On the subject of chapter 11, since it was mentioned, just wanted to say that I absolutely loved this map concept !
When reading the overview it sounded complicated but when it click in your head it’s a very fluid and clever map, kinda a “paper tiger” that really make you use a guerrilla-like tactic to succeed
Here's how it worked for me:
At first I planned to destroy the two bridges at the same time, sending two groups that would fall back right after destroying each bridges
But then on turn 2, I reflected on the reinforcements that would come on our back, which would create a lot of complications with us probably getting sandwiched on two sides + the sky. Moreover with the fact that chapter 9 decimated our troop, some weaker units would surely be killed on one of the bridge or get lost during the collapse.
So I put in place a new plan, “Operation Driveby”, basically i sent to the north a squad of 6-7 peoples (my bests units and most of them quite mobile) leaded by the lieutenant, they would destroy the northern bridge, and then push on to the south from here and destroy the southern bridge while escaping.
On the other sides the B-team (of mostly weaker units or less mobile) would go bait units on the southern bridges to clean the path for the retreat, and bait and destroy land reinforcements from the east and early flyers reinforcements, so that the A-team wouldn’t get sandwiched or harassed while doing it’s mission
The plan worked very well, even if the last few turns were quite intense, with two flyers coming on the flank of the A-team and the strong reinforcements right behind us while we were on the sabotaged bridge. the brigde collapsed under their feet right after we made our escape, with their sage, in a last attempt from the legion to at least kil someone, putting to sleep our militia hero (but the lieutenant was next to him to rescue and leave)
And this is the end of the story of how we humiliated the 30th legion and get away…
And that’s a wrap for me~
Styled all over Chapter 11, only to realize I had started it after the patch that fixes enemies being able to activate the forts. Turns out, something about them doing it stops the Escape point from appearing, effectively forcing a Game Over.
I was playing in True Ironman and have no intention of restarting it (not in the least because another game breaking bug could break my run a few chapters later).
All in all, it’s a pretty awesome game.
I really love the massive stats and growths deflation, combined with the reworked XP formula. It makes the choice of how to allocate kills meaningful: favoritism is possible, level deficiencies need a little extra work to be corrected.
There’s a tendency amongst modern hacks to stick with random growths over fixed one as the default, owing to historical inertia, despite the growing pains of this outdated design - everyone nowadays design their rosters to have no overlapping classes / unique skills and Prf, meaning that a truly cursed run isn’t a case of “oh, I guess I’ll wait for the replacement for this unit coming up in X chapters” but instead “oh, I guess I’m locked out of this cool kit forever” (and inversely the payoff for being blessed has become almost meaningless ; I’m playing TMGC in Fixed Growths right now and half the roster caps their key stats halfway through their promoted classes, and this mode disables growth modifiers items too. All of the risks of a unit turning garbage with none of the benefits.).
Iron Emblem Gaiden, on the other hand, is the first hack in these last few years that feels like it’s using Random Growth to its fullest potential. Every point meaningfully contributes over the course of all these chapters while the tresholds to reach are flattened enough that it takes a lot for a unit to stop meaningfully contributing - and this time around, replacements ARE on the menu, which is welcomed and I made use of them.
It also makes your choice of weapons relevant again. I love you TMGC, but when upgrading from iron weapons doesn’t meaningfully impact your boss killing abilities because everyone stacks damage skills on a 25 and growing Str / Mag stat halfway into the game, to the point anything that isn’t a Slayer or Brave weapon is a 10% upgrade top, you’re missing an entire part of the Fire Emblem experience.
Iron Emblem Gaiden brings that back, and the rarity / cost of those better weapons combined with a map design that encourages spreading out your army rewards forethought, it feels great.
I just Hate seeing people not being able to finish the hack because of bugs and the fix would force them to restart. @knabepicer do you recommend @Gryffe and @thorn to play the hack from the start with the new patch of the hack to experience the Hack in Full?
Because 11 chapter is like only half of the game the other half is still a mystery!
The game as I see it, is more fun when I’m constantly forced to make meaningful decisions to beat the map and not just auto-piloting through it. Therefore, I’m not turning it off.
After I optimize some maps that I didn’t like as much, I’m gonna start attempt 2, and hopefully this time I’ll beat the game.
Lieutenant
I didn’t find him to be a particularly good unit, though he had his moments throughout the early game. A mounted 8 move lord is nice, but there are better units.
Early Game Shaman
The first healer you ever get, and man does he grow well (In my case, strength!). His high magic will allow him to one shot many things with Jormungardr.
Early Game Soldier
I always really liked the first Soldier in Iron Emblem. He got stat screwed here though and had stats below the Halberdier that joins later.
Early Game Axe Fighter
He’s a tanky infantry, not much notable other than that.
Lance Cav
Very good unit, not much else to add.
Axe Cav
Theoretically, could turn out the same as the lance cav, just in a different weapon type, though mine got stat screwed.
Sword Fighter
Decent combat unit, no stats are too low, none are very high either.
Archer
Struggles to kill things and competes with Lieutenant for bow access.
Thief
Simple thief utility, he can steal a couple of statboosters and coins. That’s good enough.
Bard
This man right here. There is barely anything he can’t one-round up until the final chapters. Train this man and you will have one of, if not the best magic unit in this game.
Pegasus Knight
She’s like Bard, but trades out the ability to use light magic for flier movement. Train her sword rank once you promote her!
Wyvern Rider
In my opinion, training this unit is very risky, and the output is this odd unit.
Social Knight
In my opinion, the best physical unit in the game. Has some of the highest growth rates in all areas, and has a Gaiden Chapter right after his join chapter to spoonfeed high exp kills to him, along with having access to lances and swords.
Rogue
Outclasses Thief in every way, has utility with the sleep edge, brings the flame edge as well for mid-high damage output.
Warship
Extremely easy to keep alive, High damage output (That gets higher with every chapter!!)
Cool Screenshots
6% Strength growth? Yeah, right.
Cleared chapter 15 before any reinforcements spawned, which I thought was impressive
Final Chapter
I fought valiantly, but eventually, the S rank weapons broke, then I got cornered at the top of the map, and once the resire tome broke, it was over.
You get plenty of master seals throughout the game, I believe the first one is in chapter 8, with every chapter after that having at least one, either as a droppable, or in a chest. They also become available in the prep shop in the late game.
In terms of how the map looks, I found chapter 13x and Chapter 17 to be the most appealing to look at.
In terms of gameplay, I had the most fun with chapters 8, 9, 10, 11 and maybe 12? Hard to tell if I like the plains maps that much because the Nomads were by far the most annoying part of the entire game.
Late game spoiler!
I didn’t pay much attention to the story of the game, but I found the final maps the most interesting, particularly in the fact that they are connected to each other. I also like the detail of these maps taking place over a couple of hours.
Overall, I think my favorite map is Chapter 9. It’s a very simple map, but its a lot of fun. It’s a fog of war map in which you must push outwards to save villages.
This chapter is very unique in the fact that when you visit a house, instead of just getting the item, a villager comes out holding the item, and you must protect them to get it at the end of the map.
The chapter is a good balanced difficulty. It didn’t feel too unfair, and my units weren’t at the point where they completely destroyed whatever they came up against.
Another highlight is the player reinforcements. They all get a chance to contribute, the Wight and the Shaman stand out, with their strong combat and staff access respectively.
Thanks for the Warning about the Fog of War Map. Will pay close attention to the villagers. Can’t wait to reach these chapters to see why you like them so much
@knabepicer still only giving me 12 deployment slot for chapter 5 huh? Ok I will make do with what I have. My final team for chapter 5 will be like this:
Chapter 4 is unique in being the last full deploy map, I imagined it as akin to Chapters 4-5 in FE6, before preps forces you to pick and choose. I’d note that deploy does not go back up to that high until lategame.
Okay I think for real for real this time I’ve fixed Chapter 11’s objective. Apologies for the inconvenience, but please re-download once again to make the chapter actually winnable.
The Lieutenant, being the last person to escape, took one last look at the beautiful setting sun over the river where the two bridges had previously stood.
