H5 playthough log, efficient run v 2.0

[Interceptor]

After finishing my first H5 run, I decided that I wanted to give it another go. This time will be a bit different though, inspired by IOS and Mekkah. Now, armed with some foreknowledge of events and a better understanding of the relative worth of units, I'm going to play much more efficiently. This means a smaller core team, less effort wasted on secondary units, more Warping, and an attempt to minimize turn counts.

As before, I'll list levels, stats, and basic strategy, and now also turn counts and approx weapon levels. This may take a while.

Chapter 1

Standard "fort" strategy, using all available units. I bought more javelins this time. The difference this run was that I leaned more on Marth, Cain and Caeda than I normally would, giving them favored access to kills when possible. It's hard to rush this chapter because of the unreliability of your combat units (one whiff can doom you easily), but I did the best that I could and was at the boss by Turn 13ish.

Unfortunately, the RNG was taunting me at this point, and an epic series of missed attacks ensued. I had to risk putting Jagen in range of the boss, and even then he missed a couple of times and burned a lot of Wrys's healing power. I finally managed to finish him off using Cain.

Total Turns: 20

Casualties: None.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   2.20 19 5  0  3  7  8  7  0   D Swd [|.....]
Caeda   3.12 18 4  1  7  13 10 8  6   D Lnc [||||..]
Cain    3.12 22 7  0  6  7  4  7  0   D Swd [||....] E Lnc [......]
Abel    2.12 20 7  0  8  7  3  8  0   E Swd [|.....] D Lnc [||....]
Draug   1.72 20 7  0  3  3  1  11 0   D Lnc [|||...]
Jagen   1.43 22 7  1  10 8  1  9  6   D Swd [......] B Lnc [||....]
Gordin  1.84 18 5  0  3  4  4  6  0   D Bow [|||...]

Wrys    1.85 16 0  2  5  6  2  3  6   E Stv [||....]

Edited December 18, 2009 by Interceptor

[CATS]

Cool. Should be interesting to see how much faster you go with a smaller team.

[Mekkah]

What team are you planning anyway? I presume some slight variation, like Hardin/Abel over Cain, Cord over Draug, and no Athena/Ogma raising.

[Interceptor]

I haven't nailed down the final members yet, partly because I'm unsure and partly because it depends on how things look for the growth units (AKA if someone gets blessed or screwed). But your presumption is correct generally.

The core party I'm leaning towards now: Marth, Caeda as Peg->Paladin/Draco/SM, Cord as Hunter->Warrior, Merric as Curate/Mage->Sage, Cain as Cav->Paladin, Barst as Fighter->Hero, and Sedgar as General/Hero. Cain may be replaced by Abel or Hardin, and Cord could lose a spot to Draug. I will probably use both Ballisticians as utility, as well as Wendell and Jagen on healing duty as necessary. Lena will be used sparingly. Julian will be my primary thief, and I may also decide to use Rickard this time. Xane may or may not make an appearance, it depends on whether I want Gaidens or not.

Edited December 18, 2009 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

Note that I'm tracking approximate weapon level progression now, and have edited in the values for Ch 1.

Chapter 2

The goal of this chapter was to train up some potential units (levels and/or weapons), whilst trying to move quickly.

I sent Caeda far west from her starting position in order to get a couple of licks in on a Pirate. Darros killed himself on Turn 1, but not before helpfully injuring the Pirate that did him in. Ogma parked on the fort, as usual. I pushed west after dealing the with the north foes, favoring Lances on Cain and giving kills to the people who needed them. Gordin and Bord ended up being sacrifices in this chapter in order to speed things up... I almost re-did the chapter to keep them alive, but decided that I probably don't need them in Ch. 3-4 anyway.

I stocked up on Hand Axes here, for future use.

Chapter Turns: 10

Total Turns: 30

Casualties: Gordin, Bord.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   2.70 19 5  0  3  7  8  7  0   D Swd [||....]
Caeda   4.02 19 4  1  8  14 11 8  6   D Lnc [||||||]
Cain    4.39 22 7  0  7  8  4  7  0   D Swd [||....] E Lnc [|.....]
Abel    2.32 20 7  0  8  7  3  8  0   E Swd [|.....] D Lnc [|||...]
Draug   2.02 20 7  0  4  4  1  11 0   D Lnc [||||..]
Jagen   1.73 22 7  1  10 8  1  9  6   D Swd [......] B Lnc [||||..]
Ogma    5.15 23 6  0  11 12 4  7  0   C Swd [||....]
Barst   4.61 25 11 0  6  9  5  6  0   D Axe [|.....]
Cord    3.11 21 7  0  5  9  5  5  0   E Axe [||....]
Castor  3.20 21 7  0  3  6  3  4  0   D Bow [......]

Wrys    4.04 17 0  3  5  6  2  3  8   E Stv [|||||.]

Edited December 18, 2009 by Interceptor

[Don Draper]

Might as well post all my turns for reference:

Chapter 1: 16 turns

Chapter 2: 12 turns

Chapter 3: 18 turns

Chapter 4: 14 turns

Chapter 5: 11 turns

Chapter 6: 11 turns

Chapter 6x: 12 turns

Chapter 7: 9 turns

Chapter 8: 6 turns

Chapter 9: 11 turns

Chapter 10: 14 turns

Chapter 11: 12 turns

Chapter 12: 12 turns

Chapter 12x: 7 turns

Chapter 13: 4 turns

Chapter 14: 8 turns

Chapter 15: 7 turns

Chapter 16: 9 turns

Chapter 17: 6 turns

Chapter 17x: 11 turns

Chapter 18: 8 turns

Chapter 19: 10 turns

Chapter 20: 10 turns

Chapter 20x: 1 turn

Chapter 21: 1 turn

Chapter 22: 1 turn

Chapter 23: 1 turn

Chapter 24: 1 turn

Chapter 25: 1 turn

Total turncount: 244

[Luftwaffe]

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   2.70 19 5  0  3  7  8  7  0   D Swd [||....]
Caeda   4.02 19 4  1  8  14 11 8  6   D Lnc [||||||]
Cain    4.39 22 7  0  7  8  4  7  0   D Swd [||....] E Lnc [|.....]
Abel    2.32 20 7  0  8  7  3  8  0   E Swd [|.....] D Lnc [|||...]
Draug   2.02 20 7  0  4  4  1  11 0   D Lnc [||||..]
Jagen   1.73 22 7  1  10 8  1  9  6   D Swd [......] B Lnc [||||..]
Ogma    5.15 23 6  0  11 12 4  7  0   C Swd [||....]
Barst   4.61 25 11 0  6  9  5  6  0   D Axe [|.....]
Cord    3.11 21 7  0  5  9  5  5  0   E Axe [||....]
Castor  3.20 21 7  0  3  6  3  4  0   D Bow [......]

Wrys    4.04 17 0  3  5  6  2  3  8   E Stv [|||||.]

Do i see strength for Sheeda!?

Edited December 18, 2009 by freeknight

[CATS]

I'm pretty sure 4 is her base, though I'm too lazy to go check.

[Luftwaffe]

oh shit. You're right, damn i suck. I need to start playing this game more.

[Momo]

I might be missing something here, but how is it efficient when it's taking so many turns?

[CATS]

10 turns seems fast for Ch 2. IOS took 12. The first chapter's relatively high turncount is at least partially due to the boss, who is difficult to kill and forces you to rely on some very shaky hitrates to take him down (even Silver Lance Jeigan only has 60 hit on him), and Int specified that he had bad luck against that boss, which is outside of the player's control.

He seems to be doing fine to me. I'm pretty sure I've never beaten Ch 2 in 10 turns.

[Interceptor]

Thanks for the turn counts, IOS. It'll give me a nice benchmark to shoot for. As for lots of turns taken: this is H5, I can't really go any faster than I already am. So much of what it possible in earlygame is dictated by the RNG.

Chapter 3

It took several runs before I formulated a good strategy for this chapter. The problem that I ran into was that I couldn't play javelin keep-away with Jagen like I did in the pseudo-efficient run, because taking on three Fighters plus two Hunters (even wounded ones) is too much to handle when I'm trying to move quickly. I regret killing off Bord/Gordin in the last chapter, because they would have been very handy here. What I ended up doing was this:

• Jagen snagged a Steel Sword and sat on the west fort. This kept the Hunters from joining the battle, since he wasn't near their range, but the three Fighters move towards him immediately. Eventually, two Fighters will attack him on the same turn, and WTA + fort defense will let him survive it.
  
• Marth makes his way to the Devil Axe, since I'll be needing it.
  
• Caeda flies north, out of range of the Hunter. On Turn two she stabs the Hunter at point-blank with a javelin (no purpose to this other than to give her EXP, and then EXP again on counter next turn). On Turn three she recruits Navarre, and takes his Killing Edge.
  
• Also in the north are Julian, Draug, Cain, and Abel. I kill off as many Thieves as I can here with Cain, for EXPs and weapon levels.
  
• Just about the time that Jagen is attacked by the Fighters, I pull everyone out, leaving Navarre and an unequipped (for WTN) Draug behind, clogging the mountain pass to buy me time.
  
• After Jagen falls back and the Fighters move forward, I drop my whole army on them for the kill.
  
• My blockers are dead, so I wheel around to deal with the guys coming down the mountain pass, while sending people west to kill the Hunters.
  
• I deal with the Hunters by killing one outright, and then surrounding the other with people so that he couldn't fight back. Lena was a big part of the blocking squad, and I was amused by this.
  
• Last challenge here is killing the final two moving Fighters, who I attract again with Jagen and his Steel Sword.

After the last two goons were dead, pushed my boss team (Marth, Barst, Ogma) through the fort, and used the map save. After that it was just a matter of getting a Killing Edge crit with Ogma, a follow-up hit with Barst and the Devil Axe for the kill, and Marth to Seize. I reset for a crit, but after the Ch. 1 shenanigans I don't feel guilty about it.

Chapter Turns: 14

Total Turns: 44

Casualties: Draug, Navarre.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   3.90 20 6  0  4  7  9  7  0   D Swd [|||...]
Caeda   4.79 19 4  1  8  14 11 8  6   C Lnc [|.....]
Cain    5.59 23 8  0  7  8  4  7  0   D Swd [||||..] E Lnc [||....]
Abel    2.72 20 7  0  8  7  3  8  0   E Swd [||....] D Lnc [|||||.]
Jagen   2.20 23 7  1  11 8  1  9  6   D Swd [||....] B Lnc [|||||.]
Ogma    5.58 23 6  0  11 12 4  7  0   C Swd [||....]
Barst   6.00 27 12 0  7  10 6  7  0   D Axe [|||...]
Cord    3.71 21 7  0  5  9  5  5  0   E Axe [||||..]
Castor  3.60 21 7  0  3  6  3  4  0   D Bow [|.....]

Wrys    4.23 17 0  3  6  6  3  3  8   D Stv [|.....]

Edited December 19, 2009 by Interceptor

[Interceptor]

Chapter 4

Reclassed Cord into a Hunter, and picked up Heal staves for Wrys and Lena. I also forged +5 mt onto Caeda's Wing Spear. Last time I only forged +4, and I paid for my stinginess it with her whiffing OHKOs by a couple of points due to being STR screwed. Hopefully the extra gold won't be missed, as it was rather expensive (8960g instead of 6160g).

For this chapter, I again made use of decoys to slow enemies down. I left one generic Mercenary on a nearby fort, and ran the rest of my army full-speed to the west. I timed it so that I crashed into the Cavaliers on Player Phase, quickly took one of them down with Caeda, and mobbed the rest with my army. I decided to kill Matthis outright. After the cavs went down, I put a fully-healed Barst with a Hand Axe in range of both archers on the other side of the bridge, and invited them over. They complied, and ate axes to the face.

Meanwhile, the Fighters from the northeast killed off my generic, joined up with a Thief, and had just about arrived at my army's rear. I finished off the Archers, recruited Merric with Marth, and positioned Jagen and Ogma with Steel Swords to take the brunt of the attack from the east. Barst tossed some Hand Axes at the Knight above the bridge, and Abel positioned himself with a Javelin equipped in order to attract one of the Horsemen.

Enemy Phase, the Knight killed himself on Barst, the Horseman severely injured Abel (after taking a counter), and Jagen and Ogma managed to hurt two of the four Fighters, plus the Thief. I spent my next turn blicking a Horseman with Caeda, moving Marth forward to the bridge, healed up a little, and retreated everyone into a long line spanning the village, for a final stand.

After another Enemy Phase of Fighters running into my sword-users, and a Horseman almost (but not quite) killing Caeda, I mopped up the rest of the remaining enemies with Player Phase offense. There was nothing left on the map but the boss, a cleric, and two Hunters in the far northeast that I ignored (they don't move unless you get close).

I could have shaved an extra turn, possibly, by avoiding the 5,000g village, but I think I might need the money in the future.

Chapter Turns: 10

Total Turns: 54

Funds: 18,050

Casualties: Matthis.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   4.70 21 7  0  4  8  9  7  0   D Swd [||||..]
Caeda   6.45 19 5  1  9  16 11 9  6   C Lnc [||....]
Cain    7.18 24 8  0  7  9  5  7  0   D Swd [||||..] E Lnc [|||||.]
Abel    3.48 20 7  0  8  8  4  8  0   E Swd [||....] C Lnc [......]
Jagen   2.55 23 7  1  11 8  1  9  6   D Swd [|||...] B Lnc [||||||]
Ogma    5.77 23 6  0  11 12 4  7  0   C Swd [||....]
Barst   6.88 27 12 0  7  10 6  7  0   C Axe [......]
Cord    4.92 19 8  0  8  9  5  5  0   E Bow [||....]
Castor  3.90 21 7  0  3  6  3  4  0   D Bow [||....]

Merric  2.04 21 0  4  4  6  3  4  3   D Tom [|.....]
Wrys    5.30 17 0  4  6  6  4  3  9   D Stv [||....]
Lena    3.85 16 0  2  7  8  8  3  7   C Stv [|.....]

Caeda had a pretty sweet set of level-ups in this chapter.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Interceptor

[Don Draper]

Looks like you're on track to surpass my turn counts. Whats more impressive is that your levels are staying pretty consistent with mine, so you're not even sacrificing experience in the process. It could have to do with keeping Jagen alive, I think I killed him too easrly.

[Interceptor]

Jagen is pretty clutch, I will admit, especially in Ch 3-4. He probably saved me a few turns just by himself.

Chapter 5

Forged a bow for Cord so that he could insta-blick the pegs, and picked up a Heal staff for Wendell. Reclassed Jagen into a Draco, since Axes are gone now. Reclassed Merric into Curate.

Started this chapter the same way that I usually do: arranging Marth and Caeda such that they each counter a Cav on Enemy Phase. Everyone else moved up, but out of Enemy range. I left the Coyote squad more or less where they started, though I moved Hardin up a bit. On Enemy Phase, Caeda killed her cav (and boy was it dead), Marth injured his. Next job was to attract over a peg with Ogma, kill another Cav with Caeda, finsh off Marth's cav, and get Barst into position to rock and roll at the bridge.

On Turn 3, I have the Coyote squad burst out of their hole, except for Sedgar. The purpose was to pull back some of the archers and cavs, taking some pressure off of the bridge so that I could get across. Meanwhile, Cord blicks the Peg and Merric recruits Wendell. I left the thieves to their own devices, taking potshots where I was able, since I don't really care about the Firestone. They never made it to the village anyway, not on Cord's watch.

Ultimately, Turn 5 finds me across the bridge, cleaning up. The boss dies on turn 6, and I would have Seized at the same time, but I forgot that Gates require 2 MV to enter, so Marth was one square short. C'est la vie, I just spent a turn killing more things.

Chapter Turns: 7

Total Turns: 61

Funds: 13,730

Casualties: Roshea, Vyland, Hardin.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   5.60 22 8  0  5  8  10 7  0   D Swd [|||||.]
Caeda   7.87 20 5  1  10 17 12 9  6   C Lnc [||||..]
Cain    7.77 24 8  0  7  9  5  7  0   D Swd [||||..] D Lnc [......]
Abel    3.98 20 7  0  8  8  4  8  0   E Swd [||....] C Lnc [|.....]
Jagen   2.55 21 8  1  11 8  1  11 3   B Lnc [||||||] E Axe [......]
Ogma    5.95 23 6  0  11 12 4  7  0   C Swd [|||...]
Barst   7.64 28 12 0  7  10 7  8  0   C Axe [|.....]
Cord    6.25 19 9  0  8  11 5  6  0   E Bow [|||...]
Castor  3.90 21 7  0  3  6  3  4  0   D Bow [||....]

Merric  2.55 21 0  2  4  7  3  5  6   E Stv [|.....]
Wrys    6.15 17 0  4  6  7  5  3  9   D Stv [|||||.]
Lena    3.85 16 0  2  7  8  8  3  7   C Stv [|.....]

I'm liking the +5 Wing Spear, Caeda was OHKO'ing the Knights as well as the Cavs.

[Don Draper]

From a level perspective, the only significant difference is that your Barst is a level behind mine. I'm also kind of surprised you're not using Abel over Cain for variety...early Javelin makes him a lot more useful then Cain.

I wish you were recording your playthrough...I regret not recording mine.

Edited December 19, 2009 by IOS

[Interceptor]

I hate Abel for some reason, I'm not sure why. At any rate, raising Cain is easier since I don't even have the option of 2-range with him, meaning that he gets a lot of kills just out of necessity. I'm still using Abel, I'm just using him to weaken things.

Cain also has +1 STR base, and the capacity for C Swords much sooner. I'm light on Sword users in this party, and having someone who can pull out an Armorslayer or Wyrmslayer might come in handy. I almost replaced Cain with Hardin, but his stats are pretty good so I decided not to.

Unfortunately, I am playing on a DS, so I have no real way of recording this play-through.

[Don Draper]

It might of been cool just to try out Hardin. He'd have +1 Str/Spd over your current Cain, and he'd be able to use Ridersbane/Silver Lance immediately. Ridersbane especially would be useful in the time period before Cain hits C lances.

[Interceptor]

Chapter 6

Reclassed Jagen back into a Paladin (because of bows), and Sedgar into a General. I also forged a Hammer for Barst, with +3 mt and +10 HIT, since this chapter is Knight-heavy.

I began by warping Caeda all the way north, and had her insta-blick a Silver Lance cav. On Enemy Phase, the other cav runs into her and dies. Julian opened Rickard's jail cell, and everyone else mobbed northwest into position for the slog to the Seize. I call it a slog, because the hardest part in this chapter is that narrow 2-square corridor. You can't bring your full might to bear, chipping away at people, because there's not enough room for anyone to stand, and archers shoot through the walls.

I start off Round 2 by killing the Knight (goes down easily to focus fire), and moving a Barrier'ed Cord into the mage's range. Everyone else stays back. After Cord kills the mage on Enemy Phase, I start shoving my way down the hallway. I won't go into details, but clutch units here are Barst (who can OHKO Hammertime), Jagen with Silver, Cord with his forge, and Wendel with Excalibur.

Once I break through the other side, which takes until Turn 5, I got everyone together for the final push. I killed as many thieves as I could along the way, but Caeda took care of the rest (I parked her right in the path of their escape route). With a Wolf suicide I broke past the Knight and dual Archers, and with Castor suiciding to draw the mage next to the boss, I went in for the kill. Jagen softened him up, and Barst finished him off with Hammertime for Marth to Seize.

Rickard handled getting the Bullion and the KE, so I did a full clear of all treasure in this chapter.

Chapter Turns: 9

Total Turns: 70

Funds: 8,230

Casualties: Castor, Wolf.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   6.77 22 9  0  6  9  10 7  0   D Swd [||||||]
Caeda   9.56 21 6  1  12 18 14 9  6   C Lnc [||||||]
Cain    8.47 25 8  0  8  9  6  7  0   D Swd [||||..] D Lnc [|.....]
Abel    4.08 21 7  0  9  9  4  8  0   E Swd [||....] C Lnc [|.....]
Jagen   3.04 23 7  1  12 8  1  9  6   A Lnc [      ] D Swd [||....]
Barst   9.62 30 13 0  8  10 7  9  0   C Axe [|||...]
Cord    7.38 20 9  0  8  12 5  6  0   D Bow [......]
Sedgar  1.37 28 8  1  3  3  2  15 2   D Lnc [|.....] E Bow [|.....]

Merric  3.74 22 0  2  4  7  3  5  7   E Stv [||||..]
Lena    4.52 16 0  2  7  8  9  3  8   C Stv [|.....]

MVP of this chapter was definitely Barst, with Caeda as a close second. I am a little worried about Sedgar... I don't really have any time to train him when I am playing efficiently, so he's going to take longer to get going than I anticipated.

[CATS]

MVP of this chapter was definitely Barst, with Caeda as a close second. I am a little worried about Sedgar... I don't really have any time to train him when I am playing efficiently, so he's going to take longer to get going than I anticipated.

I sense that this is the beginning of the end of Zagaro's reign.

[Dat Nick]

It'll reinforce the superiority of Hero Zagaro (More mov, can kill easier and get uber faster) if anything.

[Interceptor]

Well, I will certainly have him go Hero in 6x, where the enemies are easy to kill and the air smells like warm root beer. However, at base Hero he's less durable than Cain is right now, with worse triangle control. I'll push him as hard as I can, but even if he levels-up there and procs DEF, he's still getting 2HKO'ed and has bad offense. I am hoping that I can get his DEF to something respectable by Chapter 10 so that I can train him on reinforcements as a General. Otherwise, I am going to have a hell of a time with him.

[_____]

If it's that much of a problem getting him kills, just have him switch to Sorcerer or something to spam Heal and Thunder/Blizzard until he's leveled up sufficiently. I don't think he's going to miss the extra strength that much.

[Don Draper]

MVP of this chapter was definitely Barst, with Caeda as a close second. I am a little worried about Sedgar... I don't really have any time to train him when I am playing efficiently, so he's going to take longer to get going than I anticipated.

I felt the exact same way about him in my playthrough (he only had +1 exp over yours at the end of Chapter 6). Chapter 10 really helped him gain some exp with Cord pecking away too and Merric healing. Barst/Caeda and arguably Cord contributed far more then Sedgar ever did though.

[Interceptor]

Chapter 6x

Reclassed Sedgar into a Hero, and Wrys into a Cavalier.

This chapter was irritating because I was forced to fight in a small area almost immediately, which ended up costing me turns. Making matters a bit worse, I have to favor Sedgar heavily for kills, which is not terribly easy when Steel weighs him down and he tops out at 6-8 damage.

The basic strategy was simple: kill everything, don't die. I sent Caeda/Merric/Sedgar/Cord on the north route after clearing the middle, and everyone else south. Wrys, if you were wondering, was suicide bait for the archers and mage near the boss.

Chapter Turns: 9

Total Turns: 79

Funds: 18,230

Casualties: Wrys.

Unit   Lvl   HP ST MG SK SP LK DF RS  WpnLvl 1       WpnLvl 2

Marth   7.38 23 9  0  6  10 11 7  0   C Swd [......]
Caeda  10.39 22 6  1  13 19 15 9  6   B Lnc [|.....]
Cain    9.34 26 8  0  8  9  6  8  0   D Swd [||||..] D Lnc [|||...]
Abel    4.28 21 7  0  9  9  4  8  0   E Swd [||....] C Lnc [||....]
Jagen   3.15 23 7  1  12 8  1  9  6   A Lnc [      ] D Swd [|||...]
Barst  10.94 31 14 0  8  11 7  9  0   C Axe [|||||.]
Cord    7.84 20 9  0  8  12 5  6  0   D Bow [||....]
Sedgar  2.22 24 7  1  11 12 2  8  2   D Swd [||....] E Axe [......]

Merric  4.81 22 0  2  4  8  3  5  7   D Stv [......]
Lena    5.03 16 0  2  7  8  10 3  9   C Stv [||....]