Marlowe

Great song! I believe that specific sound is actually a 12-string bass, probably put through a bit of processing and played with a combination of a heavy pick attack and heavy muting, so it's more a foley effect than a note.

I have bad news—When I downloaded the new patch (random growths with AI), it did some really weird shit to my postgame file. At first I thought it just deleted it, but then I realized my patch wasn't named properly so it could access the save file, so I fixed that, only to get...this:

Check to be sure the person you're trying to promote has a weapon. If they don't, it causes that problem. I ran into the same thing. Happens to all classes if I remember right, and is because of sprite limits. The extra classes are essentially using up the sprites that would normally be used for unarmed people, so there's no sprite there for the promotion.

After seeing this, I decided to give it a shot using WINE. That didn't work, so I tried using PlayOnMac instead, and it keeps encountering a fatal error. Do you know if this is 32-bit or 64-bit? Also, has anybody else tried using PlayOnMac to run this? EDIT: Also tried booting it with PortingKit with no success.

I dunno why I said final chapter; I actually meant the penultimate one (Darkling Woods outside). Maybe the final part of the campaign was glitching, too. Ruins doesn't have this glitch; final floor certainly doesn't have enough enemies for that to be an issue. That'd probably be fine. To be honest the poison kind of balanced out his movement, so taking out will probably make him about as challenging in a different way. Giving him a ranged attack like a Fell Sword might help, or it might be too much. Okay! Again, I think the only part of dragon difficulty that felt unfair was the total immunity to ranged attacks, which rendered a good portion of the available Divine Weapons useless. Take that out and I think you've still got some very challenging bosses in the dragons. I get that, and most of the floor is hard in a reasonable—Roy and Lilina are perfect, maybe a touch too easy, and while the FE7 trio are a bit luck-based, some of that may come from having to fight them simultaneously with the two dragons. Again, I think the heavy damage AND petrification is a touch too much, because it then requires two healers, two turns, or Latona. And Fomortiis...I dunno what about him, but I'm willing to see what you have in mind. The stat-reduction glitch? I saw it reported earlier. It's conceivable I'm a version behind; I also haven't played the hack in a hot minute thanks to work. Looking forward to what you have in store!

Okay, this list is by no means exhaustive, but it's a few things I've noticed: Extinction messes with any animations afterwards, including blocking out the EXP bar and stat numbers on the level-up screen. Doesn't affect actually getting exp or levels. Seems to mess with the hit animations, as well. This might not be on you, but some of the new tome animations are kinda janky, especially Elwind and Tempest misses. Wind Sword has almost no sound, though maybe this is intentional. Eggs on Neleras Peak act weird, both in the maingame chapter and in postgame. They seem to have some kind of regen, but don't gain much; it's very different from what's in the vanilla game. Final chapter starts glitching with map sprites when there are too many enemies. This also happens near the bottom of the unit list after you get enough characters (I started noticing it after I unlocked Riev, after getting all but one of the Valni bonus characters) Flame Lance animations are weird, especially on crits. Crit animation will actually start draining HP before the fireball "hits". Game runs normally after that, though. Speaking of, is there a place to get more of the magic weapons besides Runeswords and Light Brands? Corona has no proc indicator aside from doing more damage. That's all I can think of right now. Now that you're back I'll let you know if I run into anything else. One suggestion: If you manage to fix the Melkaen Coast glitch, might you consider putting some better rewards in those encounters? Right now it's not really very alluring compared to Ruins, especially since Ruins chests are mostly guaranteed. EDIT: Also, don't know if this is intentional, but I figure you should know that in Lagdou 5, Lloyd handicaps himself immensely by poisoning himself on the first turn. Whether it's intentional or not, you should know it is very funny and makes a difficult boss much easier. 2nd EDIT: I am reminded now that I feel the dragons in Lagdou 8 are kind of overpowered, chiefly the "Dragonskin" rendering all ranged attacks useless. This basically obviates all of the FE6 tomes that the player would have, especially Aureola, and bows, especially Mulagir. I've had to use a combination of dragon-effective melee weapons and Counter-cheesing before. Just something to think about. You might be able to limit the immunity to siege tomes, which would keep them from getting hit by a lucky Eclipse. Or having more of the FE6 Legendary weapons available earlier (as I can only find Maltet, Aureola, and Mulagir by Floor 7; Floor 4 appears to be similar to vanilla in terms of reward, which seems weird when you can get Maltet on the previous floor). But it is your hack, in the end. 3rd EDIT: I'm going to append some constructive criticism about Floor 10 of Lagdou. I don't want to say it sucks, but there are some serious issues with balance here. Everything up to this point felt mostly fair, but some things here just...didn't. The dragons being able to deal fixed 48 damage and petrify is awful. The FE7 Lords to the south are essentially luck-based fights, especially Hector (Colossus is a one-shot on even the strongest units). Fomortiis is straight up impossible, as far as I can tell. He's hard to hit, nearly unavoidable, immune to anything that would boost damage, and if he doesn't one-shot a unit at first, he will by the time he gets down to lower health. And Slayer/Sacred Twins don't seem to be very effective on him. My off-the-cuff suggestion is to at least cut his avoid and maybe cut his attack down some. With the high hit and poison, he's still a high-risk hit without several Restores or Latona, and it becomes more of a slugfest to hit him hard and repeatedly while he gets stronger.

Update on experiences with the hack: I got through the main game and Valni, working through Ruins. It's quite a challenge! A couple glitches have manifested, but nothing game-breaking. I can list them when I have a bit more time. Semi-urgent question: Is there any place to get more lockpicks in this game? Seems weird to only have Colm's starting pick. Never mind, I found it.

Hey, loving the hack so far. I'm up to Chapter 13 on Ephraim's Route. I found a peculiar "glitch" I wanted to ask about. It seems like twice I've reset (like reset my emulator) from a lethal hit and resumed to find it suddenly wasn't lethal. Or, in other words: - Selena crits Kyle, which is a one-shot - I reset the emulator and quit - Go back later, hit "resume chapter" instead of "restart chapter" - Long pause before it resumes - Selena doesn't crit Is this like a pseudo-Divine Pulse feature you added? If so, bravo. UPDATE: This has "worked" to fix some enemy crits, but I found it also allowed enemies to move again. Also only seems to work on crits, not hits.

In the words of Ingrid and Dimitri: It is done! Unfortunately I didn't get screencaps of final stats, but my final party ended up as follows, with commentary: Byleth: I went for a more support-oriented build here, frequently relying on Nosferatanking with WM Avoid+20 and putting him just behind the front lines to make use of Sacred Power. Dimitri: The mighty Savior King. I never needed to tap the broken Battalion Vantage/Wrath combo and he still wrecked most things. Ended up being like a pseudo-cavalier at the end, with Mov+1 giving him great reach, and Lance Crit +10 with a Killer Lance giving him crit rates regularly in the 50s. Despite his high avoid, also had pretty solid defense, on par with Dedue without statboosters. Dedue: Speaking of! After being archer bait in the early game with the Chalice and getting slumped by his hiatus, he managed to make the comeback in time for the difficult endgame maps. Giving him the Seiros Shield made him perfect monster bait, and paired with Quick Riposte and the Duscur Heavy Soldiers meant his only vulnerabilities after a certain point were mages (one ambush siege mage at the endgame knocked him down to near single-digits). And that was without a single moment in the armor classes! Also special shoutouts for dealing the final blow, being able to tank Hegelgard's Vantage-Wrath crit without even dipping into half-HP. Felix: What a stellar assassin he makes. Pairing Fraldarius Soldiers with a Wo Dao+ made him a crit machine for large parts of the game, and the Aegis shield gave him enough protection most of the time. He was probably the most fragile of my frontline units, tied with... Sylvain: Once I stopped trying to make him a Great Knight, he excelled. I took a cue from enemy Paladins and gave him Weight -3, and later gave him Lance Crit+10. Even without those he was tremendously reliable with Swift Strikes, and Weight-3 helped his avoid against some enemy sword users when paired with his battalion. Mages were a problem, though, as were faster units and axes. Mercedes: She was the best healer, of course, but she also did decently well as a fighter when pressed to it. Generally good for mopping up armors in the midgame, which frees another unit for something else. Annette: Absolutely terrific. The Shoes of the Wind and Caduceus staff combined gave her tremendous range, and with the Macuil Evil Repelling Company she was still hitting 100% against grapplers and war masters with tomebreaker. The only flaw was that she lost some of her tremendous killing power as her speed plateaued compared to endgame enemies (like the aforementioned grapplers and war masters). But even then, her rallies sometimes made the difference between a chip and a double-attack for the kill. Ashe: He went back and forth with being reliable and being bizarrely fragile, but after a while his avoid started picking up and he just took off. Hit+20 and Death Blow made him eminently reliable on offense, and Alert Stance+ helped the aforementioned avoiding when I occasionally didn't want Ingrid doing it. Ingrid: She had me worried for a while, but then she pulled through. The Chalice made her the destroyer of siege mages, and Darting Blow kept her useful on offense. I gave her Defiant Avoid for the last map as a contingency in case someone hit her, but that pretty much never happened. Hell, she one-shot Myson on the first turn of endgame! Bernadetta: After some mediocre work as a chipper, I decided to go for crits with Failnaught and a Killer Bow. She did decently well with that, as well as using Encloser to hold up particularly annoying units. Also married her. Hapi: Yeah, I wasn't expecting to take her over Marianne, but I realized she had heal and Physic, plus superior movement, plus decent magic damage. Plus reliable drawing Hegelgard's aggro along with Dimitri for most of the endgame, which also meant she took beatings. But it was nice having a mobile healer who could deal some damage in a pinch. Flayn: In addition to dancing, she was quite useful for Rescue on a few occasions, like saving Annette from Hegelgard one-shots in the final rush. I'd still like to try her as a Dark Flier sometime, but I'm going to be taking a break from this game. So yeah. Even though a part of me wants to try Black Eagles routes with the DLC stuff like Jeritza and the new classes, I just don't have the energy for it. I'd rather work on my writing endeavors, play FTL as a relaxant from that, and maybe come back to it someday. Still, this was a lot of fun, great bonding for Dad and me, and mad bragging rights.

Thanks! I might be able to get Defiant Avoid on her instead of Swordbreaker. Most of the time Sylvain's my anti-sword unit anyway, so that's not a great loss. I do like the damage she can deal with her personal plus Auth Prowess 5. We'll see. Yeah, I've heard that, but I feel like the tradeoff might be too great, particularly in actually getting a battalion low enough for the skills to activate. Right now he's pretty broken on both phases, so I'm not sure if it's worth losing most of PP for the sake of a hilarious EP.

Update! Heading into the final month after a brief hiatus brought on by Xenoblade and getting back to work, I think things are pretty solid. Ingrid's been wrecking things ever since I gave her the Scythe. She's even made good siege-tome bait during the Fort Merceus battle. However. I have heard the double-battle finale for AM is full of siege tomes on Maddening. The way I see it, I mostly have two options: Dimitri and Ingrid. I'll lay out the builds and pros/cons I foresee. Dimitri: In addition to the obvious Lance Prowess, Lance Crit+10, and Swordbreaker, I would give him Battalion Vantage/Wrath and a drained battalion to activate it, then use either the Chalice of Beginnings or the Retribution gambit from Indech Swordfighters to give him distance counter. Upsides: Between a Killer Lance+, Wrath, and the Crit+10 bonus, plus variable battalion bonuses, I'm guessing crits would be almost guaranteed, and with his monstrous attack he'll demolish everything. Downsides: This kind of pigeonholes him into EP wreckage, which means I'd have to find someone else to use the phenomenal King of Lions battalion—unless he wants its attack and crit bonuses, which means its fantastic gambit is going to be sorely underpowered without Auth Prowess, which would mean losing the Crit+10 skill, and...yeah. It might be minor, but it feels like some heavy tradeoffs. Ingrid: Again with Lance Prowess and Swordbreaker, this time using Alert Stance+ along with Lance Crit+10 and Auth Prowess, and equipping the Scythe for high crit with the Chalice. Upsides: Doesn't sacrifice Dimitri's awesome regular usability, works pretty well with the build I'm already using for her, only making it more EP-based. Even so, she still have plenty of PP-ability with Cichol Wyvern Co Assault Troop, and could even get stronger resistance by using Galatea Peg Co (though that leaves Ashe without a great battalion, since he lacks A-rank Auth). Downsides: Typical hitrates for the siege tomes on her have been low, but not usually zero, and they hit like freight trains. Crits not as sure as with Dimitri build. Loses a tad of PP ability by ditching Darting Blow, but I might have to look and see if that's actually making a difference anyway. So that's the big question now. I'll give a brief rundown of the team I'm looking to take: Byleth: EO, generally a support role with Sacred Power, Nosferatu dodge-tanking, and the Edmund Troops gambit. Not that great on offense. Dimitri: If not the anti-siege tome build, then a standard crit-heavy build with Movement+1 to make him even more stupidly fun. Dedue: War Master, punching or chopping. (Fun fact, his defense is lower than Dimitri's without the battalion bonuses) Sylvain: Paladin with Swift Strikes and Stride. 'Nuff said. Annette: Warlock with long-range magic. If I'm lucky with teaching and stuff she might even S-rank Reason and get a range buff for 4 total range (with Caduceus staff). Mercedes: Bishop, hoping to get Bowbreaker but it's no big deal if I can't. Ashe: Wyvern Lord with Hit+20 and Death Blow, plus Alert Stance+, Axe Prowess, and Lancebreaker—worth taking off any of these for Axe Crit+10 if he gets it? Ingrid: Above build, but with either Lance Crit+10 or Darting Blow. Not sure which is better. Bernadetta: Bow Knight, basically a crit-bow build with Failnaught and a couple crit boosters. Tried it out earlier and it seems to work pretty well. Felix: Assassin with a Silver Bow+ when not using his Wo Dao or Sword of Moralta. Basically unstoppable. Marianne: Probably bringing her as a secondary healer (as a Bishop, not a HK). Silence would be useful as well. Possible alternatives include Hapi, Catherine, or Shamir, in that order of preference. Flayn: Dancer.

Another update: I just beat Gronder. Thanks to recruiting Petra and Bernie I was able to get through without killing any students! Just before that, I also cleared the Caspar-Mercedes paralogue. I had him classed up to War Master with Killer Gauntlets+ and Jeralt's Mercenaries, along with Death Blow and Lv4 proficiency with the Gauntlets and using his Bombard art for the highest crit rate possible. I was prepared to use Divine Pulse to scum it, but he ended up getting a crit and a second hit on my first try! The harder part in that chapter was figuring out how to deal with the reinforcements, which I had completely forgotten about. I'm experimenting with giving Ingrid the Scythe of Sariel, as the light weight should sync well with her high speed. I haven't tried the Brave Lance yet, but I don't think Grappler-quads would be more of a problem than they already have been—that is to say, she is banned from being left in grappler range. Dedue tanks their punches like Rocky. Ashe has gone from a minor liability to a major asset, with fragility as his only weakness. While I'm juggling this game with Xenoblade now, the next challenges are going to be Fhirdiad and Rhea's paralogue.

Yeah. Perhaps a Brave Lance, to see if she can get quads? It might be too heavy for her to double regularly, though. I'm not immensely worried, because she's usually going after mages and other soft targets. True, though I've been having trouble with his accuracy, which is why I liked the double-breakers build. Still probably going to give him the Lampos Shield when that comes by since it's free Prt. That was the plan, this having been what I did last time (Killer Knuckles and Bombard, if I remember right). I just hope DK doesn't move in Maddening...

Update, for those who care: On Chapter 16; I've decided on a pure magic build for Annette after getting Bowbreaker, though I might continue swapping things in and out depending on the needs of the map—had her use Dust to debuff a monster for easier killing, for example. I gave up on making Sylvain a Great Knight, realizing I can make like all the enemy paladins and equip Weight -3 to help his speed a little, or swap in an authority level if he's using an offensive gambit, so he has some options. Ingrid is starting to lag a little offensively, but I'm hoping that'll pass once she gets A authority and I can give her the Cichol Wyvern Company. Ashe is finally coming into his own as a Wyvern Rider; pretty close to being able to certify as Wyvern Lord. Petra's mostly his adjutant for supports, but she's decent. Caspar I'm a little worried about. I could've recruited him earlier, but recruited him in Chapter 12 thinking I'd get the best stats. He's at least got a decent chance of certifying to War Master in the next month or so, which I want him to have before doing his paralogue. But I'm still worried about how viable he'll be for taking down DK.

Hey, no worries. I guess it's as good a time as any to update. I'm almost done with Chapter 11. Probably the hardest parts of this run were the first mock battle, the Balthus-Hapi paralogue, and Anna's paralogue. I couldn't get Marianne in time to make her my dancer, so I made Flayn my dancer and I'm going to figure out something with Marianne. Maybe just a bishop with magic swords? The only recruit I haven't gotten yet is Petra, and I'm just hoping she joins during Chapter 12 with a minimum of save-scumming that first week. I have been "splitting the difference" in unknowing defiance of your recommendations, but I don't feel like Annette has enough skills that I can specialize on one or the other yet. I'm planning on certifying her as a Warrior at least for the strength buff, so that'll be an option at that point. But Lightning Axe has been useful a few times for dealing a lot of damage when the spells just weren't cutting it. I might actually give her that Steel Axe+ I won from a tournament and haven't been using otherwise. We'll see how things work out. I'm not looking forward to Chapter 13... EDIT: I got to Chapter 13. I'd say kill me, but the game's already doing that just fine.

This is pretty cool, thanks! Do you have any thoughts on splitting the difference? I counted and figured I can run Axe Prowess, Reason Prowess, Fiendish Blow, Rally Spd, and one of the breakers depending on the map. Also, any thoughts about working the magic weapon build? I've half-tried a few times but eventually it's boiled down to either using regular spells or using the designated magic weapon of that type, as it seems like 2 attacks with a Bolt Axe beat a single Lightning Axe most of the time. Though perhaps, on Maddening, attack speed bumps mean she'll only be getting one attack anyways, so use Lighting Axe to make it count? Just thinking out loud here. I think killing everyone on Crimson Flower—my first run, at that!—has traumatized me, so now I try to find strats to avoid killing students I don't have to. For example, my last VW run I recruited Ferdinand because he's required on the bridge, Linhardt because he gets killed by the Almyrans unless you do some janky speed strat, and Petra because she's right in front of you in the palace. It helps that Ferdie and Linhardt both share paralogues with Deer students.

Thanks for the tip! Ah, but I feel less guilty about killing a generic. This does seem like a fascinating idea. I wonder if it'd require fewer skills than a pure magic build, thus freeing up more rally skills? But I guess there's no harm in having Axe Prowess on a magic build and letting her have Dust as a hard-hitting defense-reducing attack, suitable for monsters.

- I guess I won't rule Seteth out completely yet! He's definitely a solid unit, but he might get outclassed by Ingrid, Ashe, and Petra. - I was pondering Seal Defense vs Aegis for Ingrid, not Ashe. Ashe is basically locked in on pseudo-Barbarossa with axes and bows, so I'm definitely giving him Seal Defense. - I tried Crusher, and it seems like most of the time she might as well hit them with Cutting Gale. But DF or Valkyrie might make Crusher more viable in that case. - I did enjoy Ferdie's paralogue quite a lot because it was so "unit-heavy," but that was also VW NG+ Hard where all of my units were pretty stronk, so maybe it's not worth it this time. The main reason I wanted to recruit him was to avoid killing him, but it seems implausible. - I'll see about getting Bernie in the list, then! Maybe I'll replace Catherine with her (I'm already planning on recruiting most if not all professors for the training guarantees post-timeskip), since Catherine doesn't really need much help to be good--or get replaced by Felix 😂. What's the hit bonus on Varley Archers? Edmund Troops gets +40 when it's maxed, I think, which is pretty nice. - I look forward to hearing from you about how Dorothea works as a Trickster! I think she'd probably be pretty good at that with a Levin+. Again, the main reason I was thinking about recruiting her was to avoid killing her or dealing with her artillery nonsense.

I tried Balthus as a hero for a while, originally hoping for a Vantage-Wrath build, but it wasn't working out very well so I switched him back to become a War Monk. My theory is that Hero was created primarily as an enemy class. Vantage was added to it to make an orthogonal challenge to the extreme speed of Assassins and the crit bonus of (admittedly uncommon) swordmasters. Then they decided to make it player available because people would probably riot otherwise. I think the biggest problem people have with genderlocking Hero is that at least one unit who seems very inclined towards it is a girl (Petra). And in general, that hamstrings its usefulness; that everyone who might be a good Hero is either better in another class (even without Wyvern Lords in the equation) or is a girl.

Noted; I'll keep those as stretch goals but won't prioritise them. I will be running a Male Byleth this time, having run Female Byleth last time. I have yet to figure out how to break up a forum quote so I can reply to individual parts, so I just snipped out the parts I'm not replying to. Consider those parts acknowledged. - Was definitely thinking about running Felix as a multi-class. I'd probably start with Assassin, as the lower rank requirements mean it'll be easier, but I was only thinking about going between that and Swordmaster (trading the physical crit power for mobility). Sniper could be even better! I'll keep that in mind. - The way I saw it for Sylvain, it was GK or DK, and he worked well as a GK last time, so why fix what isn't broken? I also see this as the path with the easy fallback to Paladin if it ends up like his romances. - Haven't thought about Dark Flier Annette, but not enthused with it right now. Wouldn't it be better to focus on her reason (for spells) and Authority (for rallies), maybe with some faith for extra healing? I'll ponder, though. - Flayn could be a bench in favor of Hapi, per haarhaarhaar's recommendation. I was only leaning towards her as DF over Dancer because I did Dancer last time and was planning on Dancer Marianne for the reasons you mentioned. Plus she seems like the easiest DF who isn't Constance. - My thoughts on Seteth came after laboring to get him up to WL on past runs. I can see everything works in his favor, but something seemed off in practice. Maybe I need to stop obsessing over getting his Authority up in favor of axes and flying (but really, why can't he use the battalion he personally trained? That's a separate issue). I guess by the time I need to worry about him I'll have the rest of my party on the way anyway. - Thanks for the tips! I'm taking a short break after finishing VW NG+ before I jump into this run, and I'm glad I did with awesome recommendations like this. I'll have to try that Levin Sword + stuff this time! I didn't realize until I looked it up that her strength and magic growths are equal without class modifiers. I'll parse it out later, but I think I traded Sword Prowess for Lance Crit last time, and if that's not going to be as easy to get or worth it, then some investment for Levin Sword+ would be nice. Right now my big reason for Paladin is Aegis as an ad hoc arrow defense, but I've also been advised not to bother with it. I guess Seal Defense might be more useful? Per what I said before, I might try to field Annette and Hapi, benching Flayn instead. So definitely recruit Petra, got it. Would Bernie, Dorothea, or Ferdie be worth recruiting as well, even if just to make their generic counterparts easier to deal with?

Like I said, I don't consider the two options in competition, since Sylvain would most likely use Paladin on the way to Great Knight anyhow. So if GK looks like it's not working out, I can fall back to Paladin.

What are you referring to for "flair skills"? You mean like combat arts? Was definitely going to get Death Blow for Sylvain and Swift Strikes as Paladin anyway. I found GK a little tankier and more versatile, with a Brave Axe functioning as an ersatz SS against enemy lances. But I don't consider this an either-or option. Bow Knight Felix? Really? Huh. I found the Wo Dao worked really well with Felix's other potential crit boosts like his personal battalion, but I'll keep that in mind. I am already going to be recruiting Catherine and Shamir among others for teaching, so I could bring Shamir in for another BK.

Oh wow, thanks!

I've played Azure Moon before; I do remember that. I grabbed Petra this VW run to avoid her nonsense, but I recall her being somewhat easier to avoid in Azure Moon. But hey, another Assassin or WL would be cool. Plus her supports with Ashe are apparently really good? Noted about Dorothea. Forgot about the battalion...that was even the reason I didn't bother with that strategy last time. Well, I guess I'l just go back to my old idea. Forgot about Valkyrie, even after running Lysithea as one for a while! That'd be a fun artillery class. I'm not a fan of Cyril after previous runs, but I guess PBV is worth considering. I'm not going to recruit Leonie, as I'm just finishing a GD run. Shamir and Bernie might be good contenders for the anti-siege sniping, though. Noted about Pavise/Aegis and fliers. I guess B axe isn't much different from a B in Riding—though it might be a mite harder for Ingrid unless I give her Death Blow, like Lief suggested. So those two ideas could go together well. I was of an open mind between a sword/bow hybrid (either Swordmaster using bows or Assassin) or a pure Sniper. The latter seemed like a great unit, but a waste of Felix's real potential. Thanks for the tips so far, everyone! One other question: If I'm going to be having a bunch of recruits, I guess it's better to recruit later? I've heard Maddening gives them some really good off-screen growths, and then I don't have to worry about training them as much during earlygame hell. Is there anyone I should recruit earlier—or, alternatively, is there a chart somewhere of what skill growths units will arrive with if they're recruited, say, during the last two pre-TS chapters? Just so I can figure that in mind.

After this Verdant Wind NG+ run (which I mostly did to get all the paralogues I missed before), I've concluded I'm not really a fan of NG+ in general, so I'm definitely going to just bite the bullet and do a regular NG for this run. I have read that Blue Lions is the least difficult of them, so I'm going for that. After my previous experiences with the run, I've been charting out my plans for my characters. Been trying to mix what I know works with what I've heard works, if that makes sense. I don't want to run the Fodlan Air Force of all Wyvern Lords, either. I charted out a full 15 units, but I know I'll probably have to contract that. How many should I aim for? I'm going to list them below: Dimitri: I was going to run him through a relatively standard Soldier-Lord-Paladin progression so he gets Aegis and lots of Authority experience. Maybe I can get Battalion Vantage and Wrath before timeskip. That might make Chapter 13 easier to a degree. But I was also considering running him through one of the other sword classes as well, like Thief, for some more speed growth. Any thoughts on this? Obviously I'd stick with his regular High Lord and Great Lord classes post-timeskip, possibly grinding for Paraselene if it might help. Dedue: This one would be fairly standard, too. Obviously I want Brigand for Death Blow, and eventually aim for War Master with brawl power. Should I even bother with the armor? The only uses I could see are getting Weight-3 to deal with axes in earlygame or Pavise for later on, but grinding for Pavise seems like a special kind of awful in Maddening. Felix: I've gotten the bow memo, and Felix is definitely going to start out as an archer. Should I go full Sniper, or have the bow eventually be secondary to his sword skills? I have a poll on this. I was planning on also training brawling some for Healing Focus and some cheap kills early on. Sylvain: This is the one that might buck conventional wisdom. I had an unironically good time running him as a Great Knight last time, with Prowess and -breakers corresponding to his weapons and Aegis for survivability. I could throw Death Blow in there instead for extra oomph, since I'm obviously getting that to start. Is there another class one might recommend? Is there one that isn't Wyvern Lord? I guess it could make sense for him. Ingrid: Any reason not to do Soldier-Peg-Pal-Falcon? It worked well last time, and if I focus her on only lances I could probably unlock Lance Crit+10 in good time. I'm not going to put a poll option for this, but what are people's thoughts on a sword class for her? Worthy diversion, or unnecessary distraction from the straight and narrow lance? Ashe: I'm strongly leaning towards Wyvern Lord for him, not just because it's broken but because I didn't do it last time, so it'd be a nice change of pace for that flying lockpick. Unless someone thinks Death Blow Sniper is better, I'm probably going to go for getting both Death Blow and Hit+20 if I can and sending him to the skies. Mercedes: Priest. Bishop. Gremory. Not even bothering with bow this time. Annette: Last time she was pretty dangerous with the Caduceus staff augmenting her range, but she might not have that this time (see later). I'm not too worried about her viability, especially since she has some valuable rallies. But nothing unusual here: Warlock for maximum oomph. Flayn: I ran her as a dancer last time, and considering making her a Dark Flier this time. I've never had one before, so this one is admittedly for the novelty. If you think she's better as a dancer, see the poll. Seteth: He was technically in the original lineup I charted, but after three or four runs of him taking way too much training, I'm just benching him at this point. He's just too hard to get to WL from where he starts. Only mentioning him since he's a forced recruit and I might be convinced to use him because WL. Gilbert: Probably just going to be a guard adjutant, but I'll reclass him to Warrior for a free speed boost. Caspar: Poaching him for the paralogue with Mercedes, figure a standard Death Blow and punch build will work fine. Marianne: Poaching for Dimitri supports and a good dancer, as I found she worked well even as a "half-dancer" with some combat utility. However! After making her a Holy Knight on this VW run, I think that might also be decent for her. She gets some surprisingly good crit rates. I've put a poll about whether she or Flayn should be dancer. Hapi: Considering for the supports, if nothing else. I don't think I need another mage with Annette and Marianne or Flayn, but if you think she'd be good let me know. I am considering Petra in contention with Hapi for Ashe supports, another WL, and not having to deal with her as an enemy. I'm also planning on recruiting most if not all professors, just for the training post-timeskip. Learned that lesson the hard way. So...is this good, bad? Terrible? Needs refinement? More wyvern lords? Any other tips also appreciated, especially about recruitment. Might it be better to recruit as many as possible through supports, to avoid having to deal with them later? Or is this not viable on Maddening?