sine nomine

Way cool

Really nice run, it was entertaining and showcased some neat tricks.

Oh. That's lame, but also useful. I think I can work around losing Shiva and his killing edge without losing turns elsewhere, so I'll work this into future playthroughs. Thanks!

No, I don't necessarially need to recruit Shiva. However I didn't think my units were strong enough to 6-turn chapter 7 so I opted for a 7-turn tactic and picked up Shiva as a bonus. I didn't think of killing Shiva in chapter 2x, that would certainly make a 6-turn more feasible but I'll have to look into it some more because I don't want to risk death if I can help it.

Turncounts: Chapter 1: 4 turns Chapter 2: 4 turns Chapter 2x: 8 turns Chapter 3: 5 turns Chapter 4: 11 turns Chapter 5: 18 turns Chapter 6: 7 turns Chapter 7: 7 turns Chapter 8: 4 turns Chapter 9: 3 turns Chapter 10: 12 turns Chapter 11: 6 turns Chapter 12: 6 turns Chapter 12x: 10 turns Chapter 13: 5 turns Chapter 14: 10 turns Chapter 15: 2 turns Chapter 16b: 4 turns Chapter 17b: 3 turns Chapter 18: 6 turns Chapter 19: 1 turn Chapter 20: 15 turns Chapter 21: 5 turns Chapter 21x: 1 turn Chapter 22: 3 turns Chapter 23: 3 turns Chapter 24: 4 turns Final Chapter: 4 turns Total: 171 turns

I did another 0% growths warpless low turn count playthrough of FE5. The tactics are much improved from my previous run and it should be much easier to watch due to less wasted time. "0% growths" means I play on a ROM edited so characters do not gain stats on level-up (both character and scroll growths set to zero). I like playing 0% growths because it eliminates the randomness that growths cause and improves the game's balance by reducing player strength relative to the enemy; in a normal run, I find that characters become too powerful and diminish the need for tactical maneuvers. Also, movement stars are also not used when they activate. By "warpless" I mean that I do not use the warp staff (rescue staves and the self-targeting rewarp staff are permitted). I've done runs with the warp staff before and they're plenty of fun, but this warpless route involves a lot of varied and interesting tactics in chapters that the warp staff would trivialize. "Low turn count" means that I aim to complete chapters as quickly as possible. In Fire Emblem games, there are often boring and time-consuming tactics than lead to victory with little effort, but it is far more fun and entertaining to use complex tactics that lead to a faster completion. Furthermore, the game ranks you based upon the number of turns you take, so a lower turncount can be considered a better result. However, in some cases I will sacrifice speed for reliability. This is a segmented run but in the future I hope to complete a SS rank warpless ironman run; I think it is more fun to consider contingency plans and adapt tactics during a playthrough than it is to map out a singular path through the game and reset until the RNG rolls in your favour. My idea of a good tactic is as follows: if all goes well a very low turncount will be achieved, if some things go wrong a fairly low turncount will still be achieved, and in the case of extreme bad luck several turns may be lost but a game over would be avoided. However there are several chapters in this playthrough where this ideal is not achieved. One day I will improve upon this run so please suggest any improvements that come to mind. I do not attempt to recruit all characters in this playthrough. This run is played on normal mode (without increased exp gain), so EXP distribution must be considered. This does not affect turncounts. There are several chapters for which I don't have a really good plan and I could really use some suggestions. I probably won't redo this anytime soon but someday I will. Here is the youtube playlist:

Makes sense. And congratulations on the run. I hope you decide to upload it if you recorded it.

Please post the individual chapter turncounts. I'm also curious about your warp staff usage. It wasn't worth it to warp in chapter 8x?

Please do so when you get a chance.

Not exactly a hard mode, but I wish I could make a hack with a few minor edits to FE5. Here are some ideas: - Individually rebalance enemies. Overall, greatly increase stats of enemies but reduce variance. - Eliminate movement growth, make all thieves' bld growth = zero - Severely reduce most characters' growth rates. And rebalance characters so the few who aren't normally useful can be growth units. - Rework scrolls. Remove the bonus to growth rates and potentially change some to give minor stat bonuses like FE12 star shards. But make sure several of them still nullify crits. - Limit staff range based on magic, but also let unit standing on certain tiles keep unlimited range (thrones/gates, where cyas appears in 17a, various places convenient for the enemy like the silence staff users in 17b). - Keep the 1% accuracy minimum, but allow max accuracy to reach 100% - Regarding weapon durability: perhaps reduce durability of certain unique items like the king sword, hero sword, hero lance, light sword, earth sword, etc. And either reduce thunder tome durability or price so they sell for less. - I'd like to remove movement stars, but I don't want to radically alter characters. Not sure on whether or not to eliminate movement stars completely but there are some instances of enemy movement stars which force overly cautious or unsafe play and I'd get rid of those. - Some minor changes to stats and weapon ranks, such as increasing Miranda's fire rank. - Modify fatigue system; it seems to work for staff users but is negligable otherwise. Increase the stamina cost of each battle and/or have stat pentalties for fighting with somewhat high stamina? - Make PCC and support information visible on the status screen (possibly growth rates and promotion gains as well) - Modify AI of various enemies to choose not to capture (e.g. enemy galzus) - Let chapter 7 boss appear even if his spawn point is blocked - Give lategame enemies better weapons rather than hammers all the time - Let the player heal NPCs with physic (notably Fred and Olwen) - Ironman mode - A good translation

Is there a 0% growths patch which doesn't mess up Xane?

FE5 is extremely "fair" as it gives you the tools to achieve victory with extremely high reliability; many players may complain that they rely on variable RNG, but that is only because they neglect various gameplay mechanics. E.g. there's no reason you should ever risk being criticaled in FE5. The only thing I dislike is the 99% accuracy cap (the 1% minimum is totally fine). By the way, although there are plenty of surprises in store for first-time players, I find the game offers time and resources to allow the player to scramble and adapt even in a blind playthrough. I think a lot of the people who find FE5 hard and claim it's unfair (or whatever) are people who aren't really interested in tactics and just want their army to crush through the opposing forces with minimal thought required. Perhaps that sort of strategy doesn't work as well in FE5 than in other games. So maybe FE5 is difficult in the sense that it punishes the player for having no idea what they're doing. I'd say FE5 is difficult in the sense that the game requires more thought to figure out optimal tactics for each chapter than other FE games. Because of the wide variety of missions and numerous game mechanics in FE5, there's many options to cover. You might not restart at all in a blind FE5 playthrough and restart several times in (for example) a blind FE13 lunatic+ playthrough, but I don't FE13 lunatic+ to be very tactically challenging; optimal solutions are relatively simple to discern. Rather than saying FE5 is 'difficult' every time it's brought up, I'd prefer if people talked about how the level design is amazing.

I find Tina is a great candidate for the elite manual. However, scrolls and skill manuals really aren't a big deal since the enemies in FE5 are very weak and the game gives you more than enough resources to breeze through. Just give skills to whichever units you happen to like, particularly if they don't already have something which makes them good. Even subpar units will become incredibly overpowered after a few level ups. Like in most FE games, I find players usually have trouble when they handicap themselves by not using the powerful units the game gives you (e.g. Dagda and Dean), by delaying their units' promotions, and by hoarding good weapons and staves. Aside from that it helps to understand how the game's mechanics work. It's very unlikely that you'll find youself sufferring from a lack of stats or skills and there's usually several possible solutions to any problems you may encounter.

I'm glad you enjoyed the run. - Yep, sending unarmed little girls as capture bait then catching enemies with their pants down is a very effective tactic. I kind of wish that enemies didn't capture your units so easily, it's way too overpowered since it not only protects you by making the enemy waste their turn, it also severely weakens them. - Agreed, I think FE5 is perfectly suited for 0% growths because the levels involve a lot of different challenges aside from simply throwing enemies with big stats at you and because the mechanics allow for a ton of varied approaches. I actually needed to promote Selfina for her to be useful in the final chapter but yeah, fairly weak units could hold their own in late chapters with the right weapons and staves. - I may have lost a couple turns due to 0%ing, possibly in 4, 5, 7 (kill shiva), 9 (skip elite sword), 10, and later chapters where a powerful rewarper could help. At the same time, 0%ing is nice since my tactics don't get ruined if characters have the wrong amount of build. Check out this thread, he's imposed a bunch of additional rules on his challenge so it's rather different but there will probably be some interesting warpless tactics that hinge on growths: http://serenesforest.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=54483 - Dean IS a freaking god. He's the only unit to recieve a total 30% support bonus, his PCC is 3 so he'll virtually always crit when fully supported, he can fly, his stats are great, he can use awesome lances outdoors and has A rank swords. What more could you ask for? - Yeah, I think it's really nice how so many units can manage to kill stuff with just their promoted stats, while nobody is overpowered enough to become a one-man-army. - Glade has a leadership star so he's always useful, but his combat also isn't too shabby. In this run I don't think he did all that much, but he's pretty good with Selphina support (20%) and a master lance. - I considered banning rewarp+rescue, but it would be a pretty arbitrary ban so I decided against it. It might make a warpless run more repetetive if played with growths (with an invincible Salem or something), but in this run rewarp+rescue was used on (Eda carrying) Leaf only once so it actually added to variety. Otherwise I'd have Dean fly Leaf to ch17b's gate. - Yeah you can thief staff anything. I used it instead of sleep to disable ballistae since the thief staff has more uses (one repair goes further), Tina needs exp, and I even get some funds out of it. - Chapter 22 was kind of amusing since Reinhardt went crazy. If he happens to die before he can slaughter his troops, the mage knights will actually flee because I rewarped Safy close enough to trigger them (otherwise they'll stick around and ruin everything; note that putting him to sleep isn't enough). I also had a spare sleep staff ready in case things didn't work out so perfectly. I think the chapter is even more amusing in an elite mode run with warpkipping allowed; all Tina needs to do is to thief his master lance, then you can capture him and seize on turn 1 without a fight. In this run I needed to thief his berserk staff and blizzard tome so I could actually get there. - Yeah, my videos suck. Especially the earlier ones since I didn't even think of uploading it until I was partway through. The problem is that I forget I'm recording and I double check stats and ranges and stuff.

Yeah, that's me. I'd encourage you to play the game yourself before watching anyone else's playthroughs so you can experience the game's surprises as you play through it; these videos will still be here once you've finished your first playthrough. I'm sure you'll pick up a couple tips from watching a playthrough, and that might spoil your experience because you'll miss out on the satisfaction you get from figuring stuff out on your own. But it's up to you. Anyway, good luck on your run and hope you enjoy watching.

I recorded a playthrough of FE5 in preparation for a future warpless 0% growths low turn count ironman elite mode run and I figured I might as well post it online. I don't expect anyone to watch it, but at least now there are some FE5 videos on youtube with half-decent tactics. Several chapters are kind of sloppy (especially 7, 12x, and the final chapter), so it would be nice to get suggestions on how to improve this run. It's a really cool challenge and I highly recommend that you give it a try. For example, look at how much more entertaining chapter 21 becomes: Here's the playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcUnDcs3XizKnTeY2R5Gt08qs8pkF-Ao0 I'll probably add a description to each video explaining what I'm doing and why. Sample turncounts for an ironman run: chapter - turncount 1 - 4 2 - 4 2x - 8 3 - 6 4 - 11-13 5 - 18-20 6 - 7 7 - 8 8 - 5 9 - 3 10 - 13-14 11 - 7 12 - 6-7 12x - 10-15? 13 - 6 14 - 10 15 - 2 16b - 4 17b - 3 18 - 6-7 19 - 1 20 - 15 21 - 5 21x - 1 22 - 4 23 - 3 24 - 4 final - 4-5 I recorded each chapter going well, so the recorded run displays 178 turns. http://imgur.com/FWfZMQE

Nice to see this is still going. I don't know anything about RNG manipulation (and I don't want to) but it probably won't matter to you since you're aiming to make tactics very reliable. By the way, I have to correct something I said earlier: Miranda can't use meteor becaue she starts with D+35 fire rank and not C+35 as listed on this site. Not that it matters since it's faster to skip her, but it would have been nice to know before I started planning.

Seems like you're using Halvan (a mediocre and extremely overrated unit, not that it matters). I'd say he's a good candidate for the charge skill (if for some reason you have bad taste and don't like Dagda) since Halvan has tons of HP and sufficient speed to trigger charge, he's durable so the skill won't get him killed, has high build so it can help him capture stuff, and he has ambush so he won't take as many counterattacks as other charge users if he kills them with a third attack. He's also weak enough that charge actually helps him kill things, unlike Othin who kills most things with his Pugi before charge would matter. Note that you could give charge to Othin to help him kill bosses if he has more HP then them. Another option would be Eyrios, but you already have Olwen. Eyrios is a better unit but he's a dumb character so don't use him. Honestly I'd probably sell the charge manual to buy a stamina drink in ch14 or some door keys in ch15, if I even pick it up at all.

Here are my projected turncounts for a 0% growths warpless elite mode low turn count ironman run of FE5, let me know if you see anything that could be improved. chapter - turncount 1 - 4 2 - 4 2x - 8 3 - 6 4 - 11-13 5 - 18-20 6 - 7 7 - 8 8 - 5 9 - 3 10 - 13-14 11 - 7 12 - 6-7 12x - 10-15? 13 - 6 14 - 10 15 - 2 16b - 4 17b - 3 18 - 6-7 19 - 1 20 - 15 21 - 5 21x - 1 22 - 4 23 - 3 24 - 4 final - 4-5

Are you taking the Fort Norden or the Melfiye Forest path? I think the forest path might be faster if you capture a rewarp staff and use some rescue staff charges. If so, Miranda might be useful as the only siege tome wielder (assuming her recruitment doesn't slow you down).

I think you should elaborate on the rules, since recruiting Asvel might not be worth the turns in the first place. Also worth mentioning you're playing on normal instead of elite since elite mode would definitely make things easier. Not necessarially, since he isn't warpskipping. But if wants a combat unit to rewarp, he could feed Salem a ton of levels in chapter 14; I'm not sure if he can abuse the throne as well as Homeros can due to low PCC, but he can definitely get a lot of kills. The lopt mage reinforcements in particular give several easy levels. I can anticipate warpless LTC tactics for most chapters, but I'm clueless about chapter 21. I guess that's the one chapter where your rewarp tactics might come in handy, but how are you planning to get past all those ballistae?

Cool. But contrary to what you said in the video, you can get the brave axe when four-turning the first chapter. In fact, you can also get the life ring while you're at it. These items might not be crucial to your plans but I figure they will at least help improve reliability. I tried recording my chapter 1 tactic to show you (which is just one way to go about it, there might be a better way that gives Leaf more exp or something). Note the use of supports and the fact that Leaf can use his Light sword to heal himself. (Hopefully this works:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyER2HaBoh0 Anyways, I'm looking forward to the rest of your run. Good luck.

Edit: there's still a few chapters I need to plan out. Chapter 10: I can easily get either the M Up staff or rescue staff along with the fire sword, but I'd like to know a way to visit both villages. And it's a pretty slow chapter in general, I could use a quick way to clear it. Actually, I don't really care about the fire sword (it's a great weapon but not essential). I can have Karin+Shiva (or Fergus if necessary) visit the M Up village if they have the elite sword and I can send Fin to the Rescue village, but I also need to clear the ballistae so he doesn't get killed. And of course I need to deplete the other ballistae as quickly as possible so I can advance. Chapter 12: The obvious solution is to fly straight through the middle with Karin. Capturing isn't very reliable since Fergus has iffy accuracy with the killing edge, even with Karin's support, and he needs to connect with capture on two successive turns. Unforunately Mareeta is just one point in hp/magic away from surviving a hit from Salem, or else she could help. Still, the odds of seven-turning are pretty high. Chapter 12x: Need to figure out how to clear this chapter quickly; there are some thieves that get in the way. The thieves in this chapter are really annoying; Dagda OHKOs them but has awful accuracy; letting them capture someone (Ronan?) helps due to charge, but that slows everything down. Plus they even have movement stars. And I need to keep Dagda's magic boosted or Tina will steal his weapon. Any suggestions on how to approach this would be appreciated. Chapter 19: A way to reliably recruit Conomore on turn 1 (without too many rescue staff uses or hindering deployment in previous chapters or needing Miranda to be promoted yet) would be great - I think I can 2-turn this with Conomore if I leave Dagda behind. I'll have to use another rescue charge in ch21x (leaving me with none vs Cyas) and I'll be missing Dagda in ch20. It would be better if I knew a more resource-efficient tactic for recruiting Conomore. Final chapter: I'll have to figure out a way to position my units so this chapter is doable Playing on Elite mode, B route, I think <200 turns is reachable.

I don't know why Devil Spear Zeek would be notable aside from making use of an otherwise questionable weapon. It's not even cost-effective, you can even sell it and buy a ton of pila and chuck them at 1-2 range with more accuracy than the devil spear, pretty high might, and better attack speed. Or equip the needle spear for super high accuracy and extra critical. I guess you could keep the devil spear around if you need to to OHKO some enemy but in that case the lack of doubling isn't an issue. I thought Zeek's forest movement and life-or-death skill really shone in chapter 18, but to be fair I sent Narron on the other route and didn't have Mintz (who gets both life-or-death and charge) so Zeek had less competition. You're right about Samson, for some reason I thought he was an axe knight. That sucks.

You're probably right about Lee being better at combat then Lionel, I think my decision to recruit Lionel was mostly based on his slight movement range advantage after promotion. Now I'll have Samson so I definitely won't need Lionel, though I will miss the life-or-death skill which was really good. (Oh cool I just noticed Samson can use the Salia lance after promotion, that's awesome.) Zeek is absolutely amazing. For some reason he can move through most terrain with no penalty, his stats are great, and he has the life-or-death skill which can easily be used for tons of critical hits. Give him a pilum and the needle spear (or even some axes if you want) instead of the super heavy devil spear. I'm sure you'll change your mind about him after chapter 18.