Mr. C

Is there any information yet on the "new quests" and paralogues?

It's definitely a candidate, but there's at least 3 chapters in CF Part 3 that are candidates. 14/17/18 are noted as route-enders. It will be interesting to see where the hierarchies of routes, as all of the final battles have a reputation for their difficulty, even on Hard. CF and SS were both regarded as super hard already, and not enough people have done both yet to have any kind of consensus. Chapter 13 is mostly problematic on only Classic, and/or if you don't see it coming and do some planning around it. It really should have the opportunity for some pre-battle prep.

No problem! The game is a lot harsher than I had expected on Maddening. Most of Part One is a cakewalk, but Chapter 14 totally seems like you are supposed to have everybody at their Master classes or generally flying. It is totally out of line with the previous 30 hours of content, which I thinks stands out as some really poor design.

I wouldn't feel bad. The point of difficulty levels is the journey, not the reward. If you have a save where you can go back to the split, I'd recommend switching and doing Silver Snow instead. GD and SS both seem like much easier paths, other than the first battle after the time skip being a bit of a spike.

General response to some points: You only need A crest for a relic weapon, not the specific crest. Hubert and Dorothea don't have crests so they are SOL, but Hanneman and Lindhart do have crests. Reposition takes a unit and moves it behind the unit. There's a few other similar moves, like Draw Back (both units move back one space). Really helps your casters archer get in for hits and then fall out of range. You definitely need an actual Tank. Fortress Knight is something like +10 defense relative to Warrior, or something within that range. Enlightened One is pretty much the best class in the game, at least out of the non-flying units. Good mobility, good range options, healing, etc. Good growths, too. Does Caspar have good Axe rank for you? Probably better to give him throwing axes than to rely on melee range. I think you are probably going to do a City First strategy. Your archers and Pegasus will be good for killing them as they come in as long as you position defensively. As long as you can kite/tank, you should be able to Meteor the first (and even second) reinforcement master and then stabilize over the course of 6 or 7 rounds.

This definitely a potential route ending level, depending on what you've done to prep. The strategy you have to use will depend on what characters and builds you are using. I still haven't gotten past the level, but I'm pretty sure my next run is going to be successful. Several questions/points: Classic or Casual? NG or NG+? Why Edelgard as a Warrior, rather than as a Fortress Knight or her unique classes? As a Fortress Knight with a shield and throwing axe, Edelgard can stand on a boat bridge and just tank hits as long as you are supporting her between rounds with Physic. Why Byleth as a Hero rather than his unique class? Caspar as a Grappler is going to be rough, because he can't tank for shit. Does Dorothea have Meteor yet? Do you have the +1 Spell Range or +2 Spell Range (Lorenz' paralogue) artifacts? How good is your Authority, generally? Do you have the higher tier Sprint battalion? (Gautier Knights, I believe, from Sylvain's paralogue) Do you have Gambit that lets your units take a lethal hit without dying? Do you have Warp with anybody? Are you using the non-damage combat arts, like Reposition? Reposition on your horse units can be a total game changer. Obviously, the key to the battle is to kill the 3 reinforcement guardians + Nader as soon as possible. Turtle in the lower left until you've killed the first wave from the both the town and the boats. Then either split your part and push both left and right at the same time, or ball into the fort or ball towards the right while just supporting your rear. Coming from the town is Melee, Horses, and Archers, while the boats while spew bow riders and wyverns. The boat reinforcements will stop once you board the boats, while the town waves you will have to worry about Same Turn Reinforcements. Meteor can land some free kills from afar to shut down reinforcements, while throwing a Meteor at Nader from outside of his range will turn him into aggressive mode, even if the hit itself misses. Warp is super risky due to the extreme enemy density that can build up at the top of the map.