HHM ranked playthrough

[Balcerzak]

Ch 20 - Dragon's Gate:

General strategy: Abuse effective against horse weapons, break through the chokepoint, recruit Legault, steal member card, Marcus rush to Secret Shop.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Lyn, Matthew, Kent, Sain, Lowen, Marcus, Serra, Priscilla, Dart, Fiora, (Legault)

Priscilla starts off by Unlocking the door from 1 range (otherwise the Archer will get in the way on his turn), Matthew loots the chest. The Knight in front is killed, Lyn steps into the west corridor, Mani Katti at the ready. Everybody lines up and prepares for the next turn.

Fiora was attacked by the Mage on the enemy phase, so she uses her player phase to finish what her first Javelin started. Sain weakens a blocking Cav with his Horseslayer, and Kent finishes it with a Javelin. Hector takes out a Nomad, since he doubles I let him use Iron Axe to conserve on Wolf Beil. Lowen heads into the room and Iron Lances the Archer. Marcus stands next to Hector with his Silver Lance ready to rebuff Cameron. Lyn heads east, letting Dart finish one Knight, and Eliwood Rapiers the second. Pris moves NE, Matt moves N, and Serra Heals Fiora so she'll live through the Longbow.

Hector Wolf Beil's the Nomad that's blocking his way (couldn't double this time), Sain comes up and finishes Cameron with his Horseslayer, freeing Kent to run due north and Longsword a Nomad. Dart finishes the chest-room Archer, Serra Heals Fiora, who finishes what Kent started. Marcus moves up to the chokepoint, using an Iron Axe on the Cavalier to his East. Priscilla Unlocks the door, and Lowen moves east as close to it as he can get from his previous position. Everyone else moves northwards.

Reinforcements have started arriving, so Fiora head to Javelin the Mage enclosed in its tiny room. This reinforcement string is her job. Eliwood finishes the cav to Marcus's south that survived due to an Iron Axe running out of uses, while Lowen doubles the Longbow Archer with his Steel Lance. Marcus clears the way by using a Steel Lance on a Nomad, allowing Lyn to step up and Mani Katti the next one, allowing Hector to step up and Wolf Beil the next one, allowing Sain to move past and Javelin the Troubadour. Kent moves south of Sain and tries to finish the Troub with a javelin but misses. He's set up to counter the Shaman reinforcement though, and distract it from Lowen, who he will deal with the Merc (this reinforcement room is his job), so all is good anyway. Healers heal, Dart moves into range of the Archer reinforcement, Hand Axe at the ready (this reinforcement string is his job), and other units advance.

Hector readies a Hand Axe and uses a Door Key on the door beneath Darin. Sain runs in, Javelin equipped and criticals the Nosferatu Shaman. Priscilla Mends Marcus, then Serra takes the Unlock from her and Unlocks the door to the upper chests. Marcus moves in and Hand Axes the Mage, while Lyn stands in the doorway, out of range. Matthew kills the Troubadour. On the enemy phase Sain dodges a Fighter Hand Axe, and Kills the swarms of remaining Shamans, surviving at 5 HP.

Sain finishes the Hand Axe Fighter, Hector Wolf Beils Darin to soften him up. Marcus's work in the northwest is done, he now stats booking it back the way he came and to the east. Lyn finishes the Knight with Mani Katti, Matthew comes up behind her. Kent takes up station on the other side of the corridor from Sain.

Hector recruits Legault, who heads west and steals the Member Card. Matt loots the first chest. Kent and Sain head east, to take care of the poison Knights. Marcus heads east and north, grabbing the Silver Card as he passes Eliwood, stopping where Sain used to be. Eliwood moves next to Hector. Dart had already finished the west archers earlier, so is now trading blows with the Killer Bow Archer from the safety of a forest. On the Enemy Phase Legault easily dispatches the Myrmidon, and tanks a hit from a loldier.

Hector 1HKOs a thief with and Iron Axe, allowing Legault to hand off the Member Card to Eliwood, who in true relay fashion passes the baton to Marcus. Kent and Sain finish the Knights that attacked them, allowing Marcus free access to charge past the area at full speed. Lyn attacks the ex-member thief that she'd been blocking off from the room. Since the Pegs have arrived and he got the bow, Dart head back west, into range of one of them.

Fiora scores a nice crit against a Peg, Dart polishes off the other (it had 1 HP, I should have had Steel equipped, but oh well). Marcus heads south, Javelin equipped because a host of foolish Hand Axe Fighters will try to mess with him. Lyn kills the thief, and now that I don't have to worry about the XP running away, Matthew's nimble fingers open the final chest. Kent kills the final Knight, Sain rescues him and they head south after Marcus (I hoped to have them bait the Knight, but it turned out to be useless). Legault moves into range of the final enemy on the West, an Armor.

Since Lowen finished with his room, he's heading toward the Archers cooped up east of Merlinus, while Dart and Fiora continue to hold the line against the Pegs. Lyn finishes the Armor with the Mani Katti. Hector takes Darin from 12 HP down to 6 with an Iron Axe, after a counter on the EP this will leave him at 3 HP, right in Eliwood's kill range. Marcus OHKOs a wall with the Silver Lance (just barely).

Marcus buys 3 Killing Edges, 3 Killer Lances, 1 Killer Axe, 1 Chest Key, the final round of reinforcement killing is underwent, Eliwood kills Darin and Hector seizes.

End Stats:

Hector    15.89 |30|15|10|12| 6|15| 4 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   14.45 |27|10|10|13|11| 8| 4 (Hector C)
Matthew   17.13 |30| 8| 8|20| 8|10| 5
Legault   12.98 |28| 9|14|17|10| 9| 4
Marcus     6.28 |34|16|19|12| 9|10|10
Lyn       13.58 |29| 7|11|17|11| 7| 3
Serra     16.41 |23|10|13|11|13| 6|12
Priscilla  9.03 |20| 9| 9|10|11| 4| 9
Sain      13.71 |29|14| 6|11| 9| 6| 3 (Kent C)
Kent      11.19 |29| 9| 9|10| 6| 8| 6 (Sain C)
Lowen     13.51 |34| 9|10|11| 6|12| 3
Dart      11.37 |35|14| 9|10| 3| 7| 1
Fiora     10.98 |24| 8|12|14| 7| 6| 7

Chapter Tactics: 11/16

Total Tactics: 122/119 (4 Star) [EHM 109]

Chapter XP: 1732/2100

Total XP: 14118/11400 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Not killing Darin immediately allowed me to recoup another ~200XP, making my deficit smaller. You'd really have to take the extra five turns and milk more reinforcements to have any sort of reasonable shot at this target, but it's simply not worth it when Tactics is already in a hole.

Ch 21 - New Resolve:

General Strategy: Fiora visits houses, goes shopping, kills monks. The rest try to handle shit popping out of the darkness as they press on to end the chapter. I may end up redoing this chapter, because I was still trying to figure things out when I accidentally beat it. The results weren't terrible though, so I'm not sure what exactly I'll gain by doing it over. Well, aside from shopping, which I didn't get to do as much of or necessarily the right things with.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Serra, Kent, Sain, Raven, Legault, Fiora, (Ninian)

I have no real good comments, as this was originally just going to be a test run so I wasn't even taking notes, just trying to gauge the general flow of the chapter.

Early on in the chapter Ninian was dodging impressively when I didn't quite have perfect cover for her. She eventually got hit, and the poison ended up taking her all the way down to 2HP before she stabilized. Yay for extra LHM levels.

Kent visited the arena twice for ~1420 g total. Fiora bought 6 Iron Swords, 6 Iron Lances, 4 Iron Axes, 6 Hand Axes, 10 Javelins.

The turn I was baiting Oleg to come out and attack (Sain sitting on a forest with a Javelin in his bow range), Legault was brought to 1HP by an angry wyvern. I almost reset (he was poisoned), but was glad I didn't becaused I'd misremembered the timing and he stabilized on his turn! Serra healed him and then the power of teamwork cleared a path for him to steal Oleg's Hero Crest, and let Raven double him with an Iron Blade, bringing him to 13HP (what a beast). Since he was at the edge of the map and a wyvern was to his south that was the best I could do.

I thought for sure I was doomed, having left Oleg alive and with all those wyverns were sprouting up as reinforcements, but the one attacking Fiora (visiting the Wyrmslayer house) missed, and Oleg and 3 other wyverns targetted Serra (leaving Legault alone when a duo of wyverns would have easily been his end). Only one wyvern actually hit Serra, so somehow everything ended up working out.

End Stats:

Hector    16.38 |31|16|11|13| 6|16| 4 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   15.31 |28|11|10|13|11| 8| 4 (Hector C)
Legault   15.10 |29|10|15|19|12| 9| 4
Serra     17.69 |24|10|13|12|13| 7|13
Raven     15.12 |39|16|17|19| 4|10| 2
Sain      14.94 |30|15| 7|11|10| 6| 3 (Kent C)
Kent      12.65 |30|10| 9|10| 6| 9| 6 (Sain C)
Fiora     12.68 |26| 9|14|15| 7| 6| 9
Ninian     8.02 |20| 1| 0|14|15| 7|11

Chapter Tactics: 8/9

Total Tactics: 130/128 (4 Star) [EHM 116]

Chapter XP: 1147/1200

Total XP: 15265/12600 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Holy hell those wyverns are tough. Nobody except Wolf Beil Hector or Lancereaver Raven can 1RKO, and there are so many of the bastards. Maybe I should be using Erk.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 22 - Kinship's Bond:

General strategy: Recruit Heath and Kill Thief ASAP, slowly press enemies backwards, converge on Eubans and kill him.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Lyn, Kent, Sain, Lowen, Serra, Priscilla, Raven, Legault, Ninian, (Isadora, Heath, Rath,)

Turn 1 has some complicated staving, rescue and trade chaining, due to the cramped set ups. Eliwood moves down, Serra Barriers him. Sain rescues Eliwood, moves just north and in the middle of the pillars, Kent trades swords to the top of both their inventories, takes Eliwood. Isadora takes an Iron Lance from Kent, drops Eliwood to her west, and cantos off as far as she can go. Lowen takes the Barrier staff from Serra, cantos down beneath the Knights. Priscilla Barriers Lowen. Ninian dances for Priscilla, so she can go Unlock the door to Heath area from 2 Range (right past Isadora). The rest of the gang comes out and prepares for the general central rumble.

Eliwood dispatches a Wyvern with a Killing Edge crit, Isadora takes out the Fighter with an Iron Lance, Ninian gives Eliwood a special dance, and he recruits Heath, who throws a Javelin at a Fighter. Kent and Sain plug the hole in the eastern side, while Lyn and Legault finish the Armors that had been weakened. Priscilla comes back, Barriers Lyn. Lowen stands to her South, grabs the Barrier, and Javelins a cavalier. Serra comes down and sandwiches between Lowen and Hector, and Barriers Hector. This covers the people I anticipated getting magic up in their face later on, but it turns out Lyn didn't actually see much mage action, the mages whiff on Eliwood (though he is hit by the Nomad, and left at 1 HP after the Swordreaver guy hits him).

Eliwood dispatches the Wyvern blocking the exit, so that Heath can rescue him and head up and out. Isadora Lances the Swordreaver, gets danced, and Silver Swords the Thief to kill it before it runs off with my gold. Kent and Sain continue plugging, the rest mop up what's still making trouble.

Rath sadly didn't move into the middle, so Lyn has to go out of her way to recruit him. He's worth the effort though, as he criticals Hand Axe Fighter with the Short Bow, killing him. Heath finishes the Mage that doubled him on the EP. Lowen has joined Isadora over here, and they take care of the remaining Mages. Priscilla Mends Heath and he Javelins the Fighter still there. Hector stands in front of an Armor and Handaxes the Fighter behind it, in anticipation of an army of Monks approaching. Raven crits the other Armor with an Iron Blade, taking it down for the count. Legault waits nearby. Kent and Sain work on Wyverns, and Serra is Mending Sain. Raven gets a bunch of magic to the face, but Hector still destroys several Monks due to massive chokespot

Kent and Sain come down to help clean up the huge pile of enemies in the center, Lyn will do (a bad job at) plugging the hole in their place, as that Swordreaver Fighter will mess her up a little. Isadora finishes a Lancereaver Cav with another shot of Silver Sword. Heath comes down, Gives her Eliwood, and Javelins a Swordreaver, Ninian dances for him and he finishes the job. Priscilla comes and Takes/Drops Eliwood to her South, in safety, while Lowen goes and Steel Lances another Swordreaver at the far edge of the map.

Rath finishes a Nomad with Longbow, then Eliwood burns the last use of Guy's old Killing Edge criticaling a Lancereaver cavalier. Lowen and Heath take up their now-permant post in the west, demolishing Axereaver wyverns and Lancereaver cavs with Ironsword/Javelin combos. Isadora books it to the center, and starts contributing there as well. Lyn abandons her post, too wounded to plug the hole any more, and Kent and Sain return. Legault is finished contributing to combat, so I send him westward. Pris Heals Eliwood.

Legault opens the Brave Axe chest. Lyn Mani Kattis an Armor, Prisc Heals Eliwood again, gets a dance, and then goes to the center to heal Lyn (gotta love that move). Eliwood grabs the Silver and Member cards from Ninian. Kent and Sain make inroads into the east, rather than just bottlenecking, still some mayhem in the center.

Legault grabs the other chest. Team Everyone finishes up the middle area, Kain and Sent fight a wyvern in the east. Prissy Heals Rath, gets a dance, and Heals Lyn. Eliwood begins moving towards the Secret Shop.

Rath goes to join Lowen and Heath, getting some Longbow action in to contribute. Hector and Raven press in the east and fight Nomads. Isadora gets some attention from Priscilla and goes and joins them. After a dance from Ninian, Priscilla and Serra decide it's time they paid each other a little attention as well, especially now that an Archer is actually manning the ballista and they're in range. Kent and Sain have made it to the edge and fight a Mage and a Wyvern.

Legault has joined Heath, Lowen, and Rath, after Heath and Lowen open the way he gets a double critical with Iron Sword against a Lancereaver cave (talk about luck, and overkill), then Rath Shortbow criticals the last Wyvern on that side (the RNGs loved me there). Kent finishes a Wyvern on the East, Sain rescues him and cantos back inside. Hector stands on the ballista to bait Eubans into moving, Raven goes and sits beneath him. And here's where I almost fatally fucked it up. I got greedy. Ninian danced for Sain, who goes, Gives Kent to Isadora, and Javelins the Ballista Archer. Isa then drops Kent to his north, with 1-2 range to counter the Mage. Little did I realize, this was also in range of Eubans, who decides to forgo the juicy lord bait (that couldn't counter), and goes and tosses his Spear at Kent (who does). Ouch!

Kent gets heals, tosses back at Eubans, then has Isa rescue him. He gets dropped back out to provide that Support bonus to Sain, who tosses a Javelin at Eubans (dodges the counter), gets danced and tosses another (dodging another counter). Eliwood buys a Physic, and two Barrier staves. On the enemy phase, Eubans serves himself a tasty portion of humble pie as despite hitting Sain, Sain hits back, and fatally this time. Random soldier appears, sounds the retreat, and the sole surviving Mage heads off with him.

End Stats:

Hector    17.60 |32|17|11|13| 7|16| 4 (Eliwood C)
Eliwood   15.62 |28|11|10|13|11| 8| 4 (Hector C)
Lyn       14.07 |29| 8|11|18|11| 7| 4
Legault   15.87 |29|10|15|19|12| 9| 4
Serra     19.15 |24|10|13|12|13| 7|13
Raven     15.73 |39|16|17|19| 4|10| 2
Sain      17.38 |32|18| 8|11|10| 7| 3 (Kent C)
Kent      14.19 |31|10|11|10| 7|10| 6 (Sain C)
Lowen     14.78 |35| 9|10|12| 7|13| 4
Priscilla 10.83 |21|10| 9|10|12| 4| 9
Ninian     9.14 |20| 1| 0|15|16| 8|11
Heath      9.60 |32|16|11|11| 8|12| 2
Rath       9.10 |27|10|10|12| 5| 7| 2
Isadora    1.73 |Base

Chapter Tactics: 11/11

Total Tactics: 141/139 (4 Star) [EHM 126]

Chapter XP: 1815/1700

Total XP: 17080/14300(5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: This chapter took quite a bit of work. Both Heath and Rath got some good exercise in. Rath may be sufficiently strong and speedy for me to use my previous method of emergency XP padding in EHM in Sands of Time by fighting Archer reinforcements in the NE stairwell, should I need to once again.

Ruminations on Ch 23: I wasn't planning on fielding Heath next chapter, but I may need to use him in addition to Florina and Fiora. On the other hand, it may be more benificial to bring both thieves. At any rate, I know Eliwood needs to go, and kill a boss (he and Hector will also finally reach B after a couple turns), because I still need to achieve Linus, Ninian is good, Serra is going, and promoting midway through. On the other hand, it might not hurt to take Raven as well. At any rate, this map is much more hellish with Fog of War Sand active (I don't even remember that in EHM, but maybe it's just been awhile). Anyway, my first attempt was a dismal failure, Florina accidentally killed the Guiding Ring Mage, I kept going, just to feel things out, but eventually fucked up and got Serra killed. Also, it's very clear I will have to forgo a lot of buried treasure, as imagining pulling off that kind of luck manipulation on a cart makes me belly laugh. Clearly the order of priority is Ocean Seal>>(steal White Gem)>>(steal Guiding Ring)>Hero Crest>Body Ring>Eclipse~LightBrand~FillasMight? I'm actually curious what might be recommended to grab of the bottom three if I can swing it. Ugh, I hate Fog of War... Maybe my plan of Serra double Barriering the Peg sisters for Magic invulnerability needs to be put on hold for a dose or two of Torch.

[messy mike]

I'd definitely pick Filla's Might over the other two items. None of the three are all that great, but Eclipse is entirely worthless to begin with, especially since you're not using Canas. The Light Brand would give Raven some 2-range for the next few chapters until he promotes, but it's not very good 2-range and it's not really necessary, and it'll be outclassed by Hand Axes as soon as he can use them. With the ring, you can probably shave off a few turns when fighting some of the later bosses, because 10 extra damage is a LOT when you're fighting someone like Limstella, who you can only hit for ~5-10 at a time, or better yet, the Dragon.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 23 - Living Legend:

General strategy: Lords go east and clean up on the plains, the rest go west.

Team: Hector, Eliwood, Erk, Serra, Legault, Ninian, Florina, Fiora, (Hawkeye)

Turn 1: Eliwood runs up and dispatches an Armor with a Rapier crit, Legault stands south of Florina and acquires an Ocean Seal. Serra gives him a dose of Barrier before he is airlifted and taken west. Fiora takes him from her sister and drops him off NW of the house. Fiora cantos down east of her sister. Ninian dances for Serra, who runs over to give a dose of Barrier to Fiora (this proves vital shortly). Erk moves north 1, equips a four-use Thunder over a Fire, and Hector moves north 2. The enemy phase sees Legault take a hit from the Elfire mage, while dodging the other mages. Florina dodges an Archer and doubles it to 1HP. Erk takes out two wyverns and an Archer, Eliwood trades blows with the other Armor, and dodges some arrows and hand axe. Pent kicks ass and takes names up in the NW corner, as per usual, though he did get hit by a wyvern, 20HP.

Turn 2: Legault steals the Guiding Ring from the Elfire Mage. Hector moves north of Hawkeye and recruits him. Then Ninian gives him a little inspiration, and he goes over and Iron Axes the brigand. Eliwood moves south next to him, and they have a touching conversation (B support). Hawkeye moves to Ninian's north, and relieves her of a heavy looking Hand Axe and a spare vulnerary that she was carrying around. Fiora javelins the 1HP archer, Serra puts a Barrier on Florina, Florina takes the long way around, and Javelins the other Archer from the north, bringing it to 1HP. It's more important for killing the Shaman on the enemy phase though. Erk moves north of Fiora, creating a barricade, protecting Legault from the north, and Thunders a mage to death. The enemy phase has Fiora eat an arrow and Elfire, which leaves her at 1HP, and a puny Fire Mage tinks off of her. Serra dodges a Monk, Eliwood dodges the Armor (thanks to the additional Avoid), kills it, and dodges more arrows. Hawkeye is hit by Paul, but whiffs the counter. Pent sits tight up near that fort, kills wyverns.

Turn 3: Hawkeye connects with a Hand Axe from 2 range north of Paul. Legault kills the Monk, but not before giving Erk the Ocean Seal and Guiding Ring to free up inventory for stealing later. Fiora kills the Fire Mage with a Steel Lance. Hector hits Paul with a Hand Axe from 2 range, then Eliwood finishes with a Killing Edge critical. After a little loving from Ninian, he kills the Archer with his Rapier (allowing him to ORKO a cav on the enemy phase). Florina Killer Lance criticals a wyvern from the west, and somehow magically the stars were aligned and she found a Body Ring buried in the sands (I nearly dropped my DS from shock when this happened, and it permanently locked in the previous events in exact detail). Erk kills the Elfire Mage with Fire (the last of the enemies in the south here), and Serra Mends Fiora. On the enemy phase, Florina gets another crit against another Wyvern, and Hawkeye wounds a cav, and dodges a Longbow. Pent was now at 12 HP, so he moves to the far NW and uses a dose of elixir.

Turn 4: Eliwood kills a nomad, gets a dance, and kills a cav. Hector kills the other nomad. Legault moves into Jasmine's range, gets a Mend from Serra. Erk moves south of Legault. Fiora flies over and criticals the Longbow Archer with her Killer Lance, while Florina flies to the center, trying in vain to pick up a Filla's Might, while remaining in enemy Wyvern range. Hawkeye moves NW and heals with a vulnerary. Florina wounds the wyvern, but didn't activate a crit. Legault easily dodges the Hand axe. Pent kills things.

Turn 5: Legault makes off with Jasmine's White Gem. Hector and Eliwood move westish, with some Ninian assistance. Hawkeye hits Jasmine from the north with his Hand Axe, gets hit once in return (now at 22HP, would die if both enemy phase hits connect, but the AI goes after Eliwood 15HP, who dodges easily with WTA and B support). Erk hits Jasmine with some Thunder, Serra Mends him, hits level 20 with a perfect +7 level up. Fiora equips a Slim Lance, grabs Legault, and moves west. Florina takes/drops him just E the bones, and heads west herself afterward. Fiora is hit by the wounded wyvern, but a Slim Lance crit finishes it. Pent exists.

Turn 6: Legault make a knight's move SW, grabbing Filla's might and ending south of Florina. Serra moves south of Hector, gets some guidance from a mystic ring, achieving an epiphany and becoming a Bishop. Ninian dances for her, and she books it west and south to Mend Fiora. Fiora tries to get a crit with her Killer Lance on a wyvern, end up just whacking it normally, but she dodges the counter, which is key. Jasmine goes down to a combo of Hector's Hand Axe and Eliwood's Iron Sword. Erk and Hawkeye move west. Florina equips a Javelin, grabs Legault, and flies to the south part of the other bone outcropping. On the enemy phase she dodges one of the wyvern's double, and soaks some magic from a shaman and a mage. Pent comes down and destroys the wyvern.

Turn 7: Serra moves west as far as possible. No enemies in range, so she uses a Torch as far south as possible (I needed to make sure there were no reinforcments still arriving down there and it also illuminates the Shaman spawn point). Florina drops Legault off, cantos east hoping for a Light Brand, but finding nothing. Fiora Javelins one of the southern Shamans. Everyone else moves west (Ninian dances for XP). On the enemy phase a Mage suicides against Florina, two Shamans whiff against Legault, a southern Shaman whiffs against Fiora. Pent kills a wounded Shaman. Only one Shaman still alive, until the southern one reinforces.

Turn 8: Only two enemies. Legault fights the Shaman, finds a Hero Crest afterwards. Fiora kills the southern Shaman. Everyone heads west, Ninian dances. Serra Barriers Hawkeye for the XP, is astonished when she uncovers a Light Brand as well (this absolutely blew my mind, people). Erk tries for Eclipse, but no doing. The final team-member, Florina mops up that Shaman and the chapter ends. Sidequest is accepted.

End Stats:

Hector    18.00 |33|18|12|13| 7|17| 4 (Eliwood B)
Eliwood   18.23 |29|14|12|14|11| 9| 6 (Hector B)
Legault   16.53 |29|10|16|19|12| 9| 5
Serra      1.21 |28|14|17|15|16|10|17
Ninian     9.94 |20| 1| 0|15|16| 8|11
Fiora     14.31 |28|11|15|16| 7| 6|10
Florina   16.88 |29|12|16|18|17| 7|11
Erk       15.38 |30|11|10|16| 7| 2|10
Hawkeye    4.28 |Base

Chapter Tactics: 8/9

Total Tactics: 149/148 (4 Star) [EHM 137]

Chapter XP: 930/1200

Total XP: 18010/15500 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Lords' levels 18+18+14=50. This is sufficient, or do I have to exceed 50? I thought I'd remembered Generals in Genesis, so had thought maybe Lyn would feast on those, but I see nothing but promoted magic users, so would really rather not bring her if it can be avoided. Anyway, I got unbelieveably ridiculously lucky with the hidden sands pickups. Normally I never grab anything unless it's a thief, so getting one was unexpected. Getting the second at the very end (which was kind of an accident, I was just milking XP, and didn't even try to place myself there) was mindblowing. While in all honesty I'd probably have preferred the Eclipse for funds reasons, I'm not turning down a free Light Brand. Poor Serra, there was no-one left for her to kill after promoting, so having carried around that Lightning was pointless after all. And you'll be getting benched for Prissy's extra move next chapter too. Isn't it sad, Serra-chan? ;-;

...so close to 5-star Tactics I can taste it. XP lead has slipped to 25 levels buffer. Genesis will give it a nice bounce back, though. Assuming my EHM records are more or less indicative of the situation from here on out I would be cutting it very close. However, Crazed Beast and The Berserker will almost definitely push me over quite easily, so I will probably be less concerned about my rotations from here on out.

I honestly can't imagine being able to make it to Jerme's map at this point, it would require ridiculous amount of Guy and Bartre spamming. Though, a properly leveled Bartre with a Halberd does sort of wreak havoc on Crazed Beast and would allow access to Karla. Also, is the requirement "sum of levels Serra, Prisc, Erk, Lucius > sum of levels Guy, Bartre, Dorcas, Raven" or "sum of gained XP by Serra, Prisc, Erk, Lucius > sum of gained XP by Guy, Bartre, Dorcas, Raven"? If the latter, Serra's significant Lyn mode levels won't contribute, and it may actually be feasible. Also, is Jerme's map even that much more advantageous, aside from easier time recruiting Harken? I think I've only ever visited it once, to be quite honest.

I'd definitely pick Filla's Might over the other two items. None of the three are all that great, but Eclipse is entirely worthless to begin with, especially since you're not using Canas. The Light Brand would give Raven some 2-range for the next few chapters until he promotes, but it's not very good 2-range and it's not really necessary, and it'll be outclassed by Hand Axes as soon as he can use them. With the ring, you can probably shave off a few turns when fighting some of the later bosses, because 10 extra damage is a LOT when you're fighting someone like Limstella, who you can only hit for ~5-10 at a time, or better yet, the Dragon.

Your advice was taken to heart. Thanks, I'd been leaning that way initially anyway, but it was good to get some confirmation.

[messy mike]

I honestly can't imagine being able to make it to Jerme's map at this point, it would require ridiculous amount of Guy and Bartre spamming. Though, a properly leveled Bartre with a Halberd does sort of wreak havoc on Crazed Beast and would allow access to Karla. Also, is the requirement "sum of levels Serra, Prisc, Erk, Lucius > sum of levels Guy, Bartre, Dorcas, Raven" or "sum of gained XP by Serra, Prisc, Erk, Lucius > sum of gained XP by Guy, Bartre, Dorcas, Raven"? If the latter, Serra's significant Lyn mode levels won't contribute, and it may actually be feasible. Also, is Jerme's map even that much more advantageous, aside from easier time recruiting Harken? I think I've only ever visited it once, to be quite honest.

Your advice was taken to heart. Thanks, I'd been leaning that way initially anyway, but it was good to get some confirmation.

The requirements for alternate PFoD chapters depends on the aggregate exp gained by each set of characters, only during Hector's/Eliwood's mode. Any exp Erk, Lucius, Serra, or Dorcas gained in Lyn mode does not count towards the totals. As for the possible benefits of either, Kenneth's troubles you much less with snow, but the Bolting Sages and Purge Bishops are a pain in the ass. The turn requirement for Jerme's map is seven turns longer, although neither one will give you much trouble (18 and 25, respectively, iirc.) Jerme's map has a much higher exp requirement (700 more, after checking), and I don't remember there being that many more enemies, so I think I would recommend Kenneth's. That's where I went on my last HHM ranked run.

Just for your info, your Lords' levels are sufficient for Linus's map, they only need to total 50, not surpass it.

And no problem, glad to offer what little help I can. I've only S-ranked HHM once, and I cut it much closer than you are. You're making it look pretty easy by comparison, although you are using a bit more RNG manipulation.

[Balcerzak]

The requirements for alternate PFoD chapters depends on the aggregate exp gained by each set of characters, only during Hector's/Eliwood's mode. Any exp Erk, Lucius, Serra, or Dorcas gained in Lyn mode does not count towards the totals. As for the possible benefits of either, Kenneth's troubles you much less with snow, but the Bolting Sages and Purge Bishops are a pain in the ass. The turn requirement for Jerme's map is seven turns longer, although neither one will give you much trouble (18 and 25, respectively, iirc.) Jerme's map has a much higher exp requirement (700 more, after checking), and I don't remember there being that many more enemies, so I think I would recommend Kenneth's. That's where I went on my last HHM ranked run.

Just for your info, your Lords' levels are sufficient for Linus's map, they only need to total 50, not surpass it.

And no problem, glad to offer what little help I can. I've only S-ranked HHM once, and I cut it much closer than you are. You're making it look pretty easy by comparison, although you are using a bit more RNG manipulation.

Jerme 25.14 (Dorcas: 2.16, Bartre: 4.60, Guy 7.65, Raven 10.73)

Kenneth 27.97 (Serra: 10.83, Erk: 9.31, Priscilla: 7.83, Lucius: 0.00)

Apparently it's much closer than I thought at the moment, though the Kenneth faction will continue to grow, as I'm invested in both healers (not so much Erk, he's just filling the gap until Pent shows up, like usual), whereas I'm only really invested in Raven on the other side. I don't have any way to look at Kenneth map at the moment, as fireemblemwod only has Jerme's map, and the save states Mekkah sent me also only have Jerme, but I get the feeling you're right, and there isn't an overwhelming difference in terms of enemy content as far as I can recall (foggy, vague, years-old memories). When I did Eliwood Hard Mode I took Kenneth map, and that only took 17 of the 18 turns, I anticipate HHM will be similar. I was mostly curious if it was easier to build a surplus on Jerme's map, but if no-one knows, or if it's only like a 23/25 or something, I just won't bother.

Also, just playing through Genesis a couple times for warm up, and there's no way Hector is not going to hit 20 and cap here. Also, I can't afford to bench Serra either as it looks like both groups will need a Barrier-er/Healer to go with them. It's sad though, because I had her attempt to attack a Bishop, then backed off when I realized she'd either do double 0s with Lighting, or a single 1 with Shine. Still on full-time Staves duty it looks like.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 23x - Genesis:

General strategy: Pegs fuck shit up, gain massive levels. Hawkeye takes over when Hector caps.

Team: (west) Fiora, Florina, Priscilla, Ninian, (east) Hector, Hawkeye, Legault, Serra

Turn 1: Prisc gives Florina a Barrier, turns out not to be entirely necessary, but it was precautionary. Florina hits the wall with Steel, Flo follows up with Javelin, breaking it. Ninian dances Flo, who flies around the Druid into Bishop range. Does not attack as two Luna hits will finish her. Hawkeye and Hector take down the other wall, Serra Barriers Hector, and Legault unlocks the door. On the enemy phase the Bishop misses Florina, the Druid hits her, she does not kill on the counter. Purge Bishop hits Fiora for half her health, and Bolting Sage leaves Legault with 4HP. Kishuna was a bastard and moved west, so Prisc won't be able to Unlock the door.

Turn 2: Fiora finished the Luna Druid with a swing of her Steel Lance. Florina gets a critical on her Javelin attack on the Bishop, killing it earlier than anticipated. She sends a Steel Lance back to Merlinus and keeps the Door Key. Priscilla trades Florina her (temporarily) useless Unlock for the Door key. She gets a dance from Ninian, goes into the one square not covered by Magic Seal and Heals Fiora. Hector kills the Bolting Sage, Hawkeye uses the Killer Axe to take down the Nosferatu Druid. Legault opens another door, and Serra Heals him. On the enemy phase a Bishop misses Legault from 2 range, Serra dodges two Status Staves, and Kishuna moves even further west.

Turn 3: Hector kills the Bishop, takes some damage. Priscilla uses the Door Key, then cantos back to her previous position. Fiora destroys the Sage with a Killer Lance critical. Florina starts work on the western wall, and Fiora finishes it after a dance from Ninian. Legault starts work on the wall in front of him. Hawkeye comes down to join the party, and gets a Barrier from Serra. Legault dodges a Purge on the enemy phase, and Serra dodges the Status Staves again.

Turn 4: Legault finishes breaking down the wall, allowing Hector to kill the Sleep Staff Sage with his Hand Axe. Serra heals him, because 2HP does not look comfortable. Hawkeye stands north of Legault. Florina takes the Bishop to 1HP with her Iron Lance, Fiora scores the kill with a Javelin. Ninian dances for Florina, who Iron Lances the western Druid from the South, while Priscilla comes down and takes what used to be her position. Hector dodges a Beserk Staff on the Enemy Phase, while Serra finally succumbs to Silence. Kishuna jets, and the rest of the non-treasure room walls disappear.

Turn 5: Priscilla moves south of Florina, takes back the Unlock Staff and gives her some Healing. Florina then books it south and Killer Lance criticals a Luna Druid. Fiora finishes the wounded Druid from last turn with Steel, gets a dance from Ninian, attempts to Killer Lance crit the Bishop to the east, but fails, and leaves it at 1HP. Hawkeye Hand Axes the Purge/Berserk Bishop from across the wall, Hector does likewise to the Eclipse Druid to the south, hitting level 20 in the process. Serra stands to Hector's east, blocking the passage, while Legault stands in safety to Hawkeye's east. On the enemy phase Hector dodges one Sage, wounds it because he missed his double, gets hit by the other Sage, wounds it because he missed his double. The Bishop fails to fight back against Fiora.

Turn 6: Legault kills the ex-Silence Sage with an Iron Sword double, takes massive damage but lives. Hawkeye destroys the other Sage with his Hand Axe. Fiora kills the Bishop with Steel. At this point there's only one Druid, and Kishuna's center squad remaining, well and the first of the set of northern reinforcements. Ninian dances for Fiora, she equips a Javelin and flies as near to Merlinus as she can get. The Shaman won't target her though. Priscilla Unlocks the door to the west chest. Florina books it north as far as possible. Serra heads due west.

Turn 7: Florina kills a Mage reinforcement, gets a dance from Ninian and goes to the stairwell to kill the most recently spawned one. Priscilla snags a Silver Blade and cantos north. Fiora Javelins one Shaman, gets hit (22HP, still in the green by a long shot). Hector breaks down the wall to the treasure with one blow from his Steel Axe, and Legault finds a Berserk Staff inside. Hawkeye heads due west. Serra heads west and north. The Druid attacks her and misses.

Turn 8: Fiora and Florina continue to kill the unpromoted weenies. Priscilla comes north, Ninian dances for her, she Barriers Ninian (for the XP). Hawkeye 1HKO's the Druid from the north with his Killer Axe. Serra switches him up for a Hand Axe. On the enemy phase he double crits the General, and starts wounding the Hero. Legault books it west.

Turn 9: Fiora and Florina continue to kill the unpromoted weenies. Hawkeye wounds the Hero some more. Serra, now cured, Shines the Light Brand Swordmaster, and laughs at his feeble attempts to get past her Resistance. Legault heads west. On the enemy phase Hawkeye destroys everybody with criticals... Sure he only has 3HP afterwards, but that was a sight to see. Too bad for Serra though.

Turn 10: Legault is sadly two squares shy of the chest so I can't end the chapter this turn. Instead I engage in healing and general tomfoolery. No more reinforcements arrive, and there's only one Shaman remaining.

Turn 11: Legault grabs a Secret Book. More Heal XP milking, then Fiora ends the chapter.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Hawkeye    6.88 |51|19|15|12|14|14|10
Legault   17.40 |29|10|16|20|13| 9| 5
Ninian    11.04 |22| 1| 0|16|17| 9|12
Fiora     18.20 |32|11|18|18| 7| 8|11
Florina   19.04 |31|14|17|20|19| 7|11
Priscilla 12.13 |21|12| 9|11|13| 5|10
Serra      1.69 |28|14|17|15|16|10|17

Chapter Tactics: 11/25

Total Tactics: 160/173 (5 Star AT LAST) [EHM 152]

Chapter XP: 1440/650

Total XP: 19450/16150 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: I didn't actually open the door to Kishuna's room, so didn't fight and win any of the Silver weapon enemies (unless of course they don't show up in HHM, I didn't bother to find out). I decided an extra 4 turns (guesstimate) was more than worth the amount of funds I'd pick up, in that turns can always be exchanged for funds later (say the very next chapter) if need be. Plus due to Serra having been Silenced everyone anywhere near there was dangerously low on HP, so I didn't feel it was worth the risk at all. And goddamn but if this isn't one of the single best chapters for padding your ranks in the entire game. Seriously...

The peg sisters are looking like they're almost ready to promote.

[dondon151]

If you snipe at Kishuna from across the wall, he'll leave along with his accompaniment, and mages with droppable items will reinforce.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 24 - Four Fangs Offense (Linus):

Team: Fiora, Florina, Priscilla, Ninian, Hector, Matthew, Serra, Kent, Sain, Dart, Heath, Raven

I didn't keep any explicit turn by turn notes for this chapter, as I completed it with an excellent run in my fooling around stages of self-discovery. I will outline the basic strategies, in vaguely turn-separated blocks but I'm sure I missed a few.

Florina, Fiora, Dart start by heading east. Dart uses the Swordreaver to not get fucked my the mercs. Kent and Sain start by going north. Kent is more defensive so will hold the choke point despite being less offensive.

Heath takes over for Florina and Fiora, who go join Kent Sain on the edge of the Bolting range, tossing Javelins at the huge pile of mercs. Raven baits that bad-ass Silver Sword Hero with Killing Edge equipped. No crit.

Dart recruits Geitz, thanks to Ninian, Geitz visits house. Heath plays in the pond with a Pirate (outside of Bolting range). Raven Killing Edge crit on Hero, gets Mended from ~5HP. Sain finishes Hero. Silver Card Hector buys 3x Jav, 3x Hand Axe.

Matthew visits first village, Hector buys 5x Heal staff and 1x Restore staff. Sain, Raven advance. Florina moves into the fray of enemy mercs, to draw out the Bolting Sage, just hits Lv 20 on the enemy phase.

Florina doubles the Bolting Sage to where Fiora can kill it. Everybody who'd been holding back advances safely. Heath, Dart, and Geitz stay in the southeast to play with wyvern reinforcements whenever they arrive.

Raven glues himself to the arena. Only has to retreat once (against an Knight he did ~6/50 damage too, but received ~16/40 damage from, loss ~650g), he wins several other fights. Matt goes to visit the northwest village. Florina equips Killer Lance, parks in range of the west Hero, and promotes.

Someone mops up the Hero, Flo repeats strat with the other Hero.

Serra attacks Linus from 2 Range, is rescue dropped out of the way, Florina parks to his north with Killer Lance, gets enemy phase critical, brings him to ~6HP.

Kent kills Linus for a turn 11 clear after as much XP as possible has been gathered on the final phase. Hector also bought 2x Steel Sword, a Lancereaver, and 2x Steel Lance I believe.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    12.16 |unlogged
Fiora     20.00 |33|12|20|20| 9| 8|12
Florina    1.60 |36|16|17|20|19|10|13
Priscilla 13.72 |unlogged
Serra      2.85 |unlogged
Matthew   18.09 |unlogged
Raven     17.50 |unlogged
Dart      13.22 |unlogged
Heath     11.53 |unlogged
Kent      16.94 |32|12|12|10| 8|10| 6 (Sain B)
Sain      18.95 |33|18| 9|11|10| 7| 3 (Kent B)
Geitz      3.60 |base

(unlogged are units that gained levels in Crazed Beast, which I saved over. My three slots are now devoted to: 19x, 24, 26)

Chapter Tactics: 11/22

Total Tactics: 171/195 (5 Star) [EHM 182]

Chapter XP: 1866/1900

Total XP: 21316/18050 (5 Star) [EHM 20745]

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: I probably could have abused the arena for more funds, but at this point, I want extra turns to visit 32x, and do a full chapter playthrough. I probably should have also bought more vulneraries, but whatever.

Ch 25 - Crazed Beast:

Team: Matthew, Guy, Lowen, Oswin, Ninian, Hector, Priscilla, Serra, Dart, Heath, Raven, (Farina)

General Strategy: Matthew and Guy take the Southwest by their lonesome, Heath takes the east until his Barrier runs low, the lets Farina take over, Dart mops up pirates in central then joins the rest pushing north.

Turn 1: Matt enters range of some southern Pirates, Guy is close behind. Priscilla Barriers Heath, who Iron Lances a water Pirate (in range of Monks). Ninian dances Prisc, who Barriers Lowen. Serra Barriers Raven. Raven stands in range of across-the-river Pirate, Oswin and Lowen successively to his north. Dart moves into range of flying horse, kills it on enemy phase, while the other flying horse attacks Serra and is badly wounded.

Turn 2: Dart finishes flying Horse, gets a Barrier from Prisc. Matt finishes the western of pirates attacking him, Guy takes its spot. Heath flies east, just 2 squares west of reinforcement Pirate, equips Axereaver. Lowen stand in Pascal's range, Javelin ready, Raven behind him, and Oswin south of Raven. Serra heals Oswin, Nini dances Pris who heals Serra. Serra kills Hand Axe Pirate on the EP, while Lowen tanks a Spear and whiffs the counter, but dodges and wounds a follow-up cav.

Turn 3: Serra Lighting crit and doubles Pascal for 36 damage, dodges his counter. Lowen Iron Lance doubles the cav blocking the way, killing it, but going to 3HP. Raven Lancereavers Pascal to death, taking a hit in the process. Heath Axereavers the new Pirate reinforce from the south, Dart Iron Axes water Pirate from the south. Prisc Barriers Oswin, gets a dance, Mends Lowen. Oswin moves to Lowen's north and Steel Lances a cav. Guy and Matt press east. Enemy phase sees Raven decimate enemy forces, break his lancereaver, and barely stay alive. Guy kills a Pirate with a Steel Sword double, Heath finishes both pirates, tanks monks. Dart finishes the other water pirate.

Turn 4: Lowen Horseslayers southwest cav reinforcement. Dart moves west, gets a dance, takes Lowen's old spot and Hand Axes a cav that survived against Raven. Oswin moves 2 east of Lowen, Steel Lances a Cav. Raven moves SE Lowen (SW Oswin) and gets a Mend from Priscilla. Serra doubles and kills the Swordslayer Pirate. Guy gets a Steel sword crit, killing an enemy, Matt wounds another. Heath flies north of the armory, equips a javelin, and uses a vulnerary. Both monks splatter against him on the enemy phase.

Turn 5: North crew continues fighting massive cav reinforcements, heals as needed. Heath flies up to the village, uses a vulnerary (dodges the Purge anyway, but triggers the spawning of monks). Guy and Matt continue cleaning up the southwest.

Turn 6: Hector trades Farina another javelin and the Afa's Drops. She flies as far north as possible, into monk range. Heath equips Axereaver, visits the village, and cantos due west, just next to a water pirate.

Turn 7: Farina flies south of the boss, uses a vulnerary. She gets a crit against the boss on the enemy phase, bringing it to 7HP or so. She procced at least 1 speed on a level here, upgrading her to complete monk domination.

Turn 8: Farina finishes the boss with Javelin. Dart hand axes westmost ex-ballista archer to death. Guy, Oswin capture castles.

Turn 9: Pris Physics Heath for extra XP (after Healing Dart and getting danced, as all other healing was done) Heath kills a monk. Farina steps on castle and kills another monk. Chapter complete. 3 monks left alive (and more ultimately that would have spawned but weren't worth extra time).

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    13.06 |24| 1| 1|18|18| 9|14
Priscilla 15.54 |23|13|11|12|14| 5|12
Serra      3.75 |29|14|18|16|17|10|18
Raven     19.58 |42|19|20|20| 5|11| 2
Matthew   20.00 |31|10| 9|20| 9|11| 6
Dart      16.48 |36|17| 9|13| 5| 7| 2
Heath     13.64 |35|18|15|13| 8|13| 3
Lowen     16.29 |36|10|12|12| 8|14| 4
Guy       13.45 |31|11|17|20|10| 7| 4
Oswin     16.06 |34|17|11| 5| 4|16| 7
Farina    15.94 |27|11|15|16|12|10|13

Chapter Tactics: 9/0

Total Tactics: 180/195 (5 Star) [EHM 182]

Chapter XP: 2221/0

Total XP: 23537/18050 (5 Star) [EHM 20745]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 392337

Required for 5*: 374400

Leeway: 17937

PFoD calculations:

Jerme	Kenneth
33.56	37.97

Comments: Farina isn't probably the most effective choice, but I love her so, and always recruit her. Always. Don't judge me...

Also, holy hell but if this chapter didn't turn out to be an XP-fest, though I'm sure this was partly due to exploiting underused team members/late joiners (Guy, Dart, Heath, Lowen, Oswin). Good thing I stocked up on another Lancereaver last chapter too... Still have a nice tactics surplus, I'm feeling good about both the Berserker and Value of Life now, they seem to be very plausible to pull off. Things are looking up on all fronts. 67 spare levels on the XP requirement, I may have been overly cautious when considering my EHM experience, as clearly chapters like this one were wholly outside of my realm of expectation for gained XP. I don't think this has any chance to be a real issue any more, so I'll probably be bringing out Isadora, Geitz, etc. in chapters to come.

Edited March 6, 2010 by Balcerzak

[chrysalid]

That's an amazing amount of XP in Crazed Beast. I was feeling very good for getting 300 a turn there and I was pulling underlevelled bench units out of storage to get it.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 26 - Unfulfilled Heart:

Team: North: Hector, Eliwood, Lyn, (Pent), (Louise), Central: Dart, Farina, Florina, Ninian, Priscilla, Raven, East: Kent, Sain, Serra, Lowen, Heath

No in-depth notes, this was an easy Defend map that didn't require many attempts at all.

Florina takes out the southern mountain range Bandits with a Sword. Farina gets a Barrier, and goes invincible on the Magic users in the NW (barring of course Luna Shaman). Cav trio + Serra clean up RHS. Raven heads that way to help them out in subsequent turns. Dart manhandles the Brigand in the northern mountain range with a combination of player enemy phase whiffs and hits. Heath flies toward Hector et. al. Louise and Pent relieve the Lords of Iron and Steel Bows and Fire Tome and Heal Staff that they'd just happened to have on hand. (What a coincidence.)

Cavs + Serra + Raven work hard on the host of Nomads. Farina continues mopping enemies. Eli (Wyrmslayer+Forest+Hector B) and Lyn (Lancereaver) position themselves to slowly draw down enemy wyverns so there is never a ridiculously giantantic pile in the center. Heath arrives, will help with this task next turn.

Sain and Kent and Raven continue west to handle the next batch of Nomads, Lowen and Serra stick back.

Sain and Kent return to Lowen and Serra, together with the forts and forests, they will handle all of the SE reinforcements for the rest of the chapter. Raven continues west, killing the Cavs. He gets enough XP to hit 20 (with 20 20 20 in strength, skill, and speed), he will promote on a forest, and switch to axes to handle the wyverns in the SW, grabbing Hammerne when convenient.

Florina and Farina head north to the rest of the group, as does Dart, and Heath. It takes a little bit of juggling but the reinforcements are all managed.

One wyvern (with 1HP) had escaped Raven's player phase, and fled instead of suicide, so remained alive along with Vaida and her immediate escort. No-one else was spared.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Eliwood   18.71 |29|14|12|14|11| 9| 6 (Hector B)
Lyn       15.20 |30| 9|12|18|11| 7| 5
Ninian    14.16 |25| 1| 1|19|19| 9|14
Priscilla 16.94 |23|13|11|12|15| 5|12
Serra      4.80 |20|15|18|16|18|10|19
Raven      1.42 |47|20|22|22| 5|14| 4
Heath     15.44 |36|18|16|14| 9|13| 3
Florina    2.14 |37|16|17|20|19|10|13
Farina    18.27 |30|12|20|20| 9| 8|12
Louise     4.06 |Base
Pent       6.20 |Base
Dart      17.90 |37|18| 9|14| 5| 7| 2
Kent      17.73 |33|12|13|11| 8|10| 6 (Sain B)
Sain      19.52 |34|18|10|11|11| 8| 3 (Kent B)
Lowen     17.46 |37|11|12|12| 8|14| 5

Chapter Tactics: 12/11

Total Tactics: 192/206 (5 Star) [EHM 194]

Chapter XP: 1488/1500

Total XP: 25025/19550(5 Star) [EHM 22307]

Funds: 5 Star

Comments: Nothing much to say. Visiting those shops without a clever rescue chain is suicide, and I didn't even bother considering it.

Ch 27 - Pale Flower of Darkness (Kenneth):

Team: Hector, Ninian, Priscilla, Serra, Raven, Heath, Florina, Farina, Isadora, Legault, Louise, Pent

General Strategy: Priscilla, the fliers, and Merlinus head east. Everyone else heads north.

This chapter is boring to read about, due to the snow making things mostly "X moves 3 squares" for long segments at a time, so I didn't keep super accurate notes. Here's roughly what happens.

Turn 1: Serra gets in a Barrier on Isadora and Legault, while Priscilla gets a Barrier up on Heath. Ninian dances Serra, who moves into range of some of the Hand Axe Armors in the corridor. Purge Bishop misses Priscilla. The General is following me, this was slightly unexpected, but I'm curious how long I can stay out of range. I'd prefer not to kill him if possible, until Harken arrives (this proves hopelessly naive).

Turn 2: Enemy phase has Legault hit by a Javelin, he becomes the Purge Bishop's new most-valuable-target, but dodges. He will go sit in a forest next turn to make this even more certain.

Turn 3: Louise and Serra begin pummeling Wyverns. Heath Iron Lances the Wyvern in front of the Door, Farina finishes it. Flo trades Heath a Javelin, then Javelins the Longbow Archer to death. The Mage suicides againt Flo on the enemy phase for some reason.

Turn 4: The fliers finish off the wyverns, Priscilla Unlocks the Door. The Hero will run into Farina's Killer Lance on the enemy phase (no crit). Pent, Louise, Serra, Raven get some exercise with the Wyverns up north.

Turn 5: Snow clears. Flo gets Killer Lance crit dealing exactly the remaining HP on the Hero. Heath Javelins the Archer just at the edge of range. Farina takes his Axereaver and makes short work of the Bandit. Prisc Heals Heath from the west, eating a Merc sword on the Enemy phase then dodging the last Purge. Raven decides that General will be a continued nuisance, so stays back and Devil Axes it on the EP, hit + crit = Dead General. More wyvern exercise for the magic users and sniper. Hector moves inside the building (with Ninian's help) to tank some Mercs and weaken with Iron Axe.

Turn 6: Legault begins pilfering Lockpicks. Fliers continue to mop up mooks in the lower area. The last of the Wyverns and Mercs in the north are dealt with.

Turn 7: Serra stands in range of Kenneth's Purge. A Barrier from Pent makes her quite sturdy here. Hector begins drawing out some of the Longbow Archers. Merlinus makes it inside the south entrance. Fliers mop up mooks.

Turn 8: Peg sisters plug the hole, protecting south entrance from the wyverns from the SW. Raven Hand Axes Archers from the stairwell, just outside of Kenneth's range (dodging the arrows).

Turn 9: Isadora is out in the snow, waiting for Harken. She pokes a thief and gets a great level up.

Turn 10: Harken gets recruited. Louise heads out into the cold, gets a dance from Ninian and goes farther. Hector lures out the Sniper from the central room. Raven Hand Axes the ex-Purge Bishop.

Turn 11: Louise poises to Longbow counter the Longbow Sniper in the upper left. She ends up critting, enable her to finish it next round. Legault opens the door (will dodge the last of Kenneth's Purge), Raven is Healed and lures the Swordmaster.

Turn 12: Hector Hand Axe and Raven finish the Swordmaster. Pent moves in and kills the final Archer, allowing Heath to lure the remaining Hero in complete safety.

Turn 13: Florina and Farina enjoy a nice sisterly bonding experience. After noticing my Pent did hideously little damage to Kenneth, I have Hector stand directly south of him, to weaken considerably on the enemy phase. Louise is in range of enemy archers. Unfortunately I left her with Iron because I couldn't see their speed and didn't know if Steel Louise would double (she does and ORKOs them), so I won't kill them all (two will survive, Harken and Louise get the other two).

Turn 14: Priscilla Unlocks the Door for XP. Legault finishes looting (he did great work, netting 4 Lockpicks and 3 Chests of stuff). Hector Seizes.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    15.57 |26| 1| 1|20|19|10|14
Priscilla 18.25 |24|14|13|12|16| 5|13
Serra      6.14 |31|16|19|16|20|10|20
Raven      4.40 |48|23|25|24| 7|15| 4
Heath     17.57 |37|19|18|14|10|13| 4
Florina    3.54 |38|17|17|21|20|10|13 (Farina C)
Farina    19.54 |30|13|17|18|14|10|13 (Florina C)
Isadora    2.02 |29|14|13|17|11| 8| 6
Legault   19.73 |31|11|17|20|14| 9| 5
Louise     5.14 |29|13|14|17|16|10|13
Pent       7.29 |33|19|21|17|15|12|17

Chapter Tactics: 14/18

Total Tactics: 206/224 (5 Star) [EHM 211]

Chapter XP: 1668/1550

Total XP: 26693/21100 (5 Star) [EHM 24287]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 482754

Required for 5*: 464800

Leeway: 17954

Comments: I feel comfortable with the turn count, so I allow myself to save over the slot containing 19x. This proves very handy as my first attempt on Battle Before Dawn just finished with successful completion and a string of very nice luck (Raven critting Maxime on the enemy phase, killing Ursula on turn 7, etc.) However, I messed up slightly, and the Thief that looted the Brave Lance also looted the Boots, instead of letting the other thief in there get a chance at it, meaning I miss out on a big juicy chunk of funds, and since I promoted the other two Pegasi, that actually leaves me in the hole at the moment. I still saved the run, but I'll probably try it again a couple of times, see when the ideal time to kill Ursula might be (this stops reinforcements, making it easier, but dropping your XP), and figure out a way to work around that thief issue. Letting Isadora carry my Chest Key would probably do it.

That's an amazing amount of XP in Crazed Beast. I was feeling very good for getting 300 a turn there and I was pulling underlevelled bench units out of storage to get it.

...Thanks for phrasing it in more human turns. I quite distinctly don't recall gaining in excess of three levels every turn. Following up on this, I discovered I made a calculation error in my spreadsheet there. I forgot how I set up the formulae to handle the FFO split, and as such put the numbers in wrong, and it was subtracting (XP after Crazed Beast) - (XP after FFO Lloyd). Since I didn't play Lloyd, those numbers were equal to (XP after Genesis). I won't bore you with the technical details of how I fix this bug, but proper calculation sees me getting a decidedly smaller, but still very respectable, 2221XP in Crazed Beast. (Barring of course any additional anomalies.)

[chrysalid]

In 28, I'm not sure what turn the two generals spawn as reinforcements, but you probably want to get those out. I believe those are the last promoted units Ursula makes.

Fifteen entire turns to play around with when you have a dancer, 8-move promoted mounted units cantoing, and no forest or mountain tiles to slow you down means you can move around the map very fast with rescue chains and so on once the enemies quiet down on turn 9-10 or so. My unit that eventually killed Ursula (Fiora) entered from the left doorway and spent the first few turns airlifting walkers and taking a Maxime hit before moving to the right side of the map. If you get hasty you can easily find yourself jammed up early then have nothing to do for the last 3-4 turns.

[Don Draper]

I guess you don't have much funds leeway to promote many people right now. With so many characters being potential candidates (Prissy, Heath, Farina, Eliwood, any of the cavs), do you see this being an issue?

[Balcerzak]

In 28, I'm not sure what turn the two generals spawn as reinforcements, but you probably want to get those out. I believe those are the last promoted units Ursula makes.

Fifteen entire turns to play around with when you have a dancer, 8-move promoted mounted units cantoing, and no forest or mountain tiles to slow you down means you can move around the map very fast with rescue chains and so on once the enemies quiet down on turn 9-10 or so. My unit that eventually killed Ursula (Fiora) entered from the left doorway and spent the first few turns airlifting walkers and taking a Maxime hit before moving to the right side of the map. If you get hasty you can easily find yourself jammed up early then have nothing to do for the last 3-4 turns.

That's exactly what happened, the last 5 turns consisted of Stealing the Earth Seal from the corner druid, and Serra Healspamming (Prissy stopped because she hit 20 and I didn't have room for her to carry the ring, and Merlinus wasn't close enough because I forgot to move him along.) I'll probably use Mekkah's save state, Torch staff, and suicide run to see what sort of reinforcements appear, if I can swing it, before heading back to the cart to work through it.

I guess you don't have much funds leeway to promote many people right now. With so many characters being potential candidates (Prissy, Heath, Farina, Eliwood, any of the cavs), do you see this being an issue?

I can repair Wolf Beil and Rapier (both at 5 uses) to get an instant 9k back to my funds rating whenever I want, which is basically one person's promotion. I'll get 30k in Battle Preparations, that I will turn into 60k by spending it with the Silver Card (+30k leeway). There's two stealable statboosters in The Berserker which has 0 requirements (+16k leeway).

I definitely plan on promoting Farina, Fiora, and Priscilla. Potentially Sain, as he seems most viable of the cavs at the moment, thanks to monster strength while they're all rocking lackluster speed. I use the Boots on Hector. Aside from replacing weapons as needed, I think this will be the rest of my expenditures, and while things will probably be a little tight, it seems like it will probably be quite managable. Assuming of course I pick up the ridiculously overpriced Brave Lance instead of letting the thief run off with it.

As much as I might like to promote Heath as well, that would require an Earth Seal, and I will probably have hit the limit of diminishing returns for having awesome flier flexibility by using all three Peg sisters. Plus, his Res is fairly suspect, and there are a ton of magic using enemies, status staves, etc. coming up, and it's not like he has a giant HP buffer to draw on like Raven does.

Maybe I should reconsider using Eliwood as an option, though, simply because he's forced in Final and probably wouldn't be half bad there. I just can't bring myself to use him when he's not forced, as recently there have been so many other viable candidates for the unit slots for one reason or another (extra move, stave use, XP padding, etc.).

Edited March 7, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Balcerzak]

Ch 28 - Battle Before Dawn:

Team: Hector, Ninian, Priscilla, Serra, Raven, Florina, Farina, Fiora, Isadora, Legault, (Nino)

General Strategy: Priscilla, Raven, Ninian, and Isadora head west, everyone else heads east.

Turn 1: Priscilla moves west-ish a bit, Torches as far west as she can reach. Ninian moves full length and gives her a remove. Priscilla Unlocks the Door from 2 Range. Isadora moves just north of her. Raven full moves two squares west of Ninian. Florina gets and Iron Sword critical against the northern Fighter. Legault stands directly behind her. Hector moves due east. Farina parks to his north, Fiora moves to his east and promotes. Serra Shines another Fighter from 2 range just to Hector's south. Merlinus moves just south of Serra. Enemy phase sees Legault pulling out Iron Sword criticals, OHKOing the remaining Fighter, and doing 3 damage to the Hero.

Turn 2: Legault opens the door. Fiora gets a Killing Lance critical on the Hero from the north (where Legault used to be), but doesn't double or kill it, and gets hefty damage in return. Serra Shines the Mage to death from 2 range to the North. Farina Killer Lances the Hero to death from where the Mage used to be, caps at 20. Florina Javelins the Bishop from 2 range, just shy of killing it. Hector full moves east. Raven moves just north of Isadora, who goes and Iron Lances a Swordreaver Fighter that had advanced on the enemy phase. Ninian dances for Raven. Priscilla grabs Ninian, and full moves to just south of Isadora. Raven moves to her west, takes and drops Ninian to his south. Merlinus moves east with the party. On the enemy phase Florina ends up killing everything but the Armor.

Turn 3: Hector full moves and Hand Axes the Armor that's in the way. Legault moves to the west of the pillar bank, just outside of range of a Mage I can't see but know is there. This gives the illumination needed for Florina to fly south and deliver death by way of Iron Sword to a pesky Archer. Fiora rescues Hector and cantos south one more square, allowing Serra to just reach and Heal her from the north. Farina moves to Fiora's south and promotes. Merlinus moves just north of Serra. Raven moves south and Hand Axes a Fighter from 2 range. Ninian dances for him, and he goes and destroys a Thief with his Iron Axe, from the east. Priscilla moves just west of Ninian and Torches to the South. Isadora moves just north of Ninian. On the enemy phase Maxime comes and smacks Raven for some reasonable damage, only to get met by a double and a crit, causing his timely demise. The Mage coming from the south misses Raven, and a Thief parks itself to his north. Nino decides that discretion is the better part of valor, and disengages the Monk she'd been squaring off with the heal herself.

Turn 4: Isadora comes down and kills the Mage with her Iron Sword. Raven moves to the new Thief's west and takes him down. Priscilla comes and Heals Raven from the west, and Ninian gives him a little pick-me-up, allowing him to treck further south. Legault moves to Florina's South, illuminating the Monk that Nino ran away. Florina promptly kills it with her sword. Everyone else moves southward. Jaffar retreats NW and sips on an Elixir.

Turn 5: Legault moves to Florina's east, which unfortunately isn't quite far enough to illuminate the enemies in wait, so Florina just sits to the north of the merc I know is there. Fiora moves to Legault's west and drops of Hector to the north. Serra Heals Farina from the south and Farina leapfrogs her, everyone staying outside of Bolting range. Raven moves southeast, ending up just southwest of Jaffar. Priscilla, Ninian, and Isadora involve themselves in some moving, dancing, rescue chain action and Priscilla ends up just south of the Door, with Ninian two squares to her south. She gets hit by an Archer on the enemy phase but lives. Jaffar kills the offender on his phase, while Zephiel engages a Fighter.

Turn 6: Priscilla Unlocks the Door, and the last of the magical energy fades from the staff so she casts it aside. Isadora equips a Javelin, to trade blows with a Shaman across the wall on the enemy phase, pilfers the Brave Lance chest, and cantos to the west one square. Raven destroys the Sniper, gets a dance, and Hand Axes a Shaman. Priscilla is free of any immediate threats (a mage and a monk excluded, they'll hardly get past her Res), and he's set up to counter anyone that doesn't go for Jaffar or Ninian. Legault finishes off a Fighter that Florina didn't kill, with Fiora getting the other Fighter. Florina equips a Javelin and heads west, she doesn't care that she's only at 2HP, there's a prince that might need saving! Hector talks to Nino, and she decides to tag along, moving southwest to get into range of a wounded Merc she can kill on the enemy phase (taking a hefty hit herself, but that's what healers are for). Serra puts up a Barrier on Farina, who flies south with a Slim Lance (for doubling Mercs). Merlinus moves south of Serra, to dodge-tank some Bolting. The prince dispatches the immediate (and actually only ever) threat to his royal person.

Turn 7: Isadora leaves the treasure room to dispatch a Shaman, Serra Heals Nino, who moves to Fiora and politely requests a lift. Fiora picks her up and heads off westwards. Legault opens the door. Florina switches to Iron, as that's enough to kill at this point, and proceeds to do so to one of the Mercs blocking her. Florina dispatches a Hero Raven had wounded with her Iron Lance, and Priscilla swiftly comes over, swaps it for a Javelin and Heals her. Raven moves two squares to her east, and grabs his Iron Sword. Ninian gives Pris some inspiration and she goes and heals her Lord Brother, from the east, safely out of danger. Merlinus heads slightly west, still Bolting tanking.

Turn 8: Merlinus moves southwest, still in Bolting Range, but at the edge of it. Serra drops a Barrier staff off into his care, and replaces it with Hammerne, which she immediately uses on a Eliwood's battered Rapier that Hector had been carrying around for that precise purpose. Hector then moves west, while Legault starts to loot the chests. Isadora hits a Hero with a Killing Edge. Priscilla gives Raven another dose of Heal and he comes back to the center of the fray and Hand Axes a Sniper from one range. Fiora uses her Killer Lance to kill an Armor, Florina trades her a Javelin and Take/Drops Nino to the north in relative safety. Ninian dances for Prissy, who then trades Isadora a Javelin and heals her.

Turn 9: Hector moves west, Serra follows and Hammernes his worn down Wolf Beil. Legault loots the other chest. Isadora head up and blocks off the retreat of a Thief, Javelining him in the process. Ursula had finally decided to hit Farina, so Farina hit back, hard, with a Killer Lance, which in fact performed exactly as advertised.

Turn 10-15: Isadora kills the Thief, takes its Boots. General mop up and Healing. Nino talks to Jaffar (who never broke his Killing Edge and kept moving farther away, killing those Shaman reinforcements), Legault is ferried over, and steals the Earth Seal from the Druid. Priscilla promotes, gets in a tiny bit more XP. Florina and Fiora have a sisterly bonding experience.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    17.09 |I forgot
Priscilla  1.17 |I forgot
Serra      7.25 |I forgot
Raven      6.69 |I forgot
Florina    5.40 |I forgot (Farina C) (Fiora C)
Farina     3.12 |I forgot (Florina C)
Isadora    3.02 |I forgot
Fiora      1.61 |I forgot (Florina C)
Legault   20.00 |31|11|18|20|14|10| 6
Nino       7.36 |I forgot

Well, I saved over Night of Farewells prep, and they all earned levels, so actual stat stats are no longer available.

Chapter Tactics: 16/15

Total Tactics: 222/239 (5 Star) [EHM 227]

Chapter XP: 1552/1800

Total XP: 28245/22900 (5 Star) [EHM 25961]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 528416

Required for 5*: 522000

Leeway: 6416

Comments: I figured there was no better time to Hammerne away, as there was significant downtime for Serra as she was moving westward. I was going to let Ursula live longer, to milk more reinforcement XP, but she started getting aggressive so I had to put her down. All in all, I think things went really well.

Ch 28x - Night of Farewells:

Team: Hector, Ninian, Priscilla, Serra, Raven, Florina, Farina, Fiora, Isadora, Legault, Nino, Jaffar

General Strategy: Fliers rape everything in the southern half, ferry Legault, make themselves invaluable. Nino gets a workout.

Turn 1: Nino heads north, gets danced by Ninian, heads further north. Raven heads north of Ninian, Hector moves NW to Raven's old spot. Priscilla Barriers Fiora (she's going to be in range of Javelin Pegasi, which is keikaku doori). Isadora goes to her west, takes the Barrier, and cantos north, southwest of Florina. Serra moves to Isa's north, grabs the Barrier, and puts a dose on Florina. Florina then flies over to Archer island and owns the northeast Archer from the west. Farina follows her sister's example and owns the southwest Archer from the east. Fiora then flies over to the Sniper's east and the sisters execute a frighteningly awesome tactical maneuver known as the Triangle Attack. That sniper never had a chance. Jaffar moves to the east of Isadora. Legault moves to his north, trades him an Iron Sword, then rescues him. On enemy phase Priscilla kills two of the Jav Pegs, gets mildly wounded, dodges the Silence staff. Peg sisters easily dodge the Boltings.

Turn 2: Fiora flies to the Sage's south, and crits him with an Iron Lance strike. Farina moves two to her south and Javelins one of the Bolting mages. Florina moves between them, swaps a Javelin into Fiora's hands (so the Javelin Pegs will continue following Priscilla), and Javelins another of the Bolting Mages. Nino kills a Pirate with Fire (and help from Ninian), and Raven stands to her East with Devil Axe at the ready to mow down the approaching Cav and Paladin (it may have been overkill, but eh). Priscilla Rescues Hector, cantos to the north end of the bridge walkway. Isadora moves to her north, takes/drops Hector to the west, and cantos to the northeast stairwell. Legault moves to the center stairwell and drops Jaffar to the east. Serra moves to Priscilla's north and Heals her. Enemy phase sees Prisc kill the other two Jav Pegs, and wound the Falco, getting mildly wounded in return. Farina dodges Druid Sleep staff, does 2 range battle with a Pirate but misses the killing double, only wounding it. She also battles a Wyvern Rider who hits her for roughly 1/3 of her health.

Turn 3: Florina dispatches the Wyvern Rider harassing Farina from the east with Iron, and Fiora moves between them, switches Flo to Killer, and Javelins the last Bolting Mage. Farina switches Fiora to Killer and Javelins that Pirate to death. Nino kills a Cav with Fire (and Ninian), while Isadora gets the Nomad behind it with an Iron Sword double. Serra Heals Raven from a 1HP poison loss. Raven trades Isadora an Iron Lance, and equips Iron Axe himself. Legault and Jaffar head east. Hector breaks a 1 use Hand Axe against the Falcoknight, and Priscilla finishes it. On the enemy phase Fiora only dodges the Sleep staff due to the Barrier boost. Flo crits one Wyvern Rider, brings a second to 1HP, while Fiora brings the Wyvern Lord to 27HP. Raven also crits a wandering Wyvern.

Turn 4: Florina kills the Druid with a Javelin critical, avoiding its potentially painful Luna retaliation. Farina dispatches the Wyvern Lord with a Killer Lance crit, and Fiora polishes off that 1HP dude. Hector moves eastward, allowing Serra to Heal Priscilla again. Priscilla heads south at full throttle to draw off some of the Wyvern reinforcements from my Peg trio. The wyverns 2HKO her, but have pretty bad hit rates, so she lives with 10HP. Nino finishes the Cav that Isadora tenderized on the enemy phase, and Isadora proceeds to tenderize the Nomad so that after a dance Nino can kill it with Thunder. Raven stays put, and Jaffar and Legault move to his direct West. The enemy phase sees Florina get hit by the Pirate and then eat him and the Shamans for breakfast, while Farina engages a Wyvern.

Turn 5: The pathway has opened up, so Legault moves in and relieves the Hero of his Blue Gem from the west, while Raven Iron Axe doubles him from the south, and Isadora finishes him with a Killing Edge non-crit from the north. Jaffar moves in and kills a merc with the Iron Sword. Fiora dispatches the Wyvern, Florina comes back to the center area here, and double crits a General with the Killer Lance, killing it easily. Farina positions herself, and equips Iron, and drinks a vulnerary. Priscilla runs to the north, Serra heads east, away from her, but towards where Restore staff might be needed, and gives her a dose of Physic. Nino kills a Cav with Thunder. Hector moves in and tries to Hand Axe a nomad, but they both whiff. Nino gets a dance, and wounds the Nomad with Thunder. On the enemy phase Flo misses both of her crits against a General, just weakening about halfway, and Farina fights more wyvern reinforcements. Jaffar somehow dodges both status staves, Nino dodges and finishes the Nomad. One Merc attacks Isadora, the other commits suicide by Angel of Death.

Turn 6: Florina gets a KL crit, bringing down General #2, Nino kills the wounded Merc with Fire and a dance. Hector moves east, into ballista range to start draining it via tinks. Priscilla moves east of Serra, Barriers her (in prepation for the chance she might soak a Sonia Bolting in a turn or two.) Isadora needs some health so retreats to just inside Serras Heal range, and Serra obliges her. Since the Angel Robe Bishop was outside of even a dances Legault, and well within Sonia's range, he just advances a half move towards him. Jaffar moves to the west a bit, meaning the Bishops will have to do so as well to keep targetting him. Farina and Fiora position themselves around their sister. Enemy phase has the last General march to its doom against Florina's Killer Lance, and a few more Wyverns die against Florina and Farina. Jaffar continues his miraculous staff dodging streak.

Turn 7: Legault pilfers the Angelic Robe from beneath the Bishop's vestaments. Hector moves to bait one of the corner Wyverns and still tank Ballistae. Serra Heals Raven, who goes and Hand Axes the ex-Robe Bishop from Legault's north, just outside of Bolting Range. Priscilla runs up, trades the Barrier staff to Isadora, who goes and brings it to Serra, who gets a dance. Serra moves to Legault's east and throws up a Barrier on him. Fiora kills Swordslayer Pirate with Iron Lance, her sisters line up with her vertically. Legault tanks that Bolting like a man, lives with 10HP. Hector is just shy of killing that Wyvern, leaves it at 1HP. Jaffar dodges the last Sleep from the Bishop. What a champ.

Turn 8: Priscilla heals Florina, who then grabs Legault and heads south. Her sisters follow her and take, take/drop him onto the chest. Raven Hand Axes the Bishop, Serra Heals him twice, with a little help from Ninian, because he needed it. Hector finishes the Wyvern. Jaffar rescues Priscilla, and Isadora take/drops her a little closer to the action. Serra dodges a Bolting. The Wyvern Lord flies in and trades blows with someone, I can't remember who, but lives.

Turn 9: Legault grabs the chest. Since the last of the Wyvern reinforcements are finally catching up to the the group it's time to deal with them. Nino kills one with a Fire crit, Fiora and Florina deal with another. Priscilla Heals Nino so that her now 26 HP+Def will survive a 25 Attack from a Wyvern. Ninian dances for Priscilla so that she can go over and kill the Wyvern Lord. Farina grabs Legault and heads towards her sisters. Serra Heals Isadora, and the others do some subtle repositioning. A wounded Wyvern beats down on Nino, but she has the last laugh as it perishes in the flames of her spell. Serra dodges a Bolting.

Turn 10: Hector moves to Priscilla, who moves full speed down the twisty passage southwards. Fiora Takes/Drops him just outside of Bolting range, then heads back northwest. Some position rearranging later, and her sisters have followed her and Serra Heals Farina and Florina. Raven takes up Ballista tanking duties. Priscilla was targetted by Bolting, might have been hit, might not of, it didn't end up mattering.

Turn 11: Jaffar trades with passenger!Legault, giving him the Iron Sword, and taking all of the loot. The pegs move to the edge of Ballista range, Farina give Legault to Fiora. Priscilla and Hector head southwards. Nino heads east, gets Healed by Serra, and rescue transported by Isadora (with a dance) and dropped off near Speedwing Island somewhere. Ninian dodges a Bolting.

Turn 12: Florina Javelins a Longbow Archer, dodges counter. Farina Killer Lance criticals the Sniper, Fiora equips a Javelin and drops off Legault. Serra remembers Legault is low on health so Physics him up. Raven heads south, and then further south with a dance from Ninian. Isadora rescues Raven, and continues bringing him south. Priscilla baits a throne!Wyvern and Hector heads southeast. Nino wounds a Cav, dodges and kills it on the enemy phase. The last wyvern wounds Legault, and the archers wound and miss him further, but he lives at 8HP or thereabouts.

Turn 13: Priscilla kills a Pirate reinforcement, Hector kills the Nomad. Isadora moves to Hector's West and Gives him Raven. Fiora kills an Archer, Florina kills the Wyvern, Farina kills another Archer. Legault loots the southeast chest. Jaffar moves south, gets a dance from Ninian, continues moving south. Serra moves into the mess of reinforcements and starts killing dodging and killing them on the enemy phase, she attracts all the pirates and Pegs, but the Falco heads to Chest Island. Nino wounds a cav on her phase, then dodges and kills it on the enemy phase.

Turn 14: Fiora kills the Falcoknight that came over, Florina takes care of the final Archer, and Farina positions herself to fight the next incoming Falco. Hector moves north, and drops Raven further north. Priscilla kills a Pirate, Isadora is 1HP shy of killing the nomad, so Jaffar stands two east of Nino, ensuring she'll only have to deal with the cavs from the west, which she again dodges and kills. Serra continues to be a badass in the reinforcement swarm. (Note to self: Do not piss off a magic-wielding tsundere.)

Turn 15: Peg sisters clean up, Legault loots a chest. Raven equips Iron Axe and waits south of Sonia. Priscilla kills the other throne!wyvern with fire, while Isadora and Jaffar share an Iron sword to take out Nomads. Nino Fires the Pirate, with a dance for the finish. Hector moves into seizing range. Sonia can't hit Raven if he were the broad side of a barn, but he does over half of her health.

Turn 16: Grab the last chest, Raven kills Sonia, grab as much remaining XP as possible, and Seize.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    18.60 |29| 1| 1|23|22|11|17
Priscilla  5.32 |28|20|17|16|21| 9|17 (could get C Raven whenever, but there were more important things to do)
Serra      9.11 |32|18|20|19|23|11|21
Raven      8.88 |51|25|28|26| 8|16| 5 (could get C Priscilla whenever, but there were more important things to do)
Florina    7.77 |40|19|18|23|23|11|14 (Farina C) (Fiora C)
Farina     4.89 |37|17|20|21|16|13|16 (Florina C)
Fiora      5.13 |40|16|23|23|11|11|17 (Florina C)
Isadora    4.07 |30|14|13|18|12| 8| 7
Nino      14.19 |22|11|13|18|13| 5|11
Legault   20.00 |31|11|18|20|14|10| 6
Jaffar    13.14 |Base

Chapter Tactics: 16/28

Total Tactics: 238/267 (5 Star) [EHM 247]

Chapter XP: 2525/2250

Total XP: 30770/25150 (5 Star) [EHM 28752]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 613885

Required for 5*: 597200

Leeway: 16685

Comments: Almost 30 spare turns on Tactics? I was led to believe it was going to be a lot tighter than that... Well, I've still got a couple 0 req chapters and Cog of Destiny will be bitchy to clear, so I guess it's okay. I don't think I'm going to need to use Warp at all. I need to gain roughly 93 levels still, which might be tricky, as my core team is starting to get right on up there, but we'll have to see. I've only got 1335 in liquid assets, so I'm going to need to sell something for shopping purposes to re-outfit my basic weapons at this point. (I only have 3 Hand Axes with over half uses, and about 3 more at half exactly. I have two Iron Lances in double digits, the rest are single digit uses. I'm completely overstocked on swords. I'll probably use up most of my Javelins this chapter. I have no spare basic tomes for either magic, what Priscilla, Pent, and Serra will be using is all I've got as I'd rather not use Divine, Aura, etc.) I'll probably need to spend a fair bit of time thinking about a precise shopping list.

Is it worth triggering the area reinforcements in Cog of Destiny, or should I abuse my fliers to get around the zone triggers? I'm thinking avoiding them might be more of a hassle than it's worth, but I don't really know what spawns in HHM. If it's more status staff holders, screw that noise. Anyway, likely CoD team is Hector, Ninian, Priscilla, Serra, Florina, Fiora, Farina, Pent, Louise, Gietz. Lloyd will probably fall victim to triple Triangle attack or something ridiculous. It'll be fun.

[Colonel M]

Not mocking you obviously (these logs are great btw):

I've only got 1335 in liquid assets

And that's why I'd never recruit Farina in a Ranked run. :/

@Below: I c whut u did ther.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Tyranel M

[Interceptor]

You see that number and think Farina, I see that number and think how's it's 2 gold short.

[Balcerzak]

Not mocking you obviously (these logs are great btw):

And that's why I'd never recruit Farina in a Ranked run. :/

@Below: I c whut u did ther.

Hey, no worries. I couldn't complain even if you were mocking me. Anyway, all this really means is I need to engage in a little Silver Card magic making a 1-1 transformation of Eclipse (or something equally useless) into things actually worth my while. I think I'll be taking a hit in funds in Cog anyway, due to loss of the stealable items available in any other modes, but after this I honestly think it's going to be smooth sailing on that front, may even end up giving someone a late promotion if I'm straining for XP (I don't think I will be, but it's hard to say. The only things that saved me in EHM ranked were training Nino completely, having Canas train from level 8 to 20 on Cog, Rath training from like 8 to 16 on Archers in Sands of Time, and milking Victory or Death for reinforcements past the turn limit. While I do have a buffer on my EHM values, and a couple 0 req chapters, I also have no option for training Canas on Armors and crap physicals in Cog, and a smaller core team than my EHM one, meaning higher levels, and likely less earned XP. (Watch as I end up earning way more XP than I need anyway. If by the time I get to Light I don't need any more XP at all, I will absolutely let loose with Luna!Athos, and there will be much rejoicing.)

Wow, anyway, so I started to ramble there. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm of the opinion that Farina certainly can be done, and while certainly not optimal, I'll be interested to see just how great or small an actual burden it is. That was actually part of the motivation behind this playthrough, to be a validation of this, at least to myself if no-one else. (And I needed a picture of her smiling face on my battle report to replace the old HNM clear my data loss erased. I've been sort of making an effort to collect pictures of sub-optimal but enjoyable characters, which you've probably noticed, and she's always been one of my favorites in that category.)

You just gotta really love your peg sisters to want to try it, though.

Oh, and thanks for the compliment on the logs.

You see that number and think Farina, I see that number and think how's it's 2 gold short.

XD

Hmm, I don't think I can sell an almost broken anything for only 2 gold.

[Life]

Lloyd holds an Iron Rune. Can a Peg Triangle attack cut through it?

[chrysalid]

You can probably dig up your level 10 Guy on VoL and position him to 3-4RKO devil axe berserkers from a pillar up to 20 if nothing else, among other multi-level jumps you can do in that goofy chapter. They won't have zero hit on him but it won't be much. Your turncount is definitely good for it with the additional slack in 28x and Cog.

[Balcerzak]

Lloyd holds an Iron Rune. Can a Peg Triangle attack cut through it?

The Iron Rune is as if it were wet tissue paper before the sisters. Fiora Silver Lance Triangle Attack, 45 damage. Farina Iron Sword Triangle Attack, 27 damage. Poor Florina didn't even get a chance to have a go at it. (I think next time I'll just Triangle Attack him to death with an Iron Sword each.)

Also, I ended up not selling anything of value, as there's only The Berserker (lol deployment), and Sands of Time between me and Battle Preparations anyway. I bought two Silver Lances, and sold a partially broken Iron Sword, from character inventory at the armory, to turn it into a fresh Iron Lance.

One of the Wyvern reinforcements was a coward, and kept running away from Serra between various forts, so I clearly need to redo the endgame so I can clear on turn 12 instead of like turn 15. Full chapter report will come after I rectify that situation.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Balcerzak]

Ch 29 - Cog of Destiny:

Team: Hector, Ninian, Priscilla, Serra, Florina, Farina, Fiora, Pent, Louise, Geitz

General Strategy: Sisters head west and work on Shaman, etc. Everyone else takes center. Valkyries are a bitch so I do not trigger them (although once in endgame I did by accident when Vaida was chasing a wyvern, that led to a turn 16 clear with higher XP so may be viable if it ends up being needed, and less fruitful than additional turns in VoL.)

Turn 1: Priscilla puts up Barriers around Florina and Farina, the sisters head over and dispatch the Shamans with Iron Swords (the westmost gets traded to a Jav for enemy phase). Louise positions herself in counter range of monks just south of the bridge. Pent is to her SE, Hector her S, Gietz her E. Serra goes E of Gietz and Barriers him.

Turn 2: Gietz, with some help from Ninian, Hand Axes the Purge Bishop that came down from 1 range. Farina kills a Valkryie with Killer Lance, her sisters follow and trade to Javelins. Pent moves up, his love for Louise making her invincible to the Monk that she mows down with her bow. Other units cross the bridge and position themselves. Gietz tanks a Valkryie double, dishing back some damage, then dodges a Berserk, and lures the western Sleep Valk over (slightly), finally succumbing to her wiles.

Turn 3: Farina Killer Lances a Druid, critblicks it, Florina trades her a Javelin, and Javelins a Nosferatu Shaman, Fiora Javelins but fails to kill the other Druid. Pent Restores Gietz, and Serra Heals him. He finishes the Valk off with a blow from his Iron Axe. Louise comes up, trades him his Iron Bow, and uses her own on a monk. Ninian dances for Pent, who destroys the foolish Troubadour that is chilling in what has become the center of my army. Priscilla moves to where the Mages can hit her from across the river and Barriers Hector, for purely preventative purposes. On Enemy phase Fiora is hit by a Luna Shaman, making her the instant target for all other Shamans. She only fails to kill one because her Javelin broke. She also lures down the female Sleep Druid, dodging it, Gietz is now a Berserker, while Pent knows better than to let the Valkryie lure him to sleep with her. One of the Physic Troubadours from the NW comes down to Heal the wounded Druid a bit.

Turn 4: Priscilla kills a monk, then Fiora kills that last wounded Shaman. There's a new batch that just spawned though, so Farina takes her north, trades her a functional Javelin, Killer Lances a Druid, the first hit doesn't kill, and it manages to hit her with Nosferatu, healing a fair bit, but then her crit kicks in and renders that moot. Florina takes her north, trades her her Javelin, then Javelins the Druid (wounded then healed, yet still wounded) to death. She's also now on the fort, which will prompt Vaida to arrive, and she'll also attract one of the Heroes. Gietz Iron Bows a Bishop that had traded shots with Louise, killing it. Serra Shines the Mage to death. Ninian dances for Pent, who moves up into the other Hero's range, and Elfires a Monk. On the enemy phase Gietz is put to sleep, Pent dodges a Berserk and a Sleep (from Luna Druid). Florina crits that Physic Valkryie from the corner (which probably had another staff of some sort but never tried to use it), and continues killing scrubs. The rest of the corner Valkyries advance.

Turn 5: Farina Killer Lance doubles the Hero that came for Florina, failing both crits but killing it anyway. Florina trades her a Javelin then Killer Lance crits the Luna Druid/SleepStaff. Fiora trades Florina a Javelin, uses a vulnerary, then cantos south of Farina to sit on a fort. This makes Farina the new target of enemy AI. Pent finishes off his Hero with a second dose of Elfire, allowing Louise to access and Killer Bow crit a Valkryie sitting on a fort. Priscilla Restores Gietz, who moves northeast of Louise and Iron Bows a Monk. Ninian dances for Pent, who dispatches the level 20 Sniper with a well timed Thunder crit. Serra Heals Louise. Hector moves southeast, attempting to lure Vaida into recruiting range. It fails. The enemy phase sees half the Valkryies attack Farina and get wounded, and the other half press east and attempt status staves. Pent is Silenced, either by the Luna Druid or a Valk, while Gietz dodges Sleep only to be Berserked.

Turn 6: Hector moves back northwest, gets a dance from Ninian and gets out of the way. So does Merlinus. Ninian is just at the edge of Vaida's range, and will dodge the Spear and allow recruitment next turn. Fiora dispatches a wounded Valkyrie with a sword, Farina takes the fort it was on, trades her sis her Javelin again, kills a Shaman to the west with an Iron sword, Florina takes its fort, trades her sis a Javelin, kills the other wounded Valkyrie with a Javelin. Priscilla Restores Gietz, who goes and Killer Axe criticals the impotent Bolting Sage who whiffed every attack. Pent moves north of Louise, attempt to have their EventData support conversation, but can't.

Does anyone know if this affects regular Support conversations too?

Louise moves to Gietz's south and Killer Bow crits a Valkyrie to the west (covered up by boxes in the photo). Serra trades Gietz a Hand Axe and Lighting's the monk, killing it with a critical. The enemy phase sees Priscilla Silenced, while Gietz goes back to Sleep.

Turn 7: The joyous tune of Together We Ride plays, briefly, before I hit start and cut it short. Vaida tosses Merlinus her Spear and picks up some nearly broken Javelins, Iron Lances, and a Steel Lance, cantoing back southwest, where she will be mobbed by Wyverns, yet tank it like a man. Serra takes a Restore staff and Restores Priscilla, Ninian dances for her and she Restores Pent. Priscilla kills a Monk with Fire, Louise takes its place and wounds the noncombatant Valkyrie with her Silver Bow. Pent kills a monk with Thunder. Fiora and Farina share words, and then the Peg sisters head South, Farina drinking a Vulnerary. Pent is yet again Silenced, but Louise dodges Sleep. The noncombatant Valk head south, to Physic one of the badly beaten, yet not killed Wyverns left by Vaida's thrashing.

Turn 8: Vaida destroys non-combatant Valk with Iron Lance, Hector heads over and trades her what's left of one of her broken Javelins. Serra Restores Pent, who takes the baton staff and Restores Gietz. Louise hits the last Valkyrie with her Iron Bow, letting Gietz finish it with his Iron Axe. Priscilla heads down and Fires a Steel Lance Wyvern, becoming an instant enemy phase target. Ninian dances for Pent, who leaves the fort to let the Bishop spawn. Florina visits the village, cantos southeast to still build supports with her sisters after Farina drinks another Vulnerary, Fiora gives excess inventory to Farina and buys two Silver Lances, cantoing north of Florina.

Turn 9: Florina Javelins a Shaman, Farina takes one of the Silver Lances and heads north, Fiora ends west of Farina. Louise was actually hit by a Purge Bishop last turn, so Serra goes and Heals her. Louise tries to Killer Bow the reinforcement Druid that's drifted over while the sisters were off playing, but fails both crits, leaving it at 1HP. Pent softens the Bishop with Thunder, and Gietz finishes it. Vaida flies north and kills a Monk, Priscilla heads north and takes care of another monk. Hector moves westish. Enemy phase has Serra hit by the Luna Druid, some wounded Wyverns land near the north-eastern forts, other wyverns flock to Hector.

Turn 10: Serra's Shine did enough damage to let Gietz OHKO the Druid with Iron, so he does. The Peg sisters all fly north in a line. General mop up of other things happens in the center, with Vaida heading to the coward wyverns.

Turn 11: Fiora and Florina kill the Bishops from the north with Iron Swords, Farina surrounds Lloyd, with her Iron Sword and waits. More mop up occurs. Only Lloyd and one Wyvern that attacked Louise survive.

Turn 12: Lloyd may be the hardest boss in the game... if you're not trivializing and humiliating him with three consecutive Iron Sword Triangle Attacks. He almost didn't have enough HP for me to get the third off, and it's not like there were any weaker weapons I could have used. Some random healing, then the last wyvern is also put down.

End Stats:

Hector    20.00 |35|20|13|14| 7|18| 5 (Eliwood B)
Ninian    19.82 |30| 1| 1|24|22|12|18
Priscilla  7.37 |28|22|17|17|23| 9|19
Serra     10.01 |32|18|20|20|23|11|21
Florina   10.29 |42|19|19|25|24|11|14 (Farina C) (Fiora C)
Farina     7.20 |40|20|22|23|17|14|16 (Florina C) (Fiora C)
Fiora      7.19 |41|16|25|24|13|12|17 (Florina C) (Farina C)
Louise     7.09 |31|14|16|18|16|11|14
Pent       9.25 |34|20|22|18|16|12|17
Gietz      6.97 |47|21|15|15|12|12| 4

Chapter Tactics: 12/20

Total Tactics: 250/287 (5 Star) [EHM 268]

Chapter XP: 1902/3650

Total XP: 32686/28800 (5 Star) [EHM 32220]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 630035

Required for 5*: 626000

Leeway: 4035

Comments: Way to fail that XP goal there. Maybe I should have triggered those Valkyries after all. ^^; Using the Boots makes my Funds drop momentarily to 4 stars, but it bounces right back.

Ch 30 - The Berserker:

General strategy: North, then west, both units.

Turn 1: Legault scored a Killing Edge critical on the Thief. Hector kills an Armor with the Steel Axe from its north. Legault is hit on the enemy phase, brought to 19HP, he crits and wounds the Armor to 6HP.

Turn 2: Hector kills the Thief that attacked him from the north, Legault heads west. Enemy phase has him dodge, then finish off that Armor from last time.

Turn 3: Hector kills the Mage from the west, will provoke fire from the Speedwings mage, but dodge it. Legault heads north.

Turn 4: Legault steals Speedwing, Hector heads west, into range of two reaver Armors, equips Iron Blade. Legault dodges, Armors die.

Turn 5: Hector kills a Mage with the Iron Blade, Legault heads west.

Turn 6: Hector kills the Steel Blade Merc with the Iron Blade, Legault baits the Swordreaver Fighter, he dodges and counter with an Iron sword, leaving it at 13HP.

Turn 7: Legault steals the Goddess Icon, Hector Hand Axes the southern Mage, one-shotting it. Enemy phase has Legault hit (2HP), but kill the Fighter. Hector dodges the Armor and one Mage, but is hit by the other (30HP). The Boss will 2HKO him if it hits, while he will 5HKO it.

Turn 8: Legault hits the Thief with Iron, it tinks him. Hector hits the Boss and dodges. He also dodges on the enemy phase.

Turn 9: Legault kills the Thief, dropping a 1 use Iron Sword for the Pure Water. Hector hits the Boss and dodges. He is hit on the enemy phase.

Turn 10: Hector kills the Boss, Legault heads south.

Turn 11: Legault grabs the Elixir from the chest. Hector Arrives.

Hector     3.68 |40|22|17|18| 9|20|11 (Eliwood B)
Legault   20.00 |31|11|18|20|14|10| 6

Chapter Tactics: 11/0

Total Tactics: 261/287 (5 Star) [EHM 279]

Chapter XP: 268/0

Total XP: 32954/28800 (5 Star) [EHM 32941]

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 645673

Required for 5*: 626000

Leeway: 19673

Comments: I couldn't find a clever way to pick up the Wolf Beil in the same amount of turns. The enemy thieves priority Stealing, Attacking, then Looting, so I couldn't figure out a way for them to do the work for me on that one without endangering my Speedwings. I guess it doesn't really matter that much, and it looks like Eliwood will be getting a promotion after all. I am at just about the exact same spot I was for XP as I was in Eliwood mode, and that was ridiculously tight. However, I'm feeling pretty secure that Value of Life will easily tip me over the edge. Still, I'm going to try to get Canas some General kills in Sands of Time anyway. There's no such thing as being too careful when trying not to get raped by Victory or Death's requirement.

[Balcerzak]

Ch 31 - Sands of Time:

Team: (main) Hector, Eliwood, Lyn, Legault, Florina, Farina, Fiora, Priscilla, Raven, Rath, Canas, (east)Serra, Pent, Louise, Geitz

General Strategy: Pegs go down the west, the clustered people at the east stay there, the center folk move down the center.

Turn 1: Louise trades fire with the Longbow Sniper, Pent Thunders the east Shaman, Gietz Iron Bows the West Shaman, Serra steps to Pent's east and Lightnings an Archer. Florina rescues Legault and heads to the west passage with her sisters, everyone else does positioning work. On the Enemy Phase Geitz is Berserked and Pent is Silenced.

Turn 2: Louise moves between Pent and Geitz and dispatches the Sniper that Longbowed Gietz with a Killer Bow crit. Serra steps south of Pent and Restores him. Pent Heals Louise. Berserk Geitz will see everyone at full healthy, and decide that going apeshit on a Sniper using his Longbow is an awesome idea. Fiora and Farina dispatch the myrmidons, Florina starts banging at the wall. Raven Hand Axe criticals the Silence!Druid, Priscilla steps to his west and Physics Geitz, so he can live through the enemy phase. Hector uses the Iron Blade on an Axe General, this softens it enough for a Mani Katti crit to finish it. More positioning, which will expose Canas to an attack by a Armor. After the Ally Phase that Armor will be at 1HP. Louise was put to Sleep. Raven is Berserked.

Turn 3: Serra Restores Geitz, and Pent Restores Louise. Geitz can OHKO a Druid with his Hand Axe, thanks to a lucky crit by Serra on the enemy phase. This also puts him in countering range of the Silver Bow Sniper. Canas moves north of Lyn and Fluxes an Armor to death, Louise Killer Bow crits the other Druid in the passageway, leaving only an Armor (for now). Hector moves south and gets a critical on the Spear General, bringing it to 3HP. Eliwood uses Armorslayer on an Axe General near Lyn, and she finishes it with dual Mani Katti crits. Priscilla Restores Raven, who then Devil Axe crits a Silver Lance General. Fiora kills the Swordmaster with an Iron Sword crit, Farina finishes breaking the wall, so Florina can drop Legault inside. Rath manages to deal 1 damage to the wounded Armor, killing it. Rath is put to Sleep, Raven suffers a Devil Axe misfire, ends the enemy phase at 2HP, Eliwood is hit by a Spear, ends the enemy phase at 5HP.

Turn 4: Lyn Mani Katti criticals the Spear General, doing its exact HP in damage. Canas Fluxes another wounded Armor. Since Raven wasn't guarding the passage, but clearing space, the reinforcements are advancing. Longbow Louise and Longbow Geitz put a stop to that, killing a Druid and Sniper respectively. Serra swaps Louise a Killer Bow so she can counter crit kill a Sniper on the enemy phase, and Physics Eliwood. Eliwood moves near Raven and Armorslays an Armor. This lets Hector come in and Steel Axe a wounded General to death, letting Raven move south and Devil Axe another General. Priscilla comes and switches Raven his Hand Axe and takes care to heal Lord Brother's wounds while she's at it. Pent kills the Armor in the passage with Thunder, hits S rank. The Peg sisters fly to the edge of the connecting passage. Farina has Silver Lance, which she'll use to crit kill a General on the enemy phase, Florina has Iron Lance, which will weaken an Armor for Eli to kill and hit level 20 at.

Turn 5: Canas uses Nosferatu on a General, both so I don't have to worry about poison eventually maybe killing him, and also to put it in Mani Katti crit range. Priscilla Heals Raven, who returns to his post up north nearish the stairs, and Hand Axes criticals a Druid. Louise finishes a Sniper on the east side of the wall with a Steel critical, Pent Heals her afterwards. The Peg sisters Javelin a General, weakening it for Hector to kill. Legault starts looting. Geitz comes down to the entrance of their hidey hole and attacks an Armor with his axe, Serra follows trading him 1-2 range, and killing another Armor.

Turn 6: The initial rush has been defeated, so it's taking care of the steady streams of reinforcements and isolating Denning from here on out. Hector moves south and Iron Blades a thief, ranks up to C swords. Louise Longbows the Luna Druid that's arrived. Pent moves to her west, equips Elfire and Restores her. (No joke, she actually would have dodged the General, lived through the Luna, then died to Poison. I raged so hard when that happened.) Eliwood moves south, trades Hector a Hand Axe and Promotes. Serra moves out and Heals Farina, who then goes and gives Eliwood a Javelin at the top of his inventory; her sisters come down to hang around as well, in range of one Sniper, but not the other. The Sniper still attacks Eli, though. Priscilla Heals Raven, who moves in and continues dealing with the stairwell menaces.

Turn 7: Hector stands on a Pillar to attack a General with his Hand Axe, this will apparently attract the unwanted attention of Denning, but not a problem. Eliwood finishes the Sniper with Steel Lance, Canas and Lyn team up on a Thief. Pent Heals Louise, who Longbows the next Luna Druid. Priscilla comes down and Physics Eliwood, and will kill that wounded General on the Enemy Phase. Fiora goes and pokes the Body Ring Thief with a Javelin.

Turn 8: Operation surround Denning commences. Serra kills an Armor to his east, allowing Hector to move there and kill a wyvern. Fiora trades Eliwood a new Javelin (his old one broke), and cantos to Dennings west. Eliwood moves to Denning's south and Javelins the Armor to his north to death. Farina takes position on Denning's north, preventing him from moving, and eliminating him as a threat. Legault lifts a Lockpick from a wandering Thief. Pent takes care of the last General in the pocket (the one that kept whiffing at Louise), and Louise kills a Wyvern Lord with her Silver Bow from across the wall. Geitz Iron Bows a regular wyvern.

Turns 9-11: Canas kills the Body Ring thief, the rest of the reinforcements are pretty easily handled, and the Denning Guards are rotated to less useful members of the cast as the need and opportunities arise. All enemies are eventually killed. Denning lives till turn 11, to keep spawning those reinforcements.

End Stats:

Hector     5.85 | (Eliwood B)
Eliwood    2.22 | (Hector B)
Lyn       19.74 | 9|15|20|15| 7| 6
Priscilla  8.63 | (Raven C)
Serra     10.86 |
Florina   11.56 | (Farina C) (Fiora B)
Farina     8.15 | (Florina C) (Fiora C)
Fiora      7.89 | (Florina B) (Farina C)
Raven     11.34 | (Priscilla C)
Canas     10.84 |
Rath      10.62 |11|10|13| 5| 7| 3
Louise     9.83 |
Pent      10.51 |
Gietz      9.47 |

Chapter Tactics: 12/11

Total Tactics: 273/298 (5 Star)

Chapter XP: 2682/2050

Total XP: 35636/30850 (5 Star)

Funds: 4 Star

Net worth Assets: 660743

Required for 5*: 662000

Leeway: -1257

Comments: I thought I'd still be in the black on this chapter post promotion, but I had to use quite a few charges of expensive stuff, which probably was what knocked me temporarily under. In retrospect, Rath was completely worthless here.

Ch 31x - Battle Preparations:

You don't care about my shopping list, nor my arena endeavors. Seriously

End Stats:

Hector     5.85 | (Eliwood B)
Eliwood    3.41 | (Hector B)
Priscilla  9.18 | (Raven C)
Serra     11.55 |
Florina   12.56 | (Farina B) (Fiora B)
Farina     8.15 | (Florina B) (Fiora C)
Fiora      7.89 | (Florina B) (Farina C)
Raven     13.30 | 25|30|26| 9|18| 6 (Priscilla C)
Pent      10.56 |
Heath     17.57 |

Chapter Tactics: 6/5

Total Tactics: 279/303 (5 Star)

Chapter XP: 544/0

Total XP: 36180/30850 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 713148

Required for 5*: 686800

Leeway: 26348

Comments: I messed up slightly on a rescue chain or two, and also trading the Silver Card when I bought some vulneraries. I remembered before buying anything expensive though, which is what matters.

Ch 32 - Victory or Death:

Team: Hector, Pent, Louise (center), Harken, Serra, Nils (west), Canas, Erk, Priscilla, Geitz, Heath, Eliwood (south), Florina, Farina, Fiora (flying over mountains and shit), (Renault)

Turn 1: Harken moves north, then moves further with help from Nils, reaches the forest in range of the General and spawns the Nomad Troopers. Serra follows behind him. Heath flies east, triggers the Sage and Mage reinforcements. Farina sits on the non-triggering fort. Fiora to her west, Florina to the south. People move their appropriate directions. Pent and Louise have a chat.

Turn 2: Florina hits that level 20 Hero with a Javelin critical, leaving it wounded enough for Pent to finish off. Harken switches to the northern forest, and Hand Axes the General to death. Serra takes its spot and Lightings a Nomad Trooper. Nils dances for Florina and hits level 20. Fiora gets a Killer Lance critical on the Swordmaster, allowing Farina to finish it off with Iron Sword. Florina flies in and trades Fiora an Iron Sword too, so the Bandit won't have a shot in hell at hitting. Since Heath had been hit by Bolting he flies back just in range for Prissy to Heal him. Eliwood will bait a Warrior, and kill it with Killing Edge crit. Otherwise, general movement advancement.

Turn 3: Pent moves east of the Ballista, Hector moves to its north. Louise jumps in and takes a potshot at a Wyvern Lord. Farina Javelins the reinforcement Bishop, who came all along because his monks didn't want to show up (too many enemies on the field?). Fiora Javelins the Berserk staff Bishop she dodged last time, and Florina flies along for support. Harken kills the Nomad Trooper to his north with a Killing Edge crit, Serra takes his south and trades him Hand Axe again, and crits the Nomad Trooper to his west. Only the Nomad Trooper to his east remains, everything else died last enemy phase. Eliwood moves down and Javelins the Bolting Sage. Geitz takes his north, trades him Killing Edge, and Hand Axes a Mage. Heath moves two to Geitz's north, Iron Lances another Mage, then Priscilla moves to his south and Heals him. Enemy phase sees the giant wyvern pile peel off into three main factions: attacking the peg sisters, suicide by Pent, and attacking Heath and Priscilla. Everyone lives, but Heath left his alive, and is badly wounded (go figure).

Turn 4: Canas and Erk pick off the wounded Wyverns left by Heath, who Javelins to death a Paladin wounded by Priscilla. Geitz moves to a southern forest and Hand Axes a Mage, letting Eliwood take his position and kill the Longsword Paladin. Priscilla Heals Heath. Louise moves north and west and Ballistas the Fenrir!Druid to death. (You know your tomes are heavy when you're getting doubled by a Ballista.) Pent moves to her north and Rescues her, Hector moves that direction as well. Harken kills the last Nomad Trooper with Steel Sword from the north. Serra Heals him, gets danced by Nils, moves to the north forest to bait some heroes, and Physics Fiora. Fiora Killer Lances the northern Sniper, Florina takes care of the Bishop. Farina tags along for the ride.

Turn 5: The last Paladin in the corner was wounded enough on the enemy phase for Erk to kill it. Serra finishes one Hero at one range, letting Harken get the other to her north. Nils dances for her and she books it northeast. Florina and Fiora kill the Hero that came after them, while Farina goes and works on the Killer Ballista with her Iron Sword, this also triggers swarms of Shamans. Pent steps into a forest and drops Louise in the forest to his east. Hector is nearby the fort. Gietz moves two south of Sophia's temple, Priscilla comes and Heals him, Heath flies across it and Javelins a bandit.

Turn 6: Pent stands on the fort. Louise and Hector come just shy of killing the Warrior when she missed one of her Steel Bow attacks. Harken, Nils, and Serra head northeast. Florina visits Renaults temple, he Heals Serra of a level-up HP. Fiora finishes the Killer Ballista with a Javelin, while Farina Javelins a Bandit in range of some of the Shamans.

Turn 7: It takes everyone in the southeast to work on those Valkyries, so first priority is to park people on the forts as soon as possible. This takes a few turns, though. Meanwhile Serra heads east and Physics Farina who'd been hit by Bolting. Florina and Fiora fly in and start helping out.

Turn 8-11: These are frankly a blur and a total nightmare. Farina got a lucky Silver Lance crit on Limstella after Hector had already taken his go, killing a General I think. Serra was making little to no progress against the hordes of Valkyries, but made an extremely effective wall. Harken just ran out of Hand Axe, and the chapter seriously needed to end. The final turn had me buy a Fell Contract and a Physic from the secret shop. Silver Card discount of course.

End Stats:

Hector     7.26 | 44|24|18|20|10|21|12 (Eliwood B)
Eliwood    5.12 | 36|20|15|17|13|13| 9 (Hector B)
Nils      20.00 | 30| 1| 1|25|23|13|19
Serra     13.80 | 35|20|20|22|26|11|22
Priscilla 10.51 | 29|23|17|18|24|10|21 (Raven C)
Florina   13.25 | 43|20|20|27|24|12|14 (Farina B) (Fiora B)
Farina    11.80 | 42|21|24|25|19|14|16 (Florina B) (Fiora C)
Fiora     10.35 | 44|18|25|26|13|12|19 (Florina B) (Farina C)
Louise    11.20 | 32|15|17|22|18|13|14
Pent      12.84 | 36|21|22|20|18|13|18
Harken    11.58 | 44|24|22|20|13|17|12
Canas     12.49 | 25|10|11| 8| 8| 7|11
Erk       16.55 | 30|11|11|16| 7| 3|10
Gietz     10.10 | 51|24|19|18|14|13| 5
Heath     20.00 | 39|20|19|14|11|13| 4
Renault   16.15 | Base

Chapter Tactics: 11/15

Total Tactics: 290/318 (5 Star)

Chapter XP: 2688/6150 (lol)

Total XP: 38868/37000 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Not bothering adding it up

Comments: Everything was going smoothly until that Wyvern Lord group showed up in the east, and the Valkyries and Facloknights showed up in the northwest. Then it quickly went insane. The XP requirement here is quite ludicrous as well, even if you stayed the extra turns. You'd either need dudes many levels lower not getting gimpy XP, but then they'd be having troubles living.

Ch 32x - Value of Life:

This was basically just me taking it easy, and working my way around. No need for a blow by blow account here at all. I probably could have done it faster, but Tactics is not an issue, and I quickly discovered, XP easily became comfortable as well.

End Stats:

Hector    13.98 |50|27|22|20|11|24|14 (Eliwood B)
Eliwood   12.82 |40|21|19|20|17|14|14 (Hector B)
Priscilla 11.50 |30|23|17|19|25|11|21 (Raven C)
Jaffar    14.33 |34|19|25|25|10|15|11
Guy       18.65 |36|11|18|20|10| 8| 5

Chapter Tactics: 15/0

Total Tactics: 305/318 (5 Star)

Chapter XP: 2180/0

Total XP: 41048/37000 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Not bothering

Comments: I now have enough XP that I could Athos solo the final chapter. However that would take too long, so a standard completion is in order.

Final - Light:

Typical strategy.

Turn 1: Athos gets a dance, heads up pre-emptively to the Magic Room, everyone clears out of Uhai's way.

Turn 2: Pegs converge on Uhai and eat him and one of his escorts alive. Hector Armads the other one.

Turn 3: Eliwood, Raven, Pent and Louise clear Brendan's room, Athos heads back south, Hector heads for Darin

Turn 4: Hector works on Darin, Athos and Pegs position for Ursula and Jerme

Turn 5: Athos criticals Ursula from across the wall, Pegs get Jerme. Priscilla rescues Athos, gets danced, and drops him up north.

Turn 6: Athos wounds Lloyd from across the wall, Raven positions himself to take the hit. Linus decides to stick around and Tomahawk Athos.

Turn 7: Finish Linus and Lloyd, move north full force.

Turn 8: Hit Nergal with Eliwood, Hector, Athos, and Raven for the win.

Turn 9: Filla's might Athos Luna critical.

End Stats:

Hector gets A support Eliwood on turn 1

Florina gets C Lyn on turn 2

Nothing else really matters

Chapter Tactics: 9/10

Total Tactics: 314/328 (5 Star)

Chapter XP: ~950/3000

Total XP: ~42000/40000 (5 Star)

Funds: 5 Star

Net worth Assets: 934047

Required for 5*: 847200

Leeway: 86847

Comments: It's over!

Funds is no problem at all... by final count. If you're wanting to keep it at 5 star throughout, you'll be sweating a little more, but that only earns you tactician points/stars, and isn't vital to the S rank at all. I could have promoted an additional 8 units, even hiring Farina, which blows my mind. XP is definitely a rank worth keeping an eye on, although if you promote another handful of units, it's probably not nearly so bad. Tactics really wasn't that bad, even visiting 19xx. You earn enough spare turns in chapters like Genesis, FFO Linus, and Night of Farewells to cover the big 0 req chapters, and shaving off a few here and there cover the rest.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Balcerzak

[Tables]

Congratulations are in order, I suppose.

[chrysalid]

Very cool run. I was interested.

I think if someone says they won't recruit Farina OR promote Dart/one assassin they're going to have to do something big and strange to make those funds do something really useful, like using a trick to skip most of a chapter and lose a bunch of items or something, or sell everything before chapter 20 and use killer weapons on every attack for the rest of the game. You get so much nearly useless funds fodder like late game statboosters that it behooves you to "spend" them earlier in the game and temporarily go under 5 star funds.