Last tweet was mostly a joke, but here's the dealio with ambush spawns. This'll take a few tweets. I view hard mode as expecting you to already know the maps and the mechanics from a previous playthrough of THAT entry. Many of the start menus say Hard is for "experienced" players

Does this mean experienced with the series, or experienced with that game? Well, FE is a turn based strategy game, it isn't like other genres where your skills transfer over, i.e. I can beat Halo 2 on legendary, therefore I can start Halo 3 on legendary.

You might be more familiar with what the stats mean, but because you know the maps and systems of another FE doesn't mean you're going to have or know everything you need to instantly tackle another on hard.

Ambush spawns aren't a mechanic that I enjoy... on the first run. This does lead to trial and error, but the recent games (for the era that I'm in, keep in mind I'm up to Awakening after playing all the prior games) actually give you an out, and a safe way to learn the game

People saying they are "surprised" by ambush spawns probably started on Hard, and holy shit do you have my sympathy. Speaking as someone who started by playing the games when they A) Gave absolutely 0 warnings about spanws and B) Gave 0 fucks about it, I understand ur frustration

But, removed from any anecdotal bias, what do ambush spawns add? Seriously, I challenge you to do this, think 100% objectively for a moment, and just ask yourself, what are the good parts of this mechanic? It's okay to do the same for negative aspects, and just weigh them

Here's what I found. With how FE plays, anyone can do anything if they just take enough time. It would be easy to trivialize harder modes if players were allowed to turtle and perfectly set up for everything. Ambush spawns throw a wrench into this, and teach a wary mindset.

Here's the negatives I found. They unfairly punish players who have no prior experience with the maps. Giving ambush spawns effective weapons like armorslayers unfairly punishes players who do try to predict them and get around them by using units they SHOULD be doing that with

Weighing these, what is the balanced solution? I'd say limiting ambush spawns to harder difficulties that expect prior knowledge of that game is a great idea. That is what they did, so great. Next, do not give effective weapons to ambush spawns, except on the highest difficulty

I'm not all the way thru my hard classic run yet, so if they did the second of those, then it is a failure, but that definitely isn't all the time. Another solution is to give forewarning of reinforcements in the early game, so players learn to expect them later on. They did that

I look at what they did and didn't do, not just how I felt. On an experienced run, they become part of the puzzle, and some maps would be way too easy without them.
Awakening's pair up mechanics can let anyone just hide squishies with ease, if anything they're quite lenient here

That being said, don't get the wrong idea, I don't love them. I'd rather the system be replaced entirely. Here's what I'd do

1. Make behind the back reinforcements be unable to appear and attack.
2. Make so-called ambush spawns only happen closer to the bosses location, and have them charge your forces. This makes an immediate threat that can be suddenly closer than you want, giving you time to rally

3. Mark potential reinforcement squares with a faded color, since honestly it can be hard to read the map design, even in 3D, and predict where people are coming from

4. Make enemy behavior more readable. Have some people charge, and some stand their ground. In general, most enemies tendency to stand in one point until someone gets in their range, even though they know they're fighting, is what made ideas like ambush spawns necessary

5. If you want to keep ambush spawns, then explain that by "experienced players", you mean players who are experienced with this game's maps and mechanics. Just say that this means same-turn attack reinforcements. At least then people will know what they signed up for

Maybe this is all fixed in the later games. I don't know yet, though. Anyways, I'm starting to hit my army's tipping point on Awakening Hard Classic, and I'm having a blast.

Have a good 'un