We're now a part of the Clan Wars, as the pubmaster is quick to point out next time we go in for a new mission.
What he's trying to say is that random encounters are now a thing. Sometimes red soldier icons will appear from map locations and start wandering around, disappearing whenever they feel like it. If you're ever in the same location as one, they engage you. Each area has a specific party it spawns; for example, Cyril deploys the well-rounded Clan Marble, while Sprohm deploys the physically-powerful Sprohmknights.
The Clan menu gives us a list of the missions we're on, the missions we've completed, the mission items we've collected, how big our turf is, and other things like that. The icons to the right are our clan levels in eight areas: Combat, Smithing, Investigation, Negotiation, Magic, Pliers, Bug Net, and Footwork. I forget what some of the icons are.
Oh.
Anyway, some missions require you to have one of these skills at a certain level before you can take it. And you get some pretty neat stuff from powering them up, as we'll see shortly.
But first...
Random encounter spawns in Cyril.
And another in Lutia Pass. It's the archer-heavy Clan Dip.
Back to the pub, we've got work to do.
If you ever have fewer than 5 members in your clan, these missions will start appearing in the pub once a month.
As the pubmaster says, dispatch missions need only one unit to complete them -- but the unit will be unavailable for any Battle missions in the meantime. Thankfully, the "____ Wanted" missions are only five days long, so as soon as five in-game days pass we get our unit back. I'll send Undine on this one.
As with the first game, moving one spot on the map advances one day. So moving five spots completes our first dispatch mission.
There's no gil reward, but Undine here gets 20 AP toward her job skills. More on that in a bit.
But we want to complete a
lot of these, so we can't accept anyone we recruit.
Next month, the missions reappear, for new races depending on what month it is.
R2 and Montblanc can't go on dispatch missions, so it's entirely in the realm of Undine and Gallahan.
Ah, and here's why we're doing it. Each time you complete one of these missions, you get a little experience in Negotiate.
You also get 20 AP, so characters learn skills. Like in Final Fantasy 9, skills in this game are learned through equipment. Equipping an item makes the skills it teaches immediately available, although they are lost if the equipment is removed, stolen, or broken. Accruing AP will teach a character the skill permanently, allowing equipment to be switched out and new skills to be learned.
A Longbow teaches an archer the skill Boost for 100 AP. After a few recruitment missions, Undine learns Boost and needs a new bow to learn something else. I buy her a Thorn Bow to learn Aim: Legs instead.
Most of the equipment that teaches skills are weapons. Shields teach Shieldbearer (the ability to equip shields regardless of job). Armor tends to teach reaction abilities.
Recruitment jobs cost 300 gil each, and equipment becomes obsolete as my units learn the skills available. While I grind up Negotiation, I sometimes have to stop for random encounters to fight for money.
During the clan wars, missions sometimes appear to claim an area of the map as clan turf. Having more clan turf means shops offer better items.
See those "To Clear" conditions? It's Enemies: 3. Rather than letting days go by on the map, I have to KO three enemies in a battle engagment to finish this mission. Of course, Undine is dispatched to do the actual job, so she won't be available for the fight...
We run into the Rangers, out of Nubswood. Since Undine and Gallahan are busy doing other things, it's just R2 and Montblanc for this fight.
It's rough, but we manage to get our three KOs.
...before losing.
But three KOs is three KOs.
So we claim Giza Plains as our own, awarding Undine 50 AP and a monetary reward.
I didn't screencap it, but eventually your claimed territory will come under attack by other clans. You have to go there and defend it, or it will be lost. But that's okay, the mission to claim it will reappear in the pub after a while, and you can just dispatch someone again. It's worth experience in Negotiation, so I do this several times.
Sometimes you get items for free after completing a mission, saving you some money on equipment. One such example is this Judge Staff -- it teaches Shell to white mages, Aero to Bishops, and Ramuh to summoners.
Helping out during Chocobo-breeding season nets us some money and AP, a dagger, and a Chocobo Egg -- our first mission item. Since it's a repeatable mission, we end up with several.
After a loooong time...
...we reach level 30 in Negotiation. Level 25 netted us Colichemarde, a rapier that teaches Red Mages Magic Power+. But level 30 is what we were shooting for...
As it gives us the Cinquedea. Cinquedea teaches Thieves Steal:Ability, which does exactly what it says. You rob an enemy of the ability to perform a skill and
permanently learn it yourself. It gives Humans and Moogles -- the races that can switch into the Thief job -- a huge edge on learning abilities.
So we run a couple more recruitment missions to fill our ranks. Bangaa are slow and dumb and I hate them, so I recruit a human and a moogle instead.
So after all that grinding, what do we get? R2 and Montblanc have only accrued AP through fighting, while Gallahan and Undine have been learning skills left and right by dispatch missions. Ramses and Johanes, as new recruits, have no skills learned. But battles give experience points that dispatch missions don't, so R2 and Montblanc have an edge over Gallahan and Undine in levels.
Here's a breakdown of the progress we've made so far:
R2, Human:
Current job: Thief
Learning: Steal:Ability
Soldier abilities learned: First Aid, Speedbreak, Shieldbearer, Combat Combo
White Mage learned: Cure
Montblanc, Moogle:
Currently: Black Mage (knows Fire, Thunder, Blizzard)
Learning: Thundara
Animist abilities learned: Sheep Count, Catnip
Gallahan, Nu Mou:
Currently: Beastmaster (knows Goblin, Flan, Lamia, Panther)
Learning: Rockbeast
White Mage abilities learned: Cure, Shell, Protect, Esuna
Black Mage abilities learned: Fire, Thunder, Blizzard
Undine, Viera:
Currently: Elementalist (knows Fire Whip)
Learning: Earth Heal
Fencer abilities learned: Swarmstrike
Archer abilities learned: Boost, Aim: Legs
Red Mage abilities learned: Fire, Thunder, Cure, Catch, Magic Power+
Ramses, Human
Currently: Fighter
Learning: Beatdown
Johanes, Moogle
Currently: Animist
Learning: Sheep Count