Valkryia Chroncles 2, Any%

2014-01-16 01:24:19 am

www.twitch.tv/ghoul02

Hey all.

Just finished with my new route for Valkyria Chronicles 2. It's probably horribly unoptimized, and there were a lot of things I did on my routing file that I won't do running the game single segment (biggest example is levelling. I beat the game with my levels at 11431), but beyond some RNG for enemy spawns, the route at least does a decent job. I have honestly no idea how long the run will take, but it should be fun overall.

I believe in opensourcing notes, especially if I made them, so my notes are here if anybody's curious.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJrtYmbQ80kxnBJuXLfMPjZmIDcR2Nebc0lO-dvWb8M/

Basically, the game uses the same objectives exploits that were used in VC1, with a few exceptions. From a speedrun standpoint, orders have been almost completely neutered except where they're required to be able to survive, due to the increased cost (the CP cost is 4 for defense boost in 2, 1 in 1). This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that boosts last the whole mission but even with that, most missions don't go beyond 2 turns.

The other thing I used was abuse of the Light Tank B. This tank takes only 1 CP to move, while moving at a decent clip (slower than most units, but passable) and kills pretty much anything in one or two shots.

I still might need to test different turrets for the light tank. While the default turret style is fairly accurate, while also leaving room for the constructor arm, there are a few enemies that take extra hits, and my testing on different turrets wasn't terribly thorough. I also don't have set levels for any classes, but expect to be leveling Scouts and Shocktroopers over the course of the run, at a 1 to 2 clip. The reason is that I never upgrade the Mags gun, and the lower accuracy at the end of the game can be negated by a higher level.

Anyways, if there are any questions or suggestions, feel free to add them here.

Thread title:

Hey all.

Just finished with my new route for Valkyria Chronicles 2. It's probably horribly unoptimized, and there were a lot of things I did on my routing file that I won't do running the game single segment (biggest example is levelling. I beat the game with my levels at 11431), but beyond some RNG for enemy spawns, the route at least does a decent job. I have honestly no idea how long the run will take, but it should be fun overall.

I believe in opensourcing notes, especially if I made them, so my notes are here if anybody's curious.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OJrtYmbQ80kxnBJuXLfMPjZmIDcR2Nebc0lO-dvWb8M/

Basically, the game uses the same objectives exploits that were used in VC1, with a few exceptions. From a speedrun standpoint, orders have been almost completely neutered except where they're required to be able to survive, due to the increased cost (the CP cost is 4 for defense boost in 2, 1 in 1). This is somewhat mitigated by the fact that boosts last the whole mission but even with that, most missions don't go beyond 2 turns.

The other thing I used was abuse of the Light Tank B. This tank takes only 1 CP to move, while moving at a decent clip (slower than most units, but passable) and kills pretty much anything in one or two shots.

I still might need to test different turrets for the light tank. While the default turret style is fairly accurate, while also leaving room for the constructor arm, there are a few enemies that take extra hits, and my testing on different turrets wasn't terribly thorough. I also don't have set levels for any classes, but expect to be leveling Scouts and Shocktroopers over the course of the run, at a 1 to 2 clip. The reason is that I never upgrade the Mags gun, and the lower accuracy at the end of the game can be negated by a higher level.

Anyways, if there are any questions or suggestions, feel free to add them here.

WanderingMind

2014-04-18 12:13:08 am

Stay chill, be cool.

So I picked up Valkyria Chronicles II last week and since I don't have a way of streaming from my PSP at the moment, I've been doing a casual playthrough on an emulator. It's been over two years since I originally played the game and 100% it, so this gives me a way to refresh myself on VC2. I'll probably be more serious about routing once I get past this playthrough.

For now I'm just taking note of what I should work on and other things. Like Ghoul, I've been using the Light Tank B as soon as I had the chance to get it. 1 CP to move makes a difference, although I can't equip too much on it. Just enough for the shoulder parts. That and Spare Parts for the Backpack, which gives about 200 more health. I figure it's nice to have just in case anything goes wrong.

I figured out that the best turret for the Light Tank B is the Cptd AA Gtlg A1. I remember using it all the time in my original playthrough and figured I should use it again. The only problem is getting the turret to drop, which may take some time. At least it's early on in the game. However, it's effective enough against vehicle units that it should make up for that time and then possibly save even more time. This is going to affect how I route the game since I won't be using the constructor arm or other tank parts at all.

By a certain point in the game, I'd like to have at least two Scout Veterans and several Trooper Veterans. Avan will be one of the Scout Veterans. If I can, I want to get a Gunner for defensive purposes. They can also be good for offense if used the right way. Lancers aren't going to be too useful once I get the turret for my tank. Engineers, I don't know what I'm going to do about them. Armored Techs won't be used at all since they're slow units and it would take far too long to upgrade them to Fencers.

The one thing I'm curious about is Temporary Coating and whether or not it would be useful for certain missions. Mostly I want to go for coating that will increase defense for a specific class when I need them. Maybe it isn't worth it, but I'll probably look into this.

So I picked up Valkyria Chronicles II last week and since I don't have a way of streaming from my PSP at the moment, I've been doing a casual playthrough on an emulator.  It's been over two years since I originally played the game and 100% it, so this gives me a way to refresh myself on VC2.  I'll probably be more serious about routing once I get past this playthrough.

For now I'm just taking note of what I should work on and other things.  Like Ghoul, I've been using the Light Tank B as soon as I had the chance to get it.  1 CP to move makes a difference, although I can't equip too much on it.  Just enough for the shoulder parts.  That and Spare Parts for the Backpack, which gives about 200 more health.  I figure it's nice to have just in case anything goes wrong.

I figured out that the best turret for the Light Tank B is the Cptd AA Gtlg A1.  I remember using it all the time in my original playthrough and figured I should use it again.  The only problem is getting the turret to drop, which may take some time.  At least it's early on in the game.  However, it's effective enough against vehicle units that it should make up for that time and then possibly save even more time.  This is going to affect how I route the game since I won't be using the constructor arm or other tank parts at all.

By a certain point in the game, I'd like to have at least two Scout Veterans and several Trooper Veterans.  Avan will be one of the Scout Veterans.  If I can, I want to get a Gunner for defensive purposes.  They can also be good for offense if used the right way.  Lancers aren't going to be too useful once I get the turret for my tank.  Engineers, I don't know what I'm going to do about them.  Armored Techs won't be used at all since they're slow units and it would take far too long to upgrade them to Fencers.

The one thing I'm curious about is Temporary Coating and whether or not it would be useful for certain missions.  Mostly I want to go for coating that will increase defense for a specific class when I need them.  Maybe it isn't worth it, but I'll probably look into this.

WanderingMind

2014-08-13 11:21:55 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Using the Constructor Arm on the tank means that I have to re-learn the entire game, since I never used it way back when I first used the game. One of the good things about VCII being a PSP game is practicing with save states. And this is when I'm really glad ppsspp lets me make save state files, because I have a bunch already, and it's only going to grow.

As a rule of thumb, I make save states for all story missions and any other missions which may give me trouble. (I'll make one for Beyond the Flood Gate when I get there). My internet situation is horrible where I am for the remainder of the summer, so if I want to upload them onto Dropbox or something, it'll have to be at a later time.

For now, I'm doing heavy practice on Darcsen Liberation, the April story mission. Enough that I made a separate timer, with a split for each of the three turns. There's just so much that can go wrong with the mission. Just when I think I got the mission down, I either discover something new or something happens I did not expect in the bad kind of way. First I figured out a route using just non-promoted units. I used a save state based on a botched impromptu run. The best time I got with that one was 7:37.

I started a new file, which I've been slowly playing through, and made another save state when I got to Darcsen Liberation. This time I had Avan as a Scout Veteran. I followed my route for the most part, though I did some stuff on the go. On one try, I got really lucky and finished the mission in two turns with a time of 6:47. Otherwise I finish in 3 turns with my time being somewhere from 7:46 to 7:56.

I'm going to spend as much time as I can on Darcsen Liberation because it's where I would usually mess up before.

I'll post updates as I keep on playing and eventually I'll feel confident to attempt a full run of the game.

My notes are really incomplete and a work in progress, but I'll link them here anyway:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Byqo61dNcWpkh5rEsod1KPTC3InTlaIcpPycZqZ3D0k/edit

Using the Constructor Arm on the tank means that I have to re-learn the entire game, since I never used it way back when I first used the game.  One of the good things about VCII being a PSP game is practicing with save states.  And this is when I'm really glad ppsspp lets me make save state files, because I have a bunch already, and it's only going to grow.

As a rule of thumb, I make save states for all story missions and any other missions which may give me trouble.  (I'll make one for Beyond the Flood Gate when I get there).  My internet situation is horrible where I am for the remainder of the summer, so if I want to upload them onto Dropbox or something, it'll have to be at a later time.

For now, I'm doing heavy practice on Darcsen Liberation, the April story mission.  Enough that I made a separate timer, with a split for each of the three turns.  There's just so much that can go wrong with the mission.  Just when I think I got the mission down, I either discover something new or something happens I did not expect in the bad kind of way.  First I figured out a route using just non-promoted units.  I used a save state based on a botched impromptu run.  The best time I got with that one was 7:37.

I started a new file, which I've been slowly playing through, and made another save state when I got to Darcsen Liberation.  This time I had Avan as a Scout Veteran.  I followed my route for the most part, though I did some stuff on the go.  On one try, I got really lucky and finished the mission in two turns with a time of 6:47.  Otherwise I finish in 3 turns with my time being somewhere from 7:46 to 7:56.

I'm going to spend as much time as I can on Darcsen Liberation because it's where I would usually mess up before.

I'll post updates as I keep on playing and eventually I'll feel confident to attempt a full run of the game.

My notes are really incomplete and a work in progress, but I'll link them here anyway:

[url]https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Byqo61dNcWpkh5rEsod1KPTC3InTlaIcpPycZqZ3D0k/edit[/url]

WanderingMind

Edit history:

WanderingMind: 2014-08-15 12:51:13 am

2014-08-15 12:47:26 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I had a lot of free time today, so you know what I did? Practice the heck out of Darcsen Liberation.

I had a separate timer set up for this mission, using WSplit, starting when I go ahead with starting the mission (so some time lost to loading), and stopping when I captured the last base.

Earlier today, I figured out how to do my route in two turns, giving me a time of 6:00. I was glad that not only my route could be done in two turns, but I also fool-proofed it to prevent anything that could go wrong. In my next few attempts, I cut it down to 5:51 and then 5:47. I didn't want to rest until I could do even better. I changed some minor things in the route and worked on my menuing, and eventually I got 5:45.

I think I'm ready to move on.

(I kept on wondering why Ghoul's notes weren't working for me a few days ago. I found out like earlier tonight that I misread placing a scout in the southeast of Area 3 as putting them in Area 2. By the time I realized this, it was kinda too late. Whoopsie. I practice this mission any more and I risk burning myself out)

I wish credits weren't distributed so... randomly. The only thing I can count on so far is Avan upgrading to Veteran Scout.

I don't think I have to worry about anything on the scale of Darcsen Liberation until I get to Defending Lanseal, the August story mission.

I had a lot of free time today, so you know what I did?  Practice the heck out of Darcsen Liberation.

I had a separate timer set up for this mission, using WSplit, starting when I go ahead with starting the mission (so some time lost to loading), and stopping when I captured the last base.

Earlier today, I figured out how to do my route in two turns, giving me a time of 6:00.  I was glad that not only my route could be done in two turns, but I also fool-proofed it to prevent anything that could go wrong.  In my next few attempts, I cut it down to 5:51 and then 5:47.  I didn't want to rest until I could do even better.  I changed some minor things in the route and worked on my menuing, and eventually I got 5:45.

I think I'm ready to move on.

(I kept on wondering why Ghoul's notes weren't working for me a few days ago.  I found out like earlier tonight that I misread placing a scout in the southeast of Area 3 as putting them in Area 2.  By the time I realized this, it was kinda too late.  Whoopsie.  I practice this mission any more and I risk burning myself out)
  
I wish credits weren't distributed so... randomly.  The only thing I can count on so far is Avan upgrading to Veteran Scout.

I don't think I have to worry about anything on the scale of Darcsen Liberation until I get to Defending Lanseal, the August story mission.

WanderingMind

2014-08-16 01:08:54 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I keep on discovering a bunch of new things for myself as I go through these missions. I'm in the middle of nowhere for the entire summer, and the internet here is so bad, I haven't really watched any videos online, youtube or streams, since mid-May. I won't be able to do this again until I come home in early September. Working on VC2 is all I really do now on my spare time.

I did everything in VC2 from the beginning of May to the end of August. For now I'm focusing on how to get through missions as best as I can. Leveling, R&D, and credits will wait until later, though I keep track of them somewhat in my notes.

The 4th Mortar Squad (Mission 18) was pretty straightforward, don't think I'm going to mess with the route for that one. For Breaching the Bunkers (Mission 20), I played it safe and used Defense Boost. Forest Guardians (Mission 22) was only slightly annoying. Escort to the Ruins (Mission 24) only gave me trouble on the first turn, but it wasn't so bad once I worked something out. Retaking Yuell (Mission 26) had me using Defense Boost to stay on the safe side.

For some of the later missions, I either added stuff to the route or changed it completely. I added in a line or two to cover a box that could randomly show up in one of two places in Hidden Goods (Mission 29). The Cerulean March (Mission 30) has two different routes depending on whether or not a V2 unit is found in a certain area. For some reason, I managed to finish the Laevatein Finals (Mission 31) in one turn. I'm not complaining. The Cerulean Menace (Mission 34) was one of those missions where I misread something on Ghoul's notes and made my own route by accident. Somehow it worked for me.

As for Defending Lanseal (Mission 35), I'll copy what I put in my notes.

Quote:

This mission was not as bad as I thought it would be, at least compared to Darcsen Liberation. Dirk was nowhere near as annoying as Baldren. I was planning on playing defensive, but I’m wondering if it’s faster to take out everyone in 4 turns. I’d rather do that than waste at least 30 seconds waiting for the enemy to be done with their turn each time. Like the April story mission, the August story mission is going to be very heavy on execution. The route for Defending Lanseal will change constantly as I keep on practicing. Eventually I’ll make a timer for this mission and see how fast I can go.

I would like to get to November or December tomorrow, depending on how I feel.

I keep on discovering a bunch of new things for myself as I go through these missions.  I'm in the middle of nowhere for the entire summer, and the internet here is so bad, I haven't really watched any videos online, youtube or streams, since mid-May.  I won't be able to do this again until I come home in early September.  Working on VC2 is all I really do now on my spare time.

I did everything in VC2 from the beginning of May to the end of August.  For now I'm focusing on how to get through missions as best as I can.  Leveling, R&D, and credits will wait until later, though I keep track of them somewhat in my notes.

The 4th Mortar Squad (Mission 18) was pretty straightforward, don't think I'm going to mess with the route for that one.  For Breaching the Bunkers (Mission 20), I played it safe and used Defense Boost.  Forest Guardians (Mission 22) was only slightly annoying.  Escort to the Ruins (Mission 24) only gave me trouble on the first turn, but it wasn't so bad once I worked something out.  Retaking Yuell (Mission 26) had me using Defense Boost to stay on the safe side.

For some of the later missions, I either added stuff to the route or changed it completely.  I added in a line or two to cover a box that could randomly show up in one of two places in Hidden Goods (Mission 29).  The Cerulean March (Mission 30) has two different routes depending on whether or not a V2 unit is found in a certain area.  For some reason, I managed to finish the Laevatein Finals (Mission 31) in one turn.  I'm not complaining.  The Cerulean Menace (Mission 34) was one of those missions where I misread something on Ghoul's notes and made my own route by accident.  Somehow it worked for me.

As for Defending Lanseal (Mission 35), I'll copy what I put in my notes.

[quote]This mission was not as bad as I thought it would be, at least compared to Darcsen Liberation.  Dirk was nowhere near as annoying as Baldren.  I was planning on playing defensive, but I’m wondering if it’s faster to take out everyone in 4 turns.  I’d rather do that than waste at least 30 seconds waiting for the enemy to be done with their turn each time.  Like the April story mission, the August story mission is going to be very heavy on execution.  The route for Defending Lanseal will change constantly as I keep on practicing.  Eventually I’ll make a timer for this mission and see how fast I can go.[/quote]

I would like to get to November or December tomorrow, depending on how I feel.

Ghoul02

Edit history:

Ghoul02: 2014-08-17 12:33:35 am

2014-08-17 12:25:40 am

www.twitch.tv/ghoul02

Interesting. I'm curious how many of these will end up being faster. I think I was pretty through on my testing, but I'm sure I missed something. Looking forward to when you finish.

On Darcsen liberation, are you timing from when you start the mission or from where? I've got a 6:36 segment PB, but that would be from the mission complete text on the previous mission to the end of the next, and it's about a minute to get into a mission after clearing one.

WanderingMind

2014-08-17 01:48:20 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I start my timer from when I hit Yes after I'm done placing everyone in the Briefing screen.

It's pretty crazy how much stuff I found while working on this. Like most recently? I figured out how to finish Liberating Doerfein in one turn. It involved equipping the Crusher Armor on the tank, getting Zeri onto the mine cart, Zeri firing at Baldren after going up the stairs, and having just enough CP to finish off Baldren with Lavinia.

I can't wait to stream this stuff next month.

Ghoul02

2014-08-17 01:54:55 pm

www.twitch.tv/ghoul02

What's your time on that mission? I've got a 6:21 best split there, so anything below the 5:20 range by your timing would be faster, not including switching tank armors and buying them.

WanderingMind

2014-08-18 10:44:14 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I got 3:23 using the route I made. I made two changes while practicing the mission. First was to heal Zeri right before he got onto the mine cart. That way he can survive a counterattack by Baldren, and just in case Lavinia can't kill him afterwards in one shot, Zeri can finish him. Second was to have Avan run around the area counter-clockwise instead of clockwise. I had one attempt killed because he got hit with AP loss and I could not capture the base in 3 CP at most like I planned.

I have a lot to cover here since I did not get around to posting last night.

I changed the order of the regular missions for November and December.

For November, I did Excavation Corps first because the Crusher Armor could also be used for that mission. I will need to practice the actual mission though. Then I did Raging Sands, The Cerulean Fortress, and the Ultimate Weapon, in that order.

I wanted to get Beyond the Flood Gate out of the way, so that was the first mission I did in December. It took me hours, but I figured out a way to finish the mission in 3 turns, regardless of whether or not the Supply Vehicle was on the bridge. Then I did Counteroffensive. I figured out I can do this in two turns, but I'll look into it more. After that was The 4th Mortar Squad Regrouped. Last regular mission I did for December was Retrieving Secrets.

Now for the endgame.

Battle for Anthold: I used Defense Boost on Avan, ran around the west pathway, did the stop and go trick until I reached the switch, hit it, destroy Supply Vehicle, then kill Dirk.

Clash Aboard Deck: I used Shocktroopers/Gunners instead of Lancers

The Final Battle: I killed Baldren in one turn. By this point, Avan had to be a Scout Elite for this to work. Also I made Zeri a leader instead of Lavinia so I wouldn't waste 1 CP retreating it. Once I got to Area 4, I made Avan without Defense Boost run around and make Baldren look northwest. Then I deployed Lavinia, had her destroy the heat sink. If I couldn't right away, then Avan did, sacrificing himself in the process. From there, Lavinia finished him off.

I got 3:23 using the route I made.  I made two changes while practicing the mission.  First was to heal Zeri right before he got onto the mine cart.  That way he can survive a counterattack by Baldren, and just in case Lavinia can't kill him afterwards in one shot, Zeri can finish him.  Second was to have Avan run around the area counter-clockwise instead of clockwise.  I had one attempt killed because he got hit with AP loss and I could not capture the base in 3 CP at most like I planned.

I have a lot to cover here since I did not get around to posting last night.

I changed the order of the regular missions for November and December.

For November, I did Excavation Corps first because the Crusher Armor could also be used for that mission.  I will need to practice the actual mission though.  Then I did Raging Sands, The Cerulean Fortress, and the Ultimate Weapon, in that order.

I wanted to get Beyond the Flood Gate out of the way, so that was the first mission I did in December.  It took me hours, but I figured out a way to finish the mission in 3 turns, regardless of whether or not the Supply Vehicle was on the bridge.  Then I did Counteroffensive.  I figured out I can do this in two turns, but I'll look into it more.  After that was The 4th Mortar Squad Regrouped.  Last regular mission I did for December was Retrieving Secrets.

Now for the endgame.

[b]Battle for Anthold[/b]: I used Defense Boost on Avan, ran around the west pathway, did the stop and go trick until I reached the switch, hit it, destroy Supply Vehicle, then kill Dirk.

[b]Clash Aboard Deck[/b]: I used Shocktroopers/Gunners instead of Lancers

[b]The Final Battle[/b]: I killed Baldren in one turn.  By this point, Avan had to be a Scout Elite for this to work.  Also I made Zeri a leader instead of Lavinia so I wouldn't waste 1 CP retreating it.  Once I got to Area 4, I made Avan without Defense Boost run around and make Baldren look northwest.  Then I deployed Lavinia, had her destroy the heat sink.  If I couldn't right away, then Avan did, sacrificing himself in the process.  From there, Lavinia finished him off.

WanderingMind

2014-08-20 12:07:46 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I'm going to do another test file on emulator to see if I can discover so more stuff and change what I already have. This time I'm going to focus more on what levels my classes should be, what R&D I should focus on, and when I should go out of my way to earn credits.

As it stands, I only really need two upgraded classes: Avan as a Scout Elite and Aliasse or someone else as Scout Veteran or higher. Those two are what makes my route for the later missions work like they should. More AP means less CP, less CP means less turns taken, and less turns means less time.

I'll update my notes as I get through this playthrough.

WanderingMind

2014-08-23 06:14:34 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I'm on August of my second test file playthrough and this is what I have to say so far.

I was going to make Zeri into a Commando to see how that plays out, but it's way too much work to get the credits needed to be worth it. That and it's a lot easier to get Trooper Elite.

Avan and Nichol are now Scout Veterans, which has been working really well for me. I hope I can get both of them to Scout Elite. It would make the later missions so much easier.

Helmut as a Sniper has been so helpful. Being able to pick off enemies at a long range saves me time in certain places. I don't promote him until after the April story mission so I have a spare scout for my route to work. I can only imagine how a Sniper Elite would play out.

I've replaced any instances of Cosette with Shocktroopers for the earlier missions of the game. I figure they should get credits early on while they can.

Zeri and Anisette are on track to be Trooper Elites, but for now they are Trooper Veterans. I'm hoping to get Erik to Gunner class by the August story mission. I know I can do this.

I may bench Aliasse later on because even though she has some great potentials, Solitude makes her too much of a risk to use, especially when capturing bases during the final mission.

Reiner is the only Lancer I hope to bother using. In this test file, he is a Lancer Veteran.

I usually do my leveling/upgrading/R&D trips either before or after the first mission of each month.

Finally, I made the May story mission a lot shorter by deploying the Lavinia in Area 3, backing away at the base, and firing at the tank through an opening, taking it out in one shot.

I'm on August of my second test file playthrough and this is what I have to say so far.

I was going to make Zeri into a Commando to see how that plays out, but it's way too much work to get the credits needed to be worth it.  That and it's a lot easier to get Trooper Elite.

Avan and Nichol are now Scout Veterans, which has been working really well for me.  I hope I can get both of them to Scout Elite.  It would make the later missions so much easier.

Helmut as a Sniper has been so helpful.  Being able to pick off enemies at a long range saves me time in certain places.  I don't promote him until after the April story mission so I have a spare scout for my route to work.  I can only imagine how a Sniper Elite would play out.

I've replaced any instances of Cosette with Shocktroopers for the earlier missions of the game.  I figure they should get credits early on while they can.

Zeri and Anisette are on track to be Trooper Elites, but for now they are Trooper Veterans.  I'm hoping to get Erik to Gunner class by the August story mission.  I know I can do this.

I may bench Aliasse later on because even though she has some great potentials, Solitude makes her too much of a risk to use, especially when capturing bases during the final mission.

Reiner is the only Lancer I hope to bother using.  In this test file, he is a Lancer Veteran.

I usually do my leveling/upgrading/R&D trips either before or after the first mission of each month.

Finally, I made the May story mission a lot shorter by deploying the Lavinia in Area 3, backing away at the base, and firing at the tank through an opening, taking it out in one shot.

WanderingMind

2014-08-27 01:12:41 am

Stay chill, be cool.

Just finished a second test file, ended up with an in-game time of 9:12:55.

So this is what I figured out.

Focusing on credits for certain units helped me a lot in some spots. By making them kill at least one enemy or capture at least one base per mission, they have a chance at earning the credits they need to upgrade. It's still random, but at least it gives them a chance.

Most important is getting at least two Scout Elites. A lot of the later missions ride on having more movement to reduce turns. Avan and Nichol were both Scout Elites by the end.

Snipers were not really all that useful and I think I could do without them. It's also way too much effort to get the credits needed for the upgrade. Same reason why I will no longer go out of my way to upgrade Shocktroopers to Gunners. Trooper Veterans and then Trooper Elites are a lot more useful. Grenades are more useful than flamethrowers, so Commando isn't an option. I also think that Lancer Veterans are good enough and if I don't get Reiner up to Lancer Elite, I'm fine with that.

I didn't use Cosette all that much this time, especially in the beginning.

And for the rest of the months.

Defending Lanseal was done in four turns again. I would pass turns, but playing defensive against a bunch of V2 units makes me nervous.

Zeri was assigned as a second leader instead of Lavinia this time and it worked out for me. It was also why did the last mission in a single turn.

September: I want to see if the 9th Heavy Infantry can be done in two turns. Towers of Death was done in two turns. Retaking Roendahl, the story mission, could see a lot of improvement.

October: Last Line of Defense done in two turns. Rain of Mortars may need more testing to prepare for different enemy placements. The Scogul Menace was done in a single turn. Liberating Doerfein was a lot easier with two Scout Veterans instead of one.

November: I kept the Crusher Armor on for Excavation Corps. By this point, Nichol was a Scout Elite. This is another mission that needs testing because of box placement. I did The Cerulean Fortress next because it was another mission where the Crusher Armor let me finish in a single turn. I switched the Constructor Arm back on the tank for Raging Sands and The Ultimate Weapon. Blasting the Acqueduct, the story mission, saw me getting kills for any scouts so they could get credits to upgrade to Scout Elite if they haven't done so already.

December: I changed the order of the missions here. Retrieving Secrets was done first in case I still needed March credits. I'm so glad Avan got the credits he needed to upgrade to Scout Elite with this mission. Otherwise this mission will need more practice because of box placement and still finishing in a single turn. Then was Beyond the Flood Gate. I worked on the route for this one for hours on the last test file. Guess what? It fell apart and I was screwed. I eventually came up with a new route that still let me finish the mission in three turns. Counteroffensive was done in one turn.

Endgame: Battle for Anthold was done in one turn. Same went for Clash Abroad Deck. So was The Final Battle.

These were the units I used for this test playthrough:

Scouts: Avan, Nichol, Helmut
Shocktroopers: Zeri, Anisette, Erik
Lancers: Reiner

I benched Aliasse this time because Solitude made her too much of a risk to use. Nichol was much safer, even with Frail Body sometimes kicking in.

My final levels were the following:
Scouts - 24, Shocktroopers, 24, Lancers - 11

A third test file is going to happen sometime soon, maybe tomorrow. Hopefully this one will go faster and I do good with the credit drops. If I feel good enough about that file, I'll start practicing individual levels. A fourth and final test file will probably follow afterwards and then I will actually do attempts. Also I'll be able to stream again by then.

Just finished a second test file, ended up with an in-game time of 9:12:55.

So this is what I figured out.

Focusing on credits for certain units helped me a lot in some spots.  By making them kill at least one enemy or capture at least one base per mission, they have a chance at earning the credits they need to upgrade.  It's still random, but at least it gives them a chance.

Most important is getting at least two Scout Elites.  A lot of the later missions ride on having more movement to reduce turns.  Avan and Nichol were both Scout Elites by the end.

Snipers were not really all that useful and I think I could do without them.  It's also way too much effort to get the credits needed for the upgrade.  Same reason why I will no longer go out of my way to upgrade Shocktroopers to Gunners.  Trooper Veterans and then Trooper Elites are a lot more useful.  Grenades are more useful than flamethrowers, so Commando isn't an option.  I also think that Lancer Veterans are good enough and if I don't get Reiner up to Lancer Elite, I'm fine with that.

I didn't use Cosette all that much this time, especially in the beginning.

And for the rest of the months.

Defending Lanseal was done in four turns again.  I would pass turns, but playing defensive against a bunch of V2 units makes me nervous.

Zeri was assigned as a second leader instead of Lavinia this time and it worked out for me.  It was also why did the last mission in a single turn.

September:  I want to see if the 9th Heavy Infantry can be done in two turns.  Towers of Death was done in two turns.  Retaking Roendahl, the story mission, could see a lot of improvement.

October: Last Line of Defense done in two turns.  Rain of Mortars may need more testing to prepare for different enemy placements.  The Scogul Menace was done in a single turn.  Liberating Doerfein was a lot easier with two Scout Veterans instead of one.

November:  I kept the Crusher Armor on for Excavation Corps.  By this point, Nichol was a Scout Elite.  This is another mission that needs testing because of box placement.  I did The Cerulean Fortress next because it was another mission where the Crusher Armor let me finish in a single turn.  I switched the Constructor Arm back on the tank for Raging Sands and The Ultimate Weapon.  Blasting the Acqueduct, the story mission, saw me getting kills for any scouts so they could get credits to upgrade to Scout Elite if they haven't done so already.

December:  I changed the order of the missions here.  Retrieving Secrets was done first in case I still needed March credits.  I'm so glad Avan got the credits he needed to upgrade to Scout Elite with this mission.  Otherwise this mission will need more practice because of box placement and still finishing in a single turn.  Then was Beyond the Flood Gate.  I worked on the route for this one for hours on the last test file.  Guess what?  It fell apart and I was screwed.  I eventually came up with a new route that still let me finish the mission in three turns.  Counteroffensive was done in one turn.

Endgame: Battle for Anthold was done in one turn.  Same went for Clash Abroad Deck.  So was The Final Battle.

These were the units I used for this test playthrough:

Scouts: Avan, Nichol, Helmut
Shocktroopers: Zeri, Anisette, Erik
Lancers: Reiner

I benched Aliasse this time because Solitude made her too much of a risk to use.  Nichol was much safer, even with Frail Body sometimes kicking in.

My final levels were the following:
Scouts - 24, Shocktroopers, 24, Lancers - 11

A third test file is going to happen sometime soon, maybe tomorrow.  Hopefully this one will go faster and I do good with the credit drops.  If I feel good enough about that file, I'll start practicing individual levels.  A fourth and final test file will probably follow afterwards and then I will actually do attempts.  Also I'll be able to stream again by then.

WanderingMind

2014-08-28 02:40:21 am

Stay chill, be cool.

So I sat down today and did a third test file. In-game time was 6:19:04.

Overall I am happy with getting a practice run done in a single sitting.

Not bothering with Snipers and Gunners saved so much time because I no longer went out of my way to get Support credits for my units during the defend missions.

I figured out who my most important units are: Avan, Nichol, Zeri, Anisette, and Reiner. Avan as a Scout Elite is the best thing ever. Nichol is hands down the best Scout outside of Avan and far more reliable than Aliasse, even with Frail Body. Zeri is a really good Shocktrooper and Anisette is the only one who comes close, if not on equal footing. Reiner is the only Lancer I need and he is good enough as a Lancer Veteran.

There is really not much to talk about up to August, since a lot of the missions went smoothly.

Defending Lanseal (August): Normally I would be fine with passing turns during a defend mission, but facing off against a bunch of V2 units makes me nervous, so I felt more comfortable taking everyone out. I want to say it took me about three turns to do this.

The 9th Heavy Infantry (September): Another defend mission where facing V2 units made me nervous. I want to kill those things as soon as I can.

Towers of Death (September): First time I tried the mission, I got screwed over from the start when Avan got hit with AP Loss. When I reloaded and tried the mission again, didn't have any problems.

Retaking Roendahl (September): Somehow I managed to finish this mission in one turn. Whether this was due to luck or something I can do again is something I want to look into.

Rain of Mortars (October): The one place where this mission needs work is area 3, figuring out how to spot the Supply Vehicle, destroy it, and get rid of V2 units as soon as possible. The rest of the mission doesn't give me that much trouble.

The Scogul Menace (October): I now build a ladder at the last area of the mission. It's much less risky than going up the stairs and getting shot down by the cannon tower and other enemy units, even with Defense Boost.

Excavation Corps (November): This mission will need enough practice to cover every kind of box placement. Crusher Armor saves a lot of time here.

The Cerulean Fortress (November): This mission was almost a disaster when the Heavy Gunner, who I was going to kill, dodged a grenade and then rifle shots from Avan. I eventually killed him and captured the base. I only had enough CP to take out one Cannon Tower, a Supply Vehicle, and the three V2s in the camp. Nichol made a run for the camp and captured it right before he could be shot down by the other Cannon Tower.

The Ultimate Weapon (November): I'm convinced it is faster to kill everyone than to wait it out. I don't know. But I was able to finish this one in three turns.

Blasting the Aqueduct (November): I ended up destroying the two tanks in one area and sending Reiner to distract the tank in the other area to survive the first turn. Since this mission gives out March credits, Avan and Nichol both got a kill. I also want to look into mine launching to see if I can save a CP with Zeri.

Retrieving Secrets (December): First thing I always do is get Avan to capture the base in the south. That way I can deploy the tank to build a bridge, capture the center base, and retrieve a box before getting shot by a cannon tower.

Beyond the Flood Gate (December): Definitely my least favorite mission. I'm constantly working on a route for this one until nothing serious can go wrong with this. I expect to lose at least one or two units during the three turns it takes to get the APC to the finish line.

Counteroffensive (December): With the right setup, this can be done in a single turn, regardless of where the Supply Vehicle is placed in one of the areas.

The Final Battle (December): I had to improvise here. Nichol, who was placed in G, was killed right before he captured the north base. Thankfully, since I captured a base on the way there, I deployed an ST from there to capture the base. It worked. I finished the mission in one turn.

I'll make another post when I think of more things, but I'm really tired and I should be asleep. Also I think I'm going to give myself some time to breathe before I dive back into this game and discover more things. It's all I have been doing for most of this month.

So I sat down today and did a third test file.  In-game time was 6:19:04.

Overall I am happy with getting a practice run done in a single sitting.

Not bothering with Snipers and Gunners saved so much time because I no longer went out of my way to get Support credits for my units during the defend missions.

I figured out who my most important units are:  Avan, Nichol, Zeri, Anisette, and Reiner.  Avan as a Scout Elite is the best thing ever.  Nichol is hands down the best Scout outside of Avan and far more reliable than Aliasse, even with Frail Body.  Zeri is a really good Shocktrooper and Anisette is the only one who comes close, if not on equal footing.  Reiner is the only Lancer I need and he is good enough as a Lancer Veteran.

There is really not much to talk about up to August, since a lot of the missions went smoothly.

Defending Lanseal (August): Normally I would be fine with passing turns during a defend mission, but facing off against a bunch of V2 units makes me nervous, so I felt more comfortable taking everyone out.  I want to say it took me about three turns to do this.

The 9th Heavy Infantry (September): Another defend mission where facing V2 units made me nervous.  I want to kill those things as soon as I can.

Towers of Death (September): First time I tried the mission, I got screwed over from the start when Avan got hit with AP Loss.  When I reloaded and tried the mission again, didn't have any problems.

Retaking Roendahl (September): Somehow I managed to finish this mission in one turn.  Whether this was due to luck or something I can do again is something I want to look into.

Rain of Mortars (October): The one place where this mission needs work is area 3, figuring out how to spot the Supply Vehicle, destroy it, and get rid of V2 units as soon as possible.  The rest of the mission doesn't give me that much trouble.

The Scogul Menace (October): I now build a ladder at the last area of the mission.  It's much less risky than going up the stairs and getting shot down by the cannon tower and other enemy units, even with Defense Boost.

Excavation Corps (November): This mission will need enough practice to cover every kind of box placement.  Crusher Armor saves a lot of time here.

The Cerulean Fortress (November): This mission was almost a disaster when the Heavy Gunner, who I was going to kill, dodged a grenade and then rifle shots from Avan.  I eventually killed him and captured the base.  I only had enough CP to take out one Cannon Tower, a Supply Vehicle, and the three V2s in the camp.  Nichol made a run for the camp and captured it right before he could be shot down by the other Cannon Tower.

The Ultimate Weapon (November): I'm convinced it is faster to kill everyone than to wait it out.  I don't know.  But I was able to finish this one in three turns.

Blasting the Aqueduct (November): I ended up destroying the two tanks in one area and sending Reiner to distract the tank in the other area to survive the first turn.  Since this mission gives out March credits, Avan and Nichol both got a kill.  I also want to look into mine launching to see if I can save a CP with Zeri.

Retrieving Secrets (December): First thing I always do is get Avan to capture the base in the south.  That way I can deploy the tank to build a bridge, capture the center base, and retrieve a box before getting shot by a cannon tower.

Beyond the Flood Gate (December): Definitely my least favorite mission.  I'm constantly working on a route for this one until nothing serious can go wrong with this.  I expect to lose at least one or two units during the three turns it takes to get the APC to the finish line.

Counteroffensive (December): With the right setup, this can be done in a single turn, regardless of where the Supply Vehicle is placed in one of the areas.

The Final Battle (December): I had to improvise here.  Nichol, who was placed in G, was killed right before he captured the north base.  Thankfully, since I captured a base on the way there, I deployed an ST from there to capture the base.  It worked.  I finished the mission in one turn.

I'll make another post when I think of more things, but I'm really tired and I should be asleep.  Also I think I'm going to give myself some time to breathe before I dive back into this game and discover more things.  It's all I have been doing for most of this month.

WanderingMind

2014-08-28 11:11:07 am

Stay chill, be cool.

I'm probably going to practice the August story mission and the September-December missions before I do another practice run. So glad I have save states for all of them so I can work on more specific things like grenade launching and sandbag climbing in tight spaces.

I'm keeping Enemy Phase Speed to Fast while practicing to get a good idea of enemy unit movement. Once I feel ready enough, I switch to Instant. It's crazy how much faster defend missions take when set to Instant.

WanderingMind

2014-08-29 12:40:26 am

Stay chill, be cool.

Tonight I practiced Defending Lanseal, the August story mission. Normally with defend missions, I would pass turns. However that was not really an option with how many V2 units were on this map. I figured it was better to kill everyone.

This was one of the tougher missions in the game to route along with Darcsen Liberation if I can go by how many hours I spent practicing and save-stating. Nothing worked for the first hour or so, but then I realized something. If Avan is placed by himself in Area 3 of the map, why not do something instead of wasting a CP to retreat him. Avan moved from right in front of Dirk to the east base, using stop and go when needed, grenade launching a Commando out of the base, and capturing it all in one go. Hopefully he doesn't lose too much health doing this, and stop and go should prevent any V2 attacks.

During the enemy phase, doing this will bait Dirk to walk over to the east side of Area 3. Letting him capture the base is part of the plan.

Now this would cause problems for the units in Area 1, but if positioned correctly, they should all survive the enemy phase. Erik takes out the V2 in front of him, climbs up the platform, and kills two Snipers at the same time. He then stays up there. Anisette takes out the V2 unit on the west side, then stays near the northwest base. Zeri takes out the V2 unit on the east side, then hides behind a box. Avan gets deployed at the south Area 1 base, heals up, then crouches behind a sandbag.

If things go as planned, then I can kill Dirk on Turn 2 without having to move my tank from the east Area 3 base. Meanwhile back in Area 1, assuming that everyone survives, Anisette and Zeri will be able to capture the northwest and northeast bases.

From there it's a matter of killing as many enemies as possible, containing all three areas, and making sure none of the captured bases get taken back.

Turn 3 is where I kill all remaining units. I will usually not have enough CP to kill everyone, so I do some setup so my units can kill that last unit or two on the enemy phase.

I'm really happy that I figured out a way to finish Defending Lanseal in three turns.

While I was working on this mission, I discovered something really useful. Zeri and Erik can get as close to V2 units as possible, clip through the shield while aiming, make the game think you’re doing a side attack, aim up at the head, and kill them in 10 shots instead of 20. This is not possible with Anisette because of height difference in the character models between her and Zeri and Erik. With Anisette, I get right in front of the shield, aim at the right side of the head, and fire away at the V2 unit. This should help kill the V2 unit in the 13 shots needed from the front.

Great thing is I can do this with V2 units in other missions where I need to kill them.

Tonight I practiced Defending Lanseal, the August story mission.  Normally with defend missions, I would pass turns.  However that was not really an option with how many V2 units were on this map.  I figured it was better to kill everyone.

This was one of the tougher missions in the game to route along with Darcsen Liberation if I can go by how many hours I spent practicing and save-stating.  Nothing worked for the first hour or so, but then I realized something.  If Avan is placed by himself in Area 3 of the map, why not do something instead of wasting a CP to retreat him.  Avan moved from right in front of Dirk to the east base, using stop and go when needed, grenade launching a Commando out of the base, and capturing it all in one go.  Hopefully he doesn't lose too much health doing this, and stop and go should prevent any V2 attacks.

During the enemy phase, doing this will bait Dirk to walk over to the east side of Area 3.  Letting him capture the base is part of the plan.

Now this would cause problems for the units in Area 1, but if positioned correctly, they should all survive the enemy phase.  Erik takes out the V2 in front of him, climbs up the platform, and kills two Snipers at the same time.  He then stays up there.  Anisette takes out the V2 unit on the west side, then stays near the northwest base.  Zeri takes out the V2 unit on the east side, then hides behind a box.  Avan gets deployed at the south Area 1 base, heals up, then crouches behind a sandbag.

If things go as planned, then I can kill Dirk on Turn 2 without having to move my tank from the east Area 3 base.  Meanwhile back in Area 1, assuming that everyone survives, Anisette and Zeri will be able to capture the northwest and northeast bases.

From there it's a matter of killing as many enemies as possible, containing all three areas, and making sure none of the captured bases get taken back.

Turn 3 is where I kill all remaining units.  I will usually not have enough CP to kill everyone, so I do some setup so my units can kill that last unit or two on the enemy phase.

I'm really happy that I figured out a way to finish Defending Lanseal in three turns.

While I was working on this mission, I discovered something really useful.  Zeri and Erik can get as close to V2 units as possible, clip through the shield while aiming, make the game think you’re doing a side attack, aim up at the head, and kill them in 10 shots instead of 20.  This is not possible with Anisette because of height difference in the character models between her and Zeri and Erik.  With Anisette, I get right in front of the shield, aim at the right side of the head, and fire away at the V2 unit.  This should help kill the V2 unit in the 13 shots needed from the front.

Great thing is I can do this with V2 units in other missions where I need to kill them.

WanderingMind

2014-08-29 06:04:13 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

I really need to take a break from routing this game, as that is what I did for most of this month.

The last 1/3 of the game after August needs a lot of work and there are plenty of places where I can cut time. It's going to be a very long process and I risk burning myself out if I push myself any more than I had been. This is what I did so far.

The 9th Heavy Infantry: I screwed up on the description for this one last night. This was a relatively straightforward defend mission. It was much faster killing everyone than passing turns. Mission done in 2 turns.

Towers of Death: Changed some minor things, I think I am set for this mission.

Retaking Roendahl: Turns out I was lucky when I finished this story mission in one turn. So it looks like a 2 turn thing. Also it is faster to camp the tank and constantly fire at the side of the enemy commander tank until it blows up.

Rain of Mortars: I thought I had this mission down. When I timed myself, things went wrong and it took me almost 10 minutes to finish this mission. No matter what I do, this is always going to take 4 turns, so I want to figure out a way to not make this mission a disaster for me.

As of now I am taking a break from Valkyria Chronicles II. I'm really proud of what I did this month, but for now I need rest.

I really need to take a break from routing this game, as that is what I did for most of this month.

The last 1/3 of the game after August needs a lot of work and there are plenty of places where I can cut time.  It's going to be a very long process and I risk burning myself out if I push myself any more than I had been.  This is what I did so far.

[b]The 9th Heavy Infantry[/b]: I screwed up on the description for this one last night.  This was a relatively straightforward defend mission.  It was much faster killing everyone than passing turns.  Mission done in 2 turns.

[b]Towers of Death[/b]: Changed some minor things, I think I am set for this mission.

[b]Retaking Roendahl[/b]: Turns out I was lucky when I finished this story mission in one turn.  So it looks like a 2 turn thing.  Also it is faster to camp the tank and constantly fire at the side of the enemy commander tank until it blows up.

[b]Rain of Mortars[/b]: I thought I had this mission down.  When I timed myself, things went wrong and it took me almost 10 minutes to finish this mission.  No matter what I do, this is always going to take 4 turns, so I want to figure out a way to not make this mission a disaster for me.

As of now I am taking a break from Valkyria Chronicles II.  I'm really proud of what I did this month, but for now I need rest.

WanderingMind

2014-08-31 12:59:54 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

The break did not last long at all.

Not as long as this was on my mind.

Defending Lanseal: So it's much faster to pass turns than to kill everyone. I tested out Level 3 defensive coating for Shocktroopers at a certain point and it made so much of a difference that I'm going to look into temporary coating for other missions throughout the run. I deployed 4 Shocktroopers at the home base and had them crouch. Pass turns, heal up if needed. Nobody died. I parked the tank in the other area and nothing happened there. Back in Area 1, since I didn't kill any units, no reinforcements showed up, including the Supply Vehicle that would spawn otherwise on Turn 5.

Towers of Death: As long as I can finish the mission in 3 turns, I'm good. Also get kills/base captures/rescues with Scouts to get them March credits.

Rain of Mortars: Turns out it is better to take out the Supply Vehicle and V2 unit if possible in Area 4. As for Area 3, first thing I figure out is whether or not there is a Supply Vehicle on the south base. This is done by getting the Escort APC within range of the south base. If there is one, I will deploy Reiner, mine launching him if there are three mines on the way to the base, then take out the Supply Vehicle. Otherwise I do stop and go with Nichol to the base. By the end of Turn 3, I stop caring about most of the bases on the map, so on Turn 4, I book it to the finish line.

The Scogul Menace: I always deploy Zeri in B. That way he can take out a Commando in the trench or a Heavy Gunner at the camp, depending on the enemy placement. For the last area, building the bridge with the tank gives me enough cover to fire at the Cannon Tower and destroy it in one hit. I also try to take out any enemy units at the base with the tank. Scout Veteran captures base, mission done.

Excavation Corps: Zeri is now deployed in E. This is safer due to possible enemy placement, while letting me still go after two possible boxes and capture the south base without getting killed in Area 5. Nichol is placed in B so he can get the box on the east part of Area 1. If there is a box in Area 2, then Nichol captures the northeast Area 1 base, so another unit can be deployed in Area 2 to go after that box. Crusher Armor comes in handy if I need to break a rock to get a Scout on the mine cart from Area 4 to Area 1.

So let's say that I get most of the boxes and there is only one left that just so happens to be placed in Area 4. I will wild guess the location of the box by going right for the center of the area, where two Cannon Towers are placed. If I'm right, then the mission gets finished in one turn.

This mission can go a lot of ways, but I try to finish this in one turn if possible.

The Cerulean Fortress: Avan is deployed in Area 1, where he gets Defense Boost and runs to the base, grenade launching the enemy unit out of the base, capturing the base in one go. Tank gets deployed in Area 2, takes out Cannon Tower from behind, then takes out Supply Vehicle and any V2 units that are on the base. Avan is deployed into Area 2 since he still has Defense Boost in effect and should have enough CP to capture the base.

The Ultimate Weapon: I did not see that much of a time difference between passing turns and killing everyone. So I'll just kill everyone.

Blasting the Aqueduct: Reiner is placed in A so he can get to the Heavy Tank at the end of Turn 1 to distract and possibly destroy it. Meanwhile back in the other area, Lavinia gets deployed to destroy the Heavy Tank, then the Enemy Commander. Zeri should be able to get to the cart without any problems, and he can heal up if needed. On Turn 2, Avan and Nichol get kills if they need March credits to upgrade to Scout Elite. Zeri should be able to get to the finish line without much problem.

Retrieving Secrets: First thing I do? Move Avan to capture the south base. He should be able to do this easily as a Scout Elite, though it is still possible as a Scout Veteran. Tank deploys from captured base, builds ladder, goes for box in north area, distracting the Cannon Tower in the process. Shocktrooper is deployed from captured base, fires at crouching enemy from behind, captures base, grabs the box, and retreats.

Shocktrooper gets deployed from connecting base, camera turned out to see if box is on ledge. If so, then ST grenades log, climbs up, grabs box. Zeri, who was placed in G, makes a run for the box in the center.

So in another area, a Scout/Shocktrooper gets deployed to see if there is a box on the ledge near a Cannon Tower. If not, then deploy another unit to go after the boxes near the northwest base. Shocktroopers are preferred because of better defense against intercepting fire. Defensive coating for STs may be helpful here.

Beyond the Flood Gate: Still working on this mission, will make another post when I come up with something.

Counteroffensive: Still need to see if I can finish the mission in one turn.

The Final Battle: I may work on some safety strats for this mission in case any of the units have trouble capturing the north base in Areas 2 and 3. This is why I capture the middle bases in each area.

Once I work on the last of those three missions, I'll feel ready to do runs of this game.

The break did not last long at all.

Not as long as this was on my mind.

[b]Defending Lanseal[/b]: So it's much faster to pass turns than to kill everyone.  I tested out Level 3 defensive coating for Shocktroopers at a certain point and it made so much of a difference that I'm going to look into temporary coating for other missions throughout the run.  I deployed 4 Shocktroopers at the home base and had them crouch.  Pass turns, heal up if needed.  Nobody died.  I parked the tank in the other area and nothing happened there.  Back in Area 1, since I didn't kill any units, no reinforcements showed up, including the Supply Vehicle that would spawn otherwise on Turn 5.

[b]Towers of Death[/b]:  As long as I can finish the mission in 3 turns, I'm good.  Also get kills/base captures/rescues with Scouts to get them March credits.

[b]Rain of Mortars[/b]:  Turns out it is better to take out the Supply Vehicle and V2 unit if possible in Area 4.  As for Area 3, first thing I figure out is whether or not there is a Supply Vehicle on the south base.  This is done by getting the Escort APC within range of the south base.  If there is one, I will deploy Reiner, mine launching him if there are three mines on the way to the base, then take out the Supply Vehicle.  Otherwise I do stop and go with Nichol to the base.  By the end of Turn 3, I stop caring about most of the bases on the map, so on Turn 4, I book it to the finish line.

[b]The Scogul Menace[/b]: I always deploy Zeri in B.  That way he can take out a Commando in the trench or a Heavy Gunner at the camp, depending on the enemy placement.  For the last area, building the bridge with the tank gives me enough cover to fire at the Cannon Tower and destroy it in one hit.  I also try to take out any enemy units at the base with the tank.  Scout Veteran captures base, mission done.

[b]Excavation Corps[/b]: Zeri is now deployed in E.  This is safer due to possible enemy placement, while letting me still go after two possible boxes and capture the south base without getting killed in Area 5.  Nichol is placed in B so he can get the box on the east part of Area 1.  If there is a box in Area 2, then Nichol captures the northeast Area 1 base, so another unit can be deployed in Area 2 to go after that box.   Crusher Armor comes in handy if I need to break a rock to get a Scout on the mine cart from Area 4 to Area 1.

So let's say that I get most of the boxes and there is only one left that just so happens to be placed in Area 4.  I will wild guess the location of the box by going right for the center of the area, where two Cannon Towers are placed.  If I'm right, then the mission gets finished in one turn.

This mission can go a lot of ways, but I try to finish this in one turn if possible.

[b]The Cerulean Fortress[/b]: Avan is deployed in Area 1, where he gets Defense Boost and runs to the base, grenade launching the enemy unit out of the base, capturing the base in one go.  Tank gets deployed in Area 2, takes out Cannon Tower from behind, then takes out Supply Vehicle and any V2 units that are on the base.  Avan is deployed into Area 2 since he still has Defense Boost in effect and should have enough CP to capture the base.

[b]The Ultimate Weapon[/b]: I did not see that much of a time difference between passing turns and killing everyone.  So I'll just kill everyone.

[b]Blasting the Aqueduct[/b]: Reiner is placed in A so he can get to the Heavy Tank at the end of Turn 1 to distract and possibly destroy it.  Meanwhile back in the other area, Lavinia gets deployed to destroy the Heavy Tank, then the Enemy Commander.  Zeri should be able to get to the cart without any problems, and he can heal up if needed.  On Turn 2, Avan and Nichol get kills if they need March credits to upgrade to Scout Elite.  Zeri should be able to get to the finish line without much problem.

[b]Retrieving Secrets[/b]: First thing I do?  Move Avan to capture the south base.  He should be able to do this easily as a Scout Elite, though it is still possible as a Scout Veteran.  Tank deploys from captured base, builds ladder, goes for box in north area, distracting the Cannon Tower in the process.  Shocktrooper is deployed from captured base, fires at crouching enemy from behind, captures base, grabs the box, and retreats.

Shocktrooper gets deployed from connecting base, camera turned out to see if box is on ledge.  If so, then ST grenades log, climbs up, grabs box.  Zeri, who was placed in G, makes a run for the box in the center.

So in another area, a Scout/Shocktrooper gets deployed to see if there is a box on the ledge near a Cannon Tower.  If not, then deploy another unit to go after the boxes near the northwest base.  Shocktroopers are preferred because of better defense against intercepting fire.  Defensive coating for STs may be helpful here.

[b]Beyond the Flood Gate[/b]:  Still working on this mission, will make another post when I come up with something.

[b]Counteroffensive[/b]:  Still need to see if I can finish the mission in one turn.

[b]The Final Battle[/b]:  I may work on some safety strats for this mission in case any of the units have trouble capturing the north base in Areas 2 and 3.  This is why I capture the middle bases in each area.

Once I work on the last of those three missions, I'll feel ready to do runs of this game.

WanderingMind

Edit history:

WanderingMind: 2014-08-31 09:14:40 pm

2014-08-31 09:14:15 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Bam, done with the last three missions I was working on.

Beyond the Flood Gate: Or as I like to call it, PUT YA GUNS ON. Level 4 Defensive coating for Shocktroopers worked wonders for this mission. I sent Erik out across the bridge to flip the switch. I used stop and go, leaving my crosshairs on the V2 whenever it aimed, moving backwards, until I got to the switch and hit it. I'll do this thing regardless of where enemies are placed.

Avan then runs ahead of the APC to grenade launch enemies and capture the base. APC gets moved. I then send out a Shocktrooper in the next area to look for landmines on the bridge, spot the Supply Vehicle, and then I plan accordingly. I do try to capture the south base so I can kill the Ace. That APC can tear my Escort APC from behind within seconds. I would have a bad time if that were to happen. Supply Vehicle gets destroyed, enemy units guarding base killed, capture base. Escort APC goes to next area, gets repairs from Engineer.

Turn 3 is when I book it to the finish line.

Counteroffensive: Two Scout Elites will cut down on time a lot here, as I can capture two bases in different areas in one CP. From there, I sent my tank to destroy a Supply Vehicle and knock out a Mauler if possible. I then send out a Shocktrooper to go around the trenches, pop up, get some cover from the gattling bunker with the tank, fire at V2, capture base.

Tank gets retreated, deployed in another area, where it will make a potshot at a Supply Vehicle if it is near the base and kill a V2 unit. Also launch out a Lancer if possible. From there, I send a Scout across the area to capture the base. While practicing this, I was able to climb steps while attack canceling a nearby V2 at the same time. I have enough CP to capture this base, ending the mission in one turn.

The Final Battle: Nichol is placed in Area 2, where he captures a base along the way for safety, grenades a crouching Heavy Scout, and makes a huge tilt towards the corner to provide some cover from Heavy Scout fire as he takes the north base. Meanwhile Zeri in Area 3 runs towards the mid-base with just enough AP to capture it. From there Anisette leapfrogs to the north base. In Area 4, Avan makes a loop around to make Baldren face northwest, healing up before he ends his move. Lavinia deploys from the other camp, gets up to the sandbag, fires at the heat sink. With Baldren facing the other way, Avan breaks the heat sink. From there, it's just two tank shots to defeat him.

I plan on doing actual runs when I get back home and start streaming again.

Bam, done with the last three missions I was working on.

[b]Beyond the Flood Gate[/b]: Or as I like to call it, PUT YA GUNS ON.  Level 4 Defensive coating for Shocktroopers worked wonders for this mission.  I sent Erik out across the bridge to flip the switch.  I used stop and go, leaving my crosshairs on the V2 whenever it aimed, moving backwards, until I got to the switch and hit it.  I'll do this thing regardless of where enemies are placed.

Avan then runs ahead of the APC to grenade launch enemies and capture the base.  APC gets moved.  I then send out a Shocktrooper in the next area to look for landmines on the bridge, spot the Supply Vehicle, and then I plan accordingly.  I do try to capture the south base so I can kill the Ace.  That APC can tear my Escort APC from behind within seconds.  I would have a bad time if that were to happen.  Supply Vehicle gets destroyed, enemy units guarding base killed, capture base.  Escort APC goes to next area, gets repairs from Engineer.

Turn 3 is when I book it to the finish line.

[b]Counteroffensive[/b]:  Two Scout Elites will cut down on time a lot here, as I can capture two bases in different areas in one CP.  From there, I sent my tank to destroy a Supply Vehicle and knock out a Mauler if possible.  I then send out a Shocktrooper to go around the trenches, pop up, get some cover from the gattling bunker with the tank, fire at V2, capture base.

Tank gets retreated, deployed in another area, where it will make a potshot at a Supply Vehicle if it is near the base and kill a V2 unit.  Also launch out a Lancer if possible.  From there, I send a Scout across the area to capture the base.  While practicing this, I was able to climb steps while attack canceling a nearby V2 at the same time.  I have enough CP to capture this base, ending the mission in one turn.

[b]The Final Battle[/b]: Nichol is placed in Area 2, where he captures a base along the way for safety, grenades a crouching Heavy Scout, and makes a huge tilt towards the corner to provide some cover from Heavy Scout fire as he takes the north base.  Meanwhile Zeri in Area 3 runs towards the mid-base with just enough AP to capture it.  From there Anisette leapfrogs to the north base.  In Area 4, Avan makes a loop around to make Baldren face northwest, healing up before he ends his move.  Lavinia deploys from the other camp, gets up to the sandbag, fires at the heat sink.  With Baldren facing the other way, Avan breaks the heat sink.  From there, it's just two tank shots to defeat him.

I plan on doing actual runs when I get back home and start streaming again.

WanderingMind

2014-09-04 12:49:02 am

Stay chill, be cool.

Several things so far:

I'm going to do my splits by the month. I may have to do the missions per month in a different order in case anything happens. There was one time when I got to March and did not have enough of one kind of material to make a Constructor Arm. I did the defend missions first, one of which gave me the drop. Storming the Bridge was done last for this reason.

Related to the first part, something has to be done so I can increase the chances of Steel A Level 1 dropping. I need about 2 of them by the beginning of April for the Constructor Arm and then another 6 for the Light Tank B by the April story mission. These are dropped during any mission that takes place in Arlem Village.

It may help to kill the Ace in The War Hero as a way of increasing the odds. He'll come to the camp anyway and it just takes an additional CP or two to kill him.

So aside from not getting the Cptd AA Gtlg A1, not being able to make the Constructor Arm or the Light Tank B is going to be a run killer. Nothing beyond that should kill a run because of random drops.

Several things so far:

I'm going to do my splits by the month.  I may have to do the missions per month in a different order in case anything happens.  There was one time when I got to March and did not have enough of one kind of material to make a Constructor Arm.  I did the defend missions first, one of which gave me the drop.  Storming the Bridge was done last for this reason.

Related to the first part, something has to be done so I can increase the chances of Steel A Level 1 dropping.  I need about 2 of them by the beginning of April for the Constructor Arm and then another 6 for the Light Tank B by the April story mission.  These are dropped during any mission that takes place in Arlem Village.

It may help to kill the Ace in The War Hero as a way of increasing the odds.  He'll come to the camp anyway and it just takes an additional CP or two to kill him.

So aside from not getting the Cptd AA Gtlg A1, not being able to make the Constructor Arm or the Light Tank B is going to be a run killer.  Nothing beyond that should kill a run because of random drops.

WanderingMind

2014-09-06 08:25:37 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

So I did a practice run on the actual system while timing myself. I paused at certain points that would have killed the run under normal circumstances, reloaded my save, and unpaused when I got to was at that point. I only had to do this like a few times: the turret drop, Beyond the Flood Gate, and The Final Battle.

Under those circumstances, I managed to get 4:50:57. It looks like my goal right now is to pull off a sub-5 on an actual attempt under normal circumstances. Even then I messed up hard on certain parts of the run, so I can get the time even lower.

The game almost never gave me Diplomas, so I was stuck with Scout and Trooper Veterans. I improvised in a lot of the later missions and used Temporary Coating whenever I could. For example, Vs. Personnel coating made it much easier to kill Baldren in the October and December missions.

So you know what I realized? I could do just fine if my units never advanced to Scout or Trooper Elites. I used to go out of my way to kill enemies to make sure units got their credits, but I'm no longer going to bother for any Elite classes. Veteran classes are good enough because of ragnaid healing and/or additional grenades.

So I did a practice run on the actual system while timing myself.  I paused at certain points that would have killed the run under normal circumstances, reloaded my save, and unpaused when I got to was at that point.  I only had to do this like a few times: the turret drop, Beyond the Flood Gate, and The Final Battle.

Under those circumstances, I managed to get 4:50:57.  It looks like my goal right now is to pull off a sub-5 on an actual attempt under normal circumstances.  Even then I messed up hard on certain parts of the run, so I can get the time even lower.

The game almost never gave me Diplomas, so I was stuck with Scout and Trooper Veterans.  I improvised in a lot of the later missions and used Temporary Coating whenever I could.  For example, Vs. Personnel coating made it much easier to kill Baldren in the October and December missions.

So you know what I realized?  I could do just fine if my units never advanced to Scout or Trooper Elites.  I used to go out of my way to kill enemies to make sure units got their credits, but I'm no longer going to bother for any Elite classes.  Veteran classes are good enough because of ragnaid healing and/or additional grenades.

WanderingMind

2014-09-24 03:36:49 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

It's pretty crazy how much I learn once I actually start doing attempts. While I'm still happy about getting a WR of 5:05:34 earlier this month, I could improve a lot.

Realizing that I can do the route without the special turret, if for some reason it doesn't drop when I want it to, actually makes things a lot easier, because I'm not having to reset as many times as I was before. The game really picks up for me in March/April, so this helps.

My weakest point in the run is the beginning of the game, where I'm pretty slow and can save a lot of time there. I was so focused on the later parts of the game that I almost forgot about other spots.

Ideally, I would like to get through all missions without failing any of them once, like what happened on my WR run.

Beyond the Flood Gate is always going to be clutch no matter what happens because of how difficult it is.

WanderingMind

2014-10-12 09:48:25 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

Finally updated my routing notes for the first time in a month or so:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Byqo61dNcWpkh5rEsod1KPTC3InTlaIcpPycZqZ3D0k/

The most significant change to the route is picking up the turret from Defensive Exam rather than Storming the Bridge. It's safer and far less reliant on random drops to build the Constructor Arm needed to finish the other mission as quickly as possible.

WanderingMind

2014-11-13 10:10:15 am

Stay chill, be cool.

With the time down to 4:31:16, I'm going to take a break from this game and not touch it until December.

That being said, I made another big change to the route. In October, I now do Defending the Water instead of Rain of Mortars. Defending the Water requires a good amount of execution despite being a regular mission with RNG placement of enemies/etc, but it is much faster than the other mission. Rain of Mortars is already somewhat slow due to being an escort mission requiring 4 turns minimum to complete, but it gets much worse. The night condition makes it hard to spot enemies and the snowstorm condition keeps units from recovering health. Waiting on the game to aim mortars in each area, firing them, and cycling through again takes up a lot of time. Dealing with the V2 units here is also a pain and then I have to guess whether or a Supply Vehicle is camping in the south Area 3 base.

Defending the Water is going to take a lot of practice to do, but I think there is good potential for time save here, especially since the enemy AI acts really dumb during their turn.

One thing I am definitely going to work on is trying to do blind shots at enemies during night time conditions to possibly save time. Plus it will give me something to do.

When I get back to working on this game, I'm going to look at whether or not I can save time on certain missions by ending my turn early and having enough CP to do more things.

I also think I am at the point where I'm going to make splits for all 55 missions in the game.

With the time down to 4:31:16, I'm going to take a break from this game and not touch it until December.

That being said, I made another big change to the route.  In October, I now do Defending the Water instead of Rain of Mortars.  Defending the Water requires a good amount of execution despite being a regular mission with RNG placement of enemies/etc, but it is much faster than the other mission.  Rain of Mortars is already somewhat slow due to being an escort mission requiring 4 turns minimum to complete, but it gets much worse.  The night condition makes it hard to spot enemies and the snowstorm condition keeps units from recovering health.  Waiting on the game to aim mortars in each area, firing them, and cycling through again takes up a lot of time.  Dealing with the V2 units here is also a pain and then I have to guess whether or a Supply Vehicle is camping in the south Area 3 base.

Defending the Water is going to take a lot of practice to do, but I think there is good potential for time save here, especially since the enemy AI acts really dumb during their turn.

One thing I am definitely going to work on is trying to do blind shots at enemies during night time conditions to possibly save time.  Plus it will give me something to do.

When I get back to working on this game, I'm going to look at whether or not I can save time on certain missions by ending my turn early and having enough CP to do more things.

I also think I am at the point where I'm going to make splits for all 55 missions in the game.

WanderingMind

2014-11-19 11:14:45 am

Stay chill, be cool.

So two things:

First I want to eventually launch a category for Low% and see if the run can actually be done. This means no class upgrades, no optional weapon drops, and probably no constructor arm. The game depends a lot on leveling up and I do enough of it on Any% to give myself the push I need to get through VC2 as fast as possible. I haven't decided whether or not I will do Easy or Normal mode.

Second, and probably not going to happen for a while, I would love to work on a segmented Any% Normal run. A run of this kind will have different strats for many of the missions because I can actually focus on getting the best possible outcomes rather than make it to the end of each mission without game overing. This would be something I would do once I feel absolutely comfortable with running single segment for Any% Normal.

WanderingMind

2014-12-17 08:54:04 pm

Stay chill, be cool.

So I've been revisiting a lot of missions in the Any% route and I'm already finding ways to save more time than ever before.

The WR for this game is currently at 4:13:24.

With the new stuff I've been finding, sub-4:00 is inevitable. I'll post what I discovered once I get my notes more organized.