About Recruiting Children Early

[starburst]

A couple of weeks ago, Dandy Druid asked me on another thread how I recruited children by Chapter 12 of Conquest, given that he usually got them various chapters later. He then told me about his idea of recruiting all Nohrian children on his next campaign. We discussed some pairings that he had in mind, and it gave me an excuse to replay Conquest, because why not? 🙃

I only use ten units maximum and prioritise early recruitment over skill inheritance, so that I can use the units for as many chapters as possible and from their early levels. I usually recruit two children as main units of the party, but now the idea was to go for six of them.

To accomplish this, I recruited three children naturally by Chapter 12, and then used the "Before Awakening" map right after Chapter 14 to grind supports among the remaining pairs and recruited the other tree children.

The natural children were:
- Cornflakes (+Mag) » Ophelia, with Dragon Fang.
- Mozu » Sophie, with Aptitude.
- Azura » Nina, with +5 Speed.

The unnatural children were:
- Charlotte » Soleil, re-classed into Fighter in her very first turn.
- Effie » Ignatius, re-classed into Fighter in his very first turn.
- Peri » Velouria, with Elbow Room.

The natural children were recruited after Chapter 11, at Level 10-11. The artificial ones, at Level 15 right after Chapter 14.
 

Spoiler

 

The "Before Awakening" map only allows five units, meaning that I would not be able to grind supports among all three remaining pairs at the same time.
Both parents of Soleil and Ignatius had met in Chapter 13, and by the end of Chapter 14 they were already at Support Level C+. Thus they were chosen first, aided by a L19/1 Paladin Sophie (who has no Supports with them.)
It took five replays of the DLC map to unlock both their Paralogues. It takes 3-4 minutes to complete this map around Chapter 14, and while it is not particularly difficult, it is tricky with untrained units, as it was the case of Laslow, Charlotte and Benny.

Velouria's parents were at Support Level C by the end of Chapter 14, and even if they played the Paralogues of Soleil and Ignatius, they would still need another four replays of the DLC map. Because of this and my restriction of only fielding ten units maximum, using Keaton and Peri for real missions was not cost-effective. Instead, I decided to replay the DLC map another six times and unlock Velouria's Paralogue at the same time as those of Soleil and Ignatius. Luckily, Keaton & Peri were sturdy and strong enough to grind supports without much help, and all replays took me around twenty minutes.
(To counter the grinding, the Castle was not visited between DLC replays, so that no ore, food or gifts could be collected. Also, all Seals and Pebbles rewarded were discarded, and all Dragon Vein Points gained were spent on useless buildings and upgrades.)

All three Paralogues were fun right after Chapter 14, but I was surprised that Ignatius's was the easiest of the three.

I first recruited Soleil, given that the corridors in her map allows her to face many enemies one at a time, and she needed to gain a couple of levels to be on pair with her teammates. She also class-changed into Fighter in her very first turn, and gaining proficiency in axes was important. She ended her map at Level 17, with D-proficiency in axes.
Then I recruited Velouria, whose map is always tricky without flyers. I replayed it two or three times until I found a faster, more efficient way. She gained almost three levels (~ L18.)

I left Ignatius's map for last because it had been ages since I had last played it, and people always mention how tricky it can be. Well, around Chapter 14, it was the easiest of the bunch. Not only for his teammates, but for Ignatius himself: Paladin Sophie reached him by Turn 2, he re-classed into Fighter and he could kill any enemy on the map on Attack Stance. Actually, the map took more turns only because most enemies were on the west, and he had to cross woods to reach them. He ended at Level 16, and his lower Speed did not allow him to reach D-proficiency in axes.

By Chapter 16, all ten units promoted (at Level 19), and the killing frenzy started: Sorcerer Ophelia kills anything that moves, Adventurer Nina doubles everything as hits as hard with her Iron Bow than with her Shining one, Berserkers Soleil and Ignatius walk blowing things up, and Paladin Sophie and Wolfssegner Velouria could not care less about what lies in front of them.

 

I am now about to start Chapter 22, but I do not want to make this a chronicle of the campaign. Instead, I want to name some perks of recruiting children early.

First, instead of focusing on skill inheritance and maximising the children's power, an early recruitment allows one to know the unit better, from the early levels, with low statistics and without game-breaking skills. One sees the development of the child's growths, rather than its product. It is a more faithful picture of the child as a unit. You will experience their becoming (or not) a powerful unit.

Second, when children join early, at low levels, they can play different roles in the party. This is, Ignatius with a mama with decent Speed and immediately re-classed at a low level can indeed be a fast unit. But if you recruit him late, say by Chapter 22-23, even if he had the fastest mama, he will struggle a lot more to "overcome" his base role. Not to mention that he would have way less chapters to gain proficiency in weapons not included in his base class tree.

Third, recruiting children early grants one more variety to approach maps. If you are used to play the first 18-20 chapters with the exact same units, having children by Chapter 12 lets you vary your approaches and spices replays up.

It is already difficult to rate and compare children units because of the numerous variables that come into place, but one at least gets a better idea of the units themselves by recruiting them earlier in the game.

Edited March 22, 2020 by starburst
Focus.

[eclipse]

Is this a discussion or a blog post?

[starburst]

Well, if you had to ask, then the post evidently did not work. My bad.
I will enclose in spoiler tags the middle paragraphs without changing a word, to try to give more focus to the post. But feel free to close it.

The idea was that by recruiting children units early, one can assess them in a different way. Whenever I read discussions about the children units, they are treated as final products instead of actual units in development. What matters then is how powerful you can make these weapons, and not how these units become powerful themselves. In numerous occasions, children units are used as late-game reinforcements and not as proper units themselves, even though various of them are naturally available early and can play most of the maps, not as replacements but as actual units.

Evaluating children units is already complicate because of the many variables involved, but by recruiting them early one at least has a better understanding of the units themselves.
After all, the children are not really versatile. Yes, each one has many options for a mother, but only Nina has the growths, class tree and bases to actually become an effective magical unit or an effective physical one. Depending on the mother, the other kids will be better or worse versions of themselves, but not really different from their basic roles.

[eclipse]

It's a start.

The issue is that you're ending with a definitive statement, which doesn't leave things up for discussion.  I don't mind an argument on the ideal time to recruit children, though.  I have my own thoughts, but this topic. . .doesn't feel like the place I should put them.

[starburst]

More than when the ideal time to recruit children is, it is about how the recruitment time can affect our perception of the units themselves. It is more related to knowing more about how a children unit behaves, than to making an efficient gameplay decision.

But I see why this may be very particular, given that I like to replay Conquest and I also field fewer units. Thus, recruiting the children early was more a necessity (to vary the replays), than a deeper exercise. I just happened to see the children units in different ways than the ones that I usually read about.

Thanks for your input, though. I will reorganise the idea and try to come up with a more relatable, clearer way to express it. Probably in a another time.