FRONT MISSION 1ST BEGINNER'S GUIDE VERSION FINAL(2.00) By Angelo Pineda([email protected]) VERSION HISTORY --------------- 12-2-2009 - Cleaned up information. Added some details forgotten from the previous update. 12-12-2007 - Minor grammar changes made and additional data on pilot and battle skills added. 26-11-2007 - Changes made according to the North American version. Added battle skills and differences between each level. Guide complete. 8-10-2007 - Beginner's Guide done. Will update material according to changes in the North American version. TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sections Search Codes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. INTRODUCTION [INTR] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Front Mission History [FHIS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. BASICS [BASE] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Game Flow [GAME] Mission Play [MISS] Intermissions [INMS] Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) [TFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. BATTLE SYSTEM [BATT] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Battle Phases [PHAS] Wanzer Combat [WCOM] Wanzer Actions [WACT] Terrain Effects [TERR] Job Types [JTYP] Weapon Types [WTYP] Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) [BFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. WANZER SETUP [WSET] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wanzer Design [WDES] Wanzer Parameters [WPAR] Wanzer Types [WANT] Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) [WFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. CREDITS [CRED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To quickly find the section you want, press Ctrl + F at the same time to access the Find options. If you want to access something, type in the word in [] and the [] themselves. If you want to find the Credits, type in [CRED]. AUTHOR'S NOTE ------------- Finally, the original Front Mission gets an official Western release after waiting for more than a decade since the Japanese release! To those who are unfamiliar with Front Mission, this guide will get you up to speed! Any Front Mission is not easy to get into and they tend to be confusing for newcomers. Thus, I decided to make this guide with the sole purpose of explaining how the fundamentals of Front Mission work. Enjoy! Sites allowed to post this guide: http://www.gamefaqs.com http://www.gamespot.com http://www.neoseeker.com http://www.supercheats.com http://www.1up.com I will consider allowing other sites to post this guide if I get an email on the address shown above. I'm usually open to allowing other sites to post my guides provided that I am credited for my work. I assume anyone reading this is aware of the guide's purpose so I don't think I need to explain that. Also, don't try and pass this work of as your own. I've created this guide in a certain way that allows me to identify if someone has plagiarized from my guide. Respect those who spend a great deal of time making guides to help out other people. We don't do it just because guide writing is fun, you know! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. INTRODUCTION [INTR] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is a beginner's guide to Front Mission 1st, titled "Front Mission" for the game's North American release on the Nintendo DS. The guide will document the foundation and game mechanics that are found in the game. This will not document any material pertaining to the game's missions and whatnot so please don't send any questions to my e-mail address about that. Go to GameFAQs if you are looking for walkthroughs of the game. This guide is written for those who have never played Front Mission or this one in particular if you have already played other Front Mission installments before. NOTE: The naming for some information may be changed for the North American version so expect a minor update when the game is released. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FRONT MISSION HISTORY [FHIS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So what exactly is Front Mission? Well, it is Square Enix's first strategy role-playing game(RPG) series developed by series visionary Toshiro Tsuchida. Although most tend to classify Front Mission under the aforementioned genre, it actually leans more towards the strategy side as opposed to the RPG side. As of now, the series enjoys a reasonable level of popularity in its home region, Japan. Front Mission, unfortunately, has not enjoy the same level of success overseas as Front Mission 3 and 4 are the only installments that have seen release outside of Japan. Front Mission 1st for the Nintendo DS, which was renamed as "Front Mission" by the developers for the North American release, will be the third game to be released outside of Japan. The game is actually a port of the Front Mission 1st remake that only saw a release in Japan. This version of 1st has several new features, which will be detailed in the following sections to come. Interesting to note is that this is the first official Western release of Front Mission, considering that the original game was translated by a group of fans several years ago. You may or may not have played the fan translation, but this iteration of Front Mission is not the same as the original. What defines Front Mission and sets it apart from similar entries? First, the series takes place in modern-day settings as opposed to fantasy settings that similar offerings provide. To be specific, Front Mission is inspired by real life issues and incorporates them into the narratives. As a result, the main themes of each installment focus on the facets of conflict and war. The games focus on how these conflicts affect individuals and their way of life. Thus, Front Mission narratives don't follow the typical save-the-world cliche and opt for realism instead: plot elements are never truly resolved and there is no true "good" or "bad" guy. Mecha is another factor that defines Front Mission: the Wanderung Panzer (German for a "walking tank") or the Wanzer. For the uninitiated, mecha is the term for a bipedal machine that a human pilots to go and blow up stuff. Most mecha are unrealistic in terms of real-life applications in that they are portrayed as all-powerful machines that render other weapons platforms obsolete. Wanzers, however, are more grounded in realism in their design and that they are assisted by other weapons platforms despite being a versatile weapons platform themselves. The official term used to classify a wanzer is Wanderung Armored Panzer, or WAP in short. For anyone who wants to dip into more Front Mission offerings, the following is a quick summary of the major Front Mission products released. Most of them are in Japan so you likely will have to import any of these products: MAIN SERIES GAMES ----------------- Front Mission 2 - PlayStation. Front Mission 2 is Japan-only so importing is your best option. This is very rare even on the net so consider yourself a lucky one if you can get it. Front Mission 3 - PlayStation. Front Mission 3 has been released overseas, but it is hard to find nowadays. You may need to search on the net if you can't find this in retail stores. Front Mission 4 - PlayStation 2. Front Mission 4 has been released overseas and is fairly easy to find nowadays. Game retail stores should still have a copy or two lying around. Front Mission 5: Scars of the War - PlayStation 2. Front Mission 5 is Japan-only so importing is your best option. Don't expect this to get a releases overseas since the PS2 is in its dying phase. SPIN-OFF GAMES -------------- Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Super Nintendo. Front Mission: Gun Hazard is a Japan-only release, but there is a fan translation available on the net. For obvious reasons, I won't be detailing how you can play the fan translation. Front Mission: Alternative - PlayStation. Front Mission: Alternative is Japan-only so importing is your best option. As with Front Mission 2, this is a rare find so search hard if you want to play this. Front Mission: Online - Playstation, PC. Front Mission: Online is Japan-only and requires signing up for Square Enix's Japan-only Play Online service. This was recently discontinued so don't think you can play this one. Front Mission 2089 - Mobile Phones. Front Mission 2089 is for Japan-only mobile phones so any chance of playing this is out of the question. Front Mission 2089-II - Mobile Phones. Front Mission 2089-II is the same as 2089 so you have no chance of playing it unless you live in Japan. Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness - Nintendo DS. Front Mission 2089: Border of Madness is Japan-only, but at least it isn't on the mobile phones. COLLECTION ---------- Front Mission History - PlayStation. This is a compilation that consists of Front Mission 1st, Front Mission 2, and Front Mission 3. Front Mission 1st is the PlayStation remake of the original, Front Mission 2 enables the ability to skip scenes and battles, and Front Mission 3 is unchanged. As with most of the Front Mission products, this is Japan-only. Since this one only had a print run of 20,000, this is arguably the rarest product out of the bunch to get. OTHER ----- Front Mission: The Drive - Manga(Japanese for "comics"). Front Mission: The Drive is Japan-only and is very hard to find on the net. The only chance of getting this is if you live in Japan. Front Mission: Dog Life and Dog Style - Manga. Front Mission: Dog Life and Dog Style are Japan-only and equally as hard to find as The Drive manga. The same situation with The Drive applies to Dog Life and Dog Style. Front Mission: World Historica - Artbook though it has a tremendous amount of information as opposed to artwork. World Historica documents the entire world of Front Mission in one giant book. This is Japan-only but it is a fairly recent release so it can be imported without too much difficulty. Original Soundtracks(OST) - All are Japan-only but many online gaming stores carry these. Some like the Front Mission 2 or Front Mission: Gun Hazard OSTs are very rare so you may have to search harder to find them. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. BASICS [BASE] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section will detail how Front Mission works as a whole. If you are more interested in learning specific mechanics about the game, please check the other sections. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ GAME FLOW [GAME] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Front Mission progresses like any typical game: the player goes through a set amount of missions before beating the game. In-between each mission, the player can manage their characters in preparation for the next mission. Event scenes occur at certain periods of time before, during, or after a mission. These are plot-related events that reveal more about the topics covered in the game and the characters themselves. The player travels to locations on a point-and-click style of world map, which consist of battlefields, towns, and cities. Although the game follows a linear path, the player is free to visit past towns and cities to gather information and whatnot. Special in this version of Front Mission is the ability to choose between two sides of the game from the start. The original side starting Royd Clive of the Canyon Crows is available, but the new side staring Kevin Greenfield of the Black Hounds can be selected as well. This side made its appearance in the Front Mission 1st remake for the PlayStation and is a completely different experience from Royd's side. New to the DS version of 1st are the inclusion of new missions on both sides that can be accessed at certain time periods. Apart from these, this is how the game flows and progresses. To recap game flow: 1. Play and complete missions. 2. Intermission: prepare and setup units at towns and cities. 3. Progress plot by watching scenes before, during, or after missions. 4. Repeat until the player beats the game. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ MISSION PLAY [MISS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Missions in Front Mission work similar to other strategy RPG offerings. Prior to most missions, the player can see a basic briefing of the enemy forces and the main threat or objective for the mission. The player can make adjustments to their units accordingly before commencing the mission. Once in a mission, the winning conditions must be met in order to complete the mission. At the completion of any mission, the player is rewarded with monetary funds from military commission(if possible) and the amount of enemies destroyed. This is subtracted from the repair costs, which are incurred for every unit destroyed in battle. Each mission has a limit to how many units can be deployed for the mission, though Royd and Kevin are mandatory participants in every mission. Peewie, the supply truck driver on the Canyon Crows, is also automatically deployed in every mission. On several occasions, non-playable characters(NPC) fight in missions although the AI controls all of their actions. As far as mission variety is concerned, most missions are involved with the destruction of all enemy units. Some missions have different conditions, such as protecting a particular unit or destroying enemy units without the given time limit. This covers the flow behind mission play in a nutshell. Briefing Screen interface: ------------------------------------------------ | TARGET || BOSS DATA | |-------------------||-------------------------| ||-----------------||| MELEE [************] xxx| ||PicturePicturePic||| SHORT [************] xxx| ||PicturePicturePic||| LONG [************] xxx| ||PicturePicturePic||| DODGE [************] xxx| ||PicturePicturePic||| | ||PicturePicturePic||| TOTAL xxxx | ||PicturePicturePic||--------------------------- ||-----------------|| ------------------------- --------------------- | ENEMY DATA | -----------------------|-----------------------| | YOUR DATA || NORMAL UNITS xx| |---------------------|| BOSS UNITS xx| | UNIT xx|| SUPPLY TRUCKS xx| | AT [**********] xxxx|| AT [**********] xxxx| | DF [**********] xxxx|| DF [**********] xxxx| | ACE PILOT || ACE PILOT | | NAME LV. xx|| NAME LV. xx| ------------------------------------------------ Briefing Screen guide: TARGET - the main target for the mission. Picture - the picture of the mission target. MELEE - the boss unit's potency in the Melee class. SHORT - the boss unit's potency in the Short class. LONG - the boss unit's potency in the Long class. DODGE - the boss unit's potency in the Dodge class. TOTAL - the total potency of the boss unit in all classes. UNIT - the amount of player units that can be used for the mission. NORMAL UNITS - the amount of normal enemy units fought in the mission. BOSS UNITS - the amount of special enemy units fought in the mission. SUPPLY TRUCKS - the amount of supply truck units fought in the mission. AT - the cumulative attacking potency for all of the player or enemy's units. DF - the cumulative defense potency for all of the player or enemy's units. ACE PILOT - the name of the player or enemy's best pilot and their levels. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTERMISSIONS [INMS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Intermissions are sections of the game in which the player is currently not participating in a mission. During an intermission, the player has access to a few options. Normally after a mission ends, the player is returned to the world map. The player's only option is to head for a town or city nearby the area of operations. At any town or city, the player can access the following options: Shop/Hangar Military Ward Command Room Barracks Bar Arena Pilot Status Setup Save/Load Exit The Shop or Hangar is where the player can buy or sell parts and items for mission play. This is the place to go for upgrading wanzers any time during the game. Plot progression and mission briefings take place at the Military Ward and Command Room for the U.C.S scenario. The Barracks on the U.C.S. scenario is where the player can speak with their teammates. The Bar is home to the common folk encountered in the game. Some folks offer helpful tips about playing the game or reveal more details about the game's backstory. Exclusive to Royd's side, certain individuals can be recruited at the Bar. This is possible if certain conditions are met. If the player wants more funds, the Arena is a side feature that pits a player-controlled unit against the AI for the purpose of accumulating money. A select few individuals can be recruited after beating them if playing Royd's side. Pilot Status is self-explanatory; the player can see the performance parameters of all playable units. The Setup allows the player to configure or create wanzers, as well as configure the battle skills for the pilots(more on this later). Save/Load are both self-explanatory features and so is the Exit option. One item to make note of is that you cannot leave a town or city in most cases until you visit the Military Ward or Command Room. ARENA ----- Going back to the Arena, the player can choose from fighting an opponent in a solo battle or another player through the Duel feature. When fighting in a solo battle, the player must choose a unit to use for the fight. Next, the player must select from a list of opponents in a given town or city and fight one of them. After selecting an opponent to fight, the player must choose an fixed amount of money for the bet. If the player wins, they win an amount of money equal to the bet multiplied by the Odds rate. If they lose, the amount of money bet will be deducted from the player's total amount of funds. The Odds rate fluctuates based on the unit's composition against the enemy's. When a battle commences, the player gets to select what weapon their unit will use for the turn. After the action is completed, the player can choose their next action and so on. The goal of the battle is to destroy or disable the Arena combatant before your unit gets destroyed or disabled. Destroying a wanzer is relatively simple, but you can opt to destroy the wanzer's Arms instead. To disable a wanzer means to eliminate their ability to attack with their weapons so destroying their Arms is an alternative means to winning. There is no draw; the player successfully defeats the Arena combatant or vice versa. On a final note, weapon priority plays a role in who acts first. Melee takes priority over Long, but loses out to Short. Short takes priority over Melee, but loses out to Long. Finally, Long takes priority over Short, but loses out to Melee. If you can guess what weapon an enemy will use, you can use the information above to gain initiative when it comes to actions. Arena Screen interface: ----------------- | ENEMY | ----------------- |---------------| | ODDS XXX.XX| | COMBATANT | ----------------- | COMBATANT | | COMBATANT | -------------------- | COMBATANT | | VEHICLE DATA | | COMBATANT | |------------------| |---------------| | NAME: | ----------------- | | | MELEE [*****] xxx| | SHORT [*****] xxx| ---------------- | LONG [*****] xxx| | FUNDS xxxxxxx| | DODGE [*****] xxx| ---------------- -------------------- Arena Screen guide: COMBATANT - the name of the Arena combatant. ODDS - the chance of victory against the Arena combatant. If the unit is more powerful than the Arena combatant, the Odds rate will be low. High Odds rate reflects a stronger Arena combatant and a weaker player unit. NAME - the name of the WAP unit that the Arena combatant uses. MELEE - the Arena combatant's potency in the Melee class. SHORT - the Arena combatant's potency in the Short class. LONG - the Arena combatant's potency in the Long class. DODGE - the Arena combatant's potency in the Dodge class. FUNDS - the amount of funds available to the player for usage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS(FAQ) [TFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q: How do much of the game uses the stylus? Could I opt to use the regular controls instead? A: The stylus control is used for every menu and option in the game apart from using them in battle. Stylus usage is 100% optional, although it feels more natural on the hands in terms of controlling the battles. It's up to you whether or not you want to play the game with stylus or regular controls. Q: I just completed a mission and went back to the nearest town. When I exit the town, I can only access the same destinations! Any idea on how to get past this? A: New destinations are only unlocked under the following criteria: the next mission assignment is assigned, talk to a certain individual, or through plot progression. For the most part, going to the Military Ward or Command Room unlocks a new destination. Q: I need help on a mission! I saw the briefing prior to the mission and made preparations, but there are things the mission didn't go through! What gives? A: The briefings are only designed to give the player a general idea of what to expect in an upcoming mission. The missions themselves tend to have extra factors to take note of that the briefings never detail. If you feel that you aren't properly prepared for the mission, you can always make adjustments in the Setup menu. Q: During an Arena battle, I fought a combatant and for some reason, it was over! I didn't even destroy the combatant so I'm not sure what happened. Can you explain how I did this? A: As stated earlier, there are two means of winning Arena battles. If you are not capable of destroying the combatant, you can disable them by taking off their arms. Not that I'm saying this is an easy task to do, but it is an option worth taking if necessary. Q: How is money calculated through Odds in the Arena? I fought a combatant at 1.01 Odds and barely got any money back! A: The amount of money you earn is basically how much you bet multiplied by the Odds rate. So if you bet 5000 and had an Odds rate of 1.50, you will get 7500. Subtract the 5000 you bet and 2500 is the amount won from that battle. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. BATTLE SYSTEM [BATT] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section details the fundamental mechanics of Front Mission's battle system. If you are looking for information on how the battles work, you are in the right section. Reading information on Wanzer Setup is also recommended as information here goes hand-in-hand with the aforementioned section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ BATTLE PHASES [PHAS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Combat in Front Mission is different from the standard strategy RPG in that it does not rely on a dexterity parameter to determine turn priority. Front Mission uses the concept of Phases; the player's units go first and when they have finished acting, the AI-controlled enemy units act next. These Phases are appropriately titled as Player and Enemy Phases. A full turn, therefore, is the combination of one Player and Enemy Phase. While the player-controlled units act only in Player Phases, they can counter enemy attacks during Enemy Phases when the opportunity is possible. If the player does not need to act, they can force a Player Phase to end. Thus, the general flow of a mission is as follows: 1. Player Phase. 2. Enemy Phase. 3. Repeat until the player wins or loses. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WANZER COMBAT [WCOM] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As the main fighting unit in any Front Mission, wanzers are unique in several ways. Wanzers are compromised of four specific parts that have their own special purposes and durability parameters, known as Health Points(HP). The Legs control the wanzer's ability to move around the battlefield. The Arms allow the wanzer to attack using hand and shoulder-equipped weapons. Finally, the Body keeps the wanzer unit operating on the battlefield. Attacks damage parts on a random basis and do not focus on any specific part. Destruction of any part severely cripples a wanzer's effectiveness in battle. Without the Legs, the wanzer's movement is cut in half and thus it becomes an easy target for the enemies. Destruction of an Arm is self-explanatory; weapons equipped on it cannot be used. Lastly, destruction of the Body is the only way to eliminate a wanzer completely. Needless to say, the fastest way to destroy a wanzer is by destroying their Body parts. Most of the time, this isn't possible without taking out the Arms or Legs first. This may sound confusing at first, but the wanzer mechanics are quite easy to get into. Basically, as long as a wanzer's Body is functional, it has uses in a mission. Even if a wanzer has nothing left except a Body, it can provide assistance to the other units in some way outside of attacking. Destroyed parts can be restored with a supply truck(more on this later) so no wanzer is truly "dead weight" until they are eliminated for good. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WANZER ACTIONS [WACT] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wanzer mechanics aside, wanzers can do a variety of actions in mission play. The most basic actions are moving, attacking, and using items. Movement and attacks are self-explanatory, but attacks become unavailable if there is no enemy within weapon range or both Arms are destroyed. Using items is more of a support action as opposed to an offensive one. The basic purpose of items is being able to repair damaged parts, although they cannot restore any that have been destroyed. There are special items that affect the performance of player or enemy units. Their data is detailed in the following section: Support Item Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Range Effect ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ B.A. Mine 0 Places a mine in the current location. Flash Grenade 1-4 Stuns target. Smoke Grenade 1-4 Lowers target's accuracy. Chaff Grenade 1-4 Protects against long-range attacks. Acid Bomb 1-4 Lowers target's defense. B.A. Mines damage units that end their movement on a mine's current location. This affects both ally and enemy units. Flash Grenades cause Stun status, which means that the unit is defenseless and all attacks have 100% accuracy rates against them. Smoke Grenades lower the unit's weapon accuracy by 50% for all weapons in the Melee and Short classes. Chaff Grenades decrease any attacking unit's accuracy by 75% for weapons in the Long class. Acid Bombs decrease the unit's Defense by a certain amount for the entire mission. All three grenades have a 50% chance of recovery each turn. In regards to special actions, the player can interact with Peewie's supply truck in Royd's side. Interacting with the supply truck requires a wanzer to stand one square adjacent to it. With the supply truck, the player can refill weapons out of ammunition or change weapons if the situation demands it. The supply truck is also the only unit in Royd's side that can restore destroyed parts, which makes it a vital target to protect. If a wanzer does not move away from the supply truck, all parts will be repaired by 5% every turn. It isn't the best method for repairs but it is helpful to use nonetheless. The supply truck is a unit unique to Royd's side as there is no such unit for Kevin's side. Kevin's side does have access to a part known as the Riff. This part has the same restoration and ammunition reload features as the supply truck. The Riff also comes with a basic repair feature, which restores 50% of a wanzer's part HP. The drawback is that the unit with Riff cannot equip any backpacks in order to use the Riff.(more on this later) On a final note, the player can check the status of each unit on the top screen of the DS. In the original Front Mission, checking status of a machine and pilot were options. With the DS, unit status is displayed anytime a unit is selected on the bottom screen. Unit Status Screen interface: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | VEHICLE STATUS || PILOT STATUS | |------------------------------------||--------------------------------------| | UNIT NAME: || PILOT NAME: LV. xx | | -NOW- / -MAX- || -LEVEL- -EXP- | | BODY xxxx / xxxx || MELEE xx xxxx | | [****************]|| SHORT xx xxxx | | LEFT ARM xxxx / xxxx || LONG xx xxxx | | [****************]|| DODGE xx xxxx | | RIGHT ARM xxxx / xxxx || TOTAL xxxxx | | [****************]|| | | LEGS xxxx / xxxx || SKILL: --- | | [****************]|| --- | | MOVE: xx || --- | | STATUS: --- --- || --- | | --- --- || --- | -------------------------------------||--------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | UNIT NAME: -NAME- -AMMO- -RANGE- | | BODY BODY WEAPON xx / xx x - xx | | L. HAND L. HAND WEAPON xx / xx x - xx | | R. HAND R. HAND WEAPON xx / xx x - xx | | L. SHOULDER L. SHOULDER WEAPON xx / xx x - xx | | R. SHOULDER R. SHOULDER WEAPON xx / xx x - xx | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unit Status Screen (Vehicle Status) VEHICLE STATUS - shows details of the selected unit's vehicle. UNIT NAME - the name of the selected unit's vehicle. NOW/MAX - the current/maximum HP values for the selected unit's vehicle. BODY - the current/maximum HP values for the selected unit's Body. LEFT ARM - the current/maximum HP values for the selected unit's Left Arm. RIGHT ARM - the current/maximum HP values for the selected unit's Right Arm. LEGS - the current/maximum HP values for the selected unit's Legs. MOVE - the movement value of the selected unit's vehicle. STATUS - the current status of the selected unit's vehicle. (Pilot Status) PILOT STATUS - shows details of the selected unit's pilot. LV - the overall level of the selected unit's pilot. LEVEL - the current amount of Job levels that the selected unit's pilot has. EXP - the current amount of EXP that the selected unit's pilot has. MELEE - the selected unit's pilot potency in the Melee class. SHORT - the selected unit's pilot potency in the Short class. LONG - the selected unit's pilot potency in the Long class. DODGE - the selected unit's pilot potency in the Dodge class. TOTAL - the total potency of the selected unit's pilot in all classes. SKILL - the equipped skills of the selected unit's pilot. (Equipment View) UNIT NAME - the name of the selected unit's vehicle. NAME - the name of the selected unit's weapons. AMMO - the current/maximum amount of ammo for the selected unit's weapons. RANGE - the minimum/maximum range values for the selected unit's weapons. BODY - the weapon equipped into the selected unit's Body. L. HAND - the weapon equipped onto the selected unit's Left Hand. R. HAND - the weapon equipped onto the selected unit's Right Hand. L. SHOULDER - the weapon equipped onto the selected unit's Left Shoulder. R. SHOULDER - the weapon equipped onto the selected unit's Right Shoulder. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TERRAIN EFFECTS [TERR] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unlike most strategy RPGs, Front Mission makes use of the terrain as a vital part of any mission. Each square on a map has a geographical rating known as Geo, which is renamed as "Cover" for the North American version. Basically, Cover affects two parameters in regards to wanzer combat: the unit's movement and weapon accuracy. A weapon's accuracy is deducted directly from the Cover rating of the target's square. For example, a unit on forest terrain tends to have a Cover rating of 20% or higher. Thus, the unit is hard to hit on this terrain. In urban terrain, Cover ratings are generally around 5% so any units on this terrain are easy to hit. The player can equip four unique Leg types for their wanzers: Normal, Hover, Treads, and Tires. All Leg types require a certain amount of Move to traverse one square on a map. Referring to the forest terrain example, Tires Leg types expend 3 Move to traverse a square although Normal Leg types expend 4 Move for every square on this terrain. Elevation also plays a role in what terrain each Leg type can move on. So while Tires Leg types may seem great on flat surfaces, they can ascend or descend one elevation level at a time. Normal Leg types can ascend or descend two elevation levels at any given time. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ JOB TYPES [JTYP] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A standard mechanic found in every strategy RPG, Front Mission incorporates a Job class system. There are four Job classes found in Front Mission: Melee, Short, Long, and Dodge. Melee is a class that specializes in melee weaponry such as rods and a wanzer's arms. Short is a class that specializes in ranged weaponry at close range such as machine guns, shotguns, flamethrowers, and rifles. Long is a class that specializes in ranged weaponry at long range such as missile and rocket launchers. Finally, the Dodge class is simply a class that specializes in defensive and evasive maneuvers. All pilots have a specialty, although some specialize in more than one Job class. In mission play, the player units gain experience towards any of the four Job classes. Using weapons designated for the Melee, Short, and Long classes will result in experience for those Job classes. To gain experience in the Dodge class, a player unit has to be attacked by an enemy unit. Experience gained is directed towards a specific Job class depending on the action used. For example, if Royd attacks an enemy with a Short weapon and EXP + 100 shows on the battle screen, 100 EXP is added to the Short class. EXP amount fluctuates based on enemy composition; stronger enemies yield large EXP gains. Extra EXP is gained by destroying enemy parts, especially if the Body is destroyed. At certain point values for each Job class, a pilot can learn Battle Skills. Basically, they are pilot abilities that increase the potency of weapons used in battle at random. There are seven Battle Skills in total that a pilot can learn, but pilots are limited to five skills maximum. Likewise, not all pilots can learn all skills or have the five skills maximum. To learn skills, a pilot must level up apart from meeting the point value requirement. Pilot levels are increased up accumulating a certain amount of total EXP in all Job classes. Bonus EXP is added to all Job classes during each level increase. If a pilot reaches the maximum of 50 levels, they cannot learn any more skills. Most pilots have three point value intervals and thus three chances to learn a skill from the Melee, Short, or Long Job classes. There are no skills for the Dodge class unfortunately. The point value intervals vary depending on Job class and the pilot's specialties. A pilot that specializes in Melee will get skills early whereas a Long specialist training in Melee takes more time to learn skills. It is important to note that skills cannot be removed and if the pilot's skill slots are full, no more skills can be obtained. Example: 1. Royd uses a Melee weapon and gains 55 EXP. 2. 55 EXP is added to Melee, which gives him over 700 in this class. 3. Royd gains a Pilot Level increase. 4. Royd is only at Pilot Level 40 and has two skill slots left so the skill list for Melee appears. 5. Royd chooses to equip the Melee skill "Double". 6. If Royd does not choose to equip a Melee skill, the list appears whenever Royd gains a Pilot Level increase and has one skill slot left. 7. Royd will not learn any more skills if he is at Pilot Level 50 and has no more skill slots left. The Melee skill list does not appear in this case. Battle skills start at Level 1, though a few characters can get their skills to start at Level 2. Constant usage of battle skills will increase its level and therefore increase its potency. The final level is known as "Max", which has an extremely low chance of happening. The chances of getting the "Max" level are 1/2000 so you really have to get lucky for this to appear. Job Level Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Level Total EXP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 9 0 10 256 11 512 12 768 13 1024 14 1280 15 1536 16 1792 17 2048 18 2304 19 2560 20 2816 21 3072 22 3328 23 3584 24 3840 25 4096 26 4352 27 4608 28 4864 29 5120 30 5376 31 5632 32 5888 33 6144 34 6400 35 6656 36 6912 37 7168 38 7424 39 7680 40 7936 41 8192 42 8448 43 8704 44 8960 45 9216 46 9472 47 9728 48 9984 Pilot Level Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pilot Level Total EXP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 0 2 200 3 400 4 700 5 1000 6 1300 7 1600 8 1900 9 2200 10 2500 11 2800 12 3100 13 3400 14 3700 15 4000 16 4400 17 4800 18 5200 19 5600 20 6000 21 6600 22 7200 23 7800 24 8400 25 9000 26 9600 27 10200 28 11000 29 11800 30 12600 31 13400 32 14200 33 15000 34 16000 35 17000 36 18000 37 19000 38 20000 39 21200 40 22400 41 23600 42 24800 43 26000 44 27400 45 28800 46 30200 47 31900 48 33600 49 35500 50 37500 Pilot Specialty Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pilot Specialty Skill Slots ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (O.C.U. Scenario) Royd Clive All-purpose 5 Ryuji Sakata Short 5 Natalie F. Blakewood Short 5 Keith Carabell Short 5 J.J.(Joynas Jeriaska) Short 5 Frederick Lancaster Dodge 4 Meihua Yang Melee 3 Paul C. Greiber Long 4 Alder Weiss Melee 3 Hans Goldwin Long 3 Gregorio Maias Melee 3 Molly O'Donnell Dodge 4 Bobby Hopkins Short 4 Porunga Dodge 5 Yeehin Yang Short 4 Ralph Dian Melee 3 Gentz Weizer All-purpose 2 Peewie Richberg Jr. Short 1 (U.C.S. Scenario) Kevin Greenfield All-purpose 5 Johnny Sanders Short 5 Matthew D. Lorenzo Melee 5 Halle Fiennes Dodge 4 Howard Wong Long 4 Gina Davies Short 3 Ghetta Cedric Melee 3 (Other) Darril Traubel Melee 5 Billy Renges Long 5 Pilot Bonus EXP Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Range Melee Short Long Dodge ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (O.C.U. Scenario) Royd Clive 2-10 14 14 14 14 ---------- 11-20 18 18 18 18 ---------- 21-30 22 22 22 22 ---------- 31-40 26 26 26 26 ---------- 41-50 30 30 30 30 Ryuji Sakata 2-10 11 19 13 12 ---------- 11-20 12 28 16 14 ---------- 21-30 13 37 19 16 ---------- 31-40 14 46 22 18 ---------- 41-50 15 55 25 20 Natalie F. Blakewood 2-10 13 16 15 12 ---------- 11-20 16 22 20 14 ---------- 21-30 19 28 25 16 ---------- 31-40 22 34 30 18 ---------- 41-50 25 40 35 20 Keith Carabell 2-10 14 16 15 11 ---------- 11-20 18 22 20 12 ---------- 21-30 22 28 25 13 ---------- 31-40 26 34 30 14 ---------- 41-50 30 40 35 15 J.J.(Joynas Jeriaska) 2-10 12 17 15 12 ---------- 11-20 14 24 20 14 ---------- 21-30 16 31 25 16 ---------- 31-40 18 38 30 18 ---------- 41-50 20 45 35 20 Frederick Lancaster 4-10 13 12 13 19 ---------- 11-20 16 14 16 28 ---------- 21-30 19 16 19 37 ---------- 31-40 22 18 22 46 ---------- 41-50 25 20 25 55 Meihua Yang 6-10 17 15 11 13 ---------- 11-20 24 20 12 16 ---------- 21-30 31 25 13 19 ---------- 31-40 38 30 14 22 ---------- 41-50 45 35 15 25 Paul C. Greiber 7-10 12 12 19 13 ---------- 11-20 14 14 28 16 ---------- 21-30 16 16 37 19 ---------- 31-40 18 18 46 22 ---------- 41-50 20 20 55 25 Alder Weiss 8-10 16 16 13 11 ---------- 11-20 22 22 16 12 ---------- 21-30 28 28 19 13 ---------- 31-40 34 34 22 14 ---------- 41-50 40 40 25 15 Hans Goldwin 11-20 16 14 24 18 ---------- 21-30 19 16 31 22 ---------- 31-40 22 18 38 26 ---------- 41-50 25 20 45 30 Gregorio Maias 11-20 28 16 12 16 ---------- 21-30 37 19 13 19 ---------- 31-40 46 22 14 22 ---------- 41-50 55 25 15 25 Molly O'Donnell 6-10 13 12 12 16 ---------- 11-20 16 14 14 22 ---------- 21-30 19 16 16 28 ---------- 31-40 22 18 18 34 ---------- 41-50 25 20 20 40 Bobby Hopkins 15-20 14 22 22 14 ---------- 21-30 16 28 28 16 ---------- 31-40 18 34 34 18 ---------- 41-50 20 40 40 20 Porunga 15-20 18 18 16 20 ---------- 21-30 22 22 19 25 ---------- 31-40 26 26 22 30 ---------- 41-50 30 30 25 35 Yeehin Yang 17-20 16 22 20 14 ---------- 21-30 19 28 25 16 ---------- 31-40 22 34 30 18 ---------- 41-50 25 40 35 20 Ralph Dian 22-30 31 25 19 13 ---------- 31-40 38 30 22 14 ---------- 41-50 45 35 25 15 Gentz Weizer 18-20 18 18 18 18 ---------- 21-30 22 22 22 22 ---------- 31-40 26 26 26 26 ---------- 41-50 30 30 30 30 Peewie Richberg Jr. 6-10 12 16 12 16 ---------- 11-20 14 22 14 22 ---------- 21-30 16 28 16 28 ---------- 31-40 18 34 18 34 ---------- 41-50 20 40 20 40 (U.C.S. Scenario) Kevin Greenfield 2-10 14 14 14 14 ---------- 11-20 18 18 18 18 ---------- 21-30 22 22 22 22 ---------- 31-40 26 26 26 26 ---------- 41-50 30 30 30 30 Johnny Sanders 2-10 13 17 13 12 ---------- 11-20 16 24 16 14 ---------- 21-30 19 31 19 16 ---------- 31-40 22 38 22 18 ---------- 41-50 25 45 25 20 Matthew D. Lorenzo 2-10 17 15 13 12 ---------- 11-20 24 20 16 14 ---------- 21-30 31 25 19 16 ---------- 31-40 38 30 22 18 ---------- 41-50 45 35 25 20 Halle Fiennes 4-10 14 13 13 16 ---------- 11-20 18 16 16 22 ---------- 21-30 22 19 19 28 ---------- 31-40 26 22 22 34 ---------- 41-50 30 25 25 40 Howard Wong 4-10 14 12 17 11 ---------- 11-20 18 14 24 12 ---------- 21-30 22 16 31 13 ---------- 31-40 26 18 38 14 ---------- 41-50 30 20 45 15 Gina Davies 15-20 12 28 14 14 ---------- 21-30 13 37 16 16 ---------- 31-40 14 46 18 18 ---------- 41-50 15 55 20 20 Ghetta Cedric 21-30 22 16 16 22 ---------- 31-40 26 18 18 26 ---------- 41-50 30 20 20 30 (Other) Darril Traubel 15-20 14 12 10 14 ---------- 21-30 16 13 10 16 ---------- 31-40 18 14 10 18 ---------- 41-50 20 15 10 20 Billy Renges 13-20 10 12 14 14 ---------- 21-30 10 13 16 16 ---------- 31-40 10 14 18 18 ---------- 41-50 10 15 20 20 Pilot Skills Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Melee Short Long ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (O.C.U. Scenario) Royd Clive Stun/Double/First Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Ryuji Sakata Stun/Double/First Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Natalie F. Blakewood Stun/Double Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Keith Carabell Double Duel/Speed/Switch Guide J.J.(Joynas Jeriaska) Stun/Double/First Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Frederick Lancaster Double/First Speed/Switch Guide Meihua Yang Stun/Double*/First Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Paul C. Greiber Stun Duel/Switch Guide Alder Weiss Stun*/First/Double Duel/Switch Guide Hans Goldwin None Duel/Speed/Switch Guide Gregorio Maias Stun*/Double/First None None Molly O'Donnell Stun/Double/First Duel/Switch None Bobby Hopkins Stun/Double Switch Guide Porunga Stun/Double/First Speed None Yeehin Yang Stun/Double Speed Guide Ralph Dian Stun*/Double* None Guide Gentz Weizer Stun* Duel/Switch/Speed Guide Peewie Richberg Jr. None None None (U.C.S. Scenario) Kevin Greenfield Stun/Double/First Duel/Switch/Speed Guide Johnny Sanders Stun/Double/First Duel/Switch/Speed Guide Matthew D. Lorenzo Stun/Double/First Duel/Switch/Speed Guide Halle Fiennes Stun/Double Switch/Speed Guide Howard Wong Stun/Double/First Speed Guide Gina Davies Double Duel*/Switch/Speed Guide Ghetta Cedric Stun*/Double/First Duel Guide (Other) Darril Traubel Stun*/Double/First Duel/Switch/Speed None Billy Renges Stun/Double/First Duel* None Notes: * - pilot already has the skill equipped. - Meihua's First starts at Level 2. - Gregorio's First and Double both start at Level 2. Pilot Skill EXP Requirements Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Melee Short Long ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (O.C.U. Scenario) Royd Clive 700/1900/3500 2000/5000/7000 1500/6000 Ryuji Sakata 1000/2300 2500/5500/8500 2000/7000 Natalie F. Blakewood 1000/2200/3600 3100/5000/7000 1900 Keith Carabell 1200/3000 2000/5000/7000 2000 J.J.(Joynas Jeriaska) 2000/3600 2000/5000/7000 2500 Frederick Lancaster 3000/9000 5000/7000 6000 Meihua Yang 1800/2800 3000/5000/7000 2200 Paul C. Greiber 3000/4000/5000 3000/5000 1500 Alder Weiss 1500 4000/7000 1700 Hans Goldwin 0 2900/5900/7900 900 Gregorio Maias 500/1800/3000 0 0 Molly O'Donnell 1200/5500 4000/6000 0 Bobby Hopkins 1300 2000/4000 1500 Porunga 900/2200 3000/6000 0 Yeehin Yang 2000/3500 4000/4500 2600 Ralph Dian 0 0 2000 Gentz Weizer 0 3000/5000/7000 2500 Peewie Richberg Jr. 0 0 0 (U.C.S. Scenario) Kevin Greenfield 1000/2200/3500 1800/4800/7000 2000 Johnny Sanders 1100/2300/3800 1600/4500/6500 2000 Matthew D. Lorenzo 700/1900/3500 2100/5100/8000 2000 Halle Fiennes 1000/2200 3100/5100 1900 Howard Wong 800/2200 3500 1500 Gina Davies 3000 4800/6500 3000 Ghetta Cedric 2200/3500 5000 3000 (Other) Darril Traubel 2200 1800 0 Billy Renges 1000 0 0 Battle Skills Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Type Description ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stun Melee Stuns target with a melee attack. Double Melee Strikes target twice with melee attacks. First Melee Grants first strike during battle. Duel Short Aim at selected wanzer parts. Switch Short Attacks again with a different weapon. Speed Short Adds extra attacks to burst weapons. Guide Long Aim at selected wanzer parts. Battle Skills Level Guide: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Name Level Potency ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stun 1 Stun status normally lasts for one turn. 40% activation. Stun 2 Stun status normally lasts for two turns. 60% activation. Stun 3 Stun status normally lasts for three turns. 80% activation. Stun Max Stun status normally lasts for four turns. 90% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Double 1 One extra attack is made. 40% activation. Double 2 Up to two extra attacks are made. 60% activation. Double 3 Up to three extra attacks are made. 80% activation. Double Max Up to four extra attacks are made. 90% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First 1 40% activation. First 2 60% activation. First 3 80% activation. First Max 100% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Duel 1 50% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Duel 2 70% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Duel 3 85% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Duel Max 100% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Switch 1 One extra attack is made. 30% activation. Switch 2 Up to two extra attacks are made. 50% activation. Switch 3 Up to three extra attacks are made. 80% activation. Switch Max Up to four extra attacks are made. 90% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Speed 1 One extra round is fired. 50% activation. Speed 2 Two extra rounds are fired. 60% activation. Speed 3 Three extra rounds are fired. 70% activation. Speed Max Four extra rounds are fired. 100% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Guide 1 50% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Guide 2 70% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Guide 3 85% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. Guide Max 100% weapon accuracy. 100% activation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note: For Duel and Guide, there is a chance of the skill gaining a level even if you choose not to use it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WEAPON TYPES [WTYP] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No strategy RPG is complete without weapons and Front Mission does not forget to include some weapons for the wanzers to use. The following sections will detail all of the weapons that can be equipped and used by wanzers for the purposes of mission play and Arena battling. MELEE ----- Weapon Types: Punch, Rod Weapon Location: Hand Weapon Range: 1 Description: Melee weapons are single-hit weapons that deal a large amount of damage and rarely miss. Melee weapons are last in the attack priority so expect to take damage before being able to attack. This is balanced out by the fact that a Melee weapon often hits the Body and therefore leads to easy kills. Rods are self-explanatory but Punch refers to an Arm of the wanzer. If that Arm has no Hand weapons equipped, it can be used as a Melee weapon. SHORT ----- Weapon Types: Machine Gun, Vulcan, Shotgun, Flamethrower, Rifle Weapon Location: Hand Weapon Range: 1 Description: Short weapons are either multi-hit or single-hit weapons. Multi-hit weapons consist of Machine Guns and Vulcans, which have weak single round damage. These weapons do fire multiple rounds at random parts, however, which is useful on numerous occasions. Shotguns, Flamethrowers, and Rifles fall under the single-hit category. Single-hit Short weapons operate similarly to Melee weapons but have a higher attack priority. Shotguns have excellent accuracy for lower damage, whereas Flamethrowers and Rifles have lower accuracy for greater damage. They are not concentrated on a particular part and generally are less accurate than Melee weapons with the exception of Shotguns. LONG ---- Weapon Types: Missile Launcher, Rocket Launcher Weapon Location: Shoulder Weapon Range: varies, base 3-4 Description: Long weapons are single-hit or multi-hit weapons that can be fired from a distance. The selling point of a Long weapon is that the enemy unit cannot counterattack the user and thus, these weapons are essentially free damage. Long weapons do have a minimum range and cannot be fired at point-blank ranges though. Long weapons are the only weapons that have ammunition limits and must be reloaded when ammunition has been used up. There is no difference between a Missile Launcher and Rocket Launcher as both have the same purpose. DODGE ----- Weapon Types: Shield Weapon Location: Shoulder Weapon Range: 0 Description: Dodge weapons are purely for defensive purposes. They are used to raise a wanzer's Defense parameter and increase the damage tolerance when the wanzer guards. Shields are useful in defending against attacks from Long or Hybrid weapons. That's all there is to know about Dodge weapons. HYBRID ------ Weapon Types: Bazooka, Grenade Launcher, Rifle Weapon Location: Hand Weapon Range: varies, base 1-4 Description: Hybrid weapons are single-hit weapons that can be fired at point-blank or from a distance. These are advanatageous in that a unit can train their Short And Long skills, apart from being free damage to an extent. These suffer from low accuracy so they are not reliable damage dealers. This applies to the Bazookas and Grenade Launchers, which are the same in functionality. Some Rifles that operate as Hybrid weapons do have respectable accuracy for the price of lower damage. BUILT-IN -------- Weapon Types: Punch, Machine Gun, Shotgun, Flamethrower, Bazooka, Cannon Weapon Location: Hand Weapon Range: varies depending on weapon class Description: Built-in weapons are self-explanatory: weapons incorporated into a wanzer's Arm parts. Built-in weapons tend to weigh less than equipping a normal Arm and a Hand-specifc weapon, making them quite useful. These are balanced out by the fact that the Arms tend to have low Defense and HP, making them easy to destroy. Cannons are the same as Machine Guns and Vulcans; they are under the Short class as multi-hit weapons. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS(FAQ) [BFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q: If I manually end the Player Phase, does that mean the Enemy Phase ends as well? A: No, the Enemy Phase does not automatically end if you manually end the Player Phase. It continues as usual until all enemy units have made their actions. For the most part, manually ending the Player Phase is never a good idea. Q: One of my wanzers got both Arms destroyed! What am I going to do with a unit that can't attack? A: You several options in this case. The first is to restore the destroyed Arms via supply truck or Riff as soon as possible. The second is to keep the unit's Body operating until your other units come to its aid. The last is to complete the mission before the damaged unit is eliminated. Q: I want to access the supply truck in Royd's side to exchange my weapons but I don't see any commands about this. Is there something that I have to do to access the supply truck? A: Whenever you want to access the supply truck, one of your units must be one square adjacent from the supply truck. On the following turn, you can use the supply truck to exchange your weapons. If you are already beside the supply truck and haven't acted, you can access it on your current turn. The option to interact with the supply truck disappears once the unit moves out of the supply truck's range. Q: Every time I try to attack this unit in a mission, my shots keep missing! I have Arms with a high accuracy parameter on my wanzer that's attacking it but that's not helping out! Why is this? A: There are only two explanations for this. The first is that the enemy is on a terrain with a high Cover rating. Lure the enemy out of the terrain so your attacks will connect instead of miss. The second is that your weapons have low accuracy. While Arm accuracy augments the accuracy of the equipped weapons, it is important to use weapons with high accuracy parameters. A weapon with low accuracy parameters will result in a lot of misses even with high accuracy Arms. Q: I have all of my pilots equipped with Short weapons but I notice that some of them do more damage and get better accuracy rates than others. During the level ups for pilots, some get more bonus EXP for Short. Is this expected or am I missing out on something? A: Pilots that specialize in a Job class outperform non-specialists and have boosted damage and accuracy parameters. Specialists also have a higher chance of their skills levelling up, with the exception of the "Max" level. Stick with the specialties and your pilots will perform better in mission play. Q: Is it possible to remove Battle Skills or am I stuck with what I chose? A: Battle Skills cannot be removed once they are equipped. The only way to get them off is to play a new game file. Make sure you choose your skills wisely. Q: What weapon should I equip for my pilots? I know that each weapon falls in one of the four classes but there's not much of a difference with each weapon that I see. A: It's personal preference really. If you want to train under a certain Job class, you should consider equipping weapons designated for that class. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. WANZER SETUP [WSET] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This section details the mechanics and features behind the customization and creation of wanzers. Reading information about the Battle System is highly recommended as information here goes hand-in-hand with the aforementioned section. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WANZER DESIGN [WDES] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Designing wanzers is a daunting task if you are new to Front Mission. This is where Front Mission really stands out of the strategy RPG crowd and thus, it has its own section. Designing a wanzer will be broken down into sections as to ensure that you understand the process behind wanzer configuration. FRAME PARTS ----------- The wanzer frame consists of the parts that make up the actual wanzer. This consists of a Body, a Right Arm, a Left Arm, and the Legs. A unit cannot be created unless the wanzer frame is complete. The Body part is top priority over the Arms and Legs for a good reason. Special to the Body is the Power parameter, which is essentially the lifeblood of any wanzer. Every part has a Weight parameter that is subtracted from the Power parameter. The overall Weight value of a wanzer must be always be equal to or lower than the Power value or it cannot be used in battles. Therefore, choosing the right Body is key to creating a powerful wanzer. Next in terms of design priority are the Right and Left Arms. A wanzer's only means of attacking are through its Arms and without them, it is helpless. The Hit parameter is special to Arm parts; it enhances the accuracy values of an equipped weapon. A weapon that has low Hit values can benefit from an Arm with a high Hit value. An Arm without a hand-specific weapon can be used as a Melee attack that has its own Attack and Hit values. Built-in weapon Arms are viable options as they result in lower Weight values for a wanzer. Their drawback lies in the fact that no hand-specific weapon can be equipped on Arms of this type. The last part in designing a wanzer is the Legs. The only purpose of the Legs is to allow the wanzer to traverse over various terrain and elevation. The Move parameter is special to Legs only and dictates how much a wanzer can move of course. The amount of Move needed to traverse a square depends on the Leg type and the square's terrain type. Some parts also raise the wanzer's Power value, although these parts are rare. Normal Leg types will suffice for the entire game, though Treads, Tires, and Hover Leg types have their uses in certain terrain. One last notable detail to mention is that the Move value can be increased depending on a wanzer's Weight/Power difference. For every 10% of free Weight that a wanzer has, 1 point is added to its Move value. The Move parameter's maximum is 25 points so if a wanzer has met that value, extra Move points are not awarded. The most squares a wanzer can move is 12 so those extra Move points can make a difference. SUPPORT PARTS ------------- After a wanzer frame has been fully assembled, support parts can be equipped to boost the effectiveness of the wanzer. Backpacks are parts mounted onto a wanzer's back that increase the following: item storage, Power value, and the range of support items such as chaff grenades. Backpacks have no drawbacks of any kind and therefore should always be equipped onto a wanzer. A special Backpack exists for Kevin's side, which is the Riff. The Riff is the only way for units to reload weapons and restore destroyed parts on wanzers in Kevin's side. As a special Backpack, the Riff does not have the same features as the normal Backpack. The second support part that a wanzer can equip are computers. Computers are parts that raise a pilot's proficiency in all Job classes. Computers tend to specialize towards one of the four Job classes, though there are ones that enhance all Job classes equally. Accuracy and damage are the most noticeable enhancements, although computers with high Dodge values raise a wanzer's evasion as well. Thus, equipping the proper computer for the right pilot is an easy task to do. ATTACKING PARTS --------------- Now that the wanzer has been equipped with its frame and support parts, it's time to give it some firepower. A wanzer can equip up to four weapons: two on the Hands and two on the Shoulders. Technically, a wanzer can have a fifth one in terms of a Body with built-in weapons, but this is exclusive to mobile weapons. Knowing what weapon to equip depends on the pilot who will use the wanzer and their Job specialty. Hand weapons are generally lighter than the shoulder weapons so they should be your first concern. For Long specialists, shoulder weapons should be their top priority. While it is possible to fully load a wanzer with weapons, this is bad wanzer design in most cases. No more than two weapons should be equipped on any wanzer for optimal performance. Wanzer Design priority: 1. Body 2. Arms 3. Legs 4. Backpack 5. Computer 6. Hand Weapons 7. Shoulder Weapons ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WANZER PARAMETERS [WPAR] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Wanzer parameters for all parts will be documented here and split into the appropriate sections. (Commonly Shared Parameters) DF - the Defense parameter. High Defense values result in reduced damage. HP - the HP parameter. High HP values result in greater part durability. WEIGHT - the Weight parameter. Low Weight values result in extra Move points. POWER - the Power parameter. High values result in more design flexibility. (Body) INT. WEAPON - weapons integrated into the Body part(built-in weapons). AT - the Attack parameter. High values result in greater damage potential. HIT - the Hit parameter. High values result in less attacks missing. (Arms) HIT - the Hit parameter. High values result in greater weapon Hit values. INT. WEAPON - weapons integrated into the Arm part(built-in weapons). AT - the Attack parameter. High values result in greater damage potential. HIT - the Hit parameter. High values result in less attacks missing. (Legs) MOVE - the Move parameter. High values result in greater movement distance. (Computers) MELEE - the Melee parameter. Raises pilot's proficiency in the Melee class. SHORT - the Short parameter. Raises pilot's proficiency in the Short class. LONG - the Long parameter. Raises pilot's proficiency in the Long class. DODGE - the Dodge parameter. Raises pilot's proficiency in the Dodge class. (Backpacks) ITEM - the Item parameter. Raises the maximum amount of equipped items. RANGE - the Range parameter. Raises the maximum range of support items. (Weapons) AT - the Attack parameter. High values result in greater damage potential. HIT - the Hit parameter. High values result in less attacks missing. RANGE - the Range parameter. Dictates the minimum and maximum weapon range. AMMO - the Ammo parameter. Ammo must be replenished by supply truck or Riff. TYPE - the Type parameter. Classifies weapons under the Job classes. (Overall) MELEE - the wanzer's potency in the Melee class. SHORT - the wanzer's potency in the Short class. LONG - the wanzer's potency in the Long class. DODGE - the wanzer's potency in the Dodge class. TOTAL - the wanzer's overall potency in all classes. MOVE - the wanzer's Move value. W/P - the difference between the wanzer's Weight/Power values. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ WANZER TYPES [WANT] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Assuming that you have read the Wanzer Design and Wanzer Parameter sections, it's time to learn about viable wanzer builds that can be used. FIGHTER ------- Fighter builds are designed for Melee specialists. The basic idea behind a Fighter build is having a wanzer geared for close-range combat and to act as a tank unit. Parameters that a Fighter build focuses on are HP and Defense mainly since they attack last against ranged enemy units. The combination of high HP and Defense makes a Fighter build hard to kill, which allows them to operate as tanks. Fighter builds generally are used to finish off enemies due to how Melee weapons operate in general. When shopping for new parts, go for ones with high Defense since they are easy to identify. Rods should be equipped for the most part, but they lack power later in the game. Arms with the highest Attack ratings for their Punch weapons should be used when that time comes. Fortunately, these Arms tend to have the highest Defense ratings so they're also easy to identify. Finally, two Shields should always be equipped on Fighter builds for more durability. Build checklist: Frame - HP and Defense. Support - Backpack and Melee-specialty computer. Attacking - Rod/Punch x 2 on Hand. Shield x 2 on Shoulder. Sample build: Body - Numsekar Left Arm - Numsekar Right Arm - Numsekar Legs - Numsekar Backpack - Bag Worm Computer - Evolucion WW-87 L. Hand - Crusader R. Hand - Crusader L. Shoulder - WS-14B R. Shoulder - WS-14B ATTACKER -------- Attacker builds are designed for Short specialists. The basic idea behind an Attacker build is having a wanzer geared for close-range combat and act as the main attacking unit. Parameters that an Attacker build focuses on are Hit and Move for hit-and-run tactics with enemy units. Short weapons lack the accuracy that Melee weapons possess so an Arm with a high Hit value results in more damage dealt. Attacker builds do most of the fighting so being able to reach enemy targets is key with a high Move value. When shopping for new parts, choose a balanced Body to suit the needs of an Attacker build. Buy Arms with high Hit ratings for the purposes of better accuracy. For the Legs, high Move is important but stick with Normal Leg types to get the most mileage out of them. A Machine Gun or Vulcan paired with a Shotgun, Flamethrower, or Rifle is a good balance of multi-hit and single-hit weaponry. Top it off with a Shield and another one if you really want to be safe. Build checklist: Frame - Hit and Move. Support - Backpack and Short-specialty computer. Attacking - Machine Gun/Vulcan and Shotgun/Flamethrower/Rifle on Hand. Shield or Shield x 2 on Shoulder. Sample build: Body - Zenith V Left Arm - Zenith V Right Arm - Zenith V Legs - Zenith V Backpack - Bag Worm Computer - Yeata RG-0624z L. Hand - FV-24B R. Hand - Firebird L. Shoulder - WS-14B R. Shoulder - None MISSILEER --------- Missileer builds are designed for Long specialists. The basic idea behind a Missileer build is having a wanzer geared for distance combat and acting as a support unit. Parameters that a Missileer build focuses on are Hit and Power above all else. The weapons designated for a Missileer build are the heaviest of all weapons so Power is vital to these builds. Missileers are best used to soften or finish off enemy units from afar. As long as they are not forced into a fight at close range, take advantage of their weaponry. When shopping for new parts, go for the Body with the highest Power rating. Follow the same guidelines for Attackers when searching for Arms. The Legs don't matter to a Missileer build so do whatever you want with them. As for the weapons, load both Shoulders with Missile and Rocket Launchers. If you still have Weight left over, equip a Bazooka or Grenade Launcher on one Arm. In the event your Shoulder weapons have no ammo, you can still attack from a distance with your Hand weapon. Build checklist: Frame - Hit and Power. Support - Backpack and Long-specialty computer. Attacking - Bazooka/Grenade Launcher on Hand. Missile Launcher/Rocket Launcher x 2 on Shoulder. Sample build: Body - Igel Eins H Left Arm - Igel Eins H Right Arm - Igel Eins H Legs - Igel Eins H Backpack - Bag Worm Computer - Yeata RG-0624z L. Hand - Rock Jack R. Hand - None L. Shoulder - Donkey DX2 R. Shoulder - Donkey DX2 HYBRID ------ Hybrid builds consist of fusions between two of the three builds or all three builds combined. Hybrid builds may seem attractive due to their all-purpose capabilities, but these builds are the hardest to make. Balancing all of the parts to have an effective hybrid build takes a lot of number-crunching and analysis of the parts available. It is doable to create hybrid builds but you will have to spend some time searching for the right parts. Build checklist: Frame - Balance. Support - Backpack and balanced computer. Attacking - 1 Melee and 1 Short on Hand. 1 Long on Shoulder. Sample build: Body - Phantom Left Arm - Zenith V Right Arm - Numsekar Legs - Igel Eins H Backpack - Bag Worm Computer - Karen Device BD-6kr L. Hand - FV-24B R. Hand - Crusader L. Shoulder - None R. Shoulder - Donkey DX2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS(FAQ) [WFAQ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Q: Why should I follow the wanzer design priority list? I've already made a few wanzers and it seems that I'm doing things right. A: The wanzer design priority list is a guideline on how to successfully create wanzers in the easiest way possible. Logically, a player will start off with the frame parts and leave the attacking parts for last. The wanzer design priority breaks these steps down to its simplest steps. You don't have to follow it, but it helps out a lot if you're new to Front Mission. Q: When I try to equip a part on my wanzer, the game tells me that I can't equip it! What am I doing wrong? A: The most common issue is that your wanzer's Weight value exceeds that of its Power value. You can easily solve this by equipping lighter parts and weapons. The second issue is that you are trying to equip a Hand weapon on an Arm with built-in weapons. Hand weapons cannot be equipped onto these types of Arms no matter what you do. Shoulder weapons, however, can be equipped onto these Arms. Q: Can you explain what the range on a Backpack stands for? I'm clueless on what is affected by the Backpack's Range parameter. A: Range on a Backpack increases the maximum range of support items. Support items don't play much of a role in battle so the boosted Range isn't that useful. Q: Is there any benefit to creating a wanzer frame made up of the same parts? I could get better performance by mixing parts up instead of sticking with a pure wanzer frame. A: There is no benefit to creating a pure wanzer frame unless you like to use pure wanzers. Do whatever you need to make a good wanzer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 5. CREDITS [CRED] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks to: - GameFAQs obviously - GameFAQs posters for pointing out several mistakes - Front Mission: World Historica book for battle skill level differences - Square Enix for the Front Mission series This FAQ copyright 2009 to Angelo Pineda. Redistribution in any form, including reprinting in electronic or print media, without express permission of the author is strictly forbidden.
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