FE6 HM LTC (incomplete recruitment, deathless)

[ruadath]

[spoiler=Turn Counts]Chapter 1 (4 turns)

Chapter 2 (5 turns)

Chapter 3 (5 turns)

Chapter 4 (4 turns)

Chapter 5 (3 turns)

Hey, welcome to yet another playthrough that I've been working on for a little bit of time, an FE6 Hard Mode LTC that does not require full recruitment, but bars sacrificng units for death. Doing this with my usual reliability rules for arrow retracing in the GBA games is rather challenging, since most of your units have trouble even 2RKOing enemies for the early part of the game, and raising characters to have good levels is equally difficult. It also makes it quite fun!

I did some preliminary work on this over the summer which resulted in clears of the first three chapters (links above); since then I have made a little bit more progress (with some help from Irysa on benchmarks and the like), which I will be recording soon. I'll provide some more detailed descriptions per chapter in the thread here like usual, and hopefully you'll enjoy!

Chapter 1

For the opening chapter of the game, I used essentially the same strategy that Gradivus used in his (shelved?) SS rank run, with some minor modifications to get Wolt more EXP at minimal cost (like 1 EXP from Alan), which also saves on the number of RNs burned. Marcus has to Silver Lance crit the boss, Lance gets a very solid first level (he's more useful than Alan in this type of playthrough for reasons that will be elaborated upon later), and Roy and Alan get close to leveling up. Bors faces no combat but gets the 5000G village.

Edited October 14, 2016 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 is completed in 5 turns, with the map completely routed (probably the only time this will happen in this playthrough). A 4-turn clear is nominally possible, but involves arrow retracing to an extent that the video would not be enjoyable to watch. Shanna gets two very solid levels, while Lance and Roy get some training done. I fed Dieck the boss kill since I figure he will be useful for a little while and could use the extra stats (in particular Spd is helpful), especially since Rutger will not be recruited.

There are a couple minor edits to the video that can be found in the comments, but they don't really change much except for who is holding what at the start of the next chapter.

[Gradivus.]

Idk why you'd wait a day to update, you already posted links to the first 3 videos in the OP so you might aswell post them all at once. I recommend you double update whenever the only reason not to do it would be "I want to wait a day between updates because that's sorta how people do it". I don't think you need to follow that logic, given how many playthroughs you've got going.

As for my run, it's more or less on perma hiatus right now, it's kind of at the bottom of my priority list right now in terms of FE and I have IRL stuff that takes away from my time aswell, so I can't see myself continuing it in the near future.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Gradivus.

[Yojinbo]

I guess I'm mostly curious about who you're [not] going to recruit. Some skips are obvious, others less so.

[ruadath]

Chapter 3

Completed in 5 turns using basically the same strategy as in Irysa's playthrough. The big challenge here, however, was being able to set things up so that I could perform the 2 low% crits on the last turn in order to clear a path to the boss. Thankfully, I found a place in the RNG where this would work fairly early on, and after that it was just a matter of setting up the events that occurred before hand so that I could reach turn 5 with Alan and Shanna in position to perform the necessary crit-kills. Other than that, Lance and Shanna continued to have good EXP gain, both villages were recruited, and Marcus got a very nice level up. I was pretty happy about how I managed to set that up; RNs were "burned" by having other units level up over poor RNG seeds so that by the time Marcus killed the boss, he got a nice 4-stat increase.

[ruadath]

Chapter 4

Completed in 4 turns with Clarine recruited and both of the northern villages (Door Key and Steel Blade). This chapter was a real nightmare to route due to the general tankiness of the cavaliers, who no one can properly 2RKO, and the open nature of the map which makes it very easy for units to get ganged up on and killed. Thankfully, it's possible to bait the enemy into charging in small groups of 2 or 3 units, which we can in turn have everyone chip away at in order to take them out. Shanna and Lance get some excellent levels here, as their growth will continue to be essential for the success of this playthrough.

[ruadath]

Chapter 5

This was another painful chapter to LTC, especially without Rutger or his Killing Edge at my disposal to deal with the many tanky enemies. Thankfully, my decision to feed the Chapter 2 boss kill to Dieck paid off as he hit level 7 and 12 Spd in the middle of this map, allowing for him to double the brigands on the final turn, which was essential to clearing a path for Roy to take to the throne.

The boss, in particular, was a pain to deal; Marcus had to engage with him in combat for 3 rounds while wielding the Silver Lance, and Lot had to chip with the Hand Axe before Lance could finish him off! Other than that, general training for everyone happened, with Shanna and Lance getting another pair of good level ups. Looking forward to the next chapter!

Edited October 14, 2016 by ruadath

[Espinosa]

I'm surprised you wouldn't try shaving off a turn in chapter 2.

[ruadath]

Well maybe on a different playthrough, but this one is looking to maintain the "keep RN burns low" thing. I'm probably also going to lose a turn to Irysa on Chapter 7, since I don't think I can pull off the 4 turn without large RN burns (especially without a Killing Edge).

Also, regarding the 4-turn clear of Chapter 2, Shanna gets almost no EXP (compared to the 2 levels she got in the 5-turn strat), which would just necessitate even more rigging to reach the benchmarks she has for this current run (and it's still unclear whether or not she will be strong enough to take out Henning in 8x, even with the extra gains)

Edited October 14, 2016 by ruadath

[Irysa]

lol those consecutive slim lance crits. deja vu much?

I figured it was still possible to 3 turn but it really is absurd how much the reliability drops without Rutger for this map. Chad's enemy phase also made me laugh, I bet he's oneshot by those Brigands.

[ruadath]

Chad's enemy phase also made me laugh, I bet he's oneshot by those Brigands.

The Merlinus double-dodge was actually clutch there, burning just enough RNs so that we could have Marcus dodge the boss's attack and connect the counter, plus have Chad and Roy survive the onslaught of ranged attacks.

[Yojinbo]

Well maybe on a different playthrough, but this one is looking to maintain the "keep RN burns low" thing. I'm probably also going to lose a turn to Irysa on Chapter 7, since I don't think I can pull off the 4 turn without large RN burns (especially without a Killing Edge).

Would it be conceivable that the lack of Rutger/KE add up to enough turns lost on the way that skipping him is actually not worth it? Skipping him saved 2 turns in Ch.4, correct?

[ruadath]

3 turns; he shows up on Turn 6 EP, which means you have to wait until Turn 7 PP to recruit him/Seize. I don't anticipate losing turns anywhere else due to lack of Rutger/KE, but I suppose it might be possible. I doubt it though, since it usually isn't impossible just to rig crits with other strong weapons.