[360] Ace Combat 6 (More homosexual than Top Gun) (Fuck you, high-low fives are awesome)

Originally Posted by Duminas

Not to sound like a complete idiot, but this being the first Ace Combat game I've ever played (or flight sim at all, for that matter) I'm a bit confused on the mechanics. I've been playing the demo, but never figured out how to make missiles actually hit reliably. Occasionally I see a "Shoot" prompt come up, and when that happens, they almost always connect (and kill), but getting that seems to be a complete crapshoot. Is there some vital mechanic I'm missing here beyond just getting the target square in the middle of my screen and pressing B?

Intercept geometry is a major issue here. Ideally, fire from behind your target while it is proceeding in roughly the same direction you are; conversely, firing on one crossing your view is least likely to yield results.

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I also occasionally see a small circle pop up on the HUD and (seemingly) move about at total random. What's that about?

That's your gunsight; when using cannons to engage a target, aim for that, not the actual plane. If you do get the demo, be sure to play through the tutorials; those should clarify things.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Duminas

How can you tell when missiles actually "lock" though? Is it just whatever happens to be in front of you, or your target (switched by Y)?

Let's see... as you've probably noticed, every enemy plane in your field of view has a green box on it. If your current target is off-screen, an arrow will point to it, as seen above.


Your current target will have a data block next to this box. If you're locked on, as is the case in the above image, the box will instead be a red box-and-diamond.

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So get the enemy within that circle if using cannons? Check.

No, no, no. Take note the two symbols in the dead-center of the HUD... when you do fire the cannon, you will see that the fire heads for one of those (the 'w'; someone double-check that for me, please?). You put thatinside the gunsight, which represents where you have to aim to hit the target.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by Megalith Prime

Got the Nosferatu so bad. Can someone tell me why its special weapons are dual railguns and twelve simultaneously-targeting warheads.

Being able to pull off an Itano Circus/Macross Missile Massacre is always cool (but Project Sylpheed is the current champ in this department). The gauss guns are somewhat plausible, being offshoots from Stonehenge/Chandeleir developemt; unlike DEWs, you have to lead them on target.

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I also take back everything negative I said about the game, other than the stuff about the story and cutscenes. Obviously I was too dumb to realize that the reason why there are so many targets is to make allied attack and coverage nearly mandatory. It's awesome sending out your allies and seeing them actually blow a bunch of planes away, especially on the stage where you're alone in a dog fight with like forty other planes, and the Emmerian squadrons show up.

Amen to that. How many times have you wished you could do this during something like, oh I don't know, Whiskey Corridor...?

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But without a doubt, the biggest screw up in the game was the decision to remove the manual targeting from ACZ...

The term you're looking for, I think, is boresight mode; and yes, it was quite handy. With L3 now being used for landing gear control, maybe they could have used 'double-tap Y' (in the same context as double-clicking a mouse) to toggle boresight mode.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by GELB-1

Well, you can't use the rape rockets online, only the giant sniper cannons, so that makes it a tiny bit less broken than it could have been.

I believe that the gauss guns require a bit more skill to use than the DEWs precisely because you can't just sweep it across the formation (and, at longer ranges, it's either dead-on or no cigar). However, I haven't tried using it in versus matches (is it my imagination, or are co-op setups rare to nonexistent? Perhaps I should create one sometime).
That said, I nominate the SAAM as the nerves-of-steel and hope-your-six-is-covered weapon.
Certainly either is better than the sheer quantities of X*AAs being flung around...

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by GELB-1

As for matches, it seems the only thing people ever make are team games. Never any fuckin' free-for-alls. Like, ever. And I've only ever come across two siege battles. Co-op is there occasionally though. Drop your gamertag and I'll try helping you with 'em? Or just add me. "Colonel Skills"

Decent of you, old chap. Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War hits shelves tomorrow; tooling around with that will probably chew up a few days. That said, drop me a line (gamertag: Shadow Firefly) and we can set something up.

I was speaking idiomatically.

From the proverbial horse's mouth... more special schemes are inbound. More imagery can be found here.
If I pick up one plane from this pack, it'd be this Flanker mutation...



What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

So, I downloaded the Miki-Flanker and took it for a couple of spins. Two amusing facts became obvious.
First, the flavor text:

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THE IDOLMASTER, Mikki Hoshi Aircraft
An extremely stable yet otherwise remarkably average aircraft with few outstanding qualities. While capable, it could be great if it only tried a little harder.

A little research revals that this describes the actual Mikki pretty well, too.
Second, its missiles - both regular and special - have green exhaust trails. This is not true, however, of the rockets.
That said, it was quite fun using it towip the floor with the Aigaion, its escort ships, and all of Strigon (the last with a little help from the others).

FELIPE NO