Fire Emblem 6 - Race #2

[Jowy]

It's your lucky day!

Chapter 8x:

We've taken the city and the castle, what next?



Treasure hunting. Only one problem, bandits have taken the cave. Time for a PURGE.



What we've got here is a very straightforward map when we don't have any fliers in our team. Follow the only route, kill the boss, seize the throne.
On the left we have our own Lilina training grounds. She will kill all 7 units on that side.
Oh yeah, there are some tiles that'll hurt you if you stand on them when they erupt with lava.

Let's get right to it.



The three horseback units can just reach and kill both bandits.
Roy and Dieck head north. We'll need Roy to seize the throne, and Dieck to kill the boss (more on that when we get there).
We set up Chad to dodge a hit and counter the swordsman, so that next turn Lilina can kill it.



We use an Elfire charge here, looking very far into the future. Wait for it..



Dieck kills the archer on the way. Zealot misses his second hit so Marcus finishes off the mage.



We're baiting the mage to attack Lilina who can counter him. The swordsman would kill Lilina, except he has a juicier target: the defenseless caravan.
The caravan (Merlinus) is an exception to the permanent death rule. He will only flee the current battle, so we can afford to sacrifice him.



Zealot levels up while countering. He wiped out all the bandits on the way, four in total.



Chad and Lilina then killed the swordsman. Only the mage is in range, no problemo.



Zealot and Marcus will rescue Dieck and Roy this turn. The ride begins.
First though, we complete our first support:



Did someone say.. soft?



Anyhow..



Zealot is equipped with a Steel Sword and will kill two axes. The third one has a hand-axe.
The swordsman is one of the strange units on this map.. It will not move.



Same deal as before, the two axes will die to sword counters.



Chad attacks the swordsman and Lilina finishes the job. She gets her first level up.
We're all set now. Those axes are no problem, they are too inaccurate to hit Chad.
Previously I used Treck to help out, but I forgot my old route, and in the new one he'd just stand around doing nothing.
So instead of that, I now send him with the paladins where he'll kill off the enemies who are left behind.



We stayed 1 tile back with Zealot as to not aggro the far swordsman. He's the only unit of the four that will move. We don't want him to block the way.



Treck killed the stationary swordsman and leveled up.



Oh yeah, all the bandits also attack Chad over Lilina because Chad can't counter them. Otherwise she'd be very dead.



They both level up, Chad just for weakening the enemy for Lilina. It's surprising how much combat Chad is seeing in this playthrough despite being absolutely terrible at it.



Marcus can 1-hit the mage with his Silver Lance, clearing the way for Zealot so he doesn't have to go around.
In the end, Marcus and Zealot are both at the exact tiles they need to be for the boss strats to work.



Zealot drops Dieck next to the boss. Dieck has a Killing Edge equipped. Zealot has a Light's Brand to make the boss attack Dieck over Zealot.
This boss has high stats and unlike every other boss so far, we don't have a weapon that is super-effective against him. What we do is we rely on crits.
The Killing Edge I only looted because it was on the way becomes a weapon that will save turns. Killing Edge is a weapon that enhances your crit rate.
We need to crit the boss at least once to kill him next turn.
Marcus dropped Roy just far enough that he can reach the throne next turn and seize it.



The two axes in the throne room got killed in counters by Dieck and Zealot.
Before we kill the boss and seize the throne..





Treck, Lilina and Marcus all level up.
Remember that Elfire charge we used? It was for this very last turn of the map.
It takes two Elfire attacks for Lilina to kill the mage. First one was as a counter between T1 and T2, the second one was on T8.
Treck is already Level 10 and can be promoted to a Paladin. That'd be my third Paladin, and we'll even have one more to recruit!
I'll keep Treck as a cavalier for now unless I absolutely need the +1 movement.
Dieck was someone who I considered promoting to have an easier time with the boss, but I managed to get through without having to do that.



Dieck kills the boss and levels up.



Roy seizes the throne.
The one enemy left standing is a swordsman equipped with a Killing Edge of his own. Didn't want any of that.

I'm personally looking forward to Fenn's report. He drafted Thany. Thany can just fly over the lava, carrying someone with her.
I'm curious at how many turns that will save. El Grillo will probably use the same strats as me, except with Rutger as his crit machine.



Lilina plz. We got the Durandal. It's a legendary weapon that can kill dragons. I'm hoping we can actually use it in combat.



Lilina might have been right to not have confidence in us.



We're saved by the Etrurian Army. We meet Percival and Cecilia for the first time.
Percival will join our team one day AND THE PROPHECY WILL BE FULFILLED!






Be afraid Narcian, be very afraid!

[Dreylin]

Is it just me, or does Treck look like he'd rather be literally anywhere else right now?

Possibly that second to last image explains everything...

[El Grillo]

Chapter 8x: 8/62 Turns

This is another fairly straightforward chapter - carrying Roy and Rutger to the boss with very few tiles of movement to spare. To tell the truth, I actually have had these chapters done for a while now, but I've been lazy and haven't written them up. Blame it on this unseasonable heat. The only noteworthy things about this chapter are that we're giving all of the kills in the south to Lugh, and that Rutger and Clarine still haven't reached their C support (even more bonus crit) yet. The support system in this game really is noticeably slower than in Awakening/Fates.

I also decided not to promote Lance just yet - it'd be nice to have a second 8-move unit, but he doesn't save any turns yet, and I can get quite a few more levels on him before I need his full movement and access to hand axes in Ch11A.


PP01 begins. Lance and Marcus take out two enemies, and Marcus levels up, getting a very handy point of SPD. Clarine rescues Rutger and heads north, and Noah does the same with Ray. We put Ellen and Lugh in the little cranny at the bottom of the map, where the enemies will suicide onto them.


PP02 begins. Lugh starts killing the mix of Mercenaries, Myrmidons, Fighters, and Mages. It turns out that a Mage will target Ellen first, dealing just 2 damage and preventing a more threatening Hand Axe Fighter from attacking her. Our Cavs shuffle Roy among each other to attack without the Rescue penalties, and Roy ends up with Noah again, while Lance rushes ahead.


PP03 begins. These enemies block the way, so we dropped Rutger last turn so he can help dispatch them. Using Canto, Clarine is able to pick Rutger up and keep moving the necessary distance, with an unencumbered Marcus and a Roy-loaded Lance to tackle the next group (that Lance easily 1-rounds enemies with a -50% SKL/SPD penalty demonstrates his excellence as a unit, but we'll continue to use Give/Take to minimize combats with the penalty). Lugh reaches lv10.


During EP03, the Hand Axe fighter misses Noah, but it's good enough for a level.


PP04 begins. Noah takes Roy from Lance, so he can 1-round the stationary Mercenary. This isn't strictly necessary, but extra EXP is always welcome, and it's enough for a level-up. Marcus equips a Hand Axe and moves to engage the next group of enemies, and Clarine heals Lance. She's in range of one Archer, who can't 1-hit her.


PP05 begins. Clarine took a hit but will recover, after moving the maximum distance. Ellen leveled up from healing Lugh. Noah gives Roy back to Lance and then 1-rounds the Archer. Lance moves 4S, gives Roy to Marcus, and 1-rounds the Mage. Marcus moves the maximum distance and throws a Javelin at the stationary Killing Edge Mercenary.


PP06 begins. Lance finishes off the Armorslayer Myrmidon, and Marcus dusts off the Silver Lance to 1-shot the Mage so that Clarine can move the maximum distance. Both the Archer and Mercenary are stationary, so there's no threat to Clarine. Lugh gets a great level, and now all of the southern enemies, except for the Mage that was hitting Ellen, are dead.


PP07 begins. Marcus and Clarine drop off Roy and Rutger at the exact distances they need to kill the boss and seize next turn. Roy can take a hit from the Mage as long as he dodges the Steel Axe Fighter with 28 Hit. Noah takes another Javelin potshot at the Killing Edge Mercenary, and Lugh finishes off the Mage.


PP08 begins. We need either one hit from Marcus plus one crit from Rutger, or two crits from Rutger. Lance kills the Fighter blocking Roy's path, and Clarine rescues Marcus so that Rutger can engage. Rutger gets an okayish level, and Noah 1-rounds the stationary Archer.


We seize. I expect Jowy to get a very similar turncount here, and Fenn may be able to shave a few with the help of a flyer. That said, there's still some distance to cover, so hopefully it's not too large of a difference.


We're running short on the Killing Edge, but we're going to get an even better replacement in the next chapter.

[Fenn]

Let's make it a hat trick:

Chapter 8x is a low-intensity breather after the previous map, at least for those not in a hurry. For us, it has several challenging features; getting to the throne room across the lava or along the winding path is only possible for a few of our units. Enemies circled in green will remain stationary; those circled in red will move towards us immediately. We'll get to the threat those guys pose later.

Once the throne room is reached, those few units must contend with the toughest boss thus far:

Henning is both fast and durable, and although he's weighed down by both of his weapons, only Allen can possibly double him. Complicating matters is the fact that Henning can only be attacked at 1-range from a single square. So, the best way to take care of him will be Allen equipped with the Killing Edge. Allen doesn't quite have the weapon rank to use Killing Edges yet, so he'll have to build up to C rank during the chapter.


Allen kicks us off by Javelining the northwest Mercenary; he misses one of his shots, so Sue can clean up. Marcus picks up Allen, and Shanna moves north over the lava, ready to receive Allen on turn two. Shanna's flight will be crucial to our success on this chapter; she'll be responsible for ferrying Allen and Roy over to the west, letting us skip the whole northeast part of the chapter.

Roy moves directly north accompanied by Lot; going north will take him closer to where Shanna can pick him up from on Turn 3. Everybody else picks fights with nearby enemies.


Marcus gives Allen to Shanna, who drops him on the other side of the lava and moves to receive Roy (and out of range of the nearby Fighters). Lot's carrying Roy and will hand him over to Shanna next turn.


Past that point, everybody not named Allen, Roy or Shanna is irrelevant to the clear; they'll busy themselves killing foes for XP.

Sue is really rocketing through the levels...I'll have to make sure she doesn't overtake Shanna so I can make it to the Ilia route later.


We end Turn 3 like so, with Allen having dispatched a Mercenary; he's also positioned so that the Myrmidon to the west won't block our path, even if he lives through next turn. Shanna's under threat from an Archer and Fighter for the sake of picking up some experience, but it's not as bad as it looks: the Fighter only 3HKO's her, the Archer has poor accuracy and the other enemies won't bother her at all.


Before we move on, Roy kills an Archer and Shanna pokes another. Allen grabs Roy and gallops towards the throne.


On Turn 5, Allen drops off Roy next to the stationary Mage; with this formation, Roy will draw the Mage's fire and Allen can counterkill at least one of the Fighters, netting him Swords-C just in time for the boss.


Powerful as he is, Allen still needs one crit to ORKO the boss, but there's nothing we can do - it's not possible to have Allen in front of the boss at EoT 5, and Roy wouldn't survive being attacked by Henning and the Mage at once. After a couple tries at it, Allen lands his crit and we can seize on Turn 6.


Chapter 8x - 6/55 Turns

This chapter was short and sweet, but I still needed precise positioning from Allen and Shanna to make the 6-turn work out.

New and Improved Stats:

[Jkaen]

Nice reports, really enjoying these

[Jowy]

I was refreshing my Excel skills and made some charts.

Wanna know who's RNG blessed and who's not? Say no more!

My Team:




El Grillo's Team:




Fenn's Team:

Top 5 RNG Blessed characters:
(No items included, the number is the difference from total stat gain average)

1. El Grillo's Lance + 6,80
2. El Grillo's Lugh + 6,00
3. Fenn's Thany + 5,75
4. Jowy's Treck + 4,50
5. El Grillo's Wade + 4,10

If you guys care, I can maintain these. It's almost zero work since I automated everything I could. You'll have to make notes of when you promote or use stat boosters though.

[Jowy]

There might have been a slight user input error with El Grillo's Marcus

[Jkaen]

Jowy, I do feel its useful, we can then see if the RNG blessed guys get used much more than planned during the initial picks and vice versa

[Jowy]

Chapter 9:

Story cliff notes:





This is a Fog of War map so no map screenshot for the readers.

Let's kill some bandits.



Treck killed the first pirate. Zealot and Marcus picked up Roy and Dieck, then dropped them next turn.
Lilina attacked the other pirate but couldn't kill it.




Bandit leader manipulates Fir to get her to attack us. Shin is looking for someone: That'd be Sue, who we brought along.
Btw another non-drafted unit we brought was Noah. He can recruit Fir so we don't need to kill her.
Oh yea, I'm mostly just recruiting her for the weapon. We aren't much better than the bandits it seems



Once again the enemies love attacking Chad. This is very good, it means we got to freely move Sue and Noah ahead.
Dieck leveled up after dodging some ranged attacks.



Ordering:
1. Dieck killed the axeman.
2. Zealot trades the Killing Edge from Dieck (He used it to counter another bandit to death last turn)
3. Roy weakens the archer.
4. Marcus equips a Javelin and rescues Roy.
5. Lilina kills the archer.
6. Treck rescues Lilina, stays 1 tile back to stay out of northern bandit range.
7. Chad kills the pirate from before.
8. Noah moves next to Sue, Sue then rescues Noah (undrafted units can rescue undrafted units)

Whew. On the enemy turn, Zealot kills two enemies, and most importantly draws the hand-axe bandit to the northern forest tile.



Marcus and Treck teamed up on that bandit to kill him with "exact lethal". This was needed so he can't attack our undrafted units.
Sue dropped Noah down.
Zealot is in the front line with Light's Brand for accurate counters.




Noah recruits Fir who had no idea she was fighting for the bandits, not against them.
Zealot killed the mage.
The enemy archer could attack our undrafted units, if not for the fact that before it can move, an enemy axeman will come out of the fog and block him.



Sue recruits Shin. Critically she has 1 movement point left, so she can get out of boss range without being rescued.



Shin goes for a back-stab on his old comrades. Lilina is dropped in boss range.
She is our highest damage dealer against the boss. Seriously. I'm very glad I drafted her.
She does, however, need to dodge his hand-axe attacks.



Marcus has just enough movement points to get past Lilina and drop Roy in range of the seize point.
Zealot attacked the boss with his Killing Edge. Both Zealot and the boss missed. We can afford one miss but no more.



Boss attacks Lilina and she counters with a Fire tome.
Enemy reinforcements are coming, but we will end the map this turn.



Shin kills an archer and gets his first level up. Zealot lands the crit on the boss.



Lilina kills the boss with Elfire and levels up. Speed is nice to get on her. Her Magic growth is insane (75%) but speed is only (35%). Hits hard, but even better if we can get doubles.



Oh yea, Chad and Dieck were killing bandits in the south. No level ups though.
I actually ended up redoing the chapter. I played exactly as in the write-up, except I deployed Thany and on the last turn, I visited the Armory and bought Hand-Axes and one Steel Sword.
We finished the chapter in 7 turns. This seems like another map where a flier will save turns.



I bet the Roartz guy is the one who asked us for help and then told the bandits that we were coming.

[Fenn]

Chapter 9:

Chapter 9 marks our first Fog of War chapter, and also the first of a series of chapters that take place on the Western Isles. In this case the fog's pretty lenient - normal units can see five tiles out, with Thieves getting four more on top of that. With Astore among our ranks, we won't have much trouble finding enemies.

More of a concern is the terrain; our path to the Gate in the northwest winds back and forth and features several one-tile-wide chokepoints, so offense, and Shanna's flying abilities, will be at a premium. We're therefore going to skip over the villages and shops for this chapter, but there's nothing too valuable to be found.

Turn 1

Allen and Sue open hostilities against the nearby Pirates; Marcus rescues Sue and moves up. Lot rescues Astore and Shanna drops him off on the other side of the channel, saving him several turns of walking.

Turn 2

An Archer and Fighter block our path; even with Astore around we can't quite eliminate them both this turn, so we'll need to lure them away. Shanna will fill that role; after dropping Roy over with Lot's help (poor Lot won't be gaining any xp this chapter...), she flies up north to lure the Archer away.

Turn 3

Marcus finishes off that Archer from last turn, Allen and Shanna take care of a Fighter who was blocking the north bridge, Astore kills a Merc, and Sue carries Roy forward. We want the path to be clear for Allen to charge forward as far as he can go next turn.

Turn 4

Sue hands Roy to Marcus so she can counter an Archer from the northeast. Fir's hiding in the fog off to the west, and unwisely chooses to attack Allen:

I didn't have anybody who could use the Wo Dao anyway, so it's no big loss.

Turn 5

Almost there. Allen drops Roy in range of the gate and sits near the boss to lure out his Hand Axe. In this spot, we also avoid any generic enemies blocking us from getting at the boss, since they'll suicide on Allen on enemy phase.


Turn 6, and we're ready to end this after recruiting Shin for the heck of it. As before, Allen needs a single Killing Edge critical hit to down the boss, but he's got better odds this time. After that, our other units pick up some experience and Roy seizes.


Chapter 9 - 6/61 Turns

Stats: