After numerous false starts, I finally managed to create a character that had the luck to avoid one-shots long enough to accumulate a enough captured mecha to complete the game. Here's a brief rundown of my character's exploit.
Main plot:
Born and raised in Hoyge
Gave sister a bundle of cash to go to college (recruited her 5 days later)
Found out my family are holders of "the secret"
Got pummeled by Hedram (Villian 1) outside of Ironwind Fortress (Corsair and Century vs. Vadel, 2 Savin and friends
Got pummeled by Hedram outside of Markeim Fortress (Condor, Corsair and Century vs. beats me, got one-shotted almost immediately)
Hedram jumped me in some town, and got wasted by the guardians
Hedram jumped me in some other town, and got wasted by the guardians and my lancemates (this time I got a shot off!)
Followed dataslate and learned "the truth"
Defeated by Ubu (Villian 2) outside of Wujung (much closer match, Zerosaiko, Condor and Century vs. a lot of mojo)
Defeated Ubu outside of Last Hope (Radcliffe, Condor and Century vs. alot of mojo) (first plot mecha victory!)
Chased Ubu to Hoyge, and got shreded by his troops (Zerosaiko, Condor and Century vs. a lot of mojo)
Regroup and reorganized and overpowered Ubu at Hoyge (Radcliffe, Corsair and Aranos vs. a lot of mojo)
Dove into ruins and found and defeated Ubu (Heavy Rocket Rifle attack for massive damage)
Chased newly raised Typhon to fortress, and engaged, losing the battle but winning the war (see below for details)
Subplots:
Found weapons cache outside of Snake Lake City
Destroyed the spawning tank in the basement in the Corporate zone
Rescued mayor of Snake Lake's niece
Recruited Snake Lake guardian
Joined Solar Navy
Hired Namok Mercenary
Found CETUS in Last Hope, and defeated it before it could attack the city (Condor, Corsair and Century) (Lost Snake Lake guardian lancemate in this battle)
Recruited sister
Helped capture some scientist who was raising Hunter-Xs (Lost sister in this battle, see gripe below)
Rescued and recruited Martian Princess
Wiped out a Bandit's Den in Gyori
Final Battle:
I was in a Radcliffe optimized for long range missile combat.
Armed with:
2 Superheavy missile launchers
2 Heavy missile launchers (Blast-type)
2 Heavy missile launchers (Swarm-type)
2 Light nuclear missile
1 Heavy rocket pod
1 Laser cannon
1 Phase cannon
My lancemates were the Martian princess in a Condor armed with Electronic Warfare weapons and the Mercenary in an Aranos with a few peashooters. In addition to my lance, most of the Solar Navy arrived to lead a hand.
In addition to Typhon, I spotted a Jos, Radcliffe, Ice Fox, Savin, Wraith, "A" and a few "C"s for the opposition.
The battle began with the Solar Navy and my Lancemates charging forward while being pelted by Typhon and the enemy mecha. I ran forward as well (not so much to close the gap, but movement increases your rate of fire) and opened fire with a barrage of missiles, targeting Typhon and nearby mecha. Several enemy mecha quickly succumbed to my missile fire (nukes can ruin anyone's day) and my allies' attacks, but Typhon made short work of the Solar Navy. As the last Solar Navy mecha fell, I targeted my trump card on Typhon and unleashed a torrent of missiles that reduced it to a fine red mist (a max barrage from my Heavy Rocket pod, scoring close to 2000 damage as most of Typhon's armor had been stripped off by this point). Enraged by the loss of their leader, the remaining opposition surged forward disabling my lancemates and forcing me to eject before I could retreat off the map. Victory, but at what cost? While my lancemates and I survived, at least half of the Solar Navy pilots were killed in the battle.
Gripes:
While I have enjoyed his game so far, I have noticed a few parts that made me grind my teeth and wonder what was the design decision that lead to its inclusion in the game. A few I have mentioned in my other thread (i.e. movement increasing rate of fire, etc.) but a here are a few more.
Combat begins with both side in sight of each other and within weapons range. This happened to me several times in personal combat. What's the point of getting long range weapons, if the game is going to dump the enemy at 25 units away from you? Why didn't combat begin as soon as you spotted them? I can accept combat in restricted areas being close range, but combat on an open plain? I lost my character's sister because despite having the order to stay in the back, she spawned closest to the enemy (9 were in sight) and was killed in their opening volley.
Ubu (villain 2) was armed with a night blade and managed to poison both of my lancemates during the battle in the ruins. After the battle, we are all teleported back to Hoyge and the each die of poisoning, each from a dozen poison "events". I was never hit, but it sounds pretty odd that we could all die of poisoning that way. Fortunately, Doctor Kim was nice enough to revive them.
What is up with the balance on the plot missions? I was ready to quit after facing off against at least 2 Savins and a Vadel in my first plot battle. Not only was the Vadel almost impossible to hit, he hit me with almost every shot. The only reason I didn't quit was because I knew that if I sacrificed enough mecha, he would meet me in personal combat, which I stood a chance at winning at.
Missing Elements:
I also noticed a few things that seemed to be missing that would have made sense to include. I don't know if adding them is possible at this time, but maybe they could be considered for the sequel.
I want a place to call home. With dozens of stray mecha captured after battles everywhere on the map, it would be handy to have a central location to ship them for refitting or sale without having to 'adopt' a city and deal with a painfully long field HQ. I was glancing through the script files, and it shouldn't be too hard to add a Realtor to one of the cities who has a piece of land with an old abandoned military base on it. If the player buys it, a signpost is added to the city's scene or the entrance is revealed on the world map. Also, when purchased, all truckers get a new option to ship TO your base. Of course, if you don't want raider's to occupy the facility, you have to buy some security and there is this problem with some monsters living in the sub-levels, etc. But, on the plus side, you can hire a mechanic to repair your mecha at a reduced price, he can strip mecha down for parts (weapon, armor, etc), and store them for later.
Attack convoy missions. Maybe I missed them, but something needs to be added to break the monotony of the "Destroy the generator" and "Destroy all of the enemies" missions you get when a town is under attack.
Climax battle. As above. After I have wiped out millions of point in mecha from the AOL, why isn't there one last climatic battle to drive them from the town?
