another HHM ranking log

[Reikken]

So I was inspired to also do a HHM S rank run. I have never completed one before. I haven't even played past the early chapters in a long time...

I'm also doing the average stats thing, somewhat. I'll only reset stats to the average when it falls outside the standard deviations provided by rpgdl's stats (taking the minimum margin to be 1.5, aside from cases where the deviation decreases due to massive cap-ramming).

However, I will be doing LHM.

And most importantly, my emphasis, at least until later, will be on tactics rather than exp. My reasoning? Enemy levels (and numbers) are higher in later chapters, so I'd rather spend more time there. Also, arenas.

The reason for going fast in early LHM chapters is because Nils doesn't exist until ch 7, and 2 heals per turn for Serra > 0/1 heals.

picked Thunder affinity for my tactician. Erk, Serra, Hector, Geitz could all use some extra avo/hit. Going for as much exp on Erk and Serra as possible because magic users get a ton out of promotion, so the earlier that happens, the better. They also rejoin early. Lucius has only one tome until the end of ch10, so that's a no-go for him.

P- 5 turns

1- General strategy: Push northeast, without exception.

Lyn+Kent kills first guy.

Trade Lyn's sword to Sain on turn 2 so he can use it on Enemy Phase that turn.

Trade sword back for turn 3; Lyn uses on EP that turn, while Sain is out of enemy range (just out of boss's range).

Trade sword again on T4; Sain uses on boss. Kent attacks boss as well. Boss suicides on T4 EP.

2- Did not kill all enemies. 2-3 were still alive at the end. Win on T4.

3- tried something new: rescue/drop to bring Lyn over faster to help clear out enemies faster since she can double with a 1337 sword, and Kent can't. It worked. Easy 4 turn-completion. (Usually I have Lyn visit the house with Wil. Florina did it this time.)

4- nothing too noteworthy

5- rescue/drop'd Dorcas with Florina so he could help Erk kill the boss faster. Dead on T4.

6- 4 turns. Total: 33/45

7- k, now comes the hard part: making sure I have at least two people with damage every turn. Not too terribly hard on this chapter. Started making use of the "Kent/Sain rescues someone and equips a javelin" strategy. 10 turns. 43/51

7x- Massive Matt spamming. Erk spam, too. 11 turns. 54/58

8- 8T. 62/65

9- 9T. 71/73

10- This one is very hard. To get Serra to heal twice every turn, that is, because of the first few turns. Made use of Matt and Florina to get several units across the river because going around is way too slow. Matthew takes across Lyn and Erk on T1. Florina gets Lucius, Nils, Serra, and Dorcas across, in that order, on T2-5.

Getting Nils and Serra across such that Serra still gets in two heals those turns was a bit tricky. Serra healed, and then Nils plays, and then Nils got rescued by Sain and take/drop'd by Florina, and Serra heals. And then next turn, Serra heals (damage provided by Dorcas attacking a mage while holding Wil), gets ferried across by Sain and Florina, and then Nils and a Lucius who got attacked by a Merc last turn are there waiting.

Rain causes minimal interference since I'm moving through mountains and forests when it kicks in anyway.

Got in a few turns of Lundgren abuse (with Erk rescuing Florina so he doesn't double or dodge---he does this for the cavalier reinforcements, too---and Matt taking advantage of my funds surplus to burn through that lancereaver) before time was up.

Stats set to averages at the end of Lyn mode.

Matt got the robe since he rejoins earliest and has to go to dangerous places sometimes (ex: stealing Zoldam's guiding ring)

PC levels at the end of each chapter:

		P	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	7x	8	9	10	   
Total exp	133	395	580	942	1683	2075	2394	3223	4093	4730	5677	6782	   
per Ch		133	262	185	362	741	392	319	829	870	637	947	1105	   
baseLvl													   
Lyn	1.00	2.33	3.00	3.10	3.60	4.00	4.23	4.43	4.43	4.62	5.34	6.18	6.48	   
Sain	1.00		1.31	2.09	3.98	5.60	6.03	6.03	6.28	6.30	6.31	6.31	6.64	   
Kent	1.00		2.64	3.61	3.91	5.80	6.04	6.04	6.04	6.04	6.13	6.14	6.52	   
Florina	1.00				1.73	3.47	3.80	4.50	5.54	6.01	6.19	6.62	6.90	   
Wil	2.00				2.20	2.20	2.30	2.40	2.40	2.40	2.40	2.40	2.43	   
Dorcas	3.00					4.76	5.11	5.21	5.21	5.21	5.31	5.79	6.41	   
Erk	1.00						2.80	4.16	4.46	7.02	8.64	10.21	12.38	   
Serra	1.00						1.44	1.89	4.09	6.40	7.97	9.85	12.72	   
Rath	7.00							7.13	7.13	7.13	7.13	7.13	7.15	   
Matthew	2.00							2.15	5.06	6.34	6.34	8.90	11.05	   
Nils	1.00								2.00	3.10	3.93	4.84	6.24	   
Lucius	3.00								3.59	4.36	5.61	6.40	6.90	   
Wallace	12.00											12.00	12.00

=== 11 ===

So I thought about forgoing the red gem in favor winning in 6 turns instead of 8, but then I found that having an uber Matt allows me to get the gem while doing it in 7 turns.

1- break wall

2- Hec kills soldier, Matt steals vuln

-archer attacks Hec despite him having more def and being able to counter (Hector misses) while Matt can't since Matt has 32 hp and Hector has only 14/19 (archer does 5 damage to Hector)

3- Matt moves into position for... Hec moves full west and takes Matt's vuln and heals

-arch attacks Hec again and gets countered despite being able to attack Matthew.

4- Matt opens door. Hec moves past Matt, out of archer's range, and heals

-arch attacks Matt

5- Matt moves south to be in range of all three enemies, in order to draw fire away from Hector, and he takes the vuln back. Hect makes for the boss.

-Matt takes a beating

6- Hect stands in front of Wire and equips Wolf Beil. Matt moves towards the enemy thief, but only 5 tiles, so he can counterkill the soldier on EP, and he finishes off the vulnerary so he can survive the 3 attacks.

-Matt dodges one of the attacks, so he has enough hp left to attack and kill the thief instead of just stealing

7- Matt kills thief, gets gem. Hector kills Wire.

=== 12 ===

So...

Go for the 4-turn win with rescue/drop Marcus boss rush, or take 5 turns...

4-turn one means less building supports and less exp. and I may not be able to visit the armory. eh. 5 turns it is.

Bartre gets the secret book and sells it so I can buy stuff, since Hector's group is way too busy to go sell the red gem. Marcus kills t3h boss. Also, Hector's earlygame hit sucks.

Note: You gain about 20k in funds this chapter, (Rapier6k, Silver Lance1.2k, SecretBook8k, +cheaper equips for about 7 characters) but since Eliwood mode is used as the base, the funds ranking data for this chapter (which you only need to keep 80% of) is only 15k. Then the chapter before this was a zero chapter. Pretty nice.

=== 13 ===

I usually take Oswin west, since he can break that stump in one hit, and he's close to that side anyway, and Marcus goes south, but this time, I did the opposite, using Lowen to help move Oswin to the south faster. Worked pretty nicely. I can use Marcus to get a low turn count without having to sacrifice too much exp.

1 Marcus,Hector,Eliwood, and Bartre went to the west. Others south. Eliwood and Bartre take out the snag, and Marcus moves in to absorb the javelin attack.

2 Bartre counterattacks the first peg, but instead of finishing it, he moves on so that it'll attack Eliwood, so that he can get the exp instead. Eliwood and Hector team up to take out the cavalier, and Marcus destroys the second snag.

3 Eliwood doesn't quite kill the peg on the counterattack, so he does it on his next turn. Hector moves forward as much as possible and handaxe's another peg that Bartre counterattacked. Bartre and Marcus then rescue/drop to put Eliwood next to H4xtor. Marcus grabs Eliwood's vulnerary and Bartre's iron axe in the process, since he has taken damage and is going to be attacking the boss, and axes work well on the boss.

4-6 Marcus goes down the left side of the castle, killing the two n00bs there, while Hector counterkills the right side cavalier, and then Marcus moves in front of the boss and heals, and then finishes him next turn.

Eliwood visits armory on turn 6, right before Hector siezes, and Bartre gets the village.

1 On the other side, Lowen grabs Oswin, and then I discover that Dorcas can't take/drop because Oswin is too fat.

Matthew counterattacks the first brigand, and Rebecca counters the archer.

2 Then Serra heals Rebecca, Matt finishes the archer, Lowen finishes the brigand (while holding Oswin..!), and Dorcas and Rebecca take out the peg.

3 Serra heals Rebecca again because she got attacked by an archer (No one else has any damage. Dorcas was on a forest and had WTA, so he dodged). Rebecca moves down and finishes a peg that Dorcas countered. Matt kills the archer that Rebecca counterattacked. Lowen moves down and drops Oswin off, in range of 3 enemies, and trades up Oswin's Javelin.

Then Oswin counterattacks two of the enemies, but the hand axe brigand goes around Oswin and Lowen to attack Rebecca, who counterattacks him.

4-6 Serra heals R again, and then Dorcas and Matt take out the two enemies Oswin countered. Lowen and Rebecca take out the brigand. Oswin moves into Guy's range and attacks a brigand.

Then Oswin takes several attacks, including one from Guy, and Rebecca gets attacked at range by a brigand yet again (dodges it this time).

Then Matt recruits Guy, and another two turns of killing things without moving around much goes by before Hector siezes. Dorcas gets the mine.

So, as you probably noticed, Rebecca did a lot of counterattacking. Every single time, there was someone else in range who couldn't counterattack. Her low hp has actually proven advantageous, making the AI target her over Lowen, Matt, or Dorcas. I found this interesting (and mildly amusing). Hopefully I can make use of it in later chapters.

		11	12	13	   
Total		235	752	1525	   
chapter		235	517	773	   
baseLvl				   
Hector	1.00	2.58	4.21	4.76	   
Matthew	11.05	11.82	12.32	12.88	   
Serra	12.72		13.12	13.67	   
Eliwood	1.00		1.33	2.20	   
Rebecca	1.00		1.67	3.63	   
Lowen	2.00		2.40	3.43	   
Marcus	1.00		1.44	2.13	   
Oswin	9.00		9.41	9.99	   
Dorcas	6.41		6.80	7.33	   
Bartre	2.00		2.00	2.21	   
Guy	3.00			3.20	 

Tactics: 18/20

Exp: 1525/1300

just noticed that Hector's hp is low (20). Reset to 22.

Edited February 21, 2009 by Reikken

[dondon151]

So, as you probably noticed, Rebecca did a lot of counterattacking. Every single time, there was someone else in range who couldn't counterattack. Her low hp has actually proven advantageous, making the AI target her over Lowen, Matt, or Dorcas. I found this interesting (and mildly amusing). Hopefully I can make use of it in later chapters.

Interesting indeed. I've had this happen to me before on the chapter with a Hand Axe brigand, although I had never thought of trying to abuse it to my favor because Rebecca's really frail.

Your chapter 13 logistics (RHS/LHS) were way better than mine. I was kind of stupid bringing both Hector and Oswin over on the side that had way fewer enemies.

[Mekkah]

Odd, I always bring only Bartre, sometimes Dorcas and Bartre to the west, since the south is so insanely full of enemies to begin with.

[Reikken]

===== 13x =====

I hate the lack of a preparations menu. No one starts where I want them to...

Also, Wolf Beil h4xes nomads.

I have to do a bit of rearranging to start off. Move this guy here so that he's out of the way so I can move this other guy here, etc. Among that is a rescue/drop on Oswin to get him up north faster. Hector+Rebecca kills that first archer while Eliwood gets a C support with Hector on turn 1. And Guy takes the south side solo.

Marcus gets to the village on turn 3. Those brigands were definitely going for it. 4 of them, in fact. Too bad for Guy. The more go north, the less he has to kill. One brigand suicides on Marcus. The other three get killed by Lowen and Rebecca on later turns. On turn 5E/6P, Marcus lures out Puzon, and then Oswin takes a shot at him with a Javelin, knocking him down to 2 hp. Eliwood goes in for the kill.

No one really went left. The initial mage and archer got killed off by various doods, and then Matt and Dorcas fought at that bridge a bit longer, but then the brigands ran away--went around to the north side, and the myrmidon was left with 1 hp and ran away to use a vulnerary. I didn't chase. Instead I torch'd the right side so Guy could see the 5-hp brigand and nomad who also ran away and were camping out on the forts. The myrmidon came back on the last turn, and the same thing happened. What a pansy.

Tactics: 26 / 27

Exp: 2635 / 2000

Funds: 30360 / 20400

===== 14 =====

I let Oswin and Bartre take care of the soldiers and pegs. Meanwhile, Hector went to the south bridge, and Lowen and Marcus do some rescue/drop on him to move him a bit farther. Rebecca and Eliwood follow. Guy and Dorcas kill that soldier (Dorcas could do it by himself, but this way I get more exp--Serra gets to heal Guy, too), and Matthew goes that way, too.

2 Next turn, recruit Erk and raep all the archers and soldiers except one archer. Marcus kills the far southwest archer. The mercs got killed on enemy phase: Counterattack crit from Dorcas, and then Erk killed the other one. Hector is moving as far west as possible (hand axes a soldier, too).

3 Erk gets village, and Marcus makes for the south village. Others continue to press west.

4 Hector counterattacked Erik, but I let Dorcas get the kill (only one other than Hector with enough power to finish in one hit) so that Hector can move freely: Hector manages to get in range of the all the far southwest horsies. I move Serra in that steel sword myrmidon's range so that he won't get in Erk's way: Erk has to kill those two brigands ASAP.

5 It starts raining, but I managed to get all enemies within attacking range. Priscilla buys two fires and two heals.

6 Eliwood finishes off the last brigand (after Rebecca weakens it further) for the win.

Tactics: 32 / 37

Exp: 3525 / 2850

===== 15 =====

I figured I could get away with not using Oswin, Marcus, or the fighters, so I went for it.

Matt, Erk, and Serra on the right; Lowen, Rebecca, Eliwood, Guy, Priscilla(, and Hector) on the left.

First turn, Priscilla and Lowen drop Hector in range of just about everything, with a hand axe equipped (he's the only one in range of anything but the javelin soldier), and then Eliwood and Guy pull Priscilla out of range of the javelin guy. Then Matt unlocks the door, and Erk moves into position to counterattack the mage.

Next turn Sealen runs out and misses Matthew, and then the 3 knights and 2 soldiers get mopped up. Matt kills one of the archers with the iron blade.

Matt helps out with combat for another turn, letting the thief unlock the treasure room door for him before stealing his lockpick, and Erk, supported by Serra, eventually kills Sealen and then heads down to help out for the last few turns. Guy moves up to take out the fighters on turn 3.

Tactics: 40 / 37

Exp: 4477 / 2850

Funds: 47375 / 30400

13x	14	15	   
Total	2635	3525	4477	   
chapter	1110	890	952	   

Hector	6.09	7.09	8.04	   
Matthew	13.53	14.04	14.43	   
Serra	14.35	14.92	15.58	   
Eliwood	5.01	6.03	7.37	   
Rebecca	5.13	6.28	7.32	   
Lowen	4.73	5.32	6.72	   
Marcus	2.37	2.49	2.49	   
Oswin	10.57	11.02	11.02	   
Dorcas	7.60	9.12	9.12	   
Bartre	2.32	3.22	3.22	   
Guy	4.83	5.58	7.31	   
Erk		12.59	13.93	   
Priscilla	3.11	3.78	 

Edited February 22, 2009 by Reikken

[Don Draper]

Who will your eventual main team consist of? Or will you not have a set "team" and rotate a variety of characters in?