Any Armored Core Fans Here?

[Jmacq1]

The latest in the series just came out, and as a longtime fan of the series I'm looking forward to see how it looks on the next-gen systems (though knowing the track record of the developers, I already know it'll play pretty much like every other entry in the series).

Anyone else out there looking forward to this? Or have some kick-butt Core builds they wanna share?

I can say one thing I really hope they incorporate: Making all the "pseudo-sequels" DLC instead of full games.

[mgs]

I really liked this game when it first came out. But then I got totally into the Battletech game from Microsoft, knowing of the RPG before any of these.

[Xero Kaiser]

AC4 actually plays a bit differently than older AC games. Much heavier focus on speed and flight in this one. In older games you could only fly for a few seconds but in AC4 you can pretty much fly the entire time depending on how you build your AC.

I've been playing this a lot lately (spanked the hell out of some people last night), it needs more online maps but this'll probably eat up a lot of time anyway. One bit of advice though, no matter how cool it looks in anime don't try to take down another AC only using your swords. People have been on some sword kick lately and everyone else just LOLs and drops 50 missles on their head

[BlairH]

I'm a bigger fan of Western Battlemechs than I am of Eastern Mecha to be honest. If a new version of Mechwarrior were to be released tomorrow, I'd be on that like white on rice. That said, I enjoyed the first AC, and I'll be sure to pick up the latest next-gen installment at some point.

[mgs]

I'm a bigger fan of Western Battlemechs than I am of Eastern Mecha to be honest. If a new version of Mechwarrior were to be released tomorrow, I'd be on that like white on rice. That said, I enjoyed the first AC, and I'll be sure to pick up the latest next-gen installment at some point.

setting up a Kodiak with 3 sets of thunderbolt rockets is one of my fave mechbay setups.

[BlairH]

setting up a Kodiak with 3 sets of thunderbolt rockets is one of my fave mechbay setups.

I'm a big fan of the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat type setups. They're not too slow, and they have those massive banks of LRMs on the shoulders + PPC and lasers on the arms.

mmmmmmmm

[mgs]

I'm a big fan of the Timber Wolf/Mad Cat type setups. They're not too slow, and they have those massive banks of LRMs on the shoulders + PPC and lasers on the arms.

mmmmmmmm

I like the mad cat in the rpg, not so impressed with it in the video game. :)

[Jmacq1]

AC4 actually plays a bit differently than older AC games. Much heavier focus on speed and flight in this one. In older games you could only fly for a few seconds but in AC4 you can pretty much fly the entire time depending on how you build your AC.

I've been playing this a lot lately (spanked the hell out of some people last night), it needs more online maps but this'll probably eat up a lot of time anyway. One bit of advice though, no matter how cool it looks in anime don't try to take down another AC only using your swords. People have been on some sword kick lately and everyone else just LOLs and drops 50 missles on their head

I think a lot of folks aren't just trying for the sword-kills on coolness principle...it's probably the fact that the swords may be the highest-damage weapon they have on their Cores. :P :)j

Still a silly tactic depending on the opponent, but in split-screen battles in the old ones I often found "Hand to hand" core fights quite entertaining. :D

[Demon King Psycho]

Got the game a while ago, and beat the whole thing. Dissapointed with the few missions, kinda miss the old "base exploring" missions where you meticulously go through a base and blow up all the MTs, no Bio-weapons (cry), and a very....vague plot.

Other than that? The game is probably the best yet! The new battle system totally rocks the old one. Now both sides of my core are equally deadly!

Only wish I could play online. ;___;

[Alex]

I remeber playing the hell out of one of these games, 2 maybe, couldn't get into this one.
Had no clue what was going on in the story, mech customization was a bit too complex for me, and i was getting my ass kicked by the computer, so i didn't bother with online.

[Jmacq1]

Yeah, I've had it for about a week now, and I have to say I'm getting really freakin' frustrated. I breezed through all the old games, but the difficulty level on this one seems to seriously be ramped up.

I made it through Chapter 1 and 2 no sweat, but the missions in Chapter 3 (aside from Aerial Interdiction) are absolutely kicking my butt, and the simulator isn't much better (I cleared the first datapack, but the #1 of the second data pack is consistently slaughtering me).

I've tried reconfiguring my mech just about every way I can think of (Light and fast, Heavy and Firepower-Laden, etc...) and it just doesn't seem to do any good in either case. If I go heavy I'm too slow to avoid all the firepower, and get blown to bits, and if I'm middle or lightweight I don't seem to have enough AP or defense to survive for more than a few seconds, even if I'm dodging around. :p

I've given up after about the 50th time I couldn't protect that dad-blasted icebreaker (and don't even get me started on the next mission where you have to take out the big ships), and started playing Tony Hawk's Project 8 instead.

[Xero Kaiser]

Hm...I'm not having much trouble at all. Are you guys tuning your mechs right? If you've got a light mech, you can still get good PA-defense (which is better than AP anyway) and not get ripped to shreds. My mech is light and I've got more AP and better shields than a lot of heavier mechs I see online. Stick those FCS points into Primal Armor. Are you using the quickboost to dodge and constanstly boosting/flying? Most regular enemies shouldn't be able to land many hits on you if you keep that up. As far as stabilizers go, tip the weight towards the back to make your mech move faster.

Keep a machine gun on hand for the cannon fodder. They tend to drop in 1 shot so power isn't an issue, just focus on ammo for your arm weapons. Keep some homing missiles on your back for the stronger targets/Nexts you may come across. And don't get too attached to any one AC. There's a reason you can save multiple schematics. Redesign your mech for specific missions. If you're stuck on that icebreaker mission, you'll want a light, fast mech that can get around quickly and load it with ballistic weapons so it doesn't interfere with your EN and since your targets are stationary, big ass weapons are pretty useful. In a close quarters mission, try a heavier build with big slow weapons they won't be able to dodge like swords and grenade launchers. In outdoor missions, only a Next will be able to keep up with a light, fast AC

As for the simulation packs....the enemies there are stupid. Load your AC up with as many homing missiles as you can (since it's a simulation, you don't have to actually purchase the parts you want) keep your distance, and rake in the easy money

[Jmacq1]

Maybe I'll have to try the tuning. I've been going with "Auto-tuning" because I can't really find any good guides for how the tuning works.

As for the Simulation, I've tried the massive pile-o-missiles tactic, and at least the one enemy I'm having the most trouble with generally manages to whittle away all my armor before I've even got him down to half. He effortlessly shoots down at least half the missiles I fire at him. And yeah, I'm ducking, dodging, and quickboosting around the whole time.

[Xero Kaiser]

Maybe I'll have to try the tuning. I've been going with "Auto-tuning" because I can't really find any good guides for how the tuning works.

The game does do a crappy job of explaining it

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=930034&topic=33755636

As for the Simulation, I've tried the massive pile-o-missiles tactic, and at least the one enemy I'm having the most trouble with generally manages to whittle away all my armor before I've even got him down to half. He effortlessly shoots down at least half the missiles I fire at him. And yeah, I'm ducking, dodging, and quickboosting around the whole time.

That's odd. If you've got 3 missiles up (left, right, shoulder) try firing them in a quick succession. Left weapon, wait a second, right weapon, wait a second, back weapon, wait a second, repeat. It should be pretty impossible for them to shoot down all of those missiles, let alone shoot you while he's doing it. Just make sure you've got enough distance for your missiles to get a good lock on him. Vertical missiles help. They don't seem to overshoot their target as much as regular missiles do

[Jmacq1]

The game does do a crappy job of explaining it

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=930034&topic=33755636



That's odd. If you've got 3 missiles up (left, right, shoulder) try firing them in a quick succession. Left weapon, wait a second, right weapon, wait a second, back weapon, wait a second, repeat. It should be pretty impossible for them to shoot down all of those missiles, let alone shoot you while he's doing it. Just make sure you've got enough distance for your missiles to get a good lock on him. Vertical missiles help. They don't seem to overshoot their target as much as regular missiles do

Ahhh, that may well be it. I was keeping a radar on one of my shoulders, which now that I stop and think about it is pretty silly in the Simulator. I'll have to try the dual-verts+shoulder missles tactic.

And just out of curiosity, how useful/necessary are those radars anyway? Am I wasting a weapon slot by keeping it there? I noticed none of the heads seem to have built-in radars anymore. I can see how the Radar would be mostly useless in the simulator, but what about in missions?

[Xero Kaiser]

And just out of curiosity, how useful/necessary are those radars anyway? Am I wasting a weapon slot by keeping it there? I noticed none of the heads seem to have built-in radars anymore. I can see how the Radar would be mostly useless in the simulator, but what about in missions?

I've never messed with them at all. Most missions are in a pretty small space so I don't see why anyone would need it

Maybe if you had a sniper-mech or something

[Jmacq1]

Well, I spent yesterday evening mopping up the remainder of the arena opponents with the dual-vert missiles/shoulder missles/tuned for defense and FCS build. So the advice definitely worked on that score! Thanks.

Now we'll see how I fare in the missions once I rebuild/retune again.

[Xero Kaiser]

It feels good to spread the gospel of bigger explosions