Strategically, speaking, these were some of the toughest stages I've TASed yet!:
http://tasvideos.org/userfiles/info/17489954907488496
Scenario 16: The Blue Dragon Knights Again
Victory conditions: Defeat of Leon OR Elwin reaches the gate of the Castle.
PREPARATION
Equip Elwin with Keith's Necklace, and hire 3 Heavy Horsemen. Equip Cherie with a Wand. Give Scott a set of Speed Boots and hire 2 Phalanxes.
MAP DEPLOYMENT
Fairly specific layout. From left to right, on the front line: Cherie, Lester, Elwin, Scott, Jessica, and Aaron. Keith and Hein are then placed in the back row.
Turn 1
This Fortress is no joke. Not only are fliers not able to scale the front walls, Ballistas are lined up on either side of the narrow bridge allowing access to the interior. To top that all off, none of my low-level troops have access to the spell Meteor, which would make things far easier in a normal playthrough.
Therefore, taking care of the Ballistas are priority #1. Begin by moving Lester forward into the moat on the left-hand side; Cherie is then placed along the edge of the left wall to set up a spell in the next round. In addition to providing support fire, Lester will also draw fire from the Ballistas away from Cherie (his 50% DEF bonus in the water greatly helps matters here). Elwin and Scott then set up their formations just in front of the center bridge, with both units just outside of both Arch Mages' spell ranges (they both have Meteor). Hein advances forward from the back row, placed to where he will be the only person struck by the Arch Mage's spell in the Enemy Phase. Jessica heavily damages the Ballista on the right-flank with her Fireball (this was also necessary to soften up the Arch Mage for the next round).
During the Enemy Phase, both Arch Mages rain down their Meteor spells on to the party. Hein and Cherie absorb their impact; this is set up to where no other units are affected by the spell radius. Laird is manipulated into moving out toward the bridge. Enemy Commanders with support spells such as Attack can sometimes be manipulated into either casting magic or moving elsewhere on the map. This luck manipulation is caused by either ending your turn on a specific frame, or advancing the 'Enemy Phase' screen on a specific frame when it pops up.
Turn 2
Time to advance our troops! On the left-flank, Lester begins by shooting down a Fireball spell on the left-side Ballitas, weakening them for Cherie. Cherie then rips out a Tornado spell, destroying the wooden launchers and damaging the Arch Mage down to 7 HP (he'll spend his phase healing). On the bridge, Elwin sends a H. Horseman forward to open up defending Saint's defenses. Elwin then smites her off the battlefield. In tandem, Hein and Jessica rain down more Fireball spells on the Fort's right flank, bursting its Ballista into flames and damaging the commanding Arch Mage down to 7 HP, as well. Scott then joins Elwin's advancement on the bridge, strategically moving his Phalanxes into place for the next round.
Turn 3
It's almost like shooting fish in a barrel... Laird and the Magic Knight have rushed forward to meet Elwin, leaving their troops high and dry behind them. Scott moves into place, while steering clear of getting one-shotted by Leon's own Ballista's at the Castle gates. The enemy Magic Knight goes down easy, while one of Elwin's H. Horsemen assists in routing Silver Knight Laird.
This next set up is crucial in winning the stage, and took a few attempts to figure out. Elwin's 2nd H. Horseman is moved forward, but just out of range from Leon's Ballista. This unit will serve to draw in the Dragon Lord, who has been waiting off to the side this entire stage for Elwin army to invade inward. Drawing this flying unit in will keep him away from Elwin (very important!). Elwin then advances next to the drawbridge, critically injuring the guarding Ballista (but keeping him alive...) while Elwin in manipulated into losing just 1 HP. Elwin's last H. Horseman then critically injures Leon's other Ballista (this one is keep alive because viewing a unit's death animation wastes time here).
Finally, Hein needs to draw in at least of the Arch Mage's spell in order to keep Scott's Phalanxes alive. This is achieved by casting the sneaky spell Illusion, which makes decoy copies of the Commander which then surrounds him/her. These decoys will draw in any close-by foe, who will attack with either troops or spells. The decoys are destroyed after just a single hit, making them very effective in crucial strategic situations.
During the Enemy Phase, Leon sends down his elite Royal Horsemen units. His 1st one easily destroys Elwin's H. Horseman. The 2nd one can also easily dispatch Elwin, but is manipulated to only hurt him down to 2 HP, instead. With no other open targets (hence, why the Ballista was kept alive), the last two Royal Horsemen surround Leon from the north and south, leaving the drawbridge momentarily unguarded...
Turn 4
Seeing the brief opening, Scott sends in his last Phalanx to remove the guarding Ballista. Elwin then hightails it past Leon, leaving Mr. Goldilocks fuming and winning the stage!
Scenario 17:Emperor Bernhardt
Victory conditions: Death of Emperor Bernhardt.
Hands down, this was the most difficult stage I've ever TASed. Took me an entire weekend to figure out.
PREPARATION
Much preparation here!
Shop list: 1 Wand, 2 Speed Boots, 1 Plate Armor, 1 Necklace.
Equip list:
Elwin: Great Sword, Plate Armor, Necklace.
Hein: Wand, Plate Armor, Speed Boots.
Cherie: Langrisser, Dragon Scale, Necklace.
Aaron: Wand, Plate Armor, Speed Boots.
Keith: Devil's Axe.
Lester: Wand, Necklace.
Jessica: Wand, Mirage Robe, Speed Boots.
Scott: War Hammer, Chain Mail, Speed Boots.
Hireling list:
Elwin: 1 Berserker.
Hein: 2 Heavy Horsemen.
Cherie: 6 Griffons.
Aaron:
Keith:
Lester: 2 Archers.
Jessica:
Scott:
MAP DEPLOYMENT
(From top-left row to bottom)
Elwin, Hein, Cherie, Lester, Jessica, Aaron, Scott, and Keith.
Turn 1
Here we go! Begin by moving Elwin into position by the lefthand staircase, while placing his Berserker just out of the attack range of the Saint's Ballistas. Lester then shoots a Fireball down to the Arch Mage on the left wall, softening him up. I move one of Cherie's Griffons next to Lester in order to exploit the effects of the Attack spell later on in the stage, before firing another Fireball spell with Jessica. Scott buffs Lester's Archers with an Attack spell, allowing them to take out the left-side Arch Mage. I don't have the resources to take out the other Arch Mage in the 1st round. It's, therefore, faster to leave him alone and use the left side as a "headquarters" to gather my other Commanders.
After all this, Aaron is moved straight forward past Hein, while another Griffon opens up the right-flank Saint's defenses by destroying the guarding Ballista. Cherie then moves in to take her out. Hein and his two H. Horsemen are then strategically placed to take on the Chief Saint during the next round. Finally, Keith is moved slightly south to escape the Arch Mage's spell range.
Turn 2
Elwin and his Berserker take care of the Saint stationed by the lefthand staircase. Lester uses the 'Treat' command in order to restore two of his MP. Scott is moved alongside Cherie's lone Griffin in order to both escape the Arch Mage's spell range and to buff Attack spells in the next round. Jessica then rushes forward behind Hein, and Aaron moves further ahead up the main staircase. Despite being anemically under-leveled at this point, Aaron is still invaluable in this stage due to his Heal 1 Spell (I'm GLAD I decided to promote him to Lord back earlier in the game!).
In order to quickly take out the Chief Saint, Hein uses his Sleep spell. Despite having a long spell animation, it is very useful in this stage to speed run due to the Saint's near-instant attack speed.
Finally, Cherie continues to fly up the right-hand hallway. One of her Griffons is moved manually in order to escape a Ballista counter-attack.
Turn 3
Scott recovers his MP while Lester is placed in the role of Attack buffing Cherie's units. Aaron, Hein and Jessica are placed into their final support positions. After opening the Arch Mage's defenses, Cherie advances a little into the throne room in order to expand her command range far enough for her troops in the next round. Another Griffon is used to finish off the Arch Mage, instead.
During the Enemy Phase, Bernhardt's Ballista -- with their incredible commander bonuses -- move southward toward Hein and Jessica. Jessica is manipulated into taking only 8 HP of damage. She'll need at least 2 HP to survive this stage.
Turn 4
Scott assumes the support role this time, buffing Cherie's troops. Cherie and Hein, equipped with Wands, then send Fireball spells toward Bernhardt, destroying his Ballista and weakening his and Boser's elite troops. These spells weaken Boser's guarding Dark Guards enough for them to be taken out in one round by Cherie's Griffon. Boser, himself, is a bit of a pushover...
Afterward, Bernhardt's Royal Horsemen are finished off at the end of the round in order to leave Bernhardt completely defenseless from all sides. Trust me, I'm going to need every advantage here! Aaron then uses his ONLY Heal 1 spell to freshen up Cherie and her troops for this very crucial round coming up.
Turn 5
After one more Attack buff, it's time to throw everything and the kitchen sink at Bernhardt! After being softened up again with Fireball spells (this strategy may remind you of a certain stage in Warsong...) a full-strength Cherie and 3 fully-powered Griffons proceed to surround and assault the Emperor. All this manpower was needed to whittle down Bernhardt by 2 HP at a time, until finally defeated. All I've got to say is: This dude was T-O-U-G-H.
Whew! And to think, Bernhardt was only Level 1 and had on zero equipment.
I'd hate to face a maxed out version of him...
Scenario 18: Dark Princess
Victory conditions: Death of Great Dragon OR defeat of Dark Princess.
PREPARATION
Hire Elwin 4 Heavy Horsemen, and Cherie 5 Griffons.
Yep. This is what we call the "breather" stage :)
MAP DEPLOYMENT
Place Hein and Cherie near the top, and Elwin to the southeast end of the village. Auto-deploy everyone else.
Turn 1
(Order the villagers to head West).
After moving Elwin into range, send his H. Horsemen in to take out the Minotaurs and their guarding Bone Dinos, in succession. Simple as that.
Afterward, transfer over to Cherie, leave one Griffon behind next to Hein, and move her towards the northeast toward the Great Dragon. The strategy here will be to avoid all others foe\ and go straight for the Dragon.
Turn 2
Leave the Griffon with Hein again, and move Cherie closer to the northeast, just above and to the left of the Scylla. Her positioning here is crucial for two reasons: 1) To avoid the Great Dragon's spell range, and 2) To keep the other sea monsters from blocking her unit's path to the Dragon. Only 2 Griffons are needed to defeat the Dragon, but I need to hire 5 in order to boost my attack power and keep the other monsters from blocking me in.
During the Enemy Phase, the Lich was manipulated into pursuing Cherie instead of casting a Meteor spell.
Turn 3
Buff the Griffons, take out the guarding Gargoyles, and snuff the Dragon. 'Nuff said.
After winning the stage, Cherie becomes the first Commander to promote up to the 4th tier! The Dragon Lord class gives access to elite troops (Armored Soldiers and
Angels), as well as higher troop bonuses. In addition, a Crown accessory (+2 range, +3 troop ATK & +2 troop DEF) is awarded due to the villagers suffering no losses. Nice.
Scenario 19: Battle at Mireil
Victory conditions: Death of General Imelda within 23 turns.
PREPARATION
Enlist 1 Heavy Horseman for Hein, and 3 Heavy Horsemen & 1 Archer for Jessica. Cherie upgrades to 6 Angels, while being equipped with the Crown. Keith gets hand-me-downs as he hires 2 Griffons and equips a Necklace.
MAP DEPLOYMENT
Place Jessica at the very top of the map alongside the building. Elwin goes on the far right toward the boat, with Cherie deployed behind him. Hein and Keith take the two spots toward the bottom of the map, while all else auto-deploy.
Turn 1
Elwin is going to shake-and-move as fast as he can towards the map's upper right-hand corner in order to access the secret stage. Hein and Keith will move with their troops towards the lower dock next to the boat, while Cherie shoots out to the east towards the enemy Saint with her high-speed Angels.
Meanwhile, Jessica strategically sets up her troops in wait for a certain someone;)
Turn 2
Hein moves and lands just short of the docks. One of Keith's Griffons is manually moved below Hein in order to set it up for position in a later round. Cherie then leads the charge in taking out the first enemy Commander, the Saint. All her troops are either manipulated into taking zero damage or taking the minimal amount in order to recover to full health in the next round.
Turn 3
A double-K.O. occurs between the Serpent Lord and Hein's H. Heavy Horseman, while Keith inches closer toward General Imelda. Cherie moves in on the boat and opens up the defenses of the enemy Wizard, which activates the event flag for enemy reinforcements. Laird shows up -- then Laird gets sent packing along with his weaker subordinates.
Afterward, Cherie's Angels mop up the majority of the remaining enemy units, including the Arch Mage and one of the Dragon Knights. One of Imelda's Ballista is also destroyed before ending the round.
During the Enemy Phase, Cherie's southern Angel is manipulated down to 2 HP, which attracts Imelda's Phalanx over into a more suitable attack range during the next round
Turn 4
Elwin remains on the move, while all other enemy troops are taken out with the exception of Imelda. As long as no troops are withing her attack range; and no Commanders are within her spell range, Imelda does not act at all during the Enemy Phases. This, fortunately, makes all of these extra upcoming turns go by very quickly as Elwin races toward activating Scenario ?2.
Turns 5-11
E -->...E -->...E -->...E -->...E -->...
Get a move on, Elwin!
Turn 12
After finally reaching the upper right-corner, Imelda is finished off for good by Cherie with the help of an assisting Angel unit.
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1/3rd of the game left to TAS. My brain has been worked out to the max in figuring out solutions for these stages, lol.
