Let's Play Fire Emblem STEAM [Screenshot] (Code Name S.T.E.A.M. amiibos only playthrough)

[Alastor15243]

I've always hated Prowlers, because they're really annoying to kill and constantly wreck me. Maybe I was using a bad team loadout for assaulting their heads...

They're actually jokes once you get The fox. Until then what I usually do is have Tom Sawyer with the crossbow and scout boiler team up with Tiger Lily with the patriot boiler and the stun mortar and have her just spam stun until they're stunned and then have sawyer punch them and then crossbow them once it's exposed. The punch gun, since it can stun, I don't think will ever un-stun them.

Edited September 10, 2015 by Alastor15243

[Alastor15243]

Mission 3-1

Here's my loadout.

...And say hello to my least favorite units in the game: Eyestalkers. To hell with these things. They're unkillable (the worst you can do is shoot them to make them teleport a few feet away), and simply being seen by them allows them to spot for a gigantic living ice cannon alien that does extreme amounts of damage. And the worst part? Either every turn or every other turn, they will teleport near your party, so any map with these things is a map that you have to keep moving on. Thankfully, that last part's not a huge problem for me, at least in the sense that my party's not built for taking things slow, since it lacks decent overwatch attacks.

Right then, time to explain my loadout. Everything you need to know is in this picture. Marth and Ike are going to head up that ramp while Robin and Lucina will be doing things the straightforward way, and I chose this for two reasons: 1: Robin and Lucina have much better firepower between them, and the main path requires more firepower, and 2: the upper ramp makes a great use of Marth's destiny and introduces a new feature that Ike will be great for, because it gives him a new, non-useless, way to spend his steam.

I expected Marth to only be knocked one space by Ike's kick due to the incline. Instead, Marth ricocheted off the incline pretty much straight upward, flew offscreen, and came down... two spaces forward. Right, now to demonstrate why Marth's useful here:

This hound. This hound here will overwatch pretty much anyone who tries to walk up this ramp before you can shoot it with anything other than overhead lobbing weapons like Nidhogg or John Henry's bear grenade or any of the numerous grenade subweapons that you can unlock that render John completely and totally obsolete. This will very frequently stun anyone who isn't immune to stun...

...Or overwatches.

With the last of Ike's steam, he pushes Marth forward a pitiful amount. I think it has to do with the incline he was just barely on.

My OCD hates me right now. I quiet it by pointing out there's a small steam refill a little further down the path.

Meanwhile, Lucina takes care of one of the slashers...

...While Robin takes care of the other one with his levin sword (a lucky damage-doubling stun meant he saved on some steam by having both attacks be levin sword attacks rather than the second one being a tome blast).

That's everyone. End turn.

The second hound on the upper deck attacks Marth, as I knew he would.

One of the hounds on the ground attacks Lucina and gets one shot in. Other than that? Nothing really happens, just some advancing enemies.

The hound who dared to graze Lucina is swiftly dealt with, as is another one who was getting close to Robin.

I attempt to have Ike kill two birds with one stone by smashing an obstacle that made the path to the steam refill longer while damaging the hound some. Unfortunately it backfired because the hitbox of Ragnell is annoyingly difficult to determine and Marth wound up taking a (thankfully light because Ragnell sucks) beating, sending him far enough away from the refill to render the destroyed obstacle (almost) entirely pointless. I had to move Marth some and have Ike kick him to get back any semblance of a bonus from the destroyed obstacle, and then I had to rapier the hound from two spaces away instead of the usual one to salvage some reserve steam that Marth so desperately needs.

Thankfully enough Rapier thrusts hit that he died in the expected two attacks.

Finally, Robin takes care of another hound hiding behind some barrels before that guy can do any harm.

End turn.

Not much happens, but then...

The eyestalker starts showing up.

I have Robin and Lucina quickly get out of there, advancing down the main path with Robin nabbing the terminal since his steam is harder to max out.

Ah yes, and here we arrive at that exciting new feature I was talking about earlier: mountable weapons. Climb into one of these things and instantly your weapons are replaced with powerful cannons that do tons of damage in one of a few ways depending on the vehicle. This here is a turret, meaning you can't move and you can only aim generally in the vicinity of one of the four cardinal directions, but the cannon does 100 damage for 3 steam, and since Ike's got few things better to do with that steam, the enemy's in for a world of hurt next turn when Ike steps inside this.

Marth moves a little forward.

End turn.

Robin takes a bit of damage from one of the enemies guarding the exit. Nothing else happens.

Alas, it would seem that the only enemy left in range of the turret is the one who just attacked Robin. Oh well. It was still fun to see Ike man a turret in the first place. With one or two exceptions, Ike is usually going to be the one I have pilot vehicles.

Marth jumps down off of the upper platform and prepares to approach the goal (though he might not make it in time to be useful).

Robin takes care of the hound, and Lucina moves up, preparing to assist Robin in taking down the prowlers next turn (these ones have guns, by the way, not grenade launchers).

End turn.

One of the prowlers starts moving towards my team, and Robin fires off two overwatches, neither of which is lucky enough to stun. A hound drops down from somewhere and comes up from behind...

...And the eyestalker is back.

The two prowlers quickly fall prey to Nidhogg, but immediately after I realize to my horror that Lucina can't actually escape from the eyestalker's range with her remaining steam. Oh dear, this is gonna hurt.

...Except not.

Mission complete!

Edited September 11, 2015 by Alastor15243

[BrightBow]

So far, this is the only map where I found a way to beat it on the first turn. This one is a good example where Lucina's combination of abilities comes in handy.

You approached the exit by circling around the building from the left, but you can also get around the right. It's just that there is a hole in the ground, so you need someone who can jump. The advantage of this route is that once you are over the gap, the exist is literally right ahead of you, so Lucina can simply use her special to immunize herself against overwatch and dash right into it.

Edited September 11, 2015 by BrightBow

[Alastor15243]

So far, this is the only map where I found a way to beat it on the first turn. This one is a good example where Lucina's combination of abilities comes in handy.

You approached the exit by circling around the building from the left, but you can also get around the right. It's just that there is a hole in the ground, so you need someone who can jump. The advantage of this route is that once you are over the gap, the exist is literally right ahead of you, so Lucina can simply use her special to immunize herself against overwatch and dash right into it.

Wow, seriously? I have to try that sometime. Now now though, I've gotta finish mission 3-2 first.

[Alastor15243]

Mission 3-2

Alright, this is the mission where we actually get to see, and attack, the gunner alien that the eyestalker was spotting for last map. Our mission is to kill it. It's a lot easier than it sounds, especially with the weapons we have available.

Here's my loadout. Pretty straightforward, no real important reasons for this lineup except that it puts everyone in good positions to make good progress in the map and reserve steam.

Now I would have Ike kick Marth here, but the problem is that due to the directions he'll be going in, kicking him two spaces forward here would actually leave him just as far away from the destination as he currently is. Plus, not doing it allows Ike to begin next turn with full steam.

I love cutting corners with Lucina's Parallel Falchion.

This is going to be an exceptionally easy level, and I mostly want to use it to test a theory I have about Ike that I will explain once it becomes relevant and which, if true, will make my battles with a certain boss monster in the future much easier.

End turn.

Not much happens aside from Robin getting attacked from the main floor by a hound twice. I'm not even going to bother retaliating, it's not important at the moment. My main concern is getting to the second-floor balcony.

To that end, I have Lucina advance some and take down one of the hounds nearby, eliminating the only enemy standing between her and victory. Robin follows and shares a square with her.

I'm torn. I'd really like to try taking down these hounds by abusing Marth's destiny skill, but because of the aforementioned experiment, I really can't afford to have Ike help him, because he's gotta hurry to the balcony. Instead, Marth stands his ground so that the aliens will get closer and he can start picking them off effectively on his own. If he can't, he may very well die, but this isn't a no-death run, I can always revive him next map, and he's pretty much irrelevant to my plans in this mission anyway. The Hero King is expendable here.

End turn.

As predicted, the hounds start to approach Marth, but the corner makes it difficult to properly aim, and only one attack gets through from the first one. And that's when the AI starts getting stupid. The hound actually has the poor judgement to present its rear to Marth, and one of the other hounds fires uselessly at Ike. This is going to be the beginning of a slaughter, Ike or no Ike.

And now the eyestalker shows up. It may be mildly annoying depending on how quickly I can get things done, but I don't think it stands a chance of foiling my plan. At any rate, I move Ike towards the balcony to prepare for the experiment.

Lucina arrives at the balcony, triggering a cutscene where we get a look at the gunner. The main thing to worry about is that it itself functions like a very long-range eyestalker itself. If it can see you, you'll be hit by a gunner attack. The worst part is that the number of shots fired isn't dependent on the number of gunners on the map, but on the number of sightings. If the gunner can see you, and two eyestalkers can see you, it doesn't matter that there's only one gunner, you're going to get hit three times. In short, stay the hell out of range of gunners and eyestalkers whenever you can.

Thankfully, and this is the reason why this map is going to be so easy, Lucina can easily snipe the thing from the balcony (as can Robin), but I forgot that she can only do it from a bit further back on the balcony. As she was backing up, she got overwatched by that prowler you see in the picture. I had to expend all of Lucina's reserve steam to make it weak enough for Robin to kill with Tome.

Oh Mr. Hound, prepare yourself for a world of unfathomable pain.

Alas, it seems that there are more hounds where that came from, and I suspect Marth will only be able to stall them so that they don't bother Robin, Lucina and Ike as they do their job. I move Marth back a bit with his remaining non-reserve steam, and prepare for the next hound to try to attack.

End turn.

Another hound attacks Marth, this time landing all three shots. Another of the hounds snipes at Robin, bringing him to rather low health, but if it becomes necessary, the balcony has a healing pickup.

Aaaaaand I just remembered this is an “every turn” eyestalker, not the “every other turn” eyestalker of the previous map. Right, let's try to get this done as quickly as possible then. Time for the experiment.

See, I noticed previously that the way Ragnell seems to work is that it goes in a straight path, knocking back small enemies, piercing through all enemies, and dealing pitiful damage at a constant, rapid rate. I theorize that if I shot Ragnell into a large enemy that can't be knocked back, I might actually see some interesting damage output. Testing now.

...It's hard to tell what the results were since the enemy's health bar is off the charts, but I think I counted six shots, suggesting 30 damage. That' abysmal for 4 steam, but maybe if we work at it we could get a bigger output than that.

...Either those attacks did a lot more damage than I thought, or the gunner's HP is just barely off the charts. Intriguing. I must see this in action now, though it will require Ike to take a cannon hit. The eyestalker is focused on him, so I'm certain he's the one who's going to get attacked next turn, and the others are safely out of the way.

Marth takes down another hound downstairs.

End turn.

Marth's down. Your sacrifice shall not be in vain, friend.

And Ike took a cannon shot. It's okay, he's fine.

...Except that this somehow shot him into the sighting range of the gunner, who fires a second shot...

...Which some how... misses... entirely. I didn't even know that could happen.

...Right, here's his HP before Ragnell, and here's his HP after the attack, conveniently with the 55 damage of Nidhogg highlighted for comparison. ...The damage doesn't really seem too significant. But at least it's something, and gunners aren't even the largest enemies in the game. Maybe they'll do better against... those things... anybody who's already done this game knows what I'm talking about.

...Anyway, mission complete!

Edited September 11, 2015 by Alastor15243

[BrightBow]

The artillery must have hit the ceiling. This level was hell for me initially, since I didn't realize that I could simply block those shots by standing below of something.

Edited September 11, 2015 by BrightBow

[Alastor15243]

The artillery must have hit the ceiling. This level was hell for me initially, since I didn't realize that I could simply block those shots by standing below of something.

Really? I never really dared to let them try it, so I never discovered that before now. I assumed since half of the level took place indoors, the attacks would ignore roofs.

[TheMoniker]

Really? I never really dared to let them try it, so I never discovered that before now. I assumed since half of the level took place indoors, the attacks would ignore roofs.

Nope, I remember desperately surviving quite a few times just by cowering under buildings as the shots hit the ceiling uselessly. Heck, they can be used to destroy aliens above you if you're really crazy. Of course, when you do get caught in the open, they are indeed the WORST THING EVER.

[Alastor15243]

Mission 4-1

Mission 3 was the first mission with just 2 maps, and mission 4 is the second one. The first map will be a simple “get to the goal” map, and the second one is going to be a “find all the civilians” map. The second one is probably going to get annoying if I can't remember where all the civilians are, but we'll get to that later.

Here's my loadout.

And here's the resulting formation. This map is split into three main aisles, and I'm going to be taking the middle one. Without any gears to collect or multiple objectives to accomplish there's really no reason to split up the party on this map.

I do the usual, keep Marth stationary while he gets kicked forward a few spaces by Ike.

A reasonably high priority is taking care of these two turrets. As far as I know, these are inaccessible to my units, so I'm just going to destroy them. If I don't, they'll start shooting at my units if I get too close, and even before then they're going to be attacking a pretty cool tank towards the end of the map that my units can ride, so best abuse the terminals to take care of them as soon as possible. I take care of this one and then have just enough steam left to reach the other terminal, and I use that too.

Meanwhile, Lucina, after a majestic leap from high on a crate over to where Robin is, spots a new alien, a ripper. These things are tough and quite strong, but fortunately are melee-restricted and also blind, and so rely on the sounds you make to tell where to go. They then steamroll straight towards any sounds they hear, smashing through all obstacles on their way there. They'll also attack their fellow aliens if they're in the way. These things will do nightmarish things to your health if you let them attack you at close range (they can hit a LOT of times, their attacks seem to cost absolutely nothing, they just run into you), so we're going to take this thing out right away.

It took all of Lucina's remaining steam and most of Robin's remaining team to kill it, but it's dead.

End turn.

Unfortunately I didn't get all the rippers in the immediate area, and another nearby one attacks Lucina, while two more show up on the left aisle of the map.

A combination of Levin Sword and Nidhogg attacks fells the ripper who attacked Lucina.

I'm going to try and overwatch these two rippers with Marth.

End turn.

It would appear that, since unlike with slashers, rippers don't pause between getting close to you and attacking you, the rapier is utterly ineffectual as an overwatch defense against them.

IT WOULD ALSO APPEAR THAT THEY CAN USE LEDGES.

Thank goodness that it was in range of the rapier immediately after jumping down. Marth saved my entire team a good deal of pain right there.

Some kicks from Ike and some slashes and stabs from Marth later...

...I advance everybody ahead a bit, and leave Marth near the ledge in case another one comes by. I want to do some more experimentation against the rippers and he's really the best defense my team has against them, pathetic though it may be.

...Okay scratch that, it's not really much of a defense at all.

I have Robin take down the second and final turret, meaning the way forward is clear save for any more enemies.

I also have Marth kill this ripper, since aside from Lodestar, he clearly lacks anything else useful to do on this map other than kill whatever straggling enemies he happens to be near.

Lucina jumps over some obstacles, Ike kicks Marth back towards the group a bit, and my turn is over.

Nothing noticeable happens on the enemy phase.

I advance further with Lucina while the others are stuck trying to get through obstacles. Robin winds up blowing them up to speed things along.

End turn. Nothing happens.

Ike pushes both Robin and Marth forward a bit, and then we get...

...This beautiful thing, the extremely powerful bison tank, which is basically a turret on wheels and with 360 aiming. It can destroy obstacles even grenades (and tome and Urvan) can't break, including the quickest way to the exit. Pity we couldn't use this thing against any of those rippers before. Ah well, time to do what I always do and rush to the exit.

Goal exposed, singular (and probably highly complacent) prowler guard crippled...

...Then slain.

Mission complete!

Edited September 12, 2015 by Alastor15243

[BrightBow]

When I played this level for the first time, it felt almost unreal to be in such a position of power. All those Eyestalkers and heavy artillery in the last mission were absolutely brutal, and the game wasn't exactly pulling any punches before that. And here, I suddenly get a tank who can't be stopped by anything on the map. Of course, there is still the artillery, but the tank can effortlessly shot them down.

[Alastor15243]

When I played this level for the first time, it felt almost unreal to be in such a position of power. All those Eyestalkers and heavy artillery in the last mission were absolutely brutal, and the game wasn't exactly pulling any punches before that. And here, I suddenly get a tank who can't be stopped by anything on the map. Of course, there is still the artillery, but the tank can effortlessly shot them down.

I was annoyed that I got the tank so late into the level, when there was so little to do with it.

[IGdood]

ITT: XCOM: Fire Emblem

[Alastor15243]

Alright, to pass the time before Fire Emblem Fates (which I also plan to do a LP of, roleplaying), I'm gonna start up this series again! New parts coming soon!