Front Mission 3 Part #11 - Mission #10, Charts, Graphs, and the Unbearable Lightness of Being

Part 11: Mission #10, Charts, Graphs, and the Unbearable Lightness of Being

Before we get to today's mission, I present to you, the first batch of user-submitted wanzers!

Kazuki

Berserker
Submitted by: Capskye

Parts
Body: Zenislev
L. Arm: Kasel M2
R. Arm: Kasel M2
Legs: Kasel M2

Weapons
L. Shoulder: Empty
L. Hand: Cleave Axe
R. Shoulder: Empty
R. Hand: Sharp Spike

Ryogo

Ultragunner
Submitted by: MUMMYMIN

Parts
Body: Kyojun Mk 107
L. Arm: Shangdi 1
R. Arm: Kyojun Mk 107
Legs: Jinyo Mk 110

Weapons
L. Shoulder: Empty
L. Hand: DGS-25
R. Shoulder: Empty
R. Hand: Mk 6 Shield

Alisa

The Yellow Wallflower
Submitted by: Lotish

Parts
Body: Meledyne M1
L. Arm: Kasel M2
R. Arm: Kasel M2
Legs: Kasel M2

Weapons
L. Shoulder: Wagtail 2
L. Hand: Empty
R. Shoulder: Empty
R. Hand: Mk 9 Sniper

Liu

Secret Agent
Submitted by: Abundance of Gokus

Parts
Body: Zenislev
L. Arm: Jinyo Mk 110
R. Arm: Shangdi 1
Legs: Jinyo Mk 110

Weapons
L. Shoulder: Empty
L. Hand: DGS-25
R. Shoulder: Empty
R. Hand: Mk 9 Sniper

Miho

Enforcer

Parts
Body: Zenislev
L. Arm: Kyojun Mk 107
R. Arm: Kasel M2
Legs: Kasel M2

Weapons
L. Shoulder: Empty
L. Hand: SPPG 14
R. Shoulder: Empty
R. Hand: Mk 6 Shield

I'll be keeping these five for a while, but, rest assured, there'll be more chances for you guys to design wanzers.

Mission #10, Part 2: Charts, Graphs, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being

With my first taste of freedom, I do the only sensible thing, and head straight for the bar.

: You must be a wanzer pilot. I'm a saleswoman from Jade Metals. How would you like to look at our products? Are you interested? Then please look at our web site. You can find the latest product information.
That's a terrible pick up line!

: The rebels are based here in Davao. They're fighting for the independence of our people! Anyone can join the rebels. Do you want to fight with us?
No! But, circumstances have forced me to anyway.

: Davao is the home of the Philippines' largest corporation. I heard the daughter is a member of the rebel forces. She was born rich. What else does she want? I heard the daughter is a shrew. I'd be a nice, quiet, young, rich lady.
That is some ominous foreshadowing...

: Are you guys vacationing? This country's in the midst of a civil war. Davao is the rebels' headquarters. You should get the heck out of this country.
Man, kind of depressing bar scene here in Davao. Let's head to the shop...

No! No! Not her! Not so soon! I'm not ready! I needed more time!!!!

: What is this!? Don't you have anything other than junk!?

: But this is the best one I have...

: Stop kidding around! I'm not loading this junk on my wanzer.

: ...

: Seems to be an argument going on.

: I wonder what happened?

: This is a terrible shop, Pierre!

: Yes, my lady. I don't care how much it costs. Please make something that will be satisfactory to this young lady.

: But.. I'm sorry, but we don't have any other products...

: My lady only buys the highest quality products. We have the money. Now please start making what she wants.
Ah, the rich know nothing of wanzer construction...just like a certain reader, let's call him Hsitol, who seems determined to see how many missiles Alisa can miss in a row. _{I kid, it's fine, don't worry about it.}

: Hey, that's enough.
When rage meets rage...

: ...!?

: The shopkeeper gets your message. Now leave him alone.

: Pierre!

: Yes, my lady. She doesn't talk to peasants. I will listen to you instead.
Served!

: I'm talking to her! Say something!

: Kazuki, stop...

: He's angry. Leave him alone, Alisa. You can't stop him.
Nothing can stop Kazuki's unending rage!

: Hey, don't ignore us!

: Don't touch me with your dirty peasant hands! Pierre, chase him out of the shop!

: Yes, my lady. I'm sorry. She doesn't feel well. Please leave.

: Why don't you leave instead!?

: ! How rude! I'm never coming back here again!

: Excuse me. My lady! Please wait!

: Who does she think she is!?

: Don't get so angry.

: Yes. You might blow a fuse.

: Shut up!

: Sorry about that.

: It's okay. Who is she, anyway?

: She's a daughter of the Luis family.

: It's pretty obvious that she's rich. What's she doing in a shop like this?

: I don't know the details, but she's a member of the rebel forces.

: There must be a reason.

: But her personality isn't doing anyone a service. Hey I'll give you a hint on how to shop for parts.
That will be quite unnecessary.

: We also do upgrades.

: Upgrades?

: It's to improve your parts. I'll show you how to do it.
Not in this LP, you won't,

: Thanks for helping me. That girl is a pill.
Well, only one thing to do now...

: Door to door selling is tough. The rebels all use DHZ wanzers. They won't use our wanzers, which are used in the OCU. Maybe I'll go home to Australia.
Glengarry GlenZenislev! Also, is the OCU really okay with selling military hardware to the forces rebelling against them?

: Alordesh won their freedom from the OCU! We must also stand up and fight for freedom! Let's fight with the rebels! Come fight with the rebels!

: I saw the rich girl at the shop. She was in a bad mood. How can she be unhappy? She can buy anything. Why is she unhappy?
Money doesn't buy happiness...but it can be used to buy other things that create happiness, so, by the transitive property, I guess money does buy happiness after all!

: The military's defense line is perfect. That's why the rebels can't go north of Mindanao. You should get the heck out of this country.
Bah!

: We can't afford to fail.

: I see why you can't take the Philippines. I don't want to join forces with a coward.

: I'll base my decision on the mission. How's that?

: All right.

It's time for a multimedia presentation!

Since when has any plan or route named "A" ever worked out?

: Route B is the shortest distance.

: Exactly, time is of the essence, we must attack Taal Base quickly. Therefore, we take Route B.

: Impossible, Route B is shorter, but it's much better defended than A.

: What!?

: There's a government fortress in Negros.

: So the fortress is that amazing!?

: It's not the fortress that's the problem. There's a SAM base on Panay behind the fortress. Without any forces on the ocean, we can't take the fortress.

: How about ignoring the fortress and heading north?

: That's exactly what they want us to do. Their fleet will destroy us. Their ocean fortress, Dagat Ahas, is another problem.

: There's no way to attack, then.

: Ahh! Let's just quit.
I am surrounded by cowardice!!!!

: If we need air power, we'll have to find a way to use it. First we land on Panay and neutralize that missile base. After that, we land at Negros and support the main force. Once Negros is taken, we storm Dagat Ahas to aid the Batangas landing.

: It's not that easy. Panay is located behind Negros. How do we take Panay when we can't even take Negros? If it was that easy, we wouldn't be stuck here.

: Don't yell.
I love Liu.

: There is no plan. It's an act of suicide.
I don't know the meaning of the word 'suicide!'

: We tried many times and failed. The military's defense line is thick.

: We land without them knowing.

: What do you mean?

: We do an emergency landing in a commercial airplane. They can't shoot down a civilian airplane.

: Landing in disguise... It might be possible. But we can only take so many squads on a civilian airplane.

: Liu, we're going, right?

: We need all our forces to attack the forces. My squad will act on its own. Then if we fail, you can deny any connection with the DHZ. Or deny the mission altogether. How about that?

: All right. We have to do this sometime. Might as well be now. I'll let you handle the missile base. But we won't help you. You'll have to take care of yourselves.

: I know.

: I don't like it! Are you letting these foreigners take over everything?
You? Again? Ugh. Also, how the hell is a red-haired, pale-skinned, blue-eyed woman a native of the Philippines?

: Pham. What's the problem?

: Everything! This is our fight! Why should we let these foreigners screw it up!?

: Hey, Kazuki. That girl...

: Yes. She's the girl from the shop.

: She's Pham Luis. The only daughter of the Luis family. She's a lady of high upbringing, but as for her manners...

: The Luis family is one of the richest families in the Philippines. They gave us their financial support.

: We're mercenaries from the DHZ. You still don't trust us?
You know, unlike all of those other games where the protagonists claim to be mercenaries but never actually do much mercenarying, we're not actually mercenaries at all!

: Mercenaries? You're just a bunch of peasants! Don't make me laugh!

: Hey, I think you made her angry, Kazuki. Do something.

: We don't have time to argue with you. You can decide if you trust us after the mission.

: How's that, Pham?

: I dare you to try. I'm sure you'll fail!
It's like the developers said to themselves, "Well, we need to have some character less likeable than Kazuki, what can we do?"

: Are you two finished? Let's get started!

: The success of this mission depends on you. Good luck. This is to prove my trust. Here's the password our web site. It's BEFREE. Remember that.

: If we take the missile base, we can invade the fortress on Negros. That's if we take the missile base.

: I won't trust you until you finish the mission. I'm sure you'll fail, though.
Yes, I got that the first time you said it.

: Are you ready?
Si

: Let's get the airplane ready. We need to go to the airport.

: That's what you meant by commercial airplane...

: Do you like it? I got it for this mission. It's almost too good for you guys.
GO AWAY!

: Alright, alright...

: How do we load the wanzers?

: Are there seat belts?
Heh. Also, I don't understand why that one reader dislikes Miho, especially considering the other party members...

: We adopted the inside to transport wanzers.

: Jeez!

: This is the only way to trick the enemy.

: Liu, when your mission is done, begin landing in Negros. Show us how good you really are.

: Of course! Let's get going! Load the wanzers.

Let's do this thing!

: This route is for military only. Warn the pilot.

: We're only receiving the emergency signal.

: An accident?

: It's gradually losing altitude and will crash in Panay.

: Damn... Check the airline and tell them we'll handle the clean-up.

: Yes, sir!

: The rebels are active. We can't let civilians into that area.
All according to plan...I think...I'm not sure, what's the plan again?

Time to put your designs to the test, it appears.

: Hurry, an enemy search party's coming!

: I thought I was dead.

: Jeez, don't be ridiculous. One wrong stem and we're all goners...

: No time for talk. Let's hit the jungle before the enemy finds us!

: All right, let's go!

Wow, that's some fast response.

: This is the search party confirming passenger plane down in sector D2. Beginning search for survivors. Wait... is that a wanzer!?

: Enemy attack! Get down!!

: Quick response...

: What do we do? They're gonna find us!

: Don't overdo it. Hit them before they contact the base!

Finally, I get to do something. Okay, Liu is taking the day off, because this map doesn't really favor rifles. There's a river separating us from the enemy troops and exactly one bridge to the other side. Now, you'd think the enemy would try and use it as a chokepoint, but, well, they don't.

A new breed of missile wanzers. There are two these, two Jinyos, and two Kasels.

Berserker shows its worth by dodging a missile.

And then he starts chopping up enemy wanzers.

And Ryogo uses the Ultragunner to ultra-gun his enemies into submission.

Then, known min-maxer Nick Buntline's Enforcer unlocks ROF Up 1 which increases the number of shot a burst weapon fires, and can be chained together. Maybe I don't give you guys enough credit.

And Kazuki keeps chopping up a wanzer with his giant cleaver. Turns out that in the future, we'll be unable to make a machine gun that's stronger than a giant axe.

Meanwhile, Ryogo is unwilling to let Miho surpass him as the team's premier mid-range wanzer pilot. He shows off ROF Up II, a stronger version of ROF I.

Alisa hasn't actually moved throughout this entire mission. She just keeps pummeling this poor Jinyo with missile after missile. And the Jinyo just takes it...

Kazuki loses an arm, but Capskye's brilliant design means that such dismemberment only makes Kazuki angrier.

Berserker angry!

In fact, Kazuki becomes so enraged that he decides that an axe is too fucking complicated to bother with, and just repeatedly slams his wanzer into the enemy until it stops moving.