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RAdvantage is bringing you tips for some of the hardest achievements on the site. As always, our DMs remain open at RANews, if you have tips for any 100 point or other very difficult achievements you have earned please let us and the rest of the community know.

Tip Provided By:

Whynot15 Whynot15


Game Console Genre
Faselei! Neo Geo Pocket Strategy, Tactical RPG


Achievement Description Points
A-Rank NewCity in Flames Complete Chapter 11 with an A-Ranking (or S-Rank) 50

This is arguably the single most difficult achievement on this obscure little strategy title. You have a huge map with 3 waves of enemies all spread out. You need to be extremely efficient in every move, have a solid loadout, know the spawns, and (unfortunately) get pretty lucky - in terms of enemy movements, your partners movements, your shots landing, etc. You unfortunately can’t do much about the luck, but we’ll try to get the solid strategy to make it a little less crushing.

The loadout

This is half the battle right here! A good loadout will help you at least minmize some of the good RNG you’ll need to have success.

My build

  • Homura TS
  • Left Shoulder 1 - STLPOD
  • Left Shoulder 2 - OPTICT
  • Right Shoulder - Missle (honestly unimportant)
  • Left Hand 1, Left Hand 2, and Right Hand: Either 2 Sniper Rifles and 1 Shotgun or vice versa (I went with double shotguns, but there’s pros and cons to either approach)
  • COM and Backpack - the best you have
  • Items - 2-4 rifle reloads and the rest shotguns reloads, or vice versa.
  • Chips - With the best comm (16 slots), go: W1, W2, W3, W4, HE, Fw, Bc, Da, LT, RT, LS, RS, TN, RL, CB, It.

If you only have 14 slots, cut It and either Fw or CB.

Call Backup can be an incredible time/turn-saver, giving you a full reload for all your weapons, but it’s HEAVILY dependent on RNG (the resupply is randomly dropped, sometimes in less than opportune areas, and sometimes the call fails). Fw is frequently a worse version of Da (one move forward vs 2), but sometimes forward set up your weapons range perfectly while dash would overshoot it. The choice is yours.

The shotgun and sniper rifle are two of the best weapon types. Shotguns deal slightly more damage and (more importantly) cover a wide range in front of you, while sniper rifles have a narrow yet deep range. Both are blessed with relatively high magazines, letting you focus on firing instead of reloading. It’s debatable if you should go with more snipers or shotguns and their respective reloads. I found myself appreciating having more total shots from shotguns before reloading, especially during the bosses, but snipers can help mitigate the distance of the mission’s first half, which is where most of your turns are spent.

You’ll get the Homura by repeating task missions after chapter 8. Eventually the shopkeep will appear in a Homura. Destroy him and he’ll drop the suit to be picked up.

Other T4 equipment is found by repeating task missions. Sometimes, the final enemy will drop a food item (it will automatically be picked up). Sell the food item and you’ll get its corresponding item, along with the ability to buy more. The drop system is odd, and there appears to be a soft cap of how many T4 drops you can get. I would save after every “correct” food drop you get and reload for every unintended one to clear up the problems. Priortize drops in the following manner: Sniper rifle/Shotgun Com Backpack Missle

General Mission Tips

  • Always do a HEated shot rather than a normal shot, unless you have only one AP left in a turn and nothing better to do.
  • Try to predict the enemy movements. They are erratic, but taking educated guesses on where to move and what weapons to use is the only way you’ll squeeze under the tight turn requirements.
  • Count how many rounds an enemy will take before dropping and plan from there. You always need to be moving and moving forward your next targets.
  • Strike a balance between being as efficient as possible with your AP and setting up an extra shot in case one misses. You ultimately have to luck out and hope you have very, very few misses, but note what turns you can get away with some “just in case” potential attacks.
  • You inventory is limited, but not that badly. Don’t be afraid to reload a weapon that isn’t completely spent. On that note, if you have duplicate weapons, be sure to use up one fully first to maximize reloads.
  • Your partner’s AI is…rough. Try not to count on them to do too much, and don’t be afraid to shove them toward enemies to get them to fight. There’s zero penalty if they get destroyed, so don’t feel the need to protect them.

The Mission

The mission is in two parts: The first in a sprawling cityscape with 3 total waves of 14 enemies total. The second a small, confined arena of 4 mini-bosses and 1 regular old boss. The first half is what makes or breaks you - be efficient here and the second part is relative breather.

Use the wave guide as guidelines, not gospel - the way the enemy movements are random mean theres little beyond the first turn or two that can be mapped out perfectly.

Wave 1: Stealth bombers to the left, one bottom right helicoptor and two middle belicoptor

Start by dashing all the way right (sliding to get pass the tree) until you have two moves left, then do a heated snipe to drop the first combatant. Next turn, turn left to dash straight up and then left. If possible, try to HE snipe another enemy, but you may need to wait until next turn. Finally, you’ll need to deal with the stealth bombers. Instead of rushing straight at them, rush and turn to the north and start sniping. With any luck, you’ll catch at least one in your crossfire and speed things up as you mop up the last. Try to get a reload in on the final turn of this wave or call in a backup supply drop.

Wave 2: TS groups in the top left and top right

This is a run killer of a wave. The enemy groups are at opposite corners and rarely are inclined to meet up. Nothing is worse than finding a straggler off in the corner 2 or more turns away while your partner wanders aimlessly. If your partner is already near a group, charge the opposite and hope she’s able to at least contribute some damage while you tear into other group. If you’re close to your partner and she’s close to nearby enemies, don’t be afraid to dash into her and try to push your ally into the combat. If not, go for the closest group (I’ve had more luck going left to right in a vacuum). Remember to count out how many heated shots it will take to kill the TS(s) you’re currently dealing with.

Wave 3: TS groups in the middle right and middle left

Similar to last wave, but this time the left group seems less inclined to get stuck behind barriers. Tackle the wave your closest to (or the one your partner isn’t fighting) and meet the next group toward the middle.

After a cutscene, you’ll move on to part 2 in a new area.

Wave 4: 4 Super TS

Ironically the “easiest” part of the level (at least in terms of ranking). You’re in a much smaller area and the TS squad will waste little time charging you. Dash to the left and set up some sniper shots until they get close, then hit them with shotgun or snipers rounds as it makes sense. The biggest danger here is the damage they can output - if you took some hits and let them gang up on you, you can very likely run out of HP. Try to take the right side last and position yourself in the bottom right for…

Wave 5: One SUPER TS

We’re almost there! This beast spawns in the bottom right, in the midst of the little rock garden area. This TS is TOUGH - it will take several turns of your best weapons’ heated rounds to put it down. Try to immediately dash into him and hope you and your partner can bully him up against a wall where it can’t slip out of your weapon range.

Be prepared for a LOT of retries, but with a good TS loadout, some smart tactics, and a heaping pinch of luck, you’ll emerge with the ranking you desire.