Warsong/Langrisser FAQ 6.2, 12/29/2000 Maintainer: saintly@innocent.com Send comments or questions to the above address. About this FAQ This FAQ answers common questions about the Sega Genesis game "Warsong", published by Treco. Thanks to a number of generous fans, almost all the stats are completed and in now. Things I'd still like to know: - Exact defense bonuses for soldiers fighting archers and water-based troops fighting in water. - Battle formula for how damage is determined - Terrain movement consumption and defense bonuses - Different strategies for beating the scenarios You can find the latest copy of this FAQ at www.gamefaqs.com What's here/Table of contents 1. About the game 1.1. Getting a copy 2. How to play 2.1. Moving troops 2.2. Attacking 2.3. Casting spells 2.4. The scenario map 2.5. Preferences 3. General advice 3.1. Spell draining 3.2. Formations 4. Experience and Promoting 5. Level-by-level strategy 6. Items & Effects 7. Characters and advancement paths 8. Troop comparisons 8.1 Player/Enemy troop comparisons 9. Commander class comparisons 9.1 Discussions of individual classes 10. Spells 11. Codes and Cheating 12. Rumors & comments 13. Nitpicks 14. Challenges 15. Thanks & credits 1. About the game: Warsong is one of the coolest strategy games for Sega Genesis. Released as "Langrisser" elsewhere, this game is somewhat hard to find in the US. You slowly acquire ally leaders, each of whom can hire troops to fight the enemy in stages; called Scenarios. Each scenario starts you out in a defensive position with enemies nearby and a goal to accomplish. Typical goals are, "Protect this person", "Destroy all the enemies", "Destroy the enemy leader (other enemies optional)" and several other types. You chose where to strategically place your troops in the beginning, and the formations you want to fight in. Along the way, you also acquire special items that can increase the power of your commanders. As your commanders gain experience, they can be promoted to different "classes" with new spells, and new abilities. Warsong is excellently written for it's time, has nicely drawn graphics, and one of the best soundtracks for any Genesis game. It has a nice 'Anime' feel to it. 1.1 Getting a copy Warsong is made by the software company 'Treco', a small company which seems to have published very little, unfortunately. No other Langrisser games were ported to the Genesis. Unfortunately, Warsong didn't sell too well on the Genesis and is somewhat hard to find. Your best bet is used video-game stores and friends if you want to buy it. On the internet, you can buy it from http://www.funcoland.com It is usually backordered, as more people are becoming aware of it and buying it. Expect to pay $15-20 USD for it. I have one copy of the game, no manual. I loaned my other copy to a friend, who promptly lost it, so I can't sell it to you. If you find any other 'net retailers let me know so I can list them here. Your other alternative is a Genesis emulator and a ROM. An emulator runs on your PC and 'plays' ROMs that have been turned into ordinary files. Emulators are available for several platforms (they all run each other's ROMs). It is legal to own an emulator, but illegal to own a ROM without owning the original cartridge. Listed below are popular emulators; PC: Genecyst, KGen, GenEm, *Megasis, *Gens Mac: *GenEm At the time of this writing, Megasis is the only emulator that correctly runs the Warsong game. Warsong uses a strange Genesis mode to draw it's dialogs and none of the other emulators will draw them. I've found a lot of people playing the ROMs now, even though they own the cart since the batteries are dying on most carts by now. Note that Megasis a windows program only (won't run in dos) and uses DirectX. For a list of genesis emulators, visit http://archaic-ruins.parodius.com/genesis/emulator.htm or http://genecyst.parodius.com/ or http://www.emux.com or http://www.gens.emuforce.com or http://alamone.zophar.net (under Langrisser 1) Which may or may not be up. It moves frequently. 2. How to play (for people without manuals) Warsong is a strategy game. The object of each scenario is to accomplish the scenario goals through killing as many enemy units as possible and losing as few allied units as you can. Each scenario starts in "troop purchase & item distribution" mode. You will see eight boxes (four at the top and four at the bottom of the screen). The boxes will be filled in with pictures of commanders. Don't worry if you have less than eight, you will gain and lose commanders as the game progresses. From this screen, you can assign the items you have collected to each commander. Each commander can only carry one item. You do not have to distribute all the items, but (except for the evil axe) it doesn't hurt. Most items affect the commander's personal attack/defense ratings, but have no effect on the troops. Each commander can purchase troops. Only one kind of troop can be assigned to a commander at one time, although they may have several types (eg, archer, horseman & soldier) to choose from. You may assign up to eight troops to any one commander. You do not have to assign troops. It costs money to hire them, and it is sometimes better not to have them. Troops do not carry over to the next scenario, so any troops that never see combat are basically wasted money. After you are through assigning troops and items, proceed to the next screen; assigning locations. Here you see a map of the entire scenario, with enemy starting positions as flashing blue dots. You can see potential starting positions as yellow crosses. You must assign all available commanders to a starting location. Place each commander on one of the open crosses (you can't place two commanders in the same place). When all commanders have been assigned, start the game. The main scenario map shows each commander surrounded by his or her troops. The game procedes in three 'phases'. Your movement phase, allied/friendly commander's movement phase, and the enemy's movement phase. The only phase you have any control over is the first one. During your turn, you have several options. You can move troops, move commanders, attack or cast spells. 2.1 Moving troops This is fairly simple. Select the troop, the cursor changes to a winged boot. The game calculates where your troop can move to (based on movement points and costs, explained later). The squares that are unavailable are darkened. You can move the cursor to any brightened square and select it. The unit will move to the location you specified, and if an enemy is nearby you will have the option to attack it. You cannot move through or on top of an enemy unit, even if it is flying. Troops that are next to their commander at the beginning of the phase are healed up to 3 points. Moving commanders follows the same procedure. If the commander's troops are in formation mode, any troops that were not moved may be moved automatically at the end of your phase. 2.2 Attacking Either select 'attack' from the troop/commander menu or move the troop/commander next to an enemy unit. The cursor changes to a sword. Select an available enemy (or the unit itself to cancel the attack) to attack it. The attack procedes automatically, and there is nothing you can do to influence the outcome short of restarting and attacking again. During the battle, the two troops will rush towards each other to attack. The center box shows what is currently being calculated and factored into combat. Adjustments due to the terrain, commander's level and geography are all taken into account. Swords appear on both the left and right side representing how many 'kills' each side has made in that battle. At the end of the battle, experience is added to each commander if they managed to destroy the enemy unit completely. The green bar representing experience (inside the gold border) gets longer. When it is full, the commander advances a level. When a commander advances to level 10, they can move up a class. (detailed on the advancement paths) They start out at level one in their new class. 2.3 Casting a spell Only commanders can cast spells. Select the commander and the spell you want to cast. Now select the center of the area of effect of the spell (squares that are too far away are darkened). The screen brightens the squares that will be affected by the spell. If you are satisfied with how the spell is targeted, continue to cast the spell. Both the distance away from the caster and the area of effect increase with the caster's level. Spell ranges and effects are listed in another part of this FAQ. 2.4 The scenario map You can move the cursor on top of a square or unit to see more about it. When you move on top of a commander or a troop, the commander's 'sphere of influence' blinks green, and all the commander's troops have a flashing yellow dot (or blue dot in the case of enemies). Troops with an 'x' in front of them are allied troops; computer-controlled, but friendly to you. It is OK to allow allied commanders to die, they will return later. Troops with an 'E' in front of them are 'Frozen' and can't be moved. Additionally, the commander displays another icon representing which formation mode the troops are in. A sword means 'attack', a shield means 'defense', a boot means 'move' and the finger means 'manual'. All troops belonging to the commander inside the 'sphere of influence' gain a bonus to attack and defense, based on the commander's class. (see the list of classes) Each troop displays a number representing how much 'power' the troop has left. When the power reaches zero, the troop is destroyed and cannot be revived. A troop with at least one power can be brought back to the commander to be healed. If you move the cursor over an unoccupied tile, you will see a picture of the tile, followed by a description and the defense adjustment provided. See 'moving and defense' for more about this. 2.5 Game Preferences You can adjust the game speed to slow, normal or fast. The default is Normal. In Normal mode, the cursor moves to the enemy, selects each troop, selects the destination for the troop to move to, then animates moving the troop. It also moves to each commander when they talk. In slow mode, it does each of the steps slowly. In fast mode, the cursor "jumps" to each troop and just moves it without stopping to draw its movement path. Hold down "B" in slow or normal mode to make the game behave one speed faster. "BGM" turns background music on or off. (see the cheats section about changing the background music). In "Semi-Automatic" mode, the cursor moves from troop to troop, opening it's move mode to allow you to set the destination and action for each troop. It's annoying since it usually doesn't select the troops in an order that's helpful. Interruption saves the game mid-scenario. You can only have one "interrupted" state. You are prompted to save the game after each level. It is suggested that you use a different save slot when you are trying to decide which advancement path to send a commander. 3. General advice: It helps to save after each level, then start the new level with no troops (just place commanders in any order) to see where the enemies start and what troops they have. Then reset and pick commanders, troops and placement to match. Once you have a leader join (so that you can control them), be careful not to let them die. Once they are dead, they are permanently gone, and nearly all are useful. Before they join (when they are "allies") they can die, and still come back later when they're supposed to! You may have noticed that troops within their commanders sphere of influence (the blinking green squares) get the bonus to attack and defense (determined by their commander's class). The enemy won't move troops out of this sphere, and for a stationary enemy leader, won't attack you with troops unless they can do so from within range. You, on the other hand, can move troops anywhere you want. They still give you experience even if they are out of range. The enemy will occasionally move faster than his troops, stranding them out of range (this often happens around water or when the troop is blocked by impassable terrain). Stranded troops will attack anything next to them. Everyone, even the weakest troop has a chance of doing at least 1 damage to any enemy (if you're incredibly lucky, 2 points), even when the numbers show that it couldn't possibly work. Yes, out-of range soldiers flinging spears can kill (a weakened) Chaos. Cool, huh? To eke out experience, save the game and restart until the soldiers or leader takes out the enemy. An enemy commander at 7 or less HPs will always choose to heal, rather than cast a spell or do anything else. Enemies won't attack with troops lowered to 6 or less. This means that if you hit the enemy with a Thunder or two, you will prevent it from attacking you for a while. Leaders won't attack unless all their troops have been destroyed, or you move a troop next to them (Unless the leader is in "Attack" formation). Leaders and units usually attack the enemy with the weakest HP, even if it would be suicide; This is especially true in Scenario 2, where barbarians will all slaughter themselves on Baldarov's horsemen. (Thanks *****) Magic is somewhat underestimated by many people. Magic ALWAYS does a certain amount of damage to each enemy within range. That means that even if your troops can't hope to damage the enemies, the combined damage from several thunders, tornadoes and magic arrows in a row can rip the enemy apart. Remember; Damaged troops are weaker and can inflict less damage than they could if they were fully healed. After one Thunder, sic several troops on the enemy even if their odds are low. The enemy won't attack with weakened troops, preferring to heal them instead. One Tornado buys you a LOT of time to regroup while the enemy heals. 3.1 Devious spell-draining: Pick a commander (a Dragon knight if you have one), set all the troops on "manual" and stash them out of the way. Fly solo right in the sphere of influence of an enemy spellcaster (but inaccessible to the troops; Over a high-wall, on a pillar, whatever so that no more than one of the spellcaster's troops can get to you). The enemy will attempt to blast the commander with a spell. Heal your next turn and keep doing that until the commander is out of magic. Now return to your troops and continue the game. A ranger with the cross or shield is especially good for this. 3.2 Formations: A defense formation is: TTT where the troops totally surround the commander TCT TTT Attack and Move formation is: T T T Like a diamond. In "attack", troops automatically T C T attack enemies in the sphere of influence. In T T 'Move' formation, troops will attack any enemies T they move next to. What's the point of the diamond? Since the enemy always targets spells at the commander, Magic Arrows won't hurt the troops. You can also overlap two troop formations to get better defense: 12 With the two commanders in the middle. Why? 1212 I have no idea. Move/Attack also prevents damaged 12CC12 troops from getting healed. 1212 12 In general, there aren't many benefits to Formation mode after the enemy gets spells more powerful than Magic Arrows. There is one benefit to 'Attack' though; troops in formation mode usually move after Friendly commanders and their troops. If you put your troops in 'Attack', they will attack after the Friendly troops have softened up the enemy. Defense is a useful mode when you want to move a commander over a long distance without any enemies. In "formation" mode, the troops will often leave the positions you set them in a turn earlier. This can be very annoying if you are trying to block a passageway or similar. It's usually a better idea to leave them on Manual and only use Formations when you want to go a distance without enemies along the way 3.3 Moving and defense Each square on the scenario map has several properties that are important to the game. One is the "movement cost". Each commander and troop type has a set number of Movement points each turn. To move over a square, you subtract its Movement cost from the points you have available. This makes moving over mountains and water difficult (mermen have the special ability to move through water, and flying troops treat all terrain as plains). Some squares are impossible for ground-based troops to move onto. These include the white mountain peaks, and High castle walls. The other property of each tile is Defense adjustment. This is a special bonus offered to troops or commanders that end their turn in that square. Troops stationed on a castle wall have a better defense adjustment than troops stationed in plains. When you move troops and commanders, it's usually a good idea to position them to take advantage of the terrain, rather than to use the default formation and move your maximum limit each turn. Your best position is one that offers you a good defense bonus, while forcing enemies to attack you from a weaker position. A Forest tile surrounded by four plains tiles is good. If you are fighting water-based enemies (who get a large bonus when they fight in the water), set all your troops in positions that force the enemy to come on land to attack you. Terrain MV Usage by Defense type Land Horse Sea Air Bonus ------- --------------------- ------- Plains 1 1 1 Road 1 Bridge 1 Forest 1 High Wall X X X 1 +40% Mountain 1 High Mtn. X X X 1 +40% Throne 1 Water 1 1 Stone Floor ? 1 4. Experience and Promoting: I play the game trying to get all the experience I can. I prefer to destroy all the enemies possible (it can be done, but takes some strategy). If you "feed" Sabra experience (have everybody weaken the enemies, then kill them off with Sabra and her troops as much as possible) she'll become a Dragon knight on scenario 6! That rocks! It makes the game ridiculously easy after that... Remember, out-of range troops still give their commander experience... To save an enemy leader for one of your people, surround him with four of your troops (ideally with their commander right next to two of them, like so: T T - Your troops, E - Enemy commander TET C - Troop commander CT This "traps" the enemy. Every turn, swap out the troop he damaged for a fresh one and let the damaged one heal next to it's commander. This gives you time to heal the commander you want to get the experience, or bring a far-away commander to the enemy without the enemy getting away. Lance and Baldarov don't gain experience, so don't use them if you can avoid it (they are best suited to softening up the enemies for other commanders to kill). Don't use Lance at all if Sabra can fly. See the end of the FAQ for advancement paths, promoting, troop comparisons and discussions of each commander class. Commanders give more experience than troops do (about three times as much), Royal soldiers give about double what the average troop does. 5. Level-by-level strategy Scenario 1 - Save Garett Object: Save Garett by moving to the edge of the battlefield Commanders: Garett, Baldarov Placement: Place Garett and Baldarov Allies: Tiberon, Calais, Sabra, Alfador Enemies: Serpent Knight/8 Lizard men Bishop/4 Elementals Lord/8 Dark Elves Lord/5 Soldiers Tips: This scenario is beatable! I've done it several times. Give Garett as many troops as possible (at least one or two horseman for Baldarov though). Head Left. Let Baldarov give Tiberon a hand beating up the archers, finish off particularly weak troops with Garett & co. After Tib and Baldy beat up the commander, head down and help out Calais with the enemy lizards. Let Sabra get killed, and the elemental guy show up. Garett's dad is a King (with a very high defense rating) sitting on a throne (with a nice bonus to defense). He's almost impervious to the elementals! Let the king damage the elementals until you can attack the mage on two sides, attack with Garett and his soldiers (the mage is physically weak). You'll win, and they'll say something about going for reinforcements and you'll leave anyway. Scenario 2 - Protect Mina Object: Defeat all the enemies, or get Mina to the castle. Commanders: Garett, Baldarov Placement: Place Garett and Baldarov Allies: Mina Enemies: Shaman/6 Barbarians (x4) Shaman/4 Barbarians Shaman/6 Barbarians (on turn 13) Tips: Send Baldarov's troops out of range unless you want them to totally slaughter the enemies. One of Baldarov's horsemen with 1HP can completely slaughter a 10HP barbarian unit if the horseman is in range. On turn 13, more barbarians show up (on the far left, north of the mountains). Bring 'em on! Remember to watch for the barbarians crossing the mountains. Mina has a bad habit of running away from troops carefully placed to protect her and charging the enemy. Her "troops" are basically worthless. She'll heal a commander at 7 or less if he is within range of her Healing 1. You can get Garett to Lord if you didn't wimp out of the first stage. A good stage to come back to before you complete scenario 4. A good idea that I hadn't thought of (courtesy Andrew Luxmore) is to get Archers for Baldarov instead. They don't slaughter stuff nearly as bad, especially if out of range. Scenario 3 - Save Mina again. Object: Defeat all the enemies Commanders: Garett, Baldarov Placement: You cannot control placement on this level Allies: Mina, Thorne Enemies: Shaman/8 Barbarians Shaman/6 Barbarians Shaman/4 Barbarians (x2) Shaman/2 Barbarians (x3) Tips: Not that tough, remember it doesn't matter if other commanders get killed when they're not under your control. Be an experience pig! Sabra joins and you win the 'Great Sword' after this level. Scenario 4 - Who sneezed? Object: Survive long enough for reinforcements to show up Commanders: Garett, Baldarov, Sabra Placement: Place Garett, Baldarov and Sabra Enemies: Great Slime/8 Slimes (x2) Great Slime/6 Slimes (x2) Great Slime/4 Slimes Tips: Don't bother with troops. Position your characters in nice, defensive spots (like in a forest with clear plains all around it) to give yourself the max benefit while ensuring that the enemies don't get it too. Sit around and beat up the enemies with commanders alone. Mina and Thorne show up to "save" you on turn 5. You win if you're still around on turn 10. Mina and Thorne join after you win this level. Alternative strategy, courtesy Andrew Luxmore, is to get 4 archers and 8 horsemen for Garett (if he is a Knight). I have never killed all the slimes without cheating (warping back here with a Grand Knight or King). Scenario 5 - Lance, round 1 Object: Defeat Lance! Commanders: Garett, Baldarov, Sabra, Mina, Thorne Placement: Place Garett, Baldarov, Sabra, Mina and Thorne Enemies: Lance/8 Horsemen Fighter/8 Soldiers Fighter/8 Dark Elves Knight/ 8 Horsemen (x2) Tips: The enemy tries to come in 'waves' designed to get around your defense; first Horsemen, then Soldiers, then Archers. With some fast-switching and moving you can adapt to this and have the best advantage, but it's difficult to pull off neatly. Baldarov dies, and it can't be prevented (unless you cheat and warp past this stage). You weren't using him much anyway, right? He basically wastes experience. One strategy would be to stage the big fight at the left bridge (from Andrew Luxmore), which makes the switching easier. I staged it at the far right pass through the mountains (so I could hog the mountain defense bonuses), but it's up to you. Also from Andrew Luxmore: if you were sending Garett the Grand Knight route, he can make it on this level. Scenario 6 - Castle assault Object: Defeat Geryon Commanders: Garett, Sabra, Mina, Thorne Placement: Place Garett, Sabra, Mina and Thorne Enemies: Geryon/2 Royal soldiers Knight/6 Horsemen (x2) Fighter/8 Soldiers (x2) Fighter/6 Dark Elves Tips: This is a tough stage. It helps if Garett is already a Lord. Take defensive positions along the walls. At the end of the scenario, you get Calais back. For a slightly easier time, concentrate your forces. Put three commanders on the right, and send the commander on the left all the way around the top of the castle to join the rest (the commander doing the 'hail mary' will probably lose a few troops, don't stop to fight - just run for the cover of the other commanders). Calais and Tiberon join after this scenario, plus you win the Magic Shield! Andrew Luxmore points out that if you got Garett (or any other class) to it's maximum advancement class, they make the best choice for doing the hail mary. Scenario 7 - Lance, round 2 Object: Save Bayard (kill Momus) Commanders: Garett, Sabra, Mina, Thorne, Calias, Tiberon Placement: Place up to 6 commanders Enemies: Momus (Fighter)/8 Dark Elves(x2) Serpent Knight/8 Lizard men (x2) Fighter/8 Soldiers Knight/6 Horsemen Lance/6 Horsemen (Turn 12) Knight/6 Horsemen (Turn 12) Tips: Bayard won't last long without your help. Save and restart if he does particularly badly during the enemies phase. After you cross the bridge, Lance shows up. Kick his butt again! When you're fighting the lizard dudes, DON'T put your troops right up to the edge of the bridge! Force the overgrown frogs to come on land to fight you. Bayard joins your forces after this level. Scenario 8 - Lance, round 3 Object: Kill the commanders that are running away. Commanders: Garett, Sabra, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tiberon, Bayard Placement: Place up to 7 commanders Enemies: Chief Commander/2 Royal Soldiers Fighter/8 Dark Elves (x2) Fighter/8 Soldiers (x2) Lance/6 Horsemen (Turn 5) Knight/6 Horsemen (Turn 5) Tips: Show no mercy! Pick off the commanders. Several will try to head north, make a run for it to prevent their escape. Lance shows up (again. Doesn't that guy ever quit?) from the bottom left. Kick his butt, then pick off the remaining enemies. This is a good stage to get experience and come back to before you complete scenario 10. Scenario 9 - Leviathan and pals (Lance, round 4) Object: Defeat the enemy commander, or Garett to top Commanders: Garett, Sabra, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tiberon, Bayard Placement: Place up to 7 commanders Enemies: Serpent Knight/8 Lizard men Grand Knight/8 Soldiers Fighter/8 Soldiers (x2) Fighter/8 Dark Elves Giant Squid/8 Leviathans (x2) (Turn 6) Lance/8 Horsemen (Turn 7) Tips: If you're an experience pig, send troops out to the two peninsulas to fight the water monsters. Take shelter in forests and force them to attack you from land. If you just want to coast through this level, stay in your original positions and let the monsters attack the enemies for you. Lance shows up on turn 7. Lance will attack you if you land on the shore. In order to make one of the the leviathans attack you, put troops on manual and run out into the water (so that you can get back in one turn). Fight the lizardmen with Mina/Calais's guardsmen, since they have a weak defense out of water (from Andrew Luxmore) Scenario 10 - Magic Soak Object: Defeat the high priest guy Commanders: Garett, Sabra, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tiberon, Bayard Placement: Place up to 7 commanders Enemies: Chief Commander/4 Royal Soldiers Serpent Knight/8 Lizard men (x2) Bishop/8 Dark Elves Arch Mage/8 Soldiers Fighter/8 Soldiers Grand Knight/8 Archers (Turn 10) Grand Knight/8 Horsemen (Turn 10) Tips: If Sabra is a dragon knight, or becomes one on this level, send her over to soak up the spells of the bad guys before you invade the castle. Reinforcements (NOT Lance) show up on turn 10, from the left as well as the bottom. Save a commander or two to deal with them. The commander on the left arrives with archers, the commander on the bottom arrives with soldiers. Carleon joins after this level, and you get the Wand. Scenario 11 - Lance, round 5 Object: Garett to Center well-thingy. Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tib, Bayard, Carleon Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Arch Mage/8 Dark Elves Grand Knight/8 Soldiers (x4) Lance/8 Horsemen (Turn 5) Wyvern/8 Gargoyles (x2) (Turn 7) Tips: If you don't move toward the center of the castle, the flying monsters will head straight for the archamge and all get slaughtered by the archmage's spells. Don't let that happen! Charge for the center so they come after you instead and you get the experience. Lance (here we go again) shows up in the bottom-left on turn 5. The Wyverns show up at the top and bottom center on turn 7. Put commanders with horsemen closest to the center when you start, backed up by commanders with archers behind them. Try to have at least one archer company on the top and bottom to deal with the wyverns (and Lance). Sabra can hide in the right-most stair room under the pillar (touching the archmage's sphere of influence) to absorb the spells. The Wyverns can cast Fireball, so be ready. From Andrew Luxmore: Carleon can take out Lance if he is backed up by a Grand Knight Garett. Scenario 12 - Recover Warsong Object: Pulverize Pithion Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tib, Bayard, Carleon Placement: You cannot control placement on this level Enemies: Pythion/8 Royal Soldiers Chief Commander/6 Royal Soldiers Arch Mage/8 Fighters Bishop/8 Dark Elves Wizard/8 Dark Elves Grand Knight/8 Soldiers (x3) Tips: This is two-sided, and hard. Your troops are split with a wall between half your commanders. Don't fight Pithion until you've toasted the other enemy leaders. It may be prudent to kill at least one of the enemy leaders on the right side straight away so you don't have to deal with it's troops. You can't control the placement of your commanders. Consider getting just soldiers for the left side, horsemen for the bottom two commanders on the right side and soldiers for the top two commanders on the right. After this stage you get Warsong (POWER!) and the Evil Axe. The worst part is that they put Sabra's Griffin army up against a mage and their archers! From Andrew Luxmore: Archmage Calais can Earthquake the whole right side and assist in keeping the commanders under 7hp (and not casting spells). Switch Sabra with Carleon. My alternative was punching through and taking out the mage (physically weak) with griffins, at a bad loss of XP. Scenario 13 - Let's get stoned... Object: Defeat the basilisks Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tib, Bayard, Carleon Allies: Lance Placement: Place up to 7 commanders Enemies: Basilisk/6 Styracosaurs Basilisk/4 Styracosaurs (x2) Great Slime/8 Slimes (x2) Queen Ant/8 Evil Ants (x2) Tips: Don't get troops for Sabra, start her out at the top, then send her straight up to sit right next to the box. When it looks like you're in trouble, move onto the box (turns all stoned people back to normal). Lance will also get un-stoned (but not the villagers. Weren't they turned to stone too?) and beat up the remaining enemies. From now on he'll fight on your side. This stage is great for experience, and the ants and slimes are a pushover. If you have a Saint, let the Tornados rip on the basilisks and kill them before they can heal (that way they don't get a chance to use their stone gaze). Don't bother bringing many troops along. Win the Amulet after this level. Lance joins you after this level. Scenario 14 - The WolfMan Object: Save a town from wolves Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Cal, Tib, Bay, Car, Lance Placement: Place up to 6 commanders Enemies: 1 Werewolf Werewolf/8 Werewolves (x6) (After you defeat the loner) Tips: This is somewhat hard. Take defensive positions when you can. A fairly basic battle. The village will be attacked from both sides. Bring all the troops you can. The wolf leaders are VERY strong. Alternately, you can try this without troops. Have your heroes take shelter in the buildings and let the werewolves come to you. Rotate out damaged leaders, and use spells to lower the wolf troops down to 8 points. You lose the civilians this way, but it is easier to win and you probably don't need the money anyway. - (Thanks Abacrombie) Scenario 15 - And what's in the Pot? Object: Save the town from the great dragon. Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Cal, Tib, Bay, Car, Lance Placement: Place up to 4 commanders Enemies: Dragon Gorgon/6 Styracosaurs (x2) Shaman/8 Barbarians Tips: Send a flying knight (preferably Sabra) with some troops straight up to kill the shaman in the north. When you do, you'll open a Pot and a genie will come out and kick the dragon's butt. Time it to get the most experience from this one. Scenario 16 - Beat up the fleeing dragon Object: Kill the dragon. Again. Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Cal, Tib, Bay, Car, Lance Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Dragon/8 Styracosaurs Gorgon/8 Carrion Crawlers (x2) Queen Ant/8 Evil Ants (x3) Great Slime/8 Slimes (x2) Tips: Send Mina and Calias with gaurdsmen to the left to waste the slimes. Send either a commander without any troops (and Warsong) south to beat up the ants, or use horsemen. Use Sabra to hide in inaccessible spots and drain the magic from the enemy leaders. The dragon is much weaker this time, and there's a Dragon Sword (+5/+3) in a chest to help you finish him off. The sword disappears at the end of the battle. Scenario 17 - Wyverns Object: Kill everything in sight Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Cal, Tib, Bay, Car, Lance Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Gorgon/8 Styracosaurs (x2) Wyvern/8 Gargoyles (x6) Tips: Get several bunches of archers to toast the wyverns/gargoyles when they fly down. It helps to have one set killed off by the time the next arrives. Then you have the long, slow task of destroying the styracosaurs. Scenario 18 - Is there a Naxos in the house? Object: Kill Naxos Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Cal, Tib, Bay, Car, Lance Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Naxos/8 Golems Living Armor/8 Skeletons Queen Ant/8 Evil Ants (x3) Great Slime/8 Slimes (x3) Tips: Just about the only way to beat up the golems is to use several magic spells in a row. Bring on the Thunder and Tornados! One you have an opening, Naxos himself is easy. You could also send flying troops in to finish him off. Yes, you could use an earthquake here (and on Scenario 19) but then you wouldn't have the pleasure of killing everyting! If you want an easy win, send Sabra/Lance up behind Naxos and kill him by turn 3. Lance leaves after this level. Scenario 19 - Death to Mortimus Object: Kill Mortimus Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tib, Bayard, Carleon Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Mortimus/8 Skeletons Bishop/8 Dark Elves Wizard/8 Dark Elves (x2) Lord/8 Royal Soldiers (x2) Fighter/8 Soldiers (x3) Tips: You can send your troops in two directions here. Go for it instead of trying to crowd all your troops through one narrow passage! The Monks are pretty good against the skeletons. Scenario 20 - Chaos Object: Kill Ganelon, then Chaos Commanders: Gar, Sab, Mina, Thorne, Calais, Tib, Bayard, Carleon Placement: Place up to 8 commanders Enemies: Ganelon/8 Styracosaurs Living Armor/8 Skeletons (x6) Chaos/8 Elementals (After you kill Ganelon) Tips: Send Sabra without troops along one side to drain the magic from the skeletons, then use her to drain Ganelon. Once she moves out of range of the skeletons she's trying to drain, they'll keep going for the main party. For a bit of fun, trap Ganelon on his throne until you can move everyone else up and surround the area where Chaos shows up (you'll never guess where..) Bring along several squads of archers and monks, because they make short work of the elementals. Only Sabra's griffons don't slaughter the elementals, so save them for mop-up duty. If you save your magic, you can totally demolish Chaos's forces if you are waiting for them. 6. Items & Effects: Name - Attack adj./Defense adj., special effect Amulet - +0/+2, doubles sphere of influence Cross - +0/+2 Great Sword - +2/+0 Wand - +2/+0, increases spell damage by 1-2 points Shield - +0/+4 Evil Axe - +8/-10 Dragon Slayer - +5/+3, disappears after the battle Warsong - +4/+4 Orb - +0/+0, magic cost reduced by 50% The Orb is one of the more interesting items. It cuts the cost of the spell by 50% *WHEN IT IS CAST*. If you don't have enough points to pay the full cost of the spell, you can't cast it even though you should be able to. (bug?) So, you can't cast that last 'Lightning' with only 2 MP left. This way, it doesn't quite double the number of spells you can cast. 7. Characters available and advancement paths: Here are the main characters in the game, along with their name in Langrisser and their recommended advancement path (marked with *). Garett (Ledin) - Your main hero. If you lose him, your game is over. Garett is a decent fighter through most of the game (as a fighter class, he also gets a few bonuses), but really shines as a King. A decent defense stat (improved by the shield or the cross) and a buff attack power makes him able to take on a lot of enemies personally. Grand Knight is overall a better class though (except for being slow indoors). It's your pick. (Andrew Luxmore) Advancement: Fighter -> *Knight or Lord Lord -> King or Magic Knight Knight -> Knight Master or *Grand Knight Baldarov (Volkov) - Garett's bodyguard. Can't advance or gain exp.! Plus, he dies later (this is not preventable.) His troops are practically invincible though with his +9 to defense. Try to use him as little as possible. Advancement: Sword Master Mina (Kris) - A travelling cleric Garett meets on the road. Mina and her troops are really weak until she becomes a Saint, however, once she does then she'll really start toasting the enemies. Feed her experience. (azheem@beaches.net) Advancement: Cleric -> Warlock or *Priestess Priestess -> High Priestess or *Saint Warlock -> Bishop or Wizard Wizard -> (same as Calais) Calais (Jessica) - The court mage of castle Baltia The ArchMage really sucks as a class (IMHO) even though it sounds cool, its spellcasting powers are kind of weak, unless you build a strategy out of using Earthquake to break down walls and shortcutting your way through a stage. If you're reading this too late to make her a Cleric, at least make her a Magic Knight, even that is better than Arch Mage (avoid giving her enough experience to force her to become the Ranger though) Advancement: Warlock -> *Cleric or Wizard Wizard -> Arch Mage or Magic Knight Magic Knight -> Ranger Cleric -> *(same as Mina) Sabra (Nahmu) - Commander of the Baltia troops Sabra is the only full-time member of your team that can become a dragon knight and fly. Do it, it's well worth it. She's even a decent fighter up until then, too. Advancement: Fighter -> Knight or *Lord Lord -> *Dragon Knight or Magic Knight Knight -> Knight Master or Grand Knight Tiberon (Tiira) - Reformed pirate & navy commander Unless you want him to be left far behind your party in later stages of the game, DON'T make him a serpent knight. He's better as a Knight Master, even though it's not a great class. Andrew Luxmore comments that having a serpent knight or Croc Knight is a fairly big advantage on the stages where it is useful (6-9). I agree, but wouldn't want to make him so crippled after that. Still, if you never plan to really use him again (especially to move anywhere), then you could make him a Serpent Knight. Advancement: Crocodile Knight -> Serpent Knight or *Knight Knight -> *Knight Master Thorne (Soun) - One of Lord Carleon's Knights Generic fighter with no outstanding abilities. I prefer Magic Knights to Knight Masters generally, but there are benefits to either I suppose. Advancement: Fighter -> Knight or *Lord Lord -> *Magic Knight Knight -> Knight Master Bayard (Albert) - Commander of castle Anzel A clone of Thorne with a different picture. Advancement: Fighter -> Knight or *Lord Lord -> *Magic Knight Knight -> Knight Master Carleon (Hawking) - Friend of Garett's father Another Thorne clone. Advancement: Fighter -> Knight or *Lord Lord -> *Magic Knight Knight -> Knight Master Lance (??) - One of emperor Pithion's commanders Another dragon knight is fun to have, except this guy will eventually desert you, and can't gain experience anyway. Advancement: Dragon Knight Note: If you follow the recommended advancement paths, you will have 1 King, 2 Saints, 1 Dragon Knight, 1 Knight Master and 3 Magic Knights. 8. Troop comparisons: Troops can't usually do more damage than they have points; that means that a troop that is at 7 HPs can only do 7 points of damage. There are exceptions when att/def scores of fighting troops are drastically different. Sometimes a fighter or two can get several attacks on the enemy. Commanders max damage depends on their HP level: HP 10: 10 damage HP 8-9: 9 damage HP 6-7: 8 damage HP 4-5: 7 damage HP 2-3: 6 damage HP 1: 5 damage (Thanks *****) Commanders - Commanders use a special ranged attack against all enemies with their own attack/defense rating (they don't get their own adjustment). Archers - The weakest offensive and defensive stats, but they get to shoot first (before the enemy can get to them) so they may destroy many of their opponents. They get a 40% bonus when fighting in the forest. (Thanks *****) Good against: Horsemen, Mermen/Lizardmen, Elementals Weak against: Soldiers Soldiers - The basic, average troops. If they can't physically reach the enemy, they fling spears like archers (slightly weaker) They appear to get a 25% bonus to defense when fighting archers. Good against: Archers (not *that* great) Weak against: Horsemen Horsemen - Mounted troops. Somewhat stronger Attacking, but lower defensive strength makes them vulnerable to ranged attacks. Good against: Soldiers, Mermen, Barbarians Weak against: Archers Mermen - Aquatic troops. Extremely strong in the water, but weak everywhere else. They can also move quickly through water. They seem to get a 50% bonus to defense when fighting in water. Good against (when fighting from water): Soldiers, Horsemen Weak against: Archers Griffons - Flying troops. They are very strong soldiers, can move quickly over any terrain, but have a slightly low defense Good against: Soldiers, Mermen Weak against: Archers Guardsmen - Weaker Holy troops, temple acolytes. They have low scores but get special bonuses vs. some creatures. Good against: Slime Weak against: Pretty much everything else Monks - Slightly stronger Holy troops. They use a ranged attack like Archers and are a little stronger defensively. Consider them a flip-flopped archer; good against solders and bad against horsemen. (thanks Andrew Luxmore) Good against: Soldiers, Slime, Undead Weak against: Horesemen Citizens - Cannon fodder. Speed bumps. They are only useful to temporarily slow the enemy down. Don't rely on these troops to last long enough for you to waste your time. 8.1 Player/Enemy troop comparisons Class AT DF MV Attack (Close/Far) Special ----- -- -- -- ------------------ ------- Soldier 20 14 6 Fight/Spears None Horseman 21 15 8 Fight/Spears None Archer 19 14 7 Arrows/Arrows +40% in Forest Monk 20 13 6 Spears/Spears vs. Undead Merman 24 6 *7 Fight/Trident *Sea Movement +50% in Water Gryphon 27 13 *9 Fight/Fight *Air Movement Guardsman 16 10 6 Fight/Fire Fire attack Enemy Class AT DF MV Special ----------- -- -- -- ------- Barbarian 19 14 6 weak vs. Horsemen Slime 19 20 6 weak vs. Guardsmen Dark Elf 20 14 7 Royal Soldier 24 18 6 provides 2x experience Lizard man 23 6 8 (sea movement, +50% def. in water) Leviathan 23 17 8 (sea movement, +50% def. in water) Gargoyle 27 14 8 (air movement) Styracosaur 23 24 6 Evil Ant 19 16 8 Werewolf 25 17 6 Carrion Crawler 20 24 6 Skeleton 24 21 6 slightly weak vs. Monks Golem 19 40 6 Elemental 23 20 8 (air movement) 9. Commander class comparisons: Class AT DF MP MV R A+/D+ Troops Spells --------------------------------------------------- Archmage 31 17 32 6 4 9/2 SAG A,F,E *Basilisk 27 27 1 6 4 3/2 STONE GAS Bishop 27 20 16 6 4 6/4 SAK F,H2,C Cleric 23 17 8 5 4 0/4 G H1 *Conjurer 19 20 16 6 4 1/2 B Croc. Knight 28 20 0 7 4 2/2 SM - Dragon Knight 34 24 4 9 4 4/2 F B Fighter 23 21 0 6 3 2/2 S - *Gorgosaur 31 28 12 6 4 5/0 F *Grand Knight 31 25 0 6 4 6/4 - Grand Knight 28 33 0 6 4 8/4 SHA - *Great Dragon 35 35 16 3 4 5/4 F *Great Slime 19 28 0 6 4 2/2 - High Priestess 27 32 32 6 4 4/8 SGK H2,H3,S *Kaiser 32 32 12 6 4 4/4 F King 31 28 12 6 4 6/4 SHA A,H1 Knight 31 20 0 8 4 4/2 SH - Knight Master 34 24 8 8 4 8/2 SHA L *Kraken 29 26 0 6 4 0/2 - *Living Armor 32 30 8 6 4 5/4 F Lord 27 24 8 6 4 2/4 SA H1 Magic Knight 31 25 16 8 4 6/4 SHA Th,H1 Priestess 27 24 16 6 4 2/6 GK H1,H2 *Queen Ant 31 20 0 8 4 6/5 - Ranger 41 28 16 9 4 0/0 - E,C,S *Royal Guard 35 21 4 8 4 6/4 B Saint 31 24 24 6 4 9/4 SGK F,To,H2 Serp. Knight 32 24 0 7 4 6/2 SM - *Shaman 25 15 5 5 4 0/0 A *Sorceror 27 20 16 6 4 3/2 C Sword Master 25 22 0 6 4 0/9 SHA - Warlock 27 13 10 6 4 3/2 G A *Werewolf 29 21 0 6 4 6/4 - *Wight 31 34 16 6 4 7/6 ?? Wizard 27 15 16 6 4 6/2 SG A,F *Wyvern 31 24 8 7 4 3/2 F *Enemy leader/class NOTE: Garrett as a fighter get +1 to defense and an +4/+2 bonus to troops instead of +2/+2. Troop codes: S - Soldiers, H - Horsemen, A - Archers, M - Mermen K - Monk, G - Guardsmen, F - Gryphon Spell codes: A - Magic Arrows, F - Fireball, Th - Thunder, To - Tornado L - Lightning, E - Earthquake, B - Blizzard H1 - Healing 1, H2 - Healing 2, H3 - Healing 3, C - Confusion, S - Sleep 9.1 Uses for various commander classes Archmage The Archmage sucks. So what if she gets Earthquake? It does a puny 2 points of damage to all non-flying enemies, and can destroy walls. The Saint gets Tornado, a righteous kick-ass spell that rips the enemy to shreds! Send Calais the Saint route. Andrew Luxmore disagrees with me about this; here are his comments on the usefulness of the Archmage: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now I agree with what you say about the saint and tornado... and earthquake is annoying because it's so expensive, but I don't think it can be so easily disregarded! First of all, the orb makes for an extra use of it, and then you still have room left for fireball - the small spells shouldn't be underestimated. Often, only one or two damage is needed to make the enemy weak enough to kill with any commander. This is excellent for promoting weaker commanders. Without the orb, argemage has 8 uses of fireball, with the orb 15. Every turn she is able to knock down every single troop by 1 or 2, for 15 turns! It doesn't have the impact of a tornado, but it's still impressive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think constant fireballs would be one of the best uses of the archmage, but fairly slow. Unlike a tornado or thunder, it couldn't keep a commander down below 7hps every turn. Still, it would do a number on the enemy's *troops* - pounding them down faster than they can be rotated in to heal. Still, it's small area of effect is a liability. You have to either take the huge, screen-clobbering Earthquake (which I think is more interesting for it's wall-destroying ability), or the 2-range fireball which seems best for zapping the troops trying to heal. I can see two uses for the archmage's low-damage (but plentiful) spells: If a troop or commander is already damaged and lowering it even further will make it safe to attack with a troop formation or one of your own commanders. The other use is in a protracted battle with lots of closely grouped enemies and commanders. The constant damage and huge AE would slowly wear them down faster than your own troops would be hurt. There are a few levels where Earthquake is helpful, especially for finishing the level quickly. Level 12 has lots of closely-grouped troops, and earthquake can do a lot of (total) damage. On levels 18 and 19, you can use it to cut across the walls and take out the commander early on. Bishop Strike 1: Confusion. A totally useless spell, but Fireball and Heal2 are fairly good, if not outstanding spells. This class compares poorly to other "final" classes, but it doesn't take much experience to end up here either. Cleric Well, for a starting class, it's okay I guess. Keep it and it's crappy soldiers in the back and save them for mop-up duty on badly damaged enemies (or mermen on land). Cleric and Priestess don't get very good troops; after you're done beating up mermen who come on land, you have to hover around other commanders like vultures, swooping in to pick off the 2-3hp troops they leave behind (with your full-health guardsmen). Croc. Knight It has the special advantage of being able to travel on water and have swimming troops. This makes it a usefull class until Scen 9, after which there is no more water to really fight in. Your only starting class with these kind of special advantages, though. Nice to have around for the while you have it. Dragon Knight Woohoo! This class rules once you get it. The commander and their troops can zip around the map, heading to trouble spots or out of danger. Their troops have fairly nasty attacking power and can do serious damage to any non-archers they attack. Not to mention the devious spell-draining tricks... Fighter Hey, well... what did you expect from a starting class? Garett gets some advantages, but other than that... the class bites. The only one with a measly 3-square range on the sphere of influence instead of 4. Grand Knight Not one I had ever considered (I considered it's lack of any magic capabilities to be too much of a drawback), but Andrew Luxmore points out some interesting possibilities: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Garrett, even though he should be king because it fits in well with the story, makes for an interesting Grand Knight. Knights are better than lords, especially early in the game, and he gets promoted to Grand Knight before Baldorov dies; he replaces his purpose, which is to weaken enemies for promoting commanders. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- This could be a good idea. The King's weak magic spells (Arrows and Heal1) aren't *that* great (though they are definitely useful). The GK has an unbelievable defense (though not as high an offense) and better troop bonuses as well. High Priestess Well, starting off at one wasted spell: Sleep, this class would have to be *really* good to make up for the loss. Guess what? It isn't! Your only other spells are healing ones, making this a pure defense class. Most of your troop options are specialized (Guardsmen and Monks). I wouldn't recommend this class unless you know what you're giving up by not chosing the Saint. King Only one class can become a King; Garett. It's a fairly well-rounded class too, and fits in with the story. It doesn't shine in any seriously outstanding way. Both personal attack/defense are high. It's somewhat hard to kill, and can help out in a minor way with Arrows and Heal1. The GK is a better class, but you may wish to make Garett a King anyway just to have something different. Knight Well, getting Horsemen is nice, but has some disadvantages. First, horsemen (and the commander as a Knight) have movement penalties indoors. This will mean that your commander will be restricted on a lot of levels, including the final ones. The one bad thing about this class is that (unless you are Garett) it means you decided to become a Knight Master instead of a Magic Knight. WHY??? Tiberon and Garett have an excuse, but the KM is a pretty sorry alternative to the Magic Knight. Knight doesn't even get some token spell, like Lord does. Knight Master Well, the only person who has an excuse for ending up here is Tiberon. It's a cruddy class. Its spell sucks: lightning hits about as many people as magic arrows (if you're lucky) for not much more damage. Okay, you get better attack bonuses for your troops (8/2 vs. 6/4) but the fact is that you *need* that to even start to compensate for not being able to cast Thunder. And the lack of the good defense bonus will come back to haunt you. If Tiberon is a Knight Master, his stats and bonuses *do* come in handy on the two dragon levels though. Still, he should be the only one you ever make. Lord Lord-based classes have higher defense at the expense of offense, but get nice spells as well. You get a weak, but handy spell (healing 1) and can use Archers. Odds are, you won't want archers as much as you wish you had horsemen (for being a Knight), but there are several times they come in handy. Magic Knight A decent final class, and hands-down better than the Knight Master. Thunder gives you a chance to nicely soften up the enemies before your troops finish them off. Take advantage of your defense bonus to sit in defensive spots and let the enemies come to you when you can. If you can get 2 MKs together, 2 thunders can lower all the enemies to 4 or less and make them easy cleanup for any commander. Priestess Not *much* better than cleric, but your upgraded healing spell is nice. And hey! You get Monks! Bet you're just thrilled. Get through this class to Saint as quickly as possible. Ranger Wow, check out the stats: 41/28!! This could be a great class... but it isn't. It's perfect for devious spell draining, but after that, it's not nearly as versatile. If someone keeps the Ranger at full health, you can destroy... all of 1 enemy a turn. If you're using the challenge rules and not getting any troops anyway, this is the ultimate class. The spells are totally useless; Earthquake (which sucks anyway) - and you can only cast 1, even with the orb! Confusion (you *are* kidding, right?) and Sleep! All the spells totally suck! Even though the stats are high, you have at least 5 times the destructive potential with any other class. Sacrificing troops is a big loss. Saint You've heard the best defense is a good offense? Well this seems to be the patron Saint for that concept. I don't see what's so Saintly and peaceful about this class, but it rules nonetheless. Since the alternative is High Priestess, the choice is a no-brainer. The High Priestess could have been a nice class, but the Saint is *way* better. This class is revenge for the fairly weak Cleric/Priest classes and makes it worth slogging through them (IMHO). The Saint is good for taking on full-health enemies and ending the battle quickly. Launch a Tornado and dive right in. If your troops are evenly matched, you'll kill almost every one you attack (assuming you start with full-health troops). Best of all, the enemy troops will still be damaged and just starting to rotate into healing position; your second attack wave can kill them all off. To capitalize on this, attack the troops that are next to their commander on the first wave, so *none* of the troops get to heal on their next turn. If you have one or two other commanders to back up your Saint, you can probably wipe out a full-health enemy and all their troops on the same turn. You don't get as many Tornados (3 without the orb), but that translates almost directly to 3 or more entire groups of enemies destroyed. You do have to hold the Saint in reserve for the occasions where you need her, whereas with the Archmage you may as well keep her constantly chucking fireballs around. The major disadvantage of the Saint for Calais is that she'll have a much longer route to get there (basically, it adds all 10 levels of Warlock to the experience route) and the intermediate stages (Cleric, Priestess) aren't that useful and are harder to advance through (since your troops are also weaker). I think it's ultimately worth it to have a better commander, but I'm also a perfectionist. Serpent Knight As the advanced version of the Crocodile Knight, it comes into it's own Scen 6-9 (with lots of water), then *ROYALLY* sucks after that. If you still have it post-scen 9, only use it when the enemies are willing to come to you, and get soldiers. Otherwise, the battles will be long over before Tiberon can drag his stupid serpent there. You are making a big sacrifice (the last 11 levels, more than half the game!) to have a short-term advantage in 6-9. Sword Master For the short time you have one, this class serves one purpose: weaken the enemies enough so that other commanders can get the experience. The huge defense bonus is your ticket. As long as the troops are in range, they are practically invincible. Warlock Hey, it's a starting class. And not *that* bad either. Guardsmen and magic arrows. You have to follow the same strategy as the cleric; beating up really weak enemies (like mermen out of water) and scavenging the rest of your kills. Wizard It's a competent class; fireball can come in handy a couple times. But your main objective is still to get through it to the more advanced classes. 10. Spells: Spell Name Cost - Distance away, Effect Radius, Effect -------------------------------------------------------------------- Magic Arrows (2mp) - 6, 1r, 1-2 Dmg Healing 1 (2mp) - 4, 2r, 1-2 Recover Healing 2 (4mp) - 4, 2r, 2-4 Recover Fireball (4mp) - 5, 2r, 1-3 Dmg Thunder (4mp) - 5, 3r, 2-4 Dmg Lightning (4mp) - 7, Straight Line, 1-3 Dmg Blizzard (4mp) - 5, 3r, 1-3 Dmg Sleep (4mp) - 4, 2r, 25% chance of putting enemies to sleep D.Fireball (8mp) - 5, 3r, 2-4 Dmg Healing 3 (8mp) - 4, 2r, 5-8 Recover Tornado (8mp) - 5, 4r, 2-6 Dmg Confusion (8mp) - 7, 1r, Enemies in area might attack each other Earthquake (16mp) - 4, 11r, 1-2 Dmg (also damages walls) After the caster reaches level 5, the max distance away and effect radius of all spells increase by 1, the maximum damage (and possibly minimum damage) also increases by 1. Confusion and Sleep are really useless, you get the most bang for your MP out of Thunder and Tornado. Earthquake does too little damage to give you a real advantage. Earthquake can destroy walls, making them passable. Destroyed walls are NOT saved if you do an Interrupt, so you can make some wierd strategy out of casting Earthquake, running across the wall, interrupt, reload and the enemy cannot get to you... :) This is probably a bug. 11. Codes and Cheating: Level Select - Go to the Upper-Left square in wide-screen mode (icons are smaller, press A to switch between wide and normal). Then go Down 1 square and Right one square. (Exactly 1 square diagonally from the upper-left). Press C (or is it B?). Pick the level you want to go to. Warping ahead is suicide - you often miss characters you would have gotten, and you'll be a lot weaker than you're supposed to be. If you feel lucky, take on Chaos with just Garrett and Baldarov! This is more beneficial if you warp backwards to pick up extra experience. Good levels to visit are 13 (the Basilisk level) and 16 (The Great Dragon's lair). Note: If you pick up Lance on level 13, you can warp ahead to 20 and he won't leave! NOT that he's all that great... Caveat: If the scenario you warp to gives you a new character at the end (and you already have the character), their class will change back to what it was at the time (usually setting it back to Fighter or Lord). They keep the level and experience they had before they got changed back, though. If you warp back to one of the really early scenarios where you had Baldarov after you have already lost him, then Baldarov will be replaced with one of the other characters you had before you warped, usually Calais (She won't die if you warp to the stage where you lose Baldarov and beat it though, although it will do the Baldarov-dying dialog). It's usually best to warp to a stage where your party does not change and wasn't smaller than it is now. Sound Test - Same as the Level select, just do it in Normal screen mode. You can change the background music (lasts until end-of-turn). 12. Rumors, reported codes & comments: Press Up/Right + A + B while highlighting Garett on the recruit soldiers screen. Supposedly grants all items but sets gold to Zero. Sega says this code has been removed (it doesn't seem to work on my Warsong). It is rumored to work on the Japanese version of Warsong (Langrisser). Move Garett to Bottom-Left corner on Level 2. Supposedly maxes out experience. This doesn't seem possible. An interesting note (Andrew Luxmore) is that the outcome of the battle is determined as soon as it starts. If you save-state and restore during a battle, the outcome will always be the same. 13. Nitpicks We start each scenario by buying troops (presumably hiring mercenaries for a one-shot battle). At the end of scenario 11 we end by going up the stairs to Pythion's throne room. Where do we hire the mercenaries from for scenario 12? Does Pythion have mercenary-hiring depots in his stairwells? People in the game seem to recognize artifacts with no explanation: A soldier points out Pythion's axe to Garett, Garett just says something like "Oh, yeah - that's the Evil Axe." without commenting on it. The unstoning mirror in level 13 doesn't un-stone the villagers (the statues that are laying around) 14. Challenges I've played the game through many times now (at least 5), and I still enjoy it. Once you get the AI down and can predict what the computer will probably do and how to make it fight the way you want, the scenarios become a lot easier. Still, there are many ways to make it even easier; using a dragon knight to drain all the enemy magic, using the interrupt/reset to gaurantee a perfect result, warping back to earlier stages to beef up your characters... This section is here to provide self-imposed rules to make the game more difficult for people who want a challenge... - Don't warp backwards (25 points) - Don't use the interrupt/reset or state-save on an emulator (25 points) - Don't use the Dragon Knight draining trick (5 points) - Try to complete the scenario objectives without killing any enemy troops (just enemy commanders; 'Allied' commanders don't count against this restriction) (20 points) - Don't use items at all. (10 points) - Don't buy troops at all! (You can beat the game with just the leaders, especially after you get defensive items. Tip: Place as few commanders as the game will let you) (15 points) Try to beat the game while breaking as few challenge rules as you can, then add up the points after each rule and rate yourself: 100 points - Supreme master! 95-99 points - Master 90-94 points - Expert 75-89 points - Pro 50-74 points - Amateur 25-49 points - Beginner 0-24 points - Wuss (Note: By this scale, I only rate 'Master' since I like to use the dragon knight draining trick. Maybe next time I'll just make Sabra a Magic Knight instead and try for the max points) 15. Thanks & credits to: Darin Mackiewicz - For working out the advancement paths and commander relative strengths! Abacrombie - Strategy tips ****? - Somebody sent me an AWESOME text file (warsong.wri) listing a lot of stuff about the different scenarios, spell damage and a bunch of other bits. If you can tell me who you are, I'll happily add you here. Nelson - Several class stats and some tips for playing Mina and Calais. Mark - Stats for Garett and moving power consumptions. Also for the entry times for reinforcements in scenarios 7, 8 and 9. Guy H. - Grand Knight stats and for pointing out that Garett and Sabra can become a GK from Knight. Eric Karl - Telling me about Megasis (the only emulator that correctly runs Warsong ROMS!) Levi Banker and James Kohos - for pointing out (on the same day!) Gens, the other emulator that runs Warsong Roms. Andrew Luxmore - Comments on several of the classes, many alternative scenario strategies, corrections to the monk class. Suggestions for different advancement paths.