Warrior's Way: Fighting my own specially-set up max army

So, a long time ago (in a galaxy far far away), I finished Warrior's Way and set my army with the 99,999 cavalry/99,999 archers/9,800,001 infantry split so that it could be easily defeated by much smaller armies.  But I'd never really tested it to see how it worked, nor did I know how many troops would be won when it was defeated.

Not until now.

Having purchased and system transferred to a New 3DS, which is old news by now, means that my Old 3DS got to go through all the games again.  When I got to ~150k troops, I tried fighting my max army, only to get screwed over by a field condition weakening infantry.  Either of the others and I would've been totally fine.  It's for this reason that I'm now going to recommend holding off until about ~220k troops, so that you can guarantee two wins, regardless of field conditions.

As far as spying goes, you'll need to spy at least once, usually twice.  If the specially-set up max army sends its giant group first, then spying a second time will be less necessary.  Later on, once you've got more troops, you can set up your army in such a way that you won't need to spy at all, and from then on it's just free troops (and a victory to add to your streak).

I've sidestepped it for long enough.  You know what I'm talking about.  It's the answer to the one question you still have.  How many troops do you get for defeating a max army?  After all, when you greet a max army peacefully and its monarch decides to give you troops, you only get a paltry 3000.  Well, it's a bit different if you can actually defeat the max army.  Quite a bit different.  Seriously, why am I still stalling for time?

Screenshot or it didn't happen.

I don't know if the number of troops received depends on the distribution, or what, but it's still a really nice number that allows you to grow an army pretty quickly.

So basically, every time my systems StreetPass each other now, my Old 3DS gets half a million more troops.  I'll take that.

Edit (20:45, same day): Replaced my textual approximation of how many troops you get with a picture showing the exact number.  Yay technology!

StreetPass Games Done

That certainly took a while.  Having a HomePass setup definitely made it quicker.  Some people call HomePass cheating, but I don't.  It doesn't reduce the challenge of accomplishing everything, nor does it reduce the amount of work you have to do.  It simply lowers the barrier to entry.

So, everything ever:

• Puzzle Swap: 1637/1637 pieces (for North America)
• When I originally posted this, there were 1177 puzzle pieces.
• When I got my New 3DS and system transferred to it, there were 1502 puzzle pieces.
• Find Mii and Find Mii 2: All accomplishments (including "Clear Find Mii in 30 Miis or less") and hats/outfits.
• Mii Force: All plaza tickets (this implies all lost treasures collected, all target scores beaten, and all stages beaten without losing a pod).
• Flower Town: All plaza tickets, gold on all jobs, 80/80 breeds, 305/305 colors, gold watering can.
• Warrior's Way: All plaza tickets, Castle rank 20, 9,999,999 troops (set up so that an army of 50k+ infantry, 50k+ cavalry, and a small group of archers can defeat it by spying twice, field conditions allowing).
• Monster Manor: All plaza tickets, beat floor 50 and the true final boss for the hat.
• Ultimate Angler: All plaza tickets (this implies 160/160 species caught)
• Battleground Z: All plaza tickets, all rare zombies defeated
• StreetPass Birthdays: All plaza tickets (this implies 366/366 birthdays)
• Exchange Booth: All hats/outfits and speech balloons claimed, Exchange Booth closed once again

I'll have more work to do with each Puzzle Swap panel that Nintendo releases, and of course if they add any more games.  With each new panel I'll try and remember to keep the piece count updated, as well.  But until the next new panel or game, feels good man.

Side note: if Puzzle Swap and the Find Mii games can detect when there's nothing left for the player to do and decide to not show their exclamation points with each group of StreetPasses, why can't the DLC StreetPass games do the same?

Edit (2015-09-25): Added Ultimate Angler, Battleground Z, and StreetPass Birthdays, just to mark them off as complete.  Because I now have two 3DSes, this post is only representative of my original efforts, which I system transferred from my Old 3DS to my New 3DS.  Any new puzzles will be marked here until I finish everything on my Old 3DS once again, and then this post will be retired and a new one encompassing both systems will be created.

StreetPass Games Revisited: Warrior's Way

I have three plaza tickets left in Warrior's Way.  The ones I have left are for taking over the world twice, getting my castle to rank 20, and battling 300 monarchs from afar.

I don't really have any major issues with this game.  The way it curves enemy troop numbers according to your own progression can sometimes be frustrating when it throws a battle at you that makes you have to go on a troop recruitment drive.  This is most apparent when you've gotten to one country remaining, but also tends to happen when it throws Berserkers or Ninjas at you, since they have different battle rules than normal battles.

Don't get used to those gold stars telling you when an army can't lose, though.  They go away after your first playthrough.  Figuring out when you've got enough troops is simple, though.  When you're on equal footing, you simply need more troops.  When you have the advantage, you can have just over half the troops.  When you have the disadvantage, you need at least double the troops.  The condition for the gold star is that the specific troop type can defeat what it's weak to, or the largest enemy group, whichever is bigger.

Combat is basically rock, paper, scissors, best two out of three.  Rock is your cavalry, Scissors are your archers, and Paper is your infantry.  Just in case you live under a rock, this means that infantry has the advantage over cavalry, cavalry has the advantage over archers, and archers have the advantage over infantry.  A unit can still defeat the unit with an advantage over it, but it must do so through sheer numbers.  Field conditions can also randomly weaken one troop type and make it always have a disadvantage.

The game's play coin-fueled spying mechanic is very important to determining your strategy and unit sizes, so get yourself plenty of play coins.  However, there are two special types of battles you'll run into.  Some nations will have Berserkers, where spying is extra important because they take out 4/5 of a unit when they have the advantage, and 2/3 of a unit with equal footing.  Others will have Ninjas, which are their own special troop type that always has the advantage.  Because Ninja is its own troop type, spying is useless since you'll just figure out that they're going to be sending Ninjas (as the cool kids say... duh).  The only way to beat the Ninjas is through sheer numbers, you'll need at least twice what they have.

A strategy that's useful sometimes is to have a "planned defeat" built into your battle strategy.  This is most useful when the enemy has one really large group, or against Berserkers or Ninjas.  Set one of your troop types to be as small as possible.  You then get extra troops to throw at your other troop types.  Once in battle, spy to figure out when they're sending the big group, and send the tiny one.  It'll get defeated, but the big group won't be a factor anymore.  Against Ninjas, just send the tiny group first, then hopefully your other groups will be big enough to take out the remaining Ninjas.

Also, against the countries you have to take over, sometimes they'll favor one specific troop type and have it for two of their three units, making your strategy somewhat easier as you'll have a group that's much more easily guaranteed a win.  Field conditions can also apply to these battles.  I had one hilarious battle where the enemy had two units of cavalry, but field conditions weakened cavalry.  Easiest.  Battle.  Ever.

Don't forget to challenge monarchs from afar (which of course are other people who own Warrior's Way), because they're a great way to build your troops up.  Just remember that the number of times you can spy is per session, not per battle.  I generally only challenge a monarch if I have over double their troops by a significant enough amount that there's no possible way I can lose.  There are five plaza tickets related to challenging monarchs from afar, so you might as well get started on them as early as possible.

Hiring mercenaries is a great way to boost your numbers, but at the same time, it's not really necessary until just before the Emperor on each play-through.  Some castle rank-ups will increase how many mercenaries you can hire with play coins, so to get the most out of your play coins you should hold off until just before the Emperor.  Also, only ever spend 15 play coins on mercenaries, it's the best deal in the long run.

As for that pesky critical strike plaza ticket, it's something that has a chance of happening in the third round of battle if your unit is smaller than the opponent's unit.

I still maintain my stance that if you can only get one of these games, go with Warrior's Way.

"New" StreetPass Games

They're not exactly new anymore, but they're newer than Puzzle Swap and Find Mii.  A fair amount of people haven't even bothered to get them simply because they're paid DLC for the StreetPass Mii Plaza, and I suspect people generally want to put their money towards bigger titles.  But man, they're missing out.

Available for purchase are Mii Force, Flower Town, Warrior's Way, and Monster Manor.  They're $4.99 each, or you can get all four of them in a bundle for $14.99.  I grabbed the bundle.

Mii Force

In Mii Force, you're galactic police going after space pirates.  It's a sidescrolling shooter, and an interesting one at that.  The people you streetpass give you different weapons based on the color of their shirt, and you can attach them in one of four places on your ship (three front, one back).  In addition, you can stick other people behind them to power their weapons up.  This game plays best when you get a lot of streetpasses.  The Special Miis that Nintendo sends out periodically have an extra gold pod that fires additional shots.

It has the interesting mechanic of being able to rotate your weapons around your ship with the L and R buttons during the stage.  The stages themselves will change direction from time to time, from horizontal to vertical and back, thus necessitating rotating your weapons.  The variety of weapons is amazing and it's incredibly fun to play.  The goal?  Complete all the stages and wipe out the pirates!

You can also spend play coins to recruit troops (including the ability to hire old allies!) and get extra weapon pods, if you don't have a lot of streetpasses available.  The game is fairly challenging with just one pod, enough so that some gamers may want to try it that way and see how far they get.

Worth it?  Definitely.

Flower Town

In Flower Town, you grow flowers, breed new flowers, and expand your garden on your quest to become a master gardener.  This game is full of bright colors and is fairly relaxing to play.  You can also buy decorations for your garden plots, and even take jobs from the local mall to breed specific plants for people.  You can use play coins to invite people you've previously met back to your garden.

Every streetpass you get will help your current flower grow, and once it's fully grown, will help you get seeds that can potentially grow entirely new flowers.  The goal is to get 20 breeds of flowers.

It's definitely not for everyone, but I find it to be interesting.

Worth it?  If you like flowers or want a nice relaxing game, sure.  Otherwise, you may want to hold off, unless you really really want to get the most out of every streetpass.

Warrior's Way

In Warrior's Way, you're a monarch building your army and trying to take over the world.  This is simplified into a rock-paper-scissors strategy game where each troop type is strong against one other and weak against one other.  Every few countries you take over will give you building materials you can use to upgrade your castle to get the ability to spy, or simply even the ability to hire more mercenaries with play coins.  The ability to spy in battle is useful for your strategy, as it tells you what troop type your enemy will attack with next.

This game is unique in that it depends on a portion of the world's owners of 3DSes not purchasing it.  When you streetpass someone who hasn't bought it, they're a general with an army (based on their StreetPass Plaza size), and they ally with you and boost your numbers.  If you streetpass someone who plays the game, though, they're a monarch and you have a choice between greeting them peacefully or fighting their army.  You want to have a fair number of streetpasses for this game, because more streetpasses = more troops.  The Special Miis that Nintendo sends out periodically add a nice chunk of troops.

The goal is simple enough that I've already stated it: take over the world!

Worth it?  Definitely.

Monster Manor

In Monster Manor, you're exploring a haunted mansion.  Each person you streetpass gives you pieces that you can use to reveal parts of the current floor of the mansion.  Join enough pieces of the same color together to make a room with chests (containing items, of course!) in it.  Throughout the mansion you'll encounter ghosts and have to fight them off.

This game has a nice blend of puzzles, exploration, combat, and supernatural horror.  You can use play coins to hire extra investigators to help with the exploration of the mansion.  The goal is to get to the top of the mansion and defeat everything that stands in your way.

Worth it?  Sure!

Overall

The newer streetpass games give you a lot more to do with each streetpass, as well as a lot of new and good uses for play coins.  If you've finished all the puzzles and Find Mii 1 and 2, definitely give them a shot.  Heck, give them a shot even if you haven't.  If you have to choose just one, I would say pick either Mii Force or Warrior's Way.

Price-wise, it appears at first glance like it's a whole two cents cheaper to buy only three of the games ($4.99 * 3 = $14.97) than to buy the bundle ($14.99), but the bundle makes all the games $3.75 each instead of $4.99 each.  This means you effectively end up spending more by buying three games at the full price than buying the bundle!  The difference?  $3.75 * 3 = $11.25, $14.97 - $11.25 = $3.72.  With buying three games costing almost an entire game more than simply buying the bundle, it makes no sense to buy anything other than the bundle.

Also, there's a hidden ranking in my "Worth it?" lines above.  Definitely > Sure! > Flower Town.  Flower Town isn't bad, it's just not for everyone.  All the games are good enough to be worth the price, so if you're not going to grab the bundle, it all comes down to your gaming preferences.