Armored Core General!

[eager vector]

yup exactly

[feral niche]

They looked at the Aorta but decided against it, for now.

Also did not realize the mission Eliminate Honest Brute was so far in the game.

Could have sworn it was chapter 2.

[eager vector]

Oh no narratively that’s ice worm prep

[paper ferry]

I think I got all the data logs now :)

[paper ferry]

Might be confusing him with Invincible Rummy

[feral niche]

Nope, also I just woke up and he already beat Ice Worm.

[solar sinew]

The game doesnt let you sleep until you beat it again and again and again

Howd he enjoy the worm?

[feral niche]

'I enjoyed it alot, cause even when I died, I wasn't mad.'

And 'I will go back, just to fight it again cause it was so fun.'

[solar sinew]

Yeah, that tracks

Its a wonderful spectacle fight, even if I keep missing the fucking stun needle

[feral niche]

Yeah, iirc he said he had to redo it like 3-4 times to finally beat it.

[feral niche]

Also it's cause we have 2 separate time zones.

[solar sinew]

Semantics

[solar sinew]

So worth it to hear Snails little "I AM Arquebus" spiel and Michigan. Just Michigan.

[feral niche]

He's also back to dual Zimmermans, when I asked why he moved off the laser shotgun I saw him equip last night he said it was the ammo capacity that made him move off it.

[cursive agate]

Oh yea, the VP-66LS has suprisingly low ammo, especially if using charged shots often.

[feral niche]

Unfortunate, so he's back to Dual Zims, he was using the Songbird but when I mentioned apparently the Stun Needle is amazing according to here he stuck it on. Hasn't tested it out against anything other than the iceworm yet though cause he had to walk away from keyboard so am just sitting here.

[feral niche]

Was also funny how long it took to find the camo patterns, ever since the tank Training he couldn't find it and I couldn't remember it.

[feral niche]

Been trying to beat Father in the Arena, having some trouble.

[solar sinew]

Dolmayan and that coral core can be surprisingly tricky

[cursive agate]

I remember the ||BAWS|| frame being really tanky physically, and Dolmyan being a really evasive pilot.

[feral niche]

He has become an explosive build.

He couldn't figure out a good trade for his right zimmeeeeeeeer and ended up trading his ashmead for the explosive thrower and his right hand is the little missile launcher.

He just got the Aurora, wondering how good it is.

[eager vector]

Aurora is very solid if you build around it, ie a gen with high energy weapon spec and an FCS with high missile lock

[feral niche]

He also slapped on the NGI 000.

Had to stop for the day though.

[paper ferry]

It took a lot of tries, but I managed to beat the CEL 240 with a basic "canon" build for LOADER 4.
https://youtu.be/C3TfuPUOJ14

I might do a full run with this build.

[late jay]

Curtis my beloved

[paper ferry]

It definitely was tough doing that fight with no heavy weaponry, but I certainly got a crash course in using shields

The CC-2000 Orbiter is the frame I would use in the world of Armored Core since it was originally designed for extravehicular activity and space exploration.

[feral niche]

Friend had to stop fighting CEL 240 cause irl stuff but that is where he’s at.

[paper ferry]

Good luck on that 🫡

[feral niche]

He has to go back through the mission tomorrow, remembering to grab the Head and Moonlight and all the Combat Logs.

[paper ferry]

You gotta take on like six grinder wheels at once and then two Institute drone mechs after that

[feral niche]

Oh yeah.

He nearly died from all the Sunflowers.

(There’s 9 btw.)

5-6 are just around the Moonlight, but more of them may spin on in.

[feral niche]

He is Hunter Rank 9? That’s the IGN 000 iirc, which he has on.

[wooden nimbus]

CEL 240 is the dancer one on the lake right

I love fighting that one

[serene kettle]

yee

[feral niche]

Yes.

Will be interesting to see him swap from the Explosive build he just made for something paired with the Moonlight.

He's not getting the Karasava to pair with it this run.

[serene kettle]

The plasma rifles are a pretty good choice to get a similar feel tbh

both the VVC and the Nebula

VVC actually looks and feels a lot like the AC2 Karasawa

[feral niche]

But the projectiles are a bit slow, or at least I think that's why he doesn't really use them (watched him try the Nebula). He can't frequently get them on target.

I believe he likes the Karasawa because of its 3 different firing modes.

[serene kettle]

nebula is harder to aim than the vvc imo

but yeah if you don't like it you don't like it

[feral niche]

Right now he's running the explosive thrower left arm and the small handheld missile launcher in the right. Because they offer a great amount of stagger combined with range (Around you, not distance).

With Dual Stun Needles.

He wants to get an enemy staggered to empty both SNs into them.

He was running the Ashmead too but he just could not get a weapon he found to be a decent main part to his build in his right hand.

So he swapped it out with the explosive thrower, and I pointed him towards the launcher which he agreed with because double explosive.

[serene kettle]

tbh though if you don't like VVC/Nebula you probably won't like the feel of Karasawa either. They play very similarly

[feral niche]

I can't remember the VVC... let me check.

[serene kettle]

it's the Ch1 plasma rifle, should be available pretty much from the beginning

[feral niche]

Ah, yeah he doesn't like that one.

[serene kettle]

its form factor actually remarkably resembles the classic Karasawa

I did make a build at one point as a meme to try to fit two Karasawas on the VE-20B generator with Quad Legs

[feral niche]

Tbf, doesn't the charge of the Karasawa shoot a laser that is practically hitscan long as they don't move?

[serene kettle]

it...did better than it should have in pvp

[feral niche]

The enemy watching in terror as both are finished Double Charging.

[serene kettle]

at first charge level it operates a lot like a charged laser weapon yeah

[feral niche]

Thought so.

I think he just liked the variety of firing types it had.

[serene kettle]

I dunno about "practically hitscan" but definitely faster than the double charge projectile

[feral niche]

Fair.

That was just my phrasing for 'Extremely fast laser'.

I thought it just instantly formed but I suppose I am wrong then.

[serene kettle]

KRSV does do really well if you use them uncharged though fwiw. Slow projectile and the heat has to be managed but hits really hard (kind of like the vvc but moreso)

you don't have to overcommit to the charged options (which are stancefires and can be problematic for that reason too)

[feral niche]

Fair enough, iirc stancefire isn't a problem with Tetrepod and Tank Treads?

Which are like the only thing he runs.

He has not returned to any form of 2 legged set up after swapping over to Tetrapod.

Partially for not having to stand still when firing heavy weapons and also being able to run multiple heavy weapons.

[cursive agate]

*Tetrapod can fire arm-stance while moving (shoulders + arms while hovering), but eats varying degrees of pushback compared to tank legs.

[serene kettle]

yeah having run karasawa tetrapod it is not a perfect answer to stancefire problems

[feral niche]

Fair, I think he just finds the Tetrapods to be the perfect midway point between all the other legs tbh.

[serene kettle]

They definitely have a lot to appreciate

[feral niche]

Indeed.

I am kind of enticing them around different things.

I feel kind of bad pretty much giving him a full guide on each level but he, like me, likes unlocking as much as possible on a run.

So hilariously he likens me to his Handler.

'I have 2 voices in my head.'
Lmao.

[late jay]

I love using the Karasawa with Tetrapod legs

[feral niche]

I love that the HMMR is made by Allmind, like that combination of insanity is 'optimal' according to them.

A rocket powered hollow flail that can split open to release like 50 plasma bombs.

[feral niche]

Quick questions cause I can't remember:
Does OS Tuning upgrades stay in NG+ or do they reset? And in addition to that, does the Arena Reset?

[jade ginkgo]

OS Turning stays in NG+

Arena, not sure

but i think it stays because you get ||analysis from allmind||

[feral niche]

He beat the game, time for a NG+ playthrough.

[jade ginkgo]

splendid

[paper ferry]

You’ll have all the OS upgrades by the end of NG+

[feral niche]

Cool.

[feral niche]

Alright, he's done for now, he got to the BAWS arsenal before stoopping for the day.

[feral niche]

He hopped back on and played all the way until Uninhabitated city before he stopped and went to bed, or so he says he'll stop after keeping the missiles alive...

[feral niche]

He proceeded to explore the Unihabited Floating City before stopping.

[solar sinew]

"I will stop, oh wait, lemme explore" do be the name of the game sometimes. Dont blame him, the Xylem is pretty cool

[solar sinew]

My players got their hands on one of the Intritutes prototype generators for CEL 240, along with all the fun implication it carries last session.

Any fun ideas for what kind of reaction the drone they installed in Snails office might capture when he inevitably finds out?

[distant forge]

are u doing an armored core 6 based tabletop thing?

[paper ferry]

I imagine that besides the schemes, he’s the most boring person alive.

[serene kettle]

Eeeeeeh, he's a narcissistic egomaniac. He's probably interesting to be around (in a bad way)

[quasi copper]

my read is that Snail is a profoundly uninteresting human being in the sense that he's probably pretty shallow in terms of depth of character, interests, etc. but fascinating in terms of weird neurotic behaviors

boring to talk to but probably fascinating to watch from afar

he probably doesn't talk about anything other than himself and his career and his schemes lmfao

[serene kettle]

Oh, yeah, that I'd agree with 100%

[solar sinew]

Yeah, my Lancer game is set on Rubicon

[solar sinew]

Im inclined to agree with this. My players had the presence of mind to leave a drone in the Wall during the siege and rolled a crit on hiding it, so Ive been feeding them the occasional bit of intel.
A look at Snail past the well composed asshole theyve known could be very interesting, Im just not entitely sure how to just yet.

[quasi copper]

Definitely freaky about his sense of control

[solar sinew]

Yeah, for sure

Hes still coming down from the high of getting the Wall, so this will be a pretty severe reality check in the coming future, either because my players roll up with C-weapon grade tech, or because Balam does

[quasi copper]

I could see him pitching a total melty over someone fucking his desk up

[serene kettle]

Have him get extremely particular about the arrangement of boxes and furniture in his space and very upset at whoever actually moved them that they're not where he wanted them to exacting precision

XD

same braincell

[quasi copper]

like

you know what the touchpoint is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPPmWflEF3w

wait shit this doesn't have enough context

[solar sinew]

I think I can see him being very fussy about some of the reports coming in. Requesting them filed in stupid detail and in triplicate

[quasi copper]

that scene is Nic Cage's character freaking the fuck out because of a document misfile

[solar sinew]

Ha. Same braincell

[quasi copper]

I could see Snail going absolutely batshit wacko like that because someone fucked up his desk or didn't put things away just right

[solar sinew]

It would track, Arquebus did have a bit of a problem with cargo going missing since someone accidentally fucked up the routes

[quasi copper]

things that disturb his sense of control over his surroundings, you know?

[solar sinew]

I do like that

[quasi copper]

also he's a max-tier narcissist who associates his ego with the company so I could see him taking "subpar work" in terms of cargo going missing and assuming it's just lazy/bad documentation poorly

and having a fit at the people whose job it was

[solar sinew]

The cargo in question was retrieved by my players in time for the report to never make it up to the Vespers (prime example of Rustys squad unknowingly undoing his work lol), but I can see this being a larger problem.
Maybe Ill make a point to bring this back up to remind them of their severe suspicion of Balams spy in Arquebus.

Hm, thank you, this was very helpful

[late jay]

https://youtu.be/Kmvik-7t5uo?si=5nRmhiexU42pCQzQ

This plays in my head whenever I finish the MIA mission in the NG++ route

[solar sinew]

Well, I know what music is gonna be playing if my campaign gets a similar plot beat

[signal sluice]

If I may ask, what system are you using to play this?
Lancer or the Japanese Armored Core TRPG?

[solar sinew]

Lancer!

[signal sluice]

Nice!

[solar sinew]

I will say, I didnt know they translated the AC TTRPG

[feral niche]

Oh, no I meant he did the mission, he sped through it cause he was exhausted and didn't want it left for the morning.

[signal sluice]

They did not translate it, unfortunately.

[solar sinew]

Unfortunate. I saw some scanned pngs floating around a while ago, did we ever get a pdf over here?

[signal sluice]

Not as far as im aware, only a physical order from a japanese comic book store website.

[solar sinew]

Hm, a shame. Probably gonna pick it up either way, but a playable version would be cool

[solar sinew]

yeah, those are the pages that I did see

[feral niche]

Cool.

Friend is playing through, fighting Ibis, again.

Gonna do the Fires of Raven Ending this time.

[solar sinew]

o7 Rusty

[feral niche]

Indeed, indeed.

[paper ferry]

That’s so cute omg

[signal sluice]

Yea this companies games all include comics on the games mechanics and gameplay loop.

There is also a Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring book, also not translated.

All use the same 5 dice action point system as the core mechanic.

All these games include slight tweaks to the rules of the action dice.

[paper ferry]

Interesting that this one uses playing cards as well

[signal sluice]

Yea, the playing cards are used for the ‘Zone-Crawl’ map in the dark souls game, and for initiative too.

I think also for the looting system

[feral niche]

They did Fires of Raven and stopped at... after Balteus iirc on their NG++ playthrough.

[radiant birch]

AC6 really gets its hooks in you

[feral niche]

True.

He's been playing it for a week straight.

[modern hornet]

I've been playing Armored Core since AC2: Another Age, so can verify that it is an addicting series, especially for people who like giant robots.

[paper ferry]

I dreamed about Armored Core last night

[serene kettle]

You dig giant robots! I dig giant robots! We dig giant robots! Chicks dig giant robots!

[polar osprey]

mostly whenever i think about mech stuff i think about different mechs interacting

imagined (final boss spoilers)||Allmind and Iguazu rocking up to fight 621 and finding GaoGaiGar there and just hearing gemu giru gan go gufo and hitting this expression||

https://tenor.com/view/bro-is-finished-cooked-finished-dog-closing-eyes-dog-with-eyes-closed-gif-8933440936102921947

[serene kettle]

are you familiar with Another Century's Episode

[paper ferry]

It was about a secret storyline after the events of AC6 where you encounter a young woman outside of a mech who lost everything due to random collateral damage on one of your missions and has a personal vendetta against you. It had a very emotional ending.

[polar osprey]

i am not no

[serene kettle]

A publisher wanted to make a crossover mecha game and contracted FROM since they had experience with that via armored core

[polar osprey]

G Gundam has a passive plotline like this

only crossover game i know is SUPER ROBOT WARS

[serene kettle]

There are multiple entries in this series and it plays generally like armored core except where it'd be more faithful to the source series for the mecha to play another way

[polar osprey]

interesting

that sounds sick

[serene kettle]

but yeah if you're into mecha crossovers...it might be something worth checking out!

[polar osprey]

Sounds like it

[paper ferry]

It starts with the woman interrupting comms and even hacking the training simulator kinda like ALLMIND

[polar osprey]

Interesting

[paper ferry]

Really sucks that I’m losing most of the details because it was a really good dream

[serene kettle]

yeah I too dream about games I've been playing a lot

[feral niche]

I wrote down what I can as soon as I wake up in a group chat, not that the others care about my insane ramblings.

[modern hornet]

epic guitar solo
Nice!

[feral niche]

Had a mech dream written down from a long while ago.

[paper ferry]

Might make a Lancer pilot character out of them or maybe put them in my future campaign

Maybe tie them to one of my players’ backstory if it works out

[feral niche]

Oh, my friend said this new Destiny 2 Sniper looks like it belongs in AC and I can see it:

[glad flame]

https://youtu.be/UsS4K0c4lOg?si=8UbCCYaDEz5omvuo

[eager vector]

“faster” I sleep

[serene kettle]

"no heal"

Starts with 19k AP on a biped

[solar sinew]

It seems I have found the level of "subtle" I can strike before my players catch on. Im sure its just the wind

[surreal vine]

I think the coolest boss kill in 6 I've seen was watching a buddy with an RJ lightweight (early on in the game's life) face ALLMIND-Iguazu and win by the skin of their teeth with all ammo depleted by dodging into a chain punch

No melee weapons, no guns left

Just throwing hands

[winter sigil]

terminal armor enables many very auraful boss kills

[surreal vine]

No Terminal either

Just clutching it in a panic

[solar sinew]

That sounds close to how my first kill ended. Less for style points, more complete desperation. Pretty sure I kicked her to death

[solar sinew]

They are trying to trap one of ALLMIND's MDDs.

Im so chuffed. This will be hilarious

[feral niche]

Lol.

[solar sinew]

That was my reaction too

[feral niche]

The ghosts are interesting, since they talk in Morse/Computer Speak, as they are not supposed to be a person facing system like Kate.

So you'd literally have to decode their communication to be able to understand them.

[solar sinew]

Ill probably give them access to their comms and figure out how long it takes them to decode it from there. Chances are ALLMIND is gonna come say hi at some point.
They got some hints at a shadow faction playing God on Rubicon, so we will see. Im not sure keeping her involvement secret for long adds much to the game. Ill set up a red herring, have them Escort the Strider and figure out if they are gonna call Rusty back or leave him on read before I give them the results.

Or they crit, I guess.

[feral niche]

Will they actually Escort the Strider? Or are they doing the game version of Escort the Strider?

[solar sinew]

Theyll actually escort the Strider. Arquebus has its eyes on it, but ALLMIND will get there first.
If the players manage to finish the mission, then thats fair play for now

The RLF is in a different position than in the game, given the Wall is already under Arquebus command

[feral niche]

Got it, was wondering if it would just blow up immediately.

My friend actually struggled with EtS yesterday because of the Helianthus being such a difficult enemy.

They eventually settled on alot of missiles.

[solar sinew]

Fuck the Helianthus, its a rough mission

[solar sinew]

Ive considered it, but it feels pretty BM. Plus, why remove a perfectly good sitrep xD

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

At least the RLF dude talking to you in game understands it's not your fault.

[solar sinew]

Yeeeah, the RLF is pretty pissed at my players at the moment. The STRIDER mission is their attempt to undo the fact that they sieged the Wall xD

They get points for warning the Wall first, though

[feral niche]

Ah ok, fair enough.

Gimme me one of them Ghost Energy Whips.

[late jay]

Didn't RaD build The Strider with an intentional glaring weakness to then sell the info on it to the corps to make more money btw?

Which may have had to pass through Allmind first in order to reach them

[solar sinew]

I did not know thatr

Thats huge actually

Lemme do some reading

Do you remember where that info comes from?

[feral niche]

I... am not familiar with that point, but could see it, since RaD is technically opposing to the RLF.

Yes, please source that as I have not heard that either.

[solar sinew]

I think my piece of "wtf" trivia is that we fight the wrong juggernaut

The Wiki lists it as HAT-102. Its not.

[feral niche]

Also I still love RaD as a concept, it's technically crackhead engineering, granted they are backed by an actual Shadow Organization.

[solar sinew]

Who isnt at this point. My players found a hint that Elcano isnt quite independent and they suspect all the shit RaD does from Elcano now lol

[feral niche]

However we do have possibly confirmation that the drug addicts themselves have actually made some of the tech we get access to.

You know the theory that you can find the initial of who made some of the parts in RaD?

[solar sinew]

I did!

[late jay]

I think The Strider has Brute's initials if I remember correctly

[solar sinew]

Its EB 0309 Strider

[late jay]

Which could be another reason why Carla may want to be rid of it

[feral niche]

Oh, cool.

[solar sinew]

Please do hint at your source, otherwise consider it canon in a random campaign on the internet lol

[feral niche]

But considering there are a few items listed as R then we have semi confirmation that Rummy, the crazy person he is, has made some funky parts.

Attache, Sweet Sixteen, Delivery Boy.

[late jay]

Trying to find it

[feral niche]

Let's see if there is anything else...

I can't see anything else labelled as R.

[late jay]

https://www.reddit.com/r/armoredcore/comments/17yyz4p/rad_part_designations_come_from_who_designed_them/

Yeah, the Strider's serial name shares the same conventions as the other known RaD products listed here

[solar sinew]

I like the mention of Shade Eye as a Branch part. Given they seem to steal their parts from all around, seeing them run RaD parts is.. interesting to say the least

[solar sinew]

I love that, thank you

[late jay]

And yes, it was Brute's

Actually, now the thought of Carla selling away both the physical Strider and its schematics as a petty attempt to get back at Brute to be kinda funny

Kinda like "Look at how shitty this thing you built is"

[feral niche]

Ironically, the Toybox is also a Brute creation apparently, yet she complains about him sharing that with others.

[solar sinew]

I handed my players a connection between Carla (whom they havent met) and Nagai, and now I feel like I have to do some serious soul searching on what Carlas role here is gonna be before they dig too deep xD

[late jay]

Huh, didn't know that

[feral niche]

The Clutch and Toybox are both labeled as MB.

Carla has madae a bunch of the main body:

[late jay]

The Clutch are the spider-y MTs, right?

Yea, they're the smaller tetrapods

[late jay]

I suppose that would make sense since the Coyotes used them prominently too, having their own unique versions

[solar sinew]

Well, seems like Ill be delving into RaDs side of the lore. Admittedly I know less about them than I would prefer to, given they are linked to Branch in this campaign and one of my players is actively hunting Branch

[feral niche]

Interesting.

Something that is slightly confusing though...

[solar sinew]

Yes?

[feral niche]

Apparently the 12345 is made by Carla, who I don't take for a Doser, yet the description says...

[serene kettle]

Listen, never assume smart people are automatically straight edge

Lots of people get a little experimental in their free time

[late jay]

There's also the Punchers and Kickers which seem to be retrofitted by Carla

[feral niche]

I just assumed since she is one of the people from the other group that she wouldn't partake.

[late jay]

If the "RC" means anything

[feral niche]

The Kickers make me laugh.

[late jay]

"Carla, you can't put a pile bunker on a BAWS RJ MT"

[feral niche]

It's that it is on the legs, I mean there is no other place to put it I suppose.

[late jay]

Yep

https://tenor.com/view/kingdom-hearts-axel-two-axel-two-kh-gif-13046226

I feel like it would be cool to drive an MT btw, although probably not into battle

[solar sinew]

Depends on whether theres an AC in the field I guess

[late jay]

Aren't the heavy tetrapods meant to go toe to toe with ACs btw?

[solar sinew]

They read as ACs to me, though I may be wrong

[serene kettle]

No, BAWS tetrapods are MTs

[solar sinew]

huh

The more you know

[cursive agate]

I think the difference is lack of customization compared to ACs

[serene kettle]

In general mts being trashbots that die in one hit is only true in ac4/4a and light mts in ac6

[solar sinew]

That might be it, yeah

[keen hedge]

Limit seems mostly in like mobility and suchlike

[serene kettle]

MTs in oldgen could be weak, but just as often were comparable or even bosses

[keen hedge]

'These don't make G forces that liquify people'

[serene kettle]

The customizability is the big thing

Armored Cores are defined by a core part

It’s in the name

[keen hedge]

Ogh.. mybrain

[serene kettle]

With ability to customize the peripherals

[polar osprey]

i think MT's were only truly complete fodder in AC4/FA

[serene kettle]

Whereas MTs are combat tech but modifying them is more of a process

[polar osprey]

since a normal AC took the same role as a MT has in AC6

in AC4/FA

[serene kettle]

Honestly I think AC6’s LCs, HCs, Ekdromoi, and Enforcer would all be MTs

[polar osprey]

NEXT's are just fucking monstrous

[late jay]

I remember there being a special MT in 3rd gen that was considered to be on-par with ACs

[serene kettle]

There have been a lot of AC-comparable mts over the years yeah

AC1 actually had multiple classes of AC too

[late jay]

Here it is

[feral niche]

I bring up the PCA Quote referring to the player AC as 'patchwork'.

[serene kettle]

There were proper ACs of the type the player uses but also mass production stock variants and “General Purpose ACs”, last-gen models

[late jay]

Duminas

[polar osprey]

ACFA has all the AC's be geneicus types

mostly cause you're in a NEXT and even if some hyper tuned AC showed up you're pebble victim it

[late jay]

?

[polar osprey]

NEXT are the mechs in AC4/ACFA

[solar sinew]

Jesus, fuck the Escort the Strider mission.

Somehow, Im shocked by how rough it is every time

[polar osprey]

they are to an AC what a AC is to a bog standard MT basically

they are monstrously powerful mechs

the strongest AC pilot in AC6 wouldn't be able to do shit to the weakest NEXT pilot in AC4/FA

[feral niche]

I can't remember, are NEXT taller or shorter than AC6 ACs?

[late jay]

https://youtu.be/aNaGcgda61o?si=MdUxr_zBxlALDI-Y

I just think of this in regards to NEXTs

[serene kettle]

Yeah.

[late jay]

Taller

[feral niche]

Kojima Particles.

[serene kettle]

Mostly it’s just that primal armor is horseshit

[feral niche]

Got it, thought so.

Kojima Particles vs Coral...

[polar osprey]

because of kojima particles and primal armor

NEXT's can just

do more than an AC

[feral niche]

All I know is they are like Radiation.

[polar osprey]

in ACV iirc you can fight a broken down retrofit NEXT and it's like

a super boss

just to give you an idea of why Primal Armor is bullshit

it blocks bullets

not because it's an energy shield

but because it's radiation being leaked out of the mech

so much so that it just melts bullets that enter its field

[feral niche]

That is... worrying.

[polar osprey]

all NEXT's are basically running around leaking the kind of radiation that makes the Elephants foot in chernobyl look tame

and it's an intended feature

they do it on purpose

[feral niche]

Angels of Death and all that.

[serene kettle]

Note: not a superboss, it’s just the final boss

[polar osprey]

ah ok

still

it's posed as like

[late jay]

I have a friend that likes to call NEXTs "Nuclear Neckbreakers"

[polar osprey]

an almost impossible battle

[serene kettle]

Still one of the hardest fights in the series though

[polar osprey]

you're up against harsh odds

even if it's not a fully functioning NEXT and iirc at least its pilot isn't a LYNX

[polar osprey]

apt name

they are also like

hideously fast

[late jay]

Verdict Day:

[polar osprey]

for instance

my NEXT, which is like the slowest fucking thing in existence

[serene kettle]

God verdict day was real good

[polar osprey]

would outspeed the fastest AC i can make in AC6 assuming equivalency in speed numbers

[serene kettle]

Big assumption

[polar osprey]

but the average NEXT for sure is just outright faster than AC's

[serene kettle]

You’d need to convert to m/s

I haven’t looked into this so I don’t know

[polar osprey]

NEXT's are ludicrously fast

[feral niche]

How would C-Weapons fair against NEXTs?

[serene kettle]

They are. The numbers are stupid

[cursive agate]

I'm seeing the km/h fly from like 900-1100 in this clip of AC4 as it quick boosts around.

[polar osprey]

would probably be a more even fight but i don't think it'd be enough

[serene kettle]

Nexts are full on stupid so poorly

[polar osprey]

a C-weapon can be defeated by AC's

NEXT's cannot

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

[serene kettle]

You can safely assume Nexts autowin against most things because the numbers were all jacked up to 11 and it’s not a very interesting comparison

[polar osprey]

ok testing my NEXT which is slow as fuck

and it cruises at around 300km/h and boosts at like 600km/h

overed boost goes to 930km/h

looking at a fast NEXT i made it cruises at around 600km/h, boosts at around 1600km/h and overed boosts at around 1600

suffice to say NEXT's are rather fucking fast

idk if ac6 has a specific speed attached to its speed stat

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

Still think a Coral Surge would fry a Next Pilot? Or something about the Primal Shield/Kojima Particles that woould prevent it?

[polar osprey]

depends on how a coral surge works ig

considering they are insulated against constant fuckass amounts of radiation it might not do much but it really depends

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

[serene kettle]

Coral is horseshit does-whatever-it-wants too so it's anyone's guess

you cannot powerscale this level of nonsense

[polar osprey]

bullshit vs. bullshit

i'd be more inclined to belive it could effect a LYNX since they are physically hooked into the NEXT's system

but at the same time

Coral seems to b e a living organism

[serene kettle]

more importantly, it burns.

[polar osprey]

and i'm not unconvinced that if any got near a NEXT its primal armor wouldn't just fucking fry it

a coral surge seems to be one part energy and one part coral

somehow it's some kind of energy pulse

but it was also capable of transmitting coral wave forms

so

who the fuck even knows

[serene kettle]

a lot of stuff about coral makes more sense if you consider it as a substrate more than anything

akin to a mass of free-floating neurons

[polar osprey]

yeah

i think from the perspective of a coral pulse being a spreading of coral itself

a NEXT pilot should be fucking fine

since you know

PA should fry any coral that gets near the NEXT to beyond crispy

[feral niche]

Radation hurts.

[polar osprey]

super duper ultra cancer deluxe radiation that melts concrete and stops bullets from hitting your mech by literally fucking melting them mid air hurts REAL bad

especially if you're made of nitroglycerin

[feral niche]

Can they survive a minature Fires of Ibis though caused by their Primal Armor?

[serene kettle]

The really weird part is AC6 mechs have assault armor without having primal armor

[polar osprey]

yeah

[feral niche]

Which means?

[serene kettle]

Not much, just that it's gotta be operating on a different mechanism

since the original Assault Armor was intentionally exploding your own PA field

(it left you defenseless afterward)

[polar osprey]

i sure do love causing a minor nuclear explosion on purpose to kill my enemies

[feral niche]

I mean, considering it can counter Pulse Armor, it's Pulse Armor.

Well, ok that might be a wrong way to put that.

[serene kettle]

Yeah it's probably an outwardly-directed weaponized pulse armor of some kind

[feral niche]

I think I meant Assault Armor can counter other Assault Armor.

[serene kettle]

Nah, Assault Armor can also counter pulse armor pretty well

[feral niche]

But am fairly certain it does counter other forms of Pulse Armor though.

Yeah, thought so.

[serene kettle]

if someone pops pulse armor and you hit them with AA right then, AA wins 😛

[winter sigil]

it doesn't counter termy armor

[feral niche]

Was there weapons specifically designed to attack Primal Armor, besides other Kojima Particle Weapons?

Considering there are the Pulse Weapons In AC^.

[serene kettle]

Yeah, the dummy rocket comes to mind

[feral niche]

Not familiar.

I'm assuming it's a big heavy piece of metal and concerete.

Considering that's real Dummy Rockets.

[serene kettle]

my internet is freaking out or I'd pull up the relevant wiki information for actual details

I mostly remember off the top of my head that it was mostly a joke weapon but landing a direct hit deletes primal armor like nothing else

[feral niche]

Lmao, love it.

[serene kettle]

yeah it's "a rocket that does not actually explode"

so probably just a piece of metal with a thruster strapped to it

it's a "shock rocket" though so may have some electrical interference payload?

at any rate it's very effective in dispersing primal armor

[cursive agate]

AC4 Assault Armor: https://www.tumblr.com/ficklefamiliar/800851699706232832

funk engine

-# #armored core

Tumblr · Nov 21, 2025, 7:01 PM

[polar osprey]

lmaoooooo

yeah

it's peak

[ember carbon]

iirc there were also some non-kojima energy weapons that were decent against primal armour but I haven't played AC4/4A in years so I can't remember the name

[modern hornet]

Lasers and Railguns can basically bypass Primal Armor, and any rapid-fire weapon, like MGs or Gatlings, can shred it up in basically no time flat.

Laser Blades also work well for tearing apart Primal Armor... if you're the kind of person to favor melee combat in an era where 10-story+ giant robots are capable of going from 0 to 900+kph in a nanosecond

[polar osprey]

Hitting the pilebunker at 1000kph

[feral niche]

Gimme chainsaw.

[solar sinew]

Do we happen to have an answer on how AC6 handles FTL?
Mostly in the context of guessing at characters ages. Carla is the obvious example, but both Sulla and Dolmayan were active before the fires, putting them at a much higher age than one would suspect.

Antiage surgery could be a thing, sure, but I doubt its been accessible on Rubicon of all places in the last five decades

[feral niche]

Oh yeah, they are old.

How long has 621 been asleep too?

[solar sinew]

I dont think we know. Might have been around for a while if we assume they got surgery while it was "modern". Which may or may not be a reasonable assessment to make

I might just handwave it as cryo for most of them, but I would prefer something more substantial than "didnt feel like being awake for three decades, I guess"

[radiant birch]

I'm assuming that just the availability of Coral limits when 621 could have gotten augmented--it doesn't seem like it was very available after the Fires of Ibis

[solar sinew]

I think there was a log that stated Coral slowed aging effects? Maybe that affects early gen augments too

[radiant birch]

Could well be

[solar sinew]

That did end up being the point of the new augments yeah

Man, the RLF keeps losing. Theyre out here throwing children at people who played the corporate game for fifty years longer than the RLF has been around

[feral niche]

I mean am pretty sure some groups call you a fossil in game.

Like one in particular… who is it…

[solar sinew]

People keep calling Sulla a fossil.
621 is said to have been in storage for "a while"

However long that is

[modern hornet]

I mean, Sulla is a survivor of First-Gen Augmentation surgery. He very much is a fossil compared to most other characters, being present on Rubicon in an active capacity since well before the Fires of Ibis.

[solar sinew]

Yeah, and thats fine and fair. All Im asking is how he is still drawing breath xD

[feral niche]

My assumption is this is referring to specifically augmentation using tech from/on Rubicon before the Fire.

[modern hornet]

C-Pulse Sensory Augmentation, to be specific. The Rubicon Research Institute are the ones who brought about the practice of human augmentation in the ACVI timeline. After Coral was thought lost in the Fires of Ibis, alternative means were needed, which resulted first in Gen 5 augmented humans and culminating in Gen 10

Gens 1-4 all used C-Pulse Sensory Augmentation

[feral niche]

I mean we don’t hear about coral in any of the other human augmentation projects from the previous games.

[feral niche]

Got it.

[modern hornet]

Fires of Rubicon is also its own independent timeline in the wider Armored Core canon. At best, you could maybe draw a thin, tangental connection to the ORCA Path of 4 Answer.

[feral niche]

Whatever that means, but yes am aware.

[modern hornet]

Quick summary for the start AC4A:

• Takes place a decade after a conflict called the National Dismantlement War, with Earth now under the control of megacorporations that used walking wasteland generators called Armored Core NEXTs to completely dominate the aforementioned war.
• Following a more recent conflict known as the LYNX War (AC4), the Earth was increasingly becoming uninhabitably irradiated by the Kojima Particles outputted by those same NEXTs as a byproduct of their operation, most notably their Kojima Particle-based Primal Armor shielding system and Overed Boosters, but also the use of Kojima Particle beam weaponry.
• To escape this pollution, the Megacorps reorganized their governance from the Pax Economica that followed the National Dismantlement War to a League of Corporations following the LYNX War and constructed the Cradles, flying megaships that maintain a general operating altitude of 7km above the surface, where the air's still clean and safe.
• Over half of mankind now lives in the skies, while the surface has become a battlefield where corporate armies and hired guns consigned to the poisoned Earth, like the LYNX pilots who allowed the corporations to take control in the first place, fight for control of the resource plants that feed the Cradles in a never-ending Economic War.

[polar osprey]

time for my GOAT

[modern hornet]

As for the question of "why not just go to space," well, at the start of AC4A, that is physically impossible.

Before the National Dismantlement War, the Corps vied for control of outer space, and in a move to block one another's progress, they build unmanned satellite weapons called Assault Cells, which soon became so numerous that the path to space became barred to mankind.

They open fire on ANYTHING that enters into their weapons range without discrimination or mercy

This was a problem even before the events of Armored Core 4, and Rayleonard, one of the corporations actively involved in the LYNX War, which they did not survive, wanted to do something about it by implementing something called the Closed Plan. Said plan involved the construction and operation of towering anti-satellite Kojima Particle Cannon batteries to vaporize the Assault Cells and debris choking Earth's lower orbit down to their component molecules. In the ORCA Path of 4 Answer, you see that same plan through to fruition.

[late jay]

Here's an experimental glass cannon build I'm working on

[solar sinew]

You say glass canon, I see about 1k less weight and 500 less AP than my build.
Surely Im not scraping the bottom of the weightclasses this badly xD

[winter sigil]

that's not thaaaat glass cannony
i wouldn't consider this build to be a glass cannon

you just gotta dodge good

[solar sinew]

AP is a dump stat if you dont get hit et al

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

[feral niche]

I understand the King Ending or whatever now.

[polar osprey]

for the King ending

one important thing to note

Orca is a fucking industry plant

they're corpo rats

which makes King's motivations make more sense

[feral niche]

You blow the Cradles up, killing off most of mankind. Right?

[polar osprey]

you blow up the cradles killing 100 million people approx

it's a fuck you to the corporations

also the cradles happen to be poisoning the earth

[feral niche]

Indeed.

Great, course they are.

[polar osprey]

my build is pretty midweight so i guess you could compare

[modern hornet]

Old King, before joining ORCA, was the leader of the Lillianna anti-establishment group. To quote one of the mission briefings: "They are an extremist anti-establishment group, more radical, even, than Line Arc. They are committed to violence for its own sake, and little else."

[polar osprey]

the Orca ending is seen a bit like the good ending because it gets humanity access to space and a route to escape the problems of earth and survive

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

[polar osprey]

however

one of the higher ups in ORCA

Maximilian Thermidor

is actually Otsdarva

[feral niche]

Ok then.

[polar osprey]

so you know, ORCA is at minimum infiltrated by the corporations

Old King is still a lunatic but his specific beef is with the corporations

he's very much a "no matter the cost" kinda guy

[serene kettle]

OMER is the worst tbh

[polar osprey]

correct

for reference, Otsdarva is their top guy

who is playing double agent as ORCA's leader

[serene kettle]

it's really funny that the Wynne D. Fanchon ending isn't even siding with the corporations, they strike a deal with ORCA right at the end

[modern hornet]

Omer Science Technology are, indeed, the worst. They're also the schmuks who absorbed the remnants of Ralyeonard in the aftermath of the LYNX War.

[serene kettle]

Wynne just has a strong sense of honor and refuses to stand down and let people die so she hires you out of her own pocket

(She hires Roy Saaland instead on the ORCA route)

[modern hornet]

Which is probably how they were able to infiltrate ORCA to begin with via Otsdarva/Thermidor. They knew about the Closed Plan, and presumably aimed to use it as a front to rally up as many dissidents as possible into one convenient organization and then wipe them all out in one fell swoop when the time came.

[polar osprey]

yeah

Orca ending is prolly the most hopeful one

but also does kinda play into the hands of the corporations

Old King ending is just saying fuck you to the corpo's and burning them all down even at the cost of a hundred million people

[modern hornet]

WAY more than a hundred million people. I've never managed to complete the Destruction Path, myself, but from what I understand, completing that path sees Strayed go on to shoot every last Cradle out of the sky.

[serene kettle]

Yeah it's pretty much killing everyone.

[polar osprey]

in the mission you shoot down cradles in you directly kill 100 million people

i was referencing that

but yeah

it's basically killing everyone to fuck the corpo's

it doesn't exactly extinct humanity or anything

but it's not good

[serene kettle]

(though Verdict Day both implies that the destruction ending is canon and indicates that the ACV/VD timeline is in the distant future from For Answer, which suggests that it may not have been the mercy kill on civilization as a whole that Old King hinted at)

Also surprisingly hopeful all things considered since ACV is very obviously post-apocalyptic but is conspicuously not overflowing with Kojima particles

it did, eventually, get somewhat better on the surface

[polar osprey]

we stay winning i guess

[modern hornet]

I prefer the ORCA ending, myself, mainly because it means humanity isn't planet-locked anymore.

[radiant birch]

Either 5th or 6th gen being a distant sequel to 4th gen would imply that some point humanity collectively agreed that the Toxic Radiation Superweapons aren't worth it and unilaterally disarmed, which would be a surprisingly optimistic take for the series

[polar osprey]

pretty sure i did the ORCA ending

[modern hornet]

Like, sure, the Corporations are still around to make the transition to the new space age long, difficult, and bloody, and sure, a good chunk of humaity does still die, either from the shock of landfall or radiation sickness after the Cradles' wings are clipped, but at least the survivors actually have the hope of a more immediately realizable future beyond the radiation-cooked wastelands of Earth now.

[radiant birch]

Alternately there's some kind of Turn A Gundam thing going on

[polar osprey]

there is one in ACV/D

so they definitely decided to stop fucking with NEXT's

[serene kettle]

Well, "decided"

more accurately they fell out of use because it was impossible to maintain them so they have more of a lost technology vibe

[radiant birch]

Humanity gets a "not as much of a self-destructive bunch of idiots as you could've been" gold star

[serene kettle]

One does get whipped out for the final boss of Verdict Day and it's scary as hell

[polar osprey]

the NEXT in Verdict Day is N-WGIX/v

which is maybe based on White Glint

[serene kettle]

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

[modern hornet]

Still haven't been able to beat J in that fight. If anything, that fight is basically how it feels to be a Normal going up against a NEXT.

[polar osprey]

the pilot, J is a sorta kinda clone of the pilot of White Glint iirc

[serene kettle]

Yeah it's genuinely one of the toughest fights in the series

[radiant birch]

God I gotta play the earlier gens at some point (is currently occupied with Dark Souls 2)

[serene kettle]

I've done it but it was noooooot easy

I was actually really amused when I first fought Balteus because it feels a lot like a nerfed version of this fight

[polar osprey]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp3t9Nwjr_8

banger boss theme

[serene kettle]

similar enemy loadout with huge missile spam and assault armor

[radiant birch]

Makes sense that they'd do a remix of one of the most iconic ACFA pieces for that one

[solar sinew]

Still one of my favorite tracks in AC. Verdict Day had such good music in general

[polar osprey]

yup

gods White Glint is good

engaging overed boost on White Glint feels so powerful

[radiant birch]

Thryfe recently did a cosplay vid for... Unsung, I think it was? Thermidor's NEXT

It looked pretty sick

And it worked surprisingly well in ranked PVP, though I suspect a lot of that is just Thryfe being a good pilot

[late jay]

Not really trying to beat any records, mainly just trying to get 20B generator to work well with the Aurora

[quasi copper]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/armoredcore/s/v4kNN7epfq

[serene kettle]

GOOD

[distant forge]

i feel like such a little bastard with this in pvp

[feral niche]

I gotta send my friend's NG++ Build he has been using, it's surprisingly similar to this.

[radiant birch]

yoyo of doom

[distant forge]

strange happenings

[feral niche]

'HMMR'.

[solar sinew]

Somehow, my player is This close to figuring out the Elcano-Furlong connection. All this fromthe fucking mealworms of all things

[polar osprey]

Mealworm deep lore

[solar sinew]

Of all the things to focus on. Its very endearing.

I guess I set myself up for it by giving her the datalog from the Wall that mentions them, and adding dead ones to their downtime session

[polar osprey]

Mhm

A lil bit

[quasi copper]

Stabilitymaxxing I see?

[distant forge]

One could say

[feral niche]

My friend's current build in NG++:

[eager vector]

I wish that heavy tetrapod legs had a different gimmick than the hover

and lamm legs was in its own category of lightweight hover tetras

the other tetras look so goofy when hovering and it doesn’t seem that useful on them

other than just being no firing stance mode

[feral niche]

Fair enough, my friend just really likes spider legs apparently and heavy is what his build is.

[eager vector]

aesthetically they’re unparalleled

[modern hornet]

To be fair, the 424 and Verrill Legs were in the game from day 1. Lammergeier was only added in reg. 1.05 because there was no lightweight Tetra leg, which is what allowed its hover mode to be more elaborate

[eager vector]

no yeah I know

[feral niche]

More elaborate?

[eager vector]

the animation is more complex

[feral niche]

Thought that was what you meant.

[feral niche]

So I am talking with someone who says that AC 4 and 5 were the worst AC games due to their speed, as they prefer the earlier games since, according to them, 'Armored Core isn't meant to feel like you're this indestructible hero. You're just another Raven in a world where you have to fight to survive your missions.' Not here to form an argument, just curious on other's opinions on this.

[feral niche]

I have come to disagree with them on most of their subsequent points I see, such as 'AC should only be on playstation' and 'it never needed mods in the first place'.

[polar osprey]

AC4 i kinda get but AC5 for all that it might be a bit faster is rather more grounded than even 6

granted idk what they think about 6 but if they like 6 and not 5 for the reasons stated that's kinda baffling

you're practically a demigod in AC4/FA so i can kinda see it there but

AC6 is just as much of a power fantasy if you really wanna go there

[feral niche]

They like 6 from what I gathered.

[polar osprey]

i guess i strenously disagree then

[feral niche]

They said AC4 just seemed easier, not gameplay wise but difficulty wise, they had trouble adapting to the speed.

Running a godly machine and all that.

[polar osprey]

clearly this person has never done the "Occupation of Arteria Carpals" mission

might just be cause the two games i've played are ACFA and AC6

[polar osprey]

actually disregard this, that's an ACFA mission

i keep thinking they're the same game when they really aren't

i think for me the controls kinda adds to the difficulty for ACFA/AC4 so i generally find it harder than AC6

[feral niche]

I can really word it right, and I didn't get much beyond the initial stuff out of them before we decided to just move onto a different topic.

[polar osprey]

fair enough

[feral niche]

We silently agreed to disagree so it's whatever.

[polar osprey]

mhm

[feral niche]

I don't actually mind him not liking AC 4 and 5 because from what I've seen the first 3 games are much different comparitively, especially with 4, but saying 'They are the worst games because they completely break the previously established playstyle' feels like too much imo.

[polar osprey]

yeah

for me 4/FA is prolly like

the most understandable to have differing opinions on

cause they really go fucking nuts with cranking up the gameplay

but calling is the absolute worst game in the series that completely breaks the series when they literally went the opposite direction with 5 and made a very grounded combat style right after, then immediately cranked it back up again for 6

is

an interesting opinion

also just, feels like it's anti-change a bit really

"this is bad because it's different"

[feral niche]

Yah, oh well, best to bury the hatchet, tempted to ask what build they use once we finished talking about these other games.

[polar osprey]

could be interesting to know

[modern hornet]

For me, personally, Armored Core 4 Answer is honestly the AC game I've gone back to the most, followed by Nine Breaker.

I'll freely admit that V and Verdict Day have their moments, but... I can't say I cared overmuch for how slow and cumbersome they felt compared to even the early 3rd Gen.

[feral niche]

Oh, they actually listed the 'best' AC games according to them, let me find them.

'Last Raven and Silent Line were the best Armored Core games until 6 came out.'

[eager vector]

that’s true imo

[late jay]

I thought you were supposed to be underpowered in 5th Gen

[feral niche]

Idk tbh...

Also when I asked for their build they gave me something that doesn't make sense (2 left handed weapons, followed by dual pistols which equals 3 left handed weapons) and when I pointed that out they said 'I think I need to play AC6 again...'

[polar osprey]

for which game was the build

[polar osprey]

ah

[feral niche]

They said it has been over a year since they played it.

[polar osprey]

yeah that's too many weapons for that to uh, fit

[feral niche]

I suspect it might actually be close to their build so I'll give them that.

[polar osprey]

in ACFA you can actually have 7 different weapons, one of which fits on your shoulders

[feral niche]

They just can't remember all the specifics I presume.

[polar osprey]

prolly

[feral niche]

They said they open with the Moonlight, Stagger with their 'dual' Duckett(s), then hit them with the Pilebunker.

[polar osprey]

yeah that does not track as it happens

again if this was an older game like ACFA where you could dual wield melee

[feral niche]

Indeed, I mean if it wasn't dual pistols it would fit fine.

So it's either it wasn't dual pistols, or he's mixing 2 separate builds in his head.

He opened the game back up to check his build, so far he says heavyweight build.

Basho head, Tian Qiang body, Tian Lao arms, and Tian Qiang legs with dual Ducketts, Redshift (just a red version of Moonlight), and the 12 missile vertical launcher

[modern hornet]

Note, Redshift is not just a red version of Moonlight. While Moonlight is a Wave Blade in this story (effectively a ranged melee), Redshift is a Coral Oscillator. It works the same way as Moonlight, but while the Wave Blade does energy damage, Redshift is a Coral weapon, which means it bascally deals True Damage.

The only "defensive" stats that matter against Coral weaponry are your AP, your Boosters, and what Expansion you have.

[feral niche]

Correct, I assume they do know that.

[feral niche]

Coral Generator combined with Assault Armor.

[radiant birch]

worth asking, when this person says "AC4" and "AC5" do they mean those games specifically or the 4th and 5th gen in general?

my understanding is that AC4 and 5 proper were kind of weak games, but that For Answer and Verdict Day both shored up those weaknesses and brought their respective generation to a high water mark

i have heard "AC4 is disappointingly easy" from other people who've played it, for instance

[feral niche]

I have no clue, and you have to keep in mind they dislike the speed of the game, and found it difficult to handle, but at the same time they apparently found the difficulty, whether towards the player or just the in world power scaling, was massively turned in the Player's favor.

[wooden nimbus]

Played both, I can personally say this sums up my feelings on them

[paper ferry]

Took my original Zimmerman build and turned it into a half-decent energy shotgun PvP build

"half-decent" meaning I occasionally win with it

PvP is at least a nice place to get pics of your mechs

[radiant birch]

this looks fun 👀

i do love me some laser shottys

[paper ferry]

I usually put a missile rack on it, but for PvP I used the laser drones

[radiant birch]

one of these days i should make a concerted effort and see if i can climb out of C Rank

at the moment i only play PVP like once every month or two xP

[paper ferry]

I did just get a notch on C rank, so I’m a quarter the way there

Until I repeatedly get knocked back down by someone who will obliterate me in less than 15 seconds before I can even think about how to play around their build

At least you can’t lose your letter rank

I am getting better at using the Pile Bunker against enemy ACs. The key is to advance towards them while spraying them with my Gatling gun and then getting them with the charged attack

It’s a fairly tanky build, somewhat towards the lighter end of heavyweight, so I can afford to be a bullet sponge

[radiant birch]

getting 3-4 matches in a row against someone you can't figure out how to fight effectively is a headache yeah

[feral niche]

This is the build he's using to fight the final boss on the Allmind ending:

[serene kettle]

All the coral gear at once i see

Delicious

Well, not the coral missile

Works pretty well for redfin tbh

[feral niche]

Here's what he got the kill with finally, he got all 3 endings and described the game as 'stupidly fun':

[eager vector]

hell yeah

[late jay]

https://youtu.be/_wnt37T1j0Y?si=VhqOaocWTYTWDi0-

[feral niche]

Also his PC Wallpaper is an AC 4H design from Wallpaper Engine iirc.

However none of the other AC games are on Steam so he's going to play something else.

[feral niche]

Nice.

[radiant birch]

God I wish they'd port some of the older AC games to Steam. That'd be dope

Give us the remasters From. It's what the gamers want

[feral niche]

Any way to easy access some of the older games? I can tell you now this friend won't find it worth it to dive through many hoops.

[serene kettle]

Emulation aside I think they’re available on PSN these days

[feral niche]

Damn.

[serene kettle]

https://store.playstation.com/en-us/product/UP0506-PPSA21240_00-ARMOREDCORE00000

First one def is

[feral niche]

Got it.

All the AC games available here.

[serene kettle]

So, ac6 and the first three (before AC2)

[feral niche]

Seems so.

[eager vector]

AC3 an AC3:SL are peak

[serene kettle]

At any rate they’re all reasonably easy to emulate except ACV and Verdict Day where, uh, good luck without original hardware

[feral niche]

Fair enough, alas it seems we must wait for AC7 then.

Which, am optomistic for.

https://tenor.com/view/santa-claus-aging-old-gif-14680363

Me getting the AC:VD to AC6 treatment.

[serene kettle]

Missing out tbh, the oldgen games emulate and perform very well

[feral niche]

I don't have something that can run AC6, let alone emulate.

[eager vector]

emulating ps2 games is far far easier than running AC6

[feral niche]

I'm also lazy and don't wanna bother.

[serene kettle]

Well I can’t fix that

[feral niche]

But I thank you for your effort.

[cursive agate]

Last I've heard, the PSN versions lack save transfer. May have changed since.

[solar sinew]

Whats the issue with VD emulation?

[polar osprey]

doesn't work

it does NOT like being emulated

i've tried it

it gets very cross

[solar sinew]

Hm, a shame. Ill still try to bully it into compliance when I get my steamdeck back. What about V?

Or I suppose, how do you make VD work on kb&m? Im notoriously useless on gamepad, but 4As controls had me running for my steamdeck

[polar osprey]

neither V or VD will work

you can try to bully it into compliance i guess

but it will take a lot more to get it to work properly than just fiddling with settings as i understand it

i managed to get them to launch but they would crash and lag and have all kinds of problems no matter what i did

[serene kettle]

I think the armored core discord has custom tweaked out emulators specifically tuned for them

[polar osprey]

that might do it

idk i haven't kept up with the emulation struggles of V/VD

[solar sinew]

Might need to steal those, then. Thanks for the headsup!

[serene kettle]

Because they are very finicky about it

[polar osprey]

last time i checked they outright weren't able to be fully emulated

but that can absolutely have changed

[solar sinew]

What I wouldnt give for them to be regularly available on modern hardware

[serene kettle]

Verdict Day is one of the best in the series so

[solar sinew]

Ive had some issues getting 4a to run on steamdeck, but it runs on my PC just fine. May just have to mess with it once my Deck is back

[polar osprey]

yeah i really fucking wanna try V/VD sometime

ACFA was so fucking peak

i wanna see what came after it

[solar sinew]

Same. Im too in love with AC6 not to play the other ones

[polar osprey]

also i just wanna fight J

i REALLY wanna fight J

[radiant birch]

iirc the 5th gen is hard to emulate but the 4th gen runs substantially better on emulation than on console

so it's not even like i can just say "well i'll just grab a used PS3 then"

used AC games also shot up in price when AC6 got announced 😭

[feral niche]

Makes sense, unfortunately.

[radiant birch]

yeah.....

[feral niche]

Once again, am optomistic on the front of AC7.

[solar sinew]

Ill stay optimistic for an AC6 DLC until we get the AC7 announcement. Pure copium

Yeah, this feels good lol

[winter sigil]

such a nice one to get out of the way

[solar sinew]

Yeah, for real. Didnt expect to go in and just get it done, I was braced for a much longer struggle

[radiant birch]

it is funny how much ||explosive weapons|| trivialize that mission

[winter sigil]

it's the only one i completely changed my build for

[solar sinew]

I went in with double flame throwers, personally. Super fun

[winter sigil]

flamethrowers absolutely cook heliocanthus machines

[radiant birch]

like i hit a wall with it using an energy-based build, and then switched to a missile rat build out of pure "i have no idea maybe this will work" and then skated through

[solar sinew]

So I found out. very pleasant surprise

Gallia Alt is giving me more trouble atm

[serene kettle]

yeah I S-ranked that mission with Queen of Nails almost by accident

Just bunnyhopping and spamming Aperitif more or less

[feral niche]

He swapped to a missile build after a number of tries and got it then.

[solar sinew]

I managed thanks to double Ludlows and the best buddy in the game

[serene kettle]

I love luring them up there to use the tetrapod's heavy weapons lmao

[solar sinew]

Yeah, that tetra is the best

[radiant birch]

is that a quad-barrel shotgun in its left hand? i dig it

[serene kettle]

BAWS tetrapods have some pretty potent weapons

[feral niche]

I assume that’s 2 barrels and 2 tube magazines.

[serene kettle]

the ones with the sixfold bazookas are terrifying if they land a hit

[feral niche]

Can’t quite tell honestly.

I love RaD as a group, but BAWS also has a very rustic aesthetic.

[paper ferry]

Killer design here

[feral niche]

He was running the Hal head before he unlocked the Shade Eye.

[late jay]

Is the Shade Eye NG+ exclusive?

[paper ferry]

NG++

[late jay]

Huh

I don't remember that

[paper ferry]

It’s in ALLMIND’s hidden files

[late jay]

Then again, it's been over a year since I've 100%ed AC6

[solar sinew]

Branch was in all likelyhood sent by Overseer, but one of my players sure makes a very compelling case for it having been Arquebus instead.

For those whod like to be amused:

Cord is the campaigns Walter equivalent, Desert Dogs is a renamed, but functionally identical Branch.
Painkiller is the fourth Branch member the campaign added.

Two of my players still took Ravens/Painkillers ID, leading to this very amusing attempt by my player to figure out what the fuck Rusty was on about during Wallclimber

Ill be honest, I like this better than the Overseer plot lol
It does remove quite a bit of agency from Carla and Walter/Cord, and gives it to Arquebus, who really dont need it, but theres somsthing fun in there

[feral niche]

So you think Earth is fried by the time of AC6?

[wooden nimbus]

Given how AC timelines generally work I assume that's why we went to space in the first place

[late jay]

Aside from AC2/AA, is AC6 the only other time the game takes place outside of Earth?

[serene kettle]

Yes

unless you count some edge cases like the mission in AC1 to take out a kill sat Murakumo is attempting to fire

[late jay]

Ah

[modern hornet]

Shade Eye comes from Nightfall Raven, who’s at the end of the Integration Program, not the hidden files

[radiant birch]

there's like one or two games that take place on Mars, aren't there? or am I making that up?

either way AC6 is definitely the first extrasolar setting for an AC game

oh wait i think Breon mentioned that to begin with xP

never mind, reading comprehension's not online today apparently

[eager vector]

That’s AC2/AA

Oh I didn’t get to the end where you already figured it out lol

[radiant birch]

something in the water, clearly

[feral niche]

I live in Delaware, well known as DuPont state, I.E all the water is toxic.

[paper ferry]

Even though Nightfall Raven is really important to the story in how he kicks off the events of AC6, how you steal his license, and how he’s the literal mascot for the game, he’s honestly one of the characters that I’m least interested in.

Should’ve made his introduction in Defend the Spaceport more impressive, idk

[cursive agate]

I went into Defend the Spaceport with a similar setup and had a pretty tough fight. (Nightfall's arena fight) tends to be my go-to tester for builds.

[solar sinew]

I think its because we get so little on Branch in general. On one hand, they are the catalyst for the whole game, but on the other we dont even know.. why? King and Chartreuse raiding Station 31 is such a cool plot point, but all it boils down to is one moderately disappointing mission at Gallia Dam, and one slightly more interesting one at the Spaceport. Neither one of which really tell us anything. Branch will watch us.. cool, and?

I cant help but look at the PCA being confused about who 621 is and think there was another substory in there somewhere that was cut for time

Even the answer to "Who hired Branch" getting a definitive answer would have done a lot for them, I think. That, and a little more agency than "Guess we die now"

[paper ferry]

I think they had intended to pull a bait and switch during Defend the Dam Complex when you see Nightfall Raven in the cutscene and you are supposed to think that they’re here to help you take on King and Chartreuse only for a third health bar to appear, but it didn’t come off that way for me

[cursive agate]

With the scattered lore bits, Branch seems like their own story running in the background. Raven being about as faceless/replacable as 621.

[paper ferry]

AC6 definitely has a few characters who think they’re the main character

[keen hedge]

Pretty much every other person who calls tbh

They're just in different genres

[paper ferry]

Rusty, Branch, the student pilot…

[keen hedge]

Thumb in some sort of psychological horror

[serene kettle]

God, the student pilot

That mission really is just ending someone else’s anime on episode 1

[polar osprey]

Omw to ruin that guys life for fun

[eager vector]

Iguazu obv, Snail

[serene kettle]

Mmm i can see an argument for iguazu as some kind of antihero, I don’t see Snail

[paper ferry]

Poor kid thought he was in Gundam, not Armored Core

[polar osprey]

Bro showed up ready to start his adventure

Unfortunately for him it was not meant to be

[keen hedge]

There was a younger kid who really looked up to Student Pilot and his story is going to be great

And then he'll be used as Build Testing in AC7

[polar osprey]

Not me repeatedly folding Student Pilot like anomelet for build testing

[solar sinew]

Well, I suppose it was a bait and switch. Im with you, I didnt read it that way either. They really just didnt elaborate on Branchs agenda and its a damn shame

[paper ferry]

Interesting how the student pilot’s AC was built by ALLMIND for the Integration Program

Just another early hint at how they’re working throughout the entire game

[serene kettle]

It was supposedly an experimental AC

The mission was to destroy the ac after all

[polar osprey]

The experiment ended up being to see how fast i could destroy it

[serene kettle]

The student was a casualty

[polar osprey]

Got corpo'd

[paper ferry]

It was made by an “external architect” and it was intended to see how well an unaugmented pilot could adapt to a new AC, so it might not have been the frame that the student pilot initially trained in

Clearly, he couldn’t adapt

[polar osprey]

Rip bozo or some such

[paper ferry]

Destroy the Tester AC alt mission

[feral niche]

‘I AM ARQUEBUS!’

Pretty much both versions of that speech.

[polar osprey]

Unfortunately for Student Pilot i have a lady in my head that tells me to do stuff

[paper ferry]

Bro’s just monologuing, he probably says that in the mirror every morning

I imagine that besides his schemes and plots, Snail is probably the dullest person alive

[feral niche]

Real I wanna say MC behavior, but that comes down to if you think MC Behavior means acting good or just self-righteously.

[polar osprey]

Bro has neither Ethos, Pathos or Logos

Sub it in with dollar

[eager vector]

I mean just in terms of their own self perception

[serene kettle]

Well at that point it’s every character

[feral niche]

I think it’s interesting how it’s so early in the story but Walter tries to comfort you over doing the Student Pilot.

[serene kettle]

Everyone is in some way the hero of their own story

[feral niche]

My favorite MC, Nosaac.

[polar osprey]

I usually think of myself more of a protagonist

[solar sinew]

Somehow, I S rank the end bosses first try, but Snailtheus walls the fuck out of me. Weird day

[serene kettle]

Snailteus is a real contender for toughest endgame thing

[solar sinew]

I did not remember him being this hard, tbh

[serene kettle]

Also the runback on snailteus for the S rank is unfortunate

[wooden nimbus]

We all got our bugbears

[solar sinew]

Thats what Im doing xD

I dont have that many missions left, but I sure am not looking forward to the ones that are left

[feral niche]

Snailteus but it’s all Stun Needles.

[wooden nimbus]

Mine is the original nerfs to that one assault boost thruster who's name I always forget

[serene kettle]

Tbh the runback that annoyed me most was walter though

[wooden nimbus]

I miss chasing down literally everything

[serene kettle]

It’s completely trivial but takes a bit

[solar sinew]

Im more annoyed with BAWS Arsenal No 2 than any of these tbh. At least with Snail I can call it a skill issue and accept that. With BAWS it feels completely arbitrary to make me memorize spawnpoints for little reason

[serene kettle]

Oh yes, BAWS arsenal is one of the most difficult s ranks

[feral niche]

For S-Rank?

[solar sinew]

yeah

[feral niche]

Got it.

[wooden nimbus]

Which one is that again

[solar sinew]

ALLMINDs snipers in the factory with the Coral Wells at the bottom

[feral niche]

Ghosts first time (ignoring secrets).

[wooden nimbus]

Oh yeah

[solar sinew]

The alt mission I have zero grudges with

[wooden nimbus]

The tower defense mission and the one where you intercept ships at the bridge will never be S Rank unless I hand my account to someone lol

[serene kettle]

BAWS arsenal also has a lot of frustrating hurry up and wait too

[feral niche]

Fair enough.

[serene kettle]

Since invisible walls stop you from progressing before the dialogue runs

[solar sinew]

Theres what, eight enemies total in that mission? Really shouldnt be this tedious to S rank xD

[feral niche]

Some invisible wall placements are weird in that game.

[serene kettle]

You can at least jump the ghosts in the second-to-last room before they reveal themselves

Considerable timesave

[solar sinew]

Wait, before you open the door?

[wooden nimbus]

What do you mean a red hologram can stop my ten meter tall weapon of mass destruction

[serene kettle]

Yep!

[feral niche]

I like the idea of the ghosts.

[solar sinew]

WAIT

[serene kettle]

They’re just standing cloaked nearby

[solar sinew]

I thought I had to open it and go through to the end, turn around and THEN kill them

[wooden nimbus]

The ghosts are super cool and I'm mad I don't get their whip

[solar sinew]

Are they in their normal spawn locations?

[serene kettle]

You can spot them with a scan and jump them

[solar sinew]

Fuck

[serene kettle]

Yes

[feral niche]

Pretty sure it’s actually a boundary programmed into your frame to tell you where your mission boundaries are.

[wooden nimbus]

Also a cloak would be a cool core expansion

[solar sinew]

You, Jane, are my favorite person today

[wooden nimbus]

How dare they do this to me

[serene kettle]

❤️

[feral niche]

Once again, some are really weird though.

[solar sinew]

shoutout to whoever programmed the walls for the Spaceport mission in which the Iceworm shows up. They really made sure you could stand on no part of elevation the worm cant get to xD

[serene kettle]

They actually don’t spawn in they’re just…hiding

Lmao

[solar sinew]

that makes all the sense, but for some reason I assumed they spawn in like so many enemies do xD

[feral niche]

There’s a single wall that feels so unnecessary in the eliminate snail mission, following the left wall it just suddenly has a small bit that juts out that you have to follow, for some reason.

[serene kettle]

Walter has alternate dialogue if you jump them, it’s hilarious

[feral niche]

I assume it’s something like ‘how did you know about these things?’

[serene kettle]

Yeah he’s just like “damn, good eye”

[feral niche]

Same.

[solar sinew]

DLC copium

[feral niche]

Indeed.

One of the things that is cool is that, while in game they say it’s encrypted, I’m pretty sure the Ghosts just use computer speak for streamlined communication, because they are not front facing hardware like Kate and Allmind themself.

[wooden nimbus]

Ye

I just love stealth on giant robots

[feral niche]

Why do they need to speak in English? No need.

I don’t feel so strongly on it, but they have stuff we don’t do am jealous.

At least I have a chainsaw though.

[solar sinew]

Hm, dont mind me taking this and handing it to my players for their crackpot theories. Thats a super neat detail

[serene kettle]

It probably is also encrypted though

[wooden nimbus]

Consider: with a visual cloak you could have surprise chainsaw

[feral niche]

Yeah, I mean I can’t remember if it’s actually Morse code or just nonsense but they do have some sort of dialogue.

[solar sinew]

Yeah, of course, but decrypting their comms only to discover they were never english to begin with is still something

[feral niche]

Indeed.

[feral niche]

Gotta run it through a computer now.

[solar sinew]

"Hey ALLMIND, could you translate this" - My group on monday, probably

[feral niche]

Correct, but I am semi-obsessed with chainsaws so having one in the first place is perfect.

[feral niche]

Lmao!

Planetary Closure Administration has a bunch of cool tech too.

It’s just they don’t really use ACs and thus not compatible and that’s why they don’t give you any.

The Ghosts look cool but we could not use their body since it’s not a manned machine.

[solar sinew]

Its a really neat way to explain why we dont get their parts, too.

[feral niche]

Indeed, even though both their stuff is awesome.

You’d need like Branch/RaD/Overseer levels of tech wizardry to adapt these things.

[solar sinew]

Kinda makes me wonder what Carla couldve done with a longer lifespan. Shes so excited about the Seaspider too

[keen hedge]

Carla faked her death it's fiiine

[feral niche]

Honestly, something really interesting is I do think RaD has some naturally intelligent people who are not affiliated with Overseer.

Insanely, if you follow the ‘Initialed parts’ theory then Rummy made the Delivery Boy.

[solar sinew]

Different kinds of intelligence, Rummy seems like he has a good eye for tech, even if he has some other..issues

[feral niche]

I think it’s very interesting, if it wasn’t for Carla and Chatty keeping such a tight eye on everything, you could probably commission some tech from RaD.

I say that because of Overseer, scheming manipulators.

[solar sinew]

Theres a precedent for people commissioning RaD with the Strider. Which also had its own issues.

Hm. I want more RaD tech now

I really gotta get my players introduced to Carla, I wanna see what wild plans they make for that Coral generator they found

[feral niche]

Which C generator again? In game one or homebrew?

[solar sinew]

This is for my Lancer campaign. They found a prototype for CEL 240s generator and some of its drones

[feral niche]

Trying to remember which machine that is…

[solar sinew]

||the flying fucker at the end of Reach the Coral Convergence in in Institute City||

||Lots of Coral, very fast, Snail shoots you afterwards||

[feral niche]

I thought it was also called Ibis, shortened somehow.

I had a feeling you meant that though considering the mention of drones.

[solar sinew]

yep

Its an Ibis weapon

[feral niche]

Thought so.

[solar sinew]

||This guy||

So yeah, my resident Hydra is gonna be quite annoying to deal with soon xD

[feral niche]

Crazy new Gilgamesh soon.

Coral generators are interesting in game since they entice you to fully deplete your energy.

How does that translate in Lancer? If you decide to do so.

[serene kettle]

built-in autocooler effect if you end your turn at your exact heatcap without going over

[feral niche]

I should get used to spoilering messages.

[serene kettle]

TBH I would probably model CEL-240's drone moves as nexus attacks rather than drones though

[solar sinew]

I decided against Coral specifically getting a new mechanic and just tried to translate some of CEL 240s stuff.

Coral Drone Thruster Suite
3SP Exotic

Whenever you deal damage to an opponent, you may move 1 space.
Your drones and deployables may be deployed in mid-air, and if they have a movement speed, they can count any of that movement as flying or hovering.

This one is a very direct "make the hydra use this", type deal

We also dont have a Nelson lol

[feral niche]

Got it.

[solar sinew]

Im super open for ideas for other Coral tech, though. Letting it bypas resistance feels on brand, but potentially quite dicy to hand to players

[feral niche]

Am not foot at the technical background.

Visually though, I say look at the coral ax parts.

[solar sinew]

Yeah, good shout

[serene kettle]

I would just treat it as paracausal mod at that point

right off the license

[feral niche]

I was gonna continue on and say think about the niche each Coral AC part serves and think about how the RRI may have made other machines to fill the same role.

Something interesting is how different the Coral Shield is compared to the Pulse Shields.

360 degree spherical shield as opposed to a front fading shield.

[solar sinew]

I dont think Im familiar. A Wallflower addition?

[solar sinew]

Yeah. I dont have big issues with it in narrative, but representing it mechanically is a bit tricky

[serene kettle]

It's on the Saladin License

[feral niche]

Granted it may literally only work on Rubicon because of its description saying it effectively just creates interference that warps the Coral Intelligence to form the shield.

[feral niche]

Fair.

[solar sinew]

Hm. Yeah, looks interesting, I just dont see any huge takers for it in my squad. The Hydra wouldnt want the SP cost and the Monarch has a pocket-Swallowtail

[solar sinew]

We arent gonna be leaving Rubicon, so thats fine by me lol.

Any of the Coral tech brings up interesting questions though, given Coral was exported to other parts of the universe. How much Coral do you need to have an Intelligence you can manipulate for a weapon or a shield

[feral niche]

That… is a good question.

Mfw ‘Pocket Coral’.

https://tenor.com/view/kaboom-boom-nuke-nuclear-bomb-gif-20734003

[solar sinew]

Maybe Overseer was onto something lol

[feral niche]

I mean don’t people believe the final ending ||extends over effectively all of humanity?||

[solar sinew]

I do, yeah. Or at least the parts of it that survive it

Hang on, do we avoid spoilers in this forum?

[wooden nimbus]

I want to fight two at once ngl

[solar sinew]

Madman

[feral niche]

Which means there is a lot of Coral, either around the realm or just that much on Rubicon.

[solar sinew]

It also reproduces very quickly in a vacuum

[feral niche]

Apparently.

[solar sinew]

Which is the real issue with the whole ||| Release thing. Infinite Coral, pretty much |||

[wooden nimbus]

I generally assume the third ending is basically ||anything coral can integrate into becomes coral integrated, including the percentage of humanity who survives it||

[feral niche]

Idk, the first message of the forum says add spoilers.

[solar sinew]

Huh

Woops

[feral niche]

Yeah, same.

[wooden nimbus]

So now it's ||the universe where everyone has a barely shackled at best nhp in their head|| essentially

[solar sinew]

Yep

[wooden nimbus]

Which I would LOVE to see in ac7 NGL

Or AC6 Fires of Twobicon

[feral niche]

Honestly, my thought is ||everyone is now a hive mind all mixed together, it’s just that somehow you are able to still say yourself.||

[wooden nimbus]

See to me that's ||what you and Ayre prevented by killing ALLMIND||

[feral niche]

I mean you are warned in game that ||Coral will scatter your mind.||

And that is sort of what ||Coral Dosing|| is.

[wooden nimbus]

Like ||ALLMIND gives you lcl soup instrumentation end but you're red dust, Alea Iacta Est is "Everyone can reach their mind into funny machines like we're all on mech flavored Dune spice"||

But I think they intentionally made it somewhat ambiguous with only in universe theories on purpose

[solar sinew]

Well, ||ALLMINDs AC. I doubt she had no backups of herself elsewhere. I dont think we have a reason to believe shes really gone||

[wooden nimbus]

This could be a fun sequel development