Aether Raids General Thread

[Johann]

12 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

the biggest danger is flat out losing rather than just losing units---flat out losing is worth 8 deaths and two lost pots.

This reminds me that while GC/RD have time limits as well, at least you get a score even if you time out, earning you partial credit. Here, a time out is far too punishing.

 

[Azuris]

23 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

I mean, every +10 Eir is an extra unit you can lose every day (assuming 2 fights/day). Mind, I'd guess that there aren't 3k people who'd go crazy with Eir merges, but IS clearly expects that there would at least be some, or else they wouldn't have designed the lift bonus that way.

I completely agree, going for the full 190 lift setup is a significant advantage, the ability to sacrifice a unit and still score really well makes maps a lot easier to beat. That coupled with fully invested defensive mythics puts you at a pretty good spot. And yes people shooting for the absolute top may try to get every help they can get and of course they designed the system in a way to get as much money out of them as possible.

I was looking at it more from my point of view and going all the way instead of getting just some Eirs doesn't look worthwhile. Even if not doing it would lock me out of tier 20 and 21, and I am still hopeful I can get up there some day, even if it means waiting until a lot of people are past me, how many grails would that cost me together with the drop in personal ranking? It would still take over a year until I am a full +10 grail unit behind and the saved orbs would provide me with other units instead.

But you are right, I should have considered, that there are other people with other goals, which may cause them to look at it in another way.

 

4 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

Off-topic: Completely bombed my match today---didn't check to see if Horse Lyn kept Sacae's, so Surtr ended up soloing everyone, lul.

If that is how you completely bomb matches, then at least you won't have to worry, that you can't keep climbing.

 

21 hours ago, Othin said:

I'm at rank 409 with my relatively basic cavalry team, so this mode definitely isn't packed with people going absolutely crazy at this point.

So, there are quite a few people coming up. That's nice, I hope not all of them have absolute crazy defenses.

 

21 hours ago, Othin said:

Didn't get a defense fight today, so I should be good for making it into Tier 19 as long as I can get four wins in the remaining two days. I think I can barely manage it if I get all the aether structures, and I've still got an escape tunnel to help.

And good luck wih that. I hope it works out for you.

 

 

[DehNutCase]

16 minutes ago, Azuris said:

If that is how you completely bomb matches, then at least you won't have to worry, that you can't keep climbing.

I missed both pots because of that---it would've cost me T19 then and there if I hadn't had a good defensive season. Well, strictly speaking I would've escape route'd out, but the principle's the same.

(Missing pots get relatively more important as the amount of lift you get per match increases, at 100 lift it's like losing a unit every 2 pots, at 160 lift it's more like losing 1.5 per 2 pots.)

 

And I do fuck up hilariously the normal way too---my one use of escape route this season was losing Surtr to Axe-breaker Armor Smasher Soleil. (I knew she had the armor smasher & breaker, I just didn't check if she had rally or not, so she did the rally, dance, kill Surtr thing.)

[Kuroi Tsubasa Tenshi]

Got hit hard on defense back to back in the minimum amount of time again. There's still an opportunity to lose Lift again coming up, so chances are I'm going to be just short of going up again. RIP.

[Azuris]

42 minutes ago, DehNutCase said:

I missed both pots because of that---it would've cost me T19 then and there if I hadn't had a good defensive season. Well, strictly speaking I would've escape route'd out, but the principle's the same.

(Missing pots get relatively more important as the amount of lift you get per match increases, at 100 lift it's like losing a unit every 2 pots, at 160 lift it's more like losing 1.5 per 2 pots.)

I mean it's not good, sure. Especially if you barely miss an extra match, but if that's the worst that happens to you all week, you are still in a pretty good spot.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Azuris

[mcsilas]

Wow, this is not my day. Or week.

Had a complete wipe out today 3 times (one was Escape ladder run). Could've won the second one if I moved my tactics room just one space to the left, so I could actually bait Brave Lyn- this was one of those times were Tactics Room was bad for me where Lyn was, because I couldn't start the map since everyone was enclosed inside breakable structures. Plus they had a super bulky Fortress Res SS + DC Berkut's Lance Lukas, which I commend- he Rallyed Skylivia (after Guidance) so I couldn't even bait Skylivia.

Another map I could almost finish...if Nowi hadn't 'retreated' by Rallying Surtr (and Armored Boots Surtr retreated further Rallying Nowi) in the final map turn...so both of them were too far away for my team to reach.

Last map was in the winter map with fortress trench tiles, which I commend for breaking the mold. They had a 5 Ward Armour team, of course with a Surtr and my team didn't have a Smoke skill (I thought using Pain Maribelle was better for breaking through the Wards) but I ended up misplaying that and timing out in the end.

[DehNutCase]

Sigh... Almost didn't make it to T19 because I wanted to be lazy and run armor emblem. (Restore staff owned me since I didn't take into account that Ursula was going to be cleansed.) Had to use my escape rope out of that.

 

Final match was my good old main team, carrying my ass like always. (Most of my losses this season was me trying to be lazy and run armor emblem rather than thinking it through and crushing maps with my main team. But the problem is that my main team takes a long time for me to think up the right solution, and I don't like doing that every single day---not when the stakes are high.)

8,300 lift, though, so I can chill now.

 

[Alkaid]

Finished with 8,400, so I'm safe even if I get knocked for -80 later today. Didn't use my escape ladder at all even though I upgraded it to level 2. (I wanted the dew to upgrade my fortress and figured why not) Lost 1 unit this week due to mis-tapping my Laegjarn and she got moved into the wrong spot and died to an Ephraim, but no problems otherwise. I even got every single aether pot, which I don't usually do.(minus on the final run since it was pointless)

I shouldn't be moving up anymore after this unless the game decides to not give me any defenses all next week.

@AzurisI know this can't be you, but I thought it was funny either way.

Spoiler

Also posting this, since it's probably the last time it will happen. I'll fall behind with light week starting.

Spoiler

 

Edited December 23, 2018 by Alkaid

[Johann]

@LordFrigid Pretty sure you went up against my Defense team, hope it was you cuz my Escape Ladder was still good so I gave ya a Christmas freebie

[mampfoid]

Had perfect runs today and made it to tier 18 with my last match. Hopefully there won't be a surprise defense loss, that would dump me down again (shouldn't happen, got one this morning. 20h rule is weird). 

@Alkaid awesome score, congrats! 

[Stroud]

2 perfect runs again. I also practice with Eir already.
Now I am at 7,540 Lift and rank 4,441. I really made improvement over the weeks. There was only 1 match I truly messed up this week and that was more a positioning failure than coverage. 

I guess I can still make it to T19, but that will be truly the end of the line. And I will wait a bit to see which mystic heroes we get. I will try to only go for those I like as a unit overall and love. And I really hope they give Mythic Light/Dark Deirdre a chance.. Well even Sigurd or Alm would be nice. 

[Othin]

11 hours ago, Azuris said:

So, there are quite a few people coming up. That's nice, I hope not all of them have absolute crazy defenses.

 

And good luck wih that. I hope it works out for you.

I made it! It's narrow, but I think my last defense loss was within 20 hours of the deadline.

I lost my second game of the day, but fortunately I still had my escape tunnel up. Also fortunate that I went a day without getting attacked recently, since that probably would have cost me more than the 40 lift I could afford.

[Azuris]

9 hours ago, Alkaid said:

@AzurisI know this can't be you, but I thought it was funny either way.

Oh, actually that's me. I mean it was me before I got another -80. I completely stopped after Wednesday, when it was clear I wouldn't go up or down, just two surrenders for the first play per day. Has actually been really fun not doing AR for once.

But if I got you this close let me give you a hug. And congratulations on making tier 19, really well done. I hope you can keep it up, even though it will be harder for you.

 

9 hours ago, DehNutCase said:

8,300 lift, though, so I can chill now.

Well done. I guess I was expecting nothing else, but good to see you made it nonetheless.

 

10 hours ago, mcsilas said:

(I thought using Pain Maribelle was better for breaking through the Wards)

Did you run double Savage Blow with that? DehNutCase is preaching that hard counter and when I finally stopped being lazy and put it on a team a 6 man full stall team turned into the easiest match of the week. Just attack, dance, attack and nearly everyone is in kill range.

 

7 hours ago, mampfoid said:

Had perfect runs today and made it to tier 18 with my last match.

Nice job, if you continue like that, you will have gone past me soon. So what was that about no great tactician?

 

3 hours ago, Stroud said:

2 perfect runs again. I also practice with Eir already.
Now I am at 7,540 Lift and rank 4,441.

Good job. Getting up a tier without light season brings you in a good position to climb some more with blessings.

 

3 hours ago, Othin said:

I made it! It's narrow, but I think my last defense loss was within 20 hours of the deadline.

Congratulations. I'm happy to see it worked out. Now enjoy your rewards.

 

Edited December 23, 2018 by Azuris

[DarkAlf]

@Alkaid @Othin @DehNutCase Congrats on making T19 you three!  I couldn't make it this week - I had a defense loss every single day.  There was practically no way I could reach T19 unless I played essentially perfectly on offense, which was a mighty tall order for me that I couldn't pull off.  At least next week should be easier to get to T19 with Light season around the corner.

@Stroud @mampfoid Welcome to T18!  Hopefully we can all make T19!

At the time of this post, it looks like only 1 person in the world will be in T20 next week.

[DLNarshen]

I got hit with the full -80 four days in a row, requiring me to get both Aether pots in my free match to ensure enough stamina to play a second.  One match wouldn't have been enough.  It was close, but it looks like I'm good for tier 19 with 8,240 lift.  I think I'll be investing in the sixth defense slot once the rewards come in.  

[mampfoid]

44 minutes ago, Azuris said:

Nice job, if you continue like that, you will have gone past me soon. So what was that about no great tactician?

Ha, thanks! I wasn't sure if I would be able to promote without blessing bonus and with practically no defense. 

Sorry you couldn't promote to tier 19, bet you'll promote easier than me. Seeing how close it was this week I'm pessimistic myself for next week. 

(To be honest it was more fun this week that I didn't need to care about blessings. )

42 minutes ago, DarkAlf said:

Welcome to T18!  Hopefully we can all make T19!

Thanks! Good luck for next week! 

5 minutes ago, DLNarshen said:

It was close, but it looks like I'm good for tier 19 with 8,240 lift.  I think I'll be investing in the sixth defense slot once the rewards come in.  

Oh nice, congrats!

[Alkaid]

@AzurisOh! I didn't realize, so I figured it was an impostor while you were still further up somewhere. Jealous of that +10 Hector. And thanks, good luck to you too! I might do similar to you and just maintain top 3k if tier 20 doesn't seem possible for me yet(which it probably isn't). It's true that some days off from AR would be nice, especially over Christmas.

@mampfoid @DarkAlfThanks! Good luck to you guys moving up more too.

I guess I'll be investing in the 6th defense slot like everyone else today. It's going to be hard to figure out what to prioritize after that. Maybe the shock trap or panic manor..

[Venmi]

Gah!  2 aether short of moving up to tier 18.  That is really, really frustrating.  A single more pot broken and I would have made it.  One defense won, and I would have made it.  But I didn't win a single defense all week.  If only I'd done the math before, I might have sacrificed one more unit to break one pot on the last map I did, but I was already doing bad.

If they ever release that cancel firesweep skill, I will put it on Micaiah in a heart beat.  I'm an enemy phase player, so AR has been driving me crazy.  With a cancel firesweep skill, Micaiah will become the real star of these maps, being able to kill Veronicas all over the place.  I'm so looking forward to it.

[Icelerate]

1 hour ago, Venmi said:

Gah!  2 aether short of moving up to tier 18.  That is really, really frustrating.  A single more pot broken and I would have made it.  One defense won, and I would have made it.  But I didn't win a single defense all week.  If only I'd done the math before, I might have sacrificed one more unit to break one pot on the last map I did, but I was already doing bad.

If they ever release that cancel firesweep skill, I will put it on Micaiah in a heart beat.  I'm an enemy phase player, so AR has been driving me crazy.  With a cancel firesweep skill, Micaiah will become the real star of these maps, being able to kill Veronicas all over the place.  I'm so looking forward to it.

But that means no vantage or close counter whichever slot the skill takes up. 

[Raven]

Today I finish on 7540, after starting with 6500 in T17. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up momentum and make it into T19 before next week is over.

[Venmi]

1 hour ago, Icelerate said:

But that means no vantage or close counter whichever slot the skill takes up. 

I'm okay with that- I'm currently running Distant Def/Guard on Micaiah.  To make her one shot Veronica, I'd give up one of them.  I guess it will come down to what the skill actually looks like, but for now, I wish it were already here.

[Othin]

Does it mean Tier 18 or lower?

[Raven]

20 minutes ago, Othin said:

Does it mean Tier 18 or lower?

I would assume so, since unlocking the 5th defense slot allowed us to use a 5th ally from that tier. Probably a typo or translation error.

[Stroud]

7 hours ago, DarkAlf said:

Welcome to T18!  Hopefully we can all make T19!

At the time of this post, it looks like only 1 person in the world will be in T20 next week.

Thanks. And yeah, xD just 1 made it. But that is a good proof to show how difficult it is to reach T20 without Blessings. There have been maybe 500 players in T19? 
I really hope we can make it next week, sadly I was already inefficient in my first Light blessing investment. So far I have Infantry Ephraim and Axura with light blessings. Next will be Elise or Loki. I will try to stall with my Lift until Friday and get my second ladder upgrade ready. 

7 hours ago, Azuris said:

Good job. Getting up a tier without light season brings you in a good position to climb some more with blessings.

Thanks, hopefully I can make good use of Eir and we get Light Blessing again on Friday. If I can make at least some decisions which heroes with light blessings I use it would be more helpful. And I just made a not so good decision for Light blessing, I just wish that heroes could have 2 blessings, one element and one from mythic heroes.

Got my reward now. And I just realized that I still need to hold on  my ore, because if I reach T19 I should also use them for the 6th def unit D=. No Second ladder upgrade. But I am confident to only mess up 1-2 times  a week. 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by Stroud

[DarkAlf]

@DLNarshen Congrats on T19 (if you held on)!

@Venmi Sorry you didn't make it to T18.  I know the feeling all too well; I barely missed promoting a tier a couple of weeks ago.  Good luck this coming week!

I just missed Top 3000: My score of 7,820 was rank 3,115.  Ouch....  One less defense battle or one less lost unit - maybe two tops - would've likely done it.

Update: 3 people made it to T20.  Proof: