FE12 H4 Resetless run planning + testrun (cancelled)

[Gradivus.]

Rules:

- H4 / Lunatic Reverse mode.

- Chapter saves and map saves are forbidden [in the final run].

- Mixed Reclass and Lunatic statboosters are allowed.

- RP, Growth Drop and Bond Drop are impossible to obtain without chapter saves, thus banned.

- How's everyone is banned.

- Drill Grounds are allowed.

- No primary focus on turncounts.

- The final run will be recorded and uploaded to YouTube. May or may not split it up into segments. The testrun will be recorded, with each map getting an individual video.

- CR / No Deaths.

Welcome to a run inspired by KTT's FE13 L+ run. I'm trying to achieve the same for FE12 H4. The strategies must be extremely reliable since if they fail, I have to restart from the very start of the game. I'd call the approach to this run different to what KTT did. Many components of H4 aren't random unlike L+ skills. FE12 has much lower enemy density. In FE12, dodgetanking is highly unfeasible and you can probably never jump into a ton of enemies without dying. FE13 L+ is significantly more difficult on the whole. We'll see how it turns out.

[spoiler=Unit stuff]

• MU choice: I have Knight, one of the more popular H4 MU classes, in mind thanks to his ability to tank pretty safely. Assuming Priest's child / Diversity / Honorable, his Speed growth of 45 is both decent and screwable. Given his base of 1 Spd, he averages 5 at Lv9; 4 is enough to double C1 Bandits with a Speedwing as a Pirate. Alternatively, he can stick to Mercenary to double more safely. His bulk is pretty good, but he does need a bunch of boosters to get the job done. His defensive averages at Lv9 are 25.6 HP / 10 Def when being reclassed to Pirate. He probably isn't going to get 3HKOed on C1 as a Pirate even with Robe + Shield (which I think is irrelevant), but is likely to avoid 2HKO status against the majority of enemies past that point. Excel doesn't do anything (= says the method I use is invalid) when I try to use BINOMDIST, so I can only estimate stats while assuming slight screwage unless someone points me to a better way to calculate it. How worthwhile would other options be, though? Knight is a reliable tank, while ORKOing without tanking particularly well can be achieved by most other units. I don't think tanking is necessary, but it is extremely handy and I pretty certainly need someone that doesn't attract C24 Dragons as a Berserker for a potential crit-less clear of that map. Sirius is notably worse than MU at the whole tanking deal, as well as not being capable of launching a Hauteclere hit against Medeus while recruiting. Palla doesn't have Berserker. I'm inclined to think Knight is the most favorable option.
• Horseman: Horseman is a great class, but also requires a good unit to fulfill its potential. It's largely a question of which statboosters I can afford to distribute. I don't think Ryan will take the spot, since both Knight!MU and Palla need a Speedwing each at least, three of which minimum Ryan needs. Since the RP isn't in play, it is somewhat likely he needs a fourth. Those Spd issues make me doubt he's worth a longterm position in this playthrough. If his Spd doesn't get the assistance it needs, he's likely to be a Swordmaster, of which I don't need an additional one.
  
  Luke probably needs two speedwings without the RP being present, as well as 2 Arms Scrolls (the latter is comparatively uncontested). He is unlikely to need any Energy Drops or similar. Potentially one Goddess Icon to avoid crit rates against Snipers and Berserkers. Palla's Wing can be postponed to the C9 or C11 one, MU's probably not. Luke can probably receive his first wing early and the other at a variable point.
  
  Rody is an interesting pick - he's likely not to need any Speedwings thanks to his 80 Spd growth as a Hunter. He does need an Energy Drop, with his Str growth being 55. He needs a light Iron Bow forge to gain EXP early on. 3-4 Arms Scrolls; he is capable of using Brave Sword and Parthia with those resources.
  
  Draug has somewhat good bases, but middling growths (outside of Spd) along with getting less levels than other candidates. His Spd allows him to double as a Hunter sooner. I'm not sure on how many boosters he'll need but I'm sure 2-3 Scrolls, 2 Icons and an Energy Drop.
  
  I'm not sure yet whom I'll use, but I want to give someone other than Luke a shot when it comes to Horseman. SM!Luke might actually be used additionally though if I get him to obtain EXP.
• Merric: My planned C24 strat involves Marth attacking 3 times (2 Again) against Medeus, so I think Merric is probably worth using to build staff rank, in order to use Recover while recruiting Elice. Or just so he gives Marth a good chunk of his HP back via Mend, if I don't reach Recover.
• Linde / Malicia: I need a very competent Mage that deals 20 dmg against Medeus most likely, barring a Shaver critforge that might make a crit-involving strat reliable. This requires 30 Mag on a female Sage with A Tomes and Aura. Both have somewhat questionable durability to avoid an OHKO from Medeus, thus willl need 3 Robes at least. Many dusts, 2 Scrolls for Malicia or 1 in Linde's case. Linde's Mag is pretty mediocre, but Malicia's isn't notably better. Note that they only need 6 mag procs in many levels if they receive 9 dusts - there will probably be room to cut off some dusts. I'm sort of wondering who is the better choice for a dedicated Magic user. Malicia would mean I have a 30-Mag Fortify user, while Linde means Levin Sword can be used without passing up on Fortify. I'm considering Malicia but not quite sure yet.

Test run

Knight!MU, Priest's child, Diversity, Honorable.

Prologue 1: Straightforward. Standard strat, 4 turns, 1 Vulnerary used.

Prologue 2: Turtled in order to save Vulneraries. The map can be solved without any vulnerary usage.

Prologue 3: Ryan is located in the NE corner, MU is 1L of him, Rody 1D and Luke 2D. The Fighter targets Rody, and the Mercenary Luke. If MU has base Def, he must disarm to ensure the closest Fighter attacks Rody. Rody deals 8/31 dmg against the Fighter on EP. Luke is attacked by the Merc and deals 9 dmg with an Iron Sword I think. Turn 2, Ryan goes onto the fort and chips the Merc. Luke takes Rody's Iron Lance and finishes the Merc. He hangs on with 1 HP. The strategy would fail if the Merc could flux up in Str, but I think that's impossible. Rody equips the Iron Sword and uses the Vulnerary to hang on with 1 HP next EP aswell. MU, Rody and Ryan shield Luke. Either Rody or MU get targetted by the Fighter. 2x 8 dmg from Rody, 1x 9 from Ryan + the 11 minimum from MU kill the Fighter. 2 vulneraries are used with sufficient fort stalling. I was cautious here and didn't use any more because it's a testrun. Rody gets the Fighter kill if he has 10 Skl and attacks Ryan on EP. Otherwise it goes to MU. The chance for the strat to succeed is roughly 83% (from hitrates against Axes). I can afford to miss a lance against the LHS Fighter. The Iron Lance should be given to Luke on the final turn and the sword to Rody, and the reason for that is visible on P4.

Prologue 4-A: If Rody and Luke have the weapons I mentioned on P3, Ryan doesn't have to serve as a tradechain assistant; this allows him to attack the Myrmidon from 1L1U. This makes the Archer always attack from the tile he did here. I didn't thoroughly look for a plan in case the Archer attacks differently since it's manipulable, but I'm sure the strat would look similar to the current one. I believe the Soldier would be facetanked by Caeda; Ryan can finish off, MU would take the spot the Archer was on previously, Luke and Rody would kill the Archer and Caeda would hold the choke along with MU. I haven't explored a strategy assuming MU has 13-14 Def, but I think I can just have MU sit behind a choke and solo the majority of the enemies. Maybe I can find one with better EXP distribution.

Prologue 4-A if Ryan or MU misses on turn 1 (strat 2): In the video, I pretend Ryan misses, but the strat is applicable in the same way if MU misses. I also act as if Luke and Rody traded weapons correctly on P3. Them having traded the weapons is essential for this backup strat since Luke needs the Iron Lance to avoid an ORKO from the Myrmidon; the tradechain doesn't modify the positioning. MU goes 1R of the Myrmidon to shield Caeda from the Archer; Rody moves such as not to stand in Archer or Myrmidon range but such that the Soldier can attack him. Luke protects Ryan from melee enemies, while only Ryan is in the Archer's range. Turn 2, MU and Ryan kill the Soldier, Caeda finishes the Archer. The final turn can be modified to give Rody the bosskill and MU the Mercenary.

Prologue 5: This strat seems to be the most consistent one. I have to shield Ryan from Hunters which will double him in case of a Spd non-proc. I use Rody and Wrys to tank the bows via low Def. If Rody procs Def at least once, I can swap his and Luke's roles; Luke has lower avoid, with all units facing sub-100 hit and none confronting 2 or more Crt. Athena's position means Merric can always partake in the formation on turn 2 while killing off the Bandit. The second group pull is pretty straightforward; can probably give Rody the Fighter and Luke the Thief. If MU hits, Merric + Rody finish the Bandit. If MU whiffs, Athena + Rody finish off, with Athena getting healed. Ryan can still chip the Thief for Luke. Merric should just chip the Hunter on turn 3 for Caeda. A turn 1 Athena dodge changes the Hunter movement, in which case Wrys' position has to vary.

Prologue 5 if Athena dodges: Wrys is placed in range of the lower Hunter, but not the upper one, which in this case is a different tile than normally. Here is a screenshot of the alternative positioning: http://imgur.com/0RoiAwH If it doesn't become clear in the picture, the movement range I had the stylus on is the lower hunter.

Prologue 5 VERSION 2: Gave Rody more kills on P5 instead of Luke. Thanks to PKL for that idea. The strat stays the same otherwise.

Prologue 6-O: Took advantage of the lower Fighter attacking after the upper one, since MU can consistently distract the latter from Caeda or Merric. The other will attack Merric. If Caeda doesn't have any Def procs yet, I have to unequip her, making the Fighter attack Merric based on Avoid.

Prologue 7-C: MU has a 96,9% chance to proc Str at least once, which allows him to finish the Knight on the first EP with Steel. If he doesn't, he can use Iron Lance on PP and EP each. Athena takes Rody's position then and uses a Vulnerary. Rody only needs 1 HP proc to avoid an ORKO from the Myrm I think. Athena can do it alternatively, though. Also, I should have unequipped MU on turn 3 to avoid a crit which could defeat my strat, since Merric can kill the Knight at 20 HP. If MU has 13 Def (the likelihood is 5%), the Archer can sometimes attack him instead of Merric, which results in Athena having to chip the Archer for Caeda (or just ORKO it, if necessary). The choke against Cain is pretty reliable since Athena doesn't blick with a crit, and Caeda doesn't pull a crit chance.

Prologue 8: Cain, who faces crit rates, largely only serves as a backup unit (unless he doesn't die to crits, like Hand Axes or Thieves when using a lance). I considered P7 Est, but I'd potentially have to field Ryan over Rody, and the Fighters could be pretty threatening. I suppose Ogma + Merric can handle them but I'm not sure if Est route would be more reliable than Cain. Maybe fielding Ogma + Athena on P8 is viable (instead of Cain) or fielding Athena > Ogma. Will explore the map a bit more since this strat is suboptimal (largely because of the sequence against the Thieves).

Prologue 8 VERSION 2: Athena got fielded over Cain. She doesn't face crit rates and ORKOes Katarina, which is nice.

[spoiler=Testrun playlist] P1-3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4rgDmQVI38

P4A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj0wIBU1r_E

P4A strat 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AQcTR3rYII

P5 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWZKwyifil0

P5 v2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV-nrmqVQ3Y

P6O https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ouxUhiWTio

P7C https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPVM7ax-lWo

P8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBsBX8xLjnY

P8 v2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ry0lVKDULE

Edited January 20, 2016 by Gradivus.

[PKL]

This is gonna be awesome. Are there going to be vids?

[Gradivus.]

Definitely the final run will be recorded, and I wouldn't mind recording the testrun either. It's still early enough to restart and take vids of everything in the testrun.

[Gradivus.]

Here is the P1-3 video. Will Duessel wreck this game as hard as he wrecks Ephraim route?

Edited May 31, 2015 by Gradivus.

[Skellow]

Man, you're crazy. I wish you good luck.

Definitively watching.

[Gradivus.]

Yeah, I'm crazy for sure. And I'll need good luck or Ice Dragons will crit me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj0wIBU1r_E

Prologue 4 actual strat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AQcTR3rYII

Prologue 4 backup strat in case Ryan or MU misses. The actual backup strat involves Ryan attacking first, and needs Luke to have his Iron Lance at the end of P3. The formation isn't modified by the tradechain, so I could record it without restarting from P3. It is easily possible to give Rody the bosskill, then MU kills the Merc.

Essentially, I just post details in the OP, since my PC refuses to let me copypaste on SF.

Edited May 31, 2015 by Gradivus.

[momogeek2141]

You sure you're not going to use chapter saves? Wouldn't you want to take breaks at times?

[Gradivus.]

Can always pause the emulator to take a break, the recording is paused then aswell. I think it's a better idea to maintain the concept of a "resetless" run by not using chapter saves at all, since it rules out rigging of any kind (even when it just comes to hitrates).

Also I made a couple of attempts on P5 and found the following:

- Athena pulls the lower Bandit, Caeda the upper one. I can place my units such that the Hunters will split up; if Athena is hit at 75 true hit, the Hunter will move such that Athena can kill him without aggroing the lower group. Otherwise, I can make a formation allowing Wrys and Rody to tank a Hunter each. Hunters attack before the Bandits on this map, so if Caeda misses an Iron Lance at 95 true, I can make a formation ensuring that the Hunters attack Wrys and Rody (I think) while the Bandit attacks MU.

- The second group is split up aswell - Caeda pulls the upper bandit, MU sits on the fort and baits the lower bandit (if he's doubled, which is likely; otherwise, I can do the pull just as easily, except the enemy targetting may be different). Caeda can afford a miss since she can just pull back if she doesn't hit. Wrys is placed such that, in case MU misses, Athena (who gets healed) can deal with the Bandit, with Luke still receiving the kill. If Caeda hits both times, Ryan and Rody can easily finish the Bandit. If Ryan misses his bow, he can survive a round against 7 Spd bandits.

- Ryan is susceptible to getting doubled by Hunters on this map. That's why I have to do the whole shielding structure thing against Hunters.

Will probably record the strat(s) soon.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Gradivus.

[Gradivus.]

P5 figured out. This is the strat I do if no dodge occurs on Athena's part, but if it does, I can modify the formation which I linked in the OP. I also have to change it if Rody gets a Def proc, that is by using avoid as the distracting stat and having him and Luke swap tasks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWZKwyifil0

Edited June 1, 2015 by Gradivus.

[PKL]

P5 figured out. This is the strat I do if no dodge occurs on Athena's part, but if it does, I can modify the formation which I linked in the OP. I also have to change it if Rody gets a Def proc, that is by using avoid as the distracting stat and having him and Luke swap tasks.

Cool strat, but after the Prologue in this type of run, you should be more careful with even 2% crits as it could end your run. I say give the Prologue 5 bosskill to someone that doesnt risk getting crit. Also, I think it might be worth going for Rody instead of Luke/Ryan due to how much more reliable his Spd growth and Lck are.

[Gradivus.]

Yeah, I did intend on using Rody as the Horseman. There's a lot of EXP though so I'm trying to have Luke around as a Swordmaster aswell. But yeah, what you said about the Crt is true. I shouldn't have to plan bosskills as carefully either, simply because of the EXP thing.

P6 at a glance - the map is small, and Fighters hurt MU a ton. Either I resort to a chokepoint strat, or I try to bait the Fighters + Cav and the other enemies seperately. Still unsure actually but will see what's better.

Edited June 1, 2015 by Gradivus.

[PKL]

Yeah, I did intend on using Rody as the Horseman. There's a lot of EXP though so I'm trying to have Luke around as a Swordmaster aswell. But yeah, what you said about the Crt is true. I shouldn't have to plan bosskills as carefully either, simply because of the EXP thing.

P6 at a glance - the map is small, and Fighters hurt MU a ton. Either I resort to a chokepoint strat, or I try to bait the Fighters + Cav and the other enemies seperately. Still unsure actually but will see what's better.

Using 2 growth units at the same time seems like a bad idea to me. I'd concentrate on Rody and ignore Luke completely. There's a good chance at least one of them will get bad levels. If you can give Rody more exp at the expense of Luke so he can get more levels and have more chances at better stats I'd go for that.

[Gradivus.]

Fair point, upon testplaying P6-O, I don't think I can deploy Rody there (the strat is basically lining up my units around the outline of the map while shielding Wrys) so I decided to redo P5 for a better kill distribution. Rody reached Lv5 this time, which is neat.

[Gradivus.]

Prologue 6. Basically, I make a formation to weaken the 2 Fighters + Cav enough on EP to clean up next turn. I'm not fond of using a chokepoint strat since a crit from Athena, having an 11.76% chance, on EP1 screws the strat up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ouxUhiWTio

[Gradivus.]

Should be a bit more careful with chokes on the final run since MU can troll me by critting, which exposes him too often. Disarming solves the problem, situationally. Anyway, here's P7 Cain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPVM7ax-lWo

Edited June 3, 2015 by Gradivus.

[Gradivus.]

Going to look for a strat that fields Athena; on the penultimate turn EP, MU would face the Silver!Thief. Afterwards, Athena would ORKO Katarina and the remaining 2 thieves would be routed by Ogma + Marth and Merric + Caeda. Rody would pick MU's Thief, and MU would assist Caeda if she doesn't double, since Levin!Thieves can have 14 Spd. The rest of the strat will stay similar, with either Marth subbing for Ogma or both Athena and Ogma getting fielded, depending on what turns out to be more reliable. I think Athena + Ogma is.

Edited June 7, 2015 by Gradivus.

[momogeek2141]

Diesel=SM

[Gradivus.]

Lol Diesel. I don't think he's all that incompetent though. His Def is good and his Spd is fixable by 2 Speedwings + Pirate reclass. Rody is trolling me with his Spd but I guess it's borderline-expectable with 4/8 procs at 65% chance each.

Anyway, I got Ogma + Athena to work, as expected. Cain's bulk doesn't add much unlike Athena's doubling, along with her slightly higher Str + WEXP than Ogma allowing her to ORKO Katarina. The enemy formation on the second-to-last turn confused me but I ended up completing the map regardless. Caeda should get 2 Spd procs in 3 levels with her 95% growth before I engage the lowest Thieves, which is pretty likely. If I calculated right, the chance is 99.5125%.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ry0lVKDULE

Edited June 8, 2015 by Gradivus.

[momogeek2141]

Goddammit Diesel! Autocorrect can go shoot itself and fall in a pit! I was mostly referring to his inability to get speed like SM. He actually blows her out of the water because he ACTUALLY HAS A SIGNIFICANT STAT HE SPECIALIZES IN. SM's garbage speed crippled her, did it not? Insert chauvinistic statement here

On another note, wouldn't you want to pray that "Diesel" gets speed, because Palla needs the speedwings more? Wouldn't you want to actually use your goddess icons on her too?

[Gradivus.]

I won't give him the wings immediately anyway, just whenever I see the need. I'm not sure how important Palla is for reliable clears, sort of in comparison with Sirius. Both are ORKOing Dragons in the valley, but he has A Swd as a Swordmaster afterwards which gives him Mercurius, in addition to a trained Sirius making C24 easier (which will easily be the hardest map in this run). Might just give him 2 Icons before C13 (C11 + LSB) and the freebie one from C17 so he does well against most enemies Lck-wise.

Edited June 8, 2015 by Gradivus.

[Gradivus.]

Info that one could probably guess, I'm dropping this forever, since it would most likely rely on playing as unaggressively as possible to avoid failing to stuff like 5% misses, which I don't find to be an interesting sort of strategy. It doesn't help that there's barely anything really different from regular playthroughs.

Edited January 20, 2016 by Gradivus.