Front Mission 3 Detailed Skill List Version 1.1 By Dan Hale (aka Wazat) static_void@hotmail.com Last modified: October 31, 2003 =============== FAQ Description =============== All the other Front Mission 3 FAQs I've read only list the skills and repeat the information already provided in the game. While these other FAQs are very useful, they leave out a lot of information that would be very handy to the reader, such as special hidden skill requirements, comments on a skill's actual use, and suggestions for learning the skills more easily. This FAQ attempts to bridge the gap left by those otherwise excellent FAQs. Hopefully it will provide the information you need to enjoy and ultimately conquer this excellent game, Front Mission 3. If there are any inaccuracies in this FAQ, please e-mail me with corrections. I also look forward to any more info you have to contribute. ================= Table of Contents ================= I. Quick Q&A II. Legend III. Skill Descriptions IV. Parts to Skills List V. Updates VI. Credits VII. Legal & Contact Info ============ I. Quick Q&A ============ More questions added later. Q: How are skills learned? A: From the parts you equip. Learning skills is random. Each skill has a small chance of being acquired each time you satisfy the conditions (such as attacking with a melee weapon). You don't gain experience on skills or parts at all, so you just have to wait until you're lucky. Q: Can I learn skills from parts that are destroyed? A: Yes Q: How many skills and parts are there? A: Well, there are 32 wanzers, each sporting 3 part types - Arms, Legs, and Body. Each of these parts teaches a skill, so there are 96 skills. Don't try to learn them all in one sitting. :P Q: Do I have to equip a weapon on the arm I want to learn a skill from? A: No. For example, if your left arm will teach you Stun Punch, and your right arm will teach you ROFUP1, you can place a melee weapon and burst weapon in each hand in whatever order and it won't be a problem. You can still learn both skills just fine. Q: What is the high acquire computer, and do I need it? A: The high acquire computer increases the chance of learning a skill (I'm guessing it doubles it, but I'm not sure). You don't *need* it for most skills, but let me tell ya, it really helps speed things up. Don't go heavy into learning skills until you get it. Also, it's really important to have when trying to learn some of the really, really hard skills out there. Q: Activate? Acquire? What's the difference? A: When you learn a skill, you "acquire" it. When you equip it onto your computer, it may "activate" and perform its effects during battle. Once you've equipped it, it can activate multiple times in a battle. Q: Can I learn a skill multiple times? A: Yes, but the number of times you can learn it depends on how many slots it takes. The max number of equip slots is 6, so you can learn a 1-slot skill 6 times. A 2-slot skill can be learned 3 times, and a 3-slot skill can only be learned twice. Any skills which take 4 or more slots can only be learned once. Q: What is the best computer to use? A: Besides the Acquire Up computer, there are various other special computers that all have their own special benefits. One is the Activation Up High, Combo Down High computer, which makes skills activate a great deal more frequently, but reduces the chance of combos to almost nill. Use this computer when you have really powerful, many-slot skills (such as body-smash, evade-max, and ROFUPIII). Another is the Activation Down High, Combo Up High computer, which makes it so that skills almost never activate (making it pretty useless), but when they do activate, they'll likely combo until you run out of equipped skills. A better combo computer is the Activate Down Med, Combo Up Med comp (or the Activate Down Low, Combo Up Low), which will still activate skills at a decent rate, and will combo them fairly well. Those are the main ones Most of the other computers have too few slots (they are all that's available early in the game), or their abilities are not very useful. Q: What are combos? A: Combos are when multiple skills activate in sequence. They are extremely useful because you get to attack several times in one turn! For example, if you combo ROFUP1, SkillUp1, and then Zoom1, you will attack 3 times. The first time, you get 20% more shots, the second time, your skill increases 1 level for that shot, and on the third shot, you zoom in to increase your accuracy for that shot. You can even combo the same skill multiple times, such as using 4 ROFUP1's, if you equip it multiple times. However, combos are random. You have no control over what skills will activate or in what order, or how many skills will activate. You can equip computers which will increase or decrease the combo rate. A warning: skills like Topple Shot, Topple Punch, and Eject Punch will always end combos, so try to avoid them when combos are in mind. Q: I can't learn this skill. What's wrong? A: First make sure you've satisfied the conditions. Do you have a shoulder weapon equipped? Are you using the right type of weapon? Should the enemy be attacking or should you? Do you need to have a shield equipped? Second, make sure you haven't learned the skill already and can't learn it any more. Skills like Arm Smash can only be learned once. Third... Some skills are extremely hard to learn. You could spend weeks and never learn them. I'm talking about AutoII, RevengeSame, etc. If you insist on learning these skills, make sure you have lots of time. Q: Which is better to focus on: Combos or High Activation? A: This depends a lot on preference. In several areas of this FAQ I point out that you can usually do far more damage with a combo of several skills than you can with a single skill of higher power. For example, a combo of 3 ROFUP1's is far deadlier than a single instance of ROFUP3. On one hand, ROFUP3 is far more reliable than ROFUP1, because you'll usually be lucky to combo 3 of them together. On the other hand, you likely get lots of activations of 1 ROFUP1, plus the common combination of two and the occasional combo of 3. Those add up! I'm quite fond of instantly killing an enemy pilot with a combo of 3 PilotDMG1's and then stealing his wanzer. And I love to chain ROFUP1's and SkillUp1's whenever i get the chance, because few enemy wanzers can stand up to that kind of punishment. You can tell right off that I'm severely biased toward combos. My best advise on this is to do what you like most. After all, some of the heavy-hitting skills are awesome to behold. ========== II. Legend ========== Skill entries follow this format: Skill Name Score: : 0-5 'score of usefulness' I deem appropriate for the skill (take this with a grain of salt) Condition : Simple condition (displayed in-game); extra conditions (hidden, learn from experience) Slots : number of slots needed to equip this skill Part : what part you learn this skill from Effect: What the skill does, etc Learn: If there's anything special you should do to learn this skill, it's listed here Score: ***** The best score, definately a skill you want to learn **** Very useful skill, above average and good all around *** Average skill, it's pretty good, consider taking the time to learn it ** Below Average, possibly not worth pursuing unless you have a specific use for it * Poor, probably not too helpful in most situations - Horrible, no stars awarded. These skills were either not thought out at all, or they were put in the game to spite us. Conditions (simple guide): (note that grenades will never activate any skill.) Burst - Activates when using a shotgun, machinegun, or flamer 1 Shot, Melee, Missile - Activates if you use a rifle, cannon, p-gun, missile, or any melee weapon Range - Activates with any ranged weapon that goes on your arms. Namingly, shotgun, rifle, machinegun, and flamer (not grenades, missiles, or melee) Melee - Activates with any melee weapon, meaning spikes, batans, and fists No Grenades - You can have grenades equipped, but the skill won't activate while using them. This is the general "Anything goes" condition. All Weapons (def) - This skill activates only when the enemy is attacking you. May even work when using a shield. All Weapons - Activates basically whenever, with no major stipulations, except you can't be using grenades (of course). No Shoulder Weapon - You can't have any missiles or grenades even equipped on your shoulders =============== III. Skill List =============== Aim Score : ** Condition : Burst Slots : 3 Part : Grazex - Arm Effect: Concentrates all your bullets onto one randomly selected part, be it the body, legs, or either arm. All the bullets will hit, even if your accuracy is low. Unfortunately, you have no control over what part is selected. There is a 25% possibility of selecting the body, but this skill is best replaced by Aim-Arm, Aim-Leg, or Aim-Body once you learn them, since they all take the same # of slots. Learn: - Aim-Arm Score : ***** Condition : Burst Slots : 3 Part : Vinedrai - Arm Effect: Concentrates all your bullets onto one randomly selected arm. Like ArmSmash, it quite frequently selects the enemy's weapon arm in an attempt to disable them. All the bullets will hit, even if your accuracy is low. Very useful for disabling or capturing wanzers, since they often give up fighting without their arms. Learn: - Aim-Body Score : ***** Condition : Burst Slots : 3 Part : Shunwang 1 - Arm Effect: This one's an awesome skill. It concentrates all your bullets onto the enemy body, often doing tremendous damage. All the bullets will hit, even if your accuracy is low. This is a great way to one-hit-kill an many wanzers, yet it only takes 3 slots (compared to Body Smash, which takes 5). Learn: - Aim-Leg Score : *** Condition : Burst Slots : 3 Part : Tieqi 4 - Arm Effect: Concentrates all your bullets onto the enemy's legs. All the bullets will hit, even if your accuracy is low. This skill works quite well in conjunction with Aim-Arm to disable enemy wanzers to force them to surrender, or to disable their movement. Learn: - AP-0 Score : **** Condition : No grenades Slots : 3 Part : Hoshun Mk112 - Leg Effect: Reduces the AP needed to attack to dead 0, meaning you get to attack for free. The most obvious use for this is the Heavy P-Gun, which takes 15 AP. However, don't discount the use for missiles, which take 10, and normal weapons while counterattacking. Unfortunately it won't work with grenades. This skill is great for saving AP, especially when you're expecting lots of counterattacks that will suck AP after your turn, or you want to use the Heavy P-Gun more than every other turn. It takes 3 slots, but it sure helps. Keep in mind it wont always activate. Even so, try using a high-activation computer to make the move more reliable. Learn: - AP-30% Score : ** Condition : No grenades Slots : 1 Part : Kasel M2 - Leg Effect: Reduces the AP needed to attack by 30%. It's handy for all the major AP suckers early in the game, as well as for simply saving some AP throughout your various attack/counterattack battles (especially if you keep running low) It only takes 1 slot, so it's pretty nice to use. However, if you have slots to spare, and can learn them, consider upgrading to AP-60% or AP-0. Learn: - AP-60% Score : *** Condition : No grenades Slots : 2 Part : Shunyo Mk111 - Legs Effect: Reduces the AP needed to attack by 60% (nearly 2/3). It's handy for all the major AP suckers throughout the game, as well as for simply saving as much AP as you can throughout various attack/counterattack battles. Usually 2 slots are a worthy price, but if you can't afford them, AP-30% should still be sort of useful. If you have 3 slots and a high-activation computer, AP-0 is a great choice. Learn: - Arm Smash Score : ***** Condition : 1 shot, melee, missile Slots : 4 Part : Foura M12A - Arm Effect: One of four instant-destroy skills, Arm Smash instantly destroys the arm it targets. If you see the skill activate, you can be absolutely sure it won't miss. Like Aim-Arm, it will almost always target the enemy's main attack arm in an attempt to disable it. Very useful for disabling serious threats, or forcing a surrender to steal a wanzer. Learn: This skill likes to eat missile enemies and anyone else that's really threatening. Fire rifles or missiles at them until the skill activates. It may take a while, however. AutoI Score : - Condition : No shoulder weapon; must be stunned Slots : 1 Part : Enyo MK109 - Body Effect: If you get stunned, and the enemy attacks you within range of your arm weapon, AutoI may activate. It puts your wanzer on auto pilot so it can counter attack. Unfortunately, this is one of the hardest skills to learn, and rarely ever activates. In fact, you rarely ever get stunned anyway. What a tragic waste of a skill. Learn: Get stunned a lot - and I mean a lot - and then let the enemy attack you while you're disabled. One day the skill will activate and you'll wonder why on earth you spent all that time on it. Or maybe you'll just get lucky and it will activate out of pure luck early on. The high acquire computer is a must! AutoII Score : - Condition : No shoulder weapon; must be stunned Slots : 2 Part : Prov PAW2 - Body Effect: If you get stunned, and the enemy attacks you within range of your arm weapon, AutoII may activate. It puts your wanzer on auto pilot so it can counter attack, and then removes the stun status! Unfortunately, this is *the* hardest skill to learn in the game, and rarely ever activates. In fact, you rarely ever get stunned anyway. Learn: Get stunned a lot, and just pray. This skill it rediculously hard to learn, and in my opinion isn't nearly worth it. Auto-Counter Score : *** Condition : All weapons; enemy must go first, must lose a part Slots : 1 Part : Genie - Leg Effect: If your enemy is about to destroy one of your parts (even the legs), AutoCounter may activate. It allows you to counter attack even if the enemy destroys your body, or the arm you're attacking with. This skill is very valuable for learning skills that require losing a part, or simply getting that last stab out before you're dead or disabled. Learn: Subject yourself to lots of punishment and lose lots of arms, legs, and even your body. As long as you have a part left to attack with before the attack begins, there's a chance AutoCoutner will activate. Avoid20 Score : ** Condition : All Weapons (def); attack damage at or below 20 Slots : 1 Part : Tiandong 3 - Leg Effect: This skill is great at the beginning of the game, but unfortunately you can't learn it until later. :) Still, once you've learned it, you can use it on the lower simulations, with shields, or it comes in extremely handy when you restart the game. Any hits the enemy deals that do 20 or less damage will be reduced to 0, meaning the enemy does no damage at all. This makes fighting burst (shotgun, machinegun, but usually not flamer) weapons a breeze. If the enemy is doing more than 20 damage, try using your core's defense class, like Anti-Piercing etc, to reduce it back into range. If you're using a shield (another good way to make the skill activate), the arm will take no damage, but the shield will still lose a durability point, so keep that in mind. This skill is great to fill in an empty slot along side other skills, since it only takes 1 slot. Learn: Play the JDF Test Facility simulation and just let the enemies with machineguns beat you up a lot. You can learn it pretty easily this way, though it may take some time at first. It helps to kill anyone using missiles or melee, since they won't activate the skill. Avoid40 Score : **** Condition : All Weapons (def); attack damage at or below 40 Slots : 2 Part : Lanze - Leg Effect: Any damage at or below 40 is reduced to 0. Despite taking an extra slot, this skill still manages to pull its weight since it easily covers most of the damage that Avoid20 can't, until you start approaching the end of the game. It will even activate on damage between 1 and 20, so don't worry that the enemy's damage is too low. Most of the perks of Avoid20 also apply, with the added bonus of covering twice as much damage range. A medium to high activation computer is probably your best bet. Learn: Play the JDF Test Facility simulation and just let the enemies with machineguns beat you up a lot. You can learn it pretty easily this way, though it may take some time at first. It helps to kill anyone using missiles or melee, since they won't activate the skill. Avoid80 Score : **** Condition : All Weapons (def); attack damage at or below 80 Slots : 3 Part : Yongsai 3 - Leg Effect: Any damage at or below 80 is reduced to 0. If you use this skill, you'll take a hit of 3 slots; however, the ability to avoid all 12 shots from a shotgun or all 11 shots from a flamer, as long as they do 80 damage or less, makes this a very useful skill. You could nullify as much as 920 damage from a shotgun this way. However, the skill doesn't activate very frequently, so be sure to equip it on a high activation computer. Learn: Play the JDF Test Facility simulation and just let the enemies with machineguns beat you up a lot. You can learn it pretty easily this way, though it may take some time at first. It helps to kill anyone using missiles or melee, since they *probably* won't activate the skill. If you still can't seem to learn it, try a simulation that does damage closer to 60 or 80. Bkup Fire Score : *** Condition : Melee; must have a ranged weapon ally close enough to fire on enemy Slots : 3 Part : Rekson M4F - Arm Effect: This skill asks an ally with a gun to shoot the enemy before you hit it with your melee weapon. The ally must be in range. You also get to go first (before the enemy), despite using a melee attack. Unfortunately, it's a bit hard it learn & activate. Learn: Make sure you keep a ranged wanzer in range of the enemy you punch. Bkup Melee Score : ** Condition : Range; must have a melee equipped ally close enough to attack enemy (1 square away from enemy) Slots : 3 Part : Yongsai 3 - Body Effect: Asks an ally with a melee weapon to punch the enemy before you fire. You also get to attack before the enemy does, even if you're counterattacking. Unfortunately, it's a bit hard it learn; harder even than Bkup Fire. It's a lso got a low activation rate once you learn it. Learn: Make sure you keep a melee wanzer next to the enemy you attack with this wanzer. Blackout Score : ** Condition : No Grenades; Enemy must be equipped with battle skills Slots : 1 Part : Mingtian 1 - Legs Effect: Disables the enemy's battle skills for a turn. This skill is useful in a very limited number of battles. Unless you really feel you need it, or just want to learn it for completion's sake, you can safely skip it. If you do equip it, it should activate quite frequently, keeping the enemy's skills from activating during that engagement. Learn: This one's hard, because none of the simulators have enemies with battle skills, and enemies rarely have skills anyway. Just go into battle in one of the storyline skirmishes and make sure the enemy has some skills of some sort. Once you satisfy those conditions, it should aquire quite easily (especially in a boss fight). In fact, in some battles you can't help but learn it all 6 times before the fight is over. ;) Body Smash Score : ***** Condition : 1 shot, melee, missile Slots : 5 Part : Hoshun Mk112 - Arm Effect: This is basically the ultimate skill, a 1-hit kill that cannot be dodged once it activates. It takes 5 of your 6 slots, and will probably require a high activation computer to activate nearly as often as you like, but... when it does, bam, the enemy is dead. It will only work with 1-hit weapons, but fortunately that includes missiles and even hardblow. Fire away! Learn: - BraceI Score : ** Condition : No shoulder weapon; you must go first Slots : 1 Part : Kyojun Mk107 - Leg Effect: This skill can be a help or a headache, depending on the circumstances . The enemy gets to go first, but you take 50% less damage. If you don't mind going last, this can be a huge help. Unfortunately, this skill also has the obnoxious tendency to activate when you could go first and deliver the finishing blow to your enemy, avoiding any damage at all; but instead, the enemy goes first and does some damage to you before you can kill him. So in other words, take care in using this skill. It can help a lot when used right. Learn: - BraceII Score : **** Condition : No shoulder weapon; you must go first Slots : 2 Part : Tieqi 4 - Leg Effect: The enemy gets to go first, but you take 70% less damage. That's like using a shield and also getting to attack with your gun in the same move! The only problem is, like BraceI, sometimes it may activate when you don't want it to, like when you're about to go first and kill your enemy before he can counterattack. However, you'll only take 30% damage, and that's fairly reasonable, even in such circumstances. Learn: - Chaff Score : **** Condition : All Weapons (def); Must be attacked by a missile Slots : 1 Part : Drake M2C - Body Effect: Makes you invulnerable to any missiles the enemy fires if it activates. The enemy could even use salvo and you would dodge every one! It also takes only 1 slot, will activate even if you use a shield (and you avoid losing durability), and activates at a reasonable frequency. It's great to fill in an empty slot in any combo, especially on a high activation computer with something like body smash. Learn: Pick this character first (since the first character usually gets attacked the most) and provoke some enemies into attacking you with missiles. Def-C1 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; defense class cannot already be maxed Slots : 1 Part : Genie - Body Effect: One of many stat increasers, this skill simply increases your defense class by 1. It can be a handy filler when you have an extra slot, and it does activate reasonably often. You get the most benefit if you assign 2-3 AP already (the higher levels are more beneficial). Learn: Set your damage class to a type you'll likely encounter a lot in the battle you're fighting. It helps if you assign at least 1 AP, but less than 3. Def-C2 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; defense class cannot already be maxed Slots : 2 Part : Laying Type1 - Body Effect: Like Def-C1, this skill raises it by 2. Normally I can think of lots of other uses for 2 slots, but there are times when this would be useful. Learn: Set your damage class to a type you'll likely encounter a lot in the battle you're fighting. It helps if you assign at least 1 AP, but less than 3. Def-CMax Score : ** Condition : No shoulder weapon; defense class cannot already be maxed Slots : 3 Part : Mingtian 1 - Body Effect: This skill raises your defense class to the max - level 4. It's most effective if you're only assigning 0 or 1 AP to your defense class; if you're at level 3, you should instead settle with Def-C1 to avoid waste. If you're using a core with a really high max (like 60%), this can be quite useful since you can occasionally block the damage without assigning any AP. Still, I can think of a better use for 3 slots on a high-activation computer, and you most definately shouldn't rely on this skill to save you every turn, or even very often. Learn: Set your damage class to a type you'll likely encounter a lot in the battle you're fighting. DmgFix100 Score : *** Condition : All Weapons (def); damage must be between 101 and 200 Slots : 1 Part : Kyokei Mk108 - Leg Effect: Any damage between 101 and 200 will be capped to 100. You can usually shave 25-50% damage when this skill activates, as long as it's in the damage range. If the attacks are doing too much damage, consider using DmgFix200 or setting your defense class to reduce the damage back into range. If the enemy is doing too little damage, consider using Avoid80 (which is a better move anyway). Like all the DmgFix skills, this skill only takes 1 slot. It's great against fists, rifles, and missiles early in the game, but does nothing against burst weapons, which will almost never do more than 100 damage, and even if they did, it wouldn't be by much. Learn: Fight enemies that will do 101 - 200 damage to you, such as the melee enemies in the JDF test facility simulation. DmgFix200 Score : *** Condition : All Weapons (def); damage must be between 201 and 400 Slots : 1 Part : Qibing 0 - Leg Effect: Any damage between 201 and 400 will be capped to 200. You can usually shave 25-50% damage when this skill activates, as long as it's in the damage range. If the attacks are doing too much damage, consider using DmgFix400 or setting your defense class to reduce the damage back into range. If the enemy is doing too little damage, consider using DmgFix100. Like all the DmgFix skills, this skill only takes 1 slot. It's great against fists, rifles, and missiles, but does nothing against burst weapons. Learn: Fight enemies that will do 201 - 400 damage to you. Fist and rifle users make a good start. DmgFix400 Score : *** Condition : All Weapons (def); damage must be between 401 and 800 Slots : 1 Part : Shunyo Mk111 - Body Effect: Any damage between 401 and 800 will be capped to 400. You can usually shave 25-50% damage when this skill activates, as long as it's in the damage range. If the enemy is doing too little damage, consider using DmgFix100 or 200. Like all the DmgFix skills, this skill only takes 1 slot. While it will never activate against burst weapons or most rifle attacks, this skill is great against fists and missiles late in the game. It also helps against bosses who use the Basic P-Gun against you, as well as their missiles. Beware the low activation rate of this skill. Learn: This one's harder than the others, since enemies rarely do more than 400 damage before the end of the game, and those that do can kill you quite quickly. It also has a lower acquire rate, so patience is key. The Fukushima simulator is a great place to start. Double Assault Score : *** Condition : Melee and Range equipped; must attack at melee range. Slots : 2 Part : Zenislev - Arm Effect: If you're at melee range and you attack with either your melee weapon or your gun, this skill may activate allowing you to attack with both. It's a powerful combo, but unfortunately like all the double skills, it requires that you not equip a shield, and doesn't activate quite as often as you may like. It combos well enough with other skills, and makes good use of a fist early in the game that may otherwise remain unused in a fist with gun setup. Learn: Simply satisfy the conditions and make sure you're always in melee range. It may even activate when you're counterattacking. Double Punch1 Score : *** Condition : Right/Left arm equipped with same melee weapon. Slots : 2 Part : Grapple M1 - Arm Effect: This skill lets you attack twice - once with each melee weapon in your hands. This can do deadly damage, and the animations are cool. However, you can't have a shield equipped, and often you can do more damage and activate more often on a medium activation computer with 2 stun punches or some skill+1's equipped instead. This skill does chain pretty good, and is very helpful if your heart's not set on using a shield. Learn: - Double Punch2 Score : *** Condition : Right/Left arm equipped with different melee weapons Slots : 2 Part : Wude 3 - Arm Effect: Like Double Punch1, this skill lets you attack twice, once with each melee weapon you're equipped with. The difference is, they can't be the same melee weapon. So, a fist, batan, or spike in one hand, and one of the other 2 in the other hand. This would be useful because then you could equip both a fist and spike and have the benefit of both piercing and impact damage types at your disposal, but unfortunately spikes and batans are so much weaker than fists that you'll almost always do more damage with a fist despite the enemy's defense class, unless it's extremely high (like 40-60%), which it usually isn't. Also, like Double Punch1 and all the other double skills, you're quite often better off chaining 2 1-slot skills together on a medium combo computer, since you'll do more damage and it will probably activate a lot more frequently. Learn: - Double Shot1 Score : *** Condition : Right/Left arm equipped with same ranged weapon Slots : 2 Part : Prov PAW2 - Arm Effect: This skill just has a cool feeling all over it, despite some drawbacks. You get to attack with both weapons in your hands, dealing basically double damage. Just make sure you have decent accuracy upgrades on both arms so you don't miss a lot with one of them. Another nice quirk is the cool animations you get, like with the machine gun. Unfortunately (and I just know I'm going to make tons of enemies for bashing the Double skills like this), the double skills require that you not equip a shield, which leaves you very vulnerable. Also, you might consider chaining 2 1-slot skills together on a medium combo computer, since you'll do more damage and it will probably activate a lot more frequently. Still, this skill combos pretty well, and like all the double skills, it is a lot of fun to watch. The flamer gets quite a benefit from it since you attack twice for the AP of one attack. Learn: - Double Shot2 Score : **** Condition : Right/Left arm equipped with different ranged weapon; in range for both weapons. Slots : 2 Part : Shangdi 1 - Arm Effect: This skill is actually much more useful than Double Shot1. You're required to have different weapons equipped to the right and left arms, and it only takes the AP of the weapon you fired with. So, you could get 11 shots out of the flamer in addition to firing your shotgun, all for only 3 AP! (note that you should press Square and select the flamer, make sure it's set to 11 AP, and then reselect the other weapon, so you're sure that you'll get 11 shots from it). That's not all... consider pairing the Heavy P-Gun with the Rifle. You attack with the rifle, using 4 AP, and then you get to attack with the Heavy P-Gun for free! The skill also activates in counterattacks, and combos pretty well like the rest of the Double skills. If you're ok with not equipping a shield, this skill should serve you well. Learn: If your primary weapon is weak, and the unused weapon is very powerful, and the enemy would be killed or brought to near death if you used it, there's a higher chance this skill will activate. E-AccNull Score : *** Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy must have at least 1 accuracy upgrade Slots : 3 Part : Shangdi 1 - Body Effect: This skill totally wipes out the enemy's accuracy upgrades, allowing your evade, height, and any obstacles in the way to take full effect. This is usually devastating to enemies late in the game since they've grown quite confident with their 162% etc chance of hitting. Reduced to 50-70% and they're not laughing anymore. Quite often, the combined effect of all factors plus this skill could reduce their accuracy to 10-30%. Since it requires 3 slots to equip and doesn't activate all that often, you're best off putting it on a high activation computer to get the full effect and reliability. Learn: - E-Acc1 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy must have at least 1 accuracy upgrade Slots : 1 Part : Pare PAW1 - Body Effect: Reduces the enemy's accuracy upgrade by 1. This is most effective when the enemy's accuracy is at level 3-4, and you have a high evade; or at the beginning of the game. Really, it's not a very outstanding skill. Learn: - E-Acc2 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy must have at least 1 accuracy upgrade Slots : 2 Part : Wude 3 - Body Effect: Reduces the enemy's accuracy upgrade by 2. This is most effective when the enemy's accuracy is at level 3-4, and you have a high evade, or at the beginning of the game. Really, it's not a very outstanding skill. Learn: - E-Def-CNull Score : ** Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 defense class upgrade Slots : 3 Part : Whisk - Body Effect: This skill totally wipes out your enemy's defense class, allowing your attack to break right through and do full damage. However, it takes 3 precious slots so make sure you can spare them and use a high activation computer. I think there are better skills to equip, personally. Learn: - E-Def-C1 Score : * Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 defense class upgrade Slots : 1 Part : Meledyne M1 - Body Effect: This skill reduces the enemy's defense class by 1 level. This is handy when your enemy is defended against your attack and is at a fairly high level, such as 3 or 4, because those high levels have the most increase (level 1 and 2 usually only add 5-10%, usually not much to worry about, so try to go for 3 and 4). It also takes only 1 slot and activates fairly frequently, so maybe give it a try. Learn: - E-Def-C2 Score : * Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 defense class upgrade Slots : 2 Part : Tieqi 4 - Body Effect: This skill reduces the enemy's defense class by 2 levels. It's handy when your enemy is defended against your attack by 3 or 4 levels, as those high levels have the most effect (level 1 and 2 usually only add 5-10%, usually not much to worry about, so try to go for 3 and 4). It also takes 2 slots and activates reasonably frequently. Still, if you have an extra slot, go with E-Def-CNull to wipe out their defense class completely, or another move entirely. Learn: - E-Evade Null Score : ** Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 evade upgrade Slots : 3 Part : Shunwang 1 - Body Effect: This skill boosts your evasion right up to level 4. This is great for legs that have 47% evasion, or the Hoshun legs which have 59% evade. If you equip this on a high activation computer, you might be able to get away with not assigning any AP at all to your evade. Otherwise, I can think of some better ways to spend 3 slots... Learn: - E-Evade1 Score : * Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 evade upgrade Slots : 1 Part : Zeros - Body Effect: This skill increases your evasion by 1. It's an ok skill and it activates at a decent rate, but frankly it's not all that useful. Equip it if that's all you've got right now, or if you're early in the story line and can't upgrade your evade fully yet. I can still think of a better use for a slot though. Learn: - E-Evade2 Score : * Condition : No grenades; enemy must have at least 1 evade upgrade Slots : 2 Part : Vinedrai - Body Effect: This skill increases your evasion by 2. It's an ok skill and it activates at a decent rate, but frankly it's not all that useful. Equip it if that's all you've got right now, or if you're early in the story line and can't upgrade your evade fully yet. I can still think of a better use for two slots though. Learn: - Eject Punch Score : ***** Condition : Melee; enemy wanzer must have a pilot (not abandoned or on autopilot) Slots : 1 Part : Tiandong 3 - Arm Effect: Knocks the enemy out of his wanzer, disabling him for at least a turn and making him very vulnerable to attack. This is an excellent way to capture wanzers. Also note that if you attack first, the enemy's attack will be cancelled because they were ejected. Unfortunatly, this skill doesn't chain well. If it activates, the chain ends, even if it misses. Learn: - Escape Score : *** Condition : All Weapons (def); part is about to be destroyed Slots : 1 Part : Foura M12A - Leg Effect: If the enemy is about to destroy a part, this skill may activate. It will completely cancel the enemy's attack. If you attacked first, this means you got a free attack and avoided the counter attack. However, if the enemy attacks first, it will cancel his attack and yours too. This may, however, be better than losing the part. Learn: Expose yourself to a lot of situations where the enemy is about to destroy one of your parts. The Taipei and Fukushima simulations are good places to go. E-Skill1 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy's skill must be higher than A Slots : 1 Part : Rekson M4F - Leg Effect: Reduces the enemy skill by 1 for all their attacks during that turn. Not all that thrilling. Learn: Fight enemies with skills higher than A. E-Skill2 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy's skill must be higher than A Slots : 2 Part : Getty - Leg Effect: Reduces the enemy skill by 2 for all their attacks during that turn. Not all that thrilling. Learn: Fight enemies with skills higher than A. E-Skill3 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; enemy's skill must be higher than A Slots : 3 Part : Wude 3 - Leg Effect: Reduces the enemy skill by 3 for all their attacks during that turn. Not all that thrilling, and a terrible waste of 3 slots. Learn: Fight enemies with skills higher than A. Evade1 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; evade must not already be maxed Slots : 1 Part : Pare PAW1 - Body Effect: Increases your evade by 1 level. Useful for legs with high evade early in the game when you can't get level 3 or 4 upgrades. Learn: It helps if you have at least 1 AP assigned to your evade, but don't have it maxed out. Evade2 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon; evade must not already be maxed Slots : 2 Part : Whisk - Leg Effect: Increases your evade by 2 levels. Useful for legs with high evade early in the game when you can't get level 3 or 4 upgrades. Learn: It helps if you have at least 1 AP assigned to your evade, but don't have it maxed out. Evade-Max Score : ** Condition : No shoulder weapon; evade must not already be maxed Slots : 3 Part : Shunwang 1 - Leg Effect: Maxes out your evade to level 4. Useful for legs with high evade early in the game when you can't get level 3 or 4 upgrades, or simply when you don't want to dedicate the AP to them. Equip it on a high activation computer for maximum effect. But don't count on it activating every turn to save you. Also, as good as evade can get, the best it can do is around 50% or so. Other skills may suit you better. Learn: It helps if you have at least 1 AP assigned to your evade, but don't have it maxed out. Experience x2 Score : *** Condition : No grenades Slots : 1 Part : Drake M2C - Leg Effect: Doubles the experience you get. It's useful in the beginning and middle of the game if you want to bring up the rank of your weapon, but if you take it too high, you'll start to miss out on platinum medals. Be sure to bring along some rank A weapons you can use every once in a while to lower the average rank if that happens. Learn: - Experience x3 Score : *** Condition : No grenades Slots : 2 Part : Shangdi 1 - Leg Effect: Triples the experience you get. Great when it activates after killing a monster wanzer! It's useful in the middle & end of the game if you want to bring up the rank of your weapon, but if you take it too high, you'll start to miss out on platinum medals. Be sure to bring along some rank A weapons you can use every once in a while to lower the average rank if that happens. Learn: - Experience x4 Score : *** Condition : No grenades Slots : 3 Part : Vinedrai - Leg Effect: Quadruples the experience you get. You can get several thousand experience for killing some wanzers! It's useful in the end of the game if you want to bring up the rank of your weapon. I personally prefer Exp x3 because it takes only 2 slots, allowing for some of the more valuable skills to fit in my computer, but this move is nice nonetheless. In the Emma missions you don't have to worry much about weapon rank getting too high, but in the Alisia missions you often get penalized even near the game's middle/end, so be sure to bring along some rank A weapons to lower the average. Learn: - Fast Attack Score : **** Condition : No shoulder weapon Slots : 2 Part : Jinyo MK110 - Leg Effect: You get to attack first, and the enemy doesn't get to counterattack at all. This skill also chains well, meaning you can get a fast attack, and then a couple ROFUP1's to seal the deal. The enemy completely misses out on his counterattack. Learn: This skill activates at a moderate rate, but it has a bit of a low acquire rate. Just stick with it, and you'll eventually learn it. Firing Squad Score : ***** Condition : Range; Must have 2 allies within attack range, using ranged weapons Slots : 3 Part : Getty - Arm Effect: Mmmmm.... You and 2 other allies gang up on an enemy. Your 2 allies fire before you, and then you get your shot in. The enemy doesn't get to go first, even if he was going to before the skill activated. He'll get his turn if he's alive afterwords... Three on one sounds like my style of battles. :) Learn: This skill is surprisingly easy to learn, as long as you satisfy the conditions. It's more powerful than BkupMelee or BkupFire, yet it acquires a lot more easily too. Gang Beating Score : ** Condition : Melee Slots : 3 Part : Lenghe 1 - Leg Effect: Uhh... Despite the awkward connotation of its name, Gang Beating can be a fairly decent skill. It's the melee equivalent of Firing Squad. You and 2 allies take turns punching the enemy into smitherines. You get to go before the enemy too, which is great for a melee attack. The only problem is, with Firing Squad you have a lot more freedom of placement of wanzers; however, with this skill you can only attack 1 square away, so you'll have to have surrounded the enemy with at least 3 melee attackers, which can be hard & tedious. Learn: The low acquire rate of this skill makes it a bit of a chore to learn. Plus, it's hard to position 3 melee allies so that they can all hit, then pound the enemy until the skill activates without killing him first. Try equipping weaker melee weapons if this happens (hardblow is good), and be sure to make use of the high acquire computer. Guard-B Score : ** Condition : All Weapons (def) Slots : 1 Part : Prov PAW2 - Leg Effect: This skill diverts attacks from your body to your arms AND legs. The good news is your body will be protected. The bad news is, the damage isn't reduced at all, and thus can wreak havoc on the rest of your bot. You might end up with no arms and no legs, but a refreshingly healthy body. Learn: This skill is a bit hard to learn, because it takes a while to activate, and in the mean time, you're stuck with hover legs that only go 4 squares. Fortunately, the legs have good evade & health, and the skill is possible to learn. Just make sure you have the acquire up computer. Hard Knocks Score : * Condition : No Grenades; You have to be almost dead and then some... Slots : 1 Part : Grazex - Leg Effect: If your wanzer is about to die, this skill *may* activate. It boosts your attack damage by 30%, but that seems like too little, too late at this point. Your wanzer has to be so damaged that this skill is best reserved for those delightful surprises you weren't counting on getting. It's usually not worth equipping, even though it only takes 1 slot. However, it does combo, so you may get a few SkillUp1's and ROFUP1's afterwords. Learn: The best way to learn this is to fight enemies with shotguns or machineguns (preferrably shotguns), or have a hardblow battle after draining an enemy's missiles. They should be weak enemies, like in the Taal Base simulator or lower. Buy all new parts and don't upgrade their health, except maybe some on your weapon arm and body (to ensure they outlive the other arm & legs. Also make sure your parts have fairly equal health. The enemy's shotguns will reduce the parts' health equally, but the unused arm and legs will be destroyed first. About this time your body and weapon arm will be near death too (around 1/8 or 1/10 HP), and when you attack next, the skill will likely activate. Hit or Miss Score : ** Condition : Burst Slots : 1 Part : Kyokei Mk108 - Arm Effect: The bullets from your weapon will either all hit, or they will all miss. I'm not completely sure this is right, but I'm guessing the chances of hitting are equal to the chances displayed when you prepare your attack. For example, if you aim your shotgun at an enemy and it displays 70% chance, that normally means that each bullet has a 70% chance of hitting. But when this skill activates, the entire attack has a 70% chance of hitting, and 30% chance of missing entirely. If that's true, then it's a bad skill to use when you have a 10% chance, since there's a 90% chance that not a single bullet will hit. Thus, this skill is best used when you have 70-95% or so chance of hitting, because it will usually not miss, and will cause all your bullets to hit, increasing your average damage per attack. It will also chain with other skills. I still prefer ROFUP1. :) Learn: Standard stuff. Just equip a burst weapon. This skill doesn't seem to activate quite as often as ROFUP1 etc so be patient. Initiative1 Score : * Condition : No shoulder weapon Slots : 1 Part : Zenislev - Leg Effect: You get to attack first, but you take 1.5x as much damage when the enemy attacks. Usually going first isn't worth that kind of stipulation, but it does have its uses. Learn: Use melee attacks or fight in a lot of counter attack battles where you go last. Initiative2 Score : ** Condition : No shoulder weapon Slots : 2 Part : Zeros - Leg Effect: You get to attack first, but you take 1.2x as much damage when the enemy attacks. It's a little better than initiative1 (the damage is manageable), but it takes another slot, too. Learn: Use melee attacks or fight in a lot of counter attack battles where you go last. Initiative3 Score : ** Condition : No shoulder weapon Slots : 3 Part : Lenghe 1 - Body Effect: You get to attack first, and you don't get any extra damage penalty. Unfortunately it takes 3 slots. If this skill seems appealing, be sure to use a high activation computer. Learn: Use melee attacks or fight in a lot of counter attack battles where you go last. Leg Smash Score : *** Condition : 1 shot, melee, missile Slots : 4 Part : Enyo MK109 - Arm Effect: One of 4 Smash attacks, Leg Smash instantly destroys the enemy's legs. If you see the skill activate, it's guarenteed to hit. It's quite handy for wiping out the enemy's legs so they can't jump or pursue you, or to drop their evade down to nothing. Unfortunately, 4 slots is a heavy price (I prefer arm smash, personally). It's still quite useful, however, especially when arm smash is not yet available. Learn: - Melee1 Score : *** Condition : Melee Slots : 1 Part : Kyokei Mk108 - Body Effect: This skill increases the melee skill by 1.2x for one attack. While Skill+1 increases by a set amount (only 1), the melee up skills increase by percentage, meaning they can strongly increase your attack power if your rank is already medium to high. This skill also chains quite well. Learn: - Melee2 Score : ** Condition : Melee Slots : 2 Part : Kasel M2 - Body Effect: This skill increases the melee skill by 1.5x for one attack. As said with Melee1, this skill benefits a great deal if your rank is already fairly high. Learn: - Melee3 Score : *** Condition : Melee Slots : 3 Part : Grapple M1 - Body Effect: This skill doubles the melee skill for one attack. As said with Melee1, this skill benefits a great deal if your rank is already fairly high. If you're half-way, you can max out the rank. (note: No word yet if this affects the average damage rating on your platinum...) Learn: - Panic Shot Score : *** Condition : Range Slots : 1 Part : Meledyne M1 - Arm Effect: Confuses the enemy (which makes all their attacks take 3 extra AP). This skill also chains well with others. If you're fighting enemies that need a lot of AP, confusing them can help. Learn: - Pilot DMG1 Score : ***** Condition : All Weapons Slots : 1 Part : Drake M2C - Arm Effect: The best of the Pilot Damage skills, this attack takes only 1 slot and will do 7 pilot damage with a rifle (I'll try to find out the damage for the other weapons the future). 3 rifle attacks and that pilot dies, leaving a relatively healthy wanzer for the taking! The skill also chains extremely well, even with itself (meaning 3 pilot damage 1's with a rifle in one turn and the enemy is doomed). Great for capturing or disabling deadly or valuable wanzers. Note that it won't work against some bosses. Learn: - Pilot DMG2 Score : ** Condition : All Weapons Slots : 2 Part : Laying Type1 - Arm Effect: This skill isn't as good as the Pilot DMG1. The damage increase isn't large enough to justify taking another slot. You do about 9 damage with a rifle. Learn: - Pilot DMG3 Score : *** Condition : All Weapons Slots : 3 Part : Genie - Arm Effect: This skill isn't as good as the Pilot DMG1. The damage increase isn't large enough to justify taking 3 slots. However, it does push the damage high enough that using it twice with a rifle will kill an enemy pilot, as rifles will do 11 damage. Still, 3 slots is just such a waste... Make sure it's on a high activation computer, whatever you do, or it may not activate twice and you'll never reap the benefits of the damage you've already done. Learn: - Pilot Eject Score : * Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Your wanzer must be destroyed Slots : 1 Part : Foura M12A - Body Effect: If your wanzer gets destroyed, this skill may eject your pilot before he gets killed, placing him on the square his wanzer was at. However, now what? That pilot is as good as dead now. If you could equip your pilots with sniper rifles (like the enemy pilots) or something capable of doing more than 18 damage, this skill could be worthwhile. Otherwise, all your pilot can do is draw enemy fire and eventually die. Learn: What can I say? Get killed a lot. Prevent Loss Score : ** Condition : All Weapons (def) Slots : 1 Part : Enyo MK109 - Leg Effect: If the enemy is about to destroy a part, this skill will activate. The part will be saved, but its health is reduced to 1. This would be great, except that sometimes the skill activates when a part won't be destroyed, and reduces its health to 1 when it should have been healthy. :( Learn: Subject yourself to a lot of punishment. It should activate fairly easily. Random Smash Score : ** Condition : 1 shot, melee, missile Slots : 4 Part : Mingtian 1 - Arm Effect: The Smash equivalent of Aim, this skill randomly selects a part to instantly destroy, be it the legs, either arm, or even the body. This skill is fun to use, but it's not reliable enough, as it doesn't activate very often, and you can't be sure what part it'll take down. Arm Smash is probably a better choice, or Body Smash, if you have a spare slot. Learn: - Revenge1 Score : **** Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Must attack last, enemy must do more damage than your weapon can do. Slots : 1 Part : Jinyo MK110 - Body Effect: If the enemy attacks first and does more damage collectively than your weapon would normally do, this skill may activate. It sets your damage to 1.2x the damage the enemy did. It won't activate very often, but it does chain well and it can be useful when you have a weak weapon, or the enemy has a powerful one. Also, the enemy's anti-piercing or anti-impact defense won't block out any of the damage. The enemy can use burst weapons (which usually do huge amounts of damage), and so can you (the damage will be split up between each bullet). If you can only do 100 damage with an attack, but the enemy does 500, you'll return 600 damage to him. Learn: You have to have a weapon that will do at most the damage the enemy can do to you, because if Revenge1 will set the damage to less than your normal power, it won't activate. Equip a weak weapon or go against enemies with some awesome power. Revenge tends to activate most whent the enemy does a huge amount of damage to you. Also keep in mind that the enemy must attack first, so consider using a melee weapon or avoiding enemies with melee. Consider equipping AutoCounter, just in case the enemy destroys your arm or body with the huge damage you want them to do. Revenge2 Score : *** Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Must attack last, enemy must do more damage than your weapon can do. Slots : 2 Part : Qibing 0 - Body Effect: This attack is similar to Revenge1, but does 1.5x as much damage. See Revenge1 fore more info. If the enemy does 500 damage to you, you'll return with 750 damage, even if your weapon is weak and only does 100 or so damage. Learn: See Revenge1. Revenge3 Score : **** Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Must attack last, enemy must do more damage than your weapon can do. Slots : 3 Part : Getty - Body Effect: This attack is similar to Revenge1, but you return double the amount of damage the enemy did to you! See Revenge1 for more info. I've noticed that when you have both revenge1 and revenge3 equipped, revenge3 will usually be the one that activates because the damage it does is huge. If you were to be hit with 500 damage, you'd return 1000 damage to the enemy, even if you're using a super weak weapon like hardblow! Learn: See Revenge1. Revenge-Body Score : * Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Must attack last, enemy must do more damage than your weapon can do, you must use a 1-hit weapon (rifle, fist, etc). Slots : 4 Part : Hoshun Mk112 - Body Effect: If the enemy attacks first and destroys a part, this skill may activate and destroy the enemy body. I consider BodySmash and a whole host of other skills to be far better, since they're easier to pull off, activate more frequently, and don't require a part to be destroyed. However, this can be a fun, vengeful skill, if that fits your play style. Don't expect it to activate very often at all. Learn: This one's probably got about the same low, low acquire % as Revenge-Same. Consider equipping AutoCounter, and giving yourself a fist, heavy p-gun or rifle. Make sure the enemy attacks first. Beyond that, it's just a waiting game. It's a hard skill to learn. Revenge-Same Score : - Condition : No Shoulder Weapon; Must attack last, you must use a 1-hit weapon (rifle, fist, etc). Slots : 3 Part : Shunyo Mk111 - Arm Effect: If the enemy attacks first and destroys a part, this skill may activate and destroy the same part on the enemy. I don't consider this a useful skill, as it rarely activates and there are far better skills available (such as Arm Smash, Revenge3, etc). I simply don't understand why it has such a low acquire/activate rate, since it's really not all that impressive of a skill! Such a waste for the Shunyo. Learn: Definatly equip several AutoCounters. The enemy has to attack first and destroy a part, and all too often that's your weapon arm or body. Also, the enemy must still have the part he destroys on your wanzer, or there won't be anything to destory and the skill won't activate. This skill has an extraordinarily low acquire rate, even with the acquire up computer. I just barely learned it myself. The first time, the enemy destroyed my Genie legs in 1 shot, and Kazuki acquired the skill (to my great surprise). In the next battle, both Ryogo and Kazuki somehow learned it again! Amazing how long it took me before that. If you don't upgrade the HP on your legs or unused arm, you have a better chance of losing parts, which helps in activating the skill. What I had equipped: I had 2 Shunyo arms on both characters (to increase the chances that it will activate), and Genie legs with minimal health (hoping they'd get destroyed). Their body parts were Jinyo and Getty, as I was trying to learn RevengeI and RevengeIII as well. The only skills I had equipped were multiple AutoCounters and 1 Chaff. Kazuki was using the Franbar rifle and Ryogo was battling it out with hardblow (weak weapons are best). ROFUP1 Score : ***** Condition : Burst Slots : 1 Part : Kyojun Mk107 - Arm Effect: This, in my opinion, is one of the best skills in the game. It increases the number of shots fired to 1.2x (20% more), and chains extremely well. It's also very easy to learn. Chaining several ROFUP1's together can produce extreme damage! Keep in mind that 3 ROFUP1's can do more damage than 1 ROFUP3, so if combos are your thing, this is the skill to use. Learn: - ROFUP2 Score : ** Condition : Burst Slots : 2 Part : Jinyo MK110 - Arm Effect: Increases the number of shots fired to 1.5x. It's an easy skill to learn and activates fairly frequently, but if you have combos in mind, consider 2 ROFUP1's instead. Learn: - ROFUP3 Score : **** Condition : Burst Slots : 3 Part : Yongsai 3 - Arm Effect: Doubles the number of shots fired, effectively doubling the damage you deal. This means machine guns will fire 20 shots, shotguns will fire 26 shots, and flamers will fire 22 shots! You can do tremendous amounts of damage with this skill, and it's very impressive to watch the enemy's wanzer take such a devastating hit. It's best used on a high activation computer, rather than trying to combo it. Keep in mind that a combo of 3 ROFUP1's will actually do a lot more damage (example, machinegun: 12 + 12 + 12 = 36 shots, which is *much* greater than 12 x 2 = 24 shots). Learn: - Salvo Score : **** Condition : Missile Slots : 1 Part : Whisk - Arm Effect: If this skill activates, your wanzer will fire all the missiles left in the missile pod you're using. This means you can launch up to 6 missiles in a single turn! Each missile will randomly target a part. Make sure the enemy doesn't block with a shield. Also keep in mind that you'll be completely out of missiles and will need to change weapons or reload. This isn't a good skill for combos, but it does work great when paired with smash attacks etc on a high activation computer (so either one or the other will likely activate). If you equip it with body smash, you'll likely either completely unload your missile rack on one helpless enemy, or you'll simply destroy their body and kill them in one attack. Take note that this is a very fickle skill. You might have trouble getting it to activate until you only have two missiles left. Then, when you least expect it, you'll unload all 6 missiles on a wanzer that's already almost dead. Expect suprises. ;) Learn: - Shield Atk1 Score : ***** Condition : Melee; Must equip a shield (and that arm cannot be destroyed) Slots : 1 Part : Zeros - Arm Effect: This skill attacks with the wanzer's shield, which increases the damage by a huge amount. It also chains very well. You can do very admirable amounts of damage with this attack, and it only takes 1 slot. The damage is increased by the power of your melee weapon, not your shield; so be sure to equip a good fist. Learn: Equip a shield & melee and just punch a lot of enemies. Shield Atk2 Score : *** Condition : Melee; Must equip a shield (and that arm cannot be destroyed) Slots : 2 Part : Lanze - Arm Effect: In between Shield Atk 1 and 2, this skill has nothing special to it. You can do tremendous amounts of damage, though, so don't pass it up too easily. Learn: Equip a shield & melee and just punch a lot of enemies. Shield Atk3 Score : ***** Condition : Melee; Must equip a shield (and that arm cannot be destroyed) Slots : 3 Part : Lenghe 1 - Arm Effect: Quite easily the most powerful attack in the game. You can do damage in the thousands with this attack. Excellent on a high-activation computer. Learn: Equip a shield & melee and just punch a lot of enemies. Skill+1 Score : **** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 1 Part : Meledyne M1 - Leg Effect: Increases the weapon rank by 1. You get a small damage increase with this attack, and it chains quite well. It's especially useful if you don't have PilotDMG1 or a burst weapon for ROFUP1. It also affects any weapon (except grenades), so you don't have to worry about what weapon you use or equip. Learn: - Skill+2 Score : ** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 2 Part : Grapple M1 - Leg Effect: Increases the weapon rank by 2. It's fairly useful, and the legs you learn it from have an excellent movement range. However, I can think of a few better skills. Learn: - Skill+3 Score : ** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 3 Part : Laying Type1 - Leg Effect: Increases the weapon rank by 3. It takes 3 slots to do this, and the damage increase may not be big enough to justify that. However, it does have its place on a high activation computer, especially if your choice of skills is limited. Learn: - Stun Punch Score : ***** Condition : Melee Slots : 1 Part : Kasel M2 - Arm Effect: This skill stuns the enemy pilot if it hits. This is one of the best melee skills around, especially since it chains with other skills like Shield Atk1 and Tackle1. It also activates pretty frequently. Learn: - Tackle1 Score : *** Condition : Melee Slots : 1 Part : Zenislev - Body Effect: You tackle the enemy wanzer with all your body weight for a nice damage boost. It's less powerful than Shield Atk1, but doesn't require a shield. It also takes only 1 slot and chains quite well. Learn: - Tackle2 Score : ** Condition : Melee Slots : 2 Part : Tiandong 3 - Body Effect: You tackle the enemy wanzer with all your body weight for a large damage boost. It's less powerful than Shield Atk2, but doesn't require a shield. Learn: - Tackle3 Score : *** Condition : Melee Slots : 3 Part : Lanze - Body Effect: You tackle the enemy wanzer with all your body weight for a huge damage boost. It's less powerful than Shield Atk3, but doesn't require a shield. Learn: - Topple Punch Score : **** Condition : Melee Slots : 1 Part : Qibing 0 - Arm Effect: Knocks over the enemy wanzer and reduces their AP to 0! It also cancels the enemy attack if you attack first. Unfortunately, it's not a good ability to equip if you want to chain, since knocking over the enemy ends any combos. Learn: - Topple Shot Score : **** Condition : Range Slots : 1 Part : Pare PAW1 - Arm Effect: Knocks over the enemy wanzer and reduces their AP by half. It also cancels the enemy attack if you attack first. If you use a machinegun or flamer, the first attack that hits will knock over the enemy, and then all the rest of the rounds in the clip won't miss. Unfortunately, it's not a good ability to equip if you want to chain, since knocking over the enemy ends any combos. Learn: - ZoomI Score : **** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 1 Part : Kyojun Mk107 - Body Effect: Good for chaining, ZoomI increases the success rate of hitting by 1.2x (20%) for 1 attack, and it chains really well. If you have an 84% chance of hitting, this skill will increase it to exactly 100%. It works for all weapons, including missiles but not grenades (of course). It's best used with ranged weapons, as melee rarely have accuracy problems. This skill won't improve your accuracy much if it's low, like 50% or worse. Learn: - ZoomII Score : ** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 2 Part : Rekson M4F - Body Effect: Like Zoom1, but brings accuracy to 1.5x (50% increase). It's useful when you need that little extra umph that zoom1 may not be able to provide; but then again, chaining 2 zoom1's together may be better in some circumstances. Learn: - ZoomIII Score : *** Condition : No Grenades Slots : 3 Part : Grazex - Body Effect: While it doesn't activate nearly as often as Zoom1, it certainly pulls its own weight. ZoomIII doubles your accuracy. If you're at 50%, it'll bring it to 100%. From 30% to 60%. However, if you're at 85% or higher, this skill loses its luster and you're better off with ZoomI, as anything above 100% is just redundant. Keep this move in mind when fighting highly evasive enemies. Learn: - ======================== IV. Parts to Skills List ======================== Drake M2C Body: Chaff Arm: PilotDMGI Legs: EXPx2 Enyo MK109 Body: AutoI Arm: Leg Smash Legs: Prvnt Loss Foura M12A Body: Pilot Eject Arm: Arm Smash Legs: Escape Genie Body: Def-C1 Arm: Pilot DMGIII Legs: Auto Counter Getty Body: RevengeIII Arm: FiringSquad Legs: E-Skill2 Grapple M1 Body: MeleeIII Arm: Dbl PunchI Legs: Skill+2 Grazex Body: ZoomIII Arm: Aim Legs: Hrd Knocks Hoshun Mk112 Body: Revenge-Body Arm: Body Smash Legs: AP-0 Jinyo MK110 Body: RevengeI Arm: ROFUPII Legs: Fast Atk Kasel M2 Body: MeleeII Arm: StunPunch Legs: AP-30% Kyojun Mk107 Body: ZoomI Arm: ROFUPI Legs: BraceI Kyokei Mk108 Body: MeleeI Arm: Hit or Miss Legs: DMGFix100 Laying Type1 Body: Def-C2 Arm: PilotDMGII Legs: Skill+3 Lanze Body: TackleIII Arm: ShieldAtkII Legs: Avoid40 Lenghe 1 Body: InitiativeIII Arm: ShieldAtkIII Legs: GangBeating Mingtian 1 Body: Def-CMAX Arm: Rndm Smash Legs: Blackout Meledyne M1 Body: E-Def-C1 Arm: Panic Shot Legs: Skill+1 Pare PAW1 Body: E-Acc1 Arm: ToppleShot Legs: Evade1 Prov PAW2 Body: AutoII Arm: Dbl ShotI Legs: Guard-B Qibing 0 Body: RevengeII Arm: TopplePunch Legs: DMGFix200 Rekson M4F Body: ZoomII Arm: Bkup Fire Legs: E-Skill1 Shangdi 1 Body: E-AccNul Arm: Dbl ShotII Legs: EXPx3 Shunwang 1 Body: E-EvadeNul Arm: Aim-Body Legs: Evade-MAX Shunyo Mk111 Body: DmgFix400 Arm: Revenge-Same Legs: AP-60% Tiandong 3 Body: TackleII Arm: Eject Punch Legs: Avoid20 Tieqi 4 Body: E-Def-C2 Arm: Aim-Leg Legs: BraceII Vinedrai Body: E-Evade2 Arm: Aim-Arm Legs: EXPx4 Whisk Body: E-Def-CNul Arm: Salvo Legs: Evade2 Wude 3 Body: E-Acc2 Arm: Dbl PunchII Legs: E-Skill3 Yongsai 3 Body: BkupMelee Arm: ROFUPIII Legs: Avoid80 Zenislev Body: TackleI Arm: Dbl Assault Legs: InitiativeI Zeros Body: E-Evade1 Arm: Shield AtkI Legs: InitiativeII ========== V. Updates ========== v 1.1 (October 30, 2003) Updated the list of sites displaying this FAQ. Added more questions to the Quick Q&A. They were asked a few times in the forums. The parts to learn skills from are now listed in the skill descriptions (that should help). Fixed the alphabedicle mis-order of Chaff. Sorry to those who couldn't find it earlier. :) Expounded on a few skill descriptions Fixed the missing slot #'s on some skills =========== VI. Credits =========== This section covers crediting that was not already covered in the text above. While I'm probably missing someone or another, I do try to credit people as often as I can. In general, I'd like to thank all the people at the Gamefaqs forums who helped and supported me in writing this FAQ, and overall for being generally nice and approachable (as many forums are full of trolls and flamers, this is a rare and valuale thing). I'd also like to thank SquareSoft for making Front Mission 3, a game I have enjoyed thoroughly. I've also enjoyed a number of other games they produced. I really look forward to future releases! And finally, I'd also like to thank my cat who, though being long dead and almost forgotten, nonetheless deserves credit for at least something. If I have forgotten to credit you for certain information, please let me know. =========================== VII. Legal and Contact Info =========================== Legal Info ---------- This FAQ is copyright (c) 2003 Dan Hale, all rights reserved. This FAQ may not be reproduced in any public format, nor altered and then reproduced. If you want to publish this FAQ in a public format, ask me and I'll most likely give you permission. This faq can be found at 'http://www.gamefaqs.com', 'http://www.neoseeker.com', 'http://www.rpgclassics.com' and 'http://static.condemned.com'. If you take any information from this FAQ, please get permission first, and be sure to credit me and any other people who deserve to be mentioned. How to find me -------------- Well, if you wish to send me a line for something or another relating to this FAQ, e-mail me at static_void@hotmail.com I also like to program mods for Quake1, and just chat, so feel free to e-mail me if that interests you. My website is not Front Mission 3 related, but if you wish to visit it, I'd be very pleased. You can find it at 'http://static.condemned.com'. Fear not, there's nothing profane on it. You can also find me at the Inside3D Forums, 'http://forums.inside3d.com'.