Ace Cat Adventures: Let's Play Sid Meier's Ace Patrol episode 1

[armowrpiercing]

Kagura: WHAT THE HELL.

Interitus: Vol... ya? Where is this? Where is Volya?

Skald: Archie, why do we look so weird and ungraceful? Where's my god damn tail? And where's my claws? How can I shred people without my claws?

Archie: I'm not sure myself, partner. But from what I can gather, because of some strange turn of events that are too complex to explain, apparently we're smack dab in the middle of World War 1 now. Or maybe someone thought that because everyone and their dog have an LP these days, that certain person want a piece of that cake as well.

Kagura: STOP MIXING FOURTH WALL LEVEL ARCHIBALD, YOU'RE NOT THAT DAMNED GODDESS. AND IF I CAN FIND THE ONE WHO'S PUTTING ME HERE I'M GOING TO STRING THEIR NECK. FOR SOME REASON MY HAND IS NOW IN THE PERFECT SIZE FOR THAT.

Archie: Yes, for some reason we have human body now, and we're drafted by the to fight in the World War 1 as fighter pilots. Isn't this exciting!?  I have the feeling that we'll be able to go back to our own time and body if we managed to survive this war or when the LPer is bored about all this.

Kagura: ARCHIBALD, REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT FOURTH WALL LEVEL?

Archie: Anyway, apparently since I'm the most knowledgeable here about World War 1 era flying machine, and since apparently despite my lack of superior feline eyes I'm still in posession of my sharp shooting ability, I'm now leading you lot in the Royal Flying Corps No.74 Squadron as Corporal Archibald "DeadEye" von Whiskers. What's with the DeadEye nickname you say? Well, that basically because everyone recognize I shoot straighter than most creatures. I bet you guys will also get a nickname when people recognize your special abilities.

Interitus: Interitus can't shoot vines. This is weird.

Kagura: YES, I'M ALSO MISSING MY POWERED ARMOR. SO IF WE HAVE TO SHOOT PEOPLE DEAD SO WE CAN GO BACK TO OUR OWN TIME, WHAT CAN WE USE FOR THAT PURPOSE NOW?



Archie: Apparently we're still very early in the war, so the only thing available for us now is this Airco Dh.2. This is one of the british' first fighters, and before the british developed synchronization gear that allows guns to be fired from between propeller, this pusher-type fighters are their only counter of German's Fokker Scourge. If you notice my status screen earlier, you can see a shield symbol. That means my plane have enhanced armor. And also, let's give our planes more fitting colours, shall we? I think I'll use blue. Red would be fitting for you, Skald. Interitus would be green for obvious reason. And Major Kagura is purple.

Skald: Less explaining, more fighting please.

Archie: Okay, apparently we are in the Somme Offensive now, and the command give us a couple of mission choices for our squadron. We can pick any mission we want. When we finish mission objective and shoot down enemy planes, the command will note that in their scoring book apparently. Same thing happens if the other side do their objective and shoot down our planes. At the end of this offensive, the command look at the overall score, and that will determine the end status of the offensive.

Kagura: NOT THE STRANGEST WAY FOR THOSE HIGHER UPS TO DECIDE THE COURSE OF WAR, SADLY.

Archie: This is our mission choice now apparently.



Archie: Notice the color code and the frontline. Blue coded missions mean it's in our territory. We can expect more support at our side, and if we're downed, we can expect a couple of weeks in the infirmary and for our tech head to repair our planes, then we can go back to fighting. If we're downed in the enemy territory, we will be captured as Prisoner of War, and we will have to wait for prisoner exchange at the end of an offensive before we can go back to the fight.

Golden missions are... well, they are high priority high risk missions. We can expect high scoring from the command if we manage to finish it, but it's often unique and dangerous.

Skald : Just the way we like it, eh Archie?

Archie: Either way, let's just do this Clear Skies mission. Let's do this Skald.

Skald: No need to say it twice!






Archie: Okay, apparently the incoming enemies are two rookie german pilots. We have to down them both to finish this mission. We can do this, partner.

Skald: Archie, where the hell is the chainsaw button. How do you pilot this thing?

Archie: ...okay, apparently a crash course in piloting World War 1 era fighters are in need.






Archie: First, there are a couple of maneuvers you can do in your plane. Since unlike me you're new at this, you can only do basic maneuver, but as you gain experience, you'll be able to do more advanced maneuvers.

Skald: New at this? When you ever piloted a World War 1 plane before, Archie?






Archie: As you see, you already innately know what maneuvers you can do from your current position. But there are a couple of basic theory you might want to know so you understand why you can and cannot do things.

The most basic thing is, height is important. You can trade height with speed and a lot of advanced maneuvers. Basically, most of the time people in higher altitude have advantage. For example, flying straight is just that, a level flight. But to dive left you have to lose one level of altitude. Also, your plane will be banked left. In a dinky plane like this most likely you have to level yourself first before you can bank right. This maneuver also give you high speed. Some advanced maneuver can only be done if you're already in high speed. And least but not least, this maneuver give you +1 G-force. It's stressful for you. You can only have limited amount of G-force at any point. Luckily, by being British we have higher G-force resistance than average. Don't ask me why. German pilots apparently get experience faster, American pilots recover from injury faster, and French pilots can avoid capture when they land in enemy territory.

Skald: So... That chainsaw button?



Archie: For now, let's just follow my lead, Partner. You're the type who learn more with your body anyway. By the way, apparently our enemies are piloting Fokker E.III.

Also, notice the environment. Our flak cover can help us immensely by, obviously, shooting the enemy when they fly above them, and even if not, they can often force our opponent to break their chase or take longer route rather than risking flying above flak cover. Take care about enemy flak cover too. Also, if we hide in clouds, our opponetns can neither see nor shoot us.



Archie: When you're "feeling green" that means you can shoot your enemy. There are a couple of things that affect your accuracy and damage. Like for example, firing angle, enemy aspect, range, altitude advantage, and of course, weapon strength. But our Airco have one advantage compared to those Fokkers. If you remember the plane status explanation earlier, our plane has a flexible lewis machine gun. Basically our machine gun isn't fixed, you can actually swivel and aim them yourself, so we have wider firing arc than them. But anyway, I'll open fire.





Archie: And apparently I managed to damage his wing! It's called critical hits, and sometimes it happens.

Skald: For valhalla!



Archie: Damnit, Skald, you don't have chainsaw! Don't try to melee those planes! But still, it's a good-ish idea. They can't shoot you when you're jumbled in their nose like that. But for now I'll do a rotary right and shoot them from behind. That's always a good idea. I don't think I need to tell you that, but always try to shoot enemy from where they can't shoot back.

Skald: What is that cowardly tactic.






Archie: One down, one more to go.



Skald: HOW DO YOU TURN THIS INFERNAL CONTRAPTION!

Archie: Uh, while you're doing what you're doing, I'll just follow this guy and shoot him.



Archie: As you notice I can easily finish this guy, but I think you need to feel the experience of downing an enemy with your own machine gun, Skald, so I'll just fly pass him.

Skald: I don't need your pity! But thanks anyway.





Skald: By the name of the All-father, this is pretty satisfying.

Archie: See what I said? So the higher ups are apparently pretty satisfied with this mission, with how we're not getting any damage and the tanks we're supposed to protect not getting any damage. So...



Archie: They decide to promote you to corporal as well. But Skald, where did you get that moustache from?



Skald: What do you mean? Don't moustache automatically grow on human male if they best someone in battle?

Archie: ...I digress. Anyway, I think you get understand new maneuvers now from all those flying?

Skald: Yes. For some reason I have to choose which maneuver I can remember though.



Archie: Apparently so. And also for some reason what maneuver set you can learn is random. I hoped that you'd learn how to loop, but for now, just remember those Power Maneuver. They're basically maneuver set that allows you to easily gain or lose altitude, and as I explained, altitude is important.

Also, since we're doing very well at that mission, the higher ups feels fitting to give us some upgrade for our planes. They gave us an advanced plane armor.

Skald:  Real warriors don't need heavy armor.

Kagura: REAL WARRIORS ALSO PREFER TO NOT DIE WHEN ENEMY SHOOT AT THEM. BUT JUST GIVE THOSE DAMN ARMOR TO INTERITUS.

Interitus: Yay! Armor!



Archie: Now, let's see what missions are available next. I hope it will be some easy mission, so I can continue training you guys.







Archie: Well... crap.