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FE8 HM 0% Growths LTC (with commentary)


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2 minutes ago, Kebe said:

The +5 hit and crit bonus Seth gets from using Swords also helps with securing the next few boss kills easier. 

How does that work? Do you get +5 Hit and crit for the weapon you S ranked or is that a bonus exclusive to S ranked swords and does it oly applies when you use swords?

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3 minutes ago, This boi uses Nino said:

How does that work? Do you get +5 Hit and crit for the weapon you S ranked or is that a bonus exclusive to S ranked swords and does it oly applies when you use swords?

When you get S rank in a certain weapon type, whenever you use any weapon of that type, your hit rate and crit rate gets increased by 5. So for Seth, he only gets this bonus whenever he wields a sword (Not just Audhulma, but any sword). 

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35 minutes ago, This boi uses Nino said:

How does that work? Do you get +5 Hit and crit for the weapon you S ranked or is that a bonus exclusive to S ranked swords and does it oly applies when you use swords?

And I'll just add to the above it applies in FE7 as well as SS. Not FE6 or prior though, nor Tellius. Think of it as an origin point for FE11-14's more developed weapon rank bonuses. Although they don't really need it, I'll stop having Raven and Gerik use Swords on promotion so their one S rank can go to Axes for the hit/crit. 

The bonus doesn't apply to Staffs and status staffs, so S Staffs is still totally useless in FE7, and not very useful in SS.

 

 

By the way, I'm liking the run, interesting since I've never watched one for SS before.

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Chapter 9 is completed in 9 turns.

Chapter 9 Notes

Spoiler

New Units:

Tana

5b7675da89975_TanaBases.png.d4dd10e9bac976c472692dd6b355883e.png 5b7675e68210f_TanaWeaponRanks.png.52d7c2cd6c65bac0d6f72baa5b9bb9df.png

A slightly better Vanessa that comes a good while afterwards. Regardless, she's still better than Vanessa, and can do certain tasks that Vanessa cannot, so she's the preferred combat Pegasus for now. Other than that, she also comes with all the benefits being a flier has to offer, which cannot be understated. And just like Vanessa, she is part of the "15 Aid or above" club, which remains a very important distinction, especially since the first member of the "15 Con" duo is about to join us. In general, the two members of the "15 Con" duo have extremely good combat that warrants their usage, but they have less than optimal movement that makes it difficult for them to reach places. Combine this with 15 Con being extremely hard to carry, and even rescue-dropping them takes a good amount of effort, especially since no (relevant) promoted mounts in the game can do it. So having fliers such as Tana and Vanessa be able to carry them around is great, and it only makes those two fliers all the more valuable. Getting Tana to promotion isn't worth it, but she will be contributing to this run for almost her entire existence regardless. 

Amelia

5b7678cdcd38a_AmeliaBases.png.d0f4cac4c293e69454ddb065f743bede.png 5b7678d673149_AmeliaWeaponRanks.png.975c3fd53d40597e08f3d780960102c4.png

5b7679168585d_AmeliaBases.png.df8957565f4a52e0c8ec4aa3c1786aee.png 5b76797e2292f_AmeliaBases.png.5ed474e65d94f456b03deb5446529a2e.png 5b7679a003f3b_AmeliaBases.png.a61d146c254e3d71c6c84aff43fd5859.png 5b767a048a27d_AmeliaBases.png.47136864d76f38bc33b63465e70c4fc7.png 5b767a1b7fe56_AmeliaBases.png.0e266051e3ff2a9eee567533534ffd23.png

5b767aad21cb4_imnotusedtobeingthiscasual.png.d07fb894be181dec6a39a074dbc4b181.png

._.

Do I really need to say anything?

Oh well, I guess I'll do it for consistency's sake.

In case the stats screen didn't make that apparent enough, Amelia is a horrible unit. Just like Ross, she is in a Trainee class, which means that just like him, she has 4 movement and very poor bases, and needs to reach Level 10 in order to promote to a Tier 1 class. Ross at least had the advantage of both appearing in earlygame before the enemies got too tough and also having access to an exclusive class which is required to save a turn. Amelia has neither of these properties, meaning that it takes way too much effort to get her promoted, and even if that effort is put in, the payout is non-existent, since she only promotes into Knight or Cavalier, and even a chump like Franz would be better than her in this run. I will say though, those Speedwings she carries contribute more to the run than most units, so maybe she's not so bad?

Promotion Analysis:

Paladin or Great Knight?

When a Cavalier promotes, they have these two options for promotion. Paladin has the benefit of an additional point of movement, in addition to more Sword rank, while Great Knight has slightly better promotion bonuses and immediate access to D-ranked Axes. In both this playthrough and a normal playthrough, Paladin is usually the preferred choice for good reason: 8 movement is just that good. It's really as simple as that. Having more movement options, being able to travel and rescue farther, it's great, and the main perk of promoting an otherwise mediocre unit such as lolForde. What kills Great Knight's chances though is the fact that the Great Knight promotion decreases the Cavalier's movement from 7 to 6. This means that the Great Knight has the standard movement of any promoted infantry movement, but has even worse terrain penalties from forests and such (albeit, still having Canto over infantry units is a nice benefit). This is a real shame that really makes the Great Knight option pale compare to the Paladin alternative. Combine this with the fact that a Great Knight is joining the party next map, and said Great Knight has beastly combat (and even beastly-er Weapon Ranks), and Forde's better stats as a Great Knight are rendered moot. It's just more useful to have the extra 8 move unit for combat and Rescue purposes. 

New Mechanics/Concepts:

Convoy-swapping

Enemy Phase, one of the most important parts of the game. After all, it's the phase where enemies can be killed in the fastest and most efficient fashion, or perhaps they just need to be weakened for the following Player Phase. Much of Player Phase is spent preparing for the next Enemy Phase, and so having multiple options for preparing our units from Enemy Phase is great. Convoy-swapping is one of the more obscure options a player has access to, but when used effectively, it can allow a player unit to change the weapon they equip for Enemy Phase without the assistance of another unit, and that is used not only in this map, but in a few others as well.

The idea is as follows: a unit has a full inventory of 5 items, and kills an enemy that has a droppable item. The enemy drops their item, and that item enters the player unit's inventory. Upon seeing that the player unit's inventory is full, the game asks the player to send an item to the convoy. The usual option is to send the newly-obtained item to the convoy. However, if we instead send the currently equipped weapon to the convoy instead, the second weapon the unit has available is equipped. Effectively, we had our unit attack an enemy with one weapon, and after killing that enemy, they now have a different weapon equipped (for Enemy Phase)

5b7e31f463d6a_ConvoySwapPt1.png.15ff4e5a8d0ec2e261031e320422b7c4.png 5b7e3201b84f2_ConvoySwapPt2.png.ae1a71fe916c42ab4797d97358f500cc.png 5b7e3209d457a_ConvoySwapPt3.png.574a5893bf8a78b91ace99f8da3bf6e4.png

5b7e3214cd20c_ConvoySwapPt4.png.04ce6bcb72364e53e12a1e8346185250.png 5b7e322f80b03_ConvoySwapPt5.png.d4d28a1bbae0b1fe91d1fe64bf4fc940.png 5b7e323fb7f6c_ConvoySwapPt6.png.5d5768ebb6f3ff87b418dfb4780c3aeb.png

(The instance that occurred in the map. Seth uses the Heavy Spear to OHKO the Armor Knight, making sure that the Javelin is the second weapon in his inventory. The Armor Knight drops his Axereaver, and the game prompts for which item gets sent to the convoy. Seth sends his Heavy Spear, so the game defaults to equipping the second weapon in his inventory, the Javelin. This allows Seth to kill the Archer on Enemy Phase. Note that if Player Units were available to trade Seth's weapons around, that would work just as well, but no Player Units are available to do that, necessitating this trick's usage)

This trick is pretty niche in that it requires an enemy with a droppable item, and it's really not necessary when trading weapons around is available, but it is useful more often than you would think considering those conditions. It's just nice to have another method for equipping a different weapon on Enemy Phase. But what about a method for equipping a different weapon in the middle of an Enemy Phase? Worry not, we'll see what that method is soon enough, and that too will come in quite useful.

 

 

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2 hours ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

So who’s gonna get that speedwing? +2 speed is a great bonus 

In general, we're gonna be getting quite a few statboosters at this point in the game, ranging from this Speedwing to Ewan's Dracoshield and even the Boots. All of these statboosters will be going to one specific unit so that they can carry a lot of the lategame combat. I won't spoil who this unit is, but they'll appear soon enough. Those more familiar with the game or even other 0% playthroughs of this game may have a good idea of who that unit could be. 

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2 minutes ago, Kebe said:

In general, we're gonna be getting quite a few statboosters at this point in the game, ranging from this Speedwing to Ewan's Dracoshield and even the Boots. All of these statboosters will be going to one specific unit so that they can carry a lot of the lategame combat. I won't spoil who this unit is, but they'll appear soon enough. Those more familiar with the game or even other 0% playthroughs of this game may have a good idea of who that unit could be. 

Spoiler

Is it duessel?

 

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On 8/24/2018 at 1:38 AM, Kebe said:

In general, we're gonna be getting quite a few statboosters at this point in the game, ranging from this Speedwing to Ewan's Dracoshield and even the Boots. All of these statboosters will be going to one specific unit so that they can carry a lot of the lategame combat. I won't spoil who this unit is, but they'll appear soon enough. Those more familiar with the game or even other 0% playthroughs of this game may have a good idea of who that unit could be. 

ewan

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Chapter 10 is completed in 5 turns.

Chapter 10 Notes

Spoiler

New Units:

Duessel

5b8dddf493d1e_DuesselBases.png.30f81fc120036dabead1473d554aa800.png 5b8dde0116222_DuesselWeaponRanks.png.1c823e4ae00ec166c9ebc1fcd01fef48.png

Look at them. Look at those stats. I said a while ago that it would be a good while until we got a unit who has comparable combat to Seth. Here is that unit, and in a few ways, our guy Duessel even manages to surpass Seth. His mixed bulk is absolutely ridiculous, with a monstrous 41 HP and 17 Def, and a seemingly mediocre 9 Res, until you realize that it's the highest Resistance in the army anyways. His offensive prowess is also amazing, being as fast as Seth, and even stronger despite the Energy Ring we gave Seth. To top it all off, he has his signature triple A weapon ranks in Swords, Lances, and Axes, meaning he can wield basically all relevant melee weapons with absolutely no investment. I want to put additional emphasis on his Axe rank. In general, Garcia has been our only real Axe user up to this point, and he's not too great at this point. Axes are an absolutely wonderful weapon type, sporting more might than other weapons, and having Hand Axes as a 1-2 range option. So having a proficient Axe user is just fantastic. However, the real reason Axes are a step above the other melee weapons are because of this game's Legendary Axe, Garm. I will talk about it more when we get it, but Garm is, bar none, the best legendary weapon in the game, especially in this playthrough. Duessel has to reach S Axes to use Garm though, so we will be putting additional emphasis on Axe usage for him.

Alright, I gotta calm down for a second. As much as I fanboy about Duessel, he does have his downsides. For one, as a Great Knight, he only has 6 movement, which is a huge shame that sometimes has to be worked around to put him to good use. Secondly, despite how great his stats are, they're just barely below some benchmarks needed to be this playthrough's lategame juggernaut. This is a shame, because we need said juggernaut to have both great stats and access to Axes, so he's so close to fulfilling both requisites. He just comes slightly short, but he still helps out in certain lategame maps, even if he isn't the star player.

Another aspect of Duessel isn't necessarily a downside, but more of a double-edged sword: his Constitution is very high. He has 15 constitution, which is very heavy, to the point where mounts that can typically pick up most people (Seth, Cormag, Forde) just can't rescue Duessel (those 3 mounts I mentioned only have 14 Aid, just barely not enough). This means our most mobile and combat-proficient units can't carry Duessel to places, and this hurts his mobility in a weird sort of way. However, most unpromoted mounts like Kyle, Tana, and Vanessa are part of this "15 Aid or Above" Club that can pick up Duessel. I will elaborate on this more later on in these notes, but this all just means that rescuedropping Duessel forward is tougher than it usually is for most units. Let us not forget the primary purpose of Constitution, either: he can wield basically any weapon without speed penalty (Read: Garm), and that is still great.

Overall, Duessel is one of the best combat units we're getting in this game, and he joins at just about the halfway point where Seth is losing a bit of steam. He's an absolutely wonderful addition to the team, and he will most certainly put in tons of work for most of his existence.

Cormag

5b8de0bd22676_CormagBases.png.a5d378bfd3c54bc55d6739f273f91415.png 5b8de0c5516df_CormagWeaponRanks.png.be705a2c974e32d3b5e9f2f53680fb29.png

Finally, a flier who can actually fight! Cormag has great stats, and he's close to a promotion that will give him even more stats (even came with his own promotion item, good stuff). He also has a nice Lance rank, high enough to use that powerful Killer Lance at base, so that's nice. He just has the flying utility that is always useful, and has an extra point of Movement over the Pegasus Knights, and can actually kill stuff and take hits. He's a great unit who will do a lot this run, although his low Luck can get him crit sometimes, and he can't take magic hits well.

New Mechanics/Concepts:

The Aid Stat, and the 15 Aid benchmark

The Aid stat is probably the least relevant stat in basically all Fire Emblem playthroughs (seriously, reader, take a moment to think of how often you consider the Aid stat compared to other stats). Heck, it's non-existent in a majority of the Fire Emblem games, since Rescuing is in a minority of the games in this series, but it's a very crucial one in this playthrough, so I will go over it and the significance of the 15 Aid benchmark.

I guess I'll say what the Aid stat does. Rescuing is a mechanic in certain Fire Emblem games which allows one player unit to carry another, removing the rescued unit from the battle, but halving the Skill and Speed of the rescuer, meaning they're less likely to hit stuff and more likely to get doubled. The primary use of Rescue in this playthrough is to rescue a unit and drop them on the same turn, which advances their position in the map, allowing me to reach certain objectives quicker. But in order to rescue a unit in the first place, the rescuer's Aid must be equal to or greater than the rescuee's Constituion (con). So in essence, the Aid stat determines how heavy the rescuee can be in order for the rescuer to rescue them. The higher the Aid, the more weight the rescuer can handle.  

The Aid of a unit is based on two (technically three) things: their constitution and whether they are mounted or not (the third thing applies to only mounts: being male or female affects the aid of mounted units). Let's go over the relevant equations.


Infantry Aid = Constitution - 1

Mounted Male Aid = 25 - Constitution

Mounted Female Aid = 20 - Constitution

5b8de22f1c2aa_EphraimBases.png.0153b1458eab08d85885b87ed0269019.png 5b8de264ce038_LuteBases.png.7dbc90525247c509b58b06245d2064a6.png 5b8de275e8081_OrsonBases.png.a046bc9b7471d663266cddff7d6591ce.png 5b8de292e01fa_TanaBases.png.4da5aeff96f8dc4b5758b516413fa008.png

(Some random examples of units. As you can see, the equations correctly predict the Aid stat of each. For infantry units, sex has no effect on the Aid calculation, but it does for mounted units)

The equations are simple enough to understand I think, but I will go over the implications that result from the way the stat is calculated.

- If you are an infantry unit, you can rescue and carry anyone who has less con than you do. The more con you have, the higher your Aid will be, which means you can carry heavier stuff.

Easy enough to understand, bigger people can carry heavier things, makes sense. It's the mounted units that trip people up, and lead to statements that make me bang my head against a wall (I swear if I hear another "Isadora's con is so low that she can barely carry anything" I really might just lose it)

- If you are a mounted unit, your Con and Aid must add up to 25 (20 if you are a female). This means that if your constitution is higher, your Aid must be lower to still get them to add up to the appropriate number. So, unlike the infantry unit, as a mounted unit's Con increases, their Aid actually decreases.

5b8de45c0f5e7_SethBases.png.a5855109827b71593a2072c6076866cf.png 5b8dddf493d1e_DuesselBases.png.30f81fc120036dabead1473d554aa800.png

Consider these two. Duessel has higher constitution than Seth. If we were following the logic of using the infantry Aid formula, this would mean that Duessel has higher Aid as well, since that formula increases Aid as Con increases. But these guys aren't infantry, they're both mounted. Since the mounted Aid formula decreases Aid as Con increases, this means that Seth has the higher Aid of the two, which means that he can rescue heavier units. 

The way I remember it is like this. The con of a mounted unit refers to the rider. However, the aid refers not to the unit on the horse, but the horse itself. The horse can only carry so much weight, and if the native unit is already very heavy, the horse really can't take on more weight from rescuing another unit. However, if the rider is really light, the horse can afford to rescue a much heavier target, since the rider isn't difficult to carry. As for why the horses of male units can carry more than the horses of female units? Your guess is as good as mine.

In summary, if you're an infantry unit, you can carry anyone lighter than you, which means that if you are bigger, you can carry heavier people. On the other hand, if you are mounted, your horse is the one doing the carrying, and if you are really heavy, your horse can't take on much more weight. As a result, the lighter a mounted unit is, the less weight the horse has to carry, and the more heavy the rescue target can be, since the horse can take on the additional weight. 

--- 

So that's enough about this weird stat, now onto the reason I bring all of this up now when Aid has been a thing this entire playthrough: the 15 Aid benchmark. 

There are two units in this game that share a lot in common. The most striking of these similarities is the 15 Constitution they both share, and so I will call these two "The 15 Con duo". Duessel is the first member of this duo, and the second will arrive soon enough. Not only does the 15 Con duo have the same Con stat, but they also both have 6 move, which isn't bad, but it isn't that great either. Neither of them fly or anything, so they have a tough time dealing with terrain. But despite their movement disadvantages, they compensate by having amazing combat, combat this playthrough can't afford to miss out on. So they're great combat units, but they have a hard time getting around by themselves. Well, that's no issue, we have rescue chains, just have our mobile units carry and drop them to where they need to be, simple as that! But this is where the namesake of the group comes into play.

5b8de45c0f5e7_SethBases.png.a5855109827b71593a2072c6076866cf.png 5b8deb71d00ca_Cormagdoesthepromoted.png.1c895c0df472af9169325a18b7b5f3f5.png 5b8dead49867a_Fordedoesthepromoted.png.75e7201c2dd025c29f365d5fc80397f5.png

Here are all of our nice and good 8 move units. But look at their Aid stats. They're. All. 14. That means exactly what you think: all of these units are barely incapable of rescuing our 15 Con duo. In fact, no relevant promoted mounts in the game can rescue 15 con units. This is troublesome not only because we can't use our most mobile units to transport these guys, but also because these units tend to be our best combat units. We do indeed have alternatives that have the magical 15 Aid, but the 15 Aid Club are just unpromoted goons who only wish they could compare to Seth or Cormag. Managing these guys and doing the necessary rescue drops with them can be quite the endeavor, but they serve an important role, one that is absolutely necessary for this playthrough. So let's give them a look.

5b8ded5f3afbc_KyleBases.png.22ede76e1bdfcbc1d36d749617342720.png 5b8ded6bb9b1a_VanessaBases.png.8217502a016c8c151da4e3229c706350.png 5b8ded7371d3e_TanaBases.png.388fc8b192fbdd4072c9dec1930d72c2.png

(The most relevant members of the 15 Aid Club. They're all unpromoted, and their combat is worse than what would be desired, but we gotta work with what we have to transport our best combat units around)

We already have all the relevant members of the 15 Aid Club, so we can just talk about them right now. None of these guys have particularly good combat, but just by the virtue of having 15 Aid, they will see more use than you would otherwise expect. Kyle has the best defensive stats of this group, so when we need someone to deal with Enemy Phases, he stands the best chance. Vanessa and Tana are also very important due to being fliers. This means that we can transport our 15 Con duo through troublesome terrain such as rivers or desert, and that's wonderful. It really is essential that the 15 Con duo has a way to get around the battlefield quickly enough, and these guys are the way to do it, so they will see some really lategame usage almost exclusively due to this. In fact, I make one particular decision in this run that seems wholly irrational, but is justified due to that magical 15 Aid stat. This niche is just that important.

New Items:

Hero Crest Hero Crest

1 use. Promotion item for a Fighter, Mercenary, or Myrmidon at Level 10 or above.

Promoting is nice. All of these classes have solid classes to promote to, and we've been training Joshua so he could promote. In a normal playthrough, Garcia would be a great candidate for promotion as well, but in this playthrough, Joshua is just the superior choice for this first Hero Crest. 

Elysian Whip Elysian Whip

1 use. Promotion item for a Fighter, Mercenary, or Myrmidon at Level 10 or above.

Cormag is such a cool kid. He not only comes at Level 9, really close to promotion, but he even comes with his own, essentially personal, promotion item, what a guy. Promoting fliers is great, and lets them truly contribute combat-wise. Cormag having good stats regardless helps his case as well. We get no other unpromoted fliers, and Vanessa + Tana aren't worth promoting, so this is the one relevant appearance of the Elysian Whip. Still a good and important one regardless.

LancereaverAxereaverSwordreaverThe Reaver Weapons

Reverses and doubles the effects of the weapon triangle.

The Reaver weapons (Lancereaver, Axereaver, and Swordreaver) are a pretty intriguing group of weapons. The weapon triangle is a pretty important part of the game, since we want to have the additional hit to improve the reliability of our strategies. However, very few units have full control of the weapon triangle. Someone with access to all the melee weapons, like Duessel, can make this claim, but just as some examples, Seth cannot normally have WTA versus Lance users, Joshua always faces WTD versus Lance users, and Ephraim always faces WTD versus Axe users. Well, the Reaver weapons allow these units to finally turn the tables and reverse the weapon triangle, giving them the advantage. So now, if Joshua wants to deal with a lot of lance users reliably, he can just slap on that Lancereaver, and blast through all of them pretty nicely. The Reaver weapons also double the effects of the weapon triangle, meaning that with advantage, the user is grants +2 Atk and +30% hit, which is very powerful. The flipside still exists though: if Lancereaver Joshua decides to take on the Axe users he usually deals with no problem, he will actually have WTD, and will suffer double the disadvantage. This isn't too much of a problem though. Overall, the Reaver weapons are a nice tool to have which allows our units to reliably deal with enemies they would otherwise have trouble with, and that's great.

(Should also be noted that when two Reaver weapons collide, the weapon triangle is reversed twice, meaning the regular weapon triangle logic applies once more. So the Axereaver beats out the Lancereaver, the Swordreaver over the Axereaver, and the Lancereaver over the Swordreaver. The doubling effects cancel as well, meaning the standard +1 Atk and +15% hit applies again. This is used twice in this chapter, once when Seth used the Axereaver to deal with a Lancereaver Myrmidon, and again when Cormag used the Axereaver to finish off the Lancereaver boss)

 

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18 minutes ago, Kebe said:

Chapter 10 is completed in 5 turns.

Chapter 10 Notes

  Reveal hidden contents

New Units:

Duessel

5b8dddf493d1e_DuesselBases.png.30f81fc120036dabead1473d554aa800.png 5b8dde0116222_DuesselWeaponRanks.png.1c823e4ae00ec166c9ebc1fcd01fef48.png

Look at them. Look at those stats. I said a while ago that it would be a good while until we got a unit who has comparable combat to Seth. Here is that unit, and in a few ways, our guy Duessel even manages to surpass Seth. His mixed bulk is absolutely ridiculous, with a monstrous 41 HP and 17 Def, and a seemingly mediocre 9 Res, until you realize that it's the highest Resistance in the army anyways. His offensive prowess is also amazing, being as fast as Seth, and even stronger despite the Energy Ring we gave Seth. To top it all off, he has his signature triple A weapon ranks in Swords, Lances, and Axes, meaning he can wield basically all relevant melee weapons with absolutely no investment. I want to put additional emphasis on his Axe rank. In general, Garcia has been our only real Axe user up to this point, and he's not too great at this point. Axes are an absolutely wonderful weapon type, sporting more might than other weapons, and having Hand Axes as a 1-2 range option. So having a proficient Axe user is just fantastic. However, the real reason Axes are a step above the other melee weapons are because of this game's Legendary Axe, Garm. I will talk about it more when we get it, but Garm is, bar none, the best legendary weapon in the game, especially in this playthrough. Duessel has to reach S Axes to use Garm though, so we will be putting additional emphasis on Axe usage for him.

Alright, I gotta calm down for a second. As much as I fanboy about Duessel, he does have his downsides. For one, as a Great Knight, he only has 6 movement, which is a huge shame that sometimes has to be worked around to put him to good use. Secondly, despite how great his stats are, they're just barely below some benchmarks needed to be this playthrough's lategame juggernaut. This is a shame, because we need said juggernaut to have both great stats and access to Axes, so he's so close to fulfilling both requisites. He just comes slightly short, but he still helps out in certain lategame maps, even if he isn't the star player.

Another aspect of Duessel isn't necessarily a downside, but more of a double-edged sword: his Constitution is very high. He has 15 constitution, which is very heavy, to the point where mounts that can typically pick up most people (Seth, Cormag, Forde) just can't rescue Duessel (those 3 mounts I mentioned only have 14 Aid, just barely not enough). This means our most mobile and combat-proficient units can't carry Duessel to places, and this hurts his mobility in a weird sort of way. However, most unpromoted mounts like Kyle, Tana, and Vanessa are part of this "15 Aid or Above" Club that can pick up Duessel. I will elaborate on this more later on in these notes, but this all just means that rescuedropping Duessel forward is tougher than it usually is for most units. Let us not forget the primary purpose of Constitution, either: he can wield basically any weapon without speed penalty (Read: Garm), and that is still great.

Overall, Duessel is one of the best combat units we're getting in this game, and he joins at just about the halfway point where Seth is losing a bit of steam. He's an absolutely wonderful addition to the team, and he will most certainly put in tons of work for most of his existence.

Cormag

5b8de0bd22676_CormagBases.png.a5d378bfd3c54bc55d6739f273f91415.png 5b8de0c5516df_CormagWeaponRanks.png.be705a2c974e32d3b5e9f2f53680fb29.png

Finally, a flier who can actually fight! Cormag has great stats, and he's close to a promotion that will give him even more stats (even came with his own promotion item, good stuff). He also has a nice Lance rank, high enough to use that powerful Killer Lance at base, so that's nice. He just has the flying utility that is always useful, and has an extra point of Movement over the Pegasus Knights, and can actually kill stuff and take hits. He's a great unit who will do a lot this run, although his low Luck can get him crit sometimes, and he can't take magic hits well.

New Mechanics/Concepts:

The Aid Stat, and the 15 Aid benchmark

The Aid stat is probably the least relevant stat in basically all Fire Emblem playthroughs (seriously, reader, take a moment to think of how often you consider the Aid stat compared to other stats). Heck, it's non-existent in a majority of the Fire Emblem games, since Rescuing is in a minority of the games in this series, but it's a very crucial one in this playthrough, so I will go over it and the significance of the 15 Aid benchmark.

I guess I'll say what the Aid stat does. Rescuing is a mechanic in certain Fire Emblem games which allows one player unit to carry another, removing the rescued unit from the battle, but halving the Skill and Speed of the rescuer, meaning they're less likely to hit stuff and more likely to get doubled. The primary use of Rescue in this playthrough is to rescue a unit and drop them on the same turn, which advances their position in the map, allowing me to reach certain objectives quicker. But in order to rescue a unit in the first place, the rescuer's Aid must be equal to or greater than the rescuee's Constituion (con). So in essence, the Aid stat determines how heavy the rescuee can be in order for the rescuer to rescue them. The higher the Aid, the more weight the rescuer can handle.  

The Aid of a unit is based on two (technically three) things: their constitution and whether they are mounted or not (the third thing applies to only mounts: being male or female affects the aid of mounted units). Let's go over the relevant equations.



Infantry Aid = Constitution - 1

Mounted Male Aid = 25 - Constitution

Mounted Female Aid = 20 - Constitution

5b8de22f1c2aa_EphraimBases.png.0153b1458eab08d85885b87ed0269019.png 5b8de264ce038_LuteBases.png.7dbc90525247c509b58b06245d2064a6.png 5b8de275e8081_OrsonBases.png.a046bc9b7471d663266cddff7d6591ce.png 5b8de292e01fa_TanaBases.png.4da5aeff96f8dc4b5758b516413fa008.png

(Some random examples of units. As you can see, the equations correctly predict the Aid stat of each. For infantry units, sex has no effect on the Aid calculation, but it does for mounted units)

The equations are simple enough to understand I think, but I will go over the implications that result from the way the stat is calculated.

- If you are an infantry unit, you can rescue and carry anyone who has less con than you do. The more con you have, the higher your Aid will be, which means you can carry heavier stuff.

Easy enough to understand, bigger people can carry heavier things, makes sense. It's the mounted units that trip people up, and lead to statements that make me bang my head against a wall (I swear if I hear another "Isadora's con is so low that she can barely carry anything" I really might just lose it)

- If you are a mounted unit, your Con and Aid must add up to 25 (20 if you are a female). This means that if your constitution is higher, your Aid must be lower to still get them to add up to the appropriate number. So, unlike the infantry unit, as a mounted unit's Con increases, their Aid actually decreases.

5b8de45c0f5e7_SethBases.png.a5855109827b71593a2072c6076866cf.png 5b8dddf493d1e_DuesselBases.png.30f81fc120036dabead1473d554aa800.png

Consider these two. Duessel has higher constitution than Seth. If we were following the logic of using the infantry Aid formula, this would mean that Duessel has higher Aid as well, since that formula increases Aid as Con increases. But these guys aren't infantry, they're both mounted. Since the mounted Aid formula decreases Aid as Con increases, this means that Seth has the higher Aid of the two, which means that he can rescue heavier units. 

The way I remember it is like this. The con of a mounted unit refers to the rider. However, the aid refers not to the unit on the horse, but the horse itself. The horse can only carry so much weight, and if the native unit is already very heavy, the horse really can't take on more weight from rescuing another unit. However, if the rider is really light, the horse can afford to rescue a much heavier target, since the rider isn't difficult to carry. As for why the horses of male units can carry more than the horses of female units? Your guess is as good as mine.

In summary, if you're an infantry unit, you can carry anyone lighter than you, which means that if you are bigger, you can carry heavier people. On the other hand, if you are mounted, your horse is the one doing the carrying, and if you are really heavy, your horse can't take on much more weight. As a result, the lighter a mounted unit is, the less weight the horse has to carry, and the more heavy the rescue target can be, since the horse can take on the additional weight. 

--- 

So that's enough about this weird stat, now onto the reason I bring all of this up now when Aid has been a thing this entire playthrough: the 15 Aid benchmark. 

There are two units in this game that share a lot in common. The most striking of these similarities is the 15 Constitution they both share, and so I will call these two "The 15 Con duo". Duessel is the first member of this duo, and the second will arrive soon enough. Not only does the 15 Con duo have the same Con stat, but they also both have 6 move, which isn't bad, but it isn't that great either. Neither of them fly or anything, so they have a tough time dealing with terrain. But despite their movement disadvantages, they compensate by having amazing combat, combat this playthrough can't afford to miss out on. So they're great combat units, but they have a hard time getting around by themselves. Well, that's no issue, we have rescue chains, just have our mobile units carry and drop them to where they need to be, simple as that! But this is where the namesake of the group comes into play.

5b8de45c0f5e7_SethBases.png.a5855109827b71593a2072c6076866cf.png 5b8deb71d00ca_Cormagdoesthepromoted.png.1c895c0df472af9169325a18b7b5f3f5.png 5b8dead49867a_Fordedoesthepromoted.png.75e7201c2dd025c29f365d5fc80397f5.png

Here are all of our nice and good 8 move units. But look at their Aid stats. They're. All. 14. That means exactly what you think: all of these units are barely incapable of rescuing our 15 Con duo. In fact, no relevant promoted mounts in the game can rescue 15 con units. This is troublesome not only because we can't use our most mobile units to transport these guys, but also because these units tend to be our best combat units. We do indeed have alternatives that have the magical 15 Aid, but the 15 Aid Club are just unpromoted goons who only wish they could compare to Seth or Cormag. Managing these guys and doing the necessary rescue drops with them can be quite the endeavor, but they serve an important role, one that is absolutely necessary for this playthrough. So let's give them a look.

5b8ded5f3afbc_KyleBases.png.22ede76e1bdfcbc1d36d749617342720.png 5b8ded6bb9b1a_VanessaBases.png.8217502a016c8c151da4e3229c706350.png 5b8ded7371d3e_TanaBases.png.388fc8b192fbdd4072c9dec1930d72c2.png

(The most relevant members of the 15 Aid Club. They're all unpromoted, and their combat is worse than what would be desired, but we gotta work with what we have to transport our best combat units around)

We already have all the relevant members of the 15 Aid Club, so we can just talk about them right now. None of these guys have particularly good combat, but just by the virtue of having 15 Aid, they will see more use than you would otherwise expect. Kyle has the best defensive stats of this group, so when we need someone to deal with Enemy Phases, he stands the best chance. Vanessa and Tana are also very important due to being fliers. This means that we can transport our 15 Con duo through troublesome terrain such as rivers or desert, and that's wonderful. It really is essential that the 15 Con duo has a way to get around the battlefield quickly enough, and these guys are the way to do it, so they will see some really lategame usage almost exclusively due to this. In fact, I make one particular decision in this run that seems wholly irrational, but is justified due to that magical 15 Aid stat. This niche is just that important.

New Items:

Hero Crest Hero Crest

1 use. Promotion item for a Fighter, Mercenary, or Myrmidon at Level 10 or above.

Promoting is nice. All of these classes have solid classes to promote to, and we've been training Joshua so he could promote. In a normal playthrough, Garcia would be a great candidate for promotion as well, but in this playthrough, Joshua is just the superior choice for this first Hero Crest. 

Elysian Whip Elysian Whip

1 use. Promotion item for a Fighter, Mercenary, or Myrmidon at Level 10 or above.

Cormag is such a cool kid. He not only comes at Level 9, really close to promotion, but he even comes with his own, essentially personal, promotion item, what a guy. Promoting fliers is great, and lets them truly contribute combat-wise. Cormag having good stats regardless helps his case as well. We get no other unpromoted fliers, and Vanessa + Tana aren't worth promoting, so this is the one relevant appearance of the Elysian Whip. Still a good and important one regardless.

LancereaverAxereaverSwordreaverThe Reaver Weapons

Reverses and doubles the effects of the weapon triangle.

The Reaver weapons (Lancereaver, Axereaver, and Swordreaver) are a pretty intriguing group of weapons. The weapon triangle is a pretty important part of the game, since we want to have the additional hit to improve the reliability of our strategies. However, very few units have full control of the weapon triangle. Someone with access to all the melee weapons, like Duessel, can make this claim, but just as some examples, Seth cannot normally have WTA versus Lance users, Joshua always faces WTD versus Lance users, and Ephraim always faces WTD versus Axe users. Well, the Reaver weapons allow these units to finally turn the tables and reverse the weapon triangle, giving them the advantage. So now, if Joshua wants to deal with a lot of lance users reliably, he can just slap on that Lancereaver, and blast through all of them pretty nicely. The Reaver weapons also double the effects of the weapon triangle, meaning that with advantage, the user is grants +2 Atk and +30% hit, which is very powerful. The flipside still exists though: if Lancereaver Joshua decides to take on the Axe users he usually deals with no problem, he will actually have WTD, and will suffer double the disadvantage. This isn't too much of a problem though. Overall, the Reaver weapons are a nice tool to have which allows our units to reliably deal with enemies they would otherwise have trouble with, and that's great.

(Should also be noted that when two Reaver weapons collide, the weapon triangle is reversed twice, meaning the regular weapon triangle logic applies once more. So the Axereaver beats out the Lancereaver, the Swordreaver over the Axereaver, and the Lancereaver over the Swordreaver. The doubling effects cancel as well, meaning the standard +1 Atk and +15% hit applies again. This is used twice in this chapter, once when Seth used the Axereaver to deal with a Lancereaver Myrmidon, and again when Cormag used the Axereaver to finish off the Lancereaver boss)

 

Ah yes the man the myth the legend himself Duessel

i actually didn’t know that about reaver vs reaver combat

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That last move was one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen. Cleaner than bleach. I salute you for it. Brilliante.

 

I'm sure we'll find out next part, but will Duessel be getting a bunch of speedwings so he can double the Demon King with Garm? Also, will he and Gerik be "sharing" the Garm?

Just for giggles, I'd like to guess Wyvern Knight for Cormag's promotion. I imagine the +3 speed is quite desirable when there are no growths.

 

Edited by AnonymousSpeed
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42 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

That last move was one of the most satisfying things I've ever seen. Cleaner than bleach. I salute you for it. Brilliante.

 

I'm sure we'll find out next part, but will Duessel be getting a bunch of speedwings so he can double the Demon King with Garm? Also, will he and Gerik be "sharing" the Garm?

Just for giggles, I'd like to guess Wyvern Knight for Cormag's promotion. I imagine the +3 speed is quite desirable when there are no growths.

 

Thanks :^] it always feels good to have a ton of objectives left to do, but positioning just right to do all these objectives on the same turn

As for Duessel doubling the Demon King:

12 (base speed) + 2 (Amelia's speedwings) + 2 (chapter 13 speedwings) + 5 (garm bonus) = 21 Speed

versus

Fomortiis.png.ee1cfab651ce24a754e71c0450a1f6ba.png

It's a shame, really. There are even some Speedwings in the Chapter 19 chest that would allow him to get the double, but it's too far out of the way to get.

and yeah, even if I don't abuse Pierce in this run, that speed bonus is too good to pass up on, good guess.

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2 minutes ago, Kebe said:

Thanks :^] it always feels good to have a ton of objectives left to do, but positioning just right to do all these objectives on the same turn

As for Duessel doubling the Demon King:

12 (base speed) + 2 (Amelia's speedwings) + 2 (chapter 13 speedwings) + 5 (garm bonus) = 21 Speed

versus

Fomortiis.png.ee1cfab651ce24a754e71c0450a1f6ba.png

It's a shame, really. There are even some Speedwings in the Chapter 19 chest that would allow him to get the double, but it's too far out of the way to get.

and yeah, even if I don't abuse Pierce in this run, that speed bonus is too good to pass up on, good guess.

Wait does that mean in my PM my 2nd guess was right?!

Spoiler

It was gerik, mathy stuff was in the PM 

 

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1 minute ago, Kebe said:

It's a shame, really. There are even some Speedwings in the Chapter 19 chest that would allow him to get the double, but it's too far out of the way to get.

 

Oof, yeah. That speedwing would give Duessel just enough to double too, if my math is right.

Also if my math is right, Gerik should be able to double the Demon King with those speedwings, right?

 

1 minute ago, Kebe said:

and yeah, even if I don't abuse Pierce in this run, that speed bonus is too good to pass up on, good guess.

Thank you.

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4 minutes ago, DisobeyedCargo said:

Wait does that mean in my PM my 2nd guess was right?!

 

4 minutes ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Also if my math is right, Gerik should be able to double the Demon King with those speedwings, right?

 

Spoiler

Indeed, Gerik can double DK if he gets both Speedwings and Garm. Going from D to S Axes in that short a timespan is a bit of a tough task though, don't you think?

As for your calculations, DisobeyedCargo, the primary thing they don't take into account is the +10 Defense boost that DK gets from his equipped weapon. This makes the fight a lot tougher for Gerik, assuming he gets all the investment. 

 

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2 minutes ago, Kebe said:

 

 

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Indeed, Gerik can double DK if he gets both Speedwings and Garm. Going from D to S Axes in that short a timespan is a bit of a tough task though, don't you think?

As for your calculations, DisobeyedCargo, the primary thing they don't take into account is the +10 Defense boost that DK gets from his equipped weapon. This makes the fight a lot tougher for Gerik, assuming he gets all the investment. 

 

Spoiler

Oh damn I completely forgot about that boost, and the D-S tank is quite he jump in an LTC. I forget does this game have arms scrolls?

The devil axe would also raise it massively thanks to its 8 WXP, but assuming no goddess icons that still a 23% backfire rate 

 

 

 

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Chapter 11 is done in 6 turns.

Chapter 11 Notes

Spoiler

New Units:

I analyze units when they are first playable in this run, so L'Arachel and Dozla will have to wait next chapter.

Promotion Analysis:

Assassin or Swordmaster?

This decision isn't too heavily weighed on either side. The promotion bonuses are about the same (both of them lacking a speed boost is a huge bummer though), and the benefits one class has over the other aren't that big either. Essentially, Assassins have the Silencer skill, giving them a 50% chance to instantly kill an enemy if they get a crit, and also have the ability to use the Lockpick to open chests and doors. Silencer is a cool gimmick, but it's just that: a gimmick, and lockpicking isn't too useful when Door + Chest Keys are available for other units to use. Meanwhile, Swordmasters have an innate +15 crit bonus and get additional sword WExp upon promoting, allowing Joshua to use Silver Swords with a bit more training. Both of these benefits help Joshua's offensive capabilities a decent amount, so Swordmaster is the promotion of choice for him. I don't think this decision is affected much by the presence of growths. 

Wyvern Lord or Wyvern Knight?

Now, I'm as big a fan of arbitrarily training new weapon ranks as anyone else, and a Wyvern Lord promotion comes with a premium D Swords for some nice Steel Sword action. However, Wyvern Lord is really not that great of a promotion otherwise. Particularly, the lack of speed that comes with a Wyvern Lord promotion is really no good, keeping Cormag at a low 10, which hampers his combat a lot. Compare this with the Wyvern Knight promotion, which grants an entire +3 speed, bringing Cormag to a very respectable 13 (even faster than Seth + Duessel), and it's clear which promotion is the preferred one. Having a fast Cormag is just too good to pass up on. Pierce is also a pretty alright benefit, although it can't be relied upon. Again, I think this reasoning applies to growth playthroughs too.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 9/12/2018 at 8:08 AM, Kebe said:

Chapter 11 is done in 6 turns.

Chapter 11 Notes

  Reveal hidden contents

New Units:

I analyze units when they are first playable in this run, so L'Arachel and Dozla will have to wait next chapter.

Promotion Analysis:

Assassin or Swordmaster?

This decision isn't too heavily weighed on either side. The promotion bonuses are about the same (both of them lacking a speed boost is a huge bummer though), and the benefits one class has over the other aren't that big either. Essentially, Assassins have the Silencer skill, giving them a 50% chance to instantly kill an enemy if they get a crit, and also have the ability to use the Lockpick to open chests and doors. Silencer is a cool gimmick, but it's just that: a gimmick, and lockpicking isn't too useful when Door + Chest Keys are available for other units to use. Meanwhile, Swordmasters have an innate +15 crit bonus and get additional sword WExp upon promoting, allowing Joshua to use Silver Swords with a bit more training. Both of these benefits help Joshua's offensive capabilities a decent amount, so Swordmaster is the promotion of choice for him. I don't think this decision is affected much by the presence of growths. 

Wyvern Lord or Wyvern Knight?

Now, I'm as big a fan of arbitrarily training new weapon ranks as anyone else, and a Wyvern Lord promotion comes with a premium D Swords for some nice Steel Sword action. However, Wyvern Lord is really not that great of a promotion otherwise. Particularly, the lack of speed that comes with a Wyvern Lord promotion is really no good, keeping Cormag at a low 10, which hampers his combat a lot. Compare this with the Wyvern Knight promotion, which grants an entire +3 speed, bringing Cormag to a very respectable 13 (even faster than Seth + Duessel), and it's clear which promotion is the preferred one. Having a fast Cormag is just too good to pass up on. Pierce is also a pretty alright benefit, although it can't be relied upon. Again, I think this reasoning applies to growth playthroughs too.

 

I love this series.

So I have a question regarding on the habits of LTC, why do people ue all 3 save slots rather than just 1?

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On 9/22/2018 at 8:48 PM, This boi uses Nino said:

I love this series.

So I have a question regarding on the habits of LTC, why do people ue all 3 save slots rather than just 1?

Well, even in a regular run, I'd highly recommend using multiple save slots just in case you screw something up (like a recruitment) and want to go back.

That's part of the reason I do it in this run (it's just a habit from my regular playthroughs). The other reason is that when preparing this playthrough, I wanted to have save files of every chapter available so I could work on them in whatever order was convenient, and it's more efficient to store them three at a time than having a file for every single chapter. 

I would assume that other LTCers that do this have similar reasoning (mainly habit).

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2 hours ago, Kebe said:

Well, even in a regular run, I'd highly recommend using multiple save slots just in case you screw something up (like a recruitment) and want to go back.

That's part of the reason I do it in this run (it's just a habit from my regular playthroughs). The other reason is that when preparing this playthrough, I wanted to have save files of every chapter available so I could work on them in whatever order was convenient, and it's more efficient to store them three at a time than having a file for every single chapter. 

I would assume that other LTCers that do this have similar reasoning (mainly habit).

oh so you also have multiple .SA files?

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