Screenshot Moniker plays HALB: Team Hardcore Heroes

[MrNight48]

^Good point, but even a Def capped unit won't take 0 damage against everything, especially when Knights and Generals, the usual Def-tanks, have weapons that are effective against them. And the only other classes I can think of with even close to as good of a Def cap as a General are Wyvern Lords, who have a plethora of weapons effective against them, and Great Knights, who are weak to Amorslaying AND Horseslaying weapons. I suppose Necromancer and Archsage also hae a 30 Def cap, but Lyon and Athos aren't touching that cap without statboosters. Plus if all of my units take 0 damage, how am I supposed to heal grind? Sure, I can hope they proc HP on level ups, but that's not enough.

Also, silencing enemy mages isn't exactly easy or reliable considering they tend to have good Res, and the silence staff only has 3 uses, and tends to be rare.

That's the thing about slayer weapons. They don't do set damage but are instead multiplier, so it is entirely possible to out tank them as well. Vaida is a well known case for this because she brags about her defense in the face of such archers and man does she back it up. She can eat arrows for breakfast if the archer is not not strong enough which they usually not. It also doesn't help that the WTA can affect the accuracy of the slayer weapons which make them risky as well.

Heal grinding comes for healing levels/poison. You can also barrier spam cause they require no condition to use unlike the other staves.

The silence example is more to point out that it is another factor in dealing with mages to show contrast of how little you can do to physical units. You would be surprised how much the silence staff can help.

Again, the focus here is not so much of "defense is the best stat ever" but to explain why it is always accepted compared to just luck/skill/hp gains because of how the overall usefulness of that stat. Skill by itself is more useless without str to make it meaningful. Luck only means I have a unit who can dodge if I forget to protect it for a few attacks but not everything. Hp is great but even better with def/res otherwise you have a meat punching bag.

Edited June 15, 2016 by MrNight48

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

overall, every stat is meaningful and helpful, but consistent stats like defense are more reliable.

[Katie]

That's the thing about slayer weapons. They don't do set damage but are instead multiplier, so it is entirely possible to out tank them as well. Vaida is a well known case for this because she brags about her defense in the face of such archers and man does she back it up. She can eat arrows for breakfast if the archer is not not strong enough which they usually not. It also doesn't help that the WTA can affect the accuracy of the slayer weapons which make them risky as well.

Heal grinding comes for healing levels/poison. You can also barrier spam cause they require no condition to use unlike the other staves.

The silence example is more to point out that it is another factor in dealing with mages to show contrast of how little you can do to physical units. You would be surprised how much the silence staff can help.

Again, the focus here is not so much of "defense is the best stat ever" but to explain why it is always accepted compared to just luck/skill/hp gains because of how the overall usefulness of that stat. Skill by itself is more useless without str to make it meaningful. Luck only means I have a unit who can dodge if I forget to protect it for a few attacks but not everything. Hp is great but even better with def/res otherwise you have a meat punching bag.

I suppose that's a good point. I myself have gotten fliers with Def so good bows barely dent them. Though I will point out that the effectiveness multiplier was lowered from x2 to x3 in US FE7, and that has a lot to do with why Vaida can tank bows so well. With the original x3 multiplier, a base strength Archer wielding an iron bow could damage base defense Vaida, though only for 1 damage. But you'd be facing archers(hell, probably snipers) with more strength at the point in the game, with better bows, so Vaida could not bow tank nearly as well in the original Japanese version. The Silver Bow alone would have an effective might of 39, so no matter how high your defense is, it ain't doing 0 damage to any fliers. It really goes to show just how much of a difference the change in the effectiveness multipliers makes.

And I'd like to point out that relying on level ups for healgrinding is incredibly unreliable, since your unit may not even gain HP (Unless they have an 100+ growth in it), and Barrier can't be bought in the GBA games until after the point where you'd want your healers promoted. Healgrinding (and Torch-spamming in fog maps) are generally the best ways to level your healers, and for optimum healgrinding you'll generally want at least one "damage sponge" unit with low enough defense that they can get damaged but high enough HP(and defense too) that they can stand to be hit a few times, at least in most games.

But your overall point is good, and I can agree with it for the most part.

[TheMoniker]

Sorry to be gone for so long... again... my work has been getting in the way. Looks like there's been a healthy debate about stats! Mr. Night sums up the reasons why I like those three stats specifically, and I don't have much to add, other than reasserting that speed is the best stat ever, and that while skill/luck/res aren't necessarily bad things, they don't add much meat to a unit, just situationally improve their odds. I like consistency.

HALB: Episode 11: Chapter 9: Pirates and Snipers Ahoy!

Except for Tana, I STILL don't know who these people are!

The tower scene isn't changed much. The greenies just lose harder, if anything.

*Insert emoticon with party streamer here*

I'm not leaving Klok's reccomendation. I hear it didn't work out well for Mr. Night.

Chapter 9! And that means...

Oh yes! I don't want to use it unless I absolutely NEED to use it, but I'm happy it's there.

Also, the randomized bosses affect skirmishes too. This sniper is leading an army of zombies!

Also... apparently the shop is selling teeth?? Wait... where did they get these? WHAT SORT OF UNDERGROUND MARKET DO MAGVEL'S ARMORIES HAVE?

We're going to get so far off track it won't even be funny.

Another look at L'arachel's crew. At least we won't have to deal with their sorry butts in the Ghost Ship level.

New character! Let's have a look!

His inventory isn't anything noteworthy, and he's only level 4. He's also a banned unit. What are we missing out on?

Innes's Growths:

HP: 0%

Strength: 15%

Skill: 30%

Speed: 0%

Luck: 65%

Defense: 105%

Resistance: 85%

Total: 300%

Wow. He SUUUUUCKS! I'm happy I don't have to cart this loser around! He looks like he'd get the defense to make up for the eternal 30 HP, but he would NEVER be anything but a crappy wall. Ever.

Formation!

We've reached the point where we're really starting to feel the enemies buffed growths. Since the randomized growths affect all enemies equally, that means that all the enemies in the chapter have a stat spread something like this.

The sniper is WEAKER than the mercenaries around him. Klok, I thought you buffed these guys?? Well, I won't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Binks his-spider-self. He has dangerous offense at 1 range(and 1 range only), but our mages will take him down without a problem.

First off, the pirates are probably going to hit the houses VERY fast, so I need to chase after them using my own 9 MOV. I want to finish this chapter fast!

Three-person wall while we all get set up!

Looks like it's working...

What?? But Seth was totally out of the way!

Oh, I get it! With the 9 MOV, this pirate could reach the place where we were right from his starting position, so Seth accidentally lured him out. Since Seth prevailed as always, it turned out to be a happy accident!

Excellent.

So, Sniper, was there some reality where you were intended to be intimidating?

Looks like we're doing okay for right now, Hmmm...

The enemy at the top of the map is a bandit, so I have Natasha fly way ahead of us to stop him! Hopefully she takes the myrm okay!

Bleh.

Slightly less bleh.

Heh, heh...

WOAH WOAH WOAH

So, I forgot the myrm's weapons. Thnakfully, Natasha has her slim lance equipped instead of her iron lance, so she lived. Also... turns out Killing Edge has Wyrmslaying power? WHO KNEW, HUH?

I absolutely love critting killer weapon enemies. It's so deliciously ironic.

Dangit, Ross...

We block the way to the other house, so the pirate tries to run back to the southern house near the boss. I'd better nip it in the bud.

Natasha's good enough that this is forgivable.

(Also, with a luck score like that... I got REALLY lucky with that myrm!)

Everything BUT the stats I consider most important, and were established as "probably pretty great" in a debate by the viewers. THANKS, FORDE! NOT!

The enemies really start piling up on the bottom, but we've seized the top half and a new character has shown up! Who is it?

Franz! He's NOT banned, so let's see...

Franz's Growths:

HP: 35%
Strength: 40%

Skill: 0%

Speed: 40%

Luck: 20%

Defense: 80%

Resistance: 0%

Total: 195%

Franz is a joke. A cruel joke. You look at him and think: "Amelia was pretty good in FE8! And he comes low-leveled, so with proper grinding, Franz will probably be good too! NOPE. The only good thing that he has going for him is that he HAS growths in strength and speed, which not everyone we have here can claim! Training him is an uphill climb, with or without the Tower/Skirmishes, and it would all be for NOTHING of value!

I was hoping to get at least one new person for the team... but, I guess my dreams are now shattered.

Joshua moves to lure out Franz, so we can at least recruit him.

Franz's short bow still hits RES, but he's so weak it's not like he can really take advantage of Joshua's one bad stat.

I don't know! These are totally different people all of a sudden!

And Franz is recruited... *sigh* well, suddenly Kyle isn't looking that bad anymore.

Oof! My mistake, dangit... and here we were doing alright too...

Joshua caps strength. His levels will be less impressive from now on, but then, when they're less impressive because of capped stats, it's actually more impressive.

I get Franz a kill... *sigh*...

Past Moniker, when recording this, foolishly though that Franz surely couldn't be THAT bad, right? Now that I've seen his growths, the illusion has been shattered.

SETH WILL BECOME AMAZING

I SWEAR IT

It doesn't take long for us to take out all non-boss enemies with the crowd scattered, grab a probably worthless weapon (unless Saleh is an Eirika lord(man, I hope not))

BURN! BURN AWAY THE DISAPPOINTMENT OF MY NEW UNITS!

The fiendcleaver is the only thing that can do significant physical damage. Also, turns out Sharp Claws also have an anti-monster effect! Will we ever get our own Bael?

Finally, Gilliam kills the spider with power of 20 STR and continues to prove himself as not being as great as Joshua.

Wait, we have Prince Innes right here with us, even if he sucks! Can we please not go to the nightmare of Chapter 12? Please?

DANGIT!

NEXT TIME: ~I have a lot of problems~ ~And I'm not sure how to solve 'em~

[Katie]

I feel like the importance of a given stat really depends on a variety of factors, such as the game, unit, and even the chapter. For example, you'd probably want a bunch of high Res units in a chapter full of mages, while avoiding bringing high Def-low Res units like Wyverns or Knights. Meanwhile, in GhebSaga, where shit like the Demi Lance exists to completely invalidate your defenses, you're probably better off dodge-tanking, or at least in situations where you're up against Demi weapons, because high defense won't do shit against those things. And while in the GBA games skill only matters that much to a few classes, it's much more important in games with skills like FE4 or Awakening, where skill activation rate is generally based on your skill stat. And as I mentioned earlier, certain units will want certain stats more than others, for example an Assassin will probably want super high skill, because Lethality's activation rate depends on either crit rate(which skill affects) or the skill stat itself, depending on the game. Speed is pretty consistently the most important stat though, followed by the unit's primary offensive stat.

And I must say, at least Franz has decent bases for his stats that can't grow. He still sucks tho.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Matthewtheman

[Tamanoir]

I feel like the importance of a given stat really depends on a variety of factors, such as the game, unit, and even the chapter. For example, you'd probably want a bunch of high Res units in a chapter full of mages, while avoiding bringing high Def-low Res units like Wyverns or Knights. Meanwhile, in GhebSaga, where shit like the Demi Lance exists to completely invalidate your defenses, you're probably better off dodge-tanking, or at least in situations where you're up against Demi weapons, because high defense won't do shit against those things. And while in the GBA games skill only matters that much to a few classes, it's much more important in games with skills like FE4 or Awakening, where skill activation rate is generally based on your skill stat. And as I mentioned earlier, certain units will want certain stats more than others, for example an Assassin will probably want super high skill, because Lethality's activation rate depends on either crit rate(which skill affects) or the skill stat itself, depending on the game. Speed is pretty consistently the most important stat though, followed by the unit's primary offensive stat.

And I must say, at least Franz has decent bases for his stats that can't grow. He still sucks tho.

What I really liek with the randomized games is how they makes you feels the importance of stats. Power isn't necessary as important as it seems.

In my aborted FE8 Randomized Run, Innes was on of my top unit, even if he only had 5% Str Growth. But he was a Pirate with 8 Move, amazing Speed and Def Growth, and medium Skl/Luck/HP (And Awesome All-Around Stats). His low Str was mitigated by Weapon Might and the fact he was able to double everything. (and as a Berserker, his ability to Crit made him even better)

My top unit was Syrene (a T1 Pupil) who started with a eat Def Base and only had her amazing MAg/Skl/Spd Growth to make her notable. In the earlier chapter she tanked every unit thanks to her base, and later on, she was just a Nuke machien, obliterating everything on her path.

Ameilia (still T0) having only her HP, Str and Speed wasn't that great, since she had a hard time hitting at time, and couldn't tank that well.

Power VS Skill are highly dependant of the unit.

Typically a Sword User would prefer Strength to Skill, while it would be the opposite for an Axe User.

A Magic Unit (especially if it's a Dark Mage, since Luna) wouldn't care as much about a low Mag Growth, sicne it would still be able to do reasonable damage for quite a time as long as it has good speed and reasonable skill.

I think Skill is actually underrated on the GBA games. It can truly matter.

[eclipse]

How to get past Chapter 10:

- Abuse save states

- And the RNG

[MrNight48]

How to get past Chapter 10:

- Abuse save states

- And the RNG

- Also the enemy AI

on another note, that's innes growths?! holy fuck balls man I am so glad I gave him a tome. scary thing is he was my best unit out of my 3 drafted units.

[Katie]

How to get past Chapter 10:

- Abuse save states

- And the RNG

Ah yes, "requires RNG/save state abuse", the telltale sign that a chapter/hack/game is too hard. Though I suppose to be fair, these are meant to be test runs to see how everyone having 9 movement affects the game or something along those lines, are they not?

[CrystalPoke]

Huh. Actually Innes would have been a good tank, considering his aceptable HP base and his amazing growths in Def and Res. And yeah, I'll be sticking to this LP. I already have read your FE7 CM and Bloodlines LPs, and you're a pretty good LPer.

Good luck!

[eclipse]

Ah yes, "requires RNG/save state abuse", the telltale sign that a chapter/hack/game is too hard. Though I suppose to be fair, these are meant to be test runs to see how everyone having 9 movement affects the game or something along those lines, are they not?

The extra movement is only part of what makes Chapter 10 hard. Moniker should cover the rest in his run.

[TheMoniker]

I feel like the importance of a given stat really depends on a variety of factors, such as the game, unit, and even the chapter. For example, you'd probably want a bunch of high Res units in a chapter full of mages, while avoiding bringing high Def-low Res units like Wyverns or Knights. Meanwhile, in GhebSaga, where shit like the Demi Lance exists to completely invalidate your defenses, you're probably better off dodge-tanking, or at least in situations where you're up against Demi weapons, because high defense won't do shit against those things. And while in the GBA games skill only matters that much to a few classes, it's much more important in games with skills like FE4 or Awakening, where skill activation rate is generally based on your skill stat. And as I mentioned earlier, certain units will want certain stats more than others, for example an Assassin will probably want super high skill, because Lethality's activation rate depends on either crit rate(which skill affects) or the skill stat itself, depending on the game. Speed is pretty consistently the most important stat though, followed by the unit's primary offensive stat.

And I must say, at least Franz has decent bases for his stats that can't grow. He still sucks tho.

That's true too. In the GBA games and romhacks, Str/Def/Spd is generally the way to go, but in the newer games, units with good skill and other stats become much more important, just due to how some of the basic mechanics of newer FEs have changed.

What I really liek with the randomized games is how they makes you feels the importance of stats. Power isn't necessary as important as it seems.

In my aborted FE8 Randomized Run, Innes was on of my top unit, even if he only had 5% Str Growth. But he was a Pirate with 8 Move, amazing Speed and Def Growth, and medium Skl/Luck/HP (And Awesome All-Around Stats). His low Str was mitigated by Weapon Might and the fact he was able to double everything. (and as a Berserker, his ability to Crit made him even better)

My top unit was Syrene (a T1 Pupil) who started with a eat Def Base and only had her amazing MAg/Skl/Spd Growth to make her notable. In the earlier chapter she tanked every unit thanks to her base, and later on, she was just a Nuke machien, obliterating everything on her path.

Ameilia (still T0) having only her HP, Str and Speed wasn't that great, since she had a hard time hitting at time, and couldn't tank that well.

Power VS Skill are highly dependant of the unit.

Typically a Sword User would prefer Strength to Skill, while it would be the opposite for an Axe User.

A Magic Unit (especially if it's a Dark Mage, since Luna) wouldn't care as much about a low Mag Growth, sicne it would still be able to do reasonable damage for quite a time as long as it has good speed and reasonable skill.

I think Skill is actually underrated on the GBA games. It can truly matter.

What a way to teach people the importance of stats, by messing them all up!

Ah yes, "requires RNG/save state abuse", the telltale sign that a chapter/hack/game is too hard. Though I suppose to be fair, these are meant to be test runs to see how everyone having 9 movement affects the game or something along those lines, are they not?

Yes, and I'll explain the effect it ends up having in this case.

Huh. Actually Innes would have been a good tank, considering his aceptable HP base and his amazing growths in Def and Res. And yeah, I'll be sticking to this LP. I already have read your FE7 CM and Bloodlines LPs, and you're a pretty good LPer.

Good luck!

Thank you! Hopefully you can put up with the slower update speed I've had lately...

Time to analyze in...

HALB: Episode 12: Chapter 10: Part 1: A Taste of Torture

Before we really start, take a look at these weird shop inventories. I do grab a few things, since I need to keep my units well-equipped. How else am I going to make up for their horrific overspecialization?

(Prepare yourselves, this is gonna be BAD.)

A standard team (I only wanted took Franz because I thought I could still train him... now that illusion is shattered. Maybe he could make good bait?). I'll definitely need Myrrh for this. I'm suddenly glad she's such a good crutch character.

I really, really, really wish we started somewhere other than the very top corner of the map in a big narrow area.

Can you guess what the problems with this map are already?

Well, if not, I'm sure you'll see after we take a look at the greenies.

1: The Breakable Crutch

Marisa, replacing Innes, is by far the strongest unit of the three we're rescuing, mostly by virtue of having prepromote stats. However, she is absolutely nowhere near invincible, or even substantially tanky. She can't protect the other two.

MARISA'S GROWTHS:

HP: 50%

Strength: 0%

Skill: 155%

Speed: 20%

Luck: 20%

Defense: 50%

Resistance: 35%

Total: 330%

Her growths are pretty good and well-rounded for a randomized run. I mean, she's hardly the first unit to lack strength. Of course, she is totally banned from our use.

2: The Impossible Liability

As Tethys replacement, he will chill by the fort... of course, it doesn't matter much when you're a level 1 unpromoted unit. And a level 1 zombie, no less! The ONLY good news is that he has the HP to survive exactly one round. Wow. Good for him.

FADO'S GROWTHS:

HP: 55%

Strength: 50%

Skill: 0%

Speed: 100%

Luck: 0%

Defense: 30%

Resistance: 25%

Total: 260%

On the plus side, his growths seem a bit better than Seth's and he might turn out... entertainingly... if you train him. We'll see.

3: LEEERROOOOOYYYY JEEENKIIINS!

Neimi acts like she has the same pseudo-sorta survivability of Marisa. She doesn't. We'll see how this overconfidence plays out.

NEIMI'S GROWTHS:

HP: 55%

Strength: 0%

Skill: 15%

Speed: 0%

Luck: 50%

Defense: 50%

Resistance: 70%

Total: 240%

Like many units in this hack, she'd quickly turn into an all-defense no-offense character. If we could use her, that is.

Not helping the situation is the enemy's randomized growths making them RIDICULOUSLY powerful. Dear lord, can any of you imagine what this would look like on hard mode? At least their pathetic HP/defense means they drop easy, but with offense like that in an army with numeric superiority...

In Marisa's spot is this guy. Well, he certainly isn't at risk of killing us before we recruit him... More like, if there's ONE enemy team Greenie successfully kills, it'll be this guy.

Ephraim's Growths:

HP: 75%

Strength: 0%

Skill: 0%

Speed: 90%

Luck: 45%

Defense: 50%

Resistance: 45%

Total: 305%

Not utter garbage. Just fast garbage.

Wait, what's that down in his inventory?

I think we'll be needing that.

For his part, Pablo is incredibly strong, but I'm just thankful he doesn't have a Bolting.

Well... let's get started! I'll explain all the problems we'll be dealing with as we go along.

First off, GILLIAM GETS ORDINARY LEVELS! ...Wait, no, that's not that terrible. NEXT IMAGE!

Okay, here's the first main problem: Our path to the people so desperately in need of a savior is blocked by the initial squad of enemies. It doesn't look THAT bad, right? WRONG. Just watch for a moment:

Natasha gets a bad level and-wait, where did that soldier come from?

I didn't know that mercenary could walk on the mountain!

*Cue Ross receiving pain

And the main problem reveals itself. It was idiotic enough in normal FE8, when Innes and Gerik abandoned their safe mountain hideout, where they presumably could have used Tethys's dancing to their advantage if the AI knew how to do that to endanger themselves against the main force. Here, it's made much worse, because the green and red mooks are in engagement IMMEDIATELY. Marisa can survive, albeit with doing very little damage. The others... well, let's check back in with our army. What are their chances of reaching them in time?

Okay, good, Seth's pulling through.

With every effort taken to cut down the enemies in the way (the myrms and soldiers guarding the gate can reach you almost immediately and get in your way), while using a flier who ignores terrain, I could semi-safely sneak ONE blue unit THIS FAR... and it's STILL too far away to make a difference!

Oh, and scratch that! I was wrong! The effort it took to get my own army that far put them under serious risk, and it didn't pay off! Oh well, the blue army is at least something I have control over, right?

Yeah, they suck, I'll be the first to admit it! But at leas they listen when I tell them what to do!

Seth came through again...

Maybe I'm getting mad too soon. I mean, let's see if they'll survive another enemy phase. I can position myself so as not to anger the myrms, and Joshua can sneak ahead instead of Natasha.

ONE: Fado will die Turn 3, it's basically a sure thing.

But Neimi... Neimi never had a real chance.

That's right, a VERY significant chance of death, Enemy Phase Turn 2.

But that's not the worst part. Even IF she could last the soldiers, the bandit will still get her, because he can cross mountains at top speed, and Neimi has a stupid little suck-butt Eclipse weapon as opposed to the cool WTR Iron Lance.

I think you all see what I mean now. The thing is, when every unit has 9 MOV, and can strike at places so fast, FE can turn into an odd game of "Rocket Tag Tactics"... essentially, whoever strikes first, wins. In Chapter 2, both me and the enemy were in a position to make an immediate grab for Pure Water village, and I succeeded with my winning intelligence. In Chapter 5, I was able to "strike first" at the villages before the bandits could, so I could grab them all before the reinforcements appeared, even if it meant I had to play the chapter a bit recklessly. Of course, you could say the same thing about normal FE, but making the game go so FAST makes it more obvious than normal.

Here, the ENEMY gets to strike first, and they can streamroll the allies before me, or, the player, even has time to comprehend what's happening. Furthermore, the chapter is designed so that the enemy will, 99% of the time, succeed (I thought Klok playtested this???), and there is nothing I can do.

Remember in GhebFE, when I was trying to save Duessel and Lucius, but it was nigh-impossible? This is that all over again, except I don't have the luxury of ragequitting with some giant speech. However, we do have other options, and may I just say, I am NOT abusing savestates/RNG until I get things to work out. No. Not happening.

Read and consider each option carefully. I'll have a poll set up.

OPTION 1: So, 3 of the 4 units we have this chapter are banned, and the 3 represent one team each. Klok told me I picked one of the worst teams (even if it had Saleh in it), but it provides us with a unique advantage here. Horrible as it may sound, we could just... let them all die. It's not like we'd get to use anything but their mostly-useless inventories if we did get them, though the Hero Crest would be a sad loss. If that's what I have to do to beat this hack, then so be it. We'd still get Ephraim and his Metis Tome no matter what, most likely.

OPTION 2: I've never done it before, despite me lovingly abusing savestates like its FE13 Lunatic+ Casual, so this would be a first... But, if necessary I could Cheat with Nightmare to give the allies extra defense, allowing them to survive. It would let us save them, but is the stain on my honor or pride worth it? I'll let you decide.

If any of you have some master strategy or third choice that would be better, feel free to say so in a reply! Other LPers of this horrible chapter, any advice for me? Any at all???

Regardless, this chapter is probably going to take a while to beat.

Okay, everyone, major announcement: For 4th of July, family, and work reasons, I'm going on vacation! I'll be back in around a week. See you all back then. This should hopefully give everyone tine to vote on the poll!

[Moblin Major General]

Let them all die! Unless Cormag can't steal from Ephraim, then you might need them alive so that Neimi can recruit Ephraim, because that Metis's Tome won't drop from his corpse.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Feldmarschall Rommel

[CrystalPoke]

Set the AI of Fado and Neimi to stand still and not attack. Marisa will be fine with those pre-promote stats :)

Edited June 30, 2016 by CrystalPoke

[HF Makalov Fanboy Kai]

"9 movement was a mistake"- Kaga

[Tamanoir]

Well, the good thing here is that you don't have Innes replaced by L'Arachel.

Set the AI of Fado and Neimi to stand still and not attack. Marisa will be fine with those pre-promote stats :)

That's what I did in my run (Innes was L'Arachel, the LV1 Soldier.)
​I also auto-leveled the weakest Unit.

​You don't care if they're all level 20, if you don't wish to use them. (And if you ever wish to use Fado, it will save you some times, so all good.)

[auraflux]

I think you got Neimi's growths wrong :

If the hack accurately indicates the characters growth rates with certain corresponding colors, then these are most definitely wrong especially with 0% speed not being grey.

As for your current predicament, It would be nice to nightmare your way out of this (especially with that nice white gem)

[MrNight48]

it's possible to save them all without savestate abuse, I remember writing the answer in the pm's.

hint read the our group pm's

Edited June 30, 2016 by MrNight48

[Tequila]

Another possibility is changing them to enemy alliance instead of NPC.

[eclipse]

You have to haul ass down south. Have Gilliam grab Joshua and hightail it down there. Everyone else needs to retreat near the starting point (but out of range of the ballista).

Alternately, RNG abuse like crazy. Or set everyone in that fort to "hold" (otherwise, Ephraim's group moves way too early).

[MrNight48]

or and this may sound crazy, don't move for the 1st turn so the mercenary runs down and attacks nemi, thus blocking the green units inside the fort.

[Kirie]

I had quite a bitch of a time with that level myself. After a bit of trial and error, I ended up sending down my strongest unit (Tana) to help the NPCs while holding down a defensive line up top with the rest. I did save state to burn a couple RNs for a few things (rigged a Shamshir hit, rigged a miss on Neimi during EP), but otherwise... oh, who am I kidding, it was definitely a pain in the ass and proooobably the hardest level of the run.

[CrystalPoke]

TheMoniker has been reported dead last night. The police is still investigating the situation, but it seems he had a heart attack. We think that what caused it was a game called Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Next to his body we found a note, it said:

''Dear Diary,

9 movement is a bitch. And Chapter 10 too. I swear, I'm going to kill Klok if I don't kill myself first, that is.

- TheMoniker, July 7.''

[TheMoniker]

Let them all die! Unless Cormag can't steal from Ephraim, then you might need them alive so that Neimi can recruit Ephraim, because that Metis's Tome won't drop from his corpse.

Right, almost forgot that getting the Metis Tome will be hard without Neimi...

it's possible to save them all without savestate abuse, I remember writing the answer in the pm's.

hint read the our group pm's

*Reads through group PMs*

Well, let's try it...

TheMoniker has been reported dead last night. The police is still investigating the situation, but it seems he had a heart attack. We think that what caused it was a game called Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones. Next to his body we found a note, it said:

''Dear Diary,

9 movement is a bitch. And Chapter 10 too. I swear, I'm going to kill Klok if I don't kill myself first, that is.

- TheMoniker, July 7.''

Hey! I didn't write that! Great, my evil twin is probably up to something again...

This is more a preview to the "real" update, instead of a proper update. But, let's get the predicament we're in (somewhat) resolved:

HALB: Episode 12: Chapter 10: Part 1.5: I feel kinda embarrassed now

I know I made it out like we had exactly two options, but according to Mr. Night, there might, MAYBE be an alternative tactical option. So, to start, I cut two losers out of our deployment in the bad run, meaning we only have usable people on the team. However helpful Franz's chip damage could be, I think it's a better decision to cut out dead weight.

Essentially, the strategy revolves around these mercenaries. They'll head to attack the closest enemy, which, if we DON'T charge forward, is the green troops. And then they'll block the way out, meaning the greenies WON'T charge headlong into death. Maybe.

So, what we're going to do is, have most of our units stand still, while the fliers sneak around the mountains to get closer to the allies-

Nope, not moving from out start position still brings the mercs our way. Meaning, we have to... pull back?!

(Props to Gilliam for this trick shot)

Surely this couldn't be the intended strategy here?

...It worked. Beautifully, in fact. The green team is now making use of their fort as an excellent chokepoint rather than suicide-ing themselves against the ball of mooks. Tough-ish Marisa is taking the brunt of the attacks, with Neimi backing her up with the Javelin, and Fado safe in the back as long as the ballistae is unmanned.

And things are as they should be.

...And it's BAD design! Bad! Some of the other LPers told me to book it down there, but that clearly didn't work last time. The only safe, non-RNG-abuse requiring strategy, in a mission where you have to save allies in extreme danger, is not just to do nothing, but to actively move in the opposite direction of the enemies surrounding them?

I get that a cleverer tactician than I could have realized that the mercenaries would have positioned themselves in a perfect position to make positions perfect. But it's the opposite of intuitive! Your gut reaction in any FE game is to move fast to save allies, not do the opposite of that!

...

Okay, I've finished my rant. I guess it's not THAT terrible. I'll just have to be happy that we don't need the "two bad options" poll any more. For those curious, "Nightmare Cheating" won by a large margin. Your opinions have been filed in case I need them in the future for similar polls.

Back to the chapter, I try to get Natasha close enough to help...

...and almost die for it. The NPCs have the chokepoint to take these guys on slowly with, I don't. We still need to move fast, otherwise the enemies will build up around Marisa and then we'll have yet ANOTHER problem on our hands.

The good news is, everyone should be fine as long as Marisa is holding the chokepoint successfully. We have time now.

NEXT TIME: Finding a way to beat this chapter, get everyone out safe, and not burst into tears.

I know I JUST went on a hiatus, but my Stupidly Hectic Summer has struck again! I'm heading off to New Orleans for the next several days. I'll probably update Requiem again tomorrow, and then be gone for a while. I'll see you all when I get back-with Chapter 12 finished, and Neimi's growths double checked! I promise!

Edited July 14, 2016 by TheMoniker

[Kirie]

Once you figure out a good way to keep the greenies alive, the rest of the level is a cakewalk, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. :p