Hey all! Long time lurker, first time poster here!
I can’t believe it’s been three years since I’d first had the idea to make my own hack with FEBuilder!
I know most people give trainees and growth units a hard wrap, at least in the competitive and challenge spheres, but I like to think that casual players like myself enjoy getting to see investments pay off.
On that note, I thought, what would happen if I took FE8, with its default trainee classes, and extended that idea to everyone? And thus Fire Emblem: Demotion Mode took off!
Features:
- 5 civilian classes turned trainee classes, with Soldier acting as the male equivalent of Amelia’s Recruit class, every character that started as a standard class has now been demoted to a civilian or soldier class! Note: Special classes such as lords, thieves, dancers, and manaketes, have been left alone due to it being hard to combine them in any reasonable way - since all trainees have to have branching promotions of course.
- New promotion options for the original trainee classes
- A new recruitable character in chapter 3!
- Skill System
- In standard mode: Trainee Badges - a new promotion item for soldiers and the civilian classes
- Very cheap bronze weapons (and corresponding magics), that are weaker than iron and slim weapons, but as inaccurate and heavy as steel weapons - available in the Preparations shop
- New secret shops on the first floor of the Tower of Valni - warning, not balanced! Only recommended for Creature Campaign
- New Creature Campaign characters through the Tower of Valni and Lagdou ruins
- Altered classes for the original Creature Campaign characters
- Casual Mode!
- New spawn points for characters that would otherwise be unobtainable due to lost mobility
- Quality of life snags/ damaged walls so splitting off a couple units doesnt leave them straggling for the rest of the map
Version 1.1 Changes:
- Reduced price for Trainee Badges
- Attempted fix for leveling trainees past level 10
- Added uses and very cheap price for bronze weapons to make them sellable - don’t need your convoy getting cluttered!
- Added Paragon to staff-only classes (Priest, Troubadour, Cleric) to help reduce grinding
Version 1.2 Updates:
- Trainee Classes now correctly cap at level 10
- Trainee Badges now correctly won’t be usable until level 10
Version 1.2.3 Updates:
- Bug fix for Ocean Seal usable before level 10
- Added visual cues for hidden treasures in Chapter 15
- Added Weapon Exp from certain monster weapons
Version 1.2.4 Updates:
- Slightly adjusted drop tables for certain monsters to make certain items slightly more accessible
Version 1.2.5 Updates:
- Re-added New Creature Campaign Bonus Units
- Changed Original Creature Campaign Units Classes
Version 1.2.6 Updates:
- Updated Trainee Badge to work on Cormag’s Civilian class
- Added Promotions for Cormag’s Civilian class (no more being stuck as Civilian forever, oops!)
- Added new Secret Unit for Chapter 11 Completion
- Bug Fixes for Secret Unit not joining after Chapter 11 (either route)
Version 1.2.7 Updates:
- Updated Trainee classes for Neimi, Tana, and Marisa
- Altered Promotion Branches for Neimi, Tana, and Marisa
- Added Trainee Badges for Trainees that start at Level 10
- Bug Fix for Secret Chapter 11 Unit Movement Animations
Version 1.2.8 Updates:
- Fixed Level Cap at 10 for Sword Whelp (Neimi/Marisa)
Version 1.2.8.1 Updates:
- Added Paragon to All Pure-Healer Classes at Level 2(Cleric, Priest, Troubadour)
- Added Paragon to Dancer Class at Level 2 (Tethys)
- This should help avoid accidentally missing the skill unlock
Version 1.3.1 Updates:
- Updated Class Promotion Branches for Colm, Cormag, and Mark
- Cormag’s Promotion Options are now Cavalier and Wyvern Rider
- Colm and Mark’s new Class of Vagabond has Promotion Options for Thief and Brigand
- High Level Trainees now start with a Trainee Badge to avoid early-level experience waste
- New Skills for Promoted Player Monster Classes
- Cavaliers and Knights learn new skills at Level 15
- This will be expanded to more pre-promotes in time
Version 1.3.5 Updates:
- All Pre-promotes unlock one skill at level 15
- All Promotes unlock one skill at level 10
- This is to avoid skill bloat from taking over
Version 1.4.0 Updates:
- Second-Tier Journeymen, Pupils, and Recruits, learn Breaker skills
- Ross, Amelia, and Ewan, learn Aptitude at level 15 so they still feel special as the original trainees
- Tethys and Selena learn Gaiden-style spells to balance their unique limited usability\
Version 1.4.5 Updates:
- Mark Recruitment text should finally be working as intended!
- Vagabonds can no longer use the “Play” command (goodbye triple dancers)
- All Vagabonds can now Steal (though Colm is still the only one able to use Lockpicks)
- Vagabonds now correctly have a max level of 10
- Certain unique classes like the Queen, Pontifex, and Phantom, which do not have trainee equivalents now have an increased max level to compensate
- Vagabond base stats have been slightly increased to adjust for their slightly more offensive status
Version 1.4.6 Updates
- Adjusted Chest items in Chapter 3
- Adjusted Mark held item in Chapter 3
- Adjusted base stats for Mark, Colm, Vanessa, Lute, Neimi, Marisa
- Mark should be a little slower to bring him more in line with his original stat line pre-Vagabond
- Vanessa and Colm have increased strength to accommodate the trainee classes’ lower base compared to their original class
- Neimi and Marisa have increased speed and strength so they don’t feel too weak (especially since Marisa is acquired mid-game)
- Doubled Gold Gain from clearing Chapter 2 - this should make having to buy the Trainee Badges much less restrictive budget-wise, allowing you more freedom to buy secondary weapons, if applicable
Due to some hiccups and bugs in development forcing me to change a couple features, there’s two versions available. In the Alpha version only, the new trainee classes will auto-promote on chapter start once they’ve hit level 10, but they can finish their current chapter up to level 20, allowing for temporary stat-boosting before promotion.
Also note that changing the character’s classes has lowered their base stats for the most part, so the first few levels may be a little more challenging than usual, and any newly recruited character may need more protection on their recruitment chapter than you may be used to.
Lastly, civilian classes will level up fairly quickly - with balanced experience distribution, everyone should be able to get back to their standard-level classes by the route split. In the standard version, just don’t forget to pick up the new Trainee Badges in the Preparations Armory.
Known Issues:
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In Alpha Version: Auto-promote caps at the first three applicable trainees in unit list for each chapter (which adds a unique wrinkle that those that don’t initially auto-promote can continue to be leveled), but the screen will go black and glitch out after the first promotion - the second and third characters will still be promoted based on where the invisible cursor is and each button press while the screen glitches.
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In Alpha Version: The conversation dialogue is a little glitched for the new chapter 3 character, but the recruitment itself still works as intended.
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Dancers do not have a doubling animation, so turn animations off if you find a way to give Tethys a usable weapon
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I also recommend avoiding Easy difficulty due to hard-coding shenanigans making the tutorial iffy due to softlocks
Patches Used and Credits:
For their ClassChg Expansion Patch, Mokha(Yuki 晓缺)
For their CasualMode Patch, circleseverywhere, Vesly
For their SkillSystems Patch (20220703), Circleseverywhere and
Monkeybard & Black Mage for most of the skill icons; Blaze for Stances skill icons
Tequila, Rossendale, StanH, Leonarth, Teraspark, sd9k, Kao, blademaster, Snakey1 for skills
Primefusion for the test map
Download the UPS Patch Here:
Screenshots
Helpful Snag:
Civilian Class Example, with Character Skill:
Trainee Badge:
Supporter Promotion Options:
Bronze Weapons and Mixing Equippable Weapons:
Moved Recruitable Unit Spawns: Ross and Garcia moved in Chapter 2, since there’s no way to rescue Ross without Vanessa’s pegasus, but you still need to move quick - Ross won’t hesitate to take on Bone himself
Chapter 5x and 8 are noticeably slower without horses:
Dark Lute must have been hitting the gym 
The trainees will be seeing this room a lot, but does something look different? Maybe on the right? I wonder if there’s any symmetry?
A phantom appears when L’arachel takes a stand on either route, becoming playable upon level completion!
Journeymen, Pupils, and Recruits each have a new promotion option to further celebrate their original uniqueness!
