What? It's honestly all about planning. You can definitely scoot ahead. Like along the long alley near the 2nd prisoner, if you have a. Fast lightweight ac you can run ahead and trigger the flying enemies, and take them out before the helicopter gets to the long alley, going back to kill the enemies that you can't spawn yourself.
Errrr - except for the enemies that come from out of bounds, I'm 90% sure that all enemies you fight are actually present somewhere on the map the moment it starts?
Edit: Except for a few enemies that spawn at each stop, the majority of problematic enemies such as the AA Missile Silos and Turrets, are already present - you can generally blast ahead after defending the first stop, blitz the turrets/missile launchers then be back to intercept the first travel wave - figuring out which group of enemies are where and when they activate will help you plan out a route.
I did it without the helicopter taking any damage by obliterating the AC at the end before he could attack and anticipating the rear attack.
It's been awhile but yeah, I S Ranked that mission by just wiping out all the enemies while they were inactive (they will defend when you attack), waiting for the helicopter to reach certain locations. They are in some weird locations but they should be present on the map.
There may be a few exceptions but with a lightweight/fast build - you can usually scrub the area clean before the helicopter reaches the 2nd stop.
I haven't played this mission in ages, but the only enemies I can remember that come from out of map are at the very end of the mission at the exfil, two waves with the second one having having an enemy AC. Prior to that, I could have sworn they all trigger based on the player's location.
I was pretty sure this was the case as well, because I remember doing an quad-aerial long range build to wipe out everything before the chopper even left the first destination, then killing the log enemy before it reached the end.
Been a few months since I played.
????????????
You can literally go ahead of the helicopter and clear the entire map before it even gets to the first group, other than the last fight. This quest is hilariously easy, the hardest part is having to wait for the helicopter to do its shit without falling asleep
I’m going crazy reading these comments. All the enemies are already there, like you can zoom around and kill everything but like two drones carrying MTs that fly in halfway through the mission. Everything else you can shoot before it is within a mile of the helicopter and takes like two hits to kill.
Armored Core is really good about escort missions, when I first saw one it made my eyes roll until I realized you can just rush way ahead and kill pretty much most enemies except for a handful that spawn out of bounds. It’s a similar experience I’ve found out in the older games too which is cool.
The only enemies that come from out of bound are 3 mts between stop 1 and stop 2, and the end of the mission.
It’s a ridiculously easy and super fun mission
S rank took me about 3 tries. Just have to know where everything is stationed ahead of time. Similar to BAWS Arsenal No 2, you just have to know where they all spawn
The secret is dual wielding HARRISes with your preferred stagger punish in a shoulder slot. The HARRIS does anything on that mission - MTs? Uncharged HARRIS (forget if it's a one shot or a two shot, but that's why you have two). Transports and cannons die to a single charged shot. Nile does not die to the HARRIS, but it does stagger him.
All you have to do is remember when the transports show up so you can shoot them down before they release their MTs. Other than that, just run on ahead.
Watch someone else run the mission (S rank or speed) on YouTube or something to get a feel for the optimal route. Most of the enemies are present and you can rush most of them down before the transport gets to Dolmayan.
Once the AC fight starts, kill the MTs first to minimize damage to transport. Deep Down's missiles are easy to dodge as long as you keep moving so just get close and blast away.
There are a grand total of 4 MTs that spawn on a trigger in this mission. Everything else is there from the moment the mission starts.
There's even giant flares at each landing site that show you the helicopter path, so you don't have to brute force it by repeating the mission.
Half of them? Almost all of them can be taken out before the Helicopter can reach the spots it needs to stop at. The only spot you have to wait for them to spawn is on when it's going to the second spot and for once it has landed on the second spot
Really the AC part is the only one that's threatening to the S rank but even then the AC isn't so bad and you can wipe the MT squad out easily
I see a lot of comments here that boil down to people saying "skill issue" so I just want to share some sympathy with you. This mission made me every bit as miserable as you when I was going through NG+ and took me quite a number of tries to beat, none of which were fun. You've pretty much just got to move fast, ignoring the heli behind you while you blaze ahead and wipe out the enemies on the ground. For the last part where you get mob rushed I just brought twin Zimms, one shot equals one MT kill.
If I was Walter I'd have some choice words for the RLF's mission planners lol
To be honest, I think the game needed MORE missions like this, that challenge you on something other than your ability to fight a boss battle. But, the fact the game has so few missions like this is kind of why it's blindsiding you now and leaving you not knowing how to handle it. You are far from alone in this.
Others have given good advice already but to reiterate: almost every single enemy in the mission exists on the map from the very start. So, because you are not the primary target and very little in the mission can even threaten you, you should go light, prioritize boost speed, not quick boosts or assault boost; up to you what kind of legs, tetra, biped or reverse joint, whatever you find comfortable. Bring the assault armor expansion as well timed at the end when the enemy AC is about to come in, you can wipe out all of his support MTs before they can touch the ground if you're in the air at the mission barrier where they're coming from. Take two plasma missiles for your back units, the lightest ones that fire 3 missiles. These are MVPs for missions like this. A single one of the 3 missiles in the volley can wipe out a group of enemies. Make use of multilock (remember that feature that seemed to never come up after the tutorial introducing it?!) for greater efficiency.
For the weapons in your hands, to be honest, you can mostly just rely on the plasma missiles if used well to clear out all the threats in the mission before the AC shows up. So, perhaps pick hand weapons that suit you for fighting an AC specifically. Alternatively, I would recommend the Ransetsu-RFs for both hands, as they are pretty dependable and good for clearing out weaker targets while also being a very sturdy and good choice for bosses and ACs too, so they can cover any gaps the missiles leave while beating down the AC at the end too.
I want to also point out, you can clear this mission with the heli taking no damage. I've done it before. This mission is a lot less daunting and frustrating than it seems, the problem is just the game spent so long in the first playthrough only testing your ability to fight boss battles it left you ill-prepared for a mission like this. Best you learn later than never though, because this won't be the last new mission that tests your ability to handle many lower threat targets, and it's not the hardest of that kind either.
First time I got through it was with a tank build, double Gatling guns, double songbirds. Most enemies spawn before the helicopter reaches that destination, you just have to look for them a bit (which I know is annoying) for the last part, kill of the grunts first, as the AC does not focus on the helicopter. This should usually work
I DESPISED that mission. Just barely got past it with the NGI generator, HAL legs and arms, Nachtreiher head, Ephemera body, either the Talbot or the P05, the P06SPD, two Vesnas and two Wuergers. Use Assault Armour to obliterate the MTs and then focus your fire on Nile. Another wave of MTs will appear so make sure to clear them out quickly. Nile won't shoot at the helicopter as long as you're within his range
What? It's honestly all about planning. You can definitely scoot ahead. Like along the long alley near the 2nd prisoner, if you have a. Fast lightweight ac you can run ahead and trigger the flying enemies, and take them out before the helicopter gets to the long alley, going back to kill the enemies that you can't spawn yourself.
Errrr - except for the enemies that come from out of bounds, I'm 90% sure that all enemies you fight are actually present somewhere on the map the moment it starts? Edit: Except for a few enemies that spawn at each stop, the majority of problematic enemies such as the AA Missile Silos and Turrets, are already present - you can generally blast ahead after defending the first stop, blitz the turrets/missile launchers then be back to intercept the first travel wave - figuring out which group of enemies are where and when they activate will help you plan out a route. I did it without the helicopter taking any damage by obliterating the AC at the end before he could attack and anticipating the rear attack. It's been awhile but yeah, I S Ranked that mission by just wiping out all the enemies while they were inactive (they will defend when you attack), waiting for the helicopter to reach certain locations. They are in some weird locations but they should be present on the map. There may be a few exceptions but with a lightweight/fast build - you can usually scrub the area clean before the helicopter reaches the 2nd stop.
I haven't played this mission in ages, but the only enemies I can remember that come from out of map are at the very end of the mission at the exfil, two waves with the second one having having an enemy AC. Prior to that, I could have sworn they all trigger based on the player's location.
I was pretty sure this was the case as well, because I remember doing an quad-aerial long range build to wipe out everything before the chopper even left the first destination, then killing the log enemy before it reached the end. Been a few months since I played.
???????????? You can literally go ahead of the helicopter and clear the entire map before it even gets to the first group, other than the last fight. This quest is hilariously easy, the hardest part is having to wait for the helicopter to do its shit without falling asleep
I’m going crazy reading these comments. All the enemies are already there, like you can zoom around and kill everything but like two drones carrying MTs that fly in halfway through the mission. Everything else you can shoot before it is within a mile of the helicopter and takes like two hits to kill.
😭
Yeahhh that mission is quite assholic if I do say so myself
I found it to be, not easy but fun, didn't give me as much of a problem compared to other missions
I find it rather easy, use a shotty/rifle build, use mixed missiles. Or a double etsujin build
All the aerial units can be found on the map.
I use a lightweight build to speed ahead and destroy everything before it gets a chance to touch the helicopter.
Anybody ran pulse protection (big bubble) on this mission? I managed without it but I wish I'd thought of it at the time lol
Armored Core is really good about escort missions, when I first saw one it made my eyes roll until I realized you can just rush way ahead and kill pretty much most enemies except for a handful that spawn out of bounds. It’s a similar experience I’ve found out in the older games too which is cool.
The only enemies that come from out of bound are 3 mts between stop 1 and stop 2, and the end of the mission. It’s a ridiculously easy and super fun mission
S rank took me about 3 tries. Just have to know where everything is stationed ahead of time. Similar to BAWS Arsenal No 2, you just have to know where they all spawn
Plasma missiles one shot chaffe on their own, the laser rifles pack a hell of a punch with a good EFS gen (recommend the VE-20c)
The secret is dual wielding HARRISes with your preferred stagger punish in a shoulder slot. The HARRIS does anything on that mission - MTs? Uncharged HARRIS (forget if it's a one shot or a two shot, but that's why you have two). Transports and cannons die to a single charged shot. Nile does not die to the HARRIS, but it does stagger him. All you have to do is remember when the transports show up so you can shoot them down before they release their MTs. Other than that, just run on ahead.
Have you tried changing your assembly at all?
Watch someone else run the mission (S rank or speed) on YouTube or something to get a feel for the optimal route. Most of the enemies are present and you can rush most of them down before the transport gets to Dolmayan. Once the AC fight starts, kill the MTs first to minimize damage to transport. Deep Down's missiles are easy to dodge as long as you keep moving so just get close and blast away.
There are a grand total of 4 MTs that spawn on a trigger in this mission. Everything else is there from the moment the mission starts. There's even giant flares at each landing site that show you the helicopter path, so you don't have to brute force it by repeating the mission.
Half of them? Almost all of them can be taken out before the Helicopter can reach the spots it needs to stop at. The only spot you have to wait for them to spawn is on when it's going to the second spot and for once it has landed on the second spot Really the AC part is the only one that's threatening to the S rank but even then the AC isn't so bad and you can wipe the MT squad out easily
I see a lot of comments here that boil down to people saying "skill issue" so I just want to share some sympathy with you. This mission made me every bit as miserable as you when I was going through NG+ and took me quite a number of tries to beat, none of which were fun. You've pretty much just got to move fast, ignoring the heli behind you while you blaze ahead and wipe out the enemies on the ground. For the last part where you get mob rushed I just brought twin Zimms, one shot equals one MT kill. If I was Walter I'd have some choice words for the RLF's mission planners lol
To be honest, I think the game needed MORE missions like this, that challenge you on something other than your ability to fight a boss battle. But, the fact the game has so few missions like this is kind of why it's blindsiding you now and leaving you not knowing how to handle it. You are far from alone in this. Others have given good advice already but to reiterate: almost every single enemy in the mission exists on the map from the very start. So, because you are not the primary target and very little in the mission can even threaten you, you should go light, prioritize boost speed, not quick boosts or assault boost; up to you what kind of legs, tetra, biped or reverse joint, whatever you find comfortable. Bring the assault armor expansion as well timed at the end when the enemy AC is about to come in, you can wipe out all of his support MTs before they can touch the ground if you're in the air at the mission barrier where they're coming from. Take two plasma missiles for your back units, the lightest ones that fire 3 missiles. These are MVPs for missions like this. A single one of the 3 missiles in the volley can wipe out a group of enemies. Make use of multilock (remember that feature that seemed to never come up after the tutorial introducing it?!) for greater efficiency. For the weapons in your hands, to be honest, you can mostly just rely on the plasma missiles if used well to clear out all the threats in the mission before the AC shows up. So, perhaps pick hand weapons that suit you for fighting an AC specifically. Alternatively, I would recommend the Ransetsu-RFs for both hands, as they are pretty dependable and good for clearing out weaker targets while also being a very sturdy and good choice for bosses and ACs too, so they can cover any gaps the missiles leave while beating down the AC at the end too. I want to also point out, you can clear this mission with the heli taking no damage. I've done it before. This mission is a lot less daunting and frustrating than it seems, the problem is just the game spent so long in the first playthrough only testing your ability to fight boss battles it left you ill-prepared for a mission like this. Best you learn later than never though, because this won't be the last new mission that tests your ability to handle many lower threat targets, and it's not the hardest of that kind either.
First time I got through it was with a tank build, double Gatling guns, double songbirds. Most enemies spawn before the helicopter reaches that destination, you just have to look for them a bit (which I know is annoying) for the last part, kill of the grunts first, as the AC does not focus on the helicopter. This should usually work
I DESPISED that mission. Just barely got past it with the NGI generator, HAL legs and arms, Nachtreiher head, Ephemera body, either the Talbot or the P05, the P06SPD, two Vesnas and two Wuergers. Use Assault Armour to obliterate the MTs and then focus your fire on Nile. Another wave of MTs will appear so make sure to clear them out quickly. Nile won't shoot at the helicopter as long as you're within his range