current
turn by dimming unreachable hexes (pressing the number keys 2-7 will
identify the additional hexes that can be reached in that number of
turns in a similar manner). While in this mode, moving the cursor over
a hex will identify the path your unit will take towards that hex as
well as additional information on the defensive bonus of your unit on
that hex and, if it will take more than one turn, the number of turns
it will take your unit to arrive. If you do not wish to move the unit
this mode can be cancelled by selecting a different unit (by clicking
on the new unit or using the `n` or `N` keys) or by right-clicking
(Command-click on a Mac) anywhere on the map. The <<orbs,orbs>> on the top
of a unit's energy bar provide a quick way to see which of your units
have already moved or can move further in the current turn.
If you decide to move the selected unit, click on the hex you want to
move to and your unit will move towards that space. If you select a
destination which is beyond reach in the current turn, the unit will
move as far as it can in the current turn and enter 'goto-mode'. In
'goto-mode' your unit will continue moving towards its destination in
subsequent turns. You can easily undo goto movements at the beginning
of your next turn. You may also change a unit's destination by selecting
that unit and choosing a new destination or clicking the unit again to
cancel the 'goto'.
Moving onto a village that is neutral or owned by an enemy will take
ownership of it and end your move for that unit.
Most units exert a Zone of Control which affects the hexes your unit can
reach and the path your unit takes. These restrictions are automatically
reflected in both the path that is displayed for your unit and the hexes
it may move to on the current turn.
Zone of Control
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A unit's Zone of Control extends to the six hexes immediately adjacent
to the unit, and units that move into an enemy zone of control are
forced to stop. Units with the skirmisher ability ignore enemy zones of
control and are able to move through them freely without being forced
to stop. Level 0 units are considered too feeble to generate a zone of
control and all units are able to move through the hexes around an enemy
level 0 unit freely.
[[orbs]]
Orbs
^^^^
On the top of the energy bar shown next to each unit of yours is an
orb. This orb is:
.Orbs
`------`------------------------------------------`-----------------------------
Orb Image Description
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Green image:images/orb-green.jpg["Green orb"] If you control the unit and \
it hasn't moved this turn
Yellow image:images/orb-yellow.jpg["Yellow orb"] If you control the unit and \
it has moved this turn, but \
could still move further or \
attack
Red image:images/orb-red.jpg["Red orb"] If you control the unit, but \
it has used all its movement \
this turn
Blue image:images/orb-blue.jpg["Blue orb"] If the unit is an ally you \
do not control
- image:images/orb-none.jpg["No orb"] Enemy units have no orb on \
the top of their energy bar
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ellipses, Team Colors, and Hero Icons
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Below each unit there will normally be a colored ellipses or base. The
color identifies its team; in a campaign game, the human-player color is
red. The team color will also show up in parts of the unit's clothing,
or possibly on a shield insignia.
Usually the ellipse will be a solid disk. On level 0 units,
you will see an ellipse that has broken lines. This indicates
that the unit has no Zone of Control.
Some campaigns use a star-shaped base to indicate leaders; others use
a silver crown icon next to the unit's upper-right corner. Still
others have no specific hero indicator at all. Which (if any) is used
is a stylistic choice left to campaign designers.
Fighting
~~~~~~~~
If you move next to an enemy unit, you may attack it. Click on your
unit that is next to an enemy unit, and click on the enemy you want to
attack - this will bring up a window that presents further options for
the fight. Every unit has one or more weapons it can attack with. Some
weapons, such as swords, are melee weapons, and some weapons, such as
bows, are ranged weapons.
If you attack with a melee weapon, the enemy you attack will be able to
strike back at you with its melee weapon. If you attack with a ranged
weapon, the enemy will be able to strike back with its ranged weapon. If
an enemy does not have a weapon of the same type as the one you attack
with, they will be unable to strike back and do any damage to you in
that fight.
Different types of attacks do different amounts of damage, and a certain
number of strikes may be made with each weapon. For instance, an Elvish
Fighter does 5 points of damage with its sword every time it hits,
and can strike 4 blows with the sword in one exchange. This is written
as 5-4, meaning 5 damage per hit, and 4 strikes.
Every unit has a chance of being hit based on the terrain it is in. For
instance, units in castles and villages have a lower chance of being
hit, and Elves in forest have a low chance of being hit. To see a unit's
defense rating (i.e. chance not to be hit) in terrain, click on the unit,
and then mouse over the terrain you're interested in, and the defense
rating will be displayed as a percentage value in the status pane,
as well as shown over the terrain hex.
You can obtain additional information, including the chance that
the attacker and defender will be killed, by clicking on the "Damage
Calculations" button in the fight window.
Attack types
^^^^^^^^^^^^
- *Blade*: Weapons with a cutting edge, used to chop pieces of meat from
a foe. Examples: dagger, scimitar, saber, drake claws.
- *Piercing*: Weapons with a sharp point and either a long handle
or a missile, used to perforate foe's body and damage internal
organs. Examples: Knight or infantry pike, arrow.
- *Impact*: Weapons having neither a sharp point nor a cutting edge,
but heavy enough to break an enemy's bones. Examples: mace, staff,
Troll fist.
- *Cold*: Weapons based on cold or ice missiles. Example: A wizard's
ice bolt.
- *Fire*: Weapons using fire to roast the foe like a chicken. Example:
A drake's fire breath.
- *Arcane*: An attack that dispels the magic animating zombies,
specters, and other undead creatures. Example: A white mage's magic attack.
Resistance
^^^^^^^^^^
Each unit is more or less vulnerable to the different attack types. 6
figures in the unit description show strength and weakness of the unit
against the 6 attack types. A positive resistance figure indicates
that the unit will suffer less damages from the attack type. A negative
resistance figure indicates that the unit is especially vulnerable to
this attack type.
Examples: Drake scales protect them from most of attack types except from
piercing weapon and cold weapon. Human Cavalry units are generally well
protected except from piercing attacks which are their weak point. Undead
are very resistant to blade and piercing weapon but very vulnerable to
impact attacks and arcane attacks.
Using the best attack type against enemy units will substantially
increase your chances of killing them.
Healing
~~~~~~~
A unit may be healed a maximum of 8 hitpoints per turn. A unit that
does not move or fight during a turn is _resting_ and will recover 2
hitpoints. Hitpoints recovered through _resting_ are added on top of
hitpoints recovered through healing so it is possible for a unit to
recover up to a total of 10 hit points per turn.
There are two basic ways for a unit to be healed:
- Resting in a village. The unit will heal 8 hitpoints every turn.
- Being adjacent to units with the 'heals' ability. The number of
hitpoints healed is specified in the unit's ability description. This
is invariably 'heals +4' or 'heals +8'.
Regeneration
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Trolls and Woses have the ability to heal themselves naturally through
regeneration. They will heal 8 points each turn if they are injured. Note
that because all units may only heal a maximum of 8 points per turn,
Trolls and Woses gain no additional benefit from being on a village or
next to a healing unit.
Poison
^^^^^^
Some attacks can inflict poison damage on your unit. When this happens
the poisoned unit will take 8 damage each turn until it is cured. Poison
can be cured by resting on a village or being next to a unit with the 'cures'
ability. Units with the 'heals' ability can only prevent the poison from
causing damage that turn, not cure it. When poison is cured the unit does
not gain or lose hitpoints on that turn due to healing/poisoning. A unit
can not be healed normally until it is cured of poisoning.
Some other hints about healing:
- A unit may take several turns to be fully healed.
- Healers (Elvish Shaman, Elvish Druid, Elvish Shyde, White Mage, Mage
of Light, Paladin) heal all wounded units around them, so you can keep
units close to the battle without losing them.
- Healers do not heal enemy units.
- Healers cannot heal themselves, but see next point.
- Use your healers in pairs, so they can heal each other if needed.
- Multiple healers from different sides can heal the same unit and speed up healing.
- Trolls and Woses cannot regenerate other units.
- Trolls and Woses cure themselves from poison as a village does.
Strategy and Tips
-----------------
[[basic_strategy]]
Basic Strategy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The following basic combat principles and tips are intended to help
starting off your career as a Wesnothian battle veteran. The minor
concrete examples are somewhat tied to the "Heir to the Throne" campaign.
Don't waste units
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Do not send wounded units to a sure death. Once a unit loses more than
half of its hit points (HP), you should seriously consider retreating it
to safety and either station it in a village for healing or give him to
the care of a healer (like Elvish Shamans or White Mages). Healers are
very useful!
This is for practical reasons: a heavily wounded unit cannot hold back
or kill the enemy. During attack and counterattack, it most often will
perish. Further, by sending it to its sure death, its gathered experience
points (XP) are lost. Recruiting a replacement may be impossible because
the leader is not in its keep or because funds are running low. Even if
you can recruit a replacement, it is most often far away from the battle
front. So don't waste your units.
Out of the enemy's reach
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How do you guard wounded units? They are best guarded by being out of
the adversary's reach. No enemy can attack them if enemies cannot even
come near them. The next section about zone of control (ZOC) shows how
to restrict the enemy's moves.
In the Action menu, you can select "Show Enemy Moves" to highlight all
possible hexes your adversary can actually move to. This takes your zone
of control into account. Thus you can check that your near death unit,
which is behind, indeed cannot be attacked as the enemy cannot move
close to it.
When your armies meet, you may want to try to be the first to attack. So
try to end your move out of striking range of the enemy army. He cannot
attack but most likely will close into your striking range.
[[zoc]]
Shield with your zone of control (ZOC)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Every unit of level 1 or higher maintains a zone of control (ZOC) covering
all 6 neighboring hexes. This means that once an enemy moves into one of
the six neighboring tiles, it is forced to halt and its movement phase
ends (only enemies with the rare skirmisher ability ignore this).
Because of ZOC, an enemy may not slip between two units which are
aligned on a north-south or diagonal line and have exactly 1 or 2 hexes
between them. By combining these pairs into a long wall or using them in
different directions, you can prevent the enemy from reaching a wounded
unit behind. He has to defeat the units imposing the ZOC first. If the
enemy can barely reach it, even a single unit may shield a small region
behind itself.
Maintain a defensive line
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
By lining up many units directly adjacent or with at most 1 hex space
between them, you can build up a powerful defensive line. Note that,
because Wesnoth uses hexes, a east-to-west "line" is not a straight
line but a zig-zag curve. The north south line and the diagonals are the
"real" lines.
Coming from one side, the enemy may attack any single of your units
in the line with only 2 of his units at a time. As a rule of thumb,
a healthy unit without particular weakness can withstand an attack from
two normal enemy units of the same level or lower without getting killed.
Unfortunately, your line often has to bend to form a wedge or to fit
the terrain. At these corner points, 3 enemy units may attack. This
also happens at the ends of a line if the line is too short. Use units
with high hit point on proper terrain or with proper resistances to hold
these weak points. These are the most likely to be killed, so use units
with no or few experience points (XP) for this purpose.
Lining your troops up also prevents the enemy from surrounding any one
of them. For ZOC reasons, a unit with one enemy behind it and one in front
is trapped.
Rotate your troops
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
When a unit in the front line is heavily damaged you can move him safely
behind your defensive line. To hold up the line, you will most likely
have to replace him with a reserve, so hold a couple of units in back
of the front line. If you have healers, damaged units in the second line
will quickly recover.
Note that your units can pass through hexes containing your own troops.
Use the terrain
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Try to position your troops so that they are attacking from a hex with
high defense against an enemy in a hex with low terrain. That way,
the enemy's counterstrikes will be less likely to do damage.
For example, you might position your elves just inside of a forest edge
so that attacking orcs must stand on grassland while your elves enjoy
the high forest defenses.
Attacking and choosing your targets
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Advancing and attacking is of course the most interesting part of your way
to victory. Kill or weaken enemies in your path and move your defensive
line forward. This can become tricky as the enemy gets to attack back
on his turn.
Often, you will throw several units at a single enemy unit to finish
him off, but these were forming your defensive line which is now partly
broken. Maybe this doesn't matter because you are out of reach of the
next enemy unit. Maybe it does because you only managed to weaken a
very strong enemy and next turn, he is going to strike back. Perhaps a
Horseman can deliver the killing blow.
Striking first is an advantage because it allows you the choice of which
units will face off. Take advantage of enemy weakness: e.g. direct your
ranged attacks against foes without ranged weapons. Take advantage of
weaknesses like Horsemen's vulnerability to pierce. But remember that
they get to attack back on their turn, so you might have weaknesses the
enemy may exploit.
For example, Horsemen can hold up the line against Orcish Grunts and
Troll Whelps very well because they have some resistances against blade
and impact. But your Horseman may quite quickly fall to Orcish Archers
and Goblin Spearmen.
It usually pays off if you can definitively kill (or almost kill) the
faced unit. If you are unsure of finishing off the enemy in one turn,
either ensure that your unit can weather the return attacks or decide
that you're willing to lose that unit. To withstand the enemy's
strikes next turn, it is often wise to attack at the range that
allows the enemy to do least damage to you, rather than choosing the
maximum expected damage to the enemy.
In particular, use your ranged weapons if the enemy has no ranged
attack. The computer's default choice only looks for the most damage
you can deal, so using it will often result in your units taking more
damage than necessary.
Time of Day
^^^^^^^^^^^
Remember that Lawful units like humans fight better at daytime and Chaotic
units like orcs or undead fight better at night. Ideally you want to
first meet the enemy when you are strong and/or he is weak. When the
enemy has its strong time, it often pays off to strengthen your lines
and hold a favorable defensive position. When its weak time is about to
arise, your advance will push forth.
For example, elves might hold out a forest during a nightly orcish
onslaught and advance on sunrise. You may even note that the computer
AI actively retreats his orcs during day.
Experience
^^^^^^^^^^
Over the course of a campaign, it is critical that you build up a seasoned
force. Later scenarios will assume you have level 2 and 3 units available
for recall.
Your units gain most experience points (XP) from killing an enemy unit
(8XP per level of the unit killed). As such, it often makes sense to
have your higher level units weaken an enemy, but cede the kill to a
unit more in need of the XP. Healers in particular are often weak in
combat and often need to 'steal' kills in this way to advance levels.
At the beginning (when you probably have no high level units), try to
give most kills to a small handful of your units. This will fast-track
them to becoming Level 2 units, and they can then shepherd others.
Don't neglect to earn your leader experience. You need to keep him safe,
but if you coddle him too much he will be too low level to survive future
scenarios anyway.
Getting the Most Fun Out of the Game
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remember, the idea of a game is to have fun! Here are some recommendations
from the development team on how to get the most fun out of the game:
- Consider playing the campaign on "Medium" difficulty level, especially if
you have prior experience with strategy games. We feel you'll find it
much more rewarding.
- Don't sweat it too much when you lose some units. The campaign was
designed to accommodate the player losing some units along the way.
- Don't abuse saved games. Long ago, Wesnoth only allowed saving the game
at the end of a scenario. Mid-scenario saving was added as a
convenience to use if you had to continue the game another day,
or to protect against crashes. We do not recommend loading mid-scenario
saved games over and over because your White Mage keeps getting
killed. Learn to protect your White Mage instead, and balance
risks! That is part of the strategy.
- If you must load a saved game, we recommend going back to the start
of the scenario, so that you choose a new strategy that works, rather
than simply finding random numbers that favor you.
- But remember, the aim is to have fun! You may have different tastes
than the developers, so do what you enjoy most! If you enjoy loading
the saved game every time you make a mistake, looking for the 'perfect'
game where you never lose a unit, by all means, go right ahead!
At the start of a scenario
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- First, read the scenario objectives. Sometimes you do not have to
kill enemy leaders; instead it is enough that you survive for a
certain number of turns, or pick up a particular object
- Look at the map: the terrain, the position of your leader and the
other leader(s).
- Then, begin to recruit units. Cheap units are useful to soak up the
first wave of an enemy's attack; advanced units can then be brought
in as support. Fast units can be used as scouts, for exploring the
map and to quickly conquer villages.
During the scenario
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Try to capture and keep control of as many villages as possible to
keep the gold coming in.
- Keep units in packs so the enemy cannot attack from as many sides, and
so you can outnumber each enemy unit. Put your units in a line so that
the enemy cannot attack any one of your units from more than two sides.
- Different units have different strengths and weaknesses depending
on terrain and who they are attacking; right click on units and select
"Unit Description" to learn more.
- You can use lower level units as cannon fodder, to slow down
enemy. e.g. you can use them to block enemy reaching your important units
- You can cause damage to enemies with advanced units and then finish
them with lower level units - to give them more experience (and finally
make them advance to next level).
- When you have a White Mage (advances from Mage) or Druid (advances
from Shaman), put it in the middle of a circle of units to heal them
as they move across the map (Shamans can do this too, but not as well).
- Losing units is expected, even advanced units.
- Time of day really matters:
* lawful units do more damage at day and less damage at night
* chaotic units do more damage at night and less damage at day
* remember to always check the time of day on the right side of the
screen. Plan ahead - think about what it's going to be next turn as
well as this turn.
- Some units are resistant or vulnerable to different kind of
attacks. Mounted units are weak vs pierce attacks. Fire and arcane
attacks destroy undead. To see how much a unit resists an attack
type, right click on the unit, select "Unit Description", then select
"Resistance". It will show you how resistant a unit is to different
types of attacks.
Healing
^^^^^^^
An important part of succeeding at Battle for Wesnoth is keeping your
units healthy. When your units take damage you can heal them by moving
them onto villages or next to special healing units (e.g. the Elvish
Shaman and White Mage). Some other units you will encounter, such as
Trolls, have the ability to heal themselves naturally.
Winning a scenario
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- Advanced units are needed to quickly kill enemy commanders, and to
avoid losing lots of units.
- The quicker you win a scenario, the more gold you get; you will get
more gold from winning early than from all of the map's villages for
the rest of the turns.
- Killing all enemy leaders usually gives instant victory.
More general tips
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
- After slaughtering scenarios (where you take lots of punishment) there
are usually "breathing room" scenarios where you can rather easily
gain some gold and experience (advanced units)
- Advanced units have higher upkeep than lower level units (1 gp per
level), loyal units are an exception.
Glossary
--------
ZOC:-
<<zoc,Zone Of Control>>.
// vim: set syntax=asciidoc:
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