In Depth: ERX-75 Lechiffon

ERX-75 Lechiffon
Transforming Space Fighter of Sheer AWESOME...

Obtained Where: Complete Chapter 5
Fixed Weapons:
Fighter Mode
- Ripple Arc Laser
- Homing Missile
- Arrow Flash[Charge]
Robot Mode
- Penetration Laser
- Wide Scope Laser
- Arrow Flash[Beam]
Hardpoints:
- None!
Adjustable Features:
-1 x Powerup (Empty)
-1 x Armor Slot (Quick Silver Layer)
-1 x Shielding Slot(Empty)
-1 x Engine Slot (Quantum Driver)
-1 x Computer Slot (S.E.A.S)
-1 x Booster Slot (Ion Thruster)
-2 x Misc Slot (Brooch of the Hunter, Empty)
-1 x Consumable Slot (Empty)
-3 x Food Slot (Empty, Empty, Empty)
Terrain Features: Full flight in Fighter mode. Flight Pack in Robot mode.
Additional Features:
- Transformation. Unit can freely transform between fighter mode and robot mode.
- Flash Barrier. Nulifies any damage lower than 100.
Piloting Restrictions: Stana only.
Notes: Our first real transforming unit that's really useful (Sorry Anderson). The ERX-75 Lechiffon is based of the old shoot em up Arrow Flash on the sega Genesis, just given a little more 'original' treatment to help shore up it's plotline a little.

It's fragile in both forms with it's low hit point pool meaning armor should be it's top prioritory but it forutnatly comes with Quick Silver Layer plating that provides it a TON of abilities, 300 extra hitpoints, a 5 armor bonus, a single square of movement, +15 to mobility AND +50 to energy. Some may be tempted to remove this of the Lechiffon and place it onto another unit in which case replace it with one of the armors you can pick up from Chapter 5's Battle Mastery.

The Engine slot is wasted by the Quantum Driver considering how much of an energy hog the Lechiffon is. Swap it around with a reactor that will provide a bigger energy pool and percentile recharge rate so that you can really milk the Arrow Flash attacks. Save the Quantum Driver and it's ability to ignore enemy units during movement for a new unit we'll get a chance to outfit in Chapter 6.

Gracing the computer slot is S.E.A.S our first Artificial Support Pilot. S.E.A.S provides no real obvious bonus as a computer slot item but during battle S.E.A.S has it's own SP pool and SP Commands to choose from, seperate from the unit's original pilot. S.E.A.S will have the same level as it's pilot and will unlock new abilities at level 10 and 20, giving it a little more than just a somewhat useless analyze ability. You can freely switch S.E.A.S around to whoever you think might need an +3 movement boost as an additional SP Command but it's easy for her to stay onboard the Lechiffon so you can constantly milk the Ion Thruster's impressive mobility bonus without sacrificing movement squares.

Two Misc slots also means Two Brooches of the Overlord. That's a total of +10 to Evasion and +10 to reflexes to further boost evasion sky high along with all the extra statistics to squeeze out a little more damage.

The fighter mode's Ripple Arc Laser is an energy hog, draining 30 energy from the unit to fire off. It has a post-movement range of 1-4 and is a healthy combination of beam and sound thrown into the mix which might give us a few offensive options later on in the game. At only 150 base attack power it's easy to miss why this attack has been given a stupidly high energy cost, the Ripple Arc Laser also reduces the accuracy and evasion ratio of anything it hits by half for 2 turns that's why it costs so much. A potential life saving ability in chapter 6.

The Lechiffon's Homing Missiles are a world better than the Aer frame with a base damage of 230 with a range of 2-6. It's only got a B rank in space but it can still outpace the damage alot better. It's highly accurate and considered a homing attack so it's unaffected by distance in the hit chance calculation. Like the Aer frame however it's plagued by a low ammunition capacity with just 6 rounds and it can also be intercepted or slashed away by skilled opponents.

Arrow Flash[Charge] is Stana's only melee option that requires her to be at 120 morale. It has a post movement range of 1-3, is very accurate and has an incredible critical chance. If the enemy attempts to throw up a shield to reduce damage taken from the attack it will be pierced. It will also knock back the target a square on a successful hit. With a base damage of 435 this will be your most powerful attack available to you at this stage. It'll drain 40 energy and take a full turn to recharge after letting this one off.

The Penetration Laser is a ranged post-movement 1-3 beam based attack with the ability to penetrate enemy targets thus ignoring a small amount of their armor during damage calculation. It's relativley cheap to fire off a shot at just 5 energy and it's pretty powerful as well with a base attack power of 170. Although it's got a slight accuraccy penalty the Penetration Laser is recommended as your bread and butter attack. Because of it's penetration capabilities it's ideal for dealing with high armor units and can help some with the upcoming chapter 6.

Wide Scope Laser is your weapon of choice when it comes to counter attacks from ranges 3-6 as you won't be able to fire it off whilst on the move. It's got a good solid accuracy bonus, terrain modifiers and it doesn't drain too much energy with just a light cost of 10. Very solid for a beam weapon.

The robot mode variation of Arrow Flash is a post movement beam based map attack with a rather unique looking map attack block. It will sweep forwards from the Lechiffon five squares and will also hit a big 3x3 block right in the middle of the blast. The beam will also spread out when firing, meaning anything at close range will take maximum damage but anything a few squares away will take noticiably less damage but have a greater chance of being hit. Arrow Flash[Beam] requires Stana to be at 120 morale and drains 40 energy from the unit but it's base attack power of 355 can really put on the hurt. The beam will also require a turn after firing to recharge.

In both modes the Lechiffon will have a Flash Barrier which will completley ignore any attack that fails to break a magical threshold of 100 damage. In the fighter mode this costs nothing to the unit but in robot mode any attack successfully absorbed will cost 5 energy.

Overall the Lechiffon is an incredible unit that can initially be glossed over as a little useless if you don't pay attention to energy management. A few rounds in the simulator, getting an idea how the "Lechi" works can really help. It can play both the highly aggressive sweeper role and for a change can be an evasion decoy together with Stana's concentration abilities, and we need both roles to pull of Chapter 6 successfully.