Staggered Player Reinforcements?

[Imuabicus der Fertige]

Simple question, Reinforcements for the player that are visible on the deployment screen, their position and inventory being changeable among said reinforcements, that are however not present on the map from turn one, but enter on say turn 3 or 5? Like a squad of scouts you had to choose/send out in a prior maps, returning, that had to go around the enemy forces.

Has this or something of this variety been attempted in FE or other SRPGs, cuz i dont remember it?

E: i guess chapter 13 from TH for non-CF, but i mean a more planned entry to map.

Edited January 8 by Imuabicus der Fertige

[Eltosian Kadath]

The multi-part chapter 17 of Path of Radiance did something similar to that. Each part lets you add 2 reinforcement units, which you chose from the menu between each part, and arrive on turn three of that part of the map.

[Jotari]

23 minutes ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The multi-part chapter 17 of Path of Radiance did something similar to that. Each part lets you add 2 reinforcement units, which you chose from the menu between each part, and arrive on turn three of that part of the map.

Beat me to it. The one example in the series that springs to mind right away is the Serenes Forest XD

[Interdimensional Observer]

Super Robot Wars comes to mind. It's quite common to start a map with just a few plot-relevant-for-the-scenario units deployed, then the rest of the heroes show up later and you get to the usual deployment screen and all (though you aren't shown beforehand where they'll show up beforehand). It happens so much I'm not going to even bother trying to count for a specific game. SRW doesn't have permadeath, which probably contributes to its ability to do this plot-wise.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

The multi-part chapter 17 of Path of Radiance did something similar to that. Each part lets you add 2 reinforcement units, which you chose from the menu between each part, and arrive on turn three of that part of the map.

Path of Radiance also includes Tanith's Reinforce skill, which summons a couple NPCs to aid in the battle.

Anyway, more maps like PoR-17 would be really cool to see in the future. I could even imagine a Genealogy remake doing something along these lines, if they're not keeping strictly to the "big maps" paradigm.

[BrightBow]

Berwick Saga does this a few times early on, where your actual party does not arrive until later and you have to do with guest units until then.

In a similar vein, both Berwick Saga and Vestaria Saga have an event where you can have someone leave the map for several turns so they can attempt to assassinate the boss once they reappear.

[lenticular]

Radiant Dawn 2-E is also at least adjacent to the idea. You don't choose which units are reinforcements, but it absolutely runs with the idea of the units you used in the prior map not being able to return in time for the start of the battle. And it even has Marcia on her pegasus arrive fastre than the rest of the knights on their horses, which I think is a nice touch.

[Samz707]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:24 AM, Imuabicus der Fertige said:

Simple question, Reinforcements for the player that are visible on the deployment screen, their position and inventory being changeable among said reinforcements, that are however not present on the map from turn one, but enter on say turn 3 or 5? Like a squad of scouts you had to choose/send out in a prior maps, returning, that had to go around the enemy forces.

Has this or something of this variety been attempted in FE or other SRPGs, cuz i dont remember it?

E: i guess chapter 13 from TH for non-CF, but i mean a more planned entry to map.

This reminds me of a few things that aren't quite the same but similar:

Rainbow Six 1 has several maps that are taking place around the same time on different parts of the world, the game warns you about this in the briefing menu, so anyone sent out will be absent for the next mission.

Another strategy game I played, Syrian Warfare, usually had you bring only some of your army at the start of every map but certain main objective thresholds/sidequests would let you deploy "reinforcements". (basically the option to deploy more of your army mid-map several times so you can bring in soldiers/vehicles you didn't take with you at the start.) 

 

[Nauriam]

On 1/8/2024 at 11:10 AM, BrightBow said:

In a similar vein, both Berwick Saga and Vestaria Saga have an event where you can have someone leave the map for several turns so they can attempt to assassinate the boss once they reappear.

I was going to mention Vestaria Saga here. Although it's not exactly how you described it in your OP, there's a handful of maps where you can have one or many units leave for a set amount of turns and re-appear somewhere else for a flank or surprise attack. Most of these maps have these events right at/near the beginning so functionally it's very similar to not having them deployed until later. I'm only a few chapters through Vestaria Saga II, but this mechanic has already been used there too.