An SRW K Draft.

[FEAnon]

Team Analysis

Daikyuu Maryuu - This is probably going to be the first time that I use this seriously in K. It'll be nice to see how it performs because I don't have Gaiking.

Archangel - Standard ship unit in SRW.

Revilas - Combo attack spammer until when Mist picks up Crystal Heart and a finisher, he'll probably be the main recipient of Gunfight during Earlygame.

Serius/Serius II - Repair and Resupply units are never a problem, Serius II inherits upgrades from Serius so that isn't a problem.

Strike Freedom - Map everything everywhere in Space and will be a great damage dealer because of that 25% damage modifier from SEED mode.

Dangaioh - Has accuracy issues against some of the enemies in the game, traded Jeeg for this because I needed the extra firepower on route splits.

Murasame Liger - B Space and no targetting against flyers is a bad problem for this one, fortunately parts and damage output is on par with the other main character reals.

Infinite Justice - Seed Mode is K is OP and that's it.

Strike Noir - I like it's theme song and the damage isn't half bad.

Build Angel - Early game repairer.

Eternal - A ship that can perform repair duties competently, Lacus coming with SEED is a bonus.

Legend - Lategame mapper, since I don't have Destiny I can't get to take advantage of upgrade inheritance.

Lanstag - Standard Zoids unit that can resupply.

Soul Tiger - Standard Zoids unit.

Bio Volcano - A late joiner that can map things.

Bio Ptera - Zoids secret, not having Rainbow Jerk makes getting one a lot harder since I'll have a to take a penalty to pick this one up.

Brustle Tiger - I thnk this one has a map, I never really use this one in normal play.

Gouf Ignite (Heine) - Filler unit.

Deadly Kong - Probably the worst unit of this bunch.

Lanstag (Souta) - Needed to pick up Bio Ptera.

An overall decent team, main issue is going to be all of those Zoids units having B Space and not enough parts to make up for it.

Favourites are going to be Originals, Dangaioh and Gundam SEED.

[ShinKuma]

Small update cause I'm taking a break now.

Stage 2: Turn 6 enemy phase the last mook attack Godannar TDM and got mushed.

Stage 3: Turn 6 clear Core Gunner hit and run paired with G Gunner made a nice combo. Also Gaiking+Crab Bunker was nice for EN Regen plus the move bonus.

Stage 4: Godannar TDM.....mooks masher even with all the water around. Gaiking does some stuff 5 turn clear

Stage 5: Abused King Gainer simply cause no battle ship until turn 3. Utilizing my extra units managed to kill all the bosses sans 1 by turn 6 can easily finish this on turn 4 if I didn't feel I need parts/funds.

Stage 6: Van was so much fun to use for 3 turns. Then comes the Gaiking/Godannar combination. Cleared on turn 6 due to all these damn mooks that linger on with like 50-400 HP.

Total turncount: 36 I'll update it better next time

Edited January 9, 2013 by Blazing_Soul

[Wen Yang]

@Mouse:

Dobeck is the enemy grunt that one of the King Gainer character uses. She's the one that starts as an enemy. It's red.

Gotchko upgrades into the Emperanza around midgame.

Volkein: Yes, the guy shows up often as an enemy early on.

@ Soul: Can you add a total turncount? makes it easier to measure progress. Also, had expected you to blow the earlygame stages even faster than that.

@Anon: Don't forget that you also got Stargazer.

Anyway, progress:

Stage 1: 7/7 turns.

Everyone is free on this stage, which helps a lot. I don't think a faster than 7 turn clear is possible here due to the semi-scripted events.

Revlias: EN+1, Weapons +1.

Stage 2: 7/14 turns.

Daikuu Maryuu showing up on turn 3 means no more free units = Mist solo. Landing on a building + Invincibility + Counter + decent dodge allowed him to stay alive while doing that, fortunately. Meanwhile, Daikuu Maryuu fights off Suspage. Daiku Maryuu then proceeds to solo most of the Mimetic Beasts while waiting for Mist to help out. I was sweating when the Daikuu Maryuu ran out of EN and Ammo for its close-range weapons with one enemy left, but managed to lure it so that it attacks Mist instead. I get the feeling that Soul will wipe out everyone on this map since he got BOTH the Gaiking and the Goddanar crew...

Revlias: Mobility +2, Weapons +1.

Stage 3: 7/21 turns.

Jeeg & Co wipes out the starting enemy on turn 2 EP, triggering reinforcements. Everyone but Mist retreats into the ship ASAP, then Daikuu Maryuu and Mist soloes the enemies. Again, I practically had to use every last drop of EN, including the propellant tank, to be able to clear the stage in 7 turns. At least now I have Angelica and that much-needed Resupply unit.

Revlias: Mobility +2, HP+2.

Stage 4: 8/29 turns.

Having only two units suck. Damn the game forcing Mist and Angelica to pair up. Chasing after the bloody units that ran straight for the base took a lot of positioning. Barely managed to wipe them out and shoo off Suspage at turn 8 EP. One enemy was one square away from the base when it suicided into Mist.

Revlias: Mobility +1, Weapons +1.

Stage 5: 8/37 turns.

Revlias and Celius charges the enemies while waiting for Daikuu Maryuu, who also charges once it arrives. The abundance of semi-boss level enemies almost killed off Daikuu Maryuu, which only survived thanks to a couple lucky bunshin activations. Finished off the last grunt and the Brunhilde on turn 8 PP, and I doubt I'll be able to cut even a single turn with only Daikuu Maryuu, Mist, and Angelica. As it is, I already got lucky when a couple crits took out a couple enemies ahead of schedule, as well as Daikuu Maryuu landing a 14% accuracy counter that finished off Adette. Mist and Angelica also took quite a bit of damage, not to mention that they BOTH ran out of ammo, as did the Daikuu Maryuu (ammo and EN).

Daikuu Maryuu: Accuracy +4, Armor +1.

Celius: HP +3, Mobility +3.

Stage 6: 7/44 turns.

DANN OF THURSDAY! Van gets to show off by SOLOING Suspage's entire team for the first 2 turns, where the combination of defensive terrain + toughness + painful offense + counter + sword cut kept him mostly okay. By turn 7 PP Suspage was the last guy left, and one Combination Attack from Angelica blew him up.

[ShinKuma]

Well I could redo my run for more speed. I know I can do things faster but I'm gathering funds because I know my team will be having more difficulty due to my choice of units.

[Wen Yang]

Same here in a way. I might have been able to cut a couple turns in stage 5, but decided that I need the items, skill parts, and money more since god knows my earlygame needs every help they can get.

As it is you're still 8 turns ahead of me anyway, and I doubt any of us can match your earlygame since you got like the whole shebang there.

Btw I'm at chat if you guys are feeling chatty.

Edited January 9, 2013 by Kopfjager

[FEAnon]

Some early game turncounts

Stage 1 - 7/7 Turns

Stage 2 - 7 /14Turns

Stage 3 - 11/25 Turns

Stage 4 - 8 + 4/37 Turns

Stage 5 - 10/47 Turns

stage 6 - 8/55 Turns

Stage 7 - 8 + 4/67 Turns

Stage 8 - 9 + 4/80Turns

Stage 9 - 9/89 Turns

Stage 10 - 10/99 Turns

Stage 11A - 5/104 Turns

Stage 11B - 8/112 Turns

Edited January 9, 2013 by FEAnon

[ShinKuma]

Where did the penalties come from?

[Wen Yang]

from what he said, Jeeg got attacked at stage 4, and he used Dann to survive 7 and 8.

Anyway soul, hop on chat if you got time. ;)

[Excellen Browning]

Okay my turn counts after my restart:

stage 1: 6/6 turns. Apparently Okusaer activates some sort of barrier that absorbs all damage after she got hit the first time. I forgo the bless kill and trust dannar and we all have a merry time.

stage 2: 6/12 turns: involved not going after that battleship

stage 3: 6/18 turns

stage 4: 7/25 turns

stage 5: 4/29 turns

stage 6: 6/35 turns

stage 7: 6/41 turns

I've been mostly forgoing items and money for clearance speed and most of my money went into the Selius, because I want to get as many free upgrades as I can on Selius II

[Original Alear]

BY THE WAY

They may also not be used for friendship, love, rivalry or command aura bonuses.

I normally don't pay a huge amount of attention to friendship, love, or rivalry bonuses. These will not be active when a unit is in a battleship, right?

Also, there is currently no level pts --> stat pts system like in SRW J (and IIRC W and D), right? (where you dist pts into shoot, melee, dodge, etc)

Anyway:

Stage 1: 7 turns.

I can see how it could be done in 6, but on turn 6, one of the enemies attacked the pink robot that combines with the blue robot to make a gold robot Okauser and she only had a 50% accuracy counter, and missed. This made the map take 7 turns. After this map was done, Kouji (Kabuto) had 6 kills and Bucket (OG pilot) had 5 kills. Aphrodite A also got a kill IIRC. Don't feel like describing this cuz I figure everyone did nearly the same thing.

Stage 2: 15/22, in-game counter reads 14

7 turns +8 (penalties)

The bship arrived on turn 3. Havoc begins! Thankfully the undrafted units escaped without fighting, so no penalties were incurred.

Even more annoyingly, the arrival of the kid piloting the super moved the bship away from the enemy forces after I had moved it towards them.

Finally, the bship deployed 3 allied units, none of them drafted, during the enemy phase. 2 were attacked before I had a chance to move them. aaaaaaaghhhh. My battleship is trolling me. But I didn't feel like restarting.

I feel confident I could have ended this one on turn 6 if I had been more careful about dealing with one high HP enemy unit on turn 6, but I didn't feel like resetting for 1 turn (or the 8 lost in penalties). Possibly the Mazinger Z could have advanced faster towards the west and taken on the role the battleship was going to play.

And the boss bship escaped, but I wasn't gunning for it very hard until the turn it escaped IIRC.

Edited January 10, 2013 by Mouse

[Wen Yang]

@ Mouse:

Nope and nope.

@ Excellen:

I will greatly await your fall from grace when the lack of cash and items bite you in the rear. :3

Stage 7: 6/50 turns.

More King Gainer enemies... with a bunch of semi-bosses... oh god. Though fortunately now I have Dann of Thursday to rape them, and Brownie also makes a guest appearance to boot. Priscilla having enough firepower to OHKO King Gainer grunts REALLY helped clear the stage faster since it got attacked quite often, and Van went and massacred the bosses in 2 hits each, except for Kejinan who ate a critical and got OHKOed. Mist handled the lower enemies pretty much solo till Daikuu Maryuu came. Dominator and Volkein were the last remaining enemies on PP6, and they got cleaned out accordingly. With Van around, Dominator didn't even get to run :D

Celius: EN +3.

Dann of Thursday: HP +1, Accuracy +4, Weapons +4.

Stage 8: 6/56 turns.

Van creamed Gadved's ass on turn 2 EP with ease, then reinforcements came. I had Daikuu Maryuu handle the northwestern enemies while Mist, Angelica, and Van handles the rest. Daikuu Maryuu had 5 enemies left with only 1000 HP and 30 EN, including Asuham on turn 5, but it managed to finish off Asuham and simply tanked the rest in Vollution Protect mode. The southern team finished cleaning up on turn 6.

Daikuu Maryuu: EN +3.

Dann of Thursday: HP +3, EN +4, Weapons +1.

Stage 9: 7/63 turns.

Van, Mist, and Angelica rapes some Bioraptors, while Daikuu Maryuu waits near the start to pick up Ruuji & co the moment they appear as well as to slaughter the enemies that spawn there. Zairin got wiped on turn 4 (I waited for him to come to me to save the trip to where Suspage & co spawns). Suspage and his last mook suicided on Dann on turn 7 EP.

Dann of Thursday: EN +1, Mobility +4, Armor +3.

Earlygame Unit Analysis:

Daikuu Maryuu: A Godsend. Hits hard enough to OHKO most weaker grunts (King Gainer grunts as well as weaker Jamas and Mimetics), and that mound of HP allows it to survive for a good length of time, especially when you go Vollution Mode and get a barrier. Garis having Fury makes OHKOing grunts not luck-based, and Sure Hit makes even Overman bosses easy to smack around. A battleship with SR-level firepower is MUCH appreciated, especially this early since I only have so few units to use.

Revlias: Iffy early on, but after the mobility upgrades and slapping on a +Mobility item it can usually dodge reliably enough that it often doesn't use up an Invincible cast for 2-3 turns. With a +crit item it also reliably OHKOes weaker grunts, and the combo attack gives it much-needed firepower against bosses.

Celius: A lifesaver. The firepower is weak barring the brutally painful combo attack it has with Revlias, but the Repair/Resupply capability is a lifesaver, since with evasion decay my team takes plenty of hits, and they also run out of EN/Ammo fast. Pretty hard to hit with a few mobility items and upgrades, and that's the way I like it.

Dann of Thursday: Killing Machine. This guy actually hits hard enough to OHKO even Gaiking mooks. Giving him some mobility and armor upgrades will make him very survivable since he already takes hits AND dodges relatively well, while a +range item makes him able to reach most enemies that attack him. His main grunt-killer attack costing only 10 EN is another major plus. I think nothing showcases his power more than the fact that he soloes a boss one-on-one in stage 8, TWICE, killing him without outside aid both times while staying alive. Between him and the Mist + Angelica combination attack, not one runaway boss has managed to escape getting blown to bits.

[FEAnon]

Stage 12-1 - 5/117 Turns

Stage 12-2 - 8/125 Turns

Stage 13 - 5/130 Turns

Stage 14A-1 - 5/135 Turns

Stage 14A-2 - 5/140 Turns

Stage 15A - 4/144 Turns

Stage 16-1 - 7/151 Turns

Stage 16-2 - 12/163 Turns

Stage 17B - 10/173 Turns

Stage 18B - 7/180 Turns

Stage 19-1 - 8/188 Turns

Stage 19-2 - 11/199 Turns

Stage 20 - 11/210 Turns

Stage 21-1 - 15/225 Turns

Stage 21-2 - 5/230 Turns

[Wen Yang]

If you guys got time, hop on chat. Got a few things to discuss.

Anyway, Progress report:

Stage 10: 9/72 turns.

The abundance of 5-digit HP enemies slowed me down quite a bit, though my team was never in any danger, there were only four of them, and that means that I needed a while to take down the enemies. The 2 turtles were the last ones to fall. On the plus side, Sheldia joins, woohoo member no. 5!

Dann of Thursday: Weapons +1.

Stage 11-1: 6/78 turns.

I focused on going after Proist since it's doubtful that even Van can OHKO the other boss from 50% HP in one go, and on turn 6 Sheldia blew Proist up with a Lucked Shaker Combination for plenty of dough.

Dann of Thursday: Weapons +1.

Stage 11-2: 6/84 turns.

Thank GOD the enemies don't start attacking Daiya till turn 3. As it is, I managed to take out Kein and get all the undrafted guys into Daikuu Maryuu on turn 3 without any of them seeing any combat. The turn Zairin shows up Garis and Van kicked his butt off the map. Nouza and the last mook suicided on turn 6 EP.

Revlias: HP +1, EN +1, Weapons +3.

Stage 12-1: 3/87 turns.

Thank god Apharmd is an NPC here and thus doesn't count for penalties. I rush straight for Ziggurat with Mist + Angelica pair, and went to work PWNing him. Focusing EVERY PP attack on Ziggurat results in it suiciding on Daikuu Maryuu on turn 3 EP.

Stage 12-2: 8/95 turns.

The initial bunch of mooks all died by EP 4, triggering the enemy reinforcements. I blew up one of the boses on turn 5, triggering Gil to show up. Getting to Gil took a couple turns, but he got creamed on PP 8.

Stage 13: 5/100 turns.

For once, no reinforcements. Just a no-holds-barred throwdown from the get-go. The last few enemies and bossed suicided on turn 5 EP. Dann makes the 5 SEED/Fafner bosses look like grunts by 2HKOing all of them. That guy is beyond beastly.

Stage 14: 8/108 turns.

Kazuki~ One thing I like about Fafners is that they're bloody beefy as RRs go, packing almost as much HP as many supers as well as a barrier. Still, unupgraded Mark Elf against a Festoom is annoying, and it took me to turn 4 PP before I killed it. At least Mark Elf can OHKO the weaker Goddanar mooks when he crits. Once Dann gets to the enemies though, they fall apart in seconds. The last enemies suicided on turn 8 EP.

Mark Elf: HP +1, EN +1, Mobility +6, Weapons +6.

Stage 15-1: 5/113 turns.

The starting Festoom got wiped out by Dann on turn 2, triggering the rest of the enemy reinforcements. Since some of them are very snipe-happy, I only sent in Kazuki, Van, and Mist so they always get to counter. Dann takes DOUBLE-DIGIT damage from these Festooms. XD The slaughterfest ended on turn 5 EP, where the last few Festooms suicided themselves on my elites. :3

Stage 15-2: 6/119 turns.

Shouko rushes the Festoom, and promptly PWNs it in four hits. Poor thing didn't even manage to touch her once. Enemy reinforcements spawn on turn 2 EP naturally. Van got his Attack Combo now, which makes him truly death incarnate, wiping out a squad per turn. Took me a total of 4 turns from deployment to wipe out the goons. Easy~

Revlias: Weapons +2.

Stage 16-1: 6/125 turns.

I got the Core Gunner down to 10% HP on turn 2, and went to work massacring the rest of the enemies. I sent Dann to massacre the mimetics while the rest handles Core Gunner. By turn 6 the map was clear.

Revlias: Weapons +2, FUB All Terrain A.

Dann of Thursday: Weapons +3, FUB +1 Range.

Stage 16-2: 13/138 turns.

I HATE "DEFEND THE BASE" STAGES. Especially when you only have SIX units to use. As it is, it's a miracle that I managed to avoid a game over. My turn count sucks, I know, but not like taking a penalty would actually improve it since none of the other guys are even leveled/pack enough punch. It took me that long because my kill rate was 2 squads per turn on average, unless some of the enemies attack Van/Mist.

Dann of Thursday: HP +1, EN +2, Mobility +2, Armor +2.

Stage 17: 9/147 turns.

Chaaaaarge! Missing 2 members of the party sucks, but at least Dann's around. I gleefully sent Dann ahead of the pack while everyone else handles the weak mooks. The Haniwas get cleaned up on turn 5, leading to a gaggle of festooms. The the Fafner pilots came, from which point onwards, it's the Kouyou Show! Just to be safe, I didn't let Kazuki kill even one Festoom in this stage and let Kouyou take several of the big ones.

Archangel: EN +1, Accuracy +3.

Mark Elf: Weapons +2, FUB EN-20%.

Stage 18: 8/155 turns.

Fafner-Centric stage makes me happy :D. Archangel comes on turn 3, and the slaughter begins in earnest. THEN Mark Sein comes, and the poor Festoom never knew what hit them. THEN the rest of the Fafner crew came. I'm a happy guy. :D The last enemy suicided on Mark Sein on EP 8.

[FEAnon]

Stage 22 - 5/235 Turns

Stage 23 - 5/240 Turns

Stage 24-1 - 4/244 Turns

Stage 24-2 - 5/249 Turns

Stage 25 - 5/254 Turns

Stage 26B - 12/266 Turns

A bunch of relatively easy stages barring the map weapon in Stage 24-2. 26B took 12 turns mostly due to the size of the map as the grunts all died with little effort on my part.

[ShinKuma]

Liking how everthing is so far, I got work but I'll have an update in about say 24.5 hours.

[Wen Yang]

Stage 19-1: 8/163 turns.

This stage was BEYOND close. Only reason I didn't get a game over was that the NPCs accidentally blocked a guy that was out of my reach, allowing me to wipe out the rushing team in the nick of time. Once the rushers were gone, cleanup happened. On PP 8 the last enemies died off.

Still saving money for Akatsuki.

Stage 19-2: 9/172.

Dann solos the ZAFT and Mist soloes the EFA forces, and by EP 4 all of them went dead-dead. Then the 2 of them charged at Yzak and Dearka's group. Yzak got blown to kingdom come on EP 6 and triggers Shinn & co. Then Shinn charges Cagalli on PP 7... placing him right next to Daiku Maryu. I let Hilda and Lulu handle him while the others wipe out the rest of the enemies. Dann wiped out Luna and Heine in one hit each in EP 7, and also finished off Rei, then he went to work on Minerva. Shin also fell on PP 8 to a Jet Stream Attack. Minerva got fragged on PP9, and the rest of the enemies fell in the same round. Van went straight into the 300-kill range after this map.

Akatsuki: EN +4, Mobility +4, Weapons +8, FUB EN-20%.

Destiny Gundam: EN +2, Mobility +1.

DOM Trooper: Mobility +2.

[ShinKuma]

Crazy good play log I see. I hate being at work, really wanted to make progress.

[ShinKuma]

Stage 8: Annoying beginning followed by the arrival of the Gaidannar combo on Turn 3. Swept

the mooks for a 7 turn because my Battleship ran outta ammo.

Stage 9: 6 turn clear finally having Gaiking combo attacks turns Gaiking into the new boss

killer when he's in the team.

Stage 10: First half not so bad, but when the second half started I dunno, Gaiking at 50

Will/no EN is a sitting duck. Then comes Godannar TDM to smash flying turtles and a

battleship. Rainbow Jerk with her graceful flying finishes a turtle off for a nice payout.

Godannar TDM for MVP this stage. 7 turn clear puts me at 62

Stage 11-1: Forced units made this stage fun to play. With Gaiking leading the charge after

everyone else arrived I was got a 5 turn clear by just destroying Proist ASAP. Total Turns

67

Stage 11-2: Well let's say I had an easy time with this one. Anna took care of a good chunk

of mooks with help from Goh, then Core/G Gunner comes to mop up a few things also. Gaiking

comes free but having 100 WILL he only does so much. Managed a 6 turn clear due to the

Originals combo attacks (Lifesavers they are sometimes)

Stage 12-1: Nothing much to say here. Nice and short with a 4 turn clear thanks to Godannar

TDM. Total count 77

[Wen Yang]

Stage 20: 8/180 turns.

Gil is a wimp and it shows. One shot from Mist on EP1 and one hit from Van on PP2 and the coward runs with his tail between his legs. Since Cagalli was way underleveled at this point (level 8) I sent her towards the Virtual-On goons. She wiped out almost half of them and gained two levels in one turn. The next turn I sent Van and Shinn to help her clean up while rushing everyone else closer to the base. The second batch of VO grunts show up on EP 3 (Cagalli and Van kinda raped the crap out of the first batch) right on top of the rest of my team. Most of them died by the end of the next PP. By end of turn 5 PP I brought out a8, and on PP6 he went down with ease. Espair's grunts dies on turn 7 (I had Cagalli MAP the crap out of 5 squads at one go) and the big ugly himself shows up. He went away on PP8. Cagalli ended up getting seven levels in this map alone. :3

Destiny Gundam: Weapons +5.

Stage 21-1: 12/192 turns.

The corridor is annoyingly long, though not hard at all. clever positioning (and focusing down them bloody MAPpers) ensures that the enemy rarely uses its MAP and so gets counter-killed by my Vanguard, Cagalli and Van. Those two basically cleans up the road while the rest mops up behind them. The 2 Raidens show up on turn 11, and approached my team on the same turn. Then they died on the next.

Destiny Gundam: EN +1, Weapons +3, FUB EN-20%.

Stage 21-2: 3/195 turns.

Big thing in the middle died on turn 2, and I started working on Espair ASAP. Cagalli racked up quite a killcount counter-attacking the mooks, what with Akatsuki Oowashi's best attack costing a mere 12 EN after the FUB and E Save. Mist whacked Espair on turn 3 PP. Talk about easy. He also drops an attack combo skill part... which goes straight to Van.

Revlias: EN +8.

Mid-game Analysis:

Daikuu Maryuu: Still pretty beastly as battleships go, and can handle crowds of mooks on its own. The need to rely on it has greatly decreased though, and its main function atm is as an accelerated ferry and as a gain bot.

Archangel: Sucks. Usually a hindrance more than a help. Only used for ferrying.

Revlias: Finally gets a finisher. He bosskills with finisher, and whacks mooks with his regular attack. Great guy all around. Not relied on that much anymore though with the advent of other nasties.

Celius: Still used heavily for either repair/resupply, or for combo-attacking a boss. Pretty impressive survivability even barely upgraded.

Celius II: Worse than Celius because Sheldia has no Focus, but used for much of the same way. Gets several boss kills with luck on.

Dann of Thursday: Murder machine. Massacres a squad of mooks (now capable of whacking TWO squads of mooks in one go) a turn, or takes a HEFTY bite out of a boss's HP. With Guard, Predict, Prevail 9, and the stat boosts he got from parts and 300+ kills, he's pretty much unkillable too.

Akatsuki: Hits the ground running, and Cagalli went from level 8 straight to 18 in 3 maps. She also nailed at least fifty enemies in those maps, and will soon hit 3-digit kill-count. Excellent unit all around, and great for counter-killing longer range enemies that outsnipe Dann. That MAP on space stages is also very very nice.

Destiny Gundam: Another high-speed heavy hitter that can't really be outsniped and OHKOs entire squads in one go. High EN cost though, so my next E Save is heading his way for sure.

DOM Trooper: Helps with cleaning up, and that S rank on ground makes it pretty bloody dodgy despite minimal investment on it.

[FEAnon]

Those penalties from early game are really starting to mess up my turncounts, it also doesn't help that I had to take a penalty just to unlock one of my units.

Stage 27B - 4 + 4/274 Turns

Stage 28 - 6/280 Turns

Stage 29 - 10/290 Turns

Stage 30A-1 - 8/298 Turns

Stage 30A-2 - 3/301 Turns

Stage 31 - 11/312 Turns

[Excellen Browning]

turn counts time:

stage 8: 7/48

stage 9: 7/55

stage 10: 8/63

stage 11-1: 6/69

stage 11-2: 6/75

stage 12-1: 3/78

stage 12-2: 7/85

stage 13: 4/89

Haha! I'm actually beating soul by 2 turns!

As for upgrades, after pumping the Selius I for Selius II carryover, I've started focusing upgrades on the Jeeg, Gainer and Solrias. I've been systematically ignoring the Panthers and Sword Wolf or whatever it's called in terms of upgrades.

Because I'm now at the first route split, here's a team analysis.

Daikyuu Maryuu: Just like Wen and Anon said, this guy is pretty good. It got some upgrades to hitrate and EN, as well as some levels of prevail. It pretty much always runs a repair kit and propellant tank.

Solrias: Was iffy in the beginning because it needs those mobility upgrades. Mist got some levels of gunfight because I don't know who else to give them to right now.

Selius I/II: I seem to take a different approach to these two. The others don't seem to be upgrading them much and just use them for mostly repair and resupply. Just like the Solrias, they're always around, so I thought "Well if they're there, why not make good use of them?" and so it was done. Both of them are equipped with a +1 range part and a A air module for flight. They turn out to be competent fighters. Selius II is worse because no focus.

Jeeg: I know I bitched in chat, but Jeeg is my most useful draft. He has a some issues, such as low EN but expensive attacks and it's made of wet tissues in a game where dodging isn't reliable enough in my opinion. Not to mention it's stuck on the ground and can't get around very fast. Partnering it with Big Shooter however, seems to mend some of these, providing accel, EN regen and support defense to take the hits, while adding the issue of reduced will gain which unfortunately means activating the +25% damage skill happens either very late in the stage or not at all. I am pumping all the infights I can get my hands on into the Jeeg pilot and it has 7 weapons, which allows it to comfortably one- or two shot kill a lot of bosses.

King Gainer: Gainer is in some ways what I think Jeeg should have been. Better avoid, more hp and armor in the case of a hit, a less expensive finisher, not completely EN dependent, flying and access to accel. It doesn't achieve the same level of damage, however. It's unfortunate I got to play it so little up till now, for it joins and then basically disappears.

The Panthers: They joined, Bello and Gauli tagged along some maps where I lost Sara, and then Sara came back and Bello and Gauli left. The Panthers do little in the way of damage if they're not using their cheap and amazing combo attack, but their base avoid is somewhat decent and they can repair. Overall they share maybe three or four kills per map. In some wyas they're very similar to the Seliuses, I think that, if given some decent amount of upgrades sufficiently early, they'll be quite powerful.

Sword Wolf: He's a definite cut above the panthers, and decently competent at base stats. That, along with the fact I've been pumping the mains causes me to ignore this guy in terms of upgrade investment.

Edited January 14, 2013 by Daigoji Excellen

[Wen Yang]

If you guys got time, meet me on chat. It concerns the L draft.

Stage 22: 4/199 turns.

Finally I get the Fafner crew. That they don't count as "normal" humans mean that I probably got the largest possible team for this part of the stage since I get to deploy practically everyone but Cagalli. All the Fafners being able to OHKO zoid grunts with their strongest attacks are a nice thing, so they get cleanup duty to help them get levels. Kazuki started working on the Bio Tricera on turn 3. He wiped Georg out on the next turn. The last few enemies suicided on the enemy phase of that turn.

Mark Sieben: Weapons +3.

Stage 23: 3/202 turns.

This stage starts off by way of Van rushing in, wiping out of a squad of Megaraptors, and chopping off 8000 HP off Souta all in one go. Then by the end of the EP most of Souta's army has died and he's down to one-hit-kill range. I ended up feeding Souta to one of my Fafner guys since they need the Exp most, and he got four levels right off that kill. My main killers went over to Georg in the meantime and started pinging him. The zoids deal pitiful damage anyway. Their attacks bounce right off Mark Sein's barrier. Georg and crew got wiped at PP3, Kazuki mooching off three levels off the guy. :3

Mark Sieben: Weapons +3.

Mark Drei: Weapons +1.

Stage 24-1: 4/206 turns.

A little pre-planning makes this stage Easy. Van thwomped one of the things surrounding Gainer and he ran for it. Mist whacked another to make sure none of them can reach Gainer to be safe. Then the second round came and the slaughter begins in earnest. On round 3 Van got close enough to attack Kashimar... and he OHKOed him. By turn 4 PP only Volkein was left.

Mark Sieben: Weapons +2, FUB Ammo x2.

Stage 24-2: 4/210 turns.

I started whacking enemies on turn 2, taking care that Overdevil didn't get enough morale to MAP me. Overdeviil got whacked on turn 3, then I immediately emptied a space next to it and parked Gaiking AND put it back in the Daiku Maryu in one go. Overdevil died for the second time on turn 4. :3

Mark Drei: Weapons +4.

[Wen Yang]

Stage 25: 3/213 turns.

It took Van 2 turns to wipe Woo's ass out, and he learns Valor in the process too~ In Digald, I sent Shinn to handle Souta, and Cagalli to wipe Zairin's team out. The rest splits up between the Gil, Felme, and Georg, each team having a weapon-FUBed unit with them. I started working on all 5 bosses simultaneously by turn 2. All bosses got wipes on turn 3, and all the remaining mooks suicided on the EP.

Mark Drei: Weapons +3, FUB EN-20%.

Mark Acht: Weapons +3.

Stage 26: 6+4/223 turns.

Bloody Golem not being able to run forces me to take a penalty. Dann came out on turn 3 and promptly whacked two of the bosses as well as a megaraptor squad in one go. I finished off the rest of the starting enemies on that turn, then Woo and Carossa/Melissa came. I probably lost a couple turns here to fulfill the secret to get Michael and Fasalina, but so be it.

Mark Acht: Weapons +3.

Stage 27: 6/229 turns.

Van has to solo the start of the stage... He does that with glee and starts by way of blowing up three squads in one go. :D Van blew Fasalina up on turn 3. Then Van wiped Carossa out on turn 4. Then Cagalli went for the base, triggering Michael. One Valored attack each from Shinn and Mist wiped him out, triggering the last reinforcements. The last enemy died on turn 6, mostly thanks to bloody iron-walling Melissa.

Mark Acht: Weapons +2, FUB Ammo x2.

Dann of Thursday: HP +4, EN +3.

Stage 28: 6/235 turns.

The Jeeg crew runs the hell away. When the cavalry arrives in turn 3, all hell went loose and Jamas goes down the drain in short order. Veliny and Gasm are the only things left come turn 5, and on turn 6 both went down hard. Well, Gasm runs, Veliny went down big-time though.

Dann of Thursday: HP +1, Mobility +4, Armor +1.

Stage 29: 7/242 turns.

Everyone rushes into the Daiku Maryu and it accelerates forward. On turn 2 the carnage begins. Gil got blown up on turn 3 before he can run, and Ikima follows in the same turn. Overdevil went down the drain on turn 4 in two hits. Veliny drops on turn 6 with ease. Gil and goons goes down on turn 7, ending the map.

Dann of Thursday: Accuracy +3, Armor +5.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Kopfjager

[Excellen Browning]

OK so at the first route split I tried both, and I have to say that fafner enemies are fucking annoying.Here's my turn counts:

stage 14A-1: 4/93

stage 14A-2: 5/98

stage 15A: 3/101 (Archangel with a +1 movement part makes a 3 turn possible. I mostly ignored the grunts and killed Lunamaria, Rey and Shinn for the money)

stage 16-1: 5/106

stage 16-2: 11/117 (this was annoying for me, too but if you really want to exploit the rules, you can just use some units as a wall, because they won't be attacked)

Which means it is now time for the second route split!

Also question regarding combo attacks. Do weapons upgrades affect their damage, and if so is it the weapons upgrades from the unit that initiates the attack or both/all of them?

Oh and is the strike rouge the unit I drafted as the strike?

Edited January 16, 2013 by Daigoji Excellen

[Wen Yang]

Combo attacks get a power boost depending on the weapon upgrades of the unit that INITIATES it.

And yes, Strike Rogue later turns into Strike. It's yours to use.

And no, the mimetics do attack if they end up next to a walling unit. I used that to counter-kill some of them.

Edited January 16, 2013 by Kopfjager