Analysis of Tessa & Melissa's duel in FMP! Episode 15

Wild Goose · Post by **Wild Goose** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:00 pm

Well, this ep has been bugging me for a while... and since things are starting to get rather quiet, I figured I'd try to liven things up a little.

After Sousuke fishes Tessa out of the sea, she gets down to discuss a strategy with him, and mentions the use of terrain, in particular, an area where the ground isn't stable. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm thinking that that's the place where Mao's M9 nearly fell off the cliff - because the ground was loose, not because Sousuke and Kurz rigged it to blow.

Then, when she's hunting Tessa, the M9's ECS lenses come out but blink, and Mao says, "ECS... no response?" and then seconds later, says, "Smart move, but I got you," and then jumps towards Tessa's M9. During freefall, in the HUD, right under the 'w' symbol, the letters ECCS ACTIVE are flashing, and then the screen suddenly goes white.

My understanding of this is as follows: Mao was overconfident and didn't use her ECS, and Tessa's trap was to run around using ECS, which the Electronic Counter Camoflage System on Mao's M9 would detect, then decloak. The lightning flash caused by ECS deactivation would then blind Mao's sensors, alloweing Tessa to then get the drop on Mao. The "ECS...no response?" I take to be reffering to looking for Tessa's ECS, not Mao's ECS being disabled.

Besides, Sousuke and Kurz don't strike me as the mechanical kinda guys who could do something like that...Well, that's how I see it. Any thoughts?

Post by **Taurec** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 6:31 pm

I really have to watch that ep again .. i'll be back <g>

KiLlEr · Post by **KiLlEr** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 7:30 pm

Actually the flash was the sun reflecting off Tessa's machine, which is why it was important for Tessa to be in a specific position, in a specific time. She was running in order to make it. (The time was when the sun reaches a certain angle on the horizon, and the place was on the hill placing Mao between her and the sun). The glare knocked out Mao's visuals, which bought Tessa enough time to waste Mao. Basically, Mao got her butt set up without realizing it, since she severely under-estimated Tessa's planning and tactical skills.

Wild Goose · Post by **Wild Goose** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 4:55 am

Ah, I see. *nods*

I've heard before by some people that Kurz and Sousuke sabotaged Mao's M9 and that Tessa cheated by setting up her trap... but then, Sousuke sets traps all the time, and no one says he's cheating.

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 12:43 pm

Considering the match was between Tessa and Mao, I think it would have been cheating. Besides, I don't think Mao would let that slide.

KiLlEr · Post by **KiLlEr** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 1:15 pm

Blinding someone by using glare isn't the nicest thing to do, but it is not cheating (it was a trap, in a way similar to hanging a piece of meat over a covered hole to trap an animal). If Mao didn't underestimate Tessa, then it would have definitely gone the other way.

But there was no explosives nor sabotage. Sousuke would not have go so far as to interfere with his senior officers, and Kurtz wouldn't care either way.

Weltall Elite · Post by **Weltall Elite** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 2:22 pm

KiLlEr wrote:Blinding someone by using glare isn't the nicest thing to do, but it is not cheating (it was a trap, in a way similar to hanging a piece of meat over a covered hole to trap an animal). If Mao didn't underestimate Tessa, then it would have definitely gone the other way.

No, I meant that it would have been cheating if Sousuke had set up traps in Tessa's favor.

KiLlEr · Post by **KiLlEr** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 3:37 pm

Yeap. That would have been cheating .