Help request for Firefly and Operation Ascend (on hard)

[Archi_Joe]

Hello fellow AC players,
I need help for the last two missions I need to complete AC4: "Firefly" and "Operation:Ascend" (on hard).

I have searched on the web and the forums for tips and advices, I followed all the possible suggestions, but for now I'm still stuck at those two.

For "Firefly" I tried a blader mech, a sniper mech, a kojima mech my NEXT-buster (heavy with bazooka arms and missiles, which got me all of the simulator combats and most of the hard "S" ranks I got).
All with the same result: the first lonely fortress goes down easily, but when I get in range of the three fortresses over the river, I'm swarmed by missiles. The most I can do is kill just one of the three.

For "Operation:Ascend" the situation is pretty much the same.
I manage to enter the structure with just superficial scratches, but when I reach the aerial fortresses missiles will rip me apart (or the dozens of rays coming from the ground).

I watched the following videos on youtube:

For firefly:

YouTube- Armored Core 4 - Firefly (Hard)

YouTube- Armored Core 4 - Firefly (Hard)

YouTube- ARMORED CORE 4 - Gigantic Firefly / HARD /

YouTube- ARMORED CORE 4 - Gigantic Firefly / HARD /

YouTube- AC4 ミッション GIGANTIC FIREFLY (HARD)

YouTube- AC4 ミッション GIGANTIC FIREFLY (HARD)

All three use blades (the first two use moonlights, the third uses that blade with charges).

For Operation:Ascend:

YouTube- ARMORED CORE 4 - Ascend Operation / HARD /

YouTube- ARMORED CORE 4 - Ascend Operation / HARD /

YouTube- Armored Core 4 - Operation Ascend (Hard)

YouTube- Armored Core 4 - Operation Ascend (Hard)

I have no idea how in those videos they do manage to keep away from missiles (and the rays).

I read somewhere that one of the ways to complete Ascend is to use the shoulder mounted kojima guns, I tried that strategy too, but 1) the weapons can't fire vertically, 2) as soon as I put my nose out of the structure my armor goes to 10% (I manage to kill just one of the flying fortresses, when I try to kill the other ones, I'm struck by missiles before I can even get out of that hole).

I spent about 12 hours in the last 4 days tweaking my mechs and trying different strategies, but the only thing I got from it, is frustration.

I even tried all the advices on this post here: http://forums.xbox.com/12298727/ShowPost.aspx

Side note: I'm on regulation 1.00 (I can't download the other ones, since my console is quite far from the router, and I don't have a gold account because I'm not much the online player kind).

I have almost all hard missions with "S" rank, except for a couple of "A", but I can't even complete the two missions with aerial fortresses, not even with a "C". Is that a bad design problem, or am I missing something? For those who have completed the missions, have you had the same problems I had?


Thanks to anyone in advance.

[Shinobi273]

For both these missions, I used a laser blade AC using the 07-MOONLIGHT. I think they were double bladed. For the Ascension mission I also had an OGOTO back-mounted grenade cannon. For both missions I probably had shoulder flares. You need to be able to pretty much land on the fortresses and slash them.

I think Firefly was the easier of the two. I had to be wildly lucky to be able to pull this off. Just keep at it.

[Archi_Joe]

Thanks,
I have put the game aside for a while, but I'll try again in the next days.

[suko]

Same here, these two are giving me major problems. This game is one of the hardest games to find information on that I have ever played ...

[Shaftiel]

Shinobi's advice above sums up how I did it: you use blades for the fortresses, land on on them, and slash them to pieces. There's a lot of luck involved (for me, at least) because you need to boost to exactly the right place and kill them fast - if you land in the right place and slash they die almost instantly, but if you over/undershoot you get torn to pieces.

Specifically for Firefly, when I finally got S I took out the fortress on your side then skirted the left side of the map so I approached the ones across the river from their left flank - that way they were all lined up in front of me and the missiles all came from (mostly) the exact same direction instead of a huge fan of death. I ended up using one of them as cover against the others while I was slashing it, but that was mostly luck.

Ascension was the same: either you boost directly to them and instantly kill them with blades, or you over/undershoot and get shot to pieces. Again, for me there was a lot of luck in finally nailing them.

-Shaftiel

[I B1GJo3 I]

I just got S on hard on Operation Acsend, and using just swords wasn't getting me far. Then I put on shoulder flares, and I barely got hurt and it was my second try with the flares that I beat it. So I recomend that to anybody having trouble on it.