Redwall

11. Marth, Roy, Ike, Eirika, Ephraim. 12. Olivia, Feena, Ninian, Tethys, Lalum.

I would probably add you if I remembered my password...

The Brave Sword isn't that useful; you can get the job done just fine in the lategame if Sirius or Palla takes a +2-Mt Wyrmslayer (I can only recall one instance, maybe two, where Sirius' ability to use the Brave Sword/Mercurius in the lategame helped--a Sorceror in Ch 23 and possibly 22). As a Horseman, Sirius isn't going to double lategame Sorcerors/Dragons unless he receives multiple Speedwings (+ Rainbow); he really is better off as a Swordmaster, except the stuff he does as a Swordmaster can be replicated by your other units. Sirius can't OHKO the Flying Dragons in Ch 21 with a 13-Mt bow unless he somehow gets C-ranked bows, which will cost either an Arms Scroll or a 2-Mov penalty from reclassing to Sniper--but even then, the Flying Dragons can spawn with an extra point of HP to put him out of range of a OHKO without a stronger forge. In Ch 23, a Swordmaster with 20 Str, C-ranked swords, and a +2-Mt Wyrmslayer can ORKO Mage Dragons. Except 20 Str isn't that hard to reach, even for Caeda, when the Rainbow Potion is on the table. The difference between their respective endgame performances is not as big as you suggest. The problem with Sirius is the fact that his earlygame performance isn't that impressive compared to Caeda's Prologue performance: he's chipping some DKs, doubling Lang, and poking Thieves; she's the number 2 combat unit in the latter half of the Prologue. The Armorslayer forge gives Sirius slightly more EXP, but doesn't do anything to speed up the Ch 8 clear. Certainly Sirius should get credit for having the potential to be serviceable in the lategame, but that's not enough to put him in the top tier when accounting for his comparatively weak (but still good) earlygame performance. I'm also surprised that you would tier Sirius above Luke given that you've been implying Luke's endgame to be much better than Sirius'.

lol I think the loop is written incorrectly. Each difference in the corresponding elements in the two arrays should be zero since the arrays are identical. As for the floating-point thing, I think that only comes into play (for the purposes of this assignment) if you're using a while loop.

You can get an estimate by looking at the hits/dodges that must occur and by determining the odds of getting enough stats (e.g. what are the odds of Marth having 25 Spd at Lv. 24).

There are several ways to kill. Rutger hits twice but doesn't crit: (0.56*0.93)*(0.56*0.93) Rutger crits on the first hit: 0.56*0.07 Rutger misses the first hit, but crits on the second hit: 0.44*0.56*0.07 Rutger hits the first time (no crit) and then hits the second time (yes crit): (0.56*0.93)*(0.56*0.07) All four of these events are non-overlapping; hence, you just add them up to get the probability that Rutger ORKOs. You can also find the odds that Rutger *doesn't* kill and subtract this from 1. Note that events 1 and 4 can be combined into a single event, that of Rutger hitting twice. I'm confused by your presentation of the problem. Are A, B, and C each independent events? For this specific problem, you need a joint binomial distribution (read about the binomial distribution on wikipedia for a more detailed explanation). Joint binomial calculations are annoying to do by hand--I think you generally will need to write a short computer code--but regular binomial calcs can be done easily in Excel. I'll do a simplified version for you. Suppose Vanessa has 50 HP, and there exist five enemies who hit her for 15 damage each, and 20 true hit each. Vanessa can survive one hit, two hits, and three hits. In Excel, simply enter the command '=BINOMDIST(3,5,0.2,1)'. This command basically does the following. The prob of seeing one hit connect is C(5,1)*0.2*0.8^4 The prob of seeing two hits connect is C(5,2)*0.2^2 * 0.8^3 The prob of seeing three hits connect is C(5,3)*0.2^3 * 0.8^2 The final argument in BINOMDIST is set to 1 in order to add up these three possibilities. You can also use the binomial distribution to calculate the odds of reaching stat benchmarks.

Since you insist on being pedantic, it can't be considered ganguro since Maki, Suzu, Eno, and the soul singer in Maki's mind's eye all have dark/undyed hair, in contrast to the bright/bleached colors in actual ganguro.

I had difficulty staying focused while watching the early episodes (up till about episode six or so), and this is coming from someone who is very easily amused. The humor isn't great imo...I think the funniest bit for me was the blackface thing in episode eight. The recent episodes are a bit more engaging, though.

I think you'll have your Chandler Moment any day now.

Galeforce

I said that... I thought CoD is set in World War II, with the player fighting for the "good guys." I've never played it, obviously. I would argue that since you're placed in a context demanding that your country be saved, the violence is less bad than in GTA3. Like I said, well-socialized people learn morals from sources other than GTA. I think you'd agree on this. It wouldn't surprise me if indeed there existed cases where people received poor guidance and became much too influenced by GTA-like media as a consequence (going beyond "desensitized" in the most severe instances). Although the point of advertisements is to make things look fun, I suspect that many people (but possibly not all) can separate their video-game fantasies from real life. Unfortunately, peer-reviewed studies attempting to study possible links between video-game and real-life violence tend not to be very conclusive.

In spite of the similar methods (guns etc.), there is a difference between GTA and (say) Call of Duty, as you suggest: in the former, you're stealing cars and shooting bitches (in GTA3, the developers pass off the protagonist's shooting of his girlfriend as some bad misogynist joke: “I broke a nail, and my hair is ruined! Can you believe it? This one cost me $50!” [Gunshot]); in the latter, you're fighting for your country (a bit more noble obviously). I don't think the methods themselves are very influential, if at all. I don't know if the desensitization you speak of even exists for GTA, at least for well-socialized people (including younger gamers). If the player derives pleasure specifically from the act of stealing cars (note I've never played GTA or similar games), then one would suspect GTA to have a deleterious effect on society, but that's very different from deriving pleasure from (say) getting the highest score possible (something arising as a consequence of stealing the fanciest virtual cars). The latter I don't think is really harmful.

Am I the only person who thinks Love Lab is boring? Even the good episodes are only 'OK.' I really like the opening and ending theme songs, though.

Kubuntu Linux.

My mistake on the staff ranks. Regardless, I never implied that Fortify from Elice/Nyna was necessary or useful; however, Recover (which heals a single target from 1-range to full health) can be useful for something silly like a Marth-less clear of Medeus. I forget about Lena being able to use Hammerne; I can see her being ranked above the other three Bishops in a Mallesia-less playthrough for this reason, especially since Fortify is useless coming from the four Bishops. They'd still all be in the same tier, obviously.

Merric should be above Navarre. Merric at least does something in the Prologue, and has potential as a passable Excalibur user (though obviously not as good as Etzel in general, esp. at staff-botting). I don't think Nagi should be between Lena and Maria, who both have C-ranked staffs. Lena and Maria should occupy the same line on the tier list, with Elice and Nyna (who both have B-ranked staves for Recover and Again on Marth) sharing a higher line.

I guess one possible consequence of allowing necroposting could be that people would be hesitant to make new threads to discuss things previously brought up; new threads are obviously important for keeping up forum activity.

Caeda's Prologue performance is way better than Sirius' earlygame performance; the Wing Spear is much better against Lang than a forged Armorslayer; Caeda's support with Marth dramatically increases reliability of the final clear, thus cutting expected turn-count; Caeda's high Luck means that she won't get crit-blicked, in contrast to Sirius; her hit rate is generally better as a consequence of her high Lck and better (slightly) support list. The Mercurius is nice, but Luke can do the job just fine with Silver Swords. As for the dragon chapters, I don't think doubling the dragons is enough to put Sirius in the top tier; Luke, Ryan, Cecille, Draug, and Rody can double and ORKO just fine. I think Linde should move above Minerva. As short-term no-investment units, Linde can nuke C3 Dracoknights, C3x Knights, finish off C4 Fighters, and nuke C5 Snipers, while Minerva can OHKO Mages in C10 and fetch the Elysian Whip in the desert. As a long-term unit, Linde doubles Kleine in 13x as a Swordmaster and deals a ton of damage with Levin Swords, which is nifty. In C21, she either ORKOs Berserkers (if given Spirit Dusts, which no one else needs anyway) or weakens them enough for Marth or Sirius to finish. Also, she can use about ten-ish Nosferatu uses before promotion to go for a decent arena streak. Minerva's not really doing that much; she has a hard time staying afloat since IIRC she can't ORKO Ice Dragons with a +1-Mt Wyrmslayer, and since her per-level growths are low compared to (say) Sirius'. The boosters Minerva needs are I think more contested than Linde's. Linde needs the Seraph Robe and five Spirit Dusts (three of them store-bought)--she won't need a Speedwing for C15 if she Nosferatus through the arena)--while Minerva needs at least an Energy Drop and a Speedwing.

I think it's preferable for Syria's chemical weapons to be seized without outright starting another war, which is the current plan. also per se does not mean "necessarily"

More or less a similar thing happened to me when I was a senior, when at least one classroom nominated me as a joke for homecoming royalty. No need to freak out about it; worst case scenario, you can simply opt out, no?

I remember finding that Ryan needs two Speedwings and the RP to even have a 60% chance of reaching late-game benchmarks. A third Speedwing would help, but we only have like four Speedwings (I don't know if it's wise to go for the C11 Speedwing unless we have a decent Mage; and the Bullion (L) in C16 should be prioritized over the Speedwing, since, worst case scenario you can blow all the money on Spd-training in the arena, though oftentimes there will be better things to do with the money). I don't think Luke should be penalized as much as Ryan since Luke's needs (two extra Arms Scrolls) aren't as contested as Ryan's needs (an extra Speedwing). I don't feel like doing binomial calculations but I'm pretty sure an average Luke needs like one Speedwing plus the RP to get by (so basically, one fewer Speedwing than Ryan). And also, I don't know if Ryan can reliably get up to the requisite Spd (+2 from base) for a three-turn clear of Est's chapter. I don't recall ORKOing the C21 Berserkers to be important since Marth can just clean them up on the subsequent player phase after being weakened by Linde. It's helpful to ORKO the C20x Berserkers, though. Linde's good for grabbing the desert Speedwing; Nos-tanking C15; chipping in for a five-turn clear of C14; early-game nuking with Aura; and post-promotional nuking with Levin Swords. I don't think that's enough to put her above Luke, especially considering we're not necessarily assuming the optimal team. If we're doing something like an Avatar-less run, one of the Seventh Platoon is likely going to get the most kills by the end of the game (your Horseman, basically). From my experience, Sirius is sort of stuck in a rut from Chapters 15 through 20x, inclusive. Even if he's stat-blessed, everyone else can double Soldiers and face-tank Dracoknights without fear of getting crit-blicked. Also, I don't know if the Master Sword should be assumed in this tier-list; I doubt it cuts the raw turn-count, let alone the expected turn-count. I've never needed to baby Catria past Ch. 3; an Energy Drop and Rainbow swig get her through the early-game, and she reaches B-ranked lances pretty quickly. I would still put her above Caeda, whose Wing Spear utility shines in only a few chapters (Chs. 5, 6, 15, 18, 19), stages in which Catria is doing just as much heavy lifting (Catria doubles Dracos in C5, takes out the Mages and Bishops in C6 [her growth spread is superior to Palla's, so you gain more in the long run from having Catria do this], ORKOing Snipers in C15, ORKOing a Paladin in C18, and doubling Warriors in C19). Catria's way better in the late game, except for the Medeus chapter (where Caeda's support bonus for Marth helps a lot). In the dragon chapters, they perform at more or less equivalent levels, though Caeda needs more boosters. Catria has three post-Prologue chapters' worth of availability over Caeda, who in turn has five Prologue stages over Catria. Caeda definitely helps in her five stages more than Catria does in her three, but as soon as Chapter 7 starts, Catria generally has the advantage. I don't think we should reward characters for things that are literally mandatory since it adds no value to the tier list. We avoid tiering the A button above the L button for this reason. If looking at the one best team, then yeah, Feena definitely cuts more turns; we're not always fielding the best team, though. I think Feena is clearly above Caeda, but the case for putting Feena above Catria and Palla is harder to make (but still reasonable).

I am 99% sure that KoT's 165-turn run involved only one Marth crit on Medeus (seeing as how he used no Rescue or Again uses and cleared Final in two turns). For this reason, I think it should be possible to slowly wear down Medeus with things like Mercurius crits (btw, all magic users get doubled, so they'll have to get in the last hit if they're being used).

I suspect he's thinking of binomial distributions.

How many turns would it take to beat Medeus (and tank out his Dragon friends) if Marth weren't allowed to attack in Final? My guess is a lot, so I think Marth in the top tier is justified. I agree with Palla > Catria if only because Palla is way better in Avatar-less runs. Feena vs. Caeda is a tough one...I'd have to think about it. I think Mallesia should be above the Avatar; Fortify and Physic are just too good. Yumina's not *that* great a replacement IMO since her Mag growth is so low, though I've never used her as a long-term unit. Terrible for his high-ish level (six), then (but still good enough to be in the high tier), though part of my reason for saying that was that I believed the seven-turn clear for P8 required Ogma and Est. I'm not familiar with a seven-turn involving Draug; is it detailed in the forums?