Mekkah vs B2BD

[Mekkah]

I'm going to open. Things agreed on:

Nabarl swaps to Cavalier, unless Myrmidon is more advantageous. Paladin after promotion.

Horace stays General until Ch17, where he becomes Hero.

Edited June 12, 2009 by Mekkah

[Mekkah]

Nabarl joins in Ch3, whereas Horace joins in Ch13, which means Nabarl has ~12 chapters to build up a lead on him, while Horace has ~16 maps to make up for it.

One small thing first is that Nabarl gives Ogma a support before Horace even joins, which is small but it's there anyway. Hits C at 6x, and B at Ch12. Horace benefits nobody.

Now, for combat. How good is Nabarl doing compared to normal people? Well, in his joining chapter, he's like mini Ogma. Ogma has 1-2 more Spd and 1-2 more Str, and otherwise there's no real difference (both die in two hits). Ogma doesn't double anything until he gets to 14 Spd (Fighters and Hunters both have 10 AS), so he's about as close to him as you can get. Nabarl helps a lot in chipping down Ch3's boss, who ORKOs everyone except him and Ogma, and Ogma can't be attacking every turn due to getting 2RKOed.

Next up is a quick reclass to Cavalier before Ch4, after 2 levels as a Myrmidon (chipping down the boss + potentially killing him, plus the map itself gives EXP).

5/0 Nabarl (C swords, E lances)

7.6 str, 7.0 spd -- 22.8 hp, 9.2 def

Iron Sword/Lance: 13.6 atk, 7.6 AS

Steel Sword: 16.6 atk, 7.2 AS

Compare to a unit generally considered decent: Abel. Abel joins 2 maps earlier, but also 2 levels lower...I'll give him a one level lead.

6/0 Abel (D swords, D lances)

8.0 str, 9.5 spd -- 23.9 hp, 8.2 def

Iron Sword: 13.0 atk, 9.5 AS

Iron Lance: 14.0 atk

Javelin: 15.0 atk

Steel Swrd: 16.0 atk

They're as even as it gets. There's nothing that Abel's 2.5 AS changes in Ch4. Thieves (15 AS) double both. Fighters (10 AS), neither double. Hunters (10-11 AS) could double Nabarl if their speed is on high end and Nabarl's is on low, maybe, but one more level-up for Nabarl will solve that, and they outrange Hunters, who can't counterattack. Cavaliers (9 AS), neither double. Horsemen (14-15) AS, both get doubled.

The only thing that seperates them is that Abel can use Javelins now, which Nabarl can too after 2 chapters or so.

So Nabarl ~= Abel, one of your better units. To see how much we can continue this line, let's check their growth differences.

char: hp/str/skl/spd/luk/def

Abelll: 65/40/50/50/25/20

Nabarl: 80/35/45/35/40/20

Difference (+ for Abel has more, - for Nabarl has more):

-15% hp, +5% str, -5% skl, +15% spd, +15% luk

So the most significant change will be that Abel's AS lead will become bigger, but considering enemy AS in H5, Abel will never _consistently_ double more than Nabarl before Horace joins, so they'll stay rather even. Their weapon levels will even out more, with Abel picking up Horseslayer to counter Nabarl already having Armorslayer and Killing Edge, but Nabarl gets Javelins, and so on.

We'll proceed to give Nabarl a level for each chapter after this, so with 11 more levels (4, 5, 6, 6x, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12x) that puts him at 16/0. In two of those (6x, 9), he's a Myrmidon, and in the other 9, he's Cavalier.

16/0 Nabarl (Cavalier - A swords, C lances)

11.3 str, 11.3 spd -- 31.9 hp, 11.1 def

Steel Sword: 22.3 atk

Silver Swrd: 26.3 atk

Steel Lance: 21.3 atk

--/3 Horace (General - B lances, D bows)

15 str, 8 spd -- 32 hp, 17 def

Steel Lance/Bow: 23 atk

Silver Lnce: 27 atk

In Horace's joining chapter (Ballista Land), Nabarl has a pretty important advantage: he has 4 more movement. He can hit a ballista with a Javelin after a turn of ending out of their range, and from that turn that ballista can no longer attack him. So Horace's durability lead doesn't mean much at all here. So that's another chapter to write off for Horace. When is this guy going to win?

He's got to hurry up, because the clock is short for him. His growths are wtfterrible (loses to Nabarl everywhere but def and hp), and his EXP gain is lower than Nabarl's too. All he has now is winning def vs winning offense and movement, which is perfectly arguable against each other. Movement alone allows Nabarl to take on enemies before Horace comes to them, and then retreat if he is wounded to take a vulnerary or get healed by whoever. And killing enemies sooner means that enemy can no longer hurt anyone, and/or that someone else can kill another enemy, etc.

And then Ch16 hits us and Nabarl gets his promotion, and I believe this is also where Horace is supposed to go Hero.

20/1 Nabarl (Paladin - A swords, B lances)

14.7 str, 13.7 spd -- 39.1 hp, 12.9 def

Javelin: 22.7 atk

Steel Lance: 24.7 atk

Steel Sword: 25.7 atk

Silver Swrd: 29.7 atk

--/7 Horace (Hero - D swords, E axes)

13.6 str, 16.4 spd -- 28.4 hp, 10.4 def

Steel Sword: 21.6 atk

Iron hAxe: 20.6 atk

Horace's reclass did him little to no good. He closed to move gap to +2 in Nabarl's favor, but he gave up all his defense for it. Nabarl now has an extremely significant flexibility win, with a 10-11 hp win and 1.5 def, as well as access to 1-2 range that allows him to evade counters and counter enemies with 2-range. And he has a large attack win: beats Horace by a point in Javelin vs Steel Sword, and he can switch to buyable Silver for a massive ~7 atk win, 14 more damage per double.

Horace does have 16-17 AS over Nabarl's 13-14. What does that do for him in Ch17?

Both double Bishops (8 AS), Armors (4 AS), Mages (5-6 AS, also Nabarl OHKOs with Silver).

Neither double Thieves (20 AS), Snipers (16 AS), Heroes (18 AS), Mamkutes (omg25-26 AS), Moses (17 AS).

Horace is going to get 1-2 range back after some DAing with his trusty Iron Axe, while Nabarl finishes his lance rank to A. For the rest:

Hero Horace: 60% hp, 20% str, 40% skl, 30% spd, 15% luk, 10% def

Pala Nabarl: 80% hp, 35% str, 45% skl, 35% spd, 40% luk, 20% def

So that concludes anything where Horace might be winning.

Sum-up:

Nabarl >>> non-existance for 3, 4, 5, 6, 6x, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 12x

Nabarl > Horace for 13

Nabarl ~= Horace for 14, 14x, 15, 16

Nabarl >>> Horace for 17, 17x, 18, 19, 20, 20x, 21, 22, 23, 24, 24x, Final

Nabarl > Horace