Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon Cheats and Tips
Focus on 3D movement and verticality
One of the first major hurdles for any new Armored Core 6 player to bypass is to start thinking about your mech as having full three-dimensional movement. If you find yourself spending most of your time on the ground, then for your next mission, make a concerted effort to spend as much time as possible in the air.
If you treat the ground as your home, then you’ll be far more vulnerable. Explosions will hit you much more easily, and half of your sphere of movement will be blocked off by the ground, making it much harder to dodge dangerous attacks. Take to the air and stay there, and you’ll find it much easier to complete your missions.
Spend some time in the AC Test arena just flying around and spending as much time as possible in the air. Get used to the three dimensions of movement and dodging. You’ll need it later.
Increase your camera speed on controller
If you’re playing on controller, then one of the first things you should do is go into the settings menu and increase your camera movement speed, allowing you to turn the camera more quickly. At its default setting, the camera can feel a bit sluggish. I felt immediately more in control of my surroundings and my missions once I upped the camera speed a little bit, because I was able to whip around and deal with threats more efficiently.
If you can’t dodge, then block
A very short way into the first chapter, you’ll be introduced to a new type of Armored Core part: the shield. Deploying a shield will block the majority of damage (both to your health and stagger meter), and its effect is heightened for the first moments of the block, which means if you time it right, you can weather amazing amounts of damage with barely a scratch.
You may not find any reason to check out the shields at first, but once you get into Chapter 2 it can help make some fights a lot easier if you start to block anything that you can’t dodge.
Learn what the targeting HUD is telling you
At first the HUD for Armored Core 6 may seem overwhelming, but it actually does a remarkable job of conveying information at a glance, particularly around the targeting reticle. At the top of the reticle you’ll see the target’s health, and above that, their ACS Gauge (their stagger meter). To the lower left and right you’ll see the current ammo and status of your four weapons, whether they’re reloading, overheated, and so on.
In the screenshot above, I’ve numbered all the elements you should pay particular attention to while fighting. Here’s what they all mean:
- Target AP (health)
- Target ACS Gauge (stagger meter)
- Missile Lock readiness
- Target tracking reticle*
- Left arm weapon
- Left shoulder weapon
- Right shoulder weapon
- Right arm weapon
*If the target tracking reticle is red, this means your shots will automatically track and hit the target. How quickly and at what distance the reticle turns red depends on your mech’s FCS, one of the inner parts of the mech you can customise in the Assembly screen.
