Chapter 3, Mission 2: Flower Power

Map 13 (Chapter 3, Mission 2) is a 9x16 large-sized map in TinyGroove. Its S-rank can be achieved if completed in <13 days. While the same size as Map 12 (the first Mission in Chapter 3), this Map represents the opposite of the tides' slowing effects on gameplay featured in Map 12, by introducing a quick-paced match centered on the many roadway circles around the many natural springs that lead to the Isthmus. Solving the secret of the Flower Fields will yield the Sunshadow Medallion, the counterpart to the Moontide Medallion, received for completing Map 12, Chapter 3, Mission 1.

Mission Background
The mission begins with the player competing with Ryota in a 1-on-1 match to defeat each other before being interrupted by Greenfinger, who spawns vines surrounding the map's center, and begins releasing hoards of Floran muckdogs from the central springs of the map and along the streams entering the map every couple of days. As with most maps, locating treasure chests is helpful. Each one here introduces a side quest:

1) The treasure chest in the village in the top-left corner of the map provides the player with a small amount of money. Furthermore, if the player has completed Achievement A8, and saved the villager in Chapter 1, Side Mission 2, then he has returned to his home village and provides a hint to a mountainside grave site where there is a 1200 gold cash bounty that may be retrieved for exhuming a corpse on the nearby mountainside (deja vu from Prologue Mission 1). Similar to Chapter 1, this is one component to unlocking another Dr. Bones side quest, this time in Chapter 5, Side Mission 3. The other component to unlocking this map is connected to Chapter 4, Mission 2.

2) The treasure chest in the bottom-left corner of the map provides more gold, and hints at a hidden port that may be located at the one waterfall leading away from the map towards the Isthmus (for which the chapter is named). Standing there unveils a hidden but damaged port where the player may only construct merfolk.

3) The third treasure chest in the bottom-center of the map provides a hint that kick-starts a scavenger hunt associated with prominent colors featured in the picturesque Flower Fields. The goal is far simpler than most puzzles in TinyGroove, and basically requires the player to place four units to surround each flag on the map, in order of the most prominent hues featured on the map (hint: it starts with the blue one and just moves counterclockwise):
 * 1) The treasure chest hints that the player should start with the blue flag at the north end of the battlefield. Indeed, most of the map is covered with blue water and blue flowers. Surrounding the road circle around the blue flag now continuously allows the player's units to end their turn on that space and then attack or move again!
 * 2) Then the player must surround the flag representing the next most prominent color on the map. The green grass and trees make it the green flag, just south of the blue one. It can actually be surrounded by many of the same units used to surround the blue flag above it (even on the same turn). Now the green flag circle is highlighted and units may end their turn there and subsequently move or attack again on the same turn unimpeded.
 * 3) Yellow is the next most prominent color featured in the Heavensong Army's buildings and units, and flowers in the field after blue and green. This flag, coincidentally, may also be captured in the same turn using the same units as the first two (if you used mages or soldiers with sufficient movement ranges).
 * 4) Red is the fourth flag to surround in this side quest to retrieve the relic of the flower fields, and the map message once it is triggered is amusing. The red flowers make this the 4th stop on the historic flags of the flower fields tour, ending with...
 * 5) The purple flag is the last road circle to surround with your units to complete this scavenger hunt, as the only other purple color on the map is Elodie's flag next to your stronghold. Once surrounded, the scavenger hunt concludes with one final stop...
 * 6) The road circle around the well, once surrounded with your units, will give the player the Sunshadow Medallion.

Helpful Hints
The map is pretty easy to win, as Greenfinger will slow Ryota's advances with his vines and muckdogs. Defeating Greenfinger will end this protection. The flag scavenger hunt plays a major role on the pacing of this map, as it allows players capturing all of them to rapidly traverse the whole map if they build units with sufficient movement range or use wagons. The 3rd Chapter marks the departure from spearmen spam being an effective strategy in TinyGroove, as the tides stalling them in Mission 1 and Side Mission 1 make them impractical, and the lack of movement range (compared to other units) makes them too slow in Mission 2 and the Side Castle.

Capturing the Top-Right water village will hint that the player's commander should locate a depression on the map where four waterfalls converge, and visit it once the artefact of the flower fields is in their possession. Doing so will unlock the Chapter 3, Side Mission 1 (which may also be unlocked in Map 12 by completing the 1st phase of its hidden artefact challenge).

The key to a swift victory for the S-Rank here is manipulating the flag circles, once activated, to move your units multiple times per turn to swiftly defeat Greenfinger and then Ryota. Capturing the port after completing the 2nd side quest allows the player to build Merfolk. This constitutes a pretty huge advantage for the player given the number of waterways on the map and the endless turn capabilities the circles of power on the map afford all units (including this indirect combat unit). It is actually possible to defeat Ryota (or any enemy unit) with Merfolk standing in one of the map's 5 circles via indirect combat by attacking them several times in a row with no chance for retaliation. This is also why no other indirect combat units may be built by either side on this map. Regardless, Merfolk (in or out of the water) are crazy powerful in this mission.

All of this information was gleaned from the in-game spoilers unlocked in the Achievement Castle by completing at least 40% of the game and destroying the red gates comprising the 'Campaign Completion Counter'.

A16: The Best Defense...
Conditions: Don't let Greenfinger have more than 10 muckdogs on the map at a time. You'll need to defeat them when you see them to succeed (don't worry, Ryota will help with this one too). Greenfinger spawns 4-6 of muckdogs every other turn.

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