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Mini-update: Mechanics
& Scenario 1 Extras

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--- Der Langrisser Game Mechanics ---

Hey all, here is where I'm going to try to explain some of the game mechanics at work in Der Langrisser - keep in mind I do not claim to understand it's system perfectly and I've cobbled together an understanding from guides and experience. If you want to help, then by all means let me know what I've got wrong or missed and I'll update as need be.

Anywho, let's start with some of the basics.

Affinities & Basic Stats



Here is Fighter, our Pirate hero - so strong and mighty

Under the character's name is their Class (Pirate) and under that is the type that class falls into (Sailor). The types play into the rock-paper-scissors triangle as this game doesn't utilize a weapon-based triangle like Fire Emblem does. Honestly, it's more like Pokemon and their type system except there are no dual-types.

Here is the chart covering these interrelationships between the types:



In most respects, the Sailor type is the same as most normal infantry with the same affinities (strong to Spearmen, weak to Fliers, Cavalry, etc. etc.). And here is the game's introduction to affinities - played after you sit through the Opening cutscene: Unit Affinities

Next is Lv or what level the character is, with class changes occurring at Lv 10. All stat growths are pre-determined by what class you are and what level of that class you are, same with learning spells. So we want to raise our levels as high as possible, as soon as possible.

AT is the attack stat for the unit in question, in our case Fighter has a really high AT.
DF is the defence stat for a unit, again Fighter is above average in this regard.
EXP is the bar above MP, that gets filled as you or your troops defeat units and when it fills up, you level up.
MP is total number of magic points used for spells and Fighter sucks but has no spells anyway, so whatever.
MV or move is the number of squares said character can move in one turn, Fighter has 6 which isn't bad but being a Pirate means he can move through water tiles without penalty.
Troop or Troop Max is a stat that is only visible on the Hire menu and it is the maximum number of troops that commander can have under his/her command.
Range or CR, this is the command range of a commander and you want to keep your hired troops within their commander's range so that they get bonuses. Such as Fighter's Bonus A+1 which means any unit of his in his command range gains a bonus +1 to their AT and a bonus D+2, so a bonus of +2 to their DF. Fighter currently has a range of 2 which can be represented in ASCII, where '*' are the CR AoE, like so:

++*++
+***+
**F**
+***+
++*++


Terrain & More Basics



On the bottom of the screen, we can see this information summarized as AT -> A, DF -> D (don't get these mixed up with the Bonus A & D though, I know I did when I first started playing) and HP 10.

All units have 10 HP much like Advance Wars and perish when reduced to 0 HP, though if a commander is defeated, all his troops are defeated as well - however, it still is usually better to beat all of a commander's troops before finishing them off due to the game's end of mission reward system and as to how EXP is gained mostly through unit kills.

The terrain will be shown off on the bottom left with a percentage modifier based on the type of terrain and unit occupying it as well as any buff or debuff spells currently in play, in this case Fighter gets a +5% to his stats when in combat for being on a Plains. However, if he and his Mermaid warriors were on a water tile, if memory serves, they would get a +40% boost from terrain. Fliers get a flat +25% boost over land based units but gain no bonus from any kinds of terrain hence why they have a small advantage over most units in the type chart but not a great one.


Combat



So once again, here's the combat screen and the resolution to a battle, we can see that Fighter's soldier mugshot is greyed out which means he gains no bonuses for being in command range (so no +1 AT, +2 DF) while the enemy soldier is, so he gets +1 AT, +1 DF.

Combat appears to be resolved simultaneously - so when Fighter's soldier attacks, the enemy soldier fights back immediately.
However, because the enemy soldier has low HP (3) and Fighter's soldier is full HP it factors into the damage calculations.
So, for those Fire Emblem buffs tying to wrap their heads around this - it's not a one-at-a-time system, think more like how Advance Wars resolves direct combat though without the whole 'first strike' mechanic instead it's more like the attacker gets a minor bonus. Thus Der Langrisser's way of resolving combat is a bit more realistic compared to how Fire Emblem does it.


[url=showthread.php?goto=post&postid=422714880#post422714880]cmndstab posted:[/url]
As Monotone says, combat is resolved simultaneously, but certain types of units (in particular, certain types of commanders) have special attacks that can injure an enemy before that enemy reaches them.

For example, the Pirate class uses an attack that will hit enemies before they reach the commander. If it wipes out all of the enemies before they reach him, they don't get a chance to attack him. If two Pirates were to attack one another, they'd both launch off their attack at the same time, and then be hit by the other's shortly afterwards.

There are lots of different "types" of attack, which I'm sure Monotone will show off throughout the LP. As we saw, Hein's attack shoots fireballs at each enemy in quick succession, which usually all land before they have a chance to reach him. However, in the case of very quick-moving enemies (such as flyers), some of the enemy might reach him before the tenth fireball can be launched, so he has to contend with them before finishing his attack.

Archer/ranger type units can attack from afar, so their opponents get no counterattack unless they are also archer/ranger units. Or, they can attack (or be attacked) at close range, in which case they still get a chance to shoot their enemy in advance, but are quickly run down by any survivors.

Most standard troop types just use a simple "run at the enemy and then hit them" mode of attack, so generally it's only the commanders which make things more interesting.

Monotone did a pretty good job at explaining the damage system, but a couple of extra points are worth noting. It is impossible to do 10 damage under any circumstances unless you have 10 health, and for damage calculation purposes a commander's health is always assumed to be at least 5. (So a commander with 1 HP will do as much damage as a commander with 5HP - unless he dies before his attack is made!).

What I'm not sure about is how the damage calculations are handled for attacks where one side is hit before the other. For example, if Fighter uses his attack and kills eight soldiers, the remaining two will get through and counterattack. Will their damage calculation assume 2HP, or 10HP? My memory is that for troops, it would be 2HP, but for commanders it would be 10HP. It may be different depending on the typoe of unit, though. Can you confirm Monotone?


In my experience, I believe that if you have priority then the enemy can only do damage based on their HP after taking the initial attack.


[url=showthread.php?goto=post&postid=422715163#post422715163]Oberndorf posted:[/url]
Making things more fun, no unit of hirelings (and I think no character with a portrait, but it's been awhile) can do more damage than it has "health". That is, if your troop of soldiers has all 10 members, it can in theory wipe out a full-health unit. If you've taken some damage, even a supercharged team of second tier cavalry cannot wipe a full health first tier soldier unit.


I believe this is true at least for hired units, since I've never seen a hurt one kill a full HP unit.

Anyway, our battling soldiers have an AT of 20 vs 21, a DF 14 vs 15 and no TA% due to not having a buff and being on a road tile. The type affinities do not come into play here as they are both the same type, Soldier - also they have the same attack priority due to being the same type. Now, if we had a boost from affinity - I unfortunately don't know what the exact percentage would be - I'm guessing it's a bonus of around 15% based on the data I've observed so far. Also, the number of HP remaining factors into the damage calculations, making it easier to tank/kill weaker foes but again am unsure exactly how but I feel it doesn't have too much of an impact. I also know there is a random element to the formula, so if any goons know the exact damage calculation formula feel free to correct me, but I believe it is:

(Attacker's AT X (1+TA) X (1+Affinity) X (1+HP/50) X (1+Atk bonus, if attacker) X RNG)
- (Defender's DF X (1+TA) X (1+Affinity) X (1+HP/50) X RNG) = HP dmg dealt

or in our case,
Fighter's Soldier does (20 X 1 X 1.1 X 1 X 1.2 X R1)
- (15 X 1 X 1 X 1.06 X R2) = 26.4R1 - 15.9R2 = 10.5(R1-R2)

And the enemy Soldier does (21 X 1 X 1.06 X 1 x R1)
- (14 X 1 X 1.1 X 1 X 1.2 X R2) = 22.26R1 - 18.48R2 = 3.78(R1-R2)

Therefore, our Soldier takes 2~4 but gets lucky RNG-wise and takes 2 damage and kills the Soldier pretty convincingly as seen above. Again, these are only my speculations and are by no means exact or even correct.


Healing Damage

You may be wondering if you are damaged, how do you heal those HP back up to full?
Well there are healing spells, but also say your commander's men are hurt, if they are adjacent to him/her (not diagonally) at the start of your turn (not an ally or enemy's), they are healed by 3 HP. So you can heal a maximum of 4 units per turn this way. Also, if your commander is hurt or low on MP or both, they can choose to Rally and heal 3HP & recover 2MP.


Magic

Lastly, let's discuss magic - we only have two magic spells at the moment (bet you forgot about Hein's new one, Fireball) and they are all pretty straight forward and do exactly what they do consistently. Hein's Magic Arrow will do 1 damage to a Soldier, a Commander and even Leon (part of my strategy involved this) regardless of whether Hein is Lv 1 or Lv 30. Also, the game never really explains spells and what they do to you - you just have to learn through trial and error.

Here is a list of all spells in the game (though some have slightly different names - e.g. Meteo = Meteor):



Each spell has an MP cost, a Range, an amount of Magic Damage (if an attack spell) that they'll do and for some, an Area of Effect. These can be buffed with certain items such as Range can be upped by equipping a Wand but more on these as it comes up in-game.

Now, I think that's all for basic mechanics - if there's something I haven't covered or any questions you have, just ask in the thread! And now, here it is - you can try out the character creation quiz for yourself! Hopefully, this will explain how it works as well - learning by doing, you know.


---DIY Character Creation Quiz---

Try it out yourself, but be sure to have a notepad handy!


--- Alternate Scenes/Dialogue ---

When Ridel dies:



Nooo! Ridel, you mustn't die! We had a promise! You said we'd be together... forever...

Ridel's unit blows up

Ridel...

How cruel...

Remember your promise! Don't harm the people of this village!

I never said anything about sparing those who would brandish arms against us.

But-!

I beg you, please! Just let me go with them to the Imperial Capital!
If I go with the Imperial Army, all of this will be over...

I... I won't give up... I cannot forfeit the lives of those I love!

How foolish...

When Evanze dies:



Alright, let us go and assist Baldo with the girl!

Yes, Sir!

If you win but Evanze & Ridel die:



When Baldo reaches the bottom of the map:

Okay, mission accomplished. Let us head back to the Imperial Capital.

So, you are Billy, eh? Well, mind your own damn business, kid! It will be a cold day in hell before you best Baldo in a fight! Ha ha ha!

Gah... This should not have been possible-!



When you challenge Leon & Laird by engaging them...







I've heard not only that the Blue Dragon Knights are the strongest in the land...
but that they also value chivalry above all else! Why now do you engage in such a contemptible act!?

Be silent! I cannot bear your ignorance! The General does not undertake this mission of his own volition!
We act today only due to a direct order from Kaiser Bernhardt himself!

It's all right, Laird. It is unworthy of us to make excuses for such dishonourable actions.
I can endure the disgrace of a mission like this, but not the loss of my men.

When Laird is defeated...





When fucking Leon goes down finally after abusing the quiz glitch and save/load to reseed RNG trick.
Here's the man who did it - specially made for the purpose of eliminating Leon.



The way to win is to a. give all EXP to Erwin, b. take out the first commander by turn 2, c. hope to god Ridel survives to at least turn 5 without your help aka abuse save/load game, d. use Hein's troops to keep Baldo permanently under 8 HP as the AI loves to waste turns healing and finally, e. smartly support Ridel and position yourself such that Evanze can heal spam you and your men.



Look at the file name of this gif, it was what I exclaimed upon finally achieving this.





After you kill Baldo and beat the mission:







That's all for Scenario 1 alternate scenes/dialogue! The only thing I missed was another secret tile item which raises MDF by +10, but that's not a big deal as there are plenty more where that came from.