HM Playthrough

[Lord Raven]

Funds is a pretty easy rank in this game. I have like 12 or 13 units promoted now and my funds are still A.

[Mekkah]

Definitely promote someone to Bishop with it. If you're unsure, try to check how much goods you can sell before your funds rank hits B.

[dondon151]

19A completed, Shin, Lot, and Astol are at level 20 and Ellen just promoted to Bishop. Everything's still looking good.

I wish you got a Hero Crest instead of a Knight Crest from that chapter, though. There's like... 4 people who want a Hero Crest.

Edited January 13, 2009 by dondon151

[Balcerzak]

Just posting a few very bare, very boring summaries. These chapters weren't really exciting enough for anything more, for the most part.

Chapter 18:

Team: Rutger, Dieck, Igrene, Gonzales, Lilina, Echidna, Lalum, Ray, Roy, Cecilia, Alan, Lance, Miredy, Zeiss, Clarine

It took me a try or two to get the right placement and timing of the Warps to save the villages, aside from that, not too difficult.

Turn 3: Warp Dieck over to deal with Shamans and Ballista Archer.

Turn 5: Warp Lance over to help, so they can block off the Bandits in time.

Turn 8: Lance visits central village

Turn 10: Dieck visits south village, Igrene visits NW village

Turn 11: Lilina starts picking on the Boss. Echidna <C> Gonzales

Turn 12: Rutger destroys Boss

Mop up reinforcements.

Turn 18: Seize

Reinforcements:

Turn 5: Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe (North Central), Brigand Lv 18 Hand Axe (East Central)

Turn 6: Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe (North Central), Brigand Lv 18 Hand Axe (East Central)

Turn 7: Rivers freeze, Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe (North Central), Brigand Lv 18 Hand Axe (East Central)

Turn 8: Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe (North Central), Brigand Lv 18 Hand Axe (East Central)

Turn 9: Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe (North Central), Brigand Lv 18 Hand Axe (East Central)

Turn 10: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 11: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (East Central)

Turn 12: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 13: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (East Central)

Turn 14: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 15: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (East Central)

Turn 16: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 17: P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance/Javelin, P Knight Lv 17 Steel Lance (East Central)

Augury: Very good! Perfect in fact.

5* Tactics: 20 turns

-----------------------

Chapter 19

Team: Roy, Saul, Astol, Lilina, Gonzales, Lalum, Echidna, Ray, Cass, Miredy, Percival, Cecilia, Zeiss, Niime

Turn 1: Zeiss carries, drops off Cass to the right on forest tile. Miredy joins them. Cecilia buys (Thunder x8, Lightning x4, Flux x2, Heal x6, Mend x2, Physic x3)

Turn 2: Cass steals Vulnerary off Cav, Miredy kills Ballista archer, Zeiss wounds Cav.

Turn 4: Cass steals Knight's Crest

Turn 7: Zeiss <B> Miredy. Cass visits western Village.

Turn 9: Ashtol steals Elixir off Paladin

Turn 10: Percival visits East Village.

Turn 13: Saul poses for the Boss. Miredy and Zeiss have gone NW to the lonely Ballista, Cass heads south to play with the Bandits.

Turn 18: Tired of leveling Saul's Light magic, Echidna finishes Boss.

Turn 19: Seize

Reinforcements:

Turn 11: 2x Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe South Central

Turn 12: 2x Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe South Central

Turn 13: 2x Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe South Central

Turn 14: 2x Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe South Central

Turn 15: 2x Brigand Lv 18 Steel Axe South Central

Turn 16: P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance/Vulnerary (South Central), P Knight Lv 18 Javelin/Steel Lance (NW), P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 17: P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance/Vulnerary (South Central), P Knight Lv 18 Javelin/Steel Lance (NW), P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 18: P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance/Vulnerary (South Central), P Knight Lv 18 Javelin/Steel Lance (NW), P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 19: P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance/Vulnerary (South Central), P Knight Lv 18 Javelin/Steel Lance (NW), P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance (North Central)

Turn 20: P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance/Vulnerary (South Central), P Knight Lv 18 Javelin/Steel Lance (NW), P Knight Lv 18 Steel Lance (North Central)

Augury: Very good! Perfect in fact.

5* Tactics: 20 turns

-----------------------

Chapter 20

Team: Roy, Lalum, Echidna, Miredy, Cecilia, Lilina, Gonzales, Zeiss, Ashtol, Cass, Zealot, Saul, Ray

Gave Zealot Killer weapons, his possessing them enabled him to actually not fail completely. Since I wasn't sure when reinforcements would come to harass the fleeing civilians, he and Yuno and Ray escorted them back, as well as Miredy and Zeiss, though those two eventually went south to deal with the Mercs, leaving the others to deal with the Fighters and the arena. Zealot and Yuno actually managed to get a support together, though the translation patch had it horribly butchered, and malformed. I'll never use them again, but I didn't deny them their conversation.

I really didn't need the Elysian whip, but I stole it on principle.

Turn 1: Lilina <A> Gonzales.

Turn 6: Free Yuno et. al.

Turn 10: Warp Cass in with the Ballista,

Turn 11: Steal Elysian Whip. Civilians escape

Turn 14: Gonzo double crit KO the Boss.

Turn 20: Seize

Reinforcements:

Turn 10: Thief x2 Lv 20 Iron Sword/Lockpick (North Central)

Turn 11: 3x Fighter Lv 20 Steel Axe NE, 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 12: 3x Fighter Lv 20 Steel Axe NE, 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 13: 3x Fighter Lv 20 Steel Axe NE, 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 14: 3x Fighter Lv 20 Steel Axe NE

Turn 15: 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 16: 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 17: 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Turn 18: 2x Merc Lv 18 Steel Sword SE

Augury: Very good! Perfect in fact.

5* Tactics: 25 turns

----------

Ch 20x

Team: Lance, Alan, Percival (NW), Cecilia, Saul, Roy, Fa, Igrene, Lalum, Ray (S), Lilina, Gonzales, Echidna (NE)

This chapter, I probably made some very stupid choices with setup, but winded up getting ridiculously lucky, so it winded up not mattering. Alan got Berserked, and Percival and Lance put to Sleep, so the entire NW section was out of action, with no Restore anywhere nearby. Alan's first turn of berserk involved hittting Lance, but on subsequent three turns he beat up on Percival, who just survived as Alan regained his senses.

Similarly annoying, but less potentially deadly was when Igrene was Berserked. While much more feasible to Restore her, it took a turn to get one over there, and luckily Lalum dodged that Silver Bow that would have OHKOed her. Eclipse was useful, thanks for the tip. I was unable to visually verify whether killing walls gave double WEXP, but attacking them did seem to have some sort of increase, though it was hard to say for certain.

Brave weapon enemies were potentially deadly, but I survived. If memory served, Saul and Cecilia took on the Swordmaster, from afar, but Fa had to dodge on of the Brave Axe strokes on an enemy phase, which she did with a bit of luck.

Can't think of anything else, but this was easily the most difficult chapter in recent history, IMO.

Turn 13: Gonzo defeats Boss.

Turn 14: Seize

Augury: Very good! Perfect in fact.

5* Tactics: 20 turns.

Units:

Roy	   20.00  33 11 13 12 16 11 06 <A> Cecilia, <C> Lance, <C> Alan
Lalum	 20.00  27 03 03 20 24 06 07 <A> Echidna [speed maxed]
Echidna   08.44  41 16 21 18 07 08 08 <A> Lalum, <C> Gonzales
Miredy	09.37  59 25 26 23 12 19 07 <A> Zeiss [strength, skill, and speed maxed]
Cecilia   10.08  35 13 11 12 12 10 16 <A> Roy
Lilina	08.23  36 30 13 23 22 07 18 <A> Gonzales, <B> Ashtol [strength maxed]
Ray	   07.56  34 23 20 20 09 07 15 
Gonzales  10.42  60 28 16 28 17 18 02 <A> Lilina, <C> Echidna [HP, and speed maxed]
Dieck	 09.50  50 19 22 20 13 13 06 <B> Rutger, <B> Clarine
Rutger	08.72  50 21 27 23 12 13 07 <A> Clarine, <B> Dieck
Alan	  04.58  43 19 16 18 12 12 03 <A> Lance, <C> Roy
Lance	 06.51  46 17 18 22 10 17 06 <A> Alan, <C> Roy
Zeiss	 05.64  54 25 24 21 10 23 06 <A> Miredy 
Igrene	10.06  36 21 20 20 12 12 11
Fa		14.28  34 14 13 12 29 06 13
Clarine   09.75  29 11 13 25 25 08 19 <A> Rutger, <B> Dieck [speed maxed]
Percival  07.38  52 21 16 21 14 15 13
Zealot	03.57  37 12 13 14 05 12 07 <C> Yuno
Saul	  15.17  44 21 22 24 09 08 24
Cass	  20.00  35 08 16 20 17 05 08

--------------

Ch 21

Tentative Team: Roy, Lalum, Echidna, Cecilia, Lilina, Gonzales, Saul, Ray, Igrene, Fa, Percival, Alan, Lance, Miredy, Zeiss, Dieck, Rutger, Clarine (Possibly switching Igrene or Fa out for Ashtol to steal Knight's Crest [on principle, not because it's needed].)

Igrene has S-ranked her bow, Saul is halfway through A on Light magic. I'm getting the feeling it's a ridiculous endeavor to try to actually use Aureola in a ranked run, as by the time he hits S, he'll probably have hit 20, and won't be fighting anymore. Ah well, live and learn.

Only a few chapters left. :)

Edited January 14, 2009 by Balcerzak

[Lord Raven]

I have a fucking S rank on Chapter 23. :D :D :D :D

I got Sophia to Level 15. Her performance is underwhelming, but I babied her a couple kills; she gets a level up or somewhere close per kill. Saul and Ellen got a couple level ups too (Ellen is VERY close to promotion at this point, but I won't bother much; maybe I'll promote her this chapter and get her a couple kills).

Beaten FE6 ranked.

Final chapter:

Roy ended up in the early teens as far as level is concerned, Fae around 10, and Ellen at 6 or 7. Everyone else was in their mid to late teens.

Roy (Sword of Seals, Wyrmslayer) (B Alan B Lane)

Clarine (Recover, Physic, Elfire, Hammerne) (A Rutger B Dieck)

Dieck (Silver Axe, Killer Axe, Armads) (B Rutger B Clarine)

Alan (Malte, Brave Lance) (A Lance B Roy)

Rutger (Wo Dao, Killing Edge, Durandal) (A Clarine B Dieck)

Ray (Nosferatu x3, Apocalypse) (A Lugh)

Lugh (Aircalibur x3, Forblaze) (A Ray)

Lance (Steel Axe, Silver Lance) (A Alan B Roy)

Fae (Divine Dragonstone x30)

Ellen (Lightning, Physic, Holy Maiden, Recover)

Turn count

1: 20

2: 14

3: 18

4: 13

5: 17

6: 20

7: 18

8: 26

8x: 15

9: 15

10: 16

11: 16

12: 17

12x: 14

13: 22

14: 15

14x: 10

15: 13

16: 18

16x: 17

17: 15

18: 13

19: 13

20: 23

20x: 18

21: 21 (this chapter REALLY wasn't difficult)

21x: 31

22: 26

23: 19

24: 31

Final: 2

Total: 536 turns unless I did my math wrong

Got an A rank :(

http://i41.tinypic.com/2dlu04m.png

I think it was the Holy Maiden staff. I used it once, then accidentally twice and I couldn't be fucked to go back to a previous save so I just went with it. >_>

Edited January 19, 2009 by Nathan Graves

[Mekkah]

Saint Staff has no worth, so it must have been something else. Maybe you should try stealing the promo items from Murdock and Zephiel?

For Balcerak, I didn't even think of the Elysian Whip Sniper behind the wall for a Warp use, but that thing luckily doesn't run out too quickly. I cannot think of a lot of special strategies for 21, maybe you should experiment a bit to see how much Igrene hinders or helps (though I can't see Ashtol doing any better when it comes to enemy phase). I wouldn't worry too much about Aureola or Saul hitting 20 - obviously Saul can still aid the combat rank with Aureola even if he's L20, and he can of course weaken enemies for others to kill (promoted Roy!).

[Lord Raven]

Saint Staff has no worth, so it must have been something else. Maybe you should try stealing the promo items from Murdock and Zephiel?

It could've been a Hammerne I used on the Sword of Seals when it hit like 15 or something. Or physics.

Ellen and Clarine have pathetic magic stats. >_>

[Seph]

Once you finish your ranked run, could you possibly make a list of exp needed for each chapter? It's probably the only reason why I'm not bothering to S rank.

And also, how hard is the combat rank in Hard Mode? Coupled with the exp rank and funds rank (Killer weapons), it seems like a gigantic pain in the ass if you think about it. It seems to me like the hardest rank in hard mode. I haven't tried it so I can't comment though.

Edited January 17, 2009 by Shanan

[Lord Raven]

EXP can't be TOO hard per chapter since you can easily get some magic users later on (like Sophia and Lilina) to get you a lot of EXP, as well as stat users.

Combat can't be too hard either provided you keep your supports consistent. Funds isn't hard either; I fucked up later on for some reason I still can't track, but as long as you sell and buy and steal all the promotion items you can, you're cool. I was actually an A in combat everytime I had access to the Augury.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

I always S rank EXP without even trying. It can't be hard in this game...

[Seph]

I'm really not worried about the exp rank thanks to people like Roy, Fa, Zeiss, Ellen, Clarine and Saul. And also staves give exp like hell.

Mainly the combat rank I'm worried about.

[Lord Raven]

I found it hard to S rank EXP, but I had high Combat so...

Sophia stole kills later on though, and got +14 in level. Units get close to one rounding but don't so Sophia works well... I also gave Deak axes so he'd easily be able to almost kill them.

Edited January 17, 2009 by Nathan Graves

[dondon151]

Mainly the combat rank I'm worried about.

Combat definitely sucks for the first 2/3 of the game, but once units start getting promoted it'll pick up very easily. If you use the Silver Card to stock up on killer weapons and arena abuse on the side to earn gold while your main group completes the mission objective (this is really easy in Ilia), Combat is nothing to worry about.

[Mekkah]

Does arena count as a win for combat?

[Balcerzak]

Warning, long ass post ahead. I finished the game over the weekend while my internet was out, so have all the remaining chapter summaries, as well as some post-game and ranking analyses to share. Let's just begin by answering a few of the posts in recent history here before digging into all of that, though.

======

Once you finish your ranked run, could you possibly make a list of exp needed for each chapter? It's probably the only reason why I'm not bothering to S rank.

While a good idea, that seems rather difficult actually. It's not like funds, or turns, where you can manipulate it at will to check your progress (no way to suddenly cause characters to lose XP to test for a threshold). I've done tactics, done funds, and created a list of sufficient XP, but it will not be a list of necessary XP, as it may well overshot the target considerably.

And also, how hard is the combat rank in Hard Mode? Coupled with the exp rank and funds rank (Killer weapons), it seems like a gigantic pain in the ass if you think about it. It seems to me like the hardest rank in hard mode. I haven't tried it so I can't comment though.

Combat was the only rank that ever turned up non-A for whatever that's worth. It took several chapters to get it up to par, but I think dondon's comments pretty much nail things on the head as far as that goes. After your units have promoted and begin to start really shining, and until you get to Ilia with the land of weighed down Pegasi, you'll probably do well enough to dig your way out of any early hole you may have dug yourself.

Does arena count as a win for combat?

I'm going to guess yes. In the scrolling credits, I came across "Yuno: 2B 1W", and I know I fought with her once in the Arena, but don't think I had her actually kill another unit (I may be mistaken though. She has 38 experience, which would seem to indicate somewhere in the neighborhood of 1 kill and 1 wounding, but again, not definitive as it could be two low XP kills and one 1XP fail to counter, or who knows what else. That said, the chapter end data showed her Killer Lance at 18 uses, though some of that may have been from Zealot before he traded it to her, too hard to say). I'm assuming the Combat rank is just determined by the sum total of W over the sum total of B, and comparing it to some standard ratio (initial guess is a round 40%, but I have no real basis in fact for that). Though, to be honest, I'm very unclear on the matter, so it'd be nice to get some outside confirmation.

If I ever do another run, I'll make a point of trying to test that theory.

===============

Ch 21

Team:

RHS: Dieck, Rutger, Clarine, Echidna, Gonzales, Lilina, Ashtol, Lalum, Saul

LHS: Lance, Alan, Roy, Cecilia, Percival, Ray, Igrene, Yodel, Miredy, Zeiss

Turn 1: Clarine buys a Divine. Frankly, I'd been hoping the Armory stocked Hand Axes, rather than Silver weapons, as my supply is running sadly low.

Turn 2: RHS group takes care of the turn 0 reinforcements.

Turn 3: Gonzales <B> Echidna. I could actually see them working out well together, storywise. Too bad they're so slow to build, that an A isn't normally gonna be likely. Enemy Phase. Dieck eats a crit from a Killer Lance Wyvern, survives, doubles it with Wyrmslayer for a kill, dodges a Wyvern Lord, crits it back for a kill, dodges two javelins. Lucky!~

Turn 4: South unit has moved to the Center, approaching the village area, will wall itself up soon. Most enemies nearby have been cleaned out.

Turns 5-9: Wall formations. No advancing for the center group, just maintaining status quo, some advancing for the northern group. Pictures being worth a thousand words, and since I'm lazy, the next couple turns are just caps of the relevant situations before the enemy phase. Very little extra effort was needed to protect Igrene, she only ever seemed to get in range of one Wyvern Rider or so on any given enemy phase, and would usually dodge it. Her Killer and Silver bows seemed to more than make up for it in my opinion. I'd forgotten that the North reinforcements contained mostly pansy Lv 5s, barely worth killing, wasn't too concerned about anyone up there, but there was a time when Ashtol was almost in trouble, took a hit from one of the Lv 20s, needed healing (this was on Turn 7 enemy phase). Cecilia actually makes some important offensive contributions with Aircalibur, she doesn't double of course, and can't OHKO, but she doesn't get doubled and the Paladins need help to 1RKO anyway. Yodel was never near enough to any action. Roy sat on a forest and dodged an adventurous Wvyern once, but that was the extent of it.

Turn 6:

Turn 7:

Turn 8:

Turn 12: Enemy Phase, Gale arrives, doubles Roy but misses once. The rest of my defenses hold strong.

Turn 13: Talk to Gale with Zeiss, and Miredy (out of principle), then have Igrene Silver Bow double him to death. No offense Gale, but if you're not joining me, and your survival is not a Gaidin requirement, you're XP. Enemy Phase, Clarine was baiting the Mamkute on a forest with 120 Avoid, and it still hit her! Luckily she had 1 HP leftover, so all was well, but still. XP

Turn 17-19: Maneuver around to the bottom of the Temple of Seals entrance.

Turn 20: Steal Knight's Crest from Murdock. Everyone who can damage Murdock piles up on him. A shame I forgot my effective vs knights weapons. :(

Turn 21: Lilina finishes Murdock. Seize.

Reinforcements:

Turn 0: Wyvern Riders Lv 20 x 4 (Killer Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance, 2x Steel Lance/Javelin) Wyvern Lord Lv 10 Silver Lance (South Central); Wyvern Riders Lv 20 x 4 (Steel Lance, Killer Lance/Vulnerary, 2x Steel Lance/Javelin) Wyvern Lord Lv 10 Silver Lance (Northish Eastish)

Turn 3/Far enough South: 4x Paladin (2x Lv 5 Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Lv 5 Javelin, Lv 13 Silver Lance), 3x Wyvern Rider L20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance

Turn 4/Far enough South+1: 4x Paladin (2x Lv 5 Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Lv 5 Javelin, Lv 13 Silver Lance), 3x Wyvern Rider L20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance

Turn 5/Far enough South+2: 4x Paladin (2x Lv 5 Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Lv 5 Javelin, Lv 13 Silver Lance), 3x Wyvern Rider L20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance; Far enough East?: SE 2x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (Steel Lance, Steel Lance/Vulnerary), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, ECentral 3x Wvyern Rider Lv 5 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, ESE 3x Wvyern Rider Lv 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Javelin), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance

Turn 6/Far enough East+1: ECentral 3x Wvyern Rider Lv 5 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance; ESE Wvyern Rider Lv 20 Javelin, Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance

Turn 7/Far enough East+2: SE 3x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (Steel Lance, Steel Lance/Vulnerary), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance; ECentral 3x Wvyern Rider Lv 5 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, ESE 3x Wvyern Rider Lv 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Javelin), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance

Turn 12/Other condition?: Gale, 4x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (?, ?, Axereaver, Steel Lance) (Center), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lve 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance) (East), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Javelin) (South)

Turn 13/Other condition+1: Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lve 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance) (East), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Javelin) (South)

Turn 14/Other condition+2: Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lve 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Steel Lance) (East), Wyvern Lord Lv 13 Silver Lance, 3x Wyvern Rider Lv 20 (2x Steel Lance/Vulnerary, Javelin) (South)

Turn 30: 2x Druid Lv 10 Fenrir/Physic, Druid Lv 15 Nosferatu

Augury: Very good! Perfect, in fact.

5* Tactics: 30 turns.

--------------

Ch 21x

Team: Echidna, Gonzales, Lalum, Lilina, Ray (left); Roy, Cecilia, Lance, Alan, Percival (right) [Chest keys >> Lv capped thieves]

Turn 2: Gonzo crits that Brave Sword Hero, nothing to fear there.

Turn 9: Both of my LHS magic users have been Silenced. Does nothing provide reliable staff evade in this game?

Turn 10: Cecilia too. :( No working Magic Users. <_<

Turn 11: Note to self: You set off a trap while Releasing someone, furthermore, if you have extra move which prompts a re-move, should you elect not to move, it will cause you to set off the trap again.

Turn 13-14: Chests: RHS Elixir x2 (That's funny, I was expecting a Mamkute...)

Turn 15: LHS Chest, upper left: Mamkute. (Oh, there it was.) Lilina crits it while trying to soften it up for Ray.

Turn 16: LHS Chest: Elixir

Turn 17: Cecilia <C> Percival

Turn 19: Center Right Chest contains Mamkute. Cecilia wounds, Percy double crits with Killer Axe for the KO. On the enemy phase he is wounded down to 2HP by Brave Sword Hero. Yikes!

Turn 21: Left Chest contains Mamkute. Lilina crits it while trying to soften it up for Ray. Again.

Turn 22: Alan kills Boss, Seize.

Augury: Very good! Perfect, in fact.

5* Tactics: 20 turns

---------------

Ch 22

Team:

LHS: Miredy, Zeiss, Dieck, Rutger, Clarine, Ray

RHS: Lance, Alan, Percival, Cecilia, Roy, Igrene, Lalum, Echidna, Gonzales, Lilina

Turn 1: Lilina double Boltings Berserk Druid.

Next couple turns:

Igrene hugs left hand wall, repeatedly countering that Light Brand Hero. Echidna and her soften thing up for Roy to kill. Paladins take far right. Wyv Lords aim for far left. Dieck Rutger Clarine head for the south chunk.

Clarine gets Silenced. Light Brand Hero gets physiced.

Turn 6: Igrene criticals Light Brand Hero. RHS units' advance stalled due to bad-ass Druids needing careful managing.

Turn 7: Druids gone, advancing resumes. (Thanks Igrene!)

Turn 12: Open Throne Room

Turn 15: Throne room clear, Lilina attacks Zephiel.

Turn 18: All reinforcements mopped up, Lilina crits Zephiel, puts him in Roy's finishing range. Roy delivers, Lalum dances, Roy seizes.

Reinforcements:

Turn 0: (South-center) 2x Hero Lv 15 (Light Brand, Killing Edge), Sniper Lv 16 Brave Bow; (NW-center) 2x Druid Lv 15 (Nosferatu/Recover, Nosferatu/Physic), (NE-center) 2x Druid Lv 15 (Nosferatu/Recover, Nosferatu/Physic), (East-center) 2x Hero Lv 15 (Light Brand, Killing Edge), Sniper Lv 16 Brave Bow

Turn 10: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right)

Open Throne Room: 2x Hero Lv 12 (Silver Sword, Lancereaver), Druid Lv 13 Fenrir/Mend, Sniper Lv 14 Silver Bow (left); 2x Hero Lv 12 (Silver Sword, Lancereaver), Druid Lv 13 Fenrir/Mend, Sniper Lv 14 Silver Bow (right); (Throne Room) 2x Hero Lv 9 (Silver Sword, Lancereaver), 2x Druid Lv 12 Fenrir, 2x Mamkute Lv 10, Sniper Lv 11 Silver Bow, Bishop Lv 12 Divine/Recover

Turn 12: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 15: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right); (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow; Thief, left corridor

Turn 18: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 20: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right)

Turn 21: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 24: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 25: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right)

Turn 27: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 30: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right); (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow; Thief, left corridor

Turn 33: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 35: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right)

Turn 36: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 39: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 40: (North stairwells) Bishop Lv 9 Silence/Divine/Physic (left), Bishop Lv 10 Sleep/Divine/Physic (right)

Turn 42: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Turn 45: (Throne Room) Hero Lv 12 Silver Sword, Berserker Lv 11 Hammer, Druid Lv 15 Fenrir, Sniper Lv 12 Silver Bow;

Augury: Very good! Perfect, in fact.

5* Tactics: 25

Completely slipped my mind that Zeph came with a stealable Hero Crest. Ah well, it's not important.

This would be an ideal chapter to trade turns for XP if you needed to juggle your ranks a bit, due to massive reinforcements.

------------

Ch 23

Team: Roy, Lalum, Echidna, Cecilia, Gonzales, Ray, Percival, Alan, Lance, Igrene, Miredy, Zeiss, Rutger, Clarine, Fir [recruit], Cass [steal]

Change Strategy: Turtle the Wyverns the first couple turns. Send Miredy up to get Berserked destroy Center Island, while keeping troops entirely out of her range. Advance.

End of Turn 4: All advancing enemy troops defeated, Miredy is Javelining Killer Ballista Archer outside of Berserk range.

End of Turn 6: Miredy has killed two out of three Ballista Archers, gets Berserked (4 turn duration), Moderate swarm of Wyverns approach her, all my units outside of her range.

Turn 7: LHS holds fast, RHS advances. Enemy phase, Miredy kills remaining Ballista Archer, about half the Wyverns that assault her (3 remain), takes 18 damage.

Turn 8: Cecilia Physics Miredy, RHS advances. (Cass steals red gem, Ray OHKOs Mamkute). Enemy Phase: Cass is Berserked. (I'm quaking in my boots.) Rutger put to sleep. All but Javelin Wyvern are dead by Miredy.

Turn 9: Cecilia Physics Miredy, Ray is Berserked, Gonzo is slept. All units hold fast.

Turn 11: Miredy Recovers, LHS advances, RHS stonewalls vs Ray. Cecilia Forblazes Mamkute, softens it for Lance. Miredy put to Sleep.

Turn 13: Cass and Rutger recover. Percival <B> Cecilia. Rutger put back to Sleep. Igrene soaks a Brenya Bolting (by accident).

Turn 16: Cass steals Blue Gem, Guiding Ring. All enemies put to the sword, Brenya was criticalled by Killing Edge Alan. Roy and Lalum already moved, so seizing next turn. Fir <C> Karel

Turn 17: Seize.

Augury: Very good! Perfect, in fact.

5* Tactics: 20 turns

-------

Chapter 24

Team: Fa, Gonzales (Armads), Rutger (Durandal), Clarine, Zeiss (Malte), Igrene (Miugre), Cecilia (Forblaze), Saul (Aureola), Ray (Apocalypse), Roy (SoS)

Turn 4: Seize first throne.

Turn 8: Seize second throne.

Turn 10: Seize third throne.

Turn 12: Seize fourth throne.

Turn 16: Seize fifth throne.

Turn 19: Seize sixth throne.

Turn 23: Kill Yahn, Seize final throne.

Reinforcements:

(I couldn't decipher a meaningful pattern. I assume it's tied to throne seizing somehow, but there may be odd issues with overlap, etc.)

Turn 4: Mamkute Lv 12 (Start Zone)

Turn 5: Mamkute Lv 12 (Start Zone)

Turn 9: Mamkute Lv 12? (First Throne)

Turn 10: Mamkute Lv 12? (Second Throne)

Turn 12: Mamkute Lv 12? (Third Throne)

Turn 15: Mamkute Lv 12? (Third Throne)

Turn 16: Mamkute Lv 12? (Fourth Throne)

Turn 18: Mamkute Lv 12? (Fourth Throne)

Turn 19: Mamkute Lv 14 (Fifth Throne)

Turn 21: Mamkute Lv 14 (Fifth Throne)

------

Ch Final

Turn 2: Finish Idoun (with Roy SoS)

Reinforcements:

Kill the Starting Mamkutes: WarDragon Lv 18 Flame Stone/Elixir (Random)

+n: ""

where n is any element of the natural numbers.

5* Tactics: Ch 24 + Final = 35

5* Tactics: Total Game = 630

No-one told me it came in multiple S'es. I was wigging out for a bit. However, when doing the testing to find out the exact tactics ratings, I noticed that single S never happens (it went straight from Ss to A). Must be reserved for Normal Mode ranking, I guess, as I know I got one of those then.

A complete summary of my notes on ranking requirements (relatively thorough notes exist for Tactics, Funds, and there is very limited detail provided for XP and Combat) can be found here, as well as a collected list of observed reinforcements, with different chapters having different states of completeness.

I did do a Tactics test for the alternate route 10/11 (the turn requirements were the same as for the good route), but couldn't be arsed to do so for Sacae.

I think I'm quite finished playing around with FE6 for awhile. It was a fun run, and a decent challenge, particularly at the beginning. A few notes on unit usefulness:

Cecilia was surprisingly adequate. Her existence let the promoted first tier staff users focus more on attacking, and less on the higher level staves, that promoted first tier magicians couldn't dream of reaching (most significantly Restore, and Physic). She seemed to benefit a ton from the Roy support, what with the added might and avoid supplementing her rather weak performance there. I was floored at how effectively she managed to use Forblaze to be perfectly honest.

Zeiss really suffers compared to Miredy for one key reason. His swords weapon level will never grow fast enough to let him use Killing Edge or Wyrmslayer without some serious abuse. Add on that he needs a bit of hand-holding... Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I trained him, but he just never seemed to get out from under Big Sis's shadow.

Echidna did even better for me this time around than last time. Probably because I raised her from recruitment point, instead of suddenly realizing I needed to give more units XP and having her join the field many chapters later, where her durability was a bit underpar compared to what it should have been. Solid addition to any team.

Igrene, a most worthy prepromote, probably my favorite choice for Sniper, doesn't need all that babying that an archer would, comes at about the time when you'll start having serious use for one. Suffers from worse Bow rank than Klein, and poorer growths, but that didn't seem to hurt her this time around.

Dieck, for some reason I could never really get attached to. Sure he's solid, and useful, but he never really had any moments where he shone for me. I probably should have treated him to better weapons more often, it's unfair for me to have fed Echidna Killer Axes, but left him with Blades instead of Edges.

Paladins, statistically at the end of the game all of them were neck and neck. I was almost hoping Percival would S rank swords so I could give him Durandal, instead of Rutger (who drug along Clarine who was offensively worthless), but it didn't quite happen. The other cavs would never have a shot at S ranking anything that was not a lance.

[Lord Raven]

Also, Balcerzak - I actually did just fine splitting the unit apart for Chapter 21. I used full slots with Klein and Igrene in both teams so...

[Mekkah]

Congrats and thanks for all the research done.

Cecilia was surprisingly adequate.

I know a certain debater that's been saying this for ages. x)

Zeiss really suffers compared to Miredy for one key reason. His swords weapon level will never grow fast enough to let him use Killing Edge or Wyrmslayer without some serious abuse. Add on that he needs a bit of hand-holding... Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I trained him, but he just never seemed to get out from under Big Sis's shadow.

To me it's like Zeis is to Miledy what Nino is to Erk. The latter is like an infinitely better version of the former, but nonetheless you'll want to use the former for the EXP rank.

Dieck, for some reason I could never really get attached to. Sure he's solid, and useful, but he never really had any moments where he shone for me. I probably should have treated him to better weapons more often, it's unfair for me to have fed Echidna Killer Axes, but left him with Blades instead of Edges.

Dieck's peak is right at the beginning, when he shows off his overpowered bases. From there he dwindles a bit.

[Seph]

Congratulations and thanks anyway.

I tried S ranking twice on HM but I quit both on Chapter 5 because of how immensely boring it was.. I need to break that record.

[dondon151]

Wow... 630 turns Tactics is like double that of HHM.

Nice job, dude.

Edited January 20, 2009 by dondon151

[Balcerzak]

Also, Balcerzak - I actually did just fine splitting the unit apart for Chapter 21. I used full slots with Klein and Igrene in both teams so...

Wait. I'm not sure I understand your point here (maybe I'm just being dense :sweat:). Do you mean you split things further than a North/South split, or that you didn't wall up for a bit, or what? I mean, I split things up and it managed alright, so it's not like I was arguing against a divide and conquer. At least, that wasn't my goal.

Congrats and thanks for all the research done.

Thanks, and no problem, hope the research will be useful to future people, if another topic asking for ranking requirements ever pops up. It should do at least a decent job until or unless it gets supplanted by actual ROM figures. I failed to figure out how to use Nightmare to search through, so the research was partly an attempt to make up for that.

[Clarine = adequate]I know a certain debater that's been saying this for ages. x)

To me it's like Zeis is to Miledy what Nino is to Erk. The latter is like an infinitely better version of the former, but nonetheless you'll want to use the former for the EXP rank.

Dieck's peak is right at the beginning, when he shows off his overpowered bases. From there he dwindles a bit.

Ah, sorry, I haven't really followed that many debates, even though I've enjoyed reading the few I have. ^^;

That's actually a pretty decent comparison, though I often find myself not using Erk, though I don't really know why. I'll have to give him another shot.

Quite so, his early game was pretty hard-core.

Congratulations and thanks anyway.

I tried S ranking twice on HM but I quit both on Chapter 5 because of how immensely boring it was.. I need to break that record.

I can only imagine it will get easier for you once you start to get some feedback on your progress (via Augury), 'cause it did for me. The sad thing is that's slightly over a third of the way through the game. :( Good luck for whenever you decide to try it next.

Wow... 630 turns Tactics is like double that of HHM.

Nice job, dude.

Yeah, it's kind of funny that way. Though to be fair, the maps generally are larger, if I remember right. My total turns taken was 552, which while decidedly under the limit, is still leaps and bounds above a HHM run.

Thanks again everyone, for the well wishes at the beginning, and the congrats at the end.

[Mekkah]

My total turns taken was 552, which while decidedly under the limit

Understatement of the year. You could have arena abused in Ch11, Ch13 or Ch17 for like 70 extra turns to make EXP a joke, and if arenas boost combat rank as well, you wouldn't have had to worry about that either. Gotta love FE6.

Edited January 21, 2009 by Mekkah

[Seph]

Assuming there are 31 chapters in FE6, that's like 20 turns for each chapter.

[Lord Raven]

Understatement of the year. You could have arena abused in Ch11, Ch13 or Ch17 for like 70 extra turns to make EXP a joke, and if arenas boost combat rank as well, you wouldn't have had to worry about that either. Gotta love FE6.

Also making the rest of the ranks a joke, and it could've even sped up the tactics for every other chapter because your units are raping everything. Hard.

Obviously Funds, Power, EXP are getting powered up while Survival's basically a non-rank...

Edited January 21, 2009 by Nathan Graves

[dondon151]

Someone should arbitrarily establish a tighter Tactics rank.

[Mekkah]

Naw, I think this rank is much more reasonable than FE7's. We're not supposed to assign ranks, we go with what we have, and if not then we bicker for 10 pages about what the target of playing more with efficiency exactly is (see: Radiant Dawn Board on GameFAQs).