Efficient Playthrough Log

[Colonel M]

Man, if only Vantage worked like it did in FE9. Beastfoe + Vantage Nolan with Crossbow would sweep 3-6 without a damn problem in the world. Curse you IS for fucking a skill up so bad.

[Anouleth]

Man, if only Vantage worked like it did in FE9. Beastfoe + Vantage Nolan with Crossbow would sweep 3-6 without a damn problem in the world. Curse you IS for fucking a skill up so bad.

FE9 Vantage was utterly broken. I can only imagine how good it would be with the existence of mastery skills.

[Interceptor]

Think about what 100% Vantage would mean for Leonardo, too.

Chapter 2-P:

I am probably not using any of the characters here in the long-term 'cept Haar, so the name of the game is "get Elincia some CEXP". Unfortunately Haar shows up wtflate in Hard Mode, but I'll do what I can. Traded a bunch of weapons to Leanne, for Nephenee and Brom.

Turns (chapter/total): 9/96

BEXP (chapter/current): 500/500

Funds: ????

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Haar    11.64 46 23 2  24 20 13 23 7
Elincia  1.62  base stats
Marcia   5.95  crackers
Neal    22.06  nestling
Leanne   5.70  anchor

Note that I'm tracking actual turns, for those Defend chapters without a Boss Kill objective. So this chapter is 9 turns, not 8 as displayed. Many people know this already, but just sayin'.

Chapter 2-1:

This chapter is Serious Business<tm> in Hard Mode: accuracy is bad, and it's hard to visit houses when you're 3-4HKO'ed. However, my only goals here are to pick up the Ashera Icon, and recruit Heather. Neph is MVP in this chapter due to Wrath crits on Annoying Javelin Armor and Boss.

Turns (chapter/total): 11/107

BEXP (chapter/current): 1488/1988

Funds: ????

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Neph     2.46 32 15 6  20 21 13 15 15
Brom     2.46 36 19 4  17 16 13 21 9
Heather  7.02 32 15 9  21 25 16 10 14

Chapter 2-2:

Opted not to use Laguz Stones in this chapter, to save them for Part 3, and instead used Olivi Grass. Neph/Lucia made particularly good Vigor partners along with the Laguz, as the layout so happened to work out. Grabbed the Secret book, but I didn't bother with Discipline.

Turns (chapter/total): 6/113

BEXP (chapter/current): 1625/3613

Funds: ????

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Lucia   14.26  see you in Part 4
Lethe   21.04 
Mord    16.11
Leanne   6.30 26 0  3  1  7  28 2  12
Neal    22.10
Neph     4.31 34 16 6  22 23 14 15 15
Brom     2.93 36 19 4  17 16 13 21 9
Heather  7.25 32 15 9  21 25 16 10 14

Chapter 2-3:

Battle prep: bought a Hammer, Horseslayer, Killer bow, and some various generic weapons.

Ahh, Geoffrey's Charge. I approached this one the same way that I always do, a pacifist clear for maximum BEXP, whilst getting both the Speedwings and Arms Scroll. Some enemy AI shenanigans prevented a minimum turn, but I got close enough for my purposes. I tried a new blocking tactic for this, with Danved parking on the Arms Scroll square. It was super effective. 45 enemies left alive.

Turns (chapter/total): 7/120

BEXP (chapter/current): 6783/10396

Funds: 12,475

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Geoff   16.24 38 25 9  24 20 19 19 16
Kieran  11.20
Makalov 7.16
Danved  9.12
Marcia  6.20  35 16 6  18 20 12 16 16

I very nearly sent the Brave Lance to the convoy, but I am planning on using it in 3-9 to beat the map more quickly. I may regret this later, but c'est la vie. Hopefully Haar does not really need the weapon too badly.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Interceptor

[Anouleth]

Think about what 100% Vantage would mean for Leonardo, too.

Nothing until he has Crossbows, which will only happen if you have the patience to train him to level 10 (hint: even on NM, I don't).

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Haar    11.64 46 23 2  24 20 13 23 7
Elincia  1.62  base stats
Marcia   5.95  crackers
Neal    22.06  nestling
Leanne   5.70  anchor

You could probably have Elincia higher. Vigoring her and spamming Mend can easily get her like 24 exp a turn, which is almost two levels when you consider the possibility of enemy phase action too. It's not like you have anything better to do in this chapter.

Ahh, Geoffrey's Charge. I approached this one the same way that I always do, a pacifist clear for maximum BEXP, whilst getting both the Speedwings and Arms Scroll. Some enemy AI shenanigans prevented a minimum turn, but I got close enough for my purposes. I tried a new blocking tactic for this, with Danved parking on the Arms Scroll square. It was super effective. 45 enemies left alive.

I'm surprised that Danved can even survive there. He has difficulty on Normal Mode, even scoffing Vulneraries every turn.

[Interceptor]

Nothing until he has Crossbows, which will only happen if you have the patience to train him to level 10 (hint: even on NM, I don't).

If it means that Leonardo gains the ability to solo all of 3-6 and 3-13 by himself, I'm going to go ahead and say that I'd put up with the bullcrap associated with getting him to level 10 in tier 1. He would be a tier 3 character going into Part 4, which would be insanity, enough perhaps to overcome some of his meh stats.

You could probably have Elincia higher. Vigoring her and spamming Mend can easily get her like 24 exp a turn, which is almost two levels when you consider the possibility of enemy phase action too. It's not like you have anything better to do in this chapter.

Doesn't work unless someone gets hurt. Marcia, Haar and Neal were not cooperating, they kept dodging everything. I was Vigoring her, but most of the time I just ended up using Slim Sword.

I'm surprised that Danved can even survive there. He has difficulty on Normal Mode, even scoffing Vulneraries every turn.

Strength of ten men.

Edited March 7, 2010 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

Chapter 2-Endgame:

Battle prep: bought a Killer Axe (just in case) and Recover staff. Moved various things around, and stuffed Neph/Brom/Heather/Haar full of goodies for the GMs. There are too many goodies to list, but the major ones are 2 laguz stones, Arms Scroll, Killer Lance/Axe, Secret Book, Talisman, Ashera Icon, Elixir, and a coin. Gave Haar the 2-3 Speedwing, and BEXP'ed him to 12 to get his STR up enough to ORKO Generals with a Poleax. The goals for this chapter are to get the Dracoshield, Energy Drop, Nullify, and level up Haar as much as humanly possible.

To my chagrin, Haar gets crappy EXP in this chapter. So, rather than drag this out, I got Nullify on Turn 1 (Meteor + Haar), cleared the center platform on Turn 2, fought a little bit on the right hand side and around Ludveck (getting the Energy Drop), and then finally ended it on Turn 5 with a Dracosteal + boss kill for Haar.

Turns (chapter/total): 5/125

BEXP (chapter/current): 1509/10789

Funds: 6,020

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Elincia 2.20  37 19 18 22 23 30 18 24
Haar   13.97  46 24 2  26 23 13 25 7

Listed the only two units that might actually matter. I guess I didn't need the staff, the point was to give Elincia something that would give more CEXP than Mend and not drain Physic, but she only used it three times.

Edited March 22, 2010 by Interceptor

[Narga_Rocks]

Chapter 2-Endgame:

Battle prep: bought a Killer Axe (just in case) and Recover staff. Moved various things around, and stuffed Neph/Brom/Heather/Haar full of goodies for the GMs. There are too many goodies to list, but the major ones are 2 laguz stones, Arms Scroll, Killer Lance/Axe, Secret Book, Talisman, Ashera Icon, Elixir, and a coin. Gave Haar the 2-3 Speedwing, and BEXP'ed him to 12 to get his STR up enough to ORKO Generals with a Poleax. The goals for this chapter are to get the Dracoshield, Energy Drop, Nullify, and level up Haar as much as humanly possible.

To my chagrin, Haar gets crappy EXP in this chapter. So, rather than drag this out, I got Nullify on Turn 1 (Meteor + Haar), cleared the center platform on Turn 2, fought a little bit on the right hand side and around Ludveck (getting the Energy Drop), and then finally ended it on Turn 5 with a Dracosteal + boss kill for Haar.

Turns (chapter/total): 5/103

BEXP (chapter/current): 1509/10789

Funds: 6,020

Unit    Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Elincia 2.20  37 19 18 22 23 30 18 24
Haar   13.97  46 24 2  26 23 13 25 7

Listed the only two units that might actually matter. I guess I didn't need the staff, the point was to give Elincia something that would give more CEXP than Mend and not drain Physic, but she only used it three times.

I know you aren't mentioning everything you are sending to the GMs, but did you not send the Physic to the GMs?

[Interceptor]

Ahh yeah, I forgot about that one, since when I typed up that list I was in Base and the staff was on Elincia. I traded it away from her to either Neph or Brom on the last Turn, I forget whom. I did leave Recover on her, though, so I guess that one will be showing up in 3-9 (and nobody can use it).

[Narga_Rocks]

Ahh yeah, I forgot about that one, since when I typed up that list I was in Base and the staff was on Elincia. I traded it away from her to either Neph or Brom on the last Turn, I forget whom. I did leave Recover on her, though, so I guess that one will be showing up in 3-9 (and nobody can use it).

Recover only matters for things like healing Ranulf/Boyd and if you care about the level of Mist/Rhys. No big loss. It will show up in the 3-9 convoy like you said and then the GMs get it for 3-11. Plus if you really want I suppose you can get one in 3-2, right?

[Interceptor]

Chapter 3-P:

Battle prep: moved Adept to Mia, Mend to Mist, Short Spear to Gatrie, and Killer Axe to Titania.

This chapter is notoriously random for turn count owing to laguz AI behavior, so I'm not going to fret too much. It's hard to die in this chapter unless you're on a horse, so I'm favoring people who I think need the CEXP.

... and as expected, Skirmir is an idiot who runs in the wrong direction, and the partner laguz suicide en masse untransformed into every enemy on the map. Oh well, at least Ike got SPD on a level-up.

Turns (chapter/total): 8/133

BEXP (chapter/current): 2950/2950

Funds: ????

Unit    Lvl    HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Ike     12.51  44 25 3  29 24 15 22 7
Titania 16.15  36 25 10 22 21 19 20 14
Soren    5.13  28 9  23 21 18 11 9  21
Mist     1.88  28 8  13 13 15 16 7  16
Rolf     1.54  32 17 3  20 19 13 13 9
Boyd     8.35  45 22 1  20 18 13 15 8
Oscar   12.22  38 20 7  22 21 18 17 13
Shinon  13.45  43 21 7  28 24 15 20 14
Gatrie  10.25  44 25 5  18 20 15 24 11
Rhys     3.66  27 8  23 16 14 21 7  24
Mia      8.00  34 18 5  27 29 19 14 8

Chapter 3-1:

Battle prep: threw coins in the convoy, and gave Crossbow to Shinon.

I hate maps with Fog of War. I conquered this one by sending Gatrie to deal with Armors in the south, Titania/Shinon/Rolf west through the thickets, Mia/Ike/Oscar/Boyd to the east to swing around and clean up the mess. Lyre and Lethe were fairly useless. I did my best to converge everyone southwest to deal with reinforcements, but an unlucky miss by Titania killed my 7-turn and forced a kill on a General on Turn 8. Oh well.

Turns (chapter/total): 8/141

BEXP (chapter/current): 1504/4454

Funds: ????

Unit    Lvl    HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Ike     13.47  45 26 2  30 24 16 22 7
Titania 16.55  36 25 10 22 21 19 20 14
Soren    5.88  28 9  23 21 18 11 9  21
Mist     2.82  28 8  13 14 16 17 8  17
Rolf     1.98  32 17 3  20 19 13 13 9
Boyd     8.81  45 22 1  20 18 13 15 8
Oscar   12.61  38 20 7  22 21 18 17 13
Shinon  14.30  44 21 7  29 25 15 20 14
Gatrie  11.17  44 25 5  18 21 15 25 12
Rhys     4.00  28 8  24 16 14 22 7  25
Mia      9.18  35 19 5  27 30 19 14 9

Edited March 22, 2010 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

I am slowing down a bit on this due to other obligations, but rest assured I'll keep plodding along.

Chapter 3-2:

Battle prep: Hate this chapter, since there is so much to do in Base, and also I have to magically predict how much I will need in terms of gear, while it's still Silver Card Cheap. The GMs started here with 5,000 gold, and after I went through and finished selling all of the shit that I brought over, I had 51,145 gold. This is obviously way too much money, so I reloaded my save and pared the sales down to nothing but stuff that I would never use (saving dubious items like Ashera icons and Secret Book), which brings the total to about 26,000.

Next, supports. These are chosen based on speed and convenience: IkexMia, and TitaniaxMist. I wanted to do ShinonxGatrie, but I could not get the 5 adjacents needed while still going quickly, since Shinon was on ballista duty in 3-P, and they went different places in 3-1. C'est la vie. fortunately, Gatrie doesn't care about supports to begin with, so perhaps I will nestle Nephenee in, if I can make her good (wish I thought of this while I was still in 2-E's base).

Forges. Note for the folks following here at home, the Silver Card does cut the base material cost of a forge in half, but not the modifiers. So, a max mt/crit Steel Sword costs 4400 gold instead of 4800. Well, I guess this subsection is kind of lame since nobody in the army wants a forge cept' Mia, so I made her one, called it "Sandbag", colored it purple, and that's all she wrote. My first coin is an Axe card, but for the purposes of this playthrough it's cheating to give Mia a 16mt sword, so I will save it for later.

Next, weaponry and goodies. I bought decent high-class Steel weaponry for everyone, and made sure to cover 1-2 range for the people who had the option. Picked up a Wyrmslayer, and passed out various weapons like Brave Sword (Ike), Killer Bow (Shinon), Horseslayer (Nephenee), and Physic (Mist). Cancel does to Mia, and Disarm to Shinon. Titania uses the Speedwing. Thought about it for a moment, and hit Nephenee with the Energy Drop. After selling the Silver Card, it's time to roll out.

I left a lot of my weakeners (Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rolf, Brom) at home, and focused on getting what I could for EXP as quickly as I could. This chapter was basically self-improvement for Haar, who took his 23 SPD and went apeshit on the entire northeastern portion of the map. Nephenee's Energy Drop put her in OHKO range with the Horseslayer (came in handy), and I had enough pepper left over in the rest of my army to just roll over everyone south of the starting point. I attracted over Istvan, and kept him boxed in while I killed off his buddies and had Heather pick up the entirely superfluous Statue Frag (yay, more money I will never use).

Turns (chapter/total): 8/127

BEXP (chapter/current): 1875/6329

Funds: 17,774

Unit    Lvl    HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Ike     13.82  45 26 2  30 24 16 22 7   C Mia
Titania 16.76  36 25 10 22 23 19 20 14  C Mist
Mist     3.49  28 8  13 15 16 18 9  17  C Titania
Shinon  14.72  44 21 7  29 25 15 20 14
Gatrie  11.36  44 25 5  18 21 15 25 12
Rhys     4.11  28 8  24 16 14 22 7  25
Mia     10.69  36 19 6  28 30 20 14 9   C Ike
Neph     6.16  35 19 7  23 23 16 15 15
Haar    15.72  47 26 2  26 23 14 26 7

I left most of the southeastern enemies alive so that I could end the chapter quickly, I hope that I don't regret it later. There was not really a lot of CEXP here unless your name was Haar, and since I had a lot of flexibility as to whom could reasonably take kills, I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Interceptor

[Sinned]

I left most of the southeastern enemies alive so that I could end the chapter quickly, I hope that I don't regret it later. There was not really a lot of CEXP here unless your name was Haar, and since I had a lot of flexibility as to whom could reasonably take kills, I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels.

Just say Mia, guy.

[Narga_Rocks]

I am slowing down a bit on this due to other obligations, but rest assured I'll keep plodding along.

Chapter 3-2:

Battle prep: Hate this chapter, since there is so much to do in Base, and also I have to magically predict how much I will need in terms of gear, while it's still Silver Card Cheap. The GMs started here with 5,000 gold, and after I went through and finished selling all of the shit that I brought over, I had 51,145 gold. This is obviously way too much money, so I reloaded my save and pared the sales down to nothing but stuff that I would never use (saving dubious items like Ashera icons and Secret Book), which brings the total to about 26,000.

Next, supports. These are chosen based on speed and convenience: IkexMia, and TitaniaxMist. I wanted to do ShinonxGatrie, but I could not get the 5 adjacents needed while still going quickly, since Shinon was on ballista duty in 3-P, and they went different places in 3-1. C'est la vie. fortunately, Gatrie doesn't care about supports to begin with, so perhaps I will nestle Nephenee in, if I can make her good (wish I thought of this while I was still in 2-E's base).

Forges. Note for the folks following here at home, the Silver Card does cut the base material cost of a forge in half, but not the modifiers. So, a max mt/crit Steel Sword costs 4400 gold instead of 4800. Well, I guess this subsection is kind of lame since nobody in the army wants a forge cept' Mia, so I made her one, called it "Sandbag", colored it purple, and that's all she wrote. My first coin is an Axe card, but for the purposes of this playthrough it's cheating to give Mia a 16mt sword, so I will save it for later.

Next, weaponry and goodies. I bought decent high-class Steel weaponry for everyone, and made sure to cover 1-2 range for the people who had the option. Picked up a Wyrmslayer, and passed out various weapons like Brave Sword (Ike), Killer Bow (Shinon), Horseslayer (Nephenee), and Physic (Mist). Cancel does to Mia, and Disarm to Shinon. Titania uses the Speedwing. Thought about it for a moment, and hit Nephenee with the Energy Drop. After selling the Silver Card, it's time to roll out.

I left a lot of my weakeners (Boyd, Oscar, Soren, Rolf, Brom) at home, and focused on getting what I could for EXP as quickly as I could. This chapter was basically self-improvement for Haar, who took his 23 SPD and went apeshit on the entire northeastern portion of the map. Nephenee's Energy Drop put her in OHKO range with the Horseslayer (came in handy), and I had enough pepper left over in the rest of my army to just roll over everyone south of the starting point. I attracted over Istvan, and kept him boxed in while I killed off his buddies and had Heather pick up the entirely superfluous Statue Frag (yay, more money I will never use).

Turns (chapter/total): 8/127

BEXP (chapter/current): 1875/6329

Funds: 17,774

Unit    Lvl    HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  Support

Ike     13.82  45 26 2  30 24 16 22 7   C Mia
Titania 16.76  36 25 10 22 21 19 20 14  C Mist
Mist     3.49  28 8  13 15 16 18 9  17  C Titania
Shinon  14.72  44 21 7  29 25 15 20 14
Gatrie  11.36  44 25 5  18 21 15 25 12
Rhys     4.11  28 8  24 16 14 22 7  25
Mia     10.69  36 19 6  28 30 20 14 9   C Ike
Neph     6.16  35 19 7  23 23 16 15 15
Haar    15.72  47 26 2  26 23 14 26 7

I left most of the southeastern enemies alive so that I could end the chapter quickly, I hope that I don't regret it later. There was not really a lot of CEXP here unless your name was Haar, and since I had a lot of flexibility as to whom could reasonably take kills, I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels.

Small correction: Titania likely has 23 AS, since you said you gave her the wing.

I left most of the southeastern enemies alive so that I could end the chapter quickly, I hope that I don't regret it later. There was not really a lot of CEXP here unless your name was Haar, and since I had a lot of flexibility as to whom could reasonably take kills, I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels.

Just say Mia, guy.

From 3-P to 3-2,

Ike got 2.82 levels

Mist got 2.49 levels

Shinon got 1.72 levels

Gatrie got 1.36 levels

Rhys got 1.11 levels

Mia got 3.69 levels

Neph got who knows how many (in 3-2 alone).

Haar got 1.75 levels (in 3-2 alone).

Now, keep in mind Mia got 3.69 over 3 chapters with a base level of 7 (so 1.23 per chapter while at level 7 to 10). Haar got 1.75 levels in a single chapter while already at level 13. In fact, in 3-2 itself, Mia only got 1.51 levels while being at a lower level than Haar. How do you justify your claim? Seems to me that Ike and Haar were more favoured than Mia. Gatrie has move issues in 3-P and his best spot in 3-1 is killing those generals by the first house. It is reasonable for him to get less.

Personally, I stick the horseslayer on Gatrie in 3-2 since I'm trying to get him to 23 AS by 3-4, but to each his own.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Narga_Rocks

[dondon151]

Can't you finish 3-2 in 3 turns? Why don't you just do that?

[Narga_Rocks]

Can't you finish 3-2 in 3 turns? Why don't you just do that?

I'd assume leveling Haar and Neph is the reason.

[Sinned]

Now, keep in mind Mia got 3.69 over 3 chapters with a base level of 7 (so 1.23 per chapter while at level 7 to 10). Haar got 1.75 levels in a single chapter while already at level 13. In fact, in 3-2 itself, Mia only got 1.51 levels while being at a lower level than Haar. How do you justify your claim? Seems to me that Ike and Haar were more favoured than Mia. Gatrie has move issues in 3-P and his best spot in 3-1 is killing those generals by the first house. It is reasonable for him to get less.

Personally, I stick the horseslayer on Gatrie in 3-2 since I'm trying to get him to 23 AS by 3-4, but to each his own.

Guy2. read this.

I left most of the southeastern enemies alive so that I could end the chapter quickly, I hope that I don't regret it later. There was not really a lot of CEXP here unless your name was Haar, and since I had a lot of flexibility as to whom could reasonably take kills, I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels.

Just say Mia, guy.

Basically, in this chapter where the quote was taken from. He said he favored the ones that benefit from levels the most(bolded). He just needed to say Mia, because he only favored Mia in this chapter. Haar was already a given. I'm making his writing a tad more clear for world to see. Where do i need to justify my "claim".

[dondon151]

I'd assume leveling Haar and Neph is the reason.

Well, Haar is easy even if you have only 3 turns. He has flying, so he should have no trouble taking on the northwest corner of the map. As for Nephenee, sucks to be her.

[Interceptor]

Just say Mia, guy.

Wouldn't be accurate, since I also favored Nephenee for kills.

Small correction: Titania likely has 23 AS, since you said you gave her the wing.

Thanks for pointing it out, I didn't scan her stats because she didn't level up. Whoops.

Personally, I stick the horseslayer on Gatrie in 3-2 since I'm trying to get him to 23 AS by 3-4, but to each his own.

Thought about it, and Oscar would have also worked, but I'm not feeling Gatrie for this playthrough. He has kind of a critical MV failure, and the 3-3 Crown may end up going to Haar if I can get his SPD to 24. This may or may not be a good decision, I am kind of flying by the seat of my pants, here.

Can't you finish 3-2 in 3 turns? Why don't you just do that?

Not a speedrun, just trying to play efficiently. I'm concerned about going so fast that I wind up with insufficient firepower in lategame.

Well, Haar is easy even if you have only 3 turns. He has flying, so he should have no trouble taking on the northwest corner of the map. As for Nephenee, sucks to be her.

Rather give Haar some CEXP. He can take on a lot of the northeast by Turn 3, no problem, but what he can't do is summon forth the reinforcements, which are locked to specific turns. Five dudes spawn northeast on Turn 6. Waiting it out didn't really help Nephenee much, her kills were limited by density rather than time.

EDIT: by the way, I did save it pre-boosters, so if someone has a convincing argument for a re-do I don't mind it. I'll listen to whatever suggestions that people have.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Interceptor

[dondon151]

Rather give Haar some CEXP. He can take on a lot of the northeast by Turn 3, no problem, but what he can't do is summon forth the reinforcements, which are locked to specific turns. Five dudes spawn northeast on Turn 6. Waiting it out didn't really help Nephenee much, her kills were limited by density rather than time.

I'm just waiting for someone to come in and say "but turncount = efficiency!"

I doubt, however, that the extra CEXP you get by spending 5 extra turns on this map will save you 5 turns elsewhere later in the game. EXP generally doesn't tend to give you a good input/reward ratio.

[Narga_Rocks]

Guy2. read this.

Basically, in this chapter where the quote was taken from. He said he favored the ones that benefit from levels the most(bolded). He just needed to say Mia, because he only favored Mia in this chapter. Haar was already a given. I'm making his writing a tad more clear for world to see. Where do i need to justify my "claim".

You implicit claim is that he favoured Mia significantly more than any other unit. Since you are wanting to replace "I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels. " with "Mia", that would mean that you think he favoured Mia only, or at least more than any other unit. I'm asking you to justify it. I'm also doing that because what you are saying is quite false.

Enemies are between level 7 and level 10, mostly. 8s and 9s are the majority, and there are more 7s than 10s. So since she was level 9 and then level 10, I'll go with her being level 9 only facing level 8s for this exercise.

hit exp = 5.

kill exp = 19.

Mia got 1.51 levels. .19 x 7 + .05 x 4 = 1.53

Now, keep in mind she also has a wyrmslayer so a boss kill could be involved, and he gives a level 10 unit 6 exp per hit and 22 + boss bonus for the kill, so she could probably have fewer than 11 battles. Now, 11 battles in 8 turns doesn't seem all that much to me.

Let's check out Haar. 1.75 levels. Started at level 13. Since he quickly hits level 14, he's level ~14 facing level ~8. 2 exp per hit and 11 exp per kill. Going with kills alone, that's ~16 kills. 5 more battles than Mia had. Assume there is some stuff he didn't KO and it goes higher.

Not knowing what level Neph was after 2-E, I can't say for sure, but you can bet she got a fair number of battles as well. The point is, your statement implies that you think he favoured Mia more than any other unit (and then you later stated this explicitly with "because he only favored Mia in this chapter"). That's false. Even if you pretend that Haar somehow deserves his 16 battles (though you could mostly ignore the enemies in the top right and just go after the boss in the south), favouring Nephenee at least as much as Mia already disproves your implicit (and later explicit) statement. Also, since you could easily just ignore the top right (or if you want stick Gatrie in the way and give him a concoction. He'll be fine), the fact that he used that area to train Haar almost certainly counts as favouring him.

Oh, and since Inui can insist on being called by name, don't call me "guy", or "guy2", or anything like that. "Narga" works, or "Narga_Rocks". Or simply don't address me in that manner at all. "You" works. Or you could have just followed up the quote box with "read this:"

[Sinned]

You implicit claim is that he favoured Mia significantly more than any other unit. Since you are wanting to replace "I favored the ones who'd benefit from levels. " with "Mia", that would mean that you think he favoured Mia only, or at least more than any other unit. I'm asking you to justify it. I'm also doing that because what you are saying is quite false.

Enemies are between level 7 and level 10, mostly. 8s and 9s are the majority, and there are more 7s than 10s. So since she was level 9 and then level 10, I'll go with her being level 9 only facing level 8s for this exercise.

hit exp = 5.

kill exp = 19.

Mia got 1.51 levels. .19 x 7 + .05 x 4 = 1.53

Now, keep in mind she also has a wyrmslayer so a boss kill could be involved, and he gives a level 10 unit 6 exp per hit and 22 + boss bonus for the kill, so she could probably have fewer than 11 battles. Now, 11 battles in 8 turns doesn't seem all that much to me.

Let's check out Haar. 1.75 levels. Started at level 13. Since he quickly hits level 14, he's level ~14 facing level ~8. 2 exp per hit and 11 exp per kill. Going with kills alone, that's ~16 kills. 5 more battles than Mia had. Assume there is some stuff he didn't KO and it goes higher.

Not knowing what level Neph was after 2-E, I can't say for sure, but you can bet she got a fair number of battles as well. The point is, your statement implies that you think he favoured Mia more than any other unit (and then you later stated this explicitly with "because he only favored Mia in this chapter"). That's false. Even if you pretend that Haar somehow deserves his 16 battles (though you could mostly ignore the enemies in the top right and just go after the boss in the south), favouring Nephenee at least as much as Mia already disproves your implicit (and later explicit) statement. Also, since you could easily just ignore the top right (or if you want stick Gatrie in the way and give him a concoction. He'll be fine), the fact that he used that area to train Haar almost certainly counts as favouring him.

Oh, and since Inui can insist on being called by name, don't call me "guy", or "guy2", or anything like that. "Narga" works, or "Narga_Rocks". Or simply don't address me in that manner at all. "You" works. Or you could have just followed up the quote box with "read this:"

First you list Haar and Ike when Int was actually referring to the chapter only. In that chapter, Ike got 2-3 battles tops. And of course he already STATED he is giving exp to Haar. My comment has to do with what he did with the rest of the "easy" exp. I said Mia because I noticed she was getting a huge chunk of exp compared to everyone else on that level, save HAAR(read: Int claims this).

I did overlook Neph though, so you can use that, but seriously stop beating a Dead Horse with Haar.

I did overlook Neph though so perhaps I can rescind my comment.

[nflchamp]

I'm just waiting for someone to come in and say "but turncount = efficiency!"

I doubt, however, that the extra CEXP you get by spending 5 extra turns on this map will save you 5 turns elsewhere later in the game. EXP generally doesn't tend to give you a good input/reward ratio.

Cut him some slack, he didn't use all the turns in 2-E we usually assume, so it all works out to be fewer turns than we assume with better PC levels.

[Interceptor]

Don't fight, folks, this is supposed to be a collegial thread where we discuss video game minutia with complete seriousness.

I'm just waiting for someone to come in and say "but turncount = efficiency!"

I doubt, however, that the extra CEXP you get by spending 5 extra turns on this map will save you 5 turns elsewhere later in the game. EXP generally doesn't tend to give you a good input/reward ratio.

This is a good point, I am never going to get those five turns back just by virtue of what I pulled off here. But, this is why I stagger my saves. So, I'll try to get the turn count down to at least four turns here, I think that's probably a reasonable compromise. Also, even if it does result in slowing down in Part 4, those Order guys are worth a lot of CEXP anyway, so in terms of growth maybe it's better.

It's unfortunate that there's a General in the northeast that can OHKO Titania with his Horseslayer. That makes maximizing CEXP here a bit tricky.

Now, keep in mind she also has a wyrmslayer so a boss kill could be involved [...]

I did actually give Mia the boss kill, and by give it to her, I mean that she took it. The boss was still fairly healthy, and I had her attack him with a Steel Blade to weaken it for Nephenee, but she decided to proc Adept/Cancel/Crit on the first hit, with predictable results on Istvan's lifespan.

I'll post Neph's level at the start of 3-2, it'll be the same as where she was at the end of 2-E.

First you list Haar and Ike when Int was actually referring to the chapter only. In that chapter, Ike got 2-3 battles tops. And of course he already STATED he is giving exp to Haar. My comment has to do with what he did with the rest of the "easy" exp. I said Mia because I noticed she was getting a huge chunk of exp compared to everyone else on that level, save HAAR(read: Int claims this).

Somewhat on this subject, I'm intentionally holding back with Ike so as to avoid wasting EXP with him. He does not have a lot of headroom between here and level 20, so I'm going to do my best to slow-play BEXP on him in order to make his SPD good for tier 3. So don't expect to see him taking a lot of kills... since he's a badass defensively and can easily weaken things for people, that's probably what he will be doing.

Edited March 12, 2010 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

Alright, so my latest personnel dilemma is that of my primary Lance-user. Originally I was planning on using Gatrie and that'd be the end of it, but now I'm going back and forth on it because of Nephenee. So, I'll post what I'm considering, and people can weigh in if they have opinions.

Gatrie's SPD bothers me. He has 21 AS now, and within three levels (hopefully) he'll have a crown-worthy 23 AS, for an immediate boost to 25 AS. The problem is two-fold. First of all, I have no idea how long it's going to get him the three levels, because at the pace I'm going it may be a few chapters before he levels up enough.

Secondly, 25 AS is good for a while, as long as he gets +1 SPD somewhere before the bridge chapter, but Part 4 is a giant brick wall: he needs 28-29 AS in order to keep doubling the same sorts of units that he's accustomed to, which is requiring a pretty dubious level 20/??/7-8 to pull off. He can get away with 26 AS in 4-P if I send him with the Silver Army, but then his performance in 4-3 is nothing short of god-awful. He's probably OK in Endgame if I can get his AS to the 31 cap, since that catches Generals in E-1, E-2 is a joke, E-3 doubles everything anyway, E-4 can be braved to some extent, and well E-5 sucks for him but such is life.

I am only a little bit worried about his mobility, since I can fix it with Celerity if I really have to. That has a cost of course, but offhand I can't say that it's an extreme one. To Gatrie's credit, he's basically invincible, and if he doubles something it's usually in a lot of trouble.

Then there is Nephenee. She is under-leveled due to poor planning on my part, and weak both offensively and defensively. But. I have an Energy Drop, Dracoshield, and Seraph Robe that nobody else cares about, so she can have them. With those boosters, her durability is fine the way it is, and her offense is fair if I pair it with a forge. As far as Part 4 is concerned, she's doing better than Gatrie due to her SPD, even if she's only 20/??/1 at the start of it. Endgame also goes to her, at least overall, due to 34 SPD cap and what she can do with the Wishblade.

My only hesitation here is her STR: I don't have an ATK support for her, there's only one more Energy Drop coming up (and I may want to give it to Ulki or Ranulf), and I can't guarantee that she'll hit 20/20/20 and get the majority of the level-ups that she needs. I do have the option to slow-play to some extent, but with her base level the way that it is, and BEXP needed elsewhere, I can't over-do it without hurting the BEXP options for the rest of my army.

What's a guy to do? Both of them, on the surface, appear to have drawbacks, and I feel like I should commit to one or the other early. As they say, chase two rabbits and lose them both.

[Original Alear]

You've used a drop on Neph and her stats are looking pretty good. IMO level 20/10 by 3-5 is acceptable for her, thoughts from anyone else? If you really think no one else can put durability boosters to use, and you think she's the best possible person for dur boosters. However, I've always felt that with her somewhat low HP titania could actually a little help too. (I know she doesn't need it! I just think it helps!)

However, I'm not really a big tier list follower and I am pretty sure my opinion is pointless even if it turns out to be right.

Edited March 12, 2010 by SeverIan