Game:

Valkyria Chronicles (2008)

Duration: 26:22

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3

In which Snipers are important. Also in which we realize that Catherine and Emile have an odd definition of the word "roof". Also in which that mortar cannon has way too much HP and defense.
To explain, the Roof Hunter potential proc's and causes +vsPers% and +Evasion% when the targeted enemy is considered above the sniper. But he doesn't have to be above him by any large amount -- the check seems to be "if z_enemy is greater than z_player". This fact is instrumental in full clearing the stage, and in surviving the first turn in any reasonable way.
Speaking of surviving the first turn, there is a bit of luck involved in being in a position to continue after the enemy phase. If the tank closer to your base moves and kills both Scouts with its mortar before the other infantry units move, the stage becomes impossible (or at least highly unlikely) to full clear.
The importance of using the different weapon branches (that had just been unlocked in this chapter) becomes more apparent here. The Brondel sniper rifle series serves as Anti-Tank weapons and thus has enough of a vsArmor rating to shoot out cover, while the GSR series only has a max ammo of 2 in exchange for a higher vsPers rating and superior zoom. The Scouts at the base are equipped with Gallian-S1's, having the highest Range of the three rifle branches, to try and shoot the infantry units and prevent them from getting close enough to take a shot at the Edelweiss and/or, more importantly, end the turn in a crouched position with a lot of HP.
(You can tell Busard had a bit of fun when choosing vsPers ratings for the Brondel weapons. Without Roof Hunter or some other +vsPers% potential proc'ing, a headshot to a Shocktrooper in this stage leaves them with...exactly 1 HP...)
The Scout class was increased solely for Musaad (being the Scout with the highest HP besides Welkin and Alicia) to be able to take a Lancer hit. It seems he would have survived two levels lower than I ended up leveling them; hopefully having spent that amount of EXP won't haunt me later on.
And I have to say, I find it interesting that an enemy Lancer's body must be used as a "wall" for Marina to peek over and shoot the enemy Sniper without receiving interception fire.
I got amazingly lucky with having the Ace not dodge the first time, and thankfully Walter didn't miss the Mortar Cannon from his elevated position, so there were 2 CP left over at the end. (Not a lot of breathing room for a four-turn operation with many infantry units which often evade and mess up the run, dealt with mostly by Snipers, which have limited ammunition; an Ace with high Evasion; and with a big dice roll during the first enemy phase to see if the run is dead or not...)

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