FE8 Females Only in 93 turns (COMPLETE)

[Espinosa]

YouTube Playlist:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbSv8zSDR9c2VdVndTU7TIfvaqNzut1ZQ

Rules:

- Fight with and control female units only.

- Recruit every girl (including Amelia and Marisa).

- Male units aren't allowed to enter combat or help girls out in infrastructure (e.g. rescuedropping), but can do things like lockpick and visit villages. Ephraim and Co. are allowed to do whatever in maps 5x and 8 (because it's impossible to keep them away from combat anyway).
- I'm allowed to get Amelia to a tier 1 (Cavalier/Knight) promotion using the tower, but only Amelia and nobody else.

Turn counts:

P 2
C1 5
C2 5
C3 6
C4 5
C5 4
C5x 7
C6 3
C7 3
C8 7
C9 7
C10 5
C11 5
C12 6
C13 2
C14 7
C15 3
C16 1
C17 1
C18 5
C19 1
C20 1
F 2
Total 93 turns

Promotions:

C9 Vanessa - Wyvern Knight
C10 Amelia - Cavalier
C11 Lute - Sage
C14 Neimi - Ranger
C14 Amelia - Paladin
C15 Tana - Wyvern Knight
C15 Marisa - Swordmaster
C17 Eirika - Great Lord
C19 Natasha - Valkyrie

Stat boosters:

C5 Dragonshield - Vanessa
C5 Secret Book - Vanessa
C7 Energy Ring - missed
C8 Angelic Robe - Tethys
C9 Dragonshield - Tana
C9 Angelic Robe - Tana
C9 Speedwings - Lute
C10 Goddess Icon - Lute
C11 Secret Book - Lute
C12 Energy Ring - Natasha
C14 Energy Ring - Natasha
C15 Boots - Vanessa

Some may remember the draft play strategy topic I started a while back, but it didn't feature any discussion outside from me logging my girls only run and since I restarted the challenge I figured I might as well start a topic with a more appropriate titlte.

Here's the nine maps before the route split (where I go with Eirika obviously), and you can see the turn counts in the video description on YouTube along with comments and shortcuts to a specific time in the video.

The big difference between the previous attempt I made and this one is that I managed to train Vanessa into a very strong unit, though at the expense of Lute emerging underlevelled and with far less magic and speed (the previous one had her enter C9 with 15 mag and 16 speed iirc which is pretty crazy, but still what can a Mage do).

Edited September 20, 2013 by Espinosa

[Carter]

I tend to only use the females, in every FE game I've played, even if some male units are better.

So, since you have this Females Only run, that I've only just found now, I'll be watching.

On my second playthough with the Sacred Stones, I actually read the script and stuff, and when I saw Vanessa, I became shocked.

I must've killed her immediately on my first playthrough, and forgot about her.

[YoungXehanort]

I tend to only use the females, in every FE game I've played, even if some male units are better.

So, since you have this Females Only run, that I've only just found now, I'll be watching.

On my second playthough with the Sacred Stones, I actually read the script and stuff, and when I saw Vanessa, I became shocked.

I must've killed her immediately on my first playthrough, and forgot about her.

I forgot Vanessa existed before my second play through as well.

[Nicolas]

So you miss ALL awesome characters without Vanessa and Erika. Well, I think even without Seth, Saleh and Gerik this game is easy.

[Espinosa]

Vanessa - who's that? Could've gone without her any day.

Anyway, a females only run pretty much lacks any semblance of durability on fielded units (though Vanessa should be doing a decent enough job surviving thanks to higher avoid than, say, Seth would have at the same point of the game, but arrows still sting like hell) and the lack of four potential Paladins, Duessel, Cormag (not on Eir route) and Gerik is definitely easy to feel. Warp is harder to reach without Saleh and Artur, too. Not having Garcia and Gilliam early hurts maps such as the chapter 4 rout (where these two contribute to a 2-turn by destroying everything Franz and Seth do not destroy).

Even an easy game can be hard to LTC sometimes (depending on the aims).

I'm still far from done with chapter 9 - kinda puzzled about what to do. Since I decided I would recruit both Amelia and Marisa (and Amelia will probably end up shaving off a turn or two being one of the few mounts), I'm a bit confused in how few turns the map can be cleared with Amelia recruited (I'll allow Franz if I'm able to keep him away from potential attackers).

Vanessa could either solo the southern portion of the map or bring somebody like Lute with her - not sure if the latter is better than having Lute follow Eirika, Tana, Neimi and Natasha west. Eirika is pretty much capable of dodgetanking and ORKOing everything that doesn't strike her at 1-2 range on EP. I guess Lute could take the Sniper kill so that she has higher magic when promoting, and better combat to continue maximising staff range.

And then I'll tower Amelia to Cavalier - this should be fun.

[PKL]

So...much...Vanessa...level...doctoring.

[Carter]

I actually regret not having Vanessa on my first file.

[GBA] Falcon Knights were my favorite class. I could only have two, since Vanessa was gone. And no triangle attack?!

[Espinosa]

Managed to 7-turn chapter 9 with both the villages saved and Amelia recruited; video will be up tomorrow. Now it's time to tower Amelia!

Also, I wanted to ask again if Sage or Mage Knight is preferred for Lute in draft context. Sage has the best magic cap of the two (30 vs 25), and I believe 26 mag is needed for 1-turning map 20 (though I think it's impossible to a) get L'Arachel to B staves, b) 1-turn C20 without Knoll - can anybody confirm?) and is generally more useful endgame.

Mage Knight's advantages: +1 move, Canto, better offensive promo gains (+1 mag, +2 con).

Sage's advantages: light magic (it exists okay?), better defensive promo gains (+1 def, +1 res), better movement in the desert which may or may not matter.

Lute currently has 15 mag, 13 spd and her other stats are poor. I'm hoarding two Angelic Robes, a Speedwings and a Dracoshield however, so durability issues are partially fixable.

I still have two maps to think since I didn't get the first Guiding Ring.

[Shadow Mir]

I tend to only use the females, in every FE game I've played, even if some male units are better.

So, since you have this Females Only run, that I've only just found now, I'll be watching.

On my second playthough with the Sacred Stones, I actually read the script and stuff, and when I saw Vanessa, I became shocked.

I must've killed her immediately on my first playthrough, and forgot about her.

I mostly use female units as well.

[Nicolas]

Female units in FE8 aren't good. Most time I use only a few of them.

1. Erika - Pretty nice.
2. Vanessa - For FE8 standards she is good, espceially when she gets Ering and Dracoshield.
3. Lute - No durability what mean in some chapter she is almost useless.
4. Natasha - Second healer in game when one healer is just enough.
5. Neimi - LOL bases.
6. Tana - Underleveled, but after training is pretty nice.
7. Amelia - Trainer and the worst of all trainer.
8. Marisa - I don't need second myrmidon. Also she is underleveled.
9. L'Arachel - See Natasha and Lute.
10. Syrene - Joins too late.

So if we compare they to male unit they looks bad. In my casual run I use only Erika, Vanessa, Tana and sometimes L'Arachel, because her personality is great.

[Espinosa]

Um, what's the usual procedure for promoting Trainees in a draft? I just tried to "tower Amelia" and ran out of Vulneraries before I could count to 10. She was soloing the map, too. I imagine chucking Javelins behind, say, Seth (undrafted character, still at 1.00 actually) is far safer but I have no clue if it's okay to use undrafted units to help train a drafted Trainee.

So... how do people do this?

[Refa]

I have her chip once, MAYBE twice and then retreat. Thanks retreat command!

[Espinosa]

I have her chip once, MAYBE twice and then retreat. Thanks retreat command!

Ah, gotcha! Thought only a single trip was permitted.

[Espinosa]

Why does beamcrash say chapter 10 Eirika cannot be 2-turned? You need to rig a crit for Tana but it's doable.

I have a feeling I'll be taking quite a bit more turns than 2 just to recruit Marisa however. Some 5 turns maybe?

There are 12 females units in the game and the full cast is available after map 17 only, so you always have the deployment slots to field every female unit in the game. Even if it costs turns, it's fun to control a full team of girls - even scrubby ones like Neimi and Marisa.

Neimi still has 5 whole levels until Ranger (or Sniper...), good lord...

Edited August 23, 2013 by Espinosa

[MacLovin]

gl hf with neimi.

Personally, I think she should be treated like a trainee along with marisa.

As in, tower until lvl 10.

[SB.]

10 Eirika can be 2 turned with a suicidal Tana/Vanessa.

[Espinosa]

10 Eirika can be 2 turned with a suicidal Tana/Vanessa.

No suicide necessary. Look:

Turn 1. Tana and Vanessa rescuedrop Eirika (Vanessa has surplus 1 move that she doesn't need). The Longbow ballistician attacks Vanessa from below as you see on the screenshot, while the Iron Bow one suicides into Vanessa at 1-2 range.

Turn 2. My Tana has +2 strength above her base stat (she exists for a while in chapter 9, though getting the western village is pretty much her responsibility and this can limit her exposure to combat) and has displayed crit on the Myrm when attacking the Myrm blocking Eirika's way to seize, 3HKOing. Vanessa ORKOs the boss and Eirika seizes.

[Espinosa]

And here's chapter 9 in 7 turns:

Back when I had a full team LTC run a year or so ago, I also 7-turned this map, so the fact that I achieved the same turn count with an inferior team (sans Vanessa) is pretty cool I guess.

[Hawk King]

good job with that 2 turn strategy.

drafts allow undrafted units to accompany the trainees to meatshield for them.

sage can potentially save you 2 turns over mage knight for Lute's promotion. you already have 3 good mounts in Nessie, Tana, and Amelia. adding in L'arachel and possibly Neimi and that's more than enough.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Hawk King

[General Horace]

yeah sage rocks the desert, which you'll need since tana won't be promoted unless you visit the secret shot (which might not be needed honestly)

Edited August 23, 2013 by General Horace

[Espinosa]

I'm not so sure actually - Tana/Vanessa could always carry Lute to a place where she will do the fighting. The biggest terrain difficulties are in a specific place, which is traversed in just one turn with the help of flight.

Another obstacle is that if Lute is divided from the 'main' party she can't spam Barrier to get to A staves quicker with Tethys's help and, I also thought, that being flexible in movement in most maps helps to spam Barrier more easier without being a burden to the party's infrastructure (which helps in maps with multiple objectives like chapter 14E). Making infrastructure difficult could well lead to the loss of those turns that are supposed to be saved.

It's something I still have to think about carefully. The extended warp range only probably starts to matter for chapter 20 (and I guess C18's rout but I'm not sure) when Lute starts capramming MK's magic. C20's 1-turn is probably the main reason to have Sage Lute when you ignore the minor arguments for and against, becausein maps like Final, the warping of the bosskiller could be carried out by using multiple staff users and tradechains (I think).

good job with that 2 turn strategy.

drafts allow undrafted units to accompany the trainees to meatshield for them.

Just showing that 2 turns is both theoretically and practically possible - not going to keep that run in order to recruit Marisa and have a full party of female units. Might try promoting Lute on turn 2 after killing the boss with Vanessa to start staffspamming ASAP (Lute kinda needs it). If she gets enough staff action in during C10 and then Torch spam in the next map, Lute should reach A staves around the same time Saleh reaches it on a typical LTC run.

re: towering trainees - I had no idea. Well, too late now.

Edited August 23, 2013 by Espinosa

[SB.]

I usually go MK Lute but then again I don't know where the Sage cap actually matters?

[ZemZem]

I guess the sage cap would make a difference in C16 (Eirika) and Final 1?

[Carter]

I miss the Mage Knights.

[Espinosa]

Lute is most probably not capping MK's magic caps until very late in the game - definitely not for C16 considering I didn't have a female thief to steal the first Energy Ring in C7.

For Final, I am sure having three staff users is enough for transportation regardless of how much magic they have.

To be frank, there's a chance she will never reach 26 magic as a Sage needed for a 1-turn completion of C20 but you never know - I don't know how many levels exactly I'll be able to squeeze out of her before she promotes in C10 - probably just one more if that? So that's 17 mag as an 11/1 Sage before taking the two rings. 21 magic WITH the rings... Hmm, I guess SHE is getting there after all.

Staff rank is kind of a problem considering she promotes late and into a class with D staves at base.

I think I'll try to run approximate calculations as to how much staff spamming and with which staves I need to have a set goal in mind, as I know midgame LTCing and expected turn counts all too well (having attempted too many of these runs), then I have a plan to stick to.