Battle for Wesnoth: Difference between revisions

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* ''The Rise of Wesnoth'', a prequel campaign detailing how the titular country was formed. Does [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]].
* ''Northern Rebirth'', in which a group of former slaves form [[La Résistance]], and overthrow their former masters, creating a new power in the world, the Northern Alliance.
* ''Descent into Darkness'', in which you play a junior [[Necromancer]] [[Anti -Hero]], who gradually ruins his entire life through the course of the campaign through his own arrogance. Again, does [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]. An example of [[Gray and Gray Morality]], at least near the middle.
* ''Under the Burning Suns'', in which you must lead a group of [[Our Elves Are Better|elves not quite like the usual variety ]]from their desert home to a new island, slaying evil undead, orcs, dwarves ''or'' trolls (pick one), and eventually {{spoiler|aliens}} along the way. Notable for introducing [[Medieval Stasis]] enforcement on far-future Wesnoth via an [[Apocalypse How|Class 1 or Class 2 on the scale]].
 
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** Loyalists - ''Mario faction'' - completely lawful, terrain independent, highly versatile, but with limited mobility. Stronger than anyone else at daytime, but weaker than everyone else at night, the Loyalist play-style is often characterized by a time-of-day based cycle of attacking and retreating.
** Rebels - ''Mario/Ranger faction'' - slightly lawful, Forest-preferring, with extensive ranged combat abilities, also fairly versatile. Among the Rebel units, the elves are neutral, while Woses, mermen and magi are lawful. All Rebel units except for the Wose have ranged attacks.
** Drakes - ''Elitist/Ranger faction'' - mixed lawful/chaotic, terrain independent, excellent mobility, follows a hit-and-run style of combat utilizing the day-night cycle, with great attack strength but poor defensive ability. Heavily immersed in [[Elemental Rock -Paper -Scissors]]. The Drakes all have some aspect of [[Glass Cannon]] and are lawful, while the Saurians all have some degree of [[Fragile Speedster]] and are chaotic.
** Knalgans - ''Brute Force/Elitist faction'' - somewhat chaotic, with terrain independent Outlaws and Hill/Mountain-preferring dwarves. Has a duality between the chaotic outlaws and the neutral dwarves. Possesses no elemental weaponry, no poison and no magic, but does have units possessing unique abilities, like the [[Back Stab|backstabbing Thieves]] and the relentless attack of the [[The Berserker|Dwarvish Ulfserkers]]. Except the Ulf, all of the dwarves have some aspect of [[Mighty Glacier]], while the Outlaws are faster and cheaper, and are sometimes played as an independent sub-faction in themselves, called "Hodor".
** Northerners - ''Spammers/Brute Force faction'' - highly chaotic, somewhat hill-preferring, melee-oriented, utilizes cheap yet tough units to overrun the enemy force with sheer numbers. Except for the Archer and Assassin, all Northerner units are melee-focused, and are thus easily attacked by enemy ranged units. The Northerners have a time-of-day based attack-retreat cycle, but are not as heavily dependent on it as Loyalists and Undead, and can often use their numbers to simultaneously put pressure on different fronts and wear down the enemy.
** Undead - ''Technical faction'' - completely chaotic, terrain independent, slow-moving, and highly resistant to some attacks, while being very weak against others. Very deeply immersed in [[Elemental Rock -Paper -Scissors]], with a complex system of weaknesses and strengths and a variety of special abilities. All units except for the Bat and Adept have the "undead" trait, which means they are immune to poison, draining attacks, and zombie-plague. The Undead are, like the Loyalists, heavily time-of-day dependent, very strong at night and correspondingly weak at daytime.
*** Of course, this all is at best a generalization, with many individual units and different match-ups altering a faction's play-style. The Loyalists certainly have Brute Force units, the Rebels can be quite Technical (using Slow, Ambush, etc.), and so on.
* [[Acronym and Abbreviation Overload]]: The community has a lot of this. HttT, TSG, AoI, SoF, THoT, DA, HI, WM, ZoC, CtH, HAPMA... almost all campaigns, units and gameplay elements are abbreviated, [http://wiki.wesnoth.org/Wesnoth_Acronyms_and_Slang see also here].
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* [[An Axe to Grind]]: The Dwarvish Warrior line (Dwarvish Warrior-->Dwarvish Steelclad-->Dwarvish Lord) has those; so do [[Dem Bones|the Skeleton Warrior lines and the Death Knight unit]].
* [[Animate Dead]]: Most of the Undead are supposedly created this way, though for obvious balance reasons it takes gold to raise new undead using your leader unit. The only exception of the Plague ability, which can be used to raise free Walking Corpses from slain enemies.
* [[Anti -Magic]]: 'Arcane' attacks.
* [[Arabian Nights Days]]: The fan-made downloadable campaign ''To Lands Unknown'' let you play as the "Summoners", a race of magical arabs complete with scimitars, flying carpets and summonable djinns.
* [[Arrows On Fire]]: Primarily used by the [[Combat Pragmatist|Orcs]], who shoot incendiary arrows/bolts from their bows and crossbows, often with devastating effect against the undead (primarily ghosts) and Woses. One wonders as to why the other races never thought of using burning arrows and torches (which the Orcs also use) as a simple and easy way of combating the fire-weak undead without having to train expensive and delicate mages...but [[Game Breaker|the reason]] rears its ugly head before long. And the [[Genre Blind|other reason]] follows soon after.
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* [[Authority Equals Asskicking]]: Somewhat present. A unit with the leadership ability will only confer bonuses on units of lower level, so a leader unit is stronger than any of the units under its command. However, a combat unit that is not a leader will be stronger than a leader of equal level. For example, a General (lvl 3) is stronger than a Swordsman (lvl 2) but lesser than a Royal Guard (lvl 3).
* [[Badass Boast]]: Mostly Delfador.
{{quote| "How dare I? I [[Big Good|High Provost of the Council of Archmagi]] ... [[Only the Pure of Heart|bearer]] of the [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword|staff of An-Usrukhar]], guardian of the [[Great Big Book of Everything|book of Crelanu]] ... [[The Hero|Mage Protector of The Kingdom Of The Peoples Of The West-North]], [[Court Mage|Chief Advisor]] to the ''Crown'' ... and [[The Good Chancellor|personal counselor to my King]] and my ''[[True Companions|friend]]'', Garard the Second, who you most ''[[This Is Unforgivable!|foully]]'' [[This Is Unforgivable!|betrayed]] ... [[Say My Name|I am Delfador the Great]] and [[Prepare to Die|TODAY YOU MEET YOUR ATONEMENT]]!"}}
* [[Badass Normal]]: Tallin, [[The Hero]] of the campaign ''Northern Rebirth''. Just a young slave-turned-rebel leader who {{spoiler|throws off his orcish masters, forges an alliance with dwarves, elves, and a pair of (un)dead mages, and forges the Northern Alliance, one of the dominant powers in the Wesnoth world}}. His personality fits the role of [[The Hero]] perfectly.
* [[Ballistic Bone]]: The undead [[Dem Bones|Bone Shooters' and Banebows']] arrows' shafts are bones, not wood.
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* [[Character Level]]: Not only main characters, but pretty much every unit, can go through a few level-ups. In each level-up, units get changed to a more powerful or specialized evolution with new abilities. Eventually, they reach their maximum level, after which they cannot gain any more levels and instead get small HP bonuses and heals upon collecting more XP.
* [[Cincinnatus]]: Kalenz from ''Legend of Wesmere'' has a habit of doing this.
* [[Color -Coded Armies]]
** [[Color -Coded Multiplayer]]
* [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: Units have parts of their armor or weapons color-coded to match their faction's livery - which doesn't mean anything except for being able to make out who's who on the minimap.
** In ''To Lands Unknown'' is actually pointed out that [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|blue djinns and Rhamis are the most faithful and docile, while red ones are more likely to rebel.]]
* [[Court Mage]]: Several, though Delfador is easily the most famous.
* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]: Many melee-only units, but perhaps most noticeable with the ranged-only Dark Adept. [[Lampshaded]]. Other forms of overspecialization exist in the charge-only Horseman, and the always-berserk Dwarvish Ulfserker. The general tactic for using overspecialized units is to use their powerful abilities to gain ground and then screen them with general-purpose units so that they aren't killed next turn.
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* [[Difficult but Awesome]]: Drakes, and Undead, if played well in multiplayer, generally for the very same reasons that lead to them being [[Poor Predictable Rock]] otherwise. All the factions have potential for awesome, but some are more straightforward and generally easier to get used to than others.
* [[Difficulty Levels]]
* [[Dual -Wielding]]: Several melee units use this.
* [[Dude Looks Like a Lady]]: In the downloadable campaign ''Tales of a Mage'' one of Wesnoth's princes looks extremely young and pretty.
* [[Easter Egg]]: In certain campaigns, accomplishing particular challenges or exploring unusual areas will reward you with extra units or special equipment.
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: {{spoiler|Yechnagoth}}
* [[Elemental Rock -Paper -Scissors]]: With certain units being extremely weak to or strong against various of the six damage types.
* [[Elite Tweak]]: Some unit level-ups, instead of just improving the unit's existing stats & abilities, dramatically change the role and function of that unit, and are often priorities to level-up in campaigns. For example, the Level 1 Mage can level-up into the [[White Mage]], going from being a magical [[Glass Cannon]] to an [[Turn Undead|Undead-dispelling]] [[The Medic|medic]]. Or the Ghost upgrading into the Shadow, going from a low-damage draining support unit to a skirmishing, nightstalking, backstabbing killer.
* [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]
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* [[Final Battle]]: Most of the campaigns end in a big, climactic [[Final Battle]], which usually involve [[Storming the Castle]] and killing the [[Big Bad]]. Exceptions include:
** ''Descent Into Darkness'', {{spoiler|in which the last scenario keeps going on and on in an infinite loop until the player loses.}}
** ''Sceptre Of Fire'', {{spoiler|in which [[Kill 'Em All|all the protagonists die]] in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] protecting the Sceptre, by triggering a volcanic eruption.}}
** One possible ending of ''The South Guard'', {{spoiler|in which you just have to bring your Elf ally to a certain location to convince your [[Knight Templar]] opponent to stop wantonly attacking you.}}
** The last mission of ''Liberty'', where you {{spoiler|you storm the fortress of Halsted and topple it.}}
** The last mission of ''To Lands Unknown'' {{spoiler|has you invading the holiest temple of your former allies and steal the [[MacGuffin]] that you need to join your people into the Abyss.}}
* [[Flaming Sword]]: There's one hidden in one of the branching maps in ''Heir to the Throne''. Unlike {{spoiler|the Scepter of Fire}}, it's not the [[Sword of Plot Advancement]], but is arguably the [[Infinity Plus One+1 Sword]] in that campaign.
* [[Fragile Speedster]]: There are two types of Fragile Speedster:
** Scouts: These are units with a lot of movement points, used to scout out enemy positions, capture villages, threaten the enemy's flanks, etc. They usually pay for their mobility by having high price, low durability, and/or poor offensive abilities. The Vampire Bat, Drake Glider, Elvish Scout, Gryphon Rider and Wolf Rider fit this trope. Loyalist Cavalrymen are an exception though; they are unusually tough and strong in melee for scouts. However, they can only move and fight effectively on plains, and get slowed down everywhere else.
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* [[Force Versus Discipline]]: Within the Drakes' Clasher caste, Thrashers and Enforcers embrace Force, while Arbiters and Wardens embrace Discipline. The former are [[Blood Knight|blood knights]] who arm themselves with all manner of melee weaponry and spend their time fighting or training for war, while the latter act as strict and pious keepers of the law, training exclusively with a single weapon, the halberd.
* [[For Massive Damage]]: Sub-tropes seen here include:
** [[Super Effective]]: Arcane attacks against Undead, Cold attacks against Drakes, and [[Elemental Rock -Paper -Scissors|the like]].
** [[Back Stab]]: This is actually a special ability in-game available to a few unit lines like human thieves and undead shadows, in which if you or an ally ([[Enemy Mine|or an enemy of your enemy]]) has a unit next to your target, then a backstabber can go around to the back of the enemy unit (so as to get the target between itself and the ally) and deal double damage upon attacking.
** [[One -Hit Kill]] [[Death or Glory]] [[Finishing Move]]: This is how the Charge ability of the Horseman line is generally used - it does double damage when attacking, but also takes double retaliation. Therefore, Charges are either used against units which are weak in melee (so that even doubled retaliation amounts to negligible damage) or units which are injured enough to be brought down in one hit. Of course, it sometimes backfires catastrophically if it misses and the enemy's retaliatory strike hits, or if the enemy unit has the Firststrike ability and gets to attack first even in defense.
*** [[It Got Worse|Even worse]] with [[The Berserker|Berserker]] units attacking melee-weak units. When their victim completely lacks melee attacks, berserkers will [[Evil Laugh|cackle with glee]] before going to town on them for a virtually inevitable unopposed kill.
**** To elaborate: Where most units get one round of attacks per turn, Berserkers keep fighting until one unit has died or 30 rounds of combat have passed. Unfortunately, they're expensive and have somewhat below-average damage for a melee-only unit, making them victims of [[Crippling Overspecialization]].
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* [[Humans Are Average]]
* [[Inescapable Ambush]]: During a particular scenario in ''Northern Rebirth''. Of course, you eventually do escape it anyway, after killing a huge number of Trolls.
* [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Ninja]]: The human Assassin unit (the level-3 version of the Thief), which both looks and works like a ninja, with the ability to bypass enemy zones-of-control and backstab or poison it's opponents.
* [[In Universe Game Clock]]
* [[Javelin Thrower]]: The Loyalist Spearman have javelins as their secondary weapons, and one of their advancements, the [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|Javelineer]], focuses on them.
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* [[Mauve Shirt]]: Most of your units are [[Red Shirt|Redshirts]], but certain units have a bit speaking part when they join up. They can still die like any other. In addition, many campaigns involve a kind of floating "Advisor" (only referred to as such in the code) speaking part. A Loyal unit or one of your higher-leveled ones usually fills this spot, and if they die the lines will be spoken by another unit, now likewise the "Advisor".
* [[Mighty Glacier]]: Every faction has a [[Mighty Glacier]] unit. The Northerners have Troll Whelps. The Rebels have Woses. The Loyalists have Heavy Infantrymen. The Knalgans have dwarves in general, all of which (except the Berserker line) are slow but tough and powerful. The Drakes have their Drake Clashers, which still possess better mobility than most other factions' regular infantry, but are nevertheless the slowest and toughest of the mobility-specialist Drakes.
* [[Mirror Match]]: Difficult to balance in multiplayer. Some may consider mirror matches to be boring, as they reduce strategic depth to an extent; for example, in Drake-Drake mirrors, [[Elemental Rock -Paper -Scissors]] makes Drake Clashers and Saurian Augurs significantly more useful than any other units, and thus are often the only two units used at all.
* [[Multi Melee Master]]: The Drake Clasher line.
* [[Necromancer]]: Many, many of these. They show up as minor villains in just about every campaign, major ones in many of them, and as the [[Anti -Hero]] protagonist in one of them. The entire Dark Adept line, including the actual Level 3 "Necromancer" unit, represents this, though of course, only your actual leader unit (when playing as the Undead faction) can raise all forms of [[The Undead]] using gold, while other Necromancers under your command can only raise walking corpses during melee kills.
* [[No Campaign for The Wicked]]: Averted with ''Descent into Darkness'' and ''Son of the Black Eye'', among others.
* [[No Cure for Evil]]: The Undead campaign, ''Descent into Darkness'', is the only one to have no playable healers whatsoever. Even the Orc campaign has healers in the form of Saurian Augurs, while every other campaign has Elvish Shamans, White Mages and/or Mermaid Priestesses.
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** [[Muck Monster]]: Mudcrawlers, yet another kind of campaign monster.
** [[Attack of the Monster Appendage]]: The Tentacles of the Deep, seen in some campaigns.
* [[One -Winged Angel]]: In some campaigns killed necromancer enemies sometimes comes back later as Lich. {{spoiler|Yechnagoth reverts to her true form for the final battle.}}
* [[The Paladin]]: One of the three possible final advancements of the Horseman (along with the [[Glass Cannon|Lancer]] and [[Lightning Bruiser|Grand Knight]]).
* [[Parabolic Power Curve]]: Played straight in that each successive level-up is about equal in terms of strength increase but costs an increasingly large amount of XP, and once you hit max level, the AMLAs you get from additional XP are negligibly small gains. So it's easier to assemble an army of leveled characters than to blow large amounts of XP on a few units.
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* [[Unstable Equilibrium]]: Bad performance early in campaigns can render them [[Unwinnable]] at later stages thanks to limited funds and low-level units from over-recruiting, bad XP management, and not finishing quickly enough. Similarly, early good performances can render later levels very easy, even on harder difficulty levels.
* [[The Usual Adversaries]]: Almost every campaign has you fighting orcs or undead at some point. They're freaking everywhere, it seems. Even the undead and orc campaigns have other orcs and undead as enemies in a few missions.
* [[VideogameVideo Game Caring Potential]]: This generally happens a lot with high-level units, because they are difficult to replace, and take effort to train into their powerful max-level forms. Even more so with Loyal units, which cannot be replaced.
* [[Warrior Monk]]: The Paladins, which are described as such in-game.
* [[Weakened By the Light]]: Chaotic units. It doesn't have to be sunlight; strong illumination from lava or a powerful light-magic aura will achieve the same effect.
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