Pokemon Conquest, Conquest Seven (Illusio): So You Think You Can Win (1/10)

One of the first things you should do on reaching the next month is check out Pugilis.  It has a couple of more standard buildings, but presents a new environment to meet wild Pokemon and independent Warriors- the Park.  This are is mostly flat, but has one major terrain feature and a couple of surprises.

The terrain feature is a huge bench or platform that runs across the center of the map.  This is a very important feature because it grants high ground, and it’s just barely in movement range of any enemies you face at the start of the battle.  This means that you get to make a choice- do you charge the bench and try to take it quickly and get your own advantage, or do you advance more cautiously and try to lure the enemy off of the high ground?  You have to be wary- both of the pit traps that are on this map are also near the bench, so watch your step.

Of course, this also is your environment for meeting Fighting-type Pokemon, which is a type you haven’t had a chance at yet- and Dark-type as well, in the form of Scrafty.  This is very important, because the Warriors you’ve had shots at so far who use Flying/Normal Pokemon are all specialized for Fighting or Dark types instead.  It also means you immediately get a chance to fix things like the fact that Tadatsune is running around with a Grass Pokemon (not that that’s entirely terrible, with the 70% maximum Link rating, but it certainly could be improved).

The next thing you need to to is take a look at Illusio, as it’s the weaker of the two next fortresses.... though that’s not saying a lot.  The defenders’ total power is a whopping 1203, a very daunting combined strength.  To make matters worse, you are not only facing an evolved pokemon this time, but a fully-evolved three-stage Pokemon, accompanied by a second-stage version of the same evolution chain.  Even that doesn’t cover the whole difficulty, though- the terrain for the conquest map is vastly different from everything you’ve dealt with so far, and very hard to properly navigate in any sort of a reliable manner.  Even if you are packing several Pokemon with Bug attacks or Dark typing, you’re going to want to be very strong before you even take a shot at this fortress- it’s a tough battle.

If you haven’t got an alternate Pokemon for Oichi yet, you will want to do so now- Jigglypuff is nice on defenses, but its offense leaves something to be desired, and Oichi needs a good way to gain more reach.  It’s probably a good idea to pick up a Flying-type for her, as those tend to have a high Range and the ability to simply ignore gaps and height differences is very strong.  Unfortunately, she has a very poor maximum Link with Zubat, so you’re pretty much stuck getting her a Starly.  This isn’t so bad, Starly/Staravia/Staraptor isn’t a poor-quality ‘mon by any means, but the lack of options can be distressing.