Building and optimizing your AC in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon is just as important, if not more important, as fighting in FromSoftware’s new mech game. Having the right parts and weapons can be the difference between quickly dispatching all of your foes and spending hours stuck at a single location. Getting parts and weapons is just one part of the AC building process, however. There is another system known as OS Tuning that becomes available after the first few missions of Chapter 1 and gives players the chance to unlock new moves and abilities while also upgrading certain stats. This guide will provide a full list of all the OS upgrades and fully explain the OS Tuning system in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon.
More Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon Guides:
Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon – Full Achievement and Trophy List | Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon – How to Change Weapons, Colors, and More | AC Customization Explained | Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon – Illegal Entry Walkthrough | Mission 1 Guide | Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon – How to Defeat the HC Helicopter Boss Fight
OS Tuning Explained In Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon
OS Tuning is a feature found in the Garage that is unlocked after completing Mission 9: Retrieve Combat Logs. This system is unlocked alongside the Arena, another part of the Garage where players take part in one-on-one battles against some of the games named AC Pilots that you will encounter over the course of the game’s main story. The reason these two parts are unlocked together is because they are intertwined with one another.
Defeating the bosses found in the Arena will unlock OST Chips, a currency that can be spent in the OS Tuning Section to get upgrades. Winning battles in the Arena is the only way to get OST Chips and these Chips are the only way to get unlocks in OS Tuning, so players that want to get the most out of their AC will need to battle in the Arena. New Arena battles will be unlocked as the game progresses, so you will need to continue through the game’s story if you find yourself with no more Arenas to complete.
The OS Upgrades are split into different sections determined by what the Upgrade unlocks. These sections are System Unlocks, a series of new moves for your AC, Core Expansions, limited-use super moves, Attack Control, which increases the damage and speed of weapons and your AC, and Damage Control, which focuses on the defensive capabilities of your AC. These OS Upgrades require different numbers of OST Chips to unlock and many of these Upgrades also have multiple tiers of Upgrades.
Below is the full list of OS Upgrades in Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon:
System Unlocks
- Boost Kick: Unlock the ability to use the Boost Kick, a move that allows you to do a powerful forward kick while using your Assault Boost.
- Weapon Bay: Allows the player to replace their Back Unit weapons with Hand Weapons and allows you to switch between the two weapons by pressing the shoulder buttons.
- Weight Control: Gives you the chance to drop weapons from your AC, giving you a chance to increase speed and lower your weight load.
- Manual Aiming: Unlocks the ability to perform manual aiming with a reticle.
- Quick Turn: Gain the ability to turn to the side or quickly turn backward.
Core Expansions
Only one Core Expansion can be equipped at a time.
- Assault Armor: A special move that can be equipped to your AC. Creates a pulse explosion around the AC that destroys incoming enemy fire as well as a giant AOE shockwave.
- Upgrade #1: Adds an additional charge
- Upgrade #2: Adds an additional charge
- Pulse Protection: A special move that can be equipped to your AC. Creates a bubble around the AC at a fixed position, providing cover from incoming attacks.
- Upgrade #1: Adds an additional charge
- Upgrade #2: Adds an additional charge
- Pulse Armor: Creates a pulse barrier behind the AC and increases your defensive capabilities.
- Upgrade #1: Adds an additional charge
- Terminal Armor: Automatically triggers when your health reaches 0 and will then trigger a pulse barrier to protect you for a short period.
- Upgrade #1: Adds an additional charge
Attack Control
- Kinetic Weapons – Fire Control Tuning: Increases the damage of Kinetic weapons (excluding melee weapons).
- First Install: Kinetic Damage +3%
- Upgrade #1: Kinetic Damage +6%
- Upgrade #2: Kinetic Damage +9%
- Upgrade #3: Kinetic Damage +12%
- Upgrade #4: Kinetic Damage +15%
- Explosive Weapons – Fuse Control Tuning: Increases the damage of Explosive weapons (excluding melee weapons).
- First Install: Explosive Damage +3%
- Upgrade #1: Explosive Damage +6%
- Upgrade #2: Explosive Damage +9%
- Upgrade #3: Explosive Damage +12%
- Upgrade #4: Explosive Damage +15%
- Energy Weapons – Outing Control Tuning: Increases the damage of Energy weapons (excluding melee weapons).
- First Install: Energy Damage +3%
- Upgrade #1: Energy Damage +6%
- Upgrade #2: Energy Damage +9%
- Upgrade #3: Energy Damage +12%
- Upgrade #4: Energy Damage +15%
- Melee Weapons – Drive Control Tuning: Increases the damage of Melee weapons.
- First Install: Melee Damage +5%
- Upgrade #1: Melee Damage +10%
- Upgrade #2: Melee Damage +15%
- Direct Hit Modifier – Damage Tuning: Increases the damage of Direct Hit damage when enemies are staggered.
- First Install: Direct Hit Damage +5%
- Upgrade #1: Direct Hit Damage +10%
- Upgrade #2: Direct Hit Damage +15%
- Access Speed – Optimization: Increase the speed at which you are able to access and hack items.
- First Install: Access Speed: +50%
- Upgrade #1: Access Speed: +100%
Damage Control
- ACS – Dynamic Deflection Control Tuning: Reduce the damage of incoming damage.
- First Install: Damage Mitigation +3%
- Upgrade #2: Damage Mitigation +6%
- Upgrade #3: Damage Mitigation +9%
- Upgrade #4: Damage Mitigation +12%
- Upgrade #5: Damage Mitigation +15%
- Repair Kits – Optimization: Increase the amount of AP you recover when you use a Repair Kit.
- First Install: Repair Kit Effectiveness +500
- Upgrade #1: Repair Kit Effectiveness +1000
- Upgrade #2: Repair Kit Effectiveness +1500
- Upgrade #3: Repair Kit Effectiveness +2000
Great OS Upgrades To Unlock Early
While improving weapon strength is always a great use of the OST Chips, the first OS Upgrades you should get are the ones that provide unique moves and mechanics since they can really change how the game is played. The first OS upgrades I suggest unlocking are the following:
- Quick Turn so that you can quickly change direction to switch between targets as well as track fast-moving targets
- Boost Kick because it provides a universal melee option so that you still have a close-quarters option even if you only use guns.
- Weapon Bay since being able to mix and match how many Arm Unit weapons you want to bring into a game provides a lot of gameplay freedom and room to experiment with weapons and builds.
- Terminal Armor since it gives you a chance to learn the game and have a chance to correct fatal mistakes.
- Repair Kits – Optimization because getting more health on heals is just always a good choice!
All OS Upgrades cannot be unlocked on a single playthrough. You will need to go into the New Game+ mode to gain access to all of them. Once all of them are unlocked, you will unlock the Tuning Expert Achievement and Trophy.
