Awakening Hard mode playlog

[eclipse]

Just an FYI, since Morgan is both 1) a Villager and 2) gets a third of his bases from Donnel, I have to warn you that he's pretty bad. Here are his stats at this point in time:

         Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp   
Morgan 10.00 33 11  11 8   12  13  8   7   C Lance

Still think that I ought to pick up another project? :P

EDIT: the one saving grace is that I can pass Aptitude to him, and Veteran as well if I'm not going to Tactician him.

Second Seal him into something that doesn't suck, 'cause Veteran is worth it.

[Florete]

At least since he comes at 10 he can be auto-reclassed, which is like a promotion for a Villager. Considering that, his theoretical bases would actually be higher. You may also consider just doing the Paralogue to get Naga's Tear.

EDIT: As an aside, one does not need to "pass down" Aptitude to Villager Morgan; he'll come with it himself. Since Donnel appears to be a Fighter, I would suggest you just pass down that +5 HP.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Red Fox of Fire

[Interceptor]

EDIT: As an aside, one does not need to "pass down" Aptitude to Villager Morgan; he'll come with it himself. Since Donnel appears to be a Fighter, I would suggest you just pass down that +5 HP.

Whoops, almost walked into Mordor; I'm so used to Morgan starting as a Tactician and getting Rightful King, that I completely forgot about that. +5 HP it is. Incidentally, that means that his bases are even worse than I listed, since I didn't take his skill into account (he was already being passed down the +HP).

Anyone have nominations for his class? It's tempting to make him a Dark Mage, since that will make his training easier to handle.

[PKL]

Morgan sure doesnt look worth it...maybe come back for him after you can complete his map in a timely manner. Even then...villager Morgan man...

EDIT: I say dont bother with him, that second seal is better spent on someone like Cavalier Lucina. Also, im surprised Cordelia hasnt promoted yet for you. I guess the favoritism I give her is what causes her to promote by Ch10 (and I promote at Level 15) :P.

Edited April 7, 2013 by CordeliaxFrederick

[Florete]

Anyone have nominations for his class? It's tempting to make him a Dark Mage, since that will make his training easier to handle.

I'd go Cavalier to keep the C Lances useful and add Swords and Discipline. You might also want to consider what stat boosts he'll get from whatever class he goes to. By the time he would get to D Tomes in Dark Mage (for Nosferatu), he'll probably be much better off anyway.

Edited April 7, 2013 by Red Fox of Fire

[PKL]

I'd go Cavalier to keep the C Lances useful and add Swords and Discipline. You might also want to consider what stat boosts he'll get from whatever class he goes to. By the time he would get to D Tomes in Dark Mage (for Nosferatu), he'll probably be much better off anyway.

Yeah, Cavalier would be the best way to use that Morgan. Now that you say that, I forget that villager has crap class bases so a second seal means Morgan is going to be ready to perform well. Discipline+Veteran is a ridiculous combo as I found out in my latest FE13 draft with Lucina. Heck, a rescue use on Morgan can let him recruit and second seal right away to start training him in his own paralogue.

Edited April 7, 2013 by CordeliaxFrederick

[Redwall]

Dark Mage sounds like a plan, especially if you still have your Arms Scroll; Ch 15 looks ripe for Nos-tanking.

[PKL]

Cavalier would be better imo. But I guess Dark Mage could work too.

[Interceptor]

No more Arms Scroll; already used it on Morgan's father to get to D Axes. I may go the Cavalier route, that would at least give Linde a partner with some mobility. I can always switch her to Sorc if I need a Nosferatank, since she's got plenty of MAG and A-rank Tomes as it is.

[Florete]

Any class change will get him some boosts, but Villager -> Cavalier gives the following bonuses: 2 HP, 5 Str, 4 Skl, 5 Spd, 6 Def, 2 Move. So you could basically say that base Morgan would look like:

         Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp   
Morgan    1.00  35 16  11  12  17  13  14  7  C Lance, E Sword

Which is pretty much flat-out better than current Donnel, at least, and largely competitive with the rest of the team.

[Interceptor]

It's really quite sad that Morgan would immediately be better than his father. All that I'd lose for switching the pairing would be the possibility of S-rank, and time lost building it.

OEDIPUS PLAYTHROUGH, ACTIVATED.

[aku chi]

Any class change will get him some boosts, but Villager -> Cavalier gives the following bonuses: 2 HP, 5 Str, 4 Skl, 5 Spd, 6 Def, 2 Move. So you could basically say that base Morgan would look like:

         Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp   
Morgan    1.00  35 16  11  12  17  13  14  7  C Lance, E Sword

Which is pretty much flat-out better than current Donnel, at least, and largely competitive with the rest of the team.

And with Aptitude, Veteran, and Discipline, Morgan would grow into a very competent Paladin (or Great Knight).

[Interceptor]

OP updated with Chapter 15.

[spoiler=Chapter 15, Smoldering Resistance]

This is one of the more annoying Routs of the Valm arc, since mobility is limited, there are a lot of hard targets to kill, and the space is very cramped. Keys to the chapter: get Say'ri to safety, use Enemy Phase as efficiently as possible, visit the four available houses (all have good items: Large Bullion, Physic, Arms Scroll, Second Seal).

Since there are so many hard targets and a lot of ground to cover, the first thing I do is promote both Sumia and Cordelia to Pegasus Knight; they need the stats and the MV in order to function here. Second thing I do is to pick out my spots: Sumia can face mostly Armors in the upper right (so I equip Frederick with a Hammer), Cordelia can dice it up with mostly Cavaliers and the Dark Knight on the far left (requires Dance, and I give Kellam the Beast Killer), Linde and Donnel can fight effectively on the beach (due to her 1-2 range and hitting RES), Nowi will kill something on Player Phase and plug a hole (funneling some mages to her), while SullyxChrom leave themselves in range of a couple Knights (with Chrom using Rapier). Third and finally, I use Anna to Rescue Say'ri out of the way.

The end result of that, is a bloodbath on Enemy Phase. Everything except the promoted enemies and a couple random mages/cavs perished on the upper deck, and the beach was headed for an easy finish due to Linde's ability to basically ORKO everything there.

A three-turn was possible here (Enemy Phase), but I decided to get all four items rather than just three, which meant pulling Cordelia out of the action for a moment, leaving the boss for Player Phase. STR Tonic might have been the difference here, since the Boss only had 1 HP left. C'est la vie.

Turns (Chapter/Total): 4/87

Heroes: Linde & Donnel

Funds: 42,079G

                     Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp                 Support
               Linde  8.38 42 25  24  15  27  15  19  14  D Sword, A Tome      S Donnel + others
               Chrom 18.52 34 18  4   14  15  15  16  6   A Sword              S Sully
           Frederick 10.71 37 15  2   18  14  7   18  6   C Swd, A Axe/Lance   S Sumia, C Linde
               Sully  5.41 44 21  7   24  19  20  21  12  B Sword, A Lance     S Chrom
               Sumia  2.33 34 14  9   25  28  22  11  18  A Lance, E Staff     S Fred
              Donnel  1.95 34 16  1   14  14  20  12  5   D Axe                S Linde, C Kellam
            Cordelia  3.92 43 19  12  23  23  15  14  14  A Lance, E Staff     S Kellam
              Kellam  8.32 24 11  1   9   8   3   14  2   C Lance              S Cordelia + others
No One Will Interfere 25.75 52 21  7   17  12  16  16  14  -                    S Gregor
              Gregor 13.13 33 13  1   15  11  8   11  2   B Sword              S N.O.W.I.
               Libra  2.61 40 14  16  14  15  10  11  17  C Axe/Staff
                Anna  3.87 38 13  19  25  23  28  9   11  C Sword, D Staff

Maintenance time: restocked on Tonics, javelins, and shifted around some weaponry.

Chapter 16 is looking to be a giant pain in the ass, so I might take a short siesta to pick up Morgan and try the Cavalier thing.

[Titamon]

Will you be doing a Lunatic playlog using the Number One Wishbone Infractor Interceptor?

[Interceptor]

Will you be doing a Lunatic playlog using the Number One Wishbone Infractor Interceptor?

I don't think so, although it's possible; I'll consider it after this one is over. Mostly this playthrough is for collecting Hard Mode data to use for tiering for particular units. Lunatic would be pretty serious business, and difficult to maintain a steady pace. In my first and only Lunatic run, I used strong units and didn't make any particular attempt to go quickly (Routed boss kill maps, stayed for reinforcements, trained on forts, etc).

In other news, I poked my head in Ch16, and Cervantes is beyond the capability of all of my fast units to kill/survive. Getting to him is not a problem, but Pavise stops Hammertime, and the Pegs + Fred certainly cannot survive a crush of promoted units on Enemy Phase. Linde can bypass Pavise, but she can't ORKO, and certainly is not surviving Enemy Phase with nothing but 19 DEF and Peg Knight Pair-Up partner.

This is annoying, but I think that I will have to put Rally Specturm on hold and reclass her into a Sorcerer.

[grandjackal]

In other news, I poked my head in Ch16, and Cervantes is beyond the capability of all of my fast units to kill/survive. Getting to him is not a problem, but Pavise stops Hammertime, and the Pegs + Fred certainly cannot survive a crush of promoted units on Enemy Phase. Linde can bypass Pavise, but she can't ORKO, and certainly is not surviving Enemy Phase with nothing but 19 DEF and Peg Knight Pair-Up partner.

This is annoying, but I think that I will have to put Rally Specturm on hold and reclass her into a Sorcerer.

First off, did you remember your tonics?

Secondly, I would recommend getting Morgan and reclassing into Dark Mage instead, preserving your Spectrum levels.

[Interceptor]

Which tonics? Linde would need 45mt to cleanly ORKO the boss (not reasonable even with forged Arcthunder and a MAG booster), and 21 DEF isn't much better than 19 DEF when you're facing two guys with 40+ mt and three with 31-34mt... she only has 42 HP. I suppose I could come in from the left, but if one of those 40+ badasses lands a glove on her, that's gg.

Morgan is trash; I don't have the Femvatar/Chrom version. His stats as a Dark Mage are hilariously bad. Only 36 HP, 11 DEF, 14 SPD, 14 MAG... yeesh.

I mean, I could always fight my way to Cervantes. Nowi certainly gives zero effs about the promoted units, but I'm trying to maintain a decent speed, here.

[grandjackal]

I keep forgetting that HP Tonics aren't available until after chapter 16.

Hmmm...Have you thought about Rescue Shenanigans to slingshot Nowi forward to clear the way for others to Cervantes? Have your Rescuers choose spots that would minimize their enemy phase exposure if you're worried, then pull with what other units you have?

[Interceptor]

That'll be my Plan B. Between Rescue and Olivia, I can get Nowi to face a lot of action pretty much right away, with good ORKO numbers. Certainly she (and Sully, for that matter) can clear a path for Linde and the Pegs, no sweat. Cervantes is obviously no problem at all if I peel away his promoted bodyguards. I'll see how Morgan's chapter plays out first; Linde needs a couple levels before she's eligible for reclass anyway.

Edited April 9, 2013 by Interceptor

[Redwall]

forgive me if you've tried this, but how about a Dual Strike with (possibly forged) Hammertime Donnel? At S support, each DS should have a 60% or so chance of landing, giving you an 84% chance of a KO when combined with Arcthunder x2. Though given the fact that you've been pairing Pegs with Linde, you'll probably have to get a bit creative with Dance/Rescue in the absence of the extra Mov afforded by the Pegs.

[Interceptor]

If this was an LTC, I'd definitely go for something like that; but for the purposes of this particular log, I'd like to avoid things with pretty catastrophic failure conditions. Mobility aside (I think pulling that off might be difficult... as you said, some creativity would be required), Linde would probably not survive the 16% whiff chance, since a lot of potential hit combinations would end up killing her. It's not as if Cerv always acts first on Enemy Phase, either, which would made it academic (she could certainly survive two hits from him, though just barely).

Lesson learned: always have a Nostank available. You never know when you'll need to hit RES and never die.

[Interceptor]

OP updated with Paralogue 12.

[spoiler=Paralogue 12, Disowned by Time]

Morgan's recruitment paralogue, a Kill Boss. Keys to the chapter: recruit Morgan, get him promoted and fed as much EXP as possible, and collect whatever else I can in the meantime, while I rush the boss. There are three treasures here (Bullion, Seal, Fortify), but I don't particularly care about any of them.

Linde is the only unit capable of ORKO'ing the boss (a Griffon Rider with Lancebreaker… yikes), so she hops on Sumia's back and makes a beeline for him with Elwind. It will take three turns to get there, so I use this time to get Morgan set up.

First: an Anna Rescue, Chrom recruit, pass him a Seal and Javelin, reclass to Cavalier, clear a spot with Sully, Dance for another turn, Ward Morgan, Pair him with Lucina (for the SPD), and then start dicing it up with mages. Whew. Morgan gets 100 EXP a kill, and 24-25 for every non-fatal attack. Since he can take a good 3-4 hits from the enemies here, as long as I keep him topped off from behind with Physic, he's good to go. He rockets through levels in this chapter going from baseline to halfway to level nine before the end. It was pretty impressive.

Nowi takes the right-hand side for the Bullion (because why not), and CordeliaxKellam run interference and clear things out of Morgan's way so that he can face as much Enemy Phase activity as possible. A short, but very successful chapter overall. I wasn't able to get Linde to level 10, so I'll just have to handle Ch15 the old-fashioned way.

Turns (Chapter/Total): 3/90

Heroes: Lucina & Morgan

Funds: 39,519G

                     Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp                 Support
               Linde  9.39 43 25  24  16  27  16  20  15  D Sword, A Tome      S Donnel + others
               Chrom 18.69 34 18  4   14  15  15  16  6   A Sword              S Sully
           Frederick 10.71 37 15  2   18  14  7   18  6   C Swd, A Axe/Lance   S Sumia, C Linde
               Sully  6.11 44 22  7   25  19  21  22  13  B Sword, A Lance     S Chrom
               Sumia  2.93 34 14  9   25  28  22  11  18  A Lance, E Staff     S Fred, C Linde
              Donnel  1.95 34 16  1   14  14  20  12  5   D Axe                S Linde, C others
            Cordelia  4.62 44 20  13  23  24  15  15  14  A Lance, E Staff     S Kellam
              Kellam  8.46 24 11  1   9   8   3   14  2   C Lance              S Cordelia + others
No One Will Interfere 26.45 53 22  8   18  13  17  17  14  -                    S Gregor
              Gregor 13.19 33 13  1   15  11  8   11  2   B Sword              S N.O.W.I.
               Libra  2.96 40 14  16  14  15  10  11  17  C Axe/Staff
                Anna  4.31 39 13  20  26  23  28  10  11  C Sword, D Staff
              Lucina 10.39 31 14  4   16  15  15  13  6   C Sword
              Morgan  8.60 43 22  15  19  20  18  18  11  E Sword, C Lance     C Linde/Donnel

Morgan builds supports with his parents, LindexSumia advances to C. I pick up a couple of Rescue staves for my Pegs, just in case. WTF@ Morgan being better than Lucina after only three Turns worth of training. Aptitude is serious business.

[MercuryHg34]

It sure is... So this would be the payoff for putting up with Donnel for so long, huh?

[Interceptor]

OP updated with Chapter 16.

[spoiler=Chapter 16, Naga's Voice]

This is a boss kill, and since nobody on my team can hurt Cervantes except Linde, the goal is to get her up to him as quickly as possible, before the reinforcements arrive and ruin my day. There is some treasure to be had on this map (via killing Thieves), but there's nothing particularly important aside from a Speedwing.

There are fast units on this map, so I distribute SPD Tonics (plus STR/DEF Tonics for Morgan) to the people that need them. I decide to train Morgan at the same time as using him as a ferry for Linde. Turn 1 finds me killing off a Hero that's blocking the way (combination SullyxChrom + MorganxLinde), Dancing Morgan as far forward as possible, and setting him up with a Javelin for Enemy Phase. CordeliaxKellam took the right hand side, and Nowi joined Sully on the left.

What happened next, was a sight to behold. Morgan went apeshit on everything that attacked him, getting ORKOs (both clean and proc-assisted, for the promoted units) all over the place, netting up to 100 EXP per kill. Remember how he was level 8 at the end of the Paralogue? He leveled up so many times that he was green-capping stats at level 15, and I ended up using the plunder from a Sniper (Master Seal) to promote him to Great Knight, since he was just wasting growth headroom at that point. I kept him healthy from afar with Physic from Libra, although once he promoted he basically stopped taking damage altogether.

I goofed up the second-to-last Enemy Phase, since Morgan's javelin broke and his replacement was underneath a Steel Lance (so he couldn't counter three of the promoted units that attacked him), but seeing as how he's already blown the doors off of basically every unit in my army at this point, a couple levels won't make that much of a difference. Cervantes was an easy Linde kill (3HKO with Arcthunder) for a three turn clear.

Turns (Chapter/Total): 3/93

Heroes: Linde & Morgan

Funds: 39,519G

                     Lvl   HP STR MAG SKL SPD LCK DEF RES WExp                 Support
               Linde 10.67 44 25  24  16  27  16  20  15  D Sword, A Tome      S Donnel + others
               Chrom 19.10 34 18  4   15  15  16  17  6   A Sword              S Sully
           Frederick 10.71 37 15  2   18  14  7   18  6   C Swd, A Axe/Lance   S Sumia, C Linde
               Sully  7.29 45 23  8   26  20  22  22  13  B Sword, A Lance     S Chrom
               Sumia  2.93 34 14  9   25  28  22  11  18  A Lance, E Staff     S Fred, C Linde
              Donnel  1.95 34 16  1   14  14  20  12  5   D Axe                S Linde, C others
            Cordelia  5.21 45 21  13  24  24  16  16  14  A Lance, E Staff     S Kellam
              Kellam  8.53 24 11  1   9   8   3   14  2   C Lance              S Cordelia + others
No One Will Interfere 26.99 53 22  8   18  13  17  17  14  -                    S Gregor
              Gregor 13.19 33 13  1   15  11  8   11  2   B Sword              S N.O.W.I.
               Libra  3.31 41 14  17  14  15  10  11  17  C Axe/Staff
                Anna  4.64 39 13  20  26  23  28  10  11  C Sword, D Staff
              Lucina 11.72 32 15  4   17  16  15  14  7   C Sword
              Morgan  2.60 59 33  18  24  26  25  29  17  E Swd/Axe, B Lnc     C Linde/Donnel

Holy hell, Morgan with Veteran/Aptitude is ridiculous. He just blew past Sully and never even looked back.

It sure is... So this would be the payoff for putting up with Donnel for so long, huh?

Payoff is putting it mildly. I just won the offspring lottery. It probably didn't even require training Donnel at all, just getting the support.

[RNG Princess]

Morgan is laughing at everything I can hear him o3o. Now I want to do my own playthrough.