Closest to an ‘intended strategy’ is rushing for the anti-turtles before pulling back with the time the greens buy. I generally held out in the side corridors for a bit before breaking one or both of the walls to condense my two healers, using 3-range to pick off enemy ranged threats. I imagine something like that probably still works in 0% - probably with more rescue-dropping than holding at the flanks for any length of time - but like you said, it’s a lot of item uses and risk for no experience gained. I did imagine there would be other ways to clear, and tried to keep it relatively open-ended using breaches and with enough of an incentive to push out that casual players wouldn’t just hunker down in the throne room as their first instinct… but here, it’s 0% growths, and all that matters is getting across the finish line taking as little attrition as possible. Looking forward to see how things shake up in the rest of the game! C12 feels like the only one which might - hopefully won’t - be a run-breaker; some of my earliest testing was with a base-level Roxelana (sort of by mistake? I accidentally wiped her levels with poor eventing, so decided to test with it) and Broken Vow Estrelle could hold out for a while on her own, so I imagine it becomes a matter of how quickly the south can punch through their part.
Yeah, in my normal playthroughs I’ve got it nailed down to a science - archers and mages can whittle the aisles while the heavy hitting infantry gets the job done in the middle. It’s tense but not too hard.
In 0% the lack of stats would really hurt though. And besides, I think this might be the optimal strategy without the level up incentive. The weapon usages expanded eats through the ransom and seals. You’d get ahead if you can somehow nab all three weapons… but that’s a lot of extra work for minimal benefits.
Now, if you could somehow get that longbow without leaving the thrones…
Today, I'm tackling Chapter 5 with Étienne !
“Oh, a fog of war map, deploy the thieves and light the torches !”
WRONG
But I can’t blame you for thinking that. Historically, FoW maps have been used for Defense or Defeat Boss objectives with a lot of moving pieces. It’s good to see where you’re heading in that case.
Chapter 5, on the other hand, is a stealth mission where you want to avoid the enemies and know where they’re located. The only mobile units come through a bottleneck of two heavily guarded forts where you’ll be sending tanks forward anyway - vision is unnecessary.
Once the druid is slain, the mist lifts and unpromoted Guards run away - now’s your chance to strike at the last line of defense.This is our first time fighting promoted enemies, but thankfully we have two advantages on our side: Micah joins for this chapter only, and Chasimir stats aren’t outmatched yet, meaning we’re dealing some serious damage to these monsters. The terrain also helps bodyblocking them away from frail units and overall fighting them separately.
As for the boss, being a mounted unit means he’s vulnerable to Cometfall and the Hanger.Hostage time !
… I’m going to be honest, I didn’t think that one through. I just kinda don’t vibe with the grandma, you feel me ? And Ochulos in 0% ?
4kG is good.
Surely I will never live to regret this decision ? Certainly not almost instantly ?
Eh eh, good ones…
Death didn't take Roxelana just yet. But there are many other things it can yet take away from me.
Hell
is real.
And hell…
is here.
Chapter 6 is the first of Act 2 !
It might look like a straight shot toward the goal, but it doesn’t mean it’s easy. Even if you’re willing to forfeit the side objectives, plenty of reinforcements are just waiting to pounce you once you cross invisible lines throughout the map, and making a beeline for the boss ignoring the other side is a great way to get caught between a rock and a hard place !
Trust me, you don’t want to chew more Heroes than you can handle.
… See, I made a slight miscalculation there. I didn’t realize that my lack of magic users would eventually bite me in the ass. Having Micah around gave me a warped sense of how much power I actually have and I forgot that not every class has an armor or mount vulnerability.
Heroes are built like fortresses, they’re fast, and sometimes they’re 1-2 range.Okay, let’s stop mincing words there: my army is made of scrubs, the lack of Str growths is catching up to me, and the shops still aren’t selling silver weaponry.
In other words, I’m in deep shit. Something I vaguely realize with the struggles to kill those Heroes, but it all comes to a head with the wyverns.
With a team so weak any form of time pressure becomes deadly and my dumb ass did not notice the TWENTY THREE DEFENSE wyvern boss. Seeing Roxelana deal zero damage to him was sobering.
It also came a little too late.At this point I’m scrambling to survive. I’m proud of the little maneuver I came up with at 32:50, but Kadri goes down, and Calista follows.
This is bad.
Very bad.
Seriously, I can’t stress enough how bad this is. My number of good units is very limited and they come with diminishing returns. Calista was an incredible force multiplayer, especially for double-tapping slayer weaponry no one else can use like Cometfall or Hanger.
This could be a run-ending loss.
Forty minutes in my brain gets tired of thinking and the last stretch becomes a careful slog, trudging through the remaining troops with neither risks nor elegance.
At this point my tendency to show off with fancy strategies like in the Prologue is gone and I carry on with pure grit. The delusions have been shattered: moxie doesn’t make up for dwindling stats.Roxelana and the two pegasi are promoted before the beginning of the chapter, and Andrea joins them. Courtain, a magical sword, will carry my lack of magic for now.
Out of sheer desperation, Tiimo is allowed to join…
It’s a good thing that the next chapter gives us FIVE great units to use.
Including my man Karolas, the coolest and baddest dude around.
just wanted to thank you for making this hack, from the challenge, to the intriguem to the heartwarming sapphic romance I have thoroughly enjoyed my initial journey into this hack.
Today: snakes, dog, Metal Gear, kind of ? The ballistician counts, right ?
It’s another breather chapter like 3, and I’ve missed those.
Chapter 7 only features eight deployment slots, which is just the number of competent units left in my army ! I do love getting away with my mistakes (sort of) thanks to merciful level design.
The reason for this unusually low cap is made clear by today’s objective: my company and a bunch of newcomers both start on opposite sides of the map and must talk together.
And no, you can’t cheese this map by ferrying Roxelana to them with a pegasus, this is a Route chapter.There’s a lot of moving pieces here: the serpent convoy will trigger the pincer cavalry attack on Roxelana once they walk past a certain trigger zone, while both the Ranger squad and wyvern hunting party are tied to turn count. There’s a third wave of reinforcements triggered a few turns after Roxelana speaks with the serpent leader, so do that last to avoid the bother.
Now now, I know what you’re thinking: the wyvern squad twists the knife in my fresh wound, but it’s really nothing to worry about: this time we have Andrea’s Courtain, a flying-slayer magical weaponry to slaughter them, and Karolas speaking with Roxelana offers a Wyrm Slayer to fall back on.
Heck, it’s overall an easy time, thanks to the gimmick: growth rates don’t matter on fresh units, and two thirds of your army is made of them, so you’re almost playing normal mode for a chapter - it’s the Prologue all over again.Let’s briefly touch on our new recruits.
Karolas: he has super high base stats, access to- I’m just repeating myself, aren’t I ? Take the stated reasons for Heroes being a menace in my chapter 6 recap - here’s their power, now in your hands.
Sniper: Dwindling speed, but great defense and amazing strength, with access to 1-3 range. An incredible unit to have. Of notice: the A rank in bows. That’s very close to an S - and S rank gives +2 damages with that weapon type. This is something that I’ll start aiming for for all units real soon.
Warrior: 18 speed good, rest is ‘meh’ but beggars can’t be choosers.
Rover: Manakete archetype in the guise of a dog, Rover is an amazing unit who scales fast and hard, quickly becoming your best unit.
He’s trash tier here, in the land of 0%. His Piercing Fang hitrate is dire, and his base bulk will get him killed in one hit starting next chapter.
It’s a shame too, because a bump of 40 accuracy on his Piercing Fang would give him a niche as an all-purpose executioner, but alas…Ranger: today’s hostage, and I don’t think I need to say more than has been shown: mobile, fast, reliable, hits like a truck, melee options. She’s in.
There’s something so cathartic about unleashing all those terrible bosses on your enemies in the subsequent chapters…
Had you asked me what chapter I thought would be the worst prior to starting this run, chapter 9 would have been up there, but in my mind FoW was the main problem.
I never quite realized it’s also incredibly overtuned.
Chapter 6 took me something like ~6 tries, I’m currently at almost 20 tries and my best score is 7/11 turns.
I’m currently retooling my entire strategy. I think I’m on to something…
62 minutes to beat chapter 9, two units lost including the Cataphract from chapter 8, considering replaying it again…
I… I might just stick with it.
EDIT: BUT OF COURSE ! How did I not think about that sooner ?!
Let me cook a little more…
EDIT EDIT: 15 less minutes and no death, I cooked <3
Every time I see Helje limping on with her like ~12 strength and one support I cheer. I figured flier utility and huge speed would get her a long way, but I’m pulling so hard for her to make the distance, even if she’s most likely going to be reduced to rescue-dropping by the end. Pleased to see Vivica still in the frame, too, though I imagine her days are numbered…
Just wondering if there will be a recruitment guide for this game and “secrets” too
There will not be.
Ah ah, finally unshackled ! Turns out you can’t post more than three times in a row even though these were hours apart…
The little pegasus that could.
They’re going to see their lot of action in chapter 9 ! Ciern will take down one of those >50 HP swordreaver Cyclope in one of round of combat on turn 1.
The footage you’re about to see could be considered shocking. It features scenes such as slowly rearranging units for seven turns at the start and excruciatingly moving a thief through half the map while no other action is taken for five minutes.
Viewer discretion is advised.
Look.
I tried, okay ? I REALLY did. Clean run through the fortress, minimizing turn counts, dispatching the Guard as they come. It worked ! It worked several times. But each and every time, I’d slip up and that tiny mistake would get someone killed.
The problem is that I’m a dumbass, as you’ll realize around the thirty minute mark where I forget to play the turns of the right side of my army and almost get someone killed.So now you get the “ugly but it works really well” version of the run.
Let’s dissect the map: you need to Seize, while being mindful of the runners: if they reach an exit, it’s instant game over. There are two batches of them: the first, near the start of the map, immediately runs away, while the second in the middle only does so if you cross a bunch of invisible lines inside the fortress. You will have to get through there eventually, so splitting your army to cover both sides is mandatory.
On top of that, there are two waves of reinforcements. The first will belch several turns of dangerously equipped Guards at you from the escape points, while the second is a patrol of powerful, prepromoted mounted units. In normal gameplay you can outrun the latter if you hurry up, but they WILL catch up in 0%. Fortunately, you want to slay them anyway, on account of their leader being this map’s hostage.Knowing what we do, here’s how you cheese it: both of these reinforcements trigger based on turn count, not zones. So if you just hang in the back for seven turns you can snipe the knight squad the moment they show up and then subdue the Guards as they come, before finally moving on to the map proper.
Bonus point: while the two paladins are displaced in case their tiles are occupied, the two mage knights vanish into the ether.
It’s a dirty trick, but with only one thief and two sets of chests and stealables on either side, this map was never going to end quickly and gracefully.Notice how two chapters in Rover is already threatened with one-hit kills by the best targets for his Luna weapon - the dog had its uses, but he’s getting kicked out of the party comes next chapter.
… Also, splitting the party means two staff users are required, and with Kadri gone Vivica is dragged out of her study to take her place after a quick promotion.
(If only there were a better female druid in this game to take that spot, ah ah !)And finally, a word on today’s recruit. He buries Étienne, with FIVE(!) more speed, THREE(!) more moves, better defensive stats overall. The downside is the lack of spear ranks - but that’s what Swordreavers are for.
Of note: he doesn’t have an armor weakness like a fortress knight would on GBA.
The nicest thing I can say about 0% chapter 9 is that I will never play it again.
Chapter 9 is the most annoying chapter in existence for a multitude of reasons.
Six stationary ‘green’ units divided in three groups of two and lightly arm(or)ed must be protected for 11 turns against the threats lurking in the fog of war. Since they’re spread out across the map, you have to divide your army to secure multiple chokepoints. The only saving grace is that only digger need remain alive per party - that’s up to three allowed deaths, though you’ll also lose the rogue darkvision they provide.
Now, none of this makes this chapter ‘bad’ - quite the contrary: in a normal playthrough it’s a very intricate map with lots of cool decision-making happening every turn.
The problems, however, start piling up in a 0% environment:-You can’t play around the enemy’s high quality units. They’ll always reach you at a specific turn and turn your green units into chowder if you try to ignore them. There’s this absolutely dreadful 18 speed, 29 attack centaur with a bow that can punch a hole in any unit in my army that kept me from making any progress for the longest time.
-The opportunity to use torches and Illuminate staves are extremely limited. Action economy is extremely tight with low quality units, so a lot of dying, learning who spawns when and where with which stats and equipment and then retrying the whole map over again had to happen.
-Units rely a lot on support for extra damages and hitrates at this point, leaving me little modularity on deployment positions.
You combine all that, and the result was an absolutely dreadful experience that took literally half a day to puzzle out - and I mean ‘puzzle out’ ; by the end I had every possibility so thoroughly explored, my winning run was pulled off with a confidence I couldn’t imagine having when my attempts began.
Shining moments include: Ciern DESTROYING a cyclops and the pegasi duo cleaning house in general, Andrea dueling Deadeye (that 21 defense renders him semi-invincible to regular attacks), Vivica struggling to keep everyone alive and copious (ab)use of alchemical compounds in general, buying a long sword and realizing it ain’t going to do shit for me, tactically getting half of my green units slaughtered and picking up the miasma.
Deadeye’s today… ‘hostage’… ? I kept him around. You’ll see a lot of him soon.
Take special note that despite his sprite wielding a bow and his access to longbow, Deadeye also has spear and sword ranks.
So, I did further testing in a non-0% environment. It is, indeed as I suspected, possible to block off the aisles of chapter 4 on turn 2 with some rescue dropping.
And…
I also have some questions regarding recruitments. @Parrhesia
So, I’m 90% certain Berenice MUST have a round of combat with Kalevi, and if I remember correctly the one time I did this years ago he doesn’t have to be the one to land the killing blow, right ?
Domovoi has no support, does that mean he’s supposed to be a secret character ? I remember him just being a regular hostage ; are there actually specific conditions I fulfilled without knowing the first time ?
Or maybe you just didn’t felt like giving him lines, ah ah !
(Great timing to have questions too, since this will be my third post in a row and I won’t be able to post again until someone says something !)
Y’know, those twenty something attempts to beat Chapter 9 had me worried there for a moment. It got me thinking, “hey, what if I’m losing my touch with Fire Emblem ? Maybe this challenge isn’t meant for me…”.
That’s why acing Chapter 10 in one go comes as a real confidence boost. Yeah, I still got it !Chapter 10 is very straightforward, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. With limited deployment slots, you are to talk to at least four of the five dissidents and escape with them. The closure of the gate will force you to dispatch today’s hostage first before you can leave. Be mindful of the extremely high atk stats of the ballistas who will one shot dissidents and tear the wings off fliers.
You don’t want that.
Hurry the hell up as an elite squad is on your tail, and while it’s totally doable to dispatch them there’s no benefit to doing so in 0%. Maybe you could steal that Zofia shield… ?Let’s talk weaponry and support.
In my normal playthroughs I tend to stick to iron for the longest time, ‘cause I only promote at level 20 and almost never use bosses. Base classes have awful Con that makes heavier weapons not worth it most of the time, and with only five inventory slots you don’t want to encumber yourself ‘just in case’.
I beat that inertia a few chapters ago and let me tell you, the preparation shop is a delight: its selection expands nicely throughout the story and the prices actually make sense for once.Supports in DoW always give +1 atk per rank, and they can prove critical. Promoted Ciern has 13 Str. With an A support with Helje and B support with Chasimir, gain +5 dmg. That’s a 30% extra damage for free, and it’s literally doubly important on units meant to double.
Main reason I deployed Connacht, Donagh, Clio and Rioghain together tonight was to increase their supports.
Replaying through the base game with those in mind, drawing out chapters to get one rank each time, is basically easy mode: the power of friendship is one hell of a drug for characters like Felice.And now, tonight’s hostage, brought down entirely by a semi-invincible Deadeye !
Dzeneta has three perks:
Support with Clio, who is likely to stick around anyway (on account of supporting Connacht, who supports Rioghain, who is one of my best units) so that’s free extra damage.
TWENTY-ONE SPEED for a class that usually isn’t that fast, on top of S spears. Remember kids, low damage is way easier to fix than low speed.
A semi-impressive bulk ; it’s not amazing by this point but it easily beats what the rest of my army has and I need to start phasing out my older units.
Can you feel it ? That tension in the air, heightened ? Next chapter is the culmination of Act 2…
Answers to the above
Yeah, all that matters for Berenice is that the Berenice vs. Kalevi battle quote plays (so Stealing doesn’t count, for example, and the Talk doesn’t matter at all).
Domovoi’s just a regular hostage with no special clear conditions. He lacks supports because he’s pretty disconnected from the rest of the cast, and because with only three chapters left, an A support probably wasn’t realistic with anyone.
Good luck going forward. Happy to see Dzen make the cut; I had a feeling her unflashy reliability would make her a good asset for this.
I finally finished the game. Absolutley spectacular. Very much had vibes in line with the book series Malzahan Book of the Fallen.
The only screenshot that matters is below. (If i did it right)
I missed the wolf in my playthrough!!! I’m so upset lol
Just completed this hack, and I’ve got to say I absolutely LOVE the story. I have a lot to say but I’ll keep it quick.
In terms of gameplay, this hack is really fun. I love the boss bounty system, when it’s coupled with the fact that money is actually pretty scarce for a lot of the game it makes for a very interesting balancing act of getting strong units or getting some equipment. I had plenty of fun with this, only ever going in want of some light QoL things like being able to see growths in-game, but not much else.
All I have left to yap about is the story, and god, did I ever enjoy it. There were some twists I absolutely saw coming, but the words used to deliver it carried such a passion in them that every moment had me waiting for more. The cast was diverse, unique, and felt very much like a rag-tag team of people doing nothing more than surviving, yet not a single one really felt out of place. The themes of the hack are present in each act and the dialogue flows so well that I’d be evil to try and complain about anything, if I could even scrounge one up. Roxelana is a great protagonist, and watching her go full-on no gods and no masters can only be called a treat.
It’s not the end of the world, but it’s the end of one world. And its rebirth will take more than just this chapter…
Act 2 ends now.
Surprisingly, chapter 10 proves to be the most mind-numbingly boring episode I’ve ever had the displeasure of playing through so far.
See, if you don’t care about side objectives (and we CAN’T care about them, our units are puny and our weapons disintegrate even as we speak) then it’s both a straight and VERY NARROW shot to the boss. Feels like ⅔ of my turns were spent moving a dozen units from point A to B one at a time with no decision to make or danger to account for. I came to play Fire Emblem and spent two hours trying to fit fifteen sardines in a can instead.Anyway, today, we slay. And fortunately for us, the boss is armored, which means plenty of vulnerabilities to exploit. We’ve cast aside the treasures and there’s no hostage to be taken this time, so it really is a straight line to the throne.
So let’s talk interesting trivia instead !
Kalevi managed to steal the speedwing in this chapter. Drums of War only features ONE of each stat boosters, so these will be used wisely - an extra two speed can be the key to hitting a dire threshold later on.
I’ve completely failed to develop most supports I’m interested in - namely Clio and Donagh, Clio and Connacht, Rioghain and Connacht, Donagh and Catsidhe and Clio and Dzeneta. Only Donagh and Connacht succeeded.
Deadeye keeps breaking bones like an absolute chad and Dzeneta is proving incredibly slippery.
Roxelana has a very cool dialogue with Tryphon but I wasn’t going to risk a 70% roll for the style.
Also man, these supports really take a long ass time to build. I’m going to finish the run before I see an A in late joiners.
Current plan is to have Clio/Dzeneta, Donagh/Caitsidhe and Connacht/Rioghain in A, plus Karolas and his not-thief support partner.
ALSO also, I’m shocked to see that Caitsidhe is now not ass.
