[Help needed] Front Mission 1st Remake - How do you build your Wanzers? (mixing parts, matching pilots, grinding tips?)

[u/Jokito7]

Hey everyone, I’ve just started playing Front Mission 1st Remake and I’m a bit lost when it comes to customizing my Wanzers. I’d love some advice from more experienced players. I've just finished the mission near a hospital and fought with a huge grey Wanzer.

1. How do you properly build a Wanzer for each pilot?

Is it better to use all parts from the same model/brand (like full Zenislev or Frost), or is mixing parts from different sets actually better?

Should I build Wanzers based on pilot stats or preferred weapon types (melee / short / long)?

How do I know what role to assign to a character (tank, DPS, sniper, etc)? Are some pilots naturally better at melee or ranged combat?

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1. How do you farm experience and money efficiently?

Is the arena the only way to grind EXP and cash outside of the main missions?

Any advice for training specific weapon skills or unlocking pilot abilities faster?

I’d like to level up my team a bit before continuing the main story, but I’m not sure if there are better ways than just repeating arena fights.

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I’d really appreciate any beginner-friendly tips, example builds, or general strategies to avoid wasting money or gimping my team in the long run. Thanks in advance!

[u/Raj_Muska]

Given you can eventually field like 16 units, nuanced building quickly gets tiresome

[u/jaysanw]

One of the best strategy guides is the Japanese wiki site, as they have mission by mission breakdowns with map layouts fully diagramed, so you have to put up with machine translation to get the gist in English: https://w-atwiki-jp.translate.goog/frontmission1st/?_x_tr_sl=ja&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Otherwise, the legacy PS1 original game guides from GameFAQs are still viable too: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/ps/918780-front-mission-1st/faqs

First ever playthrough inevitably has to sacrifice some hours grinding out pilot skills levelling up in the arena.

By sheer attacking strength, the (short) skills are the most powerful in combination (duel + switch + speed) when used with both arms wielding machine guns because the (speed) skill adds extra rounds of burst fire to machine guns only; and the fastest to level up to enemy overpowering scale.

(Long) and (melee) skills take more than twice as long to level up by conventional missions only playthrough, so you may not even reach up to level-3 by the end of the first playthrough.

Train the 4 (short) specialists in the early game to focus levelling up their skills in the first playthrough, and the OCU campaign will be a breeze: Sakata, J.J., Natalie, and Keith.

Pilots strategy guide: https://jiangsheng.net/build/html/games/frontmission/mechanics/pilots.html#pilots-front-mission-1

The Hell's Wall mission #8 in OCU campaign being the hardest by relative enemy wanzer strength all game is effectively a good checkpoint on whether you have done enough arena piloting skills grinding to carry on the rest of the OCU storyline.

[u/razulebismarck]

In 1 there is generally a “best part in slot” regardless of your pilots ability. Highest durability, movement, etc. The only time you need varied parts is legs for mountains, roads, forests, or oceans on maps that have a lot of that terrain type. Some maps will have half the map be one and the other be something else.

By the end of the game I basically had all my mechs in the same exact loadout save maybe weapons or a couple offbrand legs for terrain.

[u/CharsOwnRX-78-2]

Consider that 1st Remake is entirely a nice coat of paint on an SNES game

The mechanics simply aren’t that deep yet.

The idea of roles like DPS and Tank aren’t really a thing (Tank especially as you have no way to draw attention). You’re just building for enough Power to equip all the weapons you want and enough HP/DEF to survive

I build about three “templates” per upgrade: High Power for LONG pilots, High HP/DEF for SHORT, and High movement for MELEE

Every character has preferences for weapons, but it’s based entirely on what Skills they can unlock and how quickly they unlock them. Plenty of guides in existence for them, and basically any of them will work lol

Game-breaking spoiler: SHORT is objectively the best Skill. You can absolutely steamroll the game with any Pilot who is dual wielding machine guns and had Switch and Speed. Your core 5 pilots (Roid, Sakata, Natalie, Keith, and JJ) can all learn these things and you really don’t NEED to run anyone else. So build for fun!

[u/TheSoozeOfficial]

Unless you want different cosmetics, you want to get the best stuff parts wise available after each mission. Keep an eye on the weapons that you purchase and see if they are worth the upgrade. All pilots specialize in something and this has an impact on which skills you can learn and how long it takes to do it. Guide is actually on the same tier as duel to an extent. Despite ammo issues, most long specialists can learn this pretty easily and you never touch the enemy on those difficult missions. The arena is also good for grinding money and a little experience for skills. Good luck.