My attempt at HHM S-rank

[Paper Jam]

I'm attempting HHM S-rank, so I thought I'd write down my experiences so far.

First, for a bit of backstory... Here are the stats of my units at the end of LHM, going into HHM. Thanks to Raven for providing the format:

Unit stats:
Name--------Lv.-HP-Str-Skl-Spd-Luc-Def-Res
Lyn--------6.28-20---6--10--12--10---2---2
Kent-------7.09-26---8--10---9---3---6---2
Sain*------1.00-37--20--10--12--10--13---3
Wil--------6.43-24--10---8---6---7---5---3
Florina----6.46-20---8---8--11---9---4---6
Dorcas-----3.50-30---7---7---6---3---3---0
Erk--------5.21-20---7---7--10---4---5---6
Serra-----12.11-23---8---8--15--15---2--10
Matthew----8.57-23---9---7--16---5---3---0
Rath-------8.33-26---8--10--11---6---8---2
Lucius-----6.21-21--10---8--12---3---1---8
Nils-------7.34-18---1---0--18--14---5--10
Wallace---12.00-30--13---7---5--10--15---2

I didn't keep track of much other than turn count and total experience gained in the first dozen or so chapters, but here it is:

 Chapter stats:
Chapter---Turns--TacA--Exp--ExpA
11---------7(7)----0---411-----0
12---------5(4)----8---582---550
13---------8(0)---12--1167---750
13x--------8(1)----7--1096---700
14--------8(-1)---10--1094---850
15---------8(7)----0---700-----0
16---------7(7)----7---956--1100
17--------13(2)---18--1281--1100
17x-------10(2)---10--1035---700
18---------9(0)---11--1446--1450

I'm currently on Chapter 19.

So far, so good, I think. The only thing I would do differently in future HHM attempts would be to buy more supplies in chapter 14 and sell vulneraries for arena money in chapter 17x. Matthew has been taking everything that isn't nailed down, including way more vulneraries than I can possibly use, and they're starting to take up inventory space. As things are, I'll probably sell them in chapter 21 even though I no longer need the money.

I bought 4 iron axes, 3 iron swords, and a heal staff in chapter 14, and right now I'm feeling a bit of a pinch from not having any spare iron bows or lances. My goal was to keep enough of the 5000G from chapter 13x to fund my first arena fight in chapter 17x, but as I said, on reflection I could have sold some of my less useful items instead, and still compensated for the hit to my funds rank by winning in the arena.

I did as much arena abuse in chapter 17x as the 5-star Tactics requirement for that chapter would allow, getting Lyn up to level 11 and Eliwood up to level 9, and getting about 9000G in the process. I intend to do the same in chapter 21, again with Lyn and Eliwood.

And finally, here are the stats of all my characters as of the beginning of chapter 19. I did have to abuse the RN to get (generally) favorable level-ups, and I'm sure it shows.

Unit stats:
Name--------Lv.-HP-Str-Skl-Spd-Luc-Def-Res
Hector----14.17-31--17---9--14---7--14---2
Matthew---15.56-28--13--10--20--10---7---3
Eliwood----9.85-24--12---7--12--12---6---3
Marcus*----1.77-31--15--15--11---8--10---8
Lowen------9.75-30--13---8--10---6--11---4
Bartre-----7.85-34--12---7---7---6---5---2
Dorcas-----8.27-35--12---9---8---7---7---1
Rebecca----7.49-22---8---8--11---6---3---1
Oswin-----11.65-30--15--10---6---3--14---4
Serra-----16.46-24--12---9--18--17---3--13
Guy--------9.92-31--13--15--19--11---7---2
Erk-------11.62-23--11--10--15---8--10---8
Priscilla--7.27-17---9---8--10---9---3---8
Lyn-------11.03-24---9--11--15--15---3---3
Kent-------9.22-28---9--11--10---3---6---4
Sain*------2.99-38--21--11--15--10--13---4
Wil--------8.27-25--12---9---8---8---6---4
Florina---10.62-23--10--11--15--11---4---7
Raven------8.18-32--12--13--18---3---7---4
Lucius-----7.78-22--10---9--13---3---2---9
Canas------9.28-21--11--10---9---7---5---8

[Paper Jam]

Finally got past chapter 19. I deployed Florina, Lowen, Rebecca, Bartre, Matthew, Serra, Priscilla, Raven, Lucius, Guy, and Marcus. (Dart joined automatically, of course.)

Player turn 1: I kept Marcus by Merlinus as a rearguard and to build up support; I sent Bartre, Dart, Rebecca, Matthew, and Serra east (my bravo team) and everyone else south (my alpha team). It took a bit of rescue-take-drop magic to get everyone into the position I wanted, but Lowen and Lucius wasted the cavalier just south of the forts, Lucius getting a pretty good level-up as a result.

Enemy turn 1: One of the pegasus knights in the northeast targeted Serra, who easily dodged the attack; the rest targeted Matthew, who easily killed them. A cavalier and a nomad attacked Florina, but while the cavalier's attack connected, the nomad's didn't. (Whew.)

Player turn 2: The trickiest thing about this turn was figuring out the best order in which to have my units attack to optimize level-ups; Bartre, Lowen, Guy, and Matthew were all close to leveling up, and I wanted them all to get decent stat-ups with their new levels. In the end, I did get very good stats for Bartre and decent stats for the rest of them. My alpha team took out most of the enemies near the forts, although Florina and Lowen had to go a few spaces ahead of the rest of them to chase down and kill the thief with the Torch staff, while my bravo team eliminated the nomads and all but one of the pegasus knights in the northeast.

Enemy turn 2: The RNG blessed me with high RNs this turn; as I suspected, Lowen and especially Florina came under heavy attack. No fewer than three nomads shot at Florina, and all of them missed. Three cavaliers also attacked them, but neither Florina nor Lowen took serious wounds. On the northeastern front, the surviving pegasus knight attacked Serra. The pirate in the northeast moved towards Rebecca, who was lagging behind the rest of the bravo team.

Neutral turn 2: Fiora attacked the pirate in the northeast.

Player turn 3: Rebecca finished off the pirate that Fiora had wounded. Marcus came up to rescue Fiora, since Florina was busy with the alpha team. Bartre seriously wounded but didn't kill the pegasus that had attacked Serra. Dart swam to the northeast corner to deal with the pegasus reinforcement there. Matthew killed the nomad and got another torch. Raven, Lucius, and Florina made short work of the nomads to the southwest, while Guy killed one of the cavaliers and Lowen wounded another.

Enemy turn 3: Another pirate approached Rebecca. The pegasus knight Bartre had wounded flew towards the middle of the map. The wounded cavaliers to the southwest threw themselves against Florina, who disposed of them. Pegasus reinforcements from the far southwest threw themselves at Lucius, with similar results. Only a pirate with a hand axe remained to bother the alpha team.

Player turn 4: Marcus dropped Fiora off near the center-west of the map. Florina recruited her, and Hector gave her an iron lance. Fiora chased and killed the wounded pegasus in the middle of the map. Rebecca retreated to the east, and Bartre covered her. Dart killed another pegasus. Guy killed the pirate to the south; Matthew killed the monk to the east, and everyone else moved forward.

Enemy turn 4: The pirate from the northwest attacked Bartre. Nomads and a monk from the southeast attacked the alpha team.

Player turn 5: Dart killed yet another pegasus reinforcement and got a level-up with increases to HP, strength, speed, and defense. My goal being to get Dart's speed high enough that Geitz can't double-attack him, I was quite pleased. Rebecca wounded the pirate, also getting a good level-up. Bartre finished him off. Fiora attacked a cavalier on the middle "island" while Matthew and Serra advanced south. Guy killed the monk and Lowen killed one of the nomads to the south; Lucius and Raven picked up and dropped Guy one space forward.

Enemy turn 5: One nomad from the southeast went north to attack Serra; the rest attacked Raven and Guy. The cavalier suicided against Fiora. Another pirate attacked Bartre and was severely wounded.

Player turn 6: Dart killed another pegasus reinforcement from the northeast. Rebecca finished off the pirate. Fiora killed the nomad that was harassing Serra in a lucky critical strike. Raven, Lucius, and Lowen attacked the nomads first and killed one who was within three spaces of Uhai; Guy took that spot and killed another of the nomads, getting another level-up and capping his Speed. Guy could now double-attack Uhai with a Killing Edge. :)

Enemy turn 6: Uhai shot at Guy with his longbow, and missed. The one surviving nomad in the southeast attacked someone (I forget whom). Yet another pirate attacked Bartre.

Player turn 7: Rebecca killed the pirate. Lowen killed the nomad. Guy rushed Uhai with a Killing Edge. Hit. Crit. End of chapter.

Character standings as of the end of chapter 19:

Unit stats:
Name--------Lv.-HP-Str-Skl-Spd-Luc-Def-Res
Hector----14.24-31--17---9--14---7--14---2
Priscilla--7.82-17---9---8--10---9---3---8
Matthew---16.43-29--13--10--20--11---8---3
Serra-----16.83-24--12---9--18--17---3--13
Raven------8.96-32--12--13--18---3---7---4
Lucius-----9.31-23--12--11--13---3---3--11
Florina---11.64-24--10--12--16--12---4---7
Guy-------12.16-34--14--17--20--12---8---3
Marcus-----1.77-31--15--15--11---8--10---8
Lowen-----10.84-31--14---8--10---6--12---5
Bartre-----8.88-35--13---8---8---7---6---2
Rebecca----8.33-23---9---8--12---7---3---1
Dart-------9.40-35--13---8---9---3---7---1
Fiora------7.94-21---8--11--13---6---6---7

I only got 977 experience from the chapter, just enough to get 2-star experience for the chapter. On the other hand, I completed it in 7 turns, putting me 3 turns ahead of the maximum for 5-star Tactics.

[chococoke]

I would certainly recommend you try to get to Linus' version of FFO. His map is great for S-Rank runs.

[Paper Jam]

Chapter 19x was... a pain. Because I'm a perfectionist, I wanted to defeat Kishuna and get to chapter 19xx, and I wanted to do it in as few turns as possible (which turned out to be seven, but I had to do a LOT of RN abuse to ensure that every attack landed).

So here's how it went:

I deployed Hector, Matthew, Serra, Florina, Fiora, Sain, Bartre, and Guy.

Player Turn 1: Fiora flew south to get the icon from Renault. Florina rescued Bartre and flew west over the mountains. Everyone else moved southwest.

Enemy Turn 1: The mages attacked Guy and Fiora; the two closest pegasi attacked Florina, who severely wounded one and killed the other.

Player Turn 2: Florina dropped Bartre off in the woods to the north-northwest, within range of Aion's Bolting. Hector, Fiora, Guy, and Matthew took care of the mages near the middle of the map; Sain KOed the shaman in one hit.

Enemy Turn 2: Aion shot at Bartre, and missed. The wounded pegasus flew to one of the forts near Merlinus, and the rest attacked Florina; all but one of them died. The brigand with the Swordreaver attacked Fiora, who retaliated, struck him down, and took his Swordreaver. Two mages near Aion moved north towards Bartre and Florina, one of them at Kishuna's spawning point.

Player Turn 3: Florina and Bartre used javelins and hand axes to kill the mage north of the fort. Guy and Matthew defeated two mages; Fiora rescued Guy and moved forward. Sain killed the knight at one of the forts to the southwest. Hector moved forward.

Enemy Turn 3: Kishuna appeared. One of the knights attacked Bartre. Some knights and brigands attacked Sain and were killed for their trouble. One mage continued to harass Matthew to the southeast.

Player Turn 4: Bartre attached the east sniper; Fiora went north and dropped off Guy a few spaces away from Kishuna's guards. Matthew moved forward, and Florina rescued him. Sain rushed towards Aion and killed one of the mages with a hand axe. Hector and Serra moved up to the forts.

Enemy Turn 4: Sain killed all of the knights near Aion. Kishuna's north knight attacked Bartre.

Player Turn 5: Bartre killed the north knight; Guy attacked the mage near Kishuna. Fiora went east to deal with one of the wounded pegasus knights near Merlinus. Sain attacked the east sniper. Hector and Serra moved forward, and Florina dropped Matthew off near them.

Enemy Turn 5: The south knight attacked Sain, who retaliated but didn't kill. The last enemy pegasus attacked Fiora, and Fiora killed her.

Player Turn 6: Matthew stole the Silver Card from Aion. Guy killed the east sniper and leveled up, getting increases to HP, strength, and defense. Florina attacked the west sniper, and Sain finished him off. Bartre killed the south knight. The only enemies left were Aion, Kishuna, and two mages.

Player Turn 7: Guy attacked Kishuna with his Killing Edge; it was super effective. Matthew, Bartre, and Fiora attacked Kishuna as well, defeating him. Sain attacked Aion (whose speed was severely limited by the Bolting he was carrying) and defeated him. Florina defeated one of the two surviving mages for good measure, and then Hector seized the gate. End of chapter.

[Paper Jam]

I'm getting a bit tired of recounting my blow-by-blow progress, and I'm sure it must be boring to read anyway. Instead, here's a summary of my experience in chapter 19x part 2:

I deployed Hector, Matthew, Serra, Fiora, Kent, Sain, Erk, and Priscilla.

Erk, who had already been fairly RNG-blessed, became even more so when fighting the archers, sniper, and some of the mages to the south. If I'm not careful with him, I might end up fighting Kenneth instead of Jerme. :)

Sain cleared out a few of the knights and the wyvern riders and Teodor (whose level was so ridiculously high that I didn't want to "waste" much kill EXP on someone of lower level), but Kent and Fiora did a fair bit of grunt work themselves, getting about two levels apiece. The high-level thieves and troubadours were excellent for their EXP gains.

Matthew gained another level or two, and his strength score went up again. (Maybe he'll end up giving Jaffar a run for his money.) He also stole almost everything that could be stolen, except for one Chest Key.

I completed the chapter in eight turns and am now two turns in excess of the 5-star Tactics requirement. This should be easily rectified in the following chapter.

Funds are a non-issue with all the loot I acquired in this chapter, and with the Silver Card in my possession, I doubt it ever will be an issue.

If my calculations are correct, I now have a total of 12,701 experience gained among my entire army, which is enough for 5-star experience in chapter 22. (And I'm currently at the beginning of chapter 20.) If I can, I'll try to keep my experience rank two chapters ahead of the 5-star requirement; I'm sure experience will be pretty tight come endgame, if EHM was anything to go by.

Speaking of experience rankings, I intend to field everybody up to at least level 10. Back in my EHM S-rank run I benched Lowen and Dorcas before level 10 but used everyone else; in this run, Dorcas and Priscilla are currently my lowest-level units, at level 8.27 each. My highest-level unit is, of course, Sain, at level 6.46 promoted.

[Paper Jam]

Been a while since my last update. Here is how chapter 20 went:

I deployed Hector, Lyn, and Eliwood (of course), Matthew, Serra, Wil, Rebecca, Priscilla, Dorcas, Raven, Lucius, and Marcus.

Wil and Rebecca stayed with Merlinus to have fun with the archer and one of the nomads in the south-center of the map, as well as the archer and fighter reinforcements and later the pegasus reinforcements. Marcus was mainly used to ferry Matthew from point A (the chest with the Brave Bow) to point B (within one turn's move of the western door). After that, I sent him to chill with Merlinus and build up ho yay support level with him. I won't let it kill my ranking, but I want as many supports as I can get.

I used Priscilla (armed with my door key) to unlock the center building, since she had nothing better to do on turn 1, and then I sent Raven and Dorcas in to clean it out.

The rest of the group went north, through the western treasure room and into the northwest section of the map. I caught Legault and the Member Card thief near the northwest corner of the map. Lyn killed both Cameron and Darin and achieved level 14. I completed the chapter on turn 11 and have 5 star Tactics again.

And here's how chapter 21 went:

I deployed Hector and Eliwood (of course), Lyn, Matthew, Serra, Fiora, Kent, and Florina. Ninian joined automatically.

This was to be my first big shopping spree, so I sold my vulneraries for some extra cash and inventory space. They fetched me about 2,100 gold all told, bringing my total funds (not assets) up to about 10,000 gold.

My calculations indicated that if I used two heal staves every turn for the entire rest of the game, I would use up about fourteen heal staves, so I bought them (for 4,200 gold with the Silver Card discount), and for good measure, I thought I'd buy some tomes as well: 8 Fire (for 2,240 gold), 5 Lightning (1,575 gold), and 4 Flux (1,800 gold). So I spent 9,615 of my gold, leaving roughly 1,000 as a nest egg for the arena. I did not visit the armory until turn 4, so I had... considerably more to spend there when I got there.

While I got decent experience for Kent and the two pegasus sisters, the highlight of this map was the arena, and Eliwood's participation therein. Thanks to some fancy use of the Dance and Rescue abilities, I was able to put Eliwood within five spaces of the arena on turn 1, and Ninian adjacent to him; from turns 2 to 9, I had Eliwood fight in the arena and Ninian dance for him so he could fight in the arena again. Occasionally I rescued him so Lyn could fight too, but strangely enough I wasn't able to get in as many arena battles for Lyn as I thought I would; she was too busy fighting wyverns and such.

Matthew stole the Hero's Crest, I visited all of the villages, Hector wounded the boss, and Lyn finished him off. In short, a complete success.

Remember what I said about axes being notoriously inaccurate, especially against sword users? Of the dozens of axe attacks that Eliwood endured in the arena, only one actually hit him. And most of those opponents were worth 900 to 1050 gold, too; I made a lot of money on this level.

Not only did I buy all of the tomes and staves I mentioned previously; I bought three iron bows (one each for Wil, Rebecca, and Rath; that's all they'll need in the three chapters between here and FFO when I can buy more), about six each of iron lances, swords, and axes, a couple of javelins and hand axes, and I still completed the level with over 10,000 gold in the bank. Between that, the 10,000 gold I get from the next chapter, and the arena in FFO, recruiting Farina should be very easy.

Speaking of FFO, Eliwood is now at level 17, and Lyn and Hector are now at level 16. One more level-up for any of them, and I fight Linus...

In the meantime, though, I move on to my two least favorite chapters in the game.

I have a bit of a conundrum, though: I want to use some of my lowest-level characters so that I can keep my Experience ranking high. With the exception of Heath and Rath (whom I haven't recruited yet) and Ninian (who gets the same amount of experience regardless of level), my lowest-level characters are all at level 9: Dart, Priscilla, Dorcas, and Canas. I also have a few level 10 characters who could use some action as well: Lowen, Raven, Rebecca, Wil, and Bartre.

I must say I'm sorely tempted to use Canas in chapter 22, if only to make all those damned Reaver weapons irrelevant. At the same time, I want Dart to get some levels in the next three chapters so that Geitz won't double-attack him in chapter 24, and I'm not sure if chapter 23 or 23x will be a good place to level him. (22x in EHM was, but that's not 23x in HHM.)

Edited November 27, 2012 by Paper Jam

[Paper Jam]

Chapter 22

Did I mention that I hate Reaver weapons? Especially when nearly every enemy has one, and they cover the entire weapon triangle...

Regardless, I cleared out most of the enemies anyway. (Thank you, Canas, Lucius, and Rath!) Hector used a hand axe to clear out the mages and monks coming up the middle of the map; Heath and Lowen took care of the enemies on the left side of the map, with a little help from Eliwood. Isadora, Serra and Matthew spent most of the chapter in or near the treasure room; Serra finally reached level 20, and I promoted her.

Eventually, I sent everybody else (Lucius, Raven, Rath, Canas, Priscilla, Lyn, and Hector) to the bottom right section of the map to attack the boss. Rath took out one of the shamans, Lucius and Raven took out some of the nomads, Hector weakened the boss, and Lyn struck the killing blow.

All of the Lords are now level 17. FFO Linus, here I come!

But first, the dreaded Desert/FoW combination that I remember so well from FE6.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Paper Jam

[Balcerzak]

Just chiming in to say, I think Kinship's Bond was my most disliked Chapter when I S ranked HHM years ago. If not, it was damn near top of the list. Grats on clearing it, and keep plugging away.

[General Horace]

Dart can get quite a few levels off the steel lance cavaliers in chapter 25 regardless, what with wta and them being super slow.

Are you going to go to Genesis?

[Paper Jam]

Dart can get quite a few levels off the steel lance cavaliers in chapter 25 regardless, what with wta and them being super slow.

Are you going to go to Genesis?

My plan is to do every Gaiden and recruit every character. So yes, I plan on doing Genesis.

Duly noted about the cavaliers in chapter 25, but I think I'll let Bartre take them down. I don't really need Dart for much besides recruiting Geitz in chapter 24, and Bartre needs to be level 5 promoted to recruit Karla.

I think I'll take my chances with Dart in Genesis. If the enemies there are of similar level to the enemies in EHM, it should be a very good chapter for leveling up those who need leveling up.

The catch is that Kishuna disappears and unleashes all of those enemies on me, but at least the magic users give up a lot of Attack Speed to wield long-range tomes. Staves will be more problematic, but it's too early yet to worry about that. I've got a desert to comb.

[DarkBladeSeth]

Looking forward your playlogs, I find them very helpful :-)

(Genesis is going to be hell on earth)

P.s: Props because you want to play every chapter/recruit everyone

Edited December 14, 2012 by DarkBladeSeth

[Paper Jam]

To give myself a break from the insanity of desert fog of war chapters, I thought I'd recap my unit stats up to now, arranged from highest level to lowest level. This is as of the beginning of chapter 23, and it should give you an idea of how badly I abused the RNG. * denotes a promoted character, though I only have a few at this point.

Unit stats:
Name--------Lv.-HP-Str-Skl-Spd-Luc-Def-Res
Sain*------6.46-41--23--12--18--12--14---4
Marcus*----1.78-31--18--15--11---8--10---8
Isadora*---1.32-28--13--12--16--10---8---6
Serra*-----1.00-30--17--11--21--20---5--17
Matthew---19.38-32--15--11--20--12---9---3
Lyn-------17.83-29--13--15--20--19---5---5
Eliwood---17.81-31--17--13--19--14---8---6
Hector----17.28-34--17--11--16---8--16---2
Erk-------14.05-26--13--11--16---9--11---9
Lucius----13.65-27--15--13--16---5---4--13
Guy-------13.58-35--15--17--20--12---9---3
Florina---13.34-25--11--13--18--12---5---7
Fiora-----13.28-26--11--14--17---6---7--11
Kent------13.26-32--11--14--13---3---7---5
Lowen-----12.36-33--15--10--12---8--13---5
Legault---12.35-28---9--14--17--10---9---4
Canas-----11.97-22--12--11--11---7---6---8
Oswin-----11.65-30--15--10---6---3--14---4
Raven-----11.40-35--15--15--20---6---8---4
Heath-----10.77-33--16--12--12---9--13---2
Rebecca---10.69-25--10--10--14---8---3---2
Bartre----10.59-37--14--10--10---8---6---2
Wil-------10.36-26--12--10--10--10---6---4
Rath------10.22-28---9--12--13---7---8---3
Priscilla--9.92-18--10---9--12--10---4--10
Dorcas-----9.54-36--13--10---8---7---8---1
Dart-------9.40-35--13---8---9---3---7---1
Ninian-----9.24-19---1---0--20--16---5--11

[DarkBladeSeth]

Do you already know who else are you going to promote?

[Paper Jam]

Do you already know whom else are you going to promote?

Heil Grammar!

But all joking aside...

Definitely the Lords, Bartre, Raven, and Canas.

Probably Guy and Priscilla too.

Definitely not Dart or the thieves. When Matthew reaches level 20, that's it for him.

Other than that, I'm not sure.

[BBM]

dat Eliwood...

[DarkBladeSeth]

Are you sure you can afford to promote all the lords?

I always heard that it's not advisable because their promotion item (Heaven seal) is very expensive...

P.s: F**k you because your Eliwood rocks and mine sucks xD

[Paper Jam]

With the Silver Card and a bit of arena abuse, money is pretty much a non-issue.

And you can do more than a bit of arena abuse in chapter 24 (Linus).

You do have to be careful about whom you promote, but it certainly won't hurt your Funds rank that much if you promote Lyn and Eliwood.

Edited December 14, 2012 by Paper Jam

[Paper Jam]

Chapter 23

Not as bad as I feared. Took me a while to figure out how that second RNG worked, though. (Namely, that it resets when you reset the game.)

I deployed Hector (of course), Ninian, Matthew, Serra, Canas, Priscilla, Florina, and Heath.

Matthew stole everything that could be stolen, Priscilla got in some extra experience thanks to the Torch staff, Hector got the killing blows on both Paul and Jasmine (both having been weakened by Serra), and Florina, Heath, and Canas mopped up most of the rest of the trash (and combed the desert for most of the buried treasure; Matthew dug up the rest).

I think the Fog of War was more of a blessing than a curse, since it enabled Priscilla to get extra EXP from using the Torch staff. And the map is small enough that you don't have that much Fog of War to clear.

It certainly wasn't as frustrating as FE6 chapter 14, maybe because of the latter's size, maybe because I wasn't forced to deploy anybody like Cecilia or Sophia (though, come to think of it, I did deploy Priscilla anyway).

It also helped that I could get rid of both of the bosses within five turns. Taking out the rest of the trash was a piece of cake by comparison.

Onward to chapter 23x, where I intend to level up Dart and the archers. I'll tell you how it goes.

[Nicolbolas]

As someone who has beaten HHM with an A (after once through via arena abusing to a 'solid' c) I think A. You should keep a running total of turns taken. Although I am sure you remeber TOTAL UNDER 310!

Also personally speaking I find both isn't and sain maxing out speed/skill at or before 20/20. But o notice kent does not hit max strength often. If this fails (and you try again maybe use sain?)

Anyways, best of luck. PM me of you ever want any help/ideas :)

WISHING YOU LUCK!!

[Paper Jam]

Shoot! I did not mean to delete my chapter 23x log, and I don't remember exactly what it said.

That said, I can remember a bit of it: I deployed Dart, Wil, and Rebecca, and I was especially glad that the latter two could use Longbows. They took out most of the enemies in the north...

Serra got a lot of experience from fighting the enemies in the southeast corner, and also from Kishuna's guards.

I also listed the experience and stats of each of my characters, but I can't be bothered to do it all again, and it's outdated anyway.

In short, chapter 23x wasn't nearly as exciting as...

Chapter 24

I love the arena, and I love long turn counts.

Dart recruited Geitz and saw plenty of action in the southeast corner, fighting wyvern reinforcements and the occasional corsair.

Serra cleared the mercenaries between me and Geitz, killed most of the mercenaries and wyverns in the north, and got A-rank in Light magic. Matthew kept her company, because I'm a sucker for the Matthew-Serra support conversations.

Erk, Rebecca, and Wil cleared out most of the enemies between me and the arena, with a bit of help from Hector and Florina.

Priscilla was on healing duty with Heal and Physic staves, because I didn't want Serra to S-rank staves. Priscilla also kept Erk company, since I'm a sucker for their support as well.

Guy and Raven did a bit of fighting on their way to the arena, but they spent most of the chapter in or near the arena as I exploited the RNG for all it was worth. Once Raven reached level 3 promoted (and could defeat Linus without wasting any experience, being only 9 levels lower), I started ferrying him in the general direction of Linus, and he ended up striking the final blow.

Because I had nothing better to do with Wil and Rebecca for the better part of the chapter (i.e. once the path to the arena was clear), I gave Wil the Silver Card and the order to go shopping and to visit the villages. Rebecca kept him company, because... you know the drill.

I promoted Guy and Raven in this chapter, because I knew that my arena winnings and the Silver Card discount would put my assets gained from this chapter well above the 5-star Funds requirement for this chapter. About 30,000 above the Funds requirement, if I've calculated correctly.

For the books: I went into this chapter with about 12,000 in cash; I spent about 10,000 on weapons, and I ended the chapter with about 34,000 in cash. I intend to spend 20,000 of it to recruit Farina, and the rest on promotion items in chapter 31. I have not liquidated any of my mineral assets*, but I probably will in chapter 31. But that is quite a distance away.

As far as turn count goes, I spent 22 turns on this chapter, no more or less than is required for 5 stars in Tactics. I should therefore still have 13 turns of headway.

If my calculations are correct, I have gained a total of 25,356 experience points, which is roughly the total required by the end of Night of Farewells. Moreover, I have quite a few characters in the 10-13 range whom I also intend to use, so I don't think that my experience will be drying up anytime soon.

Another of my goals in this chapter was to buy enough iron weapons that I wouldn't need to buy any more in chapter 31x, since it would be a pain to go to each armory. I'm not sure how well I succeeded; I have a total of 20 iron swords, 20 iron lances, 18 iron axes, and 11 iron bows completely unused. That would have to last me about 10 chapters...

*i.e. sold any of my gems

I've been analyzing things way too much, I guess. Still, it's put me in a pretty good position, and I'm sure I'll get this thing done eventually.

Edited January 23, 2013 by Paper Jam

[Paper Jam]

Chapter 25

Hector, Wil, Rebecca, Erk, and Priscilla mostly stayed in the middle of the map and provided token support to Bartre, who advanced towards Pascal. Wil and Rebecca commandeered the ballistae and did some damage to the enemy pegasi and archers.

Eliwood and Ninian went southwest to take out the pirates and warrior, and they mostly just stayed there after the southwestern fortress was captured.

Florina and Fiora flew Serra across the lake and took down the monks, the bishop, and a few pirates, and they soon captured the northeastern fortress. Fiora remained behind to deal with the monk reinforcements; Serra went west to deal with the cavalier reinforcements in the north, and Florina went west to deal with the remaining archers/ballistae.

Bartre lured Pascal out, Priscilla (guarded by the forest) lured him farther out, and Hector, Rebecca, and Wil finished him off. Bartre proceeded towards Pascal's fortress but couldn't get past the constant cavalier reinforcements, so Florina flew in from the east and completed the chapter on turn 7.

I have kept my 5-star Tactics ranking with 6 turns to spare, and Bartre has risen from level 10 to level 16 in this chapter alone. Not a bad chapter, if I do say so myself.

Speaking of experience, here are the rankings:

Among the promoted characters, Serra leads by far at level 10.95; the runner-up is Sain at level 6.46. Behind them is a three-way struggle between Hawkeye (4.96), Raven (4.54) and Guy (4.13). Geitz is fairly close behind them at level 3.28, and Marcus and Isadora bring up the rear at level 1.78 and 1.32, respectively.

Matthew is very close to the top of the unpromoted race at level 19.97, followed by Hector, Eliwood, and Florina at 19.85, 19.13, and 19.04. Lyn is 17.83, and Priscilla is 17.03. Axe users Bartre (16.39) and Dart (16.27) follow, as do Fiora (15.87), Erk (15.59), Wil (15.27), Rebecca (14.82), and Canas (14.63). More evenly matched against the current foes are Lucius (13.65), Kent (13.26), Ninian (12.65), Heath (12.49), Lowen (12.36), Legault (12.35), Farina (12.10), and Oswin (11.65). Slightly behind the current enemy level is Rath (10.22), and bringing up the rear is Dorcas (9.54).

I think I might bench Dorcas for the remainder of the playthrough; I intend to deploy Oswin, Rath, and Kent in the next chapter.

Edited February 14, 2013 by Paper Jam

[DarkBladeSeth]

Wow, a lot of promoted units!

My only promoted units are the healers...and I'm in chapter 27 xD

Do you already know which version of PfoD are you going to play?

[Paper Jam]

Wow, a lot of promoted units!

My only promoted units are the healers...and I'm in chapter 27 xD

Do you already know which version of PfoD are you going to play?

Probably Jerme's version. Guy and Raven got so much experience in chapter 24, and Bartre in chapter 25, that I think they offset Serra's experience.

Dorcas: 9.54-3.50=6.04

Bartre: 16.39-2.00=14.39

Guy: (4.13-1.00)+(20.00-3.00)=20.13

Raven: (4.54-1.00)+(20.00-5.00)=18.54

Total experience gained by my fighters: 5910

Serra: (10.95-1.00)+(20.00-12.11)=17.84

Erk: 15.59-5.21=10.38

Priscilla: 17.03-3.00=14.03

Lucius: 13.65-6.21=7.44

Total experience gained by my magic users: 4969

Yup. Jerme.

Edit: I am currently having way too much fun with Fire Emblem: Awakening. I know I took kind of a long break between chapter 24 and 25, but I think my updates on this playthrough will remain sporadic.

Edited February 20, 2013 by Paper Jam

[Paper Jam]

Chapter 26

I guess I have an aversion to holdout missions, and I'm sure that I didn't get a very good Combat score in this particular chapter.

I had Wil, Rebecca, Rath, Kent, Fiora, and Ninian in the middle, and Oswin, Erk, Priscilla, Serra, and Matthew to the east. My goal was to give Rath, Oswin, and Kent most of the experience, but in the end, Lyn ended up seeing more action. Enough to raise her from 17.83 to 20.00, in fact.

Matthew finally got attacked enough to reach 20.00 unpromoted, but I think I like his supports with Serra too much to bench either of them. Priscilla also reached 20.00 unpromoted, but I think I want to wait until chapter 28x to promote her, Lyn, Eliwood, etc.

The game is starting to feel a bit like a juggling act. Just when I get one group of characters up to speed, I realize that another group is starting to fall behind. Last chapter I noticed that Dorcas, Oswin, and Rath were particularly low in level, although I think it's safe to bench Dorcas at this point. This chapter, I think I'll deploy Heath and Farina and maybe bench Lowen.

Still, I'm only about 120 levels away from a 5-star Experience ranking for the entire playthrough, and I have about 10 chapters to get it. 12 levels per chapter shouldn't be too arduous a task; I got about 19 from the last chapter alone.

Onward to Jerme.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Paper Jam

[Paper Jam]

It's been exactly four months since I got to Pale Flower of Darkness, and I've FINALLY beaten it. Not as efficiently as I would have liked, maybe, but it only took me 21 turns... and I really don't want to go back and do it all over again...

My goal was to get Lowen, Rath, Heath, and Farina (all level 12 as of the beginning of the chapter) up to level 15, and give Canas as much experience as possible towards level 20. Not only did Canas actually reach level 20, but the other four exceeded expectations as well; Farina is now level 16, while Lowen, Rath, and Heath are each level 17.

Serra and Pent saw a bit more action than I expected too, as did Isadora. Here are my characters, ranked according to experience level:

Serra has expanded her lead to level 14.03, well ahead of newcomer Harken (8.44). Pent has seen some growth too at 8.18. Sain (6.46), Hawkeye (4.96), Raven (4.54), Louise (4.19), and Guy (4.13) are unchanged from their previous positions, and Isadora (3.59) has managed to pull ahead of Geitz (3.28) and Marcus (1.78).

On the unpromoted side, we have LOTS of guys on the 20.00 mark: Hector, Lyn, Canas, Florina, Priscilla, and Matthew. Some of them may never gain any more experience, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Trailing them slightly is Eliwood (19.34), and trailing him by about two levels are Rath (17.88), Lowen (17.71), Heath (17.10), and Wil (17.01). Another small group, another level down, is Fiora (16.80), Erk (16.62), Farina (16.60), Bartre (16.39), and Dart (16.27). Bartre has a long way to go and a short time to get there if he wants to meet Karla, but judging by the last few battles, he can make it.

Not too many people are trailing behind. Ninian (15.82), Rebecca (15.64), Kent (15.25), and Oswin (14.69) are still ahead of the nonpromoted enemies level-wise, with Lucius (13.65) even with them and Legault (12.35) not far behind. Dorcas (9.54) remains as slow as ever and will likely remain the caboose of my army until newcomer Nino joins me, and probably again shortly afterward for the rest of the game.

In terms of Tactics, I completed Pale Flower of Darkness four turns above par, so I remain at 5 stars with nine turns to spare. I hope to widen that lead somewhat in Night of Farewells and Cog of Destiny, but I'm fairly confident that I can remain at the 5 stars for the rest of the game.

Funds also remain at 5 stars and will probably continue to remain so. Cog of Destiny is a dry spell on HHM as far as I know, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. As the vast majority of my fights are with cheap E-rank weapons, of which I have plenty, I don't expect my Funds rank to get too serious. Taking inventory of all of my gold and equipment, I found that I have about 607,500 total assets, and as of the end of Pale Flower of Darkness I need about 517,000 to have a 5-star Funds rank.

To the manse, for Battle Before Dawn!

Edited August 2, 2013 by Paper Jam