Challenge Run: Maximizing bonus experience in every chapter.

[MadBoar]

Right now, I am working on a challenge run of maniac mode Path of Radiance in which I am required to attain the maximum amount of bonus experience in each chapter. I'm am not using any of the bonus experience; the bonus experience is a score to me.  I decided to do this run because I need the challenge of ranking systems. I have successfully completed this run on Radiant Dawn. Right now, I am on chapter 18.  So far, Titania has been doing most of the work, with the others cleaning up the trash. 

Has anyone else done this run before? This is my first play through in maniac mode, and things look daunting for this chapter, though I have not attempted it yet. This is a route chapter, and I only have ten turns to finish it. I see six siege tomes, but I have pure waters, Tanith's reinforcements, and ward to deal with them. The enemies look very bulky. I believe that the two most difficult chapters in this run will be chapter 18, and chapter 25, because they are both route the enemy. For non route chapters, the strategy will be to use decoys to clear a path to the goal. 

Edit: I was just made aware of the critical forge glitch. No, I will not be using it. 

My most relevant units are:

Ike: 44 Hp, 18 str, , 8 mag, 19 skl, 20 spd, 13 lck, 17 def, 8 res

Titania: Level 14, 44 hp, 16 str, 6 mag, 22 skl, 23 spd, 15 lck, 17 def, 15 res.  With the knight ward, her def is 19, and res is 17. 

Marcia. Level 14 pegasus knight, 25 hp, 13 str, 0 mag, 10 skl, 15 spd, 7 lck, 9 def, 8 res

Muarim level 10

Lethe  level 5

mordecai, level 4

Gatrie, 37 hp, 15 str, 1 mag, 8 skl, 9 spd, 6 lck, 17 def, 2 res

Volke level 12

Jill level 10 wyvern rider

Tanith, Janaff, Ulki, Reyson at base stats

Rhys level 10 priest

Tormod level 10 mage 

Mist level 3 cleric

Due to the requirements of this run, recruiting Stefan was unrealistic, unless someone here can find a realistic strategy. I have one master seal. I will most likely give my boots to reyson. I also have a seraph robe, a draco shield, two secret books, two arms scrolls, and a spirit dust. I do not have any occult scrolls, so I will have to wait until chapter 22 to give one to Ike. As you can see, i am very underpowered. 

For this run, my main concerns are Chapter 18 and Chapter 25; the other chapters shouldn't be too difficult. 

My Radiant Dawn run went more smoothly, except for Geoffrey's Charge. Keeping 50 enemies alive and all of my units alive was the most difficult chapter that I had ever done in Fire Emblem; it required a lot of skill and RNG.  I felt like the developers had designed their chapters around a run like this in Radiant Dawn, but not in Path of Radiance. My run on Radiant Dawn was very fun, requiring some smart strategies, and I recommend giving it a try. On Radiant Dawn, I did use bonus experience, because the game still records your score even if you use the bonus experience. 

 

Edited April 17 by MadBoar

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

Wait, you kept all the yellow units alive in Geoffrey's Charge? That's pretty impressive. 

Anyway, did you account for "Green/Yellow Army Fought" EXP? Because if you're technically maximizing BEXP, you'd need to figure out how to maximize those, without undermining any other BEXP sources (i.e. turncount).

[MadBoar]

I should clarify what I said. I kept all of my blue units alive, because I needed all of them alive for max bonus experience in 3-10. I did not worry about keeping the yellow units alive. You are correct that if I'm technically maximizing bonus experience, I need to account for green\yellow army fought. I was aware of this, but did not worry about this in my challenge run. It would be a very difficult calculation to figure out the theoretical maximum, and you would need RNG that is so good that it couldn't be done in a lifetime. 

The difficulty in Geoffrey's charge was keeping 50 enemy units alive, while working my way to seize the gate. There were 50 enemies initially on the map, and reinforcements can come in later.  The enemies can kill you. Most enemies are weak, but they can kill you in large numbers. I only killed the most threatening enemy units, or the ones blocking my path,  and those were eventually replaced with reinforcements. As part of my run's requirement, I was only allowed to kill a maximum of 16 enemies, because there were only 16 reinforcements.  I made sure that in my choke points,  non-canto  enemy units was on the front line, or I made sure that it was so overcrowded, that the enemy had nowhere to move when using canto.  I had to position my units very carefully, and I had my calculator out. I sent Astrid down to the bottom of the map, to distract one enemy. The other units were crucial in holding choke points, killing threatening enemies, clearing paths, and defeating the boss. 

 

A few days ago, I made a first attempt on chapter 18 of path of radiance, and it is actually not as hard as it looks. Reyson is really good. 

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

On 4/19/2022 at 7:59 PM, MadBoar said:

I should clarify what I said. I kept all of my blue units alive, because I needed all of them alive for max bonus experience in 3-10. I did not worry about keeping the yellow units alive. You are correct that if I'm technically maximizing bonus experience, I need to account for green\yellow army fought. I was aware of this, but did not worry about this in my challenge run. It would be a very difficult calculation to figure out the theoretical maximum, and you would need RNG that is so good that it couldn't be done in a lifetime. 

Oh okay, thank you for the clarification. Sounds quite tricky regardless!

[MadBoar]

On 4/21/2022 at 4:16 PM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

r max bonus experience in 3-10. I did not worry about keeping the yellow units alive. You are correct that if I'm technically maximizing bonus experience, I need to account

I just beat chapter 18 on path of radiance!  Exactly 10 turns, and I won enemy phase. It was so difficult. It's really fun and challenging to do this run on both Tellius games!

[MadBoar]

I just completed this run! Ike with aether is so broken. So is Titania with wrath. Chapter 19 was surprisingly the most difficult chapter, because of the requirement to have all the ravens to escape. I beat chapter 26 on my first attempt.