Here's the last part of my log for this playthrough. Thank you everyone who followed this, I greatly enjoyed this run.
[spoiler=Chapter 24 ~ 12 Turns]
It's was pretty easy for me to decide who to take to the Finale. Roy, Fa, Tate (Malte), Sue (Miurgre), Rutger (Drandal), Lilina (Forblaze), Geese (Armads), Noah (Wyrmslayer), Clarine (Staff Spaming), Lalum.
Geese and Lot have very similar stats now. Due to the Speedwings I used on Geese he now is almost a speedy as Lot. Lot's bows won't be appreciated here, but Geese's critical surely will. Noah has high move, decent stats, and can use the Wyrmslayer...he's also close to being a 2nd Drandal wielder. Clarine may have capabilities to kill off damaged Mamutes with Elfire. She also has lots of Sleep Staff uses, Hammerne (2 Uses), Warp (3 uses), Rescue (1 use) Beserk (1 use).
Rutger, Sue, Lilina, Tate, and Roy all have had their movement ranges increased by Boots so that will surely help here. I'm expecting Sue to be incrediably useful with an astonishing 54HP and being able to kill Mamkutes from a range.
Battle:
Throne Room (TR)1: Sue kills the Throne Mamkute (which she can safely 2HKO). Rutger takes down another. Clarine Physics Rutger, the last is initially left alive. Roy conqures the throne. The next round Roy kills the remaining Mamkute and Clarine Warps him into TR2 in range of one of the guardian Mamkutes.
TR2: Sue can reach the next Throne Mamkute, and one of his guardians has already been killed by Roy on a counter. Roy can conquer the Throne immediately after. Tate kills the other Mamkute. Clarine Warps Geese up twoards TR3. Believe Roy took this Throne on Turn 4.
TR3: Geese kills the first of 3 Guardians on a counter. Lilina and Clarine heal injured allies. Tate rushes up into TR3 in range of one Mamkute. Lalum dances for Clarine, and Clarine Hammernes the Warp staff. Sue kills the Throne Mamkute again, and Roy conquers.
Geese takes out the last Mamkute (it's very nice when he critical 1HKO's them). Turn 6.
TR4: Tate flies ahead and attaks the next Mamkute at the entrance of TR4. Clarine Holy Maidens to heal Tate. Lalum rearranges Clarine's staffs and dances for her, she now has Warp and Beserk. Noah rescues Lalum and Clarine drops her ahead. On EP, Tate kills the next Mamkute on a counter. She rushes twoards TR5 and uses an Elixir. Noah rescues Lilina, and Clarine Warps them twoards TR 5. Rutger, Sue, and Roy (w/Lalum dancing for him) move into TR 4. Sue kills this Throne Mamkute as well. Roy takes the Throne. Turn 8.
TR5: Tate takes out the next Mamkute, getting a stray critical to 1HKO it. Noah/Lilina move ahead, he drops her. Clarine Beserks the closest reinforcement Mamkute and hits him (That'll slow them down). On the next turn Lilina rushes into TR5 and kills a Mamkute while Tate kills the other. Only the Throne Mamkute remains, Noah moves next to him with the Wyrmslayer (doesn't attack because it 2HKO's him). Rutger/Clarine rescue/drops Lalum again. The next round, a healed Noah finishes off the Throne Mamkute that he started attacking. Roy conques the throne. Turn 10.
BTW, Geese/Fa have fallen behind and are now just going to be left to fight reinforcements, if the reinforcements ever make it to my team that is. The Mamkute Clarine Beserked just criticaled another enemy, so that's working out nicely.
TR6: Sue/Tate rescue/drops Roy towards TR 6. Clarine Physics Tate. Lalum dances for Clarine who then rescue/drops Lalum with Lilina. Roy kills a Mamkute w/ a counter. He moves ahead and uses an Elixir, and Lalum dances for him so he can reach the throne. Clarine Hammerne's Malte (it was down to 2 uses). Tate and Sue kill 2 of the remaining Mamkutes here, including the one on the Throne. Roy and Sue are placed so Tate cannot get attacked and die. Roy takes the Throne doing so on Turn 11.
Yahn: Clarine warps Roy and Lilina into the Throne Room (Lalum dances for Clarine to do so). Lilina can double and kill Yahn, however needs all the extra hit she can get to actually land her blows on Yahn. Roy is Warped in before she attacks Yahn, so she can make use of their support. With some Luck, Lilina was able to hit Yahn and Roy conquers the throne on Turn 12.
Sue> L14: Spd, Luk
Roy> L5: Def
Lalum> L13: HP, Skl, Luk, Def
Tate> L19: HP, Res
Clarine> L18: HP
Lilina> L12: HP, Mag, Spd, Res
Geese> L9: HP, Str, Def, Res
Sue> L15: Spd, Luk
Clarine> L19: Mag, Res
Fa> L15: HPx2, Str, Skl, Spd, Luk, Res
Clarine> L20: HP, Mag
Lilina> L13: HP, Mag, Skl
RTT= 282 + 12 = 294
[spoiler=Finale ~ 1 Turn]
I was really frightened when I found my Roy could not double Idoun (his speed was 2 points lower than it needed to be). How was I suppose to kill her in one turn? I figured it out: Fa! I Warped her in and boy did she hit HARD. Sue could also reach Idoun to do a whopping.....wait for it....8 damage on Idoun. Lalum dances for Clarine, who uses the last Warp (I'm so happy I saved them), on Roy. With only 26HP left, Roy didn't need to double Idoun.
End- 1 Turn
RTT= 294 + 1 = 295 Final
[spoiler=Character Opinion/Experience]
Here is my opinion on the characters I used for this challenge, mostly taking into account how each character was useful in this particular run through. After each characters name is their Battles/Wins. I didn't bother to record loses.
Roy 158/58
My Roy was very mediocre though most the game, as he tends to be. In the early chapters he served as a decent function of the army: accurate anti-armor/horse. Early on on any additional fighter was welcome. After Chapter 8 (when I got most of my horsemen), it seemed he was spending more and more time rescued, as Roy fighting and walking on his own was not the quickest way for him to get from Point A to Point B. He really wasn't a big part of the army after the Western Isles, he was more like an NPC that needed to be ferried to the goal area. It took serious effort to keep his level in a comfortable zone, and he needed to be spoonfed kills whenever the opporunity arose. Killing Aine with the Light Brand was a sweet moment of experience, and I belive it was his only boss kill (besides Idoun). The Light Brand became is main weapon for the second half, leaving the Chapter 8 Rapier in near mint condition. The ranged auto-10 damage was often more damage than Roy could score using traditional weapons. It was still possible to level him from L18 to L20 in Chapter 21 by having him use the Wyrmslayer against weakened Dragon Lords. After his promotion, he did become a great unit, but his low move was still a concern. I used one pair of Boots on him which helped, but really could have used more than just one pair. I was not able to find much opportunity to give him the experience he needed and he only got up to L5. He was not prepared to solo Idoun and his AS was too low to double her, almost causing me problems in the final chapter.
Marcus 216/72
My early boss killer, I felt I got good level ups out of Marucs. He was still pathetic later on, and his use slowly dwindled. At the Western Isles he lost the role of boss killer to Rutger, but was still useful killing generic enemies. After the Western Isles he became increasingly pathetic, and his job was just to hold Roy and carry him across the map. His major issues were low AS (leading him to be doubled), terrible evasion and low durability. Lategame, he was almost guarenteeded to be 3HKOed, and nearly any 2 enemies could make short work of him. He sat out quite a few chapters. I neglected his support with Roy more than I should have, although they eventual reached B support, which was helpful for the short period I made use of it.
Lalum 18/0
I never had a habit of using dancers much (besides Sylvia/Leen). But Lalum's role in this challenge was irreplacable. If a particular unit needed to make as much ground as possible in one turn, Lalum was the solution. She most frequently danced for Clarine, helping her keep the party healed and spamping other useful staffs to turn the battle in my direction. Everything KO'ed her, and she was a pain to keep alive. An Angelic Robe was able to resolve the solution to some degree, but I never felt confident in her ability to survive an attack. By Chapter 20 she was able to be 1HKOed by the Bolting Sages (even with the Robe) and in Chapter 23 there was one ballista that could also 1HKO her.
Fa 21/15
Fa is required to be fielded in the final chapters, and therefore is recommended. If leveled, she can hold her own against Mamkutes, even in Chapter 24. It's nice to have someone to deal with the Mamkutes that come up from behind in that chapter. I though it was a waste when I made it to C24 and Geese also fell behind the rest of my team and could serve the same function as Fa (not to mention a well placed Beserk casting held half of the Mamkutes back). That was until I got to Idoun and almost could not beat her in 1 Turn. I don't think my team would have been able to defeat her without Warping in Fa. The fact that she was a magic wall right from the start was a plus. Her speed has a terrible base, and in HM it takes a long time for that to mediate itself. She was doubled by anything up until about C22. Her HP was incrediably low and I don't know how I would have managed to raise her without giving her an Angelic Robe. Once she got going she was quite a fighter.
Clarine 87/21
Clarine had amazing evasion right from the start. Unfortunately in HM, it was not enough. She got 1HKO'ed by just about everything (especially early Hand Axes), up until I used the 2nd Angelic Robe on her. I didn't help that I got especially stagnant HP gains out of her. She did have unprecidented range of healing that other healers did not offer. Unfortunately, at first, she really needed to be kept away from the front lines and could not always make use of her full range. Once I recruited more mounted units, she made more use of her move range and was able to keep up with the rest of my team. Her other issue was that she came later than Ellen, at a lower level, with the same Staff Rank. Early on, she wasn't gaining more than one level per chapter (it sometimes took more than one chapter) and her Staff Rank was always a concern. She was not able to use the Barrier Staff (a major source of experience) when it was first obtained. She also did not have the required Staff B Staff Rank in C13 to Sleep Percival. She just eeked out the B Staff level she needed for C14 (where she was just about rendered immoble) to use Physic, giving her loads of experience and preparing her for a promotion at the end of that chapter. Her Magic was lower than what Saul or Ellen would have accomplished, so her Warp range was stunted. She was able to quickly reach characters inflicted with a status effects, as well as thoes who needed to be Warped, possibly cutting away some the issues with her limited magic range, which was only a major issue in C23 (and thoes Max Magic Druids were probably problematic no matter who your Warp caster was). Even with her low magic stat, she was more offensively useful than many of my other team members. She doubled everything, and because enemies tend to have low Res, she was able to pack a punch, even using just Fire. Enemies were lured towards her and she quickly went up to Anima D, followed by Anima C, granted she was never 2HKO'ing enemies. Her evasion defense kept her alive on the front lines, and she was reliable and rarely died after promotion.
Rutger 177/91
Rutger was it: without him I definately would not have been so successful, especially in the early chatpers. With his HM bonuses, he was easily one of the strongest members of my team upon joining. C5 allowed him to quickly get his level up to speed, as he soloed the entire northeast side of the map. After that, he had no competition in the title for MVP until Tate joined and added flying utility to the mix. In C7 he was incredibly helpful, holding off the westside with just Lot. As expected, his ability to double and critical were no disappointment, and going forward, his level was always higher than the rest of my team. Starting in C8x he took down his first boss. The following Western Isles bosses tended to have low Luck, which which Rutger exploited using a K.Edge or Wo Dao. Marcus never reclaimed his role as boss killer. His promotion in C12 gave him plenty of time to level up, making it to L18 before promotion. With his critical bonus and nearly going 20/1, he offered irreplaceable offense that was never eclipsed by any other member of my team. I don't beleive I ever used a stat booster on him either (besides Boots near the end of the game). His only weakness was his lack of a 2-range weapon, but he made sure to kill anything that got up close. Drandal worked fantastically on him, allowing to outright slay Brunya in one hit. He maxed Strength, Skill, and Speed. With blessed Luck gains, his evasion was miraculous. He offered early and lasting offense with surprisingly good durability.
Tate 224/108
She WAS the MVP of my team, even surpassing Rutger. Right from the start, with her HM bonuses and flying capabilites she was a great unit and welcome to my team. Her level was behind; L8, and she had her notworthy low starting luck (even with bonuses). A Goddess Icon, Body Ring, and a Dracoshield helped was given to her to help her training and overall sustainability. Eventually the early Boots that were given to her only improved her utility more and was instrumental to my success. She had little opportunity to train in the chapter she joined, and C12 was also a terrible chapter for a low level flying unit. C12x and C14 proved to be great training grounds for her and allowed her to get up to quickly get up to L16 for promotion (in C14). In C14x she moved into the role of boss killer, a role she shared with Rutger for the rest of the game. Her Strength, Skill, and Speed were always very high and they eventually capped. She had high HP for a pegasas and with her evasion she was very durable. The Delphi Shield removed her last weakness, and after obtaining it she could be sent anywhere and take down entire armies on her own. Her evasion, ability to double/hit with a Javelin were key in her doing so. Most noteworthy was her performance in 19B where she took out just about all of the defenses within the city walls of Bulgar on her own. In the end, Malte was an amazing S-Raned weapon on her, allowing her to have a Weapon advantage against Zephiel, and the +5 Skill gave her a slight critical against Mamkutes in C24. She was a well balanced, early avaiable flier, with infinate capabilities.
Sue 220/103
I bet people though I was crazy when I spent my 4th round draft pick on Sue. We'll I knew right from the start that I had not made a mistake. I firmly believe that Sue is too low on the tier list and that she's worth an early pick, and feared that someone else was aware that she did not diserve her place in the Low Tier (not to mention that Shin and Dorothy were also already picked). In this challenge, she was not able to get any experience in her joining chapter. Going into Chapter 7, still at at L1; I was nervous about training her. But she still turned out to be very useful, dishing the hurt to the wyverns there. She was able to get the kills needed to level up several times, and before I knew it she was doubling enemies. From there she consistantly doubled everything though the game (less a few speedy bosses) which was something I could not expect from most of my team. The Angelic Robe used on her helped her survive while she was training; I did not expect to get higher than normal HP and defense gains from her which really increased her survivability (she nearly maxed HP). Early on, I got good strength gains out of her, and she quickly shot up to have 9 Strength. From there there strength stagnated and only steadily grew, but she was able to deal decent damage over the game. Her naturally high skill made her very reliable and when paired the the 2 early Killer Bows proved to be very useful. Again her ability to double worked to increase the chances she would score a critical to take down enemies. It was very rare that an enemey be able to survive one of her criticals. Upon promotion, her naturally high evasion spun out of control and she was able to safely lead a full charge into danger that the rest of my team could not handle. Of course another mounted unit was always welcome in this challenge, but she ended up spending more time killing enemies and left the unit ferrying to Marcus, Noah, Treck who were not so reliable to score a kill. Unfortunately her inability to equip a 1-2 range weapon did prevent her from taking down entire armies on her own. I never could get her Sword Rank up past E.
Lilina 98/70
Early on, Lilina was an absolute wreck. She was drafted to my team to supply me with early offensive magic and eventual Staff Support. Early on, her AS and hit were far to low to make any practical use of her magic. I used a Secret Book on her when she joined and her hit was still questionable. Her training was nothing short of hell. Her durability was very concerning and was 2HKO'ed by most. I used the midgame pair of Speedwings on her, and with some blessed Speed gains, she began to double enemies on occasion, starting in C12. That was incrediably useful, as the damage she could rank up was nothing short of amazing. Upon promotion she became on of my units that could reliably double. I used a late Angelic Robe on her to improve her shotty HP and durablity. She still never had reliable evasion (w/out advantageous terrain) and her hit was always below par. Her Defense developed rather favorably, but she still did not have the durability to stand firm in the front lines. I tried to keep her safely nearby, to give her the opportunity to take out an enemy or so from a safe angle. There were several bosses that she exploited, mostly thoes with bad evasion that also lacked a ranged attack. She did most of the work taking out Randy, and she would have killed him if he had not killed himself attacking Rutger on EP. She was instrumental in 1RKO'ing Yahn, something I don't believe anyone else would have been able to do. Her support with Roy was useful, albeit, rarely exploited. Her access to Staves did offer another healer, which I desperately needed. Her Staff Rank never did get above E, so she was stuck spamming the Tina Staff, which wasn't a bad thing. Her inability to use the Restore Staff was her only drawback. She was a healer when I needed it, and with some favorable gains, she turned into a decent offensive mage.
Treck 102/37
Well, Treck was my mistake pick. I never understood why he was so low on the tier list. I mean, his average stats are better than Noah's. We'll, I found out that it wasn't all about thoes pretty little stat charts. Treck had little use early on, besides being an extra mounted unit to ferry units. Even when his level equalled out to the rest of my party, his hit and AS were below average. Noah definately had him beat. His lack of doubling only hurt his biggest weakness even more; bad weapon ranks. When I made it to the Western Isles, he was still unable to use the Steel Sword, and one hit with an Iron Sword severly limited his damage. Noah had higher Constitution, making Treck look even more pathetic. Even if Treck made D-Rank in Swords as a Cavalier, I doubt he would have been able to hit/double with AS loss. All of these factors, plus the need for an additional promoted unit, led to be giving him an early promotion (at L11). From there, Treck very much filled the role that Zealot would take. He was another early Paladin with mediocre stats. His 11 Con allowed him to use the Javelin without AS loss, and was very useful in the early chapters after his promotion. Later on, he began to fade away as Marcus did. His HP and Resistance was very low and late game the Fenrir Druids could 1HKO him. His support with Noah helped him to some extent, but his most useful contribution to my party was ferrying units. Sacrificing him to an early promotion allowed me to level up other characters for late promotions (Rutger, Sue and Tate). I think I did have below average stat gains from him. I feel Zealot would have made better choice, and would have saved me an early promotional item (that could have been made avaiable for Bors/Noah). Zealot also would have offered support to Tate as well as better Weapon Ranks.
Lot 196/76
Good old Lot had a strong run. His Speed was incrediably blessed ("jaw-dropping in awe" type of blessing), leading him to double through most of the game. His Strength was below average, even for Lot. Axes were able to fix his damage output for some time, but later on his damage output tapered off. His hit was acceptable in the early chapters and allowed him to make good use of the Hammer/Halberd to take out so pesky cavaliers/armors and even dispose of a few early bosses. His early game performance led him to be significanlly overleveled, and he hit L14 in C9. I decided to promote him there, giving him early access to Bows. I was able to level up his bow rank to D, allowing him to be very useful against Wyverns later on. The low accuracy of Axes eventually took it's toll on Lot's hit and lategame he spent more time making use of his Bows than his Axes. His defense was acceptable, making up for his low evasion. Support with Ward helped whenever Ward was on the battlefield, as the two were often placed on the same assignment. I was very pleased with Lot through the game, but eventually Geese did become his equal. Lot did not have the critical bonus that Geese had, so that was the only reason Lot lost his placement slot in the final chapter. Having someone (that's not Marcus) to make use of the assortment of early Axes was very useful, and Lot's speed blessing allowed him to be a functional character through the game.
Noah 128/51
I was surprised from Noah. His starting Weapon Rank with a C in swords was very useful and allowed him to focus on leveling up his Lance Rank without much loss. His stats develeped favorable, and his speed allowed him to occasionally double. The fact that he could use a Steel Sword without an AS loss was nothing short of incrediable and was so useful in the Western Isles where it was common for him to double axe users. His Skill and Luck are naturally good, giving him a reliable hit. I promoted him late, giving him decent stats in the late game. His ability to use a Wyrmslayer was very handy, and even granted him a placement in the final chapter. He was very much my fighting paladin, not that he was anything too special. He Support with Treck was rather useful, although it took quite some time to build up. An additional mount to facilitate rescues was more than useful and he still spent half of his time ferrying slower units around.
Igrene 40/25
Igrene was a fairly reliable team member right from the start, due to her balanced joining stats. She continued to hold her own through the game. I got some lucky speed gains from her and by the end of the game she was doubling frequently. She was very helpful against wyverns, but they could potentially take her with just a few hits (her HP is a little low). Her B in Bows was not really a problem, I spent most the game relying on Killer equipment anyhow, and eventually she did gain an A in bows. Her late joining time was not much of an issue, the only early chapter I wish I had a sniper for was Chapter 14 where Sue's move was limited.
Geese 76/47
My team was almost completely assembled when Geese came along, so he was mostly just a sidenote when he first came on board. His only real merits to start was his ability to wield the Brave Axe (as well as a Killer Axe). He was still better than Ward or Bors, for the fact that they were doubled by just about evey enemy unit by the time Geese joined. As a Pirate he was very mediocre, however, I knew he has the potential to become a very balanced Axe-user (probably the most balanced in my opinion), so I continued the effort of training him. He was promoted to a Berserker in 16x, and was also given a Speedwings arond that time. The boost to his stats, as well as his critical bonus, made him into a real killer. Axes aren't all that useful in FE6, so him being locked to them did hurt his usefulness some, but he was very effective using a Killer Axe. He was able to double on occasion, and chances were that one of his hits would critical. His stats quickly began to rival my Lot's stats, and eventually Geese even surpased him. His usefulness did continue to grow, and he was very reliable by the end of the game. He had a rough start, and took time to make him pay off, but by the end I had quite a dangerous unit to wield Armads.
Bors 117/26
So Bors... he wasn't all that useful. What else would you expect from a Armor Knight in a speed run. He did still have his uses. It was very nice early on to have an additional unit to collect treasure and visit villages, especially so for Chapters 1 and 7. Having such low move, his errands needed to be planned out ahead of time, without any opportunity to change his route if the situation changed. As for his fighting ability, all of the early enemy axe users severly limited his ability to gain large amounts of experience. His low move was an even greater limitation, and his defense was not all that worthy of an armor knight. I did slowly level him up, but I don't feel that I got very good level ups out of Bors. In particular, his speed was below average for Bors. This lead to him being doubled by all units. His HP was low, as per his standard, and he really just didn't have the durability to handle being doubled by more than 1 or 2 units. I had to promote him at a low level. He did get really good gains from promotion, but he was never able to recover from a late game promotion with low stats. His high CON as a General prevented him from being rescued, and he had even more trouble getting into combat. He was never anything more than a certified errand runner. I still don't think I would have been able to get all the items in chapter 7 without him, so he gets points for that. I drafted him for his early availability, and doing so prevented me from making a huge mistake in drafting Cath, so for that I thank him.
Ward 113/50
Ward starts terrible, with rather low defense, skill, and speed. He really was ripped apart by enemies right from the start. His poor stats, hurt his ability to gain large amouts of experience early on. I did carefully use him to allow him to level in the early chapters. His good gains in Strenght and Skill did allow him to be useful after chapter 4, but his usefulness was short lived and only lasted through chapter 6. Starting in chapter 7, he started encountering more and more enemies that could double him. With such low Defense, it was not rare to see him 3HKO or 4HKO'ed by enemies; meaning any pair of enemies could take him out. His support with Lot helped him some, but was really more useful for Lot. I eventually used a pair of Speedwings on Ward, which prevented many units from doubling him. This was only a temporary fix, as a few chapters later he was again being doubled by just about everything again. He was easily one of my worst units, and keeping him alive resulted in many resets. After promotion, he was still a fragile, barely useful unit, with little potential. His E in bows did come in handy against Wyverns. Most Wyvern Lords could doubld him and leave him with single digit health, so he was more of a last resort for offense, rather than a useful option. Late game, his high CON prevented him from being resuced by my high move units, also hurting his ability to get into battles. He was very much a wasted effort for a combat unit, but like Bors, he did make a useful errand runner. I may have deprived someone of an Armads user by drafting him, but I don't think he ever would have been worthy of the weapon anyways.
On not having a thief:
I though that not having a thief would end up being disastrous. We'll it turned on not to be that bad. I made use of Door Keys and Chest Key whenever possible. The keys are available at shops early on, and though the game. They are expensive; but still a nice alternative. When I was forced to use a Thief, it was not all that bad. Astol is already L10, and has half decent stats for the early game. Chad has low CON, allowing him to be rescued by almost anyone. It was fairly easy to have a thief rescued for almost the whole chapter, and there was only a few chapters that really gave me any trouble. I feel that a leveled Chad/Astol would still have had the same survival issues up against Bolting Sages and Ballistas. I never realized how much of a time commitment it was to recruit Cath, and I'm glad I never made a full effort to recruit her. I'm even more pleased that I never drafted her.
Results: (I think this is how the categories actually match up)
Tactics---A Combat------A
Survival--A Experience--E
Funds-----B Power-------D
Overall---B
295 Turns Total (including penalties)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tNq826Tc_g
