Whitefang

Ok, let's see. Clearly this needs to be less boring. That's hard, though, because I am a fairly boring fellow. When last we met, Marth had just defeated Gomer the Pirate. We now rejoin him in action against the soothsires. I had a few specific goals for this chapter. #1: Keep Julian alive, so as to more easily recruit Rickard. #2: Recruit Navarre and keep him alive for future use. Chapter 3 14/31 turns Due to the strength of the enemies and the fact that I can't let anyone die, I had to proceed very cautiously. Barst and Jagen were on point, being the only ones who could survive for more than 3 rounds. Thankfully they also have my best offensive capabilities as well. My first step was to send everyone west and have Marth get the Devil Axe, which I knew would be key for a quick victory. To win, I had to defeat the 3 Fighters and 2 Hunters that get pulled from the west before the Fighters, Thieves, and Navarre caught up to Lena. This was tricky, but I was able to wound one Fighter twice (Jagen counter + Barst counter) and one Fighter once (Barst counter). The hunters could be 2HKO'd, and they were the priority, but I had to kill at least the 2 wounded fighters and leave everyone enough health to survive his combat. This was surprisingly difficult, but it worked out that I had just enough units to perform the task, and the enemy fighter remaining could only target Wrys, who survived with 2 HP remaining. The only bad part was that I got 2 empty level ups after I used both battle saves, and then I had to fight off the rest of the enemies. The thieves could ORKO Lena, so I had no time to rest before I had to protect her. I positioned Draug to protect Lena from the thieves, but I had to position Caeda to protect her from Navarre. He critted Caeda twice in a row and I had to restart from the battle save after the first wave of enemies was defeated. Since the thieves are easy to kill compared to hunters, this group of enemies was dealt with easily, and my attention turned to the boss. Thankfully, Marth had been on his way west to trigger the last two fighters to move south. He stood on the fort and countered, then it was time for Jagen to stand on the fort while Darros and Gordin attacked from range. I had no battle saves left, so with trepidation I approached him for a counter with Jagen and a Steel Sword. The first round was 3 misses. (So I could shave off a turn, but the odds don't favor it.) The next round was more successful, and Jagen retreated to the fort, used a vulnerary, and received the last of the heal staff from Lena. Draug positioned himself to take a beating, but he successfuly countered (after the fort heal, Jagen's effective damage was 1, so this was a crucial counter.) This left Reynard with enough HP to be killed by Jagen with a Steel Sword and Barst with the Devil Axe (which I made sure Marth gave to him several turns ago.) The hit rates were good, and I avoided the backlash effect, so victory is mine! I really hope that my turncounts start going up, but keeping Lena safe was impossible without everyone to help and recruiting Navarre, so I don't know how I could have done it any faster. Maybe Julian could have survived by blocking the mountain pass? I'll need him to save some turns recruiting Rickard I think. I hope I made the right decision. Final stats in everyone's natural class. Unit Level Exp Class HP Str Mag Skl Spd Lck Def Res Weapon Ranks Marth 2 70 Lord 19 5 0 3 7 7 7 0 Sword D Caeda 3 92 Peg 17 4 1 7 14 11 7 6 Lance D Jagen 2 94 Paladin 22 7 1 10 9 1 9 6 Sword D, Lance B Draug 5 54 Knight 22 7 0 7 4 2 12 0 Lance C Gordin 3 41 Archer 19 5 0 3 4 5 6 0 Bow D Wrys 3 21 Curate 16 0 3 5 7 3 3 6 Staff E Barst 5 72 Fighter 25 10 0 6 10 5 6 0 Axe D Cord 3 50 Fighter 20 8 0 5 10 5 5 0 Axe E Darros 3 60 Pirate 21 6 0 2 7 3 5 0 Axe D Lena 4 19 Cleric 16 0 2 7 8 9 3 7 Staff C Preparations screen! Hunter!Unil is better than Archer!Gordin +1 Strength, +2 Speed (worse HP and defense, though). Knight!Dua has more defense than Knight!Draug, but sucks otherwise. I thought that was pretty lolworthy Edit:Forgot about the turncounts! HAH! Anyway, I just reclassed everyone, and Wrys is a better archer than Gordin. Thankfully Gordin is now a curate.

I wouldn't worry about it, too much, but I personally would suggest separating them and forcing Peg Knights to promote into Dracoknights and Cavaliers into Paladins. Everyone gets 11 draftees. Moreover, there are 30 Male Set A/Female characters from which to choose (so everyone will receive, on average, 6). This means that it's very unlikely that there will be more than one "forced" class (and the sixth pick in either category will always be forced, anyway.) But it's up to everyone in the draft, that's just my opinion.

Chapter 2 9/17 turns The enemies got a big upgrade to their attacks. Draug can take about 4 hits, Jagen and Barst 3, and everyone else a mere 2. Barst and Jagen get into range of one Pirate each, and they do some good damage on the counter (Steel weapons equipped). Darros recruits himself. Cord KOs a wounded Pirate, Gordin KOs a thief. Gordin level up: +HP, +Luck Caeda level up: +Speed, +Luck Marth and Jagen get in position to block the Cavaliers. Everyone heads west to get in position to chip. Marth counters with a Rapier and deals 13 damage to the Cavs (Marth survives with 2HP remaining). Bord dies to a Thief. Wrys heals up Marth, and I prepare to hunker down for a turn to recuperate. Caeda and Marth PRF their way to kills, while I set up Ogma and Cain to tank some hits. Marth level up: +HP Jagen wishes that he could just charge ahead, but he needs a heal. That means my team is stuck in between the rivers for now. Wrys level up: +Magic, +Speed Wounded Cain makes a battle save. Ogma goes to block the southern bridge. Jagen, Gordin, and Cord team up to kill a Pirate. Abel also moves to the front lines. Jagen level up: +Speed Draug kills the last hunter straggler from the initial northern enemies. Draug level up: +Skill, +Speed, +Defense I end up recruiting Castor because this way I can use only one resource to get him out of the way, plus I get his bow and he can absorb some damage. Abel dies. Cain dies. Ogma dies. My decoys are a little too effective. Barst KOs the Hunter, so now Caeda is relatively safe. Marth hits the next village. Jagen and Gordin kill one Pirate. Castor bites the dust. I manage to kill the last generic enemies. Finally down to one Pirate. Gomer. Darros can't do much, so I send him shopping. Even Draug is 2RKO'd by this jerk (ORKO'd at his current HP level). I set up Jagen to counter with a Steel Sword, and wait. Jagen deals 8 damage, but received 12, putting him in the danger zone. I decide to press my luck. Barst goes in with a 57% hit, and…crits! (3%) YES! I was thinking I'd have to team up everybody who could survive a counter (Barst, Cord, Caeda, Jagen with a heal), but that made it a lot easier. Thanks, Barst! Barst level up: +HP, +Speed I feel pretty good about this chapter. I don't know how it would be possible to do this faster and have my recruited characters survive. The enemies don't go down easily. I am extremely sad that no one has gotten +Strength yet.

Well, for some reason the trainees are listed as gamebreakers...so... Honestly, I'm more concerned that someone thinks General Amelia is overpowered.

I was going to say 250, but 200 sounds a bit more reasonable. Here is the chapter 1 review. Please let me know if this informative, boring, whatever. Critiques are welcome. Chapter 1 8/8 turns So, H3. The Pirates have 13-14 ATK. Marth, Caeda, and Gordin are 3RKO'd (2 if Steel Bow equipped). Jagen is 5RKO'd, and Draug is 7RKO'd. Marth hit up the villagers for some cash (It doesn't seem likely to beat the chapter any faster, so it seemed wise). Abel gives Caeda his Javelin and Cain gives Jagen his Iron Lance (useless for now.) I had Jagen park himself on the Fort to critically wound two Pirates, whom Gordin and Draug chipped to kill. Abel got some weaponry. Caeda missed the Thief with a Javelin. Marth begins heading west, and the strategy is to have Jagen tank the hits with a Silver Lance (4 total hits on Pirates), allowing Gordin to kill (4 Steel Bow uses, 1 Iron Bow use). Caeda tanked one Pirate, and thanks to her speed she can also put them into "critical" status, ready to be chipped. The strategy wasn't flawless, Draug had to drop behind a bit to keep Gordin safe, and Abel and Cain kept the heat off of Gordin and Caeda when necessary. Draug made a fighting retreat toward the boss, in case he needed to help chip in, and he got the lion's share of exp thanks to his beefiness. Draug level up: +HP, +Skill Draug level up: +HP, +Skill The Hunter was killed by Jagen (Silver Lance + Iron Sword). His position on the fort enabled him to damage one of the 3 Pirates in the West area. Next turn Marth is on the Mountain, Jagen finishes the wounded Pirate, and on EP the 2 attack Marth. Jagen Silvers one, freeing Marth to recruit Wrys. Gordin and Caeda team up to kill the last roaming pirate in this area. Wrys heals Jagen in preparation for the boss strategy. This is the part that required a few restarts thanks to lances (Seriously, Abel and Cain would have been very helpful guys). The enemies all had B rank axes as well, ensuring near 100% hit rates on my units. Well, on PP, Jagen hits ol' Gazzak with a Silver Lance, then counters on EP with the Silver Lance (Gazzak deals 13 damage to Jagen, but Wrys heals before the EP hit). Here is where I had two chances to win. Caeda, Gordin, and Draug can all try to chip from 2 range and deal enough damage to give Jagen a chance (85 displayed hit) to finish off Gazak with an Iron Sword. If unsuccessful, I can still fall back to using one more Silver Lance use. Ultimately, the unlikely string of 3 hits works (makes up for a few misses Caeda had on the Thief), so Jagen finishes with the Iron Sword and Marth seizes after Abel and Cain take out some weapons to prepare for next chapter. 2 Pirates are left alive.

Alright, you guys rock! H1 (1 votes [6.25%]) H2 (3 votes [18.75%]) H3 (7 votes [43.75%]) H4 (1 votes [6.25%]) H5 (4 votes [25.00%]) H3 is the mode of choice by 2.5 votes (my vote was to be a tiebreaker if necessary). 4 of you made me very nervous. Here is the necessary unit list and what I expect from them. As you may have gathered, one of my goals in this playthrough is to see how well the classes work together (or don't work together). Peg Knight -> Sniper Lena: At base, she has 11 AS and 10 ATK with an Iron Lance. 9 AS and 11 ATK with a Javelin. She'll be good chip early, but without some lucky strength procs, she's doomed to chip and only then with forge help. Myrm -> Sage Palla: Haven't checked numbers yet, but she joins late. She should be decent until promotion when she'll become a staff chick. Archer -> Paladin Caeda: Well, lol Archer, but when she becomes a Paladin she should have 8 strength and she'll withstand 3 attacks of up to 22 ATK. Mage -> Bishop Est: Another late joiner, but staff chicks are always useful and mages can usually give a good chip. She'll be 2HKO'd by attacks of 14 to 22 at base, though. Cleric -> Falcoknight Athena: She won't be a cleric for long. I'll need her on the front lines. I'm thinking maybe the 4th to promote depending on if I'll be able to use her immediately. Swordmaster Midia: Chip. 5 strength halfway through the game? Jagen had that at the start. It will be difficult to use her, but I may have to. Cavalier -> Dracoknight Radd: MVP? No, he'll have trouble doubling. Massive offense and defense, though. Myrmidon -> Sniper Roshea: He's going to start off slow, but if I can develop him, he'll become a very good supporting unit. Archer -> Paladin Wrys: What can you say about the worst unit on this team? He'll be absolutely dependant on those huge stat bonuses that you get from being an archer and a paladin. He might actually be a pleasant surprise. Mage -> Bishop Vyland: See Est. Curate -> Sage Gordin: He'll probably have 1 magic after promotion, so, yeah. Staffbot. Swordmaster Jagen: Good bases (for early game), good weapon ranks. He will be crucial support. Fighter -> Hero Draug: Well, I bashed him in Sho's topic, but I think I was wrong. He'll be just as durable as Caeda thanks to his high HP, with 1 less Speed and 3 more strength at 10/1. Hunter -> Sorceror Macellan: Chip -> Chip+Staffbot is what I'm thinking here. Pirate -> Warrior Caesar: I don't know, his bases will hold up for a while, but he'll probably become less and less useful. Dark Mage -> Horseman Cord: He might actually get some Magic growth and use the Levin sword until his strength overtakes it. He'll be good support. Knight -> Berserker Darros: What? What is this? 10/1 Darros will be extremely balanced. Like, Eliwood balanced. Who knows what he'll be good at. Mercenary -> General Barst: YES! He'll be awesome but oh so slow! His usefulness will fully depend on how good the rest of the team is and whether or not he can keep up with the fighting. Marth: He may need to have some outstanding levels. Rickard: Worse than Julian in combat, but I doubt it will matter. Beck: Cool, I'll need an excuse as to why this chapter takes so long. Tiki: A good excuse to get experience for my team as I waste turns acquire Bantu and Tiki. So, secretly, thanks! Turncount Goal Estimate: NO IDEA.

I can take Macellan, but Linde and Merric, unfortunately, naturally promote into sages.

Swordmaster Jagen is better than Swordmaster Wendell or Boah! Plus Silver Lance for the first 3 chapters will be helpful. 3 Picks left to be made. Female Myrm -> Sage Male Curate -> Sage Hunter -> Sorcerer Once the final pick is made, the poll will be closed.

Yeah, I'll take anybody. I'm interested to see just how efficient this motley crew can be. I've got a spreadsheet with the ATK values needed to XHKO my characters at various levels of development, and it's actually looking like HP is much more important than defense. Though this may be because few of my characters gain much defense at all. Even Lena has 7 defense at base as a Peg Knight. This leaves me with just a few spots. I need a female Myrmidon -> Sage I need a male Curate -> Sage or Swordmaster Depending on which promotion is chosen, I also need a male Prepromote Sage or Swordmaster Hunter -> Sorcerer Dark Mage -> Horseman Thief Ballistician

I'm still looking for 8 picks. Surely someone has some good ideas out there?

Well, he'll need those robes because he won't be gaining much defense. Growth rate of 0 as a Fighter, +4 on promotion, then a growth rate of 5 as a Hero. I think he'll be too fragile to wade into the fray.

Impressive team. I'm going to predict that Gordin is your MVP. Ogma will be the MVP on maps with Arrowspate.

It's funny, but surprisingly workable, I think. He'll have at least 8 strength and 10 speed upon promotion.

HP: 1 Str: 2 Skl: 3 Spd: 3 Lck: 3 Def: 1 Res: 5 Con: 2 Kind of boring stats, I guess. I'm 23, so that would probably make me a prepromote, at least.

That's fine, but can you change one of his classes? I'd like to have as much variety as possible. Actually, it's a choice between Archer -> Sage or Archer -> Paladin. For now I'll assume the latter. And I thought Paladin!Boah was terrible... Looking back at the list of units, I've let a few rulebreakers through. Athena will be Cleric -> Falcoknight. She'll still have a C sword rank, so the essence of what Darros wanted is still there. (The only Swords I really care about are the Armorslayer and Wyrmslayer, so it doesn't matter much). Otherwise it's pretty much just forged Javelins. I also need a new class for Roshea. I'll let anyone change his tier 1 or tier 2 class, but not both.

Now that's weird. I recognize that the tomes are better in the Anima school, but isn't light magic generally better in this game? There are a lot more enemy shamans and bishops than mages. I feel like light magic should be one of Serra's few advantages. (Both have no problem doubling nearly any enemy, though the Avoid loss can be dangerous I guess). I think it must be a case of PEMN, because I've never had a Priscilla that can fight very well.

Thank you! I think I can work with these guys, though Est will be tough. I can't wait to see my full team. Just 9 more picks to go. I just wanted to also mention that I will not be warp-skipping, as I did not mention it earlier.

Priscilla gets an extra magic on promotion, as well. IMO, they were designed to be equal in stats through the game. It's weird, though, I'd have given Serra the better bases and Priscilla the slightly better growths, since she has a horse.

You are going to have a team before I have one. You can have Paladin!Wendell as your male A prepromote.

Mercenary -> Horseman Roger.

I will use her with pride. I am loving the comeback that H5 is making. You guys want to see me sweat, don't you?

Well, it's your own PMU, but my 21 char PMU incorporates a few extra challenges with the extra picks. First, the difficulty is a poll (it'll probably be H3 or H5 based on current results). Second, I'm only fielding my least experienced units. Third, I only get one of each class. I'd say that DK Jagen is better, than, say, Maria Cleric -> Paladin

Gordon: Myrmidon -> Dracoknight

Alright, I shouldn't have a problem reaching this gaiden, I'll allow it (plus there aren't many female characters to use anyway.

If I were you, 13th, I'd let Horace finish bidding, then just let whoever wants to pick up that team do so, to see how they do. I would, but I am not very good at SS plus I have a lot going on right now.