Battle Simulation Exercise

"Battle Simulation Exercise" and "Battle Simulation" are the same phrase in Japanese

The Battle Simulation Exercise (シミュレーション) or more commonly known as the Battle Sims (シミュ) is a developed for Phase 1 of the Away Mission Tests.

Gameplay
Squads play against each other 1.v.1 with their units in a series of turns. Each turn is designated by a 150 second Input Phase and a 15 second Action Phase: the former is used for determining both parties' courses of action, while the latter is spent carrying them out. The match ends after six turns. After the match is over, if the difference between the two squads is two or more units, the one with more survivors is the winner. If the difference is two or less, then it is counted as a draw. In subsequent days, this difference is increased by one in regards to the increased units.

Each Squad's operator is assigned to the Radar and can mark enemies regardless of range. However, any combatant can access the radar.

Units
Each Squad is given a set number of Units (ユニット) based off of the combatants' Databook statistics and forms. These Units are divided into 2 types: Standard Units (ユニット) and Back-up Units (ヘイルプ ユニット). Additionally, combatants can control any unit with no limit on how many they can control as demonstrated by Satoshi Mizukami.

On day 1 each team was given 9 units, with 8 of them being standard units (2 for each player), while 1 is a Back-up Unit. Each team can only pick one Back-up Unit from the same pool: Kei Tachikawa, Kōhei Izumi, Isami Tōma, and Sōya Kazama.

On day 2 each team was given 14 units, with 12 being standard units, and 2 being backup. This time, 3 are given for each player instead of 2. The back-up unit pool was also changed to only include Kusakabe Squad combatants and the remainder of Arashiyama Squad (as Ai Kitora is taking the Away Mission test).

Parameters
Like the Databook, each unit has a set of parameters which are:


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Translation Note
A list of all known character parameters can be found here.
 * 1) "Evasion" from the Unit's parameter and "Mobility" from the Databook use two different kanji, thus are different things.

Action Tokens
Each Unit is given a specific amount of Tokens they can use for each action phase. Each action takes up a certain amount of tokens, though the amount used for each action is unknown for most actions. Faster units appear to have more tokens as shown with Katori and Oki, who have 16 and 15 tokens each while Osamu has 13.

List of Token Costs

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Attacking
All triggers have an cone, whose length and width depends on trigger type. Rotation is possible, but not size change. An example of cone difference is a Sniper Trigger's long but narrow cone — difficult for wide defensive coverage, but can block off a whole street. Contrarily, Raygust's is wide but short. A trigger will automatically attack an opponent if it is within the cone as long as there are action tokens. It should also be noted that when two units converge, the statistically stronger one will win.

The effectiveness of shields and ranged weapons depends more on a unit's trion parameters, while melee weapons depend more on a unit's attack parameters.

Dealing with Attacks
There are two ways for a unit to deal with damage: they can either Defend or Evade. The user can use a defensive trigger to block or use Bagworm to evade; but if no trigger's cone overlaps with the opponent's cone, there is no way to block/evade the attack. Defending will cost an unknown amount of tokens, but it is unknown if evading will cost any tokens.

Action Inputs
There are several other types of movements units can do. Not all were shown, but these were the ones listed.


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Translation Note
≠ : is covered by text so might not be full name and/or rest is presumed

Skills
There are two named types of skills. Each Unit has at least one skill, with the most common amount being three. There is a maximum of four skills.

Combo Skills
Combo aka Combo Skill (スキル) is a type of skill where if the user attacks and an ally has a similar trigger, they will preform a follow-up attack with half to no cost.

Penchants
Penchant aka Aptitude Skill (スキル) is a skill where the user gets an effect relating to their specific trigger.

Strategy
Collaborative teamplays seem to be the most common way to fight, with effective communication proving to be most important. Contrarily, it should be noted that going solo can be advantageous, as demonstrated by Satoshi Mizukami: players would not need to communicate, thus granting more time to think. But this is implied to require a high amount of skill.

As unit quantity steadily increases, strategies involving stronger units are enhanced, whereas weaker units only grow more vulnerable.

Purpose in the Exams
The Battle Simulation is one of three main ways to get points, along with assignment points and A-rank evaluations; however, it is considered the least important out of the three. Points allocated depends on the given day, type of simulation, and match outcome.

Battle Simulation Schedule
There are 10 matches a day starting from 3pm until 7pm, which averages around 20 minutes for each match; each squad gets a break for one round.


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Special Battle Simulation
The Special Battle Simulation Exercise (シミュレーション) AKA Special Battle Sim (シミュ) is a simulated event introduced in Chapter 214 that lasts two days (days 5 and 6); currently nothing else is known.

Special Battle Simulation Schedule
The full schedule is currently unknown.


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