Updated 0.57.3: SpreadSheet: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jlu3nuruq7n7gz2/IncubusWar.xlsx?dl=0 Mirror: https://www.mediafire.com/file/h9bbu3lq3n8afvo/IncubusWar.xlsx/file FlowChart: https://www.dropbox.com/s/coeww8r8boc90ix/IW_FlowChart.png?dl=0 write down the exact of sabitha contribute was a big headache. this should be correct, but report if you find something amiss, unclear or wrong

This spreadsheet is the hardest to read so far.

SotterPapaioannou In fairness, it's also perhaps the most complicated branching of any event so far. If you would like the sheet to be better it may help to make specific suggestions.

Incubus War

SotterPapaioannou

Decanter You are correct. I didn't mean to insult anyone. I apologize if I did so.

Cazador

Thanks for all the hard work involved.

The_Scoutman

Definitely gonna wait until part 2 of the update before trying to min-max this one, there's a lot of moving parts.

Interesting developments regarding which investigation the player should skip during the second gathering, need to check Mestan RP to make sure, but skipping the Skullpounder in favor of investigating Fuzkao is looking a bit more interesting, although I don't remember if Nyst's investigation has had any effect yet, if not then it probably will during the second part of the update.

SotterPapaioannou

The_Scoutman Why not go for the early fuzkao kill, instead?

Fulminato

The_Scoutman if you invest in givini mage guild with a good givini country score you don't need anything more to kill fuzkao in the end. if you are able to defeat him before the palace you just need the investment [in my tries i was close to defeat him, but never able to do] if you bring him under the 60% of HP [easy with a good party] you need at least 40 givini score.

some other options let you damage fuzkao more, but the givini guild is sufficient to brough him low enough to kill him in the last fight.

i don't advise to skip skullpounder or nyst in the second gathering because xestris don't tell you they are xerces 'projects'. can be irrilevant in the end, but that piece of information can be take in account in some calculation.

for now the most skippable investigation seem the lustlord. you can recover and eldritch draught in the same hidden compartment in your room, but it's all.

if you don't send the succubus illusioned as aka in the empress orgy to mestan every other rp gain is required for reach the best treshold with lilth.

SotterPapaioannou it's a waste of the three important decisions in this segment.
you should send one of them to stop him, but all the three is a waste [i still run the numbers, so it isn't set in stone, but i don't see a lot of room to go for fuzkao early kill and don't suffer in other section.

DukeLeto7 I'm having the same though, for now i given precedence to the number strascription for making an comprehensive balance analysis to SL, but i think i will definitively make one for the wiki.

The_Scoutman

SotterPapaioannou
Presumably it might be overkill? You'd need to commit Esthera, Mestan, and Sabitha to roles that may be suboptimal just to score the early kill, and you can still kill him later on without much trouble.

The battlescore check for the finale doesn't seem particularly tight (but I haven't looked at it very deeply yet), so killing Fuzkao will depend mostly on if it is possible to bring him down to 0 HP in his fight or not.

If it isn't possible to bring down Fuzkao to 0 HP, then you'd just need to get his score to 7 and get the second best HP threshold in the fight against him, to get him down to 7 you'd just need to commit one person to a position where they deal with him and then either have done his investigation or do well with the airbattlescore in the "fleet branch".

If it is possible to bring down Fuzkao to 0 HP, then you'd just need to get his score to 8, you could either commit one ally to deal with him (and so investigating him would only be worth at most 1 battlescore outside of the "fleet branch"), or you could commit no allies to dealing with him (have Sabitha assigned to the airships however so that Fuzkao doesn't go unchecked) and then do the fleet branch, with the best results and having done his investigation you'd get his score down to 8 and could kill him by doing well in his battle.

DukeLeto7

One suggestion I had while out to lunch was "consider making a flowchart type thing on a cover page explaining the overarching path architecture.

LOLtohru

DukeLeto7 I'd welcome this whoever does it. I get the big branches but I get a bit confused when it comes to the shared scenes and events that only happen with combinations.

SotterPapaioannou

The_Scoutman You might have a point. My only reasoning for killing him early is to make a draft easier, as I don't have to take him into account as well.

In my current draft I have:

24 Vp
0 Lobo
7 Nyst

I have to ask, is Fuzkao's battle on a battle or a turn limit?

Fulminato

SotterPapaioannou the one that matter yes, three turn. in the "path +" is harder to defeat him because you have simon (not great in single target dmg. but the "path -" is a no-no.

bring him down the last hp treashold (60%-) is easy, you see him and can rearange your party. to a focused single target nuke. you can take in account without to much truble a IW_FuzkaoDamage = 3

Fulminato

LOLtohru

for sabitha scene:

Strongh Path:

Sabitha Fleet + [Fuzkao Uncheck] On + LoB Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt
Sabitha Fleet + [Fuzkao Uncheck] On + Fleet Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt + LoB Island Scene
Sabitha Fleet + [Fuzkao Uncheck] Off + LoB Branch -> Scene Mestan Bomber (Dari)
Sabitha Fleet + [Fuzkao Uncheck] Off + Fleet Branch -> LoB Island Scene
Sabitha Armies + LoB Branch -> Chest: crimson sword + Scene Mestan Bomber (Dari)
Sabitha Armies + Fleet Branch -> LoB Island Scene
Sabitha Mithyn + LoB Branch -> Scene Mestan Bomber (Dari)
Sabitha Mithyn + Fleet Branch -> LoB Island Scene
Sabitha Fuzkao + LoB Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt
Sabitha Fuzkao + Fleet Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt + LoB Island Scene

Weak Path:

Sabitha LoB + Fleet Branch -> Scene Mestan Bomber (Orilise)
Sabitha LoB + Mithyn Branch -> Scene Mestan Bomber (Orilise)
Sabitha Nyst + Fleet Branch -> Scene Mestan Bomber (Orilise)
Sabitha Nyst + Mithyn Branch -> Nyst Interrupt + Island Early Chest
Sabitha Fuzkao + Fleet Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt + Scene Mestan Bomber (Orilise)
Sabitha Fuzkao + Mithyn Branch -> Fuzkao Interrupt

mestan bomber = bomber (is the name of the map in the game file)
[Fuzkao Uncheck] Off mean you have or [esthera fleet] On or [mestan fleet] On or both (you cannot have [sabitha fuzkao] if you had choose [Sabitha Fleet])

Iijil

Fulminato Sabitha Armies + LoB Branch -> Chest: crimson sword + Scene Mestan Bomber (Dari)

That you get the Mestan Bomber Scene in addition to the chest is a leftover from 57.0 when the chest used the wrong switch. I mentioned it on Patreon and it will likely be fixed in future versions.

For optimizing this part we'll have to guess what to optimize for. Currently I'm assuming that the VP, LoB, Fuzkao and Nyst variables are representative for this one battle and will not matter much after this. So for the most part I'm just considering the checks in the Finale as targets I want to hit. I also don't see the assignments of targets to Esthera or Sabitha mattering beyond this battle.

Things that in my opinion are probably relevant in the future:

killing Fuzkao
sparing Lamia
hitting 100 Mestan for Lilith RP

VP points might matter because they can change after the last check. Nyst score might matter because Nyst isn't dead yet. LoB truce might matter if we need to work with his troops again?

Beyond that the main difference between paths is the equipment you can obtain, and I think LoB branch is easily the best for that.

To be honest I am slightly tempted to go for the status immunity robe on the -Path. It means I wouldn't be able to spare the Lamia. But sending Esthera to attack (for the Holy Crest), Sabitha to Armies (for the Orc weapon) and Mestan to the island (for the Vibrator) I get a lot of cool equipment. I'm still able to kill Fuzkao despite him being unchecked (with Mage guild + New Givini 60, no investigation necessary unless you want to focus on the barrier at the -Path end.) This also gets Mestan to 100, 20+ Victory points and can get Nyst down to 7. If the Lamia aren't important this could be a solid plan.

Taking the +Path in order to spare the Lamia, I'd instantly switch Esthera to cover Fuzkao. That loses the Holy Crest, but gains the Ancient Crusader Sword, which seems better. That change gives some additional VP and Fuzkao damage, so here I can afford to not invest in the mage guild and still kill Fuzkao with the help of 2nd gathering investigation or by not choosing Mithyn RP at the +Path door. Of course investing still gives extra victory points. This is probably the plan I would choose at the moment.

I haven't looked at Fleet or Mythin Branch in detail yet, but I don't think they can get Nyst significantly lower, or any cool items. So I don't really see why I would go for them. I'll probably have a look at them later, so I know all my options, but I don't expect them to beat out the LoB branch.

Thinking about it, Sabitha RP could turn out be more important than an orc weapon. If that is the case switching the target to Mithyn would force the Bomber Scene to collect the RP, along with some extra VP that probably won't matter.

Arachne

That's indeed quite a lot to take in. Thanks for the hard work.

Some questions to make sure I did understand it well:

While the timing of the first Airship Investment is important, there is no bonus/penalty for having done Airship Militarization early or at the last minute?
If your Assault Score is 15+, you don't get to choose, you're put on the strong branch path?
Is the XP that Robin's team will earn on their off-screen sidequest to destroy the cannon similar to what they would have gotten had they stayed with the group or is there a relevant gap?
I'm completely lost in the actual differences between the LoB branch and the Fleet branch. When is one "better" than the other? On instinct, I thought the island branch was the "hard but rewarding" route and the fleet one the "catching up after a rough start" route, but it's not obvious from the numbers, at least at first glance.

Fulminato

Arachne
1) no difference for militarization, you can make it just before start the section.
2) i'm not delve in suboptimal starting points yet, but seem the strong path is better. in everything
3) this si the idea, but in the code "The idea is to give them EXP vaguely comparable to many routes, but this is an almost entirely arbitrary amount because I'm very tired." so the numbers can change.
4) at the moment fleet branch is superior. or i missing some clever options choice or blanced is bad [i'm agree with you, LoB branch should be more rewarding for an aggressive playthrough]

BleBle

Thank you very much,I can see it is very long, wow.

Fulminato

Iijil For optimizing this part we'll have to guess what to optimize for. Currently I'm assuming that the VP, LoB, Fuzkao and Nyst variables are representative for this one battle and will not matter much after this. So for the most part I'm just considering the checks in the Finale as targets I want to hit. I also don't see the assignments of targets to Esthera or Sabitha mattering beyond this battle.
The LoB is dead, and fuzkao can be gone, but nyst still exist. i don't bar an use of IW_Nyst in the future.
the fact if you kill fuzkao IW_Fuzkao is set = 0 let me think its variable will be used in future. event if him is dead. but it pure speculation

Iijil Beyond that the main difference between paths is the equipment you can obtain, and I think LoB branch is easily the best for that.

i never take in consideration the equip you can get in a optimized discussion. no fancy items are mandatory to advance at any points of the game, you can do the same thing without them or buy something with the same strenght. for hidden score, rp and their like this isn't true.

Iijil To be honest I am slightly tempted to go for the status immunity robe on the -Path. It means I wouldn't be able to spare the Lamia. But sending Esthera to attack (for the Holy Crest), Sabitha to Armies (for the Orc weapon) and Mestan to the island (for the Vibrator) I get a lot of cool equipment. I'm still able to kill Fuzkao despite him being unchecked (with Mage guild + New Givini 60, no investigation necessary unless you want to focus on the barrier at the -Path end.) This also gets Mestan to 100, 20+ Victory points and can get Nyst down to 7. If the Lamia aren't important this could be a solid plan.

fuzkao unchecked is high probable to have nasty effect in the future. givini bombed should be avoided as well and not only for the -10 givini it carries.

for the path- you lost an huge amount of XP, because you need to split your party, so any of the girl will gain XP for one single battle and simon gain nothing, in path+ you gain the full experience for all the fight in the island, and for what? a stats immunity robe? we had access to plenty equip with status immunity already.

Agumentic It seems you get +2 Airship Casualties no matter what if you choose to live airships in reserve, is that right?

no, if you choose to reinforce the front fleet you had Airship Casualties +1

Agumentic

It seems you get +2 Airship Casualties no matter what if you choose to live airships in reserve, is that right?

Agumentic

Fulminato

In that case, I think there's a mistake in the sheet - it says that with Tower Advance On and Airship All In Off (i.e., you keep airships in reserve) you get Casualties +2.

Fulminato

Agumentic you are right, if you keep them in reserve you alwasy had a +2.
i will add this to my balance analysis to SL (hopeful i complete it today. CET timezone)

Arachne

Unless I've missed something, starting the battle with the Airship Counter at 4+ does not seem that hard with the bonus from both Janice and Fheliel. You just need to have bought the airships at the latest during the last investment phase of Chapter 4, and it's likely that you did even in an "imperfect" run (due to several countries being locked during that last phase and thus your choices on where to spend money more limited than usual).

If so, I'm going to assume it's 4 for my attempt at computing the battle balance of an "average route".

(also, the +1 Airship Counter could as well been a -1 IW_AirCasualty since these two variables are never checked independently afterward)

Fulminato

Arachne you had take in account if you made the investment in chapter 4 at the start of chapter 5 talking with patrici you gain a free +1 airship counter? (+3 if already militarized)

Arachne don't think you can buy it before aka's route (so chapter 2), but yes it's the accessory you can buy blocking all lighting dmg.