Fire Emblem 4 - Castle Time

[RexBolt]

Hello, i'm playing Genealogy of the Holy War for the first time and i have some questions about the Castle. I want to know what actions will trigger the real start of the chapter since i'm scared to trigger it with everyone else but Sigurd at 1 hp after the Arena (Only he could finish it). Will it only start after i depart the castle? Will my units leave all at once or do i have to retire them one by one? Will healing cost me Staff uses? Will all my units be healed at once or one at a time? I read that using any feature that wasn't in the City or Saving would start the chapter but i don't remember where to check it, is this true? Will using the healing option start battle? Will healing in the castle be counted for Ethlyn's Staff rank or is it some kind of strat to heal outside it? 

 

(And since i'm here anyway, when will Ruffians start going after villages?)

 

Thank you already to anyone who gives an awnser. The Prologue chapter was super fun but also hard and took a long time to do. I even had to load some Autosaves to save units, wich i wonder why it doesn't start ON, if i wasn't fixing my audio i would have to restart the chapter a couple times.

Edited March 6, 2019 by RexBolt

[Ertrick36]

47 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Will it only start after i depart the castle?

I mean, the chapter starts right away.  If you wait a turn inside the castle, enemies will still move about.  But departing the castle does disable saving for the first turn, if that's what you're asking.  Even when a unit departs, other units will still be able to do whatever they want in the castle, and if you decide you want to retract the depart command, the game will let the unit stay in the castle without disabling the saving for that turn (assuming it hasn't already been disabled).

50 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Will my units leave all at once or do i have to retire them one by one?

You have to do it one-by-one.  The "depart" command is basically just like selecting a unit and ordering them to move/attack/use item/etc.

52 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Will healing cost me Staff uses?

Yes, and it'll count as an action taken for the turn.  Which means you won't be able to save or order the staff user to depart.

54 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Will all my units be healed at once or one at a time?

One at a time.  Although if any unit waits in a castle, they'll be partially healed every turn they're inside the castle.

55 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

I read that using any feature that wasn't in the City or Saving would start the chapter but i don't remember where to check it, is this true?

Yes, any action that isn't going to the castle town (and using any of their facilities, including the arena) or saving counts as an action and thus disables saves.

56 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

Will healing in the castle be counted for Ethlyn's Staff rank or is it some kind of strat to heal outside it? 

You can't gain staff or weapon ranks in Genealogy.  They're static, and only increase through promotion.

I believe using staves inside the castle will result in experience gain, though.  However, that's not an ideal way to do it; if you plan to do staff-botting, it's always better to do it outside the castle for a number of reasons.

58 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

(And since i'm here anyway, when will Ruffians start going after villages?)

They start moving as soon as enemy phase hits.  But, like, they each need to spend ten turns burning down all the villages, and not all of them will reach their respective villages within the first turn.  Just look at their movement ranges and try to figure out the quickest time in which they'll be able to reach the villages.  Other than one exception I can think of, you should be easily able to save every single village before they're completely and thoroughly destroyed.

[RexBolt]

Thank you @Ertrick36

It's a little weird that Ranks are static, but i have a lot to learn here anyway. 

It's a pity i only have one healer now and also that there are no vulneraries to sell (it's a very limited shop). But i think i can handle the first turn with Sigurd + a healed Alec (has the Speed Ring and is a very trusty blade). Second turn onwards i should feel safer do move out.

One more thing, can i enter the Arena to finish the fights in other castles than Evans? I don't know if leaving people behind to guard really matters much.

[Ertrick36]

20 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

One more thing, can i enter the Arena to finish the fights in other castles than Evans? I don't know if leaving people behind to guard really matters much.

Yes, you can go to other castle towns to continue the arena fights.

It should be noted that the arenas are specific to chapters.  There are seven levels of arena in Chapter 1, seven levels of arena in Chapter 2, etc.  And as you probably figured out, arena levels are individual to each unit, so technically everyone can go through seven arena levels in each chapter (though most will likely not make it past the 3rd or 4th one).

There are a few times where you might want to have some people guard castles, but you pretty much get both the return and warp staves within the first couple chapters, so that shouldn't be a concern.

23 minutes ago, RexBolt said:

It's a pity i only have one healer now and also that there are no vulneraries to sell (it's a very limited shop). But i think i can handle the first turn with Sigurd + a healed Alec (has the Speed Ring and is a very trusty blade). Second turn onwards i should feel safer do move out.

Sigurd is insanely good, and literally all the enemies you face in the Prologue and Chapter 1 could be considered fodder for him.

[Tetragrammaton]

1 hour ago, RexBolt said:

Thank you @Ertrick36

It's a little weird that Ranks are static, but i have a lot to learn here anyway. 

It's a pity i only have one healer now and also that there are no vulneraries to sell (it's a very limited shop). But i think i can handle the first turn with Sigurd + a healed Alec (has the Speed Ring and is a very trusty blade). Second turn onwards i should feel safer do move out.

One more thing, can i enter the Arena to finish the fights in other castles than Evans? I don't know if leaving people behind to guard really matters much.

You should always keep a save slot for the chapter beginning in case you mess things up and want a fresh restart.

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

19 hours ago, RexBolt said:

Hello, i'm playing Genealogy of the Holy War for the first time and i have some questions about the Castle. I want to know what actions will trigger the real start of the chapter since i'm scared to trigger it with everyone else but Sigurd at 1 hp after the Arena (Only he could finish it). Will it only start after i depart the castle? Will my units leave all at once or do i have to retire them one by one? Will healing cost me Staff uses? Will all my units be healed at once or one at a time? I read that using any feature that wasn't in the City or Saving would start the chapter but i don't remember where to check it, is this true? Will using the healing option start battle? Will healing in the castle be counted for Ethlyn's Staff rank or is it some kind of strat to heal outside it? 

since others have already answered, i'll add some more tips.

in terms of arena farming, the long story short is: if you're using an emulator, you can simply use save states whenever you progress in the arena before starting a match, and eventually reload the previous save state in case your unit loses the fight. that way you'll save time, turns and money.

if you're playing on cartridge, or want to keep a "traditional" approach, you can always save in game before doing the arenas, see how far your unit goes, eventually reset/reload the save file in case he/she's defeated, and then do everything again up until the last won arena level. rinse and repeat until you're satisfied with all your units.

it will probably take far more time compared to the emulator way, but at least it will always be safe.

Quote

You should always keep a save slot for the chapter beginning in case you mess things up and want a fresh restart.

and also after conquering castles.

Edited March 6, 2019 by Fenreir

[RexBolt]

@Ertrick36 @hanhnn Thank you two for the tips. I already finished Chapter 1 and am leaving 2 for tomorrow. It sure a troublesome game, but it's fun to play, the world already feels alive and the little of conversations i already got is enought to make me like some of the characters, thers being from their battle performance. I'm starting to make up pair even. Ayra i will pair with Arden, they work well together and absolutely demolished Jamke's army in the Spirit Forest. I was unsure to pair Aideen with Azelle or Midir, but after this chapter i think i'm going with Jamke, i really liked their interactions. 

@Fenreir I don't feel good using save states for this. And the other kind of save i'm also unsure. For me it took from 13:00 to 17:30 to finish the chapter in around 60 turns. Everyone but Deirdre got a go at the Arena, some multiple times. Sigurd Ayra and Jamke were the only ones to clear and in their first tries. It was fun, but took too long, for me to keep doing all the time. So i will go light on the arena. 

 

Some other things i got: Lex's famous Brave Axe, defeated not-Jaffar with Azelle so he has the Magic Ring, defeated Gandalf with Ayra so she has the skill ring, Got all the villages. I think i won't keep those rings always on them, just enought so theri natural stats grow.

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

On 6/3/2019 at 9:41 PM, RexBolt said:

I don't feel good using save states for this. And the other kind of save i'm also unsure. For me it took from 13:00 to 17:30 to finish the chapter in around 60 turns. Everyone but Deirdre got a go at the Arena, some multiple times. Sigurd Ayra and Jamke were the only ones to clear and in their first tries. It was fun, but took too long, for me to keep doing all the time. So i will go light on the arena. 

 

Some other things i got: Lex's famous Brave Axe, defeated not-Jaffar with Azelle so he has the Magic Ring, defeated Gandalf with Ayra so she has the skill ring, Got all the villages. I think i won't keep those rings always on them, just enought so theri natural stats grow.

well, that depends on what you prefer i guess.

sometimes i use save states as a sort of "Mila's Turnwheel" in case something goes wrong, but that's just me anyway.

if you're not in a hurry with turns and don't need much money for repair costs and/or new equipment, you could eventually leave arenas for the end of the chapter when all castles are conquered and all enemies defeated.

that way you can try to farm arenas without rushing to complete objectives, and it will also be easier since your units will have more experience/better stats compared to the beginning of the chapter.

there's also specific units that are either very strong or very lucky in the arenas. characters like Ayra, Holyn, Sigurd and few others will always have good chances to complete all rounds, if they're well geared. Astra + Hero sword is pretty much a free exp/money ticket.

 

as for stats, keep in mind that the critical chance mechanic works in a different way in Genealogy, in case you got used to the mechanics from the other titles.

you will either need the Critical effect as a passive ability on your character, or on your weapon, or on any weapon with at least 50 kills in order to get the critical chance.

in the end it will be your choice of course, but it would be wise to give Skill rings mainly to units that either have the Critical ability on themself, in order to boost their default chance with all weapons, or to units with Critical on their weapon.

or at least, that's what most people do early game when they want more efficient units.

swordusers usually have natural high skill stats in order to use blades properly( since those trade higher damage for lower accuracy ), so they won't need rings that much, especially after promotion when they'll reach around 25~30 skill( 30 is the cap for both levels and stats ).

just to give you an idea: