Master Dex

Maybe it is because I love all the songs in the event but I suddenly unlocked my true potential (the power of song energy? lol). I used to get Cs and Bs at best but here I started rolling S and SS ranks for songs (including a SS for Axia itself). I also applied Focslain's advice, I suspect it made a difference. I also got a third 'diva' (my lineup is Sheryl as my main, Freyja, and Ranka now. I haven't unlocked anyone else, only rank 6) so I think that makes a difference too.

2 hours ago, Focslain said:

Same here, but if you've done love live the stats are familiar.

Without a translation I can only figure out four of the character stats. The first four are thier base power, then each of thier affinity with the different types energy(color).

In normal rpg stats, the higher the better. This translates to an easier score per press.

Plates are the same and add bonuses to the idols.

For simplicaty sake here's the easy mode for plates.

When you are in your team set up screen (seen below), tap the circled button.

That will make this menu pop up. Now here just press the circled button. The game will place the best scoring plates into your team.

I strongly suggest that anyone playing follow the @utamacross twitter feed. Yes it's in japanese but twitter does have a built in translation program and with a little guess work the post con be diciphered. They drop hints on playing the game.

I can drop more if anyone needs help.

You are far ahead of me honestly. I'm not even trying to figure out stats and such... Just putting things together randomly so far. I'll try your suggestion though. I've never played this kind of game before. 

I got it and have idly been playing, not heavily enough to rank up with any speed. Frankly I'm not that good at it, lol. I also am blindly going through and guessing what most buttons do so I only have a vague idea of how to play the game outside of the actual song segments.

Can't be sure on fold quartz usage, and really anything is a hypothetical. However the SV series is designed to be best against other VFs and the VF-171 was already an aging plane in 2060, but we also don't know how old the Svard was by then. It is more likely it was on par with the VF-171. The NUNS were using the Aerial Knights as a special ops force so they were more banking on their flying skill than technological capacity. It is notable that it required Epsilon Foundation later to make a Gen 5 equivalent fighter which implied Winderemere doesn't have that capacity on their own.

Then again it was also proven that without ketchup song backing them, even in the 262s the Aerial Knights weren't able to hold up against the VF-171s... so... they might not be /that/ good as pilots either.

Most of that, if not all, looks like the artwork of Master Tenjin Hidetaka who has done a lot of the best artwork for Macross, specifically for model kit box art. There have been three books released (The Sortie series, Third Sortie even having English translation of the notes in it) just displaying his work. My avatar of Captain Max is actually a portrait he drew that appears in Third Sortie.

I can't be sure that is all his work, but a lot of what you posted looks very similar to this art style.

EDIT: Looking again, a few of those I know for sure are Tenjin works, so I'm more likely to believe it's mostly his stuff.

55 minutes ago, Seto Kaiba said:

To be entirely fair, Max and Milia were dodging bog-standard Zentradi Army ordnance designed to engage relatively slow-moving targets.  Guld might've done it in a newer fighter, but what was being fired at him was the UN Spacy's state-of-the-art air-to-air high-maneuverability missile intended to bring down high-performance VFs.

Guld's qualifications weren't anything to sneeze at either.  He had a Special A qualification from the UN Forces as a civilian operator.

I didn't really mean to denigrate Guld's skills there.. it was really just a set up for the ace joke. I'm fully aware Guld is no slouch, he would not have held off the Ghost as long as he did if he weren't.

22 minutes ago, Andras said:

 

In addition to the M:+ scene mentioned, you have a very short example in the M3 opening sequence (search Y/T for Macross M3 Remastered Opening) and you get a couple seconds of Max's HUD with a swarm of Zent missiles inbound. The thing to note is Max and Mirya pulled off the same trick as Guld, while flying belly to belly in a VF-4 and a VF-5000.

 

 

A stunt which for Guld using special hardware was considered impressive and indicative of the technology of a much more advanced fighter. For Max and Milia, that's just Tuesday.

I suspect as well that despite all of our opinions that the show was received better by it's intended Japanese audience (and demographic as well). I've seen that with a lot of shows, and even the reverse where an American audience loves a show but it is received poorly by the native audience.

Now I don't know for sure if that is true, but the other things mentioned at least tangentially imply it, but Walkure and DX sales can probably justify it on their own in any case.

I've heard it all before... But that's so hot.. Feel free to discuss such things anytime Seto. 

That entire post was full of sexy... As an engineer as well I love that stuff.

I think he's right though, Macross gives more than Star Trek, which really only gives that much in the TNG technical manual (and spiritual successors) and is generally less... Scientific in that there is more made up words. (I say this but I still love it, and am in fact right at this moment at a Star Trek convention). 

You ever learn those missing pieces of info let me know... Cause I know what you're taking about in your guesses lol. 

Sounds like I got the gist of it though.

Seriously though, I would love a show or OVA dedicated to the tasks of the Federal New UN Forces tackling problems like that.

9 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

Several thousand, yes.  According to Records Officer Exsedol Folmo, there are somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 Main Fleets operating in the Milky Way.  There were, according to Macross Chronicle, once approximately 5,000 such fleets.  They vary somewhat in size, ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions of ships per Macross Chronicle.  Chlore's fleet was, IIRC, only tens of thousands of ships in Macross 7.  She was likely a Direct Defense Fleet commander, since the Macross 7 series treats the SDF Macross version of the war as the more accurate one WRT factions and continuity.

Available setting materials suggest that encounters with rogue Zentradi branch fleets occur fairly often and even the occasional skirmish with main fleet-scale forces isn't unheard-of.  The rogue fleets don't seem to be regarded as a significant threat, and are generally either destroyed through superior firepower or exposed to Earth culture.  It's suggested that main fleets are avoided at all costs, since the amount of firepower necessary to repel one is outside the scope of what an emigrant fleet can provide.  (This is probably one of the things that keeps the Federal New UN Forces too busy to intervene in inter-colony squabbles.)

It wouldn't really be a new development, story-wise... the Macross II: Lovers Again chronology has it happen with distressing regularity, and by 2092 the UN Spacy there had repelled at least four more main fleets after the Boddole Zer and Laplamiz ones in 2009-2010.  They'd gotten VERY good at it, which is one of the reasons they had become so complacent by the time the Mardook showed up.  I think a main continuity emigrant fleet encountering a main fleet wouldn't be much of a fight, regardless.  If they were armed with 5th Generation VFs the Zentradi don't have anything that can really rival that, and the fleet would get wiped out if it tried to go head-to-head with anything much larger than a branch fleet.  (This is why, in Master File's accounts, the military will sacrifice and even self-destruct ships to avoid having main fleets discover the location of emigrant fleets.)

Sounds like you are both saying an emigrant fleet can handle a Zentradi main fleet be using 5th generation VFs but it also can't due to the numbers... I likely misunderstood something in that last paragraph. It is clear though you are saying anything bigger than a branch fleet, like Chlore's, is a big problem for an emigrant fleet and to be avoided. The Federal forces are likely the ones deployed to near areas with main fleets to either pacify, destroy, or just keep them from making trouble for New UN fleets using their overpowered VF-24s and whatever else they have now.

So.... can we PLEASE get a show or OVA about that awesome crap!?

I think Seto is entirely on point. On the subject of Delta basically doing the same thing with the love triangle as Frontier, perhaps even worse really: It was said once Kawamori wanted to drop the love triangle element in this show originally but the studio demanded it so he wrote this one in. It is entirely possible he basically phoned it in as such.

4 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

... thought Delta was pretty fair on that score, personally.  The Aerial Knights were a card-carrying Prettyboy Platoon, and they hit an awful lot of the standard reverse-harem tropes.  If they had a short kid, they'd almost be the cast of Ouran High School Host Club IN SPACE.  You had the Prince (Keith), the glasses-wearing cold man (Roid), the stoic (Qasim), the twins-who-do-everything-together (Theo and Xao), and the naive rookie (Bogue).  Technically I guess they DO have the shota-type in Heinz, so it is the full range if you don't count Hermann.

Sure, they're not a walking shirtless scene, but Keith and Roid's interactions were definitely leaning towards "more than just a warm friendship" when they weren't being adversarial.  That's fanservice of a kind, right?

Man, their runes touched and everything.. it was like.. Alien Yaoi, lol.

That comparison to Ouran though... it's so spot on.... I can't unseen it.

1 hour ago, Valkyrie addict said:

Well,  whatever they do... NO MORE SCISSOR MANEOUVER DOGFIGHTING GRUNTING AND SUDDEN DISENGAGING 

They're planes that turn into robots... how about some hand to hand combat mix with crazy aerobatics and itano circus action... geeez

The macross universe has enough valks to cover any type of battle situation, I'd love some OVA about a covert unit with specially modded existing valks that deals with specs ops or the missions noone wants to do.  They've already stablished NUNS is corrupt, so this unit would deal, fix and stop the mess of corrupt NUNS actions.

I actually suspect this is a lot of what Federal NUNS units do with their massively overpowered VF-24s and their alleged tactical short range folding (with fold boosters, that is something the YF-24 design was sold on as a thing it could do). In my head canon, they do have shadow units that do a lot of sooper sekrit stuff both internally and externally.. but they can't be everywhere. That is why NUNS decentralized in the first place after all, lol.

15 hours ago, Seto Kaiba said:

It's not a myth that the show was planned as 1 cour and a movie.  It changed in preproduction, not production.  (During the scripting and storyboarding of the first few episodes, IIRC.)  By the time they went to actual production, it was 2 cour.

You're right that it isn't really a viable defense of the appallingly poor writing in the show's second half... Delta's plot was appallingly thin and unoriginal even before that point anyway.  Roid is Grace 2.0, Keith is Brera, Freyja is a better Ranka than Ranka is...

Mostly my point so apologies for the over simplification. I knew at least the idea of it changing during production was wrong. 

3 hours ago, Mommar said:

Do remember the show was extended to double the original length during production.  It was always intended to be concluded with a film.  If you forget the second half except for the last three episodes it all makes sense.  The show would cliff-hanger with Messer being killed.  And the Movie would have covered the course of the last three/four episodes.

Really, with a pair of films like Frontier the story could be pretty easily salvaged.

While you're not wrong that it might have been better that way, it turns out the story that the show was originally planned as a 1 cour and extended after production started was a myth. A movie may have been in mind at some point of the production but official word is that once the show was being made it was already a 2 cour show. Really all that means is that there isn't much defense for the lackluster writing.

1 hour ago, antibiotictab said:

”Kaname” is a male name and I have not known the exception yet.

I bet it is used for both. I've seen many female Kaname's. There is one in Full Metal Panic as well for example.

1 hour ago, Seto Kaiba said:

With all the hoops they have to jump through to justify PMC protagonists, you'd think it'd be easier to just say "Ooo! Look! A NUNS Special Forces team!"

This part is especially notable. For all the flack the show gets (and a lot of justifiable). This is basically what Macross 7 did. Diamond Force and Emerald Force were both basically special forces teams that used special equipment and/or state of the art fighters (purpose built VF-17Ds for DF, and the newest VF-19F/S for EF) while the main force was still using the by then horribly outdated VF-11C. This was of course around the time they were realizing that the plans to make the VF-19 the mainstay fighter would become too difficult (which resulted in the cheaper, but still all around improvement over VF-11 that was the VF-171, right as decentralization took place). Even the VF-22s were meant for special forces use.. though in the show it was mainly to give the bosses new and unique things (Though this is Max and Milia, they deserve it, even if they certainly don't need it). Gamlin later gets one too.. but we have no idea if that is a new Diamond Force thing or just him.

I rambled but the point is clear.. it has been done but it seems Kawamori wants to go a different route now for nothing other than contrived reasons. He has certainly always implied that "The Man" was a problem in each show, even in SDFM and M7 where is was just command that was problematic, not our heroes.

2 hours ago, kajnrig said:

Thanks for the answers, jenius/VF5SS.

I asked this in the model thread as well and Chronocidal pointed me the way of the DX VF-31 thread, but while I'm scouring all 200 pages or so, I'll ask here, too:

 

 

http://macross.jp/delta/mechanic/

That should help a bit.

Wow Saburo, that battroid shot with supers is amazing, for both J and F! It is seriously making me consider getting Messer supers now.. when I wasn't going to because I prefer the 31 without them... but now I feel like Battroid only benefits (fighter looks ok but ultimately looks better naked, but gerwalk still looks best naked to me).

2 hours ago, no3Ljm said:

Google says Y8424 is $75.71.

 

 

Yikes... a bit higher than I hoped... especially when I'm not interested in the little planes, heh.

2 hours ago, anubis20 said:

I have an extra lil draken set on PO if anyone needs one 

Tempted. Though the main reason I haven't ordered is the price, which I wouldn't expect you to lesson since it is new. Also I am not all that interested in the lil'Drakens... I more want the missile packs and the sword.

What is the price roughly in USD anyway?

9 hours ago, Saruta said:

And yes, "Generations" stories can get contrived (as we know from the actual Star Trek Generations movie, "preserve Kirk in VR stasis just so he can meet Picard then get killed off anyway"). I wonder however - why did they put the "signal from Megaroad" quip in Delta if they are not planning a Generations movie/series?

 

Because Kawamori is a troll, lol. I literally believe that line was just shoved in there to poke fun at the fans constantly asking about those original character which SK constantly tells us he is done with and won't revisit. Why expect him to change things now?

2 hours ago, Zinjo said:

Well the scuttlebutt is that he wanted a war story, but he sponsors wanted and idol show since that is in vogue right now.  Perhaps that is why the Delta story seemed "phoned in" or farmed out.  He bailed to work on his own project and left the details to the producer and director.  Not that his works are terribly ground breaking, but Frontier was much more palatable than Delta was for me.

He didn't want a war story, he wanted an air racing competition story. It is many of us that want war stories it seems. I'm ambivalent as long as it is entertaining and well written. Delta got half that at least for me.