I played the main campaign on Veteran difficulty.

I mostly liked the balance and difficulty of the battles here. I found them all doable within a few attempts, and I don't think any of the battles are much more difficult than what I encountered in the main campaign. Though I think three battles stuck out to me as being a bit more challenging:



New Allies In Shimmersea

Going straight for the exit wasn't too hard, but trying to deal with the lever was tougher. I know this is an optional objective for more loot and XP, so that might be fine. I only made a couple attempts at reaching the lever before I gave up.

Sea Battle 1

Shoves are handy for dealing with the chaff, but the spriggats' immobilizing breath made it harder to reposition to respond to new spawns. The assassins' dodge also screwed me a couple times. Just generally a lot to respond to.

Chimera Gorge

Doable, but only being able to take a couple hits with the kineticist is scary. Could have been even scarier if I went into that battle without any bandages, and depending on your last save in a separate slot it could take time to go back and fix that.

Hi Tacitus. Thank you so much for the feedback. It is a big help.

I have some follow-up questions for you.

1) I am trying to figure out if you played the original version of the New Allies in Shimmersea battle, or the recently updated, harder version that I uploaded about 27 hours ago. The new, harder version would have had an axe guard next to the pushable block, an axe enemy starting next to the Skiankineticist, and the crossbow wielder in the middle of the screen. The old version wouldn't have had these two extra axe wielders and the crossbow enemy would have been next to the alter instead.

2) Sea Battle 1 - In that mission only Kailyn and Catarine need to not be defeated in order to win. There is no penalty if other characters are defeated. Was that clear to you our do you think I could do a better job of making that clear to players?

Also, that's a good point re the spriggat's immobilising breath. Perhaps having so many dark spriggats adds a bit too much randomness as the immobilise isn't guaranteed, but it is nasty if you let a lot of them hit you. I'll see what others think of the difficulty. If others agree I might have a look and see if maybe a balance of 2 types of spriggat might be a better mix than just having dark ones.

Thanks again!

Just coming back to this now; to answer your questions:

1) I think I played the harder version of "New Allies". The two extra axewielders were in those locations. I don't remember where the crossbowman was, but they are next to the altar when I checked the campaign editor just now. A swordsman (corporal) is in the middle of the room.

2) I believe I was aware at the time that only a couple characters were essential, but I was frequently reloading when it looked like a character was going to fall. I did end up losing a couple characters towards the end and just went with it.

Thanks, Tacitus. Yeah, there is no penalty if a character falls unless the mission says that they cannot fall. If you are used to playing with perma-death, that can take a while to get used to.

Liking it so far, except "New Allies in Shimmersea" is so difficult (I played the main campaign on Soldier difficulty) First I tried going for the lever to close the garden gate; now I'm making a beeline for the exit only the enemies keep killing me! What am I doing wrong?

Hi Wannabe Skater. I only have a couple of minutes right now but I will give the mission a quick run-through tomorrow and reply to you in detail with some tips.

In the meantime, do you remember what part of the battle gave you the most difficulty? Was it Pravus Zel (the mini boss), the waves coming from the garden, the initial enemies near the start of the mission, or something else?

Originally posted by Banjax:

Hi Wannabe Skater. I only have a couple of minutes right now but I will give the mission a quick run-through tomorrow and reply to you in detail with some tips.

In the meantime, do you remember what part of the battle gave you the most difficulty? Was it Pravus Zel (the mini boss), the waves coming from the garden, the initial enemies near the start of the mission, or something else?

Hi, thanks for looking into this. It's Pravus Zel and the minions from the garden: I find that a T-formation safely gets rid of the ones already in the church as well as the ones investigating the noise, but then I get overwhelmed by the pyrokineticists very quickly, especially if weakened by the shadow attacks. One thing that's frustrating is the lack of an "Arced Shot" skill for Prince Zeriph; that was one of the skills I used all the time with Gavrielle Hashmal in the story campaign.

Hi Wannabe Skater. First off, I really appreciate the feedback.

I just uploaded a new version of Shimmersea to the Workshop with some minor changes to the New Allies in Shimmersea mission (reduced the level of 3 Grunts by 1, delayed when 1 Grunt and 1 Swordsman reinforcement appear). I still want this mission to be hard, but these small tweaks make it a little more forgiving.

So, on to some tactics.

First, a few general points:

• Don't be afraid to use bandages if you need them. You will get more near the exit in this mission and more in the next mission.
  
• Remember that Sir Garit and Zeriph can both attack and then move. For Sir Garit this is especially important as he can attack an enemy and then move to the lever and pull it.
  
• Don't forget to click on the enemies to see their zone of attack. This is especially important for Pravus Zel as he won't move until someone enters his zone of attack.
  
• Kailyn's ability to Counterattack (and Sir Garit's when Guard Stance is used) can be very useful. Since you want to kill enemies quickly, sometimes the best option is to allow an enemy to just move within attack range of Kailyn/Sir Garit so the enemy can be counterattacked and then finished off on your turn. Kailyn and Sir Garit can take a couple of hits no problem and then Tilly (or bandages) can heal them.

OK, so on to some specifics. This is one way that I have successfully completed the mission:

• Don't rush too far ahead on Turn 1. Instead move Kailyn, Sir Garit and Catarine north to the 5th tiles (the ones aligned horizontally with the northern edge of the water) and Zeriph and Tilly to the 4th tiles. By doing this, the two Grunts (axe wielders) on the far west and east of the screen will head south towards the water rather than north towards the other troops.
  
• On your next turn Kailyn and Sir Garit should be able to kill the swordsman by themselves. Kailyn can attack him in the side causing him to counterattack. Sir Garit can then backstab him and then move again to protect Kailyns flank. If for some reason the swordsman lives, Tilly can finish him off while staying out of range of other enemies.
  
• During the same turn, Catarine can kinetic pull the eastern grunt into the water and Zeriph can pin shot the western grunt (they can use magic/shoot through the windows in the wall). This will keep them out of the battle until you kill the other 2 grunts and the crossbow wielder.
  
• Don't trigger Pravus Zel until you have killed the initial 6 enemies. When you are ready to trigger him, do so with Zeriph while Kailyn and Sir Garit are just out of Pravus' range. Why? This is because Zeriph will counterattack Pravus and Zeriph can then also shoot him again the next turn even if he is immobilised. Then Kailyn and Sir Garit can finish Pravus off. Tilly can then heal Zeriph (or he can eat his apple).
  
• Try to get Sir Garit to the lever as soon as Pravus is dead. Remember he can attack and then move to the lever if need be. Use bandages if you need to (don't wait for Tilly to heal him) then put his back to the wall on the western side of the lever. If you have gone fast enough there will be 1 or 2 swordsman there that will attack Sir Garit the next turn but they won't be able to flank him and he will take the hits just fine. As long as you pull the lever before the Pyro shows up, you will have time to get the chest and flee (remember only Catarine needs to flee). If the Pyro shows before the door is closed you'll probably need to abandon the chest.

Re Arced Shot, Zeriph gets this at level 7. He receives two different skills at levels 3 and 5.
Level 3 = Split Shot, Level 5 = Place Snare Trap

Please let me know if anything is unclear or if you are still struggling. Thanks!

Originally posted by Banjax:

Hi Wannabe Skater. First off, I really appreciate the feedback.

I just uploaded a new version of Shimmersea to the Workshop with some minor changes to the New Allies in Shimmersea mission (reduced the level of 3 Grunts by 1, delayed when 1 Grunt and 1 Swordsman reinforcement appear). I still want this mission to be hard, but these small tweaks make it a little more forgiving.

So, on to some tactics.

First, a few general points:

• Don't be afraid to use bandages if you need them. You will get more near the exit in this mission and more in the next mission.
  
• Remember that Sir Garit and Zeriph can both attack and then move. For Sir Garit this is especially important as he can attack an enemy and then move to the lever and pull it.
  
• Don't forget to click on the enemies to see their zone of attack. This is especially important for Pravus Zel as he won't move until someone enters his zone of attack.
  
• Kailyn's ability to Counterattack (and Sir Garit's when Guard Stance is used) can be very useful. Since you want to kill enemies quickly, sometimes the best option is to allow an enemy to just move within attack range of Kailyn/Sir Garit so the enemy can be counterattacked and then finished off on your turn. Kailyn and Sir Garit can take a couple of hits no problem and then Tilly (or bandages) can heal them.

OK, so on to some specifics. This is one way that I have successfully completed the mission:

• Don't rush too far ahead on Turn 1. Instead move Kailyn, Sir Garit and Catarine north to the 5th tiles (the ones aligned horizontally with the northern edge of the water) and Zeriph and Tilly to the 4th tiles. By doing this, the two Grunts (axe wielders) on the far west and east of the screen will head south towards the water rather than north towards the other troops.
  
• On your next turn Kailyn and Sir Garit should be able to kill the swordsman by themselves. Kailyn can attack him in the side causing him to counterattack. Sir Garit can then backstab him and then move again to protect Kailyns flank. If for some reason the swordsman lives, Tilly can finish him off while staying out of range of other enemies.
  
• During the same turn, Catarine can kinetic pull the eastern grunt into the water and Zeriph can pin shot the western grunt (they can use magic/shoot through the windows in the wall). This will keep them out of the battle until you kill the other 2 grunts and the crossbow wielder.
  
• Don't trigger Pravus Zel until you have killed the initial 6 enemies. When you are ready to trigger him, do so with Zeriph while Kailyn and Sir Garit are just out of Pravus' range. Why? This is because Zeriph will counterattack Pravus and Zeriph can then also shoot him again the next turn even if he is immobilised. Then Kailyn and Sir Garit can finish Pravus off. Tilly can then heal Zeriph (or he can eat his apple).
  
• Try to get Sir Garit to the lever as soon as Pravus is dead. Remember he can attack and then move to the lever if need be. Use bandages if you need to (don't wait for Tilly to heal him) then put his back to the wall on the western side of the lever. If you have gone fast enough there will be 1 or 2 swordsman there that will attack Sir Garit the next turn but they won't be able to flank him and he will take the hits just fine. As long as you pull the lever before the Pyro shows up, you will have time to get the chest and flee (remember only Catarine needs to flee). If the Pyro shows before the door is closed you'll probably need to abandon the chest.

Re Arced Shot, Zeriph gets this at level 7. He receives two different skills at levels 3 and 5.
Level 3 = Split Shot, Level 5 = Place Snare Trap

Please let me know if anything is unclear or if you are still struggling. Thanks!

THANK YOU! Your strategy made for a very intense ride (thought my characters would die many times, and was forced to go straight to the exit without the supply sack in the tunnel. But I made it!!! I'll let you know if I have any trouble with the next mission.

Originally posted by Wannabe Skater:

THANK YOU! Your strategy made for a very intense ride (thought my characters would die many times, and was forced to go straight to the exit without the supply sack in the tunnel. But I made it!!! I'll let you know if I have any trouble with the next mission.

That's awesome to hear! All you missed out on were 1 bandages and 1 focus pills . Not a huge deal.

You might be pleased to hear that you can take as long as you like to complete the next mission. There are no waves of enemies pursuing you. Just be careful not to rush blindly ahead into the fog of war with squishy characters...

Originally posted by Banjax:

That's awesome to hear! All you missed out on were 1 bandages and 1 focus pills . Not a huge deal.

You might be pleased to hear that you can take as long as you like to complete the next mission. There are no waves of enemies pursuing you. Just be careful not to rush blindly ahead into the fog of war with squishy characters...

The tunnel escape went very smoothly and I was able to beat it after a few restarts. The ship battle, on the other hand, is impossible once the dark spriggats attack from both sides of the ship while the slaver assassins keep pouring in from the bridges (love the map design, by the way, very believable); by this point I lost everyone except the princesses. If you update it, I'll have to play through the mod from the beginning, won't I? When I tried restarting the church battle after your update and loaded a save file from the old version, all that showed up on reset was an automatic "defeat" screen. Couldn't figure out how to fix it so I started over to be safe. Having to do it all over again once the sea battle is fixed would be understandable, just frustrating

Never mind, after getting some sleep I was able to clear the first ship battle by focusing on pushing the slaver axemen and assassins off the ship with Kailyn and Sir Garit, and having Caterine and Tilly attack the spriggats with Jade and Zeriph while Marcus immobilized the shadowling captain with Pinning Thrust from afar. You're right, the battle IS doable, only it took a few tries.

Cool. I was just about to give you some tips but it's awesome that you've already figured out a strategy. Yes, push is very handy in this fight (for both pushing enemies off the ship and for pushing your own characters that one extra space they might need to be able to pin or charge+stun an enemy). Jade is also clutch. Her Stab ability can one-shot spriggats and her high movement+Leap are a big help.

If you want advice to make the next fight easier, read here Only Catarine and Marcus are involved in the next fight. I suggest that you buy AT LEAST 2 bandages for both of them in the shop if you want the fight to be a bit easier. I have completed the fight without bandages but it is unforgiving that way. A single misstep can be deadly. Even with bandages, make use of the terrain (they can both push) and always look at the zone of attack of enemies. Also Catarine should have at least 1 Focus Pills, but that should be the case for every mission anyway .

Originally posted by Banjax:

Cool. I was just about to give you some tips but it's awesome that you've already figured out a strategy. Yes, push is very handy in this fight (for both pushing enemies off the ship and for pushing your own characters that one extra space they might need to be able to pin or charge+stun an enemy). Jade is also clutch. Her Stab ability can one-shot spriggats and her high movement+Leap are a big help.

If you want advice to make the next fight easier, read here Only Catarine and Marcus are involved in the next fight. I suggest that you buy AT LEAST 2 bandages for both of them in the shop if you want the fight to be a bit easier. I have completed the fight without bandages but it is unforgiving that way. A single misstep can be deadly. Even with bandages, make use of the terrain (they can both push) and always look at the zone of attack of enemies. Also Catarine should have at least 1 Focus Pills, but that should be the case for every mission anyway .

Thanks. Do you recommend the bigger rolls of medicated bandages and apples? Are the caffeine and adrenaline pills handy for the fight after that at all? If not, I'll sell them. Obviously preparing for the Chimera's Gorge fight is key, but is there anything you suggest for the final battle of Chapter 1?

Out of curiosity, how much Aura do you have when you enter the shop?

Re Chimera Gorge: The Adrenaline Pills could actually be handy for Catarine for the first half of the mission. You don't need them, but if you don't need the money from selling them I'd give them to Cat. It wouldn't hurt to equip Cat with Leather Armour too. She is a priority for armour over Tilly and Zeriph.

Re the final battle: This should be easier than New Allies in Shimmersea and Sea Battle 1. Only Kailyn can't fall in the mission so don't throw her into any fights by herself and you should be fine. The Caffeine Pills could be useful (there are a few spriggats) but I've never used them. Don't rush enemies unnecessarily, instead form up and let them come to you (ideally with the enemy stopping one space away from you so you don't get hit on turn 1). For the militia at the north of the tavern, go into the tavern and block the northern entrance. It is actually possible to win this fight with no one falling (including any militia) but all that matters is that Kailyn doesn't fall.