Armored Core 2: Weapons Guide (PS2) Version 1.4

This document Copyright 2001 "Zaku IX" <ixzaku@optonline.net>

Armored Core 2 is  2000 From Software, Inc.
Armored Core is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment America, Inc.

Foreword: While arguably more useful to newer players, this guide should
          have a few obscure facts thrown in for the more experienced
          players to make it worthwhile. I've basically taken each weapon
          and, at the very least, provided an accurate description of
          the pros and cons associated with it. What I did with most
          weapons, however, was create a set of statistics, and use them
          to complement my notes, as well as make up for the major
          shortcomings in both the in-game rating system, and weapon
          statistics.

Version History: Use this in conjunction with the Table of Contents to
                 find the newest changes quickly.

7/9/01 Version 1.0
* First velease, roughly 80% of what's here is from this version.

7/14/01 Version 1.1
* Slight Alterations, first public release.

7/22/01 Version 1.2
* Corrections
* New topics under Section 4-I created, Section 5 updated to reflect it.

7/25/01 Version 1.3
* Corrections
* New Stats added to Section 2, "Reticle Mobility" and "Precision".
* Section 5 updated.

7/29/01 Version 1.4
* Corrections
* New topic added to Section 4-I.
* Profiled all Optional Parts.
* New Stats added to Section 2, "Recoil Control", and "Accuracy".
* Blade Attacks topic in Section 4-I revised with new info added.
* Canned Updates section, created less clunky Version History.
* Updated Table of Contents to reflect new/moved sections.

Table of Contents:
  1) Legal Info
  2) Statistics Explained
  3) Additional Statistics
  4) Weapons
    4a) Blades
    4b) Shields
    4c) Inside Parts
    4d) Extensions
    4e) Right Arm Weapons
    4f) Back Weapons
    4g) Fixed Arm Weapons
    4h) Optional Parts
    4i) Miscellaneous (or FAQs yet to be asked, but already answered)
  5) Thanks
  6) Contact

******Section 1**********************************************************

Legal Info: While I exclusively hold the right to edit this document,
reproduction of it is generally unrestricted as long as no changes are
made to either the document itself, or any copies of it.

If you see it, like it, and decide that you want to display it on your
own site, you're more than free to do so IF you do it under the
conditions set by the site that you are viewing it from. This means if it
says "no linking", don't link, and so forth.

All that I ask is that you don't change anything about it.

A notification e-mail is courteous, but not necessary. It WILL be your
responsibility to make sure you have the most recent version. Any site
that I personally submit this to doesn't have to worry about that, as I
will ALWAYS provide them with it.

Currently, the only site I am attempting to submit to is GameFAQs
(www.gamefaqs.com). If you want to make sure you have the most current
version, look there.

******Section 2**********************************************************

Statistics Explained: I'm trying to go for only what's involved. I will skip
some more obvious ones, just to save myself the hassle of typing it all when
either the manual or the in-game help system gives an adequate description.
By the way, I alphabetized them since classification was getting too hairy.


Accuracy: This determines how well your blade attacks will be guided.
          The higher this number is, the more reliably your AC will
          target the enemy for sword attacks. Lower numbers can make it
          much more difficult to strike with the blade.
          {Arm Stat}

Ammo Heat: More or less the single round value of "heat damage". Consider
           this number cut in half if you are fighting a Plus that has had
           the third operation performed on them. Heat damage is the amount
           of heat your opponent takes in when hit. The higher it is, the
           closer they will be to overheating, (and if it's high enough,
           it's instant overheating and any values that exceed that
           requirement just make it much harder to cool off), but of course,
           the Radiator they have will work hard to "undo" the heat damage
           after it's been inflicted. By "undo", it will lower the AC's
           temperature, but not undo any damage to the AC's armor.
           {Right Arm Weapon, Arm, Right or Left Back Weapon, Inside Part,
            and Extension Stat}

Ammo Price: Corresponds DIRECTLY to Ammo in that one ammo count is worth
            whichever value is given.
            {Right Arm Weapon, Arm, Right or Left Back Weapon, Inside Part,
             and Extension Stat}
            
Attack Heat: This is how much your opponent heats up when they get hit by
             your sword. Think Ammo Heat here, but for your sword. I'm
             willing to bet that this also gets multiplied if you get a
             nice clean hit.
             {Left Arm Weapon Stat}

Attack Power: This is the raw (usually single round) damage for a weapon.
              What you are not told, however, is how much damage a single
              discharge of a special weapon (usually spread shot) causes.
              In the case of such weapons, I will include the full damage
              of the weapon if the the entire shot were to hit. A good
              thing to remember is that Laserblades which possess this
              stat often multiply it based on how clean the hit is, (and
              are also manipulated by Energy Supply), but energy
              projectiles made by a Laserblade have the power given and
              nothing more.
              {Right or Left Arm Weapon, Arm, Right or Left Back Weapon,
               Inside Part, and Extension Stat}

Bio Sensor: A simple yes or no stat. A part either has it or doesn't.
            What it does depends on what part has it. In back radars, it
            causes Disorder Units to appear on radar, as without a Bio
            Sensor equipped radar, you must locate them visually. In a
            head, it can do that, (providing it has a sensor interval
            greater than zero), and it will let you lock on to Disorder
            Units, whereas an AC that does not have a head equipped with
            a Bio Sensor could not lock on to Disorder Units.
            {Head and Left or Right Back Weapon Stat}

Blade Range: Fairly important notice. While it is self explanatory, the
             sword arms are given in a different scale (1/15) from the
             left arm swords. From Software apparently forgot to
             translate the stats for those arms. The stat itself is
             rather self explanatory. The higher the number, the longer
             the blade. Longer blades obviously have a better striking
             distance which makes them easier to hit with.
             {Left Arm Weapon Stat}

Discharge Heat: I don't think it's important, but it's the heat your sword
                or shield generates. The values are all really small, but
                I guess they wont help when you're already overheating.
                {Left Arm Weapon Stat}

Energy Supply: This affects the attack/defense stats of sword/shield
               weapons. The higher this is, the more potent your sword
               and shield will be.
               {Arm Stat}

Lock Speed: This dictates how quickly your missile weapons will lock on
            to their targets. The lower this number is, the faster they
            will lock. This isn't really important if you use single lock
            missiles, but eight or twelve lock types can definitely
            benefit from having a low lock speed.
            {FCS Stat}

Maximum Lock: The most locks you'll EVER get out of a weapon. However,
              to find out how many locks you're capable of with a given
              weapon, take the lower of the two Maximum Lock numbers,
              (from the FCS and weapon in question). Even if a weapon
              is designed for many locks, it cannot lock more times
              than your FCS.
              {Right or Left Back Weapon, Arm, and FCS Stat}

Precision: After a lot of play testing, I have to conclude that this is
           strictly the ability of the FCS to compensate for movement.
           In this case, the results of my testing have suggested that
           a higher number will make your weaponry more accurate against
           moving, particularly quick moving targets.
           {FCS Stat}

Range: There are two places where you'll find this stat, and in each, it
       has a slightly different meaning. Range with a weapon is the
       effective distance it has, or to say how long the shot will travel
       before it fizzles. On a FCS, it's the maximum range from which you
       can lock on to your opponent. Even if your FCS has LESS range than
       the weapon, you would still be able to hit a target outside of
       that range, so long as it does not exceed the range of your weapon.
       If the weapon's range is less than the FCS range, the FCS will
       revert to the weapon's range, (hint hint guys, don't equip
       DOX-ELENA with a handgun).
       {Right Arm Weapon, Arm, Right or Left Back Weapon, Inside Part,
        Extension, and FCS Stat}

Recoil Control: What recoil? None of the right arm weapons have it.
                Despite that, I gave this one a few shots... honestly
                noticed no difference whatsoever in how my Right Arm
                Weapons performed.
                {Arm Stat}

Reload Time: Specifically, the time needed for a reload. Even if you don't
             know what the unit given is, you know that whatever it is will
             be proportional. Lower numbers are better here. Additionally,
             for weapons that function as missiles, it's the time between
             launches.
             {Right Arm Weapon, Arm, Right or Left Back Weapon, Inside Part,
              and Extension Stat}

Reticle Mobility: This appears to be the speed of the reticle when, and
                  only when you lock on with missiles. The reticle in
                  question is the little diamond that appears in front of
                  your AC, and then finds its way to an enemy within the
                  range of the FCS. Once it reaches its target, the lock
                  process begins. Higher numbers are good here.
                  {FCS Stat}

Weapon Lock: The size manipulation of your FCS for using the weapon. In
             other words, it will either make your FCS bigger, smaller, not
             affect it at all, or make it a tiny bit smaller. Those stats
             are respectively, Wide and Shallow, Narrow and Deep, Standard,
             and Special.
             {Right Arm Weapon, Arm, and Right or Left Back Weapon Stat}

******Section 3**********************************************************

Additional Statistics: This section will explain some stats that I use, but
the game does not- stats that I think more accurately describe weapons.
Such stats assume several things, and those things, along with the actual
calculations are given here for your convenience.

One VERY important thing to remember is that ALL stats which are calculated
through a formula involving the number of Ammo a given weapon has will be
affected if either, two of the same, or both Magazines are equipped. For a
good estimate, you could simply take that stat and add the given percentage
increase to it, but for the truly accurate count, you should replace the
Ammunition part of the formula with the increased number of ammo after
using the Magazine.

Yet another important note is that all energy weapons' stats are calculated
as if NONE of the optional parts were equipped, which means they can be
very much affected by them. Keep that in mind when trying to select a
weapon that's right for your AC.

And yet ANOTHER note... (I promise, this is the last one!!!), Missiles
are compared to MISSILES, and not other weapons. I say this because there
simply is no reliable way to calculate their stats so they could be
compared to weapons that don't require a certain amount of time to lock on.
You'll have to use common sense to do that, and there just isn't a formula
for common sense. I've done as much as I could by supplying a relative
lock speed.

Without any more diversions, here are the statistics.

Burst Power: The calculation of the full damage of a spreadfire weapon i.e.
             the Slug Gun, Shotgun, Bombs (others too). The assumption is
             that every round that is part of the burst hits. This stat is
             only used on weapons it applies to. It very directly
             corresponds to ONE unit of ammunition.

Burst Heat: Same as the above, but measuring heat.

Potential Damage: This is a simple "Ammo" multiplied by "Attack Power"
                  formula. It does not make provisions for heat damage, or
                  additional single round damage such as that caused by
                  the Karasawa's shock wave. Such a calculation does not
                  take missed shots into consideration, which isn't so much
                  an assumption as it is a matter of sticking to the
                  definition of potential. It is the full damage that a
                  weapon will inflict if every last shot hits in entirety.

Offensive Edge: Not to be confused with Offensive Point, this is the
                measurement of damage over time. This stat is obtained
                by dividing a time period of 255 by the current weapon's
                reload time, then rounding down to the nearest number,
                or just ignoring the decimal value, however you choose to
                view it. That number is multiplied by the attack power,
                or burst power if it applies. It does, of course, assume
                that you are constantly firing, and that no extra space
                is put in between you and your target. The stat when
                given for missiles is given as Maximum Volley Offensive
                Edge. Minimum Volley Offensive Edge will be given too.
                If a missile only locks once, you get plain old Offensive
                Edge. This stat should really help you when thinking in
                terms of one on one combat when enemies could actually
                survive for a long period of time.

Accumulative Heat: The same as Offensive Edge, but given in terms of Heat
                   as opposed to damage. Because of this, the calculation
                   is the same as the above, but with Attack Power, or
                   Burst Power, as the case may be, replaced with Ammo
                   Heat, and its burst counterpart, err... burst heat.
                   Just like Offensive Edge, this stat will be given for
                   the maximum and minimum volley of a multiple lock
                   missile. Likewise, it does not account for the time
                   it takes to acquire a lock.

Lasting Power: A simple calculation with "Reload" multiplied by the
               "Ammo" to come up with a number. Not sure what the units
               will be, since I haven't found out what unit AC uses for
               reload yet (heh). The assumption here is that you never
               take your finger off the trigger and thus fire as quickly
               as possible. The idea of this one is to let you know how
               long your weapon lasts even when someone, (namely me), is
               desperately trying to empty it as quickly as possible.
               Minimum and Maximum Volley versions of this stat are
               supplied for multiple lock missiles.

Total Cost: Yet another simple calculation, this time consisting of "Ammo"
            Price" multiplied by the amount of "Ammo". There is no
            assumption here, as it is, much like Potential Damage, defined
            as the maximum possible cost.

Energy Consumption: Like Offensive Edge, but it tells you how much energy
                    you will use in that given time frame. Even though
                    many energy weapons aren't meant for constant firing,
                    it complements the Offensive Edge statistic. It is,
                    of course assumed that the attacking side does not
                    refrain from firing for as much as a nanosecond more
                    than they have to.

I may think up more of these as I go along and find yet more things wrong
with the AC2 in-game rating system. Or maybe I wont.

******Section 4**********************************************************

Weapons: This section is going to be divided into several sub sections.
That will hopefully make it much easier to classify weapons. All Right
Arm, Back Unit, Extension, and Inside Part weapons will have new stats
listed for them, all derived from the previous section. None of the
stats you could get by pressing Triangle while viewing a part will be
listed outside of the summary, (and in that case, I'd probably try to
use relative terms and not numbers unless it's really important).

Lastly, _please_ look at Section 3 of this guide for an explanation of
all the statistics I use here.

~~~~~Section 4-A~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Blades: There are no more than five blades to use, and each has varying
statistics that I'll spare you of (really, they're self-explanatory
enough). "Plus Blade" refers to the blade generated when a Level 2 Plus
uses the sword and adds energy to the blade (by pressing X during the
slash) to create a projectile. When talking about the blade itself (and
not the Plus Blade), I mean potential damage, since it is possible to
end up doing less damage if you don't score a clean hit.

"ELS-2772"
This orange blade is the one you start with. It boasts the longest range
(though honestly not by that much), and the lowest weight. Accordingly, it
is the weakest. I consider it the very bare minimum requirement for most
missions, especially those with many non-enemy targets. Lots of ammo could
be a substitute, but this weapon is very reliable.

-Plus Blade: When used by a Level 2 Plus, this sword can create a small
orange energy plane, which strikes from much farther than the blade itself,
but is also much weaker. Of course, you could use it while normally slicing
somebody for more damage. Again, you can only do that if you have had the
Plus operation done twice.

"ELS-3443"
This green blade trades just a bit of range for more power, and actually
drains less than the above blade when used. It is slightly heavier though.
It is a good choice for missions, having sufficient power to defeat weaker
enemies very easily.

-Plus Blade: When used by a Level 2 Plus, this sword can be used to make
three green energy planes that fire out in a fan trajectory. Used up close
and combined with the blade itself, you could do serious damage with an
apparently weak blade.

"ZLS-T/100"
This triple bladed pink sword has noticeably less range than either of the
above, but offers impressive power (more than the last two), at the cost
of weight and a higher drain in addition to diminished range. This is a
good choice for Arena participation more than missions, but that's not to
say there wont be any tough cookies to be fought in missions. Overall, a
very well rounded sword.

-Plus Blade: A larger, single pink energy plane can be made with this
sword. It is of course, significantly weaker than the actual blade.

"LS-MOONLIGHT"
Despite being watered down, the awe-inspiring blue sword still reigns as
the best. Possessing nearly twice as much power as the previous sword, it
is a luxury on Missions, but very helpful in the Arena. It weighs in at
almost triple the previous sword as well. Gone is its once impressively
low drain, though it still drains just a bit less than the T/100 sword.
The range is equivalent to that of the 3443.

-Plus Blade: A huge plane of blue energy can be made with this sword,
although it's not as bright, nor does it explode as violently as it used
to. It also does NOT do 3000-4000 AP damage anymore. Like the previous
swords, the power is proportional to the blade itself, but it's most
likely the same small scale.

"ZLS-400/SL"
This irregular sword enjoys no benefits from any Plus Upgrades. Instead
of slicing with a blade, this sword creates a yellow disk like energy
plane akin to the Plus Blade made with all of the other swords. The
severe toning down of this type of blade hits this one hard, as it is
heavier than the T/100 blade, though by far not as heavy as the
MOONLIGHT, it would only be marginally stronger than the T/100 (talking
in terms of energy plane to energy plane, since the T/100's actual blade
dwarfs this thing in power). To justify the low power, this blade can be
used to make energy planes even in the air. Very enticing to use as a
regular pilot, but if you are a Plus, you probably don't need it unless
you're hell bent on throwing these things in the air. Either way, this
sword has the highest usage drain of all. Be careful with it.

~~~~~Section 4-B~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Shields: There are only four shields to be acquired and/or used. Ideally,
these would be given to ACs with a great amount of Ammo for use in
Missions. Generally, you can afford to be more lenient with ammo in Arena
battles, so you don't have to design your AC to have huge amounts of ammo
to use these there.

Another thing to chew on is the fact that if you have enough of your
Generator's Energy Output left over, you can recover energy WHILE using
the Shields. Be careful though, since movement will stress your Generator
in some cases, enough to actually make the shields start draining. Using
your boosters while shielding will drain under ANY circumstances, and it
will drain FAST. Be careful.

"EES-2555"
Plain and boring little shield emits a yellow energy barrier that shields
the AC's forearm. Coverage is so-so, shell defense is so-so, energy
defense isn't too bad, and drain is extremely low. Weight itself is also
not bad, weighing in as the lightest of the shields. Good for slow ACs
generally, but usable by quicker ones. If you can't use a better shield
for any reason other than you want to pack on as many weapons as you can,
you better change this to the ELS-2772 because chances are you'll run out
of ammo and be left defenseless otherwise. In an Arena Battle, this isn't
as much of a risk.

"EES-777LAR"
This shield offers much better shell defense than the previous one, and
quite a bit more energy defense as well, just not as much of a boost, but
drains yet more, and is also a bit heavier. The shield emitted is blue,
and covers roughly the same area as the previous one. This shield is a
much better balanced version of the 2555, so if you can fit it on, do so,
but make sure you are more than covered in the ammo department.

"ZES-500/SU"
Quite possibly the best shield in terms of balance. Both types of defense
are boosted, especially energy defense, but it has the highest drain of
all, yet thankfully not the heaviest weight, even if it is heavier than the
777LAR. One big perk is the incredible coverage you get from this shield, so
think about that while your energy gauge is draining faster than anything
you ever saw. I cannot stress enough though, your need to have a lot of ammo
if you make this commitment.

"ZES-99-MIRROR"
This shield emits a green barrier that absorbs the most damage, of either
type, making it the absolute most defensive of all. It is 100 WP heavier,
but drains just a bit less than the previous shield. Coverage is better
than usual, but not as good as the 500/SU. I can wholeheartedly recommend
any tank that uses the Moonlight to drop it in favor of this unless they
are truly deprived in the ammo department. The nigh 300 WP you are given
back can be put towards yet more weaponry, hopefully shutting out any
ideas of running out before you're done with your job.

~~~~~Section 4-C~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inside Parts: Often overlooked and underestimated, these parts are
generally light, and have varying uses. Believe me when I tell you nothing
is worthless here. Unlike any other weapons, inside parts always fire
backwards. Keep that in mind.

"INW-DEC-00A"
Type: Decoy Dispenser
Total Cost: 1680

This part and the next are probably the most widely used. They set decoys
right behind your AC when "fired". This decoy will attract missiles to it,
thus aiding you in your dodging efforts. A single decoy can fool as many
missiles as are launched at it, providing it doesn't blow up, which it
will do after a short time. Its life span is typically long enough to last
against a volley of missiles.

"INW-DEC-M02"
Type: Decoy Dispenser
Total Cost: 2800

More or less the exact same thing as the above, except it has more ammo,
and thus weighs more, and drains more energy. Use this whenever possible
over the previous part, unless you can't take the weight and/or energy
drain.

"INW-EM-RRD"
Type: ECM Maker
Total Cost: 6525

This is an interesting little part. First, it is a bit pricey. Second, it
has limited ammo. It does do a lot of good though. When you launch one of
these, it breaks all locks within a certain range. If you stay near it,
the opponent cannot lock onto you. Like the previous part, it does blow
up after a while, but you have plenty of them.

"INW-DM-PUPPET"
Type: Dummy Maker
Total Cost: 6720

This is good to bring into battle against a human competitor. The CPU
always knows where you are, regardless of what the Radar it may or may
not have tells it. This item fools the Radar by sending out a dummy which
emits a signal just like that of your AC. Enough of these at once will
make you VERY hard to find. Like the previous parts, the Dummy will blow
up after a while.

"INW-BD-X22"
Type: Bomb Dispenser
Burst Power: 4080
Burst Heat: 978
Potential Damage: 81600
Offensive Edge: 4080
Accumulative Heat: 978
Lasting Power: 3000
Total Cost: 4800

Probably the most underestimated part. It dumps six bombs outwards,
which fall to the ground and explode. While it's near impossible to hit
someone behind you with this weapon, it is very easy to hit someone in
front of you if you boost backward along the ground and drop it.
Of course they'll have to be very close, so it's ideal to use against
aggressive enemies like Merciless, for example. Just don't drop them on
yourself! Also, the higher you are when you drop these, the farther
they spread.

"INW-BD-XVX"
Type: Plasma Dispenser
Burst Power: 4440
Burst Heat: 504
Potential Damage: 266400
Offensive Edge: 4440
Accumulative Heat: 504
Lasting Power: 9000
Energy Consumption: 1200

A vastly superior version of the previous weapon. It's a bit heavier, and
drains energy, but you get three times the ammo, and a higher attack
power. Usage is the same as the last weapon.

"INW-DM/R11"
Type: Mine Dispenser
Potential Damage: 118000
Offensive Edge: 7375
Accumulative Heat: 1315
Lasting Power: 3600
Total Cost: 32000

VERY expensive. Normally, these are dropped insanely high. If you drop
them while moving backwards, they'll drop lower. Low enough to do some
huge damage to any AC that walks into them. Tanks, however, can sneak
under them UNLESS they happen to be boosting, where they'd probably get
hit. Useful if laid out strategically, or else they're just a waste of
valuable space.

~~~~~Section 4-D~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Extensions: Very useful, very popular, these plug into the hardpoints on
your AC's shoulders. They come in three types, each with at least two
parts varied enough to warrant usage. While very light, none of these are
standalone weapons, but they can give you a huge boost in combat.

"BEX-BB210"
Type: Back Booster

Useful little part. When activated, it pushes you back suddenly in a short
burst. This obviously has many uses, since the boost is so spontaneous. It
can do such things as fake out the opponent's FCS, or even your opponents
themselves. Great for otherwise immobile ACs.

"BEX-BD150"
Type: Dive Booster

This part is more helpful to those who enjoy flying. It will give you a
quick drop in altitude, enabling you to shake off many things, including
missiles, and approaching opponents. Using it on the ground is pointless,
but funny.

"BEX-BRM-04"
Type: Relation Missile
Potential Damage: 21840
Total Cost: 12560

This is a very popular part. When used, it interfaces with any weapon that
uses the AC's FCS to program a guided projectile. This includes all
missiles, and the Orbit Cannon, but NOT the Pursuit Missiles, since they
are guided by whatever targeting system their home pod uses. So, once you
toggle it on, and fire one of those weapons, it will launch four missiles
along with whatever your weapon launched. Two weapons, (the S608 and S612
back missiles), allow this weapon to fire twice for the same launch since
they fire constantly for longer than the duration of its reload when
locked on eight times or more. Of course, that would mean expending almost
half of your supply with one launch.

"BEX-BRM-02"
Type: Relation Missile
Potential Damage: 9240
Total Cost: 8960

This is more or less the same as the previous weapon, except it fires
weaker missiles with more than 1.5 times the range. It also fires two at
once when triggered, as opposed to four. Having the same reload time, it
can be made to fire twice from the same launch as the above extension
can. The reason to use this is either if you're pressed for weight, or
if you just want to spread out your relation missile launches as it has
the same number of ammo, but just goes through it more slowly. It also
uses cheaper ammo.

"EEX-AM45"
Type: Anti Missile
Total Cost: 4080

This is the least taxing Anti Missile you could equip, in terms of weight,
drain, and expenses. It serves as a shield against enemy missiles, by
aiming at and shooting them down when they are within range. By toggling
the extension on, it will scan for incoming missiles, and upon detecting
them, it will launch missiles of its own to counter them. It does not work
perfectly, however, it does help you out tremendously. The missiles it
counters are of the missile projectile type, not weapon type, so it will
NOT counter the Orbit Cannons, but it WILL counter Pursuit Missiles.

"ZEX-RS/HOUND"
Type: Anti Missile
Total Cost: 5440

Better quality than the above, being capable of doing a better job all
around. Being a better all around product, it has more expensive ammo, and
is a bit heavier, plus it drains more.

"BEX-BAMS-287"
Type: Anti Missile
Total Cost: 8000

Does the best overall job of shooting down missiles, at the most expensive
cost, for the most weight, and highest energy drain of the solid anti
missiles.

"ZEX-AL/REX"
Type: Anti Missile

Unlike all the previous Anti Missiles, this one intercepts with lasers,
for a more immediate interception, and a free one at that. The stats are
not up to par with the solid interceptors, but for free, you really can't
complain.

~~~~~Section 4-E~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Right Arm Weapons: Often thought of as the main weapon of the AC, being the
one selected by default. All sorts of weapons fall into this category, each
with their own class, and specialties. Weapon type is kept handy as it was
in the previous sub sections, for those of you who haven't committed every
part to memory.

"ZWG-RF/37"
Type: Rifle
Potential Damage: 36540
Offensive Edge: 1421
Accumulative Heat: 637
Lasting Power: 5940
Total Cost: 3600

This isn't a terrible weapon if you have patience, and a moderate amount of
weight to spare. I'd think twice about taking this into the Arena, since
its main redeeming factors really only apply to missions. It is a good
weapon for use in most Missions, particularly those with many weak enemies.

"EWG-RF-M15"
Type: Rifle
Potential Damage: 41550
Offensive Edge: 2216
Accumulative Heat: 1104
Lasting Power: 4500
Total Cost: 7500

The tweaked stats on this Rifle make it a good offensive weapon, but also
much easier to empty out, as well as more expensive to use. It is light,
which makes it an easy enough weapon to just grab with whatever WP you
have left over. While the hiked up price and lower ammo don't necessarily
make it as mission friendly as say, the previous weapon, the potential
damage is something worth thinking about.

"EWG-RF-M35"
Type: Rifle
Potential Damage: 45000
Offensive Edge: 2025
Accumulative Heat: 1008
Lasting Power: 5600
Total Cost: 9000

The best thing about this one is the potential damage, thanks in no
small part to the high ammo count. This boosts many important
aspects as well, giving it the reputation for being a balanced
weapon. It also boasts the fastest reload of all rifles, which makes
it almost as deadly as the previous one.

"ZWG-SRF/8"
Type: Sniper Rifle
Potential Damage: 41680
Offensive Edge: 2605
Accumulative Heat: 465
Lasting Power: 3520
Total Cost: 7200

The nature of this weapon makes such things as offensive edge, and
lasting power somewhat useless, as it is supposed to be a weapon
of opportunity. It's an accurate weapon with limited ammo. Note the
phenomenal range of this weapon. I seriously wouldn't even think
about putting this on a Heavy AC despite the weight of the weapon
itself. You need the mobility to keep the enemy in your sight, as
well as to keep them away with this.

"EWG-SRF-9"
Type: Sniper Rifle
Potential Damage: 36480
Offensive Edge: 2432
Accumulative Heat: 528
Lasting Power: 3120
Total Cost: 6000

This rifle leans more towards the heavy weapon category with its
higher single round damage. Being a Sniper Rifle, it's still good
at a distance, but the range is diminished, in order to offset
the damage. It's bound to be the more popular of the two,
especially with its lower weight and lower total ammo cost.

"ZWF-S/NIGHT"
Type: Sniper Rifle
Potential Damage: 24560
Offensive Edge: 3684
Accumulative Heat: 93
Lasting Power: 1300
Energy Consumption: 5040

Probably the most deadly of the Sniper Rifles. Being energy based
gives it one weakness, which is that it needs energy to be fired,
but on the other hand, the single round damage, accuracy, and all
around good range (though the poorest of all Sniper Rifles) make
it a weapon to be careful of. Potential damage is rather low,
which affects the mission performance (that and having 20 shots
to its name). It is the lightest Sniper Rifle as well.

"EWG-MGA2"
Type: Machine Gun
Potential Damage: 47250
Offensive Edge: 5355
Accumulative Heat: 1428
Lasting Power: 2250
Total Cost: 8100

Getting into deadly territory, which is good. This weapon is a
good one to put on mobile ACs that can keep the opponent within
their targeting box relatively easily. It has a very high single
round attack power for a Machine Gun, but at the same time, has
a good load of ammunition, as well as some decent lasting power.
It does run your ammo bill up very quickly though, but in the
end, not much more than the average weapon.

"ZWG-AR/K"
Type: Machine Gun
Potential Damage: 27300
Offensive Edge: 7735
Accumulative Heat: 2210
Lasting Power: 900
Total Cost: 4500

This is a lovely little weapon. It's not too expensive to use,
and does damage very quickly, in addition to its rampant
overheating abilities. It doesn't last long, and wont do much
damage in the long run, but if it did, it wouldn't be a very
balanced weapon, now would it? The stats speak for themselves
on this one.

"EWG-MGSAW"
Type: Machine Gun
Potential Damage: 65000
Offensive Edge: 3315
Accumulative Heat: 1632
Lasting Power: 5000
Total Cost: 10000

This is the weakest of all machine guns, showing its true
value to those patient enough to wait it out with both a
long lasting power, and great potential damage. A very
practical choice if you're thinking about grabbing a
shield.

"ZWG-MG/ENE"
Type: Energy Machine Gun
Potential Damage: 36600
Offensive Edge: 6222
Accumulative Heat: 408
Lasting Power: 1500
Energy Consumption: 34680

You'll notice a couple of common properties of energy weapons here,
particularly poor ammo heat, and of course, now energy consumption.
This one is an interesting concept. Sort of a double edged sword.
The offensive edge is charming, but the accumulative heat is not.
Potential damage is okay, lasting power is so so. Energy consumption
is a bit annoying, and I can only urge you to take very good Generator
if you are going to consider this heavy machine gun. Thankfully, it
will not cost you a single credit to fire. Plus, it's energy damage,
which can be good or bad depending on your opponent's armor. Don't
know why it's so heavy though. Slap on the energy weapon enhancing
option parts to make it worth its weight. Oh yeah, since it does
drain, be careful if you want to use it while flying... or else
you'll end up having to charge all the way up.

"EWG-HG-51"
Type: Handgun
Potential Damage: 17500
Offensive Edge: 2100
Accumulative Heat: 1584
Lasting Power: 2000
Total Cost: 6600

All in all, not a very good weapon. But then again, at that weight, it's
to be expected. Note the high accumulative heat, as well as the marginal
offensive edge and lasting power. Despite an annoyingly high price, this
is a good weapon to equip if you really want to sacrifice raw power for
speed or a good Generator, or whatever. One thing the stats don't tell
you is that this weapon has a good stun value, a common feature of
handguns. Therefore, it's not a complete waste in the Arena either.

"EWG-HG-ART"
Type: Handgun
Potential Damage: 14475
Offensive Edge: 1930
Accumulative Heat: 2550
Lasting Power: 1875
Total Cost: 6375

I'd say that accumulative heat is where this one excels. It is the
lightest of all Right Arm Weapons, but still has good performance to
back it up. High Attack Power, as well as high Ammo Heat help to make
it what it is in spite of low ammo. In all other areas, it's only
marginally worse than the previous gun, but is cheaper to use,
although not by much. The stun value of this weapon makes it quite
annoying combined with the heat.

"ZWG-HG/111"
Type: Handgun
Potential Damage: 27000
Offensive Edge: 2970
Accumulative Heat: 2090
Lasting Power: 2200
Total Cost: 7400

The best, albeit heaviest Handgun in terms of balance. Attack Power
and Ammo are at their peak, accumulative heat is somewhere between the
other two, lasting power beats the other two, (thanks to a slower
reload however), and all that means this is one good weapon for its
low weight. Mind you that I say that with regards to it as a weapon
for use on missions. Arena Combat is another story. The stun value
will get you somewhere, but a powerful Heavy AC will be able to take
you out long before it helps, well, that and you wont have an easy
time stunning a heavy AC. Not with this weapon, anyway. Drop this
to one of the other two if you need free weight for stronger back
weapons.

"EWG-BZ-B1100"
Type: Bazooka
Potential Damage: 57200
Offensive Edge: 4290
Accumulative Heat: 1122
Lasting Power: 2600
Total Cost: 6560

Nasty weapon. This is a great weapon for a heavy AC. Slow traveling
shots, big damage, decent ammo, not insanely expensive either. It has
the potential to do a lot of damage, but it's better suited for large,
durable targets so as not to waste the attack power of the weapon by
killing little disorder units three or four times over with a single
shot. You get the idea. Guard your ammo well. Note the stun value in
addition. That's a common characteristic of Bazookas.

"ZWG-BZ/555"
Type: Bazooka
Potential Damage: 61200
Offensive Edge: 6120
Accumulative Heat: 1359
Lasting Power: 2250
Total Cost: 5550

Offensive Edge seems fishy, and if it does, it's because I'm rounding
down to the nearest whole shot before multiplying. That's why it's
seemingly disproportionate between the two bazookas. So while if more
time were a factor, you'd see the weapons a LOT closer together, it
isn't. Anyhow, this is best described as high risk, high reward. Ten
less shots, for a considerable boost in damage. As you can see,
thanks to the potential damage stat, the missing ten shots don't
really keep this weapon down. Offensive edge is vicious as well. The
main form of balance on this weapon is the tiny targeting box.

"ZWG-BZ/HYDRA"
Type: Spread Bazooka
Burst Power: 1680
Burst Heat: 324
Potential Damage: 36960
Offensive Edge: 6720
Accumulative Heat: 1296
Lasting Power: 1276
Total Cost: 8140

In all fairness, a unique weapon. It fires three shots at once,
meaning heavy damage up close, and a chance at smaller damage from
far away. The spread feature makes it harder to dodge, and it's
very nicely balanced by a low ammo count, thus potential damage.
Not only does it empty quickly, but it is also the second heaviest
of all handheld weapons.

"EWG-GS970"
Type: Shotgun
Burst Power: 852
Burst Heat: 150
Potential Damage: 40896
Offensive Edge: 4260
Accumulative Heat: 750
Lasting Power: 2304
Total Cost: 5664

Useful little spread shot weapon. This one has a decent punch up close,
and all in all okay power from far away, depending on how many shells
hit. For what it does, it does it rather well. The ammo cost is nice and
low, compared to some of the other weapons. As a spread shot weapon, it
could hurt a few enemies from far away, somewhat evenly, making it good
for mission use. In the Arena, you probably want to be up close and
personal to deal the most damage.

"EWG-GSH8"
Type: Shotgun
Burst Power: 1504
Burst Heat: 288
Potential Damage: 54144
Offensive Edge: 6016
Accumulative Heat: 1152
Lasting Power: 1980
Total Cost: 5112

This one is quite a bit more deadly. Unlike the previous shotgun, this
one has a burst count of 8. It has a bit less range, as well as
noticeably less ammunition. The fact that each shell fired is deadlier
makes the increased burst count even more effective.

"EWG-XP1500"
Type: Pulse Rifle
Potential Damage: 29760
Offensive Edge: 3472
Accumulative Heat: 644
Lasting Power: 2160
Energy Consumption: 16100

Pulse Rifles really got toned down in this game. Use with option parts
or not at all. Weight is a huge perk, however, so when you can't get
something better to fit, you can use this. Another perk is that it's
a relatively easy to use energy weapon, which means that not only will
you not pay a single credit for using it, but you'll also not have to
worry about suddenly running out of energy unless you're careless.

"ZWG-XP/400"
Type: Pulse Rifle
Potential Damage: 46950
Offensive Edge: 2191
Accumulative Heat: 280
Lasting Power: 5400
Energy Consumption: 10500

This one is a much better mission candidate, but is also heavier, and
weaker. Single Round damage is higher, but the reload is intolerably
slow. As with the last one, use this with option parts. The big perk
with this pulse rifle is that it lasts much longer than the above,
and can do a lot more damage given the time, and still costs nothing.
The lower fire rate keeps energy consumption nice and low too.

"KARASAWA-MK2"
Type: Laser Rifle
Potential Damage: 79000
Offensive Edge: 6320
Accumulative Heat: 272
Lasting Power: 2650
Energy Consumption: 13120

There isn't much to say here. It's the Karasawa. Use it reasonably
competently and watch stuff blow up. IMO needs to weigh about 500 WP
more. The most it has going against it is the high single shot drain
which even then, thanks to a somewhat more reasonable reload, though
still unjust, doesn't drain too quickly under reasonable use. Did I
mention that it stuns? As a mission weapon, this is probably more
than you'll need. Even with just fifty shots, it should prove useful
for most missions, but you'll want to keep some extra firepower with
you just in case.

"ZWG-HC-IR/K99"
Type: Plasma Rifle
Potential Damage: 30180
Offensive Edge: 5030
Accumulative Heat: 164
Lasting Power: 1104
Energy Consumption: 19800

No. This weapon doesn't suck. Anything following the Karasawa is bound
to look like it does. Well, weighing in at 777, it isn't all bad. High
single round damage, low ammo, slow, slow reload. That sums it up. It
does offer better range than the Karasawa though. Good midweight weapon,
even fits on lightweights.

"EWG-HC-GN210"
Type: Grenade Rifle
Potential Damage: 58000
Offensive Edge: 5800
Accumulative Heat: 1900
Lasting Power: 2400
Total Cost: 16400

This weapon's almost as heavy as the Karasawa, but heats the enemy up
very nicely. Not quite as unbalanced as the Karasawa though. Though
significantly slower than the K99, it doesn't really show that until
another shot or two, where the K99 will officially beat it. It happens
to be quite an expensive weapon to use.

"EWG-HC-RAW"
Type: Hand Rocket
Potential Damage: 52020
Offensive Edge: 14450
Accumulative Heat: 2880
Lasting Power: 774
Total Cost: 5040

This is one deadly weapon. Not only is it the second most powerful
Right Arm Unit, it also runs at a very low cost. This deadly
weapon fires two shots at once, but it also subtracts two counts
for that, so it's not a burst fire weapon. It is extremely vicious
because of that. How is such a fierce weapon balanced? No locking
mechanism whatsoever. Better sharpen those manual aiming skills.

"EWG-FTG500"
Type: Flamethrower
Potential Damage: 188000
Offensive Edge: 19975
Accumulative Heat: 14195
Lasting Power: 2400
Total Cost: 8000

While the stats may be impressive, keep in mind that like the previous
weapon, this does not lock on, and also note the range of 48. Aside
from the obvious fact that you must be very close to use it, you also
have to manage to keep the flames on your opponent to keep doing the
damage. In all likelihood, you'll never get to do the potential
damage, or keep the majority of the offensive edge from going to
waste. You see, to use this weapon in short bursts will yield better
results than spraying it around against an active opponent.

~~~~~Section 4-F~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back Weapons: These parts plug into either (and sometimes both) of the
hardpoints on the back of your AC's torso for some over-the-shoulder
firing. Some of these are so powerful that you have to kneel to fire them
lest they knock you over (or at least that's what would happen if the game
let you do it). However, having a fourth Plus Operation performed on your
pilot would somehow eliminate all recoil, thus correcting the problem.

"EWM-S602"
Type: Small Missile
Potential Damage: 18720
Lock Speed: Normal
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 3120
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 6240
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 580
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 1160
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 1344
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 672
Total Cost: 3360

This would be your default missile launcher. Not much potential damage,
not much lasting power, not expensive at all. In fact, this is your below
average launcher. It is light, which will hopefully justify its use. As
a missile launcher, it has to acquire a lock for each missile it fires,
and missiles, as projectiles generally do track fairly well, but are
easily tricked given ample time. Also, they can be shot down by extension
anti missiles, or the core's anti-missile gun, if it has one.

"EWM-S608"
Type: Small Missile
Potential Damage: 37440
Lock Speed: Barely Slower than Normal
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 2340
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 18720
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 435
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 3480
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 3360
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 420
Total Cost: 6720

There are some obvious perks to this launcher. It launches the exact same
missiles as the above launcher, but has different properties. First of
all, it holds double the ammo, and can lock up to eight times, vastly
increasing its usefulness although the ever so slightly slower lock speed
means you'll have to wait quite a while to reach that potential. This one
is probably most easily used like a high ammo version of the above weapon,
but if you have the chance to acquire eight locks, unleashing all those
missiles can be a daunting sight. Note the significantly slower reload
though. Also note that this is capable of triggering your Relation Missile
twice if you fire enough missiles (8) to last through its reload in one
volley.

"EWM-S612"
Type: Small Missile
Potential Damage: 46800
Lock Speed: Fast
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 3900
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 46800
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 725
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 8700
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 2880
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 240
Total Cost: 8400

The best, and of course, heaviest small missile launcher. Not only does it
lock very quickly, but it can lock up to twelve times. Top it off with yet
more ammo, and a FASTER reload time, and this one is a winner. Like the
previous launcher, if you can lock and fire eight missiles, you'll be able
to trigger your relation missile twice if you use it with this deadly
weapon. This one also fires the exact same missiles as the previous
launchers, so while it has the potential to cost more, it's still a very
good deal if you're worried about money.

"ZWM-M24/IMU"
Type: Multi Missile
Burst Power: 3920
Burst Heat: 1240
Potential Damage: 54880
Lock Speed: Fast
Offensive Edge: 15680
Accumulative Heat: 4960
Lasting Power: 728
Total Cost: 15750

These are very pricey missiles. They are also interesting in design, in
the sense that they start off as one missile, but once they get within a
certain range of the enemy, they split into four missiles. Unfortunately,
they don't always hit, because the bottom missile (they fly in a cross
formation) has a tendency to hit the floor and not the opponent, but that
can be rectified by shooting from way above. The range lets you get very
far away for just that. Oh, and yes. These work wonderfully at draining
enemy missile interceptors, providing 56 missiles when all is said and
done.

"EWM-M444"
Type: Vertical Missile
Potential Damage: 25440
Lock Speed: Normal
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 4240
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 16960
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 1000
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 4000
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 1368
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 342
Total Cost: 9960

These are okay missiles. They launch upwards, soar really high, and rain
down. Two things: One, beware of low ceilings. Two, pray your opponent
isn't under anything. Things like the segments of the highway on the
Abandoned Highway are just what to watch out for. They are a bit more
pricey, but since they do more damage than Small Missiles, you could say
you get your money's worth.

"ZWM-M24/IMI"
Type: Middle Missile
Potential Damage: 26640
Lock Speed: Slightly Slower than Normal
Offensive Edge: 17760
Accumulative Heat: 4288
Lasting Power: 372
Total Cost: 8736

Weapon Classification is a bit off if you ask me. These are Quad Missiles
and they're very deadly. A single lock is all you need to send out four
missiles. With only 24 missiles, that's not going to last long at all.
These missiles are very straightforward, which makes them easy to shoot
down, and somewhat easy to lead.

"ZWM-LD2/IDA"
Type: Dual Missile
Potential Damage: 29880
Lock Speed: Fast
Offensive Edge: 8300
Accumulative Heat: 1800
Lasting Power: 792
Total Cost: 4680

This is a nice cheap weapon. It sends missiles out quickly, in pairs, and
has a very decent amount of ammo. Better still, these are indirect
missiles, which makes them harder to keep track of. You have to watch out
for walls with these. Keep some distance, and you should be fine. They
also have a much better range from which they can be effectively used than
the previous missile. Furthermore, these are good to use on missions since
they're as I said, dirt cheap.

"EWM-FIN-BOO"
Type: Large Missile
Potential Damage: 27200
Lock Speed: Extremely Slow
Offensive Edge: 6800
Accumulative Heat: 1730
Lasting Power: 1020
Total Cost: 38000

Okay. If you're thinking about using this in missions, get that thought
out of your head. It simply will not work. One missile is more expensive
than the entire contents of two IDA launchers combined! Furthermore, you
only have four of these. It wont do you much good. These are best used
where you don't have to pay for them. And use them close, but give
yourself time to get the hell away from it before it hits. Launching
these from far away is asking for your opponent to OB away or shoot them
with anti missiles. These are slow. Real slow. Persistent too. Reload
takes a very long time, allowing you to get off one shot in the 255 time
period.

"ZWR-S/60"
Type: Small Rocket
Potential Damage: 42000
Offensive Edge: 7350
Accumulative Heat: 1610
Lasting Power: 1440
Total Cost: 3920

Finally, out of Missile Territory (for now anyway). These rockets are
powerful, quick, and inexpensive. They are good for some very quick
damage, but there is one thing about them that scares people away. Rockets
don't lock. Period. You have to aim them manually. No FCS in the world
could help them. This makes them somewhat difficult to use at first, but
eventually, they become very effective.

"EWR-M60"
Type: Triple Rocket
Potential Damage: 50400
Offensive Edge: 12600
Accumulative Heat: 1980
Lasting Power: 960
Total Cost: 6000

Self explanatory. This launcher fires weaker rockets, but it fires three
at a time. Such an idea should be enticing to people who either can't
aim with rockets to begin with, or enjoy weapons that hit over a wider
area. Used point blank, you will do some big damage, but also note that
firing three rockets at once means you'll be out of ammo quickly. There's
something in it for everybody. Be warned that both the increased ammo
capacity and slightly higher ammo cost do mean you'll spend more to use
these on missions.

"EWR-L24"
Type: Large Rocket
Potential Damage: 74400
Offensive Edge: 15500
Accumulative Heat: 3175
Lasting Power: 1152
Total Cost: 8208

Not cheap, but not bad at all. Huge potential for damage, despite a
somewhat limited amount of ammo, and better still, it heats enemies up
nicely while doing really quick damage. As with any rocket weapon, you
cannot lock on to use this, and must aim manually. This weapon should be
valuable especially to a non-plus, since you can run around and fire it
whereas to get this kind of power anywhere else, you either take the
rip-off FIN-BOO with four missiles, or a cannon. Of course, if you can't
aim, you wont like this weapon no matter what.

"ZWR-R/OCTOPUS"
Type: ECM Rocket"
Potential Damage: 3780
Offensive Edge: 840
Accumulative Heat: 32
Lasting Power: 1080
Total Cost: 8640

Impressive stats, eh? Well, that's not the idea of this weapon. The idea
of this weapon is to hinder the performance of your enemy. When this
rocket hits, your opponent's FCS dies for a little while, leaving them to
aim manually. Obviously, this screws over some people more than others.
Note that I said "people". This weapon ideally wouldn't harm the CPU at
all, seeing how everything is so meticulously calculated by it, but the
game simulates the effect by making the CPU not shoot at all. While the
enemy has their FCS disabled, you can see a change in the opponent's AC,
so you'll know when they need another rocket. Also, if your opponent is
one of those "Missile Boat" types, they're just screwed period. No lock
equals no missiles, you know.

"EWC-CNG4000"
Type: Chain Gun
Potential Damage: 52500
Offensive Edge: 7350
Accumulative Heat: 2100
Lasting Power: 1800
Total Cost: 16500

This is one pricey weapon, and the first of the Cannon Type. I see this as
a better Caterpillar weapon, or at the very least, Quad. Any other leg
type would have to kneel to use it, and that just isn't good at all for
this type of weapon, unless you're on a mission where you can destroy
enemies quickly, and easily. Or if you have a really high defense AC with
a shield and you want to have a bit of a standoff. Bring a nice, Wide and
Shallow FCS with you if you're going to play that way though.

"ZWC-LQ/2552"
Type: Laser Cannon
Potential Damage: 44250
Offensive Edge: 7080
Accumulative Heat: 1040
Lasting Power: 1500
Energy Consumption: 33200

This is much more of a Cannon than the previous weapon, complete with
recoil so you can scrape your AC's knees along the ground as you fire it.
It's mission friendly, energy burning, and surprisingly weighs less than
1000 WP. I'd prefer this cannon on the move, given its less than stellar
attack power, but it's not bad if you were to kneel down, fire, and then
get yourself back up and on the move. Power should be sufficient to handle
most common mission enemies. Don't use this too close, or the explosion
will hit you too.

"EWC-GN44-AC"
Type: Grenade Launcher
Potential Damage: 50250
Offensive Edge: 6700
Accumulative Heat: 2440
Lasting Power: 1425
Total Cost: 14250

Probably the definitive Cannon. Devastating single round damage makes this
worth the effort to use on any AC. You'll find that it's really easy to
get your enemies to overheat with practically no effort at all. And last,
but not least, there's the stun, just as good as any high damage Cannon.
Low Ammo makes this a bit of a gamble to bring with you on a mission, but
it does the job very well, and excels at taking down stronger enemies with
its higher potential damage than the previous weapon spread over fifteen
(hopefully) well placed shots plus splash damage.

"ZWC-IR/FLUX"
Type: Plasma Cannon
Potential Damage: 56100
Offensive Edge: 5610
Accumulative Heat: 286
Lasting Power: 2400
Energy Consumption: 9800

Best thought of as the midpoint between the Laser Cannon and the Grenade
Launcher, in terms of power and ammunition. Though slow, this is a
fantastic cannon, with good power, combined with an all around low usage
drain, thus energy consumption. Though heavy, it has many uses.

"ZWC-LNT/250"
Type: Slug Gun
Burst Power: 3216
Burst Heat: 960
Potential Damage: 102912
Offensive Edge: 3216
Accumulative Heat: 960
Lasting Power: 4576
Total Cost: 5120

Wonderful. That time limit of 255 is really screwing over these stats, but
I don't want a bunch of insanely high numbers for the Offensive Edge. This
is one slow weapon, but having a burst power of 3216 over sixteen, you
heard me, sixteen shots, it's worth the effort. I don't think though, that
it would be a good weapon to kneel with because of how close you'd have to
be to let it unleash its full power on somebody, but I could see it being
used to hurt a group of small enemies at mid range, putting a few shells
into each one. At long range, you may as well use a Handgun. This would do
fairly well equipped on a Caterpillar or Quad, since they can both get up
close and personal with this, and fire it off without stopping.

"EWC-XP0808"
Type: Pulse Cannon
Potential Damage: 46200
Offensive Edge: 9450
Accumulative Heat: 108
Lasting Power: 1144
Energy Consumption: 45900

This is another one you don't want to use if you have to kneel. While you
could probably get away with a few shots before you got up and left, you
still leave yourself open for a little while. It does have good ammo for
what it deals in raw power, and a good potential for damage. Watch your
energy though, this is one of the more serious energy eaters.

"EM-AAT110"
Type: General Magazine

Not a weapon per se. This adds ten percent ammo to every weapon you have
equipped. And I do mean every weapon, including extensions and inside
parts.

"EM-SD120"
Type: Solid Magazine

This is like the previous magazine, but it adds twenty percent ammo to all
shell weapons, but nothing to energy weapons. Really shows its worth when
you load up with an extension, an inside part, a back weapon on the other
side, and a right arm weapon. Or load up with two of these. I do wish it
added more though... but it's still good.

"ZRS-554/BW"
Type: Radar

This one isn't good or bad. It's just there. Let's think of it as normal.

"ERM-TE3000"
Type: Radar

More range than normal, but lacking a Bio Sensor. It's lighter too.

"ZRL-774/WH"
Type: Radar

Better in practically every way than the last two, and it still has a Bio
Sensor. It's also heavier and drains more.

"BRLT-B10000"
Type: Radar

Even more range. Heavier, and now with a Stealth Sensor.

"BRS-B-OSPREY"
Type: Radar

Best radar. Period. Has everything, including a Noise Canceler, and has
the best range. It is, however, the heaviest, and drains the most energy.

"EWX-BAL4"
Type: Multi Missile
Burst Power: 3520
Burst Heat: 1360
Potential Damage: 84880
Lock Speed: Fast
Offensive Edge: 35200
Accumulative Heat: 13600
Lasting Power: 564
Total Cost: 19800

Pricey little weapon of mass destruction. You take this weapon, and that's
it. It attaches to both hardpoints on the back of the AC. It fires TWO
multi missiles at once, which both split into four missiles each. Using it
on the ground is asking for the bottom two missiles to blow up on the
floor and not the enemy, but if they all hit, there will be a substantial
loss of AP for the unlucky recipient. By the way, the burst power given is
only for one full multi missile... it's more of a reminder, nothing that I
haven't been doing all along. As we're getting into dual weapons, it's
important to remember.

"EWX-VLS241"
Type: Vertical Missile
Burst Power: 4240
Burst Heat: 1000
Potential Damage: 135680
Lock Speed: Fast
Offensive Edge: 42400
Accumulative Heat: 10000
Lasting Power: 392
Total Cost: 14720

The classification is a bit misleading. These are not just Vertical
Missiles. They're Vertical Multi Missiles. Dual Vertical Multi Missiles,
at that. These are extremely deadly, and rightfully are to be attached to
both hardpoints on the back of the AC. As with regular Vertical Missiles,
low ceilings and anything with room underneath are your enemies. Use with
care or not at all. These aren't good mission weapons, really. Eight
launches and they're gone.

"ZWX-IV/PURSUIT"
Type: Pursuit Missile
Burst Power: 8160
Burst Heat: 480
Potential Damage: 32640
Offensive Edge: 8160
Accumulative Heat: 480
Lasting Power: 800
Total Cost: 6480

A very unique weapon. This one also makes use of both hardpoints on the
back of your AC, but unlike the previous two weapons, it fires only one
shot at a time. This shot is in fact, a (pretty expensive) pod, which
stops at one point, and empties its contents of 12 missiles into all
surrounding enemies. The pod is launched like a rocket, and CAN hit. After
launching all of its missiles, it blows up. It's very good in the sense
that you can shoot it somewhere near the opponent, and keep on moving
while it does your work for you. You only have four pods, however, so
don't waste them. It actually isn't a terrible weapon to have on missions.
Just remember that you'll need something to take care of nearly all minor
enemies before you get to the point where you may actually need that kind
of firepower.

"ZWX-F04/ORBIT"
Type: Orbit Cannon
Burst Power: 2030 to 2320
Burst Heat: 168 to 192
Potential Damage: 41760
Lock Speed: Extremely Fast
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 4060 to 4640
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 12180 to 13920
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 336 to 384
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 1008 to 1152
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 2160
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 720
Minimum Volley Energy Consumption: 2600
Maximum Volley Energy Consumption: 7800

This needs a bit of explanation. Firstly, this is a double back weapon,
meaning it is attached to both hardpoints on the back making up your
entire back mounted arsenal, as the last three, and next three weapons
do. Second, it's not a Cannon per se. You don't have to kneel to use this
for any reason whatsoever. Thirdly, it locks like a missile, which means
it can be combined with relation missiles (!) and that it fires in varying
degrees. For each lock, you will launch two pods that zoom over to the
enemy, surround it, and open fire on it. After MANY uses, and a lot of
pausing, I have noticed that each pod fires from 14 to 16 shots before
exploding (note the variable damage stats). With a full three locks, a
total of six pods will have encircled the enemy and will fire for some
great damage, if only all the shots would hit. Nimble enemies can make
a joke out of this weapon if you use it like that. I think you are best
advised to fire with one lock against them, so you at least get some time
with it to harass the hell out of them.

"EWX-GCN77-4"
Type: Chain Gun
Burst Power: 410
Burst Heat: 106
Potential Damage: 57400
Offensive Edge: 12710
Accumulative Heat: 3286
Lasting Power: 1120
Total Cost: 9800

The stats for this weapon are messed up, so I treated it like a spread
fire weapon after a comparative damage test with the starting rifle. One
unit of ammunition for this weapon is basically two shots, which makes it
extremely deadly. Thankfully, the price wasn't doubled too! This is great
weapon if you're willing to sacrifice having a second back unit to use it.
The stats, as I have said about other weapons, speak for themselves. This
weapon, however, is still a Cannon, so you must kneel to use it if you
are not using either a Quad or Caterpillar Base without the Human Plus
enhancements. Slap it on a lightweight and watch yourself fly across the
room!

"ZWC-E90/MAC"
Type: Plasma Cannon
Potential Damage: 38500
Offensive Edge: 7700
Accumulative Heat: 116
Lasting Power: 1240
Energy Consumption: 13800

The most powerful energy weapon around if you want to go by single round
damage. For a weapon that is equipped on both sides, you should expect
nothing less. As with the last weapon, you have to kneel to use this
weapon, but the single round damage makes it well worth the effort. Ten
shots wont go a long way in missions, but they'll be a big help in the
Arena. Make sure you have something, anything in addition to this though.

"ZXR-S/STEALTH"
Type: Stealth

First off, this part has two functions. Primarily, it conceals your
location on Radar UNLESS your opponent's radar has a Stealth Sensor. If
it does, this part is now half useless. If it doesn't, good. They have
to locate you visually now and will never be able to see you on radar.
The second function is the one that requires you to switch to it, and
fire it like a weapon. This makes you invisible to the FCS. Thus, your
opponent has to aim manually, and can't use Missiles. The catch?
Firstly, it wears off after a little while. It's long enough though. But,
if you were to fire any weapon, or even use your sword, the effect cuts
off completely. If either of those happen, just fire Stealth again. It's
not a terrible system. Not at all, if you were to have say, twenty or
thirty shots, but no. You get ten. At the cost of not one, but two back
weapons, which is exactly what you could equip in its place, I just don't
think it's worth it. If you ask me, this is the next candidate to become
an inside part if From Software ever makes AC3.

~~~~~Section 4-G~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fixed Arm Weapons: These arms don't hold weapons, they are weapons. A
universal benefit would immediately be the loss of weight since you don't
have to equip arms and weapons, making them ideal for quick, lightly armored
ACs, but perfectly acceptable on heavy ACs that want more weight to go
towards other parts. All of these arms have no defensive points, but make up
for it in raw power since all but one of these sets have fire linked in both
arms. Occupying both arms with weapons as these do can lead to ammunition
issues, so pick your other weapons wisely to make sure you'll have at least
something to throw at your enemy for quite a while.

"ZAW-2/SAMURAI"
Type: Laserblade

It should be said that the length of the sword is 105, no more, no less.
The given length of 7 corresponds to the Japanese Units used for all
swords. Translation goof I guess. Anyhow, these Swords are somewhat weaker
than the T/100 blade (six sub sections up) with a an attack power of 999.
This is the only Arm Weapon that does NOT fire two shots (in this case,
blades) at once. Its use is much like a regular left arm weapon, in fact,
it's the exact same, except for the fact that you can follow it up with a
second attack by pressing Circle for a second time. This has obvious
benefits. For one, it does effectively double the attack power if you can
make both strikes hit, and hit cleanly. After the second slash, it would
be as if you had used a left arm sword in terms of when you can attack
again. Drain isn't too much to sweat over, but it is high for a Laserblade
that doesn't emit energy waves on its own. The stats built into the arms
aren't too bad, nor are they spectacular.

Plus Blade: For each strike, these arms can create one purple energy plane
for a long distance attack. As was said in the blades sub section, you
must be a level two Plus (meaning you had two operations performed on your
pilot) or more in order to do this.

"EAW-MG-03"
Type: Machine Gun
Potential Damage: 63300
Offensive Edge: 10550
Accumulative Heat: 2800
Lasting Power: 1500
Total Cost: 14100

These aren't terrible. You do get a good amount of damage out of them, and
rather quickly. They don't last too long, nor do they run out of ammo in
the blink of an eye. The fire rate is probably the worst I've seen for any
Machine Gun, but the linked fire makes up for it. I can't see penny
pinchers using these liberally for missions, but a lot of people will
favor these for Arena Combat. As with all arm weapons except the previous
one, once you're out of ammo, you have no melee weapon to fall back on.

"EAW-BZD"
Type: Bazooka
Potential Damage: 66400
Offensive Edge: 13280
Accumulative Heat: 2200
Lasting Power: 1100
Total Cost: 9200

I'm sort of partial to this weapon. It's easily one of the lighter weapon
arms, and also one of the cheaper. It does burn ammo surprisingly quickly,
thanks in no small part to the linked fire, which helps it do tons of
damage in no time at all. The slow traveling ammunition practically begs
you to use this close, but the Narrow and Deep weapon lock will make that
hell. If you can get past that, you'll probably find it to be a good set
of arms to put on lighter ACs. Make sure you have some good back weapons
with this, however, if you plan on milking the lower total cost for all
its worth.

"EAW-DC10"
Type: Grenade Launcher
Potential Damage: 55540
Offensive Edge: 11108
Accumulative Heat: 3104
Lasting Power: 900
Total Cost: 24200

This weapon specializes in both drilling a hole in your pocket, and the
enemy's AP. Ideal for people who like to pull off one shot and leave. So
how do you get your money's worth out of this weapon? Use it in the Arena.
There are so many reasons to keep this well away from missions. Low ammo,
pathetic lasting power, exorbitant ammo cost, all of those put it in
league with the FIN-BOO missile, which, by the way, is the way to go if
you want to Plus yourself out if you can buy it. If not, these will do in
a pinch.

"ZAW-XP/T9"
Type: Plasma Cannon
Potential Damage: 40320
Offensive Edge: 16400
Accumulative Heat: 1640
Lasting Power: 576
Energy Consumption: 76340

This always was a fun weapon. It was more fun when it made big explosions,
but we can't hold that against it, now can we? As you can see, it guzzles
energy, and empties rather quickly, but also has a great potential for
damage. Once again, slow traveling ammunition and a Narrow & Deep weapon
lock balance it. If you're going to dream about taking it with you on a
mission, don't forget to include a Chain Gun and/or S612 Small Missile in
that dream or something with good potential damage and high ammo.

"ZAW-SPLASH"
Type: Laser Cannon
Burst Power: 750
Burst Heat: 50
Potential Damage: 48000
Offensive Edge: 13500
Accumulative Heat: 900
Lasting Power: 896
Energy Consumption: 43200

Now we know where the SPGUN went... sort of. Um, well... for a Slug Gun,
this is slightly unorthodox. Instead of one huge cluster with devastating
damage that takes forever to reload, this fires fairly quickly, but with
weaker clusters of shots. The result is a higher offensive edge, but lower
burst power. Plus, since this isn't a Back Unit, this can be MUCH better
for Bipedal, Reverse Jointed, or Hover ACs to get close with. It does have
quite an appetite for energy, but it has a decent amount of ammo, which is
also spread fire, making it capable of damaging many enemies significantly
enough to matter. Between this and the previous weapon, I'd say this is a
better bet for missions. Much better, but you still should support it with
a high ammo, high potential damage back weapon or two.

"ZAW-LC/NPM"
Type: Laser Cannon
Potential Damage: 57996
Offensive Edge: 9666
Accumulative Heat: 144
Lasting Power: 1332
Energy Consumption: 55440

I'd say that this is a better Mission weapon comparing it to the DC10 arms
simply because it has more ammo, does more damage in the long run, and
best of all, costs nothing to fire. As a weapon, it is much weaker, thus
not as well suited to the hit and run style of the DC10. As long as there
is something to back these arms up when they're all out of ammo, you
should be just fine for most missions. A little trick you can use to
conserve ammo with this, or any energy ARM weapon is to fire when you have
enough energy for only one shot, as opposed to two shots. The AC will fire
with just one arm, as if it were a right arm weapon.

"EAW-H801"
Type: Small Missile
Potential Damage: 49200
Lock Speed: Fast
Offensive Edge: 10250
Accumulative Heat: 5000
Lasting Power: 1104
Total Cost: 39840

Use for their their intense heat, or not at all. These are ridiculously
heavy, and expensive. See the next weapon for more reasons to avoid these.
As much as I hate this weapon, I don't want to waste space by bashing it
twice in full detail.

"EAW-S604"
Type: Small Missile
Potential Damage: 62400
Lock Speed: Fast
Minimum Volley Offensive Edge: 9360
Maximum Volley Offensive Edge: 37440
Minimum Volley Accumulative Heat: 1740
Maximum Volley Accumulative Heat: 6960
Minimum Volley Lasting Power: 3280
Maximum Volley Lasting Power: 820
Total Cost: 11200

Round 2 of why the H801 is garbage... Firstly, if you use these with only
two locks at a time, you have exactly what the H801 is only better in
nearly every single way. Use them with the full four locks, and you have a
devastating weapon that drains ammo very quickly. No matter what you want
in an arm missile, this weapon gives it to you, and the H801 will give you
something similar, but at more weight, and energy drain, not to mention
less AP. Only in the long run will the H801 be able to do more heat damage
to the enemy, but that's it.

~~~~~Section 4-H~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Optional Parts: Just about all of these parts, with maybe a few exceptions
do, in one way or another, affect your weaponry. Each part occupies a set
number of "slots" in your Core, where the Core you select determines how
many slots you have available. The number of slots used is kept with
each part here for convenience.

"SP-S/SCR"
Slots Used: 2

This part increases your defense against shell weapons. It doesn't
increase it by any vast amount, but it does help lightweights feel a bit
tougher, and makes Heavyweights even more durable.

"SP-ENE-SCR"
Slots Used: 1

This one increases your energy defense a little bit. Using just one slot,
it's probably the most widely used optional part. Like the previous part,
this will make a noticeable difference, but it wont be anything dramatic.

"SP-BCNDR"
Slots Used: 4

This part gives you a higher maximum charge on your Generator, while
apparently doing nothing for your energy output. Very useful for any
and all ACs. The only big drawback to this part shows itself when you
run out of energy, where it will take longer to charge back up. I don't
see many people doing that often though.

"SP-BSI-LE"
Slots Used: 2

This will make you take your hits a little better, making it harder to
snuff your attacks, or trap you by stunning you while shooting you to
death. Lightweight ACs should definitely give this a look.

"SP-SAB/J"
Slots Used: 1

If you've had the fourth Plus Operation performed, you don't need this
one bit. If you haven't, it'll make you move back less when you fire
cannon style Back Weapons other than the one sided Chain Gun (which has
no recoil to speak of).

"SP-CIR-K"
Slots Used: 5

This makes you turn faster. Not THAT much faster, but it's still an
improvement, all the same. Any AC can benefit from this one, although
some are just lost causes in this area, and are better suited to
upgrades in other areas.

"SP-BE++"
Slots Used: 6

Very, very useful. This part increases the attack power of all Energy
Weapons, thus boosting their offensive edge, and potential damage stats.
If you have more than one energy weapon (or an energy weapon with very
little ammo), you really should put this on. Don't use this thinking it
makes your sword stronger. It doesn't affect it, blade, nor Plus Blade.

"SP-BMALAD"
Slots Used: 1

Very few scenarios where you'd need this. First of all, if you've had at
least one Plus Operation performed, you don't need this, as the first
operation gives you a radar that has a missile display. Secondly, a few
of the Radars you can equip will also have this function. If your AC
can't detect oncoming missiles, you MIGHT want this. I find it rather
distracting myself.

"SP-BFS/LOSP"
Slots Used: 2

Just what a missile boat needs. It will lower the time needed to acquire
a lock on with any weapon that functions as a missile.

"SP-ENE-ACC"
Slots Used: 1

Lowers the reload time of energy weapons, thus boosting their Offensive
Edge, but lowering their Lasting Power, while boosting their energy
consumption. Taking up only one slot, I'd put this on any AC with the
Energy Machine Gun, or a Pulse Rifle, or just to fill a leftover slot
on any AC that has an energy weapon.

"SP-E/SAVER"
Slots Used: 5

Looks to cut down energy usage as a result of using energy weapons by
25 percent. I, personally would use this with any of the Energy Weapon
Arms, and the Pulse Cannon back weapon. With the Energy Machine Gun? A
definite maybe.

"SP-ECM-JAM"
Slots Used: 5

This breaks missile locks after a little while, making it very hard to
line up a good volley, and even harder to get multiple locks. A
thoroughly annoying part.

"SP-M/AUTO"
Slots Used: 1

This uses one too many slots. Basically, it fires any weapon that
functions as a missile automatically when it locks as many times as
possible. I'd like it more if it launched them for you when your opponent
was about to counter your lock with the previous part, or when they were
about to exit your targeting box, but it doesn't do that. I'd rather
leave that slot empty than put this thing in.

"SP-BLS"
Slots Used: 6

Slightly increases the energy supply of your arms, thus leading to more
potent blade attacks, as well as more durable shields.

"SP-CBRK"
Slots Used: 2

This part is helpful for ACs using Hover Legs, or those who are fond of
Override Boosting, as it allows you to come to a complete halt much more
easily.

"SP-VEICH"
Slots Used: 6

This part improves your FCS by letting it scan a larger area for targets.
Great for Narrow and Deep Weapons.

~~~~~Section 4-I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Miscellaneous: Just a bunch of information that you shouldn't be without,
but doesn't quite fit into any other section. If I get lots of questions,
I'll be sure to add them in with a future update.

Core Weapons: Just a touch up on something not everybody knows. Three of the
              six cores have a gun fixed in the center of the front of them.
              For easy classification, those would be the Emeraude Cores.
              Whereas Zio Matrix Cores seem to excel in the areas of Override
              Boosting (mostly, compared to others in their weight class, and
              in terms of power) and room for Optional Equipment (compared to
              others in their weight class), these Emeraude Cores do one VERY
              important thing to make up for their shortcomings in those
              areas. They shoot down missiles with those aforementioned guns.
              Several stats determine how well they will do so, but you can
              rest assured that if you are facing missiles that are speeding
              towards you, your core will on average, nearly always try to
              shoot down at least one, often more.

Shields and Cannons: In the case of most cannon weapons, an AC using one
                     will grasp it with one hand when it's readied,
                     providing that hand is free. The hand always
                     corresponds to the side that the weapon is equipped on.
                     However, when used with shields, this becomes
                     complicated. For a shield to be readied, the hand must
                     be neutral. For some reason, if the left hand of an AC
                     using the shield is being occupied to hold the cannon,
                     the shield cannot be activated. This means that you
                     can't shield yourself while using that weapon.
                     Furthermore, if you ran out of ammo, and the last
                     weapon you used, (the last one to run out), is your
                     left back weapon, you can't use the shield at all!
                     Well, you would be more than likely done at that point
                     anyway. Fortunately, not all of the cannons are held by
                     the AC when in use. Specifically, two of them, namely
                     the EWC-XP0808 and EWX-GCN77-4 are too short to grab,
                     and thus do not interfere with shields in any way at
                     all. I just can't help but find it funny how something
                     started in the first AC, presumably as a matter of
                     aesthetics, has gone on to cause a very real problem.
                     Your lesson? When using a shield, equip cannons on the
                     RIGHT side (unless they're either of those two).

Classification: While most weapons can be easily classified by their type,
                their functions fall into six Categories. They are normal,
                missile, cannon, automatic function, sword, and shield.
                While the type often helps speak for the function (i.e.
                Small MISSILE, Laser CANNON), it can also be misleading.
                For one, Pursuit MISSILES do not function as missiles at
                all in the sense that they don't lock, thus can be fired
                as long as they're not reloading, just like any normal
                weapon, and at the same time Orbit CANNONS, aren't Cannons
                at all, but missiles. For single back weapons, the only
                cannons you'll find have _WC as the prefix of their part
                name. The blank represents the enterprise that makes the
                part, of course. Now, with dual weapons (_WX), you need to
                know what they really are since the name doesn't tell you
                anything other than that they connect to both hardpoints
                on your AC's back. Another note is that Arm Weapons use
                the _AW prefix, which hardly classifies them as anything
                but arms with built in weapons, but their types thankfully
                correspond to what they are. To add to the wonderful
                confusion, projectile types can be different from weapon
                functions (Pursuit Missile again), which means next to
                nothing until we begin to talk Anti-MISSILE systems. In
                that case, always assume the name is right.

Dual Back Weapons:
  Cannons: Such weapons require the AC, if it uses bipedal, reverse joint,
           or hover legs to kneel prior to firing in order to counter the
           force of the weapon. When used as Arm Weapons, they act
           precisely like Normal Weapons. Such Dual Back Units are...
             EWX-GCN77-4 (Chain Gun)
             ZWX-E90/MAC (Plasma Cannon)

  Normal: Such weapons require no special circumstances for firing. Such
          Dual Back Units are...
            ZWX-IV/PURSUIT (Pursuit Missile)
            ZXR-S/STEALTH (Stealth)

  Missile: Such weapons require at least one full lock on to fire, and can
           also trigger Relation Missiles. Such Dual Back Units are...
             EWX-BAL4 (Multi Missile)
             EWX-VLS241 (Vertical Missile)
             ZWX-F04/ORBIT (Orbit Cannon)

  Automatic Function: Such weapons or parts function whenever they are
                      equipped, needing only a trouble free system to
                      function properly. Such Dual Back Units are...
                        ZXR-S/STEALTH (Stealth)

Blade Attacks: The laserblade is a fairly limited weapon, in that it can
               only be used to perform one type of strike on a given AC.
               There are three distinctly different attacks, each more
               or less determined by the legs the attacking AC uses.
               It's relatively uncomplicated until we get to
               middleweight Bipedal legs which act like true hybrids
               bringing your AC's arms into the matter.

               ACs using light Bipedal legs (ZLN-EK1/SRRT, ELN-701,
               and ZLN-WA02/SS), or ACs that use Reverse Joint Bipedal
               Legs will perform the Diagonal Slash. This is the
               weakest of all blade attacks, and is also somewhat
               difficult to hit with, especially from the air.

               ACs using heavy Bipedal legs (ZLN-2A/GR, ELN-STVM, and
               ZLN-9001/A), or Hover legs will perform the Horizontal
               Slash. This has a nice wide arc, has around twice the
               power of the Diagonal Slash, and is much easier to
               connect with. It is more possible, however, to do half
               of the intended damage by just barely hitting with it.

               Lastly, ACs using either Quadrupedal or Caterpillar
               legs will perform the Thrust Attack. This is by far the
               most powerful blade attack, but is also the most
               difficult of all to connect with.

               Now, regarding midweights, there are all too many
               factors involved. ACs that use middle weight legs
               (ZLN-XX0/TP, ZLN-XA1/FA, ELN-2002AT, ELN-02A, and
               ZLN-XA2/FF) can do either the horizontal, or diagonal
               slash depending on the rest of their equipment. If
               you place a midweight core (ECM-XR00 or ZCX-F/ROOK)
               or a heavyweight core (ECH-D4 or ZCH-GR/1) on top of
               those legs, the AC will perform the Horizontal Slash
               when it uses the laserblade.

               Should you use either lightweight core (ECL-ONE or
               ZCL-XA/2), things will become complicated, as you can
               still perform either slash depending on what arms you
               put on. If you place lightweight arms (ZAN-202/TEM,
               EAN-02-BG, ZAN-303/S, and EAN-1111) on the core, your
               AC will perform the Diagonal Slash. Placing any other
               arms on, however, will cause it to use the Horizontal
               Slash.

Blade Damage: There are quite a few factors involved here. The most
              important, I suppose would be Attack Power. After that,
              you have Energy Supply. Make those as high as you can
              and you have statistically, the best blade. For your
              convenience, that would be the LS-MOONLIGHT with the
              ZAN-303/S arms, and the SP-BLS option part. The parts
              you take will determine the attack you perform as
              detailed above. No matter what parts you take, once
              you are in battle, to do the most damage possible,
              you must hit your opponent with a sword blow from the
              air. It does not matter where they are. A hit from
              the air is significantly more powerful than a charging
              strike from the ground. On Quadrupedal legs, doing all
              of those things will result in a blow that will inflict
              almost 4600 Armor Points of damage to the starter AC.

Missiles: Missiles are clearly different from most projectiles. The
          way they are used is different, and the way they strike is
          different. Their semi-intelligent tracking and high damage
          swarms make them deadly. To defend against them, we have the
          old style fixed guns on some of the Cores, which will attempt
          to shoot them down, and we now have dedicated Anti Missile
          Extensions, which do the same thing, but much more reliably.
          Such things, combined with the limited air time of missiles,
          have over time lead people to believe they can shoot missiles
          down with normal weapons, such as Rifles, Grenade Launchers,
          and normal Missile Launchers themselves. Not so. On a tip I
          recieved from a fellow message board user, I too tried to shoot
          them down in that manner, only to see what he saw. It is not
          possible. Missiles can be shot down by the fixed gun on the
          AC's Core, or Anti Missile Extensions, or they can blow up
          after a set time, during which they were not able to strike
          anything, be it their target, or some scenery.

******Section 5**********************************************************

Thanks:
Basically, these are the people or parties without whom this guide would
never have been typed up, as well as those who gave feedback which led to
improvements throughout the document. Many thanks to everybody listed.

-From Software and AGETEC: The former, for making this game, the latter for
releasing it here. Without them, there would be nothing to write about. I
also did use the statistics given in the game in my formulas, as well as
part names.

-"DiabloLDark": He helped verify that a nifty little converter program was
working as advertised. That effectively put an end to all formatting
problems (I hope).

-"Kenjii": Several suggestions, gave me a few good ideas for new topics
that need to be addressed under the Misc. section.

-"Collider": Conducted several tests to dispell the widely believed myth
which would have people think they could shoot down missiles with anything
other than dedicated anti missiles. This caused me to repeat his test, and
in doing so, I found that to be true. I created a topic under the Misc.
section to formally address the matter.

That's pretty much it for now. As the guide grows, my resources may grow as
well.

******Section 6**********************************************************
Contact:

E-mail: (standard feedback, corrections, guide hosting notifications)
  ixzaku@optonline.net

GameFAQs Message Boards: (just so you know I'm there)
  Gelgoog IX

I do have other contacts, but that IS my only GameFAQs username.