Am i playing this game right?

[hojin]

Recently started Conquest (hard) for the first time and the changes feel very good compared to Awakening's pair up system. My question is am I playing properly? Because I'm currently on C 24 but I have a lot of "stat backpacks" or just pair up partners for my main fighters. These people are pretty under leveled and don't really get used at all unless they have cav movement for a slower unit. I eventually replaced some of the backpacks with the child units and they can potentially swap in if the main fighter is a bit low, but I'm not sure if I should not use these child units for the parents because they only get up to A support rank so not as much pair up bonuses. I don't really know if this was how they designed this game to be played but it feels like roiding up a unit with tonics and pair up stats is the way to go, attack stance was useful in the early half but I don't think I ever needed a use for it in the endgame so far.

Edited June 12, 2022 by hojin

[Jotari]

Well how tough are you finding the maps? If massive pair up is working for you then yeah, you're doing things right, legit approach. It's not personally how I tackle most maps as I like to have more actions to take each turn (also why I love Replicate), but if it works, it works.

[Shadow Mir]

Welcome to SF, mate. Anyway, IMO, I'd say no. Pair up has its uses, but in general, I'd find pairing up all the time to only be shooting myself in the foot because it just isn't as great as it was in Awakening. Of course, this does depend on how tough you are finding the maps.

[Florete]

If you can beat the game you played it right.

[Eltosian Kadath]

Personally I prefer a more attack stance focused style of play, and used it to great effect even into the endgame on my playthroughs. I even did a bit of an extreme challenge run where I only deployed 10 units, never used any of the prepromoted royals, and never allowed a paired-up unit be in range of an enemy attack (as the mobility benefits of pair-up, switch, transfer, and separate are too powerful not to use on player phase), on Lunatic mode. You don't have to compete with that or anything, but I feel that it emphasizes that a more attack stance style of play is viable even into endgame, and on higher difficulties.

That being said I think the intended style of play is to be more flexible with the stances than it sounds like either you or me tend to be, as they hit a fairly solid balance with the two stances. Attack stance gives you a lot of flexibility, you get more actions per turn, being able to Pair-up as your action can increase a unit's mobility, it lets you deal a lot more damage (and pick up extra chip exp and Wexp safely for your units), and also lets you shift some of the calculated values greatly (meaning Hit, Avoid, Crit, and Crit Avoid) based on support levels. Pairup on the other-hand greatly increases your units survivability A LOT by letting both avoid enemy attack stance hits, and get a guard block when the meter fill, plus it lets units hit a far higher stat benchmarks (admittedly my preference is certainly showing through with my descriptions here, as I have a lot more to say about attack stance...). That balance lets people develop a preference for how they prefer to play Conquest, so I don't think a Guard Stance focused, Attack Stance focused, or even more balance style of play is necessarily right, or wrong, and I think that is a testament to how well they tuned the gameplay in Fates is.

[LoneStar]

Well if it works it works. I don't remember extensively making units "stat backpacks", if that approach is viable and necessary for some part of a map then I'll do it. I think the late game punishes you a bit for not having multiple units available for actions. I didn't really use tonics either, so if juicing up a unit works fine then I guess it is.

[hojin]

2 hours ago, Eltosian Kadath said:

Personally I prefer a more attack stance focused style of play, and used it to great effect even into the endgame on my playthroughs. I even did a bit of an extreme challenge run where I only deployed 10 units, never used any of the prepromoted royals, and never allowed a paired-up unit be in range of an enemy attack (as the mobility benefits of pair-up, switch, transfer, and separate are too powerful not to use on player phase), on Lunatic mode. You don't have to compete with that or anything, but I feel that it emphasizes that a more attack stance style of play is viable even into endgame, and on higher difficulties.

That being said I think the intended style of play is to be more flexible with the stances than it sounds like either you or me tend to be, as they hit a fairly solid balance with the two stances. Attack stance gives you a lot of flexibility, you get more actions per turn, being able to Pair-up as your action can increase a unit's mobility, it lets you deal a lot more damage (and pick up extra chip exp and Wexp safely for your units), and also lets you shift some of the calculated values greatly (meaning Hit, Avoid, Crit, and Crit Avoid) based on support levels. Pairup on the other-hand greatly increases your units survivability A LOT by letting both avoid enemy attack stance hits, and get a guard block when the meter fill, plus it lets units hit a far higher stat benchmarks (admittedly my preference is certainly showing through with my descriptions here, as I have a lot more to say about attack stance...). That balance lets people develop a preference for how they prefer to play Conquest, so I don't think a Guard Stance focused, Attack Stance focused, or even more balance style of play is necessarily right, or wrong, and I think that is a testament to how well they tuned the gameplay in Fates is.

That's very interesting, I just felt conflicted because I was feeling a bit brainless playing this way, or basically having 4-5 really strong units that bulldozer their way through each chapter. Either Corrin goes in with his roided up 43 spd and dodge tanks everything (even if that doesn't work, if Astra procs its basically a free dual guard) or I just have Xander with Charlotte paired up and they face tank every physical unit they come across, while doubling them back or usually OHKO'ing them. Of course each unit has their weaknesses but for the most part I feel pretty solid with progression. I want to attempt an attack stance run next time, as I feel like I haven't fully exploited it to the extent you have and want to change the way I approach maps.