RD HM 0% growths video playthrough

[Junkhead]

I am still completely amazed by how amazing flying is. And also by what you can do with base level characters with little, to no stat gains.

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-4 (1):

I really liked the planning going into this map.

Expenditures:

1x Wind (720G)

2x Restore (4000G)

500G remaining

Supports:

C (Ike, Soren)

A (Ulki, Janaff)

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Daunt (Ike)

Assigned:

- Daunt (Titania)

- Savior (Ike)

- Adept (Janaff)

- Adept (Ulki)

- Celerity (Rafiel)

Notes:

0:39: Ulki and Janaff using the Laguz Gem frees up a player phase action every turn. Given the number of stationary enemies in the northwest corner of the map, this is pretty important.

1:02: I assign Savior to Ike and have him carry Soren for +1 atk, +10 avo. The +1 atk is necessary to get a couple of KOs and the +10 avo is just insurance for when Ike falls below Resolve range.

2:03: Janaff does not have to ORKO this halberdier, because Rhys can finish on the next player phase.

2:13: Titania does not have to ORKO this warrior, because Oscar can finish on the next player phase.

2:20: Ulki needs to ORKO at least one of the general or the warrior.

3:21: I purchase a Wind for Tormod specifically so that he could have better accuracy for this KO.

4:43: With high natural avo, Vigilance, and Janaff support, Ulki will usually avoid every attack on enemy phase. Janaff is a higher priority target for the Sleep staff due to his lower res.

4:59: Rhys needs to be repositioned so that he can use Restore on Janaff on the next player phase.

7:58: Ike is the highest priority target for the Sleep staff and moves in to take the bait.

11:15: Ike needs to be under Resolve range for the last turn of the map, and loses Soren here to take away the support bonus and increase his chances of being hit.

Chapter 4-4 (2):

Notes:

2:23: Ike only needs to get hit by one wind sage, but if he only gets hit by one of them, he'll also need to get hit by a sniper later on.

4:14: Keep in mind that Ike gets +26 avo when Resolve activates, so he actually faces 0 hit here. The same goes for 8:17.

8:46: Oscar and Titania are just short of being able to KO the treasure room enemies in an enemy phase, so Oliver helps out with a shot of Purge.

9:47: Fail. I didn't know how far I needed to shove Rhys so that he could Physic Titania.

I would have liked Ulki and Janaff to reach SS strike, but due to limited combat in 4-1 and copious skill procs in this map, they're not even close. Oh well.

Turns: 8

I'm glad I managed to tie Interceptor's turncount on this one. It probably required a lot less effort with his units, though.

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-5:

Expenditures:

Sold 20 uses of Verrine for 2500G.

Recruited Volke for 3000G.

0G remaining

Stat boosters:

Spirit Dust (Elincia)

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Beastfoe (Tauroneo)

Assigned:

- Beastfoe (Shinon)

- Wildheart (Kyza)

Notes:

This is an adapted version of Rolanmen's 1 turn strategy using Elincia and Volke. Obviously, Elincia has less mag than what she should have, but I make up the difference with a couple of KOs and shoves.

Turns: 1

[Vykan12]

I'm impressed by how easily you handled the nightmare that is 4-4, and did so using predominantly 1 range attacking. You're definitely an expert at being resourceful, with planning details as minute as using Boyd with the Akkr for quality chip damage.

[dondon151]

Yeah, Boyd's role in this chapter just kind of happened by accident.

I think 4-3 was a lot more frustrating than 4-4. 4-3 was a lot heavier on 2 range, especially bows, and Naesala couldn't dodge them reliably like Ulki could.

[Colonel M]

The stupid things about 4-4 is the Sleep Staff Bishop and the east side needing clearing. Actually, in my run through I wondered if it would simply be better to Rescue Titania up the cliff and have her handle the top part of the map, though I remember Swordmasters being everywhere too.

[Mekkah]

What impresses me the most is how Ulki and Janaff devastate such large amounts of enemies in one or two rounds with nothing but an Energy Drop on Ulki and a Satori Sign on both.

[Junkhead]

And Adept and an support.

[Mekkah]

I kind of didn't count Adept since it wasn't a permanent assignment but fair enough. Support isn't exactly a resource.

[Colonel M]

They're pretty much glued near each other anyway, a support isn't a big deal for them.

Hawks are pretty awesome. The extra Mov, Canto, the capability of shoving, being able to be shoved, and they can even go on Rescue missions. Even when you hit Level 30 you can hold off on Tear and use the extra capacity for Nullify in instances like 3-11. If they can somehow hit SS Strike near Endgame, I'd take them along. Even if they were short on doubling the Auras they can Canto near White Tide and just use that, then re-move.

Edited December 29, 2010 by Tyranel M

[Junkhead]

I kind of didn't count Adept since it wasn't a permanent assignment but fair enough. Support isn't exactly a resource.

But Adept was pretty important as well, considering they were very close to 2HKO'ing most enemies not-Generals. So if Tear fails, there's Adept to back it up.

[a.f.k.a. Howard Hughes]

Its this kind of things that make me realize how much I suck in these games...

[dondon151]

I really wish that Ulki and Janaff started with like 35 base WEXP or something. Because having SS strike in this map means that I don't need to rely on Tear + Adept activations except against some generals. They also didn't reach SS strike for 4-E...

In other news, 4-E-1 is giving me nightmares.

Edited December 29, 2010 by dondon151

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-E-1:

Expenditures:

Obtained 20000G from 4-E-1 base conversation.

1x Ward (2250G)

1x Arms Scroll (8000G)

2x Shine Barrier (1600G)

8090G remaining

Stat boosters:

Arms Scroll (Micaiah) - staves

Supports:

C (Ike, Rafiel)

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Pass (Skrimir)

- Parity (Volug)

- Daunt (Titania)

- Adept (Janaff)

- Adept (Ulki)

- Nihil (Nolan)

- Adept (Ranulf)

- Smite (Mordecai)

- Stillness (Volke)

- Parity (Lucia)

- Nihil (Calill)

- Maelstrom (Naesala)

- Vantage (Naesala)

- Guard (Nailah)

Assigned:

- Pass (Nailah)

- Pass (Caineghis)

- Parity (Giffca)

- Parity (Caineghis)

- Daunt (Naesala)

- Stillness (Micaiah)

- Adept (Naesala)

- Adept (Tibarn)

- Adept (Nailah)

- Provoke (Giffca)

Notes:

The Arms Scroll gives Micaiah A staves and allows her to use Rescue, which I employ once in the strategy.

Let me say first that I reloaded this chapter until both wind sages on the left side had 25 AS (the level 14 one in particular is likely to have 26 AS) and the generals directly below and above Tibarn's ending position on turn 1 could be cleanly 2HKO'd. I also could have reloaded until the Blizzard wind sage had 26 res instead of 28 (for +10 hit on Sleep) and one of the generals that Tibarn counters on turn 1 enemy phase has 50 HP, 31 def, but this is good enough.

This strategy requires a lot of reliance on skill activations, because Tibarn, Naesala, and Nailah cannot naturally 2HKO most generals. Against most generals, Nailah, Naesala, and Tibarn need to proc one of Adept or their masteries (Tibarn cleanly 2HKOs most generals that he faces already). Against the cover generals, Tibarn needs to proc either 2 Adepts or Tear to ORKO, and Naesala needs to proc Tear to ORKO. The relevant breakdown is as follows:

Nailah (best biorhythm): 56% savage, 48% adept - 94.8% chance of ORKO

Naesala (good biorhythm): 47% tear, 47% adept - 92.1% chance of ORKO

Naesala (neutral biorhythm): 42% tear, 42% adept - 88.7% chance of ORKO, 74.0% chance or ORKO (cover)

Tibarn (worst biorhythm): 30% tear, 30% adept - 76% chance of ORKO, 61.6% chance of ORKO (cover)

Naesala goes into neutral biorhythm on turn 2.

This map can be 3 turned with this team; however, it requires Tibarn and Naesala to ORKO all of the cover generals that they face on turn 2, which collectively has about a 12.8% chance to happen. This is on top of all of the other chance based occurrences in the chapter, which involves, basically, Naesala dodging a 25 hit (12.75 true hit) OHKO from the Double Bow sniper on turn 1, Bastian putting the Blizzard wind sage to sleep (2 possible attempts at 69 and 77 hit), Nailah, Naesala, and Tibarn ORKOing all generals they face on turn 1 enemy phase (roughly 62.9% chance), and Naesala ORKOing Lekain on turn 2 (88.7% chance). The 4 turn strategy has around a 45.2% chance of success; the 3 turn strategy has around 5.8% chance of success. Needless to say, I don't have the patience to rerecord a strategy that works less than 1 in 17 tries.

1:37: Bastian moves next to Ena for Blood Tide, which is +5 to his staff accuracy. Not nearly as good as White Pool's +5 mag, but any boost is welcome.

1:49: The Shine Barriers provide exactly the number of safe spaces in which I need to hide my units on turn 1.

2:19: Micaiah has Stillness. It doesn't affect Hetzel's Silence, but the nearby generals will just walk right past her, despite her being well within OHKO range and without a weapon. Hetzel's next best target would be Caineghis with Sleep, and I can't have that happen.

6:07: It's hilarious how Caineghis doesn't even need Parity to 2HKO this general.

9:55: I should have planned this Vigor formation better, because I could have KO'd all of the bishops on player phase if I had included Volke and Renning in the formation.

Turns: 4

If I have the time some time in the future, I could try to record a 3 turn.

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-E-2:

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Resolve (Ike)

- Savior (Ike)

Assigned:

- Nihil (Ike)

Notes:

Most players will have an Ike strong enough to ORKO Zelgius with a Hammer and Parity, but I have to stall out a bit. The royals stall out the bottom half of the map.

The Zelgius battle is simple. Ike needs the Vague Katti on turn 1 enemy phase because its +3 def saves him from the 3HKO, its +2 MT over Ragnell gives him the 4HKO on Zelgius, and its +35 hit over Hammer provides insurance for when Ike is in worst biorhythm. Ike's biorhythm moves to neutral on turn 2 and best on turn 3. I would have liked to put Ike in support range of Rafiel, but there are no cover tiles close enough to the barrier for that.

I also didn't have to KO Levail, but I did so at the request of Nitrodon. I forgot that he was on a cover tile...

Turns: 3

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-E-3:

Supports:

B (Ike, Rafiel)

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Nihil (Ike)

- Adept (Tibarn)

- Parity (Caineghis)

- Parity (Giffca)

- Pass (Nailah)

- Celerity (Rafiel)

Assigned:

- Nihil (Caineghis)

- Nihil (Giffca)

- Nihil (Tibarn)

- Pass (Ena)

- Celerity (Ike)

Notes:

Nothing to it. I could have shoved Ena 4 times instead of using a charge of Rescue, but there's plenty more where that came from.

Turns: 1

Chapter 4-E-4:

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Celerity (Ike)

- Nihil (Tibarn)

- Pavise (Tibarn)

- Provoke (Giffca)

Assigned:

- Celerity (Tibarn)

- Parity (Tibarn)

- Parity (Giffca)

Notes:

This is a slightly trickier 1 turn compared to the previous map, mostly because of the spirits on the +15 def cover tiles adjacent to Sephiran. Caineghis cleanly 2HKOs them regardless, but Tibarn, Naesala, and Nailah would need Parity, and there's only 2 to go around. Giffca is the only unit who can naturally double Sephiran and 2HKO with Parity; Parity does not negate Lehran's Rudol Gem and thus no one else can 2HKO. The easiest way to get rid of them is to just shove them out of the way.

Turns: 1

[Junkhead]

Congratulations.

[Zkirsche]

Ike in support range of Rafiel, but there are no cover tiles close enough to the barrier for that.

Did you test whether that works, by any chance, as I'm not entirely certain whether the support bonus works on this map.

[Narga_Rocks]

Did you test whether that works, by any chance, as I'm not entirely certain whether the support bonus works on this map.

Most claim it does, and I'm pretty sure I checked it out once out of curiosity on my first playthrough. Supports are the only thing that goes through that wall, though I wonder if that was a mistake since they blocked physic and long range tomes (and probably 3 range from bow users).

[Junkhead]

It does work. I've done it twice. Once in my Casual effeciency playthrough, and the other, on my Draft, where I had to have Heather in Ike's support range to 1RKO BK.

[dondon151]

Chapter 4-E-5:

Supports:

A (Ike, Rafiel)

Skills:

Unassigned:

- Celerity (Tibarn)

- Parity (Giffca)

- Adept (Naesala)

- Pass (Ena)

Assigned:

- Celerity (Rafiel)

- Parity (Naesala)

- Nihil (Nailah)

- Adept (Volke)

- Adept (Renning)

- Pass (Ike)

Notes:

Ashera's 5 authority stars are a bit frustrating to deal with, because Ike, Renning, and Volke were getting around 60 hit with their weapons. I assigned Adept to Volke and Renning to help them get their ORKOs against the spirits on turn 1 in cased they missed.

The rest of it is simply good use of Nasir, Ena, and Gareth. I had to keep Rafiel far, far away to make sure that he didn't get OHKO'd by Ashera's turn 1 AoE attack.

Turns: 2

Epilogue

The turn totals break down like this:

Part 1: 66 turns

Part 2: 29 turns

Part 3: 88 turns

Part 4: 44 turns

Total: 227 turns

Also included are the unit records. By most standards, I think the number of battle victories for the top 5 units are pretty low..

Edited December 31, 2010 by dondon151

[dondon151]

Anyway, some final impressions:

Let me look first at some significant losses compared to what can be achieved in a typical playthrough. 1-P and 1-1 could probably be completed a turn faster each with some heavier luck manipulation. 1-8 has been 3 turned before with an alternate strategy. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to complete any of the other maps in lower turns, so that makes around 3 turns that I likely could have done anyway.

Part 2 turncounts are about as low as they can go. Maybe 2-2 can be 3 turned? I highly doubt it.

Part 3 doesn't have much in the way of losses because Haar still dominates there without growths. Some players can get 6 turns on 3-P if Skrimir cooperates, but I couldn't be assed to try that again. 3-1 is doable in 5 turns if I didn't make that one mistake with Mist. I've been told that 3-4 can be 4 turned, but Ike isn't durable enough in 0% growths to handle the kind of punishment that he needs to survive. Chapter 3-8 might be within range of a 5 turn clear with a better Haar. 3-12 is a clear loss for me because of no Jill or Nolan - I think Colonel M did this in 6 turns. 3-E could probably be 4 turned with a better Haar. That makes 2 turns that I could have done with more luck manipulation and roughly 4 turns that I lost due to not having better characters.

Part 4 is tough, but the turncounts were surprisingly decent. 4-P might be doable in 3 turns with a good Jill and Haar; not sure. 4-2 could probably be 6 turned with better units. 4-3 is a clear loss; I really would have liked a good Haar and Jill on this map because of all of the snipers around - I lost at least 2 turns here. I haven't seen 4-4 done faster than 8 turns yet. 4-E-1 can definitely be 3 turned with a good Haar and Jill to KO all of the 2 range enemies on the wings. 4-E-2 can be 1 turned with a good Ike. I therefore attribute 7 turns lost to 0% growths from part 4.

So ideally, a very efficient normal playthrough on HM with luck manipulation can probably reach around the 210 turn mark.

Next are characters. I was particularly impressed by the performances of Haar, Ike, and Titania for their ability to remain useful even without beneficial stat gains. This is apparent in part 4 when each of them actually had a major role in making their respective routs. Other units of note are Ulki and Janaff, who basically carried my GMs' offense up until 4-E, and Volug and Sothe, who carried the DB's offense up until part 4. Elincia, Mia, and Ranulf deserve some credit as well.

Edited December 31, 2010 by dondon151

[Colonel M]

Part 4 is tough, but the turncounts were surprisingly decent. 4-P might be doable in 3 turns with a good Jill and Haar; not sure.

If I ever feel assed to do it one day, I can actually look into this. I think I want to try Nolan in another route, maybe Tibarn's and just have him solo the south (I think...? it's possible).

[Tables]

Well, wow. As always, a seriously impressive run. Now I need to get on the family computer so I can actually watch these things

[Junkhead]

I liked to see how Renning could actually be of use Endgame.