Valkyria Chronicles Catch-All

You can spend more than one CP on a character per turn to give them more action phases. Did it go like this.

ST starts phase runs to gate throws grenade ends phase
ST starts new phase turns and shoots ends phase

If so, you can do the same thing, but for each successive phase the distance you are able to run is reduced. So a good strategy is to run to a place with decent cover and clear line of sight to enemies, then spend multiple phases firing from cover.

beeporama wrote:

Wrapping one's head around this, and the odd notion of "saving" CP (don't use all your moves in one turn and they will carry over, to a certain max) is weird.

But this is critical if you want to get those A rankings. In the mission you are talking about, it is very possible to win on turn 3 (the turn the tank shows up). The rest is up to you to figure out.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:

You can spend more than one CP on a character per turn to give them more action phases. Did it go like this.

ST starts phase runs to gate throws grenade ends phase
ST starts new phase turns and shoots ends phase

If so, you can do the same thing, but for each successive phase the distance you are able to run is reduced. So a good strategy is to run to a place with decent cover and clear line of sight to enemies, then spend multiple phases firing from cover.

Ok, this may be one of the key pieces of info that I've been missing. My understanding is that a phase is:

BEGIN PHASE

a) squad member #1 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

b) squad member #2 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

c) squad member #3 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

END PHASE

So are you saying that I can repeat step 1 twice? I was thinking that once Alicia's initial "action" ends, that, yes, she could move again (assuming she had the move points), but not shoot again. Is this wrong?

Jeff-66 wrote:

Ok, this may be one of the key pieces of info that I've been missing. My understanding is that a phase is:

BEGIN PHASE

a) squad member #1 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

b) squad member #2 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

c) squad member #3 moves/shoots/moves END ACTION

END PHASE

So are you saying that I can repeat step 1 twice? I was thinking that once Alicia's "action" ends, that she could move again (assuming she had the move points), but not shoot again. Is this wrong?

Think of it in terms of a single CP being a turn. EDIT: Or in the case of tanks, 2 CP being a single turn.

1 - Use CP. Phase begins for that character.
2 - You can move up to your bar, and take 1 action.
3 - Return to #1. If you pick the same character, you get a smaller movement bar.

Yeah, I don't think you can make a single character shoot more than once per CP usage (pick character, move, shoot, move if you want to, exit). However, you can use all you CP tokens on a single character in a single round. In other words, if you have 3 CP at the start of your round, you can use a single character 3 times if you want (3X move/shoot/move/exit).

Make sense?

Aaron D. wrote:

Yeah, I don't think you can make a single character shoot more than once per CP usage (pick character, move, shoot, move if you want to, exit). However, you can use all you CP tokens on a single character in a single round. In other words, if you have 3 CP at the start of your round, you can use a single character 3 times if you want (3X move/shoot/move/exit).

Make sense?

Yes, it does, and thanks.

This changes things.

I really should ...

[size=7]RTFM[/size]

The tutorial glazed over this, I believe it was just a brief comment from Welkin, which is odd because it really is key to getting the best ratings, as well as simply passing some missions.

Someone mentioned "A" ranks - in my opinion skip them on your first play through. Rank it completely determined by how many rounds you take so if you push for "A" you have to game the system a lot and you miss out on a lot of fun stuff. In some missions you actually just rush one character across the map and kill the target. It is not fun and on your first go though it is about impossible.

Heh, it wouldn't make much sense to have finite ammo that regenerated every round if you could only shoot once per round.

According to Kotaku, more DLC is coming next week.

farley3k wrote:

Someone mentioned "A" ranks - in my opinion skip them on your first play through. Rank it completely determined by how many rounds you take so if you push for "A" you have to game the system a lot and you miss out on a lot of fun stuff. In some missions you actually just rush one character across the map and kill the target. It is not fun and on your first go though it is about impossible.

I mentioned them, but it was mostly as an example of how using multiple CP on the same character can be useful (or in some cases, necessary).

I've been unable to get an A rank without assistance, because you have to game the system so much.

I really enjoyed the way the ranking system lets you make the game as difficult as you like. If you take your time, advance slowly, always stay in cover with overlapping fields of fire, and so forth, you can win all of the battles easily, but you'll get poor ratings and miss out on some bonus goodies. Driving for that perfect rating every mission requires you to really focus on the objective, take the bare minimum of troops at the start so you can leapfrog successfully off of forward spawns, and really push ahead with scouts. I found it more enjoyable to go for the A's in each fight, but that did lead to some excessive reloading while I figured out the optimum way to run each one.

Well I've now read the manual, and also reached the HQ, which has the Command Room, R&D, Training Field, etc. Things are making a lot more sense now, and also got a lot more interesting.

edit:

gah, just picked my 20 soldiers, leveled up, and then got into my first skirmish. This game just went from "pretty cool" to excellent. The skirmish was a blast. I won handily (on normal, not easy), but I did lose Alicia, but only due to my own stupidity. I underestimated how much damage she was going to take from a shocktrooper, and he whittled her down almost instantly.

Some thoughts from the first skirmish:

* It was very, very fun using a much bigger mixed squad. much more fun than the Bruhl tutorial stuff.

* I made sure I took out their Lancer quickly.

* Getting a 1-shot headshot kill with my sniper from about 500 yds was freakin' awesome

I do have some questions -- during the fight, my tank did take one hit (about 15% total damage). I had an engineer, and ran him over to the tank. I couldn't figure out how to repair the tank. I selected "Engineer tool" and pressed X, but that didn't get it.

Next: since Alicia was at 0 hp, was there anything that could be done on the battlefield to heal her, or is the only option that she be carted off? When I ran my engineer near her body, he called for a medic.

Lastly: how do the "Potentials" work? -- at one point, Alicia had "Country Bred" (or something) pop up and a Stats "up" icon. What did that mean? Are those things decided by the computer, or can you activate them at times yourself?

Thanks again.

Jeff-66 wrote:

Lastly: how do the "Potentials" work? -- at one point, Alicia had "Country Bred" (or something) pop up and a Stats "up" icon. What did that mean? Are those things decided by the computer, or can you activate them at times yourself?

You can't activate them. They're all die rolls. So every time someone with Country Bred goes on a road, there's a chance that it activates. Some are good, some are bad. You want to choose characters who have more good than bad.

Next: since Alicia was at 0 hp, was there anything that could be done on the battlefield to heal her, or is the only option that she be carted off? When I ran my engineer near her body, he called for a medic.

You can bring her back in at a HQ on the map. It uses one command point.

I do have some questions -- during the fight, my tank did take one hit (about 15% total damage). I had an engineer, and ran him over to the tank. I couldn't figure out how to repair the tank. I selected "Engineer tool" and pressed X, but that didn't get it.

You have to target the tank with R1 before hitting X.

Edit: The same is true if you want to heal an ally. Anyone with Ragnaid (or whatever its called) can heal another person (they can also heal themselves, don't target someone and just hit x).

Thanks, Garion.

Reading the big FAQ now, and finding out a lot of new info.

Interestingly, the guy who wrote the FAQ seems highly critical of certain aspects of the game, including what it takes to get an A ranking. He says that only speed matters, and you basically have to act like a moron in order to achieve the A. Fortunately, stuff like that really doesn't matter to me. I'll be happy with a B, or even a C. Just like high school!

I actually agree about the rating stuff. It was honestly my biggest gripe about the game, but hardly broke it for me. Still, I basically focused on using Scouts mostly because of the speed aspect. On my NewGame+ I started gaming the game more in order to get all the A ratings.

Play how you like, ya know.

garion333 wrote:

I actually agree about the rating stuff. It was honestly my biggest gripe about the game, but hardly broke it for me. Still, I basically focused on using Scouts mostly because of the speed aspect. On my NewGame+ I started gaming the game more in order to get all the A ratings.

Play how you like, ya know. ;)

After that first skirmish, and getting a much better understanding of the game's mechanics, I have a much greater appreciation for the scouts and their incredible mobility. Hell I had a guy run clear from my base down to the bridge in one move - if you know the bridge I mean in that first skirmish, it's clear on the other side of the map.

I'm really looking forward to digging into this deeper. I think you were the one that recommended this game to me, and for that ... thanks

Jeff, RE medics:

If the mission ends with a wounded troop in the field, you don't lose them.

If an enemy touches a wounded troop, they die forever. The exceptions are Alicia, Rosie, and Largo, who are story characters and thus cannot be killed. They'll just be unavailable for the rest of the mission.

If you get a medic to a wounded soldier, you can use an HQ to call them back, but only on the NEXT turn. They are not immediately available and won't be listed as available for reinforcements on the same turn they're rescued.

Being part of this conversation, and watching you go from befuddlement to enlightenment has been a real treat.

A note about rankings. I'm playing through my game for the third time and I have never gotten over a B, and never cared to. I play very deliberately and clear every last enemy from the map before securing objectives (unless that is impossible) so the scoring system is essentially irrelevant to my playstyle.

EDIT:

Also about the medics. Any character can call in a medic by touching a downed character, including a tank. Also If a downed character remains downed for 3 turns and you don't get a medic to them they die forever (with the exception of primary characters mentioned earlier). Keep that in mind.

A final thought, now that you're upgrading your classes. If you use snipers at all, I suggest you keep them 2 to 3 levels above the other classes. Due to the dice-rolling nature of hit calculation the odds aren't really in the sniper's favor until about level 10 so reaching that point should be an early goal. Of course this is getting into meta-strategy territory, but that's an observation from my own experience.

AmazingZoidberg wrote:

Being part of this conversation, and watching you go from befuddlement to enlightenment has been a real treat.

I've enjoyed it. There have been some lightbulb moments. I'm pretty unaccustomed to Japanese style games anyway, and definitely unaccustomed to this combat system, so it was indeed puzzling at first.

A note about rankings. I'm playing through my game for the third time and I have never gotten over a B, and never cared to. I play very deliberately and clear every last enemy from the map before securing objectives (unless that is impossible) so the scoring system is essentially irrelevant to my playstyle.

Not only do I not care, the rating system actually seems, to be honest, kind of dumb for a tactical strategy game. I mean, i just fought my first actual story-mode battle, and won easily in 6 turns and got a C. I was expecting a B, so wow. So it either requires poor tactics and 'gaming it', or it seems like it just boils down to solving a puzzle.

I feel like if I beat the mission, and keep my guys alive, that's fine for me. I will naturally try to do so as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of good tactics.

A final thought, now that you're upgrading your classes. If you use snipers at all, I suggest you keep them 2 to 3 levels above the other classes. Due to the dice-rolling nature of hit calculation the odds aren't really in the sniper's favor until about level 10 so reaching that point should be an early goal. Of course this is getting into meta-strategy territory, but that's an observation from my own experience.

Thanks for the heads up. and thanks to all for the info on the medics.

Wow, I fired up VC again tonight after a rousing game of MAG and played one of the most exciting turns I've ever played in the game. After loosing a skirmish map twice because I got my tank blown up I was pushing hard to finish the skirmish with a win. Finally I set up a situation where it was my tank, an engineer, Rosie, and Largo against an enemy medium tank with full health and two lancers behind sandbags.

Spoiler:

This shouldn't be a major spoiler but eventually your tank gets the ability to drop smoke which obscures the enemies line of sight for a turn.

I started the turn by positioning my tank with the radiator facing away from the bad guys and dropping smoke on top of the enemy tank.

Then used my engineer to repair my tank and moved her around behind the two lancers.

Next I brought Largo behind the lancers and had him heal because he was hurting from the previous turn. I spent another CP to have Largo position himself point blank behind the enemy tank and drop it with one shot.

With the tank out of the way I had the engineer use a grenade to knock the lancers out of cover, then moved her deeper behind enemy lines.

Now Rosie swept through and in two action phases killed both lancers handily. Finally I moved Rosie further behind enemy lines and had her capture an enemy base for good measure.

I had spent a lot of time on the map and it was so fulfilling to set up and execute a plan so expertly.

Also this skirmish got me thinking about grenades so here are my observations about grenade effectiveness. In general 1 grenade will:
Knock any enemy out of cover.
Destroy a barrier blocking a tanks path.
Kill a sniper in or out of cover.
Kill a scout in or out of cover.
Often, but not always kill a soldier in cover.

However a grenade will not:
Kill a lancer.
Kill most named enemies.
Kill a tank.

I just had a great mission, it was the one where you bring the Eidelweiss across the river and do the sneak attack to try and take back the bridge. You have to complete it within 10 turns.

I had a very exciting finish. I sort of put all my eggs in one basket by sneaking a scout, a sniper, and a shocktrooper up the north side along those buildings to try and make a run for their base flag. It was already turn 9, and if these 3 didn't push in, I probably wasn't going to make it in time. My sniper was killed after she took out their scout guarding the flag. My scout moved in and took cover behind some sand bags and layed a grenade to the sandbags protecting the shocktrooper guarding the winning flag, taking out his rear cover. A nearby tank turned on us though, and knocked out my scout.

My ST moves in and does significant damage to the unprotected enemy ST, but no kill. return fire tears up my ST pretty good. I spend another CP and shoot at the enemy ST again, again doing good but not finishing damage, again i get ripped up and get this, my ST ... my last hope ... is down to ONE HP. Enemy ST fires on him ... EVADE. Tank turns and shoots ... EVADE. wow. I move a lancer and my tank up from the south and finish off that tank harassing my ST. My ST (it was Salinas btw) then shoots and kills the guarding ST, and then moves in and takes the flag ... with his ONE hp remaining, FTW.

This game is fun

Awesome.

It's true that a single grenade will not kill a tank, except in one rare case:

Spoiler:

There's one mission where you're up against a GIGANTIC tank with three radiators. If you climb up onto the thing and toss a grenade INTO the radiator, it will destroy it in one hit, which is KIND of like killing a tank with one grenade.

.

However, an enemy tank's radiator (the glowy part) is much more fragile than you might expect. For light tanks, which is what you're going to deal with for a good part of the game, it's easy to destroy them with one solid attack.

It's been a while so I'm not sure, but I think that the Edelweiss's main gun can kill medium and maybe even heavy tanks with a single solid hit to the radiator.

Lancers are very effective - as they'd better be since that's their job - but inaccurate.

I found out during a frustrated suicide run that a shocktrooper can actually destroy a light tank with one point-blank burst to the radiator. It was pretty awesome having Vyse run up behind a tank, say, "Our hero's in trouble now!" and then blow the thing to pieces with a submachinegun.

Once I figured that out, I pretty much stopped bringing lancers except for Largo, and once I got elite lancers I switched him to mortar immediately.

FYI, you should always bring Alicia, Rosie and Largo to battle if at all possible. Not only are they "immortal" (you can't permanently lose them) but they each give you one extra CP per turn.

Mmm, this thread is really making me want to jump back into this game. Last I left off I was on the level where the two characters are separated from the tank and rest of the group by a gulley. I set it aside because I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to get across the gulley to meet up with the rest of the team.

It is indeed a really enjoyable game.

fleabagmatt wrote:

Mmm, this thread is really making me want to jump back into this game. Last I left off I was on the level where the two characters are separated from the tank and rest of the group by a gulley. I set it aside because I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to get across the gulley to meet up with the rest of the team.

It is indeed a really enjoyable game.

If you must know.

Spoiler:

They need to go around the enemy mortar emplacement, down into the gully and then climb a ladder out near your squad's starting base.

I for one am really looking forward to the new DLC, even if it does focus on Edie (who is annoying). I loved the additional characterization they gave some of the minor guys, a couple of whom were my regulars (Homer and Jann). Hopefully they do more of the same.

I'm up to the first mission in the woods. Got me arse kicked first try. On this mission, you get 4 soldiers for the north (trail) side, and 5 for the south (road side), that is 4 + the tank.

Anyone have any recommendations for which unit types to take on this one? I know I need an engineer on the south team to repair the tank and disarm road mines, but past that, I'm not sure. Also any general strategy ideas for this one would be welcome too.

If I recall, basically the way I worked that mission is by going in through the trail with a Scout, Shock Trooper and an Engi.

Obviously you need an engi near the tank, but that's about it. You can bring people in once you get the control point instead of walking them forward with the tank as the enemy Lancers can take them out (even though they're terrible shots). I used the tank to take out those Lancers, though you're also a pretty poor shot, but even if you don't kill them, just taking out the sand bags is enough as the people from the trail can clean them up once they take care of the other enemies by the flag.

I'm not saying my way is easy, you have to be cautious and know where the enemies are on the trail. Otherwise you just get shot down too quick.

Btw, I must mention, I thought the game was easy. I'm not amazing at video games, but VC just works well, tactically, with my brain, so I found it kinda easy. So take my advice with a grain of salt. I tended to use Scouts for everything, while someone else might tell you a sniper would be a good person to bring up with the tank.

Edit: Always put out those who give you extra command points. So, deploy Largo near the tank, but don't bother moving him. Just have him retreat once you take the control point and bring him back in. That, I believe, takes fewer cps than trying to run him all the way to the cp.

Jeff-66 wrote:

I'm up to the first mission in the woods. Got me arse kicked first try. On this mission, you get 4 soldiers for the north (trail) side, and 5 for the south (road side), that is 4 + the tank.

Anyone have any recommendations for which unit types to take on this one? I know I need an engineer on the south team to repair the tank and disarm road mines, but past that, I'm not sure. Also any general strategy ideas for this one would be welcome too.

Always remember that if you're getting your butt kicked you can go play... skirmishes, I think they're called? They're repeatable missions that net you money and experience you can use to buy upgrades. As you upgrade your class types they'll gain new abilities, unlock new potentials (character-specific abilities), and once they hit level 11 they'll become elites with some very nice new toys. Shocktroopers gain flamethrowers and Scouts gain rifle grenades. The latter is far more valuable than you'd expect and lets you do some serious damage with your scouts (instead of letting them cower in the corner all the time).

garion333 wrote:

Edit: Always put out those who give you extra command points. So, deploy Largo near the tank, but don't bother moving him. Just have him retreat once you take the control point and bring him back in. That, I believe, takes fewer cps than trying to run him all the way to the cp.

Absolutely. Largo is slow as all hell. I don't know if there are any missions where you absolutely NEED the maximum number of troops out so it won't hurt you to bring him out for the CP and just let him take a nap. That's a good thing to keep in mind in general. If you have an HQ, don't feel obligated to bring the maximum number of soldiers to battle. You'll waste a lot of CP moving them up.