InArmored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon, You’ll play as an independent pilot for hire designated as 621. Free from ties to the warring corporations or resistance groups like the Rubicon Liberation Front, you’re able to work with whoever’s paying, often switching sides from mission to mission.
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While there are benefits to removing yourself emotionally from the battle early on, you’ll eventually have to choose which missions you want to carry out, based on who you’ll be helping and what they’ve asked of you. Your decisions will determinewhich ending you get, and the allegiances you forge will affect the planet Rubicon forever. Here’s a list of every decision you’ll make in your journey through AC6.
Warning: This article still contains spoilers for Armored Core 6, including New Game + and New Game ++.
5Chapter 3
The first two chapters of AC6 won’t toss any decision missions your way, as you’re still familiarizing yourself with the game andits charactersup to that point. After learning who all the warring organizations are, you’ll come to understand the root of the game’s conflict and be more equipped to decide who you tend to side with.
Toward the end of Chapter 3, you’ll run into your first major decision. You’ll have to choose betweenassisting Balam industries in eliminating the enforcement squadsdispatched by the Planetary Closure Administration (PCA),or helping the Arquebus Corporation take out the PCA’s special forces craft, facing the AAS02: CATAPHRACT ina boss encounter.
While this early decision may seem to have lower stakes since you’ll be fighting against the PCA no matter who you choose, keep in mind that this choice directly affects the ending you’ll receive.
4Chapter 4
While Chapter 3’s choice definitely helps shape your experience going forward, Chapter 4’s decision missions are arguably the game’s most significant, especially in your initial playthrough. In fact, a conversation that you’ll overhear from Handler Walter makes it very clear that the choice is in your hands now.
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Chapter 4’s decision requires you to eitherIntercept Balam’s Redguns, or Ambush the Vespers of Arquebus.This is the point at which you’ll need to make a decision about where your loyalties lie among the corporations, as well as your trust in either Handler Walter or Ayre.
3Chapter 5
AC6’s final chapter is as epic and impactful as you’d expect, and along the way, you’ll need to make one of the game’s most important decisions.
During this chapter, you’ll get a call from Cinder Carla revealing new information about her and Handler Walter’s ultimate ambitions. She’ll break down her true allegiances and enlighten you with some surprising info on her organization’s ideals. If you feel that those goals align with your own,you can accept Carla’s mission and align with her side.
Alternatively, you can side with Ayre, who will contact you to let you know who she’d prefer you choose. Ayre and the Rubicon Liberation Front will end up at direct odds with Carla’s plans, so choosing one or the other here will significantly impact both your final mission and the ending you unlock after completing it.
2New Game +
Your first New Game + run will offer at least one new Decision mission -you may choose to carry out the Tunnel Sabotage mission, or assist the Liberation Front in preventing the corporate sabotage of their new technology. Because of the limited new selection, it’s recommended that you choose the options that you did not select the first time around, in order to see both of the two endings that are initially available to you in AC6.
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While there aren’t a lot of overt Decision missions in New Game +, you will occasionally run into ALT missions, which take the ones that you’ve already completed and add new options or gameplay mechanics to experience them differently. These tasks will sometimes include new choices for you to make, as well.
For example, one of your earliest missions in AC6 sees you teaming up with two Arquebus mechs - G4 Volta, the loudmouth commander who presents your missions, and G5 Iguazu, who sucks - on a quest toattack a dam controlled by the Rubicon Liberation Front.You can choose to complete the mission normally, but midway through, you’ll receive a call from the Liberation Front offering you double the COAM totake out the two Balam ACs instead.
If you take this request, not only will you have the pleasure of shutting Iguazu up, you’ll also unlock a new mission from the Liberation Front afterward, meaning these ALT missions are certainly worth keeping an eye out for.
1New Game ++
Your third playthrough of AC6 is arguably the most important one. This is where you’ll want to be very aware of the decisions you make, as your choices will now grant you the opportunity to get the game’s “true ending.”
Some of the most interesting Decisions you’ll encounter in New Game Plus ++ are alternate versions of things you’ve already done. For starters, you can take on the original Chapter 1 mission todestroy the weaponized mining ship, or work with the Rubicon Liberation Front to protect it.
During Chapter 3, you’ll start to get options that lead you toward the true ending of the game. Allmind, the digital mercenary system that’s been putting you through your training regiment and registration, will make their intentions clear and identify you as a candidate for their program. You cantake the mission to recover historic data, or instead accept Allmind’s request to suppress information about Coral from getting out.
There are also ALT versions of the missionsUnderground Exploration: Depth 2, Unknown Territory Survey, and Reach the Coral Convergencethat you’ll now have the option to select. Be sure to choose the decisions that are right for you, and you can experience every possible outcome in Armored Core 6.
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