Part 2: Sortie 2 - I fucking love elevators

Sortie 2 - I fucking love elevators

Special guests this time are Zorak, for the classic giant robot cred, and Nine-Gear Crow because why not. Join us for a fascinating expedition into topics like "Will Armored Core continue", "What kinds of games can be published these days", and "What is with all these goddamn elevators?"

And I may have gotten a bit hyperbolic in the video and jumped the gun on saying two of our opponents are unkillable. They're not, they're just assholes, so don't hold that against me.








Pilot: Hangmanl
AC: Ring World

Strengths:
-Impossibly high AP and defense, only complimented by its powerful shield
-Powerful spread bazooka and pursuit missiles allow for immense firepower
-Has all PLUS modifications
-Goddamn cool looking opening movie AC

Weaknesses:
-Pathfinding AI rather weak, can get trapped in and on walls
-Relatively limited ammo leave him vulnerable if tapped out



Pilot: Breast Roll
AC: Astraea

Strengths:
-PLUS modifications leave him with effectively infinite energy
-Ludicrously nimble
-Very high powered close range weaponry

Weaknesses:
-Only fires machinegun in short bursts, easily its least threatening weapon is also its most used
-Low base AP and defense

Strategy:
JUST FUCKING RUN.

Seriously.

These two are absolute assholes, and will tear your face open unless you are straight up building for them. Most ACs in the game are given varying nerfs depending on the mission that precedes them so as to make it a bit more fair, but these two give you no such quarter. They're as strong as they are straight out of the garage, are ludicrously PLUS, and have have their AI cranked up to maximum 'fuck you'. (Though they still have problems with pathfinding.)

If you must engage them, and I still insist you shouldn't, I did misspeak and you can indeed kill them. It took several hours of attempts but goddammit I did it. And then I cheaped them out with the Karasawa on my first try but hey, I said I'd keep from leaning on that crutch and by I'll stick to it if it kills me.

Anyways, if you're determined to fight them, and it has to be both in the same sortie for some reason, then your zeroth priority should be to kite one far away from the other, because together, they're an almighty force. If you manage to nab Hangman, the best strategy is to overboost down the long street and pepper him with shots with your big guns while he tries to pelt you with spread bazooka shots or impotent long range pursuit missiles. Once he gets close in, though, he becomes a real force to be reckoned with. Make sure to try to stay away from his direct front, because if he launches a pursuit missile pod and it hits you directly, it will make you extremely sad very quickly. He is easily tricked by corners and tight spaces though, so it might be worth the risk of dealing with the spread bazooka and missile pod for a quick kill.

For Breast Roll, he'll spend basically his entire time in the mission darting through the air, overboosting regularly and changing course like a paranoid fly. For most of the fight, he'll use his machinegun to peck away at you with short bursts which don't do hardly anything, but piss him off and he'll switch to his quad missiles or grenade cannon, the latter of which he makes use of with deadly accuracy. There are two ways of fighting him, either make good use of cover to avoid his damaging stuff and keep him in a controlled area, or slam him with high knockback weaponry to keep him from getting away from you. Getting into a close quarters engagement however is deadly, as he has a powerful Moonlight, and will use it together with a PLUS blade beam to decimate even the most armored AC.

If you're interested in getting their emblems, it's best to do this mission twice, killing one each time. Taking on both in the same mission is tantamount to suicide, and of course, you get nothing but some rather boring art to slap on your AC. Just flee and be done with them.





Pilot: Don Siegel
AC: Naval Yac

Strengths:
-Machinegun arms can bring impressive damage to bear in a matter of seconds
-Solid aerial combat AC

Weaknesses:
-Useless slug gun on the back
-Downward boost extensions might be useful if he focused on air combat

Strategy:
Theoretically, in one-on-one AC combat, this guy should have a very solid build. His machinegun arms are exceptionally powerful, and his high mobility plus efficient boosters should allow him to do well in aerial combat. Unfortunately, he prefers to fight on the ground, and only fires in short bursts. So he manages to turn a solid AC design - minus the useless slug gun - into something absolutely worthless. Anything he does can be dodged easily with basic movement, and his reluctance to burn through ammo means you'll kill him well before he has a chance of killing you.