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We’ve Arrived at the Target Area: Let’s Play Armored Core So what is Armored Core? Armored Core is a mecha game from 1997 created by Japanese developer From Software for the Playstation. They existed a few years prior and were known for the Kings Field series on Playstation, but Armored Core would go on to be their longest running franchise, spanning three console generations. This game was notable for its in depth customization of the player’s titular Armored Core (AC for short), fast paced action, and its challenge and unforgiving design. It’s Japanese and has robots. What kind of robots are we talking about here? Real robots. Well, as real as the concept of a 10 meter tall humanoid looking robot with guns can be. The game may be fast, but it’s not to the point of breaking the laws of physics or relying on a fictional particle of some kind in order to operate. For comparison, think Armored Trooper VOTOMS, but more advanced, designed to be modular, and of course taller (like three times as tall). Aesthetically speaking, the designs of the AC parts come from none other than famed mecha designer Shoji Kawamori, best known for his work on the Macross series, as well as creating the look of several other Japanese robots. The genius behind this is that while each part is very distinct on its own, they create a robot that has a very unified look when combined. No part really feels out of place when used with another (and if it is, chances are it’s something silly and wouldn’t work, like lightweight legs trying to hold a core that’s really top heavy). Is there anything in the way of story, characters, etc.? Given that it’s a From Software game, not really. The basic story is that an event known as the Great Destruction causes humanity to live underground and mega corporations become more powerful than the actual government. The player assumes the role of a Raven, a type of mercenary that pilots an AC, doing jobs for various clients. Any story or relevant info regarding the state of the world is given to you via emails by your informant “R”. He’s basically the closest thing to a character that you consistently hear from throughout the game. You will receive messages from clients and other Ravens you come across, but he’s the one who’ll keep you up to date on the general state of things. As things come up over the course of the game, I’ll elaborate on the nature of the Armored Core world and all the various factions in separate posts. How do you plan to play through the game? Pretty much the same way I always play it and that is 100% completion with a build that suits my play style. Given that this is a playthrough starting from scratch, I’m going to be building and upgrading my AC to suit my budget, until about a third to a half of a way through the game where I’ll have my optimal build and not bother much with further customization. So any comments will be mostly for discussion and not affect the way I play. Well, actually, there is ONE moment in the game where I will allow audience participation if anyone is interested, as it will have an effect on the kinds of missions I receive at a certain point as well as the type of ending we get. I’ll let you know when the time comes for that. Also, as part of getting the 100% completion rating, not only does that include completing every mission, but also finding every hidden AC part. It’s not too hard as there aren’t many of them and we’ll collect them as each mission comes along. Table of Contents Part 1: We are…a Raven Part 2: Incompetent Guards and Shady MegaCorps Part 3: gently caress the Isaac City Guard Part 4: Additional Fire Power + a Choice to Make Part 4.5: A Choice is Made Part 5: New Missions, New Parts, Slightly New Look Part 6: More Missions, Some AC Fights, and a Better FCS Part 7: Thank God for Maps Part 8: poo poo Gets Real Part 9: That One Mission Part 10: Top of the Leaderboard Part 11: Nearing the End Part 12: 100% Completion Extra Material EX Part 1: Muscle Tracers and Armored Cores EX Part 2: What Makes an Armored Core? EX Part 3: The Major Factions So Far EX Part 4: Human PLUS EX Part FINAL: All the Other Things Commencing AC Drop… ArclightBorealis fucked around with this message at 04:03 on Oct 20, 2014 |
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May 30, 2014 05:59
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Part 1: We Are… A Raven. If you’re at all curious, here is the opening cinematic that plays upon booting up the game. It’s nothing particularly amazing, just something for people who feel like being reminded of how far CG pre rendered cutscenes have come since 1997. Armored Core Opening We now select new game on the main menu, and the game throws this at us right away.  Test Battle Right from the get go, From Software shows us what tough bastards they are by throwing us into battle before we can begin our career as a Raven. If you somehow thought the Souls series was the start of their mean streak, you have no loving idea of the history behind this company. Also, the description for this battle is inaccurate as you aren’t fighting another AC, but two Muscle Tracers (MTs) called Storks. The lineage between MTs and ACs is a bit in depth, and I’ll cover that in another post.  Other than some of the late game missions, this test battle is actually one of the harder things for me to complete because of the controls. More specifically, the fact that the game doesn’t give me a chance to reconfigure them into something I find tolerable. For the record, the thing that makes these controls difficult is that the ability to look up and down is mapped to L2 and R2 respectively. It’s the one thing that trips me up every single time. As for what we’re equipped with at the moment, we have very cheap, low quality AC parts, a laser blade, a rifle, a back mounted missile launcher, and a radar dish. Near the end of this battle I get tired of using the rifle on the enemies and instead lock onto them with the missiles. While you need to keep the aim box locked onto them before firing the missile, it’ll still track them down even when you lose track of them visually.  Anyway, we successfully defeat the two Storks, and the observer of our battle congratulates us.  Yay, a life of hard mercenary work in our (soon to be) kick rear end robot is upon us!  Gentlemen, welcome to the Ravens’ Nest, our main hub that provides everything we will need as a Raven: access to the shop, email, AC customization, and of course missions from various clients.  Before doing anything, let’s check our inbox.   In addition to relaying missions, we mainly provide AC repair services, supply ammo, sell new AC parts, etc… We also occasionally use e-mail to relay information regarding the missions that you have accepted. The Nest never interferes with the mission requesters or with the individual Ravens. Even if you have trouble with the mission requesters, the Nest cannot get involved. Be aware of this. Oh, by the way, call me “R”. I will be your contact at the Nest. Whether our association will be long or short depends entirely on your skill. I’ll be in touch. So yeah, the message is an overview of the services provided by the Ravens’ Nest which we had already mentioned, along with the name of our primary informant “R”. He’ll be in touch, if you couldn’t tell.  So here’s the pathetic AC build we used in order to get ourselves into the Nest. Yeah, we’re stuck with this thing for a while due to lack of funds. We can sell parts for the exact same value as when you buy them, but that’s not happening (well, except for what we’re about to do) when we’re stuck with the cheapest parts possible for the AC’s basic functionality.  Now, because we have no credits to buy any of these parts, we are expected to go right into a mission and start earning money. We are not going to do that yet. In fact, I’m going to do something that will serve as a good money saver throughout the game and is something everyone should do if it’s their first time playing Armored Core.  First step: sell all arm and back weapons.  Second step: use that money to buy an energy weapon. Now, because our generator and boosters are poo poo, the added energy drain from our new weapon is gonna make managing our meter a bit more difficult. But the pay off will be worth it, trust me. Oh, lest I forget before starting our first mission, go to System.  Save, because other than one specific instance, I plan to have a nigh perfect mission success rate and all failures will cease to exist (the penalties for failing aren’t really worth continuing anyway). But, also I must reconfigure my controls to make controlling the AC easy for me. All it takes is remapping four buttons, it’s quite simple.   Yep, instead of using L2 and R2 to look up or down, they will now move us forward and backwards, and the D-Pad handles all of the aiming. It may still seem really weird to have the controls be like that, but I feel it better adds to the immersion of piloting a huge, complex machine. It’s kinda strange describing it, but it just works.  All right, everything is now set; let's begin our first mission as a Raven.  We have a choice of two missions. While the first mission nets us a higher monetary reward, the latter has a hidden AC part, and because we’re going for 100% completion, we may as well get it done now. Selling it will actually get us more money overall than what we could get in the Eliminate Squatters mission. So we’ll do Eliminate Strikers.  Workers in the Avalon Valley development area, demonstrating for better working conditions, have taken over the “Doan Bridge.” They have erected a barricade on the bridge and completely halted traffic. There is no sign of their giving in to the Guards. They persist in demanding to see the HQ. We told them that we have no time to deal with such trifling matter, but they don’t seem to understand. Anyway, we can’t leave this as is. In a drawn-out battle, collateral damage would become a problem, so forcibly eliminate them now. Several Worker MTs are on the bridge, but this should be no problem at all for you Ravens. Our armored division is also deployed. Should be an easy job, so go to it.  Killing labor force that’ve become uncooperative with their employers? Sounds easy enough. Expect to see quite a few missions that have us coming in to clean up a mess the corporations or city guards can’t handle. Eliminate Strikers  We begin the mission, carrying only a semi powerful energy rifle and a new paint job, but first things first, we must find the hidden AC part. Where could it be? Behind us, actually.  Now on with the mission.   This is as simple as can be, because the mission area is just a straight bridge. Boost up into the air, aim down at the MTs behind the debris, and fire. There are only five enemies to deal with, three WR750R and two CW-283 MTs, so let’s take ‘em out as efficiently as possible with our energy weapon. It drains our meter a bunch, but it only takes three shots per MT to destroy them.  Mission completed. Now let’s get our reward.  So we get the reward as promised, however we got some deductions from our pay as we need to repair our AC. If you noticed that there were no ammo deductions from our reward, this is what I was referring to when I got the energy weapon at the start. Even though they do have ammo and can run out, those weapons take energy from the AC’s generator instead of using solid ammunition, which costs money. If you aren't careful on these early missions, you could waste enough ammo and take enough damage to end up losing money and going into the red. These games are no loving joke. Anyway, that’s it for now. First mission out of the way, along with our first hidden AC Part. Things will be picking up quite a bit from here on out, so check back soon. Note: Yes, there were some inconsistencies between the videos and images, especially the last one with the income and expense report. Didn't get the pipeline for this right the first time, but it will be more consistent in future posts.
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May 30, 2014 06:00
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EX Part 1 – Muscle Tracers and Armored Cores The Armored Core games have quite a bit of backstory and technical details behind them that aren’t readily presented to the player. You’ll learn about them through emails sent to you, but there are some details that you’d never know unless you read the instruction manual or other outside sources. The origin of the Muscle Tracers is one of those details, and I will explain to you what they are. So the Great Destruction resulted in the surface becoming inhospitable to humans and forcing them to live underground. With a massive shift in environment and living conditions, robot technology advanced to accommodate the needs of humans underground. This resulted in the creation of what are known as Muscle Tracers, MTs for short. The MTs were first designed to assist in construction and other duties in the underground cities, but as to be expected shortly after the technology was adapted for combat purposes and used by the various corporations and private military contractors. The design of the MTs quickly expanded into various models beyond the simple heavy lifting duties used in construction. Eventually what would come out of this expansion of MT technology is the Armored Core itself. Because of the various types of MTs and the purposes they are tailored to, one type of MT standardized several concepts that would be used in the Armored Core concept. Bipedal legs were used instead of the reverse joint legs used by earlier MT models, and various experimental energy weapons were utilized by these MTs. Shortly thereafter, the concept of the “core” model was made, where every other part of the mecha would be designed around this central component. They were known as Cored MTs, and once the modular design of all the parts was fully standardized, they came to be known as Armored Cores. The Armored Cores proved to be more effective than most combat MTs, especially in the hands of a very capable pilot. This is where the Ravens, the pilots of the ACs come in. Because each Raven has their own set of skills and preferences for battle, the modular design allows them to design equip their ACs in any way that suits them. At the current time of the game, Armored Cores are associated with the Ravens that pilot them, and very few are directly hired to work only for one group. MTs still follow the same framework used for years and are easy to mass produced, and this is why they are the most common enemies in the game. An encounter with another Armored Core is rare, but when it happens it is much more challenging. Oh, and for an explanation of where the names of various MTs come from:
 CW-283  WR750
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May 30, 2014 06:01
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Crigit posted:Armored Core is one of those games where skilled play is really fun to watch, so here's hoping for a good show. Crazy Achmed posted:Have you ever tried mapping movement to the D-pad and looking to the face buttons? It feels pretty much just like a modern dual-stick config. Yeah, shoulder cannons aren't good to use in open areas where enemies can get behind you, because mobility is everything. Thankfully there are missions where there are tight corridors and using such weapons is definitely feasible, and I'll make use of some of them later on. And by type of ending, I meant specifically you get one of two cutscenes for going down a particular mission path involving one of the megacorps, though it's not the ending that is immediately followed by the credits. Probably not the best use of the word, more of a psuedo ending, rather.
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May 30, 2014 17:37
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RSCNyx posted:SYSTEM ENGAGED. Anyway, putting together the next main part and bonus part of the LP, should have it all ready by tomorrow.
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May 31, 2014 04:38
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Crummelhorn posted:I've always wanted to see someone LP these games. I like customizable mechs in theory, but whenever I try to play this or Front Mission I always end up paralyzed with indecision. I gotta say though, I've never actually played Front Mission, though I'm familiar with the concept and am just as fascinated as I am intimidated by it. Those games seem way more punishing and complex than what Armored Core has. It being a strategy RPG doesn't make it any easier, either.
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May 31, 2014 06:38
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Part 2: Incompetent Guards and Shady MegaCorps Now, continuing from where we left off, we completed our first mission and obtained the first hidden AC part in the game. First thing to do is check what the specific item is, and then sell it because it definitely does not fit with my all energy AC build.  The WR-L24 is a back mounted rocket launcher with some drat strong attack power and an insanely long range. However, rocket weapons do not lock onto enemies automatically like missiles do, and are incredibly hard to aim as a result. Never mind the fact that the cost per rocket is expensive, just firing it without a guaranteed hit isn’t worth it to me. Sell it. Now we have quite a bit of money from selling that part and what we earned in the mission. Is there anything we can buy? Why yes, if we can find a part to sell beforehand. AC Parts are sold and bought at the exact same value, and you can leave your AC disassembled for the purpose of selling a part in exchange for a different one. Which is what we are going to do right now.  First off, sell this generator, the GPS-VVA. If we want to keep using our energy weapon, we need something that doesn’t drain as easily. Something like…  …the GBG-10000, a generator with a high energy output, and more importantly an extremely low red zone. If you paid attention to the energy meter during missions, it recharges considerably slower when the energy is in the red. We don’t want to be in that zone all the time, so reducing it from 7800 to 2980 is good.  And while we’re in the shop and have some money left over, let’s get ourselves a better core. First, sell the old one.  And let’s buy the heaviest of the three available cores, the XCH-01. This will give us a few hundred more points of armor for our AC, along with additional extension slots for future use. With our new core and generator, performance in battle should improve, and you can expect to see much more fast paced action in the missions we’re about to undertake. Let’s get to it!  The Eliminate Squatters mission is still available along two new ones added to the list. Let’s go with Eliminate Squatters.  You are to eliminate a group of illegal squatters at an abandoned factory on the east side of the City. They profess to be radicals opposed to area redevelopment. However, the planners have already reached an agreement with the citizens in question, so these are merely outlaws who want an excuse to run amuck. But they are still citizens, so from the standpoint of the Guard, we cannot use force. If they are left as is, there is a risk of affecting the progress of the plan. There is no need for restraint. We want you to firmly teach them the rules of society.  Basically if some punks are disrupting society and norms prevent you from resolving the issue with force, hire someone who doesn’t care about said norms and deny any involvement. This mission has six enemies total: 1 CW-283, 3 WR750Rs, and 2 Bishops. Bishop are tall reverse jointed MTs produced by Chrome and this model is the closest to what the MTs were originally designed as, tall reverse jointed walking tanks. The name, just like the two previously mentioned MTs, comes from concept art on the Revolution disc of AC Nexus. With that little primer done, on with the mission! Eliminate Squatters  Now, this area is much more open than the Doan Bridge, and without radar the enemies won’t be easily seen. Doesn’t stop me from going on the offensive and blasting every MT I come across.  Thanks to our new generator, we can shoot our laser rifle more often and make much more liberal use of our boosters to get around faster.  Although I do come dangerously close near the end to depleting my entire meter and having to sit through a recharging phase.  Mission complete! Let’s see how we did.  Nice, only 565 needed to repair the AC. Once again, investment in energy weapons is very helpful in the early game. With more money in hand, let’s make another trip to the shop and try getting some new parts. We’ll try switching out heads for now.  The HD-2002 has a built in radar function which is handy to have and eliminates the need to attach a dish to our back at all. It’s not the best one we can get in the game, but it’s what the money will allow for at the moment.  Now let’s get back to mission select. It’s a slightly lower pay, but we’ll go with Destroy Unknown MTs.  We just now discovered several unidentified MTs in the sewers. The MTs overwhelmed the Guards going to investigate and fled. I don’t think they are ordinary citizens. Our reputation will be ruined if we let them go. We’ll begin our search of the sewers at once, and drive them to you like cattle. You wait there and pound them.  You know, with the Zam City Guard I could understand their predicament and the need to hire a Raven to deal with the squatters. This scenario, however, screams of incompetence. Given that Chrome is established in Isaac City and has a lot of influence there, you’d think they’d have put some of their budget towards making the guards more efficient and competent at their jobs. Oh well. Only eight enemies to deal with in this mission and all of them are Bishops. It’s also a very straightforward mission similar to Eliminate Strikers. Let’s go. Destroy Unknown MTs.   Just run straight ahead, while strafing from side to side to avoid fire, and destroy every Bishop in sight. It’s not a straight road like the Doan Bridge, but it’s still a straight corridor none the less. No need to worry about enemies attacking your blind spots. And the goddamn city guard had trouble with these things?   Now let’s get our pay and head home.  Hmm, 773 in expenses. Not too bad. We return to the shop, and immediately sell the head we just bought prior to the previous mission. The reason is after selling it we have enough money for the next best head part with built in radar.  The HD-REDEYE. Not only is the radar enhanced, but should we need to look at a map of the area, this head part will provide us a detailed recreation of the area. There is another head that does all this but better and includes the noise canceller and bio sensor functions, but those aren’t necessary at the moment.  Next mission on the list, let’s take a look at Reclaim Oil Facility.  We want you to attack the terrorist group “Struggle” that is occupying the oil extraction facility “Tide”. Although this facility is now completely abandoned, we were at the point of initiating a retrofit plan. Their purpose can be none other than to sabotage our company. We cannot let this delay construction, that would only play into their hands. The Tide facility may have some old tanks that still contain oil. They might explode if hit, so be very careful in your operations.  So Chrome wants us to deal with a terrorist group who are occupying an oil rig. This is the first time we are given a name on any group of enemies we face in a mission, and we’ll just say that Struggle isn’t the only terrorist group causing trouble in the Armored Core world. Seven enemies to deal with, all of which are flying. This won’t be a problem. Reclaim Oil Facility  Gentlemen, meet the Tiger Moths and Tankette Type-Ms. There are two of the former and five of the latter. Unfortunately, the origin of their names comes from this supposed Japanese only site where a full translation is pending, but these will do for now. Both of these MTs are unmanned, so the members of Struggle are most likely keeping the oil rig captive while remaining off site. Of the two MTs, the Type-M fires missile. The M in the name stands for missile, if you couldn’t guess.  While it doesn’t happen to me here, if the battle goes on for a certain amount of time, a transmission from a Chrome operator will tell you that they will engage in support fire and launch missiles at the MTs. This happened to me in the past when I did not upgrade my generator sooner, as I found myself running out of energy frequently and having to run from enemy fire.  Another mission completed. Let’s see how we did.  Only 1019 in expenses. Also another thing that can happen in the mission but didn’t for me, Chrome are serious when they say be careful of hitting the tanks. Having a couple get blown up is fine (it’s inevitable if enemy fire comes up) but if all the tanks are destroyed, 5000 credits will be deducted from your pay.  We’re back at the Nest, and we got new mail! Haven’t received any messages in quite a while, have we? We got two messages this time: One of them is from Chrome, thanking us for our work at the oil right, and the other is from “R”, filling us in on details about the terrorist group Struggle.  You’re pretty handy with an AC, but that alone is not enough for you to survive. Not skill alone. Remember this well. Yeah, messages from Chrome tend to be rather terse and sound like a bunch of hard asses. It’s a huge corporate entity though with more powerful than the actual government, what would you expect? Let’s see what “R” has to say.  -well-armed, exceeding even “Imminent Storm.” In other words, they must have some powerful backing behind them. The only corporation that has the power to resist Chrome is none other than Murakumo Millennium. Murakumo must be giving some sort of organizational support to Struggle in order to whittle away at the power of Chrome: a very likely situation as you must see. I’ll be in touch. So far we had only taken missions from Chrome or the various city guards, but none from any of the rival corporations like Murakumo. Now that we are made aware of the existence of Chrome’s only major corporate rival, we’ll be seeing more of them, as well as the conflict between the two continuing to escalate. The details about the two megacorps will be made in a separate post later on. Now I head to the shop to look for some new arms and legs for the AC. This is where I do a whole lot of selling and buying of the same parts to get the right amount of money so I won’t show you the process I went through.  We had been stuck with the same arms and legs since the beginning, but now we have equipped ourselves with the AN-101 and LN-1001B. Our AP has increased quite a bit more, almost up to 9000.  Let’s take a look at the next mission at hand, Stop Security MTs.  The city security system that we monitor has been destroyed and security MTs from various areas are running amuck. The true perpetrator is as yet unknown. All of the Guards are trying to control the situation, but the scope of damage is too wide, so we cannot completely handle it. We are asking the Ravens for help. Destroy all of the security MTs in the business district of the city. We have already evacuated the citizens. No need for restraint.  I can appreciate a client that says no need for restraint. Shows they don’t have much concern for the collateral damage and political backlash that would follow a giant loving robot blowing poo poo up in your city. You can only wonder what went on through these peoples’ heads before they had to contact a Raven for help. There’s quite a lot of MTs in the mission, but all of them are the same model. Let’s begin. Stop Security MTs  These MTs are referred to as Dawns (again, origin of the name isn't clear). They are only equipped with dual missile and dual rocket launchers. We've dealt with enemies that shoot missiles in the last mission, but this one is a good opportunity to practice a skill any AC pilot should utilize.  In Armored Core, there are various types of missiles, both in size and more importantly firing trajectory. For the player it’s important to use a missile that fires in a way that it won’t collide with the environment easily (a vertically firing missile is better suited for open areas, for instance). For the AC on the receiving end of a missile, they need to be able to properly avoid it. Missiles in general will home in on you when fired. However, the initial trajectory is always different (some shoot in an arc, others fire vertically, etc), and dodging at the last second possible won’t give the missile enough time to redirect itself and most likely crash into the environment.  Since the enemies are just on this straight road, this is good practice to try and weave between and around missiles. I don’t pull it off 100% of the time, but I do it more often than not that I feel pretty good about it.  Anyway, we finish that mission with good results, I feel.  I always feel satisfied when I don’t have to pay more than a grand for AC repairs.  Now, with the last few missions, I’ve followed them up with visits to the shop to see if I can get some new AC parts. We’re not gonna do that right now, because of the next mission, Remove Gun Emplacement.  We want you to destroy a Chrome gun emplacement. The gun emplacement construction site is located in an ocean buffer zone just barely outside Murakuo territory. Our repeated warnings to halt construction have been completely ignored. Chrome offers only transparent excuses about maintaining security but their intentions are clearly a pre-emptive military attack. We now have no choice but to use force. This time we have prepared an AC part as your pay. It is a prototype of the highest quality. We are counting on the Ravens.  First mission from Murakumo, and instead of money as reward it’s a new AC part. It probably goes without saying, but anytime a megacorp mentions another megacorp it is never in a way that sounds pleasant. These two very much don’t like each other. Also, this is the first mission we get where destroying every enemy isn’t a requirement. Only the four guns need to be taken out, and since we aren’t getting any money out of it to cover expenses, we want to be in and out of there as quickly as possible. This is why I didn’t waste any money in the shop so I won’t go into the red. With that said, let’s begin the mission. Remove Gun Emplacement    Here we start the mission with a cutscene of a dropship deploying our AC. These aircraft are referred to as Barracuda, and while you don’t see it in the video, the sound of something exploding is actually the Barracuda getting destroyed LITERALLY seconds after dropping us. This is a very clear reason NOT to drop your troops right on top of a battle zone, at least do it when you’re out of their firing range.   Anyway, the mission has begun, and we boost our way towards the gun turrets while ignoring the Firebrands swarming around us. There are seven of them, but you don’t get any monetary bonuses for killing them. The job is only to destroy the guns and that’s it.  Because of how long we were taking fire, we have to pay 1148 in AC repairs. It was smart to have that 16+ grand set aside.  Anyway, new mail in our inbox, let’s go check it.  Chrome’s tyrannical conduct is becoming more and more violent every day. We would never stoop to the kind of wrongful use of force that they embrace, but we have no choice but to fight. I hope we can count on you the next time the need arises. Now, compared to the tone of Chrome’s message from a while back, Murakumo’s seems much more thankful for our services. But I dunno, I’m not so quick to take sides with any large corporate entity that holds enough power to exert influence over the human race. Chrome’s a bunch of hard asses, but at least they don’t try to paint their image to look like they’re in the right, which is what Murakumo’s message kinda sounds like to me. This is why I always liked the concept of Ravens and the Ravens’ Nest. Total neutrality. Anyway, that does it for this part. Expect more missions along with gradually upgrading our AC, as well as more background information about the Armored Core world. I’ll be in touch.
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May 31, 2014 18:06
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EX Part 2: What Makes an Armored Core? Another entry in the let’s play means another bonus post, elaborating more on the technical details of Armored Core. As you could tell in Part 2 a good bit of time was spent in the shop getting new parts for our AC. If you’ve been wondering what all the numbers and stats on these parts meant and what they do, I have you covered.  To summarize briefly, an Armored Core is comprised of seven key components for basic functionality. These are the head, core (the torso of the mech), arms, legs, generator, fire control system (FCS), and boosters. The three remaining types of components used by the AC are arm weapons, back weapons, and optional parts. We’ll start by explaining the components that are required for an AC to work. Head – The head’s most important role for the AC is providing a visual of the surroundings to the pilot. While contributing to the Armored Core’s overall AP, one aspect to balance between choices of heads is additional armor points at the expense of radar functions. This can also include how detailed the AC’s auto map of the mission area is, or a bio sensor function when dealing with non mechanical targets. Some parts even have a missile sensor that will display incoming missiles on the AC’s radar, allowing for the pilot to respond to the attack much sooner. Core – A very crucial component that make up most of the Armored Core’s AP. The core is the torso of the AC, and is where the pilot is situated, as well as the generator, FCS, and boosters. Compared to other AC parts, there are very few cores, and the ones available lend themselves to specific styles of ACs, factors including weight class and number of optional part slots. Two of the three cores in the game contain an anti missile defense system in the form of a single barrel on the front of the core. Arms – There are two types of arms for an Armored Core. The first are normal arms that are designed to hold a variety of weapons, and determines the AC’s aiming ability and precision with a blade weapon. The second are weapon arms, which are exactly as the name describes. They have less AP and are lighter in weight, but are extremely powerful in combat. Both arms draw from the same ammo pool though, and having no ammo left can leave the AC unable to continue combat. Legs – Arguably the most important part of the AC aside from the core itself, as they come in four types, make up a large part of the mech’s AP, and is what ACs are commonly classified by.
FCS – The Fire Control System is what allows the AC to lock on to targets as well as the shape of the aim window. In the original Armored Core, the categories for FCS are Standard, Wide & Shallow, Tall, and Narrow & Deep. The shapes of the aim boxes for these different FCS types are different, as well as determine the range at which targets can be locked on. The FCS also determines how many targets can be locked on at a time, which is useful for AC builds utilizing missile launchers. Boosters – The component that allows an AC to be as fast and mobile as it is. These obviously draw a lot of power from the AC’s generator. Obviously the more powerful the thrust from the booster, the larger the energy drain is. While not described in the details describing them, each booster has a different exhaust length and color to the flame. These and Generators often go in hand as a high power booster goes well with a high energy capacity generator. Now those are the required components. Here’s all the extra stuff you can throw onto your AC if you have the energy and weight capacity to spare. Arm Weapons – With the exception of laser blades, all arm weapons are equipped on the AC’s right arm. There are various types including rifles, machine guns, hand guns, sniper rifles, bazookas, energy weapons, and a flamethrower (not available in the shop). These weapons have their own ammunition, reload rate, as well as Weapon Lock type, which is best used with a similar FCS. For example, the rifle that you start the game with, WG-RF35, has a Wide & Shallow weapon lock, so it would be used with an FCS of a similar lock type. And as demonstrated already in the LP, energy weapons do not count toward ammunition costs in the income and expense report at the end of missions. The laser blades are equipped on the left arm only and are used as an offhand melee weapon. Back Weapons – Back weapons can be equipped on either the left or right shoulders of the AC. In fact, if you have the money for it, you can buy two of the same weapon and put them on both. The back weapon types include missile launchers, rocket launchers, bomb dispensers, shoulder cannons, and radars. The shoulder cannon weapons include items like chain guns, grenade launchers, laser cannons and so on. These are the weapons that Bipedal and Reverse Jointed ACs have to stand still for in order to fire due to the recoil. Radars obviously give the AC radar function if the head part doesn’t have one built in. There are also three dual back units that take up both shoulder slots on the AC, but these are only missile weapons. Optional Parts – These parts are very much optional, as they are modules that are plugged into slots on the AC’s core, enhancing particular qualities or aspects of the machine. There are some modules that take up one slot like reducing shell damage or energy damage, while some modules take up multiple slots, like expanding the AC’s generator charge. Not every part can be equipped so only use the ones that best suit the AC. These are the lowest priority items to worry about when customizing an AC. So those are all the parts. How do they all come together? Well, I’ll tell you, by using my current AC build as an example.  When building an Armored Core, there are three parameters to keep in mind: Energy, Core Weight, and Leg Weight. The first one is easy to explain as it is determined by the generator’s energy output. The reason having enough energy output is important is because every part needs some amount of energy in order to function. Things like arm and leg movements, boosters, radar functions, you name it. Every part in the store has the amount of energy drain listed so you can see how much it requires. And as you can see, the selected item in the garage lists how much energy is uses (EP), as well as its weight (WP) which we will cover next Now, for core weight and leg weight. To describe both simply, core weight is the core’s ability to hand the capacity of the arms, head, generator, FCS, boosters, and any back weapons and arm weapons. The leg weight is the leg’s ability to carry all the above mentioned parts. This is another reason why the legs can be considered the most important part of the AC, and that is the weight capacity. Choosing a leg will affect the leg’s weight capacity, but every part will affect how much the core and legs can both handle. As you can probably tell by where my AC is now in the LP, Energy drain is not a major issue as our capacity is very close to 10000 and anything else we equip won’t come anywhere close to that. We already have a heavy weight core supporting some light to middleweight arms and being supported by middleweight legs, so we can’t really put any more weight on top of the AC without getting better legs. For now, the legs will stay the same until I have acquired enough money and the right parts that I will need specific legs to support those parts. If this sounds complex, well, it is. But the good news is that this is the least complex Armored Core customization in the entire series. Just wait until you get to AC2, with extensions and radiators and inside parts and overboost and other nonsense. It only gets more in depth from there.
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May 31, 2014 18:07
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Pierzak posted:Of course you need better legs, you have only two I will be getting the KARASAWA soon enough, but it's a hidden part so I have to get to the mission that it's in to get it, so expect it two parts from now. That attack power is so good.
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Jun 1, 2014 17:35
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Polaron posted:Oh man, this game. This and Colony Wars were the two games I played to death back in the PSX era. One fun detail that I don't think you've pointed out is that different heads have different computer voices and lines. The more advanced, techy heads have more human-sounding voices with longer lines. As for the ranking, I've already got my material up through part 4, but I made a slight screw up that relates to me showing the ranking screen. My original plan was to show it after completing the Attack Urban Center mission, where you fight an AC who is number two on the ranking. However, it went away after I did all the other missions before hand. Part 5 I'll show it off for real, though. Just not with the lead in I was hoping for.
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Jun 1, 2014 23:36
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Part 3: gently caress the Isaac City Guard Continuing from where we left off, we just received a new AC part as compensation for destroying a Chrome gun emplacement because Murakumo hates those assholes.  The part in question is a pair of legs, this one in particular having the fastest movement speed of all the legs (at least bipedal ones). It’s nice, but not enough weight capacity to hold our top load, so we’ll sell it for forty-four grand.  And now that we have a good chunk of money, we’ll sell our current boosters which are still a holdover from the starting build, and get ourselves a new one. The B-VR-33 will do.  With that upgrade done, let’s go to the next mission, Worker Robot Removal.  A problem occurred in the No. 7 power plant of Isaac City. Due to security system trouble, the worker robots are out of control. Most of the robots have already been captured or destroyed, but some of them have entered the grounds of the power plant. Luckily, no major accident has occurred so far, but we cannot leave the situation as is. Because of the location, ordinary measures are useless. This is where we need your help. We want you to destroy all of the robots within the power plant, but do not damage the generators or you risk causing a major explosion. If you destroy a generator, we will deduct compensation for the damages from your pay. The worker robots have no attack capability at all, but you must move cautiously.  If you go into this mission with the right tools, either energy weapons like we have or a blade equipped, this mission can be easily completed while getting the full reward with no expenses. Though I am curious as to what these “ordinary measures” are that prevent Murakumo from gathering these last few robots but are okay for us. I almost would think the Isaac City Guard are up to the task, but that’s probably giving them too much credit. Also a minor note, this is the first mission where a client actually gives us part of the pay in advance. While I don’t really do it, when selecting a mission you have the option of immediately starting it or not. You’re locked into the mission once you’ve accepted it, but you can do some last minute customization on your AC if you need to. Worker Robot Removal   These little things are called Techbots (name coming from the Revolution disc from AC Nexus), and we have to destroy all of them without hitting the generators. Sometimes however they’ll be positioned too close to a generator and missing a shot slightly would be devastating. However, if you run up in front of them they will proceed to back up and away in the direction you’re facing them. Use this to corral them away from the generators if you need room to be sure you won’t gently caress up. Not a whole lot of exciting stuff in this mission, but what can you do?  See, what I tell you? Easy money.  Back to the mission select screen, that title looks familiar. Didn’t we already deal with some squatters?  Remnants of the squatters who occupied the abandoned factory on the east side of the City have reappeared. They have brought together 12 MTs from somewhere, and have again amassed inside the factory. Clamoring for us to bring out the guys who hurt them before, they are on a rampage. Our guard weaponry is useless. Any Raven will do, just do something.  Oh, I’ll do something alright. Eliminate Squatters (2)  So right off the bat, the enemies in this level are double from before, and are much more aggressive. There are two WR750Rs and ten Bishops on this level, and none of them last long against my energy weapon.   Hope you learned your lesson this time, shitheads.  Hmm, took a lot more damage there than in previous missions. Things are indeed becoming more challenging. We receive some new email messages, one from the client, and the other from you know who.  We are troubled to find that the squatters’ weapons were likely supplied through the involvement of the terrorist group “Imminent Storm”. We really should perform a full-scale investigation, but they hold some pretty bad company, if you get my drift. Unless we have direct evidence of wrongdoing, we cannot get involved. Well, we have our reasons. Even though we are called the “Guard”, we are really mere cogs in the clockwork of business. We don’t want to do anything to wring our own necks. Unfortunately, that seems to be all we can do. We are looking forward to working with you in the future. You know, I can kinda respect the Zam City Guard for being so forth coming with how lovely their predicament is. They know the higher ups are the real ones with authority and control. Let’s see what our other message is about.  Although Chrome had held authority over this area, in recent years Murakumo has turned the tables so that most of the redevelopment projects have been led by Murakumo. It is not hard to imagine that these circumstances are involved in the recent events. I’ll be in touch. Basically, even if the group involved isn’t a megacorp, it’ll still have some sort of backing or support from someone. Chrome and Murakumo are very much involved in every conflict going on right now.  Alright, next task on the list, Stop Terrorist Threat.  We have managed to obtain vital information on the terrorist group “Imminent Storm”. The scum plan to hide inside the city sewers and build their headquarters there. “Imminent Storm” has perpetrated many terrorist acts on Isaac City in the past, and the Guard has suffered bitter defeats. We will never let them build their headquarters. Yet we hesitate to act with only our weaponry. This is why we have asked the Ravens for help. Already several Guards have gone ahead but it is too dangerous for them alone. Your operation has two objectives: protect the Guard detachment and destroy the terrorist leader. We will deduct 1000 C from your pay for each Guard killed. Raven, we are counting on you.  I can only hope to god these assholes don’t get in the way. Just so you know which color MTs are which, the tan bishops are the enemies we’ve been fighting for a while, the blue Guard Walkers are used by the City Guard, and the red bishop is the leader of the enemy group. At least the difference in color is simple enough. Stop Terrorist Threat  Now, because of this game’s age, the AI for the friendly units is pretty poor to be expected. Let’s just hope I get there before anything hap-  oh, FOR FUCKS SAKE!  DIE!! Well, there goes a thousand credits from my pay. Thanks for screwing it up, rear end in a top hat.  So yeah, this mission area is pretty big, and while it isn’t required to destroy all the mooks, you get a 500 credit bonus for each one killed, which I guess is a nice way to make up for your allies incompetence and getting themselves killed. There are 18 regular bishops to kill, and that gives a total of 9000 additional credits for this mission.   So this is our target here. I take quite a few hits from this guy, but I dish out way more of my own right at him.  Luckily enough, we actually made more money that the initial reward thanks to eliminating all 18 bishops prior to the leader. That said though, gently caress the Isaac City Guard.  OK, next mission, Rescue Survey Team.  We want you to break into an old military facility remaining above ground to the southwest of Isaac City. This facility has been completely abandoned, but we have reason to believe it had been used as a testing ground for prototype weapons prior to the Great Destruction. If any of the Companies get wind of this, a fight for this facility is inevitable. We immediately sent a survey team to find out the truth but they ran into trouble. A gate within the facility suddenly closed and scrapped security MTs began operating. After barely making it back to the 1st floor, the team is stranded behind the locked gate. The security MTs have been repulsed for now, but we don’t know how long this will last. We want you to rescue the team ASAP.  We now have a new client, and it’s a simple rescue operation. The facility is pretty expansive, but it’s not that hard to get around. Rescue Survey Team  Now, this mission has a gently caress ton of MTs, about 76 in total. These Crusaders as they’re called have high energy defenses, so our energy weapon isn’t as effective. With 76 of these little buggers crawling about, what are we gonna do? It’s simple.  Just run. That’s it, really. Trying to kill these things with what we got isn’t worth it.   Jump and dodge everything that comes your way until you reach the panel controlling the door that has trapped the survey team. Destroy it and the mission is over.  So we only came out of that mission with a little over 20k, but we’re pretty much swimming in credits at this point in the game, so it’s all good. After rescuing the survey team, we got some new mail in our inbox. Two messages this time.  Professing the goal of reclaiming the above-ground environment, the committee has some of the most prominent scientists in the world as its members. However, there are many questions in regard to its true nature. There are rumors that it is actually an organization with some other purpose. I’ll be in touch. I honestly wonder if there are any corporations or factions in the Armored Core universe that are exactly as they seem and don’t have some ulterior motive. R’s messages certainly aren’t doing them any favors. Let’s look at the next mail we got.  - LN-3001 Heavily armored humanoid legs with a high load capacity. Poor speed. 52200 C - LN-D-8000R Humanoid legs with special anti-energy weapon armor. High load capacity. 49000 C - LFH-X5X Four legged type with the maximum AP and load carrying capacity. 82000 C - LC-MOS-4545 A dreadfully durable monster machine. 59000 C That second the item, the LN-D-8000R is what I was waiting for. Time to do some shopping…next time. That’ll be it for now. There are four missions planned for the next update, along with a certain choice that the audience will get to make that determines the missions we will be taking for the latter part of the game. I’ll be in touch.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:05
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EX Part 3: The Major Factions So Far At this point, we have taken several missions from a variety of clients such as megacorps and the city guards. There have been terrorist groups involved, and we’ve just now been introduced to the Earth Environment Reclamation Committee. As our good friend “R” has shown with his vague messages, the many factions in Armored Core are more than they seem on the surface, and they are more than likely backing each other in their goals. This post will serve as a summary of all the groups we’ve encountered so far, both clients and enemies, hopefully more in depth than what “R” has divulged to us this far. For starters, let’s take a look at the two biggest players in the conflict-ridden world of Armored Core: Chrome and Murakumo Millennium. Chrome is one of the largest corporate entities in the world and has no issues demonstrating their power and monopoly over the cities they have control over. As mentioned a few times already in this LP, Chrome is based in Isaac City. They also have a partnership with a chemical manufacturing firm known as Chemical-Dyne Co, who will be given a proper introduction in the next update. Chrome for the longest time was pretty much uncontested as the biggest corporate super power. Until Murakumo came along, that is. Murakumo Millennium is the other large mega corporation in the game, and unlike most others, they actively resist Chrome’s monopoly and influence on society. These two butt heads constantly, and a lot of their skirmishes happen in or around Isaac City, where Chrome’s HQ is established. Murakumo’s specialty is in industry and manufacturing AC parts. If you remember the Remove Gun Emplacement mission from before, the leg part we received as a reward was an experimental part manufactured by Murakumo. They have a vested interest in the development of AC technology. These two are huge corporate entities who have public images to maintain (well, Chrome probably cares less about how people perceive them). Who do they get to handle their tasks that would be too dirty for them to get involved in? Terrorists, of course. The first terrorist group we were introduced to was Struggle, a group dedicated to resisting Chrome’s rule through terrorist acts. Put two and two together, and it’s not hard to see Murakumo jumping at the chance to support a group that shares a common enemy. So where does the other group, Imminent Storm, fit in? Well, Chrome probably doesn’t get directly involved with them as much as they do give them tips. At the end of Eliminate Squatters Part 2, the Zam City Guard informed us that the squatters had MTs and weapons supplied by Imminent Storm. Shortly after, “R” told us that Murakumo had taken over many of the city’s redevelopment projects, including the one that was being obstructed by the squatters. While there was no concrete proof that either IS or Chrome was involved, the fact that it was a project involving Murakumo, it is hard not to see the other side wanting something done about it. And of course there are the City Guards themselves. Incompetence of the Isaac City Guard aside, the guards are more or less just pawns to be used and thrown away by the corporations that preside over them. Zam City is the only one that was very up front with their situation, explaining how they can’t investigate in Imminent Storm’s involvement with the squatters and the potential link to a megacorp’s involvement. They can only just stand around as figureheads to give citizens the assumption that they are being protected while the real conflict happens in the background. There was one group we were just introduced to in the last mission that appears to be entirely independent from everyone involved in this conflict, and that is the Earth Environment Reclamation Committee. As the name would suggest, they have an interest in unearthing technology and relics left behind when the Great Destruction forced humanity to move to underground cities. Any missions involving them will always take place at old, abandoned military facilities with lost technology. Now with such a noble goal of unearthing the past and eventually reclaiming the surface, why would there be any doubt to their motives? Well, the Great Destruction was the result of multiple weapons of mass destruction and powerful technology being used against everyone by everyone, and that technology being lost in the wake of such a cataclysm would be better off for humanity. But, everyone in the Armored Core universe hates someone enough to fight back with force, so unearthing ancient tools of destruction would be lucrative for someone who wants to start a war or continue one. Obviously the last group in this game, the one we’re a part of, is the Raven’s Nest. There really isn’t much else to say about them because we know the stuff we need to know about them, and that the Nest is completely neutral to the main conflict going on between the megacorps and the factions under it. For us, it just comes down to how much the pay is. While there’s not much to say about the nest, there is quite a bit to say about the Ravens themselves. But I will save that for another time, probably after we faced one or two of them ourselves. ArclightBorealis fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 01:06
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SavageMessiah posted:Damnit, because of this LP I pulled out AC2 this weekend and 100%ed it from a new save, and then got the last couple of percent on my farthest along Another Age save, and then started playing Nexus again - only stopping because going from the old controls to dual stick confused the heck out of my hands.
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Jun 2, 2014 19:39
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SavageMessiah posted:All you did was reignite my AC obsession :P. It's good to see someone LPing these games (and quite well too, I never really noticed all the corporate intrigue before, I just played the missions and shot the robots), there's really not nearly as much talk about them as there should be. Though a more ambitious goal for me would be to do the AC series up through Last Raven, but that would require me getting the remaining games I don't have (AC 2, 3, Nexus, Ninebreaker, and Last Raven) as well as a capture card for getting footage off my PS2. It's a nice thought to have though, as I love these games so drat much.
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Jun 2, 2014 20:04
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nine-gear crow posted:It's funny you mention that because I was planning on doing a full-series LP of Armored Core myself, but I'm glad someone else got to it first. Especially someone who knows and loves the series as well as I do. Kaboom Dragoon posted:I like the AC games, but I inevitably wind up hitting an impassable brick wall at some point, no matter what game I play. It's like the game decides 'nope, you've had your fun, time for dying is now' and I can never get any further.
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Jun 2, 2014 20:52
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Part 4: Additional Fire Power + a Choice to Make Continuing from where we left off, we were just informed by the Ravens’ Nest that new parts have been added to the shop, and we have nearly a hundred thousand credits on hand. Time to spend it on some upgrades.  First things first, sell the LN-1001B.  And buy the newly stocked LN-D-8000R. As you can see, the increase in weight capacity isn’t that large, as is the increase in armor points, but every little bit counts, and the difference in speed is negligible. Plus I think the look of them goes well with our core.  And while I’m at it, we’ll sell our current arms.  And buy the AN-D-7001. These arms and the legs we just bought have quite a uniform look to them.  And finally, we will upgrade our head to the best radar installed head we can get, the HD-ONE. This has pretty much everything the REDEYE had in addition to the noise canceller and bio sensor.  And with that, our Armored Core’s AP has been boosted up to 9090.  With that shopping trip all done, let’s start the next mission, Terrorist Pursuit.  Just now, several MTs, thought to be terrorists, appeared in an urban district. Indiscriminately, they attacked the surrounding buildings and fled. Guards rushing to the scene cornered one terrorist in a nearby parking garage, but the garage has only one large entrance, so it is not easy to get him. The rest of the gang is still fleeting and we cannot spare any more men. Go to the scene ASAP and cooperate in destroying the terrorist. Several civilian vehicles remain in the garage. Damage to the vehicles will be deducted from your pay. Sorry, but we’ve got budget problems too. Good luck.  I always hate that last line in the briefing. Isaac City Guard is the loving worst. Terrorist Pursuit  This mission has only one enemy to deal with, the Nowaki. It’s a very fast quadruped MT, and the only thing worse than trying to aim and shoot at it is avoiding damage to all the cars in this parking garage, whether or not it was inflicted by the MT or you.  We need to keep it from getting to the bottom floor, so head to the ramp that connects this floor and the one below to block it off. When it comes into range, fire away. Make do with whatever camera shenanigans come up. It’s kinda bad in very close quarters.  Even though we did not touch any of the cars, we still got a deduction for damage that we clearly did not cause. Like I said before, gently caress the Isaac City Guard.  Alright, let’s head on to the next mission, Destroy Fuel Depot. I can guarantee you this’ll be better than the last one.  We want to perform a secret survey of a Chemical-Dyne Co. research lab located in the East region. We have heard many troubling rumors about a certain company’s research. From the information that we’ve gathered so far, this seems to be Chrome’s doing. Your mission is a diversionary action in support of the survey team entering the lab. Attack the fuel depot adjacent to the lab and blow up all of the fuel tanks inside. The survey team plans to enter the lab during the commotion. You must escape from the depot after blowing up all the tanks. If discovered by the guards, you’ll have trouble. There is probably a large number of tanks in the fuel depot. Be careful to avoid damage from the explosions.  Whereas we had to minimize environmental damage in the last mission, we are now given free rein to blow poo poo up. But more importantly, there is a hidden part in this mission that is CRUCIAL to get. Any AC fan will easily recognize it when we see it. Destroy Fuel Depot  In this mission, there are eight gun emplacements on the ceilings of this depot, as well as three Tankette-Es. Similar to the Tankette-M, these specialize in electronic jamming than they do in combat. Because our HD-ONE head part has a noise canceler, we are immune to its frequency and our lock on ability is not disabled.  The second room at the end of the depot has some tanks semi hidden. Search every corner thoroughly.  At the end are long rows of tanks that explode one after the other if you shoot just one. After which we will receive a message telling us to leave now and that our work is done. But…  We cannot leave without this thing.  Now we make a mad dash for the exit, killing a Guard Walker on the way while we’re at it.  We’re continuing to pay slightly more for AC damages, but that’s not important right now. We got ourselves a bigger reward than the money. However, we much quickly check our mail, as a very close friend has some information about a one Chemical-Dyne Co.  Although it has achieved a solid position as a biochemical manufacturer, the rumors of dangerous experiments and chemicals refuse to be quelled. In addition, it is a known fact that Chrome has been a major factor in their development through joint venture relationships. I’ll be in touch. Yep, another company is in bed with a big megacorp. Huge surprise, I know. Anyway, the prize I was talking about from the last mission. Here it is:   Gentlemen, I present to you the WG-1-KARASAWA laser rifle, the best mother loving energy weapon in the game. Hell, the best weapon period. This humongous rifle only holds fifty rounds, but for many lesser MTs this thing will kill them in one hit. Luckily for us with our current build we have just less than a hundred Leg Weight Points to spare, though we may end up swapping some parts when we get even more armaments down the line. For now, this AC will more than suffice, as it has good movement speed and packs 1550 points in attack power. Very impressive.  Now that we have our new weapon, let’s sell the old one and use our money to buy a new FCS. We’ll go with the GX-9009. It’s got the longest range of the other fire control systems, which fits well with our KARASAWA’s range of 10000.  Now let’s try out our new weapon in a mission. We’ll go with Prototype MT Test.  Come participate in a combat test against a new weapon currently under development. Anyone is OK, as long as they can fight. We want combat data for the current prototype. Your opponent, “CHAOS” is a completely automated robot, and the location is inside our lab. No need to be timid. Give it all you’ve got. However, you get paid only if you win. No slacking off. This may not be much of a challenge to you Ravens, but you can make a fast buck. Think of it as an easy job.  You know, I’m sure this is just because of how much of a pleasant mood I’m in right now, but this mission is very much a win-win for both sides involved. I get to try out my new weapon, and they get some combat data for their new MT. It’s all good. Prototype MT Test   I pretty much hang back for a lot of this fight and take shots at the MT with my rifle. Doesn’t take very long for it to go down.   Funny thing, in the past I always get hit a couple times by the MT but I got through it this time unscathed. Second mission cleared with no expenses paid. We check our inbox to see a message from our good friend “R.” Let’s see what he has to say.  The Human Plus technology developed by Murakumo is an advanced technology whereby the organs of the body (mainly the nervous system, bones, and muscle tissue) are replaced with artificial replacements which give the subject abilities vastly superior to those of an ordinary man. People who have undergone this operation are called the “Plus”, the ranks of which include soldiers and bodyguards for VIPs. Rumor has it that several of the top ranking Ravens are also “Plus”. However, the reason why Murakumo, supposedly an industrial manufacturer, originally developed this technology is still a mystery even now. I’ll be in touch. I gotta say, this message felt way more detailed than the usual material “R” has been sending us for a while now. Even so, there’s still plenty more for us to elaborate on about Human Plus, which will be saved for an EX Part.  Alright, let’s head to the next mission, Guard Freight Train. This is a good one.  We have an emergency! We have been informed of a plan to attack our long-haul freight train, “Boulder”. We are unsure of the enemy’s exact target, but it is likely that they are after the confidential cargo in the lead car. The train’s next stop, Heavensrock’s supply depot, has very little cover. We feel that this would be an opportune location for the enemy to attack. Go ahead of the train ASAP and head for the supply depot. Give highest priority to ensuring the safety of at least the lead car. The cars further back are not particularly important at this time, but we will up your pay by 10000 C if all the cars are safe. We’re counting on you, Raven.  This mission I would say is the first truly memorable one, in all the times I’ve played this game. It is also one of the more challenging missions, as there are multiple parts to it and getting everything right, including the 10000 C bonus as well as a hidden AC part in the area, is quite challenging. This is the first mission in this LP where I actually had to redo it a couple times before getting it down. Guard Freight Train (you should watch this one for sure)   The Barracuda makes a return with a new paint job and not getting blown out of the sky this time, although it still gets shot at before our AC is fully deployed.  First things first, go to the right and get up to high ground. There are four Welkins that like to circle around the AC taking shots at you, and being on a near level field will make aiming easier. One shot is all it takes to take down these aircraft, and trust me we want them out of the way as soon as possible.  As I take down the last one, the train informs us that it’s on its way to the depot. Since there’s no one else around to disrupt the mission, we can just hang back and…  Huh?    Oh poo poo…  Unless you went for the Attack Urban Center mission, which we decided to forego, this would be the player’s first real battle with another AC. While he is not given a name in the original Armored Core, on the Revolution disc for AC Nexus this AC is given the name Wildcat. Here are the specs for his AC that can be determined just from looking at him.
 Several shots from our KARASAWA, and the Wildcat goes down. And none of the cars on the train got destroyed. On top of Wildcat causing trouble, if one of those Welkins were still active, they’d have destroyed the train for sure. That’s why it can be a difficult mission if you don’t know EXACTLY what to do.  Before the train has refueled and left the depot, be sure to find the hidden AC part for this mission. It’s in one of the crates farthest away from the train. Grab it and wait for the train to leave to end the mission.   We got the special addition, and only a little over 5000 in expenses. Job well done, I say. We got a message from Murakumo containing information about the AC that attacked us at the depot.  Then, one time he failed to complete a mission and was never heard from again. The AC reappeared several years ago. Since then, every time that he appeared on a battlefield he would act like a mad dog, indiscriminately attacking anyone, over and over. There are some who say that he was just looking for a place to die. Now, no one will know the real reason for his actions. This is info that’s gonna be in the EX Part, but I’ll say right now that this AC and Murakumo are connected in a way that the latter has carefully chosen not to explain. You’ll see why.  Anyway, before we choose our next mission, I’m just going to show you the briefings for both of them. See if you can figure out what they have in common. First up is Secret Factory Recon.  Our intelligence has determined that Chrome has an underground factory in the snowy region of Whiteland. We plan to send our Special Forces to destroy the factory. We are looking for someone to scout out the entrance to the factory in advance of the attack. Your mission is to find the point of entry and destroy the door lock system. There is no particular need to engage the enemy, but we will pay an 800 C bonus per enemy MT destroyed. The main force will attack 6 minutes after you start, so your executing the mission within this time limit is absolutely necessary for the surprise attack to succeed. Due to its nature, this mission will be a night maneuver.  So that’s the set up for that mission. Let’s see what Guard Factory Entrance is about.  We have uncovered a plan to destroy our underground factory in the Whiteland area. We think that Murakumo is behind it. We are not sure of the specific details, but since the factory is underground, they can’t do anything unless they get inside. So we want someone to guard the entrance of the factory. The gate cannot be opened from outside as long as the lock system is not destroyed. We will need several days to put up a full-scale security system. Of course we will pay you during that period whether or not there is an attack. Not a bad job, huh? Do it well.  So we have missions from competing megacorps, taking place in the same location, and whose objectives are in obvious conflict with each other. At the start of the LP I said I would allow one moment for audience participation in determining what missions I take for the rest of the game. This is that deciding moment. Depending on who we help in this scenario, we will be receiving more missions from the megacorp we help, and ultimately take down the rival group by the end. I gave you more information about both of these groups backgrounds, But I’ll give you reasons for gameplay purposes why you might want to see a particular path over the other. Both of these missions have secret parts; Secret Factory Recon (Murakumo) has a missile launcher while Guard Factory Entrance (Chrome) has a new booster. The former mission is easier because we aren’t defending poo poo, but the booster could be potentially more useful than the missiles. As for the missions after that, going down the Chrome path will lead us to a hidden AC part that is on the same level as the KARASAWA in terms of excellence and strength. Meanwhile, the Murakumo path leads us to a final mission that is particularly memorable with a one of a kind enemy. It’s also a mission that got a remake in AC Nexus on the Revolution disc, if that narrows it down for you. So, I’ll leave it up to a vote for about two days time. If you’ve been following the LP and enjoying it, say Chrome or Murakumo to vote on which mission I go for. If nothing comes up, I’ll default to Murakumo because I’ll be honest, that one level I was talking about is pretty neat. I’ll be in touch.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:43
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EX Part 4: Human PLUS So “R” just recently gave us some info about the Human PLUS project. Not only is this another piece of back story in the AC universe, but it also factors into gameplay. For start, the player can actually become a PLUS if a certain condition is met. Get 50000 C into debt, and you’ll be treated to a cutscene where (from the player’s POV) the Raven is about to be put through the Human PLUS procedure. The game starts over from the beginning, and the player has an enhanced ability. This can be repeated up to eight times, and while some of the effects are very hard to notice, some of them have a major change on the gameplay. The upgrades you can get as a PLUS are:
That said though, the part where “R” says there’s a rumor of high ranking Ravens having undergone Human PLUS is actually a fact. In later games where battles with other Ravens becomes more common, the more challenging opponents will have Human PLUS capabilities. And because the computer knows how to better handle an AC than the average player, they can be some tough sons of bitches. Human PLUS would exist as a concept all the way up through Armored Core 2: Another Age, as AC2 and its sequel share the same timeline as the first game. AC3 would reboot the timeline and introduce a more balanced version of Human PLUS via the optional part OP-INTENSIFY. It can only be obtained after completing the main game, and its individual abilities are further unlocked when meeting optional goals. From Nexus onward, this part would be removed entirely, although by the time Last Raven comes around, many of the opponent ACs use OP-INTENSIFY. So that’s Human PLUS in terms of gameplay. What about in terms of story? Contrary to what “R” said about Murakumo being the creators of the Human PLUS project, the technology was actually created prior to the Great Destruction. Although the ACs did not exist prior to the Great Destruction, so it’s actual application to the Raven’s can still be attributed to Murakumo. The pilots are linked so to speak with their ACs, and this allows for a performance increase in the machine, no doubt taking signals from the nervous system to send commands faster than it would be with regular controls. However, the PLUS procedure has numerous side effects that are psychological and often lead to subjects going insane. One example of that is Wildcat, the AC we fought at the fuel depot. Yeah, a little detail Murakumo chose not to divulge was that Wildcat underwent the PLUS procedure and went insane from the modifications. He’s very much a danger to himself and everyone around him, so putting him out of his misery was a good thing. Funny enough though, even though he’s PLUS, he doesn’t demonstrate any of the benefits that a PLUS Raven has, such as the use of shoulder cannon weapons while moving. He still kneels down in order to use his chain gun. Outside of the game, a manga was released in 2007 called Armored Core: Tower City Blade. Although it’s set in the AC3 timeline where the PLUS program shouldn’t technically exist, it focuses on an AC Pilot named Catarina who underwent the procedure, and the result was that it stunted her growth, giving her the appearance of a 12 year old despite being 21 (the concept sounds gross in a way only Japan would know, but it's Armored Core and isn't about that poo poo). Over time, the implants from the program stiffened her muscles to the point that she can barely show expressions or speak, and would eventually cause her heart to stop functioning. While it’s not related to the original timeline, it does show off how dangerous and risky the Human PLUS procedure can be. Hell, getting the process reversed is too expensive, even for an accomplished Raven. So yeah, for gameplay purposes Human PLUS makes you a dirty cheater, and for story reasons the treatment makes you go insane. Too risky and not worth it.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:44
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Yeah, I'm definitely gonna reiterate that I'm not gonna take customization requests for the AC, especially in this game, Project Phantasma, and Master of Arena. I have very specific approaches to how I beat these games that I'd like to stick with what I know. It's what any Raven would do.Seiren posted:Some things I feel like noting, however. That starting AC itself isn't garbage like many players expect. Unless you're talking about the Generator, Booster, and FCS, each part that makes up the default "starter" AC is solid in their own way, and I can back them up if you And I did not know that about the MTs in Rescue Survey Team. I'll have to keep that in mind in the future. Ryas posted:I'm a bit sad that you didn't pick up Attack Urban Center. That mission is a real kick in the balls for anyone who's not prepared (though you deserve it for being a rampaging psycho, I guess.) nine-gear crow posted:I don't think you mentioned it in the posts, but the missions "Remove Gun Emplacement" and the second "Eliminate Squatters" mission were included as part of the Armored Core demo that was on the original PlayStation demo disc. Just a fun bit of trivia if you wanted to go back and include it in the previous updates. This was a lot of people's first and, in a lot of cases, only experience with an Armored Core game. I know it was where I first found the franchise. Anyway, more than 24 hours left, and we're already tied on which megacorp to support. Keep the votes coming in, people.
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Jun 3, 2014 18:11
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. I've completed this game only ever upgrading the Generator, FCS, Booster, and weapon-changes, without Plus...so it really isn't that bad.
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The Casualty posted:I'm still waiting for someone to LP Last Raven, that game had so many branching paths and such a high degree of difficulty that I only got like two or three of the shittier endings.
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Jun 4, 2014 04:35
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Alright, voting is closed. Looks like we'll be supporting Murakumo for the rest of the game. Time to do some recording this evening.
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Jun 4, 2014 22:33
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Part 4.5: A Choice is Made Directly following from last time, this post has only one mission and is shorter than previous ones, but it is important as it determines the type of missions we’ll be receiving for the rest of the game. And the mission we are going to take is… Secret Factory Recon! Murakumo Millenium won the vote, so we’ll be supporting them. The briefing again so you know what we’re doing this time. Our intelligence has determined that Chrome has an underground factory in the snowy region of Whiteland. We plan to send our Special Forces to destroy the factory. We are looking for someone to scout out the entrance to the factory in advance of the attack. Your mission is to find the point of entry and destroy the door lock system. There is no particular need to engage the enemy, but we will pay an 800 C bonus per enemy MT destroyed. The main force will attack 6 minutes after you start, so your executing the mission within this time limit is absolutely necessary for the surprise attack to succeed. Due to its nature, this mission will be a night maneuver. We’ve got six minutes to find the lock, which is more than enough time for finding that, the hidden part, and destroying as many enemies as we can with our KARASAWA. Let’s get to it. Secret Factory Recon   First order of business is to find the secret part in this mission.   This is one you need to be careful with when acquiring because it’s on the edge of the area, and crossing over the red border will forfeit the mission. In the southwest corner past a gun battery is a box. Destroying it reveals the part. We’ll take it and proceed with the main objective.  This mission has nine Tiger Moths and six gun batteries. Obviously destroying them all isn’t a priority, but each kill gives us an 800 credit bonus and getting as many as we can with our limited ammo would be wise.  There’s the lock switch to the factory. All it takes is one shot to destroy it.   And with that, the mission is over, with around 4 minutes to spare. They were quite generous with the time limit on this one.  We didn’t get all the enemies, but 7200 as a bonus more than makes up for the 4095 in expenses for AC repairs. Nothing really lost on this one. Now, Murakumo has sent us a new email, so let’s check it.  The success was all thanks to you. It was a beautiful job. I wish that Chrome would change their tactics, even a little. They are too forceful, don’t you agree? The right leaders are necessary in order for all of humanity to be able to return above-ground. Chrome is not suited for this. A simple congratulation for our work in the last mission. I’m not particularly fond with the tone of the message trying to sound too friendly, but it’s probably better than having to deal with Chrome’s PR. Now, even though we’ve done our one mission for today, we have something else important to cover here in this update. The Ranking system. I originally had a lead in for introducing the Ranking screen by completing the Attack Urban Center mission, but that disappeared after completing the other missions available, and since we won’t be able to access it again until all missions are unlocked after beating the game, well, I might as well explain what it’s about. To describe the original context, the Attack Urban Center mission requires you to go on a rampage in Fortgarden city and you get paid for how much damage you cause, but that’s not the interesting part. In the last minute of the mission, you fight against Losvaize, piloting the AC Valkyrie and is the #2 ranked Raven in the Nest. To put it simply, the fight is loving tough. Not only do you have to deal with Fortgarden City guard before hand, a powerful AC is thrown into the mix, and the mission only ends when you survive the three minutes you are supposed to be active in the area for. But it is possible to defeat Valkyrie if you’re prepared, and it’ll be necessary if you want to be the #1 ranked Raven. Here’s the email you receive after the mission concerning the encounter with Valkyrie (dug up from an old 100% save I have on the side).  This means that sometimes Ravens may fight against each other. This time, you fought against the ranking Raven “Losvaize”. He is one of our top-ranked Ravens. You should consider yourself lucky to have escaped with your life. I’ll be in touch. Even though you can destroy Valkyrie during the mission, the email you get from “R” makes it sound like you survived long enough for the mission to end instead of defeating the AC. I guess FROM figured most people wouldn’t be able to destroy it their first time.   Anyway, this is the ranking Raven leader board, as of the point we are at now in the game. While it only lists the top 10, there are more Ravens that show up as the game continues. And with the exception of three Ravens on the list, you do not fight against these ranked ACs at any point. Obviously you do fight more Ravens during the missions, but they never show up at any point under Ranking. So who are the three ranked ACs we end up facing during the game?  As mentioned before, the first one is Losvaize, and whether or not you defeat him/her in Attack Urban Center will determine whether or not Valkyrie is removed from the leader board and you move up in rank.  The second one is Mizuho Kamui, piloting the Kamui mk. 17. He appears in the mission Destroy Plane Computer, but that’s not likely to come up until post game due to supporting Murakumo. And who’s the third Raven we face? Hustler One. Nine-Ball.  I have nothing to say regarding this particular character, because his time has not come yet. Any Armored Core fan who’s played the hell out of these games will know who he is and what he represents. And if you don’t know why he, or his emblem for that matter, is as significant as he is, you’ll see.  You will loving see... That’s all I wanted to show for this update. We’ll be going through our new set of missions next time, as well as picking up some extra parts for our AC since we have tons of money to spare right now. I’ll be in touch. Edit: I miscounted, there are five Ravens on the leader board you face during missions. The remaining two are Boss Savage, piloting the AC Sledgehammer, and Barutazaru, piloting the AC Fefnir. ArclightBorealis fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Jun 5, 2014 |
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Jun 5, 2014 01:45
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Singh Long posted:You missed two Raven fights that show up in the Rankings at some point. Barutazaru and Boss Savage
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Jun 5, 2014 02:54
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Seiren posted:I may be recalling incorrectly, but when you fight Barutazaru, doesn't he have a 2nd AC with him to "even the odds"? I still can't figure out if it's an AC or just a large, tough MT or something. Also while I'm still under spoilers, kiss the best booster in the game goodbye until post-game! The best small-missile is nowhere near as good. And yes, I know about the cheats and know how to activate them. Not gonna use them though. nine-gear crow posted:Confirmed. Rockets + Gameshark + Infinite Ammo Cheat + Spamming the Fire Button = Oddly Satisfying. A little sneak peak as to what I've got prepared for the next part or two.
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Jun 5, 2014 05:57
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Part 5: New Missions, New Parts, Slightly New Look We have now entered the second half of Armored Core, the part of the game where the missions we undertake will influence the war between the mega corporations. Don’t be surprised if we still get missions from Chrome now and again. Helping Murakumo with that last mission just gave them an advantage in the war. Now, with the money we’ve been saving up over the last couple updates, I felt it was time to give the AC a nice little upgrade.  As you can see we have new, lighter arms equipped on us to reduce the number of leg weight points, which allows us to have additional weapons beside our trusty KARASAWA (the arms also boosted our AP even slightly higher, up to 9173). These weapons are the LS-3303, the second most powerful energy blade in the game, and the WC-01QL, a back mounted plasma cannon with 80 rounds and has an attack power on par with the KARASAWA. But these weapons and pair of arms aren’t the only things different about our AC, oh no. We’ve now begun to include optional parts.  In keeping with our energy focused build, as well as what I had money left to spend on these parts, I have purchased the SP-SND-K and the SP-E+. The former increases our generator’s energy output, and the latter increases the power of our energy weapons. Note that we have a limited number of slots available for optional parts (12 for our core, as ones with higher AP tend to have fewer slots). But we will have enough room for the modules we need to boost our AC’s performance slightly.  I don’t think I’ve shown this part of the garage before, but the performance menu gives an evaluation of your AC based on various factors which are shown in the image. The overall score is literally all the other scores added together, and what you get determines the grade. Until now we were just “average” but now we are “above average.” If you ask me, this system is kind of lovely, and the grade it gives would’ve been better replaced with a description of what category your AC falls into based on weight, leg type, weapon type, etc. This sort of performance review would remain mostly the same for quite a while, though it does get better in more recent entries in the series.  Anyway, we’ve got the upgrades we can get for our AC; let’s go to the next mission, Guard Wharf Warehouse.  We want you to guard a new type of radar for ACs that we have developed. A prototype model is new stored in a warehouse at the wharf, but for some reason the security system does not function at all. There is a good chance that someone intentionally sabotaged the system. It is probably the work of Chrome agents. You must protect the radar for your mission to succeed. We do not know the enemy’s target, but you must not let them steal or destroy the radar. Do not let anyone near the warehouse until the system is restored. We are counting on you Raven.  Interesting enough, the part we have to protect is technically a hidden part that counts towards our completion percentage. It also means failing the mission if we take it for ourselves, loving up our win/loss ratio. What do you think I’m going to do? Guard Wharf Warehouse  Yeah, we’re gonna be doing as the job says and get paid. It’d be kind of a dick move to do it at this point considering we just helped Murakumo with their attack on the Factory last mission.  The enemies come in three waves. The first wave consists of five Firebrands, second wave has two Firebrands and one Lightning, and the last wave has three Lightnings. Lightning MTs are actually quite a bit taller than an AC, but of course their firepower just doesn’t compare to ours.  Interestingly enough, even though this is a mission where you’re supposed to guard something, the enemies seem more interested in taking you out than the target you’re protecting first. Oh well, I’m not complaining, doesn’t mean I have to worry as much about failing.  Hmm, par for the course at this point.  No time for any shopping or AC modification, let’s start the next mission, Stop Gang “Dark Soul.”  The gang “Dark Soul” broke into our property at Heavensrock, stole several tanks and fled. Since they stole tanks, we cannot leave them alone. Go and defeat them as soon as possible. Judging from their direction of escape, they seem to be hiding in the Zahm Desert. In that area many mines remain, left from the war. Be very careful. Note that your pay for this mission is not cash but AC parts.  Yep, another mission where parts are the reward instead of money. Still isn’t anything we can’t handle. Stop Gang “Dark Soul”   A Barracuda drops us high above the battle zone, and while I’m still always amused/slightly annoyed by it getting shot at every time, diving into battle dodging enemy fire is rather exhilarating.  You know what’s great about land mines? Enemies will sometimes save you the trouble and blow themselves up out of stupidity.   And that’s that. Simple, yet fun mission. Anyway, the part we obtained for completing that mission was the SP-AXL, an optional part that increases the speed at which our weapons lock on to enemies. It’s nice, but only really useful if your AC uses weapons with relatively slow lock on speeds like missiles. I sell the part for some extra money and buy the SP-EH, an optional part that increases the rate at which energy weapons fire. Given our AC load out, I don’t think I need to explain why that’s important.  Anyway, next mission on the agenda, Destroy Plus Escapee.  A subject from the “Plus” next-generation experiments has escaped from the lab. We cannot divulge any details, but a certain experiment seems to have adversely affected the mind of the subject. An eye witness said that the subject is completely deranged. An ex-Raven, he ran amuck with his AC in the city, mowed down a Guard detachment and ran away above ground. We found him in an abandoned skyscraper in the old city. If we leave the situation as is, we don’t know when he will start running amuck again. Go to the skyscraper now and destroy him and his AC. We regret having to resort to such measures, but there is nothing we can do. The footing is very poor at the site, so if you enter into combat, be very careful not to fall. When he escaped, he took a prototype AC part with him. You don’t have to return the AC part. If you find it, it’s yours. We are counting on you.  This is the lowest paying mission in the entire game. But you can get a huge amount of money out of the hidden part in this mission, which Murakumo was kind enough to point out to us. Destroy Plus Escapee   The hidden part in this mission is right below us on a ledge. Back off of the elevator at the start, and grab the part. It’s very easy to spot.  Now, the briefing for the mission said this escapee was an ex-Raven piloting an AC. The former is true, but the latter isn’t exactly correct. To be specific, it is a General Purpose Armored Core model called the Heat Wave. GP-ACs are designed as a sort of compromise between the easy to produce MTs and expensive to maintain ACs. They’re definitely tougher than a regular MT, and can be pretty fast.  We defeat the escapee, but not before he gives us a final message that is incomprehensible. Even weirder is that the audio for it continues AFTER the GP-AC has exploded and killed the pilot. Odd.  A little over half of the promised reward due to expenses. But we’ll be making A LOT more money quickly after selling a particular item. But first, email!  For this reason, it almost certainly has some extremely unstable side effects. We cannot be sure that this kind of incident has not happened in the past. Yes, I am referring to “that man”. I’ll be in touch. Yep, it’s basically what we already described about Human PLUS in an EX Part. Nothing else really enlightening. Now then, about that part we acquired.  The GBG-XR is the heaviest generator we got, but also has the highest maximum charge out of all generators in the game. Energy Output is nearly 2000 points less than our previous one, but as you can see we are still nowhere near that limit. Redzone is slightly higher by a few hundred points, but it’s still an acceptable threshold. We’ll be using this from here on out.  Since we have a new generator, I sell the previous one for a hefty sum, and use the money from that to buy two new optional parts, the SP-S/SCR and SP-E/SCR. The former reduces shell damage and the latter reduces energy damage to the AC. And this leaves us with three slots left, and we’ll find a way to fill those up pretty soon.  Now, on to the next mission, Exterminate Organisms.  This is the Gal City Guard. Our city is now occupied by unknown giant organisms. I don’t even know if “organism” is right, but I’ve never seen anything like ‘em before. The things are extremely fierce and attack anything that moves. Our citizens have suffered many casualties from the animal horde. We have no way of fighting back. A biological analysis of their behavior patterns shows a social structure much like that of ants or bees. There must be a “queen” somewhere that directs the swarm. Investigators found an unfamiliar hole in a wall in the office district, so this might be the beast’s nest. Your mission is to find and destroy the “queen”. If you can take out the leader, the swarm will become disorganized and we can take it from there. We are counting on you.  Time to go on a bug hunt! Exterminate Organisms  These bugs are unique in that you can’t lock on to them unless you have a bio sensor equipped, which our HD-ONE already has covered.  This level has a lot of branching paths that lead to dead ends, though some of these lead to spawn points where the bugs come out of. The enemies will continually respawn, and because we get a credit bonus for each one killed, you can farm a lot of these fuckers and earn way more than you would doing the minimum objective. Also, because of the amount of ammo at my disposal and with so many enemies, this is the first mission where my back mounted plasma cannon gets some use.  DIE! EAT PLASMA YOU LITTLE FUCKERS!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!! BURN! BUUURRRN!!!! Ah, that felt good. Let’s continue on.   We arrive at the room where the queen is, but before killing her, there is a hidden AC part along the edges of the room. Grab it first, then kill the queen and complete the mission.  Yep, lot of money made this time. Because of this new development, you’d probably expect there to be an email explaining what’s going on. Well there is, courtesy of our good friend “R.”  You may already have noticed this yourself, but those things were in no way organisms. They are undeniably weapons that are disguised as organisms. From the look of things, it appears that this outbreak was really a field exercise to test a new weapon. Such large-scale testing could only have been done by Murakumo or Chrome, so one of the two must have been behind it. Regardless of which it was, I feel that it will not be long before we see the confrontation between the two come to a head. I’ll be in touch. So it’s one of the two mega corporations in this war that was responsible for releasing these “organisms,” huh… I’ll let you all take a guess as to who was responsible. Anyway, that wasn’t the only message we got in our inbox.  WM-L201 Powerful large missiles fired singly. 46200 C WC-LN350 Linear gun for the shoulder. Burst-fire type weapon emphasizing firepower over number of shots. 41800 C WC-XC8000 Energy weapon. Fires laser beams. 78700 C Unfortunately, none of these parts are ones we will use. The energy weapon in particular is too heavy for us to equip at this point, even if it’s to replace the shoulder cannon we have now.  But we will go to the shop to sell the FCS we acquired in the last mission. I also buy the SP-ABS and repurchase the SP-AXL that I sold a few missions ago. With those two installed, now all my optional part slots are filled up.  Alright then, last mission for this part, Repulse Enemy Attack.  Recently, our transport blimps have been attacked one after another. We don’t know what they want, but the blimp is always shot down so the target is probably not the payload. Perhaps they are simply intending to interrupt our operations at someone’s instigation. We could provide full-scale escorts, but this risks marring our reputation. These incidents have not gotten out to the public, so we want you to ride secretly in the blimp and repulse the attacking group. Note that we expect the battle to be fought on the blimp, so be careful not to fall.  It doesn’t say who is responsible, but it’s not hard to imagine Chrome is backing some punks or sending their own out to troll the poo poo out of Murakumo’s air transports. This is also one of the missions that is exclusive to the Murakumo path in the game. Repulse Enemy Attack   This mission I ended up having more trouble with than I would’ve liked. The Welkins move pretty fast, and it’s at this moment that I feel like the size of my aim window is too small for my liking.  Damage does get done to the blimp over time, but you’re pay doesn’t get any deductions because of it. You just need to shoot all these bastards down in order to clear the mission.  Hmm, expenses aren’t too bad, but that mission still took longer than I would’ve preferred. Gotta do something about that FCS. That’s it for today though. More missions and further minor modifications of our AC will continue next time. I’ll be in touch.
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Jun 6, 2014 01:36
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Singh Long posted:That last mission gave me a lot of trouble when I started out. Honestly, I hate missions like that one. The worst one, IMO, doesn't show up till MoA. Dr. Snark posted:Also, I was surprised to see those organic enemies. I understand that they're genetically modified and all that, but I wasn't expecting to see something like them in an Armored Core game. Ashsaber posted:Having only gotten into the series with 4A, that energy blade seemed... anemic. Probably because I'm used to being able to take out anything but another Slimnoid posted:Also, if I remember correctly, you can get a second swing out of an energy blade. Hit the blade button just as you're touching down from a jump and you do a quick half-slash, which can quickly be followed by another swing. It's a bit tricky, but similar to how you pull off the same glitch in Symphony of the Night and Megaman X4. nine-gear crow posted:If there's one thing From is good at... outside of making pubbies cry, it's running gags. Hell, From named two of its standalone games after Chrome and Murakumo from this game: Chromehounds and Murakumo: Renegade Mech Pursuit.
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Jun 6, 2014 03:11
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Singh Long posted:I'm pretty sure Arc will cover every mission in the game. As for the mission you're talking about, if it's Recover Capsules, that's for Chrome. I can't think of any other mission than that one. It's something I didn't quite realize until doing this LP, but the amount of missions that are exclusive to the Chrome or Murakumo paths are a lot fewer than you'd think. Kinda make sense in context of the setting, as the Nest is completely neutral and the requests are sent out to any Raven that wants them. But still, it's just that mission at the factory in Whiteland, along with a couple missions near the end of both groups' routes that have the most effect on the story.
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Jun 7, 2014 04:12
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Part 6: More Missions, Some AC Fights, and a Better FCS Man, coming up with these titles can be really straining at times...  Anyway, we blasted through five missions last update, and we're gonna go through another five right now. Let's start with Prototype MT Test. Yep, it's the same title, but the mission is slightly different.  We want to run tests on a new weapon. As in the last mission we want you to fight a new model "CHAOS" weapon. That is all. This time, we envision a street battle, fought at Test Track No. 6. We have made improvements to this advanced MT based on the previous data. It might be a bit stronger. If you are defeated by the MT, you have no right to be called a Raven. This time we have prepared some special parts as your pay. They are new products not yet out on the market. However, to make sure you give it your all, you get paid only if you win the fight.  Chrome wants another test for their new MT? Eh, couldn't hurt. Not like it's gonna help their effort in the corporate war or anything. Prototype MT Test (2)    So on top of this MT being harder than before, there are buildings to worry about, so we can't quite hang back on take long distance shots at it. Still, it's just one enemy to take down, just do that and the test is done...  Or not?  Yeah, Chrome decides one fight isn't enough and sends another at us, after we depleted a large chunk of our rifle ammo. If the end of last update wasn't any indication, right about now I'm really beginning to dislike the FCS I've been using for the last several missions.  With my KARASAWA running out of ammo, I blast the son of a bitch with plasma and end the test for good.   Just one credit away from 5K in expenses. Thankfully the part we earned from this mission will be making us even more money.  So I sell the SP-SAP, which reduces the recoil of cannon weapons (we can manage without it), as well as the FCS we had been using. Now, I actually bought two FCS while I was in the shop so I could have one as a back up in certain events. Both of these are the TRYX series, and the TRYX-QUAD is what I use as my primary one so I get a more horizontal aim window but with still good range. The TYRX-BOXER has a vertical lock type, and I'll be saving it for one specific mission near the end where I'd be damned without it. You'll find out in due time.  Now that we've swapped out our FCS, let's go to the next mission, Guard Airplane.  We want you to guard Dr. M. Okamura, an authority on genetic engineering. One of his experiments was grossly misunderstood and he has received many death threats in the past. A terrorist group has also threatened to attack him during his next visit to Isaac City. Dr. Okamura is now at our lab, but he will leave for Isaac City in a couple days. He plans to travel by airplane. We want you to serve as a guard at the time of takeoff.  They never say what Okamura's experiment was that caused an uproar, but given that Murakumo is requesting our help here I'm gonna assume poo poo got out about Human PLUS and people aren't too fond. After that Plus Escapee incident, I sure wouldn't be. Guard Airplane   The enemies come in from north of the air field, and they're dropped off by Barracudas. Interesting enough, shooting down those ships actually gives you a credit bonus of 5000, but for whatever reason I never tried to shoot at them. Guess it wouldn't be fun if what they were transporting went down as well.  These MTs we've not really encountered until now. There are two Cerberus II MTs and seven Big Blades. All of them are fast, unmanned MTs and the Cerberuses have a tripod design. Interesting fact about them is that they also show up in the opening movie for the game, alongside the heavily armored AC. Now, after taking care of the enemies, we get a message saying the Okamura took off from another airport and that this was actually a diversion for the enemy.  Okay, though that plane is pretty small. How big of an explosion could it actually cause?  Oh...  Well, at least the expenses aren't as big this time. Having a wider aim box was indeed a smart choice.  And with no time to delay, on to the next mission, Destroy Plane Computer.  The other day, one of our special transports crashed while flying over the Naglarder area. Satellite images show the wreck near the center of a giant crater called "Big Hit". We are not worried about the cargo, but the problem is records of our transactions are stored in the transport's computer. They are encrypted but not absolutely safe. Unconfirmed reports put a Murakumo detachment in the area. You must completely destroy the nose section holding the recorder. Destroy all Murakumo on sight. If you let even one of them escape, your mission will fail. Be sure to shoot them all down. That is all.  So I believe I said two updates ago that a certain AC is fought in this mission and that because it's a mission from Chrome it would not be likely to appear on this route... ...yeah, just completely ignore what I said on that. Destroy Plane Computer    So, the enemies are technically classified as MTs, but there more like powered battle armor or something. These enemies, known as Corsairs, are a third of the size of an AC, and if you look really hard at the ugly textures and low polygons, you could probably come to the conclusion that a person's riding it in a way similar to a power loader from Aliens, except more agile and faster.  Here comes the ranked AC in his Barracuda. You can actually shoot it down, but unlike in the previous mission, there is no monetary bonus for doing so.  I try shooting at him with my plasma cannon from a distance, nearly wasting my entire energy meter to take him down.  I don't quite pull it off here, and get a cannon blast to the face in return.   Still, I soften him up quite a bit and finish things off with the KARASAWA. There goes a Raven from the rankings.  Eh, still somewhat high expenses from last time, but with the amount of credits we have to spare, you can't really complain.  Now, suddenly all other missions from the last are removed except for one, Destroy Base Computer. Don't really have any other choice, so we'll pick that.  We have a mission for you regarding the old military facility southwest of Isaac City. It is now occupied by the Earth Environment Reclamation Committee. The group purports to survey the above-ground environment, but this seems questionable. The reason given for their entering the facility is said to be the peaceful dismantling of residual military facilities, but they are taking too long for that. We are studying their background, but we must do something about this group quickly. According to surveys, this facility functioned as a military data bank before the Great Destruction. The main computer may still have records from that time. If their true target is this data, this is no trifling matter. Heaven forbid for that to be it. We want you to break into the facility and destroy the main computer.  As expected, not even an organization like the EERC is exempt from being questionable and shady. Destroy Base Computer  This mission has us going through exact same location from Rescue Survey Team, only we get to explore the area a bit beyond where that particular mission ended. Thankfully the energy resistant MTs are nowhere in sight.  The most common enemy are these rocket launchers on tank treads called Mustangs. They go down in one shot from the KARASAWA, but to save ammo and do just as much damage is to jump at them and use the energy blade. Not only does the blade cause you to home in on the enemy's position, but slashing them in the air bypasses the few second exploding animation all MTs and ACs go through and is removed instantly. Very nice.  This is a nice detail from when were last here. The lock box that kept the door trapping the survey team shut is still damaged from before. Thought that was pretty neat.   This section has more Mustangs, and near the target location is a hallway with three Heat Waves. They're still fast and pretty tough, so it's best to just reach the computer room and do business there. They can't really follow you through doors when they're closed, thankfully.  Once you reach your main objective, you're treated to a little cutscene.    Another AC to fight. This one, interestingly enough, is a mass produced model known as Swift, and doesn't show up on the rankings.   Since I have the advantage, I just sit at the door way and fill the room with plasma, destroying both Swift and the computer and completing the mission.  Last mission on our plate for today is AC Battle. I can only guess what that might possibly entail.  Come participate in an AC battle that the Nest will be holding over the next few days. This invitational event pits ace pilots in AC-to-AC battles where the winner takes all. Naturally, there are benefits to entering. The winner of each battle will be presented with prize money in an amount equivalent to the pay of a normal mission. We will decide the opponents for the battles. You are free to choose any weapons or equipment. We look forward to your active participation.  So, this is basically the Arena before the games decided to make it a separate mode, and before AC expenses were not included in the fights. Whatever, it's a one on one deal, let's go. AC Battle  Wait, TWO?  Lying ain't cool, man. Anyway, these two ACs are quads, and one of them is actually a ranking AC, Barutazaru. The other one is Warhawk, but he's not as important. Though both make for a fairly good team.  It came up during this battle, but I get a bit of air off of one of the AC's missiles hitting me while airborne. Obviously them hitting you is bad, but in this situation it gives me a boost higher into the air, which can be good or bad in some situations. Though it's just one of those things with the game's physics I like. I almost imagine there being a team of daredevil Ravens that use this tactic on one of them to get them up to high ground fast or something.   The fight was quite a challenge, but it was worthwhile...even if we were lied to about the conditions. And that concludes this part. There's still more missions to wrap up, but I assure you that things will be getting way more interesting real soon, especially as it pertains to the battle between Chrome and Murakumo. I'll be in touch.
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Jun 7, 2014 06:04
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Part 7: Thank God for Maps As you can probably expect from the title, these next few missions are gonna be a bit lengthy and take place in rather labyrinthine locations. An AC head part with an auto map function is recommended.  First mission on hand here is Remove Base Occupants.  Wadja say youse helps me out wid a li'l job I'd taken. I tink I'm over my head on dis one. Ya see, it's at the bottom a' da sea. Yeah, an abandoned undersea base northeast a' Agrea. I wuz supposed ta get rid a' all a' the guys who'd moved in. Dey sez it wuz an easy job, so I takes it. But deez guys are weird. Ya take 'em down but dey keep comin' back. Nuttin' to do but get outa dere, but I can't just leave it. Pay ya 35000 C for da job. Can't tell ya who I'm really workin' for. Look, I'm given' ya all I should a' been paid. All in advance. Dis time its not just fer da money. I gots me a reputation to keep. Anyone who can fight'll do. I'll be waitin'.  ...I really do not get what they were trying to go for with making the briefing like that, considering that Boss Savage in game talks nothing like that at all. Remove Base Occupants  See? Sounds nothing like how the briefing sounds. What the hell?   Anyway, the majority of enemies in this level are the Crusaders, those MTs with extremely high energy resistance, and in keeping with my all energy weapon  Now, if you had paid attention to that horrible briefing and the circumstances surrounding this, something must be off about the mission. The money was given to us all in advance, and our client just ups and disappears right as we start the mission. Well, as it turns out...  ...it was a trap. Upon entering this room (which is similar looking to several other rooms), Boss Savage says it's his mission to kill you, but it seems odd that all he'd do is just lock you in a room with NO ENEMIES and just leave the premises.  However, at far end of the room, there is a portion of the wall that can be blown up, giving us a chance to escape.  Now to find our way out of this base.  Besides the Crusaders, there are also Cerberus MTs. These are the bigger, more annoying versions of the Cerberus MTs we fought at the airfield. Thankfully, they don't have high energy resistance so they go down very quick.  Once again, having map can be very helpful at times.   Also, as you could probably tell, killing any of the enemies actually isn't required. Just have to escape and deal with the expenses that accrue. Returning to the Nest, we receive an email from a mystery sender.  It seems that I underestimated you. Well, you certainly showed me. We shall meet again some day. I look forward to that day. Yep, this is not the end of Boss Savage. You can expect to see his sorry rear end again real soon.  Let's start the next mission with a very large map layout, Stop Gas Exposure.  This mission is extremely dangerous. A problem has occurred at one of the ruins from the Old Generation. Namely, a military facility. This facility was used to develop chemical weapons, and it seems that someone has secretly entered and tampered with the control panels. It is now full of some kind of gas. This gas corrodes metal, no naturally your AC will take damage. Unluckily, all of the equipment within the base is resistant to the gas, so the defense mechanisms are operating. Of the five control panels, only one appears to be working. Even so, just destroy all of them. We will provide the detonation devices. Just plant them on all five panels. When you are finished, get out of the base immediately. If you dawdle within the facility, your AC will suffer a dangerous level of damage. Be careful!  Yep, a level that does constant damage to us and requires us to take no breaks. Let's get to it. Stop Gas Exposure  Now, there are two entrances into the facility, but it's best to take the one on the left. The right is fine though if you already know about the shortcut in there, but we're going left for now. Once you've entered the part of the facility that is tinted purple, you'll begin taking damage, and you cannot afford to stay still. The amount of AP you can lose during this mission is a hell of a lot. However if you can, kill whatever enemies you come across as you will get additional credits to help offset the expenses.  This is one of the control panels that we need to attach a bomb to. The first of five.   I check the map periodically to make sure I'm still on the right path, though I still manage to get lost very briefly on my way to the 4th and 5th control panels.  Upon planting all the bombs, we get this message and have to get out of the facility ASAP. However, with only just under 3000 AP, that's not enough time to get out of the facility by backtracking the way we came. This is where the short cut comes in.   At the intersection that leads to control panels four and five, there is a portion of the wall that can be blown up to reveal a hallway that leads us to the other entrance to the facility.  As you approach the exit, you can start to hear a beeping sound. That's a hint that the bombs are about to be detonated, and right as you get back to the surface...  Boom! Mission completed.  We only killed a few enemies because of them being Crusaders, and only got an additional 3000 as a result. Still, the balance was positive in the end, so that's good.  This next mission will actually serve as a nice change of pace from what the last couple were. Destroy Intruders.  Several armed MTs have broken into a resource reclamation plant owned by the Committee. They are probably terrorists employed by those who want to distort our activities. We have taken out several MTs but with heavy damage. So we are asking the Ravens for help. We have closed the gates within the plant to push them gradually into a large blast furnace in the center. We want you to pound them there. Naturally, the blast furnace is very hot. If you fall, your AC cannot survive. Making good use of the geography will be the key to the battle. Good luck.  A small map with a few enemies to eliminate. And there's a secret part here as well, we haven't run into any of those for a while now. Let's begin. Destroy Intruders   Starting out, there's a hole on the left side underneath the bridge you start out on. There's a box containing the hidden item, a flamethrower.   So this area can be tricky to navigate because of the vertical nature of it, not to mention that falling to the bottom will deal a lot of damage to the AC. There are only six enemies to deal with here, two of them are Lightnings, the MTs that are 1.5 times the size of an AC, and a new type of MT called the Mimi. They're similar in former to the Storks and other reverse jointed MTs. Destroy all of the enemies without falling to the bottom, and the mission is done.  Man, to think we're that close to three hundred thousand credits. We've been making quite a lot of money.  So this is the weapon we acquired in the last mission. This flamethrower is the only one of its kind in the entire game, but since it uses solid rounds for its ammunition and has a somewhat short range, we aren't gonna be using it. And selling it will now put us over 300K.  This last mission for today also has a very familiar title, Exterminate Organisms.  Someone has entered our lab and destroyed a test vent. The lab is now overflowing with biological weapons. The worst problem is the queen organisms are able to reproduce. Upon leaving the test vat, the cell tissue becomes activated and begins reproducing in no time. If it has already begun reproducing, there may be an overwhelming number of them. If so, they are certain to try to break open the outside wall sooner or later and escape to the outside. We can deal with the small types later, so your target is only the four queen organisms. Be sure to bring down all of the beasts.  Well, time for another bug hunt. Exterminate Organisms (2)  Just like in the last mission with this title, the smaller bugs aren't as much of a priority compared to the queens, but killing them still gives us some extra money.   These rooms are where the queens can be found, but not all of them contain a queen. Sometimes there will just be regular fodder, in which case just kill them and move on to the next room. Once again, this is a pretty large map, and having a head part with an auto map function is recommended.   As you get deeper into the facility you'll get a tip as to where a queen may be located, though by this point we have already killed three queens and only need one more to finish the job. That's also another thing about this mission, is that there are actually seven queens in the facility, but you only need to kill four in order to finish it. Considering there's another mission that has you going through this ENTIRE facility to complete it, the conditions for finishing this mission is generous in comparison.  Well isn't that nice, our balance came out higher than the initial reward. That's always nice. Now, up to this point, the missions we've been doing haven't contributed a lot to the corporate war in any real meaningful way. It's just been taking jobs and getting rich. But next update, things are about to kick off and get real exciting. Yep, it's about that time for the finale. I'll be in touch.
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Jun 8, 2014 21:40
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SIGSEGV posted:All indoors continuous inflicted damage missions suck. For example there's, I think, a B7 mission in AC4A that also sucks.
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Jun 9, 2014 02:07
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Part 8: poo poo Gets Real Well, this is it. The war between Chrome and Murakumo Millennium is about to come to a close, as the next few missions are gonna be a deciding factor in the conflict.  The first mission that marks the turning point is this, Retake Air Cleaner.  We just got a terrifying communique from the terrorist group "Imminent Storm". They said that they are occupying the air cleaner above Isaac City. This unit takes air from above-ground, cleans it, and sends it down to the underground city. It is literally the City's lifeline. Their demands are for the immediate dismantling of Murakumo Millennium who they say has become the ringleader or social decay. Their false accusations are brash. Their recent activities have been a string of failures thanks to you Ravens. This is a desperate act of desperate men willing to die with honor. Eliminate them quickly. Note that the air cleaner has an extremely complex structure due to repeated retrofits with the expansion of the underground city. Be careful.  If you helped Chrome with the factory mission, you'd get a mission that involves the other terrorist group as the target, and dealing with them deals a huge blow to the other megacorp. Retake Air Cleaner  So, this area has a lot of vents, and a lot of enemies and mines planted around them, so it's easy to get lost and take damage if you aren't paying attention. But eliminating the terrorists no longer becomes our primary objective, unfortunately.   Yeesh, Imminent Storm is even more desperate than we've assumed. Also, there's no timer for when they say they can halt the fans for 10 minutes, and I've never waited around long enough to see if that does anything. Probably not.   Now, there is a secret part in this level. There are two ceiling vents in this main chamber, and the one in the southeast corner leads to the part. Fly up into it while destroying the grating and claim the part. It's a dual missile back part that takes up both shoulder slots, so as you can imagine, it has no real use for us besides selling for more credits.  Now, there are so many vents in the side walls, but none of them contain the gas canister we need to collect. We actually need to head downward.   In the opposite corner of the room from where the vent leading the secret part was, there's a vent on the floor we have to go down. There are some more mines and a few bishops, but it's nothing hard to deal with. It's a pretty straight path to the objective.  This is a spot to be careful at, because between you and the canister is an MT called the Whirlwind. Because of their not being much room to move around, don't shoot too much or at all unless you can guarantee it won't hit the canister. Doing so fails the mission.   Another mission accomplished with no issues. We've also got a new mail, so let's see what that's about.  And eventually, Chrome will be destroyed as well. But this process was a necessary one, necessary for our rebirth and that of all humanity. I'll be in touch. Yep, Chrome is pretty much hosed now.  But, like Imminent Storm, Chrome is taking some desperate measures of their own, as you can see from the mission title Chrome Uprising.  The Chrome have finally started an armed uprising. Socially, they have been in a cornered position, but it seems that they have finally made their move. We wish no unnecessary fighting, but their mere presence is a danger to all humanity. If we don't crush the bad seeds, the roots will again begin to spread. Justice is ours. Our elite troops have come under attack in various regions. The war situation is going just as we had expected. However, we miscalculated. We had to fight pitched battles against Chrome detachments appearing above-ground. Several military bases were attacked and suffered crippling blows. According to reports, the enemy is a small detachment of 5-6 MTs, but their capabilities cannot be taken lightly. They are probably Chrome's latest models. From the enemy's attack vectors, their next target is probably a military base in the Zahm Desert. We want you to head to the base ASAP and engage the enemy detachment.  This mission actually has three enemies to deal with, so it's a quick one. As for the type of enemy we'll be facing, it's probably not harder to figure out. Chrome Uprising   The CHAOS MT model makes its third and final return, with three of them on the scene. Turns out us participating in those tests actually did contribute to the war effort for Chrome. Whatever. It is only three enemies, and the map is only a small military base, but the CHAOS MTs are pretty resilient and love to hop around a lot. Just keeping a lock on them without sustaining to much damage from them is the key to completing it.   Honestly, what else is there for me to say about this one? Besides, the real exciting mission starts after this one.  Let's start the briefing for the next mission, Mop Up Chrome Remnants.  Special report for all Ravens! It has been decided to disband the Chrome group that planned a military coup d'etat using new robotic weapons. Murakumo Millennium will control and inspect the remaining assets of Chrome, so that they can be reused appropriately later. Now that the confrontation is over, there may be less and less for you Ravens to do. Hopefully this is a sign that mankind is moving towards a peaceful future. It's not over yet. We have a job for you. We need you to survey a Chrome military base. Some remnants of the group may still resist, but their strength is inconsequential. We want you to check the situation in the interior of the base and mop up any resistance you find there. Your pay should be adequate.  This is it. This is what was promised to you if you guys voted for the Murakumo path. While the mission briefing makes it sound easy and trivial, there's a big surprise waiting for us. Let's begin. Mop Up Chrome Remnants    Not even hitting the ground, and a bastard is dead already. Though I kinda wish the physics worked in a way that landing on an MT from a high enough distance and speed would just crush them. That would be awesome.   This entire base only has Bishops as enemies to deal with. Only two shots from the KARASAWA to take them down, and they do so little damage anyway. Just keep killing them and making your way to the top of the base.  So we've cleared out the base, so let's head back outside to complete the...   Jesus loving Christ! Gentleman, this right here is the Devastator, the largest MT in the entire game and the only one of its kind we'll ever face. It's really quite memorable, if only because of its size. I mean, sometimes when you're piloting a giant robot like an Armored Core for so long you can potentially lose a sense of scale, especially if it's in an environment that's designed for huge machines than people. So how do you reinforce that sense of scale? Make you feel tiny as poo poo in comparison, and that's what the Devastator does. If you want to know just how huge it is, just look at this.  The AC probably is only as high as its foot, maybe its shin. This is as close as I was able to get to the thing, but it's HUGE! It's main weapons include a plasma cannon, and a cluster of eight missiles that all fire and home in at once for nearly a thousand AP's worth of damage.   Case in point. Luckily, our KARASAWA still does a poo poo ton of damage even against this thing and it's got more than enough ammo left to take it down.   And that's the mission. As well as the end of the war. Guess what's next? A CUTSCENE! Cutscene: Chrome Defeated   The struggle for market share between Murakumo and up and coming Verge Company is becoming more and more intense. Future developments look interesting.   ...so, nothing has changed after all...    So, as to be expected when there's no real competition, corporations decline and fall apart. This would also be the same result if we sided with Chrome. But like it says, it's only the beginning of the real end.  Which means we've still got another mission, Mop Up Chrome Remnants...wait, what?  We have heard a rumor that a former Chrome military facility has recently been visited by an unknown group. The true situation is unclear but we have eye-witness reports of resumed weapons. Although supposedly already dismantled, the military superiority of Chrome was awesome in scope. It is not surprising that some may still be loyal to Chrome. But still they are only remnants of the group. They probably have no serious weapons. This job may not be satisfying for Ravens, but we want to eliminate apprehension quickly. Enter the base and attack them as you find them. That is all.  So now it's a mission from the Raven's Nest, and it's at the same base that we were at last time. This is certainly weird. Mop Up Chrome Remnants (2)  So instead of being dropped down the long shaft in the last mission, we're basically going into the base in reverse order...only there is nothing.  Seriously, it's loving empty.  Once you head a certain distance in the facility, you'll get this message to return.  Along with several enemies spawning. And they're more powerful and aggressive then the Bishops. It can be pretty easy to lose AP during this part.  It's best at this point to just avoid the enemies and get out of there. Especially because of what's waiting for you outside.   A familiar voice greets us. Boss Savage.  Here our energy weapons are especially beneficial because his AC Sledgehammer is designed to withstand shell hits, but has low energy defenses. He doesn't last long.   At least we still got paid. But that mission was quite fishy. Next update is gonna be dedicated to the final mission, because there's A LOT I have to say in particular about it. It's also a memorable mission, but not for the exact same reasons that other missions in this game are memorable. Here's a hint: It's a right loving bastard. I'll be in touch.
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Jun 11, 2014 18:08
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Man, hell of a week this has been, between E3 stuff and job orientations. Gonna be working on the next part tonight, recording footage of the rest of the game and getting that stuff up as soon as possible.Singh Long posted:I can't remember if this is possible, but does beating the last Chrome mission show the cutscene for that path if you beat that mission after beating the rest of the game, or do you have to start with a fresh save file? I've heard failing that mission by letting the time expire also shows a cutscene. Is this true? Also, will you show off the cutscenes that happen when you trigger Human Plus and when you die near the end game? I'll highlight all the other stuff that wasn't covered in the last post though, like a trivia section. sector_corrector posted:Did I miss it, or did you not not do the mission where you're fighting through the abandoned base and there's creepy broken up radio chatter as the soundtrack?
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Jun 14, 2014 02:11
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Part 9: That One Mission There's only mission for today's update, and that is the final mission. Not the last one for the LP though, remember that this is still a 100% run. Now, before starting this mission, we've made a little preparations to ensure things don't go horribly wrong  Our AC now has three new parts added. The first and most noticeable are the legs. They're a lot bigger and not as tall as the previous ones we were using. The LNKS-1B46J is heavier and slower, but it's necessary to facility the extra fire power om top. The second part is the back mounted chain gun, the WC-CN35. Yeah, I know, it goes against my all energy build, but for what this mission has in store, more guns the better. Last but not least, we've switched our horizontal FCS out for a vertical one, the TRYX-BOXER. Very useful again for what this mission will put us through.  With that said, let's begin our mission, Destroy Floating Mines.  An armed band of unknown affiliation broke into the Nest HQ and destroyed part of the facility. The security corps quelled the disturbance without incident. There is one problem: the floating mines left by the band. Normally, our corps would deal with them, but the mines are numerous, of a special structure and very powerful. We want you to take care of these mines. Just blow them up as you find them. You will be paid well.  Well...here we go. Destroy Floating Mines  Things start out simply enough, just gotta go down this hallway into a room.  Where several enemies are waiting for us. And they're pretty aggressive. It's best to hang by the door and fire your most powerful weapons at them. Don't worry about conserving ammo, this section of the mission doesn't last too long.  Once the room is cleared, continue down the next hallway, which leads us to...  An elevator ride. Still a ways to go till we reach the actual mines that need clearing.   This is the room with the mines. We were told to destroy them, but I'll let you in on something: It's a lie. You only need to get rid of the enemies to move on. And similar to the last room with enemies, just hang back by the door and blast everything that you lock on to. The enemies all come to you eventually so there's no need to move around with all the mines.  The recoil from the plasma cannon mixed with impact from enemy shots knocks us quite a bit back, but that's the last of the enemies.   We get a very brief cutscene of the door at the other end opening up, followed by a fade to black as the second half of the mission gets loaded. Get ready folks. This is where the game starts to go "gently caress you."  Some good news first though, all our AP and ammo has been refilled in the transition. There's no real explanation for why that happens, but this part would suck if it didn't happen.  And this is the first of many warnings given to use by someone. They'll continue as we make progress.    This area right here is one of three really, REALLY tall vertical shafts, and this one is quite possibly the worst of them all. The idea is that you use your boosters to ascend the shaft, landing on the floating, moving blocks with turrets mounted on the tops and bottoms of them, as well as dealing with Storks flying around taking shots at you trying to knock you off. Bringing the chain gun to use on these enemies was smart as it deals with them quickly and has a fast fire rate, but those aren't the things that will be able to save this mission.  Now why is this awful? Well, a major part of the problem comes from the game's camera. As shown at times, the camera won't clip through geometry to keep a set distance from your AC, and can cause it to cover up the entire screen and make things hard to see. The camera also does not allow the AC to look completely vertically. It's always at an angle, and this makes it especially tough when facing enemies at a higher altitude and they're just out of your FCS field of view because they were directly above you instead of above and to the front (this is why it's best to bring a vertical FCS as covering that space is necessary). Lastly, because of movement being digital, ACs in the air either move not at all or move at max speed, and depending on the build positioning it can be very finicky and you can overshoot your landing.  As demonstrated here, I overshot my landing on a cube and ended up falling back to the bottom. You can see why this can be a real pain in the rear end. Just keep at it, destroying any turrets or Storks targeting you, and get to the top.  That blue tunnel is a sign of relief as it means you've made it to the top, and have a platform bigger than a cube to rest on.  There's an opening in the wall denoted by glowing blue arrows. This is where we need to go.  And another warning from the mystery person. And we'll get another one as we reach the end of this hall.   We're at the top of the second vertical shaft, featuring the top ranking AC and one of the hardest motherfuckers in the series: Nine-Ball. Now, I'll be honest, this debut of the character isn't the reason why he's as memorable as he is in the entire franchise, though the encounter with him here is still pretty challenging. Even if a player were to build their AC exactly like Nine-Ball's, it still would compare. For reference, this is the specs for Nine-Ball:
Along with those specs, Nine-Ball has Human PLUS enhancements, which allows him to fire back weapons while moving on the ground or mid air. Especially devastating as he uses the grenade launcher. However, the player can use these same parts and get all the Human PLUS enhancements to be on par with Nine-Ball, right? Well, not quite. There is actually a difference in Nine-Ball's favor that is only available to him in this game out of the PS1 games he appears in, and that is his arm weapon. The WG-XP2000 still looks the same, but the firing mode is completely different. While the player can only use that weapon as a single shot energy weapon, Nine-Ball's version is a three shot burst, and taking three energy shots in quick succession can deal quite a bit of damage. In a more fair environment for fighting an AC in, Nine-Ball would still have an advantage other ACs wouldn't have access to, and in this mission with how the game is not designed well for vertically oriented combat, Nine-Ball becomes to dangerous to fight in this shaft.  Now, at the start I fell down a little ways into the shaft to get Nine-Ball's attention. What we're going to do is head right out the way we came and lure Nine-Ball into a more confined area where we can keep him in our sights.  And now to wait, plasma cannon at the ready. Any minute now...  Nine-Ball's not completely stupid as it still gets a shot at us with a grenade besides being fully prepared for him to come out of that hole.   And down goes Hustler One. Let's move on with the mission. Surprisingly, I didn't lose as much AP in this part of the mission compared to previous playthroughs. It's either my skill genuinely improving or I just have luck on my side.   And down the shaft, into another hallway with two Storks, and we reach a hole in the ceiling leading to ANOTHER vertical shaft that is identical to the last one. Also we get another warning message which we can't really abide by at this point, why leave now? Oh, and there's another Nine-Ball. Yeah, you fight him twice in the same mission almost back to back. While it was easy to deal with the first Nine-Ball by luring him out of the shaft from the top, doing the same from the bottom, in my experience, isn't really possible. As such, we're gonna have to do something very risky.   Yep, we're going to repeat the same thing we did before but fly all the way up to the top while staying as far ahead of Nine-Ball as humanly possibly. It's very intense to go through, given you have to stop every now and then to recharge your meter, but I reach the top...  ...but I push forward too soon and bounce off the bottom of the cube, sending me back downward toward my doom. This is the part where I actually begin to panic and think I would have to record the drat thing all over again. I make my way back up and get very close to making it through the hole...  But Nine-Ball denies by exit with a grenade in the back. Here things start to get really worrying.   BUT WAIT! Despite getting pushed against the wall and the camera not being able to do a thing, I fire my KARASAWA at the target in my FCS' range and destroy the son of a bitch. Like Joseph Joestar, in a battle with the odds stacked high against me, Nine-Ball left himself open just as I had planned. And also like Joseph Joestar, the stuff about it being my plan all along was total bullshit and my victory was just luck. Anyway, destroying Nine-Ball gives us yet another message, this time no longer telling us to leave but asking what the hell we want. Well...  How about letting me get through this goddamn hole already.  Hey, remember this thing? Yep, we're back in the first vertical shaft, but thankfully we don't have to worry about falling. Just boost our way to the end.   We reach our target for real, and it appears to be a mainframe. No doubt the one sending us those warnings.  But destroying it is the only thing that will get us out of this mission, so we shall do just that. Ending + Credits (Definitely watch this)  A familiar voice is heard, the voice of someone we know as "R."  "Are you satisfied?"  "Do you want to destroy order?"  "Destroy the world, is that what you want?"  "We were needed. That's why we were born." "People cannot live without order...even if it is a lie."   "Go on living, Raven."   "You or I...which one of us was ultimately right?" "You have the right...the duty to find that out..."   Well, that mission went smoother than I had expected, but we have now beaten Armored Core. That is quite a weird, if not sorta haunting, ending to the game. Although what is implied to have happened as a result raises some questions in regards to what is shown in later AC games, which I will only get into when I start LP them. Well, that wraps up this part, and with that done we can move on into the post game. We'll return back to our all energy build and do the last dozen missions we need and find the last few hidden parts to achieve 100% completion. I'll be in touch.
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Jun 21, 2014 00:41
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Seiren posted:It's hard to say what the game is trying to imply to you here. What is the actual function of the Ravens' Nest? They're 'keeping order' by accepting jobs which are then carried out by Ravens, but if they truly desired total control, they could simply...not list particular missions in order to maintain balance. There's definitely some behind-the-scenes fuckery going on, and there's a lot that doesn't make sense. Sure, it's FROM being intentionally vague, and probably a sign that they haven't yet refined their storytelling technique just yet, but it leaves more questions than it answers. Singh Long posted:If the Nest filtered out missions, people would get suspicious. Can't have that now can we? The false ending we saw implied Chrome was replaced by another company to keep the status quo. Besides, the Raven's Nest assumed we would fail, as the game will demonstrate if needed. The Mighty Biscuit posted:It's implying that the computer thingy you smashed was needed to keep order and that by destroying it you just totes shattered that order. Most game series tend to not have their lore or background info set in stone right at the beginning, so it's not that surprising the same thing happens here. And while the "AI being in control of everything behind the scenes" bit had no real foreshadowing and seemed thrown in at the last second, it's only the stuff that happens in Master of Arena that brings parts of this game's place in the chronology into question. To put simply it simply, Master of Arena almost seems like a re imagining of what Armored Core 1's original story was supposed to be (with a bigger focus on Nine-Ball, because why wouldn't you?), though it's still supposed to be set after the previous games and is a sequel, so I don't loving know.
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Jun 22, 2014 18:11
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First off, sorry for being absent from this for the last couple months. The LP isn't abandoned, just got sidetracked with finally getting a job earlier this summer and doing other projects. With that out of the way, let's resume the LP. Part 10: Top of the Leaderboard Nineball and R have been defeated, but there are still twelve missions left in the game before we can wrap up this 100% AC playthrough.  Since these next missions won't require a set up quite as specific as the final mission, I've removed the chaingun and switched the AC's legs back to the LN-D-8000R.  There's no particular order I have planned for the missions. I'm just doing them from top to bottom on the main list. First on the menu is Destroy Space Catapult.  We want you to break into the Space Station "Kaede" owned by Murakumo. Your goal is to destroy their new catapult. This space station has been unmanned since the Great Destruction and was left in orbit, but Murakumo has made secret modifications, turning it into a space base. We discovered that Murakumo has sent large amounts of material to the space station and the catapult appears to be used to send the material elsewhere. We still don't know what they are up to. But still, it is in space. It may be too late if we wait until the full story is known. Your space shuttle is ready. Go to the space station ASAP. We are counting on you.  This is one of the exclusive missions you get if you sided with Chrome instead of Murakumo, and also one of the few missions that have you at a location in space. Destroy Space Catapult   This level has a lot of doors connecting hallways at multiple points, but in order to make any progress inside the base you need to go through the doors that aren't locked shut. It can be beneficial to have an AC head with good map data if you get lost.  The only enemies to deal with are ceiling mounted gun batteries and Dawn MTs. They move all over the place and staying in one of the narrow hallways and shooting them as they pass make for a relatively safe tactic.   Halfway through the base, we receive this communication. Most likely a change in mission plans.  Yep, time to get the hell out.   I said before that you can only go specific doors to make progress through the station. When the objective changes to evacuate the station, simply retracing your steps won't work as the first door you entered at the start of the mission is now locked.   So instead we end up doing a full loop around the areas we have access to before we end up back at the room the mission had us start in. A good thing to keep in mind is to keep moving forward after triggering the emergency communication, as that is the correct direction to go in.  Oh, and destroying enemies during this mission gives us a 300 C bonus. A successful payout once again.  On to the next mission on the list, Destroy Base Generator.  Head for lunar base "Roa". Roa has been unmanned and abandoned for a long time, but Murakumo has already dispatched forces intending to revive the base facilities. There are now no other usable lunar bases, so Roa is effectively the key to control of the entire Moon. But a full frontal attack would deal a severe blow to the base itself. So this is our request. We want you to infiltrate the base alone and destroy the generator. Our main force will then retake the base in the confusion. Do not bother unnecessarily with enemies, but remaining ACs will be troublesome in the future, so try to destroy them on sight. We will reward you for each additional kill. The Murakumo are scheming to use the moon base as a base for a terrible plot. The full story is unclear but desperate men will stop at nothing. This is a very dangerous job, but we have faith that you can do it. We are counting on you, Raven.  Another mission in space, and Murakumo is the villain in this scenario. You can probably guess what this scenario is building up to. Destroy Base Generator   The ACs that the mission briefing referred to are Swifts, and are worth 3000 a piece for each kill. I deal with them as I need to as the objective is further in the base.  The large hallway you enter near the start has a door you can go through at the far end, but that leads no where. One of the doors on the side however leads to an elevator.  Taking the elevator up, we start going across some bridges with gun batteries. I at least ignore the ones that aren't in front of me and keep moving. Eventually reaching the generator.   My shoulder cannon gets some use this mission as I fill the generator room with plasma.   And with that, another escape sequence with a timer begins. Unlike Kaede, this timer can cut it very close, especially if you go in a direction you shouldn't.  Only 30 seconds left as I make it to the entrance.  2 out of 3 Swifts destroyed during the mission, getting use an additional 6000 C total.  Next mission is actually the last mission you get if you sided with Chrome, Destroy "Justice"  Terrible news just came in. Murakumo has gotten hold of the most horrible fruit of mankind's madness still in space. The giant gun "Justice" is now under the control of Murakumo. The weapon which drove all of humanity underground at the time of the Great Destruction, is certain to seal the fate of the world if it is fired at our planet now. This is no longer between us and Murakumo. The weapon's only weakness is the enormous amount of time and energy it takes to charge up. We may still be in time. The only way to stop it is to destroy the firing system itself. Your best bet is to destroy the peripheral energy chargers to delay firing, and then blast through the multiple force fields to get close enough to destroy the firing system. The best space shuttle we have is ready and waiting. Go into space ASAP. We are counting on you.  So while on Murakumo's side, we saw Chrome stage a military uprising. Here we see what Murakumo does when backed in a corner, and frankly it seems a bit more extreme than a revolt on earth. Whatever, the job is to stop the cannon. Destroy "Justice"   The entire mission area is this large chamber with the firing system at the far opposite end. There are barriers in the way, but they can be broken through with enough firepower.   As mentioned in the briefing, destroying the chargers on the sides of the chamber will give us additional time to take out the cannon, but destroying them all isn't required. Hell, it gives you way more time than you know what to do with. So long as you're efficient, the time you're given at the start is perfectly acceptable.   As this is a late game mission, enemies are incredible aggressive. Tankettes and Corsairs are firing at you constantly, and they're not worth your time. Just blow up the firing system and it's over.  Well, the earth is saved, and in this scenario, Murakumo would be completely destroyed with Chrome as the winner of the war.  Now to go back in the timeline to a mission before we sided with either corporation, Attack Urban Center  We want you to wreak havoc on Gal City. The job is simple. Just attack the urban area and fire at will at any attractive target. If one finds oneself in danger, one who does not have the power to resist must depend on someone else. If you have the power, come to us at Chrome. You have 3 minutes of tactical operations. Staying any longer is useless. If you stay too long, we don't know what sort of trouble will happen. Your pay will be determined based on the results. Simply put, the more you destroy the higher your pay. Good luck  If you remember, this was the mission I was not able to take earlier in the game, but it is an important one as it will determine whether we will be rank #1 or #2 on the Raven leaderboard. Let's begin. Attack Urban Center    So the payout for this mission is based on how much destruction you cause. What can you destroy, you ask? Well, there are several items that have different credit values associated with them. They are:
The last two are enemies, which do not show up until time has passed in the mission. The way I start is that I dash through all the cars parked on the left side of the road, shooting at signs in front of me as well. Halfway down the street, you can take a shot at some of the monorail cars that come passing by overhead.   When you make it to the other side, almost a minute will have passed, and the Gal City Guard will contact you. This spawns in the Guard Walkers, and they are infinitely spawning.  Once another minute passes, Valkyrie makes its appearance. This battle can either end with the player surviving until the timer runs out, or Valkyrie can be eliminated for a chance at moving up the leaderboard. The latter is obviously our intent.   It's not even an issue with the KARASAWA, assuming you can keep the AC in sight at all times. With Valkyrie gone, all that's left is to destroy more MTs and property till the timer runs out.  A whole lot of stuff was destroyed, and the expense for repairs make for a little over a third of the profit. This is one of those missions where even if you earn a good amount of money, it can be easily lost from racking up ammo and repair costs. Now, before this part is concluded, let's take a look at our position on the rankings.  Yep, with Valkyrie out of the picture, we've made it to the top of the leaderboards. Now for 8 remaining missions and a few secret parts and this is over. I'll be in touch.
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Aug 27, 2014 01:39
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Well...turns out my latest batch of footage didn't include the audio with it. And I already saved my progress before figuring that out. And with it being THIS late in the game... gently caress me. I may just skip posting the videos for the next update because I can't use these the way they are now, and I don't have the time or patience to play through the entire game again just to rerecord them. Anyway, expect it to Part 11 to go up this weekend, but this mistake of mine has drat near discouraged me. Too late to stop now, though.
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Sep 19, 2014 00:38
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S-Alpha posted:Great LP thus far Arc, but I'm wondering, would you like me to make some effortposts about the Japanese/US competitive AC scenes, and assorted tactics and loadouts? For such a relatively obscure game, the tournament scene was really robust even in the states. And stuff about freefall boosts and trajectory manipulation are still relevant even to single player. But I don't want to steal your thunder if you were planning on getting into that at some point.
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Sep 19, 2014 19:30
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Part 11: Nearing the End DISCLAIMER: Do to an error on my part, no sound ended up in the recorded videos. They can still be viewed to follow along with the mission commentary, but know that you won't hear anything. Very sorry for this, will make sure it does not occur in the final part.  With 8 more missions left before 100% completion, let's go to an early game mission we skipped before, Rescue Transport Truck.  We lost communications with one of our transport trucks heading for Avalon Valley, somewhere near the Nassau Tunnel. We strongly believe that this was an act of a terrorist group targeting the advanced chemical weapons loaded on the truck. If this is true, we cannot leave this up to the Guards. Go to the site ASAP and search for the truck. Eliminate anyone who interferes. The safety of the vehicle is of utmost priority. Do not forget this. One more thing. Innocent civilian vehicles may be traveling by the site. If you destroy any vehicles, compensation for the damage will be deducted from your pay. Good luck.  You remember how Chrome invested heavily in chemical weapons in the past, right (we blew up a gently caress ton of tanks at a factory filled with them)? We get to bail them out on this one. Rescue Transport Truck  This first part of the mission has you on the part of the highway with cars passing by. Staying on the left side ensures you won't run over any vehicles heading toward you. Of course, they're less important than the contents of the truck.   It is easy as hell to have a shot miss and blow up the transport truck, so the best way to deal with the Ariake MTs in the area is to just stay in one position, keep them in your FCS' sight, and fire when the truck is not behind them. They come in two waves, and the mission is over very quickly.  Sometimes I've run into a scenario where a passing vehicle rams into my AC without noticing and I get a 200 C deduction, which despite being a small price is still kind of annoying. Thankfully that did not happen here.  Next on the list, Recover Capsules.  We want you to break into an abandoned facility that was used by Murakumo in the initial stages of their Human PLUS development. It was left after a fire several years ago. The Human PLUS technologies were supposedly developed by Murakumo but nothing has been released publicly about the initial stages of research, so many mysteries remain. Our surveys so far have not turned up much information. However, we received strange reports from a survey team recently dispatched to the abandoned facility. Parts of the facility are said to be operating even now and strange capsules have been placed in the furthest most room. Upon trying to recover the capsules, the team was attacked by fighting machines that they had never seen before. They could not fight back and failed to recover the capsule. Your mission is to recover those capsules. We have no idea about their significance, but they might give us an advantage over Murakumo. We are counting on you.  Another mission giving us a glimpse into the mystery that is the Human PLUS program. Let's go. Recover Capsules  This level in both size and complexity is a lot like the Old Military Facility where we rescued a survey team. This facility however is in much worse looking shape, and compared to all the other locations in the game, it's got quite the atmosphere to it.  The level has corridors stacked on top of each other, and what we're looking for is at the bottom. Thus, going down these holes is the only way forward.  Of course, there are plenty of enemies waiting at the bottom of those holes, so be prepared for them.  Eventually as you get deeper, you'll come across a room with a single MT and a capsule in the far right corner. That is what we came here for, and as always, don't blow it up by accident.  No special additions or deductions here, just a typical payout for an expert AC pilot. Interestingly, we do get an email from our client regarding the results of our mission.  It looks to be very old, but we can't tell yet just how old. It is unmistakably from before the "Great Destruction." We don't know how they got a hold of such a thing, but one thing is for certain. The Murakumo did not create teh "Human Plus" technology. We're both on the same line of thinking. We may not know the true origins of PLUS, or even what that capsule contains, but we can only guess.  Anyway, remember when we made a decision to either guard Chrome's factory or destroy it? Here's Guard Factory Entrance, that other mission we could've taken so many parts ago.  We have uncovered a plan to destroy our underground factory in the Whiteland area. We think that Murakumo is behind it. We are not sure of the specific details, but since the factory is underground, they can't do anything unless they get inside. So we want someone to guard the entrance of the factory. The gate cannot be opened from outside as long as the lock system is not destroyed. We will need several days to put up a full-scale security system. Of course we will pay you during the period whether or not there is an attack. Not a bad job, huh? Do it well.  A familiar location, and now we're in the opposite role we were in before. Let's see how it goes. Guard Factory Entrance  This mission doesn't give us any breaks between attacks on the entrance, so it's best to head for the north east border of the area right at the start. Why you ask?  Much like in Secret Factory Recon, this mission also has a secret part hidden in a box. The B-T001 Booster part. Grab it and get the hell back to the entrance.  The attackers come in two waves. The first as indicated at the start are five airborne enemies, called Hayates. Thankfully some of them will attack you instead of the entrance so the pressure of guarding the lock to the entrance isn't overwhelming. After defeating them, two more Hayates accompanied by two Sagiris will enter the battle. Destroying them all with a powerful weapon will guarantee a success for this mission.  If anything, the easiest way to fail the mission is looking for the secret part without knowing exactly where it is. Still got a good payout for being quick and efficient with our resources. Anyway, new mail from Chrome, thanking us for our services.  You did quite a job. We didn't expect so much firepower to be thrown into the fight, but the fact that you managed to repulse them all by yourself was amazing. I like it. To tell the truth, we thought of you Ravens as no more than convenient throwaways, but I guess we will have to rethink our position. Well anyway, good job. That is all. Even when thanking us, Chrome still can't help sounding like a bunch of assholes. It's to be expected.  Now for our last mission for today, Capture Space Station.  We have decided to carry out an operation intended to occupy the Murakumo's base of activities, the Space Station "Kaede." Since our single ship attack failed the other day, the pace of the Murakumo's activities in space have picked up extraordinarily. Large amounts of material have been carried off to space, and "Kaede" is rapidly becoming a fortress. If we leave this as is, it will only become more difficult to act later. Our first division has already begun fighting. Your mission is to support the invasion troop. Bring material to the supply vehicles engaged in combat. The enemy forces are more numerous than expected and the supply material may not be in time. Place the material in the catapult. Capture the catapult and pass the material on to the supply corps. Murakumo is planning something in space. We must stop them before it is too late.  This mission is a direct follow up the mission Destroy Space Catapult, where we were unable to destroy said catapult and had to retreat instead. Not gonna run this time. Capture Space Station  Throughout the mission, particularly on the lower level of the station, you'll find Chrome and Murakumo forces fighting each other. While you get deducted for letting an ally unit die, destroying all enemies in the mission nets you a bonus 10000 C, which is very nice.  If you remember the original route during Destroy Space Catapult, follow it right up to where you would've been told to leave the station immediately. Take one of the two ramps in this long narrow hallway to reach the upper levels, where the material is found.  When you reach this central room, go through the door on the left.  And there's the material we need. However, the mission is not over yet.  During this part I end up getting a bit lost as I forgot where exactly the supply vehicle is, and I spend a few minutes checking every hallway and updating my map along the way.  Eventually, I find the supply vehicle and finish this mission.  And my wandering around the station was ultimately beneficial as I killed every enemy MT in the station. Only two casualties on my side, but eh, it's fine. Next part, we'll finish up the remaining missions, and this LP will be over with 100% completion. It's getting close to the end. I'll be in touch. ArclightBorealis fucked around with this message at 02:34 on Sep 20, 2014 |
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Sep 20, 2014 02:22
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Kaboom Dragoon posted:Just a heads up, but when you talk about the email you get after the Human Plus mission, you've got the results screen there twice.
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Sep 20, 2014 02:34
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As a heads up, I'm putting together the final posts for this LP right now as this weekend is the only time I really have to work on them. ACES, if you still got more effortposts in the works, don't worry I'll add them in afterwards.
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Oct 19, 2014 19:27
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| # ¿ Apr 26, 2024 02:37 |
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ACES CURE PLANES posted:So, you're gonna be doing a different thread for each game? I thought I had more time on my hands since you said you were gonna run through PP and MoA. PP and MoA will happen eventually, most likely when I finish this semester, though whether or not I'm gonna try a different format with it is a different matter entirely.
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Oct 19, 2014 19:50
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