Video FE10 HM LTC (expected ~125 turns)

[ruadath]

1-3 cleared in 3 turns!

Apologies for the sound glitch at the end. Also, note that after recording this video, I reset a bunch more times (Laura and Micaiah's survival odds aren't that bad) so that Micaiah could crit kill the one soldier and hit level 3. I also got Ilyana her HP transfer (100% necessary for the next chapter)

Edited January 12, 2016 by ruadath

[Mekkah]

That seems like such an obvious way to get Micaiah in escape range in retrospect, lol.

[ruadath]

Yeah, I know right? The real problem isn't getting Micaiah in escape range (it's pretty obvious how to do that, just 2 shoves on Sothe suffice). Figuring out how to get Edward to kill the boss was the real problem; I knew from a while back that I wanted Edward to double crit with the Steel Sword, but I couldn't figure out how to get him next to the knight, especially without the Hand Axe from 1-1 (I've yet to figure out how to get both the Steel Sword and the Hand Axe). I always seemed to fall one space short, up until I realized that I wasn't using Laura! And that's what inspired the clear lol.

[dondon151]

yeah the problem always had been getting edward to kill the boss. i more or less had the idea for how to 3-turn without aran but i assumed for the longest time that you 3-turned with aran which seemed very impossible.

[ruadath]

Yeah, I don't think Aran actually gives you anything besides some unnecessary shoves for 1-4 and 1-6 and a Sleep Staff from some Base Conversation.

EDIT:

yeah the problem always had been getting edward to kill the boss. i more or less had the idea for how to 3-turn without aran but i assumed for the longest time that you 3-turned with aran which seemed very impossible.

I'm not trying to run you down or anything, but I'm actually not quite sure what you mean by that. As far as I was aware, no one knew that picking up the Steel Sword in 1-1 was possible up until I posted the new video (probably because no one thought to rig 1% Leonardo crits, and everyone was focused on getting the Hand Axe). Perhaps you mean in the context of a 4 turn clear of 1-1? Again, no offense intended, just not sure what you mean.

Edited January 12, 2016 by ruadath

[Nintales]

I don't know if I have to say "wow" for the MVP being Leonardo or for that RNG abusing in chapter 3 + the idea of getting Edward to kill the knight.

Probably both.

EDIT : What are the transfers on Ilyana though? Curious to know.

Edited January 13, 2016 by Nintales

[dondon151]

I'm not trying to run you down or anything, but I'm actually not quite sure what you mean by that. As far as I was aware, no one knew that picking up the Steel Sword in 1-1 was possible up until I posted the new video (probably because no one thought to rig 1% Leonardo crits, and everyone was focused on getting the Hand Axe). Perhaps you mean in the context of a 4 turn clear of 1-1? Again, no offense intended, just not sure what you mean.

chiki told me that edward could ORKO the armor with a double steel sword crit and i thought "oh 3-turning 1-3 without aran is probably not that hard then." however, i was under the impression that aran had to be recruited. i assumed that aran was recruited when i first did 1-6-1 and detailed a shove train based on that assumption.

i am not physically playing this game so i can only come up with strategies based on what other players are telling me.

Edited January 13, 2016 by dondon151

[Junkhead]

1-3 cleared in 3 turns!

Apologies for the sound glitch at the end. Also, note that after recording this video, I reset a bunch more times (Laura and Micaiah's survival odds aren't that bad) so that Micaiah could crit kill the one soldier and hit level 3. I also got Ilyana her HP transfer (100% necessary for the next chapter)

SHREKT

Also, that sound glitch spoiler. ):

chiki told me that edward could ORKO the armor with a double steel sword crit and i thought "oh 3-turning 1-3 without aran is probably not that hard then." however, i was under the impression that aran had to be recruited. i assumed that aran was recruited when i first did 1-6-1 and detailed a shove train based on that assumption.

inb4 he comes back and redoes it to prove hes the very best there ever was

[ruadath]

Also, that sound glitch spoiler. ):

Yeah, sorry about that.

A thought I had after rewatching the video: Edward got shoved far enough that he can actually be used to kill the archer instead of the knight (Kard!Sothe hit+crits him). However, after performing an analysis of the situation, I think I've determined that this does not allow for any improvements over the first few chapters. The archer procs 12 Spd at lowest (I think), which means that Edward needs 4 levels in order to double him, so that's out of the question.

The archer also has 8 Def at lowest, and 24 HP, so to crit kill him with a single blow takes 16 Atk. To do this with the Iron Sword, Edward requires 3 levels, which is exactly what he got during this playthrough. He can one-shot him at base with the Steel Sword, but Edward has to be level 6 to one-shot Isaiya anyway, and he's not really taking away any EXP from anyone in the 1-2 clear (though I suppose I didn't have to reset as hard for the Edward crit in the middle of all of those Laura dodges).

[ruadath]

I don't know if I have to say "wow" for the MVP being Leonardo or for that RNG abusing in chapter 3 + the idea of getting Edward to kill the knight.

Probably both.

EDIT : What are the transfers on Ilyana though? Curious to know.

For some reason, I didn't see this until now. Ilyana has transfers on everything except Luck. When I recorded the video, I didn't have HP transfers on Ilyana, but I went back and edited the transfer file afterward. It's absolutely necessary to do this, since Ilyana is in "Normal" biorhythm during turn 2 of 1-4 thanks to the turn shave, which means that the boss pulls 100% hit on her.

Soon afterward, however, I realized (in the 1-5 video) that I forgot to remove Zihark's HP transfer. I was too lazy to redo everything again (and noticed that there were a few other problems with the transfer file as well), so I just decided to edit the save file in place and change all the transfers as the playthrough goes along. I'll make a list compiling all of the transfers (and PoR stat booster distribution) at the end of the playthrough, but so far I'll note that Ilyana got 1 of the 3 Seraph Robes, Jill got the Ashera Icons, and Tauroneo got the Speedwings (and maybe a Secret Book, I forget if he needs that to cap Skl).

I've been out camping for the long weekend, hence the lack of updates for a few days. 1-4 should be up fairly soon though. It's a surprisingly close call without Aran; I just barely had enough people to do all of the shoving, and Laura still hasn't gotten the chance to do any heals lol.

[ruadath]

As promised, here is 1-4 cleared in 2 turns!

Pretty much the same thing Chiki did (I think, can't confirm that anymore lol), except without Aran. Also, I didn't bother purchasing Beast Killer since it saved me some cash and only required an extra Kard crit each turn. I can get another one if I really need it before 3-6, but I doubt it's necessary. The menuing and general gameplay is pretty sloppy, so I apologize in advance for that. There are some unnecessary suspends and even an accidental double suspend! See if you can spot them lol.

As I said above, it ends up being surprisingly close to do this without Aran, and I didn't get a chance to heal at all with Laura. The only other noteworthy thing to mention in this chapter is that I realized after recording the video that the reliability of Turn 1 EP can be increased greatly by giving Micaiah Wrath (since the cat puts her in that range). I made that edit to the playthrough afterward, and reset until Ilyana got a slightly better level, though this really shouldn't end up affecting anything in the long run. IIRC, this is the last time I do this in part 1 (for anything besides shopping), and hopefully for the rest of the playthrough.

Edited January 20, 2016 by ruadath

[Espinosa]

Which characters end up not being recruited in absolute LTC, other than Aran?

[ruadath]

The only other one that comes to mind right now is Heather, though I may be forgetting someone.

EDIT: Perhaps Oliver as well, I'm not sure whether it is more efficient to kill him or recruit him.

Edited January 20, 2016 by ruadath

[Espinosa]

Well, it's either equally efficient or less efficient, I bet.

Does Stefan cost any turns at all?

[ruadath]

Oh right, duh. Yeah, Stefan's not going to get recruited; I knew I was missing someone.

Also, I'm not entirely sure yet, but I think I can improve the posted 1-4 strat to not spend BEXP on Micaiah and get Laura a heal. While this may seem like a very minor improvement, it is something I believe will be worth investigating, since

1) Conserving BEXP and spending it most efficiently is going to be ridiculously important for this playthrough (and in particular will make part 3 a nightmare, but we'll get to that later)

2) Thanks to RNG abuse, Micaiah easily hit level 14 without any BEXP before 1-9 in my first run of part 1, and in fact had a little bit extra EXP too. If I can trim the fat here, that would be a nice save.

3) The extra BEXP can be shoved down Laura's throat, which not only saves BEXP in the long run (since heals give the same amount of EXP regardless of level), but also might allow me to promote her during 1-E base, a little bit earlier than anticipated.

It would be a pain to redo 1-4 through 1-9 because of the RNG abuse... but I guess I'll just hope that the same RNG seeds will still work out (which they should as long as the levels don't occur at terrible times). I'll be looking into this and will let you know what happens.

[ruadath]

I forgot about this and I'm too lazy to do testing, so I figured I'd just ask you guys: does EXP from staves get cut in half upon promotion in this game?

[Nintales]

I forgot about this and I'm too lazy to do testing, so I figured I'd just ask you guys: does EXP from staves get cut in half upon promotion in this game?

I think that no, iirc. Had a "mage only run" and I don't think it lowers, else using heal for Archmages would be useless.

[ruadath]

Right, I remembered something like that, looked up a playthrough of 3-P on YouTube, and Rhys gets the full 12 EXP from using Mend.

I think I've routed my new strategy for Chapter 1-4; it's pretty much the same, although as I said before, I'm going to BEXP Laura a couple of levels instead of doing that to Micaiah, and in turn Micaiah is going to get a couple of extra kills to make up for that. The loser will end up being Sothe, but it should only be like 20 EXP, so I doubt it will really affect anything.

The last decision I need to make (before going ahead with the RNG abuse again...) is whether or not I want to buy Mend. I originally chose not to since I figured I'd run into monetary issues due to purchasing the Arms Scrolls and Statue Frag, but it looks like I'll be able to escape with a surplus of cash (and I've accounted for the DB purchases in Part 3, I think), so I figure I might as well spend the extra 1000G on Mend to save another ~100 BEXP. Probably inconsequential in the end (it will only be like 3 EXP for anyone by Part 4), but I guess every bit helps? And it boosts, Laura's WEXP if that matters.

If anyone has opinions about that, feel free to let me know.

[ruadath]

Just thought I'd give you guys a quick status update since I haven't posted for a few days:

- the/ 1-4 strategy has now been improved to give Laura 2 opportunities to Heal/Mend

- I've been focusing on moving and stuff so there hasn't been much work on actually implementing these strategies (i.e. resetting for desired RNG seeds). Expect to see the video at latest by the end of next weekend.

- I'm back at college now, and though that does mean that the speed of progress will be hindered (no desktop), I've managed to secure a... secure... location to leave my laptop running overnight (not my dorm room since I wouldn't be able to sleep from the noise) so I can still do my semi-automated resetting thing (this is actually pretty interesting, and I'd be happy to elaborate on this if you guys care, but if you'd prefer me to spare the details, I can do that too)

- Now that I have ridiculous bandwidth again, I can actually upload my videos of the 1-5 through 1-9 clears that I've been holding onto for a while, but since I'm redoing 1-4, I'm not sure there is really any purpose in doing so. Kind of funny how that ended up working out, though.

- If it seems like that was a lot of effort wasted, I think that is actually not the case, since I've learned a good bit of detail about routing part 1, and have a good idea of where and how to optimize things further on my second pass. In addition, I've picked up a ton of sweet RNG seeds too This is actually something I might do with Part 3 as well (play through it once with the new strats I've developed, then come at it a second time with recordings once I've figured out resource distribution stuff), since there is a good chance I'll be changing a lot of the traditional strategies for these clears, either for improved turncounts or just for additional EXP/money gains

- Building further on the above point, I'll say that I think I have a good idea of how to optimize things through the end of 1-9 "perfectly" at this point, meaning that everything has been planned out and all that is left is the RNG abuse. For 1-E, I'm still working on optimizing EXP and treasure gain, while for Part 2, I need to figure out if a 2-turn clear of 2-2 is possible (right now, I'm sort of where I was with 1-3 a while ago, in that I can kill all but one of the enemies necessary to finish).

Edited January 25, 2016 by ruadath

[ruadath]

I'm almost finished with recording the new 1-4 strategy (only the last EP to get done, which I should be able to do overnight tonight)... but I think I've figured out yet another potential improvement where I pick up the 3000G chest at the expense of Laura only healing once instead of twice. I figure this is a pretty reasonable tradeoff (3000G for ~35 BEXP), so I think I'll probably at least take a look into that strategy.

Speaking of which, I haven't received any feedback from you guys on whether or not you think Mend is a worthwhile purchase (1000G and ends up saving roughly 100 BEXP over the playthrough, I think, plus some WEXP for Laura), so I'd appreciate some comments on that (and the 3000G decision, if you'd like).

EDIT: In fact, at the cost of another Laura heal, it might actually be possible to pick up Beastfoe instead of the 3000G! Not sure about this yet though. I think I end up a space short...

Edited January 25, 2016 by ruadath

[ruadath]

Seems like I made a mistake in my above analysis; unless I'm missing something, I don't think I can get any heals in for Laura if I go for the 3000G. On the bright side, I think this does mean I'm able to pick up the Coin.

Anyway, implementing this new strategy (if I choose to do so) is going to be a real pain, because I'm going to have to rig a bunch of bad/worst biorhythms on laguz so that Micaiah has reasonable dodging chances without support from Sothe. This isn't something my semi-automated resetting process can handle adeptly (at least not in its current state), so unfortunately, this probably means that I'll have to delay further progress on this until the weekend.

Still waiting for some comments on Mend...

[Gradivus.]

I doubt anyone barring people who LTCed the game on their own can give you accurate tips about the mend staff because it's a very minor optimization.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Gradivus.

[ruadath]

Yeah, I guess you're right about that, it just drives me crazy trying to figure out the optimal route to take in situations like these when I can't determine the long-term effects that well. I'm even unsure of the benefit of picking up the 3000G, since my plans from before had enough money for everything I wanted, but I'm filing this under "Maximize EXP/item gain to the fullest extent" since I should be able to pick up both the cash and the Coin up at the cost of only ~70 BEXP.

I guess in this case I might as well just go with Mend since I have this extra money that I don't know what I'm going to do with, and Mend probably saves me something like ~70 BEXP (in fact, a little bit more) in the long run, making up for the loss from the extra cash, but... I'm still somewhat undecided lol.

[ruadath]

I've been dithering about what to do regarding 1-4, but I'm happy to announce that I've finally made up my mind on what strategy I will use! Nevertheless, I will still provide an updated list of possible options that further analysis has revealed:

- Obviously there is the choice of whether or not to purchase Mend. I will be picking it up.

- Sothe can get the 3000G and Laura can get one heal in. This is what I'm planning to do.

- It is in fact possible to pick up Beastfoe (at the cost of getting the 3000G)! Laura doesn't get a chance to heal however, and since I believe Beastfoe will be far from necessary in an RNG abused playthrough, I will stick with the case, unless someone provides me with good reason to do otherwise.

- I suppose the fact that Beastfoe can be picked up also means that you could get the Pure Water instead (same number of shoves). I have no idea why you would want to do this.

- I should also mention that instead of getting Laura the Heal, you could pick up a Coin instead, though I see almost no reason why you would want to do that.

Edited January 29, 2016 by ruadath

[ruadath]

The new and improved clear of 1-4 should be online in a bit.

Bandwidth is awesome, by the way. This literally would have taken me almost a day to upload at home, but over here it won't even be 90 minutes.

Edited January 29, 2016 by ruadath