FE8 Mountless LTC Challenge

[PKL]

That was a beautifully executed Ch12. Good job.

[Espinosa]

Thanks!

I don't mourn the lack of FE5 takegive much because cavalry units make rescuedropping so easy (and in FE8 it's often a superfluous feature in LTC strats, which is a shame). I believe in C14 Tethys spends at least two turns being carried around, which with FE5 mechanics could've been spent more productively.

I can imagine it making a big difference in FE6 though, since a lot of your units have more business to attend to aside from carrying foot units and Roy.

i.e. Artur is 2 Barrier uses away from hitting A staves as of the beginning of C15. Anyway, I hope to get done with the desert in 4 turns, with a faint glimpse of 3-turning again like I did in the Females Only run (seems a bit too ambitious without flight though).

[Espinosa]

Chapter 13 in 2 turns.

Good level-ups here!

[Carter]

No Amelia, Marisa or CORMAG? Dang! I guess you gotta sacrifice for LTC.

[Shadow Mir]

No Amelia, Marisa or CORMAG? Dang! I guess you gotta sacrifice for LTC.

Sad but true. It's not like he would've been able to use Cormag, anyways...

Edited October 24, 2013 by Levant Fortner

[Rainbow Skittles]

amelia wouldn't be that helpful anyway, having 4 move at base and having pretty poor bases

marisa could be okay with a shamshir/killing edge, but i think her strength might dissapoint for orkoing.

[Espinosa]

Considering the roles Gilliam and Joshua played on this run, it's not much of a loss really.

[Hawk King]

Alright, where is Chp 14? Thats the one I really wanna see.

[Espinosa]

Might wait a bit since I have deadlines at work; in fact, pulling an all-nighter tonight so as not to fail. Dunno what I'm doing lurking right now haha. But yeah chapters 14/15 should be focal to the whole run (kinda like chapter 9 and sometimes 12 I guess).

[Espinosa]

Chapter 14 in 7 turns AKA "who needs mounts part 2"

I think this is the second chapter where Dozla can be rightfully called the MVP.

[Hawk King]

Good job. Being able to skip the SS helps. How many extra turns would that have taken? 2 or do you think an 8-turn strat could be worked out?

[PKL]

That felt like more than 7 turns lol. I was like: "Whoa, its only been 7 turns?" when you showed the turncount at the end.

[Espinosa]

I actually think there's a distant probability of a 6-turn: it would involve Rennac as the frontliner (since he's the furthest in when recruited), Lute instead of Ross (light enough to be carried by Rennac; same cannot be said about Artur iirc) and a lot of rigging and playing with death to divert the enemies away from Rennac. The bosskilling would also be really questionable - probably Lute would have to double Carlyle? Not really sure how that would work.

An 8-turn might be possible with the SS, but frankly, there's really no reason to go secret shopping on this challenge.

Also, I've been looking at the desert chapter and it looks like Moulder gains a level by defeating the Berserker and two Pegs (who are weighed down enough to be doubled by 10 AS), which gets him another level w/ Bishop's accelerated growth (Veteran lol). What this mostly means is that Moulder can hit 14 mag, implying that Artur needn't take any of the two remaining Energy Rings (he should hit 28 mag just by virtue of all the endgame warping).

And it also looks like Saleh is not hitting A staves ever (it might help for chapter 18 but even then I don't know what Horace means when he says the map can be 4-turned), but he should be getting to B just fine by using Hammerne the last two times.

[Espinosa]

I think I can 3-turn the desert yet again, in spite of the crippling absence of fliers but this is going to be really tedious because like a couple dozen things could go wrong (I might be forced to obtain Warp using 9 luck Gerik...). I mostly got the "who goes where" figured out though.

[Nicolas]

I think I can 3-turn the desert yet again, in spite of the crippling absence of fliers but this is going to be really tedious because like a couple dozen things could go wrong (I might be forced to obtain Warp using 9 luck Gerik...). I mostly got the "who goes where" figured out though.

Well, 9% 10% is pretty good chance to get it...

And it's not that bad, like criting with 1%.

Edited October 27, 2013 by Nicolas

[PKL]

I think I can 3-turn the desert yet again, in spite of the crippling absence of fliers but this is going to be really tedious because like a couple dozen things could go wrong (I might be forced to obtain Warp using 9 luck Gerik...). I mostly got the "who goes where" figured out though.

Just do the desert RNG trick...

[Espinosa]

Just do the desert RNG trick...

I don't think that even works in FE8. At least that's what ZM told me; I never tried myself.

[ZemZem]

I tried it a few times in FE8 with no luck, so I don't think it works.

[PKL]

I don't think that even works in FE8. At least that's what ZM told me; I never tried myself.

I think it was a different method or was that FE7? Even if that fails though, can't you just ferry some thief there.

[Espinosa]

Ferrying Rennac/Colm is definitely out but I think if I can manage to KO Caellach before turn 3 EP, Rennac can just walk there (he really doesn't want to actually fight on his way there, though). If I'm fielding Rennac, I think I'll switch Innes out - his lack of enemy phase is actually a big liability this one time.

So I guess that adds yet another difficult objective to this already ridiculously multi-objectival 3-turn strat.

I'm also really considering sending Eirika and Moulder south (not sure if they'll manage to do anything there but there's always Tethys) and try having Dozla solo the 2 Mercs, the Zerker and the peg reinforcements.

I'm also not yet sure if Ross can reach Valter on turn 3. Neither he nor Artur can double him but at least Ross's crit is much bigger with the Killer Axe (though against Valter's 3 luck even Excalibur's +10 crit with S anima is an okay chance... but since we need the crit on EP, good luck massaging one in).

Meanwhile, Gerik's overkill offence (not anymore overkill than Ross's or Artur's though) is surprisingly useful for quickly dealing with Caellach and he actually tanks hits too.

[BBM]

Dozla more like BULLDOZLA

[Vykan_12]

Getting desert items in FE8 is based on the same RNG as level-ups, hits, crits, etc.

[Espinosa]

I just learnt that; seems to take exactly 1 RN as well (everytime a non-thief/rogue steps into the zone). I went ahead and sent Rennac for the Warp staff regardless, while Colm went for the Boots since the limitations to RNG abuse are mostly strict for this run (I can reset the game all I want for the desired outcome, but path tracing is preferrably avoided besides really tiny bits on the most tedious occasions and RNG hacking entirely out of question).

Yeah, Dozla is surprisingly great on this run - MVP in 2 maps for Berserker utility (peakwalk and critting) and pretty useful here too. His speed proc also enables him to avoid being doubled by the eastern zerker in the desert; how convenient.

[Vykan_12]

Yeah, Dozla's a heavily underrated character. He's great at pretty much anything except being fast, yet that one limiting factor makes most people think that he sucks. Being able to hit very hard in 1 hit (like FE9-10 Mordy) while being durable and not restricted to armor/general level movement is very valuable, and there's plenty of enemies Dozla can ORKO regardless.

[Espinosa]

Yeah, it's a great thing I didn't need a promotion item to use this guy for all sorts of utility.

Turn 3 over (after hours of work) and... 1 Wyvern Rider alive, who attacked Tethys on turn 3 EP. I really hate myself for not having extra 3 staff wexp on Artur right now, because it'd be a "clean" 3-turn without it (though I did bust my ass to get this far in). I'll still see if something can be done though. Quite a lot of attacks to re-arrange on turn 3 (and 2 for that matter) to make some changes.