[Keroko]

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

You are still assuming a rifle will form if she wished it.

Give me one good reason why it wouldn't. A pink staff with a red orb held by a cresent certainly apeared when she wished for it, why wouldn't a rifle have apeared had she wished for that instead?

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Suspsneion of disbelief. Come on, you cannot have walked around in the SW world for years without bumping into it once.

The term (and actual feeling) yes, the abreviation is new to me, though.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Instead of getting it as right as possible the first time, lazy you prefers to correct using a (theoretically jammable) command link...

Yes, and for good reason. Remember how we established long ago that Nanoha magic projectiles are slower then bullets? How they are, in fact, dodgeable? Now, using this idea, one comes to the realization that you can be the sharpest shooter you want, or have the best targeting system, but if your enemy moves after you shoot, you will miss. If you can't control your shots, you'll miss. If you can control your shots, you can adjust course and still hit him. The best thing is that it also takes away the time needed to aim with deadly accuracy, simply aiming by pointing (without sights) will do, as you'll adjust the course if it goes wrong anyway. Hell, you can even make the rounds apear behind your back or scatter them in advance (Like Nanoha's 'sneak attack' on Vita in A's 01) and take your oponent by surprise, without aiming your device at all.

Of course, one can do this whether they carry a rifle, staff, axe, sword or whatever device they like, but it shows my preffered method of combat. I'll use this instead of a gun, grab a close/long-range weapon combi, and manage to deal well on all acounts instead of just one.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

1) One would at least think the Shooting and Buster modes for long range would be more like a rifle (in fact, it is probably RH's best imitation of a rifle already, with two places to grip, but stock, RH, stock!)

Nevermind my first argument. I just remembered Teana can use Starlight Breaker nowadays. Kinda renders that point invalid.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

2) If I'm going to do melee, I'll get an Armed Device. At least that will be specialized for lcose in work.

Like I said, I prefer versatality. I'll take a ranged/close device combi anyday.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

3) Explain to me your theories that make a staff shape device the ideal compromise b/w all the requirements you spit up there. Without trying to paper over weaknesses with unproven magitech - we're discussing the base shape here.

Allright, I've withdrawn the beam claim due to the reasons above, but we know a rifle is not made for close combat. If you start hitting swords or hammers with your rifle, the chance that you will break your own device increases, the chance that you'll injure you oponent is nil. A staff shaped device can be wielded in melee with much more succes, has less chance of breaking and has a higher chance of actually injuring your oponent, due to the previously mentioned higher ease of wielding as oposed to a rifle.
Second, while firing magic rounds in several directions is possible with a gun, you can't aim in several directions with a gun. You'll have to rely on self controling the rounds anyway, thereby discarding the aiming advantage of the gun. With your weapons main advantage rendered useless, you might as well have taken a staff.
Third, thanks to Nanoha's long-range shot in A's, we already know that having a physical stock or sight present is not a requirement for deadly accuracy even on long ranges. Weapon stabillity does not seem to be an issue (through what methods are theorycrafting, I'll admit) and sights are done mentally.

The staff gives more advantages then a gun or rifle, while sacrificing only minor compensatable ones itself.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Forgot, but MC used it to kick Ginga, remember?

Short recap of the battle: Mach Calibur used Wing Road (considering Wing Road in itself doesn't act as a booster, its more likely Mach Calibur used this to gain friction) kicked away Ginga's aproaching arm, controlled the Wing Road to provide a base from which to kick away the remainder of Ginga's guard and then took control of the knuckle, activated it, formed a fist out of the unconsious Subaru's hand, and used it to punch Ginga.

So no, it's not a single spell. It's not even a spell designed for that purpose. Mach Calibur took full control over the knuckle and controlled Wing Road. Not just a 'replay cast' but actually controlled the direction the road was going. When controlling the knuckle (which is not even a part of Mach Calibur, if you recall) she activated it and formed Subaru's hand into a fist, punching with a strength that forced Ginga back.

This spells out that devices have the abillity to physically support their wielders. True, it does not prove the existence of an auto-correction feature, but it also renders the excuse of its possible existence being 'baseless' futile.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Mana forming into forcefields.

... I am getting totally confused. Didn't you just say that forcefields are matter?

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Have you heard of quantum tunneling or wormhole? I certainly don't see a flash of megaton class energy as Fate was annihilated... and again, if she was annihilated, there will be no will left to have that nice scene with Precia and Alicia, which was actually pretty cute.

I've heard of wormholes. And I've also heard that wormholes and teleportation are two different things. A short view in a dictionairy gave me this as an answer:

"Teleportation: a hypothetical mode of instantaneous transportation; matter is dematerialized at one place and recreated at another "

Dematerialized. No longer matter. If its no longer matter, then what is it?

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Fate, Vita and Signum are close combat specialists. Their long range (as in, over 10m) attack stuff is secondary. For that, their weapons are reasonably designed (I think - maybe a melee expert will have something else to say about this).

I am somewhat of a melee expert, or at least I have experience in melee fights. Their weapons are designed for melee combat very well, barring Fate's scythe form, but that's mostly because despite the 'awesome' factor, scythes just aren't good melee weapons. (you'll note that the only scythes used in combat more acurately resemble glaives then scythes) Kama's are much better. Signum's blade is also a bit on the short side for a single blade, it's obviously a one-hander, but it's usually a smart choice not to leave the other hand hanging. A shield or second sword would have been prefered here. She compensates by using her scabard in certain situations were one would normally use their second sword, which again invokes the 'awesome' factor more then actual combat.

Speaking of Fate, she can actually be described as melee oriented, but with a fair share of ranged spells. More in the direction of a versatallity expert then a melee expert.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Hayate is artillery - the indirect fire variety at that.

Conceded. I really wish the'd have shown us more of what Hayate is actually capable of.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

Should I bring up the part where the opposition almost got themselves killed? The part where the opposition failed to protect her newfound love and got her back only through the greatest good fortune?

Touché, but also note how useless the 'higher accuracy' guns were when the enemy started closing in during said capture.

Originally Posted by arkhangelsk

It is made very clear in the Sound Stages that that was a primary school. Vivio was of normal intelligence. Erio is IIRC 10. He may be reasonably bright but come on you know he can't raise a hair to the likes of the aces. Remember around 10-11, Hayate created Reinforce II using scraps of ancient, almost data...

I never said they were as good as the Aces, but they are far above the average humans. As for Vivio, like I said, she studied flight manouvers which was before she went to school. What kind of normal six-year-old studies flight manouvers in their spare time?