A Strategy for Survival

[Cedric]

You are an extremely skilled fighter with all the tricks of the trade. There is no one that bests you when it comes to fighting. You are respected among the masses because of your skill and it has been necessary to make it through life. However, one day you meet your match in the form of enemies in the group. Their versatility surprises you. They attack in full force . . .

The Leader:

The leader seems to be the one that has the most rounded abilities. He/she's been attacking you with his/her fine swordplay while showing an above average display of magical arts. He/she also uses items, so it's a tough battle. You really didn't need that tornado spell he/she sent earlier in your way, either.

The Speedster:

Such an annoying foe. He/she was the first one that attacked you and wouldn't let up at all. He/she is also the first to cast spells and benefitial items. Normally his/her spells and attacks wouldn't hurt so much, but it comes in a alarmingly frequent pace. Bombardment is his/her game. Watch out for the Ten Thousand Needles attack!

The Mage:

Looking at him/her, you probably think a gust of wind could topple him/her over. But you become increasingly exasperated when his/her comrades suddenly get a second wind thanks to the healing spells. What makes it worse is that he/she follows it up with stat-up spells raising just about every stat-up spell in existance. To finish off her triad or talents he/she begins to cast some spell called "Ultima" which from the sound of it, doesn't sound like a good thing.

The Tank:

He/she looks down upon you like you're an insect. He/she's a slow one so you can attack him/her easily enough numerous amount of times . . . but he/she won't fall!!! You must've hit him/her a million times, but that armor won't let up. It doesn't exactly help when earthquakes happen when he/she moves, and that axe-halberd is about three times your size. Did . . . he/she just say "charge"?

The Strategist:

(This is usually the same as the leader, but for this case, they are considered separate) This guy/girl can't fight too well. He/she doesn't seem to be doing much, either. With that in mind, you go after this person, but whenever you get close, that big scrap of armor is in your way again. Here comes the tank charging your way, but at the same time, the strategist yells at the mage, leader, and speedster. The mage nods and engulfs the tank in a ball of fire that incinerates anything in the way. He barely misses but not before the leader and speedster connect with their double-tech attack "X-strike" following the charge. Following this, he/she retreats to the back of the party.

Though you could take them out alone with no trouble, their teamwork is outstanding. They have already taken out much of your energy, so you do not have much to spare. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so you decide to use a spell that takes up a substantial amount of energy. Using this spell, you paralyze all the enemies for a small amount of time. Due to your lack of energy, you only have enough strength to cast this spell once and severely incapacitate one member of the enemy party. The rest is needed to fend off the remaining attackers and retreat for another day.

Now the question is, which of those members will be the one you cripple to have the best chance of survival and why?

Edit: Assume that regardless of the enemies' skills, you will be able to finish off one of them with that attack. But remember, you're left with the other four once they recover.
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[Aurelien]

Well to answer this, I would have to analyze the possibilities first. Putting aside the "Ultima" and "X-strike" name, let's start.

1. The leader. Obviously the one who leads the group, might be perfect to kill first, but it's not really clear what effect s/he has to the others from your description. Meaning that we don't know whether the other 4 would be lost without the leader or not. So it's possible to kill the leader, but the effect to the others is unknown. My conclusion: Don't kill the leader first, you might waste your only chance if you gamble on killing him/her without knowing what you'd gain in return.

2. The speedster. The speed is a worry for sure, but the strength of the physical attack and magical attack are not to be concerned too much. It seems that without the mage's support magic, the speedster wouldn't really have anything to offer other than his/her high speed. My conclusion: Don't kill the speedster first, s/he's not the biggest threat.

3. The tank. Well it's obvious that from your description, it's one thing to hit the tank but it's another to make him fall down. So even with all the time in the world, you might still not be able to knock him out. My conclusion: Don't waste your time trying to knock out this guy, you're just going to get tired and won't achieve anything.

4. The strategist: Seems like s/he's the one giving out directions to the other 4, and from the looks of it, the most important of the 5. But to be able to work his/her strategy, s/he needs the other 4. To me, the relationship is not two ways. The other 4 don't really seem to depend on him other than for their "5-person combo attack thingy". My conclusion: Not really *that* important, might be a threat even with 4-person combo but would definitely be less threatening. Don't kill him/her just yet.

5. The magician: Now this one is the little bugger that I would kill first. Healing the friends would be an annoyance, not to mention the ability to use support magic to further strengthening the other 4 opponnents. By eliminating him, we would easily reduce the strength of the others, and at the very same time, also leave them without a healer. So eventually, the other 4 would be knocked out if you managed to survive. The magician also has the weakest physical strength, meaning that you'd be able to easily kill him without wasting too much energy (considering that you're already lacking of energy in the first place) so that you could save some to run away even farther.

So yeah, that's my conclusion. Kill the magician, for s/he, the one that affect the other 4 the most IMO.

EDIT: Correcting typos.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[Cedric]

I'll elaborate.

Well the leader of most cases is usually that person with the above average stats that can do just about everything. Since he/she does everything, he doesn't excell in any particular category, but he/she is the best at teamwork as any leader should be. Obviously, his loss would result in a loss of morale out of the group, but it's up to you to decide whether that means anything.

As for the strategist, not only can he coordinate troops, but he can use deceptive tactics as well. Why don't we say that he can split mirror images of himself if he needs to. The images can't attack, but it's difficult for you to distinguish him/her. I meant for his personality and skill to resemble Klaus Windamier. (remember the story with him and the soldier he fought?)

Edit: Sorry for not explaining that too well, there, Bugg, but I really doubt you would change your decision after explaining things like that, anyway :D .
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[Aurelien]

Well the leader would be a bigger threat this time, but IMO still not as big as the magician. The loss of the leader might cause demoralization on the group, but judging by the individual skill of the group members, I would assume that they would regroup in no time (and most likely the strategist stepping up as the new leader) unless they have conflict with one another because everyone wants to be the new leader (which I doubt would happen). And no, you won't have to explain whether they would fight one another or not, it's just something that has to be taken to consideration without really knowing the actual answer. Further point to support why I won't kill the leader first is because I would have to run away and hide. While that would buy me some time to gather my strength again, it would also buy them some time to regroup after the loss of their leader. So in the end, it's still a fair trade and not really our advantage at all IMO.

Now onto the strategist. The ability to make split mirror images of himself would make him a bigger threat than before as well, just like the leader, but it's still not enough for me to consider him as a bigger threat than the magician. The mirror image could be a double edge part if we decide to kill him based on that skill. While we could end up eliminating him, we could also end up wasting our chance on "killing" the mirror image and in no time, the group already back on track and kill me instead.

So in the end, I'll still go for the magician because s/he would be the one affecting the others directly on the battle the most IMO.

[Schala-Kid]

I'd still go for the mage. given that he can heal and increase attack powers of others.

the reason for not going for the leader, is because the leader has a lot of "Weight on his/her shoulders" as is. everyone is counting on him/her to show strength and leadership (duh!) even they could be fearful for their safety survival and chances of success.

knocking out any of his fellow party members would put him will set of the first crack of panic which could cause for hasty planning and a new tactic, speed and a 'tank' are not the greatest things to use for times for survival. i know a couple of times i got VERY frustrated when my mage dies in games - it ruins my initial plan of a well balanced attack with physical attacks magic attacks and support and healing, so on...

why not the speedster? they'll be at a lower magic level than the magician and will eventually run out. they won't have such outstounding strength either, so can be easily dealt with, but so long as the magician is still around, the opposing team is a greater threat than without him/her. :shock:

[Cedric]

Just so you know, Bugg; a long time ago, before Klaus ever became Kiba's strategis, there was a soldier that constantly picked on him. He couldn't believe that someone so weak was the son of a great general. Kalaus couldn't fight, since he inherited his mother, Eliza's, frailness. Regardless of this, Klaus faces the soldier in a deul at darkness.

Obviously, he would be at a disadvantage, but Klaus decided to use his brain to win the match. Throughout the duaration of the duel. He kept one eye closed. After a while, Klaus intentionally knocked the torch that served as the lighting during the duel. The soldier could not see Klaus, but because one of Klaus' eyes were already adapted to the dark, he was able to defeat him easily. From this point on, Klaus has uses his skills to defeat opponents without an extrenuous amount of effort on his part.
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[Inko]

Death to the MAGE! kill him, chop him up, cook him in a stew. Without him you can take out the other guys easy starting with the speadster because he will probeble be fighting you every step of the way and then the strategist cause he would corridinate the final two afterwitch you kill sir Leader because he is weaker than, the big ol' tank which you would kill last because he can't keep up with you because you are so fast at killing the other guys.

[Stormbringer]

I would definitely go for the mage, healing spells are a pain. I remeber back during Suikoden 3...the water rincar was a pain in the butt. Strategically it would be best to kill the leader next, seeing as s/he can apparently use items. Then I would go for either the strategist or the speedster, relying on my better manueverability to outrun the tank.
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Set 'em on Fire!

[Arevus]

You guys make a really good point about the mage and him beefing them all up, but if I had a chance like that, maybe its just me? I would for the tank. The way I'm reading it, maybe its wrong, is that the tank is always getting in the way. Like when you said when the guy went after the strategist the tank would just get in his way, I assumed this went for the same with the mage. I understand how the whole mage thing works, you take out the healer/beefer, all of them become weaker. I guess what I'm saying I look at the tank as a roadblock with spikes on it, get rid of that and you can take out the mage or strategist right after.

I wouldn't do the speedster because, me being the ultimate warrior, his attacks barely effect me. I would try to shrug off his attacks, until it was his turn.

The leader, above average at everything, poses a threat, yes. But the death of him, as said by Ced, unless I interpreted this wrong, would mostly be a morale loss. I don't think this would effect them that much though, unless its a huge morale loss in which everybody just quits :P but I don't think that's going to happen.

With the strategist, I think I would leave him alone until the end of the battle. His mirror images would be annoying, and I don't think his death at the beginning of a fight would help me greatly, they'd still have all of their combatants.

The mage. If there wasn't a tank, he would be the first to take out. His healing would be annoying, his attacks powerful no doubt, and his beefing spells would enhance his party, but without the tank, I could go right after him and kill him next.

That's the way I see it anyway, any comments?
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[Stormbringer]

You are probably right about the tank...but I just figured that the tank would only protect the leader as s/he is the leader. Of course I'm probably wrong :wink: the only problem is that the mage would probably be healing the tank.
How would you get around that? :P
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Set 'em on Fire!

[Arevus]

Well, the only reason we could kill any one person is because they're ALL paralyzed, so there would be no healing involved. Am I right?
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[KoRnholio]

Well, I have two different strategies because I'm not sure from the post what exactly the question was.

Is the point that you want to defeat the other party? Then I would definately go for the tank, as he takes the most energy to defeat. The mage is harmful but is very vulnerable with or without paralyzation. The tank poses a problem to you because he can't really be taken out in the battle. If I'm understanding the question right, and basically this means you get a free kill, then take him out, because the rest of the opponents(except for the leader to an extent) are basically puny weaklings without their beefy dude backing them up.

But....you also said that the object of the strategy is to retreat and fight another day? My strategy then would just be to take out the speedster. He's the only opponent who has much of a capability of impeding a retreat. Take him out and there should be nothing stopping you from escaping for another fight later.

[Aurelien]

I don't think that the tank would be able to protect every single one of his comrades like what was assumed by some. The reason is that it's mentioned that the tank is slow. So it's a bit illogical to say that he could protect the strategist, the magician, and the leader or speedster as well because it would take a good speed to be able to protect more than 1 person (unless of course the magician and the strategist both hide behind the tank). With that said, I assume that we're way more agile than the tank. Hence, we could easily get around his "protection" by faking an attack. Let's say that we pretend to attack the strategist, then the tank comes in to protect him, so we switch and attack the leader or speedster instead.

To me, the tank serves no direct threat at all. Yes, he protects the others, but only one at a time. With the higher speed compared to the tank, it's just a matter of picking the others one by one before we go down to the tank and whoever he protected (assume the strategist). His offense wouldn't be effective at all because of his slow speed. We should be able to avoid 90% of the attack.

Arevus, you are right that the tank could be considered as the roadblock with spikes that if got rid of would allow us to attack straight to the mage or strategist. But now the question becomes how quick could we kill the mage? If we could kill him with 1 hit, that's fine and dandy, I'll go for the tank as well if that's the case. But if not, the mage would only heal himself again and again wasting our effort while the other three could get free hits on us. It's even possible due to the versatility of the leader, that the leader would take the tank's role and protect the mage to allow the mage to cast spells or whatnot.

I guess it's a bit hard to really pick on who to kill first because yet again the information isn't really too detailed (and it's not Ced's fault at all, but more like because there are just things that are unknown when you fight against the opponent). So I'll still go for the magician because he's the only one that I know for sure of what he could and would do when alive.

But on a more realistic answer, I'll kill anyone the closest to me then run like hell and hide well. After regaining my power, I'll challenge them again and use the same spell to kill another one. Repeat the process 4 times, and they'll be down to 1 person who I could defeat fair and square easily on a one on one fight. >=)
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[Daniel Blackhand]

If at the end of the fight you are just going to retreat to fight another day I would go with a different option. I would use the schoolyard bully tactic and take out the leader. Nine out of ten times when being picked on by a group of kids with one kid as the chief antagonist, if you go straight at him and bloody his nose a little, the others either back down or are cautious of you. So if that was the case I would take out the leader eliminating him as a threat so that when the others are unparalyzed they are a little confused and slightly demoralized. If you take away the glue that is holding the others together they have a greater chance to fall apart, so if there is no clear cut leader it gives you a small advantage until they resolve the issue.
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[Starslasher]

I would agree with the majority of the people and take out the magician first. No healing or support magic for them! Besides, he should fall quickly and without breaking a sweat.

Afterwards, i am conflicted. I could take out the speedster afterwards. If i can't take him out with my attacks, him/her being so nimble and evades easily, then i could use my magic. This is under the assumption that i am good with magic, as: