The final "surprise" at the end of Challenge mode...

[Fang]

Is pure bull tbh. Just resurrecting all factions in some out of the way location, flipping your bases to them, and giving them all their Knights back with dozens of max tier monsters PER FACTION is not my idea of a fun challenge after what was already an hours long campaign just to get to that point. To then just undo half my work with some random-ass "revolt" and making the enemies OP AF right out the gate as soon as they spawn is just... disgusting.

But surely the time limit goes away at that point because you've united the contin- NOPE. F*ck you player, here's a random spawn of level 20 Ancient Dragons, Fenrirs, Bahamuts, Phoenixes, Shadow Goblins, Basilisks, etc etc etc. Surely all 5 frontlines you need to hold >and still waste a turn to move your units to< are all fully levelled and ready for that, right?We also set the AI's Aggression level 200%, so they will attack no matter the relative CP. <<<333

It's massively inflated artificial 'difficulty' in what is otherwise a game that lets you properly plan ahead and manage things. A sore spot in what is otherwise a particularly well-balanced game mode that buffs all the AI equally just enough to mitigate snowballing.

If it wasn't the last achievement I needed to 100% the game I would've turned it off out of exasperation at that point. At least I won't have to do it again.

[Hobo Elf]

Challenge mode is supposed to be challenging.

[FaintPulse]

Originally posted by Fang:

I needed to 100% the game

No you didn’t. Games should be fun. Let yourself have fun, not chase achievements.

[Fang]

Originally posted by Hobo Elf:

Challenge mode is supposed to be challenging.

And it was fine without that last sudden spawn. Anything can be made challenging by just plonking down random crap. Doesn't make it good.

They could've spawned them in the last remaining AI ruler's base (wherever the ruler is located at the time) before conquering the entire map. That would've been less cheesy and your frontlines would've remained intact. It would still be BS, but it'd be less BS.

Originally posted by FaintPulse:

Originally posted by Fang:

I needed to 100% the game

Let yourself have fun

With what? Sports? TV?

See how stupid it is to respond to something and cut off half the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sentence?

[Nonexistent]

Im not sure about your case in challenge mode, but when the revolt happened I just have my knights surround them since they just spawn right next to each other and use my strongest units to attack and use the rest to defend, was more of an interesting finale than a hassle.

[Hobo Elf]

Originally posted by Fang:

And it was fine without that last sudden spawn. Anything can be made challenging by just plonking down random crap. Doesn't make it good.

They could've spawned them in the last remaining AI ruler's base (wherever the ruler is located at the time) before conquering the entire map. That would've been less cheesy and your frontlines would've remained intact. It would still be BS, but it'd be less BS.

I can kind of sympathize with your position, however it seems like you subjected yourself to something that you didn't enjoy just to get an achievement. The challenge mode exists because people complained that the game becomes way too easy toward the end, so this is their solution for that problem. I think it's an interesting twist that makes the game less predictable.

[Fang]

My problem isn't with the difficulty, it is with the cheapness with which it is introduced. It goes against what is supposed to be strategy.

The AI already gets periodic buffs, free reinforcements, and free experience, and those are all fine. Flipping your bases at the end when you defeated them and just giving them hordes of maxed out monsters is not. At least not at the end like that. In my opinion anyway.

Originally posted by Nonexistent:

*snip because I type way too much below this*

Mhm, I had 2 dedicated assault teams that could handle a full squad of level 20's. They were strong enough to defeat the consistently buffed AI while my other squads were usually roughly 1500~CP below the enemy's, they were just holding the line. So I basically took 2 bases per turn.

And this way I steadily took bases bit by bit with minimum casualties.

The sudden revolt opened up 4 frontlines that I could not prepare for, so 2 of those lines would be swarmed. I did quickly finish off 2 of the factions but not without casualties. I mean, 6 fenrirs in one army with 60% dodgerates and 5 shadow goblins all attacking with paralyze from range post-move will do that. XD

I'm not saying it's impossible, just... I would've done it differently. Either give the player a clue that it will happen, spawn them earlier in existing bases, or plonk them in fewer bases in total.

If I had known I need at least 4 *fully trained* armies to contain them I would've spent more time evening out the EXP grind before taking the last base, but I couldn't really plan for it at all. I was Norzaleo, finished off Mana Kheesia, and suddenly the northernmost bases in Gustava just go HELLODEATHSTACKTIME haha

Oh well, it is what it is. Wasn't playing just for the achievement, just it being the last one in the list for 100% gave me more motivation to push through that last ordeal. That's all there is to it. I was (am?) really loving challenge mode until that point because of the level-1 starts and much more variation in Knights.

Anyway, sorry for typing so much!

[Lasci]

Anything that makes this game harder is great for me. I didn't have any issues with the revolt; I actually found it to be a pleasant surprise that kept me on my feet.

[Haka]

Cool story.
Sounds like others have cleared it so its doable. Sorry.

[AH-1 Cobra]

I cleared it, but I used some OP stuff, like Roc heavy on most of my of my armies, the game gave me a few missing links which i used to make mana blessed level 1 lizard lords (had 3 of them split up between various armies). The few units I had to spare to do questing, I focused on getting specific pieces of gear. I managed to get my lizard lords equipped, and most of my primary rune knights, maybe not all with full tier 3, but full tier 1 or 2, yes. My lizards were tier 3'd, and I also used what stat potions I got on them (mostly str and agi).

I also made use of monsters the game gave me from rewards or questing, if it gave me something good like a level 20 bahamut (even with no blessing), might as well use it.

Early on was very Roc heavy, and as units started leveling up, and I started getting better monsters from captures, and rewards, I started phasing them out, or putting Rocs on reserve (they did get killed).

Some time a ways in, I didn't have enough functional armies for attack/defense, and I had to start splitting them up sometimes even 1 rune knight on offense or defense, and I had to figure out what the weakest army was that I could win with, so I split some of my stronger rune knights off who were tier 3 classes, and used them solo, and the solo knights often had powerful units like lizard lords on them which were force multipliers. Something like a Viking with a lizard lord, a couple of rocks, and a unicorn and gremin is pretty strong. They can weave in and delete opposing rune knights, even at a huge numbers disadvantage, if you lost the occasional horse or a roc, it wasn't that big of a deal. Honestly a unit like this destroyed Rudo + 2 other Rune Knights and 14 units with zero losses. Because even in challenge mode, you can pick off the leader unit, and you win the battle, so fights with leader units were typically easier. Also, the leaders are highly aggressive, and will rush you down, but the AI is dumb, because they rush down units that are stronger than leader units like Lizard Lords. Not even Rudo is a match for a mana blessed Lizard Lord. Weaker leader units than Rudo like Pirate girl will just get deleted.

Also, the unit composition for attack and defense varies. It's way easier to defend than to attack, for attack you want stronger units. A couple mediocre Rune Knights, with bad to mediocre monsters combined with a few Rocs can defend a position, because the enemy will straight up rush you down. And then there's the CP factor, if your offensive team is too low on CP, the enemy will attack you first, instead of you invading them, even if you could win. So try to keep CP on your attacking units from being in the red zone at least. It doesn't matter as much for defense, because they're getting baited into a Roc powered meat grinder.

Also, don't proceed to the next base threshold immediately, even if you can. Take those turns to level up some of your units and do quests.

Most valuable monsters IMO:

Rocs
Lizards (lords mostly, but base ones are good for filler on defense)
Gremlins - Every rune knight on attack/defense had one, they're quick to level up.
Unicorns - Nearly every rune knight had one.
(Use any decent ones the game gives you from rewards, or you manage to get from capture, like hydra/bahamut/seraph/lilith/fenrir).

Most valuable player units/classes IMO:

Viking - AOE "cannot miss", works great with a gremlin.
Swordmaster - Nearly untouchable if you park one in a forest, you can take very aggressive positioning, and spearhead an offensive with one, also rune knights seem to be higher priority targets by the AI.
Mages/Priests/bards (I used these to defend positions, they're also a dump for Int/MP pots that you get, being able to use x2 meteor on a witch with a gremlin casting react is pretty huge, also troubadour is top tier).

[Doom Descendant]

use spread and bait tactics in the end. just smoke their knight and kill them ... got nothing fancy on my first challenge mode since i rush things and takedown most ss points. at least i unlocked the special reward 😁

the only problem i face is the green revolt. i dont do the dodge machine build.