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Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away

Hunter Noventa posted:

And if you think the Macross is big, it's called the Macross Quarter because it's 1/4 the size of the original Macross.

I actually didn't know anything about Macross Frontier when I started playing, and I just kept thinking "Ok, I know SRW plays it fast and loose with scale, but this is just silly" when I saw the Quarter anywhere but space. It being a quarter of the size makes that make a bit more sense now.

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Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Silentman0 posted:

I actually didn't know anything about Macross Frontier when I started playing, and I just kept thinking "Ok, I know SRW plays it fast and loose with scale, but this is just silly" when I saw the Quarter anywhere but space. It being a quarter of the size makes that make a bit more sense now.

This is the first I've heard of the 1/4th size as well, and it does make it a bit more believable to have the Quarter flying along inside the Earth's gravity. Still completely rediculous when you have it transform and it can still fly though. I mean, it's awesome, but still.

Hunter Noventa
Apr 21, 2010

Spiritus Nox posted:

This is the first I've heard of the 1/4th size as well, and it does make it a bit more believable to have the Quarter flying along inside the Earth's gravity. Still completely rediculous when you have it transform and it can still fly though. I mean, it's awesome, but still.

They basically only allude to the size in the anime, but yeah.

Course, the original Macross could fly in atmosphere in either mode too.

What I still don't get is how Gurren Lagann qualifies as a Large, but Mazinger Z is only Medium.

dis astranagant
Dec 14, 2006

Hunter Noventa posted:

They basically only allude to the size in the anime, but yeah.

Course, the original Macross could fly in atmosphere in either mode too.

What I still don't get is how Gurren Lagann qualifies as a Large, but Mazinger Z is only Medium.

Mazinger Z is officially only something like 18 meters tall. There are bigger Gundams. Large size usually implies 40+ meters tall.

Capskye
Nov 4, 2009

More bullets!

Silentman0 posted:

I actually didn't know anything about Macross Frontier when I started playing, and I just kept thinking "Ok, I know SRW plays it fast and loose with scale, but this is just silly" when I saw the Quarter anywhere but space. It being a quarter of the size makes that make a bit more sense now.

I will always have a love of the Macross-class warships, and I was actually surprised that Frontier legitimately had a ship that made use of technological advancements to create a scaled-down version of that ship. Also, they continue to make use of the techniques of the original. Namely, turning the primary defense system into the most :black101: of attacks.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

dis astranagant posted:

Mazinger Z is officially only something like 18 meters tall. There are bigger Gundams. Large size usually implies 40+ meters tall.

Yeah, this. Great Mazinger's quite a bit taller, and Grendizer and Mazinkaiser are bigger and beefier still, but Mazinger Classic is downright scrappy compared to something like Daitarn.

TwoPair
Mar 28, 2010

Pandamn It Feels Good To Be A Gangsta
Grimey Drawer
Trider G7
Wing Gundam
Gundam Deathscythe
Gundam Exia
Gundam Dynames
Gundam Virtue
Nova Eagle/Dancouga Nova
Getter Robo
Mazinger Z
Dai-Guard
Gurren-Lagann
Brasta

JamMasterJim
Mar 27, 2010

Spiritus Nox posted:

Yeah, this. Great Mazinger's quite a bit taller, and Grendizer and Mazinkaiser are bigger and beefier still, but Mazinger Classic is downright scrappy compared to something like Daitarn.

Daitarn could beat half the enemies you face just by toppling over them. They should make it a 150 Will Attack with a Dynamic Kill effect, one day

bladeworksmaster
Sep 6, 2010

Ok.

Gaia/Godmars, Wing, Deathscythe, Dynames, Getter Robo, Mazinger Z, Dancouga Nova, Dai-Guard, Gurren-Lagann, Exia, Ozma and the Brasta.

GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

With twelve slots and eleven leads, let's do all leads plus the lowest leveled pilot.

Speaking of Frontier, at least one of the Pixie Squad ladies don't even get any lines in the show proper, so they don't get any here either. SRW L gives them both unvoiced portraits and lines, though, one of the reasons I prefer L's Frontier animations over Z2's.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Ardeem posted:

Does Battle Frontier get to come out and play before the series finally?

Nope. And the series finale is in Z2.2.

And yeah, Z2.1 is REALLY BAD about having enough slots for the dudes you want. At the very least Z2.2 pretty much immediately lets you deploy 15-20 units. The game is pretty good at letting you select the majority of your team until stage 25 or so, when you suddenly get flood with new guys of varying qualities. I really miss the Tri-Battle System from Z1, that was the best Squad system they've ever made.

As for the Macross Quarter I'd say the battleship we get later in the game is my favorite in Z2.1, and my favorite Z2.2 battleship is obviously the most awesome one that joins in stage 54 and is worth the wait.

MarsDragon
Apr 27, 2010

"You've all learned something very important here: there are things in this world you just can't change!"

Caphi posted:

Back on the Quarter, a little girl greets Alto as he climbs out of his plane. It turns out to be Klan, who has a rare genetic condition that makes her turn into a little girl when miclonized.

Dammit Macross.

quote:

  • Trider G7
  • Shuttle
  • Gaia/Godmars
  • Gundam Exia
  • Gundam Kyrios
  • Gundam Virtue
  • Nova Eagle/Dancouga Nova
  • Getter Robo
  • Mazinger Z
  • Aphrodite A
  • Dai-Guard
  • Brasta

And screw real robots! Just smash everything!

Yon
Oct 7, 2003

Just one spice?
Just one spice
Just one spice...

MarsDragon posted:

Dammit Macross.


If it makes you feel any better, they play this as being kind of a tragic thing a lot and exploiting it in a creepy way happens extremely rarely from what I remember.

Three Cookies
Apr 9, 2010

Lobsterman posted:

If it makes you feel any better, they play this as being kind of a tragic thing a lot and exploiting it in a creepy way happens extremely rarely from what I remember.

Until you get to the merchandise, then it's creepy again.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Lobsterman posted:

If it makes you feel any better, they play this as being kind of a tragic thing a lot and exploiting it in a creepy way happens extremely rarely from what I remember.

No, it's treated as silly and a joke most of the time. It's really creepy and stupid.

Koops
Mar 27, 2010

Trider G7
Gaia/Godmars
Cosmo Crusher
Gundam Deathscythe
Gundam Kyrios
Nova Eagle/Dancouga Nova
Getter Robo
Mazinger Z
Aphrodite A
Dai-Guard
Gurren-Lagann
Koenig Monster

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE


Like all stereotypical rich, eccentric geniuses, Carlos Axion Jr. plays chess, and his opponent is the young Lelouche Lamperouge. He wonders how the mere schoolboy managed to score that, but Lelouche refuses to say. The stakes of the game are Carlos' personal bank card... against Lelouche's very life. He almost wouldn't have taken the wager. "Because you can't put a value on a human life?" asks Lelouche. "Quite the opposite. I don't think your life is worth nearly as much as my account," replies Carlos.

On the other hand, the moron has no intention of losing. He claims that the only man ever to beat him in chess is Prince Schneizel, who he explains is the second prince of the Holy Britannian Empire.



Little does Carlos know that Lelouche knows Schneizel very well, and if Carlos can't beat the Prince, he hasn't a chance in hell against Lulu. As promised, Carlos hands over his card, but smirks and says he never promised to tell Lelouche the PIN as well.



Fed up with his games, Lelouche places a Geass on Carlos to "Answer all of my questions" and gets the code he needs.



Satisfied that the Geass will wipe all of Carlos' memories of himself, Lelouche bails. He's caught by C. C., who had as little trouble getting into the office as he did since he Geassed all the guards out of his way. She considers the two partners in crime, so she wants to keep tabs on his shenanigans - and keep him out of trouble. Lelouche doesn't thank her for the favor.

The two recap the plot of Geass for those who came in late, or from the wrong path split. The princes and princesses of Britannia are already fighting over the throne, and the hand of Emperor Charles zi Britannia is behind it all. Charles uses this survival-of-the-fittest philosophy to keep Britannia's ruling class strong by culling the weak. Lelouche is driven by the knowledge that this philosophy is what killed his mother and destroyed his and his sister's lives. Destroying Britannia is his path to freedom, and the power of absolute obedience is the key.

C. C. still expects Lelouche to fulfill his side of the pact between them somewhere in there. But no matter how many times he asks, she won't tell him the conditions of that pact until "the time is right." The Geass won't work on her, either. And she's recovered from fatal wounds. All considered, Lelouche calls her a witch. But he still owes her for giving him the power to do something with his life.

And he's moving, all right. With Carlos' money and a tip from Boatman, he can get his hands on brand new Knightmares from Kyoto. That means big things are about to happen, maybe big enough to change the world - according to Zero's plan.



In the meantime, the gang's all together at Dragon's Hive. Introductions are had all around, Ozma explains the Macross, and...



Watta giggles like a twelve year old (isn't he actually a twelve year old?) when Klan explains human/Zentraedi interbreeding. Everybody makes fun of her, again, and she pretty much has this face the whole time. I'd be sensitive about it too!



These are Klan's subordinates. They don't get real lines. You'll have to play L to see them in battle.



Alto, silent in the corner, gets mistaken for a lady until he opens his mouth.



The Getter team is surprised to learn that in the Macross universe, "Saotome" is the name of an old kabuki legacy. Afterwards, the catchup course continues as Heero and Duo, the only representatives of the Resistance in the area, fill us in on the happenings in Area 11.



If Simon's mind wasn't blown enough to find out there's stuff on the surface, it's totally blown to realize that there are people living beyond the loving sky.



Kamina has no idea what's going on, and doesn't care. Yoko has no idea what's going on and resolves to do her homework to figure it out, which blows Kamina's mind ("Stuh-dee? Th' hell's that?").



Ru delivers the bad news (SRW is a fan of poo poo going down to interrupt conversation). The WLF and Japanese Liberation Front are moving on the Area 11 Mt. Fuji base, and any team-up of Japan's biggest and rowdiest rebellion and the douchebags of the WLF spells trouble. Sure enough, they've made hostages of a Sakuradite production summit.



Among the civilians at the site are our very own student club. They're not even Sakuradite-related, they were just hiking on the mountain and got rounded up by the terrorists. For some reason, this sets off their guards ranting about how the world is full of sheeple like them and it's all their fault.



Relena makes the point on everyone's minds: they may be playing at changing the world, but swinging power around blindly just causes the violence to spread. The terrorist asks her if she's trying to be Heero Yui or something, so she wonders what he's up to.



Meanwhile, Nina accidentally calls a JIM soldier an Eleven.



It's Euphemia who steps in to defend her when the soldier threatens to give her a piece of his mind. (In Code Geass, this was a setup to a very creepy scene about Nina which is mercifully absent from the game.) She demands to speak to their leader.



Back in Shinjuku, Zero is handing out the Resistance's new uniforms. The Astragians all pass, which Zero is okay with, but he still demands Chirico come along for the fight. Zero even has a present for him: a new, slightly better Scopedog (in game terms, the Scopedog would have all its upgrades if that path had stuck, but its stats have been slightly increased).

The uniforms are to "make the world notice us," claims Zero. Tamaki figures that means they're going to hook up with the JIM at Fuji, and he's half right. Zero and his crew are going to Fuji, all right, but not to join with the WLF and JIM, but to take them down. "Because we are not a resistance. We are crusaders for justice."



And back at Dragon's Hive, Ohtsuka is explaining that the World Peacekeeping Council has proposed the founding of a new task force, to include Celestial Being, the S. M. S. squad, and the original Crushers. Sumeragi isn't sure that Celestial Being working for the U. N. will go well with either side, but Ohtsuka just says that Elgan Roddick has a plan. (She lets slip that CB doesn't want to cause any "unnecessary disturbance," and Jeffrey immediately grabs the implication that they've caused necessary disturbance.)

On the subject of which, it's clear that the catalyst for this business is what's going on at Fuji-11, and Chairman Roddick has asked the new squad to go deal with it. It's pretty rough considering it's our very first mission as a team, but as the commanders start to plot, a transmission arrives via Boatman - from Zero. We're left in suspense as to what his message is, though...



Later, Zero contacts Cornelia at the Britannian base. She reminds him through clenched teeth that he has some nerve to call her while being not only public enemy #1, but the murderer of her own brother. He only responds, "Cornelia, who would you choose? Clovis, who's dead... or Euphemia, who's alive?" Her reaction speaks volumes, and one of them is labelled "Why Cornelia Won't Mount An Attack." As a prince himself, Lelouche knows how long Euphemia has been Corny's weakness, and offers to save Euphie himself.


Chapter 13: The Black Knights



With the Fuji vicinity crawling with cheap terrorbots and Genocidron, the story is heating up. Count Lloyd, on the scene, can't help but be surprised at all the resources the JIM has pulled together. His goal is to get the hostages free so that Corny can make her move. Suzaku, their ace in the hole, has noticed his friends on the list of hostages.



But just as he's about to move, Zero appears at the entrance to the facility. Lelouche wonders whether the terrorists will assume he's one of them or try to take him out, but predicts that they won't be able to resist at least meeting the legendary Zero.



All the newsmen go wild, especially Diethard, who is at the edge of his metaphorical seat.



As Lelouche predicted, the JIM leader Kusakabe meets with him. Zero bluntly says that the JIM's methods go against his goals. Kusakabe argues that he's not really into the WLF's "ideals", but power is power. So Zero counters by asking if Kusakabe will join him, and Kusakabe cross-counters by demanding Zero remove his mask first. Zero puts one last thing on the counter stack, a question: "What do you see at the end of your path?"

Kusakabe's answer is "to make them realize that the Japanese aren't down yet." A romantic answer, but Zero calls it outdated.



When the outraged JIM moves in on him, Zero drops a Geass to die on the lot of them.



The moment he does, the Resistance move in with their new Knightmares. Zero reports that he's freed the hostages and gives orders to get them out.



Some of the Britannians refuse to follow instructions from Elevens, but Milly and Relena talk sense into them.



Euphemia encounters Zero on the way out. He lets slip a "you haven't changed" but covers by saying he spoke with Cornelia. As Zero, Lelouche boasts that he killed her brother Clovis, and that he went out begging for his life with the same mouth he used to order the deaths of Elevens. But no, that's not why he killed Clovis. "I killed him because he was a child of Britannia. Speaking of which, aren't you one too? But I won't hurt you just now. Go."

Then he turns to the confused WLF. "Attention, WLF terrorists. Commander Kusakabe and his men have taken their lives. I believe they realized their own foolishness. Have you?"



As if to punctuate his point, the Lancelot deploys and opens fire. Zero continues. "Welcome, white knight of Britannia. I see you found a cue to enter on. But I'm afraid there is no role for you on my stage. There is already a rook to protect the king."



And Elgan's team arrives almost like Zero planned them here.



Ohtsuka is field commanding personally and asks the terrorists to surrender, but his presence here is part of Elgan's plan. Showing himself makes our whole operation fall under the Peacekeeping Council's jurisdiction, meaning Britannia can't move against us, but the U. N. can claim plausible deniability by saying Celestial Being just showed up. But the real genius here is still Zero. No one thought he would actually be able to free the hostages as he claimed.



Zero brings in his own new Knightmare and orders Ohgi and Tamaki to secure the hostages' escape.



Sure enough, Suzaku's orders are to work with the U. N., ignore CB and the Resistance, and focus purely on the WLF.



Not much to see here. Just wipe up the enemies within three turns.



But first, let's check in with the Red Devil.


Guren Type-02 (Karen Koutsuki)
Skills
Prevail L6
Morale
Will+ (Hit)
Spirits
Guts
Invincible
Strike
Guard
Traits
Radiation Wave (barrier)
Blade
Weapons
Hiensouga Flying Fang (6 ammo)
Grenade Launcher (10 ammo)
Rogo-Otsugata Tokuzantou Class 2 Type 2 Cutter (15 EN)
Fukusha Hadou Kikou Radiation Wave Emitter (35 EN)
Ace Bonus: 1.1x damage using Melee weapons.

It's in Japanese because this is a Japanese mech, not an Eleven mech! :japan:

So apparently the Type-01 is the Burai (the junk heaps Zero, Ohgi, and Tamaki are using) and the 03 is later. Anyway, the key element to the Guren is its Radiation Wave Emitter on its right arm, which both acts as a buffer against projectiles - reducing all damage by 1500! - and can be used as a point blank offensive device. The Guren is fast, scrappy, and very destructive, a perfect machine for Karen. The downside is that it goes through energy like it's going out of style, with a quarter of its power feeding each blast of radiation and another 10 EN draining each time it has to use the emitter to defend.

Still, it was literally made for Karen. You'll see how it performs.



Oh, and this is the Burai Type-01, the basic Japanese Knightmare. Zero's has little horns so you can tell it's the leader. He's still as Zero as you may remember.



I tuned the Resistance to Colors. I just like it more.



We have the use of Suzaku and we have the WLF nicely surrounded. I'm pretty sure WLF chapters are the "relax and see how awesome your army is" stages in this game, especially since we have just gathered together our full force.



If the king doesn't lead, his men won't follow!

(Everything is going exactly as planned. And if we win this, my plan will advance to the next phase.)
(Wait for me, Nunally. I will make this world one where you can live in peace.)






"The enemy has five options."






Whoops.



You know who has the cheapest Trust? Kamina. He believes in you believing in you. (This is gonna be ironic next chapter.)



All better.



Karen, of course, is sticking to Zero.

I'm not scared of anything now that I have the Guren.
I'll fight with Zero! To take back Japan from Britannia!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzMY38SNgcU



Chirico's Scopedog may have gotten an upgrade, but its weapons are still a bit, let's say, lacking.



At least Suzaku's can hit targets in the air. Unfortunately, any experience he gains on this stage is wasted.

(Zero... assassinated Prince Clovis and led the resistance against Britannia.)
(But he's also fighting the JIM and WLF. What is he playing at?)
(What is he planning? And most importantly, what does he want?)



The WLF's Axios can't even do significant damage to a tiny Knightmare. I mean, other than Zero's, because Lelouche is a pretty bad pilot.

(Relena was one of the hostages.)
(I have nothing to do with her. What's affecting me like this?)





(The Earth's sky is wide, but I don't want to fly it to fight like this.)
drat it! What's the matter with me?





The WLF... has more power in reserve now than we could have imagined a year ago.
Power and funds to spare. Could some other group be backing them?






By the way, if you forgot, the big weakness of the Tieren Long-Range is its complete inability to counterattack at one square.

Maybe you just want to make your voice heard, but this will only make you enemies!
If you can't understand that, I'll make you understand!






Also, the facilities on the base give defense and evasion kicks, but also regenerate HP and EN slowly.

Dai-Guard's a Heterodyne fighting system, but we've gotten to the point where the U. N. is making us fight terrorists.
If this keeps up, who knows what we'll find ourselves fighting?
It doesn't matter to me! Our job is protect the people, no matter what we have to fight for it!
How do you stay so positive?
We've been putting up with it, but it's getting old.
Come on, Aoyama. We have to do it, so we might as well have fun! Get ready!





Aoyama learned Focus. Who knows, maybe it'll help Dai-Guard hit some things.

You want people to pay attention? Do it right!
But if you're gonna take hostages, I'm not listening! That's as bad as Dr. Hell taking over the world!







Look at what you're doing! You think you have any right to talk about justice?
I'm gonna beat this twisted crusade right out of your head!





They're just sad little terrorists. No playing nice.
I'm gonna go wild all over you!








I obviously saved the best for last. :kamina:

Um, bro? They're not Ganmen, but they sure look strong!
Don't chicken out now, Simon! We're ready for anything this great wide world throws at us!
B-but...
What you gotta do is get your energy deep in your gut and break whatever's down there! I'll show you how!
Hey hey hey! I don't care what's up, you monkeys can't play dirty and get away with it!
We're the Gurren Gang! Chief Badass Kamina and his little bro Simon!
And you're done now that we're here! Come at me if you're ready for it!





Kamina always has time to pose.



So here's what we've got at the end of round 1. Most of the events are triggered.



Then Zero comes under fire.



I choose to defend for safety.



And again.



The real counter phase begins, though it's a pity some of the xp had to go to Suzaku.



Eventually, the game goes back to being interactive.



It's finally Crowe's turn to snap off an attack of his own.



And look, he can double attack again!

WLF. Japan Independence Movement. I figured the only thing impressive about them was their names.
But where are they getting all this firepower?
Are they getting money from somewhere? This is pissing me off!






Anyway, that's almost all interesting that's going to happen this turn.



Other than that, I'll be pushing the quick units forward into the base...



to join the resistance's own charge.



While the slower units clean up behind them. This is basically my SRW strategy, the shock wave and cleanup wave. Screw holding back with support and taking terrain.




Setsuna re-learns Alert.




With the extra action, he can join the forward crew as well.



Screw Suzaku.



These are all the enemies left at the end of all my actions.



Beginning of turn 2 enemy phase.





Two down on the counter. Just three left.



But before I clean them out, those eagle-eyed of you probably noticed this glowing square. I put the glow there (marking squares is a neat little feature), and now it is time to demonstrate why.



Well, after dealing with this yahoo.



Level 15 and still only one Spirit!



And, uh...

Whoa, whoa there!
Are you okay? You need to get out of here!
Sorry 'bout that. I was lookin' for some parts down here and got myself stuck.
At least you're all right. I'll cover you while you escape.
Thanks, buddy. Tell you what, this one's on the house. My thanks.



And he hands over an Auto Repair Machine, which gradually restores an equipped unit's HP for free. Woo!

I guess this thing means he's a repairman.
But working in this burning wreck? He must be crazy about his job.

At this point, you're thinking either "Who the hell was that?" or "So that's where he went." Maybe "nice 'stache."




Just a couple of kills later, the mission is over.



It's easily turn 3, so, SR Point.



The team thinks about the sheer power they must have flying under one flag to be able to take out as much power as the WLF had. Takeru is the first one to say they must use their might for good, not evil.



With the civilians out of sight and the cameras still rolling, Lelouche moves on to the next phase of his plan.



"Citizens! Fear us, and pray to us! We are the Black Knights!" (Lloyd notes here how people will take terrorists calling themselves knights.) "We, the Black Knights, will fight in place of the powerless - whether they be Britannian or Eleven! The JIM took Britannian citizens hostage, and threatened to kill them. It was a foolish act, so we passed judgment on them. And the former Viceroy Clovis was no different. He ordered the slaughter of powerless Elevens. We will not allow such villainy to stand. So we passed judgment on him.

"I do not desire to fight. But when the strong slaughter the weak, we must act! Only those should shoot, who are prepared to be shot themselves! We will come again when the strong oppress the weak. No matter how powerful our enemy should be. And not only in Japan, but anywhere on the planet. So let the strong fear us! And let the weak pray to us! We, the Black Knights, pass judgment on all the world!"

Obviously, not a single part of that speech went without someone expressing surprise, awe, or just plain bafflement. And that's just among our ranks - that message went out to all the world. (And note that the Black Knights' credo, fake or not, is pretty much directly opposed to Charles' ideals of competition.)



Zero brags to Ohtsuka that while he can't reveal how he freed the terrorists, it was no feat for him. But the point here is that he wants to work with the Council's task force. It's all part of his goal to be the good guys. But this works for us. We'll be tied to the U. N. for official backing while having Boatman to deal with the shady business, and we'll have plenty of physical power to throw around on both sides.

The commanders are having doubts, but that's all right. A higher power has come to make the decision for them. Not the mysterious commander of Dragon's Hive, but...



Chairman Elgan Roddick in the flesh. Circumstances have forced his hand. Zero guesses, correctly, that Elgan Roddick himself is Boatman, to Ohtsuka's surprise. But it makes perfect sense. Roddick had to orchestrate everything that happened so far, and to get all the terrorists, office workers, and everyone else onto the same team - but to let anyone know that a U. N. councilman had reached out to Celestial Being would be political dynamite, so Roddick kept Zero, Ohtsuka, and Sumeragi all in the dark. He apologizes like a gentleman.

Roddick says he wants the same thing as Zero - to do the right thing. "Everyone has their own idea of what that is," he says. "Mine is peace and prosperity for all of humanity." But on the road to that is still, ultimately, power. And so he's gathered all of this power together to work under the Council.

Zero asks what his real game is, and Roddick just looks straight at him and asks, "Is that so hard to believe, Zero? Or is your idea of right just an illusion, so you can't believe anyone else would honestly want to pursue it?" :iceburn: One by one, all the commanders agree to help Roddick with his great mission. They had to.



And the name of the new unit of heroes and soldiers of good is ZEXIS. (This is customizable, but ZEXIS will do for now.) I finally have one thing to call all of our army!



It stands for this. Don't... don't question it. He says the Z stands for the axis that is neither X nor Y, but neutral.



He actually pushes on the fourth wall and asks "Does anyone have a better idea?" There are other preprogrammed alternatives, like "Strike Team Z," "ZEPHYRS," "ZAX," "Project Z," and a cute joke in Japanese I don't care enough to reproduce. I'm still sticking to ZEXIS, but like Roddick, I'm open to suggestions.

Afterwards, Roddick mutters that the future of humanity is in ZEXIS' hands.



At an unknown location, Alejandro reports to unknown Observers. They have learned that Celestial Being, Zero, and the alternate Earthlings have joined the Council. "An alliance of the embers of war," Alejandro calls them. The faceless Observers are surprised that Veda went along with the plan, though their guess is just that Veda can't always be right. Still, as Observers they can only watch. Each of them approves Celestial Being's plan, whatever that is and for whatever good it'll do them. But Alejandro decides to put his own plans into motion, "to guide the world on the right path..."



Loot! Some money, Cartridge, Muscle Cylinder, Aiming Lens, E-Carbon Armor, High Power Radar, External ISC, A-Adapter, (deep breath) a Screw Module, a Land Module, a Thruster Module, and Ikue's Snacks.



Okay. There are two things I need now. First is twelve names, same as before only Zero, Ohgi, Tamaki, and Karen's Guren are added to the pool.



And the second is that new feature I mentioned way back at the beginning of the LP. The Sub-Order menu option lets you send pilots out on little missions between chapters, up to five per order type. In order: Training nets each participant 20 pilot points, Patrol gives them two kills, the Simulator gives them exactly one level, and Fundraisers give us 500 G per level per each pilot. The catch is, only pilots who didn't deploy on the previous mission are allowed to go on Sub-Orders. There are a couple of catches to that, but they'll come up later. Anyway, you're free to pitch Sub-Orders if you care, and pilot info is available on request because I don't so much want to list them all out now. Which reminds me, if you care you can also talk about pilot training and equipping mech parts. I'm trying not to just give everybody Chain Actions this time.

Anyway, see you next chapter.

EDIT: I forgot the extremely important information that Zero's Burai, Karen's Guren, and Gurren-Lagann are automatically deploying for free next chapter. Whoops.

Caphi fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Oct 15, 2012

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Guren Mk-2! :swoon: gently caress the Gurren Lagann, Kallen's new machine kicks all sorts of rear end and I love it to death. Bit of an energy hog, but keep a Resupplier or a Propellant Tank handy and you won't really have to worry about that too often, and the Radiant Wave Emitter is absurdly powerful.

Also, because I enjoyed that scene, here's the original scene for the Black Knight's debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL6Ccaczvjg

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE

Spiritus Nox posted:

Guren Mk-2! :swoon: gently caress the Gurren Lagann, Kallen's new machine kicks all sorts of rear end and I love it to death. Bit of an energy hog, but keep a Resupplier or a Propellant Tank handy and you won't really have to worry about that too often, and the Radiant Wave Emitter is absurdly powerful.

Also, because I enjoyed that scene, here's the original scene for the Black Knight's debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL6Ccaczvjg

Man, the English Zero voice is missing something...

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Caphi posted:

Man, the English Zero voice is missing something...

Eh, I like it well enough. He's not hamming it up as much as Tomozaku Seki, but for me all the ham loses a bit of impact when I have to read subtitles to understand it, and I like the actual translation of his speech quite a bit.

JamMasterJim
Mar 27, 2010

Spiritus Nox posted:

Eh, I like it well enough. He's not hamming it up as much as Tomozaku Seki, but for me all the ham loses a bit of impact when I have to read subtitles to understand it, and I like the actual translation of his speech quite a bit.

Fukuyama Jun, actually.
I do not think Seki is in Z2 at any fashion (no G-Gundam, SEED or FMP IIRC, or even Evangelion)

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

JamMasterJim posted:

Fukuyama Jun, actually.
I do not think Seki is in Z2 at any fashion (no G-Gundam, SEED or FMP IIRC, or even Evangelion)

Ah, my bad. Who's Seki in SEED? Creuset?

Three Cookies
Apr 9, 2010

Yzak, the duel's pilot, if I remember correctly.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Well that makes a second character who was in SRWZ1 with the guy who gave us the Auto-Repair Unit.

That guy is Cielo Beater. He's the missing father of Mail Beater, the official owner of Beater Services and partner to Rand Travis, the Super Robot protagonist and pilot of the incredibly awesome Gunleon. In the story of Z1 Cielo had vanished some 4 years prior to the events of the game, we learn about him and why he vanished but not where he vanished to until now. Cielo was Rand's mentor, and the goofy Thumbs-up that he does (and can be seen in one of the thumbnails) is identical to Rand's. There's more to it than that but explaining what happened with Cielo goes into SRWZ cosmology and it would be rude to spoil it. Maybe when Hikaru Midorikawa shows up.

Most SRW games since around Alpha 2 have named your team and often given an option to rename it. @2 and 3 had the Alpha Numbers, D had Gaia Savior, W has Warter, L has LOTUS, MX has Magnate Ten, and now we have ZEXIS. Z1 also had a team which was an acronym that started with a Z that didn't mean anything, I recall reading somewhere that justification for choosing "Z" in that game was because they would have the final word and wouldn't report directly to any other authority.

Pasteurized Milk posted:

Yzak, the duel's pilot, if I remember correctly.

Correct. I believe Yzak had special dialogue in Z if you fought Gym Gingham in the Turn X. It's the little things.

Ardeem
Sep 16, 2010

There is no problem that cannot be solved through sufficient application of lasers and friendship.
I'm tempted to vote only for secondary characters and make the mains go work, but the whole "can't have deployed last mission things" wrecks that plan... I'll save it until later when Zero and a certain other character with ridiculous buffing ability shows up and they can lead an army of mooks to victory.

Spiritus Nox
Sep 2, 2011

Omnicrom posted:

Most SRW games since around Alpha 2 have named your team and often given an option to rename it. @2 and 3 had the Alpha Numbers, D had Gaia Savior, W has Warter, L has LOTUS, MX has Magnate Ten, and now we have ZEXIS. Z1 also had a team which was an acronym that started with a Z that didn't mean anything, I recall reading somewhere that justification for choosing "Z" in that game was because they would have the final word and wouldn't report directly to any other authority.

Yup. ZEUTH ("Zay-Ooth"), or as the engrish say - Z Emergency Union of Terrestrial Humans. The Z actually has the same meaning as it does here if Mneidnengard is to be believed - ZEUTH sided neither with the Generic-But-Very-Gundammy Earth Federation nor with Gundam SEED's plants, instead acting in the greater interests of all humanity. Not X or Y but Z.

Omnicrom
Aug 3, 2007
Snorlax Afficionado


Spiritus Nox posted:

Yup. ZEUTH ("Zay-Ooth"), or as the engrish say - Z Emergency Union of Terrestrial Humans. The Z actually has the same meaning as it does here if Mneidnengard is to be believed - ZEUTH sided neither with the Generic-But-Very-Gundammy Earth Federation nor with Gundam SEED's plants, instead acting in the greater interests of all humanity. Not X or Y but Z.

Ah. I kind of avoided going into detail about the Z1 people for reasons, but it's good to know that the explanation behind the Z is the same. I'd heard it was "Not X or Y but Z" but didn't realize it was a math reference.

For the others I believe the Alpha Numbers are named as such because they're the ultra-first response and aren't really associated with the Earth Federation by @2 since they have lots of independent robots, Aliens, and GGG. Gaia Savior is named because in SRWD the Earth has gone to poo poo and SOMEONE needs to save it even if that someone is an alliance between Char's Neo Zeon and OZ. Magnate Ten I believe is an elaborate pun, the kanji for Ten is a cross and I think it's a reference to the name of the game being MX. I've never heard exactly why LOTUS from L was named as it was, anyone know?

Silentman0
Jul 11, 2005

I have a new neighbor. Heard he comes from far away

Omnicrom posted:

Magnate Ten I believe is an elaborate pun, the kanji for Ten is a cross and I think it's a reference to the name of the game being MX.

Well, there's also that whole thing with X being Roman for 10.

GimmickMan
Dec 27, 2011

One of the big deals about the original mecha in MX was that they were trying to develop the "Model X" too, so they went about that pun from multiple angles :v:. I think GC did something similar with their CUBE technology, but I can't recall the team's name offhand.

These choices are hard, I would say deploy Crowe plus the lowest leveled leads and have everyone else do Sub-Missions but I don't know how effective that may be.

And Cielo getting a cameo here made me do a takeback. I love how the SRW Team gets you going into their typical clusterfucky crossover scenarios but can still surprise you from time to time without derailing from what is happening too much.

ImpAtom
May 24, 2007

Yeah, GC had a CUBE. When the re-released GC for the X-BOX it mysteriously became the XENON instead.

Broken Loose
Dec 25, 2002

PROGRAM
A > - - -
LR > > - -
LL > - - -
You should call the team the "α Numbers."

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Always send out the lowest level units on missions and put the rest on whichever orders are best! This lets us see the best mix of units.


Though of course, exceptions should be made for guys with special events/conversations.

Monathin
Sep 1, 2011

?????????
?

There's quite a few units that I know we've already neglected, to the point where putting them in battle might be pretty hard.

Aphrodite A and the Trider Shuttle should run missions unless they're absolutely needed. Go for Levels, then Ace Bonus Kills (if they haven't gotten theirs yet, which I don't think they have), then either Pilot Points or Money Farming, depending on if they're going to actually be needed later. As always, if they have interesting bits, they should be brought out for shenanigans, but I have a feeling we need to buff them up between missions before doing anything.

Comrade Question
Mar 30, 2011

"I'd say it's nothing personal, but corporations are people, too."

Caphi posted:

(In Code Geass, this was a setup to a very creepy scene about Nina which is mercifully absent from the game.)

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos

This generates many questions. Which I'm sure Google will answer in full.

Caphi
Jan 6, 2012

INCREDIBLE
Would it help if I put it this way? There are twelve deploy slots, same as last time, but with G-L going out for free, one slot has opened up. So if it makes it easier you can vote for the same team plus one. I think Tieria was at the top of the runners-up last time, but we'll start over anyway.

And yes, you're right to realize literally the only reason to use Patrol is Acing people. Right now, the only units without their Ace Bonuses are Sayaka and Sumeragi; Sayaka will be Patrolling at every chapter she's available, and Sumeragi's still a lost cause because she deploys herself constantly as a mothership.

Also, I'll probably just be sending the highest level free units out to earn money unless someone really wants one of them to gain PP, so that should simplify things even more.

Giovanni_Sinclair
Apr 25, 2009

It was on this day that his greatest enemy defeated, the true lord of darkness arose. His name? MARIO.

veekie posted:

This generates many questions. Which I'm sure Google will answer in full.

You might regret that, the image alone is all you need.

veekie
Dec 25, 2007

Dice of Chaos
Well...it was educational I guess.

KDavisJr
Jul 17, 2010

A real avatar never dies, even when it's replaced!
I would like for the team to be called either Z-Squad or GOONS.


EDIT: Even better! I second this!!!
VVVVVVVV

KDavisJr fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Oct 15, 2012

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Dr Pepper
Feb 4, 2012

Don't like it? well...

KDavisJr posted:

I would like for the team to be called either Z-Squad or GOONS.

GOONZ. :smuggo:

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