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  Welcome back everyone to Let’s Play Ace Combat 2 / Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy (thanks to Trizophenie!). This is the second entry in be a larger look at the Ace Combat series’ Strangereal-based games. Much like the previous LPs I helped create with my partner in LP Crime Blind Sally, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Killzone/Killzone: Liberation/Killzone 2/Killzone 3, this LP will also be an in-depth look at the fictional history, politics, setting, and characters of Ace Combat’s Strangereal shared universe as told over the course of multiple games and done in in-universe chronological order. Games covered thus far:
   With Zero done and out the way, we now move on to our first numbered Ace Combat, Ace Combat 2. “What happened to Ace Combat 1?” you say. Well, first off there is no Ace Combat 1, it’s called Air Combat, secondly it’s a terrible garbage arcade game that’s not really fun to play or LP, and lastly it was just kind of shrugged into the Strangereal canon by Namco so I’m within my rights to ignore it. Anyway. Ace Combat 2 is actually the third entry into the Ace Combat franchise. The actual second game is Air Combat 22, the literal arcade port of Air Combat. Released in 1997, and set in the year 1998, the game introduces us to the Usean continent which would be the setting of the next two Ace Combat games, Electrosphere and Shattered Skies, as well as Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The game functions as a loose sequel to Air Combat and follows the player character from that game, Phoenix, and his Scarface mercenary squadron as they fight to retake Usea from a massive armed rebellion that threatens to overthrow the continent following a botched peace conference with a faraway nation (later retconned to be Osea). Now, the big question: What is Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy? And why will you not shut up about it? Assault Horizon Legacy, or AHL for short is the Nintendo 3DS remake of Ace Combat 2 made with the intent of making the game “Strangereal Lore-Friendly”. It features added world building details that connect it to other games in the franchise, fleshes out the cast a little more, and adds additional player controlled planes, special weapons, and boss enemy squadron fights similar to Zero’s not present in the original game. It also plays a hell of a lot better than Ace Combat 2 does on a mechanical level. A further updated version called Assault Horizon Legacy+ (the version I own) also features updates tailored to the New 3DS control system and Amiibo support (I don’t own any Amiibos, nor do I give a poo poo about Amiibos because I’m not a goddamn seven-year old). Originally released in Japan as Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble, it was repackaged for its North American Release as a not-at-all-related-in-any-actual-way tie-in with the last big console Ace Combat release, the near-universally reviled Ace Combat: Assault Horizon. So please don’t go making the mistake in assuming it has anything to do with AH itself beyond sharing a name. Functionally speaking, I’m actually going to be LPing Assault Horizon Lecacy in tandem with Ace Combat 2, treating both games as a single entity. Actual gameplay footage of Legacy has been graciously provided by the incredible Trizophenie. The Assault Horizon Legacy versions of each mission will be listed in each applicable update under "Legacy Version".   Project Aces' Ace Combat franchise is a sprawling mass of games spread out over many different consoles and handheld platforms with several wholly unrelated continuities depending on which sub-set of games you want to look at. The games most people are familiar with and have played, however, are the ones we will be covering over the course of this Mega LP: the ones set in Strangereal. These of course are That said, I will not be covering the following games: 
   Now, the uninitiated among you might be asking yourself “What the gently caress is a The majority of the Ace Combat games are set in a shared universe setting that has been dubbed by fans as the “Strangereal” world. The name originated from a trailer for Ace Combat 04 which contained the phrase “A strange, real world.” Fans compacted the phrase into the portmanteau of “Strangereal” to describe the setting of the game. As you can see by the two world maps (the left one is “canon”, the right one is fan-interpolated conjecture), the world of the Ace Combat series shares a number of similarities to our own while also being radically different. Namco itself would come to adopt the term Strangereal to describe the setting in more recent Ace Combat games such as Ace Combat: Infinity. It has also been implied that the Ridge Racer series also takes place in Strangereal, as background worldbuilding elements and settings from the Ace Combat games appear various Ridge Racer games, particularly the character of Reiko Nagase, who is implied to be a relative of several other Nagases who appear throughout the Ace Combat franchise. Project Aces also previewed a trio of concept games at the dawn of the PlayStation3-era that used the Strangereal setting as well. They were, in no particular order, Brave Arms, a Metal Gear Solid 4/Bionic Commando third-person action/espionage game set in the Kingdom of Sapin; Second Season 01, a first-person cop drama game which appeared to be set in Oured, Osea; and Chain Lim!t, an Alpha Protocol-style action spy game with multiple user-determined solutions to action problems. All three games were either cancelled shortly after their announcement or were just internal proof-of-concepts that somehow were teased to the public as actual games before being pulled. Either way, they remain just another aspect of the enduring enigma that is Strangereal. The Strangereal world is a massive, intriguing, and reactive place that gets developed a little more with each Ace Combat game set in it and elements of this setting speak to each other across multiple games. We’re going to be looking at this setting from a near-pedantically scholarly viewpoint, so I hope you all have your over-analysis caps on like I do! Because this is a thinking man’s LP, not one of those “Shoot Visari in the face—RICO NO!!!” LPs. (Actually it is one of those LPs, don’t tell anyone though!) For the purpose of this LP series, we will be following the games in in-universe chronological order from 1995 to 2020. The order we will be going in will be Zero > 2/AHL > 04 > 5 > 6 > X > 7 (depending on where it falls in the timeline when it eventually comes out). We even might do Air Combat and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon in some capacity for shits and giggles at the end as a bonus depending on how burnt out I am of Ace Combat in general and how good you’ve all been. For more information about the Ace Combat franchise, please consult Acepedia, the Ace Combat Wiki. (Note: there’s a lot of bullshit conjecture stuff on the AC Wiki, so read at your own risk. Also, lots of unmarked spoilers for the whole franchise.)  I’d prefer you didn’t post spoilers, if you are one of those people who do know what happens in this and subsequent games. So try to avoid letting huge things that could ruin the game for people who are experiencing it fresh slip out like how Phoenix is the same character from Air Combat or how Keynote is voiced by Richard Epcar. Because that poo poo just sucks. 
Ace Combat 2 Intro | Assault Horizon Legacy Attract Trailer OPERATION ALPHAVILLE OPERATION BELISSIMA ENDGAME nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 09:08 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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 Presenting the “Great Up-Till-Now Ace Combat In-Universe Timeline”. As we go through the games and possibly threads, this timeline will fill in with bullet points on events in the Strangereal world as new updates are posted. 1900s - 1910s
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2030 - 2040 nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Aug 1, 2016 |
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 Just in case... I dunno. We'll see.
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Interception of Invasion Unit Ace Combat 2 Intro Movie Mission 1: Operation Gambit – March 20th, 1998 Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Attract Mode Trailer Mission 1 (Legacy Version) Ace Combat 2 begins with a brief information dump before throwing us into the midst of the war. The Usean continent has descended into chaos after rebels within the Federation of Central Usea’s allied military forces pulled off a massive, coordinated coup d’état against the nations of Usea. Angered by the signing of a one-sided peace treaty with a foreign nation (Osea), the Rebel Forces intend to overthrow the national governments of the continent and establish military rule over all of Usea. In response, the remainder of the FCU Allied Forces launches a military campaign dubbed “Operation Fighter’s Honour” to liberate the occupied sectors of Usea, put down the rebellion, and end the civil war before it tears the entire continent apart. To do this, the FCU calls upon the former mercenary pilot Phoenix, the hero of the Skully Islands Incident, and his Scarface Squadron to lead the counterattack. Overview: A flight of rebel bombers and escorts threatens to destroy an FCU military base in the Twinkle Islands in order to expand their territory. Phoenix is dispatched from an FCU aircraft carrier south of the islands to intercept the bomber fight and defend the base.    SCARFACE SQUADRON Federation of Central Usea Allied Air Force, 37th Air Force Unit, 18th Fighter Wing, 1st Special Tactical Fighter Squadron Members:
Squadron Composition: Player Determined The so-called “Special Tactical Fighter Squadron” dubbed Scarface was first formed in 1995 shortly after the signing of the Treaty of Lumen and the end of the Belkan War. The squadron was designed to be a fluid, rapid reaction strike team comprised entirely of mercenary pilots. The FCU sought to replicate the success of the Ustio Air Force’s foreign mercenary air division with a fully funded yet still functional independent fighting force. Scarface’s first real test came during the Skully Islands Rebellion in the summer of 1996. When terrorists seized control over military and infrastructure facilities on an island chain off the coast of Usea, Scarface Squadron was deployed as part of the effort to route the terrorist forces and regain control over the islands. One of the more prominent pilots to distinguish themselves during the operation as a mercenary known as “Phoenix”, who would go on to become the flight lead of Scarface Team.    PHOENIX Real Name: Unknown Callsign(s): Phoenix, Scarface 1, Firebird, “Birdy” Age: Late 20’s to mid 30’s Sex: Male Nationality: FCU (unverified) Signature Plane: Player choice (Su-37 in all promotional material) Voice Actor: Uncredited (AC2), None (AHL) Our new player character for our new Ace Combat game. Much like his processor Cipher and eventually successors, Phoenix’s background information and personality are a complete mystery. He is, however, one of only two Ace Combat protagonists to star in multiple games, as he is also the player character of the semi-canonical Air Combat, the very first game in the series. He’s also one of the few Ace Combat protagonists to speak in game, albeit very briefly. After helping the FCU retake the Skully Islands from terrorists in 1996, Phoenix retired from the military and returned to civilian life until the Usean Rebellion of early 1998. As the continent fell into chaos, he was recalled to active duty by the FCU Air Force and placed back in command of the same Scarface Special Tactical Fighter Squadron he commanded during the Skully Islands campaign. Now, with the full backing of the Allied Forces and a new set of wingmates at his command, Phoenix has become the tip of the spear for Operation Fighter’s Honour.   KEYNOTE Real Name: Ulrich Olsen Callsign(s): Keynote Age: 53 Sex: Male Nationality: FCU Signature Plane: E-767 Voice Actor: Richard Epcar (AHL), Uncredited (AC2) Flying under the TAC name “Keynote”, Ulrich Olsen is Scarface Squadron’s operational command officer, AWACS operator, and intelligence officer. A colonel in the FCU Air Force, Olsen has spent nearly all of his adult life in the military and is a both respected commander and talented tactician. Though he may be a stern presence on the battlefield, at home Olsen is a loving and gentle husband and father. His son followed in his footsteps and serves an operational commander for a different FCUAF squadron stationed elsewhere on the continent. He has also known Scarface 2’s John Harvard, aka “Slash” since Harvard was a rookie pilot, and has come to view him as a surrogate son. Harvard in turn views Olsen as a father figure and affectionately refers to him as “Pops”, much to Olsen’s consternation. Due to the rebellion, the Allied Forces’ numbers have been spread thin across the continent, as such Olsen will be pulling triple duty as both our direct commanding officer, our AWACs operator, and our briefing intel officer. Keynote as a character is unique to Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy. He fulfils the same role as the otherwise cut-and-dry briefing guy, but with the expanded role of also being our AWACS op, which was absent from 2, among other things. So for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to be treating the briefing guy from 2 as if he basically is Keynote. I’ll also be posting Keynote’s briefings and debriefings from AHL in the thread just because they’re more expansive and have more lore.   Usean Rebel Forces The Usean Rebel Forces, henceforth referred to as the URF or Rebels for short, are the main aggressors of the Usean Continental War. The URF is a coordinated military alliance of commanders and soldiers hailing from all across Usea currently in open rebellion against their respective national government, and the Federation of Central Usea in particular. The URF is currently functioning out of a provisional military headquarters in the north eastern city of St. Ark, situated across the Gulf of St. Ark from North Point. The Rebel forces possess considerable land, sea, and air power, including several ace pilots and elite squadrons from all across Usea. The stated objective of the Rebel forces is the forcible removal of all Osean-sympathetic military and civilian leaders from power across Usea and the establishment of an anti-Osean continental state to act as an international check against what they view as the aggressive expansionism of the Osean Federation. The rebellion itself was sparked by the FCU’s signing of a one-sided peace treaty with Osea, which the rebels saw as the FCU effectively seceding Usea to the Oseans. The objective of the Allied Forces’ Operation Fighter’s Honour is the liberation of all civilian areas from Rebel control, the dismantlement of the Rebel forces fighting power, and the arrest and public trial of all URF commanding officers and supporting political leaders.  TWINKLE ISLANDS The Twinkle Islands are a small island chain off the coast of the Federal Republic of Erusea on Usea’s west coast, situated in the Spring Sea between Usea and the Belkan subcontinental region of Osea. While functionally independent, the islands are considered Erusian territory by their national military government. Though largely uninhabited, the picturesque island chain is home to several military bases including Twinkle Islands Air Force Base and Naval Station. Construction on a top secret Erusian military facility codenamed “Megalith” in the islands has been postponed due to the outbreak of the Continental War. FCU Intelligence believes the facility to be a part of Erusea’s defensive efforts against the oncoming Ulysses 1994XF04 Asteroid, in addition to the FCU’s own Stonehenge facility, currently under construction in Delarus.  ASTEROID ULYSSES 1994XF04 Discovered in early December of 1994, the asteroid designated 1994XF04 by the International Astronomers Union was named after a famous hero on a long journey home due to its highly elongated orbit through the solar system. Shortly after its discovery by astronomers from the Usean University of Shellsbridge, a reevaluation of its trajectory by researchers from the University of Comona discovered the asteroid was on a potential collision course with the Earth, estimating a near 90% likely impact probability on July 3rd, 1999. Upon disclosing their findings to the FCU government, the IAU was tasked with extensively researching the asteroid to provide the best possible information in order to form a response strategy to its potential impact. Their research showed Ulysses to have a total diameter of over 1 mile, and its course would cause the fragments produced from its crossing Earth’s Roche limit to strike across the northern hemisphere of the planet with the strength of two million nuclear warheads, plunging the planet into a nuclear winter that would lead to a mass extinction event unrivaled since the asteroid impact that exterminated the dinosaurs. If Ulysses was allowed to impact the planet without some measure to weaken it, it would mean the end of human civilization. In December of 1995, the FCU called an emergency continental congress of the nations of Usea to formulate a plan to counter the Ulysses threat. Among the defensive options approved was the construction of a large scale railgun network in the desert of central Usea codenamed “Stonehenge.” The Stonehenge Turret Network was designed to be a rapid-reaction last line of defense designed to shoot down incoming asteroid fragments to protect the Usean continent, which was forecast to receive the blunt of the Ulysses fragments along with Wellow, northern Osea, and the nations of the Anean continent in the far north; Emmeria, Nordennavic, and Estovakia. Having already informed the other world governments of the Ulysses threat, the FCU elected not to disclose their knowledge of the asteroid until construction of Stonehenge was nearing completion in order to avoid sparking mass panic. On April 20th, 1996, FCU President Robert Sinclair publically announced the existence and potential impact risk of Ulysses at a special press conference in the FCU capital of Expo City. Other nations around the planet are currently at work on similar asteroid defense systems to Stonehenge and are hard at work digging deep ground impact shelters. The costly reconstruction efforts from the Belkan War have left the nations of Osea, Yuktobania, and Belka unable to implement any potential asteroid defense plans of their own, however while the Osean Aeronautics and Space Agency will be unable to implement a defense plan in time for the Ulysses planetfall, it is currently formulating cleanup and international aid operations to be ready for the aftermath of the impact. As of the start of Operation Fighter’s Honour on April 20th, 1998, 470 days remain before Ulysses impacts the Earth. In real world astronomical terms, the catalog name of Ulysses, 1994XF04 denotes it as the 106th (F04) asteroid discovered in the first half of December (X, Dec 1-15) of 1994. The name Ulysses also implies that an analog to the Greek epics the Iliad and the Odyssey exist in Strangereal, as Ulysses, also known as Odysseus in Greek, was a prominent character in the former, and the protagonist of the later. Ulysses is never mentioned in either Ace Combat 2 or Assault Horizon Legacy, and is first mentioned in Shattered Skies, coming up next in the timeline. I only mention it now because I want it to be in the back of everyone’s minds going forward, as Shattered Skies takes place several years after Ulysses has already hit the planet. …Also kind of makes you wonder why nobody in Electrosphere ever talks about Ulysses at all. Who knows, maybe  ?From a real world perspective, the Ulysses impact disaster is another play on a well-trodden road of speculative near-future fiction; the good old “what if Earth were hit by an asteroid?” story, which experienced an upswing in the 1990s as public awareness of near-Earth objects (NEOs) and their potential threat to life on Earth increased in the late 80s and early 90s. This trend reached its apex in 1998 with the release of the movies Deep Impact and Armageddon, both of which dealt with the doomsday scenario of a massive asteroid impacting the planet. And I’d wager good money that Project Aces probably had one or both of these movies in mind when they drew up the Ulysses storyline. If you want to an absolutely horrifying visualization of how we’re practically swimming in a sea of asteroids, watch this short video on all the asteroids discovered between 1980 and 2014 and get down on your knees and pray to Jupiter (the planet, not the god) every day that it keeps catching all the REALLY nasty poo poo that would otherwise kill us all in its massive gravity well.  Aircraft featured in Mission 1: Operation Gambit  A-4 Skyhawk Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft (later McDonnell Douglas) Role: Light fighter / trainer Manufactured: 1954–1979 Status: Semi-retired Primary Operators: United States, Israel, Argentina Quick Facts:
  B-1B Lancer Manufacturer: Rockwell International, Boeing Role: Strategic Bomber Manufactured: 1973–74, 1983–88 Status: In Service Primary Operators: United States Quick Facts:
REPEAT OFFENDERS
  *NOTE: Red areas denote territory currently held by the Rebel forces, blue areas denote territory maintained by the FCU-led Allied Forces. And now, we discuss the abso-gently caress-gently caress-gently caress-fuckling-loutely hosed up political landscape of the Usean continent, our new home for the duration of Ace Combats 2, Electrosphere, and Shattered Skies. Usea is the focus of the first 4 Ace Combats, though Air Combat was later retconned into being set on Usea. If you watched Lunethex’s Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere LP, you got something of a sneak peek at Usea of the future, now we get to see Usea in its “prime”, as it were, before things go all batshit crazy like they do in Electrosphere. Being the first location of Strangereal designed by Project Aces before there even was a Strangereal and transplanted into PA’s expanded universe by the power of “well, sure, why not?”, Usea is a mess of conflicting information, retcons, grey areas, and fan wankery that would cause a bald man to pull what little was left of their hair out trying to make sense. Here we go… Back in the pre-Ace Combat 5 days, Usea was ostensibly a location on a fictionalized version of our real world earth. It was anywhere from a large island nation to an actual fictional continent in scale. No one really knew. The name was an acronym born of the name The United States of Euro-Asia and pronounced “Oo-zee-ah”. Though I’ve also heard it pronounced “Oo-zya” and I will probably end up switching between the two at random during the commentary. Usea was meant to be a “what if” location, answering the question “what if there were no political boundaries between Europe and Asia and it was all one country?” That’s Ace Combat 2’s take on it. Then Electrosphere asked “what if Europe and Asia were one country, but also run by corporations now like it’s an Armored Core game?” Then Shattered Skies said “okay, that’s really loving dumb you guys, what if it was just Eurasia… but different?” Then Ace Combat 5 went “get in bitches, we’re a planet now!” and that’s how we got here. Of course, it doesn’t really help that even the game meant to streamline Usea and make it fit properly into Strangereal once and for all, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy only serves to muddy the waters further. Characters use both the acronym Usea (referring to the continent itself) and the initialism USEA (all capitals and pronounced U-S-E-A, referring to the political union that had since been retconned out of existence) interchangeably. It’s my pet theory to rationalize the disparity that Usea indeed is the name of the continent, while USEA refers to the fledgling transcontinental pact that the FCU attempted to create in the run up to Ace Combat 2/Assault Horizon Legacy that ultimately fell apart thanks to Osea and the Continental War that this game concerns itself with. Hence why it’s never mentioned again. …Until Electrosphere, but Electrosphere is weeeeeeeeeeeeeird, man.   FCU Full Name: The Federation of Central Usea Capital: Expo City Continent: Usea Head of State: President Robert Sinclair Government: Multinational Democratic Federation Real World Analog: Japan, South Korea, European Union A loose federation of independent states in the eastern and southern quadrants of Usea capitulating to a single federal government. The FCU is an organization akin to the European Union on our Earth, only with a much stronger governing authority than the EU has over its member nations. Comprising nearly half of Usea, the FCU is a world leader in culture and scientific development. Its major universities are among the top schools on the planet for study and research, and its spaceport in the Comona Islands is among the world’s most active satellite and manned vehicle launch facilities in the developed world. The FCU was the first nation on Earth to detect the Ulysses1994XF04 asteroid and calculate its approach vector to Earth. It was also the first nation to formulate a plan to protect itself and its neighbors from the catastrophic effects of its coming impact. It is already hard at work building underground shelters for refugees in projected impact zones and is also heavily involved in the construction of the top secret Stonehenge Turret Network (STN) in the Delarusian desert. While not named in-game, the FCU, or what’s left of it after the coup by the Erusea-backed northern rebels, will be our protagonist nation for Ace Combat 2. The Allied Forces we will be fighting for are based in southern Usea. I say this because according to the political boundaries map glimpsed at the start of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy and its delineation between the Rebels and the Allies, the FCU appears to tear itself clean in two on a North-South axis, with several member nations in the middle opting to remain neutral. Prior to the outbreak of the Continental War, the FCU was instrumental in nearly brining all of Usea together in a transcontinental alliance that would have been known as the USEA or United States of Euro-Asia. The move was concocted in response to the end of the Belkan War three years prior in 1995, which saw Osea further expand its territory and influence around the world and lead to the signing of a historical peace treaty between Osea and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics one year later in 1996. However, the fledgling continental alliance began to fall apart when the southern nations of the FCU reached out to the Osean Federation independent of the FCU federal government with their own peace accord and offer to join Osea as member states, giving the Federation a vital military and political foothold on Usea as well as access to its vast wealth of natural resources and leading technological industries. Furious at the betrayal, the northern nations of the FCU, supported by Federal Republic of Erusea, and the independent states of North Point, Amber, and San Salvacion, rebelled against the South’s attempt to sell Usea out to Osea and staged a massive coup d’etat and simultaneous assault on the day of the treaty signing ceremony with Osea. As the FCU dissolved into civil war, Osea unilaterally revoked the treaty agreement and temporarily cut its ties with the South, leaving Usea to fend for itself as it spiraled into a full blown continental war. Because “Osea Is Not The Good Guys™”. …Yeah, I really don’t know what that’s supposed to say that the retcons in Assault Horizon Lecacy seem to imply that the war is actually the “good guys”’s fault here. The South kicks off the Continental War by weaseling out of the continental alliance and then running to Osea, the very nation the alliance was set up to protect against. There’s some mitigating factors involving Erusea’s role in things that complicates matters which I’ll discuss in their entry next, but I still can’t help but thing I’m going to be rooting for the “bad guys” for a while until they cross some sort of line in their fight with the Allies.   ERUSEA Full Name: The Federal Republic of Erusea Capital: Farbanti Continent: Usea Head of State: Supreme Commander Government: Military Dictatorship Real World Analog: China, Russia, North Korea, Nationalist Spain, Fascist Italy The Usean continent’s resident military superpower. While the FCU has a larger political reach across the continent, Erusea (pronounced “Eruz-yaa” not “Eru-sea”) is the largest single nation on Usea, and has the continent’s single largest military force. Erusea had been, for much of recent history, a fascist military dictatorship openly hostile to the FCU and its government, yet content to remain within its borders, judging open war with the FCU to be too costly and would run the risk of potential intervention from a third party state such as Osea. Basically, now that Belka has kneecapped itself, Erusea is going to pick up its crown as the chief global troublemaker for the next decade. Travel bans to Erusea were enacted by the FCU, Osean, Emmerian, Aurelian, Sapish, and Belkan subcontinental national governments, as travelers from these and other nations faced harassment by Erusian officials and law enforcement agencies and in some extreme cases imprisonment on fabricated crimes. The border between Erusea and its neighboring stages of Delarus and San Salvacion was highly militarized and strictly maintained, and remained under a 24 hour watch by FCU Intelligence on the lingering fear that the Erusian military would one day launch a surprise attack and overwhelm its weaker neighbors. One of Erusea’s few international trading partners outside of the Union of Yuktonabian Republics and other smaller Third World nations on Verusa was the Principality of Belka. However, in the wake of Belka’s collapse and the economic sanctions placed upon it by the Assembly of Nations to prohibit the redevelopment of its military infrastructure, Erusea has found itself increasingly isolated both economically and politically. An international movement has also been underfoot by Osea to pressure Yuktobania into boycotting Erusian exports in the name of spurring social policy and ultimately regime change within Erusea. Erusea was brought in on the continental congress held in December 1995 to discuss how to deal with the looming Ulysses Crisis, over the objections of many FCU member states and independent Usean nations. Despite these objections, the Erusian delegation was instrumental in the development plans for the Stonehenge Turret Network, which was approved by the congress as the best viable option for dealing with the oncoming asteroid. Erusea would contribute construction resources, munitions, and engineering and weapons design personnel to help built the eight massive railguns in the desert of the politically neutral nation of Delarus. Following the coup by the northern Usean Rebels in response to the South’s attempt to secede and join the Osean Federation, many Erusian commanders and military units threw their support in with the Rebels, bolstering their ranks and fighting power 100-fold. While the Erusian government vehemently denied it, FCU Intelligence intercepts indicate that the Erusian military leadership appeared to be backing the Rebels through back channel support, having finally gotten the opportunity for their long-awaited war with the FCU one way or another.   *This flag is semi-canonical. See below for details. NORTH POINT Full Name: The Republic of North Point Capital: North Point City Continent: Usea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Democratic Republic Real World Analog: Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark A politically neutral island nation of the north eastern coast of Usea. North Point had developed a reputation in the second half the 20th century as a peacemaker nation, having long since dismantled nearly all of its military divisions and facilities to near zero levels. Many North Point citizens would find careers working for the Assembly of Nations’ various flagship agencies and programs such as the World Health Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency, World Food Program, or ANICEF. North Point City was also the host location of many international treaty and trade agreement discussions due its stringently neutral nature. North Point has long been admired across the planet as a deal making and peace brokering international partner in global politics. However, while the North Point government publically supported the FCU in the Continental War of 1998, its lack of a proper military force to defend itself led to many of its decommissioned military facilities being captured by the Usean Rebels and used against the FCU-led Allies for much of the war. For such a  of a country, North Point gets namechecked a surprisingly large amount of times across the Ace Combat franchise, appearing in Electrosphere and Shattered Skies, and being referenced in The Unsung War. In regards to Ace Combat 2 though, well… we’ll be getting a decent look at North Point, let’s just say… eventually.A NOTE ON THE FLAG: So again, because PA was playing continuity whack-a-mole when it came to designing Usea, North Point has no “canon” flag for it. The flag seen above does appear on screen in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, but is never identified as being North Point’s flag. It’s part of a brief shot of essentially space-filler flags designed to represent the nations that comprise ISAF, the protagonist faction of that game. Aside from the ISAF flag, two other flags are clearly visible: this flag, and a flag that we later learn is the San Salvacion flag. The flagpole shot is implied to be depicting North Point, where ISAF’s GHQ will eventually be located, so I’m working on the assumption that the host nation’s flag gets to be right beside the organization flag like it’s the loving Olympics or whatever. Ergo, red-yellow-blue-and-off-white flag is our North Point flag. Deal with it. When we get to Shattered Skies I will be posting the pages from the ACES AT WAR artbook that show off the various identified flags of the ISAF member states. Spoiler: they’re all mostly pallet swaps of the North Point and San Salvacion flags.   *This flag is semi-canonical. See below for details. DELARUS Full Name: The Republic of Delarus (conjecture) Capital: Unknown Continent: Usea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Democratic Parliamentary Constitutional Republic Real World Analog: Belarus, Romania, Ukraine While we may have briefly glimpsed Delarus at the end of the Ace Combat Zero, we’re… still not gonna see all that much of it here in Ace Combat 2. Right now, it’s only claim to fame is that the FCU-supervised and operated “Spaceguard” installation known as the Stonehenge Turret Network (STN for short) is currently under construction in the Delarusian desert.   *This flag is non-canon and is only here for display purposes. UGELLAS Full Name: The Independent State of Ugellas Capital: Unknown Continent: Usea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Democratic Republic Real World Analog: Unknown An independent state on the Usean continent supposedly sharing a border with Erusea, and by supposedly I mean “not at all, according to the speculative map.” Beyond that, Ugellas is basically Usea’s Wielvakia, a country that’s just sort of there as background flavor. It’s namedropped obliquely in the games, if memory serves, but is mostly referenced in supplementary materials. The big piece of information on it was that it was part of the FCU’s efforts to fence in Erusea militarily along its border by playing host to a large detachment of FCU-led Allied Forces troops, but following the disclosure of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid threat to the national governments of Usea, the FCU slowly withdrew its troops from Ugellas to try and foster a more peaceful state of cooperation with Erusea, whose help it would need in building the Stonehenge installation and hopefully surviving Ulysses.   SAN SALVACION Full Name: The Republic of San Salvacion Capital: San Salvacion City Continent: Usea Head of State: President Government: Democratic Republic Real World Analog: Italy One of the larger independent states on Usea. It’s claim to fame used to be that it was the site of the still-under construction Stonehenge Turret Network… before Assault Horizon Legacy retconned it out of its borders and invalidated all previous canonical sources claiming Stonehenge was San Salvacion’s baby. Ooops. See what I mean Usea being a massive retcon clusterfuck? A stable and prosperous country, it has only a small military force of its own and has been praised as the “Symbol of Peace” by the international community. It is a hearty and culturally robust nation, steeled by years of existing as an unwitting bulwark between the FCU and the Federal Republic of Erusea. San Salvacion was one of the nations that objected to the southern FCU states attempting to defect to the Osean Federation. It was also one of the northern nations to come under rebel occupation at the start of the Usean Continental War of 1998 following the rebel coup on the day of the FCU-Osea treaty signing ceremony. It is unknown if any soldiers or pilots from San Salvacion’s contingent of the Usean Allied Forces joined the coup against the FCU. Beyond that, we will be seeing more of San Salvacion up close in Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies coming up next. Outside of the Erusian and FCU flags, San Salvacion is the only Usean nation to have a canonically confirmed flag, as depicted in the interstitial story sequences of Ace Combat 04.   *This flag is non-canon and is only here for display purposes. AMBER Full Name: The Republic of Amber Capital: Unknown Continent: Usea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Democratic Republic, government contested (conjecture) Real World Analog: Unknown An ostensibly neutral nation caught in the political and military tug-of-war between Erusea and the FCU in the mid-90s. It was the scene of constant border skirmishes with Erusea through the 90s culminating in the FCU decision in 1996 to pull its support troops out of the republic in order to avoid touching off a full scale war with Erusea. This is where the Assault Horizon Lecacy map, fan speculation, and pre-established Ace Combat lore all come together to form a gigantic swirling cauldron of “who the gently caress knows, man?” The only non-Erusea, non-FCU nation whose location we can be certain of is San Salvacion, because it’s denoted by the presence of its capital San Salvacion City, which lines up with what we see in Ace Combat 04. The reason I have Amber in yellow up there (unintended visual pun notwithstanding) is that I just flat out do not agree with the map’s placement of it where it says it is. The placement of Delarus, Ugellas, and Amber on that map are all educated guess speculation on the part of the person who crafted the map. My personal theory to explain away Amber’s location is that it’s not actually depicted on the Usean map anymore because it’s actually inside Erusian territory now. The Amber mountains, named after the republic or vice-versa, are inside Erusea, so one would assume that Amber would have to be either where Delarus is (which conflicts with Zero), or to the west of Delarus inside what’s now claimed by Erusea. That’s the only way the map works. We already have the backstory that the FCU basically abandoned Amber to Erusea, is it too hard to assume that Erusea went the extra step and annexed Amber to swell its territory, and the FCU still acknowledges Amber’s figurative existence as a chunk of disputed territory? Like I said, Usea is a MASSIVE clusterfuck.   OSEA Full Name: The Osean Federation Capital: Oured Continent: North Osea Head of State: President Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic Real World Analog: United States of America Since scoring a batflip worthy homerun against Belka in the Belkan War three years prior, the Osean Federation has been riding high and mighty around the international community. Basically, just imagine how insufferable the Bush Administration would have been if they had won the Iraq War—that’s Osea right now. Add in all the new cultural and economic ties with their brand new ally Yuktobania after the Yukes got their glasnosts on and you basically have… well, America in the 1990s. Take note of the updated map as well, now showing the former South Belka as officially part of Osean territory now. Since we’re going to be focusing on Usea for the next two games, Osea is about to fall out of prominence significantly (mostly because it didn’t even exist prior to Ace Combat 5), but thanks to Assault Horizon Legacy’s little retcons to Ace Combat 2’s plot, they won’t exactly be going away quietly. We also get our “Osea Is Not The Good Guys™” out of the way early in Ace Combat 2/Assault Horizon Legacy, as one of the new retcons AHL introduces pins the outbreak of the Continental War on Osea, in a roundabout fashion. After seeing what Osea did to Belka without even trying, and in response to the emerging Osea-Yuktobania pact, the nations of Usea come to a tentative agreement to form a transcontinental political and military union designed to act as a third-party bulwark between Osea and Yuktobania just in case things go south between the two superpowers and god-forbid a world war breaks out. The world is already facing one threat of annihilation from the recently publically disclosed Ulysses1994XF04 asteroid, it doesn’t need another one if Osea and the UYR decide “gently caress peace” and throw down, with Usea caught in the middle with its pants down. However, because Usea is a big bubbling clusterfuck of contradictions, a certain percentage of the population in several Usean nations thought it would be a good idea to cut out the middle man and just become Osean states (or territories) outright, reaching out to Osea with an overture to effectively secede from Usea and give the world’s largest superpower a MASSIVE foothold on the continent. The deal would also give Osea direct access to the southern states’ vast amounts of natural resources, manufacturing and technology centers, and give the Oseans a springboard to punch Erusea in the nose if it started to get out of hand (paging Ace Combat 7…). When the rebellion occurred and the civil war broke out across Usea, Osea just kind of went “Oooh, poo poo… you guys should probably clean that up. Bye!” and very hastily nullified sublimation treaty and pretended like it never happened following a massive international outcry and embarrassment for the nation. Beyond a passing reference here and there, Osea is going to just sit back and watch Usea burn in the fire it helped start inadvertently. Because, say it with me now…   YUKTOBANIA Full Name: The Union of Yukotbanian Republics (Союз Юктобанийских Республик | Soyuz Yuktobaniyskikh Respublik) Capital: Cinigrad Continent: Verusa Head of State: Prime Minister Government: Democratic Socialist Republic Real World Analog: Russian Federation / USSR Much like how they were in Ace Combat Zero, Yuktobania is also just sort of there in the background for Ace Combat 2, and by that I mean Assault Horizon Legacy, because Yuktobania didn’t even exist during Ace Combat 2. Yuktobania has a passing impact on what AHL’s revamped plot brings to the table beyond, being the unwitting impetus for both the start and end of the Continental War. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. Basically, right now in-universe, Yuktobania is tepidly experimenting with its newfound cultural and political openness following the end of the Cold War with Osea shortly after the Belkan War wrapped up. They’re basically busy being Russia in the early 90s; building McDonalds’, unblocking Osean TV stations, enjoying a grace period where they’re no longer portrayed as the villains in Osean blockbuster movies, electing hilarious drunkards to their Prime Ministership in their now free and democratic elections, and not at all ominously refusing to dismantle their still-gigantic military, intelligence, and secret police apparatus. Thanks, Raegan  ! The Yukes have, however, taken a surprising leadership role in the Assembly of Nations-led global nuclear disarmament initiative following the signing of both the Treaty of Lumen and the Osea-Yuktobania Peace Treaty. Both documents call for a radical reduction in their signatories’ arsenals of nuclear weaponry in the wake of the Seven Pillars nuclear strike by Belka against its own people on June 6th of 1995 near the end of the Belkan War. Beyond that, Yuktobania’s time in the spotlight is still two games off.   BELKA Full Name: The Principality of Belka Capital: Dinsmark Continent North Osea, Belkan Subcontient Head of State: Chancellor (conjecture) Government: Democratic Republic Real World Analog: East Germany In the aftermath of the Belkan War of 1995, the once-mighty and proud Principality of Belka lies broken beyond repair and sealed in in its own private fallout-choked hell thanks to the Seven Pillars nuclear strike of three years ago. The Belkan people, now free of the tyrannical government of wartime Chancellor Waldmarr Rald and his Rald Party, now lick their grievous wounds and set about to the task of trying to rebuilt. At present, the former superpower now stands as a tragic lesson to the world on the price of hubris and desperation. Yet, while Belka itself will never again be in a position to harm its international neighbors through war, her scattered sons and daughters on the other hand aren’t quite ready to let the world forget about Belka’s legacy.  I’m keeping the “Assault Records” section as an artifact title of sorts, even though it won’t really be relevant again until we hit Ace Combat 6 probably either sometime near the end of the year or well into 2017. Yikes. That said, Ace Combat 2 has a sort of proto-Assault Records with its special Ace medals board, and Assault Horizon Legacy has a quasi-Assault Records section for the squadron leaders of its four boss squadrons. Instead, for the most part we will be focusing on what the games will be calling Named Aces from now on. Named Aces will spawn in various missions under a variety of conditions and will yield a decent pay bonus for taking them out, individual medals/emblems in Ace Combat 2/points towards a single cumulative medal in Assault Horizon Legacy, and usually—but not always—a special paint scheme for the plane they’re flying. Mission 1 of Ace Combat 2 doesn’t have a Named Ace in it, but Assault Horizon Legacy does, so I will also denote which game which unit appears in. 
 Once again, two different games, two different soundtracks. I will be posting both versions at the end of each update post to allow you to compare between the two. Personally, I think both soundtracks are great in their own ways, though I’m a little disappointed that AHL basically raids the Ace Combat soundtrack back-catalogue for its menu music, as you’ll see below. On the one hand, that’s just lazy, but on the other, the tracks they reuse are still great, soooooo…. AC2  Ace Combat 2 Original Soundtrack Composers: Kohta Takahashi, Hiroshi Okubo, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Nobuhide Isayama and Go Shiina Release: 2010 Discs: 2 Tracks: 31, 11 (+2 Unreleased Tracks) Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC 1
ACAHL  Ace Combat 3D: Cross Rumble Original Soundtrack Composers: Go Shiina, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Ryo Watanabe, Rio Hamamoto, Tetsuya Uchida, KAZ Nakamura, LindaAI-CUE, Kanako Kakino, Kohta Takahashi, Wataru Hokoyama, Hironori Oosone, Natsumi Kameoka Release: 2012 Discs: 2 Tracks: 28, 33 Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC 1 DISC 2
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 10:03 on Aug 8, 2016 |
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Mar 28, 2016 02:18
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Ashsaber posted:Oh man do I already love AC 2's rocking 90s soundtrack. May have to play ACAHL alongside this because its one of the two games I can do that for. That's actually what I would recommend doing, for those who have a copy of AHL, as lovely as it sounds for me to effectively say "play the game yourself huuur". But it's kind of the only way you can really get the "full" experience of the LP, unless someone with a 3DS capture card actually wants to volunteer to tackle AHL for me, in which case I am willing to offer considerable compensation for your efforts if you wish it. If you have a 3DS and want to play along with the LP, copies of Assault Horizon Legacy+ retails on Amazon for just under $25, brand new, which is a screaming deal for 3DS games. Disregard the lone pissbaby 1 star review on it, the game is just fine and a hell of a lot better than Ace Combat 2 ever gets.
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Mar 28, 2016 05:04
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Nanomashoes posted:I always assumed Erusea's real-world analogue was fascist Italy, mostly because San Salvacion is right next to it and always seemed vaguely Italian to me. Plus I'm pretty sure Verusa is China already? On a political level, Erusea is more in line with China, whereas Verusa and pretty much 1:1 China China... if fanon is to be believed. But you're right, a lot of people online liken it to fascist Italy or Nationalist Spain.
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Mar 28, 2016 08:57
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biosterous posted:Oh good, it's started I'll change that when I have the time to 
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Mar 28, 2016 20:13
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biosterous posted:Oh good, it's started AC3 is now on the covered games graphic.
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Mar 29, 2016 01:42
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GhostStalker posted:I'm assuming that's because nine-gear crow's request to baldurk to have Zero and Electrosphere added to the LP Archive that he mentioned at the end of last thread haven't actually gone through yet and baldurk hasn't updated the Archive yet. The link will probably work when they do get added soon. That's exactly it. I was thinking ahead and extrapolating what their LP Archive URLs would be. When they go live on the Archive, I will let everyone know and update the links if need be. For now though, they just sort of go into the internet hole, but the original thread shouldn't be that hard to find in the meanwhile.
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Mar 29, 2016 05:21
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Shinjobi posted:Is AHL worth playing if I don't own a Circle Pad Pro or a New N3DSXL? I don't really feel like fighting the control scheme. The game is quite well optimized for the single circle pad, yes. It compensates by automatically kicking in auto pilot mode and returning the plane to a level elevation when you let the stick go limp, but I've never had to fight with it. Your milage may vary, however.
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Mar 29, 2016 15:57
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VKing posted:Nice, AC2 is really the only AC game I know nothing about, so this will be educational. Speaking of which, I really love the lore and geography commentary. There's less to cover in 2 on a lore level, and the videos will be a little shorter than Zero. The thing is, however, while I have the first 7-ish missions recorded right now, I don't actually have my capture card with me right now, so we are looking at a little bit of a content wall coming up. If worse comes to worse, I can always try running it through epsxe and OBS if need be. Do not panic.
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Mar 30, 2016 09:49
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I'm not dead, despite the Universe's repeated attempts to see otherwise. So, yes, Buddy. I'm still alive. I'll have the full story for everyone next week.
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Apr 20, 2016 17:42
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Sadly, there won't be any direct commentary by me for a while. Im going have to play guests off each other because right now I have permanent BATVOICE until my lyarnex heals up. Again story coming.
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Apr 20, 2016 18:59
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HR12345 posted:Welp, now that I caught up by watching your AC0 LP, I realize this: you do not sound like what I imagined in my head when I read your White Knight Chronicles LP. For what it's worth, even I didn't read the WKC LP in anything approaching my natural voice.
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Apr 24, 2016 01:47
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 So many of you are probably asking “where the gently caress did you go for a month?” And the answer to that question is “the Intensive Care Unit of my local hospital. Warning, some slight gruesome details follow, don’t read if you don’t want to hear about body mutilation. Yes, the day after the Good Friday stream, I contracted not just H1N1, but pneumonia, as well. From what I’ve been told, I came within hours of dying. If I didn’t go to the hospital when I did, I wouldn’t be here right now. I was placed in a medically induced coma for two and a half weeks, so most of April is just not there for me, and had a breathing tube forced down my throat. They cut about a 1/8th of my tongue out to fit it through and it damaged my larynx, both of which are going to probably take another month to fully heal. Hence why there’s not going to be any serious vocal commentary from me for the time being; I sound like a mix of the worst of Christian Bale’s BATVOICE and the wheelchair kid from Malcolm in the Middle right now. I’m out of the hospital now and on the mend, God willing. But this also means that the LP is going to slow down a little bit while I get back to full strength because I’m INCREDIBLY weak still at this moment. I can’t think that I’m disappointing anyone immediately because no one cares about Ace Combat 2, but I do know I’m crushing some dreams of folks who wanted me to get to Ace Combat 04 (myself included) as fast as possible. Some minor good news, however, is that since I’ve been gone, there’s been a moonshot breakthrough in 3DS emulation, so actually LPing Assault Horizon Legacy is looking more realistic. Lunethex has once again volunteered to take a crack at that one just so there’s some form of content for everyone to enjoy, but we’re still discussing things. tl’dr; I got really sick, went into the hospital, almost died, but didn’t. I’m back now, but far from 100%, so don’t expect the LP to come roaring back tomorrow or anything, but we’ll get back to it in the coming weeks. I’ll post an example of what I sound like right now for shock value when I get the chance to record something, so watch this space. And now you know.
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Apr 27, 2016 01:54
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Thank you, everyone. If there's thing I can impart upon everyone here, it's get a flu shot when you can. I got incredibly lucky. You might not roll the same odds I did. I'm gonna get a flu shot every year from here on out and you should too. Also, if I could smack Bill Maher across the face with a dildo with a nail in it, the man would not have a right cheek by the time at was done with him. Anti-vaccine/flu shot/science piece of poo poo.
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Apr 27, 2016 03:34
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ElTipejoLoco posted:I hope this is still going. I want to see more low-poly planes going pew pew so that I can hopefully absorb some skill through osmosis for use in Ace Combat Infinity's future Team Death Match events. Holy poo poo. I didn't see these whileI was in the ICU because they didn't have wifi, but  , those are amazing. Can I use one of them for either and avatar or for the LP?
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Apr 27, 2016 03:39
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Materant posted:
I had what was called "walking pneumonia", which is actually the least serious form of pneumonia there is. I actually went to the emergency room with it and they sent me home saying I was fine. The H1N1 hit like like a train 2 days later and the second time I went to the ER, I didn't leave till this afternoon. I probably caught it by going to the ER in the first place.
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Apr 27, 2016 03:48
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3 and Zero are queued up to be archived. It's just that I emailed baldurk with "okay, I'll look them over and give you my final approval on them"... Then was in the ICU the next day. So in a perfect world, both LPs would be archived already.
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Apr 28, 2016 17:10
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So, in less grim news, Fae has finally got the majority of the Good Friday stream online, which means the Assault Horizon block is also online. Watch me host a block with a game I've never actually played before. Be in awe of the fact that we had to use Cirv's video feed even though it was my block. Marvel as the stream freezes on a shot of Cirv's F-35 afterburner while FP goes to the toilet and doesn't refresh the Raspberry Pi. Sigh in regret at all the shameful anime girl planes. gently caress you, Namco. Ooooor, if you want to watch something actually entertaining, watch SC's Go! Go! Nippon! My First Trip To Japan block and watch the stream fly off the rails in a fiery wreck like the train at the end of Back to the Future III. nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Apr 28, 2016 |
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Apr 28, 2016 21:11
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Blind Sally posted:Well, heck, let's celebrate May 4th by re-watching that one time crow and I played the Suprosa mission on X-Wing Alliance. XWA is like planes, right? Space planes? Space Ace Combat? I really should have baldurk update the XWA chapter of The SotE LP on the Archive because all that stuff I said about how the LucasArts Star Wars games would probably never see a digital release has been proven hilariously wrong in the last 3 years.
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May 5, 2016 10:01
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thetruegentleman posted:I still can't tell if you actually like Dash Rendar, or actively despise him; at this point, I'm not even sure if you know either. It's a love/hate relationship.
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May 6, 2016 21:50
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Indeed. The only barrier to me doing AHL myself is that apparently ROM dumping a 3DS game only works with the New 3DS, and I only have the old one and I'm not in a hurry to run out and buy another one. That said, I am in "negotiations" with Trizophenie to maybe have him take a crack at doing AHL+, as he's got it working on his end. I'm not promising anything, but a proper Legacy LP is looking more like "probably maybe" at the moment than "don't hold your breath" like it was a mere month and a half ago.
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May 13, 2016 22:18
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tithin posted:So Citra are going down the same route that the jcPSP devs went down. Well, for the record, I've done a trail run of Ace Combat X on PPSSPP and it works pretty much flawlessly, so that's what I'm going to be using once we get to Skies of Deception.
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May 14, 2016 00:08
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May 15, 2016 04:52
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Great Joe posted:This may surprise you, but most people don't want their hobbies to become illegal. Also, you can't make disc images of flash cards. Because they aren't discs. You moron. While I appreciate the counter argument, I don't appreciate the needless, petty insults, especially toward a guy who went and LP'd and entire game for me of his own volition so I wouldn't have to. So just cool it on the moron bombs, k? Thanks. Now, as for a content update: I'm hoping to have both Mission 2 and Mission 1 of Legacy ready by tomorrow/later today so we can all get back to doing what this thread was intended to do; making you all wish I'd just LP Shattered Skies already for god's sake.
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May 18, 2016 11:23
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  Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy - Attract Mode TrailerAce Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy - Mission 1
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May 19, 2016 00:26
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Trizophenie posted:I can't believe how often you misspelt my name in the OP, crow Oops. I've been spelling it the way I pronounce it. The Casualty posted:dancing with the angels. I swear to loving Christ when we get to Ace Combat 6, I'm gonna make that phrase a probatable offense. Red Minjo posted:So is it just me is is AC:AHL one of the loudest games on the 3DS? I've played a bit of it and the speakers really pumped out the missile launches and explosions. You're not alone on that one. Legacy is one hella loud game. On the one hand, it feels incredibly satisfying when the 3DS practically vibrates out of your hands from the bass reverb, yet it's kinda sad that you have to play it either muted or with earbuds in public because you can hear it from half a block away.
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May 19, 2016 23:00
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Pursuit of Reconnaissance Unit Mission 2: Operation Easy Money – March 31st, 1998 Mission 2 (Legacy Verison) Overview: Scarface squadron is dispatched to run down an enemy reconnaissance flight passing over Mt. Lambert in Rebel occupied Erusian territory and encounters one of the Rebels’ top ace squadrons.   |  Guest Commentators: I am joined by both Blind Sally and ACES CURE PLANES for this brief second mission in the Ace Combat 2 version. Both of them are in between what I suppose you could call “tentpole” LPs at the moment, though Sally has a pair of mini LPs going in the Casual Thread of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered and Off-World Interceptor: EXTREME. ACES, meanwhile, is gearing up to continue his run through the PS2 Armored Cores with Armored Core 2: Another Age. Meanwhile, in the Legacy version, I’m joined by Trizophenie. In addition to providing all the gameplay footage for this run through of Assault Horizon Legacy, he also did a really cool LP of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II aka “The Game That Killed LucasArts” along with Simply Simon. He’s also doing a “de-hanced edition” LP of the Wii version FU2 for the Casual LP thread along with Simon, Sally, kalonZombie, and myself.   LANCER SQUADRON Federation of Central Usea Allied Air Force, 16th Air Force Unity, 4th Fighter Wing, 3rd Tactical Fighter Squadron (Defected) Members:
Once one of the top squadrons in the FCU’s Allied Forces, Lancer Squadron defected and joined the rebellion at the outbreak of the Continental War. Flying a flight of four F-14D Super Tomcats, Lancer was posted to the far western front of the FCU’s military control zone, along the Erusian boarder. Despite flying a quartet of aging, heavy, carrier based jets, Lancer flight proved particularly effective thanks to the tactics of its flight lead, Albert Wahlberg. Wahlberg studied the tactics of the once-mighty Belkan Air Force and its legendary pilots such as Lt. General Dietrich Kellerman and modeled Lancer’s attack patterns off of the Belkan knights of old. This is reflected both in the squadron’s name and emblem, and in their primary attack: the Lancer Charge. All four Lancer planes would charge at their target and launch their missiles simultaneously, giving their prey next to no time to react. As you can tell by them not appearing in the Ace Combat 2 video and by the better graphics of the screenshots above, Lancer Squadron is one of the four boss squadrons exclusive to Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy. Now, it might seem like a bit of a dick move to throw a boss squadron at you in only the second mission, but the truth of the matter is that Lancer is a flying joke. They’re a gussied up tutorial designed to teach you how to use Attack Maneuvers and Evasive Maneuvers, Legacy’s stripped down version of Assault Horizon’s much maligned Dogfight Mode. It’s basically just “Press Y to insta-kill your target” / “Press Y to evade enemy missiles”. The key to this fight, as with the other three boss squadrons in the game, is to focus on taking out the squadron leader first. Without Wahlberg, the remaining Lancers break into a disorganized mess; their formation falls apart, they can’t use their special charge attack any more, and are easy pickings from there on out. By and large, they’re designed to be “Baby’s First Ace Combat Boss Squadron”. If you lose to these jokers and their predictable, telegraphed attack patterns, then perhaps Ace Combat just isn’t for you.  PRIDE Real Name: Albert Wahlberg Callsign(s): Pride, Lancer 1 Age: 28 Sex: Male Nationality: Erusea (Western Usea) Signature Plane: F-14D Super Tomcat Voice Actor: Yuri Lowenthal (Uncredited, Unverified) The son of a Major General, he joined the Air Force to follow in his father’s footsteps and out of a strong sense of duty and nationalistic pride. That selfsame pride led him to join the rebellion against the FCU government after the southern states’ failed attempt to join the Osean Federation. His isolated upper class background fostered in him an arrogant personality, and he would often look down upon others around him, believing them to be beneath him in life. Regardless, his patriotic pride drove him to act in what he believed to always be the best interests of his homeland and its people, placing their needs above his own when push came to shove. It was speculated that Wahlberg was eying a transition to a political career in his home country once his service tenure was up. His colleagues would often note how he seemed more adept at playing politics and glad-handing than he ever was handling a flight stick.  Lambert Mountains A mountain range in northern Erusea. Its highest point is Mt. Lambert itself, one of the highest peaks on Usea. Along with the Amber Mountains in the south, they form a natural wall effectively fencing Eursea in from the rest of Usea, or more pertinently, keeping Erusea a supposedly “safe” distance away from the rest of the FCU. One of Erusea’s many early warning radar installations is situated atop the mountains, but beyond that there is very little of interest to say about them. They do play a larger role in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, however.  SUPERFLY The Named Ace in the Ace Combat 2 version of this mission is called "Superfly" (and while he's replaced by Cosmic in AHL, he does shows up in a later mission in that game). The ace takes his name form the 1972 blacksploitation crime drama Super Fly. The film follows a one-time cocaine dealer named Youngblood Priest (Ron O'Neal) as he tries to buy his way out of the drug trade and land a regular 9-to-5 career with one last massive coke sale. The title song of the movie was sung by Curtis Mayfield. The mission contains a second hidden reference to Super Fly the movie, as the track that plays over the Ace Combat 2 version is called "El Dorado", a reference to Priest's custom Cadillac Eldorado, which was owned by an actual pimp from Harlem who had a role in the film. The car itself is credited with starting the trend of the Pimpmobile car style. There will also be a mission itself coming up later in both 2 and AHL called El Dorado. Aircraft featured in Mission 2: Operation Easy Money  Kfir C.7 Manufacturer: Israeli Aircraft Industries Role: Fighter bomber / trainer Manufactured: 1967–???? Status: Semi-retired Primary Operators: United States, Israel, Columbia, Sri Lanka Quick Facts:
  E-767 Manufacturer: Boeing Role: AWACS / Electronic support Manufactured: 1996–Present Status: Active Primary Operators: Japan Quick Facts:
REPEAT OFFENDERS
[ACE COMBAT 2]   Medal: Superfly Awarded for: Shooting down enemy Ace Superfly in Mission 2. Description: N/A 
[LEGACY]  Medal: Bloody Dragon Awarded for: Defeating Lancer Squadron in Mission 2. Description: Awarded to pilots who defeat Lancer Squadron. 
AC2 Tracks featured in Mission 2: DISC 1 ACAHL Tracks featured in Mission 2: DISC 1   We also get some sweet fan art from ElTipejoLoco depicting potential squadron emblems for me and some of my fellow co-commentators like Blind Sally and ACES CURE PLANES. Hell yeah 
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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May 22, 2016 22:48
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Frogisis posted:It's neat to be able to see both versions side by side. E: You're all going to poo poo on me but I thought dogfight mode in Assault Horizon was a nice little lark in terms of a new way to do stylized arcade fighter combat and fun enough to sustain one game. But I like rail shooters and hate open world sandbox games so take what I say with a grain of salt. This thread is a safe space. All opinions are welcome and equally valid here. Even wrong ones. But speaking of rail shooters, you might also be interested in the LP of Solar Eclipse I'm sorry shrugging my way through for the Casual thread too.
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May 23, 2016 07:27
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Mr.Flibble posted:I know I like to hype the game a lot but the "attack maneuver" move is ported strait from their earlier game Sky Crawlers Innocent Aces. One of my regular YouTube commenters mentioned that too. I'd mulled over doing a Sky Crawlers LP as a bonus somewhere along the line, but ultimately decided against it.
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May 24, 2016 04:54
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Surprise Attack on the Supply Bay Mission 3: Operation City on Fire – April 5th, 1998 Mission 3: Operation Anchorhead Freedom (Legacy Verison) BONUS: Gunpods & Barrel Rolls (c/o: Trizophenie) Overview: The Allied Forces launch an assault on Rebel naval forces stationed in the coastal city of Anchorhead to liberate the port and cripple the URF’s western naval power. Gameplay Note: This mission sets up the first of several branching or optional missions in both Ace Combat 2 and Assault Horizon Legacy. Destroying the two transports docked in the bay unlocks the mission Opera House in the Ace Combat 2 version. In Legacy, the optional missions are unlocked by default so you’re free to choose whether you want to do Tin Castle or Opera House as your fourth mission. This mission is also the one featured on the Ace Combat 2 demo that came with one of the various PlayStation Sampler Pack demo discs shipped with new PS1s to entice people into buying more games for them. I’m sure everyone who owned a PS1 had at least one volume of these things. |  Guest Commentators: I am joined once again by both Blind Sally and ACES CURE PLANES. While in the Legacy version I am joined by noted taser enthusiast Lunethex.  Anchorhead The city of Anchorhead on the southwestern coast of Usea is one of the largest port cities on the continent, and Erusea’s main international trading and transport hub. It is currently under Rebel occupation, serving as the base of operations for their western operations, including an aircraft carrier formerly attached to Erusea’s mighty Aegir Fleet. Taking back Anchorhead would be a major step towards securing and liberating western Usea from Rebel control and pushing the Rebels further eastward back towards St. Ark. Now, for the uncomfortable real world elephant in the room stuff. Yes, that is the World Trade Center right there front and centre in the middle of downtown Anchorhead. The Strangereal games have a history of importing real world landmarks into their various fictional locales, and since this game came out in 1997, no one could have imagined something like 9/11 actually happening. That said, as I’ve pointed out in other videos, and as you’ll see in the Legacy version of Mission 3, Project Aces actually removed the twin towers from the Anchorhead skyline for the remake and replaced it with a generic very tall building. Aircraft featured in Mission 3: City On Fire Nothing new  REPEAT OFFENDERS
[LEGACY] 
AC2 Tracks featured in Mission 2: DISC 1 ACAHL Tracks featured in Mission 2: DISC 1 nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 08:25 on Jul 29, 2016 |
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May 24, 2016 21:17
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hackbunny posted:I see this a lot, what's wrong with the AC2 controls? On the surface, relatively little. It's the exact same control scheme as the later Ace Combats, save for the omission of the special weapons with the Select button and target tracking view by holding the Triangle button. The thing that most people, myself included, don't seem to like about it though, especially after playing the later Ace Combats is just how sluggish and unresponsive the controls handle compared to the PS2-era games.
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May 25, 2016 21:18
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hackbunny posted:My girlfriend has a PS2 but she sold all her best games, including all the ACs, are they worth getting? There's a reason they call 04, 5, and Zero the "Golden Trilogy"...
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May 25, 2016 23:54
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Basically, look at the OP and then don't buy any of the games I'm not LPing.
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May 26, 2016 00:15
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Lunethex posted:we have so far to go 
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May 26, 2016 09:03
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Assault Horizon Legacy - Mission 3 - w/ Lunethex
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 04:59 on May 27, 2016 |
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May 27, 2016 04:00
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Kal-L posted:Crow, are you going to show the "special" stuff? I mean the different planes you get I will, to the extent I can. The "model viewer" feature isn't unlocked until you clear the game, however, I will be doing missions with a more diverse array of planes than I did for Zero. Beyond that, I will be showing off everything I can by hook or by crook in the finale update like I also did for Zero.
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May 28, 2016 05:30
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Attack on the Front Base Mission 4A: Operation Tin Castle – April 14th, 1998 Mission 4: Operation Tin Castle (Legacy Verison) Overview: Scarface Squadron conducts a bombing run on a Rebel frontline supply base codenamed “the Keep” in the foothills of the Amber Mountains on the Erusea-San Salvacion border. Gameplay Note: From here out the mission numbering scheme is going to get a little wonky as we do AC2 and Legacy in tandem. Ace Combat 2 treats these “pick one of two” missions as Mission #A and Mission #B, while Assault Horizon Legacy has them in sequential numerical order. Meaning that what would be 4A in 2 is just 4 in Legacy, and Mission 4B, coming up next is Mission 5 in Legacy.  | Guest Commentators: I am joined by the reigning “most-frequent nine-gear crow LP guest commentator” champion CJacobs for the vanilla AC2 video, and by the reigning “most-frequent having nine-gear crow guest comment on Force Unleashed II” champion Trizophenie in the Legacy version video. Missions 4/5/4A/4B introduce us to our two wingmen characters. Should we choose, they will be joining us on certain missions (for a small fee) as our number two plane and will fulfill a number of roles tailored to their unique specializations. We can only take out one at a time, but we will get to see both of them in action in due time. They are, in no particular order:  SLASH Real Name: John Harvard Callsign(s): Slash, Scarface 2 Age: 33 Sex: Male Nationality: FCU (Central Usea) Signature Plane: Player choice Voice Actor: Uncredited (AC2), Johnny Yong Bosch (AHL, Uncredited) A veteran of the FCU Air Force’s mercenary division, Harvard was handpicked by Col. Olsen alongside Kei “Edge” Nagase to form the core of Scarface Squadron under Phoenix’s command following the success of Operation Anchorhead Freedom. At the time of his appointment to be Scarface’s number two, he had already flown several missions under Olsen’s command and had come to view him as a surrogate father in the armed forces, even jokingly calling him “Pops”, much to Olsen’s consternation. His FCUAF personnel dossier describes him as having considerable skill as a pilot, but lacks the temperament to actually lead a flight group in combat, preferring to act in a supporting role instead. In his personal life, Harvard is an avid automotive enthusiast, having bought and restored a number of old cars in his spare time. He even bought a decommissioned aircraft hangar to serve as his garage. Before joining Scarface squadron, he met and befriended Dr. Yang Tomic, one of the chief engineers of the Stonehenge Turrent Network spaceguard project currently under construction in Delarus. It’s been rumored that Tomic, impressed with Harvard’s flying skills, is headhunting him to join the airspace security squadron for Stonehenge once the Continental War reaches its conclusion. In terms of gameplay, Slash is programmed to be an aggressive attacker wingman. He will seek out and destroy any target on the battlefield, including red primary targets, allowing you to either complete the mission faster by having double the firepower at your disposal, or allow you to go off and handle secondary objectives or run down Named Aces without worry of losing time to complete the mission. One last continuity note: in Assault Horizon Legacy the character is named John Herbert, however, John Harvard is referenced in both Ace Combats 04 and 5, and is implied to be the same person, so I’m going with his original name, Legacy be damned in this one instance.  EDGE Real Name: Kei Nagase Callsign(s): Edge, Scarface 3 (Scarface 2 in-game) Age: 20 Sex: Female Nationality: FCU (Far Eastern Usea) Signature Plane: Player choice Voice Actor: Uncredited (AC2), Cristina Vee (AHL, Uncredited, Unverified) A member of the storied Nagase family, Kei joined the FCUAF’s mercenary division shortly after the outbreak of the Continental War and was assigned to Scarface Squadron as its number 3 pilot by Col. Olsen after seeing her flying skills in action when she bested a veteran ace in a training exercise quite handily. She is fighting to put an end to the war to stop the suffering the Rebel coup has inflicted upon her homeland. Cold and tactical by nature, she places precision and duty above all else while on the battlefield, and is ready to step and take charge over any situation to get the job done should it be required of her. As a result, she can be quite stinging at times in her interactions with others, earning the TAC name “Edge” thanks to her sharp tongue. Beyond that, she wishes for the war to be over quickly and decisively so she can return to her civilian life and her true passion, which was upended by the coup d’état; she was training to be a commercial airline pilot before the outbreak of the war. From a gameplay perspective, Edge is geared towards a supporting role as opposed to Slash. She will focus mainly on keeping the white air and ground optional targets busy to keep you covered while you focus on the mission objectives. She will very rarely pursue Named Aces, but I have seen her bag one on a fluke occasion. Beyond that, “Kei Nagase” as an entity is effectively Ace Combat’s franchise mascot, alongside the F/A-22 Raptor. Ace Combat 2’s Nagase shares a name, callsign, and vauge resemblance to Ace Combat 5’s deuteragonist, Kei “Edge” Nagase, and a recurring character in Ace Combat: Infinity. The promotional blog run by Project Aces for the Japanese version of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon is also called “Project Nagase” and features yet another version of Kei Nagase as its mascot/pinup girl. The Ridge Racer franchise, also produced by Namco, features the character of Reiko Nagase, who bears a strong resemblance to the various Kei Nagases, and has been stated (somewhere, I don’t exactly know where) to be the older sister of Ace Combat 5’s Kei Nagase (AC2’s Nagase is implied to be a distant cousin of theirs). Because the Ridge Racer franchise is semi-jokingly implied to also be set on Strangereal. Functionally speaking, every Kei Nagase in the Ace Combat multiverse is their own separate character, not unlike the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys of the Pokémon universe, like I jokingly say in the video. That said, AC2’s Nagase will be making a cameo appearance later in series, so keep your eyes out for her.  Tin Castle The fortress complex at the base of the Amber Mountains on the Erusea-San Salvacion border is one of many such old keeps that dot the Usean continent. They are a holdover from the medieval colonization of Usea by Kingdom of Sapin. The Sapish settlers constructed these castles to guard against the native Usean peoples, who tried in vain to drive them off the continent. When the Sapish Empire collapsed two centuries later, many of the castles fell into disrepair as Sapin relinquished its hold on the territories it had once laid claim to across the planet. The nation of San Salvacion was one of the last countries on Earth to formally cut its ties with the Sapish monarchy and declare its independence. To this day, much of its population is of direct Sapish descent. Many of the old castles, including the fortress codenamed “the Keep”, have been named official historical sites by the FCU allied government and restored and retrofitted with electricity and modern heating and plumbing systems. Some such facilities have been converted into military installations, and have been occupied by the URF to act as fortress encampments along their eastern frontline. Beyond that, this mission possibly takes its name from a location and chapter title in L. Frank Baum's The Road to Oz, the fifth book in the Oz series. The Tin Castle is the home of Nick Chopper, better known as the Tin Woodsman, or simply the Tinman in the book. That's the only real referent I can find to a "tin castle" in my research. That said, there's also a bed and breakfast house modeled in the shape of a castle and covered in tin sheet metal called Solomon's Castle located in--where the gently caress else--Florida, owned, operated, and constructed by the "DaVinci of Debris", artist Howard Solomon. Aircraft featured in Mission 4A / 5: Operation Tin Castle  F-117A Nighthawk Manufacturer: Lockheed Corporation Role: Stealth bomber Manufactured: 1981–???? Status: Retired (2008) Primary Operators: United States Quick Facts:
 REPEAT OFFENDERS
[AC2]   Medal: Ricochet Awarded for: Shooting down enemy Ace Ricochet in Mission 4A. Description: N/A 
[LEGACY] 
AC2 Tracks featured in Mission 4A: DISC 1 ACAHL Tracks featured in Mission 4: DISC 1 nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 10:36 on Apr 18, 2018 |
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May 29, 2016 12:12
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InfinityComplex posted:Cipher is secretly Nagase and she hates losing her flight buddies because of Pixy and PJ. I think even a Knight Cipher would be a little more jaded when it comes to wingmen now seeing as how one of them joined a terrorist organization and repeatedly tried to kill him, and the other one... was PJ.
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May 29, 2016 22:11
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