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

[ruadath]

Alright, so I've decided that I'm definitely going to redo Chapter 13x to some extent since the near-perfect level up available to Lowen at the beginning of the chapter is too awesome to pass up. In case you don't know what I'm referring to, take a look at this screenshot from my last playthrough:

Obviously, the stats and starting level for Lowen will be different, but you can see why this is a great opportunity. Especially since my Lowen has only gained one level, he could really use the Spd bonus so that the can double archers on the map, and I think with the additional Str he can ORKO both of them.

This requires me to do to things. I need to get Lowen 20-30 more EXP in that last chapter so that he levels up on his first kill, and I need to ensure that Rebecca doesn't level up after killing the enemy soldier on the first turn. In other words, expect a replay/repost soon.

[ruadath]

It turns out this is actually quite a bit easier to do than I imagined. I managed to achieve it quite effectively at the cost of one turn of support building for Matthew and Guy, but gaining an extra turn for Lowen and Marcus (though this pair will probably never get off the ground, since they are always running around doing important things in different parts of the map). The strategy only changed from Turn 5 onward, so I'll start there:

Turn 5: Lowen attakcs the southern brigand from the south, and Rebecca finishes him off from west of Lowen. Matthew steals the Vulnerary from the other bandit from below. Guy attacks that brigand from the west, and Bartre finishes him from above. Marcus moves to occupy that spot, lance still equipped.

EDIT: Sorry, one slight change here; Bartre attacks the brigand first, and then Guy finishes him. This saves the use of an Iron Sword, and keeps Bartre's EXP down so he doesn't level at an incovenient time in Chapter 14 (Enemy Turn 1).

Down south, Oswin and Dorcas double team the nomad like normal, and Serra heals Dorcas.

Enemy Turn 5: Two Iron Axe brigands attack Marcus and die, and a Hand Axe bandit misses him. A mage blasts Guy.

Turn 6: Marcus takes out the mage from below. Guy and Rebecca team up to take out the eastern Hand Axe bandit, and the northern team arranges themselves like so:

Bartre attacks the bandit from the east, Dorcas moves onto the bridge, Oswin moves behind him, and Serra heals Oswin.

Enemy Turn 6: The brigand attacks Dorcas, and the Hand Axe bandit hits Marcus.

Turn 7: Dorcas kills his opponent, then Lowen chips at the bandit before Rebecca finishes him. Matthew visits the village, Serra heals Dorcas, and support building shenanigans occur.

This concludes the chapter, and I should note that this time we made the EXP requirement (706/700 EXP)!

Lowen is 21 EXP away from leveling, which means he'll level up on his first kill in Chapter 14, exactly as desired. While were at it, take a look at those terrible combat statistics. he'll improve soon enough though.

Edited August 25, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Oh, and here are the updated unit statistics:

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES    W/B
Hector:    5.03  23  10  4   8   6   11  0     9/23 (C support Eliwood)
Eliwood:   3.10  20  7   7   9   7   7   0     5/10 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    2.90  32  16  16  12  8   11  9    16/29
Rebecca:   4.89  19  7   8   9   5   3   2    12/16
Lowen:     3.79  24  8   5   8   4   8   0     2/20
Bartre:    4.42  31  11  6   5   5   5   0     5/15
Oswin:     9.67  BASE                          5/8
Guy:       3.68  BASE                          1/6
Matthew:   5.56  21  5   6   14  4   5   0     3/9
Serra:     5.73  20  5   7   10  8   3   7     0/0
Dorcas:    6.84  33  10  8   7   3   4   0     6/14

Edited August 25, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Alright, a list of annoying things I've noticed about running this chapter with my lower level team:

- BASE Guy can no longer double the mercs, meaning he 3RKOs instead of 2

- BASE Guy in fact cannot ORKO the pirates, but this shouldn't be a problem as long as he procs Str in his first level.

- Lowen has a Spd issue, which is thankfully somewhat resolved by his first level, which lets him ORKO the archers. He has no hope of doubling the cavs, though.

- Hector is 1 Def point shy of taking 0 damage from the mercs. This makes the mercs prefer to attack him over Lowen (since he has a reasonable chance of missing, and they do 1-2 damage to Lowen anyway). Since he in fact does miss, and I don't want that, the only way to aovid them attacking is top position him a few spaces back. But this means that he's not as far ahead in my formation, which means...

- If I want to aggro Erik by turn 2, it has to be Marcus/Lowen who does it, which makes the strategy less reliable since they have to dodge his Horseslayer.

- On a related note, Hector can't double Erik, which means even if I had him in the advance position, I couldn't one round him. I probably wouldn't want to do this anyway, since I need the extra reinforcements for EXP (probably).

Edited August 25, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Despite my initial suspicions, it seems that a 4 turn clear of Chapter 14 (while still visiting both villages and getting 850 EXP) is pretty feasible with the current team. I expect to have something ready by the end of today.

[ruadath]

Alright, so I managed to get a 4 turn clear of Chapter 14, as desired, but in order to do so, I needed to burn ~30 or so RNs at once before ending my last turn to get both a Thunder crit and a Killing Edge crit on the enemy phase. Do you guys find this acceptable? Or would you rather I go for a 5 turn clear without such RN abuse?

Edited August 25, 2015 by ruadath

[Paused]

Personally, as someone more interested in seeing what is possible to squeeze out of the in game rankings in an ideal setting, I have no issue with the rigging at all.

Whilst obviously LTC isn't included in Max Stars, it does seem to fit as a secondary goal. In my eyes, accepting what the RNG gives you is just out of the window with this playthrough anyway. It's not a 'how many stars can I get whilst playing by the rules run.' Both the crit manip for Chapter 2 and Mine abuse for Guys chapter prove that. If you can also minimize turns, one of the most respected goals of the community afaik, I'd say go for it. I mean there is a difference between; 'I abused the game mechanics to get theoretical max', and 'I got a S Rank by abusing save states!'

[ruadath]

Thanks for the feedback!

However, I haven't given up yet on not doing any major RN abuse! I have an idea that may allow me to avoid the huge RN burn at the end of the chapter; however, it involves replaying 13x (again!). The idea is that there is a certain enemy on the map (of Chapter 14) that Eliwood has to kill, but he can only 4RKO it, so I have to critical. With an extra level and proc in Str, Eliwood could 3RKO, which would work fine. So I have to replay 13x and get Eliwood an extra level.

"But wait!" you might ask: won't getting Eliwood an extra level affect other units experience and change the flow of Chapter 14? Actually, no! See, there is one character who does not take part at all in the combat of Chapter 14, and that is Oswin (though he still has an important role on the map). If I can steal EXP from Oswin in Chapter 13x, nothing should be affected in 14, Eliwood should be able to to kill the enemy without a critical, Erk will be able to use that critical to hit Thunder... and well, it'll be easier to see than for me to explain.

But I guess I'm back to 13x for now!

[ruadath]

Chapter 13x (again)

I figured I might as well just repost this whole thing, but the first half or so (up until Turn 3) is copied from before.



Here is the starting formation that I redid Chapter 10 of Lyn Mode to get. You may have noticed that my formation in Chapter 13 was slightly suboptimal; it would have been preferable for Matthew and Dorcas to have had their positions switched, as it would have allowed for everyone to advance a step close, and possibly for Rebecca to have gotten a shot off at the enemy brigand on the first turn before getting rescue-dropped to safety. This would have made it possible for Lowen to get to the Mine village on turn 2. However, I battled through it because I wanted Matthew have this position for Chapter 13x, so that he can steal the Vulnerary from the archer with minimal effort.

Turn 1: As mentioned previously, we begin by having Matthew steal the Vulnerary from the archer, then Hector stays where he is and rescues him. Lowen attacks the myrmidon with his Iron Lance, Bartre attacks the archer with his Axe, and Rebecca finishes off the myrmidon from south of Lowen. Eliwood moves south of Hector, Oswin moves east of Hector, takes Matthew's Steel Lance, and take-drops Matthew east. Marcus bashes the snag with his Iron sword from the west, and everyone else moves up as follows.


As you can see, people are positioned for some support point building. Furthermore, one of the major changes I made to my strategy compared to the last playthrough is to have Dorcas steal more EXP by handling the southern bandits instead of Guy.

Enemy Turn 1: Some snags are broken, a merc misses Lowen, a couple of brigands charge Marcus and die. Another brigand attacks Dorcas but misses, a mage blasts Eliwood, an archer attacks Bartre, and another archer attacks Hector for no damage.



Turn 2: Lowen attacks the merc, Steel Lance!Oswin one-shots the mage from below.



Guy doubles the archer from above Oswin, I burn 2 RNs, and then Bartre kills the archer above him for a level



Nice to see him get some defense!

Rebecca kills the merc, I burn 3 more RNs, and then Dorcas finishes the brigand for a level



Dorcas finally procs speed. Matthew moves onto the forest on the northern landmass, sighting the nomads north of Marcus, who kills the closest one from the west with his sword. Hector rescues Guy, Serra heals Eliwood, and Eliwood moves to where he was and finishes off the archer.



Enemy Turn 2: Two Steel Axe brigands suicides on Marcus, a myrmidon attacks Eliwood, and another myrmidon attacks Marcus. A Hand Axe brigand misses Dorcas, a nomad hits Marcus, and another nomad hits Bartre.



Turn 3: One RN is burned, then Bartre moves up a space and attacks the nomad, and Rebecca finishes him from below.



Oswin moves east of Hector, takes and drops Guy east. Eliwood moves a space south, and Serra heals him from the east. Matthew steal the vulnerary, Hector rescues him, and Lowen gives his Iron Lance to Oswin from below, then cantos south of Rebecca



Dorcas attacks the Hand Axe bandit from the west, and Marcus kills the nomad with his lance (he gets a crit-kill, though he obviously doesn't need it).

Enemy Turn 3: Puzon charges Marcus

The myrmidon attacks Eliwood and gets killed. Another myrmidon attacks Marcus and dies, a Hand Axe bandit misses Dorcas, another one misses Marcus, and a nomad hits Dorcas.

Turn 4: Get ready for the most intense trading session seen so far in this playthrough (the result of no battle preparations and weapon shortage; it might be the most intense one of this entire playthrough, but we'll see)

Oswin takes Guy's Iron Sword, and Eliwood moves up a space and gives his Iron Sword to Matthew. Hector takes the Iron Sword from Oswin, then gives Matthew to Lowen. He then rides 2 NE of Bartre, takes the Iron Sword from Matthew, drops him south, and cantos 1 east. Rebecca moves west of Lowen, Serra heals Bartre, and he moves above Rebecca. Guy moves south of Matthew.

Marcus kills Puzon, and Bartre moves into the forest and finishes the brigand.

Enemy Turn 4: A bandit attacks Lowen and a merc attacks Marcus; neither die. The mage attacks Marcus

One of the many good things we love about Marcus: high Res! A Hand Axe brigand misses Lowen, whose combat record continues to suck, and a Hand Axe bandit hits Marcus. The nomad near Dorcas rides around him to attack Merlinus but only one of his shots hit.

Turn 5: Lowen attacks the bandit from where he is, then Rebecca moves south of Lowen and finishes him off. Matthew steals the Vulnerary from the south, then Bartre attacks from above. Guy moves north of Lowen, takes his Iron Sword, and finishes off the bandit so that Marcus can move to the spot he occupied.

Down south, Hector gives the Iron Sword he is holding to Eliwood from below him, then triggers their C support conversation. Eliwood moves east of Hector and attacks the nomad, and Dorcas finishes him off. Serra heals Dorcas.

Enemy Turn 5: Two brigands suicide on Marcus, a bandit attacks Eliwood, and a mage blasts Guy. The Hand Axe bandit misses Matthew.

Turn 6: I burn an RN, then Marcus crit kills the mage from the south. Guy attacks the eastern brigand, then Bartre attacks the other one from above Marcus. Rebecca kills the east brigand from west of Guy. Lowen grabs the Iron Sword from Marcus, then moves west of Rebecca, and Matthew moves west of Guy.

Dorcas attacks the brigand from above, Eliwood kills him from the west. Serra heals Dorcas again and Oswin moves below her.

Enemy Turn 6: The bandit attacks Eliwood. The Hand Axe bandit misses Marcus.

Turn 7: I burn an RN, then Eliwood attacks the remaining brigand again.

Hector rescues him, Dorcas takes his place and kills the bandit. Lowen and Rebecca clean up at the top, and Guy visits the village.

Are you planning to post the playthrough where you made EXP rank?

I guess you got more than you bargained for! 768/700 EXP, 5236/4800G

EDIT: Here are the stats

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES    W/B
Hector:    5.03  23  10  4   8   6   11  0     9/23 (C support Eliwood)
Eliwood:   4.00  20  8   8   10  8   7   1     7/16 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    2.89  32  16  16  12  8   11  9    16/28
Rebecca:   4.89  19  7   8   9   5   3   2    12/16
Lowen:     3.79  24  8   5   8   4   8   0     2/20
Bartre:    4.42  31  11  6   5   5   5   0     5/15
Oswin:     9.36  BASE                          3/4
Guy:       3.68  BASE                          1/6
Matthew:   5.57  21  5   6   14  4   5   0     3/10
Serra:     5.73  20  5   7   10  8   3   7     0/0
Dorcas:    6.84  33  10  8   7   3   4   0     6/14

UPDATE: Sorry guys, another minor change has been made to the playthrough here. I made the changes within this post; the idea was to get Eliwood down to a square level 4 and get Dorcas closer to level 7. He also got a better level!

Edited August 26, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Chapter 14

I'm excited for this chapter! A 4 turn clear with 850 EXP is pretty good, and it's cool to show you how I pull it off. I'll be providing an EXP counter at the end of each phase as usual.

Here is the starting formation I went with (Bartre in the south). In terms of preparation, Oswin gives his Iron Lance and Javelin to Lowen, and Guy forked over some bows to Rebecca.

Turn 1: Rebecca attacks the soldier from the east, then Eliwood finishes him off.

Eliwood misses his first attack, but this is important since it burns extra RNs and gives Serra the opportunity to heal him. Serra does heal him from the west, Matthew heads east and steals the Vulnerary, and Bartre and Dorcas charge east but don't attack. Guy moves 2 west of the bridge (outside the range of the enemies), and then Lowen and Marcus move forward, rescue-dropping like so (Iron Lances/Axes equipped):

Notice that Eliwood and Hector are close enough that their support takes effect! (not that it matters, even though they will be close together for this entire chapter). 55/850 EXP.

EDIT: This is actually false! The fact that Hector gets the +1 Def from his support with Eliwood is what makes the nearby merc decide to go after Lowen and not him, and is extremely important!

Enemy Turn 1: The knight misses Matthew, then a soldier suicides on Lowen

And there is the nice level we painstakinglly set him up for in Chapter 13x! Once Lowen gets going, he'll become really great!

A couple of soldiers skewer unarmed Matthew, reducing him to 3 HP, then another pair suicides on Bartre, missing him both times. A pair of mercs attack Lowen, as do a couple of archers. 153/850 EXP.

Other Phase 1: Erk doubles a soldier, blasting him to pieces. This is nice, because on the previous run, he killed the knight, robbing me of valuable EXP.

Turn 2: Eliwood attacks the merc from above, then I burn 4 RNs, and Rebecca finishes him off from above Eliwood.

Serra recruits Erk, who then takes a step west and blasts the Knight. Lowen also moves a step west (below Eliwood) and doubles the archer, killing him (this is why I worked so hard for that previous level; without both Str and Spd procs, he wouldn't be able to ORKO him). Bartre moves 2 west of Matthew and killed the soldier.

Hector moves below Lowen and kills the merc. Matthew moves up to Oswin, who rescues him, and Dorcas hides behind him. Guy moves east of Hector and attacks the archer

Crit kill! When running this for the first time I hadn't anticipated it, but in retrospect, every single critical that occurs is completely necessary!

Marcus moves as far west as he can go. 313/850 EXP

Enemy Turn 2: Erik charges Marcus. Marcus shrugs off a Horseslayer hit, then gives Erik a good beating.

The knight attacks Bartre and gets reduced to 1 HP, then a soldier attacks Guy

Not bad, not bad. Str for Guy is always appreciated.

Another soldier suicides on Bartre, then one more attacks Eliwood. A cav suicides on Marcus

Another great level for Marcus! You might be upset by the lack of Spd, but remember that Marcus only has a 25% Spd growth, so it's quite unreasonable to want him to proc it every time. He also has a ridiculosuly low Def growth, but a surprisingly high Res growth (as you see here).

Two PKs attack Bartre; the second one gets one-shotted.

I was a little unhappy about this, but Serra sees her first round of combat here. I was hoping to avoid this, but whatever. 403/850 EXP.

Turn 3: Eliwood kills the soldier, Rebecca moves east of Lowen and finishes off the soldier and Bartre kills the knight. I burn an RN, and then Hector finishes Erik from above for a solid 100 EXP.

The standard Hector level. He remains without any procs in Skl, which could prove annoying in the future. Dorcas knocks out the remaining PK in play for a level of his own.

Meh. But its good that he's gaining levels and Str/Def, because he'll be benched soon, and he'll need everything he can get when he rejoins later. Oswin moves above Dorcas to build support points.

Lowen kills the archer from below, Marcus moves 4 west, Erk moves 2 NW, and Serra visits the village. 611/850 EXP

I've got less than 250 EXP to make, and there are still 13 enemies on the map. This is great, because Marcus is going to end up killing half of them. And now for the biggest RN burn in the chapter: Guy buurns 10 RNs, then moves as far south as he can go, 2 north of the pirate.

Enemy Turn 3: The myrmidon attacks Marcus and gets crit killed. The merc attacks Lowen, and a pirate misses Guy, who would kill the pirate were it not for the fact that he attacks from a forest. A cav suicides on Marcus, then a cav strikes Guy, gets doubled with a crit, but survives due to his unusually high defense. Two more cavs suicide on Marcus, and then a nomad hits him.

He's really taking a beating here. Thankfully, he doesn't have too much more to get done. 654/850 EXP

Turn 4: Alright, 9 enemies to go, with roughly 200 EXP remaining. Marcus starts off by moving 3 west and killing the brigand. Erk then crit kills the bandit on the mountain.

A poor level, obviously, but there is nothing that can be done about it, since I need that critical. Perhaps I should have trained Erk a bit more in Lyn mode (one magic proc would have been enough for him to double...)

Believe it or not, the combination of that crit and Erk's level has set up another crit in the RNG, so Lowen moves east of Guy, and crit kills the southern pirate with a Javelin.

Lowen has been quite impressive this chapter. Rebecca moves north of Guy and kills the cav, Eliwood attacks the merc from the east. Guy attacks the pirate from the south with his Killing Edge. Obviously, he doesn't need that weapon to take out a 2 HP pirate, but he's aggroing a cav on the enemy phase, and his Killing Edge is the only way to kill it in one turn, and since no one is available to trade-equip him, he needs to use it now.

Hector Wolf Beil's the nomad (been a while since we used that weapon! It has still has 22 uses, which is roughly 10 times more what I had on my original playthrough!) 804/850 EXP.

Enemy Turn 4: The merc attacks Eliwood one last time and gets killed. The remaining western cav charges Marcus and dies. The final enemy, the southern cav charges Guy...

And gets taken out on the first counter with a crit kill.

857/850 EXP. I have 10052/10000 G already, and this gets added to once Priscilla joins in the closing scenes of the chapter.

Chapter clear! What do you guys think?

Stats:

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES    W/B
Hector:    6.40  24  11  4   9   6   12  0    12/26 (C support Eliwood)
Eliwood:   4.96  20  8   8   10  8   7   1    10/22 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    3.20  33  17  17  12  9   11  10   23/37
Rebecca:   5.66  19  8   9   10  6   3   2    15/20
Lowen:     5.16  26  10  7   10  6   10  0     6/29
Bartre:    5.92  32  12  6   6   5   5   0    11/23
Oswin:     9.36  BASE                          3/4
Guy:       4.85  25  9   13  14  5   6   1     4/12
Matthew:   5.70  21  5   6   14  4   5   0     3/13
Serra:     5.85  20  5   7   10  8   3   7     0/1
Dorcas:    7.01  34  11  8   7   3   5   0     7/15
Erk:       2.10  18  5   6   7   4   2   4     2/2
Priscilla: 3.00  BASE                          0/0

As you can see, the main group of units are all around level 5, so Lyn's team (or rather, Kent and Florina) will fit right in to the party.

Edited September 10, 2015 by ruadath

[Irysa]

However, I haven't given up yet on not doing any major RN abuse!

I think rather than the "amount" of RN abuse it's better to look at the strategical context of what you're trying to do. If your decisions are calculated, neccessary and optimal for the rules of the strategy you're attempting then the "amount" of RN burning seems negligble. For example, if you need to crit a boss to clear a map quickly, and it's the only way to get that turncount, then that's simply that. Or if a unit simply has to dodge a few attacks in order to successfully rout. But something like "I'm rigging this unit to dodge a bunch of relatively accurate attacks uneccessarily in order to get lots of EXP" or "I'm rigging lots of 3% crits to get easy KOs" or something to that effect, then you're just being lazy.

Edited August 26, 2015 by Irysa

[ruadath]

I see your point, but to me, the number of RNs I burn serves a measure of the extent to which I am breaking the game. And furthermore, I promised myself before starting this run that, with the exception of Chapter 2, there would be no exceptionally long string of RN burns. That was, for example, the reason I accepted 5 and 4 turn clears of the Prologue and Chapter 1, respectively, when a faster clear was easily possible with significant RNG abuse.

And besides, it's more fun to see a bunch of useful events occur from a short RN burn than to manually rig each one, wouldn't you agree?

[ruadath]

Who do you guys think should kill Sealen in the next chapter: Marcus or Dorcas?

The argument for Marcus is obviously that he gets less EXP, but the argument for Dorcas could be that he gets benched after this chapter for a long time, and if he ever sees use again, he might need/want the extra procs he gains here. On the other hand, Marcus getting closer to level 4 (and closer to more Str) could be useful for some reason that I can't yet foresee.

Any opinions?

EDIT: Never mind Marcus has to get the kill if I want it by turn 2, as Dorcas needs to be rescued.

Edited August 26, 2015 by ruadath

[Paused]

Man, Marcus is putting in a lot more work than I expected for a ranked run; not bad for the old man.

Amazing how close you are to your limits with your requirements while hitting lowest turn counts. 7exp is not alot of breathing room.

[ruadath]

Man, Marcus is putting in a lot more work than I expected for a ranked run; not bad for the old man.

Yeah, I know what you mean! There is actually quite a bit of surplus EXP in the first few chapters of HHM (due to the differences between EHM and sharing the same ranking requirements) so Marcus gets used to mop up all of the extra EXP. This has really made a difference to my average party level; on the first iteration of this playthrough, Marcus barely got used (he didn't reach level 2 until after he killed Sealen) and the main party was at level 7 with a few stragglers at level 6. This time around, the main party is at level 5, with a few stragglers (Guy and Eliwood) at 4, so it seems I've done a much better job!

Amazing how close you are to your limits with your requirements while hitting lowest turn counts. 7exp is not alot of breathing room.

For the most part, this is sort of an aftereffect on the runs; at least for the first few chapters, my initial runs had me clearing with 50 or so more EXP than required, and then I trimmed it down where possible on my next few runs. This, however, was not the case for Chapters 13 or 14 where I just barely made it, as you've pointed out.

[ruadath]

Chapter 15

Preparations: Marcus grabs Hector's Iron Axe and Dorcas' Hand Axe. Dorcas takes Bartre's Hand Axe. Lowen gives his Iron Lance over to Oswin, and Matthew gets rid of some Vulneraries.

Team: Hector*, Eliwood, Marcus, Rebecca, Lowen, Oswin, Dorcas, Serra, Matthew

Turn 1: Marcus rides South and takes care of the western of the two knights with his Iron Axe from above. His position will aggro Sealen to a perfect location for us to kill him next turn. Matthew moves next to Lowen, who rescues him and around the wall into safety and north as far as he can. Hector moves north of Lowen, taking him and dropping Matthew further north, while Eliwood moves to the crevice east of Hector. Rebecca moves 1 south, Dorcas 4 south, Serra 1 SE, and Oswin stays put.

Enemy Turn 1: Despite me not rigging anything here, almost every enemy attack except for a couple missed here. Sealen fires at Marcus with his Longbow but misses. The other Knight suicides on Marcus, and another Knight attacks Dorcas from the west. The mercenary on the north opens the door, and a soldier attacks Dorcas and gets killed. Another soldier throws a Javelin at Dorcas and misses (Dorcas is still at full HP after all of this). A couple of archers fired at Marcus, with one hitting. The west nomad attacks Rebecca, hitting her, and the thief moves up, unfortunately blocking one of the spots I had planned to attack Sealen from.

Turn 2: Dorcas moves straight east and attacks Sealen with his Hand Axe. Lowen moves west of Dorcas and rescues him (make sure he is equipped with a non-ranged weapon, i.e. not a Javelin!). Marcus moves to where Dorcas was standing and kills Sealen for his Dragonshield. 2 RNs are burned, then Rebecca takes a step SE and kills the knight

Matthew steals the Vulnerary from the mage in the north. Hector rescues him from below, then an RN is burned and Oswin one shots the mage with his Steel Lance. Serra moves west of him and trade equips him with the Iron Lance, then Eliwood burns 2 RNs and moves west of Hector.

Enemy Turn 2: The merc attacks Oswin, the soldier misses Rebecca. A mage and archer attacks Lowen, and an archer and nomad attack Marcus and die. Another nomad attacks Hector for no damage, and the injured archer rides around to attack Rebecca, reducing her to 2 HP, and then dies on the counter.

Rebecca hits C in bows, our first weapon level of HHM! The thief approaches the door to the treasures.

Turn 3: Rebecca takes a step north and doubles the soldier, reducing him to 2 HP. Marcus kills the archer (Iron Axe), then Lowen rides next to Rebecca, equipping the Javelin and dropping Dorcas (who he equips with the Iron Axe south of Rebecca along the way. Serra heals Lowen from above, Eliwood moves east of Lowen, and Hector moves above Eliwood and drops Matthew north.

Enemy Turn 3: The soldier misses Rebecca and dies. The fighter breaks down the wall, and the mage blasts Dorcas. The nomad doubles Oswin for no damage, and the thief opens the door to the treasure.

Turn 4: Matthew moves above the mage and steals another Vulnerary. Lowen rescues him and moves below the mage. Marcus moves below him and drops Matthew west. Rebecca moves east of Lowen and kills the mage. Oswin moves up and attacks the knight, then I burn an RN and Serra heals Dorcas from below.

She also hits B in staves, which means I can safely drop her from my party until I need her again (probably Living Legend). Eliwood moves below Serra, rescues her, then Hector moves east of Eliwood and drops her north.

Yay support building formation! Poor Dorcas doesn't get to take part.

Enemy Turn 4: The knight attacks Oswin and dies. The fighter attacks Dorcas.

Another weapon rank! Dorcas hits B in Axes. The nomad doubles Oswin again for no damage, and the thief pilfers the Silver Axe.

Turn 5: Rebecca kills the fighter from below.

I think she's getting benched in Chapter 16. Maybe.

Oswin attacks the nomad, then Matthew steals the Lockpick from the thief.

Finally, some Str for Matthew!

The rest of the part arranges themselves into the characteristic support building block (with Marcus and Lowen rescue dropping Rebecca)

Enemy Turn 5: The nomad doubles Oswin, accomplishing nothing.

Turn 6: Rebecca shoots the thief from above Matthew, Matthew opens the chest for a Mend staff, and everyone else arranges themselves like so:

Oswin doesn't kill the nomad, since we are in a bad patch of the RNG; instead he retreats 2 spaces west.

Enemy Turn 6: The nomad attacks Oswin.

Turn 7: I burn an RN, then Oswin kills the nomad.

Rebecca kills the thief, then everyone arranges themselves like so

I need a script or something to keep track of support points. And that clears the chapter! 424 EXP and 11148G

[ruadath]

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES    W/B
Hector:    6.41  24  11  4   9   6   12  0    12/27 (C support Eliwood)
Eliwood:   4.96  20  8   8   10  8   7   1    10/22 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    3.85  33  17  17  12  9   11  10   29/46
Rebecca:   7.45  19  10  11  12  7   4   3    21/30
Lowen:     5.18  26  10  7   10  6   10  0     6/31
Bartre:    5.92  32  12  6   6   5   5   0    11/23
Oswin:    10.07  29  14  9   5   3   14  3     7/15
Guy:       4.85  25  9   13  14  5   6   1     4/12
Matthew:   6.00  22  6   6   15  4   6   0     3/13
Serra:     6.07  21  6   7   11  8   3   8     0/1
Dorcas:    7.45  34  11  8   7   3   5   0     8/21
Erk:       2.10  18  5   6   7   4   2   4     2/2
Priscilla: 3.00  BASE                          0/0

From now on things get interesting. I doubt I'll be able to make the LTC turn counts for Chapter 16 onward, but it'll be fun to see what is possible! I don't predict anything quicker than 6 turns for Chapter 16; if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know!

Edited August 27, 2015 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Almost forgot: since I am at a "checkpoint," I might as well post this

[Paused]

Looking good.

One minor typo; your end of map character stats lists Oswin as at Base still, while he actually leveled.(on your penultimate screenshot)

[ruadath]

Thanks for letting me know about that.

I'm dealing with a minor dilemma right now. It seems that, if I were to be interested in getting the lowest turns possible on this map (while still getting the EXP requirement), it would be convenient to have Lowen get one more level with a Str/Spd proc in Chapter 15 so that he can double the mage and archer with his Javelin and get Florina into the action as soon as possible, which would perhaps shave off a turn.

However, it is unclear to me whether this really would shave off a turn (i.e. if the other teams can handle all of their opponents and gain enough EXP in the given time), and furthermore, doing so would mean that either Lowen has to steal EXP and WEXP from Rebecca (who made it a quarter of the way to B in bows last chapter), or sacrifice support points with Rebecca to take over Oswin's job later in the chapter.

I'd be happy to hear what you guys think about this.

[ruadath]

OK, so Chapter 15 is definitely going to get redone anyway, since I just realized my level 3 Marcus can ORKO Sealen without Dorcas' assistance, which saves a Hand Axe use among other things. This basically means Dorcas doesn't really have any use in this Chapter, so we can do one of two things:

1) Dorcas can go build support points with Oswin and then take over his job once he finishes the merc.

2) I can bench Dorcas and bring in someone for supports (probably Guy for Guy/Matthew)

Lowen can then take some of the EXP Dorcas grabbed on the first turn.

A third option, I suppose, would be to dump both Eliwood and Dorcas (how useful is Eliwood/Hector anyway?) and bring in Erk/Priscilla to build support points there. I'm not usually a player who is huge on supports, so if anyone wants to comment on how useful each of these (Guy/Matthew, Eliwood/Hector, Erk/Priscilla) are individually, please do so.

Edited August 27, 2015 by ruadath

[Paused]

Also surprised that, along with all your other goals you have to juggle, supports are even on the table. I mean I had guessed Eli/Hector would be picked up at some point as that one all but unlocks itself. But I would never have thought you'd have an opportunity to even consider Dorcas/Oswin of all people, even on a Survival map.

[Sniper Knight]

Sometimes all you really need is a +1 MT, and instead of replaying a chapter for a better level, a C support will do the trick. Eli/Hector grows faster, and you probably won't have too many turns that you can spare for support building without sacrificing efficiency, so I'd recommend that. Anima gives Hector attack, defense, and evasion, while Thunder gives Eli evasion, defense, and critical.

Erk/Prissy is Thunder/Wind. Thunder is defensive, which could be nice for Prissy, and Wind gives attack, hit, and crit. However, they start with 15 points and grow by 3, so I don't really see that support going anywhere. Matt/Guy is Wind/Fire, which both give attack and hit, and that could help Guy somewhat, but it's 10+3.

In my experience with ranked runs, the only supports really worth building are Eli/Hector (72+3) and Lyn/Flor (76+4!). Even if you try to build support whenever possible, you won't have too much of an opportunity with any support that isn't at least 30+3, and I'm being slightly generous. (Out of the better units, that's pretty much the Pegasus sisters, Sain/Kent, and Raven/Lucius, IIRC.)

[ruadath]

Erk/Prissy is Thunder/Wind. Thunder is defensive, which could be nice for Prissy, and Wind gives attack, hit, and crit. However, they start with 15 points and grow by 3, so I don't really see that support going anywhere. Matt/Guy is Wind/Fire, which both give attack and hit, and that could help Guy somewhat, but it's 10+3.

What you say is true, but I think that I'm able to grow my support rates a bit better than you might think. Matthew and Guy already have 1 turn of support from Chapter 13 and roughly 4 or 5 from 13x, so call that 25/3 (actually, I think they got one from the starting formation of Chapter 14 as well, IIRC). Erk and Priscilla obviously don't have anything yet, but they can easily get a full 7 turns here, and can expect at least 3 turns in Chapter 16, so call that 45/3 after that, noting furthermore that Priscilla will be deployed on pretty much every map from now on, and that Erk probably will see a fair amount of use too if we want to see that Kenneth map.

[ruadath]

I realized something that makes me feel kind of silly. After looking through my Chapter 14 strategy again, I realized there was actually no need at all for Eliwood to have gained that extra level in Chapter 13x. None at all! So I took my old playthrough of Chapter 13x and reran Chapter 14. Everything was the same, except for a couple of points:

- There is a point in the chapter were two soldiers attack Guy and Eliwood. In the playthrough with level 4 Eliwood, they attack Guy first and then Eliwood, but when Eliwood is level 3, the opposite occurs. This in fact gives Guy a better level

- Eliwood, of course, levels up at the end of the chapter

Not as amazing as last time, but I'm happy with it.

- Since lower level Eliwood gets more EXP from kills, I was happy to let Dorcas steal a couple of kills (and EXP) from Bartre.

- I got better support points overall for people. In general, I think Marcus/Lowen gained one or two turns, as did Dorcas/Oswin. Hector/Eliwood gained one, and I think Guy/Matthew might have lost one.

Here are the stats anyway (pre-Chapter 15):

Name:     Lv.XP  HP STR SKL SPD LCK DEF RES    W/B
Hector:    6.40  24  11  4   9   6   12  0    12/26 (C support Eliwood)
Eliwood:   4.15  20  8   7   10  7   7   0     8/16 (C support Hector)
Marcus:    3.24  33  17  17  12  9   11  10   23/39
Rebecca:   5.66  19  8   9   10  6   3   2    15/20
Lowen:     5.16  26  10  7   10  6   10  0     6/29
Bartre:    5.63  32  12  6   6   5   5   0    10/21
Oswin:     9.67  BASE                          5/8
Guy:       4.85  25  9   13  14  5   6   1     4/12
Matthew:   5.69  21  5   6   14  4   5   0     3/12
Serra:     5.85  20  5   7   10  8   3   7     0/1
Dorcas:    7.23  34  11  8   7   3   5   0     8/17
Erk:       2.10  18  5   6   7   4   2   4     2/2
Priscilla: 3.00  BASE                          0/0

Seems like Matthew won't be getting a level in Chapter 15 (unless I let something attack him, which might be a good idea)...