What do you think of various levels caps?

Design
1

Since FE 5, weapon levels work that way : 6 ranks (E,D,C,B,A,S) that can be Achieved by any Units in the weapon of their choices if trained enough.

In Fe 9, u could only have one S rank, while the other weapon would be blocked at A rank

But what if levels caps were different between each classes (a bit like FE4) ? What if a Hero could only get to A rank in swords while a Swordmaster coulg get to S ? What could in change in design, and would it be a good idea.

I’m asking this because I think that a monoweapon class obtaining S rank would be more fitting that a class who have to manage 2 weapons (think of jack of all trades but master of none).

2

have FE4 weapon level caps if you want this system, i think

1 Like
3

The real thing about balancing who can get S ranks is making S ranks actually matter. In something like Sacred Stones, it wouldn’t really matter if you locked S behind classes, because the sacred weapons don’t really matter.

The main ways to incentivize S rank that I could see are either to make your S rank weapons really good, and give value that you can’t find elsewhere, or to give the unit value when they get to S rank. Something I liked in “Morrow’s Golden Country” was that you got plus 3 attack damage in weapons that you have S ranked. This greatly incentivized me to get as many S’s as possible.

It’s a difficult balancing act, a lot of veteran players will always choose movement when given the choice, but by limiting which classes have access to S, and giving actually solid incentives to get characters to S ranks, I think that yes, having level caps could be a great idea.

4 Likes
4

So have strict weapon levels. But isn’t this to easy for the player ? The weapon system in FE 4 was tied to is own shop and trade system, who is unique, but wouldn’t be hard to balance it in a GBA system ?

5

Is Morrow’s Golden Country an hack ? I’m interested to see how others play around weapkns levels

Yes you are right, especially for split promotion ,people tend to prioritize movement. However the choice between ,for example , Ranger and Sniper would be more nuanced if Ranger were restricted to B or A rank while Sniper get S.

6

i say go deeper
lock heroes to B or something
S rank doesn’t really mean much (+5 hit/crit is very minimal) since it only locks you out of one weapon. if you go to B, now they have no access to silvers & brave (in vanilla gba)

modify your weapons to take this sort of restriction into account and i think you have something to work with

2 Likes
7

Yeah it’s another hack. They don’t limit any of the caps, but the benefit of plus 3 damage on s ranks works as a great incentive.

I think limiting it down to A or B or even C could all work great. It all just comes down to making sure the limitation really matters. The reason limitations like that don’t work in something like Sacred Stones is because your characters are so powerful. If you’re playing with weapon levels and you want it to be balanced, I’d recommend making sure weapons are an important part of actually dealing damage.

If you want a good example of this I’d play “Dream of Five” Towards the end game, your stats are so close to the enemies that the difference between your victory comes down much more to what weapons you have then in other games.

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8

I like that idea, the price of having two weapons restrict you to Brave weapons.
Would they be still viable tho ?

9

Thank you for the advice and I will definitely try the hack you reccomended

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10

Monoweapon classes having S Ranks is natural. If you only have one choice, of course you are going to get good with it. Having the S rank bonus be better should be a natural reward for all that effort invested. Maybe it could be customized by class, or even character, to add some variety and different incentives to try out whoever you like.

1 Like
11

I don’t like weapon level caps being different between classes. Class-specific locks are another thing, but I generally favor customization over difficulty.

Also the title made me think this’d be about, like, character level caps. might be that I think of weapon rank as this more.

2 Likes
12

If this were the case, i’d feel as though units who can wield stronger weapons with a higher rank will be valued more than units who sit at a certain rank threshold.

I like the idea of setting weapon caps to a low level like C at T1, and having it be able to grow to S when they’re T2. It would make promotion items have much more of an impact on a flat scale

2 Likes
13

Yes they will be valued more, but I think it can add another nuance to split promotion : Should I promote my unit to a class who has a better weapon level or more movement ?