Final Fantasy Tactics
Auto Battle FAQ

By: Brendan Byrd/SineSwiper <>
Version: 0.96 (February 23, 2003)

(Please e-mail me at the above address for any comments, questions, additions,
or corrections.)
Table of Contents

1. What is the auto-battle feature and why use it?
2. The Basics
   a. Auto-battle commands
   b. The Pause button
   c. Priority and Offensive vs. Defensive Classes
3. Test Conditions
4. Normal Classes
   a. Squire
   b. Chemist
   c. Knight
   d. Archer
   e. Monk
   f. Thief
   g. Geomancer
   h. Lancer
   i. Priest
   j. Wizard
   k. Oracle
   l. Time Mage
   m. Mediator
   n. Summoner
5. Advanced Classes
   a. Dancer
   b. Bard
   c. Samurai
   d. Ninja
   e. Calculator
   f. Mime
6. Special Classes
   a. Squire (Guts)
   b. Holy Knight
   c. Dark Knight
   d. Divine Knight
   e. Holy Swordsman
   f. Engineer
   g. Heaven and Hell Knights
   h. Worker 8 (Work)
   i. Temple Knight
   j. Dragoner
   k. Soldier
   l. Byblos
7. Special Quirks
   a. Last Man Standing
   b. Gotta Train Them All!
   c. Scared Critical Characters
   d. The Teleport Ability
8. Credits


The auto-battle command is a little-used feature in FFT that uses the in-game
AI engine to control your characters, along with a little bit of control on
how they act.  Many people are afraid of using an auto-battle feature in a 
advanced tactical game like FFT, because they think it's too simplistic.  In
fact, because it uses the same AI engine that is kicking your arse on the
enemies' side, it can be a valuable tool and time-saver... long as you know how to use it.

That is the purpose of this FAQ: to explore the various classes on how they
behave with the engine.  Yes, you do lose some of the fine-tuning and control
with the AI engine, but you'll discover that sometimes the AI is smarter than
you and can figure out things 100 times faster than you can.  Imagine a 
calculator that can figure out the best number combo to kill your all enemies
in one turn...and it figures all of that out in 5-10 seconds.

Using the auto-battle feature isn't cheating (in my book) and it doesn't take
the fun out of the game, but I do recommend beating the game once before
trying it out.  (In fact, I don't recommend reading ANY FAQ until you beat the
game once.)  However, it is a fun challenge to go through the entire game
using (mostly) auto-battle.

2. The Basics

a. Auto-battle commands

   (Since these commands are pretty badly translated and long-winded, I've
   included CAPITAL abbreviations that I'll use from now on.)

   Manual - This is what you're used to: human controlled by you.  You can
   switch by from auto mode by selecting Manual.  Please note that if you act
   and don't move, or visa-versa, and then select an auto mode, it will
   complete the rest of the turn for you.

   Fight for life (FIGHT) - This command accepts an enemy target and goes
   after it.  Like all modes, it won't blindly go after it, if it takes
   multiple turns to move to a spot where it can attack the enemy.  Your
   character may decide to cast some spells on allies (which I generally refer
   to as "if it's bored"), or attack other and closer enemies, while it moves
   to the target.  Later on, when it's in range, it focuses on the target
   until it's dead.

   Run like a rabbit (RUN) - This is more like "Run like a chicken", if you've
   ever seen a <10 Brave character turn into one.  Your character will run to
   the nearest corner, where there is the least amount of battle.  However,
   like I said with FIGHT, this doesn't mean that it won't act.  It may cast 
   a spell on an enemy before it flees and/or pump itself up (like
   Accumulate).  If it's backed into a corner with enemies, it'll fight, as 
   long as it doesn't change its movement pattern.

   Protect allies (PROT) - This command will accept a friendly target and
   protect it.  "Protect" has a number of definitions in this case.  It may
   find a close enemy that is potentially threating the target and try to
   kill it.  It may heal the target if it needs it.  It may also revive a
   dead target.  Or it may cast support magic on the target.  The AI will
   choose the best option, to keep the target alive, in good health, and
   nearby.  Additionally, if you tell it to protect itself, it'll buff itself
   and make sure it's in decent health.  A PROT on itself is sorta like RUN,
   except the movement pattern isn't as fearful.

   Save fading life (NORM) - This really should be called "Normal auto-battle
   mode", as this is more or less a default mode the AI falls in.  This is a
   combination of FIGHT and PROT, where it chooses the best option (usually)
   for the job.  This is what you should start out with, when you first start
   battle.  If you need a more urgent or direct command, you can switch to
   one of the others later.  Also, this is the default mode when the character
   kills a FIGHT target, even though the mode is still technically set to
   FIGHT.  (If the target happens to come back to life, it'll come right after
   him/her again.)

b. The Pause button

   The pause button is very important.  It's the top green triangle button on
   your controller.  Whenever the game is in an auto mode, you can hit this to
   get your bearings, check the status of various characters, check your AT,
   or change AI commands on your characters.  When you hit it in the middle of
   a character's turn, it will WAIT UNTIL ITS TURN IS COMPLETE!  This is
   important, as you have think about if you need to change something BEFORE
   the character's turn comes up.  If in doubt, hit the button and you can
   unpause afterwards.

   (The correct usage of the pause button is to hold down or turbo the blasted
   thing.  Sometimes it'll give you a ding to acknowledge that it's going to
   pause after the character's turn and then just zip on by.  If you keep
   pressing the button, it'll stop for you every time.)

   When the game is in pause mode, every menu will have an End option.  Hit
   End to unpause the game.  You can actually pause the game even if all of
   the characters are in manual mode, in case you need to check on an enemy's
   stats before its turn comes up.

c. Priority and Offensive vs. Defensive Classes

   Every time an autoed character's turn comes up, the AI engine considers all
   of its different actions, weighs them, and figures out the best option for
   its auto-battle command.  Of course, this is much like how you think, but
   there's a fairly definate pattern to the AI's priority.  Here's a rough
   list on priorities (in order):

   1. Reviving a dead ally
   2. Healing a critical ally
   3. Casting Haste or raising Brave (?)
   4. Charming an enemy
   5. Killing an enemy (including petrify)
   6. Causing damage to the enemy
   7. Healing a damaged ally
   8. Defensive spells/abilities

   Keep in mind that this is a very rough list.  When you throw in percentages
   and amounts of HP, the list gets really hazy.  For example, healing 200 HP
   may have a higher priority than a 5% chance of killing an enemy.  Also, 
   many defensive abilities may not be used while in RUN mode, but others do
   (such as Haste and Accumulate).  But, in general, this is how it works.

   Therefore, your weapon and your two skills on the character are important.
   Since offensive abilities generally overpower the defensive ones, you want
   to make sure that you have at least one offensive skill set to offset any
   offensive abilities in a defensive skill set.
   For example, a Priest with his poor stick and no secondary job will spend
   his time casting Holy on every living creature, and casting Cure 4 or Raise
   2 on every undead one.  These spells take time.  One flaw in the AI's
   priority scheme is that AT cost is not a major factor, as long as the
   target is definately going to get hit (using the Unit lock).  (Exceptions
   are spells like Meteor or other super-slow abilities that have a speed
   below 10.)
   However, you set Steal as his secondary, and he will spend more time
   trying to charm enemies, which is an instant ability.  He will still use
   Holy, but since he has more options (including also stealing items), it
   would be used smarter.

3. Test Conditions

In order to research this information, I did it when I was buffed up and 
almost at the last boss.  Therefore, this research is based on classes with
all of the skills mastered.  You may have somewhat different results if you
have non-mastered characters, but it more or less turns into the same thing.
(If you like to contribute some data or strange quirks on the non-mastered
classes, feel free to e-mail me about it.)

Also, on most of this, I've switched the character to the primary class and
removed the secondary, so that I get a "pure" look at how the class acts.
Sometimes though, I may add a secondary, or switch the class to a secondary to
see how they interact.  Obviously, I don't have enough time or patience to 
completely test out every single combination, but once you understand how the
AI engine behaves, you can get a feel for which classes and actions it

I'm also not going to give a run down on how every monster acts because, one,
they usually only have a few skills, and two, you see them in action all the
time, anyway.

4. Normal Classes

(Some may notice that I use the word "it" to describe the character, since I
am refering to the AI engine, and not characters or classes themselves.)

a. Squire
   The Squire is a pretty basic class, with a pretty basic AI.  If set to RUN
   (or if it's bored), it'll start using Accumulate on itself.  Otherwise, it
   will either attack with its weapon, if in range, or use Throw Stone, if 
   outside weapon range.  It may use Heal on a friendly, if it feels that the
   affiction is serious enough.
   I've never seen it use Dash, as my weapons were much better than the damage
   it causes, but judging from how the earlier enemies used it, the AI may try
   to use Dash to push an enemy off a ledge and try to cause fall damage.  My
   guess is that if the Dash + fall damage is less than the weapon damage, it
   doesn't bother with it any more.

   Overall: A+
   [There's not much to a Squire, and there's not much to screw up, so
   you should trust in the AI, and just let it do its thing.]

b. Chemist
   Like the enemy AI, the Chemist does good at its job.  It heals, it revives,
   it fixes ailments, it shoots/stabs enemies.  It'll even toss a Phoenix Down
   to the nearest undead enemy for a quick kill.  Combined with a good
   offensive secondary, the Chemist does a good balance between healing
   allies and banishing enemies.

   One big thing: it is wasteful with the Elixirs.  It won't toss one just to
   heal 30 HP (as a Potion does that job just as well), but if you're down by
   200 HP, it'll use one.  If it revives somebody using a PD (with the
   pathetic 11 HP recovery), it'll use an Elixir afterwards (for higher-level
   250+ HP characters, of course).  It'll even toss one to an undead enemy,
   even though PDs do the trick just as well.

   Overall: B+
   [If you value your Elixirs, you may want to manually control the
   chemist.  Otherwise, if you don't have any Elixirs, don't have the ability
   researched, or simply don't care about them, the Chemist works well.]

c. Knight
   The Knight, like the Squire, will bash its sword on the first enemy it
   sees, though it does like tearing into a mage's cloth best.  Most of the
   time, it doesn't use the break skills too often, if a more powerful sword
   slash works better.  However, if you have a semi-weak weapon, or use
   Equip Gun, it tends to start breaking stuff more often.
   Because of the odds, the Knight likes to break the helmet first, and then
   it'll go after the weapon.  However, if the situation demands a weapon
   break, such as when an archer is charging, it'll go for it right away.

   I've never seen it use a Magic/Speed/Power/Mind break, and that's probably
   for the better.  Except for certain special situations, they usually suck.

   Overall: A-
   [Kinda wish it broke things more often, but statistically, it's probably
   better to just kill the enemy fast, rather than roll the dice each time.]

d. Archer

   Let's face it: using the bow properly is awkward, especially on flat land.
   Since moving to a location is permanent, it's really annoying when you try
   to guess where to move your character, and realize that it's the wrong spot
   to shoot your enemy.  Well, since the enemy's archers can easily go from
   spot to spot, so can you!  The AI will get the right shot every time. 
   It'll even try to seek out a hill to get better coverage.

   Bow-handling aside, the Charge skill works well with swords, and even 
   Ninjas with two maces.  One weapon I found that the AI never charged with
   was the gun, however.  Try as I might, my archers (or chemists) would never
   use the Charge skill with the gun equipped.

   The Archers also never use anything beyond Charge+5 because it takes too
   long.  But, if a enemy is stuck (via Don't Move or the like), it might
   consider a Charge+7 or higher.

   Overall: A
   [The lack of gun-charging is kinda disappointing, but the ease of shooting
   with a bow more than makes up for it.]

e. Monk

   The Monk loves to pop a far-away enemy with an Earth Slash, even in spots
   you didn't think existed.  Wave Punch is another favorite.  Next to an 
   actual monk punch (which hurts like hell!), these seem to be the only
   offensive skills it uses.  (After all, why bother with something like
   Secret Fist?)  However, on lower levels, it may use stuff like Repeating
   Fist, if a monk punch isn't strong enough.  (Heh, I know I did.)

   The support abilities are used quite well.  Chakra on allies that need
   healing, and Revive on the dead.  It will also use Stigma Magic if somebody
   really needs it.

   Overall: A+
   [A good well-balanced class also comes with a good well-balanced AI.]

f. Thief

   The Thief mostly does what it does best: stealing.  It will almost
   exclusively charm the enemies it can, and steal items from the ones it
   can't.  If the enemy can't be charmed, there's about a 50/50 chance on
   if it'll stab the opponent in the back (literally), or if it'll start
   to steal items.
   Like the Knight, it'll start at the head first, then the weapon.  And 
   like the Knight, it'll steal a weapon immediately, if the enemy is 
   charging.  That part of the AI seems to follow the same mechanics.

   Overall: A
   [The AI puts a priority on charming, which is more or less what I did
   anyway.  Too bad I can't tell it to steal all of the Genji stuff
   for me :) ]

g. Geomancer

   Hey, what's there to tell about the Geomancer AI?  If (distance = far) then
   use Elemental.  If (distance = close) then use weapon.  It also tends to 
   favor Elemental if it's going to hit multiple enemies.
   I don't think the AI tries to use one ground or another, as they are all
   the same damage, anyway.  As far as non-mastered classes, it might actually
   affect how it moves, but I don't know for sure.

   Overall: A+
   [Like the squire, it's a simple class that isn't easy to screw up.]

h. Lancer

   Ahhh, the Lancer.  No more trying to figure out if the jump is going to
   land on time or not.  (I curse Square for not putting an AT plotter for
   this skill!)  It always jumps on time, or it may favor a direct lance blow
   if the damage is right.

   Overall: A+
   [Need I say more?]

i. Priest
   Like I implied in section 2c, the Priest doesn't work great with its
   single skill.  Yes, sometimes it'll heal your friends, but this Priest is
   mostly a daring and offensive little boy.  Unless you tell it to RUN,
   it'll march right into the frontlines.

   However, give it an offensive secondary skill, or even Time Magic, and
   it'll behave better, because it has more to choose from.  Don't get me
   wrong: the AI will use White Magic for Walls, Protect/Shell 2, and healing
   people, but it seems to put a priority on doing 400+ HP of damage with
   Hey, why not?  That DOES hurt a lot, doesn't it?  Well, it does seem to
   waste too much time on the low-speed spells, when there's 4 different
   baddies nearby.  This is because spells like Raise 2 and Cure 4 are slow
   (both with a speed of 10).  If you give it a Summon Magic secondary (or
   primary), it'll ditch Cure 4 in favor of Fairy (speed 25).  It'll still
   use Raise 2 and Holy, but will also use the summons for multiple enemies.
   Overall: B-
   [A little bit more care in how you choose your secondary is required for
   using the AI for this class.  Really, most of the secondaries work well,
   but you may want to experiment with it.  Again, refer to section 2c.]

j. Wizard

   Like the Priest, the Wizard can have problems with using too many low-speed
   spells, but since the Wizard -IS- an offensive class, it has more bang with
   all of that time it used up.  The Wizard likes Flare, but it also like
   Death quite a bit (with a 1/3rd of the MP of Flare), as well as the
   Fire/Ice/Bolt 4 spells.  However, it cares more about hitting one enemy
   with a lot of damage on a low-speed spell (like a unit-focused Fire 4),
   rather than hitting several enemies with somewhat less damage on a higher
   speed spell (like a Fire 2 or 3).

   It also has a big problem with using multi-ranged spells (Fire/Ice/Bolt) on
   enemies, locked on with Unit, who move to the nearest ally and the Wizard
   ends up nuking both of them.  Priests don't have that problem because
   Holy is a single unit spell.  Short Charge is definately a good idea for
   the Wizard.

   Overall: C-
   [The Wizard wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the unit-locking
   slow-spell problem.  This is a flaw I abused in the enemies' AI engine that
   carries over here.  Unfortunately, this means you'd have to have a few 
   Chemist/Priests handy.]

k. Oracle
   If there's one thing the AI engine is good at, it's at dealing with status
   effects.  I was starting to lose my faith in the AI's ability to handle
   mage classes, until I saw how it plays an Oracle.  It dishes out the status
   effects properly: Darkness on physical attackers, Confuse, Petrify (casts
   this quite a bit), Berserk, Paralyze, Life Drain.  It seems to use all of
   Yin Yang spells, and use them effectively.  It will even cast Innocent on
   an ally to avoid a charging spell, or Faith to enhance a Cure spell.  (If
   it's bored, it'll cast Faith anyway.)

   If all the other options seem to be too low on percentages (or just not 
   worth the effort), it won't be afraid to go up and use that unusually-high
   damaging stick of his, to take off a quarter of the enemy's health and no
   counter to himself (due to the range).

   Overall: A
   [Watching the autoed Oracle play has made me realized how badass an Oracle
   can be.]

l. Time Mage
   The Time Mage put extreme amounts of priority on Haste, which is a good
   thing.  Though, since the other group members may start moving out of the
   way, it'll only get 1-2 allies at a time.  Assigning RUN will -still- cause
   the Time Mage to cast Haste on allies.  (It's unusual for a mage-class to
   use up MP while in RUN.)  So, if they are in a corner, giving everybody a 
   RUN command for a turn or two will ensure that everybody has Haste in a 
   reasonable amount of time.

   As far as the other spells, it uses them pretty well.  It favors doing
   damage with spells like Demi 1/2, as well as some of the effect spells like
   Don't Move.  The Time Mage is also not afraid of dropping a Meteor on a foe
   who's stuck, smashing any enemies that wander in its massive range.

   Overall: B+
   [The Time Mage manages itself well.  High-priority on Haste ensures a good
   advantage over the enemy.]

m. Mediator

   The Mediator generally plays as expected: shooting its gun, and using its
   skills to distract the enemy.  Since raising Brave is such a high priority,
   it will use Praise every chance it can muster: when it's bored, on RUN, or
   any "extra" turn.  In general, this is a good thing, but it doesn't like to
   use Preach, though, probably because of the risk of 95+ Fa (which causes a
   member to leave permanently after battle).  It will sometimes use Solution
   to lower Faith on a physical class, but this happens rarely.

   As far as the "offensive" skills, the main ones it uses are Death Sentence 
   (anyone), Insult (mainly mages or classes/monsters with damaging skills),
   and Mimic Daravon (anyone especially on multiple targets).  Beyond that,
   I've never seen it use Invitation and Persuade, which is disappointing, as
   these are good skills.  (I think it doesn't like the low odds on those

   However, with the exception of Praise, these skills are usually
   over-shadowed by better offensive abilities with most secondary skill sets.
   (Why use Insult when you can cause damage?)  If you want the Mediator to
   use more of its skills, try a (very) defensive skill set, such as Item.

   Overall: C
   [The Mediator plays decent, but the lack of Invitation/Persuade hurts its
   grade.  Also, using Praise over and over again gets kinda annoying.]

n. Summoner

   Summoners work very well.  They seem to drop the damage in the right
   places.  Since their spells are fast and they only affect enemies/allies,
   they don't suffer from the problems that Wizards (and Priests) have.  
   Though they do have some minor issues that I'll address:

      No Golem - Golem is probably the best summon in the game, if not one of
      the best spells in the game, and the Summoner doesn't even bother to use
      it, even if it's faced with nothing but physical attackers.

      Casts Carbunkle - Usually, I would consider this to be a waste of a turn
      and MP.  I don't use Reflect, because most of the major spells punch
      right through it.  On the plus side, the AI engine seems to use Reflect
      to its advantage to bounce off reflected allies and attack enemies that
      are normally out-of-range, which  ends up being a neat effect.

      Drains MP - Summoners tend to drain massive amounts of MP, so you may
      want to use Half MP or equip some Chemists with Ethers.

   Overall: B+
   [The lack of Golem is disappointing, but you can manually cast this spell
   on the first turn, and turn them loose afterwards.]

5. Advanced Classes

a. Dancer
   The Dancer does Wiznaibus.  Since this is the only damage-based dance,
   that's all it does.  If there is a secondary with higher damage, it will
   use that instead.  Unforunately, the Dancer doesn't realize that doing
   Nameless Dance is a lot more effective than causing 17HP of damage once a

   Overall: D
   [The AI engine more or less sucks with this class, though the best thing to
   do is start a Nameless Dance and set it to RUN, anyway.]

b. Bard

   The Bard, unlike the Dancer, fairs a lot better at using its skills.  It
   starts out doing Nameless Song or Cheer, and will switch songs if somebody
   is low on HP/MP, or if the situation demands it.  It's not afraid of using
   its harp if the damage is right.  However, if you have an offensive
   secondary, it may start using its offensive skills, instead of singing.

   Overall: B
   [Sometimes it's better to just stick with one song, but the Bard uses its
   skills properly.  If you want just one song, start singing it manually, and
   set it to RUN.]

c. Samurai

   A Samurai will attack more often than it should, in my opinion.  I consider
   the Draw Out skill to be one of the best support skills in the game, though
   it likes to use its many attack skills.  It -does- use the support skills
   (like Kiyomori), so that part is not a total loss.  It will also use
   Murasame, if its allies' HP is low.

   Unforunately, it's not afraid of using your rare katanas, either.  (Square,
   casts Haste, which is a high priority for the AI engine.

   Overall: B-
   [Equip your Masamune to protect from lossing it early in a battle.  Even
   then, I wish it would use Kiyomori more often.  Like the Summoner, the best
   thing to do is to use Kiyomori on everybody and set it to NORM.]

d. Ninja

   The Ninja is awesome!  Not only is it a badass class, the AI knows how to
   use them, too.  It'll attack up close, and throw items from far away.
   Generally, it will stick with the ninja stars and elemental balls.  Best of
   all, it WON'T THROW OUT YOUR RARE WEAPONS!  So, no fear of your Excalibur
   flying in the air just for an extra 20HP of damage.

   Even smarter, it will consider a weapon to be "not rare" if it's after a
   certain number.  For example, I bought a bunch of Octagon Rods to total 13
   in my collection, since the Octagon Rod does more damage than the Yaguu
   Darkness.  When the Ninja played next, it starting throwing a few Octagon
   Rods.  So, if you have the money, you can stock up on non-standard throwing
   items and let them use it to your advantage.

   They are also excellent trainers.  (See section 7c for details.)

   One thing to point out: the Ninja is a VERY offensive class, so using
   defensive secondaries is probably not a good idea.  However, it does seem
   to work well with Item, since reviving dead allies is highest on the list.

   Overall: A+
   [Dishes pain and kicks ass!]
e. Calculator

   The Calculator's AI is more or less the entire basis of this FAQ.  This is
   the class that made me discover how well the AI handles itself.  With the
   AI engine, you don't have to spend 5-10 minutes trying to figure out the
   best combination to use, because it does it for you in 2-10 seconds.

   When set to FIGHT, it will find the best combo to eliminate your target.  
   However, this also means that if it doesn't find a combo that hits the
   target and doesn't hit an ally, it will use one that hits the target and
   DOES hit an ally.  On cases like this, it will find the one that hits the
   least number of allies.

   However, DO -NOT- use PROT mode with a Calculator!  For some reason, it
   will do strange stuff like cast CT5 Blind Rage (ON EVERYBODY), instead of
   doing what you want, like casting Haste on the allies.  You can use this to
   bring an ally back to life, but NORM seems to do this anybody.

   The spell of choice for the Calc is Holy, even though Flare has a shorter
   animation, but of course, the AI engine is not going to factor animation
   speed for that sort of thing.  (This can be a good thing for allies with
   Holy healing items on.)
   It will detect what items are on your allies and enemies that prevent
   status effects.  For example, if all of your allies have Angel Rings (which
   prevent Death), it will cast CT5 Death a majority of the time.

   Undead enemies drop like flies with spells like Raise and Cure.  It will
   even Raise/Cure allies and kill undead at the same time.

   Since the Math Skill is such a high-powered skill, the secondary is
   ignored, except in VERY special circumstances.

   Overall: A++
   [If used properly, the AI Calculator saves a helluva lot of time!]

f. Mime

   The Mime really only has one ability, which is attack, so it go forth and
   attacks.  What is special about the AI engine with Mimes is not what the
   Mimes do, but what everybody else does.  Physical classes don't seem to pay
   attention to the Mime's ability much, even to the point of causing the Mime
   to slash a sword in the back of an ally.

   However, it does work pretty well with mages.  The mages seem to know where
   the mages are and dishes out double/triple damage to enemies with them.
   Samurais will use them effectively, too.

   Calculators use them the best.  Calcs will adjust their spells to lower or
   higher grades, since it knows the spell will hit twice.  For example, it
   may use Fire 3, instead of Holy, since double damage is enough to kill the
   target.  Or it might use Raise 2, instead of Raise 1, since there's a
   better chance of raising with full HP (or killing undead), when it's casted
   Overall: D+
   [It might be best to put the Mimes on RUN, and use non-direct skills, such
   as Calcs, Bards, and Dancers.  Even without that, it still fares pretty
   well with mage skills, but its fearless behavior might get it killed.]

6. Special Classes

a. Squire (Guts)

   Ramza as a Squire works much like a normal Squire, except with more
   abilities, which the AI engine takes advantage of.  When it's bored, it
   will cast Yell or Cheer Up to increase speed and brave levels.  Wish will
   be used on allies with low HP, and it's not afraid to cast Ultima, either.
   However, despite being an awesome ability, it'll never use Scream,
   favoring abilities that raise levels on other allies.

   Overall: B+
   [Works as normal, but the lack of Scream hurts it a lot.]

b. Holy Knight

   Agrias prefers to use Lightning Stab most of the time, because of the
   range, but it will also use Holy Explosion up front, because of the 
   damage.  Sometimes, it likes to use Crush Punch if it's faced with an enemy
   with high HP (since it may trigger an instant death).

   Overall: A+
   [Not very many skills, so it's not hard to use.]

c. Dark Knight

   (I have not actually field tested this with Gafgarion, but with my
   experience the Thunder God, guest/enemy mode on Gafgarion, and the fact
   that we are only talking about two skills, I think I can make an accurate
   assessment of how the skill works.)

   Gafgarion uses Dark Sword.  Gafgarion does too much damage to use Night
   Sword on mages, so it does Dark Sword over and over again.

   Overall: A+
   [Duh...Dark Sword.  Next?]

d. Divine Knight

   Since Meliadoul's skills only affect humans, it will only use it on humans.
   When faced with a human enemy, it will attack the armor first and then the
   weapon.  (I'm not sure what happens after that, because the enemy usually
   ends up dead at that point.)  Also, like the Knight, it will hit the weapon
   first if it will deny an attack, such as a Charge skill.  On monsters, it
   will use its regular attack (obviously).

   Overall: A
   [I'd prefer weapon then armor, but the enemy is dead in two hits anyway.]

e. Holy Swordsman

   Orlandu, of course, uses a combination of all three of the Knight skills.
   As such, the AI engine works the same way: 

      Dark Knight skill if it needs healing.
      Divine Knight skill if the enemy is human.
      Holy Knight skill otherwise.

   Overall: A+
   [As if using a character that kills most enemies in one hit requires that
   much skill anyway...]

f. Engineer

   With only three skills, Mustadio fairs well in battle.  The aim skills are
   pretty high on the priority list, leaving your other members the job of
   cleaning up defenseless enemies.  It will mix up between Arm and Leg Aim,
   though it favors Leg Aim on enemies with no high-range ability, so that
   your left with an enemy who can't move AND can't use any abilities.  With
   the undead, it uses Seal Evil with a passion.
   Overall: A+
   [Probably more effective than you are.]

g. Heaven and Hell Knights

   Sadly, at the writing of this FAQ, I had ditched these two characters,
   because the game limits you to 20 max, and this were currently the two most
   worthless characters in the group.  Actually, these characters still ARE
   the more worthless characters in the game.  (Somebody burned a village for
   their powers?!  Why didn't anybody burn a village for a Calculator's

   I may get to them on another run through the game, but I'm sure you've seen
   how pathetic they play when they are on Guest or Enemy mode anyway. 
   Anybody using these characters are using them out of pity or just to make
   the game hard.

h. Worker 8 (Work)
   Worker 8 uses its skills the way you do: Dispose 90% of the time, and the
   other skills when it gets close.  There is not much to using the Work
   skills, anyway.

   Overall: A+
   [Even simpler than the Squire class.]

i. Temple Knight

   Beowulf uses his abilities much like an Oracle, with priority on Break.
   However, try as you might, he will never use Shock.  It's pretty
   disappointing, because this is such a high damage spell.

   Overall: C+
   [Not bad, but the lack of Shock hurts its grade big time.]

j. Dragoner

   One would think that a Dragoner would use its Dragon abilities on dragons.
   Not so with the AI engine.  Like many other unusual skills, if the skill
   isn't expected to be used by the enemy or guests, Squaresoft won't factor
   it into the AI engine.  Therefore, Reis doesn't use ANY of its Dragon
   skills, not even Dragon Tame.

   A few pluses: it does use Holy Breath to attack enemies which are normally
   out of range, it heals other monsters that have elemental healing using its
   breath, and it does acknowledge that Reis has built-in Train ability (and
   changes its tactics accordingly; see section 7b for details.).

   Overall: C-
   [Sure, it can defend itself, but what's the point of a Dragoner if it
   doesn't defend its dragons?]

k. Soldier

   Cloud does one thing: Finish Touch.  That's about it.  Hey, why not?  When
   you're guaranteed to cause Stop, Dead, or Petrify, there's really no reason
   to try to "cause damage".  (Pffft...damage?  That's the hard way.)  When it
   can't use Finish Touch (bosses, enemies which are immune to all three), it
   will use some of the other abilities, based on the amount of damage its
   going to cause, and how much time it can get away with charging.  It will
   never use any of the time-wasting skills, such as Cherry Blossom, as they
   take waaay too long to use.

   Overall: A
   [Doesn't seem to use Cherry Blossom on stuck enemies, but so what?  Finish
   Touch is all you need.]

l. Byblos

   (Coming soon...)

7. Special Quirks

a. Last Man Standing

   Because of the way the AI engine was designed, the characters may ignore
   enemies that are considered to be too screwed up to fight, or basically not
   worth the effort.  The three status effects that seem to cause this are:
   Frog, Sleep, and Death Sentence.  Normally, this is a good tactic to ensure
   that all of the damage is not wasted, and to kill enemies that actually
   might be able to hurt you back.

   (There are some rare exceptions to this.  For example, a Time Mage may drop
   a Meteor on a sleeping enemy, since it's guaranteed to hit one enemy, and
   probably hit others.  I'm not sure of other exceptions, because this is the
   only example I've seen.)

   However, this is kinda annoying when you're down to the last enemy, who has
   one of these status effects.  The AI will pretend that no enemies exist and
   start healing each other or casting support magic on themselves.  The FIGHT
   command, however, overrides this.
b. Gotta Train Them All!

   Much to my surprise, I've learned that the AI engine actually knows about
   characters with Train.  Since there is a very good chance of Train turning
   the enemy to your side, the AI will actually try to get the enemy critical,
   rather than killing them outright.  The key is getting characters that can
   dish out both major and minor damage.  Since Train only works on attacks
   with your weapon (Attack/Charge/Counter), you need class with a decent
   weapon on hand.
   Here are some good examples:

   Archer - Because of its Charge ability, it can vary the damage it can take,
   and get them trained.  Really, a Charge secondary will work, too.

   Geomancer - A Geomancer has a good far away attack to take away some HP for
   a while, and then attack with the axe.  Because of the highly-variable
   damage of the axe, it sometimes gets them critical.

   Oracle - Its long-range stick can do a decent amount of damage to knock an
   enemy critical.

   Mediator/Engineer - The gun attacks are usually weak, but because of the
   long range, it can pick anybody who's fairly low on HP and train it.

   Ninja - Ninjas are one of the best trainers because of the two maces.  One,
   the maces are, like the axe, highly-variable in their damage.  Two, it
   doesn't matter if both hits will kill them, because the first hit could get
   the enemy critical, train it, and the second hit will kill him.  As long as
   the enemy doesn't completely vanish, you'll be able to invite them into
   your party.  (The healers will usually try to revive it, anyway.)  This also
   includes weapons with elemental abilities, so it could be like this: Hit,
   Fire 2, Train, Hit.

   Dragoner - Because Reis has the breath attacks to do big damage, and a
   purse (or her fist) to train them.

c. Scared Critical Characters

   Critical characters change their tactics dramatically.  They are generally
   permanently at RUN, no matter what the setting.  Critical characters may
   occasionally be daring, but this is rare.  (You've usually seen this
   behavior with the enemy, anyway.)

d. Teleport = Fly

   The AI engine isn't nearly as daring with Teleport as us normal folk are.
   This is usually a good thing, because I'm cursing at Teleport all the
   time for missing a move.  It treats it like Fly, since they can go at any
   height, regardless of if there are enemies in the path, but only move as
   many square as you have Move points, because those are the only 100%
   guaranteed spots.

   There are a few situations where it might risk moving beyond the range (if
   it's really bored), but they are extremely rare.

8. Credits

This is the first version of this FAQ, so I'll just give all of the credit to
myself :)  Exceptions are Squaresoft, GameFAQs, blah, blah, blah...

To be nice, I will give credits to the following guides (on GameFAQs):

   JMiaso's Jobs/Abilities Chart
   Aerostar's Battle Mechanics Guide (mathmaticians with a LOT of time on 
      their hands :)
   TheDan's JP Scroll Glitch FAQ (used to get the characters to where they are

                                        This FAQ is Copyleft 2003 Brendan Byrd