What are you playing?

[rabidtictac]

EO core with a shitload of energy optional parts is fucking sick. You can run a full energy build if you want.

I tried to make a hover build in silent line, but could never find a way to make it viable. I think you need OP intensify and a very specific setup. The idea is to be hovering forever, but the drain is pretty harsh tbh.

I'm finding myself running tank, hover and quad builds mostly. Quads are amazing. You keep your dope booster (unlike the built-ins on tanks and hovers), you can use every weapon type without kneeling and you can hold a decent (not amazing, but ok) amount of weapons. Quads are decently fast for how much shit you can carry. The only downside I can think of is the AP is a bit lower than I'm comfy with. A tank + shield + optional extra shields is A+++ tier.

For an energy build, quad legs are pretty great. You can run a back-mounted pulse cannon, modified pulse rifle, EO, left hand shield/blade and maybe even fit another pulse cannon or chain gun on there. All you need to dominate the arena, btw, is a tank or quad with the chain gun and maybe a howitzer.

I'm trying to come up with a decent biped build at the moment. I keep defaulting to a tank, quad or hover though. Hovers are great when you need speed (doing the escaping guy mission or blowing up the train.)

Of course you can always just run OP intensify and use all back weapons without kneeling anyway, but OP intensify honestly feels like cheating, even more so than importing your mechs to the next game in the series. Intensify breaks the game balance way more than having a good conventional AC does.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

It's fun to play around with Intensify, but I'll reserve it for whenever getting some special mission reward gets too annoying.

Quads are probably my favorite option for back cannons. Tanks just feel a bit too slow and sluggish, and their built-in boosters take a bit of getting used to.

I mainly use Hovers in any mission with large bodies of water (where they're pretty much required). Time-critical missions can also be done with a normal OB core thanks to the titular Overboost, but I can see Hovers being useful in more maze-like situations where you can't just afterburn in a straight line all that much.

[Guest]

Man you guys are making me miss the days of sitting in my bedroom with my PS1 playing through the first three AC games repeatedly 100% completing all of them just for the sake of doing it because the games were simply fun.

Kind of makes me upset that the physical copies weren't even actually mine and I had to give them all back to my dad, like, 10 years ago.

[rabidtictac]

The key with Tanks is to not even try to dodge. Stack up shields and high AP. Kill everything as soon as it shows up. These kinds of ACs work really well in long missions where you're going to have to kill a lot of things to finish the level. I beat the game using a sick tank. Just slowly circle-strafe while shooting with the chain gun and howitzer and everything dies. The boosters on Tanks are fucking awful. You can tap to boost, but anything else isn't worth it. I just use my energy with the tank to run a pulse cannon or my EO. EO + chain gun + howitzer. Nothing in the game can really out-damage you when you have a tank with high AP and really strong weapons.

But quad legs are a LOT more flexible for missions. Some missions just can't be done at all with a tank or are a nightmare with a tank. I look at it this way:

Tank: For killing ACs
Quad Leg: Squishy option for killing ACs, or a good general option for missions
Hover: Great for doing specific annoying levels or killing trash mobs really fast
Biped: Generic/10
Reverse-Joint: I have no idea

My current project is to come up with a good biped and then a good chicken walker design. Maybe I'll do my chicken walker in Silent Line so I have more weapon options though.

Oh and I have a ps2 and a copy of AC1 somewhere around here... I'm thinking I should try playing it. If AC2 has an option to custom bind your controls, I'd definitely play that one. I'm kind of kicking myself that I never played AC3 before now. I struggle to think of anything negative to say about it. Maybe not a pure 10/10 game, but no flaws come to my mind once you find a control scheme you like. The PSP version controls are 100% customizable.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Reverse-joints are really just an alternative to normal bipeds. They have better jumping capabilities and a lower energy requirement than a comparable biped, making them more suited for aerial stuff. A bit like a counterpart to the quads (whose own advantages make them more suited towards ground action).

I generally just pick them when I need my AC to be more energy-efficient and all of my bipeds with the right weight capacity gobble up too much energy. Most of them tend to make your AC look a bit weird unless you go full BattleTech with weapon arms, though.

[rabidtictac]

Yeah, I was thinking of a reverse-joint mech with weapon arms in Silent Line, which has more part options.

[rabidtictac]

Currently on Ace Combat Zero. I didn't enjoy AC5 and I'm at the last mission of AC4 and haven't bothered finishing the game yet. Kind of saving it since I know it'll be fun.

So far, AC Zero is definitely a high point for the series in terms of gameplay and story. I'm at around mission 8. The boss aces are a great idea and the game carries over the best design decisions from AC4, like each plane having 3 weapon types. But it also has updated controls which include a map toggle and better mappings overall. Going from the PSP Ace Combat X to AC Zero was a very smooth transition.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

Just unlocked some more shop gear in Silent Line. The big one is a wider selection of left arm guns.

I might replace my mission AC's arm blade for an additional energy rifle, but for now I've spent shit on my arena AC: A left hand SMG that's comparable to my favorite model (with a much smaller magazine, though), and a right hand gatling gun that's basically an even stronger version of my favorite model (also with a smaller magazine, but not quite as small).

So long, missiles, I need to make room for additional ammo.

[rabidtictac]

I'm at some "rescue these dipshits. They're trapped in a giant maze. Enjoy" mission in Silent Line. Shades of the cargo ship mission.

In Monster Hunter, I'm mostly using the switch axe. It's fun. I'm happy to see the Hammer is still OP as fuck.

[VoiceOfReasonPast]

I've been using the Switch Axe for MHGen. I always try to main something different in each MonHun, and I felt like using somethign more aggressive after I picked Lance and Gun Lance for MH4U.