Sub Mission 2 "It's Green, Trust Me."

Another mission down the pipe and it's time to unwind with another sub mission, but this one's a little different. Fingers on buzzers friends for this one is a real pub quiz...

The Tessaract is a good few days out from responding to the rather suspect S.O.S signal and it's nothing but empty space from Side 7 to it's given coordinates. There's not alot to do onboard for the pilots apart from to give the simulator a couple more runs or just generally hang out and we've really given the simulator one hell of a work out already.

Anderson stops by Jean's quarters to see if there's any small contracts that can fill the time only to run across one of the rarest finds of the century, a sad Jean.
Anderson ever the gentlemen and empathic commander is willing to do anything to improve morale. On reaching the Tesseract crew lounge the situation becomes clear. The entire Verein test team are here and they're passing the time with a trivia quiz game. It's the guys versus the girls and the guys have won two games already and the girls are at none.

Rane's hosting the game, Natalie's too busy running the ship to join in, Hotariko is too busy being tsun tsun to join in, Idris is a robot, and Albino Maido doesn't want to get involved when Anderson isn't involved, that means the girls team is outnumbered.

Looks like Anderson's bound by his code of honor and made an honourary girl for this session (MASSIVE MISSED POTENTIAL FOR THE GIRLS TO GIVE ANDERSON A COMPLETE MAKE OVER ALONG WITH PIG TAILS).

It's time to knock down the boys' ego a peg so bring on the next topic!
...things are pretty stacked for the boys team. Can't be helped though, the topics are randomly pulled it just so happens to be the third topic in a row that favors 'bro' knoweledge. Que the music maestro.

How well you do in the quiz will effect the relationships amongst your fellow pilots. Most of the girls are pretty lost when it comes to video game questions but Emma does a great job in supporting you with what little she knows so it's pretty much up to you two.

Winning the quiz sends the girl team into jubilation and we end up learning a bit more about Emma's story as everyone quizzes her on why she knew a fair bit about classic video games. It's pretty interesting stuff which leads to Anderson having to step into the role of White Knight saving his princess for a bit which is cute.

The girls of the girls team will hold a special place in their hearts for Anderson and Jean gets to order around Bruno for a bit.

Losing the quiz sends Keeruu into super smug sore winner mode which just ends up pissing off Yohko and annoying everyone else. The consequences are pretty slapstick comical but Keeruu had it coming.

Anderson tried his best but in the end he couldn't stop the girl's loosing streak. At least one positive will come out of this though it's effects won't be felt until a little later on.

Now that THAT's out of the way Anderson can finally ask the resident mercenary to see if there's any small contracts available. Turns out the Global Cortex is buzzing with junk contracts and nothing else, oh well at least some time was killed.

Back at his quarters Anderson will share a cute moment with Tenea. She truley can melt hearts.

Win the Quiz
- Anderson and Emma share a relationship boost with each other.
- Relationship boost with Jean.
- Relationship boost with Yohko.

Lose the Quiz
- Future development in sub mission 3.

Simulation 2-B "Zaku vs Zaku"

Completing Chapter 2-B unlocks simulation 2-B but locks us out of 2-A. It's us vs a ton of Zakus in this one...

Deployment
Friendly Forces
- 5 x Units of your choice

Enemy Forces
Randomly Deployed
- 6 x Zaku II
--- Zeon Soldier Levels 3-4

Engaging
The Zakus are just like before but are more numerous and the random waves that spawn in might worry some if you had trouble last stage. This time around however we get to deploy our units right ontop of the colony so we can spam energy draining weapons quite reguarly and gain a nice 20% bonus as long as we sit on it.

There's nowhere to repair on this stage so if things start to get out of control quit the simulator. Simulator 1 is better than this stage simply because you can kill the E.Y.Es faster, the E.Y.Es give out more experience, cash and there's an entire military base to leech from.

Waves
The waves are pretty small for this stage. In fact just a single suit will spawn during the first three neutral phases so you're not going to get washed aside by a Zaku zerg.

Rewards
- 4,500 Cash
- RARE: Super Hard Steel Alloy on melee crits
otherwise
- 300 Cash for critical melee hits

Simulation 2-A "Panzer vs Wanzer"

Completing Chapter 2-A unlocks simulation 2-A but locks us out of 2-B. The poor Federation can only field tanks against our forces...

Deployment
Friendly Forces
- 5 x Units of your choice

Enemy Forces
Randomly Deployed
- 10 x Type 61 Tanks
--- E.F.S.F Soldiers Level 3

As an oddity the tanks will deploy before your own forces.

Engaging
Oh dear oh dear. The Type 61 tanks are just as bad as ever and it's not difficult to feel sorry for the poor tank crews. Good thing this is only a simulation. All those simulated widowed wives and their fatherless children...waiting for the day that daddy's coming home..."Next christmas honey, daddy'll make it back next christmas. " "But daddy's missed the last two..." BAW.

By sticking to the base where you start you've got no chance of loosing at all. Even if you leave the saftey of the base there's barely any chance of getting shot to hell.

You won't be earning crazy levels on the E.F.S.F compared to simulator 1 but you can still make ample amounts of cash here as well as build up a large inventory of spare machineguns.

Waves
Three waves of two more Type 61 Tanks will arrive in the neutral phase. Nothing to sweat about.

Rewards
- 6,400 Cash
- RARE: 12.7mm Machine Gun on melee crits
otherwise
- 300 Cash for critical melee hits

In Depth: Hotariko Kirumanzy Levels 1-10

Hotariko Kirumanzy

Starting Level: 4
Terrain Modifiers: Air- A Ground- A Water- B Space- A
SP Commands: Guts 15
Passive Abilities: Slasher Lvl 1, Helper Lvl 1
Weapon Preference: Melee Attacks
Notes: Yes! Another pilot who comes loaded with her own new song.
Hotariko comes with a sub standard skill and ranged attack stat that will build to an okay level but that's not where our favorite nun's strengths are.
Hotariko is all about bringing a great big beam axe/XT Scythe onto to the battlefield and cleaving anything that stands in her way, skill doesn't matter when you have a weapon with a massive crit rating.
Her lone SP Command from starting level to level 10 is Guts, the more economical version of Super Guts that heals a third of her maximum hp for 15 SP. Not too shabby and very super roboty but it's her only SP Command for ages.
Level 9 will upgrade her Slasher ability once and as always level 10 brings along a boost to Helper. Probably the best choice for the Zaku or even the Verein Geves.
Character Notes: You're either going to love her or hate her. I am of the absolutley freakin' adore her group. A nun who's not quite a nun piloting a mobile suit who's forté is hitting things with a very big melee weapon is something I can easily get addicted to.
Hotariko is also one of the more animated characters who can go from perfectly normal looking, to incredibly moe to RAPE FACE in a matter of moments.
Any of the dislike for Hotariko will be from her grounded and very blunt nature but that bluntness and straightforward non moralfag attitude is what makes me like her more and more. I would have voted her best female original, but Emma was loosing to Jean, not on this A.I's watch.

In Depth: Zaku II

Zaku II
Mass Production General Purpose Mobile Suit...

Obtained Where: Complete Chapter 2-B
Fixed Weapons: None
Hardpoints:
-1 x Melee Weapon (Empty)
-2 x Ranged Weapon (Empty, Empty)
Adjustable Features:
-1 x Armor Slot (Empty)
-1 x Parts Slot(Empty)
-1 x Engine Slot (Empty)
-1 x Computer Slot (Empty)
-1 x Booster Slot (Empty)
-1 x Misc Slot (Empty)
-1 x Consumable Slot (Empty)
-1 x Food Slot (Empty)
Weaknesses: Beam.
Terrain Features: No flight system. No inherrent hover capabilities.
Piloting Restrictions: None so far.
Notes: The upgrade to the old Zeon ZakuI the ZakuII trades some terrain bonuses and a movment point for ruggedness and survivability.
There are a ton of parallels with the Zaku I located here, with it's manuverability, medium size, double ranged weapon slots and weakness to beam attacks.
Statistically the Zaku I should be better than the II but this more up to date version of the Zaku suits your new pilot's stats a little better thanks to her own terrain modifiers making the difference between the two negligible. The ever so slight engine upgrade will also be of benefit to beam based melee attacks.
Sheer ruggedness and fanA.I.ism makes the empty Zaku II feel as though it performs better than the I. Really. It's a ZakuII. A ZAKUII. Just a shame we don't get the chance to give it a new lick of paint to seperate it from the rest of the Zeon forces.
Is it worth giving up on a ZakuI and the totaly awesome Verein Geves upgrade? Not in the slightest. Here's hoping the Federation keep us in mind.

Ch 2-B Epilogue "Nuns with Guns"

Other than the initial part of the epilogue what happens here mirrors that of the other path. We're looking through the looking glass here, people...

Onboard the Tesseract the pilots and the crew are all chuffed at a job well done, even the resident albino maido takes time out of her busy embarressed hair pulling schedule to crack a smile. Some of the pilots even remark that it was pretty fun to fight alongside Amuro (War's are fun as long as you're winning).

It looks like the Federation might have refined beam weaponry to a point where it's both compact, powerful and affixed with a good ammunition reserve that won't drain off the engines of mobile suits. A shame they won't be able to give us any samples.

Bright hails the Tesseract after the initial tide of jubilation washes over, it's time to talk numbers. Jean's pretty excited at the idea of getting paid 40,000 for what turned out to be a pretty easy job but there is a problem.

Side 7 was pretty badly damaged by the attack inside the colony and now the White Base is carrying a great deal of civilian refugees. So many infact that it's current food stocks won't last. Bright'll need to keep some of the payment to purchase supplies elsewhere before they can make it to the nearest Federation supply base.

In exchange for the missing part of the payment however they'll be sending us some equipment the Federation salvaged from the battlefield, a stripped down ZakuII equipped with a machinegun and a heat hawk.

The wellbeing of civilians is always a priority and the Task Force gladly accept the substitute, we're still being paid half of the original modest sum.

If we obtain the battle mastery for this level Natalie informs us that our own salvage team managed to get some intact weaponry from the battlefield to help give our armory a boost. Not bad, not bad at all.

With that done the crew wish Bright safe travels and decide to celebrate the completion of their first contract by stuffing their faces with food, heck even the anti-social nun on board is given a chance to join in.

During the celebrations Jean puts forward the rather odd idea that the nun should pilot our new Zaku. A nun piloting a Zaku? Sounds like a rather unique fetish to me. Eitherway we've got ourselves a potential skilled new pilot if her training with Jean is anything to go by.

A new potential mission pops up during the trip to Earth, a garbled distress call is recieved from a location in space over three days away. It's not going to net us any money and it's not a real contract but it's something that'll hang over our head nagging at us if we don't respond. Despite a small argument over the distress call it looks like our course is set.

Rewards
For completing Chapter 2-B we're given the following.
- 20,000 in cash
- New unit ZakuII
- Zaku Machinegun
- Zaku Heat Hawk

Achieving the battle mastery for this chapter also earns us.
- 2 x Zaku Machineguns
- Zaku Heat Hawk

Ch 2-B Combat "3 x (S = d / t)"

Things are pretty grim by the time our scrambled units arrive in the combat zone and since we're in a very open sector of space there isn't much cover between us and Side 7, things could get ugly...

The attack on the Side 7 is well underway but there doesn't seem to be any sign of Char amongst the Zeon forces, just a unit of ZakuIIs and a Musai maintaining a peremiter guard around the area. The matter is only complicated some more when a new mobile suit enters the fray emerging from Side 7, but it's not a Zeon unit, it's some brand new white mobile suit.

Communication is established between our forces and the federation pilot who turns out to be just a civilian, Amuro Ray. It looks like the Federation are relying on some show of power to prove they're not pushovers and Amuro's caught up in this mess. Anderson and Jean resolve that they'll need to protect the white mobile suit whilst it fights or the Federation will be looked upon as a laughing stock.

Deployment
Friendly Forces
-Verein Zero
---Anderson
-AG-01
---Jean
-4 x Units of your choice
-Gundam NPC
---Amuro

Enemy Forces
-5 x ZakuII
--- Zeon Soldier
- 1 x Musai
--- Doren

Note that your third optional unit to be deployed will be put to the left of Jean since they can't be ontop of Jean.

Win Condition
Another straight forward clean up job with some additional USEFUL assistance. The gundam's better armed than the alternate route, head vulcans, beam saber but this time Amuro has a nice and powerful beam rifle as well.

The gundam can handle the first Zaku that comes at it but if you move slowly for this one he'll be engaged by two or maybe even three if you're moving at a super cautious snail pace, the Gundam won't be able to handle three at the same time.

Throw caution to the wind by sending over one unit with flash or send Anderson with Attention to...well...grab the attention of the Zakus and give Amuro a fair fighting chance and he'll provide some great covering firing when he's done killing his target.

Engaging
Initial engagements with the ZakuIIs can be dicey at first, there isn't much cover in the area short of a few scattered asteroid fields down south-westish of our positions where the skirmishing will take place.

Side 7 is capable of providing a quick refuel job but it's positioned well out of the main combat zone so that's a moot point.

The Zakus work on a same sort of level as empty load Vereins except with a sturdier health bar, are better adapted for space combat and are also classed as medium sized opponents. They'll be taking noticably less damage than the E.Y.Es if you're inappropiatley equipped for space combat.
They're also armed with Zaku Machineguns and a Heat Hawk.

The Zaku Machinegun has a negative modifer to accuracy which means even without SP commands or defensive terrain to take advantage of these range 1-4 post movment weapons will have a hit rate of just over 50-60% with damage hitting at about 70-100 depending on how armored up your units are.

The real danger comes from the Zaku Heat Hawks which'll reliably hit and with a bit more damage tacked on. Fortune smiles on us though, the Zakus are slower than our own units and keeping the Zakus at bay is an easy job.

To make things easier Zakus are weak to beam based attacks as displayed by Jean's opening attack with a Beam Shooter.
Ouch. Critical hit. If you've got beam shooters, beam handguns or even beam based close combat weaponry the Zakus should be a simple push over.

As with the E.Y.Es the Zakus will drop scrap metal which'll auto sell on the military market for cash on critical melee hits. On super rare occassions you'll cleave off some Super Hard Steel Alloy armor instead.

The Musai is our first capital ship target and is classified as double large. That means it's attacks will hit really hard but not often and any attacks we hit with will scratch the paint even with it's horrible armor rating of 20.

The Musai comes with two range 2-5 attacks. Type-145 missiles which will do the most damage. You don't want to get hit by this attack as it's more of a ship to ship warfare weapon but Doren's so awesome he doesn't care that he's trying to hit suits with them. I believe they can be intercepted and possibly slashed away.

After expending missile ammunition the Musai will switch over to the Mega Particle Cannons and start spamming those. They're a little weaker than the missile attacks but the Musai can keep firing these almost indefinetly but at the same accuracy rate. Durr hurr hit small units with anti-ship weaponry hurr durr.

Things aren't any better if you get up close at ranges 1-3 as the Musai will fire off bursts of anti-suit missiles which are much more accurate and are still painful as hell.

It's up to preference on how you engage the Musai, you can do it at range and risk getting hit by attacks that can shave off well over 200+ in damage or you can resort to close quaters and take lots of little hits.

There's nothing to steal off the Musai with crit melee hits.

As of the Stage 6 update all Zakus are now highly resistant to bullets but have taken on an additional weakness in the form of slash attacks. Melee attacks and any beam weapons are now highly prefered.

Optional Flag Event 1
Things can be pretty tough for an untrained civilian getting tossed into the deep end when it comes to mecha combat. At least the TTF have had some form of training. Moving Anderson next to Amuro gives you an option to talk to the poor guy and give him some words of encouragement. This optional event can be done at any time in the mission but be sure to grab it as it makes Amuro think a little more highly of the TTF.

Optional Flag Event 2
If words from Anderson aren't enough Jean can unleash her own brand of encouragement. A short exchange between her and Amuro will give our mobile suit pilot prodigy a good opinion on mercenaries, heck one of the best ones is a cute girl. Another event that can be done at any time during the mission and you don't have to burn an attack action to do it just put Jean next to Amuro.

Event 1
At the start of turn three a new friendly unit emerges from Side 7. It's the Federation's new battleship White Base currently under acting captain Bright Noa. It looks like we're going to have some help in taking down the Musai.

The White Base and her crew however pick up more Zaku's in the area which deploy right in between the TTF and the Musai and one of them's THREE TIMES FASTER!

Battle Mastery
Battle Mastery here is going to be hit or miss but thanks to the general flow of battle you'll probably have all your units lined up right where you need them. We're getting off lucky again as Char's custom ZakuII isn't three times faster than his fellow soldiers with only 20 more speed tacked onto it. Speed 120 would just be silly (But so CHAR).

To make up for that fact Char is level 9 and his suit comes with a kick attack (YES) instead of a heat hawk and a few levels in shield block so he can use his ZakuII shield to cut down the damage he takes.

His attacks will chew up your units very fast unless you burn SP so ignore everyone else on the field and dogpile him with support attacks. A well equipped Jean can go toe to toe with Char for a while, which'll result in an epic firefight between the Golden Star and the Red Comet.

As long as Char is preoccupied with you he won't give a damn about Amuro, so it's more of a race against the Gundam. You'll have about three turns before Amuro can finish off a Zaku/move close enough to open up on Char.

If you're finding it difficult to meet this deadline try the level again and leave two of the starting ZakuIIs behind for Amuro to clean up or if you have Rane on the field Fetter the Musai whenever you can to mess up Char's deployment.

Event 2
Bringing the Musai down below 2000 hp will force Doren to retreat. There's no real way to destroy it at this stage but at the very least this pain in the backside is out of the way.

Event 3
If you let Amuro engage Char or if you shoot Char down things go onto auto pilot. Char and Amuro will be fully healed, rearmed and engage in their own little battle with Slender and Ryu Jose getting involved as well.

The white mobile suit's brand new beam weaponry far surpass that of current technology and it shows when Amuro takes out Slender in a single shot forcing Char to retreat with his tail between his legs.

If there are no more enemy units on the battlefield it's mission done otherwise it's case of cleaning Side 7 space up before we can congratulate Amuro on a fine sortee. Gee he must be a natural or something.