Anyway, I feel now might be time to talk a little more about the Louise I used in the playthrough that this fic is (loosely) based off.
Firstly, you've probably noticed by now that I used Combat as my dump stat. And honestly, there's no real reason not to use Louise's Combat as a dump stat. Yes, it makes bits of the earlier game easier, especially when you can farm goblins without losing minions, but I knew from the start I was planning to pick up Cattleya, which you can do by Autumn/Winter of year one, depending on the RNG, and her Combat is through the roof (and even if she dies in a mission, if you retry it and can get her ashes, you can bring her back).
By contrast, certain bits of the end game need your Overlady to have lots of Command and Magic, and moderate Socialise, if you want the best stuff. So to be blunt, you're basically forced into using Combat as a dump-stat. I really wouldn't like to do the Griffin Knight level, for example, if I didn't have enough Command to use aerial mounts, while if you can't meet the Socialise checks at the yearly Cabal Awards you miss out on so much - and come across as boorish and blurt things out. Which, admittedly, is pretty hilarious.
But anyway. High Command = Want, because Command makes your minions better, opens up missions and new options for how to carry them out, and if you use Command as your dump stat your minions don't respond well to your controls. High Magic = Want because, compared to earlier games in the series, magic is cheaper and more powerful (sadly, this applies to your enemies too), and at the strategic level some of the high end spells are just droolworthy (like the high level mind control spells, which can replace missions with "get into position, mind control the town" as the mission). And, sure, investing in Combat makes you deadly in hand to hand, but I always find it to be... kind of a waste. I mean, yes, you can do the whole Sauron thing if you go Combat/Command, striding in with your hordes of minions, but by the time you've got a forgemistress and a Hive and good Command, your minions are basically deadly enough to swarm under anything that isn't a boss or a few bloody annoying enemies.
(Plus, high Command increases the chance of getting an Elite Minion. The five here are the five I finished my game with, and so got to carry over in a New Game Plus. Makes the early game completely different, being able to carry out those early really hard Minion Missions)
If you're going for this kind of theme build, incidentally, Old School Evil is even more mandatory as your armour choice (or Isah'belya's version of it, which is mechanically similar but made of see-through things). The way the mechanics work out, it's better to use your outfit to patch over the weaknesses in your build than it is to use the armour for a diminishing returns boost to something you're already strong in. High Combat Louises actually are best when they're running around in something like the Dark Sorceress or the Imperatrix, despite their poor Combat boosts, because they need the Command or Magic boosts to be playable (obviously, this doesn't apply if you properly invested in Magic or Command, in which case I'd recommend you take the proper armour for the health and the way that with the right upgrades, they're okay Command/Magic boosters depending on your focus). Too many end-game enemies can fly or get on high places for you not to have high quality minions or good spells along to take them out - running in and trying to hit them with your mace doesn't work too well.
(Of course, Old School Evil and Love-Me-And-Despair are basically the best armours in the game anyway, barring certain bits of endgame content. They have the best upgrades, the best customisability, and the defence boosts you get for "wearing proper armour" are incredibly handy even if you're playing a Combat Louise, let along a more flimsy one. I think the game designers' opinions about the way female characters get presented in most games are quite telling - as, in-game, Emperor Lee says to you if you show up in some of the more egregious "sexy" armours, you're being objectively suboptimal if you do that. [1] [2])
[1] Also, if you don't wear proper armour and don't make a good impression on him, you can't even begin his quest path, and trust me, the rewards from his quest path are worth it.
[2] The game is funny like that. It does offer you quite a few "fanservicey" options and then judges you harshly if you do them and makes the game harder for you. Assaulting Vajours wearing The Distraction [3] with a Combat build basically turns it into a stealth game, because at the end-game you're entirely reliant on your armour and items to not get one-shot by things like Griffin Knights and Griffins and Elite Muskteers and fucking mages everywhere spamming area-effect spells.
[3] Item description: "The theory is that they won't attack you if they're distracted by looking at your barely clad form. The empirical evidence suggests otherwise".
