The Lunatic Club [Fates]

[Errorik]

1 hour ago, expshare said:

Man...chapter 10 isn't a test of strength, it's a test of efficiency. If you can't clear enemies out fast enough you get overran. But it's so hard to be efficient enough for me at least. Niles will snipe like a dozen fliers (I use Azura) and both Camilla and Corrin basically are fire to the moths. The only problem is that there are so many enemy units that even when I think I'm killing them at a good rate, they suddenly overrun me in the last few turns. In order to beat the level I need to maximize my kill rate and have every unit doing as much damage per turn as possible. That's my assessment. As for my army, I send Dragonstone equipped Corrin/Odin with Elise (now a wyvern rider) south, and accelerate Corrin/Odin with Azura. I send Jakob, Effie, Arthur, Silas, Nyx  to the right. That part might need some changing, but I like the fact that they can deal with everything on the right very easily, and I always send them back to the left once they're done with the second wave. Niles and Azura stay in the middle to kill fliers together, and occasionally Azura will help someone else too. Beruka and Selena get sent to the left to clog the bridge, and I send Camilla back to reinforce the left later on. At this point my strategy has diverged...in some attempts I sent Corrin back left, and in other attempts I sent Corrin right and attempted to head for the ship. Neither strategy seemed to work, although for some reason going left with Corrin seemed to help more than sending her toward the ship.

So basically I just feel very spread thin. Is lunatic supposed to be this difficult or am I probably missing some key strategies that would create a lot more room for error? I feel like as far as small-scale battle tactics go I do just fine. I use aggressive pairing (adjacency) most of the time, except for Corrin who is a 19 Def power-tank with Odin equipped giving her +3 Mag. Also her luck is 15, and that's her "bad stat". She kills most enemies in one round with Elise by her side. 

This is the map.

First off, there are 5 main areas. 1: Middle. 2: Bottom Left. 3: Bottom Right. 4: Top Left. 5: Top Right.

Having Niles and Azura hold 1 (behind and in front of the barrier) is great. They can deal with the pegs and assist with the other groups heading out into 2 and 3.

2 and 3 can go all the way to the boats if you want and get aggressive enough (that's where the enemies for these "lanes" spawn. Generally you want some of your characters that can work well together (Silas, Arthur, Effie, Elise, Bowzu) to go towards 2 or 3. My strats usually have them going to 2. Following that idea, my strats usually involve Corrin paried with Jakob going to 3. If you've got paladin jakob, let corrin get below half hp, then switch back to Jakob to clean everything up on 3. This lets Corrin be a great stat backpack (Corrin's personal is amazing for this) and activates VoF (Vow of Friendship) on Silas, which will give him +3/-3 for damage taken and received. Huge. This is just huge in general. Silas destroys everything with some xp love and VoF active. Keeping Corrin at half is really easy with a dragonstone.

4 and 5 have a few strats. I'll mention two for each. Nyx can promote to DK asap after one level. She can clear out the top left and stay there for the reinforcements. Odin can sit on the magic turret initially and join her later, or just give her another pair bot. The other strat is to have Odin take care of that side, if you've been leveling him. He wants the xp and Nos tome is super good. 5 can be dealt with once Beruka Camilla, and Selena arrive. First strat is have Selena pair up with Camilla, fly over to the bastilla, then switch back to Selena. Have Beruka take the Master Seal. Next turn you start killing the guys and keep running Camilla w/ Selena and Beruka on the archers/pegs over there. Another way, especially if you haven't been using Arthur at all, and/or really like Selena, is to Have Arthur waiting for Selena right outside of her max movement by the turn she spawns (Arthur snags the master seal village). Selena with Arthur pairup can kill all the enemies which spawn on the right side. It's pretty dope. Only thing of concern is her hitrate against the speardudes is like 75-85 or something. She can't miss. Granted, missing at all on most runs/especially early is essentially a restart.

Killing Takumi is always fun. I hate him. Bad character, bad unit, even worse hair. Kill it with fire, or just anything. Free elixir and some nice xp.

Edited July 18, 2018 by Centh

[expshare]

Wow, that was detailed. I'm going to try that out. I was just working out some new strats on my own that involved Odin and Dark Knight Nyx on the left exactly how you said, except I had a really different strategy for the right and mid. I think I messed up by not using my units efficiently enough. The left in particular kind of melts to the fire siege, and I hadn't used that at all before. The middle weapon is also somewhat helpful, and for some reason I didn't use it previously.

[starburst]

6 hours ago, expshare said:

Besides, it just happens to be that two pretty strong children (Ophelia and Sophie) happen to have pretty good paralogues. Energy drop is +2 strength I believe. That's what it was in like Fire Emblem 4 I think lol. Also that horse spirit item sounds like a must, wow.

I do not remember if the enemy density of those Paralogues in Lunatic is way higher than that of Hard, but these are my approaches before Chapter 13.

Sophie

Put a javelin in Silas's inventory, regardless of his class. 8-10 units are enough.

Send a high-mobility pair south-west to hold the position on the bridge, so that the villagers do not commit suicide (a requirement to get the rewards.) The key here is not to kill the enemies on the bridge in one turn, or the villagers will simply pass through you into the island and get fucked. Use a javelin or hand axe, or just disarm your main unit and heal until the Lemmings go north inland. (I have sent Kaze [main] and Peri, so, no tanks needed.)

At the same time, pair Silas with a strong unit (or strong bonuses) and kill the archer, sing to this pair, move right of the mage and kill him. The cavalry will attack Silas and his pair, and Sophie will come down. Hurt the Paladin with your other units and move Silas and his pair north, talk to Sophie, give her the javelin, pair her up and then let Sophie get some Experience points by finishing the Paladin.

Then it is all about marching north-west and letting Sophie lead the charge to get as much Exp as possible to catch up with the main party.
I kill the boss by turn 6-7 and Sophie gains at least three levels.

Ophelia

Put any two extra tomes in the inventory. Optional: Equip Elise with the Rescue staff from Ch 9.

Send an archer and/or a mage and an extra physical unit west, to deal with the Wyverns and mages and get the Horse Spirit scroll in turn 2.

At the same time, send Elise centre-south, right outside of the woods (or you will lure enemies), wait, then visit the house and get the Lightning tome in turn 2.
Optional: Immediately send Elise north-west but below the wall where the knights and archer are located. Heal others on her way north.

Simultaneously, send a strong, high-mobility pair north-east and face the samurai and mages. Use attack stance and run into the house before the outlaw steals the +2 Magic item. Ignore any remaining enemy and head west; you will face knights and one archer. An Armour Slayer is very handy. Visit the second house from left to right and grab the Calamity Gate scroll.
Optional: Let Elise Rescue this pair.

Let Ophelia grab the two extra tomes from the inventory so that she activates her +10 Crit personal skill. Send Ophelia, Odin, Azura and one more character (Corrin) to deal with the fighters and ninjas in the centre. Let Ophelia get Experience points (and do not be in awe if she lands a Crit in her first turn.)

Once the four houses have been visited the rest of the chapter is straightforward. Focus on Ophelia (and other unit that may need Exp.)

Using Rescue is optional, but I do it because I like to level-up Ophelia and let her catch up with the team. If you send a really strong pair to get Calamity Gate and let it there, that pair would wipe half of the enemies on the map (because the north reinforcements attack north first), and suck all the Experience points.

Edited July 18, 2018 by starburst

[expshare]

Chapter 10 is the bane of me. I completed it a second time using the strats from Centh, but Elise and Beruka died while trying to hold the line. I had to improvise during the late turns, but up until then I used the same methods discussed. I was also able to get Corrin down to 50% health very consistently to boost Silas. Silas hasn't really been pulling his weight in my team lately though, mainly because his speed is sadly mediocre. I don't think he'd double much even if I equipped Arthur and gave him a speed tonic. There are so many units to kill and so little time to kill them all. I kill Oboro turn 2 and I still get overwhelmed. 

Well, I guess that's probably a reset. At least I got to all villages this time. I just have to do this again without losing any members, and I'm not terribly optimistic because I really try to squeeze every advantage out and still find myself being pushed back to the gate. I'm still optimistic that I will prevail eventually. I'm sure that continuing without Elise and Beruka isn't the end of the world, but I wanted to try to do a no deaths run.

 

Edit:

I let out a great sigh of relief from frustration as I completed Chapter 10 with no deaths and all villages. I'll admit it, I cheesed a little bit. It's not my fault that the army on the right side can't get their act together to get past Effie  because of her absurd defense. Oh, but they would love to dry up the water if it wasn't for the fact that I killed Takumi. That was what made this map doable for me...killing Takumi. I sent Paladin/Corrin straight to him to kill him, and it worked. Nyx and Odin handled the left while the rest of my army fought courageously in the middle. This map is three times easier with the water levels up.

Difficulty = (*****) if Takumi lives

Difficulty = (****) if no dragon veins (kill Takumi)

The reason I gave this map four stars difficulty rating is because it requires a juggernaut (other than Camilla), and if you don't have a juggernaut then I'm not sure how difficult things would be.

Now that Chapter 10 is done I can finally move onto better things, and I'm looking forward to getting a Levin sword after Chapter 13.

 

 

Edit 2:

 

So I'm looking at the weapons in the game and this is the conclusion I've come to so far:

Good - niche use, range options

Bad - steel, silver (great if free though)

Best - forged iron

I think niche use and range options provide a unit with a lot more flexibility, and that usually means more damage on average and more durability. I gave Beruka a Hand-axe. It's especially important for her since her skill gives +4 atk whenever she attacks an enemy unit that can't attack back. Next up comes steel...and the problem is the clearest for steel. Two iron swords costs the same as a steel weapon, but when forged yield a better weapon. At the cost of 1 Mt and 1 mineral you get 5% more hit, 5% more avoid, 3 more speed, ability to double. That seems like a great deal. With that said, if you get a steel weapon for free then it's still useful in situations where you just need 3 more damage, which could be fairly often. Silver weapons would be worthwhile if not for the fact that its equivalent in cost (ignoring the 4 minerals), the Iron Sword +2, is a better overall weapon because it doesn't come with the critical evade debuff, meaning a lot more survivability. 

But really I've just been building up my arsenal, and almost everything has found its use. My current position is don't buy steel or silver, and do forge iron. In fact, if you allow yourself to get minerals with online features then it might make even more sense to forge bronze weapons, or can they be forged? Maybe they can't be forged actually...I'm still newb. Edit 3: Now I want to buy steel. minerals are impossible to get without online features unless it's your native mineral. mine is crystal for swords, so I can basically focus on crafting one really awesome forged iron sword and that's about it I guess?

Edited July 18, 2018 by expshare

[starburst]

10 hours ago, expshare said:

Now I want to buy steel. minerals are impossible to get without online features unless it's your native mineral. mine is crystal for swords, so I can basically focus on crafting one really awesome forged iron sword and that's about it I guess?

I think that the ore restriction is there for balancing purposes, and to fit into Conquet's resource management premise.
At the beginning, one has to rely on the mine, the free ore from small talks, whatever comes from the lottery and the arena bets. As random as it may be, there is always a way to make use of the given resources. Upgrade the mine as soon as possible, trade ore (5:1) in the smithy, and then multiply new ore it in the arena.
The only unit who actually needs an early forge is Odin, to activate his +10 Crit skill; and maybe Kaze, because of his low strength and the dagger's low might.

About the weapons themselves, +2 irons (or Thunder tomes) are awesome in most cases, except for those units with ridiculously high Speed (and Skill), like Kaze or archer Mozu, which can handle steel weapons just as proficiently (do not sell his steel shuriken until after you can forge steel daggers.) For Kaze, note that different daggers cause different, greater de-buffs: iron ones reduce Mag, Def and Res; while steel ones reduce one more point of Str, Def and Res. Thus, Kaze should attack tanks with a steel dagger. (I was lucky enough to get a Sacrificial Knife [11 Mt, 110 Hit, -8 Lck, -5 Def/Res] around mid-game.)

Each new unit gives free weapons, since one will not use all units anyway. So, one always has duplicate iron swords and axes after Ch 10, 12, and duplicate steel ones after Ch 13, 15.

[Errorik]

11 hours ago, expshare said:

Chapter 10 is the bane of me. I completed it a second time using the strats from Centh, but Elise and Beruka died while trying to hold the line. I had to improvise during the late turns, but up until then I used the same methods discussed. I was also able to get Corrin down to 50% health very consistently to boost Silas. Silas hasn't really been pulling his weight in my team lately though, mainly because his speed is sadly mediocre. I don't think he'd double much even if I equipped Arthur and gave him a speed tonic. There are so many units to kill and so little time to kill them all. I kill Oboro turn 2 and I still get overwhelmed. 

Well, I guess that's probably a reset. At least I got to all villages this time. I just have to do this again without losing any members, and I'm not terribly optimistic because I really try to squeeze every advantage out and still find myself being pushed back to the gate. I'm still optimistic that I will prevail eventually. I'm sure that continuing without Elise and Beruka isn't the end of the world, but I wanted to try to do a no deaths run.

 

Edit:

I let out a great sigh of relief from frustration as I completed Chapter 10 with no deaths and all villages. I'll admit it, I cheesed a little bit. It's not my fault that the army on the right side can't get their act together to get past Effie  because of her absurd defense. Oh, but they would love to dry up the water if it wasn't for the fact that I killed Takumi. That was what made this map doable for me...killing Takumi. I sent Paladin/Corrin straight to him to kill him, and it worked. Nyx and Odin handled the left while the rest of my army fought courageously in the middle. This map is three times easier with the water levels up.

Difficulty = (*****) if Takumi lives

Difficulty = (****) if no dragon veins (kill Takumi)

The reason I gave this map four stars difficulty rating is because it requires a juggernaut (other than Camilla), and if you don't have a juggernaut then I'm not sure how difficult things would be.

Now that Chapter 10 is done I can finally move onto better things, and I'm looking forward to getting a Levin sword after Chapter 13.

 

 

Edit 2:

  Hide contents

So I'm looking at the weapons in the game and this is the conclusion I've come to so far:

Good - niche use, range options

Bad - steel, silver (great if free though)

Best - forged iron

I think niche use and range options provide a unit with a lot more flexibility, and that usually means more damage on average and more durability. I gave Beruka a Hand-axe. It's especially important for her since her skill gives +4 atk whenever she attacks an enemy unit that can't attack back. Next up comes steel...and the problem is the clearest for steel. Two iron swords costs the same as a steel weapon, but when forged yield a better weapon. At the cost of 1 Mt and 1 mineral you get 5% more hit, 5% more avoid, 3 more speed, ability to double. That seems like a great deal. With that said, if you get a steel weapon for free then it's still useful in situations where you just need 3 more damage, which could be fairly often. Silver weapons would be worthwhile if not for the fact that its equivalent in cost (ignoring the 4 minerals), the Iron Sword +2, is a better overall weapon because it doesn't come with the critical evade debuff, meaning a lot more survivability. 

But really I've just been building up my arsenal, and almost everything has found its use. My current position is don't buy steel or silver, and do forge iron. In fact, if you allow yourself to get minerals with online features then it might make even more sense to forge bronze weapons, or can they be forged? Maybe they can't be forged actually...I'm still newb. Edit 3: Now I want to buy steel. minerals are impossible to get without online features unless it's your native mineral. mine is crystal for swords, so I can basically focus on crafting one really awesome forged iron sword and that's about it I guess?

Nice job coming up with your own strategy! I generally ignore Effie past her join chapter, except for when I want Percy, so all that xp she would get goes into Silas and Arthur. Silas does have average-ish growth rates, which can be frustrating. The way I play chapter 7 lets Silas get a level up on the turn he joins. This lets me see what his first level is, so I can reset the chapter if it's super bad (usually looking for at least STR/SPD on level up), while also speed leveling him up. Arthur is also great for slamming people with high dmg. Effie can do the same thing, but requires someone to carry her around. Meaning you sacrifice a deployment slot just to carry her, when that person could also be hitting things. I'm sure there are some ways to use her, but I've always found her to be a trap that eventually leads to struggling.

 

Steel is meh. Forging an iron weapon costs the same, has better hit, doesn't lower AS, and only has 2 less Mt. The only things I use from My Castle are visiting for food/minerals, lilith for gold bars, and corrins quarters to see if i get lucky with who I'm trying to S support with. Forging is super strong and lets me have more fun, so I never prevent myself from having it. It's not like it's free. Have to buy all those iron weapons. I think the ore/food setup was put in to try to force player interaction. If there wasn't player interaction, a different system for forging would have been used, which wouldn't require internet. That's how I see it at least.

 

Can confirm +2 bronze axe/bow is amazing. Also Fire +2 is hilarious when you have Diviner!Corrin/Jakob pairup. Most enemies early game can't hit Corrin.

[Mandokarla]

42 minutes ago, Centh said:

Nice job coming up with your own strategy! I generally ignore Effie past her join chapter, except for when I want Percy, so all that xp she would get goes into Silas and Arthur. Silas does have average-ish growth rates, which can be frustrating. The way I play chapter 7 lets Silas get a level up on the turn he joins. This lets me see what his first level is, so I can reset the chapter if it's super bad (usually looking for at least STR/SPD on level up), while also speed leveling him up. Arthur is also great for slamming people with high dmg. Effie can do the same thing, but requires someone to carry her around. Meaning you sacrifice a deployment slot just to carry her, when that person could also be hitting things. I'm sure there are some ways to use her, but I've always found her to be a trap that eventually leads to struggling.

I can understand where you're coming from, as a person that absolutely hates any and all armor units. However, I've found that General!Effie + Beast Slayer can, after level 5, Solo the Furry Genocide. Only deploy her and Corrin, pair em up with some vulneraries and whatnot, and Wary Fighter will let her sit in a bush and slowly tank her way through the map. Aside from that, Effie is too useful in the earlygame (IMO) to ignore, considering her damage output. 

[starburst]

1 hour ago, Mandokarla said:

I can understand where you're coming from, as a person that absolutely hates any and all armor units. However, I've found that General!Effie + Beast Slayer can, after level 5, Solo the Furry Genocide. Only deploy her and Corrin, pair em up with some vulneraries and whatnot, and Wary Fighter will let her sit in a bush and slowly tank her way through the map. Aside from that, Effie is too useful in the earlygame (IMO) to ignore, considering her damage output. 

I usually do not use Effie as a main unit but as an early mother. But if you have the chance, try Archer » Sniper Effie (A+ Mozu.) She is so overpowered that it may as well be a hack.

Edited July 18, 2018 by starburst

[Errorik]

3 hours ago, Mandokarla said:

I can understand where you're coming from, as a person that absolutely hates any and all armor units. However, I've found that General!Effie + Beast Slayer can, after level 5, Solo the Furry Genocide. Only deploy her and Corrin, pair em up with some vulneraries and whatnot, and Wary Fighter will let her sit in a bush and slowly tank her way through the map. Aside from that, Effie is too useful in the earlygame (IMO) to ignore, considering her damage output. 

I just use Xander or Camilla as a wyvern lord.

2 hours ago, starburst said:

I usually do not use Effie as a main unit but as an early mother. But if you have the chance, try Archer » Sniper Effie (A+ Mozu.) She is so overpowered that it may as well be a hack.

Can that be done in a good amount of time? I've never really used either. At ch. 8 you get Mozu and spam their support? So, chapter 13-14 you get archer Effie? I consider Odin and Ophelia to be a hack. They solo maps.

[expshare]

6 hours ago, Centh said:

Nice job coming up with your own strategy! I generally ignore Effie past her join chapter, except for when I want Percy, so all that xp she would get goes into Silas and Arthur. Silas does have average-ish growth rates, which can be frustrating. The way I play chapter 7 lets Silas get a level up on the turn he joins. This lets me see what his first level is, so I can reset the chapter if it's super bad (usually looking for at least STR/SPD on level up), while also speed leveling him up. Arthur is also great for slamming people with high dmg. Effie can do the same thing, but requires someone to carry her around. Meaning you sacrifice a deployment slot just to carry her, when that person could also be hitting things. I'm sure there are some ways to use her, but I've always found her to be a trap that eventually leads to struggling.

 

Steel is meh. Forging an iron weapon costs the same, has better hit, doesn't lower AS, and only has 2 less Mt. The only things I use from My Castle are visiting for food/minerals, lilith for gold bars, and corrins quarters to see if i get lucky with who I'm trying to S support with. Forging is super strong and lets me have more fun, so I never prevent myself from having it. It's not like it's free. Have to buy all those iron weapons. I think the ore/food setup was put in to try to force player interaction. If there wasn't player interaction, a different system for forging would have been used, which wouldn't require internet. That's how I see it at least.

 

Can confirm +2 bronze axe/bow is amazing. Also Fire +2 is hilarious when you have Diviner!Corrin/Jakob pairup. Most enemies early game can't hit Corrin.

 

I'm glad that you mentioned the point about ore/food. I tried visiting other castles and found that I could just grab food/ore and nothing else. I'm going to allow this in the rules for my playthrough so that the forging system actually works, and so that I have more flexibility when it comes to Lilith / cooking.

[starburst]

2 hours ago, Centh said:

Can that be done in a good amount of time? I've never really used either. At ch. 8 you get Mozu and spam their support? So, chapter 13-14 you get archer Effie? I consider Odin and Ophelia to be a hack. They solo maps.

It took me a bit longer because even though archer Mozu was recruited right after Ch 7, she was exclusively hooked to Silas until Ch 12 (to 'unlock' Sophie before Ch 13.) In the meantime, and even though I was not going to use Nina on this campaign, I hooked Effie to Niles; so that Effie could at least increase her bow rank as an Outlaw. (The silver lining: the Speed growths and +1 Mov are always helpful.)
Immediately after Nina was 'unlocked', I started pairing Mozu and Effie. They need five maps.

If you will only use Archer Effie, she can reach A+ with Mozu by Ch 11 (C after Paralogue; C+ after Ch 8; B after Invasion 1; B+ after Ch 9; A after Ch 10.)

Note that pairing Mozu and Effie is easier for me because Mozu is always an archer, and their base bonuses are complementary. As a Villager, Mozu is a useless backpack.

------

Yeah, Odin and Ophelia are on a different league. But on the late chapters Sniper Effie basically outputs the same damage as the crazy mages; something like 2x25+ or 2x40+ damage.

If you think that Calamity Gate is great against shurikens and lances, you have to behold a Sniper. Sniper Effie kills Master Ninjas and Maids in one hit, and Sniper Mozu kills Spear/Great Masters in one phase.

Sniper Mozu in particular ignores weapon triangle disadvantages, Avoid bonuses and thrones, and always lands her hit, no matter what. Kotaro, Swordmasters, Bow Breaker... she does not care.
And just like Ophelia, Sniper Mozu lands Crits even when you do not want to (like when they wipe out more enemies than you calculated and then get hit by enemies that would not reach them otherwise.)

[Errorik]

I usually use BK Silas (I make him a BK or Kinshi depending on how his stats have been going. Works because the three people I would pair him with show up ch10), WL Cam, Xander, Niles, and Ophelia to kill ninjas. I forgot Effie can S Niles. Interesting.

[expshare]

Does anyone know what's with these random My Castle gifts that my units give me? I just got Arthur's Axe from Odin, just because time passed by. I know of the two special items I've gotten in this way and plan to drop them if they are too "illegitimate". For all I know they have something to do with the fact that I'm connected online now (albeit only for food/ore).

 

Edit - 

So, in my usual style I have restarted the game yet again.  And in my usual style I have made it (nearly) back to the same point that I had previously reached. But I have a feeling that Chapter 10 isn't going to be so difficult this time around. Why? Because Azura just cooked my entire team a +2 Def / +1 Spe meal. Also with online access to food/ore I was able to give (Paladin) Jakob and Silas both +2 Iron Swords. Unless I'm not supposed to be using meals, but honestly this is a mostly casual (but Classic mode) lunatic playthrough I'm doing. I'd be happy just to finish. Sometimes these levels feel like steep steps to climb, although I have recently noticed myself thinking tactically deeper than before. I've learned to let my team morph fluidly during battles in terms of pairups and formations. Sometimes if a certain formation is needed, then a certain pairup has to be created or undone. At that point it's about finding the most opportune pair. This situation came up recently for me because I had 7 units, 4 of which were vulnerable, and only a corner to protect myself in. I've also started using a lot more switch/transfer mechanics, especially when a couple points of speed or defense might change a situation for a certain character. I'm also paying way more attention to unit auras. I can't believe that I haven't been paying attention to auras from the beginning.

Edited July 19, 2018 by expshare

[starburst]

5 hours ago, expshare said:

Does anyone know what's with these random My Castle gifts that my units give me? I just got Arthur's Axe from Odin, just because time passed by. I know of the two special items I've gotten in this way and plan to drop them if they are too "illegitimate". For all I know they have something to do with the fact that I'm connected online now (albeit only for food/ore).

Those are just random gifts (one also gets ore and food this way.) It was not given to you just because of being online.
You at least got something useful, sometimes one only gets 'joke' weapons.

Do not worry about restarting the game over and over, it is the best way to learn the mechanics. I have played the first thirteen chapters more times than I can remember (by then the core children of my team had been recruited and my main party promotes), just to realise that the party that I am using is not working well and I start over.

For me, auras is the reason why a campaign without Xander, Camila and Leo is easier than a campaign without Elise.
Also note that units with supports provide bonuses even if they are not the Attack- or Guard-Stance unit: The attack of units X+Y will be more effective if X has had support with unit Z and X is next to Z. These 'position' bonuses can be critical.

Edited July 20, 2018 by starburst

[expshare]

So I prepared for Chapter 10 and went in considering it a ceremonial win ahead of time, but of course things got awry, my units weren't all the exact same as in the past, and I died. Then I remembered that I had been awake for about 40 hours, and for about 20 of those hours I had been playing Fire Emblem 4 or Fire Emblem 14. 

I will look into what the adjacency bonuses are for units of a given support rank. I think I started noticing the difference with Niles first. I found his accuracy against pegasus knights to be a little lacking...around 90%, meh. That could easily mean a missed shot during Chapter 10. But I noticed every time he was next to certain units his accuracy would just be better. That was my first hint that supports had a combat effect.

[Errorik]

6 hours ago, expshare said:

Does anyone know what's with these random My Castle gifts that my units give me? I just got Arthur's Axe from Odin, just because time passed by. I know of the two special items I've gotten in this way and plan to drop them if they are too "illegitimate". For all I know they have something to do with the fact that I'm connected online now (albeit only for food/ore).

 

Edit - 

So, in my usual style I have restarted the game yet again.  And in my usual style I have made it (nearly) back to the same point that I had previously reached. But I have a feeling that Chapter 10 isn't going to be so difficult this time around. Why? Because Azura just cooked my entire team a +2 Def / +1 Spe meal. Also with online access to food/ore I was able to give (Paladin) Jakob and Silas both +2 Iron Swords. Unless I'm not supposed to be using meals, but honestly this is a mostly casual (but Classic mode) lunatic playthrough I'm doing. I'd be happy just to finish. Sometimes these levels feel like steep steps to climb, although I have recently noticed myself thinking tactically deeper than before. I've learned to let my team morph fluidly during battles in terms of pairups and formations. Sometimes if a certain formation is needed, then a certain pairup has to be created or undone. At that point it's about finding the most opportune pair. This situation came up recently for me because I had 7 units, 4 of which were vulnerable, and only a corner to protect myself in. I've also started using a lot more switch/transfer mechanics, especially when a couple points of speed or defense might change a situation for a certain character. I'm also paying way more attention to unit auras. I can't believe that I haven't been paying attention to auras from the beginning.

I don't talk to units in My Castle. I don't consider their chances at +4 to two stats or random item drops to be that reproducible, so I don't use them. Reproducibility is generally the rule I go for. Clearly level ups, hit/miss in fights, etc are going to be different in each run, but I try to bring things into a strat I can use again. Randomly being given hunter bow, which lets Niles kill all the cavs isn't something I can replicate.

My main issue in FE is I play too quickly. Years of (currently OW) FPS, RTS, and MOBAs have given me a real bad habit of playing as fast as I can (even in a slow game like FE).

 

On another note, I started a new run trying to get Sophie, Percy, Dwyer, and Ophelia quickly. I unlocked Percy after Invasion 1, which I did after completing Ch. 9. Clearing Percy's chapter pre-Camilla is really giving me a hard time. I think I may have made things harder by using Bowzu, so My diviner talent Corrin can't Heart Seal (I'm using wyvern!Elise. I can't go back now. I have to save her from pony hell) to help Odin out. He's like 4 dmg off of one rounding almost everything on the map with nos. I could maybe do it if I had slightly better positioning on the mountains, but there are enough lunge units, that he ends up on the ground kinda no matter what. Also has the issue of low health enemies attacking after the first round of combat, meaning he can't steal much health. RIP! Ugh, I don't want to start over. Is this too early for snagging kids (no grind)? I have minimal experience using kids, besides Ophelia, who I feel is extremely straight forward (snag her around 14-15).

[expshare]

I never really thought about it like this, but if I think 20% harder about my moves before I make them, then that could easily make my army tougher in performance, and every percentage point advantage is important. So in a sense I can choose to play poorly or well every time I start a map. And also, isn't focused deep thinking just as good for quickness as practicing something quickly? But I imagine that a mixture might work...try a map quickly once or twice, and then give it your slow shot. 

Situations in Fire Emblem that require foresight are really common. We are all happy when a unit gets a free 2 strength bonus, but you could probably squeeze out way more extra damage by carefully considering your unit positioning than a free 2 strength bonus would provide.

Also: I agree about the equipment given by the units in the castle. I'm just going to drop them on the floor. I don't like it when games have random events that occasionally give the player an apparently seriously enhanced army. I'll still be utilizing some of the other things like perhaps a lottery shop at some point, because at some point you have to imagine that all the random outcomes kind of average out the difficulty of the campaign.

Edited July 20, 2018 by expshare

[Errorik]

11 hours ago, expshare said:

I never really thought about it like this, but if I think 20% harder about my moves before I make them, then that could easily make my army tougher in performance, and every percentage point advantage is important. So in a sense I can choose to play poorly or well every time I start a map. And also, isn't focused deep thinking just as good for quickness as practicing something quickly? But I imagine that a mixture might work...try a map quickly once or twice, and then give it your slow shot. 

Situations in Fire Emblem that require foresight are really common. We are all happy when a unit gets a free 2 strength bonus, but you could probably squeeze out way more extra damage by carefully considering your unit positioning than a free 2 strength bonus would provide.

Also: I agree about the equipment given by the units in the castle. I'm just going to drop them on the floor. I don't like it when games have random events that occasionally give the player an apparently seriously enhanced army. I'll still be utilizing some of the other things like perhaps a lottery shop at some point, because at some point you have to imagine that all the random outcomes kind of average out the difficulty of the campaign.

Lol, sleep is a big part of brain function. Think of all the FE gainz you could be making if you slept!

FE:PoR and RD have also reinforced the whole "throw unit into enemy and watch them all die" strategy. Fates is definitely much more difficult, especially early on. RD is practically throw Titania/Haar/Jill/Ike/Nolan/Laguz into the enemy soup and win.

There's something to be said for not using mess hall, but I think tonics and forging is an odd thing to rule out. It's a bummer you have to gather resources from other players, but how else do they incentivize visiting castles? I hope Three Houses doesn't have odd multiplayer things :/

 

[expshare]

I'm more awake today and playing better.

Here was my most recent setup for my second Chapter 10 no deaths / all villages victory:

Rule #1 - don't judge how much I prepared for this frustrating chapter lol

 

Corrin (Leviathan) / Lvl 13 / Nohr Princess

Dragonstone, Yato, Defense Tonic, Vulnerary x3, Concoction x2

 

Jakob / Lvl 11 / Paladin

Iron Sword +2, Bronze Lance, Bronze Sword, Vulnerary x3, Defense Tonic

 

Elise / Lvl 13 / Troubadour

Heal x16, Freeze x1, Heal x20, Vulnerary x3, Defense Tonic

 

Silas / Lvl 11 / Cavalier

Iron Sword +2, Bronze Lance, Strength Tonic, Vulnerary x3

 

Arthur - backpack mode

 

Effie / Lvl 10 / Knight

Brass Naginata, Iron Lance, Defense Tonic, Vulnerary x3, Vulnerary x3

 

Odin - zero equips, level 5. Used with magic artillery, then equipped to Nyx later.

 

Niles / Lvl 10 / Outlaw

Iron Bow, Vulnerary x3, Speed Tonic

 

Azura / Lvl 6 / Songstress

Brass Naginata, Vulnerary x3

 

Nyx / Lvl 10 / Dark Mage

Fire, Fimbulvetr, Magic Tonic, Vulnerary x3

 

Mozu - no equips, not used

Meal: +2 Def / +1 Spe (to be fair, my Jakob has gotten horrible levels so far this playthrough)

Eastern Side - Transport Effie here by using Elise. Effie can stand guard at the bridge for eternity as long as the water stays up.

Western Side - Send Nyx to the master seal village, then transport her into a Dark Knight on her way to the western side. Kill the two enemies over there, then grab the 10,000 gold and retreat.

Takumi - Equip Corrin to Jakob and use Azura to accelerate Jakob/Corrin toward Takumi. No matter what head toward Takumi as quickly as possible, only switching to Corrin/Jakob when Jakob's health is too low. Keep healing as often as you can. Move Corrin/Jakob next to Takumi and pass. Takumi will attack Corrin/Jakob and then you can kill Takumi on the next turn. After this simply head Corrin/Jakob back to the middle area as quickly as is safe, and grab the Dual Club at the village on the way back.

Middle Area - Niles shoots the mid-right enemy units. Arthur equips to Silas who moves into position at the gap in the concrete wall. If Silas has enough strength then he will kill both units that attack him. Elise rushes back to the middle area, and is accelerated to support Silas at the choke-point by using Azura. Niles must play it safe for a moment to not get assassinated by ninjas, but he can just move to a safe spot and use the speed tonic that he didn't get to use on turn 1 (the speed tonic is only for a pseudo-accuracy boost. there's no need for Niles to target anything other than pegasus knights and injured enemy units, which he will kill effortlessly unless he misses. with a speed tonic you can probably double attack pegasus knights, meaning that 80% accuracy becomes 96% accuracy effectively. that's better than a skill tonic.) Silas/Arthur basically hold choke-points while Elise backs everyone up with heals and auras. If you want to make the chapter easier then you could have Elise use return to bring back Corrin/Jakob after they kill Takumi. Anyway, Camille wants to head to the village with the Draco Shield (mid-right village). There she will kill Oboro and various other things as she visits the village and returns back to the middle area. Beruka and Selena don't help that much this chapter in my experience, but they can definitely contribute if you anticipate where they will be needed. You could, if you want, equip Beruka to Selena so that Selena becomes a relatively strong unit, but it's probably more reasonable to keep them separate so they can do things like pick off injured enemy units. Azura loves to haste Niles, enabling him to kill more enemy units than anyone else on your team. I also use her to accelerate Camilla once Camilla arrives. Odin should be equipped to Nyx later on so that he doesn't die (he's slow and he'll die in one hit for me because I never used him.) Nyx has Fire for its accuracy and guaranteed kills on almost everything other than pegasus knights, and Fimbulvetr just in case she has to hit  a pegasus knight harder for some reason to finish it off. 

 

Now I'm all the way back to where I left off, at Chapter 11. This time Corrin is a Diviner, which is being actualized right after Chapter 10. I assume that she will not be as useful as a mage unit, but it should be fun, and Ophelia should become pretty good later on. I might give up on Silas and give his Iron Sword +2 to Selena. I'm not sure yet. Beruka will also be getting some love in the form of a Hand-axe +1. Silas is supposed to be good, but he's just rather average unless Corrin's health is <50%.

[starburst]

13 hours ago, Centh said:

On another note, I started a new run trying to get Sophie, Percy, Dwyer, and Ophelia quickly. I unlocked Percy after Invasion 1, which I did after completing Ch. 9. Clearing Percy's chapter pre-Camilla is really giving me a hard time. I think I may have made things harder by using Bowzu, so My diviner talent Corrin can't Heart Seal (I'm using wyvern!Elise. I can't go back now. I have to save her from pony hell)

Are you going to use Percy, or did you recruit him just for the money? Does your party need those Experience points right now?
I have completed Percy's Paralogue without Camilla around Ch 10 (on Hard), but I got about half the money (like 4-5 K instead of 8-9 K.) So, there is that.

The issue here early in the game is being able sustain enough turns on the left and (specially) right Dragon Veins, to lure as many enemies as possible, and then activate the DV's. This has to be done almost simultaneously, but two out of your three available royals are the lolis who die after any one hit. Or you could simply wait one more chapter and get Camilla.
If you actually care about Percy more than about the money, then you have more options.

And have more faith in archer Mozu. If her level is close to that of your main party (and there is no reason why it should not be), she will be the one killing the Wyverns in Percy's Paralogue. She is actually more useful than Cavalier Silas or Knight Effie in most situations on this map.

[starburst]

17 hours ago, expshare said:

Also: I agree about the equipment given by the units in the castle. I'm just going to drop them on the floor. I don't like it when games have random events that occasionally give the player an apparently seriously enhanced army. I'll still be utilizing some of the other things like perhaps a lottery shop at some point, because at some point you have to imagine that all the random outcomes kind of average out the difficulty of the campaign.

It is just a personal preference/ restrain. For me, visiting other castles is way more 'impure' than using the random gifts given by my own units on my own castle. Moreover, I always upgrade the lottery, the mine and the mess hall as soon as possible, so that I can get more and better items/ bonuses on the following chapters.

Among the special free weapons that I have seen in Conquest, I think that the only one that could be considered 'overpowered' is the Hunter's Bow, which grants advantage over cavalry and Kitsunes to any archer (mostly for Outlaws/Adventurers, because Snipers kill those units anyway.) The raider weapons (E rank, +3 Spd) are nice to build weapon ranks, Iago's Tome is helpful, I like the Sacrificial Knife, but that is it. And they all sell for 0 G, by the way.
On my current campaign, I was lucky and got a Sacrificial Knife by mid-game (11 Might, 110 Hit, reduces -8 Lck -5 Def/Res to enemies and 30 % HP per use to the user.) But I have only got it twice in like thirty campaigns.

It is true that you should not depend on food bonuses to face a chapter, but if you already have the food and do not use it, you would be wasting a free bonus just because. In the late chapters, the mess hall grant bonuses equivalent to one or two tonics to your whole party, and you choose the statistics! Do not be a fool and learn how to use it.

Edited July 20, 2018 by starburst

[Errorik]

1 hour ago, starburst said:

Are you going to use Percy, or did you recruit him just for the money? Does your party need those Experience points right now?
I have completed Percy's Paralogue without Camilla around Ch 10 (on Hard), but I got about half the money (like 4-5 K instead of 8-9 K.) So, there is that.

The issue here early in the game is being able sustain enough turns on the left and (specially) right Dragon Veins, to lure as many enemies as possible, and then activate the DV's. This has to be done almost simultaneously, but two out of your three available royals are the lolis who die after any one hit. Or you could simply wait one more chapter and get Camilla.
If you actually care about Percy more than about the money, then you have more options.

And have more faith in archer Mozu. If her level is close to that of your main party (and there is no reason why it should not be), she will be the one killing the Wyverns in Percy's Paralogue. She is actually more useful than Cavalier Silas or Knight Effie in most situations on this map.

It's more of them overwhelming my army. I can deal with the first huge wave of wyverns + Cavs, but the second set always gets me somewhere. No one is tanky enough to survive long enough once they show up since they can't take 3-4 wyvern hits plus Savage blow.

I've beaten hard a few times, so now I exclusively play lunatic. I've only cleared it once though. I end up not liking or being stuck in a bad spot by chapter 23-34 (unit development wise due to too much xp sharing, missing some skills, or just sick of the save file). I find the last few chapters to not be interesting in almost every single FE title. Ends up being "send blender god" in and mess with some really stupid and not fun mechanic (aka all of Fates endgame. Why would they ever think no save file would be fun or ok? Whoever signed off on that should be fired).

Edited July 20, 2018 by Centh

[starburst]

46 minutes ago, Centh said:

It's more of them overwhelming my army. I can deal with the first huge wave of wyverns + Cavs, but the second set always gets me somewhere. No one is tanky enough to survive long enough once they show up since they can't take 3-4 wyvern hits plus Savage blow.

I've beaten hard a few times, so now I exclusively play lunatic. I've only cleared it once though. I end up not liking or being stuck in a bad spot by chapter 23-34 (unit development wise due to too much xp sharing, missing some skills, or just sick of the save file). I find the last few chapters to not be interesting in almost every single FE title. Ends up being "send blender god" in and mess with some really stupid and not fun mechanic (aka all of Fates endgame. Why would they ever think no save file would be fun or ok? Whoever signed off on that should be fired).

You should be able to deal with the Cavalry + Wyverns and then with the Wyverns with Savage Blow by letting your whole party march east. But, and this is a big 'but', that implies giving up to about half of the money (maybe more.) That is why you might want to wait for Camilla.

Just like you, I also tend to ignore the last chapters if they become frustrating. On those occasions, I declare my campaign 'complete' and start over and have fun trying different units, classes or strategies.

[expshare]

Yeah, I'm just doing a casual lunatic-classic run. I might be getting food/ore from other castles and using the mess hall, but I'm just learning and having fun.

I nearly considered restarting my campaign again, but then I had a realization that the purpose of playing Fire Emblem isn't to necessarily perfect your team, but to perfect your play with the team you have. I know my team isn't necessarily the most overpowered, and Corrin is now a Diviner who struggles to double enemies. That's okay...having a mage unit could be powerful if I use it the right way, even if it's not optimally powerful.

Chapter 11 - This one looked annoying, but it wasn't too bad. I did only progress through the left side...a rather lazy choice that I might pay for later on. Hopefully not. Room 1 had archers with counter. I lured them toward the stairs with a defensive unit and then ambushed them by sending all of my units out of the stairs to attack once they were close. Lots of damage was taken from counter, but the strategy worked. Room 2 had ninjas with lunge. I let Camilla weaken them all with a hand-axe, and then did another ambush to finish them off. Room 3 had a variety of enemies. I was rather cheap and just did hit and run tactics with Camilla until the room was weakened enough for me to swarm again. The final room had Hinoka, who was easy to kill really. Corrin had the honors of dealing the last blow, although it should have been Beruka. Not my proudest completion of a chapter, but hey... Difficulty = (**)

Camilla: "Are you certain we shouldn't chase after them? It's not too late to kill them all..."

Edited July 21, 2018 by expshare

[Errorik]

12 hours ago, expshare said:

Yeah, I'm just doing a casual lunatic-classic run. I might be getting food/ore from other castles and using the mess hall, but I'm just learning and having fun.

I nearly considered restarting my campaign again, but then I had a realization that the purpose of playing Fire Emblem isn't to necessarily perfect your team, but to perfect your play with the team you have. I know my team isn't necessarily the most overpowered, and Corrin is now a Diviner who struggles to double enemies. That's okay...having a mage unit could be powerful if I use it the right way, even if it's not optimally powerful.

Chapter 11 - This one looked annoying, but it wasn't too bad. I did only progress through the left side...a rather lazy choice that I might pay for later on. Hopefully not. Room 1 had archers with counter. I lured them toward the stairs with a defensive unit and then ambushed them by sending all of my units out of the stairs to attack once they were close. Lots of damage was taken from counter, but the strategy worked. Room 2 had ninjas with lunge. I let Camilla weaken them all with a hand-axe, and then did another ambush to finish them off. Room 3 had a variety of enemies. I was rather cheap and just did hit and run tactics with Camilla until the room was weakened enough for me to swarm again. The final room had Hinoka, who was easy to kill really. Corrin had the honors of dealing the last blow, although it should have been Beruka. Not my proudest completion of a chapter, but hey... Difficulty = (**)

Camilla: "Are you certain we shouldn't chase after them? It's not too late to kill them all..."

Throwing in a unit who can take a hit from the rooms "type" is the strat for the map. I usually take archers and Oni at the same time. Silas shreds most of them with a sword and Camilla next to him. Then you wipe up the rest. Archers just need a mage or javelin user to hit them all while you take Oni room. The mage room is best taken from the middle top room stairs, so you can kill the half HP staff guy quickly. I HATE HATE HATE Ch.11. It's so slow and uninteresting.

 

Your diviner can't double? You must've been speed screwed. Diviner pairup is amazing though, especially with Corrin's personal skill. It's like they made Corrin with being a supportive character in mind. The extra xp, Ch 15, personal skill, and talent makes it easy to setup other characters to be amazing. The extra xp means you can share more of it at less of a cost. Plus the only one who wants lots of xp for the first 6 chapters.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Centh