Armored Core: Phantasma


Strategy guide for Arena combat
---------------------------------

I haven't found a good strategy guide for AC:P yet, so I'll write a short one
myself. The missions for the most part are fairly self-explanitory, so I'll
stick with the 50 "Arena" fights here.

This has gotten kinda long, so here's a "table of contents", if you're
skimming

GENERAL TIPS
   (basic combat tips)
FCS tip
LEG TYPE tips
AC part tip
Weapons
ARENA choosing tip
Bonus Weapons
SPECIFIC OPPONENTS
Gettin Jiggy
Notices

   -----------------------------------------------------------------

The basics are pretty much the same as the original Amored Core. Speed rules!
If you're fast enough, you'll probably be able to dodge most of the stuff that
comes at you in the lower rounds. Happily, there is no cash needed for this.
You can play an opponent, and lose, over and over again, with no cost for
repairs or ammo. But strangely enough, if you win, you should get some cash
for yourself.

A general tip; try to get behind your enemy.

Killer tip: every machine seems to have a "magical" circle. If you can follow
behind them and follow them on a circular path, you can keep nailing them, and
they can't fire back. Different opponents have a different "magical circle".
For some, it is really really tight. For some, it's actually somewhat large.
But you won't be able to pull this off unless you have the fastest of the
four-legs.  Sometimes with slower opponents, you can do it with the other
four-legs. But you've got to be able to move around them, faster than they can
turn.

The "simplest" way to do this, is to hold down one of the slide buttons (R1 or
R2) and adjust using the directional buttons. Sometimes, though, it is
neccessary to ONLY use the directional buttons, and turn the hard way.


High-level combat tip:

The AC's above level 10, seem to have unfairly balanced swords. Instead of
just being a slash,they also send out a wave. [I'm told this is a
 "Human Plus" modification. Still looks like just a "sword++" to me]
That wave seems to only be in front of them, and horizontal. So, if you just
jump, you should be able to avoid it. But better still is of course to stay
behind them :-)

FCS tip:

Many weapons interact with FCS systems uniquely. That is to say, there isn't
one "best" FCS system. It depends on what weapon you want to use. You then
have to test it with a whole bunch of FCS systems to see which one gives you
the widest lock area. Sometimes the cheapest FCS systems can actually be best.
I like the cheap "short, wide" one, with 6 cylinders on it, for most things.

LEG TYPE tips:

Generally, four-leg types are the best. They give you sustained speed, without
having to use boosters.

Sometimes, though, it may be a good idea to choose the one humanoid leg type
that has ludicrous speed. it doesn't actually have good forward speed, but it
has GREAT sideways speed, and stop/starts instantly, unlike the four-leg
types. This will give you the tightest turn-and-fire circle that I have found.
Also, they give you the most maneouverability in the air.
HOWEVER: some backweapons, namely the laser cannon, require that you stop
completely to use them with humanoid legs. Whereas you can still keep moving
and using the laser cannon, if you have the fourleg type.

AC part tip:

Sometimes, it is best to choose your head+arms+legs+core based on the type
of weapon your opponent uses the most. [usually when you are at high levels,
otherwise, you can probably ignore this bit ;-)]
If he uses a lot of bullets, then choose parts with high "shell_def". If he
uses a lot of lasers, use parts with high energy defense.
If you still keep getting killed before you kill your opponent, keep in mind
that while gattling gun arms are cool, they add ZERO to your defense. So
for the tough guys, switch to using arms, and you'll last 30 seconds longer,
hopefully.

Similarly... you can see what kind of armor he is using, so look at its stats.
If you know the armor has high physical defense, use energy weapons, and vice
versa. (This mainly applies to when you can see the opponent wearning the
 "heavy duty" core)\, otherwise, it's difficult to tell)

Weapons:

As noted above, you might try to chose your weapon based on what kind of armor
your oponent DOESN'T have. 

In general, a faster firing weapon is better. bigger-damage weapons are
usually so slow, you'll keep on missing.  Also, a wide-lock weapon is a big
plus. As I found out by getting creamed on some level, the green rifle
"MG-RFM118" seems wimpy in attack power, but it KEEPS ON HITTING!.  Worst
case, grab that rifle, put on your running shoes, and you should eventually
wear the guy down. Just angle the sights a little up, and even if he's the
jumping frog of calveras county, you'll STILL be laying hits on him 2 a
second. "Sadistic" was particularly annoying in the dome arena, until I fell
back on this old favourite.
Another probably overlooked weapon is the "WG-HG512". It's classed as a
"hand gun", but it looks like a shotgun. And it packs a good punch.
While it doesn't do that much damage, it shakes up your opponent so that he
loses lock. This makes some of the top guys surprisingly easy. Just keep
plugging away, and he probably wont' get much of a chance to use his bazooka,
etc. This works best on two-leg opponents, and weakest on tanks.

If you INSIST on using a bazooka or somesuch, try to hit your opponent when he
is just landing.  This takes a lot of patience, and a high level of
maneouvering skill

ARENA choosing tip:

Choose your arena. I'm a purist, so I like the sealed green space-dome a lot.
However, on my tougher opponents, I sometimes have to resort to the
underground cave. The advantages are that there is a low ceiling, so they
can't keep jumping up out of your sights :-) Plus, you start close to them.

One time, however, I was stuck on "joker" before I discovered the underground
cave. He was too fast for me, and kept jumping around. At that point, I
changed into maximum armor parts, and picked the forest, just for the heck of
it.  I was planning on just taking his hits, while nailing him. However, it
was all over in 10 seconds, and I barely did anything. He moved around so
much, he must have hit four mines, and blew himself up!!

Bonus Weapons:

You don't get too many extra parts from arena combat that I remember. The only
really good one, is the "extra magazine" one. The others I've seen so far are
grenade launchers, and a 20000yard radar.  The grenade launchers reload so
slowly, you're probably better off with just regular shop weapons. I in fact
beat the main story boss with the large "cannon-arm" weapon bought right from
the store.
Although now that I have finally beaten the #1 guy, theres a special
machinegun that's rather impressive for close-range combat against the final
game boss. VERY short range, but lots of ammo. A single burst will kill most
things, since it fires 5 shots at a time. Just a very quick tap on the fire
button will do it!

SPECIFIC OPPONENTS:
"dark rider (#3)"
"milliconia (#2)"
   I just maxed out on armor, equipped a wide-lock weapon (green rifle)
   and kept plugging away at him.
"necron (#1)"
  I switched back to my old favourite: dual gatling guns, with an extra
  magazine,  and the fastest four-legs that can hold them.

***********************
Gettin Jiggy

Bored? Want to play it again, but from a fresh perspective?
I detailed the "easy" ways to win. But here's some hard ways:

 -> Try to win a combat using just a sword.
     (almost impossible after about opponent 40 :-)

 -> Try some of the other weapons. The high-energy rifle (big white thing)
    is actually a great weapon. Does a LOT of damage, but it sometimes
    locks/fires too slowly. Which leads to the next part,....

 -> Try using weapons that are useless in auto-mode. Some weapons do not
    lock on fast enough, or their fire moves too slowly to hit most
    opponents. So try aiming MANUALLY.
    You have to be really good to win a fight this way.
    If you're really psycho, try using rockets, which have NO lock
    whatsoever :-) I actually used a backmounted rocket launcher as
    a backup weapon, for when I run out of ammo on my primary.
    It's really light, but can still be used "on the run" with a two-leg.

 -> Try weapons that move riddiculously slow. For example, the twin
    grenade launcher :-) Note: you CANNOT defeat some rare opponents
    this way. They are too well-armored against shells.
    Be ready with your backup weapon.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Notices:

This strategy guide is copyrighted by me, Philip Brown. You may copy it
freely, as long as you give me credit for it, and mention that it comes from
http://www.bolthole.com/ACP.txt


"Armored Core: Phantasma" Copyright 'From Software', and 'ASCII entertainment'