FE9 0% growths LTC

[aku chi]

Should I be worried that I'm in chapter 23 and I haven't utilised a single Rescue staff use yet? I think they'll grow more useful when Elincia arrives, as Mist only has 5 range (should be 4 by calculation but 5 is the lowest you can have) and doesn't want to expose herself to enemies to 10 speed and bad durability. I think I could replace some Smiters with a Rescue use in chapter 21, but I don't know what I would do with the saved up unit slot(-s), field Volke and open Parity's chest? Meh.

You should be comforted, if anything. Rescue is probably most useful in C26, C27, and C28. I doubt you could cut a turn using Rescue in C23 or C24 (though it might make them more reliable). I have no idea how you're going to tackle C25, but Rescue doesn't seem super-useful. Even with Elincia's mediocre 6-range Rescue, it might be worth a Hammerne use so you can use it a couple times in Endgame to get Ena and your royal to Ashnard. Do you have any other plans for the Hammerne?

[PKL]

Espinosa, the doors in C27 have 40hp. I'm 90% sure of this since I know I've been able to OHKO them with Bolting Tormod before in a draft.

[Espinosa]

Outside of the chapters you mentioned, a flier with Rescue could be of situational use when you find yourself unable to achieve a lower turn count but you can see how several spaces worth of distance could make the desirable change.

I'm not sure if anyone will ever reach S staves to be able to use the Ashera staff for Endgame, let alone chapter 28. Rhys would get there if fielded in the chapter 17 maps, but I wanted to get Mist to B staves (achieved in 17-4) there to use Rescue at my earliest convenience. A to S staves is 70 staff wexp, which is 3 Hammerne uses, all 9 Rescue uses and one use of any other staff. Maybe I can get Mist there if I work on it? I haven't been spamming Physic/Ward because I have only one of each. The Ashera staff is the only way of curing status from a distance and I could see it come in handy in chapter 28 or healing Ena or something.

I believe Ena can beat Ashnard without any stat boosters, as I tried to count a couple pages back; the question is where those stat boosters make a difference in terms of turn count.

edit: with 1 drop, Ena one-rounds Berserk Ashnard with Adept and 2 Wrath procs. Useful to know.

Hammerne should repair Rescue or, perhaps, 2 Rescues and a Bolting? Depending on how much use I find for sieging. Chapter 22's 1-turn demands 3 uses of Meteor.

Thanks for the info on the walls; they seem to have different HP depending on the map (20, 30, 80); something typical of FE I believe.

Here's chapter 19 in 2 turns with the Knight Ring obtained.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Espinosa

[Florete]

How many resets did it take to get those dodges?

Edited March 20, 2013 by Red Fox of Fire

[Espinosa]

After robing Reyson, just a couple I think. It seemed like I would never succeed prior to giving him the robe, though probability-wise the difference was just an extra coin flip.

[Espinosa]

Chapter 20 in 2 turns.

[Espinosa]

Chapter 21 in 5 turns with Tauroneo recruited and Brave Sword/Energy Ring obtained.

I'm expecting chapter 23 to be hell as well.

[PKL]

*slow claps*

[Florete]

If you could do that without a huge reliance on luck (and it looks like you did), the rest of the game should be a breeze. Props.

[Chiki]

Lol you clearly don't know how hard the game is after 21 for LTCs. It's just starting. I don't even wanna imagine 28.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Olwen

[Florete]

On the contrary, I've done multiple PoR drafts. 21 has always been the worst. I'm sure 0% growths has a greater effect on things, but hey, it's not like you're skilled in that area, either. Or are you?

[CT075]

holy

like actually

what

[Chiki]

On the contrary, I've done multiple PoR drafts. 21 has always been the worst. I'm sure 0% growths has a greater effect on things, but hey, it's not like you're skilled in that area, either. Or are you?

I'm pretty sure Espi's playthrough is a lot more similar to mine. Just imagine my playthrough with a much weaker Marcia (base Tanith) and weak Ike.

For a 23 clear you need a way to kill Petrine, then somehow place Ike somewhere he can't be attacked, then seize. A way of doing this is with Tanith, Janaff/Ulki/maybe a mount and Stefan/Tauroneo. Have Stefan kill Petrine on turn 4, drop Ike on turn 5 on the tile and surround him, then seize on turn 6. I have a hard time thinking about how you could bring that to 5 turns considering how weak Ike is.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Olwen

[aku chi]

Very impressive! Loving the Knight Ring already, I see. :) That was quite a team effort to get the Energy Drop, I hope it gets put to good use.

Edit: Also, it's great to see Tanith's reinforcements make a contribution.

Edited March 31, 2013 by aku chi

[ZemZem]

That was just pure brilliance. Tauroneo's STR in Resolve mode certainly is nothing to fuck around with.

Probably missed this, but who are the candidates for the energy ring? Tanith would appreciate a boost in her STR to improve her combat (which is already pretty damn good), but Ena getting it could make the Ashnard slaying more reliable. Stefan is possibly another candidate (and one I can't see getting it, honestly), and perhaps even Janaff (again, unlikely)?

[Florete]

I'm pretty sure Espi's playthrough is a lot more similar to mine. Just imagine my playthrough with a much weaker Marcia (base Tanith) and weak Ike.

Okay. But it's not like I know nothing about LTCing PoR. 21 has a lot of random factors that can screw with even a powered up team: a boss that is near-guaranteed to take more than one round to kill and has good avoid, multiple valuable items from chests, Sleep Bishops, Tauroneo to recruit (and he can hit like a truck)...there's a lot to account for and a lot that can go wrong, and it's not like it's a straight shot to Seize.

And when I said the rest of the game "should be a breeze," I meant it relatively.

[Espinosa]

Good lord Olwen.

I can see why C21 would be more complicated than normal in a draft. Most likely you don't have more than one (good) flier, and if Rhys isn't drafted and/or you haven't been staffspamming with your Mage (C staves for Restore can be hard to get to for your Sage), Pure Waters are your only help against the biggest Bishop offender in Ena's room and characters like Jill, at say 20/5, are still far from guaranteed to dodge Sleep even with a full Pure Water boost. Chapters like 23 are easier with trained Ike and flier/even mounted unit though, something I do not boast in 0% growths (though Tanith is a decent enough replacement). In a draft, and a normal playthrough with growths I guess, you start slow (possibly taking extra turns in drafts at first) and then speed up when your growths have snowballed. I have essentially the opposite problem - characters like Titania not getting any better as the game progresses.

I've been procrastinating on starting work with C23 so that's some indication that I expect it to not be easy. Wonder how soon I can get Haar to show up, because his assistance in that chapter should be invaluable. In general, I expect the resource allocation dilemma, Rescue use planning and trying to maintain some level of reliability for my own sanity to cause enough trouble to make the lategame complicated enough.

Ike needn't ever walk in seize maps as long as Reyson is around to refresh him when dropped, though having Ike walk his way to the throne/gate frees up some units to act on the same turn, which can be critical for bosskilling. I'll be getting Saviour skill too, and I think either Geoff or Haar could be good candidates for that. Tanith too (due to Boots), but she only has enough space for Provoke/Shade... been wondering what to do with these two, but I guess I'll know when the need arises.

One Energy Ring is going to Ena to 1RKO Zerk Ashnard with a ton of skill procs (if I'm not messing up the calculations of Resolve + Laguz transformation bonuses) and the other is going to either Tanith or Stefan, whichever one helps us more. Tanith has 11 move and flight and therefore also applies the strength boost to one-rounding mooks while Stefan is the only one to double Petrine/Bertram with a Speedwings and that 2 strength that transforms into +4 damage when doubling will transform to +12 damage when critting with Vague Katti, not accounting for possible Astra activation. Tanith's average strength might not be such a huge issue when you can start forging Silver lances/swords in C23. Janaff is mediocre at attacking and an Energy Drop won't help him, I'm afraid. He's only in use as much as he is because Marcia and Jill have insufficient combat where taking hits is involved.

[Chiki]

Haar shows up pretty late. Start of turn 3? Though you could bring him very near with Reyson and Rescue.

[Florete]

Haar shows up based on how far any one of your units has traveled through the map.

[Espinosa]

Since I've been nervous about neither Mist, nor Rhys, nor Ellincia getting to S rank staves for Ashera Staff, I wanted to share this discovery I just made (though it most likely has only been a surprise to myself). Though staff rank cannot be directly augmented by Arms Scrolls like weapon ranks, promoting Rhys and using an AS while he's equipped with a Light tome (he only has the weapon rank for Shine right now) will indeed boost his staff rank. Apparently Rhys maxed his unpromoted staff rank (B) around chapter 12, after which I've just been wasting my time using staves with him (I guess you can say he was gaining exp but I really no other unit to dump BEXP into at this point of the game; I considered Makalov as an extra Paladin - inferior to Kieran and Titania - but that hasn't been necessary and will most likely never be). If I'd promoted Rhys instead of Mist before C17, he would surely have A rank staves right now, but I was worried Mist wouldn't be a mounted user of the Rescue staff otherwise.

Since my prospect uses of AS have been rather unspectacular (give Haar Silver Axe access OR give Geoffrey Brave Bow access, and that's about it) and healing of the entire party (including status) from distance might be far more useful than enabling Haar/Geoff to use those better weapons, I think I can take it into consideration. Rhys is currently 12/60 staff wexp into A-rank staves, and could even chip with light tomes for extra points on enemy phase if I can organise it (probably not worth it as he's so easily one-rounded), so if I spam staves like Silence (which is useless as nobody has the magic necessary to silence even an old man in a wheelchair with it) and Mend (I have had only 1 or 2 instances where I felt compelled to use it thus far), then maybe Hammerne, I can manage to invest just one AS into Rhys for Ashera, and Geoff/Haar could compete for the other one (Haar can still wield the remains of my Hammer if ORKOing Generals becomes a problem).

[PKL]

Yeah, Ive known about Rhys's Arms Scroll deal. I say get him to A staves just in case and if you ever find out you need an ashera staff use, you know what to do. The other scroll could go to Geo/Haar. Also, looking forward to more vids!

[Espinosa]

Chapter 22 in 1 turn.

Started working on map 23 and it makes me all agoraphobic. Open space, and so many enemies ready to massacre Tanith and others. Petrine isn't too far away (knowing how far 11 move Tanith moves) but we probably need to carry Stefan, Ike and Reyson all the way to that portion of the map, unscathed (Stefan with his 12 defence is destroyed pretty easily and could use a bit more avoid, so this could be the time to pull out the Vague Katti for a couple enemy phases), which isn't easy as enemies around Petrine have ways of attacking at range, which is bad for Ike and Reyson. Cats and tigers are also a big problem as there's no easy way to one-round them without hurting your damage against the other enemy types. A Javelin forge also leaves Tanith with insufficient attack to ORKO enemies outside of mages and archers.

Haar can be forced to arrive very early though, and could offer some very desirable help (though I haven't been able to forge a single Hand Axe) if rescued/refreshed.

[Espinosa]

Hmm, chapter 23 is fun indeed, and not nearly the mess it looked like / I imagined it would be. Doesn't look like there's any hurry to using up stat boosters for the purpose of knocking out Petrine within one round, as it's not unlikely that there will be several characters in the vicinity, but depends on how much/little time I take getting to the boss. Tanith is definitely going to be there but can't do much to Petrine on her own; Haar, Stefan and even Ranulf are likely to be in range. Also one of Titania/Kieran but their combat is so fail at this point (though you couldn't tell in chapter 21). Reyson is almost certainly transforming on turn 4, as it's inevitable that he gets exposed to combat but combat that cannot be permitted to get him KO'd. The Seraph Robe I gave him is actually useful here as the Warriors near the starting position have 26-27 atk (against robed Reyson's 29HP/2 def) so one of these will be attacking him for sure, and he can afford to take a hit. Tanith kinda regrets not getting the robe to herself on this map, but I think I won't do a very stupid thing if I go ahead and give her the second Dracoshield as well. Stefan should probably take the Speedwings as nobody else is doubling Petrine (besides with braves). Tanith attacking with a forged silver (anything) + Stefan doubling w/ Vague Katti, critting once and connecting twice, is just enough to defeat Petrine, but again, this is of dubious importance as others are around and too many other variables are present (as predicted).

[Espinosa]

The stupidest part of the map is when Tanith injures the Cavs/Paladins around Petrine and they take turns trading her Elixir away and fully healing themselves back to full health. I don't care about the Cavs at all but they make it impossible to start hitting Petrine at 1-range with their ludicrous Elixir canto-trade chains.

[PKL]

Yeah, i hate those cavaliers. It doesnt help at all that they have 2 range. Good luck with that chapter. Ch21 and 23 are the most complicated chapters to LTC imo, I cant imagine how bad Chapter 23 would be in 0% growths. The map kinda forces combat, you dont have savior yet so ferrying is tougher (though rescue chain dropping in player phase exists so that helps) + petrine is a bulky mofo..