Mobile Suit Gundam: Federation vs. Zeon Thread

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And finally, here's my Mobile Suit fleet so far:

Guntank
Guncannon
Ground Type Gundam *
Ground Type Gundam
Ground Type GM ***
Ground Type GM **
Ground Type GM *
Ground Type GM
Ground Type GM
GM *
GM
Ball *
Ball

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I played through a few more missions and got a few new Mobile Suits: An upgraded Ground Type Gundam, an upgraded Ball, a captured Z'Gok, and a standard Gundam.



This is the Z'Gok. Remember when I said that later in the game, the Zeon will develop Mobile Suits dedicated to underwater combat? Well this is one of them. I haven't encountered any of these (or any other amphibious Mobile Suits for that matter) in combat however. The Federation captured one for me to use.

The Z'Gok's main weapon is a pair of mega particle guns, one mounted in each of its hands. It's sub weapon is a set of six missile launchers mounted on the top of its head. Both can deal a good amount of damage.

For melee combat, the Z'Gok is equipped with a set of claws that can take a good chunk out of the health of enemy Mobile Suits.

In my opinion, the Z'Gok is by far the best amphibious Mobile suit in the game.

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This is the standard Gundam. This is the Mobile Suit piloted by the anime's main character, Amuro Ray.

Let me start of by saying that this Mobile Suit is DEVASTATING. It has a choice of three main weapons: A beam rifle (which can destroy Zakus in one shot), a hyper bazooka (which can destroy Zakus in one blast), and a Gundam Hammer (a ball and chain-like weapon). I don't have the Gundam Hammer yet, but that's not a problem, since I never use it anyways, as it has an extremely limited range.

As a sub weapon, the Gundam has a pair of vulcan guns mounted in its head. Like with the standard GM, it's good for finishing off enemy Mobile Suits.

For melee combat, the Gundam is armed with a pair of beam sabers. Normally you can only use one, but if the shield that the Gundam carries is destroyed, you can use both at once. I've never tried this, and I don't intend to, since it's very hard to get the shield destroyed without taking a large amount of damage.

Overall, the Gundam is one of the best Federation Mobile Suits in the game, surpassed only by the Ground Type Gundam (due to its versatility).

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As far as progressing through the game goes, it's definitely starting to get harder. The first of four major military campaigns (I made a mistake when I said three), Operation Odessa, has begun.

Unfortunately, it doesn't help when the people who planned Operation Odessa are as dumb as cable news executives. One mission involved protecting a land battleship attacking the Zeon's Odessa Base. The base is located on a plateau with a steep drop over the edge, meaning that the enemy is holding the high ground right now. The enemy's main tactic in this mission is to send Zakus armed with cannons and Doms to attack the battleship, while sending Goufs to attack me. I lost on the first attempt (trashing my best Ground Type Gundam in the process), and nearly lost on the second attempt.

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And finally, here's my Mobile Suit fleet so far:

Gundam
Guntank
Guncannon
Dom
Z'Gok *
Ground Type Gundam **
Ground Type Gundam *
Ground Type Gundam
Ground Type GM ***
Ground Type GM **
Ground Type GM *
Ground Type GM
Ground Type GM
GM *
GM
Ball **
Ball *
Ball

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Operation Odessa is back underway, and these missions are pretty difficult. The enemy is still holding the high ground, which makes things a bit harder than normal.

The mission I just did involved destroying a Zeon land battleship at their Odessa Base, which involved climbing up to the plateau that the base is on and attacking it. I used a Guntank since it's one of the only Mobile Suits powerful enough to deal any significant damage to it.

However, that turned out to be a mistake, the Zeon's using Doms more often now, and they're so maneuverable that they can evade my attacks even at closer ranges.

I was able to destroy the land battleship though, but the Guntank is pretty heavily damaged, so it's out of commission for now. The same thing goes for my Guncannon, which was knocked out of commission in an earlier mission. (Damage that my Mobile Suits sustain carries over through the game, they get repaired slowly as the game progresses, and they periodically get fully repaired.)

Also, I received an upgraded standard GM.

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In the mission I just now completed, I had to destroy a flying Zeon Mobile Armor. I used the standard Gundam armed with the Hyper Bazooka, which was a great decision. The bazooka packed enough punch to destroy the Mobile Armor within the time limit, and the Gundam was agile enough for me to evade the attacks of the Doms easily. ;D

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Now I just did another plot-based mission marked as Very Hard difficulty. It was basically a fight against a group of three Zeon Aces called the Black Tri-Stars. As usual, my attacks do little damage to them, and Amuro did most of the work in defeating them.

On another note, I just found out that the Gundam I used in the mission before this is out of commission. Crap....

I also received an upgraded Ground Type GM.

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I did two more missions, and got an upgraded Ball and a captured Zaku II.



This is the Zaku II. It's the main Mobile Suit of the Zeon for most of the game, before it gets phased out with newer Mobile Suits.

The Zaku II is extremely versatile. It can be armed with a machine gun, a bazooka, and a cannon. I only have the machine gun, though.

The Zaku II also has a choice of two sub-weapons. It can use cracker grenades, which are useless, or it can be outfitted with ankle-mounted missile pods, which pack a punch. However, if you choose missile pods, you're automatically armed with a machine gun as your main weapon, which may or may not be good.

For melee combat, the Zaku II is armed with a heat hawk, which is like an axe with a superheated blade.

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Operation Odessa has ended in success, with the Federation's capture of the Odessa Base, the Zeon have been dealt a pretty major blow to their operations on Earth.

Now, the available missions are focused on mopping up the Zeon forces retreating from the Odessa Base.

Here's my Mobile Suit fleet as of right now:

Gundam
Guntank
Guncannon
Dom
Ground Type Gundam **
Ground Type Gundam *
Ground Type Gundam
Ground Type GM ****
Ground Type GM ***
Ground Type GM **
Ground Type GM *
Ground Type GM
Ground Type GM
GM **
GM *
GM
Ball ***
Ball **
Ball *
Ball
Z'Gok *
Zaku II *

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Some of these last few missions that I've done are pretty dang hard!

Here's the missions I've done so far today:

-Test the Ground Type Gundam's missile launcher. I got a crash course as to why the missile launcher sucks. One clip isn't enough to destroy an enemy Mobile Suit, leaving you open to long range attack while it reloads. I learned this the hard way, as I was triple-teamed by three Zakus while my missile launcher was reloading, and almost lost the mission because of that.

-Ambushing Zeon units retreating from Odessa. I did this without that much difficulty.

-Destroying an enemy Zeon transport plane. This one was easy.

-Defending the Federation's Belfast Base. This was the hardest out of all of them so far. It's a half land/half underwater battlefield, and the Zeon had a Mobile Armor that can shoot missiles at me from underwater. I tried direct combat with my captured Z'Gok, but all that did was get my Z'Gok destroyed, causing me to lose the mission. On the second try, I used my best Ground Type Gundam armed with the 180mm cannon. I just stayed in artillery mode and took potshots at all of the Mobile Suits that were attacking. That turned out quite well, and I won the mission.

I also got an upgraded Guntank, the Ground Type Gundam's missile launcher (which I'll never use) and the Zaku II's bazooka.

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The next mission I did was much easier. I had to defend the White Base Mobile Suit carrier. It was still at the Belfast Base, but more enemies attacked from land than from the water. Also, when the enemies got to the White Base, they started focusing on attacking it, so I could move in and wipe them out very easily. About halfway through the mission, Amuro launched in his Gundam, which was a big help.

I also got an upgraded standard GM.

Here's my Mobile Suit Fleet as of now:

Gundam
Guntank *
Guntank
Guncannon
Dom
Ground Type Gundam **
Ground Type Gundam *
Ground Type Gundam
Ground Type GM ****
Ground Type GM ***
Ground Type GM **
Ground Type GM *
Ground Type GM
Ground Type GM
GM ***
GM **
GM *
GM
Ball ***
Ball **
Ball *
Ball
Z'Gok *
Zaku II *

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I've played a few more missions. One was pretty hard. It was a standard battle (bring down the enemy's reinforcement meter before they can bring down yours) in an urban battlefield. It started off well, until the very end when I was triple-teamed by a Zaku, a Gouf, and a Dom. The Zaku took a position on top of a tall building and shot at me with its cannon, while the Dom attacked me with its bazooka and the Gouf moved in to attack me with its heat saber. I was able to destroy the Dom, but when I tried to attack the Gouf with my beam saber, it evaded my attacks and sliced me several times, destroying my Mobile Suit (my best Ground Type Gundam) and causing me to fail the mission.

Though I had to try the mission again, I got an upgraded Ground Type Gundam and took that out, with my trusty 180mm cannon (that kicks ass big time) and narrowly lost after being triple-teamed again. Two more Zakus entered the battlefield after the three enemy Mobile Suits were destroyed. I destroyed one of them, completing the mission.

Another mission involved underwater combat. I used the standard Gundam with the Hyper Bazooka and easily won the mission. A Zeon Ace, Boone, entered the battlefield in the same Mobile Armor that gave me so much trouble in Belfast, but I held him off long enough to complete the mission.

I also got an upgraded Ball and a captured Zeon Rick Dom. The Rick Dom needs no description, since it's just a Dom meant for space combat.

Now I'm about to begin the second of the four major military campaigns in the game: The Battle of Jaburo. The Zeon is attacking the Federation's military headquarters at the Jaburo Base in the Amazon, and I have to help defend it.

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I did a few more missions. It seems that I underestimated the usefulness of the captured Zaku IIs I have. One of the mission's involved patrolling the Federation's Luna II base (a low gravity battlefield, where Ground Type Gundams are worthless). I took out one of my two captured Zakus, armed it with its cannon, and kicked some serious tail.

I got an upgraded Ground Type Gundam, but its usefulness may be limited now. All of the available missions are in space right now.

At this point in the game, the war is starting to shift to space. The Zeon have pretty much been driven off of Earth, though there may be a few holdout forces there that I may have to deal with later (I'm not too sure). The Federation is also gearing up for the third of the game's four major military campaigns: an attack on Solomon, a major Zeon base located on an asteroid orbiting Earth.

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I played through a few missions earlier, most of them are pretty difficult. Here are some of the missions I had to do:

-Repel a Zeon attack on the Federation's Belfast Base. I used a Ground Type Gundam and won the mission easily.

-Destroy a Zeon space cruiser. I kept getting double-teamed and almost lost the mission. The Guncannon I used took some pretty heavy damage.

-Defend a Federation space cruiser. Once again my best captured Zaku II proves its worth. I armed it with its machine gun and it was able to win the mission with a moderate amount of difficulty.

-Attack Zeon forces in an abandoned space colony. The rules for fighting in space colonies are the same as the rules in Earth combat, so I took out a Ground Type Gundam armed with a beam rifle. I lost after being double-teamed by a pair of Doms. I have yet to try it again.

Overall, the game is tough at this point, and it is only going to get tougher. The Federation is massing its forces for their planned attack on Solomon, and the available missions are all in space, focusing on preparing for the attack and hit-and-run battles to keep the Zeon on the defensive. The Zeon are starting to use Doms and Rick Doms as their main Mobile Suits now, which is a big pain in the ass, unfortunately...

I also received an upgraded standard GM.