Getting Started with MST

MST (MS Tactics) is a browser game where you collect all kinds of units — mobile suits, warships, super robots, and more — train your character, and compete against other players.

The basic loop is simple.

It's not just about getting stronger — you can also collect rare units, raise a Haro for racing, and more. There are plenty of ways to play, and you can go at your own pace.

1. From the top page, use "Create New Character" to make a character to represent you.
2. Log in with the ID and password you chose to enter your own status screen (main screen).
3. You can have only one character per account.

The Menu at the Bottom

At the bottom left of the screen is a dropdown menu and an "Execute" button for choosing where to go. Most facilities — Anaheim, the Newtype Institute, and so on — are reached this way. The ones you'll use most, "Main" and "Hangar," also have their own dedicated buttons.

Status Screen (Main Screen)

This is your home screen, where you can see everything about your character.

• Proficiency…your character's overall strength level.
• Credits & Fame…your in-game money and how famous you are.
• Unit artwork…click it to jump straight to your Hangar.
• Further down are your battle buttons — Simulator, battles against other characters, and so on.
• Once you meet the requirements, a Raid Battle button also appears.
• The Haro Race button is on the main screen too.

Credits

The in-game currency. You earn Credits by winning battles, and spend them on buying units and training.

Fame

A number representing how famous you are. You need Fame to buy powerful units. The main way to earn it is through battles against other characters, but you can also get it from tournaments, or by breaking down Mechanic Tickets earned on the Ace Bounty Board.

Experience & Proficiency

Defeating enemies earns Experience. Once you've built up enough, your Proficiency rises. As Proficiency rises, more facilities and features become available.

Unit Proficiency

Separate from your character's own Proficiency — this is a measure of how familiar you are with a specific unit. The higher it is, the more often you'll land critical hits.

HP (Durability) & EN

HP is your unit's toughness, and EN is the fuel it needs to use weapons. If HP is low, fix it up with Maintenance.

Morale

How fired up your character is. Higher Morale boosts both attack and defense (up to 1.2x), while low Morale weakens them (down to 0.8x).

Oldtype (OT) / Newtype (NT) / Cyber-Newtype

Your character's type. You'll naturally awaken as a Newtype the more you fight, but choosing "Suppress Awakening" at the Newtype Institute lets you stay an Oldtype. Newtypes and Cyber-Newtypes can pilot exclusive units, while Oldtypes get perks like learning special attacks and discounted shopping — each type has its own strengths.

Tactics

Your strategy in battle. Leaving this unset makes you extremely weak, so set it first thing (see Chapter 9 for details).

Step 1: Set Your Tactics

Open "Tactics Settings" from the menu and choose a movement tactic and an attack tactic. Leaving these unset puts you at a big disadvantage in battle. Anything you like is fine to start!

Step 2: Battle in Simulator or against other characters

From the battle buttons on the main screen, pick a weak-looking opponent and fight. The Simulator is an especially good place to start, since it gives Experience easily and lets you try "High and Low" after a win.

Step 3: Run Maintenance when your HP is low

If HP drops after a battle, use the Maintenance button to restore it. Fighting with low HP puts you at a disadvantage.

Step 4: Once you have Credits, train at the Institute

The Newtype Institute lets you raise your character's stats. Higher stats mean you can pilot stronger units.

Step 5: Buy a new unit at Anaheim

Once your stats and Fame have built up, try buying a new unit at Anaheim.

Where your units are stored. You can switch units, put units up for sale, and clean out ones you no longer need.

• Sometimes you'll capture an enemy unit in battle — captured units end up here too.

A room where you can see all your weapons and equipment at a glance. It's reachable directly from the menu.

• Mark weapons you use often with ★ Favorite to pin them near the top.
• You can sort your list, which makes things easy to find even if you own a lot of gear.
• You can also upgrade a weapon's power here.

Set up a partner (another player's character) to help you in battle. Reassuring to have around, but the Credits you earn are reduced slightly while a partner is fighting alongside you.

The one-stop shop for units. Buy new units, swap weapons and equipment, customize (boost stats), develop new variants, rename your unit, and more.

• A unit shown as "????" in the list is one you can develop once you meet its requirements.
• Once Unit Proficiency is high enough, you can perform an Overskill (raising the Unit Proficiency cap).

A facility for strengthening your character. There's a lot you can do here.

• Training…spend Credits to raise your stats. No upper limit — you can keep going indefinitely.
• Enhancement…usable up to a stat value of 169. Success gives +10.
• Trait Development Room…give your character a Trait, such as Focus or Timid.
• Newtype / Cyber-Newtype / Suppress Awakening…choose your character's type.
• Learning Special Attacks…an Oldtype-exclusive reward.
• Trading Credits and Fame…convert between the two currencies.
• Welcome-back gift…if you haven't battled in a while, you'll receive some Credits as a gift.

A used-unit marketplace run by an NPC shop. Enter the lottery for a unit you want, and if you win it's delivered straight to your Hangar. To sell a unit you don't need (paid out instantly at its appraised value), do it from the Hangar. The lineup rotates, so check back often for a good find!

Think of it as your neighborhood unit clinic. Here you can:

• Run Maintenance…fully repairs all damage on a unit (takes time — longer for older units, shorter for Oldtypes).
• Sell units for Credits…get paid for units you don't need. If untouched captured units are piling up, Quick Hangar Cleanup lets you sell them all at once.
• Customize…boost your stats, up to 10x their base value.
• Buy and sell Stock…unlocks once you've fought over 8,000 battles. You can only buy on Sundays, but you can sell anytime. You can hold up to 50 shares total, and anything you forget to sell is automatically settled at Saturday's closing price.

Submit a unit for appraisal, and its rarity (Normal, Rare, and so on) is determined — you're then paid an amount based on that rarity. It's a bit of a gamble, so enjoy the surprise!

A bank where you can deposit your Credits. Deposit a lot, or keep using it regularly, and your Rank (starting from Bronze) rises, unlocking perks. Chatting with Nina at the counter is one of the fun parts too.

Once you join a Faction, you can raise your own Haro here. Train its speed, stamina, dash, and other stats, then enter it in the race held automatically once a day. Even a loss still earns Experience based on where you placed, so your Haro grows either way! You can also buy betting tickets to cheer one on. When you retire a Haro, its offspring takes over the next generation.

A group of players banded together. Joining a Faction lets you chat on a dedicated board, contribute using the Faction Points you earn on the Ace Bounty Board, and sell units directly to fellow members, among other things. Haro Training and Haro Race also require Faction membership. If you find people you click with, give it a try.

A display case where you can show off your favorite unit to everyone, with a comment attached. Once you've got a unit you're proud of, put it on display.

The results ranking for Raid Battles — see how much damage everyone dealt to the boss. Check it out to see where you stand.

• Ranking…a list and ranking of every participating character.
• Unit List…a catalog of units you can pilot, sortable by stats.
• Recent Events…world news, like other players' unit purchases or tournaments being hosted.
• Edit Profile…change your name, comment, or image.
• Unit Database / Secret Board…information rooms that unlock as your Proficiency rises.

* There are more features hidden beyond these that unlock as your Proficiency grows. Keep playing and see what you discover.

Attack tactics have a rock-paper-scissors relationship with each other.

Focus on Attack < Focus on Evasion < Focus on Disruption < Focus on Piloting < Focus on Attack …

Against an opponent of similar strength, the outcome basically comes down to guessing their tactic correctly. Stick with the same tactic every time and opponents will catch on and pick you apart — read your opponent and switch things up.

Traits have their own synergies too: Focus favors Focus on Attack, Timid favors Focus on Evasion, Mischievous favors Focus on Disruption, and Steadfast favors Focus on Piloting.

Battles take place on land, underwater, in space, or in the air, and every unit has terrain it's good and bad at. On favorable terrain, both accuracy and evasion improve; on unfavorable terrain, you also take more damage. Check your unit's status screen to see which terrain suits it best.

Finer terrain details — desert, lunar surface, forest, night battles, and so on — also affect which weapons perform well (for example, beam weapons excel in space, while ballistic and heat weapons get a big boost in night battles).

Every weapon has a range. The core of winning consistently is fighting from outside your opponent's range while staying within your own. Failing to detect your opponent reduces the damage you deal, so Detection and Intuition matter too.

• Your character grows faster by having a weak unit defeat a strong enemy than the reverse (for example: a Ball beating a Big Zam grows you more than a Big Zam beating a Ball!).
• Setting a unit's Armor and Mobility to the same value tends to reduce how much damage it takes in battle (there are exceptions).
• On the Ace Bounty Board, having lower HP than your opponent slightly increases the Credits you earn.
• Selling a unit on the used market raises your Fame once it sells.
• Smaller units are harder to hit.
• The Simulator might be very slightly more rewarding on a full moon… maybe?

Things Not to Do

• Using your browser's "Back" or "Refresh" buttons. If this corrupts your data, it cannot be fixed.
• Cheating or breaking the rules. This can lead to data deletion or access restrictions.
• Requests to fix data changed by your own mistakes are never accepted. Play carefully — it's on you.

If You Run Into Trouble

• If your data becomes corrupted, "Restore from Backup" on the top page may help (with some limits, such as your Credits resetting to 50 or units currently for sale disappearing).
• Not sure how something works? Ask on the message board or in chat — someone will likely have an answer.
• For more detailed strategy, see the Strategy Guide page; for the site's rules, see the Site Rules page.
• The single best way to keep playing is simply to log in and fight at least once every so often. That alone is enough to prevent your character from being deleted.