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Valkyria Chronicles "Gallian Crossfire" PC rebalance mod - This Changes Everything
- Thread starter Nyoro SF
- Start date
Well, let's see if I can break it down without giving away any strategy spoilers....
EDIT: This turned out to be totally wrong, read Chapter 7 from my posts below lol
Allnamestakenlol
Member
Awesome - will try this out. Thanks!
CertifiedFP
Member
Going to do an LP of this mod and hopefully give this mod
some spotlight.
EDIT:
Out of curiosity, intercept snipers do have limited ammo, right?
(Or rather, my channel, huehuehue)
EDIT:
Out of curiosity, intercept snipers do have limited ammo, right?
To be honest I'm not sure because I haven't had a chance to play yet... but I would prepare for the worst and assume that they don't run out of ammo like other intercepting units.
No matter how fast she ran in the first game she probably didn't run faster than your reading speed of the patch notes.
Viliger
Member
All patch notes say is that "we completely rebalanced and changed stuff" without any numbers of what was before and what became after. Yes, there are detailed patch notes, but again, they does not provide me with what stats used to be. At least troopers are not useless anymore.No matter how fast she ran in the first game she probably didn't run faster than your reading speed of the patch notes.
TC McQueen
Member
Based on the Steam Guide, no, they don't.
The Steam Guide is full of the after numbers.
You can always look on the Valkyria Chronicles wiki for the stock stats, but the movement for snipers, shocktroopers, and lancers was like 250-400 AP max.
exmachina64
Banned
Looking forward to playing it.
You'd have to look up the hex values and change them all back. Sorry to say I do not know how to do that.
I have ~14 more VC3 DLC missions to complete, then I'll be streaming the mod on my twitch channel.
Shameless Plug #1: http://www.twitch.tv/nyo_ro
Looking forward to getting my ass kicked and getting all D ranks.
NCR Redslayer
NeoGAF's Vegeta
There are three missions where I feel like you can be completely fucked in.
The batomys tank battle. The giant train artillery battle. And versus general jaeger bombastic.
So I began playing the mod 2 weeks ago (which you can find on my Twitch Channel) and I've reached Chapter 8b. I'll write up a spoilered summary for which chapters are affected the least and most.
If you haven't played the base game yet, don't read the spoilers!
If you would like to go into the mod blind, I 100% encourage you not to read the spoilers!
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Chapter 00
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Chapter 01
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Chapter 02
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Chapter 03
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Chapter 04 -The Mission No One Will Shut Up About in VC2 and VC3 Despite It Not Being That Big Of A Deal
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Chapter 05
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Chapter 06
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Chapter 07 - Everyone's Favorite
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Chapter 08a
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tl;dr Engineers are really useful now, the buffs to AP for Shocks, Snipers and Lancers are fantastic. Intercepting snipers are cool and up the danger level. Edelweiss isn't a god unit anymore. Valkyria are actually to be feared! This really does feel like the "right" version of the game, with all the units working together much more as a team to overcome obstacles.
Of course I'm not sure what my opinion would be like if this was my first time playing the game though... I'm so knowledgeable now about the game systems and how everything works already and it does pain me to see how the localization of the game can work against someone's understanding of the underlying game systems. I would not recommend playing this version on a first-time playthrough now, but I highly highly recommend it to someone for a repeat playthrough.
If you haven't played the base game yet, don't read the spoilers!
If you would like to go into the mod blind, I 100% encourage you not to read the spoilers!
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Chapter 00
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This mission is pretty much the same as before (and it's been a while since I played it) but I think enemies have higher defense/health, and I was definitely taking WAY more damage than last time. So even the very first mission in the game requires slightly more finesse.
Chapter 01
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This mission is so much harder than before. Enemies hit very hard and you can't run forward and shoot people carelessly. Team Attacks aren't unlocked yet so you have to brute force your way forward. With the second phase of the mission in the original version you could just run Welkin forward and not care at all, but in this one you actually have to carefully take down a few enemies before trying to rush Welkin in.
Chapter 02
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This mission actually did not change very much at all. Certainly enemies hit harder, but most of the time you're ambusing them. The gist of the mission is the same and with Edelweiss's improved starting accuracy taking out the tank is a cakewalk. The increased damage of enemies means the gate takes damage faster, but it should last by the time Edelweiss shows up on the scene.
Chapter 03
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The starting strategy for this map still works, but you can no longer rush, obviously. The increased interception radius of shocktroopers really shines here as the enemy WILL notice and mess you up if you try to slip behind them. Also a Scout's weapon was changed to a DEF-DOWN weapon type to stop anyone that would try to brute force their way through gunfire. That being said, this map wasn't too hard to adjust to if you "play normally".
Chapter 04 -The Mission No One Will Shut Up About in VC2 and VC3 Despite It Not Being That Big Of A Deal
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If you know this map's wall gimmick like I do, then this mission isn't too bad, but the mod changes definitely show themselves here. This is the first mission that has an intercepting sniper, and boy does he hurt! One shot from an intercepting sniper did around 90% damage to Aika. With the increased base defense it required 5 shots instead of 4 to take down the Scout at the base. After taking down the intercepting sniper I blasted my wall through the wall only to discover that enemy tanks do WAY more damage than before, with them actually being a threat to Edelweiss. A Light Tank will do over 50% damage to Edelweiss. An enemy Lancer will do 60% damage! So you can't just run Edelweiss forward and not care anymore in the slightest. Something to take away from this mod is that Engineers are actually useful, REALLY useful now. Not just to repair the tank, but as health backup. I used an Nadine + Vyse to shove forward and slowly pierce my way through enemy defenses before the reinforcements came in, it was really great.
Chapter 05
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This mission is the first mission that features an intercepting Anti-Tank Cannon, and it will kill Edelweiss before you can react if you drive forward. Hilarious. The beginning strategy for this mission apparently is the same pre-mod, except that it is crucial that you take out the lancers before Edelweiss moves forward (also the improved AP for shocktroopers and snipers really show themselves here). The mod changes the scouts to have DEF-DOWN weapons, just to make sure you don't try any funny business. Also the improvements to Shocktrooper and Sniper AP are really noticeable here; I remember before I had loads of trouble getting Shocks anywhere on the North path. I had to switch up my strategy from grenading everyone at the enemy base over and over to one where I took a big risk with Edelweiss and an Engineer (Homer). Lots of fun.
Chapter 06
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This mission is much harder due to two things; the intercepting snipers and the Lancers that can freely blow up Edelweiss now. It's imperative that you take down the intercepting snipers as quickly as possible, but it may not be possible to do on the first turn due to the intercepts hitting your own sniper. The increased interception radius from shocktroopers and the reinforcements that continuously call intercepting snipers in from the final base make it hellish to fight through the final stretch; combined with the Light Tanks which can slaughter Edelweiss in 2 shots. Rough mission since you must always be moving forward, but can't very easily.
Chapter 07 - Everyone's Favorite
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The sniper that used to uselessly stand in the cove now is actually a threat with interception fire. The Scout that leads the upper invasion force has a DEF DOWN weapon to heavily discourage running up and mowing down the attackers. Also, if you let the enemy Lancer live, Edelweiss will die; the Lancer can walk farther and get into a much better position to kill you. Rough! However you have a lot of time to move units to safety and to slowly take down the turrets. Once you take out the invasion force it's the same old Chapter 7. If you know the gimmick of this mission it's a piece of cake to take down the incoming units (plus they're not really that big of a threat anyway). Selvaria got a HUGE buff and will actually kill your units even faster than before. Her intercept fire will damage your tank HEAVILY now, so no free movement! I didn't test it but I'm pretty sure Selvaria will now one-shot your tank if it's too close during her turn. Now that's a Valkyria to be truly scared of! I recklessly got too close to Selvaria with Alicia and got owned, and was forced to blow up the last radiator with Edelweiss and finish from there.
Chapter 08a
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If you know the trick to the last area with the Ace, this mission is pretty much exactly the same as before... except that Ty takes way more shots to kill now. I have idea how you would take him down unless you stood at a safe distance with Welkin and Alicia team-firing. So I didn't bother and just finished the mission. Fun fact; I totally forgot about the trick in the last part and died around 15 times trying to sneak past Ty using a bunch of creative methods...
tl;dr Engineers are really useful now, the buffs to AP for Shocks, Snipers and Lancers are fantastic. Intercepting snipers are cool and up the danger level. Edelweiss isn't a god unit anymore. Valkyria are actually to be feared! This really does feel like the "right" version of the game, with all the units working together much more as a team to overcome obstacles.
Of course I'm not sure what my opinion would be like if this was my first time playing the game though... I'm so knowledgeable now about the game systems and how everything works already and it does pain me to see how the localization of the game can work against someone's understanding of the underlying game systems. I would not recommend playing this version on a first-time playthrough now, but I highly highly recommend it to someone for a repeat playthrough.
This is really cool. Thanks for writing it up.
I got stuck on Chapter 08b for over 2 hours due to the difficulty spike in this mission. It's kind of a "perfect storm" of circumstances that made it very difficult to proceed; first real roadblock with the mod changes.
Remember not to read if you don't want to be spoiled!
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Chapter 08b
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Remember not to read if you don't want to be spoiled!
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Chapter 08b
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For those who forgot, this is the mission where you need to get Welkin back to Edelweiss and smash through the wall to capture the flag. Well, this mission had me stuck for over 2 hours before I found a solution. The fail conditions include Welkin dying and Edelweiss exploding and you only have 8 Command Points.
The first big problem is the intercepting sniper at the back of the main field which hurts like hell and whose weapon inflicts ACCURACY DOWN. Combine that with an enemy shocktrooper with an ATK DOWN weapon that covers nearly all of your base movement options and two DEF DOWN scouts (one to the left of the embankment that has huge range, and one that is hiding behind an enemy tank but can still hit most of your eastwards range) and it is incredibly hard to do any sort of movement in this battle. Let's also not forget the constant unstoppable incredibly damaging mortar fire from across the river!
If you try to rush Welkin instead of stopping the main force, you'll get sniped to death by two intercept snipers and wounded by two DEF DOWN scouts on the way to ensure your death. So it's a conundrum of not being able to move Welkin because of the snipers, but not being able to move and kill the snipers due to enemy coverage. And on top of all of this, we have 4 enemy lancers and 2 Light Tanks that can blow up Edelweiss if you don't thin out enough of them during your turn. Also, you can't use Orders until you get back to Edelweiss.
Pretty rough, eh? This is harder than any of the Expert Missions in the original game.
After trying over a dozen battle configurations, I finally settled on one that worked where I used a Lancer to destroy the sandbags the Shocktrooper was hiding behind then moved the same Lancer behind one of the few hiding places on the map to act as bait for the enemy tanks (who will prioritize bunched together units or Lancers first over your own tank). Then, I used Emile and stacked all of his potentials together (with Good Buddy being a big boost) to make sure he could OHKO a Lancer with every shot he took. Then after taking down the Shocktrooper, I rushed my own Shocktrooper and killed the two snipers that were harassing Welkin's route and managed to smash my way through the mission from there.
Probably not the best solution given my gamble with the Lancer, but a pretty acceptable one nonetheless. I tried all sorts of different ideas from multiple intercepting snipers on my end (doesn't work because the damage is too low) to trying to brute force Welkin to Edelweiss on turn 1 (doesn't work; Welkin can't run far enough). I also tried intercepting Shocktroopers but they would die before I could kill any enemy Lancers. Also by the time I got Welkin to the tank, EVERYONE was downed and I had to spend 1/3 of my turn picking up their dropped bodies. Sweet mother of god.
The first big problem is the intercepting sniper at the back of the main field which hurts like hell and whose weapon inflicts ACCURACY DOWN. Combine that with an enemy shocktrooper with an ATK DOWN weapon that covers nearly all of your base movement options and two DEF DOWN scouts (one to the left of the embankment that has huge range, and one that is hiding behind an enemy tank but can still hit most of your eastwards range) and it is incredibly hard to do any sort of movement in this battle. Let's also not forget the constant unstoppable incredibly damaging mortar fire from across the river!
If you try to rush Welkin instead of stopping the main force, you'll get sniped to death by two intercept snipers and wounded by two DEF DOWN scouts on the way to ensure your death. So it's a conundrum of not being able to move Welkin because of the snipers, but not being able to move and kill the snipers due to enemy coverage. And on top of all of this, we have 4 enemy lancers and 2 Light Tanks that can blow up Edelweiss if you don't thin out enough of them during your turn. Also, you can't use Orders until you get back to Edelweiss.
Pretty rough, eh? This is harder than any of the Expert Missions in the original game.
After trying over a dozen battle configurations, I finally settled on one that worked where I used a Lancer to destroy the sandbags the Shocktrooper was hiding behind then moved the same Lancer behind one of the few hiding places on the map to act as bait for the enemy tanks (who will prioritize bunched together units or Lancers first over your own tank). Then, I used Emile and stacked all of his potentials together (with Good Buddy being a big boost) to make sure he could OHKO a Lancer with every shot he took. Then after taking down the Shocktrooper, I rushed my own Shocktrooper and killed the two snipers that were harassing Welkin's route and managed to smash my way through the mission from there.
Probably not the best solution given my gamble with the Lancer, but a pretty acceptable one nonetheless. I tried all sorts of different ideas from multiple intercepting snipers on my end (doesn't work because the damage is too low) to trying to brute force Welkin to Edelweiss on turn 1 (doesn't work; Welkin can't run far enough). I also tried intercepting Shocktroopers but they would die before I could kill any enemy Lancers. Also by the time I got Welkin to the tank, EVERYONE was downed and I had to spend 1/3 of my turn picking up their dropped bodies. Sweet mother of god.
Remembrance
Member
Man, 8b was clearly designed around
running through the (non-existent) interception fire and killing the snipers before you do anything else. Everything gets flipped on its head when you can't destroy the mortar right away.
Isn't the mortar targetable from the base? Could you get a lucky lancer shot? (Presumably you have no hope of obtaining the DLC anti-armor sniper rifle at this stage...)
Isn't the mortar targetable from the base? Could you get a lucky lancer shot? (Presumably you have no hope of obtaining the DLC anti-armor sniper rifle at this stage...)
The mortar cannon has 4000 health, so I simply don't have the firepower to take it down in a reasonable amount of time sadly. However the mortar cannon isn't as big of a threat as the enemy lancers and tanks are.
The combination of lancers and tanks that can destroy Edelweiss:
1) 2 tanks, 1 lancer
2) 1 tank, 3 lancers
So you see the problem; even if I kill 2 out of the 4 enemy lancers, I fall victim to combination 1, but if I prioritize killing a tank and 2 lancers (takes three lancer shots to kill a tank) I'm suddenly in a position where my base can actually get overrun because I simply don't have enough turns for defense and taking down the necessary units to get Welkin moving at the same time.
One thing I forgot to mention is that one of the snipers that is preventing Welkin from moving also has a straight shot into your camp, so if you don't take him down, he will kill or heavily wound at least one unit standing there.
Fun fact: the mod adds in an Anti-Tank Sniper Rifle as part of the skill tree, but it only does 1000 vsArmor at the moment, which is less than the 1300 vsArmor of the lancers; also all the tanks are facing forward, so no radiator snipes.
The combination of lancers and tanks that can destroy Edelweiss:
1) 2 tanks, 1 lancer
2) 1 tank, 3 lancers
So you see the problem; even if I kill 2 out of the 4 enemy lancers, I fall victim to combination 1, but if I prioritize killing a tank and 2 lancers (takes three lancer shots to kill a tank) I'm suddenly in a position where my base can actually get overrun because I simply don't have enough turns for defense and taking down the necessary units to get Welkin moving at the same time.
One thing I forgot to mention is that one of the snipers that is preventing Welkin from moving also has a straight shot into your camp, so if you don't take him down, he will kill or heavily wound at least one unit standing there.
Fun fact: the mod adds in an Anti-Tank Sniper Rifle as part of the skill tree, but it only does 1000 vsArmor at the moment, which is less than the 1300 vsArmor of the lancers; also all the tanks are facing forward, so no radiator snipes.
TC McQueen
Member
Yeah, it sounds like 8b needs some tuning in this mod, because this sounds absurdly difficult without some of the gamebreaking you could do in the stock PC versions, like clearing out the Scout Challenge early to get the ZM Kar 8(g) and blast through Imperial units.
Nah, it's all good. I like the challenge.
I don't think there will be a mission quite as hard as this one for a while. The big thing is not being able to do Orders. If I could do Defend All Units, this mission would've been loads more manageable.
It forced me to pay attention to my units Potentials and Friends carefully pre-mission for the first time since I bought the game!
The past few days I have been continuing my playthrough of the mod.
Replaying this game has made me appreciate some of the finer elements more; and of course, increased my dislike some of the unrefined parts of the game. I've always hated how unintuitive the Order "Damage Boost" and "Demolition Boost" are to new players.
Also, chapter 14 is still horrible.
Spoilers ahoy!
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Chapter 09
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Chapter 10a
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Chapter 10b
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Chapter 11
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Chapter 12
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Chapter 13
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Chapter 14 - F**K EVERYTHING
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My extra non-spoilery comments.... right now I think intercept snipers on the player's end was an interesting idea but the damage is just too weak. Intercept sniper weapons deal ACC DOWN, but that's hardly worth the tradeoff when you're only dealing 80 damage per shot. Anti-tank sniper rifles are awesome. ATK DOWN shocktrooper guns are becoming more worthless per chapter unfortunately. The Scout rifles are very well balanced. The increased damage taken while being in grass is VERY welcome; before, characters were nigh invincible if they were prone in grass.
I'd say the mod has done way more good than bad by far with the design decisions. It's just a little unfortunate that the map design in chapters 10a, 10b and 14 can't really be rectified by unit and gun mods. Still, increased AP is making the classes that used to be huge pains to move around actually worth the time. So it's totally worth it to apply it even if you've beaten the game already.
I'm uploading my run from Twitch to my Youtube channel. I plan on editing these videos later to remove my non-funny failures but you can skip around if you want to see me fail if you like. I have timestamps on my videos which should lead you to successfully find where the winning strategies start.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMQlM9wtzW6mwQkAzkW0eR3D5raStJScB
Replaying this game has made me appreciate some of the finer elements more; and of course, increased my dislike some of the unrefined parts of the game. I've always hated how unintuitive the Order "Damage Boost" and "Demolition Boost" are to new players.
Also, chapter 14 is still horrible.
Spoilers ahoy!
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Chapter 09
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So previously in this game you could attach defense orders to a shocktrooper/scout, activate demolition orders and mess up the APC without having to worry about a thing. Well, that doesn't work anymore; the critical resistance of the radiator is way higher. In fact, NOTHING worked on this thing for a bit. Since you can't use any explosive power, I merely called in my Anti-Tank Sniper to do the job. However it's a bit harder to get into position then you think it would be, so it took a few tries.
Another thing to note is that the APC has much harder-hitting firepower now; it hits about as hard as a shocktrooper and with much bigger range! So if you have any unit that's within a single block range of this guy from a 270 degree forward facing coverage then that unit is probably dead. It already hit pretty hard before but this time you really can't mess up.
Blocking the APC is pointless (it always was a bad idea to block this guy) because not only will you keep forcing his back against the wall, making it harder/impossible to shoot the radiator, but if you keep blocking him he'll drive right out of your range to the point where your soldiers have to make a long trek through enemy reinforcements and deal with the APC's huge coverage. Funnily enough with some experimenting I noticed if you let him drive through, then block him afterwards, he'll actually drive BACK to the first line and turn around so you can't shoot him in the radiator. Hilarious.
It took a lot longer than I thought it would to beat this, and unfortunately, an anti-tank sniper is the only way to win. It took around 8 AT shots with a Damage Boost order to finish this guy off and get an A-Rank!
Another thing to note is that the APC has much harder-hitting firepower now; it hits about as hard as a shocktrooper and with much bigger range! So if you have any unit that's within a single block range of this guy from a 270 degree forward facing coverage then that unit is probably dead. It already hit pretty hard before but this time you really can't mess up.
Blocking the APC is pointless (it always was a bad idea to block this guy) because not only will you keep forcing his back against the wall, making it harder/impossible to shoot the radiator, but if you keep blocking him he'll drive right out of your range to the point where your soldiers have to make a long trek through enemy reinforcements and deal with the APC's huge coverage. Funnily enough with some experimenting I noticed if you let him drive through, then block him afterwards, he'll actually drive BACK to the first line and turn around so you can't shoot him in the radiator. Hilarious.
It took a lot longer than I thought it would to beat this, and unfortunately, an anti-tank sniper is the only way to win. It took around 8 AT shots with a Damage Boost order to finish this guy off and get an A-Rank!
Chapter 10a
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This mission is really easy except for one thing; snipers! This mission has 6 snipers overall. 4 snipers are on the east edge and 2 are on the right. Intercepting snipers really hurt, and if you're spotted by 2 or more, you're probably going to die unless you are right next to some sort of transition like a ladder or an elevator.
Since I underestimated the snipers on my first playthrough and my units got shot to death while trying to keep up with Edelweiss, I had to start over once. But then I beat it, since it's a pretty straightforward mission and Edelweiss has more killing power and accuracy thanks to the mod. The 2 snipers on the west side gave me a lot of trouble since they're just out of range of the grass patch on the east side where Marina was hiding, and if they aren't "tagged", they won't be visible to the player.
But past that, this mission was fairly easy. There really isn't much threat other than the Snipers. It's a slightly annoying mission anyway, because the layout of the mission forces you to primarily use scouts and engineers... which is fine, but I do feel a bit sad that I didn't get a chance to use shocktroopers.
Since I underestimated the snipers on my first playthrough and my units got shot to death while trying to keep up with Edelweiss, I had to start over once. But then I beat it, since it's a pretty straightforward mission and Edelweiss has more killing power and accuracy thanks to the mod. The 2 snipers on the west side gave me a lot of trouble since they're just out of range of the grass patch on the east side where Marina was hiding, and if they aren't "tagged", they won't be visible to the player.
But past that, this mission was fairly easy. There really isn't much threat other than the Snipers. It's a slightly annoying mission anyway, because the layout of the mission forces you to primarily use scouts and engineers... which is fine, but I do feel a bit sad that I didn't get a chance to use shocktroopers.
Chapter 10b
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I feel rather stupid but I failed this mission way more than I should've. This mission is rather frustrating because the initial layout heavily favors scouts and engineers. There's some fun gimmicks you can pull off thanks to the mod but the fact that lancers can't shoot from the top bridge and that Snipers become ineffective around 25% of the way through means you're basically carefully routing engineers and scouts through shocktrooper reinforcements and coverage. I highly recommend taking the time to move a lancer to the train car and to NOT bother capturing the 1st base.
So fun times. You can use an anti-tank sniper to blow up the bridge without running a scout or engineer down to that bridge. You can also use an anti-tank sniper to blow up the first tank, though you have to wait for it to move first so you can shoot the radiator. The second bridge is a HUGE chokepoint which is a massive pain to get through in a reasonable amount of time with Edelweiss, which you'll need because there will be a 50% of extremely damaging train gatling damage in that position.
Once I activated the elevator I was forced to wait a turn because the area was under coverage by the train. Then, I had to wait another turn because the train wanted to cover the area that goes to the bomb. Did I mention that the train mortars can now kill Edelweiss? It's just a tedious mission full of annoying surprises which the game prevents you from adapting to and the mod just makes it harder period. Thanks to the mod reducing crouching damage resistance (or maybe shocktrooper damage was increased?) I was able to kill crouching units with my shocktrooper Dorothy much easier and finish the mission.
So fun times. You can use an anti-tank sniper to blow up the bridge without running a scout or engineer down to that bridge. You can also use an anti-tank sniper to blow up the first tank, though you have to wait for it to move first so you can shoot the radiator. The second bridge is a HUGE chokepoint which is a massive pain to get through in a reasonable amount of time with Edelweiss, which you'll need because there will be a 50% of extremely damaging train gatling damage in that position.
Once I activated the elevator I was forced to wait a turn because the area was under coverage by the train. Then, I had to wait another turn because the train wanted to cover the area that goes to the bomb. Did I mention that the train mortars can now kill Edelweiss? It's just a tedious mission full of annoying surprises which the game prevents you from adapting to and the mod just makes it harder period. Thanks to the mod reducing crouching damage resistance (or maybe shocktrooper damage was increased?) I was able to kill crouching units with my shocktrooper Dorothy much easier and finish the mission.
Chapter 11
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So now that you've read my hate of Chapter 10b it's time to enjoy this chapter writeup. Chapter 11 went really smoothly. The mod didn't have any effect on my strategies other than Lancers being able to move farther helping when I was storming the last checkpoint. I believe the Bunkers have more health than before, or the starting flamethrower does less critical damage, since I wasn't able to one-shot bunkers with my flamethrower like before. Smoke grenades are just as strong as ever and were a key to my victory.
I did muck up my last charge strategy and lost 2 turns, but Jann made an awesome last minute dash (which wouldn't have worked pre-mod without the AP buff) and captured the flag all by himself. Pretty awesome.
I did muck up my last charge strategy and lost 2 turns, but Jann made an awesome last minute dash (which wouldn't have worked pre-mod without the AP buff) and captured the flag all by himself. Pretty awesome.
Chapter 12
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So most people who read about intercepting snipers probably commented about this mission. Well, those comments were very much justified. There is no way you'll be able to move any unit outside of coverage to kill anything because snipers will absolutely destroy you. The key of course is Edelweiss and Shamrock (one of the few times where this tank comes in handy) which I relied on to kill the starting snipers or knock them down. Once that was done I was able to move a Shocktrooper and begin pushing my way to the right. Once again the AP buff shows itself here and I am actually able to reach the grass hiding spot in one turn and kill the Sniper hiding in the house which I wasn't able to do pre-mod.
I considered smoke grenades in the beginning, but I wasn't aware of how many snipers there were or how they were positioned, so I didn't want to risk wasting a turn to fire a round that wouldn't guarantee full coverage.
However this mission doesn't end there. There are three Anti-Tank Cannons, and they can all fire very damaging intercepting fire rounds. Each shot can do about 55% damage to Edelweiss and 90% damage to a unit. I was forced to deploy a Lancer to take out the first two guns. My job wasn't done there yet though as I still had the two snipers on the windmill to kill. I seriously had a lot of trouble killing these two guys as the range from the starting position was so far outside of their intercept range that I was outside of the "max damage calculation zone" which is determined by range, so I had to fire three headshots to kill one sniper.
I wasn't done there yet though; after that there is the final AT gun, which I couldn't get into a position to kill. So I had to fire a smoke grenade and use that to vaporize the remaining two shocktroopers to the left, lancer and shocktrooper to the right and the ace crouching next to the AT gun. Despite some hiccups and mistakes this mission was finished successfully.
I considered smoke grenades in the beginning, but I wasn't aware of how many snipers there were or how they were positioned, so I didn't want to risk wasting a turn to fire a round that wouldn't guarantee full coverage.
However this mission doesn't end there. There are three Anti-Tank Cannons, and they can all fire very damaging intercepting fire rounds. Each shot can do about 55% damage to Edelweiss and 90% damage to a unit. I was forced to deploy a Lancer to take out the first two guns. My job wasn't done there yet though as I still had the two snipers on the windmill to kill. I seriously had a lot of trouble killing these two guys as the range from the starting position was so far outside of their intercept range that I was outside of the "max damage calculation zone" which is determined by range, so I had to fire three headshots to kill one sniper.
I wasn't done there yet though; after that there is the final AT gun, which I couldn't get into a position to kill. So I had to fire a smoke grenade and use that to vaporize the remaining two shocktroopers to the left, lancer and shocktrooper to the right and the ace crouching next to the AT gun. Despite some hiccups and mistakes this mission was finished successfully.
Chapter 13
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Oh hey, a mission that doesn't have intercepting snipers! You can approach this mission in a few ways but I would recommend taking the time to walk a shocktrooper and a scout across the open area and capture the flag on the left after sniping away the enemy trench coverage. Don't even bother doing anything with the second home base and just keep shocktroopers on hand to ward off scout invasion.
This mission isn't changed very much with the mod at all, and as I went to the second phase I made some VERY careless mistakes. Nothing to do with the mod but I kept slipping up and underestimating enemy shocktrooper damage and the fact that the enemy will begin rushing the middle flag once Selvaria appears. Once I cooled my head I managed to execute a winning mission. Killing the Heavy Tank was very difficult since you couldn't use Demolition Boost on a Shocktrooper anymore; had to rely on an anti-tank sniper shooting it in the back from home base.
This mission isn't changed very much with the mod at all, and as I went to the second phase I made some VERY careless mistakes. Nothing to do with the mod but I kept slipping up and underestimating enemy shocktrooper damage and the fact that the enemy will begin rushing the middle flag once Selvaria appears. Once I cooled my head I managed to execute a winning mission. Killing the Heavy Tank was very difficult since you couldn't use Demolition Boost on a Shocktrooper anymore; had to rely on an anti-tank sniper shooting it in the back from home base.
Chapter 14 - F**K EVERYTHING
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So it's no secret that I hate this chapter, and that it's my most hated chapter in the whole game. Combining everything that people hate the most about strategy games; surprise reinforcements, infinite and immediate-spawning reinforcements, huge AoE attacks and unkillable long range attackers. Also, there's pretty much nowhere to hide in this map.
The mod only alleviated one condition; the snipers on the cliff now leave themselves exposed after running to the edge rather than running back. This is good. Unfortunately, the mod increased the radiator defense of each of the giant tanks, so merely cheesing the mission by planting lancers behind them doesn't really work... or at least I'd like to say it doesn't work, but that's what I did anyway. This mission forces Rosie and Largo to deploy, so I decided to actually use them with the AP buff. Largo went ahead and ran to the back and I had Cezary with an AT rifle run to the north to do the cheesing.
Let me start by saying this mission is hell no matter how good the mod made my units. You can't summon anyone from the camp you capture because the coverage fire is just too strong. Not just from the enemy units running up to your base (and that one constantly respawning intercept sniper; fuck that guy, and the intercept sniper standing in the back area) but the constant napalm mortars landing on top of it. You have to rely solely on Edelweiss to hold the coverage. If you back up Edelweiss too far on the base an enemy Lancer will one-shot your radiator. Edelweiss shots do almost no damage to the enemy tanks; even with Largo activating "Tank Slayer" and "Double Tank Damage" I could barely deal 15% per shot on the radiator.
Just as un-fun of a mission as a I remembered it was.
The mod only alleviated one condition; the snipers on the cliff now leave themselves exposed after running to the edge rather than running back. This is good. Unfortunately, the mod increased the radiator defense of each of the giant tanks, so merely cheesing the mission by planting lancers behind them doesn't really work... or at least I'd like to say it doesn't work, but that's what I did anyway. This mission forces Rosie and Largo to deploy, so I decided to actually use them with the AP buff. Largo went ahead and ran to the back and I had Cezary with an AT rifle run to the north to do the cheesing.
Let me start by saying this mission is hell no matter how good the mod made my units. You can't summon anyone from the camp you capture because the coverage fire is just too strong. Not just from the enemy units running up to your base (and that one constantly respawning intercept sniper; fuck that guy, and the intercept sniper standing in the back area) but the constant napalm mortars landing on top of it. You have to rely solely on Edelweiss to hold the coverage. If you back up Edelweiss too far on the base an enemy Lancer will one-shot your radiator. Edelweiss shots do almost no damage to the enemy tanks; even with Largo activating "Tank Slayer" and "Double Tank Damage" I could barely deal 15% per shot on the radiator.
Just as un-fun of a mission as a I remembered it was.
My extra non-spoilery comments.... right now I think intercept snipers on the player's end was an interesting idea but the damage is just too weak. Intercept sniper weapons deal ACC DOWN, but that's hardly worth the tradeoff when you're only dealing 80 damage per shot. Anti-tank sniper rifles are awesome. ATK DOWN shocktrooper guns are becoming more worthless per chapter unfortunately. The Scout rifles are very well balanced. The increased damage taken while being in grass is VERY welcome; before, characters were nigh invincible if they were prone in grass.
I'd say the mod has done way more good than bad by far with the design decisions. It's just a little unfortunate that the map design in chapters 10a, 10b and 14 can't really be rectified by unit and gun mods. Still, increased AP is making the classes that used to be huge pains to move around actually worth the time. So it's totally worth it to apply it even if you've beaten the game already.
I'm uploading my run from Twitch to my Youtube channel. I plan on editing these videos later to remove my non-funny failures but you can skip around if you want to see me fail if you like. I have timestamps on my videos which should lead you to successfully find where the winning strategies start.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMQlM9wtzW6mwQkAzkW0eR3D5raStJScB
TC McQueen
Member
Would changing the debuff to HP DOWN or increasing the damage a bit (just to 100 for top tier rifles, for example) make intercepting snipers more viable?
Is this a case of the debuff not keeping up with the enemy's stat progression, or another case of the damage output being too low?
Could some of the map design problems be mitigated by lowering the interception range/number of the enemy snipers on 10a and toning down some of the alterations to the train guns? There's only so much you can do, but that seems like that would be the best bet.
Honestly, I wish I knew why turn based strategy/tactics game designers think that giving some classes huge movement penalties without mitigating buffs/attributes is a good way to "balance" potentially OP classes. It just turns them into massive liabilities.
Anyway, I wish fucking Loviepoo/dharvard would bother working on his ValkyrieEdit program again, so I could actually experiment with some of this stuff without fully installing the mod. I've had my fill of hex editing on the fan translation I'm working on.
That sounds like a good idea actually.
The real problem though, is that there just aren't that many missions where an interception sniper comes in handy. There are very few defensive missions in the games, and the ones that are, it is usually better to have killing power than it is to have interception power.
Essentially the problem is that the only time you'd want an ATK DOWN shocktrooper gun is if:
1) You're defending a point; see above, there just aren't that many defense missions that rely on pure defense in the game. Especially in the main story.
2) You're absolutely sure that your shocktrooper can't kill whatever it's firing at, and is prepared to take retaliatory fire.
As you can see, the prospects of the weapon aren't very good. I will say I believe the modder recognized this, which is why the Range of the weapon is higher than the default and the damage dealt is nearly the same. I probably shouldn't have said "worthless" but it has a slight disadvantage and I can't find any applications for it.
Unfortunately the map problems are more fundamental.
The snipers on 10A aren't a problem. What the problem is is that there's a huge road and curve at the beginning of the mission for no reason. So the only classes that can get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time are scouts and engineers. That can't really be fixed without a lot of fundamental alterations. 10B has the exact same problem with the bridge and curve at the beginning of the mission.
10B's train has always done really high damage, but I don't think it should instakill any unit it fires at including a shocktrooper (shocktroopers have the highest "innate" damage resistance). I think just being a deterrent like it was before was good enough. So I would agree with returning its damage to normal; raising its damage that high makes the mission far more annoying than challenging.
Having done balancing like this before it's easy to get into a feedback loop to think a current limitation is fine. I think they did a good job for their first try personally, they just undershot a bit. Even in the base game with their worse movement, Lancers, Snipers and Engineers still have their use. It's just that you'll use them way more in the mod.
Heh, I was actually going to do the exact same thing. I really wanted to fix the localization of the game. Not every sentence needs to be fixed, but a lot of them do need some adjustment. It's too bad that hex editing the lines is such an enormous pain.
The only thing that really makes me sad so far is that no major news sites picked up this mod even though I sent it to kotaku and destructoid etc. I even messaged a few of the editors who professed being fans of VC in the past (like Jason S. who posts here) on Twitter but to no avail. Maybe I should send it to Gematsu and Siliconera. It's too bad that Andriasang is no longer around, I'm 100% certain they'd run it.
So I continued playing the mod this past weekend... and I only managed to finish two missions. 15a was pretty easy, but 15b was tough!
I kept making rookie mistakes on 15a though... my long term memory is to blame! Also, I think I learned more about Valkyria Chronicles mechanics in 15b than I ever thought I could learn.
I'm still uploading these to my youtube channel, and I plan on editing them to remove some of the time-wasting footage (except for the one where I played Ace Attorney music during that one cutscene where Welkin shows off his amazing investigative skills).
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Chapter 15a - B&O, Reading, Pennsylvania and Short Line
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Chapter 15b - SHE'S GOT A GUN
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Non-spoiler notes: I'm bad at games but this mod is still a lot of fun. I don't think I agree with a few boss changes but another player is proving me dead wrong as he fully clears the game. Until next time...
I kept making rookie mistakes on 15a though... my long term memory is to blame! Also, I think I learned more about Valkyria Chronicles mechanics in 15b than I ever thought I could learn.
I'm still uploading these to my youtube channel, and I plan on editing them to remove some of the time-wasting footage (except for the one where I played Ace Attorney music during that one cutscene where Welkin shows off his amazing investigative skills).
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Chapter 15a - B&O, Reading, Pennsylvania and Short Line
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So this mission is probably well known as a "rushing" mission where you stack defense orders on Alicia and capture everything at once (in fact, this is the last possible mission you can rush in the original version of the game). Well, that obviously doesn't work anymore. One of the other major frustrations with this mission in the original game is the low AP of units, making it hell to move Shocktroopers and Lancers anywhere near the necessary targets. Thankfully that's all been fixed.
In this mission there is an intercepting sniper that will do massive damage to any unit in its range. This sniper has unbelievable range too and can shoot the whole way across the map without trouble. This guy actually caused me a lot more grief than I expected with some surprise shots while I was hiding in the grass. However after killing him, then smashing through the front defenses with Edelweiss, Coby and Hector, I secured the first base with very little trouble.
Thinking now, it's kind of surprising how little resistance there is to capturing the first base and for moving towards the right and left sides of the map. Anyway, since Lancers have improved AP, I kept Hector moving and killed both tanks in the middle area. I then used a smoke grenade to move Nadine up and capture the middle flag and move the rail post while killing the gatling and shocktrooper there using Damage Boost.
After that is a pretty straightforward path to the final rail pass. However, the turret and mortar guns now have 40,000 HP each (WHAT) so you can no longer kill them with shocktrooper flamethrowers (unless you're willing to spend a lot of CP on anti-armor flamethrowers). Still, it was easy enough to fire another smoke grenade and use that as cover for my scout to capture the last flag. I also killed both aces.
In this mission there is an intercepting sniper that will do massive damage to any unit in its range. This sniper has unbelievable range too and can shoot the whole way across the map without trouble. This guy actually caused me a lot more grief than I expected with some surprise shots while I was hiding in the grass. However after killing him, then smashing through the front defenses with Edelweiss, Coby and Hector, I secured the first base with very little trouble.
Thinking now, it's kind of surprising how little resistance there is to capturing the first base and for moving towards the right and left sides of the map. Anyway, since Lancers have improved AP, I kept Hector moving and killed both tanks in the middle area. I then used a smoke grenade to move Nadine up and capture the middle flag and move the rail post while killing the gatling and shocktrooper there using Damage Boost.
After that is a pretty straightforward path to the final rail pass. However, the turret and mortar guns now have 40,000 HP each (WHAT) so you can no longer kill them with shocktrooper flamethrowers (unless you're willing to spend a lot of CP on anti-armor flamethrowers). Still, it was easy enough to fire another smoke grenade and use that as cover for my scout to capture the last flag. I also killed both aces.
Chapter 15b - SHE'S GOT A GUN
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This mission was actually somewhat challenging in the original game. Selvaria can move a little erratically once she moves up a rampart, and she has incredible retaliatory firing range. The mod increases the damage she can deal including her damage to tanks. The moment you move Edelweiss off the base (thus losing the defense bonus) you will immediately begin taking a lot of damage, which means you can't use your tank as a human shield (my original strategy). If you drive too close to where Selvaria is firing she will kill you in less than a second due to the height bonus. The Shamrock will die before it can even move 2 feet even if it's on the base and even if you get a chance to move it you can't do anything with it because the right flank is so heavily guarded. If you move Edelweiss off the base and end your turn, you will take major damage from the Heavy Tank in front.
That being said, I had loads of trouble with this mission. Selvaria simply would not cooperate with smoke grenade coverage and with the increased damage from her gun you cannot make a mistake. You can no longer tank shocktrooper damage on the steps with a scout and easy peasy your way up the flanks; and I'm determined to say that the Gatling gun on the right flank is impossible to pass with foot soldiers given its killing power. There's only two spots in the base which are completely safe from Selvaria upon selecting a unit so you have to fire a smoke grenade right away.
Oh, and the gimmick with smoke grenades might've worked... but I don't believe it would have given Selvaria's new improved health pool and that she starts using All Heal after her health reaches a certain point.
So the secret? Well, I used Artillery Support. 6 CP, but using it kills all snipers on the map, all of which are enemy leaders that cost the Empire 3 CP. Also, it did around 30-50% damage to all shocktroopers, making it way easier for my scouts and shocks to move in and finish the job, especially on the steps where their reduced health meant that I could kill each one with a scout rifle grenade. If you don't kill the snipers before moving up, the enemy snipers can intercept you on the opposing flank, which is already hell on top of an uncooperative Selvaria and enemy units.
Anyway the left flank is the way to go. Getting to the first flag and then busting my way to the second was easy thanks to improved Lancer accuracy. However killing Selvaria after I got to this part was a pain in the ass thanks to her All Heal command; you have to kill her in one turn. Doing this is easy in the base game if you space out your units well enough, but in this one I had to rely on pre-mod Maximillian Team Attack strats and Edelweiss pinning her down.
It took me much longer than Chapter 08b. I chalk this up to my poor planning but also to the lethality of Selvaria, which really cannot be underestimated.
That being said, I had loads of trouble with this mission. Selvaria simply would not cooperate with smoke grenade coverage and with the increased damage from her gun you cannot make a mistake. You can no longer tank shocktrooper damage on the steps with a scout and easy peasy your way up the flanks; and I'm determined to say that the Gatling gun on the right flank is impossible to pass with foot soldiers given its killing power. There's only two spots in the base which are completely safe from Selvaria upon selecting a unit so you have to fire a smoke grenade right away.
Oh, and the gimmick with smoke grenades might've worked... but I don't believe it would have given Selvaria's new improved health pool and that she starts using All Heal after her health reaches a certain point.
So the secret? Well, I used Artillery Support. 6 CP, but using it kills all snipers on the map, all of which are enemy leaders that cost the Empire 3 CP. Also, it did around 30-50% damage to all shocktroopers, making it way easier for my scouts and shocks to move in and finish the job, especially on the steps where their reduced health meant that I could kill each one with a scout rifle grenade. If you don't kill the snipers before moving up, the enemy snipers can intercept you on the opposing flank, which is already hell on top of an uncooperative Selvaria and enemy units.
Anyway the left flank is the way to go. Getting to the first flag and then busting my way to the second was easy thanks to improved Lancer accuracy. However killing Selvaria after I got to this part was a pain in the ass thanks to her All Heal command; you have to kill her in one turn. Doing this is easy in the base game if you space out your units well enough, but in this one I had to rely on pre-mod Maximillian Team Attack strats and Edelweiss pinning her down.
It took me much longer than Chapter 08b. I chalk this up to my poor planning but also to the lethality of Selvaria, which really cannot be underestimated.
Non-spoiler notes: I'm bad at games but this mod is still a lot of fun. I don't think I agree with a few boss changes but another player is proving me dead wrong as he fully clears the game. Until next time...
The mod continues!
Sadly as my lack of skill shows itself more and more I had to rely on restarts and "saves per phase" to cover some sloppy errors.
That being said, these two chapters were not nearly as bad for me as 08b, 14 and 15b were.
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Chapter 16 - Cutting Room Floor
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Chapter 17 - Buffed AP - Yes please
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I'm debating how I'm going to handle Chapter 18a still, or if I should invest in Reports and get my R&D on the up and up first. Or if I should spend 50,000 DCT on hookers and
.
If I could do missions over again, I'd probably pay more attention to my tank configurations. Chapter 16 could've been made less harrowing with some of that.
Sadly as my lack of skill shows itself more and more I had to rely on restarts and "saves per phase" to cover some sloppy errors.
That being said, these two chapters were not nearly as bad for me as 08b, 14 and 15b were.
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Chapter 16 - Cutting Room Floor
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So anyone who has gotten this far knows about this mission and how obviously unfinished it is. There's almost no enemy resistance, the minefield is a piece of cake to work through and the remainder of the mission is merely just waiting for the Marmota to show up while it slowly drives. There's also a big section of houses and other obstacles to the first right fork path that have obviously been cut off when the mission couldn't be finished in time for the deadline.
Anyway, the mod makes this mission way tougher. Many people don't remember this, but the Marmota actually does fire some (very weak) interception fire in the original game as you move forward. Well, this fire has been buffed to do big damage to tanks and units. Also, its range has been increased to incredibly huge levels and it will shoot the whole way across the map... literally. The only way to stop it from killing any units is to fire a smoke grenade directly onto it.
This actually confused me for a bit on how to beat it, but essentially you need to move Edelweiss with the Marmota per-turn and keep covering your ass with smoke. However one snag at the end of this is that there's an intercepting sniper waiting at the final stretch. So what you need to do is move Edelweiss once, then deploy a single Engineer to take care of everything.... then keep firing Mortar Support and make sure you at least kill the Sniper so you can finish the mission off.
I suppose this is the best the mod could do for a mission like this; at least it became a fun challenge and puzzle instead of just a waste of time. By the way, the Shamrock is still totally useless.
Anyway, the mod makes this mission way tougher. Many people don't remember this, but the Marmota actually does fire some (very weak) interception fire in the original game as you move forward. Well, this fire has been buffed to do big damage to tanks and units. Also, its range has been increased to incredibly huge levels and it will shoot the whole way across the map... literally. The only way to stop it from killing any units is to fire a smoke grenade directly onto it.
This actually confused me for a bit on how to beat it, but essentially you need to move Edelweiss with the Marmota per-turn and keep covering your ass with smoke. However one snag at the end of this is that there's an intercepting sniper waiting at the final stretch. So what you need to do is move Edelweiss once, then deploy a single Engineer to take care of everything.... then keep firing Mortar Support and make sure you at least kill the Sniper so you can finish the mission off.
I suppose this is the best the mod could do for a mission like this; at least it became a fun challenge and puzzle instead of just a waste of time. By the way, the Shamrock is still totally useless.
Chapter 17 - Buffed AP - Yes please
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In the original game this mission is frustrating for one reason and one reason only; AP. Every camp and enemy is so spread out, it's really difficult for units besides Scouts and Engineers to get anywhere. This is exacerbated by the heavy defense at bases and how hard it is to hold some base defense positions. In order to capture the upper-left and lower-left bases, you need a shocktrooper and lancer badly, but it will take 2 phases to get there and get any work done; while not dying to Lupus.
That being said, the mod to AP makes it much easier to coordinate base attacks. A shocktrooper can actually reach the middle base and properly execute attacks in only one CP. The AP buffs to Edelweiss thanks to the tank parts means you can actually maneuver behind cover in this mission without hiding in one spot the entire time. Another thing that helped was that anti-armor snipers can destroy sandbags from very far away, meaning I could reduce the defenses of base defenders from far away. Lancers can actually walk into the open and fire potshots at enemy tanks guarding the west-most bases.
I basically recreated my original method of base capture. First capturing the upper right base, then the middle base. The hardest base to capture is easily the bottom left; since Lupus wouldn't cooperate with its own smoke fire, I fired a smoke grenade to that area myself. Regarding the middle base, you can actually hide behind tents and this will incredibly confuse the AI who tries to recapture it.
The mod makes it so that Penetration and Demolition Boost can't be used anymore, so no more cheap strats (not that I used it originally anyway) and Lupus only received a mild health buff. You can destroy its armor and the tank with lancers like always.
That being said, the mod to AP makes it much easier to coordinate base attacks. A shocktrooper can actually reach the middle base and properly execute attacks in only one CP. The AP buffs to Edelweiss thanks to the tank parts means you can actually maneuver behind cover in this mission without hiding in one spot the entire time. Another thing that helped was that anti-armor snipers can destroy sandbags from very far away, meaning I could reduce the defenses of base defenders from far away. Lancers can actually walk into the open and fire potshots at enemy tanks guarding the west-most bases.
I basically recreated my original method of base capture. First capturing the upper right base, then the middle base. The hardest base to capture is easily the bottom left; since Lupus wouldn't cooperate with its own smoke fire, I fired a smoke grenade to that area myself. Regarding the middle base, you can actually hide behind tents and this will incredibly confuse the AI who tries to recapture it.
The mod makes it so that Penetration and Demolition Boost can't be used anymore, so no more cheap strats (not that I used it originally anyway) and Lupus only received a mild health buff. You can destroy its armor and the tank with lancers like always.
I'm debating how I'm going to handle Chapter 18a still, or if I should invest in Reports and get my R&D on the up and up first. Or if I should spend 50,000 DCT on hookers and
Alicia in a swimsuit
If I could do missions over again, I'd probably pay more attention to my tank configurations. Chapter 16 could've been made less harrowing with some of that.
Since the upcoming mission 18a is going to require me to invest more in tank defense and anti-armor flamethrowers, I decided to go ahead and finish some of the Reports that I unlocked in my playthrough.
The reports in this game are unique challenges. That being said, their implementation into the game through the Castlefront St. unlock system is really bad, and many of the unique properties of the missions ends up working against themselves. Many players had no idea they were unlocking missions, and the missions scaling in relation to level per-mission isn't well done either.
Still, it's fun to play a mission where the objective is to kill all enemies (one of only two non-DLC missions that has this as a requirement) for instance.
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Report 02 - Largo's Veggies
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Report 04 - There's still a rush mission!
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Report 06 - Metal Gear Valkyria: Rise of the Anime
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Report 07 - The Precursor to PSP Valkyria
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Report 08 - The ACTUAL Precursor to PSP Valkyria
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Up next is Chapter 18a. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this mission. Something tells me that I'm going to be parking my tanks right on my base and blasting anything that moves. 18a is one of very few missions in the game where reinforcements (highly damaging enemy lancers) will appear out of nowhere in designated spots as a reminder.
I reverse my opinion of the ATK DOWN shocktrooper guns. I think there's a lot of potential in future expert missions where it's common for shocktroopers to attack you. Intercepting sniper rifles still suck though, but that's mostly the game's fault, and not the weapon's fault.
Once I finish the main story I'll be moving onto the Hard/Expert skirmishes and Challenges. I'm sure the Expert skirmishes will test my salt capacity.
The reports in this game are unique challenges. That being said, their implementation into the game through the Castlefront St. unlock system is really bad, and many of the unique properties of the missions ends up working against themselves. Many players had no idea they were unlocking missions, and the missions scaling in relation to level per-mission isn't well done either.
Still, it's fun to play a mission where the objective is to kill all enemies (one of only two non-DLC missions that has this as a requirement) for instance.
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Report 02 - Largo's Veggies
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This mission is quite easy and the real challenge is getting Largo to move fast enough without leaving him exposed to enemy fire. I came to this mission overleveled, but if I hadn't then the surprise shocktrooper that attacks the middle area would've finished me off.
The gatling's damage has been increased to where you almost have to game the system in order to kill it with Largo. But past that, the final defenses aren't really a threat and thanks to the improved accuracy of Lancers there's no way you'll accidentally miss radiator shots.
The gatling's damage has been increased to where you almost have to game the system in order to kill it with Largo. But past that, the final defenses aren't really a threat and thanks to the improved accuracy of Lancers there's no way you'll accidentally miss radiator shots.
Report 04 - There's still a rush mission!
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So this mission is probably the fastest rushing mission in the game. You go up two ladders, run around the corner, kill the shocktrooper and capture the flag.
However in this mod, interception fire from the Heavy Tank guarding the base can actually kill you as you're rounding the corner. Combine that with the shocktrooper dealing more damage and rushing is no longer possible... almost. Thanks to Alicia's potential giving invincibility at single digits, I was able to survive all interception fire and kill the shocktrooper.
Now my memory is fuzzy, but I don't remember there being two shocktroopers guarding the base last time. I had to clear them out with a grenade in order to capture.
This mission is not very well designed. Even if I didn't have Alicia's god potential, it would be way too easy to brute force my way up the slope from the opposite side and kill the tank with a Lancer, then pull off grenade shenanigans with another Scout to kill the remaining guarding shocktroopers.
It's funny, because usually having a height advantage in this game is a big deal.
However in this mod, interception fire from the Heavy Tank guarding the base can actually kill you as you're rounding the corner. Combine that with the shocktrooper dealing more damage and rushing is no longer possible... almost. Thanks to Alicia's potential giving invincibility at single digits, I was able to survive all interception fire and kill the shocktrooper.
Now my memory is fuzzy, but I don't remember there being two shocktroopers guarding the base last time. I had to clear them out with a grenade in order to capture.
This mission is not very well designed. Even if I didn't have Alicia's god potential, it would be way too easy to brute force my way up the slope from the opposite side and kill the tank with a Lancer, then pull off grenade shenanigans with another Scout to kill the remaining guarding shocktroopers.
It's funny, because usually having a height advantage in this game is a big deal.
Report 06 - Metal Gear Valkyria: Rise of the Anime
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The dialogue in this mission is pretty awful overall. I like campy and cheesy dialogue, and I like dramatized stuff as much as the next guy, but Varrot's spiel sounded mighty unconvincing. Also the whole slapping someone back to their senses thing is super overdone and is so disconnected from any reality it's weird.
But the mission! Well the mod makes it so that you only start with 2 CP. I'm going to assume that Busard thought this would encourage making this mission a stealth mission since all you have to do is kill three units which is ludicrously easy, but if you can only move twice, then you have to make sure you're not spotted at all moving forward. Probably the best Busard could do with this mission that isn't well designed.
Sadly it's way too easy to game this system. All you have to do is end your turn immediately, then use the 2CP stacked onto your next turn in order to finish off all three units in one go. Then you have to sit through the bad dialogue again AND you don't get to see Maximillian drop any smackdown. Kind of an unconvincing mission.
But the mission! Well the mod makes it so that you only start with 2 CP. I'm going to assume that Busard thought this would encourage making this mission a stealth mission since all you have to do is kill three units which is ludicrously easy, but if you can only move twice, then you have to make sure you're not spotted at all moving forward. Probably the best Busard could do with this mission that isn't well designed.
Sadly it's way too easy to game this system. All you have to do is end your turn immediately, then use the 2CP stacked onto your next turn in order to finish off all three units in one go. Then you have to sit through the bad dialogue again AND you don't get to see Maximillian drop any smackdown. Kind of an unconvincing mission.
Report 07 - The Precursor to PSP Valkyria
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So this report is the first time in the game that killing all enemies is a mission requirement. Almost all of the enemies are hidden in grass, and there are two tanks to kill.
Thanks to the mod reducing defense from units hiding in grass, it's actually possible to kill enemies with high enough vsPers shocktrooper guns. The flamethrowers were nerfed in the mod so you can't oneshot enemies easy peasy anymore unless you've killed certain Aces and gotten the best flamethrower (which I attached to Vyse's gun). I only needed one lancer to attack the tanks, and one sniper to handle the intercepting sniper.
This mission is actually pretty fair. Even if you miss an enemy and they begin sprinting towards the exits, the game will give you one more turn before handing off a fail (unlike VC2 and VC3). It's challenging at first, but it's pretty easy once you realize the enemy has absolutely no hope of capturing your base. The Expert version of this mission is MUCH better.
So a fun mission, but a little too easy.
Thanks to the mod reducing defense from units hiding in grass, it's actually possible to kill enemies with high enough vsPers shocktrooper guns. The flamethrowers were nerfed in the mod so you can't oneshot enemies easy peasy anymore unless you've killed certain Aces and gotten the best flamethrower (which I attached to Vyse's gun). I only needed one lancer to attack the tanks, and one sniper to handle the intercepting sniper.
This mission is actually pretty fair. Even if you miss an enemy and they begin sprinting towards the exits, the game will give you one more turn before handing off a fail (unlike VC2 and VC3). It's challenging at first, but it's pretty easy once you realize the enemy has absolutely no hope of capturing your base. The Expert version of this mission is MUCH better.
So a fun mission, but a little too easy.
Report 08 - The ACTUAL Precursor to PSP Valkyria
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The second kill all enemies mission (though you can try to last it out, if you're a wuss). This mission type is infamously abused in VC3 missions, where you're told to "defend the line" or "defend a base", when what they're actually telling you to do is "kill all enemies as quickly as possible by rushing like a madman."
That being said, this mission is quite difficult for a first-time player though there are some problems that make it a little easier than expected. For starters, the 60fps glitch which makes it so that tanks can't climb up steep slopes still exists. This makes it so that the Ace tank can't escape its starting position. It's not the biggest deal in the world but it's a little sad to see it struggle. Other unusual problems include when the enemy will decide to rush and when the enemy will decide not to rush (usually they'll decide not to attack the left side for some strange reason). Other weird stuff includes the ability of a Heavy Tank to see a unit in the grass from over 50 feet away, despite the discovery range of a tank being small.
There is an intercepting sniper that you have to kill immediately because his range covers your starting position. It's also imperative to place a shocktrooper on the right to attack the lancer, scout and eastmost shocktroopers before they can reach your base. The improved AP of the Edelweiss shines here as you can actually get behind the two main tanks if you're ballsy enough to drive behind them and begin your assault.
I feel like this mission had more potential. The unmodded version of this mission is really annoying because killing the enemy tanks with Lancers or Edelweiss is a huge pain in the ass and liability since you can't buff Edelweiss's defense properly and because Lancers couldn't hit the broad sign of a barn with their meh anti-tank damage. So the mod made it more fun since Largo can actually kill things. Jane intercepting with an ATK DOWN gun (one of the very few missions in the game where I feel like this was worth using) was very effective, making the shocktrooper rushes far less of a threat; not possible in the original version of the game.
So fun, and I think if I gave a little more effort I would be able to A-Rank this mission without trouble.
That being said, this mission is quite difficult for a first-time player though there are some problems that make it a little easier than expected. For starters, the 60fps glitch which makes it so that tanks can't climb up steep slopes still exists. This makes it so that the Ace tank can't escape its starting position. It's not the biggest deal in the world but it's a little sad to see it struggle. Other unusual problems include when the enemy will decide to rush and when the enemy will decide not to rush (usually they'll decide not to attack the left side for some strange reason). Other weird stuff includes the ability of a Heavy Tank to see a unit in the grass from over 50 feet away, despite the discovery range of a tank being small.
There is an intercepting sniper that you have to kill immediately because his range covers your starting position. It's also imperative to place a shocktrooper on the right to attack the lancer, scout and eastmost shocktroopers before they can reach your base. The improved AP of the Edelweiss shines here as you can actually get behind the two main tanks if you're ballsy enough to drive behind them and begin your assault.
I feel like this mission had more potential. The unmodded version of this mission is really annoying because killing the enemy tanks with Lancers or Edelweiss is a huge pain in the ass and liability since you can't buff Edelweiss's defense properly and because Lancers couldn't hit the broad sign of a barn with their meh anti-tank damage. So the mod made it more fun since Largo can actually kill things. Jane intercepting with an ATK DOWN gun (one of the very few missions in the game where I feel like this was worth using) was very effective, making the shocktrooper rushes far less of a threat; not possible in the original version of the game.
So fun, and I think if I gave a little more effort I would be able to A-Rank this mission without trouble.
Up next is Chapter 18a. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to this mission. Something tells me that I'm going to be parking my tanks right on my base and blasting anything that moves. 18a is one of very few missions in the game where reinforcements (highly damaging enemy lancers) will appear out of nowhere in designated spots as a reminder.
I reverse my opinion of the ATK DOWN shocktrooper guns. I think there's a lot of potential in future expert missions where it's common for shocktroopers to attack you. Intercepting sniper rifles still suck though, but that's mostly the game's fault, and not the weapon's fault.
Once I finish the main story I'll be moving onto the Hard/Expert skirmishes and Challenges. I'm sure the Expert skirmishes will test my salt capacity.
cireza
Member
This is probably a great mod, however I think that what ABSOLUTELY needed a change is the ranking system.
I don't know how this mod changes the ranking system, but it really deserved to not be based on pure speed anymore. At least for the story missions.
I am glad that Sega released this on PC, and gave it a second life. This is their best game from the last 10 years or so.
I don't know how this mod changes the ranking system, but it really deserved to not be based on pure speed anymore. At least for the story missions.
I am glad that Sega released this on PC, and gave it a second life. This is their best game from the last 10 years or so.
This mod seems interesting, though some parts seem redundant e.g.
"- Edy Squad Skirmishes don't give any EXP/DCT reward anymore to prevent early-game grinding exploits and the weapons earned have been heavily altered."
If I'm installing a re-balance mod then its a safe bet that I'm probably not going to use xp "exploits" anyway
"- Edy Squad Skirmishes don't give any EXP/DCT reward anymore to prevent early-game grinding exploits and the weapons earned have been heavily altered."
If I'm installing a re-balance mod then its a safe bet that I'm probably not going to use xp "exploits" anyway
TC McQueen
Member
You get a lot of XP for killing enemies in GF, so it's less speed based than before.
Also, I played the stock mission 14 for several hours Saturday and didn't complete it, even with copious save scumming, so it seems like mission 14 in GF is something that probably would require way more tweaking to be tolerable than anyone is comfortable with (besides busard).
Unfortunately changing the ranking system to be other than speed-based it out of the scope of this mod and would require hard coding changes (impossible) outside of HEX editing.
However what the mod did was try to alleviate the ranking system's failures as much as possible. It redistributes monetary and EXP rewards in such a way that rewards you WAY more for killing important units than before while reducing the reward from turn ranks. It also adjusted the number of turns necessary to A-Rank in accordance with changes so it's (mostly) fair and challenges your expert sensibilities.
I'm glad you agree that this is Sega's best game of the last decade easily.
This is true, but sometimes it's good to remove the temptation. You know, failures of the human condition and all.
I'd say that's one change I don't like in the mod. I feel Chapter 14 is inherently flawed by existing, so there's no real purpose behind making it harder.
It just shoehorns into a single cheese strategy and you can't choose to do it any other way. Really silly. If I had more time to spend on it, I would've picked a far better pair of lancers to speed up the process.
So I finished the game this past weekend. All-in-all, a fantastic experience. I'd say that some of the original frustrations of the battle system can be easier dealt with the improved changes.
I disagreed with mainly the health buffs that certain enemy tanks and objectives got. But other than that, great experience.
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Chapter 18a - Invisible Princess Mage
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Chapter 18b - Always Remember to Charge Your Batteries Before the Final Battle
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So that wraps up the story. My levels:
Scout - 15 <- as the game went on, the desire to level scouts got less and less. Still important for a few missions though.
Shock - 20 <- shocktroopers are the kings in this mod now, but still quite balanced
Lancer - 20 <- extremely imperative since they don't suck at aiming anymore and can deal real damage
Engineer - 16 <- important to level this for certain orders, in my opinion.
Sniper - 18 <- to be honest I'm not sure if leveling this class was worth it past a certain point when many of their accuracy potentials unlock; except maybe for health reasons.
After finishing the game you can definitely see why Busard gave a lot of enemy Scouts DEF DOWN weapons to make them a true threat, since the revisions make them the weak physical class that they were originally envisioned to be. Our scouts can still deal out lethal damage with their A-series weapons, but it's almost necessary given how powerful shocktroopers are, so it's a fine balance.
There were some complaints about enemies dodging too much thanks to their improved evasion, but I have no complaints; I felt like it was very fairly implemented, entirely UNLIKE Valkyria Chronicles 3 (Mod VC1: Enemies have same low evasion stats as your squad, many units have Undodgeable Shot, damage reduction from dodging is only 25% -> VC3: elite foot soldiers have 50% evasion, Undodgeable Shot is locked behind an Elite Fencer Potential, armored soldiers have a 80% evasion value from the front, dodge damage reduction = 99%). Better than before when the enemy never dodged anything and you never had to gamble; it adds a nice dynamic with the ATK DOWN weapons.
So what's next? Well, next is the Challenges and the Hard / Expert Skirmishes.
Hard Skirmishes where you relied on capturing the flag early are not going to be so forgiving anymore.
Expert Skirmishes are going to be an absolute nightmare and will require some expert thinking indeed.
Thanks for reading so far.
I disagreed with mainly the health buffs that certain enemy tanks and objectives got. But other than that, great experience.
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Chapter 18a - Invisible Princess Mage
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So unlike other missions where I threw my bullet riddled half-dead corpse to see what worked or not, I really did try to prepare for this mission properly. It did pay off... somewhat.
So the gun turrets in this mission can of course damage your tank. However if you increase your tank defense high enough you can withstand the interception fire to a reasonable degree. However the anti-tank turrets deal an obscene amount of anti-armor damage meaning you have to take down at least one before trying to hide Edelweiss in your base to get improved defense. The gun turrets don't deal too much anti-infantry by themselves relative to other guns in the game but concentrated fire from all three will instant kill anyone, also, sandbags will be destroyed immediately by their anti-armor properties, which is actually really cool looking.
One annoying hurdle that this mission has is an intercepting sniper at the very back you need to get rid of immediately. This guy is troublesome because he covers so much range on top of the guns which are hard to cover with smoke. I made a silly mistake and thought the gun turrets could only be destroyed by grenades (protip: use a lancer).
However once this hurdle with the guns got overcome, this mission was ridiculously easy. The reinforcements are barely a threat and can be easily handled with proper preparation. The Marmota's lance actually has a health value now, nice! The question marks before were really dumb; also I believe its critical defense got lowered so it takes fewer lance shots to kill (if you didn't abuse Demolition Boost and such in the original game that is).
Also, sorry Princess... but you're still pretty useless outside of healing the tank. Original game = barely take any damage worth caring about, modded game = you die to pretty much anything that moves.
So the gun turrets in this mission can of course damage your tank. However if you increase your tank defense high enough you can withstand the interception fire to a reasonable degree. However the anti-tank turrets deal an obscene amount of anti-armor damage meaning you have to take down at least one before trying to hide Edelweiss in your base to get improved defense. The gun turrets don't deal too much anti-infantry by themselves relative to other guns in the game but concentrated fire from all three will instant kill anyone, also, sandbags will be destroyed immediately by their anti-armor properties, which is actually really cool looking.
One annoying hurdle that this mission has is an intercepting sniper at the very back you need to get rid of immediately. This guy is troublesome because he covers so much range on top of the guns which are hard to cover with smoke. I made a silly mistake and thought the gun turrets could only be destroyed by grenades (protip: use a lancer).
However once this hurdle with the guns got overcome, this mission was ridiculously easy. The reinforcements are barely a threat and can be easily handled with proper preparation. The Marmota's lance actually has a health value now, nice! The question marks before were really dumb; also I believe its critical defense got lowered so it takes fewer lance shots to kill (if you didn't abuse Demolition Boost and such in the original game that is).
Also, sorry Princess... but you're still pretty useless outside of healing the tank. Original game = barely take any damage worth caring about, modded game = you die to pretty much anything that moves.
Chapter 18b - Always Remember to Charge Your Batteries Before the Final Battle
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So the final showdown with Maximillian the boss man. I was pretty hype for this battle and went in pretty well prepared. I finally figured out how the towers worked (I didn't even bother learning how in the original game) and I learned how to properly lay out smoke to attack Maximillian without retaliation, which is something that people should have learned when fighting Selvaria.
The improved AP is such a godsend in this battle. Edelweiss can move in and out of cover very easily. Shocktroopers can actually chase down Max when he starts going for his evening jog. Lancers can approach the middle and take down the towers much easier. When I played this mission originally, I had no idea this level even had raised platforms and stairs to hide on in the back!
That all said and done, the turrets do more damage than before (which is something you should expect by now) so taking them down actually forced me to use some tricks like using Edelweiss's body for cover or relying on Defense Boosts for the initial towers. Having an anti-tank rifle was a godsend for killing the towers in the middle of the stage. Maximillian does more damage to tanks, so moving Edelweiss even with high defense was risky and required me to smoke him right away. Also, Maximillian does more damage for both interception and retaliatory fire, but he actually does not have enough firepower to kill a shocktrooper in one retaliatory fire... very good!
The hero that defeated the final villain and saved the day was... Vyse! Thanks to me unlocking his last potential, Double Attack, and using the smokescreen tricks from the Selvaria fight allowed me to deal some real man damage to Max. I'm not sure if Max had his health lowered, but it definitely felt like I was doing actual damage to this guy instead of relying on Team Attacks like before. Yes, Vyse saved Gallia and didn't even need his airship to do it!
Regarding the old strat; you can still do it, but it takes a bit more time and certain weapons to set up and can't be done in one turn. I didn't feel like restarting and reconfiguring my entire team based on one particular strategy I noticed during the mission and decided to see it through on my own layout, terms and squad.
The improved AP is such a godsend in this battle. Edelweiss can move in and out of cover very easily. Shocktroopers can actually chase down Max when he starts going for his evening jog. Lancers can approach the middle and take down the towers much easier. When I played this mission originally, I had no idea this level even had raised platforms and stairs to hide on in the back!
That all said and done, the turrets do more damage than before (which is something you should expect by now) so taking them down actually forced me to use some tricks like using Edelweiss's body for cover or relying on Defense Boosts for the initial towers. Having an anti-tank rifle was a godsend for killing the towers in the middle of the stage. Maximillian does more damage to tanks, so moving Edelweiss even with high defense was risky and required me to smoke him right away. Also, Maximillian does more damage for both interception and retaliatory fire, but he actually does not have enough firepower to kill a shocktrooper in one retaliatory fire... very good!
The hero that defeated the final villain and saved the day was... Vyse! Thanks to me unlocking his last potential, Double Attack, and using the smokescreen tricks from the Selvaria fight allowed me to deal some real man damage to Max. I'm not sure if Max had his health lowered, but it definitely felt like I was doing actual damage to this guy instead of relying on Team Attacks like before. Yes, Vyse saved Gallia and didn't even need his airship to do it!
Regarding the old strat; you can still do it, but it takes a bit more time and certain weapons to set up and can't be done in one turn. I didn't feel like restarting and reconfiguring my entire team based on one particular strategy I noticed during the mission and decided to see it through on my own layout, terms and squad.
So that wraps up the story. My levels:
Scout - 15 <- as the game went on, the desire to level scouts got less and less. Still important for a few missions though.
Shock - 20 <- shocktroopers are the kings in this mod now, but still quite balanced
Lancer - 20 <- extremely imperative since they don't suck at aiming anymore and can deal real damage
Engineer - 16 <- important to level this for certain orders, in my opinion.
Sniper - 18 <- to be honest I'm not sure if leveling this class was worth it past a certain point when many of their accuracy potentials unlock; except maybe for health reasons.
After finishing the game you can definitely see why Busard gave a lot of enemy Scouts DEF DOWN weapons to make them a true threat, since the revisions make them the weak physical class that they were originally envisioned to be. Our scouts can still deal out lethal damage with their A-series weapons, but it's almost necessary given how powerful shocktroopers are, so it's a fine balance.
There were some complaints about enemies dodging too much thanks to their improved evasion, but I have no complaints; I felt like it was very fairly implemented, entirely UNLIKE Valkyria Chronicles 3 (Mod VC1: Enemies have same low evasion stats as your squad, many units have Undodgeable Shot, damage reduction from dodging is only 25% -> VC3: elite foot soldiers have 50% evasion, Undodgeable Shot is locked behind an Elite Fencer Potential, armored soldiers have a 80% evasion value from the front, dodge damage reduction = 99%). Better than before when the enemy never dodged anything and you never had to gamble; it adds a nice dynamic with the ATK DOWN weapons.
So what's next? Well, next is the Challenges and the Hard / Expert Skirmishes.
Hard Skirmishes where you relied on capturing the flag early are not going to be so forgiving anymore.
Expert Skirmishes are going to be an absolute nightmare and will require some expert thinking indeed.
Thanks for reading so far.
Late bump, but VC is $5 right now on the humble store
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/valkyriachronicles_storefront
https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/valkyriachronicles_storefront
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Banned
Once I get round to beating VC I'm definitely installing this. Sounds like a deep, worthwhile mod.
TC McQueen
Member
Happy New Year! I have some good news - I got the Valkyrie Edit program working, so I can tweak the Equus/train gun values back to their normal values once I sort out which set of guns it is. I'll just need someone to upload a Gallian Crossfire game_info_game_param.mxe.
Nyoro SF, I'll be glad to hook you up with a tutorial and/or have some friends of mine hook you up with a GUI version of Valkyrie Edit, but I could use your help. I tried to do the "HP DOWN" on the interception rifle idea, but couldn't figure out what to change and what to change it to. Then I tried to give the interception sniper rifles burst fire, but the game refuses to do that. If you could get in touch with Busard, maybe we could figure what the problem/what we need to change and get it to work.
Nyoro SF, I'll be glad to hook you up with a tutorial and/or have some friends of mine hook you up with a GUI version of Valkyrie Edit, but I could use your help. I tried to do the "HP DOWN" on the interception rifle idea, but couldn't figure out what to change and what to change it to. Then I tried to give the interception sniper rifles burst fire, but the game refuses to do that. If you could get in touch with Busard, maybe we could figure what the problem/what we need to change and get it to work.
Not sure why but this thread didn't get updated in my subs! Anyway. As for modification, I haven't actually looked at the mod's internal workings, I just installed and played it raw.
If you want to contact Busard, I would leave a comment directly on the mod's Steam Guide. From what I see Busard's kind of a private guy that doesn't respond to much messaging, but he'll respond if you ask a question about the mod there; might take him a while, like a week to get back to you though.
Thinking about interception sniper rifles doing HP Down, most enemy soldiers immediately stop, or stop and return fire, if they get struck with long range interception fire. Personally I would just up the damage instead of doing HP Down, since they stop moving, HP Down won't do anything.
TC McQueen
Member
I might do that.
That's why I wanted to try making a burst fire rifle, so you could up the damage in a unique way and have a chance to do variable output, but since it doesn't work without more tweaks *shrug*Thinking about interception sniper rifles doing HP Down, most enemy soldiers immediately stop, or stop and return fire, if they get struck with long range interception fire. Personally I would just up the damage instead of doing HP Down, since they stop moving, HP Down won't do anything.
Busard mentioned on GFAQs that he tried to create a burst fire sniper rifle like in VC3 but he couldn't do it. There was a medium length discussion there about how the game hard codes how many shots can be fired per weapon category. It might not be possible sadly, I cannot find the discussion.
Still a damn fine version. I'm tempted to get this on PC now though since GMG has it on sale.