HHM ranked playthrough

Typical Lyn Hard Mode run. There was some minimal Lundgren abuse, as I wanted to get Nils to level 7 to keep my options open for whether I visit 19xx or not. Gave Lyn the Angelic Robe. I did not use the Energy Ring, because I absolutely require Lyn to come with a white gem for funds ranking purposes (though Matthew would have dearly liked it).

Side note: My DS Lite's R button seems to have given up working, so that makes things a bit interesting to say the least. I fully expect this to be annoying as hell, and will be relying on fireemblemwod.net to supplement my memory and tell me where the stealable items are. Not being able to checking enemy stats is going to really hurt, though I can often fake it by bringing a high mobility character into range, bring up the combat menu, and take notes. Checking player stats became easier once I remembered the Unit command, and will prove invaluable.

Lyn mode end: (I forgot to grab stats, only kept XP because I need to monitor this carefully for ranks, as this is essentially their new zero-level that XP gain is measured against.)

Lyn      9.04
Wil      5.11
Lucius   7.30
Erk      6.07
Kent     7.40
Sain     7.90
Rath     7.31
Florina  7.81
Matthew  7.21
Wallace 12.27
Dorcas   6.72
Serra    9.38
Nils     7.17 (I forgot it was a "Seize" chapter)

C11 - Another Journey:

This was a bit of a hassle for me, and I'm not exactly sure where I went wrong. I ended up taking 10 turns to complete this. I probably could have shaved off more turns, as dondon did this in 8 with base level Matthew, but I settled for this. The RNG hated me and the Soldier south of the door had enough HP that he was outside of 1RKO range with the hand axe, and without a clean kill here, the south route just consistently proved too dangerous for my luck, so in the end, I had to just break the wall and head west. After dealing with the Soldier and Archer (whose vulnerary I stole), the Thief in the lower right began taking action, opening the door, plundering the chest and opening the other door. Matt then promptly stole the Red Gem, causing the thief to turn back around. While Hector took care of the Soldiers and Archers filtering in, Matt moved west and opened the door southwards. Hector then beelined for Wire, while Matthew managed to snag the thief's lockpick and kill him. The Armor knight and the northwest Archer were left alive, and during the course of the level Hector drank the entire vulnerary.

End Stats:

Hector   4.26 |21| 9| 6| 7| 3| 9| 1
Matthew  8.42 |22| 4| 4|17| 4| 7| 3

Tactics: 10/0 (1 Star) [EHM 6]

XP: 447/0 (5 Star)

Funds: I'm not that anal/0 (5 Star)

Comments: While not entirely comparable, I'll be posting equivalent chapter EHM tactics numbers in brackets, to satisfy my curiosity.

C12 - Birds of a Feather:

This took several runs to get a good strategy going, and get a groove on, but once I did it wasn't so bad.

Turn 1: Oswin goes south and delivers a javelin to the head of a bandit, Matthew takes his north side, and Serra hides in the woods to their west, in safety, while Hector heads east. Down south Rebecca heads to the village, while Lowen, Dorcas, and Bartre formed a vertical line with Dorcas on the fort. Marcus and Eliwood were right behind them. In the enemy phase, the bandit kills himself on Matthew, who is also attacked by the Pegasus Knight and Archer. Bartre is doubled by a bandit, going down to 3 health, but dealing considerable payback. Lowen had his lance up and fights the Pegasus and the Archer.

Turn 2: Oswin steps forward, criticals the Archer. Matthew brings the Pegasus to 2 health, and Serra heals him. Hector kills wounded pegasus. Rebecca reaches the village, while Bartre finishes the bandit that whacked him, and Lowen polishes off the Pegasus. Eliwood steps between Lowen and the other bandit, and stabs the Archer, who Marcus finishes from the north, leaving him mobile in the middle. Dorcas heads to the woods hoping to lure either the bandits or the pegasus or all three. Nobody takes the bait though, both bandits go to Eliwood who dodges, and the Pegasus slaughters itself against Marcus. The Merc tries to attack Hector, they trade tink for whiff. The critically wounded Pegasus floats south, just outside of Rebecca's range.

Turn 3: Rebecca goes to sit in the forest, in case the Pegasus comes after her (this was RNG dependent, it occasionally did, but not in the playthrough I kept, sadly.) Bartre kills one of the bandits that Eliwood had softened, while Dorcas wounds the other enough for Eli to clean up. Oswin softens the Merc, then Marcus borrows his javelin to finish the job. Serra goes to heal Marcus for some free XP. Matthew whittles at the mountain peak bandit, Hector kills more Pegasus.

Turn 4: Rebecca sells the Secret Book and buys a vulnerary. Hector parks himself in the boss's range, Wolf Beil ready, Matt is nearby. Only Marcus has the accuracy to take down peak-perching Bandit. The others do random cleanup.

Turn 5: Bartre buys an Iron Axe, Iron Sword, and Iron Lance. Intended targets are Hector, Eliwood, Marcus, so they can save on their prf weapons. Eli will probably have to share with Guy too, now that I think of it. Matt attacks the boss from the safety of a hill, and Hector does the same from his woods. He has 3 HP left. Unfortunately decides to run, instead of suicide.

Turn 6: Hector hunts him down.

End Stats:

Eliwood  1.97 |Base
Hector   6.42 |22|11| 7| 8| 3| 9| 2
Dorcas   6.80 |32| 8| 7| 6| 4| 3| 0
Bartre   2.70 |Base
Oswin    9.16 |Base
Rebecca  1.00 |Base
Serra    9.94 |20| 6| 9| 9|10| 4| 7
Lowen    2.79 |Base
Marcus   1.16 |Base
Matthew  9.27 |22| 4| 5|17| 5| 7| 3

Chapter Tactics: 6/8

Tactics: 16/8 (1 Star) [EHM 15]

Chapter XP: 643/550

XP: 1090/550 (5 Star)

Funds: I'm won't worry until Augury/Lazy

Comments: Almost caught up with Eliwood tactics already my final turn count in EHM was 327, so if I can stay even with or lower than my equivalent Eliwood, I'll be fine in the end. I'll need to see how badly the rest of the '0' levels thrash me. On the other hand, I know I wasted time in EHM to try to satisfy that damn XP rank, which the '0' levels here will help.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Balcerzak

The Divine Swordmaster · January 26, 2010

Side note: My DS Lite's R button seems to have given up working

That happened to yours too?

Raven · January 27, 2010

Side note: My DS Lite's R button seems to have given up working

That happened to yours too?

Mine too for a while, but then it started working again, like it became unjammed or something.

Balcerzak · January 27, 2010

Ch 13 - In Search of Truth:

This went considerably smoother than Ch 12, nailed it on my third try and the only one that made it past turn 2.

Turn 1: Owsin, Dorcas, and Bartre went west, but not before Marcus grabbed the Lance and Axe, and Bartre traded the Sword to Eliwood (ending his turn in Pegasus range). Lowen had ended up with the Javelin last chapter (think I needed to kill a Peg over some mountains with it), so he tosses it at the bandit, connecting. Rebecca et. al. queue up behind him, while Hector grabs the axe from Marcus. Since Becky had traded him his sword back to the top, Lowen hits the bandit again, despite his forest protection. When the archer plinks him, he levels up. 1 HP... woo~ :\

Turn 2: Bartre finishes the Peg, sits in the woods this time. Oswin and Dorcas tenderize the cav, who has low digit HP remaining afterwards. Rebecca shoots the Peg, Serra heals Lowen who goes to finish it off. Matt takes care of the bandit, Hector doubles one archer, Marcus handles the other.

After this it gets a bit hazy so I can't go turn-by-turn, but that's maybe boring anyway?

Bartre and Dorcas trade the Hand Axe back and forth as needed, Bartre grabs the torch from the village, Oswin destroys the second snag, weakens the cavs that form the greeting squad. Team Axemen polish them and an intrepid bandit off. By chapter's end they're at something like 3 and 6 HP, while Oswin is Oswin. Marcus ends up picking up the mine from the village, and things are a cautious yet ambitious push forward in this region. Matt steps into the edge of Guy's range, Guy whiffs, Matt doubles. I get the feeling this is one of the only times I'll appreciate the fact that Matt is being strength screwed. Lowen, Rebecca and Eliwood all get a fair amount of kills, with Marcus nuking only when necessary to ensure the teams safety, and Serra healing full-time. Hector pushes on ahead ASAP, and sits in a forest. A sword cav comes up and dinks him, on the next turn Hector switches forests (now in range of boss), and downs him with a swing of the Wolf Beil. Since Marcus has an Iron Lance, and I want Guy to have options, I trade him the Iron Sword. Sadly I forget to move the Iron Lance above the Silver one, and a stupid Peg impales herself upon it, despite Hector also being a target (if I recall correctly). Ouch, but I'm not gonna replay the level over that. Hector double-Wolf Beils the boss, poises to seize, Lowen, Marcus line up next to him, Rebecca a bit further behind, the others are barely off the center island. Sword cav reinforcement attacks Hector, who ends up dangerously low on health, but it's the last turn so, eh. Lowen and Rebecca pound him back, but can't kill him. Since I don't want to kill the sword cav with Marcus, I have Bartre toss the hand axe at it, because it's right at the edge of his range. 36 displayed hit (or thereabouts), but it connects and the cav goes down. Dorcas buys two Javelins and two Hand Axes (because you can never have too much 1-2 range), then Hector seizes. Turns taken: 9.

End Stats:

Eliwood  2.65 |19| 6| 6| 8| 7| 5| 0
Hector   8.48 |24|12| 8| 9| 4|10| 2
Dorcas   7.67 |33| 9| 8| 6| 4| 3| 0
Bartre   4.44 |31|10| 6| 3| 4| 5| 0
Oswin    9.52 |Base
Rebecca  2.28 |18| 5| 6| 7| 4| 3| 1
Serra   10.62 |20| 7|10|10|11| 4| 8
Lowen    4.33 |25| 7| 6| 7| 3| 7|1
Marcus   1.37 |Base
Matthew  9.68 |22| 4| 5|17| 5| 7| 3
Guy      3.64 |25| 8|13|13| 5| 6| 1

Chapter Tactics: 9/12

Tactics: 25/20 (3 Star) [EHM 24]

Chapter XP: 1047/750

XP: 2137/1300 (5 Star)

Funds: ?

Comments: I've only ever grown one good Lowen, RNG tends to hate him. This one's probably going to follow the majority.

Ch 13x - The Peddler Merlinus

This chapter gave me no end of trouble, but by the time I completed it, I had memorized the exact set of moves necessary to avoid being screwed. At any rate, it went something a little like this

Dorcas moves right, tosses Hand Axe at Bandit, Bartre stands right above him. Guy kills Bandit to his left, Matt goes and stands next to him. Hector kills the Archer by the left bridge, Lowen Javelin and Eliwood Rapier combo take out the Myrmidon on the right, freeing Marcus to go destroy the snag. Rebecca and Oswin maneuver in the middle. Enemy phase is long, but productive. Guy counter-crits the other Bandit, Marcus demolishes two of his own, Rebecca dodges the Mage breaking through from the west, and damages the Archer behind him, Axemen duo do some damage, Eliwood and a Merc trade blows.

Oswin softens the Mage, and Rebecca takes it out. Dorcas switches to Iron and cleans up a bandit, Bartre also switches, and stands in the woods. Eliwood criticals the Archer, Hector parks himself on the other side to damage the Bandit on the EP. Lowen moves up beneath the Merc that Eli fought, does not attack! Marcus passes Go, collects 5000g, while Matt steals a vulnerary from the myrmidon on the west, and Guy joins him in that area and heals with a vulnerary. Serra heals Eliwood. Enemy phase sees Nomad from the north trade blows with Lowen, who also fights the Merc some more, as well as more Axemen combat in the southeast.

Time to retreat from the southeast, Dorcas heads west as far as possible, Bartre switches to Hand Axe and stays in the woods one square to his NE, and is healed by Serra. Guy finishes the myrmidon that attacked him, Matthew moves as far as he can ending two squares south of the snag to the northwest-most island. Hector moves back to the center, above the west bridge, leaving an Iron Axe up to attract Nomads, while Eliwood finishes the Bandit Hector softened for him. Lowen takes out the Merc with Iron, but Rebecca trades his Javelin back, and heals herself with a vulnerary. Marcus comes back to the center. The enemy phase see some myrmidons come down queueing at Hector, who also soaks two Nomad arrows, Marcus takes the third. The Axemen kill two Bandits, Serra dodges a Hand Axe, and Bartre is doubled by a Nomad, but only hit once while hitting it in return. They are both vitally low on HP (Dorcas 3, Bartre 10).

Axemen move up into the central island, asking for (and receiving protection.) Lowen heads south, just in the right spot to prevent any 2 range, and Serra stands to his north and heals him. Guy goes, stands north of Matt and criticals the brigand that showed up when the snag fell. Marcus kills one of the Nomads, and replaces Lowen as bridge-guard, though he is starting to be worse for wear (~10 HP or so). Hector sidesteps and Wolf-Beils another of the Nomads, only the one that Lowen wounded is still around. Oswin moves north of Hector, softens the myrmidon for Eliwood to kill. Enemy phase sees Puzon come down, and trade blows with Guy, Lowen protecting what needs protecting, and Eliwood fighting the other myrmidon.

Rebecca shoots the wounded myrmidon, putting it in Eliwood's kill range, and he obliges. Guy criticals Puzon, is at 7HP, so Matt steps to his North and blocks the choke-point. Oswin advances to the bridge, in range of a spawned myrmidon from the north-west. Serra goes to heal Marcus, who joins Lowen on guard defense. Bartre moves up and Iron Axes that last pesky Nomad, who is now alone and surrounded. Enemy phase sees a mystery bandit emerge from the fog and smack Rebecca in the face, but she takes the licking and keeps on ticking. Matt does some bandit dodging and Mage and Nomad soaking.

Matt sips on a vulnerary, as does Guy. Hector and a lucky Bartre Hand Axe manage mystery bandit. Oswin moves into range of the Merc who's bottlenecked behind the people aiming for Matthew, while Eliwood cleans up the myrmidon he's blocked last round. Marcus and Lowen keep doing their job. They've cleaned up one Nomad and and Iron Axe bandit, but there's still a Nomad and Hand Axe one being pests. Enemy phase sees everyone in the northwest but the bandit on Matthew head for Oswin, who tanks it up admirably.

Matt polishes off that bandit, Guy criticals the Nomad, Oswin kills the Merc, Eliwood retreats. The mage is left alive and I can't kill it, but everyone has enough HP to live. Rebecca was healed by Serra and lands a critical on the Hand Axe bandit, while Marcus and Lowen finish the Nomad. Hector talks to Eliwood for a C support. Mission complete, Merlinus is safe. Turns defended: 7, Tactics increase: 8.

End Stats:

Eliwood  4.63 |20| 7| 6|10| 8| 6| 0 (C Hector)
Hector   8.90 |24|12| 8| 9| 4|10| 2 (C Eliwood)
Dorcas   8.09 |34|10| 8| 6| 4| 3| 0
Bartre   5.30 |31|10| 6| 4| 4| 5| 1
Oswin    9.96 |Base
Rebecca  3.40 |19| 5| 6| 8| 4| 3| 1
Serra   11.30 |20| 7|11|11|12| 5| 9
Lowen    5.61 |26| 7| 6| 8| 4| 8|1
Marcus   1.63 |Base
Matthew 10.27 |23| 5| 5|17| 5| 7| 4
Guy      5.95 |26| 8|14|15| 6| 6| 1

Chapter Tactics: 8/7

Tactics: 33/27 (3 Star) [EHM 32]

Chapter XP: 1036/700

XP: 3173/2000 (5 Star)

Funds: ?

Comments: Lowen might recover from his early-game slump. Matthew will never be good for combat, even with the Strength+1, most likely going to replace with Legault.

Ch 14 - False Friends:

Preparations menu, oh how I've longed for thee! Augury shows no surprises: 5 stars everywhere but Tactics, which is at the predicted 3. Merlinus allows me to do much needed item shuffling, giving Dorcas' Javelins to those that deserve them, as well as a Hand Axe to Hector, supplementing his nearly broken one. Miscellaneous shit is offloaded, vulneraries are rearranged. Formation preparation sees Serra, Guy, Rebecca, Lowen taking top left, Dorcus, Bartre, Matthew in the lower right, Marcus, Eliwood are middlish, while Oswin is placed optimally to leave the lower bridge.

Bartre proced speed last map, so he goes and doubles a 0 speed LOLdier to death with an Iron Axe, Dorcas can only reach with a Hand Axe, but doubles a 1 speed one to death. Matt steals the Armor Knight's vulnerary. Rebecca doubles the Soldier between us and Erk, which is finished off by Guy, Lowen stands to her south, Serra heads straight west. Oswin heads straight west, into range of a Merc. Hector, Eli, and Marcus land right around bridge area, and it's enemy phase. Everybody loves Matthew, so they beat him down to 9HP, but it's all good (thanks higher-than-average Defense). Pegasus Knights advance, as does the line of Mercs, Archers, and Soldiers.

Eliwood kills the Merc Oswin blocked, Hector Hand-Axes the Peg, scores a sweet level-up. Matthew heads west, towards the bridge. The Axemen take care of the remaining two Soldiers, only the Armor knight and the far right Pegasus remain there. Oswin heads up and over, smacking an Archer, which Rebecca finishes. Lowen and Guy manage the other Merc, while caging the Archer off from reaching Matthew. Serra recruits Erk, who visit the village. Marcus switches to Javelin and heads southwards, in Prissy's general direction. An Archer and a Soldier are foolish enough to think they can take him and perish in the attempt. The Armor fights Dorcas, who doubles, and the Pegasus brings Matt to 3 HP. The Armor near Erk follows him to the village, where Erk gives him a decent burial. Rebecca dodges a Soldier, and the rest is sort of a general melee that I don't entirely recall.

Bartre finishes the Armor, while Dorcas takes the Peg. They will remain behind to guard the tent, and they sip on vulneraries as needed. I won't bother mentioning their exploits against the recurring Pegasi, because only the very end is noteworthy. Marcus makes it to the Vendor, buys 3 Heal staves and a Fire tome. Erk places himself carefully so that the Merc can reach him, but no-one else can, and solicits Serra for a Heal. The rest of the middle gang cleans up, while Oswin presses west. Matt and Guy will lounge near the forests close to where the Pirates pass by. Enemy Phase sees Marcus wound a Pirate and one of the cavs, while killing the other. The Merc and Erk trade blows.

Oswin parks himself in Erik's range, Lowen does similar for a southerly cav, with Rebecca behind him. Unfortunatly I forgot to note that this was in the range of the wounded Pirate, but it's a non-issue as she dodges. Hector and Eliwood try to get as close to where the action will happen. Erk full-on retreats, Serra likewise, giving him a heal. He will finish the Merc on the enemy phase. Guy parks on a forest for the uninjured Pirate to come whiff at. Marcus heads to Prissy's village but doesn't enter it, as there's too much danger at the moment. The danger passes as the wounded cav suicides against him. Oswin does an impressive amount of damage to Erik, Lowen fares well as well.

The rest of it gets a bit hazy, as I managed to do it in a single go after reaching this point, but Erik fell to a Hector Hand Axe. Eliwood scored some nice rapier kills, Rebecca's chip damage was very appreciated. The rain came, as always, and bogged things down, but Prissy healed Marcus before moving off to the east. He sticks around to mess up a bandit, and then when the rain stops, the one cav that hadn't moved. Serra and Erks slowly leapfrog each other, making eastward progress. The last couple waves of Pegasus knights were carrying Slim Lances, so instead of being doubled, they were doubling, and while my Axemen had more than enough health, it meant they were a little on the slow side as far as killing was concerned. I was afraid of wounding them on the Player Phase and having them retreat to a fort and fuck up everything, so I needed to let them hit me first, then fight back. Long story short, everything was dead by turn 8, except these fucking pegs. One of which bypassed Bartre entirely and went straight for the tent. Merlinus lived, but no damage was bad news! Luckily I'd somewhat anticipated this, Erk was in range, and he and Bartre took it out, while Dorcas finished the one that cooperated (by attacking him on its phase). 9 turns in total.

End Stats:

Eliwood   6.13 |22| 7| 7|11| 8| 6| 2 (C Hector)
Hector    9.96 |25|13| 8|10| 5|11| 2 (C Eliwood)
Dorcas    8.88 |34|10| 8| 6| 4| 3| 0
Bartre    6.60 |32|10| 6| 4| 4| 5| 2
Oswin    11.00 |30|14| 9| 5| 3|14| 4
Rebecca   4.39 |20| 5| 6| 8| 5| 3| 2
Serra    11.85 |20| 7|11|11|12| 5| 9
Lowen     6.53 |27| 7| 6| 9| 4| 9| 2
Marcus    1.91 |Base
Matthew  10.94 |23| 5| 5|17| 5| 7| 4
Guy       7.16 |28| 9|15|16| 8| 7| 1
Erk       6.75 |22| 8| 8|11| 4| 2| 7
Priscilla 3.33 |Base

Chapter Tactics: 9/10

Tactics: 42/37 (4 Star) [EHM 41]

Chapter XP: 1132/850

XP: 4305/2850 (5 Star)

Funds: Y/X (5 Star)

Comments: While the very end made me feel like I could have done better, I really did need Rebecca to contribute in the middle, and I'm not sure who else I could have spared on tent duty. Maybe I should have sent Matt back, instead of having him help Guy? Ah well. This was probably Bartre and Dorcas' last chapter, but together they contributed nearly 700 XP to the ranking, which would have only been more efficiently used in the hands of Eliwood or Rebecca (who is probably getting benched soon too, C support with Lowen was too slow to kick in, and she's not good enough even with it, IMO). I fully plan on raising both Serra and Priscilla—together when possible, alternately when not—as delicious healers cannot be ignored. Guy (HHM boosts, and a nice level in this chapter) and Erk are actually growing well this time around, they may make the team for once. :o

Sealen drops the Dragonshield on death, right, I don't have to steal it? Anyway, not looking forward to another 8 turns of deficit, which will send Tactics back to 2, but what can you do, right? (The correct answer is bolster XP and Funds as much as possible.)

Side note: My DS Lite's R button seems to have given up working

That happened to yours too?

Mine too for a while, but then it started working again, like it became unjammed or something.

This is the second DS Lite with failing shoulder buttons I've had (the first one ultimately retired due to a fatal hinge injury). I am fairly vexed at this, as it's only a bit over a year old. And while yes, it will sometimes randomly work, in past experience this is merely a phase to eventual complete death, and it is unreliable at best. Anyways, I've quickly realized fireemblemwod is far too normal-mode-centric, so I might have to resort to doing an "anything goes" normal completion HHM run on emulator, just to see the chapters. I'll probably keep save states for enemy samples while I'm at it.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Balcerzak

Balcerzak · January 31, 2010

Ch 15 - Talons Alight:

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Marcus, Oswin, Guy, Matt, Erk, Priscilla, Lowen

Setup: Oswin camps the north doorway, does a stand up job of defense. Guy, Eliwood, and (initially) Matthew take the Fighter reinforcements to the left after mauling the initial Nomad. Erk, Marcus and Lowen take the lower middle sections. Hector roams where needed, and Priscilla heals. The line-by-line is not important, and I've forgotten most of it by this point, and can't find my notes, so I only have the end-chapter data and a very hazy recollection to report. The general strategy was followed, the enemy thief unlocked the random door linking the areas before heading towards the chests' room, so Matt had plenty of time to help in combat. The enemy thief actually wouldn't have opened the door in time so Matt had to do it, I still managed to steal his lockpick and get both treasures, so all was well. Marcus ended up killing Sealen, but two sets of the Cavalier reinforcements arrived, he also unfortunately leeched most of that XP as well. The chapter wasn't that tough, but on one failed playthrough Marcus had gained an epic level with everything but Resistance, and a lot of the time was trying to remember what combination I had done to activate that. I gave up though, because he'll be retiring by Dragon's Gate at the latest, I hope.

End Stats:

Hector   10.21 |26|13| 9|10| 5|12| 2 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   7.12 |23| 7| 8|12| 8| 6| 2 (Hector C)
Marcus    2.81 |32|15|16|11| 9|10| 9
Oswin    11.58 |30|14| 9| 5| 3|14| 4
Guy       7.70 |28| 9|15|16| 8| 7| 1
Matthew  11.39 |24| 5| 5|18| 5| 8| 5
Erk       8.42 |23| 8| 8|13| 5| 2| 7 
Priscilla 4.00 |17| 6| 7| 8| 8| 3| 6
Lowen     7.91 |28| 7| 7| 9| 5| 9| 2

Chapter Tactics: 8/0

Tactics: 50/37 (2 Star) [EHM 41]

Chapter XP: 743/0

XP: 5048/2850 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Guys, you're starting to look like a team. I'm feeling proud.

Ch 16 - Noble Lady of Caelin

We meet some of our old friends, yay!

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Marcus, Oswin, Guy, Matt, Erk, Serra, (Lyn et al.)

Strategy: Wil counters the two Javelin Pegasi; he and Lyn will finish them on their next player phase. Lyn sells her white gem, does some shopping (2x Steel Lance, 2x Javelin). Kent and Sain deal with the mercenary menace to their west. Florina parks near the village in range of two of the enemies, other people line up appropriately. Again, I don't have my full notes, and again, noboby probably entirely cares. Matthew ends up stealing the enemies lockpick, Florina visits the village, heads north for (sexual) healing from Serra, Team Hector cleans up their section, while the Cav duo struggle on their half. A long stretch of other turns happen, involving Matthew stealing a vulnerary from a Mercenary (yay for keen memory, though I thought the Archer had one too, I was clearly mistaken), Lyn buy more stuff (Steel Sword, Iron Sword x2), before her and Wil take out a bandit menace. For some reason I thought there would be bandit reinforcements threatening Merlinus, so I had Eliwood and Guy stay back. Also something quite odd happened, even though Eliwood was in range of one of the southern bandits (and all villages had been claimed), it didn't attack, going instead vaguely to the center, before changing it's mind and heading back west, confusing the hell out of me, and ultimately living until the end of the map. Applying somewhat liberal use of Marcus, a partial Florina ferry, and various shenanigans, the boss is eventually reached. Marcus softens it, Erk finishes, and Hector seizes on Turn 8.

End Stats:

Hector   11.03 |27|13| 9|10| 5|13| 3 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   7.55 |23| 7| 8|12| 8| 6| 2 (Hector C)
Marcus    3.27 |32|15|17|11| 9|10| 9
Oswin    11.84 |30|14| 9| 5| 3|14| 4
Guy       8.13 |29|10|16|17| 8| 7| 2
Matthew  12.05 |25| 5| 6|19| 6| 9| 5
Erk       9.94 |24| 8| 9|14| 5| 2| 8 
Serra    12.64 |21| 8|12|11|12| 6|10
Lyn       9.54 |26| 7| 9|15| 9| 5| 1
Wil       5.91 |22| 7| 6| 6| 6| 6| 2
Kent      7.68 |26| 6| 8| 9| 5| 5| 5
Sain      8.75 |25|12| 6| 9| 6| 6| 2
Florina   8.57 |21| 9|10|12|11| 6| 6

Chapter Tactics: 8/7 Note: This is a really tight req

Tactics: 58/44 (3 Star) [EHM 50]

Chapter XP: 856/1100

XP: 5904/3950 (5 Star) Note: This is the first map I failed the individual map XP requirement on. Though I'm still in decent shape, dondon had about another 1000 XP surplus or so by this point. Probably due to not having Lyn mode characters.

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: I don't know that I've ever seen a Kent this badly strength screwed. Matthew is close to capping the one stat that really matters for a thief, and is turning out ridiculously tanky. Erk is a veritable speed demon.

Ch 17 - Whereabouts Unknown:

This chapter was a pain in the ass, because someone kept getting killed in the congestion of Archers and Nomads at around turn 4/5. What was probably a really great run I fucked up because I'm like "Sweet! I made it in time to save the Silver Sword. *kills thief* Wait... how am I going to open the chest with the crest now, Matt is miles away... Fuck :(" This most recent run was not quite as good, but I'm sick of replaying the level, and it's not terrible, aside from Kent not growing Strength this time.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Marcus, Guy, Matthew, Erk, Priscilla, Kent, Sain, Lowen.

Things start out simple enough. Guy and Eliwood take down the Merc on the right, Erk doubles the Knight with Thunder, killing it, and prepped to counter Archers through the wall. Lowen moves north of the Myrmidon and javelins it, Kent kills it from below, and he and Sain switch to javelins. Matt moves full speed to just below Lowen; Hector and Marcus pile above Erk. Marcus softens enemies on their phase, Matt takes some arrows, Erk kills both archers.

Guy kills an archer. Matt steals a Door Key, Erk kills the other starting Archer. Lowen moves into Shaman range, Javelin at the ready. Eliwood and Hector kill the Cav and Nomad, Sain, Kent, and Marcus line up in the narrow corridor. Sain hits the Archer there with a Javelin, and then again on the enemy phase. Prissy healed someone.

Lowen finishes the Shaman, Matt heads towards the Chests room. Advance as fast as possible along the corridor. Marcus hand axes Knight into death range of one of the other cavs.

The rest of the enemies arrive, clog everything, and creat a Corridor of Death . Some lucky random numbers keep it from being too bad this pass through, but not ideal, as no forward progress is made, but since Hector is still unimpeded it's not that bad. Raven decides now is a good time to advance, and Priscilla isn't quite close enough.

Marcus blocks off Raven from leaving the passage, he's wielding and axe, so I hope he misses (hope was in vain so he is given a 1 use vulnerary, as he has Archers to worry about), but Raven lives. Sain kills the Hammer Figher and counters an Archer.

From here on out it's very touch and go, with those Archers in that room, and their reinforcements being so much trickier than Normal mode squishy mages, and I really didn't handle them as well as I'd have liked. Guy and Eliwood killed the thief and rescued the important goods, everyone eventually made it to the Boss room (except Raven, he and Lucius never manage to do anything, but this is par for the course). Matthew cowers in the southern treasure room, hoping the Nomads that frightened off Merlinus don't quite make it to him. Hector had hit the Boss with his last uses of Hand Axe on the enemy phase, Lowen hits with the Heavy Spear, Marcus was going to soften with his Hand Axe but an unfortunate critical means he claims the XP that was rightfully Sain's (after Kent would allow him to grab the Heavy Spear. Instead they have a nice battlefield chat, then Hector grabs the throne. Turn 12 (six turns under the limit!), just in time to save Matthew from almost certain death by arrows. All of the Caelin soldiers were saved, so I am rewarded with a shiny gem.

End Stats:

Hector   11.92 |27|13| 9|10| 5|13| 3 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   8.77 |24| 8| 8|12| 9| 6| 2 (Hector C)
Marcus    4.44 |32|16|18|11| 9|10|10
Guy       9.35 |29|10|16|18| 8| 7| 2
Matthew  12.17 |25| 5| 6|19| 6| 9| 5
Erk      11.58 |26| 9| 9|14| 5| 2| 8 
Priscilla 5.17 |17| 7| 7| 8| 9| 3| 6
Kent      8.62 |26| 6| 8| 9| 5| 6| 5 (Sain C)
Sain     10.24 |27|13| 6|10| 7| 6| 3 (Kent C)
Lowen     9.07 |30| 8| 8|10| 6|10| 2

Chapter Tactics: 12/18

Tactics: 70/62 (4 Star) [EHM 63]

Chapter XP: 1141/1100

XP: 7045/5050 (5 Star) Note: Performed well over the individual limit here, despite the liberal Marcus use... (fixed a calculation error)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Support will help keep Kent viable, but I may have to just replace him with Lowen entirely. This will sadly result in a weaker Sain. I'll probably be doing the 5 turn Port of Badon strategy, for delicious turn advantage, but I'll need to see if I can optimize as much delicious overlevelled Pirate XP as possible. This will probably take me a few days at least, figuring out the best team. It's clearly Hector + Florina + X, where X includes at least one Healer, one Raven (for the north passage), and some supplementary cast including either Oswin or Marcus to help handle Damien, though maybe Mani Katti Lyn can manage? Experimentation is needed.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Balcerzak

Catnip · February 1, 2010

How did Lyn get a White Gem? I thought if you played Hector or Eliwood mode she always had a Blue one. Am I mistaken?

Rewjeo · February 1, 2010

If you S-Rank Lyn Mode she comes with a White Gem.

Balcerzak · February 1, 2010

If you S-Rank Lyn Mode she comes with a White Gem.

It's not that harsh of a requirement. For instance, S-ranking is impossible due to tactics if you level Nils to level 7. You're only required to 5-star funds, from what I recall, and what my experiences suggest.

The Divine Swordmaster · February 1, 2010

This is the second DS Lite with failing shoulder buttons I've had (the first one ultimately retired due to a fatal hinge injury). I am fairly vexed at this, as it's only a bit over a year old. And while yes, it will sometimes randomly work, in past experience this is merely a phase to eventual complete death, and it is unreliable at best. Anyways, I've quickly realized fireemblemwod is far too normal-mode-centric, so I might have to resort to doing an "anything goes" normal completion HHM run on emulator, just to see the chapters. I'll probably keep save states for enemy samples while I'm at it.

How wierd my first DS broke its hinge too and then I bought the lite and soon after the R button stopped fuctioning. I wonder if It can get repaired?

Oh well at least I still have my gameboy player on the gamecube

dondon151 · February 1, 2010

Seeing as how you're finishing chapters slightly faster than I was, I think you should be able to do 19xx.

Balcerzak · February 2, 2010

Discovered a small bug in my XP calculation spreadsheet that arose due to having added columns for the extra Hector mode chapters. Fixing it only affected Chapter 17's calculation so far, as the rest were accurate (I apparently simply renamed other columns previously before deciding to just insert a few). The change means that while I did meet Ch 17's XP requirement, it was just barely, and not with what appeared to be a comfy cushion.

Anyway, I figured out the strategy for 17x that seems to net me the most XP and still complete it in 5 turns.

Ch 17x - Port of Badon:

Team: Hector, Raven, Lyn, Lowen, Erk, Florina. There's simply too much combat XP and not enough fighters if I bring a healer, and the healer XP is not sufficient to make up for it.

Strategy: Raven heads north, will clean up those Pirates. Florina will visit villages in a nice pattern. Hector and Canas guard the middle, while Lyn, Lowen, and Erk take bottom. Lyn visits the house for a Devil Axe.

Raven kills the Hand Axe Pirate, the Pirate he left at 1HP will be cleaned up on its phase. Lowen attacks the Swordslayer Pirate with an Iron Lance, it misses its counter, triggering the massive wave of Pirates. Erk comes in, doubles it for the kill. Lyn gets a Mani Katti critical on the Halberd Pirate. Hector moves to the end of the middle corridor, and will trade blows with the Devil Axe Pirate. Enemy phase sees Raven get +1 strength on a level, allowing him to ORKO the rest of the Pirates without issue. Lyn dodges Damien's attack and the Killer Axe Pirate, gets hit by Killer Bow Archer, but dodges the Shaman, so lives.

Hector and Lyn both retreat and use vulneraries, Lowen Equips Iron Sword and stands in front of Lyn, Erk behind her. Damien moves up and attacks Hector, a large pile of Pirates keep the Mage out of range. Pirates and Archer attack Lowen, but he tanks it like a pro. Florina is hit by a Pirate, but this is not a problem for her, she'll visit the last village and be out of his range next turn.

Hector uses another vulnerary, Canas pokes Damien for small damage. Lowen moves south and uses a vulnerary. Lyn kills a Pirate, and Erk doubles the Killer Bow Archer and kills it with a crit. Damien decides Erk is a good target, but misses and takes damage instead. The Mage also foolishly targets Erk and is beat to within an inch of his life. A Pirate and Shaman take Lowen down to 1 HP, but living is living.

Hector and Canas take down the Hammer Pirate, Erk finishes Damien, Lyn finishes the Mage, Lowen gets another swing at a generic Pirate, Raven is too far from the action, so Florina talks to Fargus.

End Stats:

Hector   12.42 |28|14|10|10| 5|13| 3 (Eliwood C)
Lowen    10.03 |31| 9| 8|10| 6|10| 3
Lyn      10.97 |27| 7| 9|16|10| 5| 2
Florina   8.66 |21| 9|10|12|11| 6| 6
Raven     6.77 |30|11|13|15| 3| 6| 2
Erk      13.80 |28|10| 9|15| 6| 2| 9 
Canas     8.76 |Base

Chapter Tactics: 5/10

Tactics: 75/72 (4 Star) [EHM 68]

Chapter XP: 734/700

XP: 7779/5750 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: I'm not looking forward to the Pirate Ship, I remember it being an extremely frustrating chapter. I am also highly uncertain of my ability to actually kill Kishuna when the chips are down, and there's only a few levels left of training. Nobody will ever double him, so I'll need my strongest fighters, probably Silver Lance Marcus (~17 damage), Killing Edge Guy (critical for ~18 damage), Steel Lance Sain or Oswin (~11 damage but would probably miss, and Oswin may have trouble getting there), Iron Blade Raven (~7 damage). It might be feasible... I don't suppose anyone has experience killing Kishuna on HHM they'd be willing to share?

Edited February 11, 2010 by Balcerzak

dondon151 · February 2, 2010

You can't trade around the Silver Lance or Killing Edge? Lyn and her Mani Katti crit also helps.

Balcerzak · February 2, 2010

You can't trade around the Silver Lance or Killing Edge? Lyn and her Mani Katti crit also helps.

Nobody else has the weapon rank for Silver Lance yet. Sain is at C, Oswin is at B, Florina is at B. I could probably trade Killing Edge to Raven, now that you mention it, though, and Mani Katti crit is not a bad idea either. If either Florina or Oswin hit A, though, that would be sweet. I can't really check how close they are to it easily without my R button, but I could do some random tests by throwing Oswin into a pile of dudes and seeing how much longer it'll take.

Raven · February 3, 2010

Hmm, for 19x I always tend to have someone changed class by then. I normally focus on a small group. Oswin is promoted for me by then, and Raven is in the high teens... As well as Florina since she was also a main force against the enemy Pegs in the Pirate Ship chapter. It's been a while since I did 19x though, so yeah...

Rewjeo · February 3, 2010

It's not that harsh of a requirement. For instance, S-ranking is impossible due to tactics if you level Nils to level 7. You're only required to 5-star funds, from what I recall, and what my experiences suggest.

Oh, right. Yeah, you only need to 5-star funds.

Defeatist Elitist · February 4, 2010

Side note: My DS Lite's R button seems to have given up working, so that makes things a bit interesting to say the least.

Alright, grab your DS Lite, and tap around the R Button a bit with your finger.

Then, put place your lips in a seal over the R Button (so that the whole button is within your mouth), and blow into it. Tap it a few more times, flip it over and do the same thing. Try it a couple times, and your DS should work.

This happened to me, I tried it, and I was like "What the fuck how does this help it?", but it did.

Balcerzak · February 4, 2010

Ch 18 - Pirate Ship:

(The last half of this is amended by a rerun described in brief in this post.)

Team: Hector, Lowen, Oswin, Raven, Florina, Matthew, Serra, Priscilla

First couple attempts I had no idea what I was doing, was quickly mobbed and someone always died. After thinking things through more carefully, I devised the plan that worked pretty slickly. After the first few turns everything was really easy until the last three turns. My first good run ended with Matthew getting crit-blicked by Luna after he made his important theft. Despairing at the lack of Save States on a cartridge, I meticulously recorded my every move, in case I needed to resort to RNG manipulation in subsequent attempts I would know exactly where I stood each time. However, it proved ultimately not to be necessary. The strategy was as follows (summarized):

Oswin strolls down the east stairs, takes up station there, and engages a Merc. Lowen does the same at the west stairs. Hector switches Lowen to Javelin and tosses a Hand Axe as the Merc, further wounding it. Raven stands north of Oswin with a small gap, so the ranged attacks won't target him. Prissy stands North of Raven, while Serra stands South of Matt, both in range of the Pegs. Florina flies to the westmost tile just north of the northern bridge, Slim Lance at the ready, to counter-attack a Merc, and dodge a Shaman. Lots of other shit goes down on the Enemy Phase, one wounded Merc attacking Raven and dying, the other killing himself against Lowen's critical. Lowen also counters a Shaman and Archer.

Matt steals the Elysian Whip, Raven goes and kills an Archer who'd failed to damage Oswin, Oswin steps right, blocking off the bridge and Steel Lances the Shaman to his right to death. Hector Hand Axes the ex-Elysian Peg to death, Florina Javelins the Archer Lowen wounded, while Lowen finishes a Shaman he wounded. Serra heals Lowen and Prissy heals Matthew. Enemy phase sees two of the south Pegs die on Florina's Lance, while the other two fall to Raven's sword. Flo also kills a Shaman who brings her to 1HP. The only enemies left on Fargus' ship are the vulnerary Peg, a Merc standing on the Armory that Serra dodged, a Merc fighting Raven, and one further south of him and Oswin.

Raven quickly dispatches said Merc. Oswin leaves his post at the bridge and Steel Lances the Merc on the Armory, Matt then finishes it off with an Iron Sword double. Hector moves to the now free Armory and Hand Axes the Peg that whiffed at Prissy last turn, wounding it to where a Javelin from Florina finishes it, while Lowen takes up Oswin's old post.

After this like I said, it was pretty much easy. Florina, Matthew, and Serra head west fighting Shamans, Hector and Raven head South to pick off Peg reinforcements (Florina and Lowen helping when needed), while Oswin and Lowen tank the eastern front. Prissy gets some shopping in, in between heals and buys Fire, Thunder, Heal x2, Iron Sword x3, Javelin x4, Hand Axe, which will hopefully be sufficient (I am not entirely convinced it will, but they weren't selling Iron Lances which is what I'd want most badly).

Anyways, Matt steals the Guiding Ring just after the ship docks at the South, where Raven and Hector are waiting, and Oswin is on the way leaving Lowen to handle the Armorslayer Myrmidons. Matt's Steel Sword double brings the boss to 19HP. After he retreats north and is healed by Serra, Florina blocks access to them from the Shaman reinforcement and equips a Javelin. She'll double to death a Peg, and fail to double the Shaman, leaving her Javelin at 1 use.

Florina heads one tile south, finishes the Shaman with a blow from her Iron Lance, has Serra trade the Javelin (since she's in range of the boss) and heal her, while Matt goes and criticals one of the northern Shamans. After this enemy phase the boss is at 11HP.

Last turn. Matt kills the other northern Shaman, Serra heals Florina. Once everyone else has acted she doubles the boss with her Slim Lance for double 6s, ending the chapter. There was still a minor boatload of enemies left alive, but I didn't want to risk Luna crit on the enemy phase, and my other teams positioning left a great deal to be desired (aka Priscilla would be attacked by a Slim Sword Merc). I didn't feel like redoing the whole chapter if something bad were to go down, even though I could easily reproduce it. Since I managed the map XP rank anyway, I don't think I'll lose too much sleep over this decision.

End Stats:

Hector    13.30 |29|14|11|10| 5|14| 4 (Eliwood C)
Lowen     11.99 |32| 9| 9|10| 6|10| 3
Florina   12.16 |24|10|11|13|14| 6| 8
Raven     10.22 |34|14|14|17| 4| 6| 2
Priscilla  6.08 |17| 8| 8| 8|10| 3| 6
Matthew   14.07 |27| 6| 6|20| 6| 9| 5
Serra     13.77 |22| 8|12|11|12| 6|11
Oswin     13.10 |32|16|10| 5| 3|15| 6

Chapter Tactics: 11/11

Total Tactics: 86/83 (4 Star) [EHM 75]

Chapter XP: 1499/1450

Total XP: 9354/7200 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: This chapter was not as bad as I seem to have remembered. I hate Fog of War, though, and guess what's next. Ugh. Uhai's pretty bad-ass too. I think I have an idea of what I'm going to try, but I'm not really sure if it'll end up working out or not.

Nobody else has the weapon rank for Silver Lance yet.

Oswin hit A lances on turn 2 of Pirate Ship, Florina is a mere few swings away too it looks like, so Marcus' Silver Lance will get more action than previously suspected.

Hmm, for 19x I always tend to have someone changed class by then. I normally focus on a small group. Oswin is promoted for me by then, and Raven is in the high teens... As well as Florina since she was also a main force against the enemy Pegs in the Pirate Ship chapter. It's been a while since I did 19x though, so yeah...

Promoting by this point in a ranked run where I need to manage XP very carefully is impossible. My dudes are already suffering the effects of "killing these mooks is barely better than wounding them". If Raven can manage to gain 8 levels in Ch 19 and the first half of 19x, I would consider promoting him early at 18, but something tells me that's not going to happen. I will never promote Oswin, ever. After he helps me kill Kishuna, he and Marcus are probably going to the bench, barring some drastic need for their services.

Alright, grab your DS Lite, and tap around the R Button a bit with your finger.

Then, put place your lips in a seal over the R Button (so that the whole button is within your mouth), and blow into it. Tap it a few more times, flip it over and do the same thing. Try it a couple times, and your DS should work.

This happened to me, I tried it, and I was like "What the fuck how does this help it?", but it did.

Holy shit. This worked, at least this once. I'll have to see if it sticks around or was just a fluke. Thanks a bundle!

Edited February 11, 2010 by Balcerzak

dondon151 · February 5, 2010

By the way, Bal, don't occupy yourself too much with only just fulfilling the EXP rank for each chapter, because there are a couple later on that you'll never be able to reach.

Rewjeo · February 5, 2010

He's 21 levels over the requirements right now. I don't think he'll have troubles, although I'm not sure how ridiculous some chapters might be.

Balcerzak · February 5, 2010

By the way, Bal, don't occupy yourself too much with only just fulfilling the EXP rank for each chapter, because there are a couple later on that you'll never be able to reach.

Clearly, maybe I should retry Pirate Ship over the weekend to milk out that last few XP of it then.

He's 21 levels over the requirements right now. I don't think he'll have troubles, although I'm not sure how ridiculous some chapters might be.

If HHM is anything like EHM I fully expect to lose ~20 levels on Victory or Death and ~15 levels on Light (1&2) combined, so my surplus is clearly not in the satisfactory range just yet. Most other chapters the XP lost is ~100 or less, if I lose at all. Possibly losing at Dragon's Gate too, because I didn't keep accurate records until I dropped to 4 Star after New Resolve (which was probably because I ended it at 7/9 turns).

Edited February 5, 2010 by Balcerzak

Rewjeo · February 5, 2010

Holy crap! How do they expect you get that much experience in one chapter?

Edited February 5, 2010 by Slize

Balcerzak · February 6, 2010

Clearly, maybe I should retry Pirate Ship over the weekend to milk out that last few XP of it then.

Did this just now, actually did a much better strategy on the last three turns, and wound up getting some better level ups for Raven and Florina, which more than counteract the slightly worse level Oswin got. Killed more of the dudes, but since Zoldam attacks first on enemy phase, there was just no helping leaving three enemies left alive apparently. Still it was a better run, with 70 more XP and better levels, so I'm keeping it. Also, I changed my shopping list slightly (decided against buying Fire, and bought one more Hand Axe).

End Stats:

Hector    13.23 |29|14|10|11| 6|14| 3 (Eliwood C)
Lowen     12.05 |33| 9|10|11| 6|11| 3
Florina   12.15 |25|11|13|14|15| 6| 8
Raven     10.92 |34|15|15|18| 3| 7| 2
Priscilla  6.10 |18| 7| 8| 8| 9| 3| 7
Matthew   14.09 |27| 6| 6|20| 6| 9| 5
Serra     13.65 |22| 8|12|11|12| 6|11
Oswin     13.23 |32|15|10| 5| 4|15| 5

Chapter Tactics: 11/11

Total Tactics: 86/83 (4 Star) [EHM 75]

Chapter XP: 1572/1450

Total XP: 9427/7200 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Holy crap! How do they expect you get that much experience in one chapter?

I honestly don't know. The first time I honestly sat down and looked at that requirement on my EHM, after seeing a 4 star XP rating for the first time in my career, I almost despaired entirely and gave up the run. I was only saved by the arena in 4 Fanged Offense (Linus), choosing to dig myself an 8 turn hole on the per Chapter requirement to net a 1900 XP windfall (and honestly I could have cleared much sooner than the chapter req). Final score that run: Tactics 327/346, XP: 41418/41300. Way too close for comfort, though I clearly could have abused the arena a little harder, it was my first Hard Mode run and I wasn't exactly sure if I could swing tactics or not. Clearly I won't have such Tactics wiggleroom this run, but on the other hand, I have the 0 req chapters like Crazed Beast which is entirely free XP.

Balcerzak · February 11, 2010

Ch19 - The Dread Isle:

General strategy has Raven, Matthew, Priscilla going through the north-east; Lyn, Dart, Serra going down the middle; Kent, Sain, Hector, Eliwood, Marcus going south-east; Guy has tent duty.

Team: Hector, Florina, Raven, Priscilla, Matthew, Serra, Guy, Lyn, Eliwood, Marcus, Kent, Sain (Dart, Fiora)

Turn 1: Dart go destroy the Snag with his Steel Axe, Lyn stand to his south with Mani Katti ready, trading him a spare Iron Axe. Enemy phase sees her take down two cavs, getting hit only once (13 HP left), while dodging the flurry of Nomads. Raven kills the Torch Pirate, levels up, and procs Defense. It turns out he needs this to barely avoid being KO'ed on the enemy phase when he is pummeled by two Steel Pegs (both of whom perish, obviously), and is pincushioned by two Nomads (he ends up with 2HP). Matthew stands to his west, and the AI targetted him with the first Steel Peg, which missed. Pris watches this from a nearby forest tile. Hector and Eliwood move to just north of the forts, bringing the enemy cav into view. Horseslayer Sain and Javelin Kent take it out, Sain will wound another cav on the EP. Serra moves in Dart's direction, and Florina stands on the forest tile to her SE, killing an enemy Peg, and soaking a Longbow arrow. Marcus moves full south, equips a Javelin, is not attacked.

Turn 2: Lyn Mani Katti crits the Longbow Nomad in front of her, Eliwood finishes the wounded cav. Sain goes and Horseslayer's the Nomad across the river from Lyn, bringing it into Javelin Kent's kill zone, he levels up gaining much needed strength. Matthew moves around to the east of one of the Nomads that attacked Raven, and brings out the Longsword, killing it. Raven destroys the other with an Iron Sword crit, then Pris comes in and Heals him. Dart moves over the bridge and river, to the south of the remaining Nomad, and takes it out with an Iron Axe crit. Hector moves south, and Hand Axes the more durable of the two Pegs that appeared from the fog. Serra Heals Florina, who moves north and finished the Peg that Matt fought last turn. Since the Torch Thief is now visible, Marcus moves to its east and attempts to Javelin it, missing on 94 displayed hit. :facepalm: The enemy phase sees Guy double 13 a 26 HP Pirate, Lyn Mani Katti crit the other Peg from the SW, as well as wound a Pirate. She now has 1 HP, and dodges another nomad from across the river. Another nomad attacks Sain. Marcus takes out a Pirate, and a cav, and wounds another cav. Fiora arrives, and doesn't move at all, which sucks as usually she's a little more helpful on putting herself in recruiting position, but I guess there were no enemies remotely nearby so she had no idea where to go.

Turn 3: Sain, Kent, Hector, Eliwood clean up the two nomads, Lyn finishes her Pirate, while Dart starts on the last one. Serra heals Lyn. Raven and Matt move across the bridge, forming a northern wall to shield Pris, who heals Raven some more. Florina can just reach Fiora, so recruits her. Fiora helps herself to her sister's Slim Lance, and a spare Iron, and moves full force east. Marcus moves to a forest south of the Thief and kills it good this time. Raven was criticalled by the Monk, but that left him at 20 HP so he shrugs it off. The Hand Axe Pirate for some reason attacked Lyn instead of Serra, so she dodges it like a pro.

Turn 4: Sain, Marcus, and Kent keep pressing east, taking on the continuing plague of Nomads. Fiora Iron Lances the Monk to death. Matt stands to her north and attacks an oncoming Peg knight while Raven and Pris continue south. Dart Hand Axes the Pirate, freeing Lyn and Serra to reach the southern "bridge" of the center isle. Hector and Eliwood line up just south of them. Guy continues taking care of business, while Florina flies to try to join her sister. The Peg damages Priscilla, but she lives, Marcus cleans up a few more enemies on their phase.

Turn 5: Marcus, Kent, and Sain take care of the Myrmidon and Nomad who survived, Dart gets revenge for Priscilla, she Heals him in return, Fiora Javelins to death a new Peg. At this point the only enemies are Uhai, and the recurring NW Pirate, NE Peg, and SE Nomad. Boring ensues while people move into position for the final act. Uhai is baited to Longbow at some point.

Turn 8: Raven Longswords Uhai. Lyn finshes with a Mani Katti crit. (My first run through Lyn failed the crit, so had to be rescued by Eliwood, so Hector could finish Uhai with a needlessly excessive crit. I decided Hector will level fast enough anyway, and capping is a downside, so I replayed it, and manipulated the RN so that Hector's crit went to Lyn.)

End Stats:

Hector    13.38 |29|14|10|11| 6|14| 3 (Eliwood C)
Florina   12.37 |25|11|13|14|15| 6| 8
Raven     11.63 |35|15|15|18| 3| 8| 2
Priscilla  6.89 |18| 7| 8| 8| 9| 3| 7
Matthew   14.52 |27| 6| 6|20| 6| 9| 5
Serra     14.43 |22| 9|12|11|12| 6|12
Guy       10.65 |30|10|16|18| 8| 7| 3
Lyn       12.83 |29| 7|10|17|11| 7| 3
Eliwood    9.20 |24| 8| 8|12|10| 6| 2 (Hector C)
Marcus     4.90 |32|16|18|11| 9|10|10
Kent      10.13 |28| 8| 8| 9| 6| 8| 5 (Sain C)
Sain      11.32 |27|13| 6|10| 8| 6| 3 (Kent C)
Dart       9.01 |35|13| 8| 9| 3| 6| 1
Fiora      8.02 |22| 8|12|13| 7| 6| 7

Chapter Tactics: 8/10

Total Tactics: 94/93 (4 Star) [EHM 83]

Chapter XP: 1175/1100

Total XP: 10526/8300 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: After the end of the 2nd enemy phase, this really wasn't so bad, especially for being Fog of War. I never found the time to actually put any torches into use, surprisingly enough, as almost always people had better things to be doing. Kent dug himself out of his Strength hole, and now looks suspiciously like a second Lowen with better supports. Raven is a champ.

Ch19x - Prisoner of Magic:

General Strategy: Oswin Florina take Kishuna's area, everyone else move there and kill enemies. Merlinus goes unprotected but deployed.

Team: Hector, Raven, Matthew, Eliwood, Marcus, Oswin, Florina, Priscilla. I really wanted to use Fiora instead of Florina, but the lack in strength meant she couldn't quite cut it against some of the enemy pegs. I tried going without a healer to get some levels onto Dart, but that failed spectacularly.

Turn 1: Florina starts off by moving over and doubling an enemy peg with a Javelin, in range of one of the Mages, this later becomes relevant. Hector moves SE, Oswin moves west, ending north of Eliwood. Marcus equips a Hand Axe and moves south into range of enemies. Raven moves to the forest south of Merlinus and Priscilla takes his north. Eliwood and Matthew don't advance, that would just let the magic users target them. Florina dodges like a pro on the enemy phase, only getting hit by the Mage for 3HP, while killing another peg and wounding the one she can't double when she's this weighed down. The Mage that Marcus would double, he misses once on, due to forest, the other one he can't double. This wounds them both to easy pickings.

Turn 2: Eliwood finishes the western wounded mage, Oswin Javelins a new mage that moved into the very edge of his range, and Matthew finishes it. Multiple restarts and experiments ultimately led to the following conclusion: Florina has to retreat. She does so, ending north of Oswin with Iron Lance equipped. Priscilla heals her as well, otherwise she would die. Marcus kills the Swordreaver bandit, as I can't let that attack either Eliwood or Raven (well Raven would probably take it like a man), baiting the Nosferatu Shaman to take the final Hand Axe counter. Raven kills the other wounded Mage. Enemy phase sees Florina kill two Pegs. The last peg (the wounded one from before) injures Priscilla, but she lives. This leaves only one uninjured peg and one wounded one. The pesky eastern Mage attacks Raven.

Turn 3: Hector Iron Axes a mage that ended up north of the Shaman, letting Eliwood get in there and finish it. Priscilla heals Florina again, who then goes and Javelins the uninjured Peg. Oswin dispatches with the wounded one easily. Matt and Raven take care of a forest tile Mage, while Marcus visits the ruins. Eliwood gets ganged up on by Mages and ends with low health (~3 HP). Kishuna et al. arrive. The fact that the two Mages who'd started near the fort have been moving back and forth, unable to make up their minds where to go due to Florina's antics means the west Sniper comes in skewed to the north.

Turn 4: Marcus emerges from his meeting with Renault, and Iron Lances the pesky eastern Mage. Raven dispatches another one, allowing Eliwood access to a wounded knight who foolishly attacked Hector. This also brings him into Priscilla's healing range, just outside the magic boundary. She was supposed to trade him his Rapier, but I forgot this time, so I had Matthew do it, which meant he couldn't go into range of the Bandit like I'd intended. Ordinarily I'd reset, but I just went with the flow, and strangely enough, the run actually ended up finishing fine. Anyway, Oswin equips the Heavy Spear, is rescued by Florina, who flies westward, but not in Sniper range.

Turn 5: General cleaning up by the main crew, Rapiering knights, destroying defenseless Mages, etc. Florina drops Oswin south of the southern knight, moves to the east of the Sniper. Oswin connects on the counter attack.

Turn 6: Oswin connects on the player phase. He's now at 2HP (Silver Lance Knight is not to be underestimated!), and the enemy is only slightly better ~4. Florina takes it out with a Steel Lance from south of the Sniper. This allows the random wandering wounded mage from turn one to set up camp to the Sniper's east, to my annoyance.

Turn 7: Florina Javelin's the Mage outside of Sniper range, Oswin softens up the Sniper slightly.

Turn 8: Matthew steals the Silver Card, Marcus Silver Lances Sniper, Florina damages it as well.

Turn 9: Aion falls to a tag team of Raven, Florina Javelin, Eliwood, if I recall correctly. Raven is rescue chained back near Kishuna. Oswin kills the Sniper.

Turn 10: Raven Killing Edge crit, 33HP, Marcus Silver Lance 17HP, remaining Kishuna HP2. Oswin steps on the fort and delivers the final blow. Remaining forces pick on the final sniper for free XP, Prissy heals, Hector seizes.

End Stats:

Hector    14.18 |30|14|10|11| 6|14| 3 (Eliwood C)
Raven     12.55 |36|15|16|19| 4| 9| 2
Matthew   15.56 |28| 7| 7|20| 6| 9| 5
Eliwood   11.85 |25| 8| 8|12|10| 7| 3 (Hector C)
Marcus     5.29 |33|16|19|11| 9|10|10
Florina   13.96 |26|12|14|15|16| 6| 9
Priscilla  7.78 |18| 8| 9| 8|10| 3| 7

Chapter Tactics: 10/10

Total Tactics: 104/103 (4 Star) [EHM 97]

Chapter XP: 1013/1000

Total XP: 11539/9300 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: I wouldn't want to kill Kishuna before killing Aion, clearly, and I couldn't kill Kishuna and not seize immediately, otherwise his remaining men would destroy me, as they didn't seem to warp out. Also, Merlinus is a pro, dodging five out of six Mage reinforcement attacks and surviving the chapter, which was completely unexpected. Anyone who claims to have killed Kishuna on HHM without RNG manipulation is either: Lying, Overlevelled (aka Not Ranking), or Luckier than God. Period.

Ch19x pt 2 - A Glimpse in Time:

My first attempt at this chapter was a pure suicide mission to explore the fog of war. My second was feeling out a general idea of how to efficiently work through it. After that, it was just perfecting things. There are so many Thieves in this chapter, many of which don't even have keys and just exist for stealing your shit. Preparations saw everyone unload everything that wasn't nailed down. Except Raven, who ended up needing to keep a vulnerary, as I discovered later.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Raven, Matthew, Marcus, Florina, Serra, Erk

Turn 1: Matthew Steals Chest Key from enemy thief. Marcus parks next to him, takes it (so the Thief doesn't just steal it back), and Hand Axes the Thief. Erk and Raven tag team takes down the Thief just near the doors in the main passage. Serra Unlocks the door from 2 range, and Florina and Hector surround her and protect her. Eliwood advances. Enemy Knights miss Florina on their phase, Matt tanks some arrows, and kills the thief on the counter (this is vital, otherwise it would rape Merlinus). Marcus trades fire with the Sniper, Erk dodges ballista, and Raven dodges the Sleep Staff (manditory).

Turn 2: Sleep is bullshit, so Hector Wolf Beils the Troubadour. Raven Iron Swords a Mage from the east, this puts him in range of a Knight, which will turn out okay in the end. Eliwood and Florina take out one of the western Knights, while Erk finishes the other. Marcus rescues Matthew and full moves west and north. (While potentially killing the Knight and pressing east may have been a strategy I seem to remember the enemy Troubadour loving to clog the way, and with a Sniper in addition to the other archers from NM, I didn't even bother trying.) Serra stands next to Hector and uses a Torch staff to light things up a bit. Enemy phase: The Knight hits Raven, but he crits it in reply. The ballista misses him, but the mage doesn't. ~3HP remaining (this is why he needed the vulnerary). A mage attacks Hector, no big deal.

Turn 3: Marcus moves into the main area and Iron Axes weakens a mage for Eliwood to finish, Raven camps on a forest and sucks down on that vulnerary, while Erk Thunders the Mage to death. Hector moves East, into range of multiple Armors, Serra Heals him. Florina Javelin weakens the Thief. Enemy phase sees the door-guarding Armor attack Florina, who doubles and crits it, putting it at 6 HP. The Thief then goes and uses its Door Key, letting out even more thieves... Hector kills the two armors that attack him. I can't remember if Raven was hit by the Ballista or not, but I think he was. At any rate, he lived.

Turn 4: Hector equips a Hand axe and moves to the southeast of the right pillar, into range of both Wyverns and the Archer, will wound both Wyverns, kill the Archer. Marcus drops Matt off in the passage north of the ballista and cantos back to the southeast of the left pillar. Raven kills the Ballista, Erk moves to Matt's west. Florina kills the wounded Thief, while Eliwood Rapier dispatches the wounded Knight. Serra Heals Marcus.

Turn 5: Marcus Iron Axes the NW Thief, for Eliwood to finish off. Florina Javelins the other northern Thief for Matt to finish off. Erk kills the southern wyvern, Hector moves into the Boss room and Hand Axes the northern Wyvern, Raven moves NE and Serra Mends him. The Thief with the pilfered goods moves out into the main area.

Turn 6: Matt steals the Dragonshield, Marcus moves fullspeed to the Talisman chest, doesn't quite reach it. Erk Fires the Thief, Eliwood kills it, and acquires Eclipse (aka I'm a tome that is only good for funds). Florina Iron Lances the Boss, Hector moves slightly north, Serra moves up near him and Torches, for no real reason. On the enemy phase Matthew is hit by Eclipse. Who would have guessed. I'd actually hoped Teodor would attack Florina.

Turn 7: Marcus opens the chest, Raven weakens the Boss, Florina kills him. Serra does some Healing, then Hector seizes.

End Stats:

Hector    14.99 |30|14|10|11| 6|14| 3 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   13.14 |27| 9| 9|12|10| 8| 4 (Hector C)
Raven     13.64 |37|16|16|19| 4| 9| 2
Matthew   17.00 |30| 8| 8|20| 8|10| 5
Marcus     5.57 |33|16|19|11| 9|10|10
Florina   16.00 |29|12|16|18|17| 7|11
Serra     15.35 |22| 9|13|11|13| 6|12
Erk       14.40 |29|11|10|15| 6| 2| 9

Chapter Tactics: 7/0

Total Tactics: 111/103 (4 Star) [EHM 97]

Chapter XP: 847/0

Total XP: 12386/9300 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: 5 enemies were left alive. The two Archers and Sniper, the Knight and the Silence/Physic Troubadour (who thankfully didn't try to pull any funny business). They were all in the south and way out of my way. I honestly feel having the enemy Thief loot and come to me was far superior, though I didn't make off with his Lockpick. It may have been feasible to clear this in 6 turns if I'd not allocated Marcus to picking up the Talisman, but since the main reason for coming here was for funds and XP ownage... Well, that and the satisfaction of the complete story experience (which will probably be marred when I decide not to recruit Karla, and may need to skip Value of Life). Anyway, the map wasn't so bad, as long as the status staff doesn't fuck you on turn 1.

Planning Ahead:

Lord's Levels:

Hector: 14.99

Eliwood: 13.14

Lyn: 12.83

Total: ~41

I need to earn ~9 levels amongst them in ~5 chapters. This seems eminently feasible. Not worried much at all. Now with a 30 level lead on the XP rank I'm feeling quite comfortable there as well. The missed ~3 levels on Ninian (who always caps anyways) due to higher start was more than made up for by 19xx. I'm going to do a proper tally of what exactly my current funds situation is here later tonight, so I can make decisions and craft a shopping list.

I'm currently questioning the feasibility of visiting Secret Shops, and having an internal debate over whether Physic is more important than Killers (I guess I can always delay that to Ch 22 though, can't I...), and how many Chest Keys I should buy, usually I don't buy any, but I've already wished I had some at least twice this playthrough. Thinking ahead to the next chapter I'm having a similar dilemma on buyable Pure Water, usually I buy none, but I hear they're great for status staff avoid in Cog of Destiny (or was it Victory or Death?), how many is a good investment?

Anyway, I'm sure some of this will clarify after my funds tally, and my investigating the chapter and figuring a good game plan to get to Legault, and the member card thief. Also, some clarification, it is fact that I cannot recruit Legault with Eliwood in this mode, but either of the other lords are OK?

Edit:

Funds calculations are in

Items subtotal: 155632

$ on hand: 12230

Total Funds: 167862

Fund req subtotal through 19xx: 171000

80% allowance for 5*: 136800

Funds: 167862/136800

I'll need to sleep on that and figure out how I feel about that. Can't yet promote even four dudes without dropping.

Edited February 11, 2010 by Balcerzak

dondon151 · February 12, 2010

I was able to promote 8 units on chapter 28 without losing the 5 star in funds. Even if you drop to 4 stars, you'll be able to make it up later.

Balcerzak · February 13, 2010

Did a few run throughs of Dragon's Gate. Got a successful one where Hector (un)fortunately countercriticalled Darin, which would have allowed be to seize on turn 7, if I didn't want Legault, the Member Card, the Chest goods, and Killer Weapons from the secret shop. Since killing Darin prevents the reinforcements from arriving, Dart didn't get to kill any pegasi, though he did wander over and kill Killer Bow Archer (after barely surviving a crit) and I ended up 550 XP under the limit. Marcus's mad dash to the Secret Shop did allow me to seize on turn 11, and I saved that run over 19xx, but feel I can do better and will rerun avoiding killing Darin, and with the obvious alterations this will imply to the following turns' strategies.

Save Slots in use and available chapters: Ch21, Ch20, Ch19x (this one is essentially frozen until after at least Crazed Beast, and I re-evaluate my tactics situation.)

HHM ranked playthrough

Recommended Posts

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Link to comment

Share on other sites

Join the conversation

Recently Browsing 0 members