A guide to "Gallian Crossfire" rebalance mod

This is an information and strategy guide to "Gallian Crossfire" rebalance mod for VC1. The goal is to provide easy-to-access factual information, as well as to share some of my own insights and create some reasonable reference material for those, who are experiencing difficulties beating the mod.

1. Introduction

IMPORTANT: READ THIS SECTION FULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING

This guide covers a heavily rebalanced version of Valkyria Chronicles - "Gallian Crossfire".
Original information, presented by the author of the mod, as well as the mod itself, can be found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=498442298
Be sure to read through all of the information presented there. I will mirror some of the stuff mentioned and expand on other things, but I explicitly assume that you've read through all of the first-party information from the author before coming here.

The amount of changes is substantial, and the experience is vastly different from the original. Strengths and weaknesses of particular characters and whole classes have been shifted. Overall difficulty has been raised.

That said, some information deserves better documentation than what's currently present, which is what I'll try to fix in the first part of this guide. In the second part, I will provide detailed breakdowns of my strategies used to beat this version of the game, so that anyone experiencing troubles has at least some reference material to work with.

This material will obviously include spoilers, no matter how you look at it. You've probably already beaten the story mode if you're here, but still. This will be the only warning.

Even if you decide to not play the mod (or got here by mistake while playing vanilla):

Sections 3, 3.3, 4.1, and 5 - 5.4 contain in-depth information about various game mechanics (weapon formulas, potentials, AI, vision etc), which is (with just a few numberical exceptions) applicable to the original game as well. If you would like to have a better understanding of those elements, give it a read.

Download link for this guide's tables in a sane format

This guide contains a hefty set of tables, but Steam's tables are... basic, to say the least. Here is a reasonably formatted Excel spreadsheet (in 2003 format, so anyone should manage to open it).
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B8vZNDy8wOopQlY4SEtXSFN1VEk&usp=sharing

This is currently WIP, here's a list of things missing that I expect to add:

• Skirmishes 1-9 - EX difficulty.
  
• Enter The Edy Detachment DLC mission walkthrough
  
• Behind her Blue Flame DLC walkthrough (well this one I probably won't do, since it was made easier for fun and Valkyria wrecking Gallians action)

2. Terminology

A list of terms and definitions used throughout the guide (in paragraphs, tables etc.). Not comprehensive, just a few basics and things with possible double meanings, or that can cause misunderstanding.

General:

Action - 1) entering and being in Action Mode with a given character. 2) using an Attack, Ragnaid or Engineer's Tool while in Action Mode.

CP - Command Poins - The resorce, given to each side every Phase. Can be spent on Actions and Orders.

Early Game - part of NG playthrough, before Gallians start becoming Elites and obtain branching upgrades, most classes have 1-2 potentials unlocked. Loosely covers Chapters from the very beginning until Chapter 8.

Mid Game - part of NG playthrough, from Chapter 9 to 15. I based this definition on Lancer efficiency for the most part.

Late Game - part of NG playthrough, from Chapter 15 to the end. At this point most classes are reaching level 20 and unlock all potentials.

NG, NG+ - fresh game and game with import from save respectively.

Game Mechanics

Nominal Range - range at which weapons deal full damage, can intercept and team-attack. Equal to the "range" weapon statistic in-game.

Maximum Effective Range (also Maximum Range) - range at which weapon will deal at least a portion of its damage, but cannot intercept and team-attack. Hidden in-game, can be found in game files.

Spot/Spotted and Hide/Hidden - whenever one of these comes up (especially when Capitalized), I'm using a VC-specific meaning of unit having a certain status, as recognized by the game. Refer to the section of this guide that describes LOS mechanics for more detail.

Character stats:

AP - Action Points - The amount of movement points each character has. How far one can move in a given Action depends on this value.
HP - hit points.
THP - Thread HP - tanks have a second set of HP, responsible for their ability to move.
vsArmor - damage against armored opponents.
vsPers - damage against unarmored opponents.
Atk - vsPers and vsArmor combined.
Def - Defense against threats.
Evd - evasion, chance to nullify attacks.

3. Characters, Potentials, Status Effects

Characters of Squad 7 are, obviously, the centerpiece around which the gameplay is built. With changes to potentials and activation rates the way things in the game work has changed a lot from vanilla.
As before, each character has a set of Personal Potentials (unique for each character), as well as a set of Battle Potentials (depends on class). Potentials are unlocked on certain levels (see section "Class Leveling").

Sections 3.1-3.2 contain a table, which shows new potential activation rates, as well as trigger and duration types that I assigned to them based on tests and experiences. I had to split it in different sections, because Steam can't seem to handle long tables has a character limit per section.
Activation rates are in decimal format, taken straight from the game files. Multiply by 100 to get percentages.

Trigger types are:
1) Action - applied immediately when you select a character and enter Action Mode.
2) Location - applied when you meet certain terrain-based conditions (i.e. stand on dirt).
3) Attack - applied at some point during your or enemy attack (either before or after).
4) Proximity - applied when you meet certain unit-based condition (being near a particular unit, class etc.)
5) Status - applied when your status meets certain conditions (i.e. losing HP).
6) LOS - applied when you satisfy Line-Of-Sight conditions.
7) Interception - appled when you enter enemy interception fire range.

I do not distinguish between positive and negative conditions here. "Being in an area" and "Not being in an area" are both marked as "Location". Also, I lumped First Aid and repair under "Attack", because it's technically the same type of action (takes your attack slot).

Duration types are:
1) Action - applied until you end Action Mode.
2) Location - applied as long as terrain-based conditions are met.
3) Instant - is a one-time effect.
4) Proximity - applied as long as unit-based conditions are met.
6) LOS - applied as long as you maintain Line-Of-Sight conditions.
Location-Location and Proximity-Proximity pairs usually imply that effect is applied every time you leave and enter the condition (or vice versa).

Important takeaways:
- Many negative statuses (All allergies, Panicky, Chronic Fatigue) have 100% application rate.
- Ultra-negative potentials (Humanitarian, Klutz etc.) have been changed to 5% activation rate.
- Potentials related to main class stat (X Boost, Super X, Ult. X) always apply during action. This separates units into early, mid and late game oriented characters, rather than vanilla's "Ultimate or whatever".

Weapon-instilled status effects.
Since this section deals with status effects of all kinds and their durations, I'd like to include a note on effects delivered by weapons: -Atk, -Def, -Acc debuffs. Those effects are applied on-hit and last until the end of the next phase (regardless of side).

Status effect application in Action Mode
Whenever a trooper satisfies condition for a status effect to be applied, whether from potential or weapon, the effect is added to the end of a special queue. This queue holds all the effects to be applied. The application process starts immediately.

If the trooper keeps being in Action Mode without Aiming, effects will play appropriate animations and voiceovers one after another, the next starting after the previous has ended.
If the trooper takes Aim in the middle of that process, the queue continues to function like normal, but there's a catch:

• Damage-related effects will be visually reflected on "To Kill" count only after the application. For example, if you're taking aim while Super Damage is playing its cues, and then Born Leader activates after that, your shots-to-kill counter will update its damage calculation.
  
• Accuracy-related effects will not be reflected visually and aiming cone will remain the same until the trooper cancels the aiming and enters aiming mode again.

However, if you choose to fire at the target in the middle of effect application, all of the effects will be applied to the attack calculation.
In practice: you are not punished by losing buffs for instantly firing, you are not able to shake off debuffs by firing before their visual application.

Section 3.3 covers mostly stat bonuses given by Potentials.
Sections 3.4 - 3.10 are devoted to each class's troopers. I've prepared a full list of characters, where their potential descriptions are replaced from somewhat vague in-game wordings with short mechanical descriptions of what each one does. The list also includes some notes and personal opinions on classes and various characters' strengths (or lack thereof).

3.1 Potential Activation Rates (A-L)

Potential Name	Activation Rate	Trigger	Duration
Accuracy Boost	1	Action	Action
Acrobat	0.5	Attack	Attack
Acrophobic	0.25	Location	Location
Aichmophobic	1	Proximity	Proximity
Alicia Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Alicia Lover	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Ambush Spotter	1	Action	Action
Ammo Refill	0.25	Attack	Instant
Ammo Worries	0.25	Status	Action
Anti-armor Boost	1	Action	Action
Backup Sniping	1	Proximity	Proximity
Bad Back	0.25	Location	Location
Big Sister	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Big-Hearted	0.25	Status	Instant
Bloodthirsty	0.25	Attack	Instant
Born Leader	1	Proximity	Proximity
Bug in a Rug	0.5	Location	Location
Bully	1	Proximity	Proximity
Calm Heart	1	Proximity	Proximity
Camaraderie	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Camp Defender	1	Location	Location
Challenge Lover	0.5	Interception	Action
Chameleon	0.1	LOS	LOS
Chatty Cathy	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Child of Nature	0.25	Location	Location
Chronic Fatigue	1	Status	Action
City Kid	0.5	Location	Location
Claustrophobic	0.25	Location	Location
Cocky	0.25	Status	Action
Concentration	0.25	Attack	Instant
Country Bred	0.5	Location	Location
Coward	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Critical Shot	0.5	Attack	Instant
Damage Boost	1	Action	Action
Darcsen Bond	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Darcsen Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Darcsen Pride	1	Proximity	Proximity
Daredevil	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Dbl. Tank Damage	1	Attack	Instant
Defense Boost	1	Action	Action
Demolition Man	1	Attack	Instant
Desert Allergy	1	Location	Location
Desert Bred	0.5	Location	Location
Double Action	0.25	Attack	Instant
Double Attack	0.25	Attack	Instant
Dud Mine	0.75	Location	Instant
Eagle Eye	1	Action	Action
Energetic	0.5	Status	Action
Engineer Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Engineer Killer	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Evasion Boost	1	Action	Action
Extra Shot	0.25	Attack	Instant
Fancies Men	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Fancies Women	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Fatalist	0.25	Status	Action
Fearless Will	1	Interception	Action
First Aid Boost	1	Attack	Instant
Frail Body	0.25	Status	Action
Full HP Recovery	0.25	Attack	Instant
Good Buddy	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Hard Worker	0.25	Attack	Instant
Head-Lit Deer	0.5	Attack	Instant
Humanitarian	0.05	Attack	Instant
Imp Hater	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Impatient	0.5	Location	Location
Indecisive	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Intimate Company	0.25	Proximity	Action
Into Macho Men	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Jam Jinxed	0.05	Attack	Instant
Kamikaze	0.25	Status	Action
Klutz	0.05	Attack	Instant
Lancer Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Lancer Killer	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Largo Hater	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Largo Lover	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Lone Wolf	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Lonely	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Loyal Teammate	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Lucky	0.5	Attack	Instant

3.2 Potential Activation Rates (M-W)

Potential Name	Activation Rate	Trigger	Duration
Maintenance Lazy	0.05	Attack	Instant
Man Hater	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Masochist	1	Status	Action
Maternal	1	Proximity	Proximity
Meadow Bred	0.5	Location	Location
Melee Skills	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Metal Allergy	1	Location	Location
Metal Head	0.5	Location	Location
Mid-Range Skills	1	Proximity	Proximity
Misogynist	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Mooch	0.75	Attack	Instant
Moody	0.05	Action	Action
My Way	0.75	Proximity	Proximity
Mysterious Body	0.25	Attack	Instant
Nature Lover	1	Location	Location
Neat Freak	0.25	Location	Location
Nest Master	1	Location	Location
Neutralize	0.25	Attack	Instant
Never Say Die	0.5	Status	Instant
Night Blind	0.75	Action	Action
Night Vision	0.75	Action	Action
Nocturnal	1	Action	Action
Outcast	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Panicky	1	Interception	Action
Penetrator	0.5	Attack	Instant
Perfect Dodge	1	Action	Action
Pessimist	0.5	Status	Action
Poison Tolerance	1	Action	Action
Pollen Allergy	1	Location	Location
Power of Love	1	Proximity	Proximity
Power Scout	0.5	LOS	LOS
Rear Guard	1	Action	Action
Repair Boost	1	Attack	Instant
Resist Counters	1	Attack	Instant
Roof Hunter	1	Attack	Instant
Rosie Hater	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Rosie Lover	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Runner's High	0.25	Status	Action
Sadist	0.25	Attack	Instant
Scout Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Scout Killer	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Second Wind	1	Attack	Instant
Show-Off	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Shut-In	0.25	Location	Location
Sibling Ties	1	Proximity	Proximity
Sighting	1	LOS	Action
Skilled Assassin	0.25	Attack	Instant
Slow Starter	0.75	Action	Action
Sniper Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Sniper Killer	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Song of Peace	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Stage Fright	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Stand Ready	1	Interception	Action
Starting Dash	0.75	Action	Action
Stealth	1	Location	Location
Stonewall	0.5	Location	Location
Strengthen	1	Attack	Instant
Strong-Willed	0.25	Interception	Action
Super Accuracy	1	Action	Action
Super Anti-armor	1	Action	Action
Super Damage	1	Action	Action
Super Defense	1	Action	Action
Super Evasion	1	Action	Action
Super First Aid	1	Attack	Instant
Super Repair	1	Attack	Instant
Tank Destroyer	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Tank Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Tank Killer	1	Proximity	Proximity
Tank Lover	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Tank Slayer	1	Proximity	Proximity
Third Eye	1	Attack	Instant
Trooper Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Trooper Killer	0.5	Proximity	Proximity
Ult. Accuracy	1	Action	Action
Ult. Anti-armor	1	Action	Action
Ultimate Damage	1	Action	Action
Ultimate Defense	1	Action	Action
Ultimate Evade	1	Action	Action
Under Pressure	1	Action	Action
Undercover Fire	1	Location	Location
Undodgeable Shot	0.25	Attack	Instant
Unlucky	0.05	Attack	Instant
Valkyria	1	Status	Action
Veggie-Maniac	0.25	Location	Location
Welkin Hater	0.25	Proximity	Proximity
Welkin Lover	0.5	Proximity	Proximity

3.3 Potential Values, Damage Calculation

A little bit of math here to explain how damage is calculated, so you can see how Potentials can affect performance and how much do they matter.

Simplified formula for damage:

Damage_Per_Shot = [Base_Weapon_Damage x (1 + Atk_Buffs - Atk_Debuffs) x Critical_Modifier x Distance_Dropoff] - [Base_Defense x (1 + Def_Buffs - Def_Debuffs)]

• Critical_Modifier is 2 if you score a headshot, a different value depending on the target for tank radiator hits (3 for Gallian tanks, 2 for regular Imperial tanks, 4 or 3 for Turrets, 1.2 for Bunkers), 1 otherwise. Can be reduced by Crit Def for Gallian tanks, set to 1 by crouching for infantry.
  
• Distance_Dropoff is an aggregate value for range-related effects, varies from 0 to 1. See Weapon Mechanics (Section 5.1) for more details.
  
• Potentials mostly modify Atk_Buffs, Atk_Debuffs, Def_Buffs and Def_Debuffs. "Penetrator" (Marina, Catherine) sets Defense to 0. "Tank Destroyer" and "Critical Shot" increase Critical_Modifier.
  
• Orders modify those values in a similar way to potentials.

Potential values.

Rather than giving a table here, I'll group some potentials together and give notes on them. Not a fully comprehensive list, but covers things that are important. Missing stuff is mostly negative hidden potentials.

Main class stat boosting potentials:
- X Boost = +20%
- Super X = +35%
- Ultimate X = +50%
Only the main stat for each class is affected.

All Stats:
- Born Leader, Loyal Teammate, Camaraderie, Maternal = +10% all stats
- Outcast = -10% all stats
- Valkyria = +100% all except Def (+ unvulnerability instead)
- Welkin: all potentials = +25% all stats
- Rosie: Song Of Peace, Big Sister = +25% all except Def

Unit Class:
- X Killer = +50% Accuracy, +25% vsPers
- X Hater = -25% vsPers
- Tank Killer/Hater affects both vsPers and vsArmor

Negative Personal potentials:
- Child Of Nature, Shut-In, Darksen Hater = -25% Def
- Frail Body, Pessimist, Bad Back = -50% Def
- Panicky = -25% Atk
- Those affecting Accuracy mostly give -50% (i.e. Night Blind, Slow Starter, Cocky)

Positive Hidden Potentials:
- If only +Accuracy (i.e. Daredevil, Into Macho Men, Intimate Company, Bully) = 100% Accuracy
- My Way, Never Say Die, Veggie Maniac, Darcsen Pride = +50% Accuracy, +25% Atk

Scout potentials:
- Stand Ready = +25% Evd, +50% Def
- Power Scout = +50% Evd, +25% vsPers
- Stealth = +25% Atk
- Sighting = +50% Accuracy

Shocktrooper potentials:
- Melee Skills = +50% Accuracy
- Mid-range Skills = +50% Accuracy, +25% vsPers
- Undercover Fire = +25% Accuracy and vsPers

Lancer potentials:
- Tank Killer = +50% Accuracy
- Tank Slayer = +50% Accuracy, +25% vsArmor

Sniper potentials:
- Backup Sniping = +25% Accuracy and Atk
- Roof Hunter = +25% Accuracy and vsPers
- Nest Master = +25% Atk

Engineer potentials:
- Repair Boost = +50% repair
- Super Repair = +100% repair
- Demolition Man = +25% Atk

Other:
- First Aid Boost/Super F.A. = +100% healing

An extra important takeaway (some damage combos):

Born Leader + Super X = +45% vsPers/vsArmor for Shocktroopers/Lancers. This is only 5% less than Ultimate X by itself.
In other words, characters who carry that combo can reliably output Ultimate X level of damage much much earlier in the game. If you end up not having XP to level one of those classes to Ultimate X when you need it or happen to have a bad draft (i.e. by Naggiar(2) you still don't have Ult. AA Lancers) - those guys can save you. In fact, they have enough damage output to stay relevant throughout NG and NG+.

Another bonus is that they get extra +10% against the "secondary" enemy type, which means Lancers with this combo are better with Mortar Lances and Royal Lances in anti-infantry situations (those Camp Defense bonuses...), while Shocktroopers gain extra benefits against enemies like Cannons and Bunkers (AT Flamethrowers and high vsArmor MG's perform better).
Namely, those characters are:
Shocktroopers - Vyse, Edy
Lancers - Hector, Yoko (also has Tank Slayer for extra 25% vsArmor and accuracy)

Damage Boost + Mid-Range Skills combo and AA Boost + Tank Slayer also provide 45% damage against the primary enemy type, but do not help against the opposite enemy type. Tank Slayer is also somewhat unreliable, as you need to be near 2 tanks to activate it, unlike Mid-Range Skills (staying away from enemies is much much easier).
Mica and Theold have these combos.

Highest Damage combos:
For Shocktroopers, Hannes (Mid-Range Skills + Ult. Damage) gives you the most ridicuous reliable Shocktrooper damage modifier - 75%.
For Lancers, Audrey has the biggest set of damage potentials: Ult.AA (+50%), Tank Slayer (+25%), Camaraderie (+25%) and Good Buddy (+25%), resulting in up to 125% damage.
These combos, however, kick in much later because of Ult. X being high up in the levels.

Bottom line - if you're looking for damage, take a scroll through available potentials and see whether you can make use of positioning and environment to get desired effects going.

3.4 Characters - Scouts (1)

General class notes:

With interception that actually hurts now, Scouts got a severe nerf compared to vanilla game. With me absolutely hating %-based dodge mechanic, their useful features boil down to Grenade Launcher and a few situational damage/utility buffs (Nocturnal, Stealth).
Scouts to remember: Ted and Freesia (Nocturnal is the only way to discover enemies across map at night), Juno (the only 100% activation +All Stats buff among non-protagonist scouts - Born Leader).

Welkin Gunther: Tank Commander/Scout

Potentials:
1) Nature Lover - +All stats while on natural surfaces
2) Calm heart - +All stats
3) Sibling Ties - +All stats whhile in proximity to darksens
4) Power Of Love - +All stats while in proximity to Alicia
Battle Potentials:
None - he's a tank commander, with the exception of ch. 8-a, 8-b, Largo's Report, Varrot's report and Expert Skirmishes.
Friends:
Alicia(Scout), Juno(Scout), Audrey(Lancer)
Notes:
- Pay attention to (and actively set up) Nature Lover/Sibling Ties, as it can increase your damage output. Mostly relevant in the early game or when fighting tanks.
- Sibling Ties work with Shamrock/Zaka.
- Do not neglect smoke rounds as a tactical option (Past ch.12).
- Smoke rounds cannot be restocked via Resupply order or by engineers. You get 1 shot/round, and that's it.

Edelweiss is one of the central units in Squad 7, and a lot of the game will inevitably be based around it. I, however, am more of an infantry man, so I tend to use it sparingly, mostly as a utility unit for multi-target attacks (mortar), anti-cover attacks (mortar), vision control (smoke rounds) and bodyblocking interception fire.

Alicia Melchiott

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy while on dirt
2) Maternal - +All stats while near Friends
3) Mysterious Body - Chance to heal to full HP after attacking
4) Valkyria - +All stats, Invincibility when below 10 HP
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
3) Stand Ready - Resistance to interception fire
4) Second Wind - Using ragnaid restores AP
Freinds:
Welkin (Edelweiss/Scout), Noce (Scout), Dallas (Engineer)
Notes:
- Welkin and Dallas can often be far behind scouts in combat, so Maternal is a somewhat difficult to use potential.
- FAB(2), SR(3) and SW(4) produce a nice synergy that lets you run far behind enemy lines across some damage, but that is not available until level 17, which means late game or at expense of other classes. There's still only so much incoming fire you can take, and running around tanks is not much of an option.
- As a side-effect of Alicica not being an officer, her "Valkyria" potential can be unlocked via Ellet Points (like a regular member) way before appropriate the plot events (Chapter 8b is the latest possible point before Alicia unlocks Valkyria potential, if she is neither deployed, nor used when auto-deployed). I abstain from using Alicia until the relevant plot event happens.
- Valkyria, while having 100% activation rate, has a difficulty point - you actually MUST hit single-digit HP. Getting shot from 11+ to 0 in one bullet will get Alicia KO'd just like any other trooper.

Her early game is ok, Country Bred and Undodgeable Shot are useful on their own. Stand Ready is also never bad. However, unreliable and counter-intuitive synergies (Welkin-Alicia, mainly) do little to make me fancy using her.

Musaad Mayfield

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Good Buddy - +Atk while near friends
3) Bug in a Rug - +Atk while in trenches
4) Bloodthirsty - Chance to attack twice
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Power Scout - +Atk, +Evd while Sighting five or more enemy units
3) Third Eye - chance to avoid any critical damage from enemy counterattacks
4) Ultimate Evade - +Evd always
Friends:
Coby(Shocktrooper), Nina(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
- Strong as opening unit on semi-open natural maps with multiple enemies.
- One of the biggest HP pools among scouts somewhat makes up for his lack of defense buffs.
- Bloodthirsty is neither a reliable source of damage when you need it, nor a necessary one as long as you go for headshots.

High Evd and HP pool makes him useful as a bait for enemies to make them turn around for counterattack, which lets your other unit sneak up from behind. Couple with Gallian-X (-Def debuffing rifle) for greater effect. Prideful and haughty, but quite able to back it up.

Hermes Kissinger

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Fancies Women - +Accuracy while around women
3) Claustrophobic - -Atk while in trenches
4) Chronic Fatigue - Loses action after movement
Battle Potentials:
1) Stealth - +Atk while hiding in grass
2) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
3) Super Evasion - +Evd always
4) Concentration - Chance to make all shots hit a single point.
Friends:
None

A reasonable choice for grassy maps. Pair with a female scout for a 2-man flanking squad. Strong in the early game due to many missions in grassy lands.

Melville Young

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Chatty Cathy - -Accuracy while near Friends
3) Trooper Killer - +Atk while near enemy Shocktroopers
4) Energetic - +Evd, +Accuracy on full hp
Battle Potentials:
1) Evasion Boost - +Evd
2) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
3) Third Eye - chance to avoid any critical damage from enemy counterattacks
4) Second Wind - Using ragnaid restores AP
Friends:
Alex(Shocktrooper), Nina(Shocktrooper), Ted(Scout)
Notes:
- High HP pool.
- Desert allergy works 100% of the time, so picking him for desert maps deprives him of Energetic buffs.

An okay "sneak attack-behind the lines-loner", useful with high Evd buffs to manipulate lines of sight on Shocktroopers via counterattacks, if you like taking chances.

Ted Ustinov

Potentials:
1) Metal Allergy - -HP over time while in proximity to metals
2) Fancies Men - +Accuracy while near men
3) Fancies Women - +Accuracy while near women
4) Show-Off - +Def while being sighted by multiple enemies
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Nocturnal - Sighting radius not impacted at night
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Ultimate Evade - +Evd always
Friends:
Melville(Scout), Nancy(Scout), Cherry(Scout)
Notes:
- Metal Allergy applies to various metal surfaces like metal bridges.

Skills all over the place make him a decent generalist without extreme strengths or weaknesses, in addition to being a limited "night scout" choice. Use in tandem for greater accuracy. Adaptability, as expected of an aspiring entertainer/comedian.

Wavy

Potentials:
1) Neat Freak - -Accuracy while on dirt
2) Darcsen Bond - +Def while near darksens
3) Camp Defender - +Def, +Evd while in camps
4) Stonewall - +Def while crouching
Battle Potentials:
1) Evasion Boost - +Evd
2) Power Scout - +Atk, +Evd while Sighting five or more enemy units
3) Stand Ready - Resistance to interception fire
4) Second Wind - Using ragnaid restores AP
Friends:
Zaka(Shamrock), Nadine(Engineer)
Notes:
Seemingly a camp defender, his offensive potential is to rush a camp and THEN clear out people on the outside, while getting all the defensive bonuses from staying within. Admittedly, not quite my style, and won't go well if there are multiple Shocktroopers around.

3.5 Characters - Scouts (2)

Montley Leonard

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Aichmophobic - -HP over time near Lancers
3) Impatient - -Accuracy while hiding in grass
Battle Potentials:
1) Evasion Boost - +Evd always
2) Skilled Assassin - Chance for critical damage
3) Third Eye - chance to avoid any critical damage from enemy counterattacks
4) Full HP Recovery - chance of recovering full HP after attacking
Friends:
Nancy(Scout), Jann(Lancer), Herbert(Engineer)
Notes:
- Meadow-bred applies to any grass, including just green texture.
- Despite Skilled Assassin's description, it is just a "on attack" chance.

If you don't plan on shooting from hiding in grass - go for it.

Noce Wordsworth

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy while on dirt
2) Camaraderie - +All stats while near Scouts
3) Bad Back - -Def when crouching
4) Welkin Hater - -Accuracy near Welkin/Edelweiss
Battle Potentials:
1) Sighting - +Accuracy after sighting an enemy
2) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
3) Super Evasion - +Evd always
4) Concentration - Chance to make all shots hit a single point
Friends:
Alicia(Scout), Homer(Engineer)
Notes:
Strong as a scout duo candidate, decent on his own. Lots of accuracy buffs make him a good candidate for raw damage weapons.

Nancy Dufor

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Good Buddy - +Atk while near friends
3) Bug in a Rug - +Atk while in trenches
4) Klutz - Remembering to load ammo into their weapon sometimes completely slips their mind
Battle Potentials:
1) Stealth - +Atk when hiding in grass
2) Power Scout - +Atk, +Evd while Sighting five or more enemy units
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Full HP Recovery - chance of recovering full HP after attacking
Friends:
Ted(Scout), Montley(Scout), Emile(Sniper)
Notes:
- Klutz is a 5%w activation rate potential.

Strong situationally (depending on the map), a lot of Atk buff sources make her a viable threat vs Lancers and Shocktroopers.

Ramona Linton

Potentials:
1) Neat Freak - -Accuracy while on dirt
2) Chatty Cathy - -Accuracy while near Friends
3) Chameleon - +Accuracy when out of sight
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Nocturnal - Sighting radius not impacted at night
3) Stand Ready - Resistance to interception fire
4) Ultimate Evade - +Evd always
Friends:
Edy(Shocktrooper), Cherry(Scout), Audrey(Lancer)
Notes:
Sneaky loner scout for night missions in dirt-less places. No damage buffs, no survivability buffs until level 17, so expect median performance.

Susie Evans

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy while on dirt
2) Good Buddy - +Atk while near friends
3) Trooper Hater - -Atk vs Shocktroopers
4) Humanitarian - chance to not attack
Class Potentials:
1) Sighting - +Accuracy after sighting an enemy
2) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
3) Super Evasion - +Evd always
4) Full HP Recovery - chance of recovering full HP after attacking
Friends:
Elysse(Lancer), Knute(Engineer)
Notes:
- Humanitarian is a 5% activation potential. Happens when you confirm attack action, rather than at the beginning of the turn. Immediately ends turn, no attack or counterattack. Does not alert enemies if you failed to shoot in the back.

Somewhat wasteful Good Buddy and debuff vs Shocktroopers result in mediocre offensive ability. High accuracy (Sighting works pretty much always), good synergy with Gallian-S line for long range kills.

Freesia York

Potentials:
1) Desert Bred - +Evd on desert maps
2) Fancies Men - +Accuracy while near men
3) Under Pressure - -Accuracy if you're using the last available CP in a round
Battle Potentials:
1) Evasion Boost - +Evd
2) Nocturnal - Sighting radius not impacted at night
3) Stand Ready - Resistance to interception fire
4) Concentration - Chance to make all shots hit a single point
Friends:
Salinas(Shocktrooper), Walter(Lancer), Emile(Sniper)
Notes:
Lacks direct damage buffs, but is well-rounded in other respects. Works well with damage-focused rifles. Concentration effectively provides a chance to turn "almost all headshots" into "all headshots".

Juno Coren

Potentials:
1) Metal Allergy - -HP over time while in proximity to metals
2) Born Leader - +All stats while isolated from allies
3) Claustrophobic - -Atk while in trenches
4) Welkin Lover - +Accuracy while near Welkin/Edelweiss
Battle Potentials:
1) Stealth - +Atk while hiding in grass
2) Skilled Assassin - Chance for critical damage
3) Super Evasion - +Evd always
4) Second Wind - Using ragnaid restores AP
Friends:
Welkin(Scout/Edelweiss), Aisha(Shocktrooper), Catherine(Sniper)
Notes:
- Metal Allergy applies to various metal surfaces like metal bridges.
- Despite Skilled Assassin's description, it is just a "on attack" chance.

Loner/sneaky assasin. Don't forget to cleverly use lines of sight and corners to get Skilled Assasin going. Too bad being a sneaky assasin doesn't quite help with relationship problems.

Cherry Stijnen

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Chatty Cathy - -Accuracy while near Friends
3) Fancies Men - +Accuracy while near men
4) Rosie Lover - +Atk while near Rosie
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Skilled Assassin - Chance for critical damage
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Ultimate Evade - +Evd always
Friends:
Rosie(Shocktrooper), Ted(Scout), Ramona(Scout)
Notes:
- Despite Skilled Assassin's description, it is just a "on attack" chance.
Again, Juno makes for a better Skilled Assasin with extra stats from Born Leader. Cherry makes you think extra about who to deploy. High accuracy rifles can make her more useful as a support for Rosie.

Aika Thompson

Potentials:
1) Pollen Allergy - -HP over time while near grass
2) Good Buddy - +Atk while near friends
3) Runner's High - +Def when less than 1/2 AP available
Battle Potentials:
1) Stealth - +Atk while hiding in grass
2) Nocturnal - Sighting radius not impacted at night
3) Stand Ready - Resistance to interception fire
4) Second Wind - Using ragnaid restores AP
Friends:
Vyse(Shocktrooper), Yoko(Lancer), Dallas(Engineer)
Notes:
- Pollen Allergy works on all grass, including flat green "grassy" texture on the ground.

Two defense buffs and Ragnaid synergy give Aika a strong "rush the camp" use case. Outside of that - steer away from countryside and woods, as Pollen allergy will eat away at HP pretty much constantly (so much for stealth).

3.6 Characters - Shocktroopers (1)

General class notes:

With 100%-ification of Damage potential line, Undercover Fire, Mid-Range Skills, Born Leader and AP buff, Shocktroopers skyrocketed in power across the board compared to vanilla. Damage potentials easily give them an ability to delete opposition with headshots well past nominal weapon range, reducing associated risks to a minimum. They are by no means as all-powerful as Scouts used to be, but Shocktroopers have truly become the "core" of Squad 7.

Rosie (Brigitte Stark)

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Strong-Willed - Resistance to interception fire
3) Big Sister - +All stats except Def near Shocktroopers
4) Song of Peace - +All stats except Def near darcsens
Battle Potentials:
1) Undercover Fire - +Atk when crouching
2) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Double Attack - chance to attack their target twice
Friends:
Largo(Lancer), Cherry(Scout)
Notes:
- as a side-effect of Rosie not being an officer, "Song of Peace" potential can be unlocked via Ellet Points (like a regular member) way before appropriate the plot events. I abstain from using Rosie until relevant plot events.

Lack of universal self-contained damage buffs while on offensive quickly puts Rosie into a "situational" category in my book. The most egregious and ironic example is her inability to 1-shot Troopers hiding in grass during her own report mission, unless equipped with Imperial Ace flamethrower. Still reasonably good on maps full of sandbags/trenches, or as a point man to draw interception.

Alex Raymond

Potentials:
1) Neat Freak - -Accuracy while on dirt
2) Night Vision - +Accuracy at night
3) Scout Killer - +Atk while near enemy Scouts
4) Acrobat - +Atk while on high ground
Battle Potentials:
1) Melee Skills - +Accuracy while near enemy
2) Ambush Spotter - Enemy units in hiding can be spotted from the same distance as a scout
3) Neutralize - chance to prevent the enemy counter-attack
4) Ultimate Damage - +vsPers always
Friends:
Vyse(Shocktrooper), Melville(Scout), Hector(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
- Night Vision does not improve discovery radius like Nocturnal does.
Until late game (4th potential), his ideal use niche is Scout-heavy city/desert maps.

Kevin Abbott

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk while near metals
2) Claustrophobic - -Atk while in trenches
3) Indecisive - -Accuracy while near multiple enemies
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Kamikaze - +Accuracy, +Evd when below 50% HP
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Double Attack - chance to attack their target twice
Friends:
Karl(Engineer), Cezary(Sniper)
Notes:
FAB is largely useless if you're shooting for A-ranks, so early game is meh. Late game - Double Attack sits at 25% success rate, so even against bosses (the only place where it sort of matters) I'm more inclined to recommend Vyse, who has nice buffs going for him.

Coby Caird

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy while on dirt
2) Born Leader - +All stats while isolated from allies
3) Bad Back - -Def when chrouching
4) Alicia Hater - -Evd while near Alicia
Battle Potentials:
1) Damage Boost - +vsPers always
2) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Musaad(Scout), Yoko(Lancer), Catherine(Sniper)
Notes:
Born Leader + Damage Boost is basically the best early-game damage combo you could hope for. Shame that his late game suffers for it (Dud Mine & Strengthen... too bad). Guess old man deserves some rest by that point.

Salinas Milton

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Fancies Women - +Accuracy while near women
3) Lancer Killer - +Atk while near Lancers
4) Tank Lover - +Atk while near tanks
Battle Potentials:
1) Melee Skills - +Accuracy while near enemy
2) Ambush Spotter - Enemy units in hiding can be spotted from the same distance as a scout
3) Super Damage - +vsPers always
4) Full HP Recovery - chance to recover full HP after attacking
Friends:
Edy(Shocktrooper), Freesia(Scout), Audrey(Lancer)
Notes:
- Tank Lover works on all tanks and tank-like objects (i.e. Bunkers).
Salinas, Edy, Freesia and Audrey is among the best "friendship detachments" in the game, and a good core team. I tend to put Salinas in support role (delivering -Atk debuff with MAJ-X), but he's prefectly capable as a main damage threat. Alternatively, pair with Edelweiss/Shamrock. You don't really want to be near enemy tanks.

Hannes Salinger

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Imp Hater - +Accuracy while near any enemy
3) Daredevil - +Accuracy while near multiple enemies
Battle Potentials:
1) Undercover Fire - +Atk while crouching
2) Kamikaze - +Accuracy, +Evd when below 50% HP
3) Mid-Range Skills - +Accuracy while no enemies nearby
4) Ultimate Damage - +vsPers always
Friends:
Largo(Lancer), Jane(Shocktrooper), Oscar(Sniper)
Notes:
An ok choice if you plan on charging head-on. He does need those +Accuracy buffs though, especially with ZM MP's. Mid-game (lv. 11 to 17) relevance is so-so without +Atk buffs, but Mid-Range skills can help to get headshots. Strong long range combat in late game. Devastating backline support with Ruhm.

Mica Hawkins

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk while near metals
2) Pessimist - -Def while below 50% HP
3) Jam Jinxed - chance to lose 50% of the shots in attack
Battle Potentials:
1) Damage Boost - +vsPers always
2) Fearless Will - +Atk, +Def while under interception fire
3) Mid-Range Skills - +Accuracy while no enemies nearby
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Dorothy(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
-Jam Jinxed is a 5% activation potential.
I can barely imagine where to use him over many better squad members. He's ok early on, but a chance to deal way less damage with an attack limit his use later. Best thing you could possibly do is to wait until you unlock every personal potential you need and all reports, so you don't need to visit Ellet anymore.

Vyse Inglebard

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Born Leader - +All stats while isolated from allies
3) Challenge Lover - +Atk while under interception fire
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
3) Super Damage - +vsPers always
4) Double Attack - chance to attack their target twice
Friends:
Alex(Shocktrooper), Aika(Scout), Hector(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
Born Leader alone is worth it in the early game, and he easily transitions into late game boss-level treat with more and more damage buffs (from level 11 and personal potential). All around strong at all times, efficient both while flanking or charging.

3.7 Characters - Shocktroopers (2)

Lynn

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Darcsen Bond - +Def near darksens
3) Trooper Killer - +Atk near enemy Shocktroopers
4) Hard Worker - chance for a second action
Battle Potentials:
1) Undercover Fire - +Atk when crouching
2) Ambush Spotter - Enemy units in hiding can be spotted from the same distance as a scout
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Full HP Recovery - chance to recover full HP after attacking
Friends:
Zaka(Shamrock), Karl(Engineer)
Notes:
- Hard Worker lets you continue taking action as if you haven't attacked yet. That is, you can move with remaining AP and shoot/grenade/heal.

Her late game potentials are kind of meh for regular levels, but awakening Hard Worker is a strong anti-boss combat mechanism (2 attacks per CP, ideally supported by other people). Good at sustained combat and holding positions.

Wendy Cheslock

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk near metals
2) Shut-In - -Def in camps
3) Outcast - -All stats near allied Shocktroopers
Battle Potentials:
1) Damage Boost - +vsPers always
2) Kamikaze - +Accuracy, +Evd when below 50% HP
3) Dud Mine - Land mines have a set chance of not exploding when tripped
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
None
Notes:
Early game loner, late game - cast her out and give the field to stronger troopers. Her later unlocks are mediocre at best.

Edy Nelson

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy on dirt
2) Panicky - -Atk when subject to interception fire
3) Born Leader - +All stats while isolated from allies
4) Rosie Hater - -Atk while near Rosie
Battle Potentials:
1) Melee Skills - +Accuracy near enemy
2) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
3) Super Damage - +vsPers always
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Salinas(Shocktrooper), Ramona(Scout), Dallas(Engineer)
Notes:
Born Leader = strong early, Super Damage = strong mid and late. Good base accuracy + two 50% chance buffs = easy headshots if done right. Panicky barely ever matters, especially past Super Damage at lv.11, and most of the time can be avoided by smart positioning. Use as a flanking loner to maximize efficiency, combine with strong point men (like Vyse/Rosie/Jane) to draw enemy attention.

Aisha Neumann

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Panicky - -Atk when subject to interception fire
3) Lonely - -Evd while isolated from allies
4) Starting Dash - +Accuracy on turns 1, 2, 3 past deployment
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Ambush Spotter - Enemy units in hiding can be spotted from the same distance as a scout
3) Neutralize - chance to prevent the enemy counter-attack
4) Ultimate Damage - +vsPers always
Friends:
Juno(Scout), Yoko(Lancer), Claudia(Engineer)
Notes:
Semi-guaranteed accuracy (well, 75%, but it's quite reasonable) always helps, mid-game Ambush Spotter gives situational utility but Salinas does it too (and with Super Damage past lv.11 to boot), late - Ult. Damage scaling takes over. Panicky hurts her more than Edy early on, since she has no +Atk buffs until late levels, but still doable with good positioning.

Jane Turner

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Imp Hater - +Accuracy while near any enemy
3) Lancer Killer - +Atk vs Lancers
4) Sadist - chance for +vsPers
Battle Potentials:
1) Undercover Fire - +Atk when crouching
2) Fearless Will - +Atk, +Def under interception fire
3) Mid-Range Skills - +Accuracy with no enemies nearby
4) Full HP Recovery - chance to recover full HP after attacking
Friends:
Hannes(Shocktrooper), Oscar(Sniper)
Notes:
- Sadist is checked and applied upon confirming attack action, not upon unit selection
Reasonably strong early, later needs awakening or getting under interception. A decent pick for charging duty in absense of Vyse.

Dorothy Howard

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk near metals
2) Frail Body - -Def when under 50% AP
3) Stage Fright - -Evd, -Accuracy while sighted by multiple enemies
Battle Potentials:
1) Damage Boost - +vsPers always
2) Kamikaze - +Accuracy, +Evd when below 50% HP
3) Neutralize - chance to prevent the enemy counter-attack
4) Double Attack - chance to attack their target twice
Friends:
Mica(Shocktrooper), Claudia(Engineer)
Notes:
So-so early, mediocre late. Not much more I can say here.

Nina Streiss

Potentials:
1) Country Bred - +Accuracy on dirt
2) Camp Defender - +Def, +Evd while in camps
3) Lancer Hater - -Atk vs Lancers
4) Tank Hater - -Atk near tanks
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Fearless Will - +Atk, +Def under interception fire
3) Super Damage - +vsPers always
4) Double Attack - chance to attack their target twice
Friends:
Musaad(Scout), Melville(Scout), Rosina(Lancer)
Notes:
Versatility early (point man/defender/marksman), nice scaling mid-late(S.Damage vs troops, Double Attack vs Bosses). Sort of works as a camp charger too (rush camp->clean up from inside).

3.8 Characters - Lancers

General class notes:

- For potentials that mention "tank(s)" in their description, things that count separately as tanks: Edelweiss, Shamrock, Light/Medium/Heavy Tank, Heavy Tank Turret, Tank Destroyer, all AT and MG Bunkers, all AT and MG Cannons, Batomys, all Batomys's turrets, Lupus, Gallian APC, Dromedarius, Dromedarius Turret, all Marmota's turrets.

Lancers are a class for which hitting power spikes with their main potential line (AA Boost/Super AA/Ult. AA) is incredibly important to keep up with armored enemies' stat progression. Unlike other classes, it is somewhat hard for them to perform well when used at inappropriate levels. "Shots to kill" statistic is pretty much everything for a Lancer, because it's tied both to optimizing ammo and CP usage. Note that there is no Super AA+Dbl. Tank Damage combination, which means that to stop enemy tanks in their tracks, you'll have to trade some damage for it at levels 11-19, after which Elysse can fill this void.

Largo Potter

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Loyal Teammate - +All stats while isolated
3) Big-Hearted - chance to restore full HP upon being reduced to 0 HP
4) Veggie-Maniac - +All stats on natural surfaces
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Tank Slayer - +vsArmor near 2+ tanks
3) Dbl. Tank Damage - Attacks deal damage to both tank body and tread HP
4) Ammo Refill - chance to recover all ammunition after attacking
Friends:
Rosie(Shocktrooper), Hannes(Shocktrooper), Jann(Lancer)
Notes:
- Due to Largo not being a Leader anymore, his hidden potential can be unlocked before appropriate story events via Ellet points.

Unlike Born Leader, Loyal Teammate has a 50% activation rate, which makes Largo situational even early on. He does have the biggest anti-personnel buffs among Lancers (to complement mortar lances), but they are both chance-based (~12% failure chance). Dbl. Tank Damage with chance for good damage buffs is probably the best use case I can suggest.

Jann Walker

Potentials:
1) Pollen Allergy - -HP over time near plants
2) Fancies Men - +Accuracy near men
3) Largo Lover - +Atk near Largo
Battle Potentials:
1) Tank Killer - +Accuracy while near a tank
2) Extra Shot - chance to get 1 ammo after attack
3) Dbl. Tank Damage - Attacks deal damage to both tank body and tread HP
4) Ult. Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
Friends:
Largo(Lancer), Montley(Scout), Walter(Lancer)
Notes:
No damage buffs until level 20, unless you always pair him with Largo.

Nils Daerden

Potentials:
1) City Kid - +Def on paved roads
2) Lone Wolf - -Evd while near allies
3) Camp Defender - +Def, +Evd while in camps
4) Misogynist - -Accuracy while near women
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Stand Ready - +Def when they enter enemy interception fire
3) Super Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
4) Ammo Refill - chance to recover all ammunition after attacking
Friends:
None
Notes:
Mid-game loner. Mostly outclassed by Hector and Yoko.

Theold Bohr

Potentials:
1) Child of Nature - -Def while on paved roads
2) Darcsen Hater - -Def near Darcsens
3) Night Blind - -Accuracy at night
4) Bully - +Accuracy near allies
Battle Potentials:
1) Anti-armor Boost - +vsArmor always
2) Tank Slayer - +vsArmor near 2+ tanks
3) Poison Tolerance - Immunity to weapon-based status effects
4) Tank Destroyer - chance for critical hit against tanks
Friends:
None
Notes:
- Bully seems to work even with 1 ally.
Strong early, situational mid, underpowered late.

Walter Nash

Potentials:
1) Desert Bred - +Evd on desert maps
2) Pessimist - -Def while under 50% HP
3) Night Vision - +Accuracy at night
4) Cocky - -Accuracy, -Evd on full HP
Battle Potentials:
1) Anti-armor Boost - +vsArmor always
2) Stand Ready - +Def when they enter enemy interception fire
3) Dbl. Tank Damage - Attacks deal damage to both tank body and tread HP
4) Ammo Refill - chance to recover all ammunition after attacking
Friends:
Freesia(Scout), Jann(Lancer)
Notes:
You want him to be hurt a bit, but not too much. Inconvinent. Dbl. Tank Damage is his only situational salvation past early game.

Hector Calvey

Potentials:
1) Metal Allergy - -HP over time near metal surfaces
2) Born Leader - +AllStats while isolated
3) Intimate Company - +Accuracy when few allies nearby
Battle Potentials:
1) Tank Killer - +Accuracy while near a tank
2) Extra Shot - chance to get 1 ammo after attack
3) Super Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
4) Tank Destroyer - chance for critical hit against tanks
Friends:
Alex(Shocktrooper), Vyse(Shocktrooper), Rosina(Lancer)
Notes:
- Intimate Company can activate when Hector is alone.
Born Leader is the only reliable +vsPers source on Lancers, gives him a real chance to kill Shocktroopers with mortar lances even in camps (not in super late missions, sadly). Mid-game monster.

Audrey Heitinga

Potentials:
1) Pollen Allergy - -HP over time near grass
2) Good Buddy - +Atk near friends
3) Camaraderie - +AllStats near friendly Lancers
4) Mooch - chance to recover all ammo after attack, if left at 0
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Tank Slayer - +vsArmor near 2+ tanks
3) Poison Tolerance - Immunity to weapon-based status effects
4) Ult. Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
Friends:
Welkin(Scout)/Edelweiss, Salinas(Shocktrooper), Ramona(Scout)
Notes:
The biggest set of damage buffs. A bit of a pain to set up, until Ult. AA gives her reliable damage output. The best ammo recovery in the game (75%, doesn't get wasted when you have any left). There's a good reason she was originally a hidden character that required 10 medals.

Rosina Selden

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Darcsen Hater - -Def near Darcsens
3) Into Macho Men - +Accuracy near Lancers
Battle Potentials:
1) Anti-armor Boost - +vsArmor always
2) Stand Ready - +Def when they enter enemy interception fire
3) Poison Tolerance - Immunity to weapon-based status effects
4) Tank Destroyer - chance for critical hit against tanks
Friends:
Nina(Shocktrooper), Hector(Lancer)
Notes:
It's funny, how the largest concentration of desert maps coincides with the time she's at her strongest, isn't it?

Yoko Martens

Potentials:
1) City Kid - +Def on paved roads
2) Born Leader - +AllStats while isolated
3) Largo Hater - -Atk near Largo
Battle Potentials:
1) First Aid Boost - Increased healing with Ragnaid
2) Tank Slayer - +Atk near 2+ tanks
3) Super Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
4) Ammo Refill - chance to recover all ammunition after attacking
Friends:
Coby(Shocktrooper), Aisha(Shocktrooper), Aika(Scout)
Notes:
Nector #2, basically.

Elysse Moore

Potentials:
1) Neat Freak - -Accuracy on dirt
2) Camp Defender - +Def, +Evd while in camps
3) Scout Hater - -Atk near Scouts
4) Slow Starter - +vsArmor starting at turn 5
Battle Potentials:
1) Tank Killer - +Accuracy while near a tank
2) Extra Shot - chance to get 1 ammo after attack
3) Dbl. Tank Damage - Attacks deal damage to both tank body and tread HP
4) Ult. Anti-armor - +vsArmor always
Friends:
Susie(Scout), Homer(Engineer), Ramsey(Engineer)
Notes:
Poor personal potential for high-rank playthrough, but a valuable unique Ult. AA + Dbl. Tank Damage combo.

3.9 Characters - Snipers

General class notes:

Snipers have received strong versatility buffs - they can actually reposition now with extra AP, and Anti-Tank and Interception rifle lines allow to use them for different purposes.

Emile Bielert

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Frail Body - -Def while under 50% AP
3) Good Buddy - +Atk while near Friends
4) Never Say Die - +Accuracy when HP reaches a single digit
Battle Potentials:
1) Accuracy Boost - +Accuracy always
2) Roof Hunter - +Evd, +Atk when firing at a target on higher ground
3) Critical Shot - a chance to deal critical damage
4) Ammo Refill - a chance to recover all ammunition after firing
Friends:
Nancy(Scout), Freesia(Scout), Oscar(Sniper)
Notes:
Mostly useful in early-game as a starting lineup or a call-in sniper, to easily set up Good Buddy.

Oscar Bielert

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Imp Hater - +Accuracy near enemies
3) Night Vision - +Accuracy at night
4) Coward - -Accuracy while near enemies
Battle Potentials:
1) Nest Master - +Atk when shooting from a position at the top of a ladder
2) Extra Shot - a chance to recover 1 shot after attacking
3) Super Accuracy - +Accuracy always
4) Eagle Eye - Better zoom-in always
Friends:
Hannes(Shocktrooper), Jane(Shocktrooper), Emile(Sniper)
Notes:
- Night Vision does not improve discovery radius like Nocturnal does.
Lacks Penetrator for anti-tank duty. Use him interchangeably with Cezary (depending on presense of ladders/towers) if neither Marina nor Catherine are available.

Cezary Regard

Potentials:
1) Desert Bred - +Evd on desert maps
2) Darcsen Hater - -Def near darksens
3) Sniper Killer - +Atk vs Snipers
4) Acrophobic - -Atk on high places
Battle Potentials:
1) Perfect Dodge - Cat-like reflexes allow them to consistently dodge enemy counterattacks
2) Backup Sniping - +Atk while isolated from allies
3) Super Accuracy - +Accuracy always
4) Eagle Eye - Better zoom-in always
Friends:
Kevin(Shocktrooper), Knute(Engineer)
Notes:
Mini-"My Way" with 100% activation rate on second potential. The most reliable +Atk buff among snipers. As soon as you stop worrying about accuracy and get 2nd potential for snipers, there's little reason to not pick him as your go-to "reliable" sniper.

Marina Wulfstan

Potentials:
1) Pollen Allergy - -HP over time near grass/plants
2) Lone Wolf - -Evd near allies
3) Night Vision - +Accuracy at night
4) My Way - a chance for +Accuracy, +Atk while isolated from allies
Battle Potentials:
1) Nest Master - +Atk when shooting from a position at the top of a ladder
2) Extra Shot - a chance to recover 1 shot after attacking
3) Penetrator - a chance to ignore the target's defenses
4) Ult. Accuracy - +Accuracy always
Friends:
The fox from Kloden Wildwoods
Notes:
- Pollen Allergy conditions include flat green grass texture, not just 3d objects.
- Night Vision does not improve discovery radius like Nocturnal does.
Pretty much the best sniper overall. Equip with Anti-tank rifle and still 1-hit-KO people out of cover across the map from mid-game onward. Ridiculous against tanks and bunkers as well (50% chance to ignore armor is no joke). Early-game accuracy is on par with everyone else just from base stats. One of the 2 reliable +Atk sources (My Way has 75% activation).

Catherine

Potentials:
1) Meadow Bred - +Def while on grass
2) Pessimist - -Def while under 50% HP
3) Camaraderie - +All stats while near allied Snipers
4) Ammo Worries - chance for -Atk with the last bullet
Battle Potentials:
1) Accuracy Boost - +Accuracy always
2) Roof Hunter - +Evd, +Atk when firing at a target on higher ground
3) Penetrator - a chance to ignore the target's defenses
4) Ammo Refill - a chance to recover all ammunition after firing
Friends:
Coby(Shocktrooper), Juno(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
-Ammo Worries applies a debuff during the last shot, so you will never know you've lost damage until it's too late. Consider not using GSR-10+ on her, as having only 2 bullets will increase your chances for this potential to kick in.
Much needed early-game Accuracy Boost. Penetrator makes her a viable anti-tank threat, even without damage buffs.

3.10 Characters - Engineers

General class notes:

- Unique grenade upgrades. +Range, +Damage from normal ones. They stand a real chance of killing Shocktroopers.
- Unique rifles (ZM Kar(e), Gallian-ER) with high vsArmor component, good vs AT Cannons and Heavy Gatlings.
- High concentration of the worst personal potentials (the 5% activation ones).

Generally, I don't use Engineers much. While the idea of combat support is sound, half of the things they do: sandbag and tank repairs, mine disarming, buffed heals - are basically crutches to fix mistakes. This stuff is, undeniably, useful if you're not aiming for optimization, but lackluster in case you do. Universally helpful (regardless of playstyle) class features are their ability to resupply ammo (somewhat diminished after Resupply order is unlocked) and high mobility that allows to deliver strong grenades with flanking.
Honestly, I usually base my pick on whether or not I expect Demolition Man to come in handy, so there will be a lack of commentary for these guys.

The only notable shoutout goes to Dallas: Super Repair + Demolition Man usually covers just about everything I need - Edelweiss can run over some AT mines and Shocktroopers are guaranteed to die from her grenades.

Knute Yung

Potentials:
1) Metal Allergy - -HP over time near metals
2) Night Vision - +Accuracy at night
3) Engineer Killer - +Atk near Engineers
4) Lucky - chance to avoid taking critical damage
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Demolition Man - +Atk when using hand grenades
3) Super Defense - +Def always
4) Double Action - Chance to get a second action
Friends:
Susie(Scout), Homer(Engineer), Cezary(Sniper)
Notes:
- Night Vision does not improve discovery radius like Nocturnal does.
- Engineer Killer is basically a waste - very few maps where enemies even have an engineer to begin with.

Herbert Nielsen

Potentials:
1) Desert Bred - +Evd on desert maps
2) Fatalist - -Accuracy when below 10 HP
3) Moody - Chance to lose action
Battle Potentials:
1) Repair Boost - +Tank HP on repair always
2) Resist Counters - +Def vs counterattacks always
3) Super First Aid - +Heal with Ragnaid always
4) Ultimate Defense - +Def always
Friends:
Montley(Scout), Ramsey(Engineer)
Notes:
- Moody is a 5% activation potential. Applies at the beginning of the action, only prevents primary action (fire/use grenade/heal/fix tank). Moving, resupplying, disarming mines and fixing sandbags still works.

Karl Landzaat

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk near metal surfaces
2) Lonely - -Evd while isolated from allies
3) Head-Lit Deer - chance to lose all Evd on enemy counterattacks
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Poison Tolerance - Weapon debuff immunity
3) Super Repair - +Tank HP on repair always
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Kevin(Shocktrooper), Lynn(Shocktrooper)

Homer Peron

Potentials:
1) Neat Freak - -Accuracy while on dirt
2) Frail Body - -Def when below 50% AP
3) Lonely - -Evd while isolated from allies
4) Masochist - +Def when below 50% HP
Battle Potentials:
1) Undodgeable Shot - Chance to prevent enemy from evading
2) Poison Tolerance - Weapon debuff immunity
3) Super First Aid - +Heal with Ragnaid always
4) Ultimate Defense - +Def always
Friends:
Noce(Scout), Elysse(Lancer), Knute(Engineer)

Dallas Wyatt

Potentials:
1) Desert Allergy - -HP over time on desert maps
2) Man Hater - -Accuracy near men
3) Fancies Women - +Accuracy near women
4) Alicia Lover - +Evd near Alicia
Battle Potentials:
1) Defense Boost - +Def always
2) Demolition Man - +Atk when using hand grenades
3) Super Repair - +Tank HP on repair always
4) Double Action - Chance to get a second action
Friends:
Alicia(Scout), Edy(Shocktrooper), Aika(Scout)
Notes:
- Edelweis(Welkin) and Shamrock(Zaka) count as men.

Ramsey Clement

Potentials:
1) Metal Head - +Atk near metals
2) Fatalist - -Accuracy when below 10 HP
3) Maintenance Lazy - Chance to not attack
Battle Potentials:
1) Repair Boost - +Tank HP on repair always
2) Resist Counters - +Def vs counterattacks always
3) Super First Aid - +Heal with Ragnaid always
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Elysse(Lancer), Herbert(Engineer)
Notes:
- Maintenance Lazy is a 5% activation potential. Applies upon attack.

Nadine

Potentials:
1) Pollen Allergy - -HP over time near plants/grass
2) Darcsen Bond - +Def near Darcsens
3) Camaraderie - +All stats near allied Engineers
4) Rear Guard - +Atk if using the last CP of the turn
Battle Potentials:
1) Repair Boost - +Tank HP on repair always
2) Resist Counters - +Def vs counterattacks always
3) Super Defense - +Def always
4) Double Action - Chance to get a second action
Friends:
Zaka(Shamrock), Wavy(Scout)
Notes:
- Pollen Allergy conditions include flat green grass texture, not just 3d grass.

Claudia Mann

Potentials:
1) City Kid - +Def on paved roads
2) Shut-In - -Def in camps
3) Unlucky - Chance to not deal critical damage on attack
Battle Potentials:
1) Defense Boost - +Def always
2) Demolition Man - +Atk when using hand grenades
3) Super Repair - +Tank HP on repair always
4) Strengthen - +Resistance to interception after using Ragnaid
Friends:
Aisha(Shocktrooper), Dorothy(Shocktrooper)
Notes:
- Unlucky is a 5% activation potential. Basically, denies headshots.

4.1 Class leveling - Stats

Each character has a set of stats and Potentials. Leveling classes in the Training Field unlocks Battle Potentials and Orders, as well as increases stats.

Abbreviated stat formulas:

• HP = Base + HP_Growth x level + Elite Bonus
  
• Accuracy = Base + Acc_Growth x level + Elite Bonus
  
• Evasion = Base + Evd_Growth x level + Elite Bonus
  
• Defense = Base + Elite Bonus*
  
• AP = Base + Elite Bonus
  
• Intercept angle - constant

* Note: Elite Bonus to defense appears to actually be dysfunctional. As in, doesn't work. Enjoy your base defense, folks. Thanks to jeffers0329 for that discovery.

"Growth" parameter is a set of 3 values that indicate HP/level, Accuracy/level and Evasion/level gains. This is to say, (HP_Growth, Acc_Growth, Evd_Growth) is an unseparable set of values, which may be shared between multiple troopers.
Example: Alex and Edy both gain the exact same HP (6), Acc (1.2) and Evd (0.6) per level, but their base stats are different - Alex has 13 more HP but 4 less accuracy - which means he will always be less accurate but sturdier than Edy (without taking potentials into account).

Most stats receive a one-time Elite Bonus upon reaching level 11, which also unlocks access to certain weapons (see table in section 4.2).

Defense and AP are tied directly to the class (both base and elite). So is Elite HP bonus. Values for Gallian troops:

• Shocktroopers: 8 base, 10 elite Def; 450 base, 150 elite AP; 30 elite HP
  
• Lancers: 5 base, 6 elite Def; 400 base, 200 elite AP; 50 elite HP
  
• Scouts: 2 base, 5 elite Def; 750 base, 150 elite AP; 20 elite HP
  
• Snipers: 0 base, 3 elite Def; 300 base, 150 elite AP; 10 elite HP
  
• Engineers: 0 base, 3 elite Def; 600 base, 150 elite AP; 10 elite HP

Imperials are slightly different, but mostly similar. If you need to estimate their defense, you can more or less use Gallian values minus 1-4. Remember that this value stacks additively with whatever "Clothing" stat on character screen says.

Intercept angle is also tied to the trooper class:

4.2 Class Leveling - Level, XP, Unlocks (Potentials, Orders, Weapons)

This section contains tables, which show what is unlocked at which level, as well as XP requirements.

Scouts, Shocktroopers, Lancers

		Scout		Shocktrooper		Lancer
Level	XP	Unlocks	XP	Unlocks	XP	Unlocks
2	228		288		252	Potential 1
3	850		1074	Potential 1	939	Order: Damage Boost
4	1838	Potential 1	2322	Order: Attack Boost	2031	Potential 2
5	3174		4010		3509
6	4852	Potential 2	6129	Order: All Units Attack	5363
7	6860		8666	Potential 2	7583
8	9196	Order: All Units Evade	11616		10164
9	11852		14971		13099	Order: All Units Damage*
10	14824		18726		16385
11	18109	Grenade Launcher	22875	Potential 3, T-MAG, Flamethrower	20016	Potential 3, Mortar Lance
12	21705		27417		23990
13	25608		32347		28303
14	29813	Potential 3	37659		32952
15	34321		43353		37934
16	39129		49426		43248
17	44233	Potential 4	55874		48890
18	49634		62696	Potential 4	54859
19	55328		69889		61153	Order: Attack Weak Spot
20	61314	Order: Perfect Evasion	77450	Order: Neutralize	67769	Potential 4

* All Units Damage is called Demolition Boost when you unlock it in the training field, the description is also wrong. It is correct in Welkin's Order listings

Snipers, Engineers

		Engineer		Sniper
Levels	XP	Unlocks	XP	Unlocks
2	156	Order: Defense Boost	276	Potential 1
3	581		1029
4	1257	Potential 1	2225
5	2172	Order: Antidote	3843	Order: Aim Boost
6	3320		5874
7	4694	Order: All Units Defend	8305
8	6292		11132	Potential 2
9	8109	Potential 2	14347
10	10143	Order: Medic Request	17945	Order: All Units Aim
11	12390		21922	Intercept SR's
12	14851	Order: Resupply	26275
13	17521	Order: Healing Boost	30999	Potential 3
14	20398	Potential 3	36090
15	23483		41547
16	26772	Order: Explosives Boost	47367	Potential 4
17	30265		53546
18	33960	Order: First Aid	60084
19	37856		66977
20	41952	Potential 4	74223	Order: Perfect Accuracy

5. Various game mechanics

VC does a spectacularly poor job of conveying how certain things work. This section will provide an insight into different aspects of the game:

• Weapon mechanics
  
• Tank mechanics
  
• Line of Sight and Vision
  
• Game's AI

5.1.1 Weapon mechanics - Damage and Range

This section describes the way weapon damage and range work in VC.
In addition to stats displayed in-game: vsPers, vsArmor, Accuracy and Range, every weapon in the game actually has 2 more relevant hidden stats. More accurately, the term "Range" aggregates 3 separate variables:

• "Range" - the distance, within which a weapon deals its full damage and is capable of interceptin and team attacks - the one displayed in its description window. To ensure no terminology mix-ups and better clarity, I've chosen to refer to it as "Nominal Range" throughout the guide.
  
• "Maximum Effective Range" - the maximum distance, within which any damage is dealt. Projectiles are destroyed at that range and do not hit anything.
  
• "Range Attack Reduction" - it is a ratio by which all damage is multiplied past nominal range. Ranges from 0 to 1, with 1 meaning no drop-off at all and 0 meaning full immediate drop to 0 damage.

These values together form a "Damage drop-off curve" (it should probably quite familiar to FPS players). The curve is affected by all buffs and debuffs.
There are two distinct examples:
1) Range attack reduction = 1.
I've taken Mags M30 as a basic example. Its stats are:

• 200 Nominal Range;
  
• 400 Maximum Effective Range;
  
• Range Attack Reduction ratio of 1 (means that it deals 0 damage at 400 range and beyond).

Buff/debuff bonus values are thought up for demonstration purposes, but the "normal" version is correct.
2) 0 < Range attack reduction < 1. Here's what damage drop-off curve looks like for various rifles, lances etc. Values are thought up here, the important part is that Range Attack Reduction = 0.5

When you aim at an enemy, you can tell at a glance at which distance you currently are:

• Within Nominal Range - red arrow above the enemy
  
• Past Nominal, but within Effective - tan arrow above the enemy
  
• Past Effective - "To kill" section of aiming interface above will disappear completely

A short reference list of characteristics for some weapon classes:

• Scout/Engineer rifles generally have Maximum Range of 1000, Reduction ratio of 0.5 or 1;
  
• Sniper Rifles generally have Maximum Range of 2500, Reduction ratio of 0.5;
  
• Machine Guns generally have Maximum Range equal to twice their Nominal Range (400 for 200, 350 for 175 etc), Reduction ratio of 1. Royal Mags has a maximum range of 400 on ALL models;
  
• Gallian lances generally have Maximum Range of 1500, Reduction ratio of 0.5;
  
• Edelweiss's main caliber (Anti-Tank rounds and upgrades) has a maximum range of 5000, Reduction ratio of 0.5.

vsArmor and Sandbags

Weapons with high vsArmor rating (150+) can destroy sandbags:

• All Grenades
  
• Gallian-SR and Gallian-ER models
  
• All Lances and Mortar Lances
  
• All Tank main caliber rounds and Mortars
  
• Brondel and GSR-R Sniper rifles
  
• Some Imperial Sniper Rifles (on enemies!)
  
• AT Cannons

This is, of course, subject to range dropoff rule. You need >150 vsArmor at the range you're located, so Rifles and Royal Lances are somewhat limited in that regard.

5.1.2. Weapon mechanics - Firing and accuracy

The basic idea is simple: projectile weapons fire in a cone with proper collision detection (well, as proper as world's geometry allows); projectiles originate at a weapon end and are randomly distributed across the firing cone base area. The details, however, are slightly more complex.

There are 2 accuracy stats that govern the size of the cone base (the circle that you see): Weapon Accuracy and Trooper Accuracy. These 2 stats allow to calculate Total Accuracy:

Total_Accuracy = Weapon_Accuracy x (100 - Trooper_Accuracy) x Modifiers

Modifiers are buff and debuff ratios.
This value is translated into cone base radius in pixels using the following formula:

Cone_Base_Radius = (Vertical_Resolution/720) Total_Accuracy / 100

Vertical_Resolution is, well, your vertical resolution. Basically, accuracy values in VC are based on 720p and then visually upscaled for other resolutions (take screenshots in different resolutions and count pixels if you don't believe me).

As a result, Trooper Accuracy is a value that goes up with levels (bigger value = better), whereas Weapon Accuracy goes down (smaller value = better). If you decide to try and change some weapons yourself, keep that in mind. It's not really something that's worth remembering as a player.

Now, let's learn how to read the aiming reticule. When you take aim you can see 4 white arrows, an orange circle and a crosshair.
White arrows represent Weapon Accuracy. This is what your accuracy would be if your trooper had 0 accuracy and 0 buffs (see red circle on screenshot below).
Orange circle corresponds to my formulas above and represents the final accuracy.
Crosshair is white if your aim is not centered on an enemy and red otherwise. This can be used to make sure you aren't hitting walls and other geometry, including invisible wall parts.


A cone, being what it is, is defined not only by its "base radius", but by "height" as well. In other words, that aiming circle you see is actually located at a certain fixed distance from you. Probably unsurprsingly, this distance is weapon's Nominal Range.

This means firing at someone closer than your weapon range will result in a proportionally reduced aiming circle, whereas firing at someone far far away is performed with an increased aiming circle compared to what you see on the screen.
Obviously, if the radius is reduced/increased in a linear proportion, the circle area changes quadratically. Which means, every few extra steps you make can impact the amount of hits... or can they?

The last, and the most difficult question to answer, - how are the bullets distributed within the cone?
I won't bore you with explainaitions about statistics and testing that I did, and just give the "user-friendly" result.

I will, nevertheless, note that this means anything only when large shot samples are in play. That is, over the course of the whole campaign, this holds true. But landing That One Critical Hit can go in absolutely whatever way.
Machine Guns are really the only weapon, for which you can rely on this distribution to do the job (that is, you WILL get your 5-6 headshots no matter what).

5.2 Tank Mechanics

This section contains notes on game mechanics surrounding Tanks.

Parts have been changed from vanilla game:

• Red parts give both Body and Thread HP.
  
• Yellow parts give Body and Thread Defense.
  
• Blue parts give Accuracy.
  
• Purple parts give AP.
  
• Green parts give Radiator Defense (CritDef).

How does Defense work on tanks?

A tank's Def stat is subtracted from enemies' vsArmor stat on every shot. The result is then subtracted from tank's HP pool. The same is true for Thread Def and HP, just different values are used.
Examples (all numbers are for demonstration purposes):
1) Lancer with 1600 vsArmor against 2000 HP/400 Def Tank will deal 1200 damage in one attack. Tank will be left with 800 HP.
2) Lancer with 1600 vsArmor against 2500 HP/100 Def Tank will deal 1500 damage in one attack. Tank will be left with 1000 HP.
3) Machine Gun with 300 vsArmor against 2000 HP/400 Def Tank will deal 0 damage with every shot. Tank can ignore it completely.
4) Machine Gun with 300 vsArmor against 2500 HP/100 Def Tank will deal 200 damage per bullet and quickly turn our Tank into mincemeat with interception fire.

Bottom line: consider whether you are facing "heavy" single shots or a continuos stream of "light" damage coming in and outfit your tanks accordingly. I say "tanks", but Shamrock doesn't really get that many options.
Also note that even if your Body Def is high enough to ignore MG turret interception fire, your Thread Def quite likely is not. Watch out, so that you don't get immobilized under a stream of fire, where your Engineer will have a hard time helping you (especially if you've already used smoke round).

A bit of personal opinion: don't bother with CritDef, unless you're absolutely sure you'll need it. If you shine the radiator to a Shocktrooper and get a couple magazines unloaded in it - nothing will really change. Not having extra 200 HP from parts you couldn't install, on the other hand, might mean that you can't survive 2-3 direct shots from enemy tanks or Lancers. And if anything even remotely serious gets a view of your back side - you're done for either way. Positioning is key, learn to not expose your radiator unnecessarily.

A couple notes on ISARA Smoke Rounds

1) You cannot resupply this type of ammunition by any means during your current turn. Neither Engineers, nor Resupply Order restock it. Effectively, you can only use one each Player Phase.

2) Smoke Rounds have peciluar interactions with Line Of Sight and Spotting. Refere to the section that covers LOS for more info.

In a fashion similar to smoke clouds, enemies do not consider tanks as obstacles for the purposes of line-of-sight (again, check out the LOS section). They will begin to intercept your troops behind a tank if they can "see" them. Take special care with Gatling Bunkers and AT Cannons - if your tanks lack Def, they might get blown up while being used as cover.

AT Cannons and Heavy Gatlings.

Those things are coded as tanks with the weapon itself being "Body", and the gunner being treated as "Radiator".
Unlike what their appearance might suggest, Gatlings are able to turn full 360 degrees on their turn, so ending Phase with units behind them does not guarantee survival.

Other notes:

• You cannot repair a tank inside a Smoke Cloud if your Engineer is outside.
  
• Many tanks have weird hitbox glitches. This is especially frustrating when sniping radiators. Sometimes you can access radiator even though you're seemingly aiming at armored parts, sometimes you are hitting body even though it looks like you shouldn't. Use "To Kill" as an indicator, and don't trust the "my reticule is obviously pointing at the radiator" train of thought. Also, I highly recommend calculating expected damage/shots-to-kill vs Tanks manually and comparing it to what you see.
  
• More hitbox glitches happen when a weapon's point of projectile origin is located inside a tank. It may sometimes shoot through the tank, or even hit it from inside. Yes, this includes radiator. Don't believe me? Plant Edelweiss with minimum armor parts face first into any friendly neighbourhood Heavy Gatling and watch its HP randomly go down.

5.3 Line Of Sight and Vision

Line of sight mechanics in VC determine who can see whom on the tactical map. It is important to understand whether or not your unit's locations are known to enemies in order to at least partially predict their actions during Enemy Phase. The game does a fantastic job of not explaining it properly. Everything presented here applies not just to the modded version, but vanilla VC as well.

For the rest of this description, I will designate the faction whose Phase is currently going on as F(1) and the waiting faction as F(2). Mechanics are symmetric for Player and AI in this regard. I will also describe some practical consequences of these rules.

[1] The Beginning

The default stealth status in absence of any LOS from Units from F(1) to a Unit from F(2) is "Hidden". Such units do not appear on tactical map for F(1), except during F(2)'s Phase (partially).
At the beginning of battles LOS of all Units is forcibly updated to fill an initial Tactical Map.
Practical consequences:
- Player needs to discover enemies in Action Mode or via Recon Request Order (Old Man's order, NG+ only) in order to see them on the map, except the ones initally Spotted.
- AI will exclude Player's Hidden troops from strategic decision-making, but any triggers activated by them will affect AI's actions.
- Hidden unit movement is reflected upon Strategic Map. It is possible to clearly distinguish between infantry and tanks (by spent CP and SFX), but normally not particular unit types.

[2] Lines Of Sight

When Unit(1) of the opposing faction gets LOS to Enemy Unit(2), the state of (2) changes to "Spotted". It appears on Faction(1)'s Tactical Map. This does not necessarily mean that Unit(2) spots Unit(1) - Grass and Night are possible reasons. If none of those conditions apply, then Unit(1) also becomes "Spotted" for F(2).
Normally, spotting status is reflected by color-coded lines that appear above Player-controlled characters:

• No line - Player Unit isn't Spotting anyone.
  
• Blue line - Player Unit is seeing enemy and is Hidden.
  
• Yellow line - Player Unit is seeing enemy and is Spotted.
  
• Red line - Player Unit is in range of AI Unit interception fire and is being fired upon.
  
• Green line - Player Unit is in range of AI Unit interception fire and AI Unit is reloading.

Bumping into someone inside Smoke Cloud will make both units Spotted (notice the yellow line on screenshots below).

Practical consequences:
- Most of the time becoming aware of an enemy is mutual.
- Red/Green lines can be used to trace and minimize interception damage, especially at long range (from Scouts and Snipers).

[3] Breaking LOS

If Unit(1) is Spotted and breaks LOS (enters Smoke cloud, Grass, moves behind the corner OR Units of F(2) break LOS in the same ways on their Phase) - its status becomes Hidden, but its last known location is marked on the Tactical Map as "?".
Practical consequences:
- When F(1) ends Phase, all F(2) Units that F(1) has no LOS to immediately become "Hidden".

[4] Attacking and Spotting

If Unit(1) attacks while Hidden (i.e from Smoke Cloud, Grass or outside detection range at night) the attack cannot be evaded, but Unit(1) immediately becomes Spotted. Such attack can be subject to counterattack provided Unit(2) survives, with counterattack suffering Accuracy penalty. Smoke Clouds and Grass continue, however, to grant immunity to interception fire after attack.
In order to regain Hidden status it's necessary for Unit(1) to either hide behind a corner, or fully exit and re-enter Smoke, whereas Grass allows to immediately regain hidden status without reentering. Just staying at the attack location or moving without exiting Smoke will not set status to Hidden.

Example with Smoke:
Edelweiss is Spotted (left) and gets Hidden by backpedaling (right)
However, if Edelweiss attacks that Scout (and kills him, in this case), Lancer to the left will be aware of Edelweiss and attack it during Enemy Phase.


Practical consequences:
- Mind your attack damage and success chance. Use attacks from stealth for guaranteed kills to avoid dealing with undesired interception.
- Doublecheck your ability to reenter stealth after attacking. Consider interception from sources other than your target and available AP.

[5] LOS interactions: Tanks, Corners & Non-Full Height Vertical Obstacles, Grass, Nightime.

Tanks

are not considered solid obstacles for purposes of determining LOS. You can observe enemies trying to intercept your troops behind the tank. This can have unpleasant ramifications (see Tank Mechanics section for more details).

Vertical full-height Corners

have a small area around them which prevents discovery LOS and line of fire but does not stop projectiles. This allows Player to discover enemies around the corner from a different angle first, and then use the corner to attack without interception and a very high chance for most enemy counterattack projectiles to hit the wall instead of Trooper.
Example: Nina can stand here with no interception all day long, even though she is Spotted as per yellow line.

Diagonal Corners

usually act in the same way as Vertical Corners, with diagonal part and a small area around the edge blocking LOS. Additional use case - you might be able to safely approach and throw a grenade (or use Grenade Launcher) through that diagonal opening without worrying about hitting the wall.
I'll just let the images speak here:

Grass

has a value named "Detection Range" associated with it - the distance at which Hidden Units in grass can be detected. This distance is 150 for Scouts, 50 for everyone else. Ambush Spotter potential sets this value to 150 for the duration. Units in grass with Hidden status will not intercept-fire until Spotted.
Example:
Even though Juno attacks and kills one of the Scouts, Grass immediately grants her Hidden status. As such, during Enemy Phase she doesn't start intercepting (check Shocktrooper and Scout's position, both well within her rifle's range) until she gets discovered by enemy Scout advancing forward.

Day and Night.

During daytime detection radius equals to "as far as you can see". Initial detection radius is reduced at night for all units to 300 (Nocturnal potential can offset this for the duration). A good visual representation is that it equals to Scouts' Grenade Launcher maximum range.

However, in order to regain Hidden status Unit has to properly break LOS as described in [3,4]. Simply moving past detection radius will not make one Hidden. Additionally, positioning Unit(1) inside sources of light (like lamps) will enable other Units(2) to Spot Unit(1) across the whole map as if it was daytime.
Attacking at night will have the same effect as attacking from Smoke Cloud (Unit becomes Spotted).

5.4 AI

This section contains my attempts to shed light on and explain VC's AI logic. Figuring out what AI is going to do is probably the hardest part of the game.

Everything presented here is a model based on observations and various tests. By "model" I mean that it may or may not accurately represent the actual AI scripting, but it does line up with observable results.

AI has 2 fundamental levels of decision-making:

• Strategic AI is responsible for determining global objectives and units that are to be moved.
  
• Tactical AI is responsible for unit behavior in Action Mode.

Strategic AI.

Strategic-level AI scripts are heavily tied to each particular map, as well as Player's progress on the map. At each point in the game, AI has a set of objectives (i.e. "attack/defend this camp", "take this position", "advance to this location and hold it" etc.). Player actions can trigger a change in this set of objectives. The most common and easily observable actions are "taking a camp" and "advancing past a certain point".

Line Of Sight is taken into account by strategic AI. Keeping units hidden is a good way to make sure they won't be subject to random attacks from Snipers and the like. Alternatively, showing off a tank and baiting Lancers to get mowed down by Shocktoopers and become a waste of CP sounds like a plan too.

CP given to AI is divided into allotments for various purposes:

• Orders (in Boss battles only)
  
• Reinforcement calls
  
• Tank movement
  
• Infantry movement

You could, for example. notice that destroying a tank sometimes makes AI end Phase with unspent CP that could logically be easily used to advance other troops, or move troops multiple times. Noticing things like that can help formulate a plan to make AI "waste" CP - i.e. take down tank threads, so that AI attempts to move it because it was going to anyway, but fails do anything productive.
Those allotments may arbitrarily change via aforementioned Player actions that hit certain triggers.

Practical advice:
How realistic it is to figure out AI's intentions? Honestly, more often than not it's a matter of trial and error, with lots of error involved. Sometimes you may have seemingly unimportant advancement change the entirety of Enemy Phase.
As a general first approximation rule - if you are supposed to be on the offensive, try to split the map into areas that seem to make sense and expect units in those areas to become agressive when you get sufficiently close. If the mission looks like you're on the defensive - try to predict directions from which enemy will advance and cut them off or go into hiding, while preparing an offensive of your own that can swiftly occupy an entire area.

Tactical AI.

So, strategic AI has decided which unit to move and where. What happens in Action Mode is decided, aside from the direction of movement, by personal unit scripts. Two most important points decided by a script attached to each unit are: "how does it interact with interception" and "who does it attack".

AI and interception:

• Units might ignore interception fire completely. Those only stop when they either reach their destination or die on their way.
  
• Units might stop under Machine Gun-based interception fire (Shocktroopers' MGs, Tanks' MGs, Shamrock Gatlings) but ignore Rifle interception fire (Scouts/Engineers) and Sniper interception fire. Probably tied to fire rate, but don't quote me on that.
  
• Units might stop after being shot even once (the most common case) or twice (try to move after being hit once).
  
• AI might try to move unit stopped by interception multiple times. Didn't like that Lancer shooting Edelweiss? Time to do it twice in a row. On the bright side, they might eventually suicide.

AI and attacks:
Whenever AI-controlled unit stops, it may attack one of the targets in its weapon range. Each unit's script might use a different condition to select a target:

• A "preset" target. Usually plot-related events.
  
• A "priority" target. I.e. units with anti-tank capabilities will prioritize Player's tanks and go for infantry only if they can't find a tank to attack.
  
• The unit who was intercepting. If multiple, other rules apply.
  
• Distance factor. Usually means closest in absense of other factors.
  
• Damage-per-shot factor. Troops with the lowest Def are more likely to be attacked in absense of other factors.
  
• Ability to deal damage. Units may decide to not attack if they cannot deal damage to target, or it is too low (think Defense Boost + MAJ-X debuff vs Shocktrooper).

Practical advice:
The only thing you can do in each particular case is guess and experiment. Generally, expect the worst case (instant stop) for most units. Better safe than sorry, especially with Lancers. Not being able to kill one with interception because he instantly stops and takes aim can quickly turn a would-be decent defensive line into a disaster.
Marginally useful indicators that units may continue forward despite interception:

• a mission involving defending something.
  
• total A-rank CP (CP Per Turn times A-rank Turn Limit) is less than threats in missions where your victory condition is to kill all enemies.

6. R&D

This section contains detailed tables for R&D upgrades available in-game per chapter, as well as my notes on different weapon types and their efficiency.

Weapons in tables are listed under chapter battle number, BEFORE which they can be purchased (for example, you can buy Gallian-2 before going into battle in Ch.3).

Rifles:

1) Gallian-A cannot intercept or team-attack, but makes up for it with a lot of damage. Use it if you want your Scouts and Engineers to be able to take down beefy targets (Shocktroopers, Lancers) on their own. Downside - your range indicator is always tan, so you have to properly estimate the distance yourself.
2) Gallian-S is an accuracy model. It lacks damage compared to Gallian-A, but nailing 4-5 headshots at long range is no problem. It also has the longest nominal range, which can help with interception.
3) Gallian-X is only as good as -Def debuff it carries. Both its damage and accuracy aren't that great. Ok range means you can deliver its debuff with interception. Weapon-induced status effects last until the end of the next phase, so you can weaken enemies on their turn and then dispatch them on yours.

Machine Guns:

1) Mags is the basic model. Packs a punch even beyond its nominal range and has good enough accuracy to guarantee a very high headshot rate from the very beginning of the game. Still, nominal range of 200 is often not too great when it comes to interception. With enemies usually stopping as soon as they are fired upon, you should be able to bring them down after their attack (provided you survive it).
2) MAJ-X is largely a defensive option. It starts off with lower shot count but higher range, and its main feature is its attack debuff that basically nullifies any damage dealt by a unit (both vsPers and vsArmor).
3) T-MAG trades off range and accuracy for raw shot count. It has a potential to deal more damage than any other weapon, but for the most part of the game you need to be close enough (or use aim boosts) to hit enough bullets. This weapon is a good way to keep Shocktroopers without Super and Ultimate Damage relevant throughout the game, as long as you're fine with watching much longer attack animation.

Lances:

1) Regular Lances (Lancaar/Theimer) are your best friend, when it comes to tank busting.
2) Mortar Lances (Lancaar-SH) deal massive AoE damage, that can easily kill units crouching behind sandbags. Their range got a nice increase from vanilla (300 from 200), pushing them past average Shocktrooper interception (~240-250). If you plan on assaulting heavily fortified positions - keep this weapon in mind.

Sniper Rifles:

1) GSR, an anti-personnel model, trades away 1 shot for pretty much a guaranteed headshot kill on any standing target at just about any range in the game.
2) Brondel, an anti-materiel model, can punch through tanks, bunkers and structures (sandbags, AT Barricades, Towers) alike. Combine with Penetrator (Marina/Catherine) for optimal results. It's still capable of getting headshot kills on standing targets in most circumstances (but not all).
3) Intercept is a model that, well, can intercept. Its raw damage output is pathetic, don't expect any one-shot-kills with this rifle. Or two-shot kills, for that matter. I find interception to be a somewhat weird and quite unreliable mechanic, so there you have it - the idea is very sound, but most of the time the AI just ruins it in my experience. Oh, and this weapon line also carries Accuracy debuff. It likely won't stop Lancers from hitting your tanks, but might be of help against Shocktroopers and Scouts.

Flamethrowers:

1) FF is an anti-personnel model. It has issues with one-shotting Lancers in camps (and sometimes Shocktroopers), as well as Aces, but otherwise is plenty reliable.
2) FoG, an anti-materiel model, is a sound way to deal with Bunkers that have ragnite crates nearby, as well as ground turrets (AT cannons, Gatlings). It also doesn't blow away smoke clouds (unlike lances), so you might want to use it against enemy tank radiators inside the cloud.

Note: Flametrowers ignore cover bonuses and can be subject to Attack Weak Spot Order to deal "critical damage", which is enough to kill just about any trooper.

Grenades:

Engineers get to throw them farther and hurt armored opponents more. Incidentially, this has a consequence that you effectively only get 2 grenade upgrades per class (Scouts/Shocktroopers and Engineers).

Tank parts in tables are listed under chapter battle number, BEFORE which they can be purchased (for example, you can get +10 Def on Edelweiss before going into battle in Ch.3).

I've chosen to list mechanical effects for tank parts, rather than names, because it's actually realistic to track them all. Weapons just have too many stats, and they are fairly marginal (i.e. +2 damage isn't something you're going to pay atttention to too much).

6.1 R&D - Rifles, Machine Guns

	Rifles		Machine Guns
Chapter	Upgrade(s)	Price	Upgrade(s)	Price
3	Gallian-2	1000
4			Mags M2	1000
5	Gallian-3	2000	Mags M3	2000
6	Gallian-4	4500	Mags M4	4500
7
8a	Gallian-A1,S1,X1	3x8000
8b			MAJ-X M1, Mags M10	2x8000
9
10a	Gallian-A2,S2,X2	3x12500
10b			MAJ-X M2, Mags M11, T-Mag 1	3x12500
11	Gallian-A3,S3,X3	3x18000
12			MAJ-X M3, Mags M12, T-Mag 2	3x18000
13	Gallian-A10,S10,X10	3x24500
14			MAJ-X M10, Mags M20, T-Mag 10	3x24500
15a	Gallian-A11,S11,X11	3x32000
15b			MAJ-X M11, Mags M21, T-Mag 11	3x32000
16	Gallian-A12,S12,X12	3x40500
17			MAJ-X M12, Mags M22, T-Mag 12	3x40500
18a	Gallian-A20,S20,X20	3x50000
18b			MAJ-X M20, Mags M30, T-Mag 20	3x50000

6.2 R&D - Anti-Tank Lances, Sniper Rifles

	Lances		Sniper Rifles
Chapter	Upgrade(s)	Price	Upgrade(s)	Price
3
4	Lancaar M2	1000	GSR-2	1000
5	Lancaar M3	2450	GSR-3	2000
6
7	Lancaar M4	5110	GSR-4	4500
8a	Theimer M01	8600
8b			Brondel M1, GSR-10, Intercept X1	3x8000
9	Lancaar-SH M1	12900
10a	Theimer M02	12900
10b			Brondel M2, GSR-11, Intercept X2	3x12500
11	Theimer M03, Lancaar-SH M2	2x17900
12			Brondel M3, GSR-12, Intercept X3	3x18000
13	Theimer M10, Lancaar-SH M10	2x23700
14			Brondel M10, GSR-20, Intercept X10	3x24500
15a	Theimer M11, Lancaar-SH M11	2x30200
15b			Brondel M11, GSR-21, Intercept X11	3x32000
16	Lancaar-SH M12	37300
17	Theimer M12	37300	Brondel M12, GSR-22, Intercept X12	3x40500
18a	Theimer M20, Lancaar-SH M20	2x45200
18b			Brondel M20, GSR-30, Intercept X20	3x50000

6.3 R&D - Grenades, Flametrowers, Uniforms, Blast Suits

	Hand Grenades		Flamethrowers		Uniforms		Blast Suits
Chapter	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade(s)	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
3					BD-2	500	AD-2	900
4
5					BD-3	2400	AD-3	2000
6
7					BD-4	2500	AD-4	2900
8a	B-Type M3	4000
8b			FF-2, FoG-01	2x10500	BD-5	3300	AD-5	4100
9			FF-3	15400
10a			FoG-02	15400	BD-6	4500	AD-6	5400
10b			FF-4	21000
11	S-Type M3	9000	FoG-03	21000	BD-7	5800	AD-7	6400
12
13			FF-5, FoG-04	2x27300	BD-8	7000	AD-8	7600
14
15a	B-Type M5	16000	FoG-05	34300	BD-9	8100	AD-9	9000
15b	S-Type M5	16000	FF-6	34300
16			FoG-06	41900	BD-10	9500	AD-10	10100
17			FF-7	41900
18a			FoG-07	50100	BD-F	10300	AD-F	11900
18b			FF-8	50100

6.4 R&D - Edelweiss Upgrades

Note: Edelweiss gets +8 slots for parts in chapter 11

	Body
Chapter	Offence		Body+Thread HP		Def
	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
3	Cannon +200 Range	1500			+10 Def	1200
4	Cannon +40 vsPers, +400 vsArmor	4200	+200 HP	1700	+10 Def	3300
5
6	Mortar +100 vsPers, +200 vsArmor, +10 Blast	7700
7
8			+200 HP	7100	+20 Def	8600
9	MG +10 vsPers	11700
10a	Cannon +200 Range	16300			+20 Def	11800
10b	MG +10 vsPers	21300
11			+200 HP, +50 AP	13800
12
13
14			+200 HP	21400
15a	Cannon +40 vsPers, +400 vsArmor
15b	Mortar +100 vsPers, +200 vsArmor, +20 Blast	32600			+20 Def	19100
16			+200 HP	29600	+20 Def	27200
17	Cannon +40 vsPers, +400 vsArmor	38800
18a
18b	Cannon +200 Range, +60 vsPers, +600 vsArmor; Mortar +50 Range, +100 vsPers, +200 vsArmor	45300	+500 HP	34000	+100 Def, +50 CritDef	31600

	Treads & Other
Chapter	Tread+Body HP		Thread+Body Def		Radiator Def
3	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
4	+200 HP	1000			+10 CritDef	1000
5
6			+14 Def	1000
7			+16 Def	2500	+15 CritDef	2900
8
9	+250 HP	2900	+18 Def	4300
10a			+20 Def	6000	+20 CritDef	5200
10b
11					+30 CritDef	8000
12			+30 Def	8000
13	+400 HP	9200
14
15a			+32 Def	10000
15b
16	+450 HP	12000			+35 CritDef	11200
17			+34 Def	12000
18a
18b			+36 Def	15000	+40 CritDef	14700

	Attack Support
Chapter	Sight		AP
3	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
4	+5 Acc	1000
5
6			+30 AP	1000
7
8	+6 Acc	2900
9
10a			+50 AP	2000
10b	+7 Acc	5200
11
12	+8 Acc	8000
13
14
15a
15b			+70 AP	4000
16
17
18a
18b	+9 Acc	11200

6.5 R&D - Shamrock Upgrades

	Body Enhancements
	HP		Def
Chapter	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
11	+150 HP	10000	+30 Def	7500
12
13
14
15a
15b	+150 HP	26400	+30 Def	18500
16
17
18a	+200 HP	36000	+40 Def	31300
18b

	Firepower Upgrades
	Standard turret		Gatling		Flametrower
Chapter	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
11	Cannon +40 vsPers, +400 vsArmor	12000
12
13
14			+5 vsPers, +20 vsArmor	8300	+100 vsPers, +20 vsArmor	9000
15a	Mortar +50 vsPers, +100 vsArmor, +10 Blast	17000
15b
16	MG +10 vsPers	20800
17
18a	Cannon +40 vsPers, +400 vsArmor	24000	+5 vsPers, +20 vsArmor	19100	+100 vsPers, +50 vsArmor	18000
18b	Mortar +50 vsPers, +100 vsArmor, +10 Blast	26900

	Threads&other						Attack Support
	HP		Body&Thread Def		Radiator		Accuracy		AP
Chapter	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price	Upgrade	Price
11			+20 Def	3500
12
13
14	+400 HP	3500
15a									+60 AP	3000
15b					+100 CritDef	26000	+10 Acc	6000
16			+30 Def	10000
17	+600 HP	7000							+90 AP	6000
18a			+50 Def	20000	+100 CritDef	20000	+15 Acc	18000
18b

7. Ace Weapons, Ace Parts, Royal Weapons

This section contains tables (8.1) for all Ace and Royal weapons and tank parts and my notes on them.

Ace weapons are obtained by defeating named enemies (Aces) in different chapters.
Notes:

• All Aces, with the exception of one found in Chapter 2 and some Skirmishes, will evade any attack, provided that they have line-of-sight to the opponent.
  
• Aces will not evade attacks from the back, like any other troops.
  
• Aces will not evade Mortar shots and grenades that land behind their back.
  
• Shooting at the ground where Aces drop to will deal lessened damage.
  
• Aces take normal damage from interception fire.
  
• Aces are not immune to status debuffs.

Ace Models:

• ZM MP's are short-range, low shot count, heavy punch MG's. The earliest infantry weapon capable of killing AT cannons by itself.
  
• ZM Kar's are short-range, heavy punch Rifles. They are divided into universal, Scout-only (marked "s") and Engineer-only (marked "e") models.
  
• ZM SG's are sniper rifles that can intercept. More punch and less range/accuracy, compared to Intercept line.
  
• VB FW are anti-personnel flamethrowers. Substantially more damage than FF, can one-shot just about every infantry unit.

Parts for Edelweiss and Shamrock are obtained by destroying Ace Tanks. Those act like normal tanks in every respect.

Royal weapons can be obtained starting from Chapter 10. After beating a Story battle, you will be eligible to receive one weapon per condition satisfied during the battle:

• At least B rank obtained.
  
• All enemy tanks were destroyed.
  
• All enemy leaders were killed.
  
• No ally was KO'd.
  
• No ally was killed.

If a map does not have some of these conditions present (i.e. there are no tanks and/or no leaders on the map), you will not receive a weapon for it.
Weapons are determined randomly for each allotment you're eligible for. If you reload and enter Audience Hall again, weapons will be determined anew.

Royal Models:

• Mags-R is a long range, low damage and shot count MG line. Strong interception capabilities, lacks punch against crouched targets.
  
• Gallian-R is a long range, low vsPers, high vsArmor rifle line. ER is Engineer-only model, SR is Scout-only model. Good vs AT Cannons/Gatlings, still capable against standing targets.
  
• GSR-R is a middle ground between Brondel and GSR. 3 shots, high vsPers, average vsArmor. Good when Brondel is not enough to get one-shot-kills, but anti-armor capability is desired (i.e. to safely get AT Cannons).
  
• Theimer-R is a high accuracy, (relatively) low vsArmor, average vsPers lance line. Good for precision shots against barely exposed radiators. Loses to regular Theimer in terms of direct punching power.

Ace Weapons, obtained from Challenge of the Edy Detachment Skirmishes:
These weapons have been severely altered from vanilla version.

• Susie's Challenge (Scouts) - Vigilance - Scout-only rifle, 1500 range, no damage, -Def debuff. Makes enemies' defenses miserable via interception and/or teamattacks, useless by itself.
  
• Jann's Challenge (Lancers) - Earthquake - Lance that has a huge anti-infantry knockback wave with no damage to speak of. If you want to blow multiple widely spread targets out of cover (including different pieces of cover) and/or bait their interception from afar - this is an option. Cover doesn't get destroyed in the process, since vsArmor rating of Earthquake is 0. It also happens to crash the game every now an then, so save before using it.
  
• Marina's Challenge (Snipers) - Penetrator - low vsPers (on the level of Intercept), low vsArmor (same as Brondel M1), doesn't intercept but does have unlimited ammo and shoots through all targets in range. Really worth it only if you can line up multiple targets and kill them in the same amount of CP it would otherwise take you to kill them one-by-one.
  
• Homer's Challenge (Engineers) - Trickster - Engineer-only rifle, fires one shot with high vsArmor and a knockback against human targets.
  
• Edy's Challenge (Shocktroopers) - Infection - MG, 500 range, -Atk debuff, but no damage. Similar to Vigilance, a pure debuff weapon.
  
• Edy Detachment Challenge (Squad/Tank) - Armageddon Rifle - Sniper rifle with 666 vsPers? Sign me up. Downside - only 1 ammo. Effectively, 1 guaranteed kill on any infantry unit per round + any resupplies.

8. Ace & Royal Weapon Tables

Note: there are no and Hard Skirmish Ace weapons here yet.

Ace weapons
Name	Type	In Chapter
ZM Kar 1	Rifle(all)	2
ZM MP 1	Machine Gun	3
ZM MP 2	Machine Gun	5
ZM SG 1	Sniper Rifle	6
ZM Kar 3(e)	Rifle(Engineers)	7
ZM MP 3	Machine Gun	8a
ZM SG 2	Sniper Rifle	8b
ZM Kar 3(s)	Rifle(Scouts)	10a
ZM SG 3	Sniper Rifle	10b
VB FW 1	Flamethrower	11
ZM SG 4	Sniper Rifle	12
ZM Kar 5(e)	Rifle(Engineers)	13
ZM MP 4	Machine Gun	14
VB FW 2	Flamethrower	Rosie's Report
ZM Kar 5(s)	Rifle(Scouts)	15a
ZM SG 5	Sniper Rifle	16
ZM MP 5	Machine Gun	17

Royal Weapons
Name	Type	For Chapters
Gallian 1R	Rifle(all)	10a, 10b, 11
Mags M1R	Machine Gun	10a, 10b, 11
GSR 1R	Sniper Rifle	10a, 10b, 11
Lancaar M1R	Lance	10a, 10b, 11
Gallian SR	Rifle(Scouts)	12,13,14
Mags M3R	Machine Gun	12,13,14
GSR 3R	Sniper Rifle	12,13,14
Lancaar M3R	Lance	12,13,14
Gallian ER	Rifle(Engineers)	15a,15b
Mags M10R	Machine Gun	15a,15b
GSR 10R	Sniper Rifle	15a,15b
Theimer M10R	Lance	15a,15b
Gallian S30R	Rifle(Scouts)	16,17
Mags M20R	Machine Gun	16,17
GSR 20R	Sniper Rifle	16,17
Theimer M20R	Lance	16,17
Gallian E30R	Rifle(Engineers)	18a, 18b
Mags M30R	Machine Gun	18a, 18b
GSR 30R	Sniper Rifle	18a, 18b
Theimer M30R	Lance	18a, 18b

Tank parts
Name	Tank, Effect	In Chapter
Enhanced Block Pin	Edelweiss, +700 HP	12
Firing Calculator	Shamrock, +25 Accuracy	Welkin's Report
Firing Calculator	Edelweiss, +15 Accuracy	15a

Challenge Of The Edy Detachment Ace Weapons
Challenge	Name	Weapon type
Susie's (Scout)	Vigilance	Rifle(Scouts)
Jann's (Lancer)	Earthquake	Lance
Marina's (Sniper)	Penetrator	Sniper Rifle
Homer's (Engineer)	Trickster	Rifle(Engineers)
Edy's (Shocktrooper)	Infection	Machine Gun
Edy Detachment's (Tank/Squad)	Armageddon Rifle	Sniper Rifle

9. Story Mode Rewards

Base reward is ~50% of Total reward.
Rank reward is ~25% of Total reward. I've provided A-rank (maximum) rewards, as well as A-rank requirements.
Rewards for killing enemies are maximum possible (for killing every Ace and Leader on every map).
Reward for destroying tanks is aggregated (all tank categories from in-game Report are summed), maximum possible is provided.

		Rewards, XP							Rewards, DCT
Chapter	A-rank, turns	Base	A-Rank	Leaders	Ace	Tanks	TOTAL	Base	A-Rank	Leaders	Ace	Tanks	TOTAL
0	1	160	160				320	400	400				800
1	3	320	160	420			900	1360	680	420			2460
2	3	560	280	800	400	400	2440	2640	1320	800	400	400	5560
3	2	3200	1600	2000	1250	1500	9550	6240	3120	2000	1250	1500	14110
4	3	7200	3600	2000		3750	16550	9040	4520	2000		3750	19310
5	4	11120	5560	3600	2000	1000	23280	15840	7920	3600	2000	1000	30360
6	3	13200	6600	3750	2250	2250	28050	19760	9880	3750	2250	2250	37890
7	9	17600	8800		2500	7500	36400	28560	14280		2500	7500	52840
8a	4	19920	9960	5000	6000		40880	33440	16720	5000	6000		61160
8b	3	22320	11160	6000	4000	5000	48480	38560	19820	6000	4000	5000	73380
9	4	24720	12360			15000	52080	44000	22000			15000	81000
10a	4	27200	13600	12000	4000	5000	61800	49760	24880	12000	4000	5000	95640
10b	3	29760	14880	7000	4500	10500	66640	55760	27880	7000	4500	10500	105640
11	4	35040	17520	6000	5000	15000	78560	68560	34280	6000	5000	15000	128840
12	3	40480	20240	11250	12000	4000	87970	75360	37680	11250	12000	4000	140290
13	3	43280	21640	5000	8000	5000	82920	89680	44840	5000	8000	5000	152520
14	4	48960	24480		8500	25500	107440	96760	48380		8500	25500	179140
15a	3	51920	25960	7500	18000	16500	119880	99999	54180	7500	18000	16500	196179
15b	5	54800	27400	9000		23000	114200	99999	60680	9000		23000	192679
16	8	57840	28920		9500		96260	99999	67680		9500		177179
17	5	60880	30440	12000	10000	35000	148320	99999	76120	12000	10000	35000	233119
18a	4	63920	31960				95880	99999	89280				189279
18b	2	66960	33480				100440	99999	99999				199998
Largo's Report(ch. 7)	4	9040	4520	2000		3000	18560	12240	6120	2000		3000	23360
Rosie's Report(ch. 14)	2	37760	18880	10000	8000	9000	83640	82400	41200	10000	8000	9000	150600
Welkin's Report(ch.15)	3	46080	23040	10000	8500	14500	102120	97200	48600	10000	8500	14500	178800
Varrot's Report(ch. 15)	2	32400	16200				48600	62080	31040				93120
Alicia's Report(ch. 15)	2	30720	15360	10000		8000	64080	48000	24000	10000		8000	90000

10.1 NG Skirmish Rewards (1-8 Easy & Normal)

		Rewards, XP					Rewards, DCT
Skirmish	A-rank, turns	Base	A-Rank	Leaders	Ace	Tanks	TOTAL	Base	A-Rank	Leaders	Ace	Tanks	TOTAL
Skirmish 1 Easy	1	1120	560	500			2180	800	400	500			1700
Skirmish 1 Normal	1	1120	560	500			2180	800	400	500			1700
Skirmish 2 Easy	2	3680	1840	1000		1000	7520	3920	1960	1000		1000	7880
Skirmish 2 Normal	2	3680	1840	1000		1000	7520	3920	1960	1000		1000	7880
Skirmish 3 Easy	2	8720	4360	2800		1750	17630	11600	5800	2800		1750	21950
Skirmish 3 Normal	2	8720	4360	2800		1750	17630	11600	5800	2800		1750	21950
Skirmish 4 Easy	2	17360	8680	5000		6000	37040	28080	14040	5000		6000	53120
Skirmish 4 Normal	2	17360	8680	5000		6000	37040	28080	14040	5000		6000	53120
Skirmish 5 Easy	2	27760	13880	6000		7500	55140	50960	25480	6000		7500	89940
Skirmish 5 Normal	2	27760	13880	6000		7500	55140	50960	25480	6000		7500	89940
Skirmish 6 Easy	3	32880	16440	6000		17000	72320	63360	31680	6000		17000	118040
Skirmish 6 Normal	3	32880	16440	6000		17000	72320	63360	31680	6000		17000	118040
Skirmish 7 Easy	2	37200	18600	15000		7500	78300	70960	35480	15000		7500	128940
Skirmish 7 Normal	2	37200	18600	15000		7500	78300	70960	35480	15000		7500	128940
Skirmish 8 Easy	3	45840	22920	7000		20000	95760	79480	39740	7000		20000	146220
Skirmish 8 Normal	3	45840	22920	7000		20000	95760	79480	39740	7000		20000	146220

10.2 NG+ Skirmish Rewards (1-8 Hard & EX, 9 ALL)

I decided against full breakdown tables here, because by the time you're doing Hard/Ex stuff, you're more than likely to only need money for switching out Tier 3 Edelweiss upgrade.

Skirmish 9 Easy/Normal - 128040 XP, 181530 DCT with A-rank full wipe. This is 1,5-3 levels worth of lategame XP (depending on class), and ~3 most expensive unlocks, so clearing this battle a couple times will surely get you up to speed if you're missing something.

Hard/Expert Skirmishes - 200000+ XP and DCT (99999 base, 77777 A-rank, +9999 for each Leader/Tank), which is more than enough to try out all frame variants for each battle and see what works.

A-Rank Turn Table:

Battle	A-Rank	Battle	A-Rank
Skirmish 1 Hard	1	Skirmish 1 Ex	1
Skirmish 2 Hard	2	Skirmish 2 Ex	2
Skirmish 3 Hard	2	Skirmish 3 Ex	4
Skirmish 4 Hard	3	Skirmish 4 Ex	4
Skirmish 5 Hard	1	Skirmish 5 Ex	3
Skirmish 6 Hard	4	Skirmish 6 Ex	3
Skirmish 7 Hard	3	Skirmish 7 Ex	2
Skirmish 8 Hard	3	Skirmish 8 Ex	3
Skirmish 9 Hard	2	Skirmish 9 Ex	2

10.3 Challenge Of The Edy Detachment Skirmish Rewards

1 Exp, 1 Dct. There you go :) No grinding Susie's challenge anymore.
Ace weapons are listed under "Ace & Royal Weapons" section.
A-rank Turn Table:

Challenge	A-rank, turns
Susie's (Scout)	2
Jann's (Lancer)	3
Marina's (Sniper)	2
Homer's (Engineer)	3
Edy's (Shocktrooper)	2
Edy Detachment's (Tank/Squad)	2

11. NG Playthrough

A strategy guide wouldn't be a strategy guide without "how to beat the game" part. Now, in order to talk about strategy in this particular game, there's a need to discuss some rules and set expectations accordingly. Please make sure to read this part at least in brief, so we're on the same page later down the road.

0) I will stop the numbering for sections of playthrough and label them according to Chapters' numbers and names.

1) If you're wondering "how to beat this map", you're probably not expecting vague answers like "well send these guys here, it will work out". So what I will be doing here is provide a detailed per-action breakdown on what's going on. This is, undeniably, a min-maxing exercise. As such, I freely use my knowledge and results of my experiments to optimize the way I act. Even if you are not optimizing your playthrough to such (or, indeed, any) extent, I'm sure you will find at least some parts of these strategies applicable to your situation.

2) I am providing a complete playthrough, based on NG start. Every Story battle, Skirmish (Easy and Normal) and Character Report is beaten in order of appearance. This means beating Skirmishes and Reports before moving on to the next Story battle. I reserve the right to choose the order in which Skirmishes and Reports, that are available at the same time, are cleared.

3) Everything is cleared exactly once with "full marks". This means attaining A-rank, while killing every Leader, every Ace and destroying every Tank on the map. Basically, I will show how to obtain maximum possible reward for each mission in consecutive order (the very same rewards you can find in sections 9 and 10.1). I do not replay Skirmishes for XP/money. I do not kill every single unimportant enemy on the map if I can't afford to do so. Full clear A-ranks ARE, however, possible for all maps, but I will leave those maps where I didn't show how to do that as a homework :)

4) Before each mission, I assume that all the latest R&D upgrades are acquired. I had no surplus money exactly once when beating the game in the way I present here.

5) XP for leveling classes is spent based on the needs of future missions and knowledge of class XP table. I didn't break it down by chapter (honestly, I just didn't record that), but certain battles will mention desired levels.

6) I generally don't rely on orders from Old Man, because they are random. I didn't reroll any of them, but only because that didn't hinder me. I really think they should have been purchasable, to be honest. I mention them sometimes, but usually as alternative strategies. The only exception is Chapter 15, but hey. I need a break too sometimes :)

7) I mention requirements for class-based orders where appropriate (except the very early ones, you'll have them either way). I usually mention alternative approaches as well.

8) Evade does not exist, with the exception of Perfect Evasion (Selvaria, all Aces and Scout order of the same name). Why yes, I've just denied Scouts their supposed primary class feature. Whoever thought it was a bright idea to put chance-based "nope" in a game with highly limited resource (CP), critical outcomes (kill/no kill) and arbitrary ranks (you have X moves to get this done)... I have no words (or, rather, a not too short of an essay, but that's not why we're here). Anyway, it's pretty much impossible to discuss strategies on the basis of "any action might fail through no fault of yours". Just imagine chess where you need to flip a coin to (not)take pieces. I do try to maximize unavoidable attacks (i.e. from stealth or behind), but that's not physically possible all the time.

9) In relation to point 8, I strive to minimize effects of probability associated with potentials on my strategies. I consider 75% and above to be a reasonable success rate for a set of actions, but still try to work off of the worst case.

10) You will inevitably see me using the same units many times over. I tend to not swap units in and out too much. I will broadly (well, sometimes quite specifically) describe my requirements for units before missions, so you can fit your favourite troops into the mix.

11) Ruhm (Behind Her Blue Flame DLC weapon) is considered to be Selvaria's Ace weapon, available for use after defeating her in Chapter 15. No Edy Skirmishes' Ace weapons are available. I was using "can I beat Susie's challenge with A-rank" as a metric to determine whether I should do those battles in NG, and, well, it didn't quite happen till very late in the game, so I simply discarded those battles.

11.1 Battle Map Legend

A bit late to the party (no apologies second time readers - you had every chance to poke me in the comments) is the legend of various symbols I used to draw battle plans for your enjoyment.

The first few battles use somewhat different (but similar in spirit) arrows, because I didn't really standartise anything until much later. I'll probably get around to redoing those battle plans after I'm done with all the main stuff.

Chapter_00 Prologue

The first battle is a tutorial for all intents and purposes, and there's largely no strategy to speak of here. The only moments worth noticing are how to maximize your chances to kill an enemy and line of sight concept.
Positioning yourself in a way, depicted on the right, guarantees much more headshots. This is important, when you barely have enough damage to kill a target.

While moving to the 3rd Scout, using a tree can help prevent some incoming damage.

Result:

Chapter_01 Defense Of Bruhl

The second "tutorial" mission introduces a couple important concepts (aside from in-game explanations).

Turn 1.

Player Phase (3 CP):
-(1 CP)- Select Alicia, the most accurate unit available. Move her to the wall of the house. Then continue along towards the sandbags (read/skip the tutorial pop-up).
Now, as you slowly walk along the wall and the enemy starts showing himself, try aiming at him. You should get something to this effect:

At this point, you can't hit the target yet (which is also sort of explained by another tutorial you get while aiming), but if you move just a bit further, you should be able to do it:

Notice complete absence of interception fire afterwards:

Using right corners and vertical lines of sight to your advantage is an important skill that can save a lot of hitpoints, prevent sudden deaths to interception fire and abosrb enemy counterattacks should you fail to kill them in one attack.
Continue towards the sandbags near crouched scout.

-(1 CP)- Use Watchman to clear the Scout behind the fence on the left.

End turn OR -(1 CP)- Use Welkin to do some damage to crouched Scout. Doesn't quite matter.

Enemy Phase:
- Some damage to some characters, possibly a kill on Watchman.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (3 or 4 CP):
-(1 CP)- Use Welkin or Watchman to kill the Scout behind the building.
-(1 CP)- Use Alicia to run across the sandbag line, then hide behind sandbags to the left and grenade Leader Scout. Grenade should kill him.
- EVENT - watch the event
Forced phase end.

Enemy Phase:
- The tank will either mortar the Watchman, or (if he's dead) shoot Alicia with its machine gun.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (4 or 5 CP):

In order to beat this fast, I've found 2 strategies:
1) Line of Sight manipulation/baiting interception.
-(1 CP)- Run Welkin to the bottom sandbags behind a tree. Optionally shoot any Scout from outside interception range (basically, from starting position), just to fish for some headshots.

-(1 CP)- Move Alicia behind the tank and make all scouts shoot at her. Retreat behind the tank.
-(1 CP)- Heal Alicia with Ragnaid, move out of cover again and stop by the building.
You will get something like this:

-(1 CP)- Rush Welkin towards the flag. Interception fire will come in late enough to get there alive.

2) Bruteforce - less reliable, more bloody.
-(1 CP)- Run Welkin to the bottom sandbags behind a tree. Shoot leftmost (on the map, rightmost from 3rd-person view) Scout from outside interception range.
-(1 CP)- Run Alicia to Welkin and heal him up.
-(1 CP)- Kill the Scout you shot at before with Alicia.
-(1 CP)- Rush Welkin towards the flag.

Result:

Chapter_02 Retreat From Bruhl

Turn 1.

Player Phase (4 CP).
- (1 CP) - Place watchman #1 on top of the tower. Attack either shocktrooper or scout by the tank.
- (1 CP) - Move Alicia towards grass behind the house. There is a group of 1 ST and 3 SC by sandbags behind the house. Use a grenade to damage/kill as many of them as possible.
- (1 CP) - Place watchman #2 by the end of sandbags as close to the gate as possible. Put him either on the road side, or by the short end, not by the house.


Enemy Phase.
- Scout on the right flank advances and shoots tower watchman. Possibly dies from retaliation, but unlikely.
- Tank moves forward and shoots the gate.
- 2 Scouts rush the gate, die to interception fire.
- Shocktrooper rushes the gate, attacks watchman #2. Both should survive.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (4+1=5 CP)
- (3 CP) - Clean up various scouts. Don't bother with shocktroopers.
Enemy Phase:
- Tank shoots the gate.
- Shocktrooper grenades the gate, possibly attacks watchman #2 (likely a kill if no dodge happens).

Turn 3.

Player Phase (4+3=7 CP)
EVENT - Welkin arrives in Edelweiss.
- (2 CP) - Mortar the ace, a reliable 1-hit-kill, move to the wall.

- (2 CP) - Move towards the tank. There should be enough AP to take a shot at the main body, likely not enough for the radiator. Try to minimize chances to hit treads.
- (2CP) - Take a 2nd shot at the tank (radiator or main body), a guaranteed kill.

Result:

Chapter_03 1-Skirmish 1

After visiting HQ and watching story, right before the battle of Chapter 3, Skirmishes are unlocked. Even if you've played the vanilla version, beating Skirmish #1 right here is a good idea, as it will help to better gauge unit performance and enemy damage/survivability levels. It will also net enough XP to unlock 1st potential for every class, and possibility for a second potential for your Lancers.

Outskirts of Bruhl EASY

Deployment:

Obviously, I've provided a deployment based on units I've drafted from HQ. Deploy a variety of people, even if you aren't going to use them, for the sake of collecting Ellet points.
I will also list any relevant equipment and personnel selection here, if any.
Notes:
- Do check enemy stats. Enemies outrange you and have effects on their weapons. Get comfortable with the thought, it will be like that more often than not.
- I will provide screenshots after actions with numbered kills/movements and refer to enemies by these numbers.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (8 CP)
-(1 CP)- Snipe the closest Shocktrooper(1) to remove his interception fire from equation.

-(1 CP)- Take down Leader Scout(2). Take care to move in a wide ark to avoid interception from Shocktrooper(4).
-(1 CP)- Take down Scout (3). Use a tree to minimize interception impact.
-(1 CP)- Circle around behind fences and grenade Scout(5).
-(1 CP)- Move your Scout towards the bridge and try to take down enemy Scout at the base. Notice lack of interception attempt when using bridge fence correctly.

-(1 CP)- Take down the Lancer with one of your units from your base. Purely for Ellet points.
-(1 CP)- Finish off base Scout (if not dead yet), capture the base.

Result:

Outskirts of Bruhl NORMAL
Enemies have more stats now, so you will not survive interception from shocktroopers. As an adaptation, snipe both Shocktroopers (1) and (4), then kill all Scouts in the same way as on Easy difficulty.

Result:

Chapter_03 2-West Bank Of Vasel City

The first plot battle of Squad 7 already calls for a need to assess CP versus threats in order to attain A-rank.
List of enemies:
Scouts - 8;
Shocktroopers - 6;
Ace (Shocktrooper) - 1;
Light tanks - 2;
Engineer - 1;

With 9 CP per round, and an A-rank limit of 2 rounds, we have 18 CP.
Estimating enemy forces as 1 CP per regular trooper, 2 CP per tank and 2+ CP for ace (due to hiding in grass), we arrive at a bare minimum of 21 CP.
Thankfully, we only need to kill leaders, tanks and Ace, which turns out to be a lot more manageable.

Deployment:

- Right side consists of Edelweiss, Rosie, Alicia (all 3 auto-deployed) and Juno for no good reason, really. Her slot can be left open, or used for anyone to accumulate an Ellet point for being deployed.
- Largo is auto-deployed on the left, but his potential set does not particularly mesh with my strategy. -Def and isolation requirement for buffs are not satisfied well along the way. Still usable if you so desire.
- Freesia and Emile have a nice potential synergy (Fancies Men/Good Buddy), even if not extremely mandatory.
- Nils has a decent chance for +Def from City Kid
- Edy works well as a lonely charger with Born Leader and Melee Skills, Panicky is a small nuisance at best. Can be substituted for any other Shocktrooper, preferably with +Atk and/or +Accuracy. Alternatively, take a beefy one. You'll have to soak some damage here (not a regular in my strategies, but I was a bit derpy at this point).

Turn 1.

Player Phase (9 CP).

-(1 CP)- Snipe Scout(1), move to the right.
-(1 CP)- Snipe Shocktrooper(2), move towards alley entry.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss forward to 2 scouts, mortar hidden Ace(3).

-(1 CP)- Snipe Shocktrooper(4) on the rooftop.
-(1 CP)- Grenade Scout(5) with your Scout.

-(1 CP)- Move your Lancer to the right alleyway and attack the tank. One shot to the side/cannon.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer a bit more forward, for a clear radiator shot. Retreat back towards the alley.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper down the left alley, kill Scout(7) from the corner, then move out to the open. Take care to accumulate no more than 4-5 shots of interception. Your shocktrooper will need to survive an attack on enemy turn.


Enemy Phase (4 CP)
-(2 CP)- Shocktrooper Leader (8) hides in the alleyway.
-(1 CP)- Scout attacks one of your units by the river.
-(1 CP)- Scout(8) attacks your Shocktrooper, dies to counterattack.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (9 CP)

-(2 CP)- Mortar Ace(9a) with Edelweiss for a kill
-(2 CP)- Kill Shocktrooper Leader(9b) with Edelweiss's Machine gun.
-(1 CP)- Kill Shocktrooper(10) from the right corner.

Again, notice lack of interception (no Panicky debuff on Edy)
-(2 CP)- Snipe Shocktrooper(11) and finish him off with your Shocktrooper. Advancing to the camp optional.
-(1 CP)- Move your Lancer towards the camp, take a shot at Light Tank(12)
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer to the Camp Flag, finish off Light Tank(12), capture the camp.

Result:

Chapter_04 Battle For The Bridge

From this point on, I will provide schemes/plans of actions in most cases. First few ones are sort of horrible, but eventually I got a bit better :) I will refer to enemies in the text by their numbers on the nearest plan above, rather than complex written descriptions.


- I originally planned on using Scouts, but then sort of changed my mind along the way. As always, consider using these 2 slots for Ellet Point accumulation.
- 1 open slot will be required later down the road.
- Largo was not really a good choice. Consider bringing someone with Anti-Armor boost, like Theold and Walter, or Hector (+Atk from Born Leader)
- Jane was equipped with ZM MP 1, and it was horrible due to ridiculously poor accuracy. Even at point-blank range, even with Imp Hater activation, it's still almost 2x worse than that of Mags.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (9 CP)

-(1 CP)- Snipe Scout(1) from tower, move towards enemy camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1 behind Scout(2), kill him and take the camp. Watch out for possible interception from Sniper(4).
-(1 CP)- Snipe crate by the tank (3), move towards the camp. Care to not enter Sniper's(4) interception.
-(1 CP)- Snipe Sniper(4), move inside the camp to recover ammo.
-(1 CP)- Move your Lancer and finish off Light tank(5).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss towards the rubble ahead, mortar the area behind the active tank(6).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2 towards Edelweiss, kill enemy Shocktrooper(7) behind the corner.
-(1 CP)- Finish off tank(8) through the crack in the wall.


Enemy Phase
Sneak attack success! No activity whatsoever :)

Turn 2.

Player Phase (9 CP)

-(1 CP)- Snipe Lancer(1) while moving backwards toward the tower. An ideal outcome is to headshot-kill him, but for success damage boosts are necessary: Marina + My Way (75%), Emile + Good Buddy(Freesia/Nancy) (50%). Not killing him isn't crucial.
-(2 CP)- Get up on the tower and snipe ragnite fuel crates by tanks(2,3). Get down from the tower before ending last action.
-(1 CP)- Buff Lancer with either Damage Boost (prereq. Lancer lv.3) if no innate +Atk buffs, or Aim Boost (prereq. Sniper lv. 5) to guarantee hits.

-(1 CP)- Finish off both tanks (2,3). Take care with his positioning at the end of action (see below)
-(2 CP)- Move both your shocktroopers, #2 by the wall, then #1 to capture the camp. Their combined damage should 100% kill Lancer(4).

-(1 CP)- Call Engineer or Lancer reinforcement at the newly acquired camp. Engineer is a risky call, Lancer is a safe call. I lucked out with my Engineer call, but that's a much less reliable idea.


Enemy Phase (6 CP)
-(2 CP)- Last tank moves, shoots your Lancer (Most likely hit).
-(1 CP)- If Lancer(1) was not killed, he attacks your Lancer.
-(1 CP)- Enemy Scout (near CP bar) will advance towards the camp and attack one of your troops.
Our Lancer is quite likely incapacitated, which is why one needs to make sure he's not near any enemies. Remeber, even Largo is subject to permadeath now. Middle of the crossroads is a much safer position than what's depicted on my screencaps. Again, I lucked out with dodge there. Largo should have died at this point.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (9 CP)

I'm sticking with my lucky Engineer call here, but adjusting the plan for having a Lancer in the camp should be trivial enough.

-(1 CP)- Kill Scout (1). I grenaded him with Engineer, so I could restock Largo. If a Lancer was called in, use either Shocktrooper.
-(2 CP)- Use Lancer to kill Light tank(2). By the end of second movement, its radiator should be wide open.
-(1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper with untouched AP as shown to avoid interception from Shocktrooper Leader(3) and the Scout behind him. You can't reliably kill him from such distance with ZM MP 1. Innate accuracy and/or damage buffs higly recommended. It takes 6 headshots with Born Leader(100%).

-(2 CP)- Advance towards your Lancer and use ruins as a hiding spot. 2 attacks using right corner for damage prevention should take care of Scout(4). Rush towards the camp afterwards.
-(1 CP)- Get inside the camp, hide from Scout interception behind Shocktrooper(5). Use a grenade to throw him out of cover and outside the camp.

You can either capture the camp immediately, or
-(1 CP)- Kill Shocktrooper(5) and capture the camp.

Result:

Adaptation:
If on turn 3 your chosen Shocktrooper does not have (or does not trigger) innate buffs to deal with Shocktrooper(3), consider using Aim Boost or Attack Boost. This means that you will not have enough CP to kill Shocktrooper(5), but he is not a Leader, so it's enough to throw him out of the camp.

Chapter_05 1-Skirmish 2

At the beginning of Chaper 5 Skirmish 2 is unlocked. It is largely similar to Chaper 3 story battle, with the following exceptions:
- No predeployed Largo, Alicia, Rosie. Which effectively means 3 more Ellet point slots.
- 1 CP less for player phase (8 total)
- No Ace. There is a regular Shocktrooper in his place (not a Leader unit, so no need to bother killing him)

The same strategy from story mission can be easily adapted for this battle:
- Newly available +30 AP part for Edelweiss allows to mortar 2 Scouts and then move slightly up the ramp, resulting in Leader Shocktrooper dying to interception from the tank (3 kills for 2 CP, compared to 2 kills for 6 CP during story battle).
- Even though there is a lack of CP to advance your Shocktrooper on Turn 1, one enemy Scout will try to take the base camp and die to him/her anyway.

This leaves an abundance of CP to take care of everything on the left flank on Turn 2. It's even possible to get 1-2 extra Ellet points for someone for killing spare enemies.

Easy and Normal are pretty much the same battle at this point, no real difficulty difference, as long as you properly use right corners and sandbags.

Chapter_05 2-Wildwood Warfare At Kloden

- Juno is equipped with ZM Kar 1 for better vsPers. Damage Boost order is required to kill Anti-Tank Cannons in one attack.
- Jane was equipped with ZM MP 1, although this is not strictly necessary, Mags is fine.
- Edy and Coby are the best picks that synergize all too well with what's going on (Country Bred, Born Leader). I value extra accuracy from Edy's Melee Skills more than Coby's Damage Boost, but, frankly, they should do roughly the same thing. Anyhow, they need Mags as their weapon for decent base accuracy.
- Marina with My Way can save some hassle (or even give a shot at alternate strategy), but any sniper is fine.

Turn 1.

Player Phase(9 CP).

-(1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper that will stay behind (ZM MP one, if you chose it) to sandbags behind northern camp. Kill Scout(1).
-(1 CP)- Advance the other Shocktrooper, team-attack Anti-tank Cannon (2). Move towards the northernmost forest path. Make sure to face it before ending the action.

2 Shocktroopers have enough firepower to kill Anti-tank Cannon without other buffs, and regardless of weapon choice. In case anyone's interested, Mags M3+Born Leader needs 22 shots. ZM MP 1+Born Leader needs exactly 15 (whole magazine) but is woefully inaccurate, so you need to basically walk into the cannon. Anyway, 2 CP on cleaning that camp. No need to capture it, don't waste CP/AP.

-(1+1 CP)- Advance Sniper and kill at least 1 Lancer(3). Marina+My Way can headshot either of them (or both), otherwise just take 2 shots on the same target. LOS on Lancer(4) exists by the right end of the log lying across the road.

-(2+2 CP)- Advance Edelweiss, destroy Medium Tank(5). At least 1 shot must be taken while under Nature Lover buff effects (it sometimes drops on the road).
-(1 CP)- Advance Scout and clean up the remaining Lancer(3 or 4, it depends). I got an accidental overkill with Juno having a strong Edelweiss synergy (Friend team attack + Welkin Lover). If both Lancers already dead, just move up to the same area.

Enemy Phase.
-(1 CP)- Shocktrooper Leader will come down the northernmost forest path and attack your Shocktrooper. Dies to a mix of interception+counterattack.
-(2-3 CP)- Some hidden movement in the camp

Turn 2.

Player Phase (9 CP).

Yes, I know, the numbering is weird. I forgot to make a backup screenshot before hitting save.
-(2+1 CP)- Clear the southern camp with Edelweiss's mortar(kill Scout, damage Shocktrooper) and Scout (cleanup duty). Stop Edelweiss inside the camp at the far edge, advance Scout into the righthand forest path.
-(1 CP)- Clear the log at (7) with Grenade and advance Scout uphill.
-(1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper down the northern path. Kill Shocktrooper(5), right-corner LOS prevention applies. Take care around the mine.
-(1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper further, take care around another mine. Use a grenade across right-hand hill against a hidden Shocktrooper(6).

-(1 CP)- Clean up Shocktrooper(6), vertical LOS denial possible (depends on how the grenade lands). Take care to not get shot by interception from uphill Anti-Tank Cannon (yes, it can hit here sometimes).

Now, there should be enough AP on Shocktrooper to barely step inside the base, trigger Jaeger's arrival, and step out behind the fence. It's tricky, I admit, but just barely possible. It's required to not waste movement starting from the very first action (back from deployment position) and circle around mines at the smallest possible radii.
The problem is, as far as my experience goes, triggering this is required to make enemy Ace move out of his cosy alley, where the only thing that can hurt him is Edelweiss's mortar. If triggered, Ace will advance towards the southern camp, which puts him in a prime position for getting headshotted to death from behind.

Assuming EVENT: Jaeger's arrival.
-(1 CP)- Call your favourite Engineer at southern camp.
End turn (pass 1 CP).

Enemy Phase.
-(4 CP)- Lupus will move back and forth, shooting Edelweiss once along the way. Helpful healing from camp is helpful (not relevant to success, though).
-(1 CP)- Ace will move out as explained above.
-(1-2 CP)- Some more movement around the camp.

Turn 3.

Player Phase(10 CP).

-(1+1 CP)- Use Scout to destroy Anti-Tank Cannon(1), Damage Boost required (prereq. Lancer lv.3). Can be done with either Gallian or ZM Kar, no innate vsArmor buffs required. Well, to be precise, no Juno's Born Leader, since it's the only one available.
-(1 CP)- Advance Edelweiss, trip right mine with the right track. Make sure it's visible, so Engineer can disarm it. Mortar behind Shocktrooper(2). There's also a Scout between two buildings, and it's better to kill him (probably will take a couple tries to figure out a correct shot spot). Absolutely vital if you run Edy (that one instance where activating Panicky will take her from 12 to 19 headshots on Ace, which is quite unrealistic to pull off), less so if you run Coby (or just some Damage Boost trooper).
-(1 CP)- Kill Ace(3) with Shocktrooper. Retreat as shown on the map.
It's possible to see Ace's entire head from right-shoulder side to maximize headshot count. Mags is very reliable at this, but innate accuracy buffs are highly recommended. This guy takes around 50-something body shots with Born Leader, so abundant headshots are the only way to drop him in 1 CP. No, there's no spare CP to play with Aim Boost (if you even have one).
-(1 CP)- Use Engineer to disarm the mine under Edelweiss. Move to Shocktrooper and blow up wooden logs with a grenade.
-(2+2 CP)- Shoot Lupus's threads twice, and "park" Edelweiss by the wall of the building with number IV on the map. It's a must to bring Lupus to 0 THP (all hail reasonable base accuracy on tanks).


Enemy Phase.
-(4 CP)- Lupus will "move" forward. What's important - it does not cover our target camp with interception (it's brutal, trust my word). If we didn't take out its THP, Lupus would return right back there, making it impossible to capture the flag.
-(1-2 CP)- Some movement inside the base. Largely irrelevant.

Turn 4.

Player Phase (9 CP).

From now on it's an easy sweep. It's possible to brute force your way into the camp with Shocktrooper, Scout and Engineer, but I prefer to ease things up by mortaring the place over the hangar:

I'm sure it's pretty clear what the ending looks like, so let's just move on to reaping rewards, shall we?


- Hold on a sec, but you didn't beat the Leader Heavy Tank, aka Lupus! So much for full marks.
- Yup. I didn't. I did it on another playthrough, though. It takes a full round of Damage Boost-ed Audrey with Tank Slayer AND regular Good Buddy activations (via Edelweiss slammed into Lupus) ramming rockets down the damn thing's RADIATOR. Oh, did I mention Mooch? Yeah, need to not fail on that ammo refill a couple times as well (well, 75% chance but nevertheless). Basically, it's possible, but a success of that approach starts with substituting sniping Lancers on Turn 1 for team-attacking them with Edelweis and Scout (saves 2 CP on sniping), so you can call in extra Lancers.
I might redo it later, since I don't have any pre-Ch. 7 saves on hand.

Chapter_06 Battle Of Barious Desert

Reqired backup: prepare 2 Lancers with some innate vsArmor buffs, a strong offensive Shocktrooper (Born Leader/Damage Boost/Undercover Fire), any Scout or Engineer of choice.

Turn 1.

Player Phase(10 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1 to take out Scout(1). Try to move sideways as soon as you get control to avoid interception fire from Sniper(2). Having full HP is somewhat desirable, if not strictly necessary. These guys will have to survive quite a bit during enemy phase. Set up to intercept incoming threats.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Snipe Sniper(2), Scout(3), Shocktrooper(4). Shocktrooper(4) must be shot last to prevent interception from Sniper(5).

-(1+1 CP)- Navigate Scout through the rock opening (Trench 01), take out Sniper(5) and capture the camp. End movement hidden from enemy tanks.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2 and take out Shocktroopers(6,7). (7) will be out of range, so innate offensive buffs recommended.

Note: if you manage to save 1 CP here with Lynn's Hard Worker, kill one of the lancers. It will ease up enemy phase.
-(1+1 CP)- Call in 1 Lancer and 1 Shocktrooper at midway camp.


Enemy Phase
-(1 CP)- Reinforcement call for a Sniper at Imperal Base Camp.
-(4-6 CP)- Various attacks on your Shocktroopers and, possibly, a stray shot towards Edelweiss. Possibly one Shocktrooper will get KO'd. Likely a shot at Scout in midway camp (survived thanks to camp +Def buffs).

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP)

There are some easy landmarks, so I omitted a detailed action map here.
-(1 CP)- Kill Lancer Leader (originally in Trench 03, might have moved during previous enemy phase) with surviving Shocktrooper. If he's still in his Trench, innate +Atk buffs required.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Use Lancer to kill rightmost tank while advancing to its right (worst case - 3 shots, i.e. with Born Leader). It's possible to try and snipe radiator to save one shot, but that's more of a chance strat. It will be possible during Skirmish version (+AP from reaching Elite at lv.11), but that battle is somewhat different in its flow.
-(1 CP)- Advance Scout towards the top right corner ruins. Take out Lancer by the midway camp via team attack with Shocktrooper.
-(1+1 CP)- Take out Sniper Ace behind those ruins. Just circle around and grenade/shoot at the back of his head. Viable to do in 1 CP (the likes of Juno).
-(1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper from midway camp, kill enemy Shocktrooper in Trench 04, hide behind the human-height ruins.
-(1+1 CP)- Call in Scout and Lancer at midway camp.

Enemy Phase
-(4 CP)- Some tank movements in sandstorm.
-(1 CP)- Reinforcement call at Imperial Base Camp.
-(2 CP)- Sniper (reinforcement) advances from base forward.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (10-11 CP)

-(1+1 CP)- Destroy Light Tank(1) with Lancer from the field. Either Damage Boost+Radiator or 2 shots (if Extra Shot worked during previous turn).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout from midway camp towards the spot where Light Tank was destroyed on previous round. Attack Shocktrooper Leader(2) to lure his line of sight (and interception zone).
-(1+1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper, take down Sniper(3) and circle around to the back of Shocktrooper Leader(2) to finish him off.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer from midway camp, take down Light Tank(4). Moving in a straight line, there is enough AP to take a shot at the open radiator by 3rd CP.
-(1+1 CP)- Use top-right Scout to clean up Shocktrooper Leader(5) in the camp (Grenade + attack).

Result:

Chapter_07 1-Largo's Report

An absolutely straightforward mission, that becomes avaiable via Castlefront station. Now, I know I haven't mentioned class leveling priorities before, but now I will. I've been prioritizing my Scouts and Shocktroopers (everything else around lv.4), and this mission gives enough XP to push Scouts to level 11. Why now? Well, it's related to the Skirmish that's been unlocked at this junction as well - Kloden Wildwood. It is not sweet at all, and Eliting Scouts is basically the only way I've found to score full marks for that skirmish (which will be our next exercise).


It doesn't matter who you deploy. The mission is 100% beatable with predeployed Welkin and Largo.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (4 CP)
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, go right at the junction. Kill Scout Leader(1) on your way, run straight for the ladder and beyond. Ignore Shocktrooper(2).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout again, ake the right again. Kill Scout(3) behind the building, end action by the wall.
-(1+1 CP)- Play catch-up with Lancer (basically, the same route as far as you can get).

Enemy Phase
A bunch of running around.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (4 CP)

-(1 CP)- Move Scout, kill Shocktrooper Leader(1), move towards the hill. Jump left-forward immediately after being subject to Heavy Gatling's(2) fire. Run all the way under it and stop there.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer. With wall-hugging there's juuust enough AP to get to the edge of the stone fence and shoot Heavy Gatling(2). Sad part - if it's a miss, A-rank is likely screwed (sans Extra Shot/Mooch), but it's 4 turns, so there's a couple spare CP for Aim Boost.
-(1 CP)- Catch up to Scout with Lancer.
-(1 CP)- Kill Lancer(3) with Scout, return back behind another stone fence.

Enemy Phase
A bunch of running around.

Turn 3.

Player Phase
-(1 CP)- Take down the last Scout(4).

Now there's 3+4 CP(next turn) and 3+1 lance shots to comfortably shoot 2 exposed radiators from the ridge. Hooray to veggies!

Result:

Chapter_07 2-Skirmish 3

Kloden Wildwood Skirmish cranks the optimization difficulty up to 11 very suddenly. Story mission leaves at least some room for mistake, but this one does not. Sure, Lupus is substituted by Medium Tank... Thing is, this mission's A-rank is 2 turns, or 18 CP. With lots of shocktroopers infesting the base AND a bunch of Leaders spread around to defeat... Well, I'll be honest - it's beatable, but this will not be a good strategy.
Requirements:
- Scout Elites. I don't know of a reasonable way to break through the front (trust me, I've spent around 5 hours looking for that. And yes, Alicia/Valkyria is off the table), and you can't circle around fast enough without Elite AP bonus (or Grenade Launcher, for that matter). If you lack XP, consider postponing this skirmish and moving straight to the plot battle (it gives 27+k XP, which should be enough).
- ZM MP 2 (Kloden Wildwood story Ace) is required to not waste AP on northern camp cannon. That luxury is not available here.
- +AP part on Edelweiss (well, there's really no reason to not have it)
- Damage Boost order (probably everyone has lv.3 Lancers by this time, but still)


- Coby carries ZM MP 2. Any Shocktrooper with innate damage/accuracy buffs should work. High HP recommended for reliable survival. Always deploy Shocktrooper in the rightmost position, his/her AP is barely enough.
- Doesn't strictly matter which rifle your Scouts carry.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (9 CP)

-(1+1 CP)- Clear northern camp. Cannon(2) with Shocktrooper first, move only in straight line towards the base path. Then Scout(1) with your top-side Scout (#1), move towards the mid-way camp.
-(2+2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, shoot Light Tank(3) twice. Get in MG attack radius of Lancers.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout #2 to Edelweiss, team attack Lancer(4).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout #2 down the right pathway. Blow up trees at the end with Grenade Launcher.
Pass turn (1 CP carry over). This is what the final position looks like:


Enemy Phase
-(1 CP)- Shocktrooper Leader advances from the northern pass, dies to counterattack from Shocktrooper (same as in story mode).
-(2+2 CP)- Heavy Tank moves around (same trajectory as Lupus, but only makes it to one side and turns around).
-(~4-5 CP)- Some movement around the base. Lancer in front of Edelweiss... doesn't do anything. Worst I've seen is taking 1 shot, which is irrelevant.

Turn 2.

Player Phase(9+1 CP)

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss towards mid-way camp. Block off enemy Shocktrooper's line of sight to left-hand fence entry, and stop just short of Scout Leader (so that Edelweiss can shoot him with MG). From here there should be a clear view of Medium Tank's(1) radiator. Welp, this time around a trickshot is unavoidable. Told you, I don't have a good strategy. Also, Nature Lover buff is required, watch out for that.
-(1 CP)- Scout #1 cleans up Scout Leader at mid-way camp (team attack with Edelweiss, or he is not going down).
-(1+1 CP)- Shocktrooper at the top should have just enough AP to clean up Shocktrooper(2) and grenade Shocktrooper Leader(3) over the wall. Land mines are infuriating.

Now, we're down to the most difficult part - the actual camp-taking.
-(1+1 CP)- Damage Bosst Scout #2, proceed to destroy Anti-Tank Cannon(4).
-(1 CP)- Continue onward, stop across the camp. Now, what's going on down there - 2 crouching Shocktroopers, 1 standing Shocktrooper and 1 crouching Scout Leader. There's no killing that in 3 CP. What is possible instead is to to land a Grenade in a very specific position to the left of Standing Shocktrooper. If successful: 2 crouching Shocktroopers will be blown outside the camp line, standing Shocktrooper will be left at sub-100 HP and Scout will stand up, as his cover is destroyed. Moreover, all Shocktroopers will turn to intercept towards your attack direction with backs to the base entrnce. To keep it that way, proceed down while hugging right-hand wall.
-(1 CP)- Enter the base and take position to kill Scout(1) really fast. You are likely to be subject to interception from Scout(3), and -Def debuff is not nice. Shoot Scout(1), quick dash a step forward and cancel turn.
-(1 CP)- Insta-aim, kill Shocktrooper(2) and jump inside the camp. Mash "Occupy" button before you're mowed down by 2 angry Shocktroopers.


Normal version works mostly the same, but adds more damage to enemies, so Shocktrooper is more prone to dying up top on enemy turn and you have to kill Scout in the Base Camp without taking any interceptin shots (or 2 Shocktroopers will delete you before you can press Occupy). Thankfully, the other Scout(3) hides elsewhere. Basically, it plays out with a bit more luck involved.

Result:

And, as a bit of innocent fun and "totally worth it" moment, - I absolutely love how these guys wave left and right in unison and pure harmony. Spent a good chunk of time just watching:

Chapter_07 3-Desert Duel With Maximillian

The strategy and game flow is basically unchanged from the vanilla game, just less frustration from Lancer point-blank misses. I won't make detailed plans, just a general idea and sample states at a few points.

Note: I will refer to left side and right side of Batomys from its perspective, not from the player's.


- Deploy Lancers with Anti-Armor Boost and/or Tank Slayer to ease things up. Batomys turrets (and Heavy Tank turrets, for that matter) are considered separate "tanks" and activate Tank Slayer.
- Have a Scout avaialble in reinforcements (well, why wouldn't you?).
- Shocktrooper should be able to headshot a Lancer from outside Mags range. Not really a strict requirement, but again, less hassle.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP)
-(1+1+1 CP)- Snipe Scout and 2 Shocktroopers uphill from the 1st camp. Retreat Sniper at the camp after the 3rd shot.
-(1+1 CP)- Run Shocktrooper up the ramp. Take care of Sniper to the right (it's possible to avoid his interception fire), then Lancer. Run towards either Gallian Base Camp or ruins. There will be plenty of CP to hide/retreat between turns 3 and 6.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. First, insta-aim and shoot the closest right side MG(1). Not the front one. It can be left alone for the entire battle. Rush straigh in the opening between blue blocky walls.
-(1 CP)- Finish off the same MG(1) with one of northern trench Lancers. Take care to end action crouched.
-(1 CP)- Shoot the closest left-side MG(2) with southern team Lancer(the one near Engineer). Not critical if it's a miss, but nice if it's a hit. Hide behind the long wall.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer to hide behind the wall as well. He/she will die if not moved.

Enemy Phase
Batomys moves, shoots your northern Lancer bunch 2-3 times. You might lose one, especially if Max uses "All Units Attack" order, but it's not critical to success.

Turn 2.

Player Phase(10 CP)
-(1 CP)- Call in Scout at camp 2 (south-west one).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss uphill, shoot either the wall that you pass by, or one of Batomys turrets (and leave the wall for one of your Lancers on next turn).
-(7 CP)- Approach Batomys from the right(north) and start taking down turrets(1,2,3,4) one by one. Help from the left(south) if you run out of ammo.

Enemy Phase
Bye-bye camp. We shall miss you.

Turn 3.

Player Phase(10 CP)

Move around and hide everyone as shown. I didn't show Shocktrooper move, because it's, frankly, irrelevant where he goes. Either ruins together with Lancers, or just retreat.

Enemy Phase
Blows up a wall. Radiators open, story sequence that explains how you need to blow them up happens.

Turns 4-6.

- Engineer blows up LEFT SIDE radiator on turn 4. There's no getting to it past Selvaria after she arrives at Turn 6.
- Turn 5 - place engineer behind back ladder of Batomys.
- Turn 6.

-Blow up the BACK SIDE radiator. Watch Selvaria's squad arrive at location(1). Climb down and hide Engineer in the ruins to the right.
-Edelweiss should be positioned to intercept enemy squad ahead of time. Don't bother trying to attack enemies. Spoiler, Selvaria can blow up Edelweiss with interception fire. Or, at least, make enough of a dent for enemy Lancer to finish it off.

Enemy Phase (Turn 6)
Mass suicide happens. Easiest Ace kill ever.

Turns 7-8.

Skip them. Literally just press "end turn".

Turn 9.

Player Phase (20 CP)

-(1 CP)- Move Scout and blow up the remaining radiator. Optionally (+1 CP) bait Selvaria's interception with Engineer, to be 100% sure you can run through it. Remember, her interception angle is that of Scout (135 degrees to each side from where she's looking).
-(18/19 CP)- Blast Batomys to your heart's content.

Result:

Chapter_08a Escape From Forest Snare

The battle is pretty simple, but getting both A-rank and Ace weapon requires some action management tricks and Grenade Launchers. I'm assuming Scouts are Elites from this mission on. This mission is neither too hard, nor too interesting, so I'll keep it brief.

Turn 1.

There's virtually no enemy phase here, so I won't mention it.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Alicia twice to the event flower on the right-hand path. Grenade Scout(1) on your way.
-(1 CP)- Move Welkin, see the event (+AP for Alicia), run forward to the bridge.

Turn 2.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Alicia, grenade Scout(2) in the grass.
-(1 CP)- Move Welkin past the 2nd event flower. You should see enemy Ace(3) after turning at the western end of the map. Shoot him with Grenade Launcher, move back to 2nd event flower.

Turn 3.

-(1 CP)- Move Alicia, Grenade Ace(3) again from the same corner. Get back to Welkin.
-(1 CP)- View event #2, Grenade Scout(4), circle around to Ace's back.
-(1 CP)- Move Alicia, stay in the grass by the tree marked with (5).

Turn 4.

-(1 CP)- Control Alicia. Shoot Ace with Grenade Launcher yet again. Move towards the end of the game as far as you can.
-(1 CP)- Kill Ace with Welkin. Gallian-A1 has enough punch. Run to the escape area mark.

-(1 CP)- End the mission with Alicia.

Result:

Chapter_08b Reunion In The Forest

I didn't include a roster this time, but here we go:
- front line Shocktroopers should be equipped with MAJ-X. MAJ-X is a must-have to not lose your tank on enemy turn. Backline - anything. Enemy Shocktroopers carry -Atk debuff, so innate damage highly recommended. I had Elited my Shocktroopers by this chapter, so my roster was Jane (Lancer Killer, Sadist), Salinas (Super Damage, Lancer Killer), Edy (Born Leader, Super Damage. County Bred).
- Sniper and Lancer should be in this exact position. More on why later. Sniper should be equipped with Brondel-M1 or GSR-4 (old GSR). NOT upgraded GSR-10, it lacks 1 ammo (you could risk with Extra Shot, but your failure chance will be pretty high). Not Intercept/ZM SG, those can't 1-shot-kill things.
- I left an open slot, could be an extra Scout (for -Def via interception debuff), Shocktrooper (just in case) or Sniper (if you really want that GSR-10, this will get you 3rd shot). An Engineer is useless for A-rank, probably ok for slower playthrough.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (8 CP)

-(1 CP)- Control Sniper. Instantly move left and hide behind Lancer. Enemy Sniper(1) can intercept you, and you don't want to get hit by -Accuracy debuff. Move to the right after his shot and kill him. This is a very frustrating moment, so I suggest keeping a save after the opening dialogue and mortar aiming. Alternatively, deploy 2 Snipers, so even if 1 gets debuffed, the other will pick up 2 more kills (below).
-(1+1 CP)- Snipe Scouts(2, 3). If you use 2nd sniper deployed on your tank's left, watch out for interception from Scout(2), he can reach that spawn point.
-(1+1 CP)- Move backline Shocktrooper and get rid of Sniper(4) and Sniper Ace(5). Run back towards your camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Welkin, shoot Shocktrooper Leader(6 along the way). Gallian-A1 requires only 2 headshots, so even Welkin can do this.
-(1 CP)- Kill Scout(7) (either with Grenade Launcher or just attack), move down the canyon as far as you can.
-(1 CP)- There's some variation, depending on where that mortar aimed. Either move one Shocktrooper from its range, or move Lancer into the right-hand (far south on the map) cove. Maybe even just pass turn and save 1 CP.

This shows a different mortar position from previous one, for the purposes of demonstration.

Enemy Phase
-(1 CP)- Reinforcement call at Imperial mid-way camp (Shocktrooper).
-(4-5 CP)- Some Lancer and Shocktrooper attacks. -Atk from MAJ-X should keep the damage to Edelweiss in sub-300 per shot, instead of ~800 and a horrible death.
-(2 CP)- The closest to Gallian position tank should move forward (scripted, I guess. It's always the same). It always mortars Shocktrooper in my experience. It might even blow him away from mortar blast radius.
-(2 CP)- The farthest tank shoots either one of Shocktroopers, or Edelweiss.

You're quite likely to lose one Shocktrooper during this phase (poor Jane will hate the Empire even more now).

Turn 2.

Player Phase (8 CP)

-(1 CP)- Move Welkin to Edelweiss. You get a tank, and it's 100% repaired.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, shoot Tank(1). Position youself to block MG interception from Tank(2). Basically, slam Edelweiss in it and turn sideways.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer via the right-hand path and comfortably put a rocket into Tank(2)'s radiator.

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Now, there should be Shocktrooper Leader stationed at the place with (?) mark on the map. It's possible to horribly abuse his interception and ZM MP's inaccuracy to mow down 2-4 people (depends on how many there is). After that, blow up Tank(1).

-(1+1 CP)- Move in your Shocktroopers, clean up remaining threats. If there are Lancers left, station MAJ-X trooper to intercept them.


Enemy Phase
Depends on what's left of enemy force, but generally nothing serious.

Turn 3.

Well, just easy clean-up. A couple Shocktroopers and a camp, then drive through the wall and finish off the last Shocktrooper there. It's even possible to go and blow up the mortar (~4 AP), but there's no extra reward except a couple lines of dialogue for it.

A more interesting takeaway is just how much Shocktroopers spike at lv.11:

Born Leader + Super Damage doesn't care much about range (within effective, obviously). Something I didn't include - Edy had 19 shots to kill on a crouching Shocktrooper from about 240 range (outside his interception).

And that's why you keep Salinas near tanks. Apparently his love for tanks makes him an MLG pro.

Result:

Chapter_09 1-Skirmish 4

A condensed into 2 turns version of the story battle, so I'll just run over differencies with what was presented in Chapter 6:
- No sandstorm event, so don't finish your 1st turn with Scout in the open. Hide from tanks behind some ruins(Trench 04 is a good place to consider).

- Lancers should be hitting level 11 by now. Keep 2 Lancers as reinforcements to call upon, at least 1 with Super Anti-Armor. I recommend Hector, if you have his hidden potential unlocked. It synergizes with his Born Leader (as in, can activate when he's alone) and will allow you to reliably snipe radiators across the map. Even if not activated, Tank Killer is a competent substitute. You need 2 radiator 1-shot kills and one 2-shot kill to fit all kills in 9 AP/turn limitation.


- There's only time to move 1 Shocktrooper during the opening moves. Kill that pesky Scout, who can intercept your Sniper, and set up to intercept everything. MAJ-X is a must to both reliably survive and save Edelweiss. I recomment Lynn for an extra chance at killing 2 targets with Hard Worker.

- You can kill the second Sniper with Grenade Launcher instead of climbing stairs.

- There's no time to waste on getting around/baiting los from Shocktrooper Leader in the last trench (Trench 05). Just straight up charge him with your favourite Shocktrooper. Damage buffs recommended, but a flametrower should take care of things regardless.

That should about cover it. Both difficulties play out the same.

Result:

Chapter_09 2-Kidnapping Of Cordelia

Just like chapter 7, this one's flow doesn't change one bit.
- Deploy 2 Shocktroopers (can be 1, really), equip at least one with the latest ZM MP you have.
- Block APC's advance by moving your tank to B2(turn 1) and B3(turn 2), while moving Shocktroopers to hide behind the crate at B4.
- At turn 3 enemy phase the APC stops at B4. Murder its radiator with Shocktroopers.


Helpful options include:
- Damage Boost/All Units Damage (leveling Lancers)
- Hard Worker (Lynn), even if you don't have Awaken Potential/Awaken All.
- Salinas can activate Tank Lover near the APC.
- Born Leader gives some vsArmor, if you're trying a solo kill.
- Big Sister (Rosie) gives her vsArmor near Shocktroopers.

Unhelpful ones:
- Tank Hater (Nina Streiss)
- FoG flamethowers - they blow the APC up, just like Lances/Grenades/Mortar/Anti-tank rounds. Didn't try Brondel, but my guess is the game checks for high vsArmor (and maybe blast as well) to determine, whether or not the APC should blow up.

Result:

Chapter_10a Infiltration Of Fouzen

This battle has an A-rank requirement of 4 turns, but I've found a reproducable way to beat it in 3. The requirements are fairly minimal:
- A sniper with Brondel (or 1 or 2 Snipers with GSR, could fit too (see "adaptation" section for turn 1)) and some form of accuracy buffs for reliability, which is basically anyone.
- Ted and/or Freesia - Nocturnal Scouts are necessary to discover enemy positions from across the map.
- Both AP upgrades on Edelweiss installed.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss down the road, kill Scout along the way.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, take the trolley. Shoot the nearest Sniper at point blank range. Take the trolley back.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, take the trolley. Run to the grass patch and drop there. Shoot the nearest Sniper from the edge of grass. Run forward in a straight line. You will be subject to Sniper interception from across the map, they will generally miss as long as you just hold down the run button. Taking one hit isn't critical either.

-(1+1 CP)- Now you can see those Snipers across the map with your own Sniper. Take them down from the trolley platform.
-(1+1 CP)- Clean up Snipers(1,2) with your Scout, while moving along as far downhill as you can get. Don't bother hiding from the tank, it will ignore (sight radius?) this Scout on its turn.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, kill another Scout along the way. Stop right at the edge of the bridge, so that its main body is covered by terrain from the bridge. Otherwise enemy Tank will destroy Edelweiss on its turn.


Adaptation:
If you have both Nocturnal Scouts, you can use one to take the trolley first instead of Sniper and discover all enemies, then snipe the two at the far ridge and not worry about interception from there at all.

Enemy Phase.
-(2 CP)- Tank moves forward across Bridge 04. This one kills you if you misposition Edelweiss.
-(2-3 CP)- Some Shocktroopers advance towards Edelweiss. This may vary sometimes, I'll show the worst case I've discovered.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).
From here on it's necessary to make every bit of AP count and move Edelweiss the shortest trajectory possible. There's basically EXACTLY enough AP to trigger the end of misson.
-(2 CP)- Advance Edelweiss along the left bridge. There will be 2 (or 3, if it's an easy variation) Shocktroopers. One of them is a Leader, kill him with MG (not mortar!). Ignore lights, mortar zones, just keep going along the canyon edge. Run over any non-Leader Shocktroopers and leave them behind.

-(2 CP)- Advance Edelweiss again. If there's a Shocktrooper(2) in position as depicted - ignore him and move along to the bridge. Shoot Tank(1) upon discovery. It's theoretically possible to guess and blind-snipe its radiator position back from Bridge 02, but I consider it unreliable. Anyway, enter the bridge hugging the left side. Avoid Anti-Tank mine in the middle of the entrance.
-(2 CP)- Finish off Tank(2) and move as far as possible along the left-hand rail.
-(2 CP)- Mortar Shocktrooper(1) if applicable. Nudge forward for the remainder of AP regardless. It's a crucial move, which makes a difference between winning in 3 and 4 turns.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, kill Lancer(3). Gallian-A2 should take care of him in 2-3 headshots. Watch out for Shocktrooper in the camp, he carries -Atk debuff which will foil the plan. Stay right there after the shot.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout again, this time Grenade Scout Leader(4) inside the camp by the right sandbags. Run away to the trolley afterwards. Upon taking the trolley, advance as far in as possible.


Enemy Turn.
-(1 CP)- Reinforcement call at the camp (irrelevant).
-(1 CP)- Previously attacked Scout Leader(4) should advance towards Edelweiss and suicide to interception fire. He only does that if he's severely injured as far as my tests show, so make sure to hit that grenade well. He also won't run if that extra Edelweiss move doesn't happen. There's probably some trigger on the bridge that affects AI decision-making.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(1 CP)- Advance Scout. Grenade Ace behind the corner. Move behind his back to make him turn around and have his back towards Sniper to migitate dodge. Take care, he hurts. Just rush in and cancel action.
-(1 CP)- Snipe Ace. With grenade damage, anyone can do it. Without it - Marina with My Way or Cezary with Backup Sniping should be able one-shot him (put GSR on Cezary though).

-(2+2+2+2 CP)- Advance Edelweiss in the shortest path possible (diagonal across 2 bridges, then hug right rail, then go straight for the end point). Firing priority - Tank, Tank kill, 2 Lancer Leaders with MG. Run over Lancers indiscriminately. If all the movement across 3 turns was correct, Edelweiss should just barely touch the finishing spot on last AP.
Here's the point where it should be when the last move begins:

If failed - well, simply skip turn and finish in 4. Still A-rank, every Leader dead.

Result:

Chapter_10b Liberation Of Fouzen

This is the point from which Brondel sniper rifle line really begins to shine due to its tank-busting capabilities. Now, Lancers are still useful and strong, but certain map layouts just aren't their thing.

- Scout #1 (left) will be doing most of the early prep work and some precision shooting. Gallian-S was my rifle of choice for reliable long-range headshots. I went with Susie just because "why not", could be anyone.
- Scout #2 (right) is required to travel from Gallian camp to end-game point in 2 CP, thus maximizing free moves to clean up enemies.
- Engineer is deployed in a way that lets him/her cross the bridge in 1 CP.
- Sniper should be equipped with Brondel. Snipers should be leveled to 13 (3rd Potential) for the best efficiency. Namely, Marina's and Catherine's Penetrator potential, which gives a 50% chance to ignore enemy defences. Yes, this applies to tanks. Not strictly necessary to beat the level, but highly recommended.
- At least 2 Shocktroopers (as usual, I go with +Atk buffs). Mags and/or MAJ-X, FF optional.
- Audrey is there, frankly, just because I've finally drafted her and she needed Ellet points. Substitute for whichever class unit you feel like using (extra ST, SC or EN could help), or try equipping Lancer with Lancaar-SH for cover-busting. It can ease the final push substantially.
- The mortar always aims at the camp initially, so I left the 2nd spot open. A slightly more reliable deployment would be to put Scout #1 in that spot and a spare Sniper in her place. (the "why" is explained at turn 2)

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, blast Shocktrooper by western trolley (also destroys barricades blocking the trolley). Move back to the camp.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Sniper across the bridge. Take down standing Shocktrooper by northern camp. Take 2 shots at the tank. If you can get at least one Penetrator activation, the tank will go down. If not - not really a problem. Keep crossing the bridge while shooting, Sniper should end up by the other end.

This is 1 shot from My Way + Penetrator. The next shot is a guaranteed kill regardless of potentials.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout #1, the trolley.

-(1 CP)- Move Scout #1, activate the lift switch, move north and grenade Shocktrooper(1) at the camp. Go back towards the lift, but don't take it. Will be insta-death to armored train's interception.

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, resupply Sniper.
-(1+1 CP)- Destroy Medium Tank(2) at the other end. Here's another trick, which works only with medium tanks - their radiator can be hit from certain diagonal angles on the front side. You can judge it by the amount of shots-to-kill displayed - will show 2 instead of normal 3 (which is how I came across this by chance).


Enemy Phase
Either no action, or, if the first tank is alive, it will move forward.
Death Train moves to the east.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).

-(0-1 CP)- Finish off the tank with your Sniper (or a spare Sniper from the camp) if applicable.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout #1, take the lift, finish off Shocktrooper (3-4 headshots from pretty far away, that's why Gallian-S) on the way to the camp.
-(1 CP)- Blow up the bridge. Move back, take the lift and trolley back to Sniper and Engineer, then go down hill to the right (under the trolley rails).
-EVENT- Lift to the north-east corner activated.
-(1-2 CP)- Move Sniper, take the trolley, move behind the lift construction. Takee down Medium Tank to the east (at north-eastern camp), up to 2 radiator shots (possible 1 with My Way + Penetrator).

-(1+1 CP)- Move Scout #1 and Engineer to the middle of Bridge 02. If possible, hide behind the anti-tank barricade (from incoming Lancer attack).

End turn (3-4 CP carry over).

Enemy Phase.
Some movement from the south-east bridge (Scout + Shocktrooper).
Crouched by the bridge end Lancer attacks Scout #1 or Engineer.
Death Train moves to the west.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (13-14 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Scout #1, hide behind Lancer while approaching from Scout(1). Take Scout(1) out. Again, Gallian-S is capable of getting enough headshots. Ground in front of sandbags works with Country Bred for extra accuracy boost. Then slip through Shocktrooper(2) interception zone (he will probably graze Scout #1, but it doesn't quite matter). Activate lift button.

From here on it's a pretty easy cleanup with 12-13 CP on 5 targets below and 2 targets above. 1,3,4 are Leaders, 5 is Ace. 2 is just in the way.
There are various of ways to get this done, so I'll just note a few things:
- up on the way to mission objective there are crouched Scout and Shocktrooper. MAJ-X, Mortar Lance or Edelweiss can help out there. Ignore Lancers and Camp completely. Shocktrooper has LOS restriction from the canyon that can be used to get close to him (when Scout is killed):

- It's possible to mortar Ace from above the bridge:

- Scout #2 needs exactly 2 CP to run to the destination. Every other CP can be used freely.

Result:

Chapter_11 1-Skirmish 5

Unlocked straight after story version of this map, Fouzen Skirmish is an easier version of the same battle:
- No Death Train
- No extra objective (northwest bridge can be ignored)
- No Ace (a regular non-leader sniper in his place)

To account for these changes, it's a 2-turn A-rank, plus Tanks have a bit more HP. A few adjustments to the same strategy to make it work:
- Use an Engineer to take the trolley after 1st Sniper shot (stops mid-bridge). Drop 2 grenades on top of the Shocktrooper Leader at northwest camp (3 CP). Also, on Normal Shocktrooper by the trolley doesn't quite die to Edelweiss's mortar, so shoot him along the way. Have Scout run directly for the center of Bridge 02 (2 CP from the base camp).
- Substitude Edelweiss's mortar for Lancer's mortar if you want. There's an extra CP saved to spend on tanks if necessary.
- The most reliable (and pretty fast, since we're short on CP) way to take down the final opposition (Scout Leader + Shocktrooper behind the sandbags in north-east) - one-shot Scout with Lancer Mortar, blow Shocktrooper out of cover with one more shot, finish him off with Scout's Grenade Launcher.

Result:

Chapter_11 2-Battle At Marberry Shore

- Susie was a poor pick. Trooper Hater is not a good choice for this map, I was honestly just too lazy to go back to HQ and give someone else Gallian-S. Gallian-S increases reliability on the very first kill (long range, multiple headshots).
- For Shocktrooper - anyone with Super Damage and Accuracy buffs should do. Melee Skills, Mid-Range Skills, Born Leader are all good.
- Country Bred works pretty much all over the map.
- Reinforcements to prepare: 1 Sniper with Brondel, 2 Lancers (at least 1 with Super Anti-Armor), 1 Engineer if you don't have Resupply order (Eng. Lv.12).
- All enemy Shocktroopers carry -Atk debuff. Avoid their interception at all costs. Or consider taking Vyse, he at least might get a buff to compensate for it.

Turn 1.

Player Phase(12 CP).

-(2 CP)- Control Edelweiss. Drop a smoke round to make cover from Machine Guns. Advance into the entrance in a way, that lets you spot Scout(1).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, shoot Scout(1). Use Edelweiss as cover to make him waste interception rounds, then dive out and take aim while he is reloading. Run forward into the gate, stop right after.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Scout(2) along the way (deny interception via rock wall). Take the camp, join your Scout.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss up the hill to the left, mortar Gatling Bunker(6). It's possible to destroy it by hitting the back of its side wall (explodes ragnite barrel for ~90% HP and damages the door for the rest). Try different spots until you get it, they certainly exist.
-(1+1 CP)- Call in Sniper and 1 Lancer at the new camp.
-(1+1 CP)- Blow Shocktrooper(3) out of cover with Grenade Launcher, then finish him off through one of the gaps in barricades. Move inside the trench, but not too far (or there's a chance to get killed by Medium Tank(7)).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take down Shocktrooper(4) (deny interception), move to his sandbags.

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Scout(5)*, run behind Gatling Bunker. Hide behind it completely (in a corner).

*He's at the next sandbags (see previous image). Ugh, I really need to not forget to make backups before I edit images.
Enemy Phase.
May wary a bit, depending on exact positions of Gallian units.
-(~3 CP)- Reinforcement calls at all camps.
-(1 CP)- Shocktrooper will run around and stop near your Scout in the trench.
-(2+2 CP)- 2 attacks on Edelweiss. Either from Heavy Tank, or from Medium Tank. Medium Tank hurts more, for whatever reason. If Heavy Tank acts, it will move forward.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, climb up the tower, 1-shot Medium Tank(1) in its radiator. Should be a guaranteed 1-shot kill, regardless of who does it. Move to Edelweiss.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, fire smoke round at the middle of the open area (2). Could be by Heavy Tank, could be just open field if it didn't move. The point is to prevent interception from all units there (Bunker, Tank, infantry). Smoke should extend far enough toward Shocktrooper, but not cover him, as it won't blind Bunker then.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper. Run into the smoke and burn Scout and Shocktrooper(3). It's possible to burn both of them, albeit quite tricky. It's hard to show how it looks without a video, but here you go:

Take the top camp and move downhill.
-(0-1 CP)- Move Sniper. Take a shot at Shocktrooper(5). Best case (Marina with My Way, Penetrator alone isn't enough) you kill him, average case - severe damage + interception bait. If you have confidence in your Shocktrooper, omit this move and save CP, or take a stab at Bunker/Heavy Tank. It's not strictly necessary.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, kill Shocktrooper(4) (faces east), join Shocktrooper on the path downhill.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper and Scout, clear out Shocktrooper(5) and Scout(6), take camp at (6).
-(1-2 CP)- Call in Lancer with Super Damage at the newest camp. If you don't have Resupply order, call an Engineer.

Now there's 4-5 CP left to take down either Bunker or Heavy Tank. I recommend Heavy Tank, as you can run up to the radiator and blast it in 3 moves total. If not for bunker, could be 2 (remember, explosions blow away Smoke Screen). I also stupidly left my Sniper in the open, so she got KO'd by the Bunker on its turn, but it isn't critical to victory. 1 spare CP is from me not calling Engineer (there's plenty of leftover by the end, so not critical either).


Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement arrives at enemy Base Camp (Shocktrooper).
1 Shocktrooper moves from Base Camp towards you (stopped by Scout interception, hooray Gallian-S).
Heavy Tank will move if not destroyed. Bunker will attack anything in sight if not destroyed.
Reinforcement call at enemy Base Camp (Shocktrooper).

Turn 3.

Player Phase (12-14 CP)

-(2 CP)- Smoke the field to block fire from Invulnerable Bunkers and Shocktrooper(1).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, kill Shocktrooper(1) at the gate from inside the smokescreen (4 headshots from Gallian-S).

-(1 CP)- Fire Grenade Launcher at Shocktrooper(2) by sandbags in the middle of the, uh, street. Move to the right behind the building.
-(1 CP)- Finish off Shocktrooper(2) with your Shocktrooper. Hide by the building edge.
-(6 CP)- Move Lancer, kill both Medium(3) and Heavy(4) Tanks by the enemy Base Camp. Should take 5 shots with Super Damage, +1 CP for resupply. Fire from the gate or smoke, to minimize interception from Scout in the camp. It has to be straighforward, rather than circling around the building, because Shocktrooper Ace there will stop whatever. And to kill him, it's necessary to get rid of tanks first.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Scout(5) (Born Leader + Super Damage should be enough headshots with Mags), move back INTO the smoke. If you don't enemy Shocktrooper reinforcement will find you anywhere (yes, behind the building too) and give a lethal dose of Flametrower. Didn't draw path, because it's already a mess there.
-(0-2 CP)- If you have spares, fire some shots at Bunker back up the hill (Lancer/Edelweiss), or just carry over.


Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement arrives at enemy Base Camp (Shocktrooper), moves from Base Camp towards your Smoke field. Possibly KO's Lancer (if not inside smoke).
Reinforcement call at enemy Base Camp (Shocktrooper).

Turn 4.

Player Phase (12-14 CP).

Clean everything up, there's a surplus of CP:
-(2 CP)- Restore Smoke Screen.
-(1 CP)- Bait LOS of everyone with Scout (interception from Ace(4) and Scout(2) if alive, attack Shocktrooper(3)). Consider Defense Boost/All Units Defend order to guarantee surival (+1-2 CP).
- Move Shocktrooper and casually clear everything along the way.
Alternative: call in Lancer with Mortar Lance if you had surplus of CP on Turn 3, make everything even more straightforward.

Result:

Chapter_12 Recapture Of Bruhl

- This deployment was less than brilliant. An obvious mistake - using Cezare near Zaka and Nadine, and a much less apparent problem with choosing Nadine over someone with Demolition Man (the explanation will be below when appropriate). That said, I still managed to shake a full turn off of A-rank requirement (finished in 2, whereas A-rank is 3).
- Snipers are equipped with Brondel. No strict requirements on who to use. Roof Hunter can give some peace of mind, but headshotting Snipers is easy with the latest Brondel and some +Accuracy potentials.
- Consider having a Super Anti-Armor Lancer instead of Audrey. I didn't use her in the end, but there might be value in a smart Lancer pick (again, explanation to follow).
- Shocktrooper - the usual "go alone, flank and kill things" pick. Super Damage + extra +Atk/+Acc = good. Also, I switched to Imperial Flamethrower VB FW 1 to guarantee kills vs enemies in cover. In theory, it should be good enough without other damage buffs, but why would you not pick them?

Now, before we get into the strategy I used, - the most obvious way to make this map a piece of cake is to use Artillery Support order. For 6 CP it gets rid of 7 Snipers (everyone except Ace) and damages other infantry for 200 HP. It's probably the single best mission to use this order in, provided that you have it (the second being 15b). I'm showing a strategy that doesn't rely on that.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, mortar Shocktrooper+Sniper(1) by sandbags mid-street. Move to their location to bait interception from Shocktrooper on the right hill.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #1. Take out Sniper(2). Easy way - jump behind Shamrock, listen to interception bullet hitting your tank, jump out and take aim. Afterwards get behind the starting building.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #1 again. Take out Sniper(3), use right corner to not die to interception. Hug the same house and move forward on its right side.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #1 again, take out faraway Sniper(4), use yet another right corner. Proceed to the trees on the right side of the street (which is why we baited Shocktrooper's LOS before).
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #2, take out Scout(5), join Sniper #1 by trees.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Shocktrooper(6) and move on along the right-hand house walls (under Sniper(7))
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, restock both Snipers, take down Sniper(7) from below. Move forward across sandbags and toward the main street. Avoid the opening between houses, or an AT Cannon might just ruin his/her day.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, destroy Medium Tank Ace. It's possible to do it in 2 CP with see-through radiator thing. If you consider this too much of an exploit - use 3 CP and a combination of Penetrator and Super Anti-Armor Lancer, discontinue my final action of the turn. It won't affect the outcome (thanks to Shocktrooper AP buffs).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take the rightmost path behind houses. Take the corner, kill Shocktrooper(9) there. Hide in th grass from Snipers(10+on Windmill) and crawl ahead as far as possible.

-(0-1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take out Sniper from grass, crawl forward towards the camp. Take it and stay there, safely hidden from Windmill Snipers by the building.

Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement call at Base Camp (2 Shocktroopers). Maybe a call at Midway Camp (if not captured).

Turn 2.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #1 (the one that was left behind). Take out AT Cannon(1) at enemy Base Camp through the opening between houses.

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #1 again, take out AT Cannon(2).
-(1-2 CP)- There's an AT Cannon and a Shocktrooper behind sandbags at(3). The Shocktrooper will use right corner against you with all his might. Thankfully, Engineers have nice upgraded grenades by now. Attack Boost or Demolition Man potential still required to one-shot the Trooper. Sneak by the wall, throw a nice explosive gift and move Engineer back afterwards. AT Cannon will survive at ~1/2 HP.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper #2 (or #1 if you restocked him with Engineer on the way back). Finish of ATC at(3), move to the turck ahead.

-(1+1 CP)- Get rid of 2 Snipers on the Windmill (4) with Sniper by the truck. They won't even fight back.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put a smokescreen on top of Sniper Ace(8) and Shocktrooper(7).
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, clean up everyone (6,7,8) with Flamethrower. Ace(8) is crouched in the camp, so he takes 30 headshots from Mags + Super Damage + Born Leader... yeah, just burn the guy. The only trick is to carefully walk between 3 mines in the area(9). Not normally possible under interception fire, which is why smokescreens are infantry's best friends.

Result:

Chapter_13 1-Skirmish 6

Marberry Shore, we're back. As usual, a more tight-paced version of story battle. This one is, however, a bit more optimization-heavy.
- Major change - instead of Shocktroopers having -Atk debuff, we have Scouts with -Def debuff.
- A rank is 3 turns.
- Shocktroopers need FF (or FB FV) flamethrower to kill people in camps. Mags is a safer choice of a weapon (long range attacks). Born Leader/Super Damage still reigns supreme. Vyse is a good pick to overpower crouching Shocktroopers with raw damage in head-on attacks (Challenge Lover), while Edy is the opposite - avoid fire (Panicky) + accuracy buffs(Country Bred/Melee Skills) to put 18-19 shots in the head, popping out of cover.
- I recommend Gallian-S for Scout, but Gallian-A should be fine as well.
- Reinforcements to prepare: 3 Lancers. 1 with vsPers buffs (Yoko/Hector for Born Leader) equipped with Mortar Lance. 2 with Super Damage, 1 possibly equipped with Lancaar M1R (-Dmg, +Acc from current Theimer). Best setup I've found - Yoko with Lancaar-SH, Hector with Theimer, Nils with Theimer/Lancaar M1R.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).

-(2+1+1+2+1 CP)- The very opening is almost the same as in the campaign. Smoke the entry, move Scout and Shocktrooper in, take care of Scouts(1,2), then blow up Bunker(3) with Edelweiss's mortar. Call in Lancer #1 (someone with regular Lance, not mortar) instead of Sniper.
-(1+1 CP)- Advance Shocktrooper to take care of Shocktroopers(4,5), stay hidden from enemies behind the hill.
-(1 CP)- Move Scout, take care of Shocktrooper(6) from inside the trench. For Normal difficulty, move Scout back and make him climb the trench halfway up, so that he can see the firing spot of the bunker (explanation below on enemy turn).
End of turn:

Enemy Phase.
2 attacks on Edelweiss from Medium Tank.
If Bunker can see Scout, up to 2 attacks on Scout (likely KO from -Def debuff). It's required to make this happen to limit reinforcement calls to northernmost and middle camps, so that there isn't a spare Shocktrooper at the Imperial Base Camp. This prevents a possible advance on middle camp on enemy phase 2.
2 Reinforcement calls at north and middle camps (possibly 3rd at Base Camp as explained above).

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).

-(2 CP)- Put a smokescreen in the northern field. Aim behind |_| - shaped sandbags (spot where number 1 is). It should stop interception from Scout and Bunker, as well as reach close to north camp sandbags.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Shocktrooper can doublekill north camp defenses(2) with flamethrower (see story mode), take camp (optional) and move towards midway camp. Heavy Tank will be invisible, evenif you bump straight into the thing. Take midway camp (deal with Shocktrooper(3) + Scout(4) along the way).
-(1+1 CP)- Call in Lancers #2 (with mortar) and #3 (regular lance) at midway camp.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer #1, shoot Medium Tank's radiator(5) from atop the tower. Then move along to the north camp (occupy it if Shocktrooper didn't), and take 2 shots in Heavy Tank's radiator(6). The correct spot if invisible is on the right image, it's easy to estimate by slamming into the tank. And yes, those two pics are from different deployments (taken on different difficulties, I was experimenting).

Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement calls at Base Camp, a couple Scout attacks on north camp Lancer.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (10 CP).

It's a bit of a mess to draw, so I simplified movement/attack lines. I know one of them goes through the building.
-(2 CP)- Lay smokescreen against 2nd set of Invulnerable Guns at (1).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #2, mortar Shocktrooper at (2). Will die on Easy from Born Leader, will survive on Normal (Largo has a chance to kill him with Vegetable Powah, but it's a chance). Go around the building.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #2, mortar Shocktrooper(3).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #2, mortar Medium Tank's radiator (6). It should kill Scout(4) and damage the tank. You can't one-shot this Medium Tank in its radiator on Normal due to camp defense bonuses, so extra damage is needed. Move away from there to not interfere with Born Leader.

-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #1, shoot Heavy Tank(5) in its face. Move behind the building.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #1, finish off Medium Tank(6).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #1, finish off Heavy Tank(5) in its radiator.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper in, clear Shocktrooper(2) if alive, then Shocktrooper(7).

Result:

Chapter_13 2-Showdown At Naggiar(1)

Naggiar(1) is a straightforward assault mission. Advancing from the right side is much less desirable, because it will lead to wasting a ton of CP on Ace on the left side and Heavy Tank at the enemy base camp.
- Sniper on the left is equipped with Brondel. An alternative is to have a Sniper with GSR (2 shots is enough) and have a backup Sniper with Brondel as reinforcement (see whether or not your available Snipers can one-shot standing Shocktrooper).
- Shocktrooper #1 (left camp) is from the usual Born Leader/Super Damage bunch. It's possible to avoid pretty much all interception if you advance from the left flank, so Vyse's Challenge Lover isn't coming into play most of the time. Country Bred/Melee Skills/Mid-Range Skills can all be helpful here for accuracy. Alternatively, consider Trooper Killer, since vast majority of enemies are Shocktroopers here. It might backfire against Ace though (Scout). For weapon choice I'm sticking with Mags - half the work will be done outside of enemy (and, by extension, your) nominal MG range.
- Shocktrooper #2 (anyone, really) is deployed at the right camp to defend it. It will be just 1 Scout with -Def debuff, so maybe pick MAJ. Doesn't quite matter, in my case Jane had ZM MP 3.
- Engineer can be substituted for Scout. I just wanted to play around with Demolition Man (didn't save me any CP, so meh). Equip with something that can get a 240+ range kill on a Shocktrooper.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
The map is vertically massive, so my plan will skip straight to the turn end.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, climb to the tower near Gallian camp. Shoot Scout(1) and Shocktrooper(2) from the tower. There's a Scout in the trench below that can intercept Sniper at the front side of the tower. Just take a backstep immediately after climbing tower (and after climbing down too). If you have trouble with damage - remember, it's necessary to climb down and up again to reapply Nest Master.
-(0-1 CP)- Retreat your Sniper to reserves. Skip this if you prefer to use another one as a reinforcement later.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1, kill Scout that was annoying your Sniper, then move outside and rush to the map edge. Good orientir - black-ish crater from shell explosion. From there, move toward the enemy Ace's(4) back and pick him off. Enter the trench. AT Bunker does not intercept, unlike AT Cannons, so don't worry about it. Continue forward along the trench and take down Shocktrooper(5).
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, advance straight forward. Stop by the middle of the mini-trench where you previously shot Scout(1), pick off Shocktrooper(6) from there. If you saved CP from not retreating Sniper, you might consider sniping him instead.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer, get to the camp. Deal with Shocktrooper(7) there (grenade+attack should do it) and take the camp.
-(1 CP)- Call in Sniper with Brondel at the newly acquired camp.

Enemy Phase.
Nothing happens. So much for epic confrontation.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10-11 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1, kill Shocktrooper(1). Move to the wall edge before the objective camp.
-(2+ CP)- Take down Shocktroopers(2,3) in the objectve camp, move Shocktrooper #1 in BUT DON'T OCCUPY IT. Depending on who and which weapon you picked, it'll take a different amount of actions. Bring a Scout if necessary (grenade over trench wall to blow up cover). Edy/Vyse can do this in 2 with absolute safety of the right corner:

-(1+1 CP)- Use Engineer/Scout to clean up Shocktrooper(4) and Shocktrooper Leader(5).
- The rest of this turn's CP can be spent cleaning up left side and bunkers(with Sniper) if you so desire, but there's nothing of value there. Just make sure that your Shocktrooper #1 is by the flag of objective camp and Sniper is by the left camp where you called him in.

Enemy Turn.
Scout will advance on your right camp, dies to Shocktrooper #2.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (10+ CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1. Take the objective camp.
-EVENT- Edelweiss & Shamrock arrive at the left side, Selvaria arrives in the center. Reinforcements arrive at enemy Base Camp. Gate to enemy Base Camp opens.
Rush your Shocktrooper uphill (out of trench and take the right). Move fast, to avoid damage from Selvaria. Just bump face into the tent, really. Then move by the cliffside and squeeze inbetween 2 tents. Pick off Scout(1) inside the Base Camp.
-(3-5 CP)- Snipe the radiator of Heavy Tank(2). 3 shots should do it, resupply if necessary. Note that barbed wire is a solid object, so it's required to shoot above it. Like, way above. Don't shoot from crouched position. Also, try to instantly aim upon entering action mode, so that Selvaria doesn't ruin your Sniper's day. Alternative approach: Aim Boost Edelweiss and shoot the radiator with main caliber. It's very unreliable without Aim Boost.

-(1+ CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1, kill Shocktrooper(3) in the camp. Everyone else can be ignored and camp occupied, but feel free to clean up whoever else. Other Shocktroopers won't even react to your presence here.

Result:

Chapter_14 1-Rosie's report

Rosie's report is an exercise in optimizing pathfinding - finding a good movement sequence among the rocks that lets you circle around and kill all targets.
- Total target count: 2 Lancers, 2 Medium Tanks, 2 Snipers, 10 Shocktroopers, 1 Ace Shocktrooper. It's necessary to fit all these kills in 18 CP for A-rank. They are not going to start moving much (excluding tanks) until you kill enough Shocktroopers (which largely means not until 2nd enemy phase), so relying on interception is pointless. Doubly so, since Shocktroopers carry -Atk debuff, which means you're probably not killing them with return fire. Or just straight up murder you with flamethrowers.
- For this mission, Shocktroopers with damage buffs are absolutely required, as all enemies are prone with insane defense. Don't believe me - try using Rosie without VB VF and see how many you can one-shot. Examples of what attacks Ace can survive: Super Damage + FF, Super Damage + Born Leader + Mags. Consider bringing VB VF 1 if you have it, or T-Mag. If you have access to Ultimate Damage - use those troopers (I was working on getting my Lancers to 20 by Naggiar(2) for Ult. Anti-Armor). I numbered my Shocktroopers and will refer to them by these numbers below.
- Lancer needs to be able to 2-shot Medium Tank in its face and 1-shot in its radiator. Hector is probably the best pick from Super Damage brigade (more accuracy buffs), but any of them should do.
- Sniper can be anyone with GSR or Brondel. His only job is to one-shot enemy sniper at the 1st action.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (9 CP)

-(1 CP)- Kill Sniper(1) with your Sniper. Dash left upon action start to not die to his interception.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, mortar Shocktrooper(2) and Sniper(3). Aim at Shocktrooper's position, Sniper will be picked up by AoE. Move forward and run over Shocktrooper(4), to get him out of the grass. This will be our entry into the enemy line to shoot them from the back.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #4 equipped to deal with Ace. Kill Shocktrooper(4), move north. Move again, take down Shocktrooper(5) and run across the road. Stop between the rocks.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, destroy both tanks(6,7) (as described in deployment section).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2, kill Lancer(8), hide by the tree.


Enemy Phase.
Nothing happens.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (9 CP)
There are 2 separate parts, which can be done independently and in any order.
First part - the bottom of the map.

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #3, kill Shocktroopers(1,2,3) as shown. Really, there are no reasonable markers to write a description here. Take care to not waste any movement, there's just barely enough for the 3rd one.

Second part - the top of the map.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2, kill Shocktroopers(4,5) in the grass with Flamethrower. Then move to get Lancer(6).

-(1+1+[1-2] CP)- Move Shocktrooper #4, kill Shocktroopers(7,8), then move back and circle around to get Ace(9).

Result:

Chapter_14 2-Showdown At Naggiar(2)

Probably the most infuriating battle thanks to
a) unskippable cinematic that must be watched over and over only to realize you've made a silly positioning mistake and might as well reload
b) full 20 CP of enemy turn, that clearly breaks your strategy in the first 5-6 CP, making the rest a drag. I'm seriously considering Ctr-Alt-Delete-ing after a few attempts.

First off, I'll get the most efficient (and the most "meta") strategy out, for whoever just wants to beat this level fast: get 2 pairs of Lancer and Engineer, use 2 turns' worth of CP to run each pair behind the point where Dromedariuses spawn (north - hide in the grass, south - just stand by the rock walls). Then on turn 3 keep smashing southern Dromedarius in its radiator, on turn 4 pick up the northern one. Oh, and don't forget to put a couple Shocktroopers in the base camp.

Now, if you're still with me, I'll present a more "realistic" one. As in, I will set up a sorta defense. I will, however, this time allow myself to rely on particular potentials/orders/levels, just because.

- Rosie and Largo are predeployed. Rosie is equipped with MAJ-X, Largo with Theimer.
- Both Snipers are equipped with Intercept rifles. Try ZM SG at your own risk, this thing can't hit a broad side of a barn in my experience.
- Audrey is Audrey... My Lancers were Level 20 at this point, so there's no reason to not have her (Ult. AA + Tank Slayer, which works on Heavy Tanks). More importantly, 75% chance to Mooch ammo when at 0 and Resupply order basically remove the need to pick a second Engineer (~6% chance to not get Mooch twice in a row). Bonus points for Edelweiss synergy with Good Buddy (see turn 3).
- Put any Shocktrooper in place of Edy, just don't give them ZM MP. One of the few missions, where personal traits of Shocktroopers do not matter almost entirely for attaining A-rank.
- Nadine was equipped with ZM Kar 5(e), could be anything, really.
- Prepared backup - Super/Ultimate Anti-Armor replacement for Largo. Super just barely makes a cut (was Hector for test purposes in my case).
- Musaad was an afterthought and only served as bait for Dromedarius shots. Swap out for Largo replacement or an extra Engineer (if not running Audrey, you'll need resupplies on that end too).
- Shamrock is equipped with Gatlings.

Turn 1, Turn 2.

I'll skip over turn 1 and just show who ends up where. Blue numbers represent order of actions, red - order of kills and who took part in those kills (in parentheses).

- Sniper(8) by sandbags is crouched, Sniper(9) in the trench is standing.
- Ace(2) was mortared and then blown up by Engineer.
- Alicia takes care of Tank Destroyer on her mini-turn. It still counts for victory scores.
Now, set up defenses for both north and south before taking the camp.
North: hide Shamrock behind the tent (Gatlings can reach across the chasm), crouch Shocktrooper in the camp, turn towards the hill to the west .
South: put Rosie by middle Sandbags. Consider moving Engineer to Lancer if using one in place of my Scout.

That's preparations complete, OUR FIGHT BEGINS NOOOOW!
- Now move Largo, take the camp. One cinematic and enemy troops appearance later, take a shot at northern Dromedarius and retreat. Call in replacement. If used a different Lancer in place of my Scout, just shoot and leave him at the camp or something.
- On the southern front, move Edelweiss, put a smokescreen on top of Lancer (and maybe Engineer), move Edelweiss inside the smokescreen as well.

Enemy Phase.
Long string of attacks on anything and everything in the south. Enemies can find targets through the smoke, but not inside it, so Lancer, Edelweiss (and maybe Engineer) get ignored. Scout got KO'd by Dromedarius (wouldn't die so I didn't bother medevacing him).
2 Snipers will attack Shocktrooper in the north. Ideally, both die to interception. In my case 1 didn't.

Turn 3.

Player Phase

In the south, put up a smokescreen again and move Edelweiss/Audrey behind Dromedarius, then hammer away at its radiator. If not running Audrey, move Engineer and Lancer instead. Edelweiss gives Audrey some extra punch with Good Buddy, and her refilling potential can save a couple CP to make sure your north side can evade Incendiary explosion.

In the north, get your Engineer and Lancer (optionally, Shocktrooper too) to the grass. Pick off Snipers, attack Dromedarius along the way.

Enemy Phase.
More attacking in the south (got Rosie KO'd this time around), some little advances in the north.

Turn 4.

Sneak Lancer and Engineer behind Dromedarius in the north, destroy it. Super Anti-Armor is barely enough, better bring Ultimate. I was saved by enough Tank Destroyer activations (those just do extra damage, unlike what one might think from the description).

Result:

Chapter_15 1-Welkin's report

Welkin's report is a quite annoying affair. Terrain is difficult, enemies react vastly differently to seemingly insignificant positioning changes, and it's extremely easy to lose Edelweiss. More importantly, this map has the "kill everyone" A-rank condition, but features way more enemies than available CP: 3 Lancers, 3 Scouts, 2 Snipers, 1 Engineer, 8 Shocktroopers, 1 Medium and 2 Heavy Tanks against 6x3 = 18 CP (A-rank limit). Abusing initial enemy positioning with premeditated knowledge and preparation is absolutely a must to get anywhere here.

- We're stuck with Rosie here. Rosie absolutely needs VB FW flamethrower (either #1 or #2 works), or killing prone Lancers will be nigh impossible. MAJ-X for -Atk debuff on interception.

- Largo is also predeployed, and mortar lance is the way to go. With overwhelming enemy count, multikills are the only way to get

- Second Shocktrooper either needs another VB FW, or Super/Ultimate Damage. Same story, MAJ-X for -Atk. Consider bringing Aisha for Ambush Spotter if you have Ult. Damage (4th potential) unlocked.

- Sniper basically has to be Marina/Catherine with Brondel. I will suggest a way to use Lancer instead separately at the end.

- Deployment order has to be what it is. Rightmost spot has to be a Shocktrooper, because enemy Lancer will can sneak past Rosie's interception radius and win the level on enemy phase 1. No, there won't be any CP to move Shocktroopers on turn 1.

- Edelweiss needs to be respecced to max out AP (purple parts). Decide on balance between HP and Accuracy, it's sort of tricky. I'll show what I had, but it's not the best:

- Sniper Support order will make the start way easier.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (6 CP).
I've marked all hidden enemy positions with class designations (S=Scout, rest should be clear) for an overview.

-(1 CP)- Sniper Support Sniper(1). He intercepts all of your initial position and, basically, most of the map. It's possible to get him with your own Sniper, but requires dodging his attack first. This is the part where I say "wish I had something better for you".
-(1+1 CP)- Move Largo, mortar 2 Scouts in the grass at(2), then mortar 2 Shocktroopers at (3). Stay on top of the hill in the grass.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, follow the road. Mortar 4 enemies at (4). It's an obnoxiously annoying attack, but it needs to success entirely and kill all 4. I'll just say this - stacking dodge chance from 4 units is ridiculous, I've had at least someone dodge 14 times in a row. That day I just stopped playing. Tons of "fun". Anyway, after attack return as far back as you can. Around signpost is an ok place.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper. Blow up Medium Tank(5) with a frontal radiator shot from the rocks (see plan). Either My Way or Penetrator required (~12% failure chance for Marina, 50% for Catherine). If you consider this an unfair exploit, I still suggest reading through the whole battle and then check the part where I discuss Lancer usage to replace this part.


Enemy Phase.
- Ace moves around. Heavy Tank moves forward toward the hill.
- Lancer up north attacks Edelweiss
- 2 Shocktroopers near Heavy Tank move forwrd.
- Lancer near Largo's path will try to get into the camp at the right side. Stopped by Shocktrooper (not Rosie).
- Sniper(north) attacks Rosie.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (6 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Largo, mortar 2 Shocktroopers(1). Move all the way back and hide in the northwest grass patch. I've outlined Heavy Tank's interception radius (not accurate), so basically - crawl out, then get up and run.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, put a round into Heavy Tank Ace(2). No need to look for Penetrator, a regular attack should do. As long as 600+ damage is dealt.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, get in position to hit radiator of Ace (2). How far to go depends on how many accuracy upgrades you've picked. Either way, make sure to get back to the road sign. Otherwise, either Heavy Tank or nearby Lancer will finish Edelweiss off.
-(1 CP)- One Shocktrooper kills Lancer(3), stays in the camp. Position him/her inside to cover all angles just in case.
-(1 CP)- The other Shocktrooper moves north and kills Lancer and Sniper(4) with flamethrower.

Enemy Phase.
- Heavy Tank advances. Will fire at Shocktrooper and/or Largo, even in grass (there's a Scout nearby, I guess that's the reason). I lost my Shocktrooper to that attack.
- The last Shocktrooper (by Heavy Tank) will advance toward the camp.
- Scout will advance toward the camp, hides in grass.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (6 CP).

-(1+1 CP)- Heavy Tank should shine its radiator and let Sniper get an easy kill.
-(1+1 CP)- Shocktrooper from the camp cleans up Shocktrooper(2) and Lancer(4).
-(1 CP)- Largo or Shocktrooper deal with Scout(3).

Result:

Alternative adaptaion:

Now, for the promised Lancer usage. Even Ult. Anti-Armor Lancers can't kill Medium Tank in 1 shot. So if you want to use one instead of cheesy Sniper shot (or flat out don't have/like Marina for whatever reason), consider moving to the hill on turn 1 and putting a shot in Ace tank (so that Edelweiss can pick him up later with radiator shot). Medium Tank will move down the road on its turn, and can be destroyed in its radiator on turn 2. Then circle around to get in position similar to that of Sniper's, and slam 2 shots in Heavy Tank's radiator.

Reasonable consideration:

Why not save CP, awaken Lynn on turn 2 and let her double attacks take care of overwhelming numbers? Well, my Largo+Edelweiss mortar usage gets 10 kills in 5 CP, whereas Lynn can only reliably get 6 (3 moves 2 attacks each), even disregarding logistics and the need to survive turn 1. Maybe a couple more with lucky flametrower positioning, but still. More stress, more difficulty.

Chapter_15 2-Varrot's Report

I doubt anyone has troubles with this one. Deploy Sniper (optionally Scout other than Welkin), skip turn 1 entirely, snipe 2 Scouts by the building, run Welkin (or the other Scout) uphill on the left, kill Scout on the rooftop with Grenade Launcher or straight attacks.

Result:

Chapter_15 3-Alicia's report

A relaxing battle with underleveled opposition. Feel powerful for a change.

- Sniper is equipped with Brondel.
- 2 Shocktroopers. I equipped Lynn with VB FW out of sheer paranoia, but pretty much anything should do.
- Engineer is our main star this time for a change. I used ZM Kar 5(e) on Nadine, but Gallian-A should work as well.
- Scout was an afterthought, didn't use.
- Lancer - anyone with Super/Ult. Anti-Armor should do.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP)

-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, kill Scout(1) overlooking your deployment position. Climb up the ladder. Follow the cliff edge, destroy Light Tank(2) in its radiator.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer, climb the ladder, grenade Engineer(3) and nearby barricades. Move downhill and kill one of the two Lancers at(4).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2, climb 2 ladders, kill Sniper and 2 Shocktroopers behind sandbags(5). Dive out of the corner for a second to bait interception from enemies at(7).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1 uphill, doublekill Scout and Engineer(6). Either run up and use flamethrower, or just line them up for double-target headshots, they're squishy enough.

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, kill Lancer(8), get back to the nearby ladder. Climb it up and down to sight enemies(optional).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, take down Light Tank(9) in the camp from the ladder near Engineer. Enemies at (7) can't intercept there.
Pass turn (1 CP).

Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement request at Base Camp. Nothing else.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (11 CP).

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Engineer. Climb up the ladder, use Grenades to deal with enemies at(1,2). Then circle around the camp and use the 3rd Grenade to kill Shocktrooper(3). Might be doable to kill both Shocktroopers(3,4) together with Demolition Man.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, pick up 2 Shocktroopers (4,5 or 5,6).
Either one of your Shocktroopers should be able to easily dispatch the rest - one behind buildings at (7) is a Leader, so don't forget him.

Result:

Chapter_15 4-Skirmish 7

Skirmish 7, as usual, is a more restricted version of story battle. With 2 CP less than campaign, the same 2-turn strategy that I presented for Chapter 12 still works, the only change being that a few snipers will be left alive. I'll present end-of-turn states for turn 1 and just before the win at turn 2, so you can have a general idea of who goes where. For the detailed breakdown refer to Recapture Of Bruhl.

Result:

Chapter_15 5-a Fight For Ghirlandaio

- Sniper is equiped with Brondel to deal with Heavy Gatling. Consider GSR-R as an alternative.
- Shocktrooper - anyone with decent damage buffs and/or Imperial flamethrower.
- 1 Ult. Anti-Armor Lancer (Hector might work too though) with Theimer, 1 Lancer with Lancaar-SH (can be replaced with Shocktrooper).
- Engineer - for alternate strategy (2 turns, rather than 3), discussed separately at the end.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Advance along the train track, let Heavy Gatling(1) kill crouching Shocktrooper(2) with friendly fire. Gun down Heavy Gatling(1). Position yourself in a way to create cover from Sniper(3) on Ghirlandaio's wall (check sight lines to find him firing at your tank).

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper. Advance to your tank, wait out a shot from Sniper(3), jump out of cover and kill him. No damage buffs required with a headshot.

-(1 CP)- Move Lancer with Mortar, blow up Scout(4).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer with Theimer, destroy Medium Tank(5) in the radiator.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, activate Switch 1, kill Lancer(6) in the camp, take the camp and move to the right.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper. Destroy Heavy Gatling(7), it's clearly visible if you shift to the left. Its interception range is roughly as far as Imperial front line on the map (the double dash/solid one). After that advance forward as far as you can, at least to the sandbags.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss to the right (follow the tracks), shoot at Medium Tank(8).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer with Theimer. Finish off Medium Tank(8) and damage Ace Tank Destroyer (9) from the tower. Technically, you have a chance at one-shotting Destroyer, but its radiator is barely visible. Experiment with Royal Lances if you wish. After that, if you still, for whatever reason, don't have Resupply order (Engineer lv. 12), retreat to the camp (should be barely enough AP). Otherwise, just stay there.

Enemy Phase.
Reinforcement calls at northwest and middle camps. Ace Destroyer moves around (invisible behind the wall).

Turn 2.

Player Phase(12 CP).

-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper. Cross the minefield, shoot Shocktrooper(1). He's a Leader, so he is very likely to survive 1 shot (My Way+Penetration is probably the only way to one-shot him with Brondel in absense of Attack Boost). If he survives, circle the mines and approach the train station. Use right corner of the station to finish off Shocktrooper(1). It's really hard to describe, so I tried to present the movement trajectory as close as possible. Spots (a) and (b) are where it's safe and easy to shoot from. Anyway, after killing him there should be just enough AP to activate Switch 2 and take the middle camp. At this point it's better to retreat Sniper from that camp.

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, advance along the right side. Finish off Ace Destroyer(2).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, approach Ace Scout(3) with Edelweiss as cover. He will only intercept when you get really close, but moving in from the side (he's facing south) will let you enter firing mode while he's turning and getting up. Burn him with flamethrower.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, shoot Medium Tank(4) over wall from tower. Then advance toward the northeast camp and take it, finish off Medium Tank(4) along the way.
-(2+1+1 CP)- Move Edelweiss and Shocktrooper to the northeast camp, take down Shocktrooper(5) (mortar+attack should be 100% enough). Pass turn.

From there on, all you need to do on turn 3 is to put smoke screen in a way that lets your Shocktrooper (or Lancer) charge past interception from turrets above (roughly outlined on the map). Those have 40000 HP, so don't even bother climbing up ladders or anything. Use Defense Boost order/Strenghten potential to make sure your trooper survives the small bit where he will be out of cover (smoke radius isn't enough to completely cover the path).

Result:

Optimization - 2-turn A-rank:

The strategy is very similar, but instead of Shocktrooper we'll be running Engineer. 750 vs 600 AP makes enough difference to pack everything in 2 turns.

Turn 1 is basically the same, the only change is that you need to run over sandbags to deny Lancer in the 1st camp cover bonus (Engineer has a hard time killing him in 2 CP otherwise).

For Ace Scout we'll be using Edelweiss's mortar and a grenade. Lancer will be the one to take down Ace Destroyer, run past to the camp and take down Medium Tank there in 2 Shots (6 CP total + 2 from Sniper crossing minefield).

From there we move in Edelweiss, put up a smokescreen and let our Engineer run all the way to the last switch. Shocktrooper can be killed with grenade+attack from withing the cloud.

Result:

Chapter_15 6-b Selvaria's Last Stand (Part 1)

Effectively dealing with Selvaria requires quite a bit of preparation. Here's an info dump:
- Selvaria cuts through Shamrock like butter even outside of Ruhm's nominal range. Just leave it be.
- Selvaria can damage Edelweiss within Ruhm's nominal range. Consider a mixture of AP and Armor in addition to maxed HP. My strategy doesn't need it though.
- The only safe place inside Gallian Base Camp is near the broken cart. Selvaria can and will kill any infantry by the sandbags or in the backline on her turn.
- Artillery Support makes things go substantialy better in the opening turn. It's been 12 Chapters, so you should really have it by now. Or, at least, Sniper Support.
- Scout #1 needs to be equipped with strong anti-personnel rifle (Gallian-A is my choice). Especially if you don't have Art. Support.
- Scout #2 is equpped with Gallian-SR. High vsArmor is basically a must (against Gatlings). If you failed to roll Gallian-SR, go with the best vsArmor rifle you can find (expect engage at ~175-200 range). Juno carries extra vsArmor buff (Born Leader).
- At least 2 strong Lancers required (Ult. Anti-Armor + up-to-date Theimer deals exactly 1/2 of Tank Destroyer's HP). There won't be any ammo supply problems. One Lancer is to be deployed at the Base Camp.
- At least 3 strong Shocktroopers (Super/Ult. Damage) as reinforcements. VB FW recommended for at least one, to kill 2 Lancers crouched inside a camp. FF-6 is not enough. Don't bother with MAJ-X. Pick between Mags and T-MAG. I'm sticking with Mags, because reliable headshots. Attack Weak Spot order (Lancer lv. 19) can help if picking T-MAG.
- Having Neutralize order(Shocktrooper lv. 20) recommended, but not necessary. Highly recommended if you plan on using awakened Lynn, to take advantage of Undercover Fire without getting horribly murdered.
- Sniper in Gallian Base Camp - anyone with Brondel, to deal with Heavy Tank. Ignore if you've picked a spare Ult. Damage Lancer (3+ Lancers available).

Turn 1.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(6 CP)- Call in Artillery Support. The goal is to kill 4 Snipers (1,2,3(x2)) and substantially weaken crouched Shocktrooper(6) and Lancer(7). If you don't have it, change the tactic below: consider running 2 Scouts to the left side, rather than 1. One is probably getting KO'd on Selvaria's turn, so prepare Medic Request as well. Also, use Sniper Support on Sniper(2) when you spot him.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, approach Gatling on the left flank. Block it with your body, make sure to hide radiator behind the building. Use Smoke Round, hit the corner of the building(4). It should prevent Selvaria from attacking anything on your left flank.

-(1+1+1 CP)- Run Scout #1 past Gatling (blocked by Edelweiss) upstairs. Kill Shocktrooper(5) using stairs for interception cover. Then use Grenade Launcher to kill Shocktrooper(6), shoot Lancer(7) (Gallian-A is enough after Art. Support). Take enemy camp [II]. Note: if you don't kill Lancer(7) on turn 1, say goodbye to Shamrock (Zaka is still a Leader).
-(1 CP)- Attack Medium Tank(8) with Lancer. Hide by the tripped cart.

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement calls at Northwest camp and Central camp.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Selvaria runs back and forth along the wall. No attacks, if you have everything hidden. Stops on the left side.
-(2+2 CP)- Heavy Tank moves forward, attacks Shamrock once.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(1 CP)- Call in Lancer as reinforcement on the left flank (Camp [II]).
-(2 CP)- Make another smokescreen(1) in the same manner as the first one.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, destroy Medium Tank(2). Retreat if you don't have any more Lancers, hide by the cart again if you do.
-(1+1+1+1 CP)- Put Damage Boost on Scout #2. Move Scout #2 to the ladder. Take a path behind Shamrock and in a wide ark to avoid Heavy Tank's interception. Kill Shocktrooper(3) with Grenade Launcher to avoid damage. Run upstairs and hide by the wall. Approach Heavy Gatling(4) and take it down. Advance toward the camp[III] and take Heavy Gatling(5) from upstairs. Take the camp.

-(1 CP)- Call in Lancer as reinforcement on the right flank (Camp [III]).
-(1 CP)- Move Scout #1, advance on the left flank. Kill enemy Scout by the log pile there. Hide from Tank Destroyer behind some crates.
Pass turn (+2 CP saved).

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement calls at Northwest camp and Central camp.
- Shocktrooper arrives at Northwest camp, Lancer arrives at Central camp.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Selvaria runs back and forth along the wall. No attacks, if you have everything hidden. Stops on the right side.
-(2 CP)- Tank Destroyer might move up on the left flank (depends on where you put your Scout).
-(1 CP)- Shocktrooper at Northwest camp might move around, stays inside, crouched.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (12+2 CP).
On this turn both flanks will be advanced. They are fully independent, so the order is up to you here. I will use unified numbering starting with left.
-(1+1 CP)- Dispatch Tank Destroyer(1) on the left flank.
-(1+1 CP)- Kill Shocktrooper(2), take Northwest camp and advance toward the Central camp.
-(1+1 CP)- Call in 2 Shocktroopers at Northwest camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer on the left flank closer to Northwest camp.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Dispatch Heavy Tank(3) on the right flank.
-(1+1 CP)- Take Northeast camp with Scout #2. Hide Scout #2 by crates near the gate.

Enemy Phase.
- Lancer arrives at Central camp.
- Some movement among Lancers in Central camp.
- Heavy Tank in the courtyard will attack Shamrock again (fully upgraded Shamrock can survive that).
- Selvaria will run away to the far right side of the wall.

Aaaand the rest of description is in the next section. Thank you, Steam Guide section character limit. Whoever came up with it has probably never written a detailed guide.

Chapter_15 6-b Selvaria's Last Stand (Part 2)

Turn 4.

Player Phase (12+2 CP).
- 2 Shocktroopers arrive at Northwest camp.
-(4 CP)- Destroy Heavy Tank in the courtyard. Put a smokescreen on top of it and use Sniper/Lancer to get to its radiator.
Now comes the important part. That is, the way Selvaria's AI works. Everything here is based on my observation, so it may not be strictly true. I've spent quite some time experimenting, so it's at least reasonably close to reality. Sorry, it'll be a bit of a text wall.
- Selvaria has a set of spots on the map where she tries to end her turn. She starts looking for these spots as soon as you take at least one of the North camps. She evaluates each of these spots for "safety" - that is, lack of any Squad 7 members in proximity. Nearby areas of the map are linked to these spots, so if there's any Sq7 trooper there, she will seek a different spot.
- If her current spot is "safe", she will not budge on her turn.
- If any Sq7 member successfully intercepts her during movement (that is, actually hits her), she will return fire.
- If Selvaria ends her movement and sees any Sq7 member, she will attack. She will NOT attack just from passing by Sq7 troopers.
- If she kills any Sq7 trooper, she will reevaluate spot safety and may choose a destination different from original.

With that in mind, it's possible to lead Selvaria to the areas where she can be easily killed. As long as she stays on the topmost part of the wall, doing actual damage to her involves both Smoke rounds from Edelweiss (which means a lot of movement wasted on getting it up) and Neutralize order, because she can counterattack from (and within) the cloud.

Purple rectangles mark approximate areas of spot blocking. Very approximate.
Solid red line is Selvaria's movement on her turn. Dashed lines are potential attacks/interception (crossed=impossible).
Troop movements are represented in the usual way, (1) marks Tank Destroyer, (2) is Lancers in Central camp. These guys:

It's important to make leftmost Shocktrooper face the corner. Prideful Valkyria doesn't shoot defenseless backs. A huge mistake on her part.
Also, call in one more Shocktrooper at the Northwest camp.

Enemy Phase.
With this setup, Selvaria should find a spot behind Northwest camp.

Turn 5.

Player Phase(12+ CP).

If the bait was set up correctly, the result will be something along these lines.
From here, first of all, bait her interception from north, to give your resly arrived Shocktrooper much needed ability to reposition. Just dive out and end movement.

From this point, just buff up and keep hitting her head, interchanging whoever attacks to make sure you're hitting her back. Right corners are amazing. Yes, that diagonal wall counts as vertical for AI. Don't ask. Neutralize order is a thing too.

Result:

Chapter_16 Diverting The Marmota

There's not much to write in detail about this mission. Probably I'm just a bit exhausted after all the experiments with Selvaria.

It's easier to work with just 2 tanks, infantry is more of a liability than help. Equip Shamrock with Gatlings. Throw every AP and a mix of HP/Def upgrade at Edelweiss; some optional Crit Def if you're bad at instantly entering firing mode upon action start.

Marmota has basically infinite interception range and hurts your tanks a lot now, so make sure to use Smoke Rounds at the very beginning of each turn. Only shoot plot-relevant ragnite crates (2 by each fork), prioritize enemy Lancers. To kill Sniper Ace - run him over until he shows his back to Shamrock, let Gatlings do the rest (11 headshots with all upgrades).

Take care inside the mined-up base, watch out for Anti-Tank mines. Shamrock can squeeze between the fence and AT barricade at the second exit to cut some distance.

By the end of turn 4 you can easily be at the flagged spot, having killed all enemies and blown up all crates. Skip turns until the end of mission comes about.


Result:

Chapter_17 1-Skirmish 8

Naggiar skirmishes are, for one, more relaxed than the story mode original. I've again forgotten to deploy defense for the eastern camp... guh.
The major differences are Selvaria & Ace being substituted for 2 Tank Destroyers and a slight revamp on Leader locations:

The map still works largely in the same manner:
- cross the field on the left flank after Sniper and Lancer do some work on troops/Destroyer.
- pick up the camp, call in Sniper with Brondel.
- advance to the mid camp, take care of the other Destroyer and Leaders.
- snipe down Heavy Tank that spawns on the hill once you capture mid-way camp.
- advance to the Imperial Base Camp and clean house.

If you're following my regulation on Ruhm availability, I suggest testing its range/damage/accuracy during this skirmish. There's quite a few long range shot opportunities, like this:


Oh, and Gallian tanks are known to glitch and fail to get out of their starting position. Just ignore them for this map.

Result:

Chapter_17 2-Breaching Jaeger's Blockade

The second confrontation with Jaeger is not nearly as frustrating as dealing with Selvaria. Still, a few considerations to make.
- Infantry with no numbers (Hector/Dallas) was me experimenting with mortar lances and grenades. Didn't quite do what I expected.
- 2 Ult./Super Damage Shocktroopers. CQC-oriented setup for #1 (Mags/T-MAG/ZM MP + FF/VB FW). Hybrid setup for #2 (Ruhm/Royal Mags/Mags/MAJ-X + VB FW). The first choices in those lists is what I was running as a final version.
- 2 Ult. Anti-Armor Lancers. Audrey was chosen because Mooch/Edelweiss synergy/Camaraderie is basically as much damage as you can get. Elysse brings much needed Double Tank Dmg. to pin down tanks without sacrificing body damage. Also, this is one of the few battles that gets to turn 5, so Elysse's Slow Starter has a chance of actually showing up for a change.
- Sniper is equipped with Royal GSR. It is required to one-shot both AT Cannons and Scouts inside a camp. Brondel can't do the latter, even on Marina.
- Shamrock is equipped with Gatlings. It has one job, and only Gatlings can do it.
- Edelweiss was using HP/AP parts. The worst AP one may be substituted for Def instead.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).

Purple numbers assigned to camps are arbitrary labels, not capture order. 17 chapters in, I finally got tired of thinking how to refer to them every single time.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, climb on top of the ruined building at your starting position. Take down Heavy AT Cannons(1,2) (works with no buffs).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #3, move towards Heavy Tank(5). Fire a shot at it and close in until it begins to intercept (look for the black spot on the movement line). Stop right there and end action.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put up a smokescreen(3) in front of Heavy Tank(5). Move into the smokescreen. If you have enough AP, try running over sandbags to ruin cover for Shocktroopers(6). End movement in a way that leaves some space between Edelweiss and Heavy Tank.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1, squeeze between 2 tanks and kill Shocktrooper(4).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #3, cross the street and get to Heavy Tank's(5) radiator. One shot will finish him off. It must not blow away the smoke cloud.

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #1, dispatch Shocktrooper(6), take Camp #1. Climb onto the building and kill Sniper(7) and Lancer(8).

Enemy Phase.
- A set of reinforcement calls at various camps. #3 and #4 are most likely candidates. Note if a camp got 2 reinforcement calls, so you can prioritize taking that one.
- Jaeger uses a couple All Units X orders. He has a full repertoire (Attack, Defend, Aim, Evade). These should persist across your next Phase, so do keep in mind what he used. Usually it will be Aim and Attack at the beginning, then Evade/Defend get added to the mix as you pick up more camps.
- Shocktrooper from streets to the south advances on Gallian Base Camp, gets killed by Shamrock and Shocktrooper #2's interception. That's why Gatlings. If you're planning on a different strategy, consider killing that guy during your phase. Aim+Attack orders are an easy way to lose your camp defender, if any.
- Enemy Ace runs into the southmost alley and crouch by sandbags there.
- Heavy Tank by Camp #4 (see next turn's maps) advances towards Gallian position.
- Jaeger will advance to Camp #3. He has no targets to attack (Edelweiss is inside the smoke cloud), so he puts up his own smokescreen on top of one of his camps. Could be either one, I've not been able to identify a deterministic pattern. Either way, his smoke bombs can only HELP attack camps, rather than make it harder. At worst, they don't change anything. Truly, this person uses tank tactics noone has ever seen before.
- Enemy Sniper from camp #2 might move forward down the street.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).
This turn's flow is pretty heavily adjusted if Jaeger puts his smoke on top of Camp #4. I'll base my description on the harder case where he doesn't.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down Sniper(1) and Scout(2).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Put a smokescreen(3) on top of Camp #3 (even if Jaeger's one is there, since it will disspate as soon as you end phase).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper #2. Get to Camp #3. With correct positioning it should be possible to take both Shocktrooper(4) and Scout(5) there.

-(1+1+1 CP)- From here on, use Shocktrooper #2 with Attack Boost to capture Camp #4. With Mags it's possible to go for direct order of kills on Shocktroopers (6->7), with Ruhm/Royal Mags - kill (7) first from range, then comfortably circle around (6). Adjust depending on their actual interception angle (mine is depicted with dash-dotted lines).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer #4, get to Camp #4 and hit Heavy Tank(8) in its radiator. Double Dmg. will leave it with 0 THP, preventing any attacks during enemy phase.

Enemy Phase.
- More reinforcement calls at the last camp.
- More Jaeger shouting orders. This is the worst part of the whole ordeal.
- Jaeger moves back, shoots another smoke.
- Shocktrooper from Camp #2 advances towards camp #3. If you've kept Edelweiss there, he won't be able to capture it.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #4, destroy Heavy Tank(1). Run northwest towards Vasel Bridge.
-(2+1 CP)- Put Attack Weak Spot order(Lancers lv.19) on Shocktrooper #2, run to Shocktrooper Ace(2). Did you know that flamethrowers can do critical damage?

Other means of dealing with this guy are way more annoying to pull. He has a ton of HP and hurts like a truck, not to mention the usual 100% evade rate and being crouched.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer #4, put 2 shots into Heavy Tank's(3) radiator from the bridge.
-(1+1)- Move Shocktrooper #1, kill Shocktrooper(4) and Lancer(5) in Camp #2. Take the camp.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, kill Shocktrooper(6). Move... somewhere. Or just stay in the camp.

From here on, all there's left to do is to spend 2 turns watching Jaeger shout orders to nonexistant troops and hammer Lupus with Lancers. Use 2+Lancers, camps, ammo-restocking potentials and Resupply order (Engineers lv.12) to minimize wasting actions on refills. Lupus takes a lot to take down, so try to set up as many +Atk potentials as humanly possible.

Result:

Chapter_18 a-Marmota's End

The key to beating this mission fast is making proper decisions to survive Turn 1.

Map notes:

- Every odd enemy phase a Lancer will come out of Marmota's front and advance toward Gallian positions.
- Every enemy phase past turn 2 reinforcements of different kind will appear in the areas, where Imerials are initially deployed. If you don't wrap the battle up by the end of turn 4 (A-rank), expect being surrounded by Lancers and Shocktroopers. This rarely ends well for tanks.
- Your units will be fully healed at the beginning of your phase starting from turn 4.

Preparation notes:

- Put as much HP and Def on Edelweiss and Shamrock as possible. Marmota's MG turrets have 600 vsArmor and can make a mincemeat out of poorly equipped tanks in seconds. Troops are not much better off, but that's hat smoke rounds are for.
- Equip Sniper with the best anti-personnel rifle available. You will most likely need a long-range kill on Lancer at one point. Anti-Armor rifles are pretty lackluster at this point, compared to fully upgraded lances and various anti-armor buffs.
- At least one trooper has to be capable of clearing the top deck from 2 Shocktroopers. Ult. Defense Engineers with Gallian-A or Shocktroopers are the best bet. At least one enemy has to be charged straight up (left corner), so consider someone with high HP pool if you are not good at fast aim mode entries.
- Consider bringing (or having as backup) some long range inteception. Marmota's platforms are about 700-850 units away from the southwest corner, where enemy infantry spawns, which makes it perfect for both Ruhm and Intercept/ZM SG rifles. Who am I kidding, Ruhm outshines sniper interception at this range easily. Just try it, you don't want to miss that "look who can shoot at full-auto across the map NOW" feel.
- A combination of Ult. Anti-Armor and Tank Slayer can kill AT Turrets in 3 shots, rather than 4. Sadly, this basically means "bring Audrey". If you don't have/like her, my next choice would probably be Yoko: maybe Born Leader, Super A.A. and Tank Slayer will be enough.
- Elysse was my choice for a second slot because it doesn't really matter, as long as Ult. Anti-Armor is there. It's enough to one-shot MG Turrets. Yes, I just didn't want to swap squad after Jaeger's mission. Extra Shot is also helpful.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Put a smokescreen(1) that blocks left and middle MGs. Drive inside the base camp, face towards west.
Blocking all 3 MGs doesn't seem feasible, so this strategy is and adaptation. The problem stems from the fact that enemies can see through the smoke during their phase, so covering your own troops will still leave tanks (or whoever is guarding the camp) vulnerable.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down enemy Sniper(2). Move into the cloud (near Marmota's side).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer #2, run through the smoke and take down rightmost MG(3). Now Lancer #1 is not threatened by interception anymore.

-(3-4 CP)- Move Lancer #1, climb stairs leading to the left MG. Take down AT Turret(4) from there. 3 CP with Audrey (2 turrets count for Tank Slayer), 4 CP with others(use Lancer #2 or try Damage Boost).

-(1+1 CP)- Use Shocktrooper to kill 2 Lancers. More than enough AP to end action inside the cloud.
-(0-1 CP)- If applicable (that is, with Audrey's 3 CP turret kill): shoot at the damaged plate to make entryway up or just save that CP. Or even consider calling an Engineer or a spare Lancer.
Worst case (no Audrey) - you have 0/1 ammo on Lancers #1/#2 respectively before this decision, which means 1/2 on next turn. You'll need to take down the ramp (1 shot), 2 MG's (2 shots) and optionally the other AT (4 shots either way), which is a grand total of 7. Engineer is the safest bet, otherwise rely on Extra Shot and Resupply.
End of turn:

Enemy Phase.
- Lancer runs from Marmota's front. Attacks Edelweiss.
- 3 Shocktroopers advance toward Gallian camp. Most should die to Edelweiss's interception. (was 2 out of 3 in my case).
- AT Turret shoots Edelweiss.
- MG Turrets shoot Shamrock.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10-11 CP).
From here on it's sort of pointless to give a map.
-(0-1+1+1 CP)- take down the ramp (if you didn't before) and 2 MG's, always possible.
-(1 CP)- Kill Lancer (Sniper should be able do it. Use ladders for Nest Master potential).
-(1+1+1)- Run Shocktrooper above, kill 2 Shocktroopers on the way, destroy one engine. It does say 9999 HP and 999 armor, but disregard that. It goes down easily. Retreat to the outer side of Marmota.
-(4 CP)- Decide between taking down AT (if Audrey available), or just smoke it (2 CP), call an Engineer(1 CP) and get one of your Lancers upstairs (1 CP). Or snipe surviving Shocktroopers, if any.

Enemy Phase.
Some reinforcements on the west side (minimal, no Lancers). Maybe some advances from Shocktroopers. Nothing critical.

Turn 3-4.

Get the second engine and hammer down the big blue spear with Lancers. It takes 11 shots with Ult. Anti-Armor in absense of other buffs. Edelweiss can keep smoking AT Turret.

Result:

Chapter_18 b-Final Showdown

Every single time I absolutely fail to feel excited about final boss battles (in many games). I guess it has to do with them always trying to do something special, instead of just being difficult regular battles with a twist (like what Selvaria's battle did).
There's a lot of unnecessary units deployed here. A checklist for minimalistic win:
- Shamrock with Gatlings and all Def/HP parts. It's a very efficient damage dealing method.
- Sniper with Brondel. Towers can be one-shotted even without buffs.
- Lancer for the first 2 towers. These can outright murder an unlucky Sniper so some survivability helps.
- 1-2 Shocktroopers of choice. Priority goes do Lynn (awaken for double attacks + synergy with Shamrock), but anything should work, really. Equip with whatever you like, it's going to be a point blank combat.
- Engineer just in case. Maximillian loves blasting Shamrock's threads, so if you misposition it on turn 1 it might need repairs to turn around.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (12 CP).

-(2 CP)- Put a smoke cloud on top of Max. As usual with bosses, his interception kinda murders infantry.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Destroy 3 towers connected to him with Lancer and Sniper. Should always be 2 closest to Gallian position and the farthest one.
-(2 CP)- Move Shamrock, attack Max. Then get up the ramp and enter the cloud behind his back from the right side.
-(1-2 CP)- Pick any Shocktrooper, move next to Shamrock and team-attack Max, using Shamrock as a right corner. This will prevent most of counterattack from connecting. This should deal enough damage to trigger his second phase. If not, repeat (maybe bring a second shocktrooper to be sure).

Pass turn.

Enemy Phase.
Max will walk forward to the same general area he was originally. He will attack something even inside the cloud. For me it was Shamrock, when noone was outside the smoke area (reliably, over the course of various testing reloads). Shamrock will lose all THP.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (12-16 CP).
-(2 CP)- Put a smoke cloud on top of Max again.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Destroy 3 towers connected to Max. Could be different ones each time. There should be plenty of ammo (or just have a backup Sniper/Lancer deployed from the start like I did).
-(Rest of CP)- Put Neutralize order (2 CP) on whoever is going to do all the attacking, Awaken (2 CP) if appropriate. Fix and reposition Shamrock if necessary (3 CP). Team-attack Max until you win.

Result:

12. NG+ Playthrough

Rules/assumptions for NG+ Skirmishes:
1) "No evasion on both sides" rule stands the same as in NG playthrough.

2) I assume that any given trooper is available (either via save-loading, save editing or beating story missions again until the desired trooper can be hired). I will still stick to generic "those characteristics are necessary" to the best of my ability, so your favourite character can find a place. And again, I will probably stick to a fairly static pool of units for the most part, see my reasons in NG rules section.

3) What is unlocked: all Orders, R&D, Ace weapons + Ruhm - all that carries over from NG I've shown above. I also assume there's at least one of every highest-tier Royal Weapon available (reroll what you get for chapter 18b when starting NG+ if you are missing any).

4) Playthrough order:
- Challenge of The Edy Detachment Skirmishes (Edy Skirmishes for short)
- Skirmish 9 Easy and Normal
- all Hard Skirmishes
- all EX Skirmishes

5) Edy Skirmish Ace weapons are fair game in Hard and EX, but not in Edy Skirmishes themselves (not that it should stop you from using them, but I won't). Hard Skirmish Ace weapons are fair game in order of clearing.

6) "Full marks" and "high reliability" rules from NG still apply:
"Full marks" = A-rank is achieved, every Leader and Ace is killed, every Tank is destroyed. Any optional units: non-leaders, bunkers, turrets, camps - may be left alive.
"High reliability" = strategies don't rely on low-chance potentials and extreme trickshots (75% success rate is considered to be the lowest boudary for "reliable").
There will be a slight change for one particular Edy Skirmish (Homer's Challenge), as it was balanced a bit harsher.

12.1 Challenge Of The Edy Detachment Skirmishes

General notes:
- Most of them involve killing every threat on the map.
- There are no EXP/DCT rewards, only heavily altered Ace weapons.
- There are no Leaders except 2 in Edy Detachment Challenge (the Tank Challenge).
- Homer's Challenge technically doesn't give rewards for destroying all tanks, but I will show how to do it nevertheless (or rather, how to get as close as possible to it, since it sadly involves one 25% success rate action).

01_Susie's Challenge (Scouts)

Susie's Challenge requires careful consideration of total distance you can cover, as well as a small trick with pathing/line of sight to A-rank. It's somewhat hard to describe some of the movements, so refer mostly to the plans.

Get any Nocturnal Scout (Freesia/Ted), or, really, any Scout, equipped with Gallian-A20. It's required to one-shot enemy Ace on this map. Nocturnals have easier time discovering enemies in grass, which is helpful before you learn their positions by heart.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (4 CP).
-(3 CP)- Take down Scouts (1,2,3). Black dots represent end-of-movement positions. Pass turn.

Enemy Phase.
Some movement around. There are 2 distinctly different patterns, which result in just slightly different flow for turn 2.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (5 CP).
-(1 CP)- Depending on how enemy phase went, one Scout will be at (1a) or (1b). Other enemies will always be in positions marked (2-5), (5) is Ace. He is facing south and has a very narrow area (see dash-dotted lines) where he can intercept. It's important to rush through this area fast, so that he doesn't turn around before you disappear from his sight. Ignore any attacks from (4) and (3) on your way. It's possible to utilize the tree by Scout(4) to minimize his damage while he moves between prone and crouched positions.

-(4 CP)- From here on, follow the map to clear out enemies, starting with the farthest one (2) (behind the rock in the grass), then the one in the cove(3). To run past Ace(5) again (he turned a bit, so his interception window got bigger), take a detour around the tree by northern wall. Finish off the last Scout(4) with a grenade.

Result:

02_Jann's Challenge (Lancers)

Lancer Challenge is all about swiftness in dealing with camps while dodging tank shots. Every turn each of 3 camps will call in 2 units as reinforcements, which can get overwhelming really fast. In addition, unlike vanilla game, staying in the open is pretty much guaranteed death, since tanks basically do not miss. One more challenge is added by having Sniper Ace intercept basically the entire map. With all that in mind, let's dive into our preparations.
These deployments work generally in the same manner, the difference lies in how they deal with Sniper Ace and infantry threats.
Both:
- 2 Ult. AA Lancers. The order of preference is Audrey(best accuracy for long shots) > Jann > Elysse(Neat Freak on a map which is all dirt isn't nice).
- One Sniper with Brondel, has to be Cesare or Marina, Catherine only if you have neither. Cezare is the only one who can one-shot Medium Tanks in radiator with 100% success rate (Backup Sniping).
- Scout can be anyone. Has to be able to kill Scout in the grass, so Gallian-A is the most reliable equipment.
v1:
- Shocktrooper with Ruhm and damage/accuracy buffs. Nina, Aisha, Hannes, Edy, Vyse - most Super/Ult. Damage ones should work one way or the other. Ruhm appears to be the only non-sniper weapon that can reliably deal with Sniper Ace in one action.
- Anti-tank Sniper may be substituted for one more Super/Ult. AA Lancer in this variant.
v2:
- Sniper with GSR-30 and Roof Hunter (Emile, Catherine), or Marina; Cezare is better used for tank-killing duty. This combo can just barely get enough damage to one-shot that pesky Ace.

Note: Technically, Theimer-M30R (the best royal lance) with Born Leader also has just enough damage to one-shot this Ace inside nomimal range, but the range of 500 is too low. Scout rifles lack damage, MG's lack range due to dropoff to zero at 400.

I will mostly follow v1, with a few notes here and there on how v2 works. It's mostly the same either way.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (9 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move your anti-ace unit towards the rock on the right. Take out Sniper Ace(1). Unlike most other Aces, he does not have near-perfect dodge and can be attacked head-on.
v1: Move into the small trench below Gallian camp to the left.
v2: Move into the wide trench to the right of Gallian camp.

-(1 CP)- Pick your Lancer that will go south. Take a shot at Commander(2). Move into the trench below Gallian camp (same as in v1 before).

-(1+1 CP)- Finish off Commander(2) with anti-tank Sniper. Proceed to the north-east and take down 1 tank(3) from the northern pack with radiator shots. Hide behind the rock nearby. Remember, diagonal walls count as vertical for enemy LOS.

-(1+1 CP)- Take northern camp with Scout. Hide in the grass somewhere to the west of it from tanks(4,5).
-(1+1 CP)- Use the second Lancer to circle around and get rid of tanks on the western platform(6,7), hop down into the trench to the north of Gallian camp.

-(0-1 CP)-
v1: Kill one of the Shocktroopers (8,9). (8) is an easy pickup for Ruhm, (9) is only viable with multiple buffs, since he's crouched inside a camp (see left/right screenshots). Return to the trench.

v2: Destroy one of the northern tanks(4,5) with AT Sniper.
Technically, this CP can be saved for the same action in the next round.


Enemy Phase.
Most tanks will advance towards Gallian camp. If everything was hidden correctly at the very bottom of trenches, they won't even shoot. Any living Shocktroopers will advance toward the camp, 1 CP per person. Can be intercepted with Ruhm.
Take care with hiding on the upper level of trenches with Ruhm, it might end up with trooper's head popping out while intercepting and getting shot with a tank shell while getting back down. Here's a couple positions that mostly guarantee survival and even give an interception angle (left/right "step" of the trench respectively):

Turn 2.

Player Phase (9-10 CP).


-(1-2 CP)- Clean up Shocktroopers(1) to the south of Gallian camp with either Shocktrooper(v1) or GSR Sniper (v2).
-(2-1 CP)- Finish off tanks in the north with AT Sniper.
These 2 actions above should be a total of 3 CP.
-(1 CP)- Kill Scout in the northwest grass field.

-(1 CP)- Shoot Medium Tank+(2) in the right camp with Lancer to the north of Gallian camp. Any damage over 700 is enough. Hide in any trench again, preferably not the northern one to cut on travel time for the next turn.
-(1+1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer from the southwest trench towards Medium Tank+(1). Blow up Medium Tank+(2) along the way. Then circle to the back of Medium Tank+(1) and blow it up, take the camp. Then destroy any of the remaining tanks(4) and retreat. Call in the same Lancer or a spare AT sniper.


Enemy Phase.
Reinforcements (2 Shocktroopers) arrive at the last enemy camp. They advance toward Gallian camp, same as the previous turn. Remaining tanks advance as well. New reinforcement call (irrelevant).

Turn 3.

Player Phase (9 CP).

The remaining enemies can be easily dealt with in no particular order. In v2 there will be exactly 2 Sniper shots available - one from GSR, one from northern Brondel, assuming worst case: no ammo-refilling potentials are activated. Taking the camp isn't necessary to get victory at this point.


There's an extra tank in the last screenshot with Emile, because I retreated immediately after destroying Medium Tank+ in the southwestern camp and called an extra Lancer. It's only a matter of ammo.

Result:

03_Marina's Challenge (Snipers)

Marina's Challenge is yet another mission where enemy count exceeds available CP, and it's inevitably required to kill enemies with interception and multikills.

- Shocktrooper needs to have accuracy buffs, because he will be affected with -Accuracy debuff at his very first action. Also, male Shocktrooper is preferrable over female one, because they have slightly faster firing rate (which means he can deal interception damage faster). Weapon should be either Mags-R or Ruhm, as high interception range is required (MAJ-X can probably pull it off too, but runs a higher risk of enemy counterattack with evasion).
- Sniper can be just about anyone, both high base accuracy and strong accuracy buff (Super/Ultimate) preferred. Sniper Rifle needs interception capability and to be able to one-headshot Scouts/Snipers. I prefer ZM SG 5 over Intercept X20 due to higher damage value here, whereas lower accuracy during interception will be taken care of via positioning.
- Positions have to be as shown, to prevent Gallian Sniper from being instakilled by interception.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (6 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, immediately enter firing mode and kill Sniper(1). Rush towards the fence in front to hide from Sniper(2) and Scout(3).
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, kill Sniper(2) through the tower on your side. Taking even one step too far will end up with Sniper's death, so finding the right LOS is important.

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Scout(3) from the right edge of the fence. Go around the fence through Gallian base camp and outside to avoid -Atk debuff from Shocktrooper(4).
-(1 CP)- Kill Shocktrooper(4) and move somewhat towards the canyon edge. Remember to always keep a tree between Shocktrooper and Sniper(5).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, kill Sniper(5) from behind the fence and Sniper(6) from the area between the fence and the canyon edge. Stay there, facing the direction of Sniper(6). Make sure you can't be shot from the slope behind anti-tank barricades.

Enemy Phase.

- Enemies 1,3 will be killed by interception, Scouts(2,4) will stay next to each other near the barricade.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (6 CP).

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Scouts(1,2,4) and Ace(3). Scouts(1,2) can be killed together with flamethrower using sniper tower as cover, Ace(3) doesn't have Perfect Dodge and Scout(4) needs to be dealt with using a grenade.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Scout, climb tower, kill Scout(5). Try to enter firing mode fast to avoid interception damage from Scout(6). Climb down and move towards the other tower. Kill Scout(6) on your way, then climb up and shoot the last Scout(7).

Result:

04_Homer's Challenge (Engineers)

Homer's Challenge is one of the two (the second being Edelweiss/Edy Detachment Challenge), where you don't need to kill all enemies. Strictly speaking, the only thing to worry about is killing the Ace, and if you only worry about that, 3-turn rank limit is easily obtainable in more ways than one. To spice things up, I will add "killing as many tanks as possible" as a "full marks" condition. This doesn't give any reward like it does outside of Edy Skirmishes, but let's just pretend it does for consistency.

- Instant spoiler - killing EVERY tank with 100% guarantee, getting Ace and attaining A-rank is not quite possible. The only way I've found to achieve that is to rely on 25% Tank Destroyer potential. To reduce probability coming from accuracy (there's a couple quite narrow radiator shots), Theimer-R has to be used. Which, in turn, means that the only Lancer out of those carrying Tank Destroyer (Theold, Rosina and Hector) capable of outputting enough damage, is Hector with Super Anti-Armor and Born Leader. Intimate Company further helps with accuracy.
- Engineer has to be someone capable of repairing at least 1400 THP in one action (aka those with Super Repair). For a weapon I used Gallian-A, as it is capable of killing a crouching Lancer from up close.
- Scout this time basically has to be Alicia. Due to the time and distance constraints, a combo of Valkyria and Second Wind is pretty much the only working strategy that meets all demands that I've found. Weapon - Gallian-A20, high damage required for Ace-killing.
- Edelweiss needs all AP parts installed, the rest can be distributed between Accuracy and HP as you see fit.

General map note: Being near lamp posts makes a unit discoverable at daylight range. This, among notable things, enables Sniper interception. Lamp posts can be blown up with things like grenades or mortars.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (7 CP).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Alicia, run along the following path: A1(your start)->B1->C1->C2->D2->E2->E1->F1->F2.
Don't stop while running past Shocktrooper at B1, this is the only reliable way I've found to activate Valkyria. Any other means I've tried end up in Alicia getting KO'd without going into single-digit HP.
Before reaching C2 (see spot marked 'X'), hug righ-hand wall to hide from Shocktrooper interception (the one on top of a crate) and heal yourself to activate Second Wind. You should reach the lamppost near E1 corner in 1 CP.
Use 2nd CP and kill Lancer at E2, then move to F2.

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer towards A3, kill Sniper(1), move towards B3 and destroy Medium Tank(2), then Medium Tank(4) at C3.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer (same path as Lancer), kill Scout(3) so you don't need to wall-hug at B3 to avoid interception. Then resupply Lancer near C3 crates and kill Sniper(5) on top of some more crates.

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement call at enemy camp (1 Lancer, 1 Shocktrooper, 1 Scout)
- 1 Lancer will attack Edelweiss.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (7 CP).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer, C3->C4->D4->E4->E3. Kill Lancer(1), disarm 1 mine (purple 'O' mark) and repair Edelweiss along the way.
-(2+2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put a Smoke Screen at F4. It will serve as total consealment from Ace and prevent interception and dodging. From there, follow the path E4->D4->D3->D2. Destroy Medium Tank(2) in the camp along the way. At the end Edelweiss will trigger 2 mines and stop just before D2 from losing THP.
-(1 CP)- Move Alicia, run into the smoke. Keep slowly going forward until the Ace is sighted and immediately rush back into the smoke. From there he can be safely shot now.



Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcements arrive and will shuffle around. New reinforcement calls.
- A tank at D1 might shoot Edelweiss if it's discovered by units running around.
- A Sniper might attack Alicia (I've had it happen even in the cloud). Could be KO if Mysterious Body doesn't activate for her twice in a row (Lancer & Ace kills).

Turn 3.

Player Phase (7 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer to fix Edelweiss. Shooting someone is entirely optional.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Hector, snipe radiator of Medium Tank(1). Then attack Medium Tank(2). This shot requires Tank Destroyer to succeed.
Note: while it is technically possible (but still hard) to get to the radiator of Tank(2) starting on full HP, interception from Scouts in the camp will prevent you from dealing with Tank(1). Vice versa, taking damage and -Def debuff while destroying Tank(1) means you won't have full HP to approach Tank(2)'s radiator through its fire.
-(2+2 CP)- Move Edelweiss D2->D1->C1->B1. 2 tanks (3,4) can be destroyed along the way. At the very end Edelweiss must trigger 1 mine (see purple marks), hence Engineer requirement I mentioned.

Result:

05_Edy's Challenge (Shocktroopers)

Edy's Challenge features way more enemies than available CP and is based on interception, input and targeting trikstery. It also happens to have enough Scouts to make me curse the [sarcasm]wonderful[/sarcasm] mechanic of "evasion" over and over. Sadly, providing action-by-action breakdown for this particular map is not feasible, due to some resulting unit positions being subject to chance. I will outline a strategy as best as I can, but you are very likely to have to adapt it in some way.

- The most basic requirement to survive the initial assault is "a lot of MAJ-X".
- Defense bonuses and a few extra HP will make life easier early on. Damage bonuses are a must, as you will have to shoot outside of nominal weapon range sometimes, as well as get double kills.
- Consider one non-MAJ weapon to increase interception range and for damage avoidance convenience. Ruhm is the best, as it can reach Rosie's position if deployed at spot (1). This ensures that nothing that tries to leave the map on that end gets through (sometimes she turns her back while firing at Shocktroopers running by and someone else might slip past).
- Lynn's Hard Worker and Undodgeable shot can alleviate some of the evasion-related frustration.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (8 CP).

- End Phase.
Yes, just end phase. Taking action with this many threats around is borderline suicidal. Let them run into fire instead.

Enemy Phase.
- Lots of enemy running into interception and dying. Some enemies will stop when hit and fight back. A sniper may or may not take a shot at one of the troopers. From my experience, the middle position is generally ignored and left and right troopers are attacked.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (16 CP).
What you will see here might be different from my screenshots. I've observed different results from the same deployment here, amusingly enough.
Firstly, enemy reinforcements will arrive. Certain Scouts and Snipers will be spawned on the map if killed/moved during enemy phase.
What is necessary to do at this point is to count the amount of enemies. I've marked all "invisible" enemies (1,2,3). Sniper(1) might move and attack during enemy phase 1, so someone else would be "missing" in his place. Depending on enemy evasion during return fire, you should have 17-19 enemies left alive. Some of them will have to be killed via interception on enemy phase 2.
I've marked in a purple circle everything that Rosie is able to kill. Everything marked with yellow ovals is a candidate for double kill, of which you should try to get as many as reasonably possible.
How to go about killing everything? Use Rosie and middle Shocktrooper as mostly stationary turrets, instantly entering firing mode when entering action mode. It's important to save full movement for at least one trooper (better two). Dealing with most nearby threats will open up the map for further advancement.
The Ace is nigh impossible to kill in one shot, and his 100 vsPers doesn't make me fancy intercepting him, even if it's 150 range only. Not having access to Attack Weak Spot like we had in Chapter 17 makes two attacks a requirement to bring him down.
This leaves some unkilled troopers, who will be dealt with on their turn.

Enemy Phase.
- Remaining enemies try to exit the map, get killed by interception.

Result:

06_Edy Detachment Challenge (Squad/Tank)

The final Edy Skirmish is similar to Homer's Challenge in spirit, but has 2 Leaders instead of a bunch of tanks as "must kill for 100% win" condition.

- Edelweiss has the same parts as in Homer's mission - full AP and HP, remaining 2 slots can be Accuracy or Armor to taste. I recommend Accuracy, as armor is virtually useless against the ridiculous amount of Lancers anyway.
- Lancer is carrying Lancaar SH-20. Hector was picked for Born Leader + Mortar Lance - one of the reliable ways to clear out enemies from under fire, as well as ability to deal serious damage to crouched Shocktroopers.
- Engineer can be armed with anything, but must have Super Repair. Edelweiss will have to trip quite a few mines (3 on turn 1, 2 on turn 2) and take a bunch of Lance shots, so migitating that is required.
- 2 Shocktroopers in the 2nd line from Edelweiss (Edy and Lynn in my case) are the assault force. One needs MAJ-X to debuff Lancers with -Atk on Enemy Phase 1 to save Edelweiss from imminent demise, the other needs damage buffs and a weapon capable of killing the Ace (Sniper) and, possibly, a Shocktrooper crouched inside a camp (so Mags/T-Mag/Ruhm + Super/Ult. Damage).
- The backline (Hannes and Cezary) exists solely to bait a couple Lance shots their way on Enemy Phase 1. In retrospect, better swap Cezary out for someone beefier (another Shocktrooper with Mags-R/MAJ-X or similar).

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
Purple ovals represent mines, dotted area approximately marks Heavy Gatling's interception zone.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put Smoke to cover Ace Sniper(2) and nearby Shocktrooper. Move around the first minefield straight into the opening near ancient wall, where 3 mines are positioned. Trip those mines, this should bring Edelweiss to ~1700 HP and 0 THP.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, mortar Scout(1). Move into the smoke cloud (or stay at the base camp).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper into the smoke and kill Ace(2).

-(1 CP)- Move the other frontline Shocktrooper (with MAJ), kill Shocktrooper(3) and move towards Lancer(6).
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, move to Edelweiss and repair it (4), then advance until the range of Shocktrooper(5).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, kill Shocktrooper(5). Hide yourself behind the L-shaped wall across the camp. It's important to neither have Edelweiss intercept the slope, nor shine the radiator too much. All enemy Lancers stop and fire as soon as they are hit by anything, and we want that anything to be MAJ-X.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Lancer(6) to avoid radiator shots and move into the camp. Crouch at the backline sandbags where Gatling can't reach.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, take the camp and repair Edelweiss(7). This should bring it to full 5000 HP/2000 THP.


Enemy Phase.
- Several reinforcement calls at the northern camp.
- A lot of Lancer movement. They will attack Edelweiss and your troops in the base camp. If you misposition Edelweiss, MAJ-X Shocktrooper or Engineer, you will most likely lose at this point. Otherwise, Edelweiss will have about 3100 HP and 2000 THP.
- A Ruin Wall will fall from bombardment.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, cross the near minefield (moving diagonally trips only 2 mines, so Edelweiss should survive). Smoke Heavy Gatling(1), stop in front of the 2nd 3-line minefield.
-(1+1 CP)- Move MAJ-X Shocktrooper, kill Shocktrooper(2) in a way that hits Shocktrooper(3) to bait his LOS away from Lancer/Shocktrooper on the slope. Then move around to kill Shocktrooper(4).

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer. Disarm several mines to open a path for Edelweiss, then move past Gatling and Scout. Try to put some damage on Shocktrooper(5) in the northern camp (he is a Leader, so we're killing him).
-(1 CP)- Use Lancer or Shocktrooper to finish off Shocktrooper(5).
-(2+2 CP)- Move Edelweiss past Gatling, attack the wall twice and get to the yellow flag.

Result:

12.2 Skirmish 9 EASY & NORMAL

Easy and Normal Skirmish 9 almost completely mirrors Chapter 17 battle, sans presence of Lupus (which means no free smoke clouds and no ridiculous amount of HP to burn through) and Ace (which means less problems), so the entire battle is compressed into 3 turns. The first 2 turns follow the exact same strategy, and the 3rd is obvious enough so I will just show end-of-turn states and give a general direction for turn 3.

Virtually the same deployment as story mode: Damage Shocktroopers with decent range, Ult.AA Lancers, GSR-R Sniper, Engineer is an optional extra. Maximum AP/HP Edelweiss, Paired gatlings Shamrock.

Turn end states

Turn 3. Player Phase (10-11 CP).

Extra CP depends on difficulty - you will need it to kill Sniper on Normal during turn 2, so 11 on Easy, 10 on Normal.

Damage the Tank(1) in Imperial Base Camp (it gets decent +Def, so you need to put some damage on it first), then put Smoke over it to create an approach for 1-hit KO on the radiator. Then Tank(2), then clean up everything else. Technically, there should be no Leaders in non-base camp, so no need to bother taking it.

Result:

12.3 Hard Skirmishes

The general trend of Hard Skirmishes is "make players hate non-infantry units". Tanks, AT turrets, Heavy Gatlings and lots of explosives. No, that doesn't mean there are no soldiers. As deadly as ever, the new motto being "Debuff ALL the things!".

Engineers, unsurprisingly, see a lot more play when there's a lot of mines and Gatlings around. Scouts have pretty much become extinct from my unit selections (not that I've used them often before, as you can probably tell if you've been following this guide).

Enemy units keep getting progressively more HP, which quickly renders Sniper and Artillery Support fully useless (Snipers have > 200 HP, so even they don't die from those orders anymore).

Skirmish 1 (Outskirts of Bruhl)

The first Hard Skirmish quickly blows away all you're used to dealing before by basically having the initial position surrounded with tons of machine-gun wielding threats in near-melee range... and some Snipers to boot. A-rank limit of 1 turn (10 CP) with 4 leaders and 4 tanks to kill doesn't exactly help the situation.

- 2 Ult. Anti-Armor Lancers, both with Theimer M20. We need to destroy 4 tanks in 4 shots, 2 of the tanks are getting camp bonuses.
- 2 Shocktroopers with damage buffs, pretty much any MG and any Flamethrower.
- Edelweiss could use some AP for its one and only move, as well as a combination of HP/Def/CritDef to take a lot of interception bullets from 2 Tank Destroyers and 2 Snipers with pretty good vsArmor. Going straight HP with some AP if you're too lazy to visit R&D works too though.
- Shamrock doesn't matter. If you decide to go for B-rank and kill every enemy - I suggest giving Flamethrower a go.
- You will notice a Sniper on my other screenshots - that was an extra for testing damage on various rifles and is not needed for the victory. I redid the deployment to show a minimalistic setup.

Turn 1, Player Phase (10 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Throw Smoke(1), black dot marks the location that allows to cover the entire bridge and prevent any interception from enemies there. Now comes the hard part: it's necessary to run over Shocktroopers(3) in front of Gallian position in such a way, that all 3 of them are facing away from Gallian infantry AND can be killed with a single Flamethrower attack. It's pretty tricky (and annoying to do under fire) but possible. Worst case - try to push rightmost Shocktrooper to make him face the river and leave the other 2 together. After that - move back to cover ground troops from Tank Destroyers(5,6) and Sniper(4).
-(1 CP)- Use Sniper Support to kill Sniper(2). It's possible to do that with Ruhm/Mags-R by hand, but why bother, risk evasion and take damage?
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, burn down Shocktroopers(3) and then take care of Sniper(4). Stay near the river to be out of Tank Destroyer's(5) interception range. Use Edelweiss as a shield and wait until Sniper(4) goes into reload animation to avoid damage. Take a trip to the northern camp and take it (optional).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, take a trip around Tank Destroyer's(5) interception range and approach a small minefield in the fence opening. Tripping the mine closest to the fence will send Lancer over the fence and save the hassle of stepping on another mine (although Lancers can take that much punishment with full R&D and levels). Get rid of both Tank Destroyers(5,6). Take the camp (optional).
-(1 CP)- Move the other Lancer across the bridge. Pass between Heavy Gatlings -> jump over the 1st barricade's right side, trip a mine -> jump over 2nd barricade's right side -> walk around 3rd barricade and mine -> go around Tank Destroyer(7). You have to go around because neither Sniper, nor Shocktrooper(8) in the camp are inside Smoke and can intercept. Move fast and pick off Tank Destroyer(7) before Sniper takes his second shot.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper across the bridge, take down Shocktrooper(8) and bait Sniper's interception by circling around and then melee-mode into his back.

-(1 CP)- Pick off Light Tank(9) with Lancer, take the camp.

Result:

Skirmish 2 (Vasel Riverside)

After a warm welcome/cold shower on Outskirts of Bruhl, the next battle isn't really anything much.

- Edelweiss works with standard full HP/AP parts. Mines are the only real AT threat. Well, there's technically AT Cannons, but running into interception of those is suicide either way.
- 2 Super/Ultimate Damage Shocktroopers, any MG + VB FW or FF. Lancers in the camp have over 450 HP + camp defense bonus.
- Engineer fits this map really well because of high AP, anti-turret equipment (Gallian-E30R) and the ability to disarm mines. Substitute for Scout with Gallian-S30R and run around mines instead of disarming them if you prefer that class.
- You'll find I had a Sniper in one of the last screenshots - he's not needed, was an experimental deployment, much like in Skirmish 1.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Push around Shocktroopers(1) so that they can be killed with one Flamethrower attack together. Move up the slope and put Smoke over the house to cover Gatling, AT Cannon and 2 Shocktroopers there. Stop in a way that blocks interception from the alley to the left. Make sure to not trip any AT mines along the way.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, kill Shocktroopers(1) with Flamethrower. Move along the edge of the slope, covered from interception by Edelweiss and guardrail (check LOS lines on the left screenshot).
-(1 CP)- Move the other Shocktrooper, kill Shocktrooper(2) from the slope and join the first Shocktrooper.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer up the slope and get rid of Shocktrooper(3) in the alley. Either send him and explosive present in a form of Grenade or make him waste bullets on Edelweiss and jump out as he enters reload animation. Proceed into the alley and disarm a mine there if enough AP.

-(1+1+1+1 CP)- Use Shocktroopers to clear out the camp from Lancers(4,5). Then kill Shocktroopers(6,7). Make sure to fully leave and enter Smoke cloud after kills to reset both Shocktroopers' vision status to "Hidden" (see LOS mechanics section for explanation).
-(1 CP)- Kill Sniper(8) with Engineer. Return back into the alley or into Smoke.


Enemy Phase.
- Several reinforcement calls at the second camp, no other movement.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put Smoke over AT and Gatling, a bit further than it was on the first turn (good estimate - target AT Cannon). After that charge through all the way to the Gatling in the camp and bodyblock its interception entirely. Edelweiss will discover most of the remaining enemies along the way.

-(1+1+1 CP)- Use one of Shocktroopers to get rid of Shocktroopers(2,3) and Sniper(1). Sniper can be reached with Mags-R and Ruhm, or just Sniper Support to save the hassle.
-(1 CP)- Use the other Shocktrooper to kill Sniper(4) on the rooftop. If you're running Ruhm, you can deal with targets (1,2) from up there as well. I stupidly blocked a ladder so I delayed that kill, don't be surprised to see this Sniper alive on the last screenshot.
-(1+1)- Use Damage Boost Order on Engineer. This brings Shots-To-Kill vs Gatlings to 4/7 from 7/7. Move across the street to Edelweiss (watch out for mines and Gatling(6) interception), then move to the farther alley. Use right corner to safely get rid of Gatling(5). You have to quickly dart in and out of the alley to Spot it first and make it visible.
-(1+1 CP)- Go down the alley until you Spot AT Cannon(7). There's a lamppost which will somehow prevent it from Spotting Engineer. Take it down, proceed to the Camp Flag, take down helpless Gatling(6) and take the camp.
Result:

Adaptation:

If you really want to take the camp that was left alone as well - consider ignoring Sniper by the riverside on Turn 1 and go straight for the rooftop Sniper. AI will move that riverside Sniper 3-4 times and chip away at Edelweiss's HP. This frees up an extra CP that can be used to take down Gatling in the camp with FoG flamethrower (the other Shocktrooper will have to do the heavy lifting on Camp 1 Lancers with VB FW/FF). Just watch out for Edelweiss's HP - FoG will hurt it as well.

Skirmish 3 (Kloden Wildwood)

Wildwood Kloden tries to throw a new curveball yet again - this time around it comes with a silly number of AT Cannons overlooking the same area and some Ragnite Crate traps.
- Contrary to what you might think, Edelweiss does not require any special part adjustments. I mean, if you're interested in trying to survive a barrage of 3 AT cannons - be my guest. Hint - full HP and Armor leaves Edelweiss with ~300 HP after the first interception hits, and the second is soon to follow, unless you waste Smoke on them. Aka don't even bother.
- 3 Snipers, 1 with GSR-R (Marina in my case), 1 with Brondel (Cesare), 1 with either (Emile).
- Engineer with Demolition Boost can get to shine here again. Killing a certain Shocktrooper crouching behind sandbags with rifles is almost impossible for a Scout (Juno with Gallian-A20 can pull it off because of Born Leader), and high AP is required to cover enough ground in 2 turns.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
Dealing with southern threats (by the road) and northern threats (the camp and pathway) is fully independent, you can do it in any order. I'll split them for convinience: south first, north second.
SOUTH:

-(1 CP)- Move GSR-R Sniper along the lake shore, take down Shocktrooper(1) behind Gallian camp.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Brondel Sniper behind the camp, take a shot at Tank Destroyer's(2) radiator. It might be destroyed with My Way/Penetrator, but not much else. Cezare with Backup Sniping leaves it at 50 HP. Continue on along the grassy pathway, crawl and take down Heavy Gatling(3).

NORTH:

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move the last Sniper, take down 3 AT Cannons(4) at the Imperial Base camp. Yes, those 3 that are locking down Edelweiss. Don't pay attention to foliage and trees, just look at the To Kill interface and if you see "3" try to aim up/right until you hit the trooper manning the gun and get "1". After that retreat into the grass near the lake.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put Smoke to cover Heavy Gatling and Shocktrooper (5). If you're running Juno instead of Engineer - pop Anti-personnel mine by the gate to be safe. Position in a way to intercept Ragnite crate (not-really-a-spoiler: there's enemy Lancer behind it).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer along the forest road, restock your Sniper that attacked AT Cannons, deal with Shocktrooper(6) via an explosive present and continue onward to the tank. Last CP can be used to do a variety of things - Heavy Gatling or Shocktrooper inside Smoke or that Ragnite crate are all valid targets.

Enemy Phase.
SOUTH: 3 Tank Destroyers move forward along the road.
NORTH: Lancer will attack Edelweiss if you fully block the way out (like on the screenshot above) or die to interception if you don't.

Turn 2.

Player Phase(10 CP).
SOUTH:
-(6 CP)- 6 Sniper shots to destroy 3 Tank Destroyers(1,2,3) and kill 1 Engineer(4). Even if you forget to restock your Sniper during Engineer's move, you will still get 6 shots: 2 from the back (easy radiator hits), 3 from GSR-R and 1 from the 3rd Sniper. I'm sure you don't need the per-move breakdown.

NORTH:
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put Smoke in a way that lets your Engineer cross Ragnite Crate trap.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer to take the Base Camp. Take down Lancer(5) along the way. There should be more than enough headshots between 2 attacks. Bring Gallian-A if not sure.


Result:

Skirmish 4 (Barious Desert)

Skirmish 4 is a yet another ridiculous exercise in optimizing movement and shots. Spoiler: there are really strict requirements for A-rank, and there are two somewhat questionable shots involved.

- Edelweiss and Shamrock can be equipped with anything, there's no CP to waste on them in this battle.
- Lancer must have Tank Slayer + damages, so Audrey (Ult.AA) or Yoko(Born Leader+Super AA), equip with Theimer-M20. Royal doesn't have enough damage (if it did, Tank Slayer wouldn't be on the list of "must have"'s).
- Shocktroopers: the one to the left of Edelweiss can be anybody with any weapon. For the one to the right, both high Damage and Accuracy are needed; the best choices are Hannes (Mid-Range Skills+Ult.Damage+Undercover Fire), Vyse(Born Leader+Super Damage+Challenge Lover), Edy (Born Leader+Super Damage+top tier innate accuracy). Aisha is out due to Desert Allergy, Nina has no Accuracy buffs. Equip with Mags-R or Ruhm, any flamethrower.
- Sniper can be anyone with Brondel/GSR-R. Only vsArmor matters this time.
- Required Reinforcement: any Super/Ult. AA Lancer with Theimer-M20. Accuracy buffs highly recommended; Hector (Intimate Company+Born Leader) is the best bet to lower the difficulty of one long range shot.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (7 CP).

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper(2), take down Shocktrooper(1). Retreat from the Base Camp (necessary to not create unintended target for enemy Sniper).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper(1), take down Scout(2), proceed into the cave as far as you can. Make sure to move over right sandbag to avoid fire from Light Tank.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down Light Tank(3). Move through the cave behind the starting possition. Make sure to stop before Scout(4) is able to intercept (there's some weird geometry around 3 vertical walls that prevents him from firing until you move far enough).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper(2), take down Scout(4). Stay hidden from Imperial Sniper and Light Tank behind the structure.

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down Light Tank(5), move behind one of the 3 walls to hide from Imperial Sniper.


-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, take down 2 Light Tanks (6,7). Hide behind the wall as shown and make sure there's no LOS from Tanks at the far end. If Lancer gets blasted out of cover by a shell, AI will just keep hammering her down with the nearest Tank to death.


Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement call at the middle camp.
- Light Tank will move up twice (ends up by the same wall as Lancer) and attack Edelweiss.
- Lancer will attack Edelweiss once.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (7 CP).
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down Light Tank(1). Hide someplace where Sniper(6) doesn't have LOS.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, go around the structure (s)he was hiding behind and circle around the Camp and building on the left. Take down Lancer(2), go to the back of Tand Destroyer(4) and take down Shocktrooper(3). Move towards walls by Trench 04, use them to hide from Tanks to the north. Make sure to face Sniper(6) and have a clear view of him, unobstructed by small walls on the other side of the trench.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, get rid of Tank Destroyer(3), take middle camp, move towards the other set of ruins further along Trench 04. Destroy Light Tank(5) and hide in those ruins. Make sure there's no LOS from Sniper(6) and northern Tanks.
Also, you see 2 shots here on Audrey because of Mooch. I assume worst case (that it doesn't happen) and treat her as if she had 0 shots here instead (so 1 on the next turn start).

-(1 CP)- Call in reinforcement Lancer (the one covered in Deployment). End Phase (1 CP carryover).


Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement call at Imperial Base Camp.
- Sniper attacks Shocktrooper (hit with -Accuracy debuff), dies to counterattack. The range is about 300-350 and Sniper is squishy, so pretty much anyone with Mags-R or Ruhm can do it.

If Sniper doesn't die here (because of course that-which-should-not-exist will happen once in a while), A-rank will require Ammo Refill/Mooch to happen. Drop Resupply for a move to kill this Sniper first in the next turn's strategy.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (7+1 CP).

Now, here is the actual Hard part - how to break through the remaining lineup. The big problems are Heavy Tank(5) with its riduculous interception range and Tanks(3,6) that receive defensive bonus from the Camp (the ones with orange circles).
In case of Light Tank(6) - you can't reliably get it without a radiator shot. Ultimate AA + Tank Slayer + Theimer-M20 will leave it at 25 HP with body shot.
In case of Tank Destroyer(3) - Ultimate AA + Theimer-M20 will leave it at 50 HP with RADIATOR shot. Yeah. That's why Tank Slayer is needed - extra vsArmor and Accuracy.
Which leads to a question - how do we even GET Tank Slayer there? It's a long walk and all the interception isn't helping. Well, the answer is - Light Tank(4) creates a dead zone in Heavy Tank(5)'s interception where our Lancer can slip past all the dangers.

- Lancer(2) reinforcement arrives at the middle Camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper to Trench 05 and take down Shocktrooper(1). Remeber that you will be sufering from Accuracy Down, so use all the buffs you can get (Undercover Fire and Challenge Lover require extra effort to get).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer(1) north. Take down Light Tank(2) along the way. To hit the aforementioned dead zone, use AT mine on the ground as a beacon. It pretty much marks the spot from where you can start going towards Light Tank(4).

-(1 CP)- WORST CASE: Lancer(1) has 0 ammo, not 2 like on the screenshot above. Use Resupply Order.

-(1 CP)- Move Lancer(1) to the back of Heavy Tank(5). Take down Tank Destroyer(3) with a radiator shot while Tank Slayer is active. Sadly, that's not a 100% guaranteed success shot.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer(2), take down Light Tank(4) and then Heavy Tank(5) with radiator shot from angle-shape ruins. That's another shot, which is pretty low-chance without Hector's Intimate Company/Critical Shot. Royal Lance isn't an option, because it can't bring down Light Tank(4) without radiator access (which you won't have due to movement restrictions).
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer(1), destroy Light Tank(6) and Tank Destroyer(7), take the Camp.

Result:

Skirmish 5 (Upper Fouzen)

Skirmish 5 is much more relaxing, to the point of "really easy" after Barious Desert.

Since deployment is all over the map, I'll just describe it:
- One Ult.AA Lancer or Hector/Yoko with Theimer-M20 in the top left spot. It's required to deal at least 5350 damage with a radiator hit, no Tank Slayer reasonably available, which means Theimer-M30R falls 100 HP short. Cezare/Marina can pull required damage off with Brondel as well. Cezare/Hector are the best choices reliability-wise.
- One Shocktrooper, Scout or Engineer in the bottom left spot (across the bridge from Edelweiss). Pretty much any weapon works.
- Edelweiss has all HP and AP parts.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (7 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss across the bridge. Throw Smoke to the enemy camp, targeting Heavy Gatling behind Heavy Tank(5). Make sure to block bridge Shocktrooper's interception to give safety to Engineer.

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, take the trolley. Kill Sniper(1) and activate the lift. Return on the trolley and walk down into the camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, walk to the lift, go up. Take out Heavy Tank(2) on the bridge. If you don't get Intimate Company accuracy buff from Hector - try to maximize your hit area (compare left/right screenshots).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, take out Heavy Tank(3) below.

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, walk out of Smoke and kill Scout(4) with Grenade. This will blow away Smoke and discover Heavy Tank(5) along with Heavy Gatling.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, take down Heavy Tank(5) from the trolley platform. It's a bit tricky, because it has a weird hitbox (what terrain in VC doesn't...), you have to shoot from the rightmost edge.
-(1 CP)- Take down whatever target you want with Engineer and occupy Camp.

Result:

Skirmish 6 (Marberry Shore) - Part 1

Marberry Shore Hard comes with predeployed Largo, Alicia and Rosie being stuck in a less than pleasant position. An extra turn for A-rank (4) comes with the cost of annoying enemies and battles with AI scripting.

- Rosie needs MAJ-X to ensure survivability, Largo and Alicia can be equipped with anything.
- Shocktrooper needs VB FW or FF with vsPers buffs, any MG of choice (I went with Mags-R for this one).
- Engineer must have Gallian-E30R and Demolition Man.
- Sniper needs Brondel with vsPers buff (Cezare/Marina) or GSR-R.
- Edelweiss needs all HP and at least 2 AP parts. I was running all HP/AP.
- Reinforcements: 1 strong AA Lancer with Theimer. Audrey, Jann, Hector, Yoko - the usual bunch works.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (8 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, smoke entrance to the base, drive into the base to discover Scout(1) and Shocktrooper(2). Stop in a way that blocks Shocktrooper(2)'s interception towards the entrance. With 3 AP parts it's possible to break the sandbags he's covering behind and even drive him over to make him look towards the wall (not required).
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, pick off Scout(1) from within the cloud. Make sure to not lose +vsPers on Cezary/Marina by being near Edelweiss if using Brondel.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, deal with Shocktrooper(2) and occupy the camp. Use Edelweiss to make him go into reload animation and then jump out if he's not facing the wall.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, take down Barricade(3). Grenade or Gallian-ER can do it.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, use the wall corner to safely take out Sniper(4). Move uphill by the right wall. Don't get too close to Shocktrooper(6), because Heavy Gatling(5) can intercept at some angles through the Tower.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, run by the left side and jump into the nearest corner of the trench. From there you can safely take out Gatling(5) and proceed to sandbags by the Tower.

-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take down Shocktrooper(6) and move to Alicia's position. Use the hill to stay hidden from another Heavy Gatling.

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement calls. 1 is always at the Imperial Base Camp (the farthest one), and one may vary between their northern camp or their central camp (near Rosie & Largo). It doesn't affect anything super hard. I'm following the northern call situation, but I've played through both and the difference is pretty much 1 CP at the last turn.
- Shocktrooper will attack Largo once. Largo is beefy enough to survive this time.
- Gatling will attack Alicia up to 2 times (if it doesn't kill her on the 1st). Doesn't matter if it does, the resque squad is right there 2 meters to the side.

Turn 2.

Player Phase(8 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss uphill, drive over Shocktrooper(1). Put Smoke on top of Heavy Gatling(7) and Shocktrooper(5). Move towards Rosie&Largo to trip mines and end move there. Make sure that Shocktrooper(2) faces Edelweiss and can't hit Sniper Tower he was originally facing.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper. Climb Tower, shoot Gatling Bunker(3). Climb down and hide behind the tower from prying eyes.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, run to Gatling Bunker(4) and throw a grenade to blow up Ragnite Crate. This will blow up the thing wholesale. Move into the cloud and stay somewhere inside.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper. Medevac Alicia if necessary, then go and deal with Shocktroopers(5, 6) and occupy northern camp. Move back inside the cloud, stay behind the back of Heavy Gatling(7).
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, destroy Heavy Gatling(7) in a way that DOES NOT initiate team-attack with Shocktrooper, because you don't want to break stealth for him/her. Walk out of smoke and then back in to restore Hidden status. Stay near Shocktrooper, hugging the outer map wall if possible.
-(1 CP)- Call in Lancer reinforcement to the northern camp.

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcements arrive at Imperial Base Camp and (if applicable) at the central camp.
- Reinforcement calls at Imperial Base Camp and central camp.
- Tank Destroyer near Smoke will advance to the U-shaped sandbag past your hidden Engineer and Shocktrooper and attack Edelweiss twice.
- Shocktrooper(1) will either finish off Largo or attack Edelweiss with grenade (~850 HP left on Edelweiss with only HP/AP parts).
- Shocktrooper(2) will attack Rosie with Flamethrower. MAJ-X makes it possible to survive and counterattack.

Turn 3.

Player Phase(8 CP).

- Lancer arrives at northern camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, destroy Gatling Bunker(1). Hide somewhere or even Retreat from the southern camp.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Backpedal into the wall facing Rosie. Now it's necessary to throw somke in such a way that it a) blocks interception from Shocktrooper(4) and Tank Destroyer(3), b) does not cover the back of Tank Destroyer(3), c) leaves an uncovered area inside the camp. It's a tricky position to figure out (ok let's be honest - it was much trickier to figure out that I need such position to begin with).

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer. Take down Tank Destroyer(2), move towards Tank Destroyer(3). Trip a mine inside smoke (to make a shorter path for Shocktrooper). Walk up to the back of and take down Tank Destroyer(3). Watch out for interception from Invulnerable Gatlings. Stay outside of the smoke. Then attack Heavy Tank that you can see in the enemy Base Camp across the death field. It's necessary to damage its body so that it moves during Enemy Phase. If it doesn't move you won't get access to its radiator. It won't move if you hit Heavy Tank Turret instead of its body.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take down Shocktrooper(4) (maybe 2 if there was reinforcement). Take the camp. Walk out of Smoke and then end movement inside both Smoke AND camp. Basically, you're invisible but the camp is uncapturable.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer. Restock Lancer. Move up to the interception line of Invulnerable Gatlings and attack corner of the middle part of the second U-shaped Sandbags across the death field. Better take a look. You have juuuust enough range to punch through them before damage dropoff kicks in, and there's no range indicator. It is another shot which is very hard to get right, but is absolutely required. Retreat into the smoke.


Aaaaand character limit. Enemy Phase and Turn 4 in the next section.

Skirmish 6 (Marberry Shore) - Part 2

Turn 3.

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcements arrive at Imperial Base Camp.
- Reinforcement calls at Imperial Base Camp.
- One or two Shocktroopers will advance forward. They should stay in the death field. A slightly different case (if there was 2 Shocktroopers in the middle camp) - one of them might try to take the middle camp. He can't do it though (that's why that deliberate Smoke and Shocktrooper positioning combo), and he will ignore all invisible troops and run along towards the northern camp.
- Heavy Tank will move around. Ultimately it will turn sideways, exposing its radiator to the alley behind the buldings.
- Shocktrooper near Edelweiss will try to move to Largo, gets mowed down by Edelweiss and Rosie.

Turn 4.

Player Phase (8 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, put Smoke on top of Shocktroopers(1). It doesn't really matter if you get hit a couple times while entering it, the main goal is to cover both Shocktroopers.

-(1 CP)- Move Engineer. Go into smoke, cross the field. Jump out of smoke by the left metal wall and immediately hide behind the building corner. Proceed along the wall until you can throw a grenade to take out 2 Shocktroopers(2). The reason we destroyed sandbags before is to make sure the grenade is easy to land in the exact spot between them. Otherwise they will survive with like 9 HP (yes, with Demolition Man). After that get back into the smoke and cross over towards the back alleyway.
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, cross the field, shoot into the side of Heavy Tank(3). Move to Engineer.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, take down Barricade, go into the alley and disarm all mines along the way. This opens up access to the camp and Heavy Tank(3)'s radiator. Don't stay by the left wall after taking the corner, as HT Gun can intercept there.

-(1 CP)- OPTIONAL: there might be an extra Shocktrooper in the camp (depends on reinforcement calls earlier). Take him down with Grenade from Engineer.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Lancer, take down Heavy Tank(3) and Tank Destroyer(4), take the camp.


Result:



An alternative unpleasant development you might encounter on Turn 2 Enemy Phase/Turn 3 - one Shocktrooper from Imperial Base Camp advancing to the death field.

You can still pull off the same moves as described in Turn 3, but you'll have to use barricades in the middle of the death field as a way to block his interception. And for this one staying inside Smoke and Camp like I've shown before is pretty much mandatory if you don't want to lose the camp. He will walk up to the camp and then, unable to take it, continue further on towards northern camp.

Skirmish 7 (Windmill Plaza)

If you thought normal/story versions of this battle were obnoxious Sniper hell, think again. This time around not only they can hurt tanks, but their HP is over 200, so easy cop-outs (Sniper/Artillery Support) are not available anymore.


- For this battle, Edelweiss needs to be outfitted with HP/Def, instead of AP. Enemy Snipers have 1000 vsArmor, and AI uses them a lot. Doesn't really matter whether the final upgrade for Edelweiss is HP or Def one, can be done with both.
- Shocktrooper can be anyone with any weapon.
- Sniper - Cezare/Marina with GSR-R/Brondel. Any other Sniper only with GSR-R (not enough vsPers on Brondel).
- Engineer - anyone with Repair Boost/Super Repair and Gallian-E30R.
- Positions don't have to be exactly this, but make sure to keep Sniper to the right (behind Shamrock).

Turn 1.

Player Phase (7 CP).
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Rush forward to take minimal interception from Snipers, put up a smokescreen to cover most of the road, side alley (to prevent further interception) and, most importantly, Shamrock. It's enough to cover Shamrock's front to prevent it from being discovered during enemy turn, otherwise it will be aptly destroyed. After that cross the AT mine line and drive straight into Heavy Gatling. It's necessary (well not really a must but makes next turn easier) to be able to intercept-kill a hidden Sniper behind the truck.
-(1 CP)- Move Sniper. Use Smoke to take out Sniper(1) at the enemy base camp, then move up and hide behind Edelweiss. You need to be at the edge of Smoke cloud to see the enemy.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take down Sniper(2) (bullets or Flamethrower, your choice). Proceed ahead hiding behind Edelweiss, then dart left as soon as you cross AT barricades. A couple shots from Gatling won't kill, and Sniper(3) on the tower can't hit either. Proceed to deal with Sniper(3) and end turn by the truck. Make sure to stick to the wall all the time to avoid Shocktrooper in the camp and his Attack Down debuff.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer, repair Edelweiss and circle around the same way as with Shocktrooper. Take down Heavy Gatling(4). Dallas is really hurt on the screenshot because of the bug with bullet origin point. Basically, this Gatling can sometimes shoot through Edelweiss, especially through threads. No need to heal though. If you get Double Action, extra healing or repair as you prefer, maybe even grenade Shocktrooper in the camp.

Enemy Phase.
- Sniper behind the truck will run out and get mowed down by Edelweiss. If you messed up the range, he will shoot Edelweiss 2-3 times and stay behind the truck. Refer to Adaptation 1 for a strategy when this happens.
- Sniper behind enemy Heavy Tank near base camp will run out and shoot Edelweiss once.
- Lancer at the same place will run out and back in.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (7 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Run over Shocktrooper(1) to make him face a wall. Proceed forward until Heavy Gatlings(4,5) start intercepting Edelweiss. This interception will slowly (enough time to have a cup of tea), but surely deal with Shocktroopers(2) by sandbags. Throw smoke in front of those sandbags and drive into it. If your HP is too low to handle a mine, try climbing the ruins to the right with Edelweiss's right thread.


-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, deal with Shocktrooper(1) and take the camp. Proceed into the smoke and then dive into the grass if it connects well with smoke. If it does not - see Adaptation 2.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, fix Edelweiss and disarm AT mines near it. Stay inside smoke or join Shocktrooper in the grass.
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Sniper, take down Shocktrooper(3) on the rooftop, crawl behind the house and take down Gatlings(4,5).

Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement calls (irrelevant).
- Snipers in Kirkja Lane camp (the one we left alone) will fire at Shamrock multiple times.
- Sniper and Lance behind Heavy Tank will do the "run out-hide" routine again.
- Heavy Tank will shoot Shamrock 1 or 2 times. It's quite possible Shamrock will be destroyed (-1 CP).

Turn 3.

Player Phase (6-7 CP).

-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, get to Heavy Tank(1)'s radiator and fire at it.
-(1-2 CP)- Finish off Heavy Tank(1) with Edelweiss or Sniper. It should have 800 HP + 600 Def, which is exactly as much damage as GSR-R can output sans buffs (1400 vsArmor).

Alternatively, just damage boost Edelweiss. 3 CP all the same.
-(1+ CP)- Move Shocktrooper. Fire at Shocktrooper(2) from grass (no interception/evasion). Move around houses to the base camp. Deal with Sniper and Lancer(2) at your leisure and take the camp.

Result:



Adaptation 1 - If you screwed up Edelweiss's interception.
Now you have to deal with Sniper and much lower HP on Edelweiss. You can't tank 2 mines anymore, so drop Smoke in a way that gives your troopers a free pass towards the grass behind the house. Move across the smoke, let Gatlings dal with sandbag Shocks like before, move back into smoke. Instead of killing Shocktrooper on the rooftop deal with Sniper. Advance both Shocktrooper and Sniper behind the house. Turn 3 is the same.

Adaptation 2 - If you screwed up Smoke positioning and it's too close to your line.
Honestly, you can just take 3-5 more shots from Heavy Tank. Or change move order to "Snipe rooftop trooper" -> "Trooper+Camp"->"Snipe Gatlings".

Skirmish 8 (Naggiar Plains)

Unsurprisingly, Naggiar Plains involve a lot of ground to cover. Doubly unsurprisingly, there's a lot of Gatlings involved.

- Lancer needs Theimer-M20 to get enough damage going and as many accuracy buffs as possible. Hector is the best fit (Born Leader + Super Damage + Intimate Company + Tank Killer).
- Engineer with Gallian-E30R for Gatling-killing and Demolition Man for camp assault.
- Shocktrooper must be able to get a 350+ range kill and destroy Gatling Turret in the final camp in one attack. Anyone can do it with Ruhm, Born Leaders can reliably pull it off with Mags-R. You can try T-MAG as well, but don't bother with Mags/MAJ/ZM MP.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (6 CP).

-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Lancer. Take the left path, destroy Heavy Gatling(1) with a trench-to-trench shot (easy with Intimate Company, still very reliable without - remember, you don't need to aim for the head like with Rifles, Lance can destroy it with any hit). Then take down Tank Destroyer(2) and move up to Heavy Gatling(4). Use it to activate Tank Killer and shoot Heavy Tank(3)'s radiator. Hide in any deep trench.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer, take the left path to avoid interception from Heavy Gatling(4). Take it down from the side and hide in its trench.



-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper. First take the right path, you will end up near the same trench as Engineer. If you have Ruhm, you can take down Shocktrooper(5) from there. Otherwise, just end the action without shooting (now isn't that rare in my plans...) and move closer. The black dot (and screenshot) marks 400 range - the fartherst distance you can get a kill with Mags-R at. Proceed down the left branch with Mags-R. If you have Ruhm and Shocktrooper is already dead from the 1st attack - proceed down the right branch and destroy Heavy Gatling there.


Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcement call at the Base Camp (Shocktrooper).
- Scout marked with text on the map will climb up and crouch near the leftmost camp (where Shocktrooper(5) was).

Turn 2.

Player Phase(6 CP).

Scout(1) can't fire into the trench at all and thus will be ignored.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper along the trench, take down Scout(2). You will have to jump out and take damage/-Def debuff directly, no way around it. Move further along towards the camp.
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer into the trench. Scout(1) will be able to fire for a short period. Take the right branch and deal with Heavy Gatling(3). Proceed towards the camp.
This particular map's geometry has a peculiar feature - you can actually spot enemies through corners BEFORE they can fire at you. Generally this is not true (as you're probably well aware by now), but these trenches are an exception. Left screenshot below was taken before Shocktrooper's action (so Gatling wasn't spotted until I got Dallas to the point shown).
The right screenshot shows that Scout(1) really has no LOS into the trench.
-(1+1 CP)- Take down Heavy Gatling(4) and Scout(5) in the camp. Again, it's possible to abuse spotting geometry to avoid getting hit. Use Grenade to deal with Scout. After that stick to the right side and proceed to the box before the right turn.

-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper. Use right corner from the camp area to deal with Scout(6) (see left screenshot). Then heal up and proceed to cross the right turn overwatched by Heavy Gatling(7).


Enemy Phase.
- Reinforcements arrive at Base Camp(Shocktrooper).
- New reinforcement calls.
- No movement.

Turn 3.

Player Phase (6 CP).
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, take down Scout(1) and go out into the field through the left trench exit (right from Shocktrooper's perspective).
-(1 CP)- Move Engineer. Cross the area overwatched by Heavy Gatling(2) like on the previous turn, then take down Heavy Gatling(2) from the right corner, then proceed to cross the field through the same exit as Shocktrooper. Get as close as you can to the second trench entry.
-(1+1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper. Take the right (left from Trooper's perspective) branch and take down Scout(3). Then use the right corner to deal with Gatling Turret(4).

-(1+1 CP)- Move Engineer. Take the same path as Shocktrooper. Throw a grenade to kill standing Shocktrooper and destroy sandbags to the left. This will leave the last Shocktrooper (leader) standing, which makes it easy to land a second grenade right under his feet. Take care not to screw up grenades, as even with Demolition Man you can fail to kill Shocktroopers. You have to blow up sandbags because landing grenade on a crouching Shocktrooper will be nigh impossible. You also have to mind your AP to get to the flag.


Result:

Skirmish 9 (East Bank Of Vasel)

The last stop on the way to Randgriz Crest Of Honor.

- Edelweiss can have more or less anything. This time I recommend to strip down all AP parts, because base AP is exactly how far you need it to move. Also, some accuracy is good to have (not mandatory). Any final tier R&D upgrade is good.
- Shamrock needs Gatlings in order to intercept a gazillion of enemies rushing down the street. Any parts are good.
- Shocktrooper can carry more or less anything. Ruhm adds some preemptive damage to Shamrock's interception (ok it actually gets 2/3 of the kills), which significantly speeds up the enemy phase. It's not required, but if it's not this map that was made to utilize 700 range, then I don't know which one.
- Lancer needs Theimer M20, because Tank Destroyers. Anyone who can deal 4550 damage in one crit (x2 modifier) is good.
- One Sniper needs GSR-R (3 ammo to kill snipers across the map), and is to be positioned exactly like Cezare in my deployment. This deployment spot is not subject to interception by enemy Snipers at the start, unlike the one near it (Shocktrooper's position).
- The other Sniper needs ZM SG to have enough damage to one-shot a Scout and be able to intercept. Strictly speaking, it doesn't even have to be a sniper. Anyone who can kill one Scout is fine, having extra interception damage just speeds up enemy phase some more.

NOTE: This map features so many mines littered around everywhere, that I won't bother reflecting most of them on plans. Might as well just fill the entire map with glorious pink.

Turn 1.

Player Phase (10 CP).
-(1+1+1 CP)- Move Sniper(1). Debris in front of him blocks interception from Snipers(1,2) on the towers at the end of the map. Don't ask why, it just does. It does not, however, stop you from firing over it and killing one them. So take down Snipers(1,2,3) using this debris and the right corner of the next building. Lampposts also block interception.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss. Fire at Tank Destroyer(4). Stop around the position I've shown on the plan - it is full Edelweiss's AP if no +AP parts are installed.
-(2 CP)- Move Shamrock. Move to Edelweiss, maybe slightly ahead, and kill Scout(5).
-(1 CP)- Move Lancer, finish off Tank Destroyer. Move forward and right as far as you can (ending turn near the tent is good).

-(1 CP)- Move Sniper, advance towards Gallian tanks, take down Scout(6) along the way. Set up to intercept enemies down the street.
-(1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, pick a target of your choice. Frontline Shocktroopers(7) are the only enemies that have scripts to instantly stop when being fired at, so one of those is the best pick, although it doesn't really matter.

I've picked one of the Lancers next to them this time, so this is what I've got at the end:


Enemy Phase.
This map, just like Naggiar(2), features instant reinforcement spawns every Enemy Phase start. They spawn a lot of enemies (Shocktroopers, Lancers, Scouts) in front of the sandbag line, and those will advance down the street. All of them will get mowed down by the defense line I've shown, no exceptions. In fact, Shamrock alone is enough. Frontline Shocktroopers that I've talked about just before will be down to ~1/2 HP from taking random Sniper/Ruhm/Gatling hits.
3 Tank Destroyers on the bottom of the map will advance along the streets, trying to flank your position through those alleys.

Turn 2.

Player Phase (10 CP).
If you move Shamrock too far ahead (like I did this time), Tank Destroyer(4) will turn like on the screenshot. Otherwise, it will be facing south with radiator easily accessible.
-(2 CP)- Move Edelweiss, throw Smoke on top of the camp (1). Turn right alongside the building wall to bait interception from Shocktroopers(2,3) if they are not dead.

-(0-1 CP)- Move Shocktrooper, advance along the left side of the street, deal with Shocktroopers(2,3). It's an easy double kill even if they are both alive, as their HP is low. If there's only one - all the better, if none - skip this step.
-(3-5 CP)- Move Lancer and deal with Tank Destroyers(4,5,6). Worst case - you will need to use Resupply order once, because TD(4) will take 2 shots to blow up. Or use Edelweiss one more time.
-(2-5 CP)- Assault the camp. The only one you actually must kill is Lancer leader, everyone else is outside of the camp and does not prevent capture. Shocktrooper is the safest way if you lack CP, otherwise feel free to try something else.

Result:

Afterword (TEMP)

Well, I'm still not done with Edy, Hard and EX stuff, but I wanted to put out what I already have. I'm not likely to finish them before New Year, tbh. My guesstimate is late January/early February 2016. Well that didn't quite go the way I expected :) Although taking a break from VC will hopefully help me finish all the missions with more enthusiasm now.

Any comments, ideas and questions are welcome.
If you find factual mistakes about the game in here - please inform me so I can fix them.
If you find my descriptions hard to follow - please tell me what it is you find confusing. I know some of my plans there are bit of a mess...

Anyway, hope I've managed to help you enjoy this fantastic mod even a little more.


I guess a legal/disclaimer corner should be here after all:
- All the credit for creation of the mod goes to busards and whomever he/she referenced in the guide, containing the mod (see Intro).
- If you want to use any part of this guide - just make sure to link to the original here. Obviously, non-profit & fair use only.

[DoomyDoom]

I don't have the rights to Gallian Crossfire, busard does. I know google drive has been weird about it for some people since the security changes they did. It downloads consistenly every time this is brought up for me via tor/vpn, so I can suggest trying that.

[とくなつ03`]

Seems I need to request access to this mod. Any chance you could open it up??

[NoOne_ReaVen]

So has anyone ever encountered a bug or miss hab during upgrading your Grenades from T2 to T3? I already bought the Type B-M5 but everyone is still using the Type B-M2 even the Rifle Mounted Version from the Scouts are still stuck at T2, please if anyone knows a solution I would appreciate it.

[LuckyFlanker13]

Gotcha; some sections up above said that it was +atk

[DoomyDoom]

+25% Evade and +25% vsPers

[LuckyFlanker13]

Quick question doomy - does roof hunter boost bost anti-armor/personnel or just anti-personnel?

[Fart UnTangler]

that's crazy my dude

[DoomyDoom]

Expert skirmishes are a lot of Alicia invulnerability abuse. I don't find them very fun for that reason. If you need help, check out Youtube channel of dainegai.

This is a good example of why I didn't bother writing them up and moved on to fixing that nonsense in my own mod instead:
https://youtu.be/ivXJocgTAJA?list=PLDr571nCX0dkPhV6RlOUnOW-sqlK4CllJ&t=51

[Fart UnTangler]

have you done the expert skirmishes yet?
Brul outskirts took alot of save scuming for me
got stuck with a b rank

[DoomyDoom]

Yes, more challenging gameplay was/is most certainly one of the goals of both mods.