LHM + HHM Playthrough: S-Rank + Max Tactician Stars

[Mekkah]

dondon trained Bartre for Karla and used Raven a fair bit, and he had Erk and Lucius make up for the deficit in the Vaida chapter. He also had Priscilla and Serra staffspam so they could Warp, but since he was LTCing he probably had less turns to do so than you did. I think you can still go for Kenneth. It is a lot less tedious.

[ruadath]

Do you really think so? I guess I do save on 750 EXP overall in Kenneth (I could also save 250 on Lloyd, but that probably definitely isn't worth it). At the same time, I get a reduction in available funds form Kenneth (not that this should matter much).

He also had Priscilla and Serra staffspam so they could Warp, but since he was LTCing he probably had less turns to do so than you did. I think you can still go for Kenneth. It is a lot less tedious.

I'll probably be having Priscilla and/or Serra staffspam in the desert chapter (Living Legend), at the very least. They'll do this again in Victory or Death most likely, but that will of course be after Pale Flower.

It is a lot less tedious.

Could you elaborate on what you mean by this?

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Anyway, on to the playthrough of 17x.

Turn 1: Lowen recruits Canas, Canas moves forward and one space north, Kent and Sain rescue drop Lowen onto the forest. Hector moves west onto the southern path, Raven heads north, and Rebecca visits Anna. 5 RNs are burned; Lowen has the Steel Sword equipped.

Enemy Turn 1: The Killer Axe pirate attacks Lowen and misses. The Devil Axe pirate blows himself up on Canas. The Hammer pirate gets double by Lowen and dies; he levels up. Raven reduces a pirate to 1 HP in his counterattack. Finally, the enemy archer, mage, and shaman target Lowen, but only the archer hits. 143 EXP.

Turn 2: Sain takes out the Swordreaver pirate from above (Iron Lance). Canas kills the Killer Axe pirate from above.

And that is a great level for Canas to start off with. He wants to start building up his speed as quickly as possible.

I burn an RN, and then Kent takes out the mage from the east. Rebecca kills the injured pirate, and then (one more RN is burned) Lowen takes out the Shaman from above (switching to the cheaper Iron Sword), and Raven ORKOs the Hand Axe Pirate. I burn 3 more RNs (for Lowen's next level), then Hector visits the southern village for a Devil Axe. 363 EXP.

Enemy Turn 2: On my first run of this level, I hadn't even really accounted for this, but Sain's position here is just spectacular. Damian charges him...

and Sain completely mauls him. I was originally planning on having Hector WB him, but this doesn't at all look necessary any more.

The Halberd pirate attacks Lowen; he doesn't get killed in the counter, but Lowen gets a (2nd!) nice level

A couple of weak pirates suicide on Lowen, and another one almost dies on Raven. The enemy archer fires at, but misses Lowen. 421 EXP.

Turn 3: Hector puts Damian out of his misery (and gains 100 EXP while he's at it!)

Rebecca kills the Halberd pirate, and Raven finishes the pirate who attacked him last turn.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[Brinzy]

Yeah I was gonna mention that healers simply are not worth bringing to this chapter in most situations. Raven cleaning top is the most standard thing I have seen, and it works pretty well. He does fail at ORKOing a few pirates early on, but a Str level up (assuming he's close to leveling) takes care of it IIRC.

I also don't generally find the arena all that important on this map. I would rather shave turns here, especially since you're going to 19xx. It seems you already plan on doing this.

As for the Kenneth/Jerme thing, I have to agree that Kenneth's map is largely superior... but now that I've seen what you've said about Priscilla and Serra on VoD, I have an idea as to what you are after. ;D

You should just stay on Jerme's map.

[ruadath]

Yeah I was gonna mention that healers simply are not worth bringing to this chapter in most situations. Raven cleaning top is the most standard thing I have seen, and it works pretty well. He does fail at ORKOing a few pirates early on, but a Str level up (assuming he's close to leveling) takes care of it IIRC.

Unfortunately, he won't level until killing the last pirate. I don't really care about this though, because (with Rebecca's help on the one pirate), he does manage to clear all of the northern pirates out.

It turns out I made a slight miscalculation on this strategy (the one in the current playthrough), and it will require me a 5th turn to grab the Lancereaver in the northern village. I can clear the funds rank (i.e. 5 star the chapter) without it; do you think its worth it for me to spend the extra turn, or would you just let it go?

EDIT: Actually I can probably just 4 turn it with a minor modification; having Kent take out the Swordreaver pirate instead of Sain, and letting Sain push a little bit forward. Kent's survivability is obviously less guaranteed, but it is easy enough as long as he misses his attack with the Iron Lance against the first pirate at the chokepoint. Rebecca, however, doesn't get to kill the Halberd pirate (Hector has to do it or it will slaughter Kent), so there is a small problem there (and in some sense, it might almost defeat the purpose of bringing her instead of Priscilla). I'm probably not going to do this. Also note, in case you are thinking this, that Marcus won't fare any better than Kent.

So my original question still stands: would you rather I take the 4-turn and forego the Lancereaver, or would you rather I grab all treasure on the map (haven't missed any up until this point)? I already have a 8 turn surplus at this point, and the turn requirement for this chapter is 10 turns, which means even with a 5 turn clear, I still get up to 13 turns for 19xx, which is plenty, and that's not counting turns that I might make up in in 19 or 19x. I won't make up any in 18.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[Brinzy]

A somewhat better way to think about the question is if you think you'll ever need the Lancereaver for anything. it's certainly a good weapon, but I feel that you aren't going to miss it. Using no real mathematics:

- Lyn and Eli have Prf weapons and basically only get trained for Linus map.

- Raven will promote and have Iron Axe access by the time he's going to be facing Wyverns regularly, and wyverns are arguably the most dangerous lancers late game. Falcon Knights can do a lot of damage, but they get killed pretty easily anyway later on by non-spellcasters

- Guy is a bit more susceptible to lancers, but even with it around mid game he won't be doing fantastically against them

- Horsemen have other options

- Promoted fliers will never need this

- Thieves should not need this

I think you should just take the extra turn. An extra turn now could translate into a boatload of experience later on, for example.

Edited July 31, 2015 by Brinzy

[Elieson]

Considering you're utilizing Raven and Guy for your EXP rank, and you need to grind up Eli/Lyn but not Me Eli, Eliwood Eli for later on, the Lancereaver might be more useful in the long run. Eliwood's already lacking in Str and Skl, the Reaver should help him out for things like getting exp from PegKnights.

[ruadath]

Thanks for the input guys.

A somewhat better way to think about the question is if you think you'll ever need the Lancereaver for anything. it's certainly a good weapon, but I feel that you aren't going to miss it. Using no real mathematics:

- Lyn and Eli have Prf weapons and basically only get trained for Linus map.

- Raven will promote and have Iron Axe access by the time he's going to be facing Wyverns regularly, and wyverns are arguably the most dangerous lancers late game. Falcon Knights can do a lot of damage, but they get killed pretty easily anyway later on by non-spellcasters

- Guy is a bit more susceptible to lancers, but even with it around mid game he won't be doing fantastically against them

- Horsemen have other options

- Promoted fliers will never need this

- Thieves should not need this

I think you should just take the extra turn. An extra turn now could translate into a boatload of experience later on, for example.

The extra turn doesn't really help me too much (possibly at all). Remember that I have to 5-star every map where it is possible, so I have to stay within the turn limit for all of those maps. This means taking no longer than 15 turns on Victory or Death, for example, regardless of what my surplus is at that point. The only maps where I can afford extra turns are either those with zero-requirements or defense chapters that can't be ended early. Obviously, I don't need EXP for the zero chapters, and defense maps are usually pretty good about throwing enough enemies at you for you to easily hit the EXP requirements.

I definitely agree with you that the Lancereaver isn't super useful for Guy, and I probably wouldn't use it too much anyway (conserve movey).

Considering you're utilizing Raven and Guy for your EXP rank, and you need to grind up Eli/Lyn but not Me Eli, Eliwood Eli for later on, the Lancereaver might be more useful in the long run. Eliwood's already lacking in Str and Skl, the Reaver should help him out for things like getting exp from PegKnights.

That is a good point for Eliwood. I think you guys are slightly misunderstanding my question, though. I'm not really (extremely) interested in determining the usefulness of this weapon for combat purposes later on or the value in saving an extra turn here. What I'm really after is the fact that this playthrough, in addition to getting maximum rankings, is trying to be something of a completionist run; i.e. I am recruiting all of the characters, visiting all the gaiden maps. In that case, it seems like it would make more sense to go for the treasure, since I haven't missed any yet, and I believe that it is probably fairly possible to grab all of the treasure in the course of the challenge. So I am asking you guys if you would rather have this playthrough grab all of the treasure, or aim for the lowest (reasonable) turn counts while still meeting all of the requirements that I have previously outlined for this run.

[ruadath]

It turns out this discussion might be pointless, as there is actually perhaps a different strategy that could get the 4 turn and get all the treasure (and still keep Rebecca killing the Halberd pirate).

Instead of having Sain charge in with the Iron Lance to kill the Swordreaver pirate, Lowen actually has high enough Str to Javelin him to death from the forest. Then Sain and Kent can take out the enemy mage/shaman like normal, and Damian will arrive on the scene without being able to attack anyone. The Halberd pirate will still probably go after Javelin!Lowen (EDIT: In fact, we can simply have Sain/Kent trade equip him with the Iron Sword while they kill mages), but he should be reasonably safe in the forest, (and then Rebecca can kill him later). Damian being at full health won't be a problem, since Hector can just Wolf Beil him to death anyway.

By the way, if you are concerned about conserving WB uses, don't be. Darin is the last person I plan to use WB on (along with Uhai, perhaps), and by the start of Chapter 21, I would like the WB to be down to 1 use. Hector has 9 at the moment, so he won't at all be bothered spending 2 of them to kill Damian.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[Elieson]

If you're worried about this being a completionist run, just remember that in the end, S-Rank Max Stars won't show how many units you have with shiny green stats or whatever. S-Rank is S-Rank. Kind of like getting a 95 on a Test vs a 100 on a Test, but your Report Card still saying you got an A.

[ruadath]

If you're worried about this being a completionist run, just remember that in the end, S-Rank Max Stars won't show how many units you have with shiny green stats or whatever. S-Rank is S-Rank. Kind of like getting a 95 on a Test vs a 100 on a Test, but your Report Card still saying you got an A.

Lol, actually it shows both your tactician stars and your total assets value, both of which you could potentially consider "scores." Furthermore, your epilogue save lets you view turn counts, and the Link Arena lets you view stats. But I do see your point. Nevertheless, I am doing this for the challenge, and I would like to be as complete as possible.

[Brinzy]

Then, in that case, I would definitely go back for that. I assume this also means you're going to try to get, for example, all the chests in 28x even if it's a general hassle.

Speaking of that, next chapter are you going to try to steal all the Pure Waters, since they're 900g each?

[ruadath]

Speaking of that, next chapter are you going to try to steal all the Pure Waters, since they're 900g each?

I've got 11 turns, so might as well, right? I think Melth has a reasonable strategy for how to approach that, so I might take a look at that before running 18.

Then, in that case, I would definitely go back for that. I assume this also means you're going to try to get, for example, all the chests in 28x even if it's a general hassle.

I think I pretty much have to do that in order to make the funds rank for that Chapter.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Here is the updated playthrough:



Turn 1: Lowen recruits Canas, Canas moves forward and one space north, Kent and Sain rescue drop Lowen onto the forest. Hector moves west onto the southern path, Raven heads north, and Rebecca visits Anna. 5 RNs are burned; Lowen has the Steel Sword equipped.



Enemy Turn 1: The Killer Axe pirate attacks Lowen and misses. The Devil Axe pirate blows himself up on Canas. The Hammer pirate gets double by Lowen and dies; he levels up. Raven reduces a pirate to 1 HP in his counterattack. Finally, the enemy archer, mage, and shaman target Lowen, but only the archer hits. 143 EXP.



Turn 2: Lowen takes out the Swordreaver pirate from the forest (Javelin). I burn 2 RN, then Canas kills the Killer Axe pirate from above.



And that is a great level for Canas to start off with. He wants to start building up his speed as quickly as possible.

I burn an RN, and then Kent takes out the mage from the east, trade-equipping Lowen with the Iron Sword. Rebecca kills the injured pirate, and then Sain takes out the Shaman from above (OHKO with the Iron Axe), and Raven ORKOs the Hand Axe Pirate. Hector visits the southern village for a Devil Axe. 363 EXP.



Enemy Turn 2: Damian charges toward the party, but no one is in his range this time. The Halberd pirate attacks Lowen, misses, and gets knocked down to 1 HP.

Not nearly as epic as last time, but oh well. He missed Str and Def, but at least he's pulled up his Speed.

Another pirate attacks Lowen and dies. Raven slices a pirate down to 2 HP. Two pirates fall to OHKO from Sain's might strength with the Iron Axe.

That's a weapon broken in each of the last 3 chapters. Now we only have Hector's 16 use Iron Axe, and less than 20 Hand Axe uses split into 2 weapons. At least Dart will bring a Steel Axe in Chapter 19.

The archer misses Lowen. 402 EXP.

Turn 3: Hector ORKOs Damian with the Wolf Beil



Rebecca kills the Halberd pirate. Lowen and Kent team up to kill the archer...

... and Kent pulls this ridiculous level out of nowhere. Kent detractors, what do you have to say now?

Raven kills the pirate, Canas visits the village for a Short Bow, and Sain charges toward the northern village. 658 EXP.

Enemy Turn 3: The last northern pirate suicides on Raven, giving a him a good level

Raven doesn't really need his speed to be proced right now, as he'll double anything that comes his way. That Str/Def boost is greatly appreciated, however, and this level is definitely a keeper.

Three pirates get ORKO'd by Lowen. Annoyingly, a pirate attacks Hector, which drops his WB uses down to 5. Dang it. Oh well, still enough for Uhai and Darin.

Rebecca gets attacked by a cav and a nomad

Not exceptional, but we aren't planning to use her a ton for much longer. The Str/Spd bonuses are most useful. 730 EXP, so we are in the clear.

Turn 4: Rebecca doubles the troubadour (kill) for a useful 3 WExp. Now she is only 21 away from B in bows. Kent gets the Sleep Staff, Sain gets the Lancereaver, and Lowen finishes. (Canas could attack, but we don't want to gain EXP unnecessarily)

Not too bad of a chapter after all! (But the wasted Wolf Beil uses bother me). What are your thoughts?

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[Elieson]

... and Kent pulls this ridiculous level out of nowhere. Kent detractors, what do you have to say now?

Kent still sucks

At the rate Hector's going, he'll be able to wreck armors with a Hammer or horses with a Halberd pretty soon. You've got a Horseslayer and Hector won't be engaging in that many battles against Cavalry for a while. There's a few on the ship, some on Dread Isle which your other mounts, Lyn and Eliwood should be able to handle with ease, and then after that you're home free with the Silver Card giving you cheap Hand/Steel axes

[Brinzy]

Well it's not that I dislike Kent... I just like Lowen more!

Do you really see your Hector situation as dire? I don't honestly. You shouldn't need Wolf Beil for anything on the Isle unless you just gotta get a tasty kill on a boss.

[ruadath]

Do you really see your Hector situation as dire? I don't honestly. You shouldn't need Wolf Beil for anything on the Isle unless you just gotta get a tasty kill on a boss.

No, I'm honestly not too worried about it, it just would have been nice to have Hector kill an extra knight/cav or two in either Chapter 19 or 20. It honestly shouldn't really be a problem. But I basically have to bench Hector for Pirate Ship, because my last Iron Axe is at 16 uses, and Bartre probably wants it in Chapter 20 (alternatively, he could take Dart's Steel Axe, but I'd rather not blow through that if I don't have to).

In any case, it is time to decide on a team for the next chapter! For obvious reasons, Hector, Matthew, Florina, and Priscilla are required here. That leaves us a choice of 4 units, one of which I have already decided to be Rebecca, who will enjoy taking out all of the PKs weighed down by Steel Lances.

Now that leaves 3 combat units for me to take. Traditionally, I believe that the "optimal" choices that people usually make are Sain, Raven, and Canas. That would indeed be quite a formidable team. However, defense chapters are great for using units who don't normally get much play time... and I feel that I wouldn't fair too badly bringing along Oswin, Lucius, and Kent/Lowen. My reasons:

Oswin: He would really do Raven's job better than him. With weapon triangle advantage, higher Def (and Res!), Oswin will be great against the mercs (except he can't double them, but that probably just allows me to feed kills to Lucius). He also is usually too slow to deploy on most chapters, but that really isn't an issue on this one and EXP distribution is essential in this run. I think he'll be excellent here. In particular, he'll be great at stemming the flow of the southern reinforcements, something which Hector might normally do, but can't here.

Lucius: What can I say? He's great against the mass of shamans, and won't fair too badly against the mercs' low Res. He's also still at Lv 3, and this is probably one of the best chapters to get him going. With me benching Raven, this probably also is a good opportunity to make an attempt for the Kenneth map you guys all seem to be pushing so hard.

Kent/Lowen: A cav is great on this map for mobility purposes (helping Florina deal with the endless waves of reinforcements), and Sain easily meets that criteria. But I think Kent or Lowen are beefy enough that they could handle the job adequately, and gain a significant amount more EXP while doing it (I haven't tested how reasonable the 1400 EXP requirement for this chapter is yet). Sain has terrible Res (same as Lowen), so he won't really handle the Shaman's any better, except that he can probably one-shot them.

So what do you guys think? The only objections I could possible see are that

1) Raven and Guy need the EXP on this chapter to get caught up, something I don't believe is true

2) Too many lances. This might actually be the more substantial issue, considering that I only have 2 Iron Lances (both with a solid ~35 uses on them) left, and one Steel Lance. Florina and Oswin obviously need lances, so either Kent/Lowen just hacks it with a sword, or Oswin takes the Steel Lance (hoping that he doesn't burn through too many uses). Or someone could wield Javelins or something (though I probably want both Kent/Lowen and Florina to have those. Raven instead of Oswin could fix this issue, or Sain instead of cavs because he's strong with swords anyway.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Oswin is probably getting the Steel Lance. That way he and Lucius stand a better chance of killing things.

Edited July 31, 2015 by ruadath

[Brinzy]

Lucius would make a fantastic addition to this map for sure, and using Oswin to tank hits and block for him will net a kill just about every player phase. This is nice because no other unit that you have besides like Marcus will be able to maximize experience for Lucius this way and also not require any dedicated healing. Rebecca taking out the pegasus knights is important for Lucius to stay completely safe. It's a shame that Wil can't one round some of the pegasus knights himself, because that 4 level difference between him and Rebecca sure makes him appealing. I know he could get the Steel Lance ones, but not the Slim Lance ones. I think they have 8 Speed, so your Rebecca will automatically double anyway... sorry Wil.

You could go with a Cavalier here, but I have to wonder how another Lord would work, namely Lyn. She should be able to one round the shamans, and with RN abuse or her high Avo, she shouldn't have too many problems surviving them. If I had to pick from a Cavalier though, it would still be Lowen. In fact, I used Lowen instead of Oswin for the purposes of tanking Mercenaries because Lowen was a lower level at the time. It just depends on what you're looking for I suppose, but if you were able to not use Oswin and use Lowen instead, you could bring both Cavaliers if you wanted.

Edited August 1, 2015 by Brinzy

[Elieson]

You'll probably want Lucius (and other magic users) promoted when you get to the point where your healers aren't able to really soak up that much exp on their own.

This would probably be a better chapter for Oswin because they're both not doubling the Mercs/Myrmidons, but if Lowen's not doubling them either, why not just let Oswin handle it. His low move isn't a penalty in this map, compared to say, the next four or so. There's also one Longsword mercenary if I remember, and even though he'd probably miss, that could skew your safety net of having a comfortable HP'd Lowen attacking on every turn.

Lowen should be just fine to get experience in the next two chapters; I'd suggest Oswin here.

In fact:

Right now, they're the same level, but Oswin has +4 Def over Lowen anyway. This would be a good chance to have him gain EXP at all because over the next 4 chapters, he won't be actively engaging in battle and keeping up in the bigger maps. His chances for easy EXP come right here, and a little after Dragon's Gate (Darin), but in between, he's not doing much except maybe one-shoting the mages at one range while they punish him from afar and probably overwhelm him, or he'll face off against the Pirates in Dread Isle and face WTD which is never fun. You have too many more practical units to push south in Dread Isle.

*Edit*

Right now, Oswin with WTA has 23 Atk with an Iron Lance (26 with Steel). I don't think he's OHKO'ing the mercenaries anyway, but with Steel, he OHKOs the Myrmidons right here I think?

Edited August 1, 2015 by Elieson

[ruadath]

Lucius would make a fantastic addition to this map for sure, and using Oswin to tank hits and block for him will net a kill just about every player phase. This is nice because no other unit that you have besides like Marcus will be able to maximize experience for Lucius this way and also not require any dedicated healing. Rebecca taking out the pegasus knights is important for Lucius to stay completely safe. It's a shame that Wil can't one round some of the pegasus knights himself, because that 4 level difference between him and Rebecca sure makes him appealing. I know he could get the Steel Lance ones, but not the Slim Lance ones. I think they have 8 Speed, so your Rebecca will automatically double anyway... sorry Wil.

That is a reasonable point about Wil, but remember that the primary goal of bringing an archer along in this chapter (and even training an archer through the entire game so far) was to get Rebecca to B bows. So she would take precedence over Wil regardless. If experience was an issue (which it still might be, I haven't done any testing yet), the solution will probably be to drop Oswin for Raven; although I imagine that Oswin won't be killing too many things (just feeding them to Lucuis), the slack on his end will probably have to be picked up by Lowen/Kent or someone (since we need multiple kills every turn to deal with the slew of reinforcements), and Raven would be able to kill things. Hopefully this doesn't turn out to be a problem.

You could go with a Cavalier here, but I have to wonder how another Lord would work, namely Lyn. She should be able to one round the shamans, and with RN abuse or her high Avo, she shouldn't have too many problems surviving them. If I had to pick from a Cavalier though, it would still be Lowen. In fact, I used Lowen instead of Oswin for the purposes of tanking Mercenaries because Lowen was a lower level at the time. It just depends on what you're looking for I suppose, but if you were able to not use Oswin and use Lowen instead, you could bring both Cavaliers if you wanted.

Honestly, I don't think Lyn would fair too well, and I would prefer to refrain from RN manipulation as much as possible, especially that kind to increase survivability. Besides, getting Lyn levels is not something I'm particularly worried about; she has all of Chapters 19 and 20 to go berserk with the Mani Katti on the plethora of cavs and knights in those levels, which will probably get her at least 5 levels (to 13), and then quite a few other chapters to push higher. She is also currently at an acceptable level 8, which means she isn't falling behind enemy stats.

On the other hand, Lv 5 Eliwood is facing some serious issues. He has relatively low Str of 8, a medium speed of 11 (can't double most things), and an above average defense of 8. He's a balanced unit, but with his low level, he's going to have a hard time damaging things well enough to get kills without having a dedicated kill-feeding unit. This problem will probably be compounded further by the fact that I would like to keep the Rapier unused, so Eliwood won't get the damage boosts against enemies that he needs it against. An idea might perhaps be to give Eliwood the Steel Sword, but this basically ensures that he won't be doubling anything. I'm not sure what I am going to do about him...

[ruadath]

This would probably be a better chapter for Oswin because they're both not doubling the Mercs/Myrmidons, but if Lowen's not doubling them either, why not just let Oswin handle it. His low move isn't a penalty in this map, compared to say, the next four or so. There's also one Longsword mercenary if I remember, and even though he'd probably miss, that could skew your safety net of having a comfortable HP'd Lowen attacking on every turn.

Yes, I definitely agree with you here. In fact, depending on how much Spd HHM bonuses the mercs get, Lowen does actually have a chance to double them, which is bad since he wastes more EXP from ORKOing them. Steel Lance!Oswin, however, does just enough damage to put them in a condition where base Lucius can finish them off.

Lowen should be just fine to get experience in the next two chapters; I'd suggest Oswin here.

This is indeed true, but I do need a mobile unit here, so are you suggesting that I take Sain/Kent instead? I was thinking that Lowen (with his higher Def, lower Spd) could be useful here as a mobile tank on the eastern side. Whatever EXP he gains can hopefully be offset by using Kent in the next few chapters (who is strong enough that his disadvantages compared to Lowen aren't really a big deal).

[Brinzy]

You'll probably want Lucius (and other magic users) promoted when you get to the point where your healers aren't able to really soak up that much exp on their own.

This would probably be a better chapter for Oswin because they're both not doubling the Mercs/Myrmidons, but if Lowen's not doubling them either, why not just let Oswin handle it. His low move isn't a penalty in this map, compared to say, the next four or so. There's also one Longsword mercenary if I remember, and even though he'd probably miss, that could skew your safety net of having a comfortable HP'd Lowen attacking on every turn.

Lowen should be just fine to get experience in the next two chapters; I'd suggest Oswin here.

In fact:

Right now, they're the same level, but Oswin has +4 Def over Lowen anyway. This would be a good chance to have him gain EXP at all because over the next 4 chapters, he won't be actively engaging in battle and keeping up in the bigger maps. His chances for easy EXP come right here, and a little after Dragon's Gate (Darin), but in between, he's not doing much except maybe one-shoting the mages at one range while they punish him from afar and probably overwhelm him, or he'll face off against the Pirates in Dread Isle and face WTD which is never fun. You have too many more practical units to push south in Dread Isle.

*Edit*

Right now, Oswin with WTA has 23 Atk with an Iron Lance (26 with Steel). I don't think he's OHKO'ing the mercenaries anyway, but with Steel, he OHKOs the Myrmidons right here I think?

This is true. Oswin shines on maps like this.

I take back what I said earlier... definitely go with Oswin.

As for Eli, I personally used him to some success on 19x since he pretty much free kills the Axereaver Pegasus Knights and defenseless mages. I think mine had stats similar to yours because he was really, really weak to start off.

[ruadath]

As for Eli, I personally used him to some success on 19x since he pretty much free kills the Axereaver Pegasus Knights and defenseless mages. I think mine had stats similar to yours because he was really, really weak to start off.

This is a great idea. Unfortunately, I'll have to keep some of those PKs alive (mine tricking this chapter and getting Axereavers), but unarmed PKs should be almost as easy as Axereaver PKs.

Edited August 1, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

On a completely different note, I wonder how much harder this challenge would be with fixed growths. My characters would all be significantly weaker (especially the likes of Sain, Kent, and Lowen) which would make getting these low turn times and saving funds much more difficult, if not outright impossible.

[ruadath]

I realized upon making preparations for Chapter 18 that I'm running into another issue. Iron Sword uses. I've got 25, 5, 5, and 3, which is not amazing. Thankfully there is the 27 use Steel Sword as well, so Eliwood can wield either that or the 25 Iron Sword, while Raven gets the other one. Lyn has the Mani Katti, and the cavs are just going to have to deal with taking everything on with Lances (or not get deployed). It looks to some extent like Guy (possibly even Raven!) might be out of luck in terms of deployment.

Also, for anyone who cares, with that last chapter, Lowen has now overtaken Rebecca in terms of most kills. I'd love to set up a poll for that (who is going to get most kills by the end of the playthrough), but I don't know how, so if someone could help me, that would be cool.A

EDIT: It looks like I forgot again, so here it is...

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES
Hector:   11.51  29  16  10  14  7   15  3 (C support Eliwood)
Oswin:    11.16  29  15  9   6   3   15  5
Matthew:   9.46  24  9   10  18  5   5   1
Serra:     6.06  20  6   7   13  10  4   8
Eliwood:   5.64  20  8   8   11  10  8   2 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    2.47  32  16  16  12  8   10  8
Rebecca:   9.21  22  11  9   13  7   7   3
Lowen:    11.47  32  15  10  14  8   11  4
Bartre:    7.95  34  14  7   8   5   5   1
Dorcas:    7.88  34  10  10  8   6   3   0
Guy:       7.30  28  11  17  17  6   8   3
Merlinus:  9.00  22  0   8   9   16  6   2
Erk:       6.66  22  9   9   12  5   3   7
Priscilla: 3.77  BASE
Lyn:       8.45  22  9   12  16  10  5   1
Sain:      2.34  34  21  10  18  8   14  4
Kent:     10.34  29  14  10  15  4   10  3
Florina:   9.75  22  12  11  16  12  7   9
Wil:       4.76  21  8   6   7   6   6   1
Raven:     6.16  30  11  14  15  2   7   2
Lucius:    3.86  BASE

Edited August 1, 2015 by ruadath