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[Seriyu]

Wahahaha, that actually brings up a point, which is super robot wars are missing "custom support" dialogues in a lot of places. There are a few, (quite a few with a specific series that'll show up in just a few missions I'm so excited for it aaaaaaaaaaa) so they clearly know to do it, it's just not nearly as prevelant as it should be.

And on another note, with all the Akito love in this thread I'm kinda wishing J covered the movie of Martian Successor Nadesico (Martian Successor Nadesico: the prince of darkness) wherin Akito becomes a stone cold badass, unfortunately mostly due to his terrible luck again.

And on a final note, all I'll say is that if we do things right, Akito will not be missing a team attack for the entire game. While he will be missing it for the majority of the game, it's very cathartic when he gets one back. 

[EuchreJack]

Yes,

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

I think we all guessed by now that Gai is coming back, to kick more Robo-Butt with Akito.

Oh, and you goofed with the Robot Roll call, the Gundam stuff is repeated.

[Seriyu]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Well he might, it's a secret, so it's possible to mess it up and miss him forever. But yes. :p

And did I? Huh. I'll take a look at it, need to add Mobius Zero anyway.

EDIT: I certainly did. Fixed. Now on to Mobius.

EDIT2: more update writing. About halfway through now, but the big dialogue segment is done for the mission, so an update tomarrow is still possible, although I'm still not comfortable guaranteeing it.

[Seriyu]

Looking like the update'll make it out today!

Have another Zaku a Gouf (Another grunt suit in old time gundam) Gif since I tend to just accumulate neat junk with all the time I spend on the internet. From 08th MS team this time, still not appearing in J.

It's a tad bloody so I'll be leaving it as a hyperlink. Not too bad though.

Also, maybe no update today after all.

[Frumple]

That's a Gouf E: Actually, it's probably a Gouf Custom, since that's the one from 08th.

Being fair, it was a badass gouf that kicked some protagonists around like tenpens, but it innit a Zaku, heh. Pretty close, though, they were apparently intended as the next step up. Kind of a squad leader or low rank officer/NCO level machine to the Zaku's standard infantryman.

So... you could say you made a small gouf goof. *badum tish*

E: Goufs were pretty sexy too, but they had a sillier name, weren't green, and were a bit more innuendo laden. Still great, far better than most silly gundams

[Seriyu]

I am not very well versed in grunt suits in old gundam aside from Zakus. I'll have to brush up on them more sometime.

And the update may not be today actually, as the bosses of this stage are proving to be a fair bit more sturdy then I expected. Definitely tomorrow however. Just have the four boss units (with defensive skills and abilities coming out the ass) and the, if I recall correctly, long ass post battle dialogue.

EDIT: Oooh, yeah I see, the gouf has a little spike on it's head. Huh. And the visor is slightly different.

[Frumple]

Aye... shoulder spikes curve a bit, too, at least two of 'em. Also, it's blue. Zaku don't come in that particular shade The weapon load out is pretty different, too.

Zaku do come in more colors than green, but that particular shade of blue is mostly a Gouf thing in most of the series that Zaku play a part in. Gundam likes to color code a little, sometimes.

As for the horn, iirc at least one of Char's custom Zakus get that, too. It seems to be a Zeon commander type thing (which, military wise is a little silly -- it's sniper bait, basically -- but so is a lot of things in gundam so eh.) in a lot of cases. The genuine Zeon grunt suits usually don't have the horn.

[Seriyu]

Now for a continuation of GUNDAAAAAAM. Incidentally, this is about where I stopped playing my previous attempt at a runthrough with Calvina, so all of her plot specific moments will be as big a surprise to me as to you.

I've stuck the booster on Mazinger. as we're about to hit a lot more ground stages, which can hamper his movement pretty badly if there's bad terrain. And upgrades, we had a 7 way tie (which I see happening frequently), so this is how it works, we keep at least 100k on hand for boss borot, because as mentioned he's gonna need it if we're gonna use him as we plan to, and the rest will be used on the voted for categories, as well as can be done at least. We managed to fit in all of them this time, so Akito got a single pip of weapons, Mazinger got a single pip of EN, Weapons, and Armor, Combattler got a single pip of Armor and Weapons, and Strike got a single pip of armor.

Ruri: Escape successful. The Archangel took only slight damage. Heliopolis is on the brink of collapse, however.
This first gundam SEED segment is the perfect example of "when it rains, it pours".

Yurika:At least we're out! Trash the bad guys, everyone! Ruri, charge the Gravity Blast!
Murrue:Heh... What a ship.
Natarle:That was clever of them, but I don't believe for a second that Capt. Misumaru is actually capable of sound tactical thought.
Murrue:She got us out of there. Cdr. Flaga?
Mu:We're all okay. It seems like the kid's gonna give it a try, too. Mu La Flaga, launching. Don't die 'til I get back!
Murdoch: Aile Strike, exchange complete! You're good to go, kid!
Murrue:Thank you. I'm counting on you, Kira.
Kira:I'm not doing this for your sake. I have to fight, or my friends on the ship will die!
Murrue: I realize that, but I'm thankful nontheless.
Natarle:......
No snarky comment about that I guess.

Calvina: We should deploy too, Captain.
Yurika:Yes, please do! Make sure to do your best!
Calvina:Roger. Listen, the defense of the Nadesico and Archangel comes first. Got it?! All units, launch!

A ton of GINN's show up near heliopolis.

Miguel:Tch! Damn Naturals... You can't run!

TURN ONE!





Okay. You see the big tube thing? That is ALL beneficial terrain, around 10% evade and defense. Obviously keeping the majority of the enemy force off it is a decent idea, so we'll be rushing up to them instead of just kinda shuffling around and getting in position. Nothing much happens, everything just moves north and to the left.

ENEMY PHASE

All the enemies move towards us. The majority manage to land on the colony, unfortunatly, but we should be able to push them off and at least keep Miguel off, who is a surprisingly dodgy unit, even though he only uses a GINN.

TURN TWO!




Aile makes first contact with a GINN, which is my cue to go over the Aile frame. Aile is largely concerned with mobility and versatility above all else, it doesn't have a heavy attack on it, and just has a beam rifle and sword. It lacks punch, but it also gains an extra point of movement for equipping it, making it handy in that sense at least.  Some units that'll show up a bit later in the game will make switching frames on the fly easier. It's also perfectly servicable in every terrain except water, and can hit flying enemies with it's melee attack, making it a viable alternative to Sword Strike Gundam on air unit heavy maps. Anyway, he attacks with his beam rifle, and has a 33% chance to be hit. Still not quite where I'd like it, but much better.










Of course he gets hit anyway. Nothing evasive maneuvers next turn and a bit of repairing can't fix. Note that barely did half to a GINN, Aile is really not meant for doing damage. Mu moves up near Kira, and I have Aki Accel the blue earth and rush up to repair kira, along with provide him defensive cover. Everyone else moves up, this coming enemy phase will officially put us into the thick of it.

ENEMY PHASE

While evading, a 6% chance for the strike to be hit. Excellent. Admittantly this is with the GINN using a Heavy Ion Cannon, a notoriously inaccurate attack. But still. Naturally this means every GINN tries to snipe something with it, none of them breaking 20% accuracy on any of them, barring mazinger, which is still 73%. On MAZINGER. To add insult to injury, he misses Mazinger anyway. No hits at all. Good show.

TURN THREE!




Miguel moved, but is still not on heliopolis. He's behind a barricade of GINN's though, so it's looking like we might not make it. I have blue earth finish up strike's repairs, I focus it, and it's off again. We have it attack a GINN with it's beam saber. Rule one of gundams: They all have beam sabers. Even G gundam, the oddball of the gundam franchise.





Nice. We might be able to wedge ourselves in there and block off Miguel if this goes well. Mu snipes a GINN with his gunbarrels, and with an Accel from Juzo, combattler gets into the action, finishing off that first GINN Kira weakened, gaining a level in the process for all of the pilots. No new spirits. Mazinger Rocket Punches a GINN, officially weakening every one of the barricade that's keeping us from blocking off Miguel. Bellzelute and the Nadesico manage to take out two of the barricade, and akito attacks the final one, not quite killing it, BECAUSE HE IS IN HIS AIR FRAME BECAUSE I FORGOT TO SWITCH BECAUSE I'M A DUNCE AAAAHHHHHHHHH; Ryoko picks up the slack for him and finishes it off. The rest of the Aesties move in and plink at various GINNs. We haven't quite blocked him off, but it might be enough if his AI decides to take a swing at us instead of moving.

ENEMY PHASE

The Nazca Class cruiser takes a shot at akito, and misses. I'll get a shot of it next time, I skipped the animation on accident. A Ginn takes a shot at akito with a the heavy ion cannon, with akito having the chance to counterattack with a missle pod (aerial frame only weapon). I decide to take the chance (34% chance to be hit), and he takes the hit, going down to single digit health. Eeeeeeeee. He dodges the next shot and the Ginn after that generously decides to go after the Nadesico. As is tradition it one shots it in return.

Ruri:Another ZAFT batalion is approaching. The'll make contact soon.

Another warning for incoming reinforcements. They tend to trigger after killing x amount of dudes. More nadesico counter murdering. Enough to trigger the next chattering segment.

Kira:They're all over the Archangel! I can't let it be destroyed...!
Koji:Hey, are you Kira?
Kira:Huh?
Koji: I'm Koji Kabuto. I heard you're a Coordinator. That's really something! I don't get why you're fighting on our side, but we're glad to have the help!
Kira:I just...
Koji: What's eating you?
Sayaka:Koji, haven't you figured it out? That boy doesn't want to fight. I'm sure that must be hard for you to comprehend, but...
Miguel:There you are! Let's concentrate our attacks on their warships! It's time to show them how these Federation mobile suits were meant to be used!
Athrun:(That mobile suit shouldn't be ready for battle yet, but... That skill! It definitely isn't a Natural's. Kira... is that really you?)
Nicol:Athrun, is something bothering you?
Athrun:...It's nothing. All units, let's go!
Yzak:Don't let Athrun hold you up, Dearka.
Dearka: Heh! Not on my watch!
Natarle: Those are... X numbers?! Impossible!
Murrue:No way... They've already finished readying those units for combat?!
Ruri: Our opponents are Coordinators, so that's hardly a surprise.
Yurika: Using the enemy's captured weapons in battle is the oldest trick in the book! So uh... can we just destroy them?
Murrue:Huh... I wonder.
Mu:Those mobile suits are now the enemy. It's kill or be killed.
Athrun:(I have to make sure of it...)

The Aegis zips over to the strike

Kira:That's the... X-303 Aegis?!
Yzak:Tch! That Athrun... He wants to get his mobile suit smashed up that badly?
Dearka:What the hell is wrong with him?!
Athrun: Whoever's piloting the X-105... Can you hear me? Kira... is that you?
Kira: A-Athrun?!
Athrun:It really IS you!
Kira:Athrun Zala... Why are you here?!
Athrun: You took the words right out of my mouth! Why are you piloting that thing?!
Kira:Because ZAFT chose to attack Heliopolis!
Athrun:Kira, you aren't my enemy, right? We're both Coordinators, so there's no reason for us to fight. Why are you with the UEFA? Why did you side with the Naturals?!
Kira: I'm not with the army, but all my friends are aboard that ship! I have to protect it! Besides, why are YOU fighting for ZAFT?! Didn't you tell me you hate war?!
Athrun:That's what I believed! But... my mother died in the "bloody valentine"! Junius Seven was just a regular agricultural PLANT, but those damn Naturals... ...They nuked the colony, anyway!
Kira: Athrun...
Yzak: What are you babbling about, Athrun?! Just take him down!
Mu:What's wrong, kid?
Athrun:Kira, come with me! We don't need to fight each other!
Kira:You want me to go with you? To ZAFT?!
Athrun:Kira, you're a coordinator! We should be allies!
Kira:No! I'll never join ZAFT!
Athrun:Cut it out, already!Come on, Kira! If you won't comply... ...D-Do you want me to have to shoot you down?!
Kira:I-I know, but, I...
Yzak:Stop screwing around, Athrun! What the hell are you doing?! You got a death wish?!
Nicol: Athrun, it's too dangerous! Fall back!
Athrun:Tch...

And there we have a plot. Anyway, carrying on with the violence. A GINN once more attempts to assault Combattler in vain.









This is 90% of combattler's defensive turns, as a note, minus the defensive support by Blue Earth. Although... Keeping blue earth around combattler to support him defensively and repair him sounds like an awesome idea. Miguel takes the bait and attacks strike instead of moving onto the colony.

Miguel: They said if we couldn't capture that unit, we should just shoot it down! Here I go!

He misses. It's what you get for attacking a gundam with a low accuracy weapon, even one as slow as the strike. Meanwhile the battalion on the right side starts moving onto the colony. I should probably start getting some units over thataway to see if I can't keep the gundams off of the thing to give us a bit of an edge, as the X-Numbers are actually kind've nasty boss charecters. Still not anything to be TERRIBLY worried about but I definitely wouldn't under estimate them. None of them do anything meaningful aside from get onto the colony. Luckily we have two battleships now...

TURN FOUR!




Kay, current plan is to send the strike over to the right, along with Eiji, Aphrodite A, Buldy, Baybull, Mobius Zero, and Bellzelute, while Combattler V, Mazinger Z, the Blue Earth, and all of the aesties deal with the remnants of the left side. Ideally this'll clear out the grunts on the right while we finish up the left side, and let our entire army deal with the four gundams. Eiji and Buldy take out a GINN with a one two punch, the blue earth heads up and repairs the heavily battered Akito, and we toss all the Aesties into the Nadesico to swap them into 0G frames, as it's actually a fairly nice boost, and we may as well do it when Mazinger Z and Combattler are still in good shape and can take on the rest of the left side. On top of this Akito could really use the health he gets for being in a ship. (10%  HP and EN for every turn a unit is in the ship) Mazinger takes a swipe at Miguel.







He hammers him pretty hard. HE had a 65% chance to hit it, so this is pretty fortunate. Let's see if Combattler V can't finish the job.






Hell yeah.

Miguel:Tch... Is this my limit?! I'm falling back!

He escapes. With him taken care of, we move Nadesico up into position to start hammering that Nazca-Class (Gundam SEED), which I don't believe has gotten a screenshot yet.









Battleships are starting to hit harder, but I doubt it can match up with a Gravity Cannon, now that we're in position for it. I decide to keep Bellzelute on this side and move it up to start helping out with the Nazca Class. It finishes a GINN on the way and Calvina gets a level. No spirits.

ENEMY PHASE!

The Nazca Class decides to take fire on Combattler, who, while defending, only takes 1200 damage! Not bad! That defense upgrade DID help. The only GINN remaining decides life is not worth living without Miguel and wrecks himself on the Nadesico. Mazinger takes the hit for it, to boot. The uppermost Nazca class on the right is heading over to the left side, presumably to keep our forces on the left occupied, that's.... actually a pretty clever move, wow. And the southernmost right side Nazca class (wow, they brought two battleships and four gundams? Jeez.) attacks the Archangel.









Couple of notes, the Nazca Class calls the Archangel "The Legged Ship", You'll be seeing that in dialogue segments so remember that. And apparently the archangel has unique dialogue for Nazca Class battleship attacks! Neat. Anyway the GINN's move in to attack Archangel. Unfortunatly Lohengrin has a pretty restrictive minimum range on it, and enemies will frequently rush in under it, so it won't be one shot KOing enemies on counterattacks as much, but eh. Still will usually set them up for a kill next turn. Anyway Sayaka takes the hit for the Archangel, and it counters with the gottfrieds and does almost enough damage to one shot it, natch. A northern GINN rushes over to the left side offense. I... have underestimated the AI. ... Well given that it attacked the Nadesico and got one shot in return, maybe not. But points for effort! Nadesico gets a level, no new spirits. Another GINN attacks the archangel, in range of it's lohengrins and... does not get one shotted. Hmm. Almost though, again. A GINN rushes to the left side, and attacks mu on the way, hitting him, cutting his HP down to half, and hitting the GINN in return, doing the same. Another GINN attacks the Archangel and is one shotted in return for it. I guess the Lohengrin is right on the cusp. Murrue gets a level off of it. A GINN decides to go for the strike.











It goes poorly. Another two GINN's destroy themselves on the archangel. Natarle gets a level out of it. And all of the enemy gundams take this as a sign to get on the colony for the defensive boost. Dammit. Oh well.

TURN FIVE!




So, as of now since I'm pretty sure every unit on them ap except for one nazca class is on heliopolis I find it prudent to reunite our forces near the center, and also wipe out the four GINN's hovering around in there. The Nadesico heads in first and destroys a GINN with missles, and proceeds to deploy the Aesties like an enormous swarm of angry giant robot bees. They wreck the GINNs in the center, and Akatsuki gets a level off it. Ryoko attacks the nazca class to the north and gets hammered for it. I take this as a warning and focus Akito before he attacks. It works out for me. I focus Mu and attack the northern Nazca Class with wire guided gunbarrels. It is just now half dead. These are REAL battleships, not like those half assed Katanbos from before. Bellzelute moves in and attacks the very same Katanbo. So do mazinger and combattler. Combattler ends up finally killing it, gaining a level in the process. No new spirit commands. Blue earth moves in and repairs Combattler.

Archangel fires Lohengrin at a nearby Nazca Class. The Nazca class counterattack  doesn't do any damage through the Archangel's Laminate armor. Very nice. I Focus Kira and send him at the Duel Gundam, piloted by Yzak. This thing has a special feature that we'll go over later in the mission.

Kira:Dammit!
Yzak:Is this how you fight?!










Very well, apparently. Also the beam coat wasn't what I was referring to so don't get excited yet. Buldy fires a shoulder cannon at the rightmost Nazca Class. We then use hit and away to get him in position for firing at gundams. Layzner fires off calf missles at a Nazca Class nearby. And Aphrodite A repairs baybull, ending the turn.

ENEMY PHASE

A Nazca class fires it's beam cannons at the Archangel, who is defending. Aphrodite A takes the attack for the archangel, making an attack that probably would've done 0 damage, maybe 500 damage tops, into an attack that does 1100 damage. This is why you have to pay attention to defensive supports. Yzak also rushes at the Archangel.

Natarle: The Duel? I'd rather shoot you down than let the enemy use it!
Yzak:You can't run! I'm taking you down!

His beam rifle somehow pierces the Laminate armor, and he takes a one thousand something damage hit on the chin for it. Dearka in the Buster Gundam rushes up to the Strike.

Dearka:That's the sole remaining unit. I'll make short work of you!
Editor note:I think he means X-unit, not unit unit.

Kira:I can't let you destroy the Archangel!

Dearka misses the strike and strike nails it with a counterattack. The Buster gundam in the show is an artillery unit, so much like the bellzelute it has a ton of long range attacks. Unlike the Bellzelute, Dearka is not terribly good at hitting things, so firing at such a long range does bad things to his accuracy. He's probably the least threatening of the four, although he does have a habit of busting out a nasty MAP attack when you're not expecting it. Nicol in the blitz gundam decides to go after Izumi. We evade as he has a 63% chance of hitting her, and that's pretty nasty, given how hard the blitz can hit.









Roanne ends up taking the hit for Izumi, and taking it pretty well honestly. I think he's a size category larger then an Aesti, so that'd prolly be why. The Blitz gundam's special ability will be revealed at a later date, as it factors into a pretty major plot point later on. And last but not least, Athrun, in the Aegis goes after Izumi, with a beam rifle. Izumi has a distortion field which again is better against beam weapons, so I think she can take it if she does get hit, so we'll go with a counterattack on this one.










Excellent. The Aegis is a "commander type unit" so athrun is in essence the "real boss" here. If we kill him the rest go down. Of course, that would be the wuss way out, so we'll be taking out his buddies first. In the show this just means the Aegis is made to a higher specification then the rest of thme, and as a result is just kind've BETTER. If you're curious the strike gundam was designed for versatility.

TURN SIX!

Missed the map and overview for this turn. Sorry!

We'll start this turn out with a BANG. Ryoko and Akito attack the Nazca class tailing them, Along with Mazinger, who gets counterkilled in the process. This officially means that I am BAD AT VIDEO GAMES. Again, it was no fault of the suit or pilot, I just forgot to heal it. Admittantly it took that attack pretty hard, at 2000 damage. Hmm.

But nontheless. It's time for an attack we haven't seen in a while...

SUPER ELECTROMAGNETIC SPIIIIIN! Watch until the end of that specific animation for the desired effect, not the rest of the video.











I love that attack animation. The more dramatic closeups the better in my opinion. Anyway, takes care of that Nazca. Blue Earth repairs ryoko because she is doing poorly. The Nadesico gravity blast's the blitz gunda at a 58% chance to hit, with no counterattack. This hasn't really come up until now, but the Nadesico's lack of a good accuracy boosting spirit basically relegates it to cleanup duty with missles sometimes. Luckily this will be remedied in the near future.

Nicol:If I can just take out their engines...

It misses, but due to something called "the mirage colloid", rather then a dodge. Mysterious. I knew I should've used break. We'll go over the colloid later. Bellzelute picks off a Nazca class from across the map with O Rifle A. Just the gundams now. Katia gains a level as a result. We move bellzelute back a bit to get them into a better position for gundam shootin'. Mu plinks at the blitz gundam. Can't beat no counterattack. We focus buldy, and attack the blitz gundam. He does 700 damage (bad) and is killed by the counterattack (worse). Like I said, the Gundam bosses are about where the game stops messing around. Although if you play carefully (unlike me; RIP AND TEAR) it's usually not an issue. Anyway we focus Hikaru and attack Blitz. And manage to do decent damage, at about 2500 HP's worth. Bout damn time. Another good hit like that and we'll be rid of the blitz. Aphrodite repairs the archangel, and Izumi Focuses and Breaks (break; aptly enough, breaks through defensive skills the enemy has, like phase shift armor and the Mirage colloid. Gundams have defensive skills coming out of the ass so this is valuble here)








Excellent. Izumi gains a level and gets a level of support attack from it. Nifty. And a Support Atk +1 Module explodes out of the wreckage, I suppose.

Nicol:Ungh... This is getting out of hand! Falling back!

You betta run. We've got three gundams left, and five units left to act this turn. Let's see if we can't bring another down... Duel gundam is kinda battered, maybe we can finish him up. This coming dialogue occurs after the attack, incidentally.

Yzak: What the hell?! Dammit, how dare you Natural bastards do this to me!

And then he... retreats before dying? Huh. Didn't know they'd do that in this mission. This also means we cannot cover Duel Gundam's MYSTERIOUS SECRET. Given what it is it's kinda dumb that he retreated at that point, is all I'll say. On to the Buster Gundam!

Natarle: Nngh... Don't let the enemy get any closer to the ship!
Dearka:Damn! Armed to the teeth, aren't 'cha?!

Takes him down to about 2k. Next hit oughta get him to pull back.













Dearka: Tch! I'm going down?! I'll be sure to sink you next time!

He retreats

Dearka manages to shoot down eiji in litterally the first time I've ever seen it happen. Once more, gundams can be nasty. He had a 26% chance to dodge, which, in hindsight is a liiiiitttlee high. I didn't think he'd one shot him though, damn. Still, Eiji got the job done at least. Now for the Aegis. Akatsuki takes a shot at him but misses. Akatsuki has the same problem as the Nadesico, namely he doesn't have any accuracy boosting spirits. With that said, with him being a smaller category it's less of an issue. The fact that the Aegis is dodging just as well as an Aesti with a size disadvantage says somethin. Baybull heads in with focus.













DAMN! Got hit again at 20%. The game is not treating me well. Also yes the Aegis turned into a giant cannon. Distant relative of megatron?

ENEMY PHASE!

Aegis attacks about four units with his MAP.

It hits Akatsuki and nearly kills him too. Yeesh. No other damage.

TURN SEVEN!




I have blue earth and aphrodite heal random dudes toget some exp. Noal and Aki gain levels from it, no new spirits. Time to finish this up.

Kira:Athrun, why?!
Athrun:Stop it, Kira! We don't have to fight... So I'll... I'll...!








Of note is that Athrun had no counterattack because he has no close range weapons. It is possible to sneak in under enemy ranges sometimes, but not often enough to be worth it. Odd that it was a gundam of all things to show this off. But he's not quite out yet.

Calvina: The military's new weapons... Our foes are Coordinators, so there's no margin for error on this one.
Katia:Is it really okay to be fighting them?
Calvina:The enemy's using them, so I'll just have to take 'em out! Let's go!











And so this pile of broken robots ends in our victory. Calvina and Katia gain a level from this. Post mission dialogue after this post! Stupid character limit.

[Seriyu]

Athrun:Ugh, Dammit!
Kira:(Athrun...)
Ruri:All enemies have retreated.
Natarle:Is that so... AL divisions, report for damage!
Murrue:Looks like we made it through with a few scrapes, at worst.
Yurika:Huh? Ruri, does Heliopolis look... wierd to you?

The colony shudders.

Ruri:It appears the colony has reached its limit. Its shelters were locked down. It has now begun ejecting its lifeboats. Heliopolis is collapsing. If we don't retreat soon, we'll be caught in the collapse, as well.
Murrue:What did you say?!
Prospector:A colony of this size and stability going down? A loss of this magnitude is... incalculable!
Akito:No... This can't be!
Koji:No, I don't believe it... Argh! Damn you, ZAFT!
A neat detail is if a pilot is shot down during a fight, whenever he talks in a cutscene, he'll be talking from the capital ship he is assigned to, so in Koji's case, the Nadesico.

Hyoma:How dare they!
Akatsuki:Well, it wasn't our fault, so there's littler we can do about it.

An explosion rocks Heliopolis

Kira: Heliopolis is crumbling?! But, why did they...
Mu:Dammit! They took it down so easily, too!

Total losses on our end are 12600. Yowch. Still have plenty of extra but still.

I hope this trend doesn't carry through to the actually hard stages.

[Seriyu]

I've managed to pull myself away from weeping openly at not being able to afford diablo 3 and playing modded diablo 2 to write an update.

On the bridge of the Archangel.

Natarle: What do you mean by that?!
Murrue: What's wrong, Ensign?
Natarle:Kira Yamato just reported that he brought in a lifeboat from Heliopolis. We can't afford to take it in during an emergency of this magnitude. Besides, the rescue ship will be arriving soon. Leave it. I don't care where you put it, just don't bring it here!
Kira: But the propulsion system is damaged. I can't leave them out here!
Yurika:Yes! That would be far too cruel!
Natarle:Capt. Misumaru, do you understand the gravity of our current situation? We're still in great danger. We cannot afford to accommodate more civilians!
Yurika: Understood. In that case, we'll be taking them in! Is that all right, Mr. Prospector?
Prospector: We've no choice. From a humanitarian point of view, we can't even consider abandoning them.
Natarle:But...
Murrue: Fine, do it.
Natarle: Capt. Ramius!
Murrue:We don't have time to argue about this right now.
Yurika:Okay! Mr. Kira Yamato, please take the pod to the Nadesico.

In the Nadesico's hangar...

Koji:Oh, there it is. Nice work, Kira!
Koji is a stand up guy.

Chizuru:You're Kira Yamato, the Coordinator, right? I'm Chizuru Nanbara. Nice to meet you!
Kira:Oh uh... Yeah, that's me.
Juzo:Come on, there's no reason to feel shy around us! I'm Juzo Naniwa. That was the second time you piloted that thing, right? Man, that was awesome! You're really something else, you know that?
Everyone else is pretty awesome too.

Kira: No, I'm not, I just...
Hikaru:Yeaaaaaah! You were sooooooo adorable, too! All those flustered pauses and whatnot!
Hyoma:You look like you're exhausted. I'm Hyoma, and uh, that's all you're gonna get out of me until you can get away from this crowd. Later!
Festenia:And me? I'm Festenia Muse! Hey, are you a student from Heliopolis? How come you got to pilot that thing?
Kira: Well... Things just started to happen. When ZAFT attacked, I was assisting with research at Morgenroete. And then...
Uribitake:Oooooh, so this is the mobile suit that Morgenroete developed! It can exchange weapons?! Oooh, I love those lines! That face! Those legs! It has the kind of unmatched beauty only a new mech can lay claim to! And on top of that it's just stupidly cool! Still... I could've sworn it had a little more color during the battle...
Morgenroete is actually a really big deal in the "aglamation universe". Whenever there's some new mega advanced THING, Morgenroete or Nergal is usually all over it.

Kosuke: The color comes out with the activation of the unit's Phase Shift armor. This is how it looks when it's turned off.
Inez: Allow me to explain. The Phase Shift armor, developed by Morgenroete, is unlike the Nadesico's Phase Transition Engines in that...
If you're actually interested in the technobabble she was about to fire off, read this! If not, keep going. Phase shift armor is actually activated via an electric current (hence the energy requirement). So far as I can tell it'd be most similar in real life to a material that hardens when electric current is applied, which does actually exist in the world, although I don't know of any METALS that do it. The reason it can't do the same to beam weapons is that it's just too "pure" a form of energy or something of the sort. Thank you to the gundam wiki for most of this. Anyway, carrying on.

David: Nobody's listening.
Dick.

Kira: Um... I...
Sayaka: Sorry about that. We just have a lot of noisy people around here. They must have given you quite the scare!
Kira:No... No, not at all.
Elizabeth: Mr. Kira Yamato, it's imperative that you meet the Captain! If it's all right with you, could you come to the bridge later?
Ryoko: Hey, a little help with the escape pod? Here, open the hatch!
Aki:Please don't worry. This is a warship and Nergal Heavy Industries called the Nadesico. We all have a duty to take you to a safe place. Please form two lines for registration.
Kira: Flay? Flay Allster?! So, you were inside that escape pod...




Kira: Oh, well... You're all right now. You'll be able to see Sai and Miriallia soon.
Flay:Seriously?! But this is Nergal's warship... What are you doing here?
Roanne: Sounds like you know her.
Kira:Yeah... She's from the same university as me.
Koji: Damn, what a babe! I'm Koji Kabuto. The pleasure's mine!
I find that if you must hit on someone with your not quite but may as well be girlfriend right next to you it's best to not say "Damn, what a babe!" beforehand.

Sayaka: Koji!
Aki:Your other friends are on the Archangel, right?
Kira:Yes.
Aki: If that's the case, I think it would be best for you to take her back there.



A neat little note, Heliopolis is flat out not there, even on the map, anymore. Little things.

Miguel:Commander, the council will not stand for the destruction of a neutral colony!
Creuset:Where was their neutrality when they developed mobile suits for the Federation? Besides, most of the colony's citizens already escaped in the pods, so it's hardly a serious concern. At least... not when compared to the "Bloody Valentine."
Dearka: That's true.
Creuset: Can we catch the Nadesico and the Legged Ship?
Nicol: Do you still want to follow them, Cdr. Creuset?
Creuset: Didn't I already tell you? If we don't take them down while we still have a chance, it's impossible to say when they'll return for our lives. We must finish this here!
Nicol:But, aren't we also-
Yzak:Don't be such a wuss, Nicol! We can't let such powerful Naturals escape!
Creuset: Now, will they drop to the Earth, or head for the Moon...?

Meanwhile, back on the archangel

Flay: Sai!
Sai: Flay, you're all right! Thanks a lot, Kira!
Kira: Oh, uh... Yeah.
Tolle: So, how was the Nadesico? That was the same ship that departed from the Moon a few months back to rescue the people on Mars, right? Did you manage to speak with them?
Kira: Yeah... There are a lot of people areound our age onboard. That was definitely a surprise. They're also kinda... funny. I didn't really feel like I was on a military warship at all. There were some people there that they rescued back on Mars, too.
Miriallia: *giggle* Really? It would be great if they let us go there.
Tolle: But then Kira would be all alone over here...
Miriallia: Oh, that's right... Flay, since ZAFT is after both this ship and the Nadesico, I don't think they're going to let us off for the time being.
Flay:Huh? Then that means... Being here is even MORE dangerous?! N-No way!
Miriallia: What, you think it would be safer in a broken down escape pod?
Flay:T-That's not what I was trying to say, but...
Mu: Chief Engineer Murdoch's pretty upset with you, Kira. He said that if you intend to continue using the Strike, you'll also have to service it! Unlike the Nadesico, we're short on hands at the moment, so we're counting on you to do your part, too.
Kira:Cdr. Flaga... Are you telling me it's my unit, now?
Mu:That's just how things turned out. You're the only one who can actually use it.
Kira:But I've only used it twice, and I...
Mu:Do you want those to be your last words when you die in the next battle? The only ones who can protect this ship are you and me, y'know.
Kira:What about the Nadesico? Even if I don't help, things should be all right.
Mu:Hey, we're counting on them, too, but their own ship is more important to them than ours. Don't count on them to protect us while the Nadesico is in danger. That's a responsibility only you can take care of. We have to do what we can.
Kira: But I...
Mu: As I'm sure you've seen firsthand on their ship, being a civilian or a child shouldn't prevent you from working for the military... Right?
Kira:I know, but...
Mu:Isn't it possible that you're overthinking things?
Kira: ......

Elsewhere, in the residential area of the archangel.

Flay:Say... That boy, Kira. Why is he piloting a mobile suit? From the conversation I overheard back there, he made it sound like he's fighting against his will.
Kuzzey:it's because he's different from us. He's a Coordinator.
Kuzzey still has his hangups.

Flay:Oh my gosh! So he's... He's from ZAFT?!
Tolle:Kuzzey! You shouldn't have said that!
Kuzzey: But... isn't it true?
Sai:Yes, Kira's a Coordinator, but... he isn't from ZAFT.
Miriallia:Yeah, he's a dear friend of ours, too!
Flay:...I see.

In the viewing room...


Kira has a robot bird. Athrun made it for him before all this business occured. Also Athrun is really good at making these kinda small machines. Mostly flavor stuff but eh.

Kira: Birdy... Even if I have to pilot a mobile suit, I still hate war. Athrun, I... *sob*

On the bridge of the Nadesico...

Yurika: After conferring with Capt. Ramius, we've decided that in order to avoid battle with the Jovian Lizards and lose ZAFT's scent, we will first head to the debris fields and from there, set course to the Moon. We've plotted our course accordingly.
Festenia:Why go through the debris fields?! Isn't that where the colonies leave their trash and stuff?! I mean... Won't it be dangerous to head through there?
Katia:We're forcing them to guess. We could be going to either Earth or the Moon if we head through there.
Calvina:I don't know much about the PLANTs, but... Is ZAFT really coming after us?
Erina: Yes. They've gone so far as to destroy a neutral colony. I suspect Orb must be pressuring PLANT's supreme council into opening a strict investigation into the matter. They may press the chase even more, now.
The idea of course to be to catch the strike before they are officially obligated to stop dickin around with orb's stuff, lest orb try to fuck them up. While ZAFT is quite a force, Orb is still an entire nation, and it's no slouch, with Moergenroete on their side.

Yurika:I don't know for sure, but we have to act under the assumption that they're still pursuing us. Please regard the situation accordingly, everyone. Mr Uribitake, you take care of the unit adjustments and repairs!
Uribitake:Yeah, just leave it to me!
Akito: ......
Koji: Hey, Akito...
Akito:...What is it, Koji?
Koji:I heard from Megumi that you think we don't care about Gai. Is that true?
David:Yeah... It's thanks to him that we made it back to Earth safely.
Eiji: I know I'll never forget him.
Akito:Yeah...
Hyoma:It's thanks to him that we were able to return from Mars with our lives. The Earth Sphere is still in dire straits, though! We have to fight the Gradosians and the other aliens in his stead, too! And don't forget about those ZAFT jerks, either!
Akito: That's right... I understand, now. Akatsuki, I'll remain on the Nadesico even after we reach the Moon.
Akatsuki:Ah, I see. You have a burning passion inside you...
I'm unsure if Akatsuki is secretly a huge gekiganger fan. They never come out and say it, but he keeps throwing hints. I'm getting mixed signals here.

Akito:I finally know what the important thing I have to protect is!
Hikaru:*chuckle* What're you suggesting, Akito?!
Yurika:Why, Akito's talking about me, of course! Me! ...Right?!
Megumi:(It would be so wonderful if it was me...)
Akito:I'm talking about... Gai!
Waaahaahahaahaha, lovely.

Megumi: ...Huh?!
Yurika:Hey... waaaaaaaiit a second...
Festenia:What the heck?!
Akito:In order to protect something, we must sacrifice others. That's the way the military does things, and I hate it! They fight to protect the Earth, but war is the only thing the military knows how to make! That's why I have to fight! That's why I have to see the truth with my own eyes!
I'm gettin a kinda gurren lagaan-ey feel outta that. Maybe it's just me.

Hikaru:Seriously?
Ryoko:All right, that was much more in character. I'm a little relieved.
Akatsuki:I see. Well, that's fine too... Mr. Tenkawa.

Make your votes! Pick up to three robots and as many stats as robots. If there's a clear winner, we'll just upgrade it, if it's a six way tie or whatever I will upgrade until we risk dropping below 100k. AS FOR MODULES! WE NEED TO DECIDE WHICH PILOT TO PUT SUPPORT ATTACK +1 ON. I reccomend someone with low survivability. I'd say Strike is probably the most suitable candidate at this point, but it's up to you folks. They're not exactly RARE, but they do make a decent difference in a unit, so I'm letting you guys decide. No other notable parts or modules.

Let's talk robots.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Strike is doing much better at evading, he's prolly fine for now. Eiji could use some HP and Armor, clearly, but that is kind've going against his dodgy real robot status. I'm still not comfortable with anyone on the team being one shotted at any time It's a bad position to be in. Mazinger died because I'm an idiot, don't mind that, and... that's about it really.

If you're new to this upgrading business and don't quite get it, have a tutorial.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Example 1:

Strike - Weapons
Strike - Evasion
Strike- Armor

Example 2:

Strike - Evasion
Mazinger - Armor
Aphrodite A - EN

Example 3

Strike - Evasion
Mazinger - Armor
Mazinger - HP

Example 4

Strike - Evasion
Bank rest

More gundam seed next time. For those of you that are getting tired of gundam, don't worry, the map after next introduces a new, highly amazing unit. The legend of the man that broke three microphones in a single recording session lives on.

Anyway, enough babbling. Back to D2 with me.

[USEC_OFFICER]

Mu: As I'm sure you've seen firsthand on their ship, being a civilian or a child shouldn't prevent you from working for the military... Right?

Somebody clearly hasn't heard about all those anti-child soldier laws...

[Frumple]

Presumably they were never formed in Gundam!world -- which is possibly understandable considering the amount of times the underaged have been used as the key component to superweapons in the bloody canon.

Also entirely possibly that earth alliance doesn't care in the case of the kids they've got in the ship -- iirc, they're from a different country (Orb) and one of them (Kira) probably doesn't even have general human rights in the EA (or won't, once they go all genocidal on coordinators).

Anyway, mecha. Support attack I'd probably stick on whatever is most likely to be able to actually use it to a sexy degree -- i.e. someone with a hefty attack. Dunno about strike, at least not until you get ahold of the sword pack which hits a bit harder. I'd almost say maybe the combattler. Can the thing be ripped out and stuck in something else, later?

As for vote, throw two HPs in the layzer because hohoho and then, uh. A point of EN into the archangel, I guess.

[EuchreJack]

Generally, if a country actually cares about preventing child labor, they prevent child labor regardless of the country of origin of the child, at least officially.

In this case, it seems more like a "we have no choice" scenario.

Maybe I'm optimistic.  Although, the "kids" are older than 12, right?  In that case, some cultures treat them as adults (like Dwarf Fortress, I should mention).

Here is my selection for mecha:

Akito's Aesti: Evasion
Strike Gundam: Armor
Bank rest (I guess this is a vote for reserving more credits than you have already earmarked)

[Seriyu]

Kira is 16, yep. Young adult. I'm pretty sure the rest of the gundam pilots are also around 16, I think Nicol might be 15?

And yes we can relocate the support attack module (and any module/part for that matter) later on. Combattler is actually a really good choice for that thing too, what with its low armor. It's kinda funny because I've been playing super robot wars W lately and it just has a TON of people that would be excellent candidates for that thing, and yet here there's almost none (as of yet. There's another fragile hard hitting super robot (and real robot eeee) coming up so we'll definitely have more candidates later.) in J.

EDIT: I always enjoy when the gundam wiki says "Fictional giant robot". As opposed to all the non fictional ones.

EDIT2: OH also. I'll try to get a chapter list set up in the OP, with links to each update over this break, and as a result it may be a little longer then usual depending on how much work it is. I doubt it'll be too bad but just a potential heads up.

[EuchreJack]

Didn't you know?  We're all secret giant robot pilots.  What, you didn't get a giant robot to pilot?  For shame...