ADVANCED STRATEGY GUIDE FOR FRONT MISSION 3: Gold Edition
By Cancerst1ck@netzero.net
April  26, 2000
Updated May  8, 2000
Coming Soon:  Platinum Edition

INTRODUTION

I have written this FAQ to suppliment some of the details that I thought other FAQ's 
did not cover.  So if your looking for a skill list or walk-through check out other 
FAQs.  I have written the FAQ with players that have either finished or almost finished 
the game in mind so I will assume the readers already know the basics and on the 
process of getting all platinum medals.


**Notes for the Gold Edition

With the Gold Edition, I decided to add a small section for the beginners and clarify 
somethings that I thought was a bit unclear.  All but the network section was expanded 
so if you have read this FAQ before you can skip that section all together.  If I get 
enough people requesting for clues on the network section I will expand it on the 
"Platinum Edition".  Also new sections "Bronze and Silver" for the beginners, and 
"Common Solutions to Penalties" and "Weapon Combinations" were added for advanced 
players.  To all you beginners out there, "DON'T E-MAIL ME ABOUT THINGS I'VE ALREADY 
COVERED!!".  I would also like to recommend people to finish the game first before 
going for all platinum medals.  Without proper set of battle skills things will be 
extra hard. 


Copyright Notice!?

I thought of reserving this section for the copy right but I decided not to.  My first 
reason being that the advertisement for FM3 Strategy Guide is in the manual of the 
game(I'm guessing that the guide is on the market) and the second is because I think 
the game has been around long enough where no videogame magazine company would pay for 
whatever some no talent lazy thief might steal from this FAQ.  Just to make sure, I 
waited until I finished the game with all platinums medals to delay further the release 
of this FAQ.  So if you find this FAQ to be helpful and if you know some plagiarizing 
no talents HUNT THEM DOWN LIKE THE DOGS THEY ARE because I would have released this faq 
two weeks sooner if it wasn't for those idiots.



BRONZE AND SILVER(The section for beginners)


Before you read the entire faq, if you are a beginner to Front Mission 3, you must 
realize that this FAQ was written for people who decided to go that extra mile and win 
the game with all platinum medals.  Trying to get all platinum makes the game strangely 
hard and quite frustrating so have fun with the game first.  The following tips will 
help you in building up levels only.  Having higher weapon levels will raise your base 
damage and help you blow through the game although you will be penalized at the end of 
battle report.  To conlude, you need to get to the last save point quick as possible so 
that you'll have easier time discovering battle skills and find out what parts are best 
suited for your battle strategy.  Once you've done that you are ready to read rest of 
the FAQ.  


TUTORIAL

The tutorial of Front Mission 3 is very well done.  I'm specifically refering to the 
battle tutorials of the game such as weapons tutorial.  This is a good way to level up 
at the very start of the game.  When you break wanzer parts and gain experiance in 
weapons tutorial the APs and experiance are for real.  It may be time consuming but it 
will certainly come in handy until you have access to the battle simulation.


BATTLE SIMULATION
 
Once you have access to the battle simulation you MUST download FUKUSHIMA battle 
grounds.  The battle ground for the battle simulation is from NTJ/GOVERNMENT/JAPAN. 
There are two battles grounds that can be downloaded but you need to download Koriyama 
with the password "SINTJ".  You won't live long in FUKUSHIMA but you're weapon level 
will increase a lot faster.  However, if don't have enough APs try the JDF test site 
instead.


For easier battles, select ALISA's scenario by refusing to go with RYOGO at the start.  
Compared to EMMA's version, ALISA's scenario has less monster sized(4 squares wide) 
wanzers and vehicles.  

DO NOT READ FURTHER UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE GAME!!!



1)  THE NETWORK

The network is a section that I decided not to cover in detail since it was poorly 
done.  This part of the game is the worst feature of the game that I have ever seen.  
I'm referring to the Internet part of the game.  While some may disagree I stand firmly 
by my opinion.  

While the Network provides large amount of data about 95% of it isn't worth a squat.  
If you're playing the game for the first time I suppose the historical account found on 
all the newspaper sites add histroy to the game but if people at Squaresoft think 
putting large amount text reading will get people excited they should think again.  
Instead they should have released the first two Front Mission games in the US.  

To make things even worse, the way you get passwords is just out right lame.  Most of 
the time you are stuck while hacking into many sites because you have to wait until 
someone just hands you the passwords, this could have been justified if the data helped 
the gameplay by releasing cool items like a computer with 8 slots.  Only exception 
would be figuring out the password for Twin Tigers site.  If getting the passwords were 
like that for all the sites Front Mission 3 would have been a lot better.    

Just so this section won't be totally about my bitching and moaning I will tell you at 
least one password since finding this password was so annoying that I thought no one 
deserves to suffer like that.  The password is for the MIDAS CONTROLLER, at  
INTSTU/OTHERS/USN which is "ALICIANA".  Strange enough, this password doesn't have much
of a clue and it's not handed out like most of the passwords and as usual the contents 
weren't that great.

**Gold Edition Note
I haven't confirmed it yet but entering passwords before you are given the passwords 
seems to hinder your progress in the network.  In the last two scenarios I've played I 
was forced to steal the secret wanzer because INFERNO DIALER never showed up.  This may 
have happened because I had all platinum medals but as I have stated before I have not 
confirmed this yet.  This further shows how crap-tastic the network part of the game 
is!!
 


2)  CUSTOMIZING WANZERS

No more whining, I promise!  This is the core of the FM3 that makes it a great game.
I will cover all categories of parts starting with weapons and their proper usage.  Key 
to building a good wanzer is dependant upon your combat strategy.  Having finished the 
game with 36 platinum on my first play without the benefit of strategy guide or a faq, 
I believe it to be true.  I will not comment on which strategy is better because if you 
have fun playing all melee orianted wanzers you should go with it.  You will have some 
trouble here and there and never be able to get a platinum medals but you'll have fun 
and that's what it's all about.  Hopefully this faq will help you to create or improve 
your butt kicking wanzers.


WEAPONS

MELEE WEAPONS:  Offers most damage and the lowest AP cost.  It's a good weapon for a 
counter attack since opponent will usually go first when they are attacking anyway but 
try not to compensate it by using Initiative I and II, instead use Initiative III or 
better yet use Fast Attack which costs only two slots.  I can't stress enough the fact 
that melee weapon should be used mostly for counter attacks since trying to punch the 
nearest enemy in the first round will most likely result in getting shot first with a 
status effect or early gang bang.  Normally, this would be a small tradeoff factor for 
melee weapons but since you get points deducted for taking a lot of damage and taking 
extra turns for repairs you should think carefully before you try to start things off 
with Melee III. 
 
FLAMETHROWER:  Offers ability to control AP cost.  This weapon has a potential but lack 
of range makes it bit awkward to use and low hit rate makes it even harder to use.  You 
have to treat this weapon like a melee weapon to use it properly, needless to say you 
need a wanzer with a lot of HP to even think about using it.  Don't use it full force 
unless you are 100 percent sure that you can kill the opponent or break their weapon 
arm.  This weapon cannot be seriouly used without AP reduction skills or ROF's but the 
massive damage it can deal out is often greater than the Heavy-Particle gun. 

SHOTGUN:  Rather short ranged but very effective weapon.  Fact that it hits all parts 
makes it a choice weapon for finishing off a damaged part and at least one ally should 
equip one.  This weapon is a must for any ally that is in simulation for lack of AP's.  
Another useful factor of the shotgun is how it distributes the damage quite evenly 
among all parts unlike machinegun which sometimes betrays you by avoid hitting the part 
that's about to fall off.  Works very well with most battle skills but stick with ROF's 
for over all better performance.

MACHINEGUN:  Good all around and reliable weapon offering a decent range and average 
damage.  You should have at least 2 allies equipped with it.  Just like shotgun, ROF's 
are better suited skills for it.  While any "Aim" type battle skills offer interesting 
twist  they should not be used unless you have absolutely no other skills to choose 
from.  Concentrating all the damage to one part may sound good but it will likely 
result in shooting off a part that is practically hanging on by crazy glue and duct 
tape.   

RIFLE:  Difficult to handle but has very good range.  In the beginning it's almost 
useless since single shot it delivers misses often and towards the end it doesn't do 
enough damage.  Only reason people even use them is because of the fact that you can 
use <PART>SMASH skill with it.  However, the true strength of the rifle lies in it's 
range and mere 2 percentloss of accuracy per square which can be easily compensated by 
finding a high ground.  Rifle should be used to soften up a enemy wanzer part when 
missiles or grenades aren't available at the moment, or if you need to conserve AP or 
ammo.  In the early games stick with Zoom's instead of <PART>SMASH since watching the 
bullet with BODYSMASH written on it fly into the sunset is very heartbreaking.  

MISSILE:  Fact that this weapon does not cause counter(besides the fact that built in 
status effect is pilot ejection) makes it a best choice weapon  for your allies to 
equip.  Offering the best range it can dish out melee weapon sized damage practically 
from the comfort of your living room so the AP cost of 10 is well worth it.  It's 
weakness is limited ammo so don't use SALVO unless your wanzer has a gun or a lot of 
additional ammo since wanzers made to carry shoulder weapons have low HP and will be 
killed easily in upclose battles.  Skills used with rifles will work just as well with 
missiles. 

GRENADE:  The other weapon that does not cause counter attack.  While it's actual 
targeting range is 3-6, it covers wide area that increases the damage distance to the 
9th square.  Often this weapon is shunned by many players since it has very poor 
accuracy and costs too much AP.  However, grenages is like a shotgun version of a 
missile with poor accuracy but grenade is the only weapon that cannot be blocked by a 
shield.  Once grenade level is up to par with your current average weapon level you 
will realize why grenades have even less ammo than the missiles.  It's additional use 
is that you can use the edge of the blast to make a flag waving foe to surrender 
completely while damaging a fresh one.  Also inspite, of low accuracy, grenade is good 
at damaging ground troops.
Before you start raining death from above you need to know the hidden downside of the 
grenade.  One attack with the grenade will count as a multiple attack if more than one 
enemy is caught in the blast radius.  Often this is not a problem but if you have too 
much deduction for number of attacks you need to tone down on how many enemies you 
target with the grenade.  Also it's major draw back is that absolutely no battle skill 
works with grenade but this should not stop you from using them because two grenade 
blasts in a row can reduce a group of wanzers into a lanky scarecrow.

HEAVY-P GUN:  This weapon combines the steady accuracy of the shoulder weapons with 
unlimited ammo of guns and delicious damgage of melee weapons in single package.  As 
the last weapon heavy particle gun delivers massive damage at a massive AP cost of 15.  
Once leveled up, this weapon will destroy a wanzer part without having to worry about 
counter attacks.  That makes it hard to pass it up inspite of the AP cost.  This weapon 
is offered when your total AP drops back to 18 due to upgrades so you need skills like 
AP-0 and DOUBLE FIRE II" skills to lessen the AP usage.  Normally this weapon should 
only be used when there is no chance of enemy attack or counter attack while you 
recover from the AP drain.  If you keep this weapon on the wanzer it came in you can 
attack more aggresively since the leg of the Hoshun Mk112 offers the best dodge rate.  
When it comes to picking skills for this weapon just follow the suggestion for the 
rifle.  However, it wouldn't be a bad idea to fill your computer with 1-slot battle 
skills like Pilot Damage I and Zoom I and hope for a combo since the damage is far 
greater than that of a rifle or a missile.

*Shield:  Not a weapon but it becomes necessary as the levels become tougher.  Try to 
keep a shield with high durablity instead of using shield repair items.  If you plan 
your battles for platinum medals shields will run out just as your missile and grenade 
ammos are gone when the battle is over.  Anytime that you feel that you are taking too 
much damage just equip a shield.  As long as you don't dash into a group of enemies 
you'll see the increased life span of a wanzer immediately.


General Tips on Weapons

*Make sure you cover all three damage types when choosing weapons.  Using correct type 
of attack doesn't matter until the enemy units start using Def-C upgrade level 2 or 
above but it helps.

*Know what and when to use shield.  If you expect a missile or big attack from special 
wanzer or pilot just save your shield or AP to cover that attack.  Which would you 
rather block? A regular machine gun from a Changli soldier or ROF III from a special 
pilot with a flamethrower at 11 AP.  Wanzers with strong attacks tends to go last so 
think before you block.

*Always equip the best weapons available!  This will allow you to increase your damage 
without any deductions at the end of the battle.  Don't be afraid to equip parts with 
weaker HP.  A dead wanzer has no chance of hurting you so kill them faster with a 
stronger weapon!

*Equip at least 2 different damage type weapons.  As the enemy wanzer upgrade for Def-C 
becomes higher bypassing the Def-C becomes crucial for quicker kills.  This also frees 
up the slots used for battle skills that lowers enemy Def-C upgrade in your computer. 

*Enhance your weapons by equiping arms with the higest accuracy.  High accuracy will 
enable more rounds from the shotgun and machine gun hit their mark, and increase damage 
for even single shot weapons.


WEAPON COMBINATIONS

At first, I believed that most people would be happier experimenting with different 
weapon combinations.  Unfortunately, I have recieved some E-mails that proved to me 
otherwise.  So here are my commentary on various weapon combinations.  While some 
combination may be more effective just remember that the major factor here is "Fun".  
Some weapon combination just looks too damn cool with the right battle skills so just 
mess around with different weapons until you find the one you like.


Four weapon combinations

It's the dream of wanzer pilots everywhere.  Being able to use just about all the 
arsenals in the game would be a fantastic, but unfortunatly the folks at Squaresoft 
decided to make this combination impossible.  It can be done but you will end up with 
lighter(and considerably weaker) weapons.  This wouldn't be that bad if there was a COM 
with activation rate of 100% but of course the folks at Squaresoft just couldn't have 
that.  In other words, "Don't even think about it!"
  

Three weapon combination

Next best thing to previous combination.  This can be achieved with a extremely fine 
tuned wanzer.  This combination should not be attempted with two shoulder weapons,  
this will result in a wanzer that will be constantly running out of AP and unable to 
counter most of the time.  My recommendation would be to equip shield instead of the 
third weapon.  This will allow you to equip better weapons and keep the wanzers alive 
longer through toughest battles.


Two weapon combinaton

This is section will be quite lengthy so pick the combination you are interested in 
unless you have a lot of time on your hands.  This is the foundation of the addictive  
wanzer construction.  Think carefully and make sure you select parts that will make the 
most of your weapons.

Melee Only

Having two melee weapon is somewhat redundant even with DOUBLE PUNCH I & II.  The 
advantage is that you still have a weapon even if you lose an arm but that's as far as 
the advantages go.  The damage is very good but you will end up taking a lot of damage 
making it necessary for item packs.  Technically, using an energy pack will give you 
additional power which increases melee damage percentile but this is very dangerous 
because you can't help taking damage with this combination.  For this combination AVOID 
80 would be recommended to lessen the damage and REVENGE I, II, and III to return the 
favor or AUTO-COUNTER if you don't have any good alternatives.  Don't use garbage 
battle skills like PREVENT LOSS, PILOT EJECT, ESCAPE, and GUARD-B since these skills 
aren't  effective against preventing damage.  Even if these skills kick in you're 
situation won't improve at all.  TOPPLEPUNCH, EJECT PUNCH, and <PART>SMASH are other 
good battle skills that works very well with all melee weapon setup but FAST ATTACK 
should have priority over any battle skills you may want to add in you COM.

Melee and Shield

This would be the combination I would use if I had to use melee weapons.  By their very 
nature, melee weapons forces you to charge into the frontlines where you are within 
attacking range of almost all of your enemies.  Shield will lessen the impacts of 
iminent barrage of attacks and give you chance to activate REVENGE battle skills while 
you are blocking.  With shields, you can use SHIELD ATTACK battle skills but you don't 
need them if you already have TACKLE or MELEE battle skills.  If you were using AVOID 
battle skills you can choose 20 or 40 instead of 80 to save slots for other battle 
skills, but with the Def-C upgrades and shield in conjuction with AVOID 80 can help you 
take "0" damage from a missile attack.  

Melee and Guns

This is the standard weapon setup when you first start the game.  This is a good setup 
up that offers good strategic choices and the biggest battle skill choices.  Now you 
have greater counter attack range, which is a key factor when you have to finish your 
battles quickly.  DOUBLE ASSUALT is a decent battle skill that can only be used with 
this setup but for best results try to pick battle skills for weapon that you use the 
most.  If you are like most people you'll end up picking mostly gun battle skills but 
if you insist on using melee as main form of attack you MUST add FAST ATTACK to your 
COM.  
Certain guns are bit more difficult to use in this combination, mainly Flamethrower and 
Heavy-parcticle gun will give you the most trouble.  AP drain from the these guns will 
usually leave you open against incoming attacks so try to avoid these guns in this type 
of setup.  With the flamethrower you should try to avoid using 11 AP if you can, while 
with the Heavy-P Gun you want to watch the distance between you and your enemy.  

Melee and Shoulder Weapons

In my opinion, this is one of the most difficult combination to pull off.  The obvious 
advantage is the damage you can inflict and access to <PART>SMASH skills.  The weakness 
is inability to counter attack effectively since you cannot counter with shoulder 
weapons and melee weapons have a laughable counter attack range.  In the beginning of 
the battles you won't have much of a problem since you can just sit back and nail enemy 
wanzers from distance unless the battle ground is small and flat.  Once you are out of 
ammo and have to fight upclose things tend to go down hill.  Contructing a wanzer for 
this setup is a headache because if you favor melee weapons you will drop the accuracy 
of the shoulder weapons, and of course, equipping shoulder weapons will lower the melee 
damage.  On the other hand, favoring shoulder weapons will give you low movement rate 
and very low HPs on most of your wanzer parts.  I would strongly recommend adding a 
shield to this setup so that you can stay alive a little longer once you are out of 
ammo since some of the best melee skills cannot be used with shoulder weapons(like FAST 
ATTACK).

Guns only

Besides making your wanzer look like a poster boy for the NRA or something out of some 
action movie, this setup is powerful.  The strength of this setup is the flexiblity 
which must be backed up by a careful selection of battle skills.  Try not to use two 
weapons of the same type even if you have DOUBLE FIRE I because you need variety to  
manage your APs and bypass Def-C upgrades.  Guns are the only weapon category that 
covers all three damage type so don't have your pilots use exact same guns.  For 
example, having all your pilots equip shotgun and machine gun is a very bad idea 
because you only covered two of the three damage types and you have limited yourself 
from other good battle skills.  This setup requires good understanding of battle skills 
but you are compensated with easier part selection because guns are lighter compared to 
shoulder weapons.  One of the things you shouldn't do in this setup is equip Heavy-p 
gun and Flamethrower.  Only thing these weapons have in common is hugh AP drainage so 
you will be open for counter attacks.
There are so many good battle skills for all guns combination so it's really hard to 
choose.  FAST ATTACK, TOPPLESHOT, and <PART>SMASH are cream of the crop battle skills 
that will send melee wanzers crying home.  Just use your imagination and pick the ones 
that you want.  If you don't have access to good battle skills then use SKILL+ battle 
skills since they can be activated by all weapons.

Gun and Shield
     
This is a setup with "Safety First" as a motto.  Doesn't offer much fire power but you 
don't have to deal with undue stress from having to choose the right parts and battle 
skills.  This is a "Worry Free" combination that's better suited for beginners or early 
games when you have limited access to weapons and parts.  Because this combination 
lacks fire power you want to emphasize "Damage" by selecting battle skills that 
increase damage rather than effect, otherwise you should setup your COM for a big 
combo.  Just remember, you are not invincible becuase you have a shield so don't charge 
into the enemy unless you have to.

Gun and Shoulder Weapon

The best combination in the game in my opinion.  This setup focuses on AI's flaw of the 
"7th Square Blindness" which causes wanzers in the back to just sit and do nothing 
until you move in closer.  By using a gun and shoulder weapon you can attack with 
minimum counter attacks possible against you.  This combination requires deep 
understanding of wanzer contruction and battle skill selection with good sense of AP 
management to achieve maximum results.  To put it simply, just sit back and shoot 
before you can see the whites of their eyes.  
The battle skills you need to select will depend on what your shoulder weapon is.  For 
grenades this is very simple because absolutely no battle skills will work with it.  
Just make sure you don't pick battle skills that won't be cancelled by grenade.  With 
missiles things are a bit complex depending on your equipped gun.  Rifles will work 
perfectly fine with battle skills picked for missiles(except for crap-tastic SALVO) but 
with other guns you have to pick a favorite weapon and select battle skills for that 
weapon.
An interesting combination would be a "Firemoth" type that uses flamethrower and a 
shoulder weapon.  This setup is very limited in terms of damage type and battle skills 
but delivers excellent damage if you use caution.  If you decide to go with Heavy-p gun 
instead then you must keep a long distance at all times to minimize your damage.

Shoulder Weapons only

Combination that's more of a headache.  The weight on shoulder weapons limits you from 
using better wanzer parts which is a very big problem once you run out of ammo, and you 
will because you won't be able to use item pack.  As you are forced to use lighter 
parts you will have less HP and lowered accuracy as the shoulder weapons become heavier 
and heavier.  You can do this with Hoshun Mk112 but why?  Don't even try this unless 
you just like watching SALVO and don't mind taking extra turns to reload.   
   

PARTS

Generally parts with high HP is desireable to create a good wanzer but it's important 
to keep in mind what you want the wanzer for.  As you begin to upgrade and mix match 
parts you need to pay attention to performance boost of different parts.  For example, 
if you are building a melee wanzer all you have to do is pick parts that has high melee 
percentage and you should end up with a powerful melee wanzer but the defense and dodge 
percentile may be too low.  The difficult part of making your own wanzer is that weight 
allowance becomes a huge factor everytime there is a better weapon which is always 
heavier.  Don't be afraid to use weaker but lighter parts as long as HP drop isn't too 
great.  It's better to equip best weapons available than keep on using weak weapons 
just to keep your HP high.  Just keep in mind that you want parts that have the highest 
upgrade percentile with a lots of HP.  


*Body:  This part affects how much weight allowance you will have.  Being the core part 
of the wanzer HP also cannot be ignored when comparing parts.  If you want a wanzer 
that uses melee weapons only then you can maintain high HP but if you want multiple 
weapons you need to stick with the body that gives you the maximum weight allowance.
If you use shield you can almost ignore Def-C percentile as long as you don't expect 
grenade attacks.  

*Backpack:  Sadly there are only power and item packs in the game.  I would recommend 
just using the power packs since it gives you a wider choice of parts and weapons you 
can equip.  For an upclose and personal wanzers you need item packs to keep away from 
losing parts.  For melee lovers, if your wanzer has less than 110 percent for melee 
damage equip energy pack to boost it higher.  If the melee damage prcentage reaches 
above 120 percent increasing the power output with a energy pack won't make much of a 
difference.

*Arms:  An essential part needed for openning the can-of-wupass on your enemies.  If 
you want to hold melee weapons or shields use melee type arms. This type of arms have 
very low accuracy rate but that's no problem for a melee weapon since they have 
extremely high accuracy rate.  As for the shield you need the high HP because what 
would be the point of having a shield if your arm breaks before the shield runs out.  
If the shield breaks first the useless arm will soak up part of the damage that could 
have gone to the body or the weapon arm.  For the guns and shoulder weapon you want the 
highest accuracy possible to do more damage, like Rekson 4MF.  You will notice the 
diffrence with each upgrade as your accuracy out performes others by a mile.  Remember 
that as the enemy begins to use wanzers with dodge upgrade you need accuracy far 
greater than 100% to hit them.
Key thing to remember about arms you should know is that you can increase accuracy as 
soon as fourth pilot joins you.  In both scenarios, fourth pilot will be a sniper type 
wanzer with arms with highest accuracy possible.  To help the accuracy of the missile 
using wanzer take the left arm off of the fourth wanzer and move the rifle to the right 
arm.  Now you have two wanzers with highest accuracy possible.  Later on, when you 
capture Shangdi 1 or Rekson 4MF all you need is to capture just one of them to install 
all four wanzers with arms with highest accuracy.

*Legs:  Being able to out manuver your opponet is always an advantage but once again 
weight allowance will screw you from using the legs you want.  For a melee wanzer high 
movement and boost rate is a must to reach that annoying sniper at the top of the hill.  
For other types of wanzers it would help but not necessary at all so go with lightest 
legs with most HP.  If you're worried about low dodge rate just use a shield. As for 
hover legs, stay away from them since not many battlefields have water and the skill 
from it just reeks.  Even on the stage where the giant pistons move up and down 
impeding your movement all you need is 1 wanzer with high movement to hold the road 
open while the 2 step wanzers catch up. 
The critical aspect of the leg you should keep in mind is the dodge rate.  If you like 
missiles missing your wanzers as much as I do HP and movement rate shouldn't matter as 
much as dodge rates.  However, weight should be more of a factor when you look at your 
wanzer as a whole.  

Here's a sample of one my hybrid wanzer to give you an idea of what I was talking 
about.  This setup was orignaly designed to be a kill-now-and-bleed-later assult type 
of wanzer.

Body:       Mingtian 1  (Can be replaced with any parts that offer 344 output)
Right Arm:  Lenghe 1    (Replaceable with any arms that weight 15)
Left Arm:   Shangdi 1   (Has best accuracy, Rekson 4MF is the only replacement)
Legs:       Genie       (Light weight and good dodge rate)
Backpack:   Energy Pack (Increase weight allowance)

Idea begans as creating a wanzer that could use 4 weapons but as I began equiping more 
powerful weapons it became just impossible, even for the secret wanzer(without using 
some gameshark code to increase weight allowance).  If you really want to you can use 4 
weapons with that set up but you'll have to use very weak weapons since shoulder 
weapons weight too much.  But I had good performance from this wanzer just using best 
missile and gun available.  Shield became necessary as average damage from attacks 
increased to prevent the loss of HP.  Of course, using the light arms like Tiandong 3  
and shield combined with energy pack helped me to equip better missile and gun as they 
became available usually leaving about 10 or less weight allowance points left.  


General Tips on Customizing

*Be sure to check the captured wanzers carefully for any usable parts.  For Example, 
when you capture Qibing 0's in the Futai Tunnel Qibing 0 piloted by Griffin has higher 
upgrade than others. 

*Upgrade stock parts for easier comparison if you can afford it.  If you haven't 
downloaded parts list already from somewhere that is.

*Browse the shop at the end of every battle to see what new parts(don't forget about 
computers)are accessible.

*Don't forget that you can mix different arms.  Accuracy bonus on the weapons are add 
from the arm it's currently on only.  Accuracy bonus will not drop because you have arm 
with lower accuracy on the other side.

*Check your enemy's backpack.  Sometime enemy wanzer will have better energy pack then 
you.  Capturing that wanzer will let you use better weapons and parts before you get to 
the next shop.



3)COMBAT 

Here is the meat of the game.  Instead of taking the fun out of it by covering strategy 
for each level I will just list strategies that can be used in most of levels.    

Before I start, I would like to cover the Battle Skills since it puts interesting 
flavor to the game. First of all, you should not plan on your battles based on any 
skill.  The chance of skill activition is random even if the conditions are met with 
proper computer equipped.  Although it is a significant factor of the game they're not 
dependable enough to kick in everytime you really need them.   


General Tips on Battle Skills

*Try to learn as much skills as you can.  If this raises your weapon level too high use 
a weapon that you won't be using during actual combat.  Weapon levels are calculated 
only on the weapons you have actually used during the combat.

*Select skills that take up fewer slots.  Powerful skills like <PART>SMASH sounds 
awsome but it takes up most of your slots.  At best you will destroy that part but with 
a group of skills you may be able to achieve multiple attacks that can destroy more 
parts with additional effects of your choosing such as stun, pilot damage, and pilot 
ejection.  Reverse is true towrads the end since you end up facing monster class 
wanzers with monster size HP and random status effect almost never occurs, therefore 
one shot kill with a BODYSMASH will greatly improve your rating if it works twice in a 
battle on undamaged wanzers.  

*Try to use skills that prevent counter attacks.  Skills like Fast Attack and 
Toppleshot will keep you alive longer and healthier.  As a counter attack it stops 
melee attacks dead on it's track.  

*Toppleshot looks cool and it's power is almost as good as a <PART>SMASH skills.  This 
skill does not increase damage but it halves the AP usually leaving the enemy with 
barely enough AP for one counter attack which opens him up for free attacks with 
machine guns at upclose range.  So anyone that uses a gun should learn this skill.  Try 
not to enter more than one Toppleshot in the computer since you can't combo multiple 
Toppleshots.       

*If you use different types of weapon select skills that can be activated by all of 
them.  For exmaple, if you have a wanzer that has a missile, machine gun, and a hard 
blow PILOT DAMAGE and SKILL+2 can be activated by all of them.

*If you plan to hijack a wanzer with EJECT PUNCH, make sure one of your allies can 
enter empty wanzer or kill the ejected pilot.  Also keep in mind that if there is a 
vacant wanzer next to the enemy the pilot will eject into the empty wanzer.

*Avoid using defensive battle skills.  If you're going for platinum medals you need to 
make most of your attack/counter attack.  Skills like AUTO COUNTER, PREVENT LOSS, and 
ESCAPE will never occur in a battle with a platinum medal result.  



COMBAT STRATEGY

Not all battles have kill'em all as the victory condition so don't forget to check the 
victory condition.  The game becomes really frustrating as you try for the platinum 
medals not to mention all the deductions that seems to come out of nowhere.  The early 
battles will give you as much trouble as the last few battles, since you start with 
jack sh*t and jack just left town.  Here are some tips to help you along before you go 
trigger happy with platinum medals in your sight.


BASIC STRATEGY(ones you should already know)

*As you have seen in many faqs already always draw the enemies to you rather than go 
after them.  AI has an interesting flaw which gives enemy wanzers "7th square 
blindness".  As long as you keep more than 6 squares of distance from the enemy they 
will just sit there in most battles unless they are special wanzers or wanzers with 
certain task(like opening door or destroying obstacle).  This is okay since it's easier 
to take them out from the distance but make sure you activate them in time so they will 
close in saving you a precious turn to go after them.

*Focus your attacks on one opponent.  This also means that you should focus on the 
weakest wanzer even if you have to take some missile damage because even a ejected 
pilot can cause status effect.  Attack them until either they die, surrender(not waving 
flag), or lost both arms.

*Attack with your strongest weapons first.  As I have metioned earlier, any attack, no 
matter the damage, can cause status effect.  Even if there is a special wanzer don't be 
afraid to use missiles or grenades on weaker wanzers to finish them off.  Just don't go 
missile happy when you could have killed the wanzer with a shotgun.  Exception to this 
rule is when you are low on AP.  You'll be fine as long as you have enough AP for at 
least one counter attack or shield.

*Keep your weapon levels just high enough to earn the platinum medals.  You may have 
some walk through that tells you what the required average weapon level for each battle 
is but becareful not to over pump yourself.  If a single pilots gets lucky and deals 
out a lot of death blows he/she may level up high enough to cost you a unnecessary 
deductions.  As a general rule, do not have your average weapon level higher than 5 
percent deduction.  In any battle where you battle against a monster sized wanzers you 
will recieve a sudden surge of experiance so plan for these battles extra carefully.

*Try not to waste time repairing or looking for hidden items on battle field.  If you 
have to repair make sure you move closer to the enemy.  When going for the platinum you 
need to make every attack and counter attack count.  You can't afford to lose any 
attacks just because your ally was out of range.

*If you are stuck on a stage try out different tactics before you decide to raise your 
weapon levels.  It takes several battles before your deduction from average weapon 
level will start going down again. 

*Always take the hill.  Height will improve both your offense and defense.


**LAST MINUTE NOTES FOR THE GOLD EDITION
I made a mistake of sending this faq before I checked for spelling and other mistakes 
so I decided to correct them but I thought I might as well add something while I was 
working on it.  Here is some helpful tidbit that should help you make effective battle 
plans

KNOWN AI FLAWS

<<7th Square Blindness>>
Basically, if an enemy wanzer cannot reach you by taking six steps they tend to ignore 
you completely.  This makes missiles and Heavy-P gun awfully powerful, as a matter of 
fact you can destroy all enemies with just one wanzer on Fukushima battle simulation if 
you equip Heavy-P gun.

<<Items>>
AI of FM3 will not use items.  This doesn't really help unless you want to use the 
items in enemy's backpack.  If AI did use items that would only make grenades more 
powerful since several wanzers would be busy repairing themselves and create sort of a 
technical stun. 

<<Upgrades>>
Enemy pilot that was ejected will not reactivate any of the upgrades upon reboarding 
the wanzer.  This is a double strike against that wanzer because with no Def-C and 
dodge upgrade equals sitting duck.  Apparently ejecting a computer pilot also causes 
their brains to eject at the same time.

<<Obstacles>>
In some battles, few wanzers are programmed to destroy obstacles.  For couple of stages 
this makes sense because obstacles are really blocking their path.  A prime example 
would be the battle in Futai Tunnel from Emma's scenario where the "Elite" Imaginary 
Number squad attacks the guard rails in first few rounds of the battle.  

<<Empty Wanzers>>
For some unexplained reason, ejected pilots will only enter a empty wanzer only if 
there is one right next to them when they were ejected.  Like I said before, ejecting a 
computer pilot seems to eject their brains at the same time.

<<Preprogrammed Actions>>
This flaw is similar to that of wanzers destroying obstacles but slightly different and 
harder to recognize until you replay the same battle several times.  The best example 
would be, from Alisa's scenario, where everyone is trying to escape Japan by using 
hover legs on their wanzers.  
On this stage, the two melee wanzers are programmed to rush and block the path of your 
pilots.  So if you stay in your starting position you would be cornered.  However, if 
you decided to make a run for the water, two melee wanzers will run into the ally as if 
to close off your retreat.  This mistake allows you to reach the water where melee 
wanzers can only stare at you occurs everytime.  If you advance all your wanzers toward 
the water everytime the same wanzers will always take the same action where only one of 
the melee wanzers actually attack you on the first round.
Look for this type of flaws if you have trouble with a particular stage.  Things like 
knowing where the enemy is goint to move can help you avoid them until you are ready. 



EARLY BATTLES

The battles are strangely tough after the first few battles before you are able to 
purchase parts, upgrades, and use much needed simulation.  Be prepared to press the 
reset button!

*Battles are simplified into exchange of blows and there are no means to reduce the 
damage so focus on one unit and always attack from distance except to finish him off.

*Average weapon level is very low so make sure everyone gets a even share of death 
blows to slow down the level progression.  Also, do not use battle simulation too early 
since difference of 1 level can actually cost you 15 percent deduction.

*Since damage cannot be reduced, heal everyone up before you deal the final death blow 
on the last wanzer to reduce average damage.  During the battle, try to hold off on 
using repair items until the last minute.


MID BATTLES

Once you're done with tutorials and have shops accessable in the network things are a 
breeze.  There shouldn't be too much problem as long as you are able to equip your 
wanzer with best parts and weapons money can buy.  As you start gaining additional 
characters make sure they have enough AP to activate the upgrades for the battles where 
you are forced to use them.

*Use Fukushima at the hardest setting on your simulation to save time on keeping the 
levels just high enough.

*Now that you have access to upgrades and shields try not to use any items during 
battles.  If the battle result shows deduction for number of attacks and turns only 
just level up.  

*If you see absolutely no deductions use the simulations to keep the average weapon 
level deduction at 1-3 percent if possible.  This will save time at the end when you 
need to spend hours in the simulation.


FINAL BATTLES

Now you should have your best wanzer setup and have the secrect wanzer.  If you somehow 
screwed up on the network or just forgot to dial for the secret wanzer parts don't 
worry.  In your first few battle in Japan(like the observation tower in Emma's version) 
after coming from DHZ, the secret will be piloted by one of the JDF pilots.  Stealing 
this wanzer will also give you the Heavy-particle Gun.  Towards the end, be careful 
about raising levels because you'll be facing multiple giant sized wanzers that can 
raise your average weapon level too high.

*Make sure the weapons levels of ALL your extra characters are up to par with your main 
characters.  Weak attack will definately screw things up when you are forced to use 
extra characters again.

*To make things easier, have the extra pilots assigned as a replacement for the each of 
your primary pilots if you haven't done so already.  For example, have Yun gain levels 
in Kazuki's wanzer to replace him when the group splits up, and so forth with other 
pilots.

*Try to have at least one <PART>SMASH skills learned by all of the pilots to save time 
and much frustration.  When wanzers start having parts with HP greater than 1K battles 
become longer causing number of turns deduction.    

*Before using missiles check the enemy status to see if they are using shields.  Blast 
these units with grenades and other weapons to weaken their shield arm then use guns or 
missiles to finish off the shield arm. 


Common Answers to Penalties

Penalties doesn't even seem to exist when you first play the game but its annoying 
presence will hound you on you way to platinum medals.  As you play for the platinum it 
seems like you get deductions for anything and everything and makes you wander why 
there was no penalties for buying the game.  Before you get more frustrated here are 
somethings you can do to get rid of those annoying penalties.

1.  Always check the victory condition.  When there is another way to win try to win 
with that condition such as reaching the target area or killing a certain target. 

2.  Choose which weapon you will use when you are trying to finish off a wanzer.  If a 
wanzer has 75 HP for the body with other parts still intact use a burst weapon rather 
than single shot weapon that can hit other body part instead.  This will cut down on 
unnecessary number of attacks and turns.

3.  If an enemy wanzer has a shield use a grenade but if you don't have one you must 
take drastic measures to damage the shield arm.  Attack that wanzer close enough so 
that the enemy will counter attack you.  This will drain that pilots' AP up and leave 
him/her open for rest of your pilots to kill or damage the shield arm.  Do this only if 
you are deducted for taking too many turns.

4.  Use all your weapons.  If you have deductions for average weapon level don't finish 
the battle just using your best weapons.  If you a weapon that is at a very low level 
use that weapon to drop the average weapon level.

5.  Increase your weapon levels to increase your damage.  This will lower the number of 
attacks and turns used.  However, don't increase your weapon level at all in the early 
battles because when allowed weapon level is "2" average weapon level at 3 will give 
you 15% deduction.

6.  Equip the best weapon available.  Forgetting to equip and udgrade will land you in 
a rock and a hard place where you will be penalized for having high average weapon 
level and attacking too many times.  This may happen if you forget to shop before the 
battles.

7.  In stages where you can lose by having your NPCs killed, protect them when there is 
only 1 NPC to protect.  If there are more than 1 NPC fight as normal.

8.  Consider using RANDOM or BODY SMASH if you are deducted for taking too many attacks 
and turns.  During the final battles, if you are faced with too many different kinds of 
deductions single attack kill will reduce deductions tremendously.  This tactic is 
needed when you are facing multiple monster sized wanzers and vehicles and you have 
deductions for average weapon level.

9.  If you have accidently raised the weapon levels too high try switching pilots to 
lower the average weapon level.

10. Keep at least two save files.  You need a separate save file for before and after 
you used battle simulation.  If you couldn't balance out the weapon levels or if it is 
just too high then simply reload. 


Well, That's it for me.  If you need more help you can E-mail me at 
Cancerst1ck@Netzero.net but with all the other good faqs around you shouldn't have to.
I will only answer E-mails that doesn't have a beginner question.  Unless you want to 
use my FAQ on your site or have job offer don't expect a quick reply.  

If you have a problem getting platinum medals in a battle I need the following:

1.  Type and percentage of Deductions
2.  Brief description of your wanzers (must include weapons used by each)
3.  Detailed description of the stage (Don't say I'm stuck in battle #35, be         
descriptive and don't expect me to remember exact details of all the stages)
4.  Description of your opponents  (more details you put the better but I don't need             
things like model names of the waner; just include type of Def-C and HP stats)
5.  Victory condition for the stage and tactics you have used so far.

I will answer depending on how much information you gave me so if you give little or no 
information then I can't help you.

Happy hunting!!

P. S.>>  Check within a week or so for the Platinum Addition.  I will have an extensive 
coverage on everything you wanted to know about battle skills!!
