Touhou Chemblem - Low Turn Run: Chapter 5
4Cleared in 9 turns.
This is the first indoor chapter which means LOTS OF TREASURE. And very timely so, seeing how we're out of gold to buy essential things like Javelins and Steel Lances.
The reason why this can't be cleared in less than 9 turns without using Warp (in which case a 2-turn clear is possible, and even a single-turn clear if Lily White somehow got to C staves in the previous chapters, which she did not in this playthrough) is because the boss is a General, with a defence that can't be penetrated with normal weapons, demanding slayer weapons (the only one available so far is the Hammer axe) and magic. The units who can wield these weapons all have a movement stat of 6, meaning they take quite a bit of time to get to the throne, even though it's worth pointing out that Chen can reach the seize point at turn 8.
The only new character in this map is Kaguya. She starts with C staves meaning she can use Mend, Warp, Physic, right off the bat; however, her base speed is 4, meaning a lot of enemies double her. Luna Child, with her base speed of 10, is far more difficult to double, and also has C staves. The reason why I'm even contemplating the ridiculous idea of healers taking hits is because I do actually bait some enemies with my clerics to prevent my frontline attackers from dying. Just another AI exploit that you'll see put to use soon in this series.
Anyway, I suppose I should say Kaguya needs to reach A staves in order to unlock the "best ending" which seems to be just extra dialogue at the end and nothing more (this is what I got on my first run, please confirm anyone?), but there are other best ending requirements that are far less realistic to meet in a low turn run like this, so I don't use Kaguya much after this chapter for a while.
In this video I have Sunny Milk travel to the eastern part of the map where the chests in the locked room are Silver Spear and Bullion. As for the four other chests, I leave them to the enemy thieves and then kill them with Reisen before they escape. This is a nice way to let her catch up in levels with Medicine (whom she will surpass in the end due to her higher defence growth). Raising Reisen is very important for beating the game under our restrictions (low turns while recruiting everybody sans Mima and Shinki... though I think I might recruit Shinki anyway, because Alice doesn't contribute shit while Shinki can at least be a staffbot).
This was a bit of a test run, as I modified some of my tactics - this is why Medicine is put so recklessly into the range of so many enemies at once. She kept surviving though, and I actually managed to get her the bosskill, which is pretty unlikely to happen as her attacks with Steel Lance only do 2 damage to the boss (and that's after she scored C lances in the process, which ups her lance attacks by 1). On that note, Medicine picked a good time to get to C rank in lances, because the next chapter has a hellish enemy density and plenty of enemies susceptible to Horseslayer, including the Paladin boss.
I leave Eirin, Lily White and Letty to fight the three Knights near the starting point, just to give Eirin some levels so that she stops sucking with her 5 movement sooner. Her bases are too good to be an Archer and she provides support bonuses to Medicine and Reisen - pretty much the two best characters in the game. However, she's not the best candidate for the first Master Seal, as promoting her early actually doesn't help much with clearing chapters in fewer turns.
Other prizes we got here include Gold, Physic staff (yes!), Mend (yes again) and Master Seal. The latter will go to Yuyuko whose promotion gains as Dracoknight are of immense immediate use and whose growths don't justify keeping her unpromoted beyond 10/0.
MVP in this map: Medicine?