Hard Mode Help

[Topaz Light]

Okay, so, with the tantalizing possibility of removed reclass limit providing the perfect excuse to play through this great entry in the Fire Emblem series once more, with increased difficulty no less, I elected to begin a quest through Hard mode of Fire Emblem 12. As I do in my Normal playthroughs, I plan to recruit everyone, save every village and finish with everyone alive. Currently I've made it to Chapter 13, and promotion has begun to become a concern. My team is as follows:

[spoiler=My team at Chapter 13]

The spirally top three!

(a failed organization attempt I'm too lazy to correct)

Marth (of course)

Newman (Avatar)

Rody

LV: 14 Lord (duh)

LV: 11 Hero

LV: 17 Cavalier

HP: 34

HP: 54

HP: 32

Str: 13

Str: 23

Str: 14

Mag: 0

Mag: 5

Mag: 0

Skill: 16

Skill: 30

Skill: 14

Spd: 14

Spd: 26

Spd: 19

Luck: 14

Luck: 25

Luck: 18

Def: 11

Def: 19

Def: 15

Res: 0

Res: 3

Res: 0

Swords: C

Swords: D

Swords: D

Axes: A

Lances: C (almost B)

Decidedly less spirally teammates:

Ogma

LV: 15 Mercenary

Str: 12

Mag: 0

Skill: 17

Spd: 17

Luck: 8

Def: 9

Res: 0

Swords: C (almost B)

Etzel

LV: 8 Sorceror

HP: 31

Str: 2

Mag: 13

Skill: 16

Spd: 15

Luck: 9

Def: 11

Res: 13

Magic: B

Staves: D

Navarre

LV: 13 Myrmidon

HP: 27

Str: 11

Mag: 0

Skill: 19

Spd: 18

Luck: 11

Def: 10

Res: 1

Swords: C

Norne

LV: 14 Archer

HP: 26

Str: 10

Mag: 0

Skill: 9

Spd: 16

Luck: 10

Def: 10

Res: 0

Bows: B

Malicia

LV: 1 Sage

HP: 34

Str: 3

Mag: 12

Skill: 7

Spd: 20

Luck: 20

Def: 4

Res: 13

Magic: B

Staves: A

Merric

LV: 17 Mage

HP: 29

Str: 0

Mag: 9

Skill: 11

Spd: 14

Luck: 11

Def: 10

Res: 6

Magic: C

Cecille

LV: 13 Cavalier

HP: 32

Str: 11

Mag: 1

Skill: 16

Spd: 16

Luck: 14

Def: 11

Res: 1

Swords: C

Lances: E

Roger

LV: 12 Knight

HP: 27

Str: 14

Mag: 0

Skill: 10

Spd: 11

Luck: 11

Def: 16

Res: 0

Lances: C

Cord

LV: 12 Dark Mage (+Maturity Drop)

HP: 28

Str: 2

Mag: 8

Skill: 9

Spd: 13

Luck: 10

Def: 7

Res: 7

Magic: D (almost C)

Feena

LV: 5 Dancer

HP: 17

Str: 4

Mag: 0

Skill: 6

Spd: 17

Luck: 12

Def: 5

Res: 0

Swords: D

Palla

LV: 1 Dracoknight

HP: 33

Str: 19

Mag: 1

Skill: 19

Spd: 19

Luck: 13

Def: 17

Res: 3

Lances: A

Axes: E

Jeorge (tentative)

LV: 5 Sniper

HP: 32

Str: 12

Mag: 1

Skill: 14

Spd: 14

Luck: 5

Def: 13

Res: 3

Bows: A

I'm thinking about benching Jeorge and maybe replacing him with someone else since his stats are so subpar to everyone else's considering his promotion tier and level. (Everyone else is around his competency or better at lower levels/promotion tiers) Raiden (redhead Sable Order Cavalier) is a consideration [for a replacement], and maybe Tiki. Speaking of her, where does Xane stand in terms of Hard mode usefulness? Anyone a bit later on I should hold out for? Perhaps someone from earlier I should attempt to rescue from the bench as a replacement? Should I just have faith in Jeorge and forge onward with him, or abandon him altogether with no replacement?

Basically, Jeorge is lookin' kinda crappy, what should I do about this?

Anyway, there's another thing that's been nagging me for a few chapters; I'm reaching the point in the game where promotion starts to become a factor, and I'm weighing my options as far as that goes. All the units I have promoted thus far have been from Level 20, but the increased difficulty is rearing its ugly head more than ever and, since I think it's unlikely for me to be able to get everyone on my team to level 20, I've been strongly considering promoting early, since the stunted growth is unlikely to come into play as it only becomes an issue if those characters reach level 20 in their promoted classes. I've set 15 as my absolute minimum level for promoting units, ideally higher, but the maximum distance, level-wise, from 15 in my party is 3 levels (lowest level is 12), which means it won't be too difficult to get everyone up to promotable levels to put on their Master Seals and power up. Currently, I have 5 Master Seals and an Elysian Whip, the latter is currently intended for use on Cecille to net me a handy Falcoknight. Who should I give priority as far as promotion goes, and at what level would it be advisable to do so?

Another thing that's crossed my mind is reclassing. I've made Cord a Dark Mage and I'm planning on making Cecille a Falcoknight, but are there any other reclass options that would be advisable/beneficial at this point? Keep in mind that I haven't unlocked No Reclass Limit yet, so everyone is stuck in their respective class groups.

Also keep in mind that I'm fully aware of Dark Mage!Cord not being beneficial; it's mostly on a whim, for fun. I think that I can afford myself one whimsical group addition on a basic Hard mode team.

My team choices, as a whole, are largely a mixture of how much I like a character, how useful I thought they'd be, and how easy it would be for them to reach their potential; for the most part, the characters that were selected made the cut because of sufficiantly high overall scores in those three areas. The selection process was not strictly practical.

Finally, keep in mind that I am playing on my DS Lite using an authentic copy of the game, so any emulation-related tricks are unavailable to me.

So, any suggestions? Ideas? Helpful tips? I welcome your input!

Edited January 8, 2013 by Starlight36

[GoogleKrom]

I assume that by "Hard Mode" you're referring to standard hard and not Maniac/Lunatic/Reverse, which isn't a particularly difficult mode to begin with -- worrying about team minutia isn't all that necessary. That said, one observation is that you might be spreading your experience too thin. I don't recall actively training anywhere near fifteen units in any of my runs, and there's little reason to keep Norne / Cord anyway. You've already got three other magic users (two of which can contribute to staff utility), and the benefits of fielding two archers at once are highly situational. If you're still hankering for a replacement, a reclassed Sirius, even this late in the game, could do the trick thanks to his superb starting weapon ranks and decent bases.

I wouldn't really recommend Tiki, as she comes too late and is too vulnerable to contribute much. Xane, on the other hand, is a great unit. He's essentially another My Unit who just needs a heal staff and takes a turn off from time to time. Certainly worth using.

[MacLovin]

Jeorge is decent in NM/h1, if you have reclass unlimited for Warrior!Jeorge+Arms Scroll for fun.

Otherwise, he's a utility unit with A bows and Parthia.

[Topaz Light]

I assume that by "Hard Mode" you're referring to standard hard and not Maniac/Lunatic/Reverse, which isn't a particularly difficult mode to begin with -- worrying about team minutia isn't all that necessary. That said, one observation is that you might be spreading your experience too thin. I don't recall actively training anywhere near fifteen units in any of my runs, and there's little reason to keep Norne / Cord anyway. You've already got three other magic users (two of which can contribute to staff utility), and the benefits of fielding two archers at once are highly situational. If you're still hankering for a replacement, a reclassed Sirius, even this late in the game, could do the trick thanks to his superb starting weapon ranks and decent bases.

I wouldn't really recommend Tiki, as she comes too late and is too vulnerable to contribute much. Xane, on the other hand, is a great unit. He's essentially another My Unit who just needs a heal staff and takes a turn off from time to time. Certainly worth using.

Ah, thanks for replying. (And also thanks to Inspector Clouseau for same)

I've actually gone ahead and promoted Merric, Ogma, Rody and Raiden, before reclassing the latter into a Sniper, instantly rendering Jeorge obsolete in every area but Bow rank. As for Norne and Cord, they are having a bit of trouble catching up, but I had been gambling on the possibility of them turning out to be really worthwhile in the end, although, they are a bit redundant in light of Raiden, Merric, Etzel and Malicia, so perhaps it would be better to bench them to devote their share of EXP to others. I had actually never considered reclassing CamusSirius, but thinking about it, it would be helpful, considering it wouldn't be nearly as hard to recruit Nyna if he was actually levelled up alongside everyone else.

Again, though, thanks for the help!