Hard Mode Bonuses
How Hard Mode bonuses are applied to FE7 enemies.
Overview
FE7 still applies Hard Mode bonuses to a similar fashion as FE6, but in a much more muted way. This leads to significantly lower enemy quality on average, but no real overpowered recruitable enemies. This page contains information on how to calculate FE7 hard mode bonuses, which will make it very clear why FE7 HHM Heath's stats aren't nearly as high as FE6 HM Melady.
Guide Contents
This guide contains the following information.
Calculations
Calculating enemy stats and Hard Mode bonuses.
Enemy Level Ups
Enemy unit level ups are not the same as player unit level ups. They do not generate one 7 RNs between 0 and 99 to check each stat; rather they are based around class stat growths. Class growth rates can be found on the classes page.
The enemy stat calculation process is the following (repeated for each stat).
- Take the number of levels gained and multiply it by the class growth rate for the current stat expressed as a probability.
- Generate a random decimal number between 7/8th and 9/8th of the value found in step 1.
- Take the whole number part of the value found in step 2, the unit gains that amount of points in the current stat.
- Roll a single RN between 0 and 99, if this RN is less than the decimal part of the value found in step 2, the unit gains an extra point in the current stat.
This method of generating stats still results in some variance in enemy stats, but not nearly as much as straight up generating 7 RNs. Essentially, enemy stats are bounded in how low and how high they can be.
The number of levels gained per enemy depends on their level and whether or not they've promoted. A generic enemy will simply gain their displayed level minus 1 levels using the above method. If they are promoted, they will also gain 9 levels, or 19 levels (both Eliwood and Hector's versions) in Hard Mode in their unpromoted class.
Hard Mode Extra Levels
FE6 Hard Mode gave a different amount of extra level ups for every chapter in the game, progressively getting more and more crazy. FE7 decided that was too much, and instead gives a flat 5 extra level ups to all enemies on Hector Hard Mode only. This means that unpromoted enemies will have the same stats in ENM and EHM. Promoted enemies will still gain 19 levels in their unpromoted class on Hard Mode, versus the 9 that they gain on Normal Mode. But unpromoted EHM enemies are all just as weak as ENM.
In short: promoted enemies gain 15 extra levels in HHM and 10 extra levels in EHM; unpromoted enemies gain 5 extra levels in HHM and none in EHM.
Sample HM Enemy Stat Calculation
Putting all of the above together, we can calculate the stat ranges of any enemy in the game given their class and level. Let's calculate the possible HM Speed values of a HHM Cog of Destiny Level 14 Valkyrie.
\(B_{spd} = \text{Class base Spd} = 5\)First, we must apply the unpromoted level ups. Because this is Hard Mode, the Valkyrie will gain 19 Troubadour level ups (from Valkyrie base stats).
\(G_{Troubadour,spd} = \text{Class Spd growth} = 0.55\)\(L_{Troubadour} = 19\)\(\begin{aligned} Q_{Troubadour} &= \text{Base stat gain value} \\ &= L_{Troubadour} * G_{Troubadour,spd} \\ &= 19 * 0.55 \\ &= 10.45 \end{aligned}\)Now, we can apply the promoted level ups. Because this is Hector Hard Mode, the Valkyrie will gain an extra 5 level ups.
\(G_{Valkyrie,spd} = \text{Class Spd growth} = 0.45\)\(L_{Valkyrie} = \text{Base levels gained} = 14 - 1 = 13\)\(L_{hm} = \text{HHM bonus levels} = 5\)\(L_{total} = 13 + 5 = 18\)\(\begin{aligned} Q_{Valkyrie} &= \text{Base stat gain value} \\ &= L_{total} * G_{Valkyrie,spd} \\ &= 18 * 0.45 \\ &= 8.10 \end{aligned}\)\(\begin{aligned} Q &= Q_{Troubadour} + Q_{Valkyrie} \\ &= 10.45 + 8.10 \\ &= 18.55 \end{aligned}\)\(Q_{low} = \frac{7}{8} * Q = 16.23\)\(Q_{high} = \frac{9}{8} * Q = 20.87\)For demonstration purposes, lets say that the random number generator chose 19.25 as the decimal between 16.23 and 20.87. Then, we can continue as follows.
\(Q_{whole} = 19\)\(Q_{decimal} = 0.25\)Hence, if 19.25 is chosen as the random number, the Valkyrie will gain at least 19 Spd, with a 25% chance of gaining 20 Spd if the rolled RN is below 25. Adding this on to the base Spd for Valkyrie, we get 5 + 19 = 24 expected Spd (with a 25% chance of being 25).
Note that the floor of the lower Q is the minimum possible stats gained, and the ceiling of the higher Q is the maximum possible stats gained. Hence, if 19.25 is chosen as the random number, the Valkyrie will gain at least 19 Spd, with a 25% chance of gaining 20 Spd if the rolled RN is below 25. Adding this on to the base Spd for Valkyrie, we get 5 + 19 = 24 expected Spd (with a 25% chance of being 25).
Recruitable Enemies
Recruitable enemies will use the same calculations as above, except they use their own personal bases with the class's growths. They will also only gain the HHM bonus 5 levels, regardless of their starting level. This means that EHM effectively does not have any favorable Hard Mode bonuses. Also, bonuses do not scale up as the game goes on. This results in Heath (Chapter 22H FE7) only getting 5 bonus levels, compared to Melady (Chapter 13 FE6) getting 10 bonus levels.
FE7 uses a similar system to FE6, where only recruitable enemies who are not present on the map during battle preparations will get bonuses. Coincidentally, this happens to be every recruitable enemy in FE7. The only exception is Dart, who shows up as an enemy during Chapter 17x but is not recruitable there, and hence will not get any bonuses.
The calculations above have been precomputed for all recruitable enemies and are available on their pages. It will display a range of possible values for each stat, along with the most likely value. For convenience, here are links to all recruitable enemies that get Hard Mode bonuses.