"Occupation of Arteria Carpals"

	"Occupation of Arteria Carpals"
	General information
Client	Interior Union
Area	Arteria Carpals
Objective	Details Unknown
Reward	1,000,000c
	Real world information
Game	Armored Core: For Answer
Music	"Scorcher"

"Occupation of Arteria Carpals" is a mission in Chapter 4 of Armored Core: For Answer. It is the final mission for Ending 3, triggered by completing "Destroy Cradle 03".

Briefing[]

Here is the mission.

The objective is to take control of the large scale Arteria Facility, Carpals.

This time, the details of the operation are up to you. You are simply to take out anyone or anything that gets in your way.

Briefing over.

The Union seeks only to secure the future safety of humanity and the planet. This mission is an essential step in realizing that goal.

We trust that you will meet with 100% success.

Enemies[]

Allies[]

Old King

Dialogue[]

Old King: Heh, lap dog...

Lilium Wolcott: Please accept my apologies. That briefing you saw was manufactured. This is the end of the road for you. I think you understand why.

Roadie: Well, it is what it is. Your actions were clearly deliberate. There's no point in trying to reason with you.

Otsdarva: Maybe it's just an animal. Can it even understand what we're saying?

Serene Haze: ^{(Hard Mode)} To end up facing you like this... Too bad. You walked right into my trap. Stand still so I can cut you down.

Oldking: You think you're some kind of one man army? You think it's your right to choose who lives and dies?

Wynne D. Fanchon: You kill too many.

Old King:^{(upon defeat)} Sorry friend, I can't help you any more. I'm glad we got to know each other better.

Kasumi Sumika: ^{(Hard Mode)}Of course... I stood by your side for so long... If it's my time, who better than you to deliver the final blow.

Narrator: Soon after, the blood of the innocents would rain down from the Cradles, all at the hands of a single Lynx. One who will be the greatest monster mankind has ever seen, taking more lives than any other in history.

Notes[]

To clear up the confusion: Yes, Old King did in fact say: "You think you are some kind of one man army?".

At first, it was thought Roadie said the line due to Old King and Strayed pursuing their world-changing plans independently (such as destroying the cradles), but this was in fact a comment to taunt Otsdarva.

Walkthrough[]

Armored_Core_For_Answer_Occupation_of_Arteria_Carpals — Armored Core For Answer Occupation of Arteria Carpals

You have a couple of strategies to defeat 4 (or 5, in hard mode) enemy NEXTs:

1 - You can camp somewhere outside the map with strong sniper rifles and missiles.

2 - You can make a light/middle weight NEXT equipped with laser blades on each arm and equip yourself with shoulder and back boosters. (Use regulation 1.15 if you are going to do this). Just make sure to time your attacks carefully, as a single mistake might result in your destruction.

3 - Use the Kojima integrated arm piece. Right when the mission starts, immediately begin charging the weapons (you will know when the weapon is done charging when your primal armor begins to regenerate again). Go straight to the wall at the far end of the facility and stay at the top. Soon you will see the enemy NEXTs flying towards you.

The enemy NEXTs won't attack you as they come in. Fly towards them, lock on one of them and fire, destroying one of them. The others will fly to the other side of the wall and engage Old King (be careful, sometimes one might stay on the same side you are on). Stay on your side and charge your weapons again.

Once charged, go to the other side and get a clear shot at an enemy. They shouldn't be preoccupied with you because their attention will be on Old King. After you shoot, boost it as fast as you can to the other side of the wall so that you aren't followed. Keep doing this until every NEXT is destroyed.

Remember: Timing is crucial. Since you only have 5 shots of the kojima weapon arms, you literally have one shot for each enemy NEXT. Because of that, you might want to equip your back mounted weapons as gatling guns just in case you miss a shot.

4 - Possibly the safest way of defeating them is with dual back mounted Rail Cannons and machine gun arms while using an efficient OB design.

Lure them out of the square one by one and engage them at range with the Rail Cannons. The rail guns can pierce PA, and deal 3-5000 damage per hit, as well as being accurate at ranges of 1000m. When the pursuing NEXTs get close, turn around and OB away. Repeat this, and (again) try to make every shot count.

Once your rail cannons are empty, move to close range and use the machine gun arms to make short work of the remaining NEXTs.

Note: Reg 1.40 reduced the ammo count of the Rail Cannons, so change the regs to one of the lower ones.

5 - Yet another strategy is to create a long range, heavy weight NEXT with low EN cost, good turning ability in the legs and arms units with good firing stability and mobility (AN47 arms seem to work best), as well as a supercharged OverBoost, while equipping the two lightest sniper cannons on your back and dual gatling guns in the arms.

Flares or AS missile extensions may be used as shoulder weapons to either stop enemy missiles or to do additional damage. (Otsdarva will probably use up his EN while trying to avoid them).

Split up the enemy NEXTS so they can be faced one by one, keep them at around 1000-1200 meters range and fire both snipers until the target falls. Should the target come close, use the gatlings and pray to god that they can finish them off before your AP is depleted.

Trivia[]

Some of the chatter from the enemy NEXTs when they kill the player suggest that Otsdarva is acting on behalf of ORCA, and is "punishing [the player] for sullying their name".
Sumika's dialogue suggests that she was your operator, which makes sense because your operator leaves you in "Destroy Cradle 03".
Upon completing the mission on "Normal Mode" the player will be rewarded with the HD-Lancel-OPT03 head stabilizer. Completing the mission on "Hard Mode" will reward the player with the Interior Union's railgun PITONE and Kasumi Sumika's emblem.
Reading the briefing, how short and plain it was, it is possible that both Strayed and Old King knew of the Ambush.