Ah, that's what I suspected, but wasn't sure if I missed something. Just wanted to be clear. Thank you for the reply!
I could use some too, lol. I'm very unfamiliar with this type of gameplay, so what I'm doing is replaying levels and just making small changes to what I do. There seem to be ideal strategies to get 3 stars, but for me it's trial and error to find them.
I love this game. However, I'm only at around level 8 or 9 so difficulty hasn't really been a problem. I did have the same problem with Mika's last game though, Battle Heart Legacy. Even after grinding my characters up to really high levels I couldn't get through the end levels without a lot of trouble and there were too many fights and too many enemies. Bosses took forever, too. The difficulty needs some tweaking if you ask me.
Let them come to you most of the time. If you attack, the enemy will counter then attack and kill your unit on the next turn. Let them attack you, you counter, then heal and attack to finish them next turn. Doc is the easiest legend for survivability, and I've even managed 10 out of 15 three star missions with him so far. Chuck Wagons rock for healing a whole area and are great cannon fodder. Just wish a wagon didn't count as a casualty when it is destroyed, then they would be invincible. Not even a steam tank or zeplin can one shot them.
To be fair my Doc is level 30 and the other two are 7 and 8 so maybe it's just a matter of leveling up a bunch. Even when you lose, you get xp so eventually the bonuses should get you through. If only the game showed the legend bonuses when selecting and purchasing units, maybe the game would be easier to master.
Here's some tips. I designed all the levels, so you can direct your rage at me. The AI generally behaves in a couple ways - some units are directed to hang back and wait for you to enter their range, but most will simply rush you carelessly. That means that if an enemy can move 4 tiles, and you're 5 tiles away, they'll get close to you but be unable to attack, allowing you a crack at first shot on your turn. Better yet, they may just run straight into range of your cannons. For those that do hang back, bait them into your line of fire with either a sacrificial lamb, or a tough unit that won't die instantly. Lure tanks into parking in your cannons sights, rush down their back line with cavalry, and just generally pounce on them once they've given up their defensive position. You can check an enemy's potential attack range on their turn by tapping a foe - it'll highlight in red what tiles they can attack next turn. Use this to set up your forces in safe attack positions around where the enemy will likely be next turn - it's always best to hit first. Another key is strategically blocking the movement of your enemies. In addition to healing human units, wagons are pretty good at just getting in the way, and sometimes parking one in the line of fire will buy your more important units an extra turn of staying alive. Similarly, sacrificing a cheap unit like a gunslinger by tossing him into harm's way to preserve your cannon or other high value target can be crucial. Obviously you should be as economical as possible with your units, and avoid wasting actions. Having a rifleman shoot a tank is almost always a waste, and doubly so if you end up killing that tank with a zeppelin in the same turn. If your cannon can shoot a posse and a snake oil man, the posse is probably the more important target. Learning what each unit is best at (and what the biggest threats are) takes experience, but that's how you master any game like this. For missions where the enemy has structures for building more units, do your best to seize their buildings early and often. Some missions are difficult to overcome until you starve your opponent of their income, or seize a forward saloon to cut off the constant flow of reinforcements. The game definitely pulls no punches, and maybe I went a bit too far on some of the missions, but they're all doable.
Congratulations on the three stars, woulda felt good. Sounds a bit like my time with that level, except now I'm about to try your 'mistake' and see if I can get three stars... P.s. Nice write up you did about the game earlier in the thread.
Chapter 17 here with the ranged legend on lvl 26. It's tough but doable. I quite enjoy the high difficulty. I am an experienced advance wars/warbits player though, so I can see that it would probably be too much for many others. I really enjoy every mission with the neutral 3rd faction intervening. I wish there would be more missions like that and on a bigger scale, since that is a completely new element to these kind of games.
Thanks for the tips Mika! I'm definitely finding this to be waaaay more difficult than the Battleheart games, but I'm not sure why.
Thanks for all the great advice.. I am interested in learning more about what goes into the development of a game like this.. Especially in regard to how you set up and create the tactics and scenarios.. To my mind, it seems like some form of magic, and I'd like to be a able to break it down a bit.. Have you written any articles or blogs that you'd care to share a link to? Have you ever done a reddit AMA, this would be a great game to do one on if you have the interest in doing so..
Never done an AMA, but I can offer a little insight here. Most of the story missions introduce a new unit, so the plan was usually to demonstrate the power of that unit. So I'd start with the general idea of what I want to demonstrate (i.e. werewolves are terrifying at night, but easy pickings during the day). Next I'd think about any other key details - is this a map where you have to hold a position? Or is it a map where you have to build up a force and steadily march toward a "boss" at the end? Maybe a little combination? I didn't want too many missions in a row to feel the same, so I'd shake it up based on previous chapters. From there, I'd start roughing in the terrain, units and buildings in our editor to support those general ideas. The exact placement of stuff took a lot of trial and error - I'd take my best guess at a first pass, play the level, see where things were too easy or too hard and adjust. Sometimes I'd play a level and it was totally impossible, so I'd have to ask myself "what was the biggest problem?". Maybe I was getting overrun by zeppelins and didn't have the tools to deal with them. I could remove some enemy zepps, or give the player an anti-air unit and play it again to see if that feels better. Game design is a process of discovery - you build things based on your ideas, and you adjust based on how it actually feels in practice. Sometimes the difficulty and feel of a battle would swing wildly just by having one extra saloon in a forward position. Sometimes a battle would bring to light that a certain unit was just wildly overpowered (vampires were almost unkillable in their first iteration). Similarly, after a few missions I might find that I wasn't using X unit very much, so it needed a buff or a price reduction. Your instincts get better as you make more games, but you can never predict everything.
@MikaMobile That's really interesting to hear how your design process works. Which level would you say changed the most from your initial vision?
It's hard to recall, though I definitely remember a lot of fine tuning required on missions where you have 3rd-parties helping you, or more than one enemy faction. It just adds another layer of things that effect your foe's total effectiveness.
To earn all 3 stars, you do have to do them in a single run. So you can't independently earn the one for # of turns and then replay it to earn the # of casualties one. Your legend's level persists across all modes, so if you level up McGraw in the story, he'll retain that level into challenge mode. Level perks can be disabled in custom games if you want though (for example, if you want to play against an AI McGraw but not give them the perks you've unlocked).
Thanks! The Legend's levels don't persist across each of the stories though, right? So McGraw's level 10, for example, will only be that way in his own story?
