I'm not budging without an argument and unfortunately you've pressed my essay buttons. WALL O' TEXT INBOUND.
Body blocking with Alicia only delays the inevitable and doesn't even block the Soldier from hitting Cetus. Sorry, but it ain't gonna happen.
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Let's discuss your plan now that I have a computer in front of me and why I personally don't think it's gonna work. Ethan is not going to be surviving a round standing up unless both the Soldier and Tokov both miss. That's a fact. At 8 health, Tokov is going to do 10 damage and the Soldier will knock him out by doing exactly 8 damage after reductions. Ethan's going down no matter what we do and the other guy gets to attack one of us for free, considering they are both in range to attack Cetus no matter what we do. It's either Alicia and Aiesha are going to be unable to counterattack if it's Tokov, or they'll do piddling damage to the Soldier. Regardless of who attacked, that character is now primed to take us down the next round. By following your plan, now we've wasted a turn and now we're closer to death than before without doing any meaningful damage to the enemy. We have our original situation where the only variables that has changed is that someone is wounded, the Soldier *might* be more wounded now, Aiesha can move, Alicia can't attack or she'll be downed in a heart beat and doesn't have a vulnerary to burn to help an ally. Cetus can heal whoever he wants, but it ain't gonna matter.
To solve this dilemma, which we still could admittedly still solve, will take Vulneraries. GASP. Yes, we're going to have to use an item. We're not going to get out of this situation by sitting on our stockpile of meds. I can just about guarantee that right now. Alicia and Aiesha, Undine love them both, are useless against that Spearman and even a combined effort against Tokov himself would be a hopeless endeavor unless that Spearman is dead.
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Now let's examine my plan. Assuming the worst and they decide to go after the wounded again, the Soldier takes and succeeds at a risky stab at Ethan while Tokov moves one step south and takes down Baurus as it's the most logical place for him to attack from. Nothing has changed. Right? Wrong.
Tokov is now in fighting range of Alicia, who can take him down to half health in one round of combat. It would take a small miracle for her not to miss on both of her attacks given his speed and the fact that she's using a very accurate weapon. It may very well be an Autohit. Aiesha and Cetus can take the time they need to revive Baurus to full. He's the only guy on our team who actually has what it takes to take on that Soldier and win in a fair fight and counter Tokov if he gets attacked.
From there, the rest of the fight is in our court when we have someone capable of fighting off a lance. Alicia could be downed easily by Tokov, but they aren't going to take down Baurus without him evening the score a little bit. Hell, he could probably survive the attack. They'll both have to attack him to take him down, and one is gonna get hurt. From there, Aiesha and Alicia could handle Tokov or the Spearman through combined effort. If Aiesha gets the attack in first, neither is going down that round. With only one enemy on the field, we should be able to revive everyone without fear of not having to use any more medicine.
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Which about that. Yeah, I've used a good chunk of my own medicine up. But I haven't been wasteful with it and one priest isn't about to do all of the damage control in this particular situation. Here's two good reasons as to why I used the Vulnerary when I did.
First, the mechanics behind why I used all three bits of Vulnerary. The three times I've used it, it's been strategically to keep Alicia going for another round and keeping her in the game as a player in this battle.
1) Used to raise health from 9 to 18. Doing so gave her the time she needed to deliver stabs to faces of two spearman. Arguably the worst usage of lemony goodness I've had, seeing as it really didn't change the outcome of anything and the crit she delivered while under the effects of LEMONY GOODNESS was admittedly pure luck. It did however keep the Soldiers from stabbing anyone else. Also... Soldier B just disappeared. Looking back, none of us noticed that Haspen just sort of erased him. Unless he meant that Soldier B was the one who attacked Alicia first and then Soldier D was the one who followed up... Which would make a lot more sense actually and would explain why both Soldiers are gone. Moving on.
2) Used to raise health from 8 to 18. Doing so allowed her to tank a hit from the swordsman and allow Ethan to keep on trucking at full health. What I did not expect to happen was that Alicia was going to pull off another juicy crit to kill the Swordsman that the Spearman would now be allowed to follow up on her. She survived at a single point of health, but she killed someone in the process and wounded another. That's economizing damage and surviving at the margins.
3) The third vulnerary was used to pump up Alicia's health from 2 to 18, which... Which shouldn't of actually happened. Haskitty you've done goofed. Alicia's actual health is about 13 right now. Incidentally, this thankfully would change nothing, seeing as it's still gonna take two hits either way from both the swordsman and Tokov to take her down. Ethan was healed and was able to axe off another enemy before finally going down. Regardless of his fate however, taking that vulnerary then has set it up so that we're not so close to death right now and that Alicia is in condition to take another hit if she had to. She's poised to do something as opposed to being able to be killed with ease/ cowering in fear of the enemy getting closer.
She's done great thus far, and has actually killed a lot more people than I would have expected of her. Alicia is earning her nickname of Red through various kills and counterattacks that have ended in lucky crits. Furth than that, each of those rounds she was healing herself, Cetus was able to heal up one of our Axeman. Both of whom who have been ripping the enemy a new one. Ethan has claimed a head for nearly every round he's been up. Baurus has been doing wonderful as well with that hatchet of his. But they've taken a lot of damage too, and you've done an excellent job of patching them up thus far. Mostly because you haven't been having to heal Alicia or Aiesha because they've been keeping care of themselves (for the most part). I do recall that earlier lift after the first Vuln usage and I appreciated it.
I challenge anyone to find a better move that I could have made during those turns. I'm fallible, so something could come up, but relatively speaking I wasn't making any stupid moves. They were thought out and logical usages of Vulnerary. Not a waste. Trust me. I hoard things unless I have to use them. It just so happened that this time, I had to use them. So enough with the whole condescending bit, alright?
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Second Point. We're dealing with a helluva lot more than usual for a Prologue. For perspective, here's our Prologue compared to the Prologue of FE2. Both featured close combat on a ship, but there are some key differences.
[spoiler=FE3]PCs:
Aiesha Vernat: 17/18
Alicia the Red: 18/18
Baurus Gibbs: -/21 3/3
Cetus Moss: 16/17
Allies:
Ethan Valle: 8/22
Enemies:
Arst: 24/24
Tukov: 22/22
Seaman A: -2/22
Seaman B: -5/22
Seaman C: 22/22
Seaman D: -8/22
Seaman E: -6/22
Domirian Swordsman A: -3/20
Domirian Swordsman B: -3/20
Domirian Swordsman C: -5/20
Domirian Swordsman D: -10/20
Domirian Swordsman E: -31/20
Domirian Soldier A: -6/22
Domirian Soldier B: 0/22
Domirian Soldier C: 0/22
Domirian Soldier D: -20/22
Domirian Soldier E: 12/22
Mercs:
Efa Llewellyn: 16/17
Leopoldo Belmonte: 15/16
Maible Talruss: 10/17
Sakura Lonia:6/18
Sara: 10/21
Sheila Vega: 20/21
Enemies:
Pirate A: -2/22
Pirate B: -2/22
Pirate C: -12/22
Pirate D: -13/22
Pirate E: -2/22
Archer A: 20/20
Archer B: -15/20
Mage: -22/21
Sellsword A: -1/21
Sellsword B: -2/21
Leif: 11/23
NPCs:
Irene: 4/22
Mhmm. See the difference?
FE2 featured 6 main characters and 1 ally up against 11 enemies. Many of the people on the player side of things were armed with bows and other ranged weapons so that they could stay out of trouble. Also; they were allowed to make purchase of a few items before map start, including an Iron Longbow if I recall. I didn't look too closely. The weapon triangle is not really all that much of a factor, with as much range, fire, and dark magic as they had on that ship. It ended on the fifth turn and no two people were downed at once.
FE3 at it's current count is pitting 4 main characters and 1 ally up against 17 enemies. Only Baurus has a ranged attack, and we lack magic and significant firepower outside of the magnificent murder badass that is Ethan. The Weapon Triangle is an extreme factor, as the enemy have had the distinct advantage of being able to hit our weaknesses. Our swords can hardly scratch the Soldiers, and the Swordsmen have been persistent little wasps against Ethan and Baurus. Our consolation prize is that the Axemen have had no luck hitting us when it really would have mattered. But now, we're on the 6th turn with two people downed.
We've had a much more difficult fight than our predecessors. The enemy is more numerous and we are more few. This puts us in a perilous position, which in my opinion justifies the usage of emergency medicine.
Now, I realize that I've mostly been joking about the whole LEMONY GOODNESS thing, but we really are in a tough spot. The challenge has been thrown down by the mighty kitty, and I must say that I'm loving it. But I don't think we're going to get through this chapter without strugglebussing unless we dip into our reserves. It's not a matter of making a joke or anything like that, but surviving with the least chance of death. Playing it safe as opposed to taking a gamble. Keeping that in mind, we are pirates. I know the very first thing that I'm going to have Alicia do after killing the boss is start looting the ship for goodies. Namely, the enemy ship's medicine cabinet to replace the Vulnerary's she had to use up.
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Finally, last argument. You do realize that Cetus is a priest... Right? If he's going to be doing anything, it's going to be healing an ally and staying out of the line of fire. Unless Cetus receives some deadly focus fire this round; you aren't going to need that vulnerary. And even if you do require healing, why are you healing yourself when there are allies who are going to need healing more?
Now, I'm tired of arguing and it's late as heck for me right now upon writing this all. Are you going to let me use that Vulnerary or not? Yes or no?[/spoiler]
Spoilered the conversation. Mostly because it's large and clunky.