It sounds like you're trying to do too much at once. Don't worry about the main base. You just need one or two shocktroopers there to keep it from getting captured and failing the mission. If you're taking the route that goes past Dirk, then the APC won't even go near there and you'll never have to deal with the V2 soldiers in that area.
With two CP, you can kill Dirk's supply tank with a lancer and capture the base there. With four CP, you can get the APC to the next area. You just need one more CP to add someone to the next area.
I did it in two turns, but that was in part due to placing too many people in the area and one of them dying in the process, and it put me in a bad situation, because I wound up having Dirk move to the final area before I finished off all the lancers there, resulting in him being right behind my APC.
edited 10th Sep '10 1:39:30 AM by Miijhal
"Justice!"
It sounds like you're trying to do too much at once. Don't worry about the main base. You just need one or two shocktroopers there to keep it from getting captured and failing the mission. If you're taking the route that goes past Dirk, then the APC won't even go near there and you'll never have to deal with the V2 soldiers in that area.
With two CP, you can kill Dirk's supply tank with a lancer and capture the base there. With four CP, you can get the APC to the next area. You just need one more CP to add someone to the next area.
I did it in two turns, but that was in part due to placing too many people in the area and one of them dying in the process, and it put me in a bad situation, because I wound up having Dirk move to the final area before I finished off all the lancers there, resulting in him being right behind my APC.
My plan is to go through the path on the right of Dirk's starting position, and through the V2 gauntlet.
With my first action, I can use Avan to grenade the scout and take the point, and put him in standby, then move the APC into position on the other side. If I deploy one Lancer and only one Lancer at the main base, I can use him to destroy the supply vehicle there.
That leaves me with two CP, no Avan, the APC at the start of the second map and a Lancer about as far away from the fight as he possibly could be.
I can redeploy Avan next to the APC and have him hide in the grass and if I end turn there, the first Lancer will shoot the APC, but the first V2 won't be in range of anyone, and Dirk will presumably take back the point and camp there again, but I'll be able to use Avan to take it back with my first action in Turn 2.
The hard part would be getting someone through the gauntlet to take the point that connects that area and the area with the goal, and I have no idea what stands between the entrance to that area and the goal itself.
By the way, I just remembered there is one other way to do it. The good news is you get kill Dirk by doing it. The bad news is, if you don't have a sniper...
Just send a lancer on a suicide mission to take down the supply tank, and then snipe him to death. :P
Just picked this up yesterday and I'm already at March and have cleared all free missions for January and February. The only classmate mission I've done was Melissa's, which proved highly entertaining for multiple reasons (and I was happy to say I got an A rank on it). Is it just me, or are the rewards for classmate missions (EXP and money, at least) ridiculously high compared to all the standard missions so far? Of course, I haven't done any of the March missions yet and only one classmate mission, so I don't have much grounds for comparison at this point.
And now to ramble about how I feel about certain game mechanics. Specifically, Credits. It's an interesting concept to facilitate customizing each character, but it does backfire in that it forces you to favor certain characters. I think part of the reason they did it might have been to encourage using more than a handful of characters per mission (I know that in the first game I often left most of the squad hanging out at the base while a few units did stuff) but it conflicts with the class levels being there to encourage swapping people in and out at your leisure over the course of the game.
The concept of APCs is nice, especially since the ones I've been able to use so far only use 1 CP (sorta getting around one of the major problems with using tanks offensively in the previous game), but I'm reluctant to use them to transport infantry considering I've lost it on multiple occasions to a Lancer popping out of a random patch of grass and one-shotting it from the front or side. It's made me very, very paranoid about sending scouts to check out all the grass. Everywhere. Most of the time there was someone hanging out in the grass, so I feel this paranoia is perfectly justified. On that note, it feels like the range for scouts detecting enemies in the grass (or anyone detecting units hiding in grass) is a lot lower in this one, but I guess that's because of the smaller scale. Still irritating when a lancer pops out of grass seemingly 15 feet away from my scout and pops my APC, though.
And on another note, the rewards seem much smaller in comparison to the values you need to meet for upgrades in comparison to the first game. I recall having enough money and EXP after getting to HQ to gain at least 1 level per class and research all the equipment upgrades (infantry ones, at least, and maybe one tank upgrade) in the first game. In this one I was barely able to develop one weapon and only leveled up a few classes. Then again, the abundance of variety in free missions and the credits system seems to encourage grinding of a sort anyway. Still irritating.
Also, the canned voice clips for most non-critical cutscenes are annoying. Even if you don't include Avan's laugh. Then again, these sort of things usually annoy me even though I sorta understand why they do it. I'm just tired of constantly hearing annoyed sounds coming from so many of the female classmates on an almost constant basis. Especially Anisette. On a similar note, the one bit of radio chatter that goes along the lines of "Nooo! He was such a great guy!" is utterly hilarious.
Edit: I find it hilarious that I accidentally linked to Awesome Personnel Carrier without realizing it. Hopefully it'll actually apply once I upgrade said APC enough. Oh, except now it doesn't link. It seems the universe has decided to prove me wrong. Well, I'M ON TO YOU, UNIVERSE!
edited 10th Sep '10 7:16:16 PM by IthilionTheBrave
One Winged Egret
I find Annisette's annoyed noise both irritating and hilarious at the same time.
The class missions don't scale with your place in the game, and some are higher or lower level. It was probably just that the class mission is higher level than your current plot missions. I have heard of people exploiting this fact to grind with them, but given that grinding is both unfun and unnecessary I wouldn't bother.
I never had any money problems after the beginning and I'm pretty sure the experience costs are simply so high because you're getting enough experience to get yourself higher level than the missions expect you to be (which is emphatically not the enemy level listed in the description, that tends to be about twice as high as they expect you to be).
The APCs start to get good once you get the utility types, which actually have enough HP to stand out from other soldiers. Also, the flamethrower+machine gun turret is ridiculously powerful.
As for the Classmate arcs, the reason the rewards are so high is that they're really meant for players who are all the way in May, from the looks of it.
Flamethrower and machinegun does sound like a wonderful combo. My favorite weapon for the Shamrock was always the flamethrower, so combining that with intercepting fire from a machinegun on a highly mobile vehicle sounds awesome. And now that I've finally found the credits I need to make snipers, I am now on a mission to get Melissa and Chloe changed to said class. Tomorrow. It's way past the time I should be asleep, even though my body is telling me it wants to pull an all-nighter.
On a vaguely related note, the credits award is often very odd. The results place one character at Top ranking despite the fact that the Runner Up earned more credits. I find this rather confusing as one would expect the character who earned the most credits to rank highest.
One Winged Egret
Your position on the ranking and what credits you get seem to be mostly unconnected. You get just as many credits for popping in, healing someone and retreating as you do for single-handedly killing every single enemy and capturing every single base. I suppose you could say this rewards you for using each character once per battle.
edited 10th Sep '10 8:26:36 PM by Clarste
"Justice!"
And that's the end of March, finally. It kind of feels like a shaggy dog story, since a ValkyriaOS emulator is evidently no match for the real thing, but I'm still glad to be done with those bastards. For now.
Just got this game yesterday, in February now. Do the armored techs become real useful at any point? It seems I could just send the tank in to act as a wall. Double the CP but quadruple the area.
"Justice!"
Just got this game yesterday, in February now. Do the armored techs become real useful at any point? It seems I could just send the tank in to act as a wall. Double the CP but quadruple the area.In very specific situations. I find them (or one, at least) useful for securing an area-transfer base from the other side, since their wrench attack destroys cover, and frequently the unit hiding in it as well. I think they're also the best option for taking on enemy Armored Techs from the front, but it's better to avoid getting into a situation where you have to do that in the first place if you can.
edited 11th Sep '10 2:30:42 PM by SuperDimensionman
I tend to use them as 'psuedoscouts' when things like turrets are around. I also use them to take out enemy cover, especially if there's a scout or sniper there.
edited 11th Sep '10 4:09:46 PM by Miijhal
One Winged Egret
Armored techs are practically invincible and can capture bases as well as disarm mines. While you can use them as stationary walls, that's not their primary purpose.
I wasn't really considering their use as stationary walls. I was considering their use as moving walls. Though you're right about being mostly-invincible, which I guess makes advancing against heavy fire more feasible. I guess I'm just not at the part where enemies do enough damage for that to be a problem.
One Winged Egret
Well, you were comparing them to tanks, so I made an assumption since that's the only role I can see them overlapping in.
"Justice!"
Well, you were comparing them to tanks, so I made an assumption since that's the only role I can see them overlapping in.They're also similar in their ability to flush a target out of cover and hit him in the same move, though they differ in how they go about that.
edited 11th Sep '10 6:08:41 PM by SuperDimensionman
I have just realized that the tank has the Bloodthirsty potential. Extra attacks for free on a tank/vehicle? Heck yeah! Especially when combined with that new anti-tank cannon+mortar I got that can one-shot light tanks from the front. I think I'm falling in love with this game's tank and look forward to unlock new weapons and whatnot.
I've also discovered that Gunners are kinda underwhelming on attacks and counters against single enemies thanks to the sweeping fire, but are ridiculously powerful with intercepting and supporting fire. Just need to get longer range machineguns and I'll have a superb class for camp defense.
Also, getting certificates seems to be highly arbitrary, which is annoying when you're trying to get a specific character to change their class. Oh well.
"Justice!"
I don't really understand what vehicle camouflage does. It says that it "reduces enemy accuracy" in its given environment, but what does that actually mean? Only enemies that are firing at the vehicle? That seems next to useless, since it's such a large target, but the alternatives don't make any narrative sense.
I believe it does what you think. From far away, lancers has low enough accuracy that it can lead to some misses, as well as reduce the chance that the radiator gets hit.
"Justice!"
At this point, it's becoming painfully obvious that I'm terrible at this game and should have stuck with Easy mode, but now I'm invested in this save and don't want to start over, so now I need some help with the April story battle.
For a bit of variety, this time it's Gatling turrets and the boss that are tearing my infantry apart with interception fire. I can still get a Shocktrooper through the tunnels and take the point there anyway, but it's risky. I can also build the ladder right by the main base and take the control point there very easily. I even managed to get my APC up to the Gatling turret by the main base and flamethrower that to death.
Then on the enemy's first turn, the boss ran right into the middle of the battle and destroyed everything, either directly with his axe, or indirectly with interception fire from his assault rifle on my second turn.
I made another couple of attempts after that, but they were all thwarted before the end of my first turn by the fact that the armor on the front of Gatling turrets is evidently made out of adamantium or something.
edited 12th Sep '10 9:29:25 AM by SuperDimensionman
First, make sure your APC can build bridges and drive through ice (the Utility APC has that ability). Build a ladder right behind the starting area on the outdoor map, and capture the first camp. Have a lancer work to whittle away on the turret (it takes 3 to 4 hits from the front), as well.
Hopefully, the boss' behavior isn't random, as you're going to need him to go to the farthest base on the outdoor map. When he does, drive your APC up to that camp going through the icicles that would otherwise block your way. Spend the next turn and a half hitting him with the flamethrower (hopefully you have the flamethrower+turret combo, because the suppressive fire will be a big help). After that, it's pretty much the same strategy as any other mission.
"Justice!"
First, make sure your APC can build bridges and drive through ice (the Utility APC has that ability). Build a ladder right behind the starting area on the outdoor map, and capture the first camp. Have a lancer work to whittle away on the turret (it takes 3 to 4 hits from the front), as well.
Hopefully, the boss' behavior isn't random, as you're going to need him to go to the farthest base on the outdoor map. When he does, drive your APC up to that camp going through the icicles that would otherwise block your way. Spend the next turn and a half hitting him with the flamethrower (hopefully you have the flamethrower+turret combo, because the suppressive fire will be a big help). After that, it's pretty much the same strategy as any other mission.
Oh, I didn't know that utility APCs came with icebreaker capabilities by default. That makes things a lot easier.
By the look of it, I have the schematic for the flamethrower/Gatling gun turret, but I can't make it because I haven't got the materials to make the normal third-tier flamethrower turret. What would be the best way to go about getting some Ragnite C Lv.2?
That would require doing some character arcs. Otherwise, level 2 materials don't drop until May.
edited 12th Sep '10 11:49:54 AM by Miijhal
"Justice!"
That would require doing some character arcs. Otherwise, level 2 materials don't drop until May.Any characters' in particular? I already have Anisette and Erik's missions.
edited 12th Sep '10 11:59:46 AM by SuperDimensionman
The first turn? With the 2 CP cost on the APC, I don't think I would even be able to get it alone there, never mind needing an infantryman to capture the points and a Lancer at the main base to take down the supply vehicle.