Editing Armored Core (section)

== Concepts ==
All the games share similar terms for objects and stuff.

*'''Armored Cores''' (shortened as '''ACs'''): The highly modular mecha you play as and sometimes fight against. Think an [[OmniMech]], but faster, with lots of jump jets and universal Torso Cockpits (which are quite a rarity in BT). They're named as such as the core contains most of the vital parts and is protected by the armor in the limbs and the head. Designs are quite varied, and an AC can be anything from a hyperlight and slender stickman that can fly endlessly to a tank with arms and lots of deadly weapons.
**'''NEXT''': Unique to 4 and For Answer. NEXTs were bigger and more powerful ACs powered by Kojima Particles. Their unusual energy source allowed them to move faster than planes (Over Boost), gave them energy shields that made them nigh-indestructible (Primal Armor), detonate the shields to create massive green explosions (Assault Armor) and use horribly deadly weapons. Unfortunately, Kojima Particles are highly radioactive and a deadly pollutant that's so inimical to life on Earth that all the fighting in 4 left the planet as dead as Holy Terra would be without its hives. For that reason, after the events of For Answer, Kojima technology was forbidden and destroyed, and NEXTs have been lost to history by the time of V and VD. The only organization that still uses Kojima tech in the fifth-gen games is the Foundation, which is led by a crazy emo that wants to destroy humanity.
** '''Unmanned Armored Cores''' ('''UNACs'''): AI-controlled ACs, who can potentially be much more dangerous than even an expert Raven. These have been a part of the series from the very beginning (Nine-Ball could pilot two UNACs at once against you), but they've mainly had prominence in Silent Line (where you can [[Awesome|train an UNAC as a Consort with your own piloting skills]]), Formula Front (which is where their artificial brains' name, the Formula Brains, come from) and Verdict Day (where they can be Consorts once more and play a major role in the story)
* '''Consorts''': NPC partners who can fight alongside you in missions and get some of the mission's reward in exchange. They have the most presence in the early 3rd gen games, in which they can pilot anything.
* '''Karasawa''': A (usually) powerful laser rifle that has appeared in all of the games since the first (If you wonder about 4, it's strangely called "Canopus" in that one). Named after Yasuyoshi Karasawa, the first game and Project Phantasma's producer who died during the latter's development.
* '''Laser Blade''': A staple throughout the series. Laser blades are the main melee weapon of ACs, a blade of pure energy that's usually mounted on the left arm. Since 4 (although the third generation made an experiment with the KAW-SAMURAI2/SYURA weapon arms), Laser Blades can be used in both hands for all your mecha-Baraka fantasies.
** '''Moonlight''': Armored Core's incarnation of FromSoft's Moonlight Sword, which has appeared in many forms since all the way back in King's Field. This one is the strongest laser blade in the games.
* '''Muscle Tracers''' (shortened as '''MTs'''): Lower-end mecha used for multiple purposes besides combat. They come in all sorts of forms and sizes, and can be unmanned or piloted. In some continuities, they're the Armored Cores' immediate predecessors technology-wise. In most games they're the main enemies you fight besides more conventional vehicles, other Ravens and weird, ancient and spooky superweapons. Some games also have '''General Purpose Armored Cores''' ('''GPACs'''), who are a midway point between MTs and ACs in sheer power. Think of them as AC's equivalent of BattleMechs and IndustrialMechs.
*'''Ravens''': Mercenaries and hired guns that pilot Armored Cores. They usually band under organizations run by the Ravens themselves, with some meddling from corporations. A thing should be noted, though: While all Ravens are AC pilots, not all AC pilots are Ravens, and there are a few outliers that either work independently or are straight up corporate soldiers that only work for their own side.
**'''Human PLUS''': While most Ravens are normal humans, some have heavy modifications that make them even deadlier pilots. Since the first game up to Another Age, if [[FAIL|you have more than 50,000 credits in debt]] (This requires either being an utter failure of a Raven, or intentionally failing), your pilot will be unwillingly modified and reverted to the start of the game. ''But'' in exchange, you'll get powerful new abilities, like [[AWESOME|an integrated radar, longer-lasting boosters, the ability to fire energy waves from your laser blade and the ability to sortie with overweight ACs]]. While the lore states that the process can have unwanted side effects (like going batshit insane or dying young), fortunately you don't have to deal with the consequences. In some cases, Human PLUS also slows aging, like it did with 2's bad guy Leos Klein (a 90-something veteran with the body of a middle-aged man)
**'''LYNX''': Like Ravens, but for NEXTs. They also have some H+-like enhancements that allow them to control their ACs like extensions of their body.