[FE 9] Hard Mode Draft: Round 3

[Tormod]

OH MAN OH MAN I FINISHED 8D

[spoiler=Chapter 25 onwards data]Chapter 25:

Preparations: IkeXRanulf continues to scandalize the army. Tormod grabs Bastian's Elwind and an Arms Scroll so he can use Blizzard, freeing me up somewhat. The other Arms Scroll is taken by Haar so he can wield Silver. Hire Largo for free goodies. Haar is also granted the rights to be my army's Savior. I also finally think to give Shove to Muarim due to his hilarious Weight stat. Today's forge of choice is a max hand axe for Haar.

Chapter Execution: Why does this have to be a rout? Smiting Haar lets him drop Boyd up on top of the map on turn two, and from there's it's just a matter of praying to the RNG for them to Not Die. I do need to stress that Boyd dodged like crazy to make this run possible, and so did Haar, but ultimately it worked and that's the incredible thing.

Turns: 5

Total: 178

After-battle stats:

    	Level  HP St Ma Sk Sp Lk Df Rs
Ike 	35.00  50 26  9 25 27 17 21 14
Boyd	35.33  57 29  1 24 25 15 17 10
Tormod  34.24  45  8 26 22 23 16 11 23
Muarim  36.07  55 28  4 22 23 13 19 11
Tanith  34.41  42 18 11 20 26 19 16 14
Ulki	33.97  49 19  4 18 16 12 16 10
Titania 35.41  45 20  7 21 20 18 16 12
Ranulf  34.04  53 22  4 20 19 15 19  7
Haar	34.06  49 22  8 21 20 12 21 10
Bonus EXP: 310P

Chapter 26:

Preparations: Ike and Ranulf finalize their bromance; Boyd and Ulki go to A support as well. Boyd's second Dat Axe is worn out, so he gets a third one, this time made of Silver, Dreams, and Absolute Destruction.

Chapter Execution: ENEMIES EVERYWHERE AUGH (And most with Killer Weapons). Basically, I set Ike on the path to be able to run to the boss and be there by turn four, getting lots of laughs in the process. He's assisted and followed by Tormod, who Meteors the boss to help take him down, and doesn't have to worry about much danger because enemies prefer attacking Ike for some reason. The rest mostly kind of scramble around to stay alive and safe, and Muarim proves himself to be an awesome tank even with Demi Band's penalties when he takes on the entire southwestern corner worth of forces by himself and walks out relatively unharmed. Less can be said of Titania, who's starting to have her Jeigan nature show, even with Sol. Oh, and as a side note, I'm sick of killer weapons on enemy units. I had to restart too many times because of surprise criticals. Ultimately though, I don't have any real sound way of dealing with Sir-Not-Recruitable-Until-The-Next-Game, so I lose a couple turns just trying to kill him.

Turns: 6

Total: 184

After-battle stats:

    	Level  HP St Ma Sk Sp Lk Df Rs
Ike 	37.37  51 26 10 26 28 18 22 15
Boyd	36.79  58 29  1 24 25 15 17 10
Tormod  35.44  46  9 26 22 23 17 11 24
Muarim  37.25  57 28  4 23 23 13 20 11
Tanith  35.18  42 19 11 21 26 20 16 14
Ulki	34.27  51 19  4 18 17 12 16 10
Titania 35.92  45 20  7 21 20 18 16 12
Ranulf  34.84  53 22  4 20 19 15 19  7
Haar	35.61  50 23  8 22 20 12 21 10
Bonus EXP: 541P

Chapter 27:

Preparations: It only just hits me now that Ike wants the Knight Ring. Durr hurr hurr. That could've literally saved me a turn on the last chapter and possibly another chapter or two beforehand. OH WELL 8D Forge gets tossed to... someone, I'm not sure who. It's a maxed Silver Axe again, but we'll wait and see who needs it - nobody needs one immediately. BEXP goes to capping off various levels.

Chapter Execution: Charge straight down the center to get to the boss' room. Ike leads the charge, everyone else kinda helps run around unlocking the doors in his way and trying to help him run around. Tormod's Meteor + Ike's Silver Sword is precisely enough damage to kill the boss even without Aether/Critical/Adept activating, allowing me to kill him on turn 4. I then realise I couldn't Arrive during Canto anyway, so the Knight Ring wouldn't have saved me a turn, but oh well.

Addendum: Fled from the black knight. I don't believe Nasir is worth the extra couple turns to kill the Black Knight, especially as I don't have Mist, which turns it into a huge mess of luck. And I honestly had no plans for Enasir to really see use anyway, so... yeah. This is my first time actually not killing the Black Knight, as an aside.

Turns: 5 and 1

Total: 190

After-battle stats:

    	Level  HP St Ma Sk Sp Lk Df Rs
Ike 	39.89  53 26 10 27 28 19 23 16
Boyd	37.14  59 30  1 25 26 16 17 10
Tormod  36.41  46  9 27 23 24 17 11 24
Muarim  37.55  57 28  4 23 23 13 20 11
Tanith  35.46  42 19 11 21 26 20 16 14
Ulki	35.05  52 20  4 19 18 12 16 10
Titania 36.37  46 20  7 22 21 18 17 13
Ranulf  35.21  54 23  4 20 20 15 19  7
Haar	36.62  50 24  8 22 21 12 22 11
Bonus EXP: 403P

Chapter 28:

Preparations: Boyd looses Tempest and gains Colossus with the final Occult. I forge a maximized Thunder tome for Tormod. Ike and Boyd are granted the Laguzguard for this chapter. Probably should've given the second one to Haar.

Chapter Execution: Haar grabs Ike and throws him over the gap, and Ike with the Laguzguard basically charges in headfirst and doesn't afraid of anything. Fortunately, having maxed out a few of his stats proves to be enough to see Ike through. As an aside, Pure Water may have been something I never paid attention to at first - I will never overlook it again after this playthrough. I had to use the last of Meteor to clear a path for Ike to take, but ultimately it worked. The length of the battle, unfortunately, was due to the fact that trying to wade Ike through all the enemies was kind of nearly impossible to do with any speed, and anyone I sent over to help would get mobbed and killed.

Turns: 6 (I... think?)

Total: 196

Bonus EXP: 476P

Endgame:

Preparations: Elixirs for everybody! Tormod never got a high enough staff rank to wield Physic, sadly, so Ike especially needs a full stock. My final forge nets Haar a maxed Silver Axe, since he's the only person without a maximum forge. BEXP goes to top off the levels for Tormod, Muarim, Haar, Titania, and the last of it gets thrown on Ranulf because why not.

Stats going into the finale:

    	Level  HP St Ma Sk Sp Lk Df Rs
Ike 	40.00  53 26 10 27 28 19 23 16
 Ragnell, 3x Elixir, Knight Ward
Boyd	38.23  60 30  1 25 26 16 18 10
 Max Silver Axe, Max Hand Axe, Tomahawk, Brave Axe, Pure Water, 2x Elixir, Laguz Guard
Tormod  38.00  47  9 28 24 25 18 12 25
 Max Thunder, Blizzard, Mend, Physic, Paladin Band, Elixir
Muarim  38.00  58 29  4 24 23 14 20 11
 2x Elixir, Vulnerary, Demi Band
Tanith  36.14  43 19 12 22 26 20 16 14
 Max Silver Lance, Flame Lance, Spear, Brave Lance, Vulnerary, Wyvern Band, Elixir
Ulki	35.24  52 20  4 19 18 12 16 10
 Archer Band, 2x Elixir
Titania 37.00  47 21  8 23 21 18 17 13
 Max Iron Axe, Max Silver Axe, Hand Axe, Killer Axe, Knight Band, Elixir
Ranulf  35.93  54 23  4 20 20 15 19  7
 Fighter Band, Elixir, Laguz Stone
Haar	38.00  52 25  8 24 21 13 23 11
 Max Hand Axe, Short Axe, Hand Axe, Max Silver Axe, Thief Band, Vulnerary, Pure Water, Elixir
Ena 	30.01  52 20  9 17 15 14 23 21
 Elixir

Chapter Execution: Oh man, I find it great how the biggest boon Enasir's selection will actually give me in this tournament is the ability to not have to worry about covering their ass during this.

With that said? This chapter always terrifies me. Mostly because Ashnard actually being mobile on Hard makes him seem so very scary compared to other FE bosses - at least they stay where they're put!

Boyd and Haar go be stars on the right side, the Laguz, Titania, and Tanith go left (Far less confidence in any of them than I do Boyd), and Tormod hurries alongside Ike, providing artillery support, until such time as Ashnard starts moving - at which point he flees as fast as he can (Did you know he can match Ashnard's speed if he was given the boots? Not that this is relevant in this playthrough, but I always find it entertaining! The more you know!)

As an aside, what the hell is an enemy sniper doing with Deadeye during this chapter!? That's bull! As another aside, I never realised how ridiculously high Boyd's speed cap actually is for an axe user. Goddamn.

I have Ike close enough to take out Bryce on turn 4, which is close enough to provoke Ashnard as well; but I do need some heavy RNG love in the form of Aethers to have him Not Die, at least for the first turn - afterall, there's several generals, dragons, and Bryce and Ashnard do hefty damage with a really high hit rate.

Ultimately, Ike -refused- to activate Aether when it came down to actually fighting Ashnard. Coupled with the fact that I didn't have a Physic staff user (Until the last turn, from Tormod running around idly and healing people because he could)... yeah, it cost me a LOT of extra turns. I could have restarted... but I just wanted this done with. Giffca was my bud.

Turns: 13

Total: 209

[spoiler=Final data]

Final Stats!

10th place - Geoffrey (1 win; lol NPC)

9th place - Ulki (14 wins)

8th place - Haar (21 wins)

7th place - Ranulf (22 wins)

6th place - Tanith (37 wins)

5th place - Muarim (68 wins)

4th place - Tormod (69 wins)

3rd place - Ike (163 wins)

2nd place - Boyd (181 wins)

1ST PLACE - Titania (188 wins)

Final stats:

    	Level  HP St Ma Sk Sp Lk Df Rs
Ike 	20.00  53 26 10 27 28 19 23 16
Boyd	20.00  60 30  2 26 27 17 18 11
Tormod  19.42  48  9 28 24 25 18 12 26
Muarim  19.19  60 30  4 24 24 14 21 12 (Transformed)
Haar	18.41  52 25  8 24 21 13 23 11
Titania 17.66  47 21  8 23 21 18 17 13
Ranulf  16.76  55 29  4 25 23 16 24 10 (Transformed)
Tanith  16.73  43 19 12 22 26 20 16 14
Ulki	15.26  52 26  4 24 21 12 20 12 (Transformed)
Ena 	10.01  52 25  9 21 19 14 27 26 (Transformed)

TOTAL TURNCOUNT:

Prologue:	4
Chapter 1: 	3
Chapter 2: 	4
Chapter 3: 	4
Chapter 4: 	4
Chapter 5: 	6
Chapter 6: 	7 (Originally thought 8)
Chapter 7: 	14
Chapter 8: 	8
Chapter 9: 	8
Chapter 10:	5
Chapter 11:	7
Chapter 12:	10
Chapter 13:	10
Chapter 14:	3
Chapter 15:	7
Chapter 16:	5
Chapter 17-1:   4
Chapter 17-2:   4
Chapter 17-3:   10
Chapter 17-4:   4
Chapter 18:	9
Chapter 19:	5
Chapter 20:	4
Chapter 21:	9
Chapter 22:	1
Chapter 23:	8
Chapter 24:	5
Chapter 25:	5
Chapter 26:	6
Chapter 27:	6
Chapter 28:	7 (Originally thought 6)
Endgame:   	13
Total:  	209

[spoiler=Final thoughts?]

There are so many ways I could have sped up this challenges. SO many. But aside from those, let's look at the units!

Ike: I never noticed how bad Ike actually is during the first few chapters until I was forced to rely heavily on him. Fortunately though, the moment BEXP becomes available, he steps up his game and supercedes all of that and becomes a God. Giving him a Seraph Robe early on might not have been a bad idea; on Fixed, his HP never got high enough that it would have been excessive. Also, it's amazing how addicted he now is to Pure Water well his resistance issues are fixed by chugging a bottle of pure water now and then. And of course, AETHER AETHER AETHER AETHER etc. If future draft players read this: If you don't have good mounted units somehow, just give Ike the boots. He'll be moving at the same pace as mounted units then, and honestly, I found him far more reliable than my own options!

Titania: Okay, I knew she was good earlygame, but my aversion to prepromoted units in the early game always made me not use her. Goddamn was she ever impressive though. I'll still probably be avoiding her in the future - it's my style to raise low-level units from scratch - but she really does live up to her reputation. Well, except for the fact that she's a horrible mess come lategame. It wasn't as terrible thanks to Sol letting her keep her HP up, but... she was probably my worst units throughout the whole second half of the game... if not -the- worst. And since I gave Ike Boots, well... long story short, the only reason she's at number one is because she ate up half the game. She sure didn't come second half.

Boyd: I knew Boyd was one of the best non-mounted units in the game but never has it been quite as apparent as it was now to me. He's just so incredibly reliable. He tanks like a bitch, dodges like mad when his biorhythm's up thanks to Tempest, and to be honest he never ever needed Colossus (I just didn't think anyone else wanted it). Having one of the best availabilities in the game is just great, too.

Tormod: I love this kid so much. There is nothing that compares to the wonders of having a mage who can cross battlefields nearly at pace with your fastest units. He does have something of a stats issue, though, in that they're not that high; but he's good enough to wield all three magic types as needed and it's still plenty for him to kill pretty much anything he ever needs to. My one regret was not managing to get him to C Staves, which was a terrible failure on my part; I was just too busy using him for actual combat.

Muarim: I didn't expect much out of him; certainly not the tiger-striped tank that he turned out to be, even with the penalties of the Demi Band. Hell, I never used the Demi Band before - but I think I'll do so from now on in PoR. The stat penalties really aren't that bad at all, so long as it's given to an already great unit. Which Muarim is.

Tanith: I got what I was expecting - Great utility but frustrating combat effectiveness. She and Titania fought each other for 'caused the most game overs' during the second half of the game. If it wasn't for her much higher speed I probably wouldn't be thinking much of her. Oh wait, she has Reinforce - which was actually really handy for keeping enemies distracted since they seem to have huge priority for Other-group units.

Ulki: I wasn't expecting much. I got a pleasant surprise. I honestly doubt he actually contributed all that much to the run overall, besides a couple spots where he flew over extra units Tanith couldn't take care of; but he was reliable and a great way to draw fire since he still dodges like mad untransformed.

Ranulf: d'aww look at the adorable kitty :3

Ranulf (Seriously, this time): He kicked some serious ass and proved himself to be way more of a tank than I thought he was; he often ended up just a little short of double-attacking though which was sad. Otherwise though I'm happy to have had him around, for how little he was.

Haar: He must have entered some secret training regiment between now and Radiant Dawn because he wasn't all that great here! I mean, okay, to be fair, he was sufficient - especially with Savior he was quite capable of handling a fair amount of abuse. He wasn't quite as great combat-wise as I'd hoped for, though, mostly because of his bad speed.

Ena: She was attacked once while untransformed. That was the entirity of her contribution to the team. This was more than I had planned for, to be honest.

And finally: God fucking damn does the goddamn ending take FOREVER.

:3

[eclipse]

Sorry, still stuck on Ships Part 2. I almost got it, but Mist went and died on me. . .*sigh*. . .