~B
By Cancerst1ck@netzero.net
April 26, 2000
INTRODUTION
I have written this FAQ to suppliment some of the details that I thought other FAQ's
did not cover. So if your looking for a skill list or walk-through check out other
FAQ's. I have written the FAQ with players that have either finished or almost
finished the game in mind so I will assume the readers already know the basics and on
the process of getting all platinum medals.
I thought of reserving this section for the copy right but I decided not to. My first
reason being that the advertisement for FM3 Strategy Guide is in the manual of the game
and the second is because I think the game has been around long enough where no
videogame magazine company would pay for whatever some no talent lazy thief might steal
from this FAQ. Just to make sure, I waited until I finished the game with all
platinums medals to delay further the release of this FAQ. So if you find this FAQ to
be helpful and if you know some plagiarizing no talents HUNT THEM DOWN LIKE THE DOGS
THEY ARE because I would have released this faq sooner if it wasn't for those idiots.
1) THE NETWORK
The network is a section that I decided not to cover in detail since it was poorly
done. This part of the game is the worst feature of the game that I have ever seen.
I'm referring to the Internet part of the game. While some may disagree I stand firmly
by my opinion.
While the Network provides large amount of data about 95% of it isn't worth a squat.
If you're playing the game for the first time I suppose the historical account found on
all the newspaper sites add histroy to the game but if people at Squaresoft think
putting large amount text reading will get people excited they should think again.
Instead they should have released the first two Front Mission games in the US.
To make things even worse, the way you get passwords is just out right lame. Most of
the time you are stuck while hacking into many sites because you have to wait until
someone just hands you the passwords, this could have been justified it the data helped
the gameplay by releasing cool items like a computer with 8 slots. Only exception
would be figuring out the password for Twin Tigers site. If getting the passwords were
like that for all the sites Front Mission 3 would have been a lot better.
Just so this section won't be totally about my bitching and moaning I will tell you at
least one password since finding this password was so annoying that I thought no one
deserves to suffer like that. The password is for the MIDAS CONTROLLER at INTREPID
STUPID/OTHERS/USN which is "ALICIANA". Strange enough, this password doesn't have much
of a clue and it's not handed out like most of the passwords and as usual the contents
weren't that great.
2) CUSTOMIZING WANZERS
No more whining, I promise! This is the core of the FM3 that makes it a great game.
I will cover all categories of parts starting with weapons and their proper usage. Key
to building a good wanzer is dependant upon your combat strategy. Having finished the
game with 36 platinum on my first play without the benefit of strategy guide or a faq I
believe it to be true. I will not comment on which strategy is better because if you
have fun playing all melee orianted wanzers you should go with it. You will have some
trouble here and there and never be able to get a platinum medals but you'll have fun
and that's what it's all about. Hopefully this faq will help you to create or improve
your butt kicking wanzers.
WEAPONS
MELEE WEAPONS: Offers most damage and the lowest AP cost. It's a good weapon for a
counter attack since opponent will usually go first when they are attacking anyway but
try not to compensate it by using Initiative I and II, instead use Initiative III or
better yet use Fast Attack which costs only two slots. I can't stress enough the fact
that melee weapon should be used mostly for counter attacks since trying to punch the
nearest enemy in the first round will most likely result in getting shot first with a
status effect or early gang bang. Normally, this would be a small tradeoff factor for
melee weapons but since you get points deducted for taking a lot of damage and taking
extra turns you should think carefully before you start things off with Melee III.
FLAMETHROWER: Offers ability to control AP cost. This weapon has a potential but lack
of range makes it bit awkward to use and low hit % makes it even harder to use. You
have to treat this weapon like a melee weapon to use it properly, needless to say you
need a wanzer with a lot of HP to even think about using it. Don't use it full force
unless you are 100% sure you can kill the opponent or break their weapon arm. This
weapon cannot be seriouly used without AP reduction skills or ROF's but the massive
damage it can deal out is often greater than the Heavy-P gun.
SHOTGUN: Rather short ranged but effective weapon. Fact that it hits all parts makes
it a choice weapon for finishing off a damaged part and at least one ally should equip
one. This weapon is a must for any ally that is in simulation for lack of AP's.
Another useful factor of the shotgun is how it distributes the damage quite evenly
among all parts unlike machinegun which sometimes betrays you by avoid hitting the part
that's about to fall off. Works very well with most battle skills but stick with ROF's
for over all better performance.
MACHINEGUN: Good all around and reliable weapon offering a decent range and average
damage. You should have at least 2 allies equipped with it. Just like shotgun, ROF's
are better suited skills for it. While any "Aim" battle skills offer interesting twist
they should not be used unless you have absolutely no other skills to choose from.
While it's not as reliable as a shotgun on breaking off parts watching your bullets
bounce off on already broken right arm is waste of an attack.
RIFLE: Difficult to handle but has very good range. In the beginning it's almost
useless since single shot it delivers misses often and towards the end it doesn't do
enough damage. Only reason people even use them is because of the fact that you can
use
Smash skill with it. However, the true strength of the rifle lies in it's
range and mere 2% loss of accuracy per square which can be easily compensated by
finding a high ground. Rifle should be used to soften up an enemy wanzer part when
missiles or grenades aren't available at the moment or if you need to conserve AP or
ammo. In the early game skill stick with Zoom's instead of Smash since watching
the bullet with Bodysmash written on it fly into the sunset is very heartbreaking.
MISSILE: Fact that this weapon does not cause counter(besides the fact that built in
status effect is pilot ejection) makes it a best choice weapon for your allies to
equip. Offering the best range it can dish out melee weapon sized damage practically
from the comfort of your living room so the AP cost of 10 is well worth it. It's
weakness is limited ammo so don't use "Salvo" unless your wanzer has a gun or a lot of
additional ammo since wanzers made to carry shoulder weapons have low HP and will be
killed easily in upclose battles. Skills used with rifles will work just as well with
missiles.
GRENADE: The other weapon that does not cause counter attack. While it's actual
targeting range is 3-6 it covers wide area making it very useful as a anti-ground troop
weapon. Often this weapon is shunned by many players since it has very poor accuracy
and costs too much AP. However, grenages is like a shotgun version of a missile with
poor accuracy but grenade is the only weapon that cannot be blocked by a shield. Once
grenade level is up to par with your current average weapon level you will realize why
grenades have even less ammo than the missiles. It's additional use is that you can
use the edge of the blast to make a flag waving foe to surrender completely while
damaging a fresh one.
Before you start raining death from above you need to know the hidden downside of the
grenade. One attack with the grenade will count as a multiple attack if more than one
enemy is caught in the blast radius. Often this is not a problem but if you have too
much deduction for number of attacks you need to tone down on how many enemies you
target with the grenade. Also it's major draw back is that absolutely no battle skill
works with grenade but this should not stop you from using them because two grenade
blasts in a row can reduce a group of wanzers into a lanky scarecrow.
HEAVY-P GUN: This weapon combines the steady accuracy of the shoulder weapons with
unlimited ammo of guns and delicious damgage of melee weapons in single package. As
the last weapon heavy particle gun delivers massive damage at a massive AP cost of 15.
That makes it hard to pass it up inspite of the AP cost. This weapon is offered when
your total AP drops back to 18 due to upgrades so you need skills like "AP-0" and
"Double Fire II" skills to lessen the AP usage. Normally this weapon should only be
used when there is no chance of enemy attack or counter attack while you recover from
the AP drain. If you keep this weapon on the wanzer it came in you can attack more
aggresively since the leg of the secret wanzer offers the best dodge rate. When it
comes to picking skills for this weapon just follow the suggestion for the rifle.
However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to fill your computer with 1-slot battle skills like
Pilot Damage I and Zoom I and hope for a combo since the damage is far greater than
that of a rifle or a missile.
*Shield: Not a weapon but it becomes necessary as the levels become tougher. Try to
keep a shield with high durablity instead of using shield repair items. If you plan
your battles for platinum medals shields will run out just as your missile and grenade
ammos are gone when the battle is over. Anytime that you feel that you are taking too
much damage just equip a shield. As long as you don't dash into a group of enemies
you'll see the increased life span of a wanzer immediately.
General Tips on Weapons
*Make sure you cover all three weapon types. Using correct type of attack doesn't
matter until the enemy units start using Def-C upgrade level 2 or above but it helps.
*Know what and when to use shield. If you expect a missile or big attack from special
wanzer or pilot just save your shield or AP to cover that attack. Which would you
rather block? A regular machine gun from a Changli soldier or "ROF III" from a special
pilot with a flamethrower at 11 AP. Wanzers with strong attacks tends to go last so
think before you block.
*Always equip the best weapons available! This will allow you to increase your damage
without any deductions at the end of the battle. Don't be afraid to equip parts with
weaker HP. A dead wanzer has no chance of hurting you so get them there faster with a
stronger weapon!
*Equip at least 2 different damage type weapons. As the enemy wanzer upgrade for Def-C
becomes higher bypassing the Def-C becomes crucial for quicker kills. This also frees
up the slots used for Enemy Defense Upgrade Down in your computer.
PARTS
Generally parts with high HP is desireable to create a good wanzer but it's important
to keep in mind what you want the wanzer for. As you begin to upgrade and mix match
you need to pay attention to performance boost of different parts. For example, if you
are building a melee wanzer all you have to do is pick parts that has high melee
percentage and you should end up with a powerful melee wanzer but if it's defense and
dodge percentile may be too low. The difficult part of making your own wanzer is that
weight allowance becomes a huge factor everytime there is a better weapon which is
always heavier. So don't be afraid to use weaker but lighter parts as long as HP drop
isn't too great. It's better to equip best weapon available then keep on using weak
weapons just to keep your HP high. Just keep in mind that you want parts that has the
highest upgrade percentile with a lots of HP. Finally, never ever make the mistake of
using a wanzer created just for learning battle skills so make sure at the beginning of
the battle check the name of the wanzer you're on.
*Body: This part affects how much weight allowance you will have. Being the core part
of the wanzer HP also cannot be ignored when comparing parts. If you want a wanzer
that uses melee weapons only then you can maintain high HP but if you want multiple
weapons you need to stick with the body that gives you the maximum weight allowance.
*Backpack: Sadly there are only power and item packs in the game. I would recommend
just using the power packs since it gives you a wider choice of parts and weapons you
can equip. For an upclose and personal wanzers you need item packs to keep away from
losing parts.
*Arms: An essential part needed for openning the can-of-wupass on your enemies. If
you want to hold melee weapons or shields use melee type arms. This type of arms have
very low accuracy rate but that's no problem for a melee weapon since they have
extremely high accuracy rate. As for the shield you need the high HP because what is
the point of having a shield if your arm breaks before the shield runs out. If the
shield breaks first the useless arm will soak up part of the damage that could have
gone to the body or the weapon arm. For the guns and shoulder weapon you want the
highest accuracy possible to do more damage, like Rekson 4MF. You will notice the
diffrence with each upgrade as your accuracy jumps over 100% in a heartbeat. Remember
that as the enemy begins to use wanzers with dodge upgrade you need accuracy far
greater than 100% to hit them.
*Legs: Being able to out manuver your opponet is always an advantage but once again
weight allowance will screw you from using the legs you want. For a melee wanzer high
movement and boost rate is a must to reach that annoying sniper at the top of the hill.
For other types of wanzers it would help but not necessary at all so go with lightest
legs with most HP. If you're worried about low dodge rate just use a shield. As for
hover legs, stay away from them since not many battlefields have water and the skill
from it just reeks. Even on the stage where the giant pistons move up and down
impeding your movement all you need is 1 wanzer with high movement to hold the road
open while the 2 step wanzers catch up.
Here's a sample of one my hybrid wanzer to give you an idea of what I was talking
about. This setup was orignaly designed to be a kill now and bleed later type of
wanzer.
Body: Mingtian 1
Right Arm: Tiandong 3
Left Arm: Shangdi 1
Legs: Genie
Backpack: Energy Pack
Idea begans as creating a wanzer that could use 4 weapons but as I began equiping more
powerful weapons it became just impossible, even for the secret wanzer(without using
some gameshark code to increase weight allowance). If you really want to you can use 4
weapons with that set up but you'll have to use very weak weapons since shoulder
weapons weight too much. But I had good performance from this wanzer just using best
missile and gun available. Shield became necessary as average damage from attacks
increased to prevent the loss of HP. Of course using the light Tiandong 3 arm and
shield combined with energy pack helped me to equip better missile and gun as they
became available usualy leaving about 10 or less weight allowance points left.
General Tips on Customizing
*Be sure to check the captured wanzers carefully for any usable parts. For Example,
when you capture Qibing 0's in the Futai Tunnel Qibing 0 piloted by Griffin has higher
upgrade than others.
*Upgrade stock parts for easier comparison if you can afford it. If you haven't
downloaded parts list already from somewhere that is.
*Browse the shop at the end of every battle to see what new parts(don't forget about
computers)are accessible.
*Don't forget that you can mix different arms. Accuracy bonus on the weapons are add
from the arm it's currently on only. Accuracy bonus will not drop because you have arm
with lower accuracy on the other side.
3)COMBAT
Here is the meat of the game. Instead of taking the fun out of it by covering strategy
for each level I will just list strategies that can be used in most of levels.
Before I start, I would like to cover the Battle Skills since it puts interesting
flavor to the game. First of all, you should not plan on your battles based on any
skill. The chance of skill activition is random even if the conditions are met with
proper computer equipped. Although it is a factor to the game they're not dependable
enough to kick in everytime you really need them.
General Tips on Battle Skills
*Try to learn as much skills as you can. If this raises your weapon level too high use
a weapon that you won't be using during actual combat. Weapon levels are calculated,
it seems, only on the weapons you have actually used during the combat.
*Select skills that take up fewer slots. Powerful skills like break sounds
awsome but it takes up most of your slots. At best you will destroy that part but with
a group of skills you may be able to achieve multiple attacks that can destroy more
parts with additional effects of your choosing such as stun, pilot damage, and pilot
ejection. Reverse is true towrads the end since you end up facing monster class
wanzers with monster size HP.
*Try to use skills that prevent counter attacks. Skills like Fast Attack and
Toppleshot will keep you alive longer and healthier. As a counter attack it stops
melee attacks dead on it's track.
*Toppleshot looks cool and it's power is almost as good as a smash skills. This
skill does not increase damage but it halves the AP usually leaving the enemy with
barely enough AP for one counter attack which opens him up for free attacks with
machine guns at upclose range. So anyone that uses a gun should learn this skill. Try
not to enter more than one Toppleshot in the computer since you can't combo multiple
Toppleshots.
*If you use different types of weapon select skills that can be activated by all of
them. For exmaple, if you have a wanzer that has a missile, machine gun, and a hard
blow Pilot Damage can be activated by all of them.
*If you plan to hijack a wanzer with Eject Punch, make sure one of your allies can
enter empty wanzer or kill the ejected pilot. Also keep in mind that if there is a
vacant wanzer next to it the pilot will eject into the empty wanzer.
*Avoid using defensive battle skills. If you're going for platinum medals you need to
make most of your attack/counter attack.
COMBAT STRATEGY
Not all battles have kill'em all as the victory condition so don't forget to check the
victory condition. The game becomes really frustrating as you try for the platinum
medals not to mention all the deductions that seems to come out of nowhere. The early
battles will give you as much trouble as the last few battles, since you start with
jack sh*t and jack just left town. Here are some tips to help you along before you go
trigger happy with platinum medals in your sight.
BASIC STRATEGY(ones you should already know)
*As you have seen in many faqs already always draw the enemies to you rather than go
after them. AI has an interesting flaw which gives enemy wanzers "7th square
blindness". As long as you keep more than 6 squares of distance from the enemy they
will just sit there in most battles unless they are special wanzers or wanzers with
certain task(like opening door or destroying obstacle). This is okay since it's easier
to take them out from the distance but make sure you activate them in time so they will
close in saving you a precious turn to go after them.
*Focus your attacks on one opponent. This also means that you should focus on the
weakest wanzer even if you have to take some missile damage because even a ejected
pilot can cause status effect. Attack them until either they die, surrender(not waving
flag), or lost both arms.
*Attack with your strongest weapons first. As I have metioned earlier any attack, no
matter the damage, can cause status effect. Even if there is a special wanzer don't be
afraid to use missiles or grenades on weaker wanzers to finish them off. Just don't go
missile happy when you could have killed the wanzer with a shotgun. Exception to this
rule is when you are low on AP. You'll be fine as long as you have enough AP for at
least one counter attack or shield.
*Keep your level just high enough to earn the platinum medals. You may have some walk
through that tells you what the required average weapon level for each battle is but
becareful not to over pump yourself. If a single pilots gets lucky and deals out a lot
of death blows he/she may level up high enough to cost you a unnecessary deductions.
As a general rule, do not have your average weapon level higher than 5% deduction. In
any battle where you battle against a monster sized wanzers you will recieve a sudden
surge of experiance so plan for these battles extra carefully.
*Try not to waste time repairing or looking for hidden items on battle field. If you
have to repair make sure you move closer to the enemy. When going for the platinum you
need to make every attack and counter attack count. You can't afford to lose any
attacks just because your ally was out of range.
*If you are stuck on a stage try out different tactics before you decide to raise your
weapon levels. It takes several battles before your deduction from average weapon
level will start going down again.
*Always take the hill. Height will improve both your offense and defense.
EARLY BATTLES
The battles are strangely tough after the first few battles before you are able to
purchase parts, upgrades, and use much needed simulation. Be prepared to press the
reset button!
*Battles are simplified into exchange of blows and there are no means to reduce the
damage so focus on one unit and always attack from distance except to finish him off.
*Average weapon level is very low so make sure everyone gets a even share of death
blows to slow down the level progression
*Since damage cannot be reduced, heal everyone up before you deal the final death blow
on the last wanzer to reduce average damage. During the battle, try to hold off on
using repair items until the last minute.
MID BATTLES
Once you're done with tutorials and have shops accessable in the network things are a
breeze. There shouldn't be too much problem as long as you are able to equip your
wanzer with best parts and weapons money can buy. As you start gaining additional
characters make sure they have enough AP to activate the upgrades for the battles where
you are forced to use them.
*Use Fukushima at the hardest setting on your simulation to save time on keeping the
levels just high enough.
*Now that you have access to upgrades and shields try not to use any items during
battles. If the battle result shows deduction for number of attacks and turns only
just level up.
*If you see absolutely no deductions use the simulations to keep the average weapon
level deduction at 1-3%. This will save time at the end when you need to spend hours
in the simulation.
FINAL BATTLES
Now you should have your best wanzer setup and have the secrect wanzer. If you somehow
screwed up on the network or just forgot to dial for the secret wanzer parts don't
worry. In your first battle in Japan(like the observation tower in Emma's version)
after coming from DHZ, the secret will be piloted by one of the JDF pilots. Stealing
this wanzer will also give you the Heavy-particle Gun. Towards the end becareful about
raising levels because you'll be facing multiple giant sized wanzers can knock your
average weapon level out of wack.
*Make sure the weapons levels of ALL your extra characters are up to par with your main
characters. Weak attack will definately screw things up when you are forced to use
extra characters again.
*To make things easier, have the extra pilots assigned as a replacement for the each of
your primary pilots if you haven't done so already. For example, have Yun gain levels
in Kazuki's wanzer to replace him when the group splits up and so forth with other
pilots.
*Try to have at least one smash skills learned by all of the pilots to save time
and much frustration. When wanzers start having parts with HP greater than 1K battles
become longer for no good reason.
*Before using missiles check the enemy status to see if they are using shields. Blast
these units with grenades and other weapons to weaken their shield arm then use guns or
missiles to finish off the shield arm.
Well, That's it for me. If you need more help you can E-mail me at
Cancerst1ck@Netzero.net but with all the other good faqs around you shouldn't have to.
Happy hunting!!
