Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon/Chapter 8

Coastal Skirmish ""The League had reached Akaneian soil, so Marth gave him leave to recuperate in Port Warren, a harbor town known for commerce. Coin alone kept the town free they paid Doluna dearly in taxes to preserve their autonomy. Naturally, then, theirs was a warm welcome when the Akaneian League arrived.""

""Marth's soldiers were glad to rest there, nestled between mountain and sea but their joy was spoiled by news that the enemy was fast approaching- as harsh an awakening as a rock beneath the pillow.""

Preparation
This battle will be easy if you keep your low defence characters away. The enemy is bunched up in masses and their reinforcements are hard to quell all at once. Good archers like Gordin and Sedgar are invaluable here, along with sturdy cavaliers. Using a knight like Draug as a blockade isn't a bad idea either, but if you want to level Wolf up just send him in with lances and bows the battle will end before you know it because no enemy in this chapter can even affect a general of a defence higher than 15.

Note that you will get another knight on this map. You will also start with two more units from the start, a myridon and a mercenary.

Bring Wrys or Lena. You will need them for the fight arena.

Begin

 * Houses
 * 1) Doluna is holding a princess of an allied nation hostage.
 * 2) Lots of reinforcements coming out of the fortresses, so watch out.

First of all, the two new units you get (Caesar and Radd) are pretty useless for this late in the game. Their only use in this battle is to browse the shops/armory and bring the valuable items to trade to the units. This battle has many valuable weapons that you will want to buy. Later if you decide to use one of these. Radd has the potential to be better than Navarre.

The Rapier and Wing Spear are a one-time deal, you can only buy one from these shops. They are good to get along with a decent amount of steel weapons. Silver weapons are costly and you should avoid them since you will get many in drops from enemies.

On the first turn, advance your units carefully. Make sure Shiida is relatively in the front, she is needed to recruit the knight, Roger. On the second turn, only move your units forward a bit. Let the enemies come and fight you. Next turn, you will be just the right distance to recruit Roger. You can have Draug block the bottle neck if he can hold off all those units. Have him pick off units one by one. When you can recruit Roger and kill all off the archers, do it. Make sure Shiida doesn't have the wing spear equipped or she will fight cavaliers until she dies. After you can avoid all other reinforcements by killing the general with Shiida's wing spear.

Make sure you take advantage of the town and specifically the fight arena. You might want to use a save spot for this. You have an endless supply of experience and gold here. Have Lena stay on the vendor space with the heal staffs (it's next to the arena). Have any unit fight in the arena. Remember that low wagers are easy enemies. High wagers are high enemies. After each battle, heal your unit. Lena's level will be 20 at the end of this chapter if you do it right. While you rake in the gold, be sure to buy all sorts of weapons. You can use the other save spot if you need to (if you haven't used it yet.

500's are always mages. 600's are mages, fighters, and the rare knight. 700's are pegasus knights, fighters, pirates, archers, myrmidons, mercenaries, cavaliers, and mages. Anything above 1000 is an upgraded unit (paladin, generals, etc.).

Picking sides
You have a choice now. You can either clear the right side first or the left side first. The right side has more enemies. The left side is a good way to do something while getting your troops over.

Eventually, you will want to invade the right side (good experience). A good way to do this is to place a knight at the right house. The archers will crowd around trying to do damage, but your defence should make it do none. The horsemen will then proceed to rush forward.

Eliminate all the horsemen in one turn. Don't give them the chance to work with the archers to pose any unforeseen danger. If you have chosen to do the left path before the right path, there are three things to note:


 * 1) Two cavaliers and one horsemen appear at the fort at as long you are within the fort boundaries. Be prepared, or you risk a serious danger to your troops.
 * 2) A few more rounds of reinforcements appear at a much later time.
 * 3) You can use an archer like Gordin to sit at the mountain dividing the two sides. This will lure the two archers to their deaths.

If you chose to do the right side first, then the reinforcements will come shortly after you trigger enemy movement on the left side. There are also two sets of knights that spawn when you are in the fort boundaries. They make for good exp for Shiida and Merric. They are only triggered if you step in the proximity of the forts.

The boss is relatively easy. Note that if you had tried to rush the boss first, reinforcements spawn automatically. Also note that reinforcements pop up when you attack him. They are limited, but to stop them the easy way, defeat the boss fast.

Seize the gate and continue.