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Part 6 of Ashes of Rubicon
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Published:
2024-04-24
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2024-04-25
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What If SOLFED Was AC6 Canon?

Summary:

What Armored Core 6 the game might have looked like if canon was close enough to Into the Grace as to make the latter barely qualify for the canon divergence tag, as seen through wiki articles on/fan discussions of such a game. For example: what would this hypothetical game's third route look like were I given free reign to write it?

May contain metatextual silliness and self-indulgence.

Chapter 1: Armored Core 6 story/playthrough Routes

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Missions are BOLD when they are new to a route. With one exception, all canon missions can be completed in only three playthroughs provided you choose the opposite decision missions between NG and NG+ in each case, and the exceptions are unlocked in mission replay for you. (The joke route is its own thing; see NG+++.)

NG: Fires of Raven

NG+: Coral's Kingmaker

Notes:
"Mission 7+ : Assist Operation" is the flag for all route differences until Chapter 5. Decision missions other than 7(+) and 35(+) have no effect on the route.
Mission 19B replaces mission 19 on all NG+n playthroughs regardless of player choices; the only difference between 19 and 19B is the replacement of the normal AH-12 with the slightly more dangerous AH-12A.

NG++: Guardian/Liberator of Rubicon

Notes:
You must have completed "Coral's Kingmaker" on a previous playthrough to be offered the decision in mission 6.
Accepting the RLF offer on "Attack the Dam Complex" results in the alternate mission 06B, prevents you from being offered 07+, and enables missions 09++, 13++, 25++, and 29B plus decision missions 18++ and 32++. At least 2 out of 3 RLF decision missions (18++, 22, and 32++) must be done in the playthrough in order to get 33B and the 35++A decision mission; Analysis X1 is required for the 35++B mission. Fulfilling neither of these requirements gives you mission 34 instead of 34B, resulting in the NG "Fires" chapter 5 mission sequence.
Missions 36++ and 37++ have different briefing and in-mission dialogue depending on your choice of 35++A/B, but they are each still the 'same mission'. When replayed, the mission's state depends on which of 35++A/B you completed last.
The game only offers the Guardian/Liberator of Rubicon missions after "Reach the Coral Convergence [ALT]", but you can get back to the 'default' route if you surrender to Carla during 36++. Doing so sets route progress to after "Fires" mission 34 "Escape" with altered dialogue.
You do not have to replay the entire NG++ route to see both endings. Completing 38++A unlocks 35++B in the mission replay menu if you've done 33B, which in turn unlocks 38++B; and likewise for mission 38++B, 35++A, and 38++A if/once you've done Analysis X1.

NG+++ (or later): Alea Iacta Est aka "Joke ending"/"Secret Ending"

This one is well hidden but fairly simple overall. On NG+++ or later, during *non-replay* missions of Grid 135, there are 4 additional Ghost drones hidden around the place (visual guide). Kill all of them including the one that's always there (you'll know you got them all when Walter comments on your thoroughness), then ignore both NG+ and NG++ options and take the normal 06 and 07 missions (refuse the RLF offer at the Dam and attack the STRIDER rather than helping Balam at the Wall). This unlocks AIE, which is almost the same as the NG route until chapter 5, with the following changes:

  • New Decision missions are offered for 10, 26, and 31/32 (10* "Prevent Mandatory Inspection", 26* "Coral Export Denial", and 31* "Eliminate V.III"). The second and third decision missions are dependent on the ones before them.
  • Missions 11 "Attack the Watchpoint", 19 "Survey the Uninhabited Floating City", and 34 "Reach the Coral Convergence" get new Alternative versions (11*, 19*, 34*) if you do the preceding Decision mission
  • The "Analysis" section of the arena is progressively replaced with new, AIE-specific challenges (after 11*, 19*, 26*, and 31*) which award emblems and data logs specific to this route.

Doing all 6 new missions in Ch1-4 and finishing the altered Analysis missions will replace Chapter 5 with two new AIE-specific missions, 34* "MIA" and 35* "Coral Release". That's it.

Notes:
Walter's voice line after killing the last Ghost in Grid 135 is, "621… I'm sure Arquebus will appreciate your thoroughness, but this isn't part of the mission." This, combined with the random, unmentioned disappearance of the ORC from Brute's hangar arena in mission 24, is taken as evidence that this route is non-canon (non-cannon? does that pun even work in Japanese?), given its wildly different tone and occasional contradictions with background details of the other routes. Hence, "Joke ending".
Data logs gathered from AIE-specific missions are marked with two white bars to distinguish them from other logs, but some of the ones awarded by the altered Analysis matches are not, which might mean they're canon to the main story in addition to AIE.
It's not obvious why there's such a 'weird' non-canon plotline tucked into the game; most likely, it's leftover scraps of a previous story draft they already had finished assets for, which made a convenient place to put the last few data logs that wouldn't fit nicely elsewhere.

Notes:

Still to come: transcripts of the author-invented missions.