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Ace Combat XCOM: Enemy Skies

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Ace of Aces difficulty, man.
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Gunfire raked the street, he could feel the heat of the missiles from around the corner, glass windows shattering in its wake. A wave of relief nearly dropped Tran to his knees, as the plasma fire cut out again. As the fighter flew back over, he could have sworn it waggled its wings at him.

"Corporal Tran, we can't wait much longer!" McKinsey radioed.

"Roger, moving!" Tran radioed, taking off at a run.

He never saw the alien on the rooftop.
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Shit.
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Bard Squadron has barely begun reacting and the alien fighter is already there.

One flash, and an F-14X is instantly turned into a fireball.

There's no chute. There's no way there could be a chute.
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Goddammit, our first loss after the first mission. Enemy aces are scary.
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
An image suddenly projects itself into Nine Lives' head: a star, exploding. Is it saying...starburst?

Pixy
<<Nova...I'll remember that.>>​
The tone over the radio is the tone of the hunter marking its prey, and...Nova seems to get the message, fleeing west before any of them could respond.
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And we didn't even manage to take the bastard down.
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Whatever it was they were doing, it wasn't in time. Mobius Squadron could keep a lid on the ground or the air group, but not both at once. The alien air group flew in over the last pockets of resistance, and leveled them.

The silence on the radio was deafening.

FCU HQ
<<...the first line of defense has fallen. Second line of defense, brace yourselves.>>
​
Baker's grip on the controls tightened. At least she'd have free reign to shoot down that air group now.
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And things keep just getting worse.
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Inchoate madness grips Baker's senses. The entire world is filtered through lens of unreality as a howling abyss consumes everything near the purple swirling void that the alien carrier shot out. Effect stutters before cause as Baker instinctively accelerates at maximum speed away from the gash in the world. Somehow, she still knows it missed her.

Mobius One
<<Mobius Squadron, report.>>

Baker
<<...Baker, present.>>

Mobius Four
<<...Mobius Four, alive.>>

Skald
<<...What the hell was that?>>

Long Caster
<<...some kind of airburst attack. We don't know all the details yet. All forces, pull back. We can't afford any more losses.>>
​
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We lost Mobius 3 and 5. FUCK!
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
Trigger turns to face the alien battleship.
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Trigger, you crazy madman!
huhYeahGoodPoint said:
wincing in downed Arsenal Bird
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Oh shit. Lets hope it managed at least to protect Oured. And if we're looking for silver lining, maybe this will be enough for a wake up call for Osea that no, they cannot deal with this threat alone and start supporting XCOM more.

But what to do about Trigger?
 
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A Note About Mission 05: All Out
  • Informational
    • Something I should probably mention in bright bold font with its own threadmark:

    Mission 05 was always going to be the transition from "Preparation" to "Desperate Struggle".

    Mission 05 was always going to be the mission where I threw a genuine, superweapon-grade threat at you.

    Ace of Aces changed the number of aliens, and adjusted how tough they were. It is not responsible for the alien superweapon.

    That's all Ace Combat XCOM, baby.
     
  • Informational
    • Wait so no names pilots died right? As in no S Ranks? I read through the thread but I just wanna make sure I'm right.

    so Mobius 3, 5, and who else?
     
    huhYeahGoodPoint said:
    Something I should probably mention in bright bold font with its own threadmark:

    Mission 05 was always going to be the transition from "Preparation" to "Desperate Struggle".

    Mission 05 was always going to be the mission where I threw a genuine, superweapon-grade threat at you.

    Ace of Aces changed the number of aliens, and adjusted how tough they were. It is not responsible for the alien superweapon.

    That's all Ace Combat XCOM, baby.
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    Honestly, I had kinda already gotten the impression that this was a turning point in the game. And, really, it makes perfect sense. This is Strangereal. How would there not be a point where the enemy busts out a superweapon and uses it to drive us into a corner and/or take over a capital? This is also XCOM. How would we not end up losing soldiers because the enemy pulled some bullsh*t? I think that would be par for the course, regardless of what difficulty we're playing.

    I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this mission is about losing as little as we can, not winning. Honestly, if the Battleship wasn't so much of a Sword of Damocles hanging over us, I wouldn't be considering hitting it. Given that I don't doubt the aliens have more superweapons, I doubt this thing is totally unsinkable. I also don't think Trigger is one to pick fights he doesn't think he can win. And he's psychic, so that means a lot more than it might otherwise. Even if he can't take it down, he might just be able to seriously damage it, or disable the weapon it just used, or something to help turn the tides.

    That said, it's possible that the right move here is to just accept the loss and withdraw. Flee and live to fight another day. If we're following the typical Ace Combat game's' plot structure, this isn't the point where we can down the enemy battleship. So, we run. But when do we stop running? I mean, this battleship may very well stay on the continent if we just run, or it may even go for Selatapura next. And when does the counterattack phase begin? How do we know it's time for one? And how do we know we're making the right choice, and not just digging ourselves into a pit needlessly while trying follow the general plot trends of AC games? Trends that this game may not conform to, at that.

    No, I'd really rather not try and think too much and overcomplicate things. Trigger's experienced enough to know if he's in too deep and skilled enough to bail. Moreover...I just trust his intuition about this sort of thing. Also, opting to bail at this point would leave a sour taste in my mouth, and leaving the battleship alone would just mean more losses to those Rifts. As such, unless someone comes up with a compelling reason otherwise, or an alternative write-in, I'm going with:

    [x] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you."
     
    [x] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you."

    Is Trigger the only one who's gonna tackle the battleship? Or are we sending in Mobius 1, Blaze and Pixy too?
     
    [X] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you."

    Gods, what a chapter. It's Ace XCom, baby. Still, you *can* down battleships with interceptors, and the loot....!
     
    [X] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you. Pixy, Trigger's making a run on the battleship. Back him up."
     
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    Simon_Jester said:
    [X] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you. Pixy, Trigger's making a run on the battleship. Back him up."
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    Wait, we're doing a write in now?

    @huhYeahGoodPoint, can we vote in a write in at this point or can we only pick one of 2 choices presented to us?

    ...also, what's the chance that the Battleship, if Trigger and company manages to damage it hard enough, will choose to go suicide bombing Expo City?
     
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    kilopi505 said:
    ...also, what's the chance that the Battleship, if Trigger and company manages to damage it hard enough, will choose to go suicide bombing Expo City?
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    1) I doubt that our super-aces can damage the battleship that hard.

    2) The aliens appear to have many fewer battleships than we have cities. It is unlikely that they would consider 'one battleship for one city' an acceptable rate of exchange, and I think it more likely that they would retreat if badly damaged.

    Remember how in the Comona Islands mission of Ace Combat 4, if you manage to hit a Yellow, Yellow Squadron goes away? Yeah, I see this mission as being kind of like that.
     
    kilopi505 said:
    The only Ace Combat I've ever played was Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation.
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    OK. Well, it's actually Mission 8. To a backdrop of magnificent guitar solos, Mobius One joins a massive aerial battle over the Comona Space Launch Site, contesting the airspace over the launch site engaging dozens of Erusean fighters that have attacked the base in an attempt to establish air superiority before Erusean B-2 bombers show up to destroy an ISAF reconnaissance satellite that's intended to scout out Erusean positions on the mainland.

    The opposition includes a five-ship formation from the infamous Yellow Squadron. This is the second time the Yellows make an appearance in the game, and the first time you can even damage one of them. Scoring a hit on a Yellow gets the enemy elites to take note of you in radio chatter and order his squadron to fall back out of the battle, making things a bit easier.

    Down Mobius One's Memory Lane... said:
    ISAF Pilot: "A Yellow's hit and trailing smoke! Whose kill is that!?"

    A Yellow, Indignant: "Who was it that shot me? See who was responsible for that shot!"

    Another Yellow, Husky-Voiced: "It's a ribbon!"
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    To this day it's one of my favorite moments in the series, and well worth the price of having to chase down an Su-37 to land the shot, even if you don't get any points towards mission completion from doing it.
     
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    True, but the Arthurian leanings of Zero were just. so. awesome. Also: Demon Knight of the Round Table is simply more awesome than the Ribbon ;)
     
    @huhYeahGoodPoint, a question.

    So, when you declared an omake canon, you mean all the characters there exist, but not necessarily as written in the omake, right?

    So, all my characters exist, but not necessarily as how I had written them? Like the girl with a kitchen knife?
     
    [X] "Alright, Trigger. I'll believe in you. Pixy, Trigger's making a run on the battleship. Back him up."

    kilopi505 said:
    @huhYeahGoodPoint, a question.

    So, when you declared an omake canon, you mean all the characters there exist, but not necessarily as written in the omake, right?

    So, all my characters exist, but not necessarily as how I had written them? Like the girl with a kitchen knife?
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    I mean...based on my experience, they tend to exist roughly as written, though some personality details may be slightly garbled in translation. But that's kinda to be expected when someone else writes any character, regardless of the circumstances. That's part of why some authors don't like fan-fics or Omakes, actually. They don't like seeing their characters depicted as other people see them, rather than as they, the author, understand the character. So, your characters do exist, likely as you have written them, but perhaps not as you see them, if that makes sense.

    Edit: This is not in anyway a complaint directed at hYGP, by the way. He's kind enough to let me play in his world, and I very much appreciate it. I'm just saying not to expect perfection.
     
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    kilopi505 said:
    @huhYeahGoodPoint, a question.

    So, when you declared an omake canon, you mean all the characters there exist, but not necessarily as written in the omake, right?

    So, all my characters exist, but not necessarily as how I had written them? Like the girl with a kitchen knife?
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    Your characters exist as written in the omake. For some of your characters, like the girl with a kitchen knife, this is basically handing me a blank slate. Furthermore, I'm shunting a few of them into the future so that I can call the omake canon instead of saying "semi-canon because the conditions for some of your characters don't exist yet" - specifically, psionics haven't had the time to develop and there are literal jet aircraft and alien fighters in the airspace holy shit do not send in a cropduster against that sort of firepower. The snipers are good to go, and the hackers are technically viable.
     
    huhYeahGoodPoint said:
    Your characters exist as written in the omake. For some of your characters, like the girl with a kitchen knife, this is basically handing me a blank slate. Furthermore, I'm shunting a few of them into the future so that I can call the omake canon instead of saying "semi-canon because the conditions for some of your characters don't exist yet" - specifically, psionics haven't had the time to develop and there are literal jet aircraft and alien fighters in the airspace holy shit do not send in a cropduster against that sort of firepower. The snipers are good to go, and the hackers are technically viable.
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    I figure unconscious use of psionics is probably a thing, just nothing explicit. I mean, that seems to be what S+ rank pilots use, so it's not impossible other people have developed subtle psionic abilities as well. Or even organized systems for utilizing them. Especially because that actually lets you explain certain unrealistic class skills from XCOM. Mostly thinking of the sorts of things the Reapers can do, here.

    So you might have someone with unrealistic reflexes, senses, or stealth abilities, or even people who can pull ridiculous, but not outwardly supernatural tricks with firearms or swords. Just not literal telekinesis, psionic blades, or energy blasts. Basically, extend the sort of unrealistic levels of skill on display by Aces of Aces (I.E. tunnel drift shenanigans) to any aspect of life that someone might be a "master" of. Pretty much any "mundane" superhero/supervillain idea would probably work. Bullseye, Batman, Green Arrow, Taskmaster (okay, he might be a tad too bullsh*t, but his mimicry thing might work if toned down), those sorts of characters. Spider-Man or Superman, not so much.

    Mind you, hYGP is free to overrule me on that interpretation, but that's how I figure things would be. It's mostly just an extension of the same underlying principles behind why super-pilots exist to other spheres of life, which we kinda already know is a thing. Avril Mead's ability to make functioning planes from scrap is an example of that.
     
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    CANON OMAKE: Expo City's Backstage II
  • Sidestory
    • Yet Another Omake!

    ==============================================================================================================================================

    Expo City.

    City of Self Interest.

    And a city that is right now raging hard against its invaders...for various reasons.

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

    "Oh baby, why?! WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME?!" Arnold Wallaby, officially volunteer firefighter and unofficially a certified crop duster and soldier of the Expo City mob's marijuana division, wailed to his M18 Dromader as it lay on the highway towards Expo City from the south, its engine hood open and letting out an unhealthy amount of white smoke.

    "We could have been spraying poison on aliens by now. We could be making more money now than on ordinary crop dusting days. So why would you suddenly give out on me just when I need you to help me?! Don't I maintain your engine? Don't I clean up your airframe, baby?! So then, WHY?!"

    It took until morning before a truck from the Expo City mob's private airfield came onto the scene, to take the M18 Dromader and Arnold Wallaby back to the airfield for repairs.

    It was from the grim faced technicians in the repair station that Wallaby learned the outcome of the invasion of Expo City, and gnashed his teeth while vowing he would do his best next time.

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

    "Another successful bombing run!" Dana Veisi, leader of Tahr Andishan, the credit card hacker group composed of computer literate 2nd generation Kalugan immigrants to Usea, declared happily as he watched his fellow hackers cheer the results of their second bombing run.

    Four grey colored humanoids sniping at Federation of Central Usea National Guardsmen from the roofs of the same number of buildings writhed while being bathed in flames. A few seconds later one managed to throw itself from roof for possible salvation, only to end up setting the dead grass of unoccupied lot it fell into on fire.

    With these four, Tahr Andishan has already killed nine aliens in two bombing runs, over the span of four minutes.

    The cheer of the Tahr Andishan group was suddenly wiped out when the radio, set to the military frequency of the FCU National Guard, squawked out bad news.

    FCU HQ
    <<    ...the first line of defense has fallen. Second line of defense, brace yourselves.>>​
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    "Dana, how safe are we here in our bunker? Especially now that we are officially behind enemy lines?" his second in command, Bita Hashemi, asked with a concerned tone.

    "Pretty safe, especially this deep in the Expo City Mine Tunnels. The aliens won't know where the entrances are unless we become careless with how we are hiding our drone's from sight. And even if they see it, there are miles and miles of tunnels of all sorts down here. Now, shall we continue our bombing operation? Those aliens won't burn themselves alive, you know?"

    "What's our target? The alien landing zones?"

    "No. Too dangerous for the drones. Let's continue attacking alien snipers. Hitting semi-stationary targets are what we are best at, as far as I can tell."

    "I told you we should have made bomb laden, suicide attack drones," Hashemi said in a frustrated tone of voice. "We have the money for it."

    "Let's just continue to disagree," Dana muttered in the same tone of voice. "Everyone, get the drones back here! They're out of Kalugan cocktails!"

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

    "Damn it," O'Casey muttered as he and Carcano slid down into one of Expo City's sewage tunnels from the street level. "There's too many of those aliens, and every one of them with what is effectively a grenade launcher."

    "At least we bagged thirty two aliens before we had to get out of the house," Carcano said while wading through sewage. "So, where to?"

    "Hmm...relocate to the North. To any spot with a field of view of their landing sites."

    ==============================================================================================================================================

    What do you think, @huhYeahGoodPoint?
     
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