What could I be doing wrong? or Same difficulty as FE7?!

[Barrylocke]

Now I dont consider myself to be as great at FE as many people here, so I was surprised when I heard it mentioned on an older thread that Book 1 of this is about the same difficulty as FE7. I found that to be fairly challenging, yet I had pretty hefty problems with FE3. In my 2 attempts, the first time I got stuck at chapter 12, and the second time on chapter 8. Im considering giving it another shot thanks to the new patch. Are there any common mistake I could be making/tips I could be using? In my last playthrough (the one that stopped me at chapter 8) I recall using Marth, Kain+Abel, Navarr, Oguma, Douga, Barts, Sheeda among others.

[Neofox]

What exactly are you having problems with in those chapters?

[Barrylocke]

What exactly are you having problems with in those chapters?

Well its been awhile and I dont recall how I had problems in 12, but I do remember that in 8 it was dealing with that sniper and hero, and also those wyvernknights at the beginning of the chapter. I also remember having a really difficult time with the chapter where you get Raddy, due to those constant reinforcements.

Is Raddy even worth it? I saw his growth and liked what I saw, but he starts so weak, and can barely do damage, let alone kill.

[RPGuy96]

The game is usually kind enough to give you a decent defensible position; usually it's just a matter of recognizing that and capitalizing on it.  For example, in Raddy's chapter, north of your starting point, there's a chokepoint with two tiles worth of plains surrounded by mountains.  Stick cavalry/armours on the plains and mercs and archers/mages on the mountains and you'll probably tear through the enemies.  (As a bonus, you probably have two Armour Killer swords for taking out those pesky Armour Knights easily.)  Same thing with the Dragon Knights in chapter 8; if you go south a bit there's a four tile wide space.  Throw high defence units in there and you should be able to mop up the fliers with archers or mages before the Social Knights come up from the south.  The Sniper you can usually swarm and the Hero can only attack one character at a time no matter which approach you take.

Since counterattacks are usually dangerous due to lack of avoid, strategy is usually about minimizing the danger through terrain bonuses or setting up a wall so that your units can't be swarmed or both.  That's how I tend to approach Mystery of the Emblem, anyway.

[Lord Kratos]

Screw Raddy. Not worth training. Oguma and Navarre will cover your needs.

Besides that, some general advice for creating your team (Book 1):

-Kain, Abel, Hardain and Roshe are all great. I usually pick two of them (there are 3 knight crests)
-Doga is really useful in book 1. He can fulfill the role of getting attacked and barely receiving damage for the first half of the game, and by chapter 11 or so, when his defense is not that great you can promote him. Plus generals are the only class capable of using the Gradius (and lances as a whole) in indoor chapter.
-Archers are not that good. Kashim would be your best option.
-Sheeda, Katua and Paola are rly good units. Sheeda probably the best, due to better joining time
-I wouldn't bother with Rena. Wendel covers the healing needs while being more sturdy and Maric and Linda can heal as well after promotion.
-Early promotion. With the caps being 20, promoting at level 12-15 is not a badd idea. In fact, you probably want the promo bonuses earlier, and you don't reach 20/20 anyway.

[Neofox]

Screw Raddy. Not worth training.

Actually, Raddy is pretty good. It's just that by the time he joins, Navarre and Oguma are likely going to be a lot better.

Still, if he really wants a 3rd Hero for some reason, Raddy is worth it.

[Celice]

I never took Raddy for that very reason--I already decided on the units I would use and he didn't fall into that category.

For example, in Raddy's chapter, north of your starting point, there's a chokepoint with two tiles worth of plains surrounded by mountains.

My strategy was to take on all the reinforcements at the port town.  I think I had Doga with no weapons stand at the single-tile break "gate."  Maric I had assault the enemies for experience, that red-head heal, and whichever Archers I felt like using attack as well.  After all the reinforcements were taken care of (many turns later) I calmly proceed to the castle a couple miles away >.>

[Lord Kratos]

Also, if you want to use the 3 heroes you need to buy an extra Hero Crest. It's just better to stick to Oguma and Navarre, IMO. plus they look way cooler

[Barrylocke]

What about that armor you get in chapter...10? Toms? is he worth it?

[Neofox]

Statisically, Toms is one of the best armors in the game. However, because of the way FE3 does EXP, it might be easier for you to just stick to Doga.

It's up to you, really. Are you willing to go through the effort for one of the better armors, or would you prefer to stick to one that's considerably easier to train, even if he's not as good in the end?

[Lord Kratos]

Training Toms is considerably harder (his defense is not that good by the time he joins, offense sucks 'cause he has no speed) while Doga would be just ready to promote, and due to the experience system, Doga is gonna keep a solid level lead.

[Neofox]

Training Toms is considerably harder (his defense is not that good by the time he joins, offense sucks 'cause he has no speed) while Doga would be just ready to promote, and due to the experience system, Doga is gonna keep a solid level lead.

When you say "just about ready to promote," do you mean "level 10 or higher" or "level 20"? Just wondering, because I've seen it used for the latter most of the time, and in Book 1, most units won't reach that point until near the tail-end of the game (hence why some will promote units at level 10-15 instead to get the promotion bonuses... it just helps a lot more in the long run)

[Lord Kratos]

Level 10 or higher.

[Barrylocke]

Ok. I was asking because I remember when I got Toms last time I played, he was somehow stronger than Douga in almost every way, even though Douga was level 9 or 10, and I was confused.

[Devon_v]

I find the best thing to do is not to play the way the game wants you to. It gives you dozens of characters seemingly to encourage you to develop a well balanced army, but you're really best served by focusing on creating a few uber units.

I'm on book 1 chapter 15 I think, and my army basically consists of Oguma, Doga and Chainy. There is very little those three cannot defeat. Oguma has 41 HP, and most enemies have a 50% chance to hit him. He deals 20-80 damage, so most things die when they attack him. Doga has 33 HP and 15 defence, so he's pretty darn hard to hurt, and with a Killer Lance, his damage is 15-50 odd. If either of them comes anywhere close to dying, I just use a Reblow/Libra staff from the starting area with Rena or Maria.

You can also try power leveling Linda (I think is her name, the Bishop's daughter with Aura) in the arena. She seems really good at fighting in there, and wins a lot.

Also, when it comes to distributing stat boosting items, try giving them to characters who are weak in those stats. Someone who is naturally fast like Sheeda will probably max her speed on her own, so give the speed rings to Doga for instance. Especially give him the Boots, as there is a cap on the total movement that a character can have, and few will benefit from it like he will. The one exception would be the Dragon Shield. Giving that to Doga as well can make him impervious to iron and even steel weapons on most enemies. At that point, you only have to fear magic really.

Edit:
Raddy can be good, but he's odd for a merc. He gains massive defence, but not as much strength. My Raddy is a level 12 Merc, and he has 13 defence. That's on part with Armours, and they don't have his speed or skill. Defence shouldn't be underestimated, as it makes all the difference between being forced to rely on terrain and tactics, and just bullying your way though.

You might also consider getting a few levels for the Pegasus knight sisters and Sheeda. They are murder on mage-heavy levels, as most of them take 1 or no damage from basic spells like Thunder.

[Neofox]

You can also try power leveling Linda (I think is her name, the Bishop's daughter with Aura) in the arena. She seems really good at fighting in there, and wins a lot.

I would personally reccomend against using the arena to train a low-level unit. Unless you are using savestates, the arenas can be very brutal, and it is not uncommon for them to spit promoted enemies (or sometimes even dragons) at unpromoted characters.

[Charliecane]

Raddy can be good, but he's odd for a merc. He gains massive defence, but not as much strength. My Raddy is a level 12 Merc, and he has 13 defence.

Raddy's stats are more or less on par with Navarre's (i.e. great offensive stats, relatively poor defenses). I wouldn't count on him having that much defense consistently.

[Barrylocke]

I would personally reccomend against using the arena to train a low-level unit. Unless you are using savestates, the arenas can be very brutal, and it is not uncommon for them to spit promoted enemies (or sometimes even dragons) at unpromoted characters.

Yeah, I hardly ever used the arena. I remember trying to level up someone (forget who) and I faught a dragon o_O. Fortunatly it was the arena in chapter 5 so that persons demise didnt trip me up too much.

[Devon_v]

I would personally reccomend against using the arena to train a low-level unit. Unless you are using savestates, the arenas can be very brutal, and it is not uncommon for them to spit promoted enemies (or sometimes even dragons) at unpromoted characters.

Normally that's true, but Linda is an exception. She is very fast, so she dodges a lot, and she always gets two attacks and for some reason has Thunder as her arena spell. (Everyone else seems to get their worst possible weapon) She also starts on level 5 I think.

Just avoid the large wagers and she should be fine. If it's 1080 gold, it's likely to be a hero or a dragon, but if it's a wager for 640 gold, it'll probably be a pirate or a soldier. Most low level arena opponents have no resistance, so Linda can do around 20 damage a round to them, and will kill them outright if she criticals. As long as she dodges the first enemy attack, she should win, and she'll level quickly. If she gets hit, or if it's an axe wielder who can take her out in one shot, retreat. She's especially good against the armours, as most characters can't touch them in the arena, but she'll take them down with ease.

Just a thought, and not really necessary. Doga and your choice of Merc can handle things far better than any mage. My Doga now has 18 defence and 7 resistance and can wade into Dark Knights alone and win (With the occasional Reblow).

Raddy's stats are more or less on par with Navarre's (i.e. great offensive stats, relatively poor defenses). I wouldn't count on him having that much defense consistently.

Hmm, so I have bizarro Raddy. Interesting.

[Neofox]

Normally that's true, but Linda is an exception. She is very fast, so she dodges a lot, and she always gets two attacks and for some reason has Thunder as her arena spell. (Everyone else seems to get their worst possible weapon) She also starts on level 5 I think.

Actually, she doesn't dodge all that much, and especially not at the start. In fact, few units can dodge very effectively in this game since dodge is speed + luck while accuracy is weapon hit + skillx2.

Retreating isn't as easy as you say it is, either... Battles must last a single round before you can quit, and if she can die in one hit from the enemy, you're either going to have to get lucky and have her dodge or sit and watch her get killed before you can do anything.