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Who is the best Ace Combat protagonist? This poll is closed. |
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| Cipher |
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79 | 32.24% |
| Phoenix |
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9 | 3.67% |
| Mobius 1 |
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84 | 34.29% |
| William Bishop--lol get out |
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24 | 9.80% |
| SHOOT VISARI |
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49 | 20.00% |
| Total: | 245 votes | ||
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Anchor Point always reminds me of Anchorhead. Because desert.
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Jan 7, 2017 15:08
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So, my company had a New Year's party at the Museum of Flight in Seattle yesterday, and we got to pilot the flight simulators there. While I spent most of my time upside down (because gently caress these games make it look so much easier to fly), I managed 9 kills. I think it's maybe 6-10 minutes in the simulator, and it honestly felt like I was nailing these rapid fire. What I'm saying is that Mobius 1 (and other Ace Combat protagonists) are loving ridiculous and it's perfectly understandable how they all become legends on the battlefield given their accomplishments.
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Jan 8, 2017 00:23
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Shei-kun posted:So, my company had a New Year's party at the Museum of Flight in Seattle yesterday, and we got to pilot the flight simulators there. I did one of those in the Smithsonian air and space museum, they were awesome. They were the kind that pivoted you around as you flew and gave some noticeable g-forces on rotation. My gunner was a little bit pale after all of the rolls I pulled.
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Jan 8, 2017 00:41
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With the talk of the battlefields in the next game, you know you have to support the navy every chance you get. Because it takes serious balls to name the Iowa-class flagship of your navy the Marigold.
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Jan 8, 2017 04:27
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Ace Number Sixteen is Kwee. Named for Kiem King Kwee, yet another astronomer who somehow has no information anywhere that I can find beyond the year of birth, which the Dictionary of Minor Planet Names places in 1927. Seriously, I thought this would be interesting stuff! Why does no one care? Anyway, he, she, whichever, is notable for co-discovering a periodic comet in August 1963, 59P/Kearns-Kwee, while in search of the lost 55P previously discovered by our old buddies Tempel and Tuttle. One final check for information before posting indicates they also had a hand in Gart Westerhout's The Rotation of the Inner Parts of the Galactic System in 1954. A 2013 edition of the aforementioned Dictionary indicates they were still alive at the time of publishing, which would have placed them at 85 or 86 years old at the time, though it's hard to tell whether they were actually still alive at that point or if that dictionary simply couldn't find anything more personal about the guy either. Supposedly there's a 2014 biography on some archival website that may shed some more light on them, but for the time being I'm unable to access it because "free info" apparently means needing to pay to see it. Basically, it's appropriate that he's flying the F-117 in this game, in the sense that it's a well-aimed "gently caress you" at someone who's not even playing the game right now. On the subject of the Su-35, to get technical there are two variations of it that appear across the series. There's the original Su-27M, a program started in the 80s to upgrade the -27, which was shortly redesignated Su-35. About fifteen of those were built, two of which were later given thrust-vectoring engines to turn them into the Su-37. That's the version in most of the games up to The Unsung War. The second variation came about starting from 2003, which includes the thrust-vectoring engines but removes the canards (and airbrake, for some reason) among other improvements to create the Su-35S. Back when its first flight happened in 2008, though, plenty of media sources erroneously called it the Su-35BM, extrapolated from its design name of T-10BM. That's the version from Assault Horizon onwards.
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Jan 8, 2017 06:55
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Zomborgon posted:I did one of those in the Smithsonian air and space museum, they were awesome. They were the kind that pivoted you around as you flew and gave some noticeable g-forces on rotation. I was being literal when I said I spent most of the time upside down. I also understand better height limits on pilots. My poor head was pressed against the ceiling the whole time, and when I was upside down it was even worse. I went solo, though there is a spot for a gunner as well. Meanwhile, Ace Combat protags are fused with their planes, I swear to the gods. Electrosphere is just the only one that admits it.
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Jan 10, 2017 07:29
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So, with Farbanti coming on Saturday, and Megalith coming next week, we're basically at the end of the game now. Which means it time to get ready for the big giant finale special comping up the week after that at the end of January. So, just like in the Zero LP, part of the grand finale to Ace Combat 04 is going to be a VIEWERS CHOICE video. So in preparation for that, I'll put the question out there right now:  WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SEE ME DO IN ACE COMBAT 04 THAT HASN'T BEEN SHOWN OFF YET?If it's something pertaining to the two missions that we've yet to cover, please include them in spoiler tags, but beyond that, have at it. I'll leave the requests open until JANUARY 25th, just to make sure that we get the full game covered before I lock everything down for the finale video.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:36
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Do a mission in the MiG-21, the later in the game the better. 
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Jan 13, 2017 00:40
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Redo Farbanti with an A-10.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:41
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Thefluffy posted:Do a mission in the MiG-21, the later in the game the better. The MiG-21 isn't in 04, sorry. (As a player plane, anyway)
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Jan 13, 2017 00:43
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nine-gear crow posted:The MiG-21 isn't in 04, sorry. (As a player plane, anyway) huh? I thought it was?  :edit: checked the wiki, you are correct. I would have sworn it was in the game. what ace combats did have the MiG-21? Thefluffy fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Jan 13, 2017 |
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Jan 13, 2017 00:48
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Take out the entire Aegir Fleet with a kamikaze run.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:50
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in that case, perhaps showing off some of the lesser used weapons? I know the bomblets are a bitch to use and I hated the stand off version of it even more.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:51
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Thefluffy posted:huh? I thought it was? 2, 5, 0, X, Legacy, Assault Horizon, and Infinity.
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Jan 13, 2017 00:54
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Redo any mission where Yellow Squadron shows up with an F-4. The later, the better. Yes, this includes Megalith.
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Jan 13, 2017 06:07
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Try not to kill Crow, I've been waiting for AC5 for too long.
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Jan 13, 2017 06:11
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nine-gear crow posted:2, 5, 0, X, Legacy, Assault Horizon, and Infinity. ah then it was 0 I was remembering. thanks!
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Jan 13, 2017 06:19
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I'd ask you to forsake violence, embrace the path of peace, and end the cycle of vengeance... but that's already come up in story mode.
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Jan 13, 2017 07:52
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I want to see more  stunts and tricks, it's always fun to watch!
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Jan 13, 2017 16:03
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I'd already joked to Crow about this before the commentary we did, but he should  Thinking about it, it just might be possible through TAS methods... hmm...
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Jan 14, 2017 05:52
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White Coke posted:I'd ask you to forsake violence, embrace the path of peace, and end the cycle of vengeance... but that's already come up in story mode. We're waiting for AC5 to do all that. Complete a mission using only special weapon and machine gun.
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Jan 14, 2017 07:52
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The Farbanti Yellow fight with only guns, plane is your choice.
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Jan 14, 2017 18:29
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Siege of Farbanti Mission 17: Operation Autumn Thunder – September 19th, 2005 Overview: One year to the day since the start of the ISAF countstrike operation, the Allied Forces press into Farbanti, the capital city of the Federal Republic of Erusea. Their primary target is the Erusean military GHQ, codenamed the Hexagon. ISAF intends to smash the remaining Erusean war assets defending the Hexagon and force the Erusean military leadership to surrender. As the battle to end the war rages below, Mobius 1 and Yellow 13 face each other one final time.  Guest Commentator: I am joined by yet another new commentator for this mission; the Patriarch of the First Church of Captain Matthews' Boozer Hat, the wonderful ScurvyKip. Kip is currently in the midst of a massive marathon LP covering the entirety of the Xenosaga franchise along with Unpronounceable, Daeren and a host of rotating additional guests (including me, once they get to Episode III). After completing both Episode I and Episode II, Kip has now moved on to LPing Xenosaga Freaks, the weirdass compilation demo/visual novel/fanservice bullshit game Namco put out between I and II, instead of just moving on to Episode III. I don’t know why. Probably Stockholm Syndrome.   FARBANTI The capital city of the Federal Republic of Erusea. Nestled on Erusea’s western coastline, it is the farthest westward city on the Usean mainland and the second largest city in Erusea after the port metropolis of Anchorhead. Of all the inhabited areas on Usea, Farbanti suffered perhaps the greatest damage from the impact of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid on July 3rd, 1999. A particularly large fragment, which Stonehenge failed to intercept, struck off the coast of Farbanti’s downtown Municipal District, killing or injuring thousands of peoples and permanently altering the landscape of the Erusean capital. A full quarter of the city was left permanently flooded by the impact and rendered uninhabitable. The Erusean economy was crippled instantly as its major financial sectors were flooded out and its downtown core was evacuated. All efforts to erect a sea wall and drain the flooded districts have so far proved unsuccessful. The flooded crater left in asteroid fragment’s wake was officially named Ryker Crater and has become a tragically iconic fixture of Farbanti’s coastline. The city is bifurcated by the Silver River, which drains out into the Spring Sea near the flooded Municipal District. The country’s de facto capital building, the Erusean Ministry of Defense Headquaters, informally referred to as the Hexagon, sits atop an artificial island, one of several carefully sculpted landfills that make up the city’s coastline. As ISAF advances into Farbanti, the Erusean military command, including its Supreme Commander, Field Marshal [NAME REDACTED] and his immediate family, have hunkered down within the Hexagon to await what appears to be the inevitable at this point. Also, if you look at the cover art for the Ace Combat 04 Original Soundtrack down there below, you'll see clearly now that it depicts an aerial reconnaissance photograph of the flooded district of Farbanti and Ryker Crater. This mission has been prefigured all the way since the start of the LP as the photo on the soundtrack is clearly labeled "FARBANTI / ERUSEA - 19 SEPTEMBER 2005 - SIEGE OF FARBANTI" for anyone who was looking for it.  FARBAUTI Ace Combat returns again to the realm of Norse mythology for the namesake of the city of Farbanti, the giant/god Fárbauti. Fárbauti is a jötunn (frost giant) and is the husband of Laufey and father of Loki. He is nicknamed the cruel striker, and is associated with lightning and wildfire, which is often sparked by lightning strikes. In Shattered Skies Fárbauti is feminized into Farbanti by flipping the U into an N. Fárbauti doesn’t really appear all that often in Norse myth, and in the major published works is really just a character referenced by other characters and always in relation to Loki, never on his own. One of Saturn’s moons (S/2004 S 9) is named Farbauti, and is a part of the “Norse Group”, a collection of moons named after Norse figures which fall in a certain distance range from Saturn itself. You’ll recall back in “Invincible Fleet” that one of these moons shares a name with Aegir. The largest moon in this group is actually Phoebe, named after the Greek titan. It was discovered, however, before the Norse Group naming convention was agreed upon by the scientific community. In recent years, there’s been some slight confusion over Fárbauti’s gender, thanks in large part to of all things Marvel comics. In the Marvel universe (both in print and on screen), Laufey is presented as a male and is Loki’s biological father while Fárbauti (who only appears in the comics so far) is Loki’s biological mother.  ENDGAME So we did it. The war’s over.  So how come there’s still one more mission left?Although the Erusean military has officially surrendered to ISAF, a complete cessation of hostilities has yet to be declared. Pockets of Erusean resistance remain scattered across Usea, and it may be some time yet before peace is fully restored to the continent. But that will be up to the rest of ISAF to put down in time. From here, the FCU and Independent States begin the road to rebuilding and recovery from two years of Erusean occupation. Just as the reformation of the Allied Forces into ISAF helped keep Usea from falling apart into chaos under the threat of Erusean aggression, further safeguards must be enacted to ensure that war never engulfs the Usean continent ever again. And if it does, let it be limited to happening in a simulation that’s not even really canon any more, or against those loving Osean bastards or something. With the Erusean military commanders detained or dead and the Erusean Supreme Commander having committed suicide rather than face the consequences of Erusea’s invasion actions, rule of the Federal Republic will now be returned to its people. As the Erusean civilian leadership returns from exile to form a provisional government in preparation for a national plebiscite, ISAF hopes its operations within the Erusean homeland will be wrapped up by the end of 2005. Restoration of diplomatic relations between Erusea and the FCU will follow in due time. The more liberal-minded members of the FCU parliament have made rumblings of even welcoming the now-“free” Erusea into the ISAF alliance, a gesture currently derided in popular opinion as either too soon or too gauche for the current political climate with the lingering hostilities between the two super powers (replete with allegations of ISAF’s “occupation” or “subjugation” of Erusean territory already). Regardless, the fate of Erusea now lies in the hands of its people. They will now choose their own way forward, free of any fear of repression from a tyrannical military that had grown out of control in the wake of catastrophe. Let’s just hope they don’t do something stupid like elect a loving monarchy. How dumb would that be?  THE ASSASINATION OF DAVE JORDAN BY THE COWARD [NAME REDACTED] Now you know why I titled the thread “Mobius 1 Ruined My Childhood.” We have, in rapid succession as Mobius 1, basically killed the Storyteller Boy’s surrogate family. The Storyteller Boy and Mobius 1’s narratives are now inseparably linked at this point. Why the Storyteller Boy (and the Barkeep’s Daughter, as revealed in the post-mission cutscene) followed Yellow 13 to Farbanti is ultimately a mystery, thanks to the game’s minimalistic storytelling. We can only paw at theories for his actions following his ill-fated final confrontation with 13 the night before the liberation of San Salvacion. Was he trying to follow 13 in the hopes of reconciling with him, beyond all impossible odds? Had he come to sympathize with the Eruseans (or at least Yellow Squadron) so much that falling in with them as they retreated toward Farbanti just felt like the natural thing to do in the advance of the “enemy” ISAF? What reason did the Barkeep’s Daughter have in going with him? To protect him? To make amends with 13 herself? Out of loyalty or even love for the boy? We’ll never know. The simplicity of the surface narrative over the swirling mass of complexity of the metanarrative of Shattered Skies is rife for interpretation and speculation. Because the story takes place from such a calculatedly narrow perspective, a lot of things that would give us a clearer picture of what “really” happened are simply out of reach to us as an audience because they happen outside the purview of the narrator. It’s a theme Project Aces likes to revisit (something we originally touched on in Ace Combat Zero), the idea of objective reality vs. biased perception, something that Ace Combat 7 is set to further explore. For example, there is the legitimate question of “Is Yellow 13 actually dead?” He could have easily ejected to safety before his plane exploded and the Storyteller Boy would never have seen it. We never actually get any real proof beyond a symbolic signifier (4’s fluttering handkerchief = a dead motherfucker). Though regardless of whether 13 survived or not, this could be taken metaphorically in that either way, 13 is dead to the Storyteller Boy because by now he has matured to the point where he doesn’t need a figure in his life like 13 anymore. His character arc is complete, and thus his “journey” alongside Yellow 13 has come to an end with 13’s death, actual or inferred, in the skies over Farbanti. Now, before I get any lip from anyone, I am not one of those “Everything is connected!” theory nuts. I may be welding parts of this franchise together with my own flesh as solder in some parts for dramatic effect, but even I have my limits on fanwanky bullshit. It’s a fine line. Anyway, the takeaway from this penultimate vignette for now should be a single question. Now that Yellow 13 is dead… Who’s the Storyteller Boy narrating all this to?  “YO BUDDY, YOU STILL ALIVE?” This is one the spots where doing the Ace Combat games in chronological order has its advantages. We’ve now, barring a few exceptions, more or less caught up with the frame narrative half of Ace Combat Zero. Osea, Sapin, Ustio, and Yuktobania have just finished marking the 10th anniversary of the end of the Belkan War and the era of international peace and cooperation it ushered in (Osea’s bullshit meddling in Usean politics notwithstanding). Belka also marks the anniversary though in a more solemn manner than its victorious neighbors. In commemoration of the war, a young reporter from the Osean Broadcasting Company sets out to compile a documentary on the ace pilots who helped shape the course of that war and hopefully track down a certain pivotal pilot, the Ustian mercenary known only as Cipher, and reveal the hidden truth about the A World With No Boundaries terrorist attack on the city of Lumen on Christmas Day of 1995. At this point in 04’s timeline, Brett Thompson has already met with and interviewed Erich Hillenberand (Schnee 1) and Rainer Altman (Gelb 2) in Jackson Hill, Osea, and Directus, Ustio, and is about to head back to Oured, Osea to interview Dominic Zubov (Schwarze 1) before heading across the Belkan border to meet with the majority of his interview subjects in Belka itself over the back half of September 2005 and into October 2005. In the midst of these events, Larry “Solo Wing Pixy” Foulke, Cipher’s former wingman and former member of the A World With No Boundaries terrorist organization, is currently on the ground fighting as a member of the ISAF army’s volunteer foreign mercenary division. Foulke has been listed as “Missing, Presumed Deceased” by both the Ustian Air Force (his last official employer) and the Osean Air Defense Force for the last ten years following the aborted Osean Allied Forces Operation Ravage on June 6th, 1995—the day of the Seven Pillars nuclear strike by the Belkan army on its home soil. Foulke’s involvement with AWWNB, his attempt to launch an SBMF V2 nuclear MIRV, and his clash with Cipher during the Allied Forces’ Operation Point Blank on December 31st, 1995, were stricken from all public records of the Avalon Dam assault mission by the OADF, UAF, and the Sapin and Yuktobanian Air Forces. As far as the Osean government believes, Lawrence Foulke died on December 31st, 1995 when his ADFX-02 Morgan exploded over Avalon. Having actually survived his final encounter with Cipher, and walking away from Avalon with a new perspective on life and regret over his actions in AWWNB, Foulke assumed a new identity and returned to his old life as a mercenary vagabond, drifting from one battlefield to the next, only this time on a soul-searching mission, rather than in search of a cynical paycheck. He eventually landed on Usea, and joined the Independent States Allied Forces’ foreign legion under a set of forged credentials, electing to serve in its ground forces rather than as a pilot. He had sworn off ever returning to a cockpit after Avalon. And as ISAF pushed westward to retake the continent from Erusean occupation, Foulke advanced with them. His ISAF peacekeeping unit is currently stationed in a city near the Delarus-Erusea border, charged with suppressing any hostile activity from the Erusean remnants now trapped behind ISAF’s frontlines. 67 days from now, his old life will catch up with him in Delarus, as Brett Thompson tracks him down one cold November day to ask him a few questions about his old “buddy”. THREAD CHALLENGE: Come up with a theory on where the gently caress Cipher is right now. You heard my theory of “Phoenix is actually Alberto Lopez who fled to Usea to get the gently caress away from Marcella” from the last LP. Now it’s your turn! The best Cipher theory will win a brand new avatar paid for Sworn Enemy of Ace Combat Artix.  THE TERRIBLE SECRET OF LET’S PLAY So, by now, nigh on four games into this grand experiment and with nearly 10 other LPs that I’ve either helmed or co-authored in my CV, you all know me by now. You know I’m not the kind of person to bitch about the difficulties of Let’s Playing games unless they’re too hilarious not to share or unless the future of the LP is impacted and I’m keeping you abreast of any potential changes to my workflow. This is a special case, simply because of the utter dick-slapping nightmare hell that recording Farbanti degenerated into by the time I just finally gave up. So, settle in as I recount to you for the sake of my on catharsis a true LPing disaster scenario. Round Zero: After finishing “Session 2” of my recording run through the game, I gave Farbanti a very  effort before Yellow Squadron kicked my rear end and decided it was time to call it a night. Because 04 does something that no other modern Ace Combat does, or rather it DOESN’T do something.It doesn’t Checkpoint Save. So faced with the prospect of having to rerun an already 20+-minute long mission several times at the end of a what was by then a 3 hour recording session at 1:00 AM, I decided to put the game up for the night, end the recording, and come at it again fresh in a day or two. Had I only known… Round One: Now here’s where everything starts going off the rails. After a few buggered runs, I finally get what I considered to be a near-perfect run of Farbanti in the can, plus a fairly decent run at the final level. I breathe a massive sigh of relief as I put the controller down and let the credits role. Barring the bits and bobs for the finale, I am DONE with Ace Combat 04. Well, hold on there, motherfucker. Turns out, and this is literally the only time this has ever happened to me in my 3, going on 4 years of LPing; the footage for “Session 3” was completely corrupted. Dropped frames, stuttering audio, just a mess of garbage. Not only was the output footage hosed, but the actual source footage captured by the Elgato was ruined too. Round Two: Now, going back and recording both Farbanti and Mission 18 via Free Mission seems easy on its head, only the ending cutscene, end credits, and special briefing for Mission 18 don’t play in Free Mission mode. So what I ultimately had to do was replay through the whole game in New Game+ to get these specific pieces of footage for these two videos, going through and taking out all the Named Aces along the way. This footage turned out fine. –Keep this part in mind— Round Three: So because there were certain things I recorded during the NG+ run that I wanted to save for the Finale videos, I wanted to go back and redo Farbanti and Mission 18 in Free Mission mode and then sandwich the actual “clean” missions into the interstitial footage. I’ve done this before in other games. I’m generally quite good at covering my tracks when it comes to stitching footage together so I don’t come across like a total incompetent fuckup. Again, I get another drat-near perfect run of Farbanti on video. The problem this time? OBS hosed around with the sound settings on the Elgato when I was recording Forza Horizon, so the game audio was recorded at such a high volume that there was not one second of usable audio in the video. Everything was clipping. I’m starting to lose my patience at this point. Round Four: Time to redo Farbanti again. I boot up game, and my PS3 crashes and Yellow Light of Deaths in the middle of the briefing screen for Farbanti. Not only is the console functionally dead, but the Ace Combat 04 disc is stuck inside it now too. Off to the repair shop! Round Five: Three days later, the PS3 is fixed and is working fine (it YLOD’d again yesterday but I’m done recording footage on it, the remainder of the bonus material for 04 and the entirety of 5 will be done on the PS2 again, unless it magically unfucks itself or I find another cheap backwards compatible PS3 out there to burn through). Time to redo Farbanti again. 4 runs, can’t beat Yellow Squadron, like at all. gently caress it. I’m done.  Aircraft featured in Mission 17: Operation Autumn Thunder  V-22 Osprey Manufacturer: Bell Helicopter & Boeing Role: VTOL troop transport Manufactured: 1988–present Status: In service Primary Operators: United States Quick Facts:
 
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Seventeen is our penultimate ace, Halley. I think we all know this guy - Edmond Halley, born November 8th, 1656. English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician and the like - among other things, he had a hand in Isaac Newton's publishing of the Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687; created plans for a diving bell that featured a window to observe its surroundings and could support a person for more than ninety minutes (with further updates to the design extending its operational time to over four hours), and introduced a rudimentary magnetic compass in 1691; commanded the HMS Paramour for the first purely-scientific voyage by an English naval vessel in 1698; completed an Arabic-English translation of all seven books of Apollonius of Perga''s Conics in 1706; took part in the first attempt to scientifically date Stonehenge (hee hee) in 1720; and in the same year succeeded John Flamsteed as the second Astronomer Royal in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, a position he held until his death 22 years later.   Tracks featured in Mission 17: DISC 2  Farbanti, during and after Ulysses Day:   And from the ACES AT WAR artbook:  Yellow 13's Su-37 Flanker on the ground in San Salvacion. nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 06:19 on May 3, 2021 |
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Jan 15, 2017 00:53
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Pro Tip: Ace Combat is actually a Gundam game but they thought the license was too expensive so they replaced giant robots with fighter planes. Think about it; superweapons, ace pilots and custom paintjobs, constant war outbreaks, rebels that fight to the bitter end, a protagonist with an unbelievable body count. It's just like one of my Japanese animes. 
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Jan 15, 2017 05:45
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It's kind of obvious where Pixy is right now. He's undergone extensive reconstructive surgery and gender reassignment, was placed into a satellite, and was shot out into space, where s/he operates drones with impunity. You might know her as Camilla, the Butterfly Master.
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Jan 15, 2017 06:08
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nine-gear crow posted:: I know we talked about it during our commentary crow, but I will reiterate that there is a thing you absolutely have to do: Megalith. Override the regular BGM with the Infinity version of Blue Skies so we can scientifically determine which is a better track for the mission. You know you want to.
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Jan 15, 2017 06:09
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Ace Number Seventeen is our penultimate ace, Halley. I think we all know this guy - Edmond Halley, born November 8th, 1656. English astronomer, geophysicist, mathematician and the like - among other things, he had a hand in Isaac Newton's publishing of the Philosophić Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687; created plans for a diving bell that featured a window to observe its surroundings and could support a person for more than ninety minutes (with further updates to the design extending its operational time to over four hours), and introduced a rudimentary magnetic compass in 1691; commanded the HMS Paramour for the first purely-scientific voyage by an English naval vessel in 1698; completed an Arabic-English translation of all seven books of Apollonius of Perga''s Conics in 1706; took part in the first attempt to scientifically date Stonehenge (hee hee) in 1720; and in the same year succeeded John Flamsteed as the second Astronomer Royal in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom, a position he held until his death 22 years later. He, of course, is most famous today for the 1705 publication of Synopsis Astronomia Cometicae, where he detailed his belief that comet sightings in 1456, 1531, 1607, and 1682 were all of the same comet, and gave his prediction that the comet would be sighted again in 1758; while he did not survive to see it, after its return in that year it generally became known as Halley's Comet (officially 1P/Halley now). Died January 14th, 1742, at 85 years old. The in-game Halley flies the F-15 S/MTD. As typical in this series, and for that matter every other arcade-like flight sim, his paint scheme is based on that of the real-world one used by NASA - which, from the perspective of someone who likes to convert paint schemes from this series to other games like Vector Thrust, makes the S/MTD a surprisingly boring-looking plane on its own. EDIT: to speak on the planes, I didn't really look up much about the Osprey (for one, not playable, and even so it's maybe half a plane?) but I'd like to imagine it's sort of the tilt-rotor equivalent of the Harrier, in that it's something drat near everybody who's heard of the concept of an airplane for military use has heard of that thing. Like they had these things showing up in games as far back as Half-Life in '98 (I have a very good friend who basically fell in love with the thing because of its appearance there). Kadorhal fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 06:27
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That was a hell of a final Yellow kill, at least. You can rag on the recording all you want, but that part made up for it. I still hold to the opinion that Yellow 13 is the hardest of the Boss Aces in the franchise. It probably has something to do with most of the other examples being in ridiculous super planes with gimmicks like Knightly Jousting or literal Macross scenarios, whereas 13 is just a conventional enemy with his various parameters turned up to eleven, but none of the other showdown bosses have really compared, I feel. There's something to say for ending a storyline with a slugfest between two opponents who play by the same rules (relatively, anyway. Player SUs don't turn like that) in a franchise rife with anti-orbital super cannons and Arthurian laser planes. Also Cipher obviously died on the way back to his home planet. I have an actual dumb joke Cipher theory I came up with way back when I first played these games and would still do poo poo like this, but it involves spoilers for AC5 - Demon Lord of the Round Table? Demons of Razgriz? Coincidence? Hah. Cipher and Blaze are the same dude and it's not just some jackass pilot who's good at doing pilot things, this is a literal demonic reaper of Belkan souls. That's why he never fought any of the wars in between the Belkan war and the Yuke war in 5 - No Belkans to kill in those. Cipher/Blaze is simply a manifestation of the universe's contempt for Belka's cartoonishly evil ways. If only Pops knew that the being he was fixing lovely F-5s for had tried to kill him 15 years or whatever earlier. Psycho Landlord fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 06:46
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Cipher used the fat stacks of cash he made in the Belkan War to retire as a mercenary and start their dream job: video game developer. Figuring that it'd be a good idea to stick closely with what theyknows, they release a bunch of games about being a fighter pilot that do fairly well, but don't set the world on fire. Eventually a subordinate releases a game about managing idols that does extremely well for some strange reason.
paragon1 fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 08:09
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Now, I am not sorry, but you touched a thing I am marginally interested in in the commentary and I feel the need to elaborate a bit: Strike Witches aren't quite Planes as Females, they are more WW2 Aces as Females With Plane Socks. Skipping past the current shipgirling thing and going into the Before: term you are looking for is Mecha Musume. As far as I know, it began with actual Mecha, as images of girls in dresses inspired by/looking like bits of armor from giant anime robots. Then it propagated to planes, spaceships, normal ships, trains, tanks and other products of advanced engineering. But giant humanoid robots are the ones who started it all. I suspect it was Gundam, but can't prove. (it most likely wasn't redrawing of female pilots of Mazinger franchize as their fembots, that came later, but I can't prove that) Now you know. And universe is different for you.
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Jan 15, 2017 08:19
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Gross.
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Jan 15, 2017 09:29
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Just went back and added a couple of details to the latest update, like how a reference to this mission has actually been hiding plain sight since the start of the LP via the game's soundtrack cover: You can see now that the cover is showing an aerial spy photo taken during this mission and is clearly labeled "FARBANTI / ERUSEA 19 SEPTEMBER 2005 - SIEGE OF FARBANTI". Also yeah, consider this a moratorium on talk about creepy plane/ship/whatever girls. If my tone of general disgust with it in the video wasn't enough of a hint for you as to my feelings on the topic, then let me say it openly: just stop. Please.
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Jan 15, 2017 12:08
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Edit: Blah, Crow beat me to the punch. Just know that Ace Combat isn't safe!
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Jan 15, 2017 12:14
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Time to get the most unbelievable theory out of the way: After the Belkan War, Cipher retired. The combination of his per-kill pay (more than enough to pay the bills even for a Knight) and the hush money shoved his way to keep everything quiet about how close V2 came to destroying the world meant he had no need to further work in a career he had lost all taste for, or any line of work at all. He simply stepped out of his cockpit, disappeared into the world at large and lived a quiet life (as quiet as anywhere gets in Strangereal, anyway). He was never 'pulled out for one last job', he never decided that he preferred to 'live on the battlefield', he simply decided that he did not want or need to fly anymore.
OddHaberdasher fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Jan 15, 2017 |
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Jan 15, 2017 16:10
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Speaking of soundtrack, I will say that while Ace Combat 04 does have a huge variety of excellent musical tracks, the Siege of Farbanti mission track is probably my favourite. For those listening along at home, notice how the slightly off-beat drum makes the whole tune sound different depending on whether you think of the drum beat as being on-beat and the strings off-beat, or the strings on and the drums off. With regards to the fate of Cipher: As a few former military personnel would, following the end of the Belkan war and his tour of active duty, Cipher found that his expertise could be put to good use in the realm of military advisory, and he became a consultant to ISAF air units in the years leading up to the Erusean invasion. As elements of his previous employment history were considered top-secret, his participation in the ISAF military apparatus was secondary and largely remained unnoticed until the release of Brett Thompson's documentary in 2005. One of his most dubious and noteworthy accomplishments in this period was the publishing of a feasibility study on the relative effectiveness of individual highly-trained and armed ace fighter pilots versus much larger combined ground and air forces. The data used for this study included records from Cipher's own experiences and recollections of flights from over a decade prior, and as such numerous elements of the study were considered suspect. However, when compared with mission reports and flight data from Mobius 1's sorties, ISAF concluded that there was some merit to the use of Cipher's research in the realm of counterinsurgency operations, as Cipher's own experiences fighting A World with No Boundaries in 1995 were somewhat parallel to the equally pressing situation of the Erusean revolt in 2006. Thus, Mobius 1 was to participate in Operation Katina to see if Cipher's theories held any merit.
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Jan 15, 2017 20:22
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Cipher was piloting the other passenger jet, the one that didn't get riddled with bullets. He managed to take off without getting shot because he's a better pilot.
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Jan 15, 2017 23:10
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I refuse to believe that Cipher is that much of a mumbler
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Jan 15, 2017 23:39
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nine-gear crow posted:
It appears in Ace Combat 3 too  Unless it's some futuristic variant of it, of course
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Jan 16, 2017 02:43
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Cipher goes on to fusion dance with SkyEye, and they're adventuring around the world by the time AC5 rolls around.
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Jan 16, 2017 02:50
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| # ? May 11, 2024 17:48 |
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Shinjobi posted:Cipher goes on to fusion dance with SkyEye, and they're adventuring around the world by the time AC5 rolls around. Cypher IS SkyEye. He's retired from the merc life but is still willing to support the next generation of aces.
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Jan 16, 2017 02:54
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