I've been thinking for some time about a ranked TAS of FE7. Now it may not be as entertaining as a pure speedrun, but from a strategy level it will be very interesting to see what is possible in ranked play.
So without further ado, let's look at Lyn mode. Getting all 60 Tactician stars is almost impossible for a regular player, but it should be easily manageable in a TAS.
Ranks in FE7 are split into 5 categories:
Tactics is the number of turns taken in each chapter. Each chapter has a turn limit, and going over that lowers the ranking score.
Survival requires all units to stay alive.
Funds is the total cash value among all your units (gold + total item wealth). You need to reach 80% of the total funds requirement to get A rank.
Experience is the amount of experience points needed to earn in that chapter to reach the rank requirement.
Combat is the percentage of battles that result in a kill compared to overall battles. 40% or more kills in a chapter is enough for the A rank.
Prologue
5 turns, 100 experience points, 848 g Funds
Not a hard one at all. Batta gives almost a level in himself, and the other bandit gives the rest.
Chapter 1
7 turns, 200 experience points, 1184 g Funds
I want both of the cavaliers to still be level 1 at the end of this chapter. Lyn can take most of the kills.
Chapter 2
7 turns, 200 experience points, 240 g Funds
Here's where TASing is basically required. The only item you get is a vulnerary for 300g to Funds. Because the Funds requirement is so low, I can only "spend" 60 g worth of weapon uses. Each use of the iron sword costs 10 g, and each iron lance use costs 8 g. I need to use 2 iron lance uses to bust through the wall, so that limits my uses to 44 g.
Now here's where things get really annoying. Glass (the boss), gives 77 exp to a L1 unit. The other bandits are either level 1 or level 2, giving 30 and 33 exp each respectively. So, in order to hit the 200 requirement and meet the Funds requirement, I would have to kill 5 enemies including the boss in one hit each, killing 3 L1 Bandits, and a L2 Bandit, all with L1 units. Not only that, at least three of those kills would have to be done with the Iron Lance (8x3+10x2=44). All 5 kills are needed to be critical hits.
This is basically the main reason the cavaliers should be not used for almost any combat in Chapter 1. Lyn will be at least L2 at the start of Ch1, and using her at all will ruin the exp requirement since the enemies will give less exp than a L1 unit would receive. Since the number is so exact, she should be used to kill almost all the enemies in Ch1, and take the boss kill in addition.
Chapter 3
7 turns, 300 experience points, 2632g Funds
This should be relatively easy to reach. Florina and Wil join, so this should allow for more spreading around of the exp requirement. The village with 2000g should be visited.
Chapter 4
8 turns, 450 experience points, 270g Funds
Relatively easy one. Everyone can be assigned to various parts of the map to meet the exp requirements. Dorcas joins and can contribute to experience.
Chapter 5
4 turns, 250 experience points, 1168g Funds
Serra and Erk join. Serra should be healing at every opportunity to aid in clearing the exp requirement for the upcoming chapters.
Chapter 6
7 turns, 250 experience points, 14424g Funds
Matthew and Rath joins here. I can skip the armorslayer and still reach Funds rank. Rath brings 5000 g at the end of the chapters, and the robe is worth 8000 g, the rest of the funds comes from Matthew and Rath's starting equipment (2500g).
Chapter 7
6 turns, 350 experience points, 1752g Funds
Lucius and Nils join here. Nils dancing every turn is not only practical in quickly clearing the map, it aids in meeting the exp rank. Pure Water village is 900g towards funds, so that's a given to collect.
Chapter 7x
7 turns, 450 experience points, 3560g Funds
I'll want to have Matthew steal items here, especially the Lockpicks since that alone is worth 1/3rd of the Funds requirement (1200 g). There are 3 possible vulneraries to steal, and 1 droppable one. The hammer is worth 800g more to Funds, but costs 80 g to get (1 use of the Lockpick). This brings the items available to a total of 3120g of Funds. Unless the reinforcements also have Vulnaries, there's no way to reach the rank requirement. I'll have to check back to see if it is possible. Otherwise, I may have to settle for B rank Funds here (2670g minimum)
Chapter 8
7 turns, 500 experience points, 1440g Funds
The lancereaver alone is enough to cover the funds rank.
Chapter 9
8 turns, 650 experience points, 1114g Funds
Wallace's gear alone covers the rank requirement. The torch in the village is a nice luxury at 500g more.
Chapter 10
12 turns, 450 experience points, 6400g Funds
Everyone should be slowing down in terms of experience gain, but there's more than enough enemies to reach the rank requirement. Lundgren alone will give 100 to whoever kills him. The Energy Ring is needed to reach Funds requirement.
So far, it is looking like 59/60 Tactician stars is possible in Lyn Hard Mode (LHM). 60 is certainly possible in Normal.
