/acg/ - Armored Core General

A-are you allowed to like both here?

Yes, as long as you're a pretentious fuck about how much better AC is.

...

>monocolor paint job

...

youtube.com/channel/UC6kwTHJtDj0mxssKCZwb_eQ
our teammate chelonian uploaded a ton of videos of us playing
many of the videos showcase our unrivalled silliness
sheild [04] was such a charming lad, drunk all the time, i absolutely loved listening to his rants and hearing about whatever the heck was going on in his life (FOCKIN' JEHMIE)
larco [23], the designated shittalker (jesus i loved this guy so much, he was definitely my senpai)
pendragon [08], team mascot
ahab [01], fearless leader, commander, strategist, and diplomat
helios [10], the german menace (and probably the funniest guy on the team)
macho [00], leader of the EU/australia division (never forget)
chelonian [02], peerless samurai and man of honour
and myself, JECK SPENCYR callsign JECK SPENCYR [47], the #1 operator & jamming/hacking support on the north american server
and of course all the others who would come and go
i even did character designs for the vagrant guns graphic novel (release date: never)
hard to believe it's been almost 4 years now since VD
we had some good times boys, thank god chelonian has all this archived footage so that i can go drown in nostalgia at least once every few months
here's hoping for AC6

> over 64% of my life has been spent playing AC

oh god

19 days for renewed hope or renewed loss.
>literally only playing A.C. and sleeping
What

>>literally only playing A.C. and sleeping
I wish.

I mean that I got into the series when I was 9 and I'm 25 now, and have been playing regularly ever since.

Fuck. Time goes by. I also realize I haven't stuck with any franchise as long, but they have died or gone to shit anyway.
>The state of need for speed

I'm new to Armored Core and I'm starting with 3.
The game is really awesome and I have many question but this post will only have one:
What are the differences between each type of legging? I just defeated Wake Up in the arena and he was on a four legged mech. It seemed like he was sliding around.

>What are the differences between each type of legging?
Aside from what is obvious by just looking at the stats (for example, quadruped legs don't jump very well but they have fast turning, which makes them good for horizontal combat, RJs jump high so they're good for aerial, etc, and you can see this in the stats) there's a few gimmicks to each leg type:
>RJs have additional jump modifiers that let them jump higher than other leg types
>Quads can fire back cannons without kneeling, but only while on the ground
>Tanks can fire back cannons without kneeling any time
>Hover legs don't sink into water
>Bipeds have none of those things, but generally superior stats all around

I have been playing around with overed weapons. Is there any trick to it or just git gud?

That doesnt explain everything I want to know but it is clear that I would best learn by just experimenting for myself. That does help me though, thanks for replying.

Is hard to find a franchise that last this long without loosing it focus

A few of them have some very specific timings to get right, but it helps understand how each one works, since when you use them it's really obscure how they actually hit people.

First thing to know is that your core's energy conductivity affects the charge up speed, and your generator's critical power affects how much you have to charge up in order to use them (there's also a modifier for each weapon). So high critical power + high conductivity = more time to use the weapon, less time charging up

Grind blade actually has a large hitbox in front of you and dashes your character across the ground when you use it, so it's best if you "angle" it toward an enemy and actually DON'T use it right in front of them, but a little distance back so that they are hit by the dash. It's a circular hitbox in front of you, basically.

Mass Blade has a horizontal sweeping attack in front and behind you, it's not that hard to hit with but it has very little range.

Giga cannon is self explanatory, but it's easiest to not actually aim for the enemy, but to hit them with the splash damage from the explosion, by shooting a wall near them.

Legion pulse is also self explanatory, but the range is a lot shorter than it seems, you do need to get right in their face when using it.

Giga Missile actually has an FCS lock on, so you can use target guns and/or fast locking missile FCS to make sure it hits. It's probably the best ultimate weapon in the game (you can easily land 2 hits with it) with the caveat that it makes you extremely vulnerable while using.

Mega Blade is the second best. It's a blade similar to grind blade, but instead of a forward dash you to an aerial lunge with a diagonal swing. It has an EXTEMELY long range, but a very narrow, precise hitbox, so the margin of error is very tight. It also has a lock on feature for where the lunge is directed, just like laser blades The main problem is that because it swings on a diagonal axis, it's very easy to miss with.

what do you want to know more about, specifically?

A lot of the other differences between the legs is pretty obvious by just looking at how the stats differ. As for how some legs have you move differently across the ground, that's just different animations ("walking" vs "sliding) and don't really affect gameplay. Like how some tanks hover slightly (but are still classified as tank legs).

I was just looking for general guidelines as to what kind of playstyle a type of leg would cater to.

Its just noob question from someone who's coming from Souls games. It must be a little insulting to assume that Armored Core would be at all similar to Dark Souls and I'm sorry about that.
Armored Core just seems a little intimidating but I'm really enjoying AC3 so far.

It's the same principle of break down all the stats to know what's what, just with more of a focus on tuning instead of working towards a build.

>soda
Ah, it's cool, man. Interestingly enough, we were pretty chummy with several of the high tier teams. I think Zeon Elite and Unknown Unit were the exceptions.
I'd absolutely be down with taking on a new player, but I have a hard time justifying getting into the game at this point. There's very few people to play against in conquest, like our good friend Junsa and...I think Rogan still does UNAC runs every now and again? That's about it. Most people just free battle now.
>and couldn't afford to spend losses on a newbie
Oh bro.
Bro.
Go watch some of Chelonian's videos, Jeck linked you to them. We used to throw games on wacky strategies for the sheer hilarity of it, newbies on squad or no. I don't remember if all of the
>let's all bring the same weapon arms
or
>let's all bring the same ultimate weapon
runs were recorded by him, but you better believe we were doing dumb crap like that. What kind of Veeky Forums team would we be without that?
>passing a test or not
Funny thing, you're already, like, 90% through the entry test.
>UNAC programming
Oh piss, good luck with that. Have you already stuffed it full of operation files?
>larco [23], the designated shittalker
And definitive best player on the team.
Oh, and don't forget Macho's videos:
youtube.com/user/MrBionicArm/videos
This might spill over into a second post.

So, as a general rule, each leg divides into weight classes. Lights are faster, turn better, and jump better, but have less defense, AP, and energy efficiency. Heavies are slower, but bulkier and more energy efficient. Mids only exist on bipeds and as the name implies, they're the middle ground.

Bipeds are your basic leg. Good all-rounder. There's a good reason every, or at least nearly every, major AC in the franchise is a biped.

Reverse Joints are kinda like bipeds except more mobile. They're more energy efficient, but they're scrawnier than bipeds of equivalent weight. However, they make up for this with big jump modifiers. RJs jump high and their energy efficiency lets them stay airborne longer while still keeping good ground speed.

Quads are bulkier, though there are some pretty fast ones. They have good defenses and AP while still keeping pretty good mobility, but the biggest draw here is the ability to use cannon weapons without having to take ready position. Like user said, this only works while on the ground. However, quads hemorrhage energy and I think their cooling is also pretty lackluster.

Tanks are tanks. They're beefy, slow, and can't boost along the ground. Boosting just lifts you up, which can be faster or slower than your ground speed depending on the legs and your loadout. Tanks can use cannon weapons without ready position on the ground and in the air. They're extremely energy efficient so you can use those gigantic energy weapons without bottoming out all the time and they have great cooling for the most part. The high equip load means you can bring a ton of power to bear, but tanks can be outmaneuvered. Those bombastic doomsday back weapons also tend to have a tiny lockbox, so you have to work with that while having to deal with crappy turn speed.

Alright fellow Ravens. I'm starting AC:Nexus

What parts should I be using at the start to make this bearable until the hard bosses show up?

Any cheese tricks I should know?

Hovers are the fastest leg type, but they're ultra frail, especially once you get to Last Raven. Gotta be careful with boosting, though, because while it makes you go super fast, once you let go of the booster you come to a near complete stop. Boost hopping isn't very good on hovers either, because their air speed is pretty bad and once you reach the ground the legs take a second to adjust, which keeps you locked in the slow air speed and if you boost again while they're adjusting, you go right back up into the air and have to try landing, including the second of delay, all over again. Honestly, I can't remember much about their energy or cooling, but like user said, they hover on water and over lava, which is occasionally very relevant because platforming in AC sucks.
>cheese
Wyrm sniper rifle is disgusting, but try not to lean on it.
As for other parts, I think the Lotus generator is in the shop at the start. I'm convinced it's the best generator in the game, so go get it.

>It must be a little insulting to assume that Armored Core would be at all similar to Dark Souls
not at all! The two are actually REALLY similar for optimization, but Armored Core is much more intense and less hand-holding when it comes to figuring out what works for you, which is extreme considering what Souls is like. Dark Souls 2 and Demon's Souls shares a more similar approach than DS1/DS3/BB does, but they're all close.

>General Tips
The first thing you should understand coming from souls is that there is NO leveling up in Armored Core. That means that you have everything you need to beat the game already available, but it also means that "difficulty" is NOT about meeting a treshold for power / upgrade like souls. There's no "scaling".

So the same strategy you would take to a pvp build (assuming you're fixed to SL120) in dark souls is actually very similar to how you would approach any build in armored core. You have a finite amount of resources and you have to distribute it across various stats. However instead of leveling the stats directly, you raise them indirectly by combining parts.

The second thing you should understand is that there's no breakpoints or softcaps. It's all on sliding scales. Similar to how in DS2, your weight cap always affected your roll by a % rather than just being a different roll if you were under a certain weight, EVERYTHING in souls is like that.

>What weapon do I want to use?
Here's where the souls analogs are really obvious
Moveset = Lock type (affects the general way you would play the weapon, accuracy, ease of use, etc.)
Weight = Weight + Base equip stats (affects what you can equip and how much you have to spend to use it)
Energy Drain = Stamina consumption
Damage type = Magic vs Physical (enemies are more weak to energy, but you have more limitations on how to use it and it costs more to use)

>What kind of frame / internals do I want to use?
Think about Head/Core/Arm/Chest/Radiator/Booster/Generator as your stats. Instead of leveling vigor or endurance, it's created by a combination of those parts.

Lock type is probably the first concern you should have (but everyone starts differently, sometimes people start with weapons, sometimes they start with specific generators or boosters, etc.).
>Wide and Shallow means that while you can aim easily with wide targeting, far away enemies will be outside of your attack range.
>Narrow and deep is difficult to use up close but allows you to safely pick enemies off from outside their attack range
>Standard is balanced between the two
>Special is a penalty for both, but usually are very powerful weapons

Once you have a weapon picked, you need to start matching it to the rest of your stats.
>Does the weapon type match my FCS type? If it doesn't, you get a penalty on range and lockbox size
>Do I have enough weight cap and energy to use this weapon?
>Do I need more defense to survive DPS races, or do I need more speed for hit and run tactics?
>Do I have enough energy to kill an enemy before it drains, and do I have enough energy recovery that it restores fast enough to get to the next enemy?
etc.

The last thing you should be considered with is price. This is like the cost of your souls leveling up, or upgrading your equipment. Except it works reverse in AC, enemies don't drop cash, but they do deplete your fixed reward depending on how efficient you are. More expensive body parts are better, BUT ALSO MORE EXPENSIVE REPAIRS! So it's actually advantageous to use "cheap" parts in missions where you are guaranteed to take a lot of hits, because they are cheaper to repair. The same is true with using energy weapons in missions where you will fire a lot of shots, or using an energy blade more in those situations.

Going to echo Wyrm. It's way overpowered and heavily nerfed in later games.

The most dangerous enemy in armored core Nexus is Heat. It will drain your energy, crash your radiator, melt your armor, and leave you a sitting duck. Make sure you always at least have good enough cooling that you won't overheat while boosting. The formula goes
>(Booster Heat + Calorific Value) *2 = Total Cooling
>Cal value / heat emission (different names in different games) is your generator's heat
>Total cooling is radiator + head + core + arm + leg cooling
If the heat is higher than the cooling, you will overheat while boosting eventually. If the cooling is equal or higher, you won't ever overheat while boosting.

Energy weapon EOs are also pretty good because they auto-track but also have unlimited ammo, really good for those long missions.

A long range radar helps. Nexus has a lot of missions where enemies are hard to hunt down.

Another thing would be to try and achieve permanent flight by pulsing your boosters in mid-air, so that you can fly without losing all your EN. There's a lot of missions where you will need to jump across large gaps or climb very high into the air, having lots of energy and low consumption boosters helps.

Oh also, treat Heat in AC3 like poison. It's a status effect you build up, and as long as it's built / maintained their health constantly depeletes. So weapons that can cause overheating do more damage than they might seem.

And here I thought Halo General was an oddball, being full of silly drunk dudes. I guess I'm a tad fuzzy on multiplayer terminology, all I want is to play with people who aren't BRAZILHUEHUE420 with 900 ping and screaming their head off, or whatever other entities the withered husk of online holds.

>all I want is to play with people who aren't BRAZILHUEHUE420 with 900 ping and screaming their head off
the only people playing AC online are:
>long term fans who have 2000+ hours into the game and just play once or twice a month for fun and posterity
>people on the japanese server

you won't find any crazy brazillians because there simply aren't any to find.

>Oh also, treat Heat in AC3 like poison. It's a status effect you build up, and as long as it's built / maintained their health constantly depeletes. So weapons that can cause overheating do more damage than they might seem.
My battle against Wake Up actually made me assume that Heat Overload was like poison. I wonder how much Heat would matter against my enemies in the Arena...

If they have good cooling, nothing will overheat them. They are basically immue.
If they have bad cooling, heat will cripple them and you don't even need to use any other strategy than constant high heat weapons.

Arena battles are usually about exploiting a flaw in the opponent's AC's design, while using skill to avoid having your flaws exploited.

>exploiting a flaw in the AI's AC
Is this not true for every A.C. game?