122 replies to this topic

[dondon151]

Who are you using to cover the non-desert area, and are you gluing Ninian to a staff user?

[Gergeshwan]

I had Sain take the non desert part. Which is obviously not helping much there, but I wasn't sure who else to use (aside from Marcus, who would gain even less). I also had trouble keeping Ninian glued to Priscilla, but I think I could do that part better. I think she missed 2 shots at a Physic. I also had Raven promote to handle the early wyvern rush and the bosses. The 4 turn involved him taking a round of Ninis' Grace and charging right into the horde. 12/2 Raven will also gain strength, so that should be sufficient for those Sages. The cut exp is making it difficult to get there though. It isn't helping that Florina's being rather useless. She can't 2HKO Mages or Archers, and she even gets 2HKOd by the Wyverns for good measure.

Also, I wasn't able to find a deployment slot for Serra. I was going with Ninian, Heath, Florina, Raven, Sain, Legault, and Priscilla because she has the rank for Physic and Serra doesn't. Florina didn't do much, but she combined with Heath for a rescue drop to put Legault in range of the Body Ring.

Edited by Gergeshwan, 22 February 2011 - 11:16 PM.

[dondon151]

Your fliers won't gain very much EXP for his map, that's true. How did you kill the enemies in the southwest corner of the map?

[Gergeshwan]

Pent got everything except a few Wyverns, which suicided on Hawkeye with a Brave Axe. Pent used his phase to finish off one remaining Shaman. The 4 turn required Pent to be dodgy enough that he wanted to press on southward at least to where the Shamans spawn. I'm not exactly sure how likely that was, probably should check that out.

Actually, I think I now have a 5 turn. I ditched Florina for Serra and left Raven unpromoted, which was enough to get the required exp. Now it just needs recorded.

Edited by Gergeshwan, 24 February 2011 - 11:40 PM.

[Gergeshwan]

Chapter 23

5/85 Turns



I hate this chapter, so it's nice to have it done. There's pretty much no way to get the 700 exp for the 4 turn I had, and Pent had to be rather lucky with dodging as well, so I'm sticking with this. The final total here was 731 exp.

1:02- I want to bait the Mage to attack Priscilla here. That puts him in range for Legault to kill.
1:57- Sain ORKOing Wyverns removes a large threat, so it's great that he can.
3:49- The double crit really isn't a good thing here, but I ended up with enough exp regardless.
7:16- I actually didn't want Hector to go here. He was supposed to help Legault with the Mage at 8:08, but I mistakenly put him out of range.
8:31- I didn't realize Sain was actually in OHKO range from the boss with the Steel Axe, because he usually has more HP left. The original plan was to lure him in with Sain, then attack with both and hope Raven crits, but assuming Sain is in the range where Steel kills him and Hand Axe does not, this is actually a safer success rate because it makes Raven double. The odds of Sain dodging are better than the odds of Raven critting.
10:10- For some reason, I forgot that Raven would double and thought Sain needed to attack again. This is just a dumb, unnecessary risk in retrospect though.
11:29- Pent dodged a lot this run and kept moving south, but if he has to heal at some point and doesn't go as far, Hawkeye with Brave Axe is a safe ORKO on the wyverns down here.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    13.68  30  14   9   9   6  14   3  Eliwood C
Sain       7.07  36  20  13  14  10  11   4
Raven     14.15  36  15  17  18   5   7   4
Hawkeye    4.05  50  18  14  11  13  14  10
Priscilla  8.00  18   8   8  10  11   4   8
Heath      8.37  33  13   9   9   7  11   2
Serra      5.37  19   4   6   9   8   2   7
Ninian     4.23  17   0   0  14  13   6   6
Legault   13.19  29   9  13  17  10   9   4

[Gergeshwan]

Apparently this is alive.

Chapter 23x

6/91 Turns



As it turns out, this can be done without a promoted Rath. I originally thought his presence was to rescue Hawkeye at some point, but that ended up not being necessary. He can do exactly what Sain does in here, but he'll have worse hit on the Bishop. This chapter has some poor hit rates to deal with, and in this strategy, it requires one dodge of the Sleep staff. Raven promoted and Isadora used a Body Ring so she could double with the Silver Sword.

0:25- Hawkeye needs to kill this Sage, as he'll use Bolting to OHKO Ninian if he survives.
1:06- Hawkeye needs to dodge this Sleep staff, which has 30 display.
1:42- The square Hawkeye is on is one square out of the Bishop's Berserk range, which is obviously quite important to stay out of. It also allows him to kill a Sage on enemy phase.
2:41- Hawkeye doubles this Sage, so no crit was necessary.
3:45- Isadora was supposed to take out the Bishop, not sure what I was thinking here.
5:01- Kishuna leaves on this turn, but if you attack him before he does, he takes all those promoted enemies with him. Since he replaces them with weak magic enemies, this is definitely helpful.
6:11- Because I forgot to kill the Purge bishop, Priscilla has to dodge a 23 display Eclipse. Not the end of the world, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    14.40  31  15  10   9   7  14   3  Eliwood C
Marcus     9.99  36  17  19  13  10  13  11
Sain       7.31  36  20  13  14  10  11   4
Isadora    2.55  36  13  12  16  10   8   6
Raven      2.69  41  16  19  20   5   9   6
Hawkeye    6.20  51  19  14  12  14  15  11
Priscilla  8.20  18   8   8  10  11   4   8
Ninian     4.84  17   0   0  14  13   6   6

[Gergeshwan]

Chapter 24

2/93 Turns



Nice and simple chapter. I'm planning to give Heath the Afa's Drops, but since that would mess up his next level, I'm going to wait a bit.

1:06- Ninian doesn't want to be below or to the right of Marcus because that would put her in range of a purge Bishop.
1:59- Marcus missing makes Raven the backup strategy to help with Lloyd.
5:13- Killing Lloyd with Kent is definitely risky, but since it's such a short chapter and Kent is about ready to promote, I took the chance anyway.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    14.48  31  15  10   9   7  14   3  Eliwood C
Marcus    10.21  37  17  19  13  10  13  11
Sain       7.45  36  20  13  14  10  11   4
Kent      16.22  33  14  13  14   5   8   4
Isadora    2.66  36  13  12  16  10   8   6
Raven      2.90  41  16  19  20   5   9   6
Hawkeye    6.21  51  19  14  12  14  15  11
Priscilla  8.86  18   8   8  10  11   4   8
Heath      9.24  34  14  10  10   7  11   2
Florina   10.34  29   8  11  14  11   5   7
Ninian     5.15  18   0   0  15  13   6   7
Legault   13.53  29   9  13  17  10   9   4

Edited by Gergeshwan, 13 April 2011 - 12:14 PM.

[dondon151]

Isn't there an Iron Ballista at the top of the map? I'm curious why the sniper didn't just OHKO Florina instead of doing whatever he did.

EDIT: Actually, Florina was in range of both a normal Ballista and an Iron Ballista, and neither chose to attack her. Hmm.

Edited by dondon151, 12 April 2011 - 10:40 PM.

[Gergeshwan]

I actually didn't even notice that. I just assumed she was out of range because she wasn't getting attacked. The Ballista went after Raven and the Iron one went for Wallace. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but I ran through it again and they still did that. Also, even when the first Ballista and Purge hit Raven, putting him in KO range, the Iron Ballista still went for Wallace. They might have some kind of odd AI, but it doesn't make much sense.

Fortunately, this can be avoided entirely by having Florina do the exact same thing 1 square south and east. I'll add a note in for that.

Edited by Gergeshwan, 13 April 2011 - 08:50 AM.

[chococoke]

Perhaps the Iron Ballista is programmed to attack Wallace?

[Gergeshwan]

Maybe. I need to redo the video anyway, forgot to buy some Restores here, and I might not have noticed until Cog reared its ugly head. But I'll fix Florina's positioning too.

[Gergeshwan]

Chapter 25

3/96 Turns



Kent and Florina promoted, and Heath used the Afa's drops. He'll gain an extra point in strength and speed with the drops if I promote him at 11/0, which he should hit with all the extra turns in 26.

0:18- Ninis' Grace and Pure Water are rather important for Florina here. Since she can't ORKO the Bishop, she won't be able to heal at all, and she is forced to enter the range of a Ballista.
0:30- The reinforcements for this section only spawn once, so it's important to enter this trigger zone on turn 1 so you can have them cleared out before turn 3.
2:33- Only a promoted flier can reach the Bishop on turn 2 without getting refreshed by Ninian.
3:01- Raven's positioning here ensures the wall of Pirates will only be one thick, which allows him to kill the Warrior instead of clearing a path for Heath. He happens to crit here, but he would get that kill regardless.
3:31- Marcus is positioned so that he can reach the gate on the next turn.
4:11- It's important to bait Pascal to attack Sain here because the Cavs will be swarming Marcus, and if he also had the boss to deal with, things could get ugly.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    15.48  32  15  10  10   7  15   3  Eliwood C
Marcus    10.53  37  17  19  13  10  13  11
Sain       7.63  36  20  13  14  10  11   4
Kent       1.16  35  15  14  15   5  10   5
Isadora    2.88  36  13  12  16  10   8   6
Raven      3.79  42  16  20  21   6   9   6
Hawkeye    6.31  51  19  14  12  14  15  11
Priscilla  9.93  19   8   9  10  11   4   9
Heath      9.35  34  14  10  10   7  11   2
Florina    1.99  34  10  11  14  11   7   9
Ninian     5.56  18   0   0  15  13   6   7

Edited by Gergeshwan, 27 April 2011 - 08:57 AM.

[FionordeQuester]

Yo, Gergeswan, I just want to clarify a couple of things....

1) Are you leveling up Bartre to get Karla later?
2) You eventually dump Lowen and Eliwood because of their mediocre stats.
3) However, you seem to use Erk for a short while before eventually dumping him to. Is this because of Pent's eventual arrival?

[Gergeshwan]

1- Not this time. She's far from the only character that will end up skipped, as I also didn't recruit Lucius, Wallace, or Farina due to the turns they cost. Raising Bartre might not actually cost turns, but it would make it a lot harder to get Kenneth's version of chapter 27, which is preferable because it is a seize, not a rout.

2- Correct. Lowen lasts longer than Eliwood because of the mount, but his poor offense made him a less favorable exp investment than Kent or Raven.

3- Not necessarily because of Pent, but because I feel safe with my chapter 27 exp buffer. (11 turns of staff spam will do wonders for that.) His better speed and ability to hit res kept him useful for taking out armors, but armors have gotten rare. Also, his competition for deployment slots went way up with Isadora, Heath, and Hawkeye joining.

Edited by Gergeshwan, 15 April 2011 - 09:11 AM.

[FionordeQuester]

3- Not necessarily because of Pent, but because I feel safe with my chapter 27 exp buffer. (11 turns of staff spam will do wonders for that.) His better speed and ability to hit res kept him useful for taking out armors, but armors have gotten rare. Also, his competition for deployment slots went way up with Isadora, Heath, and Hawkeye joining.

Wait, experience buffer? Are you trying to S Rank this game as well?

[Gergeshwan]

I need to make sure Erk, Serra, and Priscilla gained more exp than Raven, Guy, Dorcas, and Bartre. If they don't, I end up in Jerme's chapter, which would not be good. Since Raven gained a bunch of exp, the buffer is just making sure Priscilla and Serra can regain the lead with massive staff spamming.

Although they apparently already have the lead, with 1630 exp compared to 1615 for the fighters. That's not what I was expecting, but at least Raven won't need held back.

Edited by Gergeshwan, 15 April 2011 - 11:53 AM.

[chococoke]

Funny thing about Chapter 25's Bishop castle: Both times I played it during my HHM run, I managed to get Marcus there on Turn 2. How? Having Florina fly to where your Florina did (except maybe one square down and 2 to the right.) Bishop OHKO's with Purge, Marcus is dropped 2 squares north onto the cliff, where he is exactly 8 squares away from being able to attack the Bishop. Then it's pick your weapon and kill.

[FionordeQuester]

You know, I'm wondering. Are there any choices you've made in your latest efficient run that you regret? Also, I know Lyn Mode is extremely easy, but do you ever plan on detailing the specific strategies you used someday? I managed to emulate your turn counts and everything on that mode, but I'm still curious.

Edited by FionordeQuester, 16 April 2011 - 10:20 PM.

[Gergeshwan]

That's quite creative with the Marcus drop. The loss of Florina would be a bit of an issue though. I guess that would be one way to avoid the reinforcement trigger zone.

I'm pretty satisfied with how things have gone, aside from missing a possible turn to shave in chapter 13. I can't recall if Marcus started in the right position to achieve it, but I would have liked to cut that turn. One thing I'm going to try later is going through without recruiting Harken, as I can probably save ~2 turns on chapter 27 by skipping him. My plan is to keep a save state, play through with Harken, and maybe try it later without him and see how the last few chapters go. But for now I'm sticking with the safer choice there.

As for Lyn Mode, I was really suboptimal with that. By feeding Sain every boss kill, I lost several turns. I could go through and post strategies, but they would be quite slow.

Chapter 26

12/108 Turns



I'm guessing the game counts this as 12 since enemy phase did play out. This one is pretty long, and the rest of them are probably going to be long as well due to the huge enemy phases. It didn't help that I was pretty much winging this though, as there were a couple segments where I wasted time trying to figure out what to do next. Since there's no way to speed it up, the only real goals here are to get exp and visit the Armory for Killers. I'm quite comfortable on my 27 Kenneth exp, so keeping Raven out of combat isn't a concern.

12:09- Setting up as many kills for Heath as possible requires anyone who ORKOs to clear the area. Hector, Marcus, and Heath himself can weaken them to set up kills. I got him to level 12, 13 might have been possible as well.
24:55- I drew Vaida in a turn early because she can attack from this square, which means she is still in range of the Armory. If this were turn 11, Florina would definitely die while shopping.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    16.09  33  16  11  10   7  15   3  Eliwood C
Marcus    10.95  37  17  19  13  10  13  11
Sain       8.15  37  20  13  15  10  11   4  Kent C
Kent       2.37  36  15  14  15   5  10   5  Sain C
Isadora    3.46  37  13  13  17  11   8   6
Raven      5.10  44  17  20  22   6  10   6
Hawkeye    7.29  52  19  15  12  14  15  11
Pent       6.75  33  18  21  17  14  11  16  Louise A
Priscilla 12.15  20   9  10  11  13   4  10
Heath     12.44  37  16  12  11   7  12   2
Florina    2.30  35  10  11  15  11   7   9
Ninian     6.66  19   0   0  16  14   6   8
Louise     4.00  28  12  14  17  16   9  12  Pent A
Serra      6.70  19   4   6  10   9   2   8
Eliwood    4.52  21   6   6   8   8   6   1  Hector C
Lyn        6.48  20   6  10  12   8   3   1

Edited by Gergeshwan, 27 April 2011 - 08:57 AM.

[Venusaur]

That's quite creative with the Marcus drop. The loss of Florina would be a bit of an issue though. I guess that would be one way to avoid the reinforcement trigger zone.

I'm pretty satisfied with how things have gone, aside from missing a possible turn to shave in chapter 13. I can't recall if Marcus started in the right position to achieve it, but I would have liked to cut that turn. One thing I'm going to try later is going through without recruiting Harken, as I can probably save ~2 turns on chapter 27 by skipping him. My plan is to keep a save state, play through with Harken, and maybe try it later without him and see how the last few chapters go. But for now I'm sticking with the safer choice there.

As for Lyn Mode, I was really suboptimal with that. By feeding Sain every boss kill, I lost several turns. I could go through and post strategies, but they would be quite slow.

Chapter 26

12/108 Turns



I'm guessing the game counts this as 12 since enemy phase did play out. This one is pretty long, and the rest of them are probably going to be long as well due to the huge enemy phases. It didn't help that I was pretty much winging this though, as there were a couple segments where I wasted time trying to figure out what to do next. Since there's no way to speed it up, the only real goals here are to get exp and visit the Armory for Killers. I'm quite comfortable on my 27 Kenneth exp, so keeping Raven out of combat isn't a concern.

12:09- Setting up as many kills for Heath as possible requires anyone who ORKOs to clear the area. Hector, Marcus, and Heath himself can weaken them to set up kills. I got him to level 12, 13 might have been possible as well.
24:55- I drew Vaida in a turn early because she can attack from this square, which means she is still in range of the Armory. If this were turn 11, Florina would definitely die while shopping.

Unit      Level  HP Str Skl Spd Lck Def Res  Support
Hector    16.09  33  16  11  10   7  145  3  Eliwood C
Marcus    10.95  37  17  19  13  10  13  11
Sain       8.15  37  20  13  15  10  11   4  Kent C
Kent       2.37  36  15  14  15   5  10   5  Sain C
Isadora    3.46  37  13  13  17  11   8   6
Raven      5.10  44  17  20  22   6  10   6
Hawkeye    7.29  52  19  15  12  14  15  11
Pent       6.75  33  18  21  17  14  11  16  Louise A
Priscilla 12.15  20   9  10  11  13   4  10
Heath     12.44  37  16  12  11   7  12   2
Florina    2.30  35  10  11  15  11   7   9
Ninian     6.66  19   0   0  16  14   6   8
Louise     4.00  28  12  14  17  16   9  12  Pent A
Serra      6.70  19   4   6  10   9   2   8
Eliwood    4.52  21   6   6   8   8   6   1  Hector C
Lyn        6.48  20   6  10  12   8   3   1

No wonder everything seems so easy, Hector has 145 defense! Errors aside, I wonder if that strategy with the Marcus drop on Crazed Beast could be replicated with Fiora, though I don't know if there's enough promotional items to go around for that (if they're needed, of course)...