This week, the Steam release of Mobile Suit Gundam Battle Operation 2 finally occurred, after several betas and a long LONG period of the game just maintaining a confused radio silence. It’s been a bizarre spectacle watching them fumble the ball on a barebones port of a five year old PS4 game, but the story of GBO2’s life has been one of a team pushing along a game on a clearly shoestring budget. I love GBO2. I also think it’s a friggin’ mess. And I genuinely think there’s a bunch of stuff you’ll wish you knew playing this game, because it’s a pretty bad teacher.
Nothing’s worse than those “Nine Things I Wish I Knew Before Playing Tetris” articles, so let’s get this straight: we ain’t doin that here. I am not gonna waste your time with anything you should already know. This guide assumes you completed the tutorial, and were paying at least a moderate amount of attention. I’m not going to tell you anything in here that you will obviously know from that tutorial, but there are some things it teaches poorly, and many things it does not teach. Take it from a veteran pilot: knowledge is the ultimate weapon. Or, I mean, ok. That’s not true. The Armored Armor DE (Launch) (Transformed) from the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex is probably the ultimate weapon. But knowledge is pretty good.
I’ll be updating this guide at least a couple of times with more advice, covering things like balance, strategy for different maps, and more. But to start with, let’s give you a better understanding of what you know before you sortie into a match.
PREPARING FOR BATTLE
Netcode Woes
One of the first things people notice is this game sometimes just… runs terribly! I’m not talking graphics and framerate, though that can be true- I’m talking the connection during matches. There are two things going on here. If you talk to others, this will seem inconsiderate- some people will have no idea what you’re talking about! This is because GBO2 checks if your connection is wired or wireless, and groups like with like. If you’re wired, you play with other wired players. If you’re wireless, you are playing with other wireless players. Wired connections are pretty consistent- they mostly just work. Wireless, though… good wireless connections are real, but you’ll always be dragged down by the worst connection in the group.
This is all made worse by the fact that this game doesn’t have servers. …Ok, that’s not TECHNICALLY true- it uses servers for buying stuff, and for stuff between battles in the Base Camp. But for an actual match, it picks a player from the group to be the host. It goes without saying that this is a really terrible way to do this, giving a strong host bias when the connection’s shaky, and ending the game completely if the host ragequits. And the host doesn’t know they’re the host- the game doesn’t tell them, or anyone else.
Finally, the actual code for negotiating and resolving connections is poor. So in general it can be a complete nightmare, to the degree that as a wifi player some days I simply can’t get through matchmaking without it erroring out over and over. Or you lose connection to a game because the host’s connection is so bad, and then the game tells you that you ragequit and starts threatening you with penalties. It’s… not good. Just try to keep calm, and know when to walk away. Bandai Namco will never give them the money to make the netcode good, this is just how it is around here.
The Rock Paper Scissors of GBO2’s Roles
GBO2 breaks its playable units down into three classes: Raids, Generals, and Supports. In GBO1, these were Close-Combat, All-Purpose, and Artillery. The reason they’ve changed is that those names aren’t true anymore. Most of the time, Raids are close combat specialists, Supports are long range fighters, and Generals are midrange, but this is not always true! The Zudah is a Raid but also a sniper! The Kampfer is going to run at you for melee, but it’s a General! So don’t just pick based on the classification, look at its stats and weapons and you’ll be able to see what it’s strong at. At its core, it’s Rock Paper Scissors: Raids do more damage to and take less damage from Supports, Supports do more and take less from Generals, and Generals do more and take less from Raids.
The Rock Paper Scissors comparison serves us very well here, because just like you shouldn’t only play paper in RPS, you shouldn’t be married to any one role in GBO2. Matches will be at all manner of costs, and it simply isn’t possible to play the same role, let alone the same Mobile Suit, in all of your matches. Heck, you often won’t play the same machine twice in a row! This isn’t a MOBA, or a hero shooter- you will certainly learn the specific feel of a mobile suit, but there’s no such thing as a Zaku specialist. Your picks should and will change constantly- so use the RPS nature of roles to your advantage in a team lineup.
For that matter, let’s talk about team composition. The most textbook team is three Generals, one Raid and one Support for a 5v5 match. 6v6, probably go up to two Raids. Generals are typically flexible and great at being frontline fighters, plus they don’t get countered too hard, so they are the backbone of the team. Raids tend to be fast and in-your-face fighters, and so ideally they will flank, dodging the Generals to get at the enemy Supports. They also are the strongest of the three classes right now, and have been for some time, which is why you’d want two Raids instead of two Supports when given the choice.
Finally, Supports usually stay back and offer covering fire or sniping, from a variety of ranges. They can attack from extreme range or simply be the second firing line behind your Generals, but you can count on them not being the tip of the spear, because if you get into melee with them, they crumble fast. Supports can be very effective, but they’re also the weakest class in the current balance, so err on the side of fewer Supports- if you get called out as a Support you have no Get Out Of Jail Free card, you just die.
But when you sit there in the lobby thinking about what you should pick, maybe as someone spams “Who will sortie in a Support unit?,” consider this: are you good at whatever your team is lacking? It is better to run a sub-optimal lineup that you know how to play than an “ideal” lineup that you don’t. Sometimes your team will have no Support. Sometimes you’ll have as many or even more Raids than Generals. This is ok! Different units draw upon different skills, and you need to be sure that you can contribute with the machine you’re piloting, rather than sabotaging yourself trying to be a team player. As you play, your skillset will naturally widen and deepen, and before you know it, you’ll always have the right mobile suit for the job, and the experience with it to make it sing. Until then, don’t try to force the issue- you’ll only be sabotaging yourself, and the team with you. Stay in your comfort zone, and let it gradually grow.
Cost
As you’ve probably noticed, GBO2’s units all have a cost associated with them, and matches have a cost limit. The cost limit is the individual ceiling on your mobile suit- if it’s a 500 cost, you can pick a 500 cost mobile suit. There’s no team factor to cost like the Gundam MaxiBoost series, so don’t worry about that. You can go up to 50 under the limit if desired: I wouldn’t do this unless you were really confident in your pick, but it’s an option.
So, for example, the Alex (Lvl 1) is a 450 cost machine. This means it can fight in 450 and 500 cost matches. You’ll note the (Lvl 1) there: that is the base version of every suit. For most machines, there are also upscaled versions of them: there’s an Alex (Lvl 2) at 500 cost, an Alex (Lvl 3) at 550 cost, and an Alex (Lvl 4) at 600 cost. Some machines have as many as 8 levels of upscaling!
So, when should you use an upscaled unit? …When you don’t have any other choice, basically. Upscaling is an imperfect way of strengthening a suit. Let’s take the GM as an example. As a 100 cost General, the GM is the all-arounder of the lowest level of play. It has perfectly balanced stats, and carries four pieces of equipment- its primaries, a beam spray gun and a beam saber, and its secondaries a head vulcan and a shield. If you use a higher level version of the GM, there are two issues. One, you need new equipment! By default the game will equip a level 1 version of its primary weapons, the beam spray gun and the beam saber. The other weapons get boosted to the suit’s level automatically, but for some reason (read: gacha game) you have to spend in-game currency to buy appropriate versions of your main weapons. Obviously, a level 4 unit with level 1 weapons is at a huge disadvantage!
But even if you get those level 4 weapons, it’s still just making the numbers bigger. Yes, a GM (lvl 4) has higher stats than the base version, but at 250 cost, you have such better options. You could be piloting the excellent Armored GM, which has a better gun and a grenade, as well as hover movement that makes it exceptionally nimble. Or you could be using the deadly GM Cold Districts Type, with its crazy DPS machine gun and grenade launcher. That’s not to mention the matter of Skills, the perks on each suit that make them unique. There’s no reason to use an upscaled GM over a suit native to its cost- the number buffs don’t make up for it not having the tools for the job.
This is a good rule of thumb- when considering an upscaled unit versus a native one, ask yourself if there is something the upscaled unit has that can’t be matched by a different pick. The Super Gundam is great when upscaled because its beam rifle is so powerful and versatile that it remains useful even in higher weight classes. The friend I mentioned before, the Alex, can be used for a few levels past its native because it’s such an excellent all-arounder. When in doubt, don’t upscale… but if you know it’ll work, it can be quite effective.
IN COMBAT
The Stagger Meta
So, you’ve had your first fight, and enemies kept doing this thing where they hit you with an attack that made you stagger… then another, then another, then you die. Welcome to the Stagger Meta! This was once a good but fallible strategy: to not let your opponent play. Now, it is the entire game. Think of it like a combo in a fighting game- they got the first hit, and if they play it right the next hits are unavoidable. They might drop the combo, and then you can escape. And even if they don’t, the combo has a natural endpoint- it can’t go on forever.
How can you keep this from happening? Well, they will almost certainly use a melee attack in the combo. If it’s their opener, great news: you can counter. This is where your boost tackle comes in. If you catch a melee attack with a boost tackle, you’ll do a cinematic counterattack that does a good chunk of damage, then knocks them down. Remember, boost tackle vs. melee is a game of chicken- whoever goes first loses. If you get antsy and boost tackle before they swing, you’ll bonk them harmlessly, then they’ll go to town on you. Wait for them to swing, try to boost tackle on reaction to their startup and not in anticipation of it.
Other options? Well, shooting them before their combo starts is pretty obvious, but it does work well- most combos rely on weapons that are short range, easy to dodge, or both, so if you’re not worried about starting your own combo, you have an advantage. Also, if you’re a Raid or a General, you have an invincible dodge! Double tap boost to escape! Sometimes it only delays the inevitable, but it can definitely get you out of a lot of bad situations. Supports… sorry. No dodge*. You just gotta hold the L sometimes.
A final desperate option is that the game does actually have friendly fire. If friendly units hit each other, they don’t take damage, but they do get staggered. So if you’re being swarmed, sometimes maneuvering just so will make them hit each other, and give you a window to escape.
It’s a longshot though.
*technically, as of this writing, there is ONE Support with a dodge. So if you’re piloting the Sazabi FF, congratulations, you too can roll away. But I bet you aren’t piloting a Sazabi FF.
Pilot Action
Remember that whole section in the tutorial on playing as a pilot? Well, you can forget most of it. Your assault rifle is useless, you will never get in a knife fight, and your repair tool doesn’t scale with unit HP, so at costs above 450 it’s basically worthless. There are three things to know: support fire, combat, and base bombing. Support fire, the tutorial taught you. Just be careful, it DOES have friendly fire! Combat is easy- just shoot them with the bazooka. That’s it, only weapon that matters.
Base bombing is a little more involved. You can plant a bomb in the enemy base, and it’ll detonate after 60 seconds and earn your team a fair bit of points. If someone plants in your base, you can defuse it, though it takes a few seconds. Be very careful! If someone planted a bomb, they are almost guaranteed to still be around. They are either: waiting to shoot anyone with a bazooka who tries to defuse, or waiting for someone to jump out of their MS to defuse so they can steal it. Imo the best matches are the ones where everyone ignores the base- it’s just not a fun part of the game.
Also, if someone plants a bomb when there is less than a minute left in the match, simply ignore them- the bomb won’t go off in time, there is zero threat.
Tiny Tips
Here are a few random tips you might find useful:
Your weapons will continue to reload/cooldown when not equipped, so switch away from a weapon when it’s recharging. These recharges are all paused if you exit the MS to do on foot stuff.
“Psycommu Jack?” What this means is, you’re trying to use a weapon that uses a psycommu- basically, it amplifies psychic powers to let you control the weapon- but there is an enemy nearby whose abilities lock out the use of psycommu weapons. It’ll be a Unicorn, Banshee, or Phenex. They can only do this in their powered up mode, so it’s temporary. Some units can resist psycommu jack, and there is a custom part that helps with this too.
Unless you have a very specific plan, don’t bother hopping out of your machine right before it’s destroyed. You’re only denying them a total of 25 points (which is nothing), there are decent odds they’ll kill you trying to get away anyway, and even if they don’t you’re now just stranded in the middle of nowhere. If you want to get out of your suit to do something, kneel first instead of doing the emergency exit- you’ll get out faster, AND you can get back in faster when you need to.
When the enemy calls for support fire, you get warned a second or two before the shooting starts. The support fire was already called in a little bit ago by the time you see the warning, and up until that point it has been locked onto a single member of your team, tracking their position as the center of the AoE. Once you see the alert, it stops tracking. If everyone scrambles at that moment, no one will get hit. Of course, sometimes you’re just too busy for that to be possible, but keep it in mind.
Suit Recommendations
My personal favorite Mobile Suits for each role in the popular costs:
250- Raid, GM Night Seeker II. General, Armored GM or GM Cold Districts Type. Support, GM Cannon [Space Assault Type]. Listen GMs rock in this game! Machine guns are very effective at this cost, don’t be afraid to pick them over a “higher skill” weapon like a bazooka or beam rifle!
300- Raid, GM [Gatheroad Type] or Zaku Flipper. General, High Mobility Zaku. Support, Guncannon Mass Production Type. The GM [Gatheroad Type] is DLC on PlayStation, I don’t know how or when it’ll be added to PC… but when it does, I highly recommend it! It’s a GM that dual wields beam guns!
350- Raid, High Mobility Zaku Ground Type (AS) or Gouf Custom. General, Pale Rider Cavalry. Support, Bishop or GM Sniper Custom (ML). That High Mobility Zaku variant is included in the Code Fairy DLC pack, which I would recommend if you get invested in the game- some great suits in there.
400- Raid, Red Rider. General, GM Dominance. Support, GM Sniper II. The Red Rider is available right now as a reward from one of the battle simulators, and it’s an amazing AoE melee beast. Just… don’t get too carried away, you can get punished hard for carelessness.
450- Raid, G-3 Gundam. General, Alex. Support, Heavy Gundam or Hizack Cannon [Increased Armor]. In my mind, 450 is the point where the units start getting distinctly strong. The Hizack Cannon [Increased Armor] in particular is a ridiculous machine with a three shot burst artillery cannon that erases enemies.
500- Raid, Titania. General, Gundam Mk-II. Support, Full Armor Gundam [Type B]. The Titania’s another Code Fairy DLC suit, and it’s a true wonder machine. The Gundam Mk-II is just a workhorse that excels at the fundamentals.
550- Raid, Hyaku-Shiki. General, Gundam Mk-III. Support, Super Gundam. I mentioned above that the Super Gundam’s beam rifle is so good it never stops being relevant, but shoutouts to the Gundam Mk-III: it has a small weapon list, but it manages to be an excellent and consistent midrange shooter.
600- Raid, Rick Dias II. General, Re-GZ Custom. Support, Jesta Cannon. The Jesta itself is a pretty meh 550 General, but the Jesta Cannon is a spectacular gun boat for standing behind the front lines and offering support fire.
650- Raid, Gundam Mk-V. General, Ex-S Gundam. Support, Jagd Doga (QA) or MP Qubeley. There are a few units with funnels/incoms at 600, but 650 is where you start seeing them as a common asset. These lock-on weapons seek out their targets remotely as soon as you let go of the trigger, and are great at harassing and softening targets.
700- Raid, Qubeley (Lvl 2). General, Phenex. Support, Jagd Doga (QA) (Lvl 2). 700 is the newest cost, and as such it doesn’t have very many native cost units, and the ones it DOES have are quite rare. So you are probably gonna have to settle for upscaling here for a long time. But if you can get the Phenex, it’s probably the most fun unit in the game.
Closing
GBO2 is a mess. Its netcode is a disaster, its balance is questionable, its maps range from terrible to solid. There’s also nothing else like it. No other game, not even other Gundam games, captures the feeling of being a grunt pilot in an anime mecha battle. So despite all its flaws, I have played this game for a few hundred hours, and will play it for hundreds of hours to come. Hopefully some of the things I’ve learned over those hours can help you get a handle on this strange, clunky, and wonderful thing.
