This page is about the gameplay mechanic. For the chapter inThe Blazing Blade, seeBattle Preparations.

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The preparations menu inThe Sacred Stones.

Thepreparations menu (Japanese:進撃準備advance preparation), also known asbattle preparations orbattle prep inThree Houses, is a pre-battle management system that allows players to make adjustments to their army to prepare for an upcoming battle. It usually takes place after a chapter's opening cutscene, though some games may include additional cutscenes after preparations are concluded. Before starting a chapter, players can use the preparations menu to manage unit inventories, view the map, change unit starting positions, as well as several other options. The preparations menu appears in every game except forFire Emblem Gaiden andFire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War; in the former's case, the player's army is managed on theworld map, while for the latter, it is managed from withincastles.

Every iteration of the preparations menu has allowed the player to select which units to deploy. Most have also included options to select the initial positions of units on the map, and to manageinventories. The menu typically also allows players to view the chapter's victory and defeat conditions, as well as the number of units initially on the field. In games that also feature a world map orbase, the preparations menu can usually be prematurely ended to return to either, though this is not the case forFire Emblem: The Sacred Stones.

Access

The preparations menu typically becomes available early on in the game, though it is only given after a few chapters. After become available, it remains available for the rest of the game, except for certain cases, mainly when the game's final chapter has multiple maps.

The preparations menu becomes available at the start of the following chapters:

• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light:Chapter 4 onward
• Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem
  • Book 1:Chapter 2 onward
  • Book 2:Chapter 2 throughEndgame 2 part 1
• Fire Emblem: Thracia 776:Chapter 8 onward
• Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade:Chapter 6 throughChapter 24
• Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade
  • Lyn's tale:Chapter 7 onward
  • Eliwood's and Hector's tales:Chapter 14 throughFinal Chapter part 1
• Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones:Chapter 4 onward, except forChapter 5x andFinal Chapter part 2
• Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance:Chapter 3 onward
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
  • Part 1:Chapter 4 throughEndgame
  • Part 2:Chapter 3 throughEndgame
  • Part 3:Chapter 2 throughEndgame
  • Part 4:Prologue onward
• Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon:Chapter 4 onward
• Fire Emblem: New Mystery of the Emblem:Prologue 6 onward
• Fire Emblem Awakening:Chapter 3 onward
• Fire Emblem Fates: Chapter 7 of each route onward
• Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia:Act 1 map 4 onward, except fordungeon battles,skirmishes started by enemies, andAct 2 map 10
• Fire Emblem: Three Houses:Chapter 1 onward, except for thefirst chapter of Part 2 (not Crimson Flower)
• Fire Emblem Engage:Chapter 4 onward

Features

Pick Units

Selecting units inMystery of the Emblem.

Before the battle begins, players can select which units to deploy for the following battle, as many as the chapter allows. In all games, almost all chapters require the player to deploy the main character, and is not given the option to un-deploy them. Certain chapters may also force other units to be deployed for plot reasons, or similarly force them to be undeployed. Worth noting is that, while all chapters typically have a maximum number of units that can be deployed, very few have a minimum other than forced units mentioned previously; therefore, if the player has exactly enough units to meet the maximum, but feels certain units may not survive, they can often choose to simply not deploy them at all to save them the risk ofdeath.

Some chapters prevent the player from picking units; while most chapters in the series do this by omitting the preparations screen altogether, some still provide preparations, but completely prevent the player from changing the deployed roster. Thethreeparts ofendgame-2 inMystery of the Emblem must be completed with a single party; once the roster is finalized for the start of the gauntlet, every surviving playable unit will be force-deployed in every subsequent map. Likewise,Chapter 11 andChapter 22 ofEngage force the player to use the surviving members of the parties they brought into theprecedingchapters.

Inventory

Main articles:Inventory andtrade

The Inventory option, called Items in older games, allows the player to change each unit's equipped items, access thesupply convoy, and have unitstrade between each other. As well, it allows unit to use certain consumable items such as stat boosters orclass change items, though this cannot be done inThe Binding Blade. It can also be used to view a list of all items currently in the convoy or possessed by a unit.

Reclassing units inThree Houses.

Three Houses expands the Inventory option to allow the player to manage each unit'sabilities,combat arts, andbattalions, as well as toreclass units.

Armory

InThracia 776,The Binding Blade,The Sacred Stones,Shadow Dragon, andNew Mystery of the Emblem, the preparations screen also includes anarmory that provides basic weapons (i.e.Iron Swords,Fire, etc.) and staves; this armory can also be used to sell unwanted items, just like with any shop. InThe Binding Blade andThe Sacred Stones, items in the armory are 50% more expensive; additionally, inThe Binding Blade, the armory is disabled onHard Mode. InShadow Dragon andNew Mystery of the Emblem specifically, the armory also includes aforge, where a single item can be forged to the player's discretion each chapter. InThe Blazing Blade, the player can sell items during preparations, but they have no way to purchase any.

Armory

Thracia 776The Binding BladeThe Sacred StonesShadow DragonNew Mystery of the Emblem

	Name	Stock	Price
	Iron Sword	∞	2200
	Iron Lance	∞	2200
	Iron Axe	∞	1100
	Iron Bow	∞	2200

	Name	Stock	Price
	Iron Sword	∞	690
	Iron Lance	∞	540
	Iron Axe	∞	405
	Iron Bow	∞	810
	Fire	∞	630
	Heal	∞	900

	Name	Stock	Price
	Iron Sword	∞	690
	Iron Lance	∞	540
	Iron Axe	∞	405
	Iron Bow	∞	810
	Fire	∞	840
	Flux	∞	1350
	Lightning	∞	945
	Heal	∞	900

	Name	Stock	Price
	Iron Sword	∞	400
	Iron Lance	∞	480
	Iron Axe	∞	320
	Iron Bow	∞	440
	Fire	∞	300
	Heal	∞	800

	Name	Stock	Price
	Iron Sword	∞	400
	Iron Lance	∞	480
	Iron Axe	∞	320
	Iron Bow	∞	440
	Fire	∞	300
	Heal	∞	800
	Energy Drop	Limited: 3	2500
	Spirit Dust	Limited: 3	2500
	Secret Book	Limited: 3	2500
	Speedwing	Limited: 3	2500
	Goddess Icon	Limited: 3	2500
	Dracoshield	Limited: 3	2500
	Talisman	Limited: 3	2500
	Seraph Robe	Limited: 3	2500
	Arms Scroll	Limited: 3	2500

• Note: The stat boosters inNew Mystery of the Emblem are only purchasable after completing Lunatic Mode at least once.

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Support

Main article:Support

InThe Blazing Blade andThe Sacred Stones, this option presents a list of all units, theiraffinities, and each of their available support partners. It additionally displays which of the supports the unit has achieved, as well as how many more supports the unit can achieve for the rest of the game.

InAwakening andFates, on top of the aforementioned features, the support option also allows players to view new support conversations in full, as opposed to in previous games, where they were instead viewed during the battle.

View Map

Before the battle begins, the entire map can be viewed, along with each enemy unit and their stats. Examining the map beforehand is key to forming a viable strategy, as foreknowledge of factors such asterrain and how far units can move will much better allow players to plan out each turn.

By selecting "Formation"/"Reposition", the position of each playable unit can also be selected based on a set of given starting positions. In most cases, the main character's position cannot be changed. Some games, such asThe Blazing Blade,The Sacred Stones, andFates allow forced units other than the main character to change their position, while others such asRadiant Dawn force them to a certain starting position that cannot be changed. FromRadiant Dawn onward, the "Formation" option was merged into the general "View Map" option. InFates, units can also be chosen to start inpair up when the battle begins.

In very rare cases,reinforcements may appear on the map just after preparations are concluded, such as certain hard-mode exclusive enemies inThe Binding BladeChapters 21 and22, or in an extreme case,nearly the entire map's worth of initial enemies inRumored Nuptials fromThree Houses. Some games such asAwakening will have cutscenes after preparations, but before the start of battle, involve characters or units on the map being moved around, but will present the map during preparations as if the chapter were already started.

InThracia 776, the option to view the map is disabled during chapters that take place inFog of War, unlike later games, which allowed the map to be viewed regardless in most cases. This is likely due to Fog of War being depicted as pitch black in said game.

Options

The player can adjust game speed, battle animations, among other things. These options are also available during battle, or on theworld map orbase if the game includes either. InThree Houses, this is a subset of the "System" option.

Save

Players can save their game progress in the preparations menu; doing so will also save any changes to unit inventories or starting positions made beforehand. This can be used to avoid re-doing all preparation work from the beginning if the chapter is failed or restarted.

Conditions

Starting inThe Binding Blade, the preparations menu would display the chapter's victory condition. InPath of Radiance andRadiant Dawn, the chapter's victory and defeat conditions can be viewed through the "Conditions" option, along with the initial number of units in the ally army, the enemy army, as well as the partner and neutral factions if applicable.Shadow Dragon throughEchoes: Shadows of Valentia would later simply display the conditions on the DS's top screen or the 3DS's bottom screen.

Reclass

Main article:Reclass

Available inShadow Dragon andNew Mystery of the Emblem only, units can change their classes to any other class available to them, so long as the army has not reached the maximum number of that class's class group.

Talk

Available only inNew Mystery of the Emblem, the player can view conversations providing information on the upcoming chapter, or simply providing character development and dialogue. This feature can be seen as an analogue toPath of Radiance's andRadiant Dawn'sbase conversations.

Check Others

Main article:Everyone's Conditions

Available only inNew Mystery of the Emblem, the player can view randomly generated clock-based events that can grant temporary stat boosts to units, specialitems,experience, orsupport points.

Equip Skills

Main article:Skills

InAwakening andFates only, units can change their currently equipped skills just before battle, as well as reorder them.

Guide

Available only inAwakening,Fates,Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, andThree Houses, previous tutorial slide guides can be viewed at the player's leisure. If the chapter has additional guides to explain map-specific features, such as the pots inConquest Chapter 12, those can be viewed as well. InThree Houses, this option is a subset of the "System" option.

Marketplace

Available inThree Houses andEngage, the player can freely buy items from the sameArmory, Item Shop, Battalion Guild, andBlacksmith that appear inGarreg Mach Monastery for the former, and only the Armory and Item Shop on theSomniel for the latter. This does not include merchants that arrive from completing certain quests, however.

Fight

After the player is done, preparations will end and the battle will begin when this option is selected. The menu cannot be accessed again until the beginning of the next chapter. Certain chapters in certain games may also play a cutscene between the end of preparations and the start of the battle proper.

Earlier games do not have a separate "Fight" option in the menu, but instead the chapter is started by pressing the Start button. Certain games require the Start button to be pressed in the "Pick Units" menu, while others allow it to be pressed in other parts of the preparations menu.

InFire Emblem Warriors

The spinoff gameFire Emblem Warriors also features a similar preparations menu to the one included in most games, albeit with some alterations to fit the gameplay. Like in the mainFire Emblem series, the preparations menu allows players to manage unit inventories and starting positions. Unique to the game, however, are the options to give units orders and commands, manageautobattle behaviors, as well as to change theircostumes. The menu also displays the chapter's victory and defeat conditions, as well as the conditions for obtainingAnna's Mementos. The menu additionally allows the player to return to camp, though this will close the preparations menu prematurely.

The preparations menu becomes available starting inChapter 3.

Trivia

Chapter 2's map with increased red levels and decreased green levels.

• InFire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, while holding down the L and R triggers on the controller, the player can use up or down in combination with the A, Y, or X buttons to change the levels of the corresponding button's color (red, green, and blue respectively), and reset the coloration by pressing B with the triggers held. Starting the map resets the color back to default.

Etymology and other languages

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Gallery

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• 

  The preparations menu inMystery of the Emblem.

• 

  The preparations menu inThe Sacred Stones.