[PS2] Ace Combat Thread (a.k.a. We Do Not Have Air Superiority)

Soon as you get online multiplayer, it'll be big.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Honestly, I'm not sure if even all the "WTF wheres teh mushroom cloud in mission 12?!" posts on ACskies are worth starting up a new forum. It'd just be folks from here, really, and with pretty much all of the high-score potential drained from ACZ there wouldn't be much point in a scoreboard beyond timekeeping to see who's had the luckiest run through Mayhem.

As it stands, I'm almost finished with the game after about a week of play. All I need now is Expert Marksman, the S-rank medals for Normal, Hard and Expert, and the money I'll earn getting those to buy special weapons.

Double Post:
Lest I forget, I might as well clip the one truly useful piece of ACZ information currently on ACskies: someone named Inquisitor picked up a list of Assault Records aces off a Japanese site and helpfully translated how to see them, omitting those aces who appear in standard gameplay.

Spoiler:

No. Mis Call Plane How-to
003 01- Regen F-117A - Ace Diff
004 01- Wal XB-70 - When you only have two red targets left, he'll appear along with 3 F-5Es

009 02- Harpune F-15E - Ace Diff

026 04B Bachstelze F/A-18C - Destroy all ground targets
027 04B Gabel1 F-5E - Destroy all ships
028 04B Gabel2 F-5E - Destroy all ships
029 04B Moewe F-35C - Ace Diff, get SP Color after shotdown.
030 04A Elch F-15C - Destroy all jammers.
031 04A Schakal1 Mirage2000D - Hard diff+. Don't destroy any of the jammers. After destroying most targets, they appear in the last wave of red target planes, kill the aces asap or your allies may shootdown the red targets and clear the mission before you get them.
032 04A Schakal 2 Mirage2000D - Read above.
033 04A Hundert X-29A - Ace Diff, get the SP color.
034 04C Wetterhahn F-1A - Appears on the north after shooting down 5 targets.
036 04C Postler1 Su-27 - Ace Diff, get SP Color.
037 04C Postler 2 Su-27 - Same as above.

038 05- Fischer A-10A - Destroy all ground targets, get SP Color.
039 05- Trinker F-16C - Expert Diff+. Appears northeast after you shootdown at least one air target.
043 05- Schwan MiG-31 - Ace Diff. Appears south with the last wave of planes.

049 06- Wuerger F-15S/MTD - Ace Diff.

050 07M Spuk F-117A - Get 5000 Points within 7 minutes from starting the mission. Destroy all targets in the Northeast sector and he'll appear nearby.
051 07S Vampir1 F-20A - Get 5000 Points within 7 minutes from starting the mission. Destroy all targets in the Northeast sector and he'll appear nearby in the northern region.
052 07S Vampir2 F-20A - Read above.
053 07K Iris MiG-29A - Get 5000 Points within 7 minutes from starting the mission. Destroy all targets including AV-8Bs in the northwest sector and he'll appear nearby.
054 07- Mumie Su-32 - Ace Diff. Destroy all targets including AH-64s in the Southwest sector and he'll appear in the western region. Get the SU-32 SP Color.

057 08A Strom F-2A - Ace Diff. Get Sp Color.
059 08B Falter F-20A - Complete primary objectives within 5 minutes. Get SP Color.
060 08B Quelle JAS-39C - Ace Diff.
063 08C Woge Typhoon - Ace Diff.

064-067 M09M/S/K - Appear under normal diff+ after you destroy the jammers.
068 09- Bergnebel EA-6B - Ace Diff. Appears after you destroy all generators. Get SP Color.

077 10M Huckebein MiG-21bis - Pops!, go southeast to get him after Schwarze sq. cutscene. Get SP Color.
083 10M Grabacr Su-47 - Ace Diff. After Schwarze Sq. appears shootdown Nachtigall ASAP.
092 10S Ofnir F-15 S/MTD - Ace Diff.
101 10K Reiher Su-37 - Ace Diff. It's yellow 13 camo scheme!

102-104 M11M/S/K - Appear after all primary targets are destroyed within 4 minutes from start. They appear when you have 17 minutes left on the mission timer.
105 11- Wolkenwand EA-18G - Shootdown at least one air target.
106 11- Sternchen F-5E - Ace Diff.

107-100 M12M/S/K - Appear on Hard Diff+
111 12- Trombe Su-37 - Ace Diff.

112 13M Riese MiG-31 - Get at least 10,000 points and shoot the 5 Mig-31s spread across the area. These 5 migs-31 appear in 3 Mig-21 + 1 Mig-31 squads. After you fulfill the conditions, Riese appears west of the airport.
113 13S Beo F-15E - Destroy most ground targets on the far northeast area.
114 13K Mondlicht - Destroy the targets on the southwest and he'll appear heading south. Get SP color
115 13- Grani YF-23A - Destroy the targets in the central east area, and he'll appear heading west/south.
116 13- Schatten F-117A - Ace Diff. It appears in the far southeast of the map and heading southwest/northwest. You need to go up to 20,000 feet to catch him. Get SP Color.

117 14A Weihe TNO-GR.4 - Appears after you neutralize the destroyers west by shooting their sams and aaguns. Get SP Color.
118 14A Messer1 JAS-39C - Hard Diff+. Destroy all ground targets.
119 14A Messer2 JAS-39C - Same as above.
120 14A Kranich Rafale M - Ace Diff.
122 14B Albatros F-15E - Hard Diff+. Destroy all ground targets. Get SP Color.
123 14B Adler F/A-22A - Ace Diff.
124 14C Eisente MiG-21bis - Hard Diff+. Not really clear how it pops but, before 18:45 on the timer you have to shot down EA-6Bx1, F-14Dx2 and F-15Cx2, then he'll appear at 18:45. Another method is shooting down EA-6Bx1, E-767x, Mig-31x3 and F-14Dx1.
125 14C Feinheit Su-32 - Hard Diff+
126 14C Lilie YF-23A - Ace Diff

129-134 M15M/S/K - Kill the two Su-37 that appears after you shotdown Espada Sq.
135 15- Vulkan B-2A - Appears southeast of the Hresvelgr after you shotdown Espada Sq. May not appear on radar unless you fly close to him.
136 15- Felsen B-2A - Appears southwest of the Hresvelgr after you shotdown Espada Sq. May not appear on radar unless you fly close to her.

161 17- Turm F-35C - Appears on the far north and heading south on the second part of the mission.
162 17- Bauer X-29A - Appears inside the tunnel after you destroy 1 out of 3 V2 CTRL targets.
163 17- Ritter F/A-22A - Shootdown at least 3 planes on your way to the dam. He'll appear in the second part of the mission to the west side.
167 17- Springer EA-18G Ace Diff. Appears after the second bridge on your way to the dam, you only have a few secs to target and shoot him down, before he flies away.

How ya doing, buddy?

tajisdurmin: While I'm sure there are people who would appreciate that list of aces, not everyone might, so using spoiler tags would be a good idea.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wow, that list is helpful. Thanks!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by seanne

tajisdurmin: While I'm sure there are people who would appreciate that list of aces, not everyone might, so using spoiler tags would be a good idea.

Apologies, seanne. The original list wasn't posted under any kind of spoiler tag, because it doesn't really spoil much of anything plot-wise (OMFG, the end of an Ace Combat game involves a tunnel!). If you're working on finding all the aces blind, though, that's different...I think I got down to three unassisted when that list got posted. Anyhow, I'd edit the list to include a spoiler tag if I knew how to place one, since I looked at the advanced-edit interface and didn't see it in the tool icons.

I was speaking idiomatically.

you just put [ spoil ] before the text and [ /spoil ] after the text. Remove the spaces.

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Just so you guys know, GELB-1 and I are starting a Squadron Week at the forums here if any of you are interested.

FELIPE NO

Ugh. I swing by ACskies to see if anything new has gone up: there's now a five-post discussion of where to find Assault Records aces in the same frickin' thread that holds the list I copied. More interesting is an attempt to get still images from the Axe & Hammer briefing-startup sequence, so people can read the EULA that's momentarily visible. Last post on said thread, in its entirety: "Hmm, maby its the company u work for?"

It's days like these that make me dread the concept of playing Ace Combat online.

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Those kids at ACskies, care more about the airplane and how 'patriotic' the games can be, rather than the real story of the game, that's why they bitch about how pacifistic AC 5 is. They don't seem to get that Osea's Air Force was more of a defensive Air Force than a Offensive.

I don't get why this game attracts all these right-wingers.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Karasu

I don't get why this game attracts all these right-wingers.

The nukes, obviously.

They just love to blow shit up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Give this to them:
http://acecombatzeroaxeandhammer.ytmnd.com/

The text is just a bunch of b/s legal mumbo jumbo, presumable to protect Axe and Hammer from liability if Cipher is killed. So I guess A&H is the PCM that Cipher is contracted to. A&H must be either based in or closely aligned with Ustio. Was Pixie also a mercinary working for A&H, or was he an Ustio Airforce pilot like PJ?

And that list of Aces was incomplete. It helps a bit, but I'm still missing Aces not listed.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Might be a reference to Yuktobania actually. I mean, they did play a part in the war right? Maybe they supplied hardware/software like this?

Yuktobania is pretty much Russia. Axe & Hammer, Hammer & Sickle?

Who knows.

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Originally Posted by Mobius One

Give this to them:
http://acecombatzeroaxeandhammer.ytmnd.com/

The text is just a bunch of b/s legal mumbo jumbo, presumable to protect Axe and Hammer from liability if Cipher is killed. So I guess A&H is the PCM that Cipher is contracted to. A&H must be either based in or closely aligned with Ustio. Was Pixie also a mercinary working for A&H, or was he an Ustio Airforce pilot like PJ?

You sure about that? My assumption was that Axe & Hammer (Precision Instrument Industry, per the screen) was merely responsible for the UI that generates the briefing images, because the Osean briefing computers in AC5 flash a North Osea Grunder Industries logo the same way during startup. Mercenaries might be precision instruments, yes, but...one company purporting to be an industry?

Quote:

And that list of Aces was incomplete. It helps a bit, but I'm still missing Aces not listed.

It's not a complete list, merely the ones Inquisitor considered hard to find. If you've still got holes, try clearing every Free Mission available on Ace; that should bring up the difficulty-based loners and get you everybody who shows up on the three separate ace paths. I had gaping eight-ship holes in my Assault Record until I did that and killed squads like Schwarze, Gault and Wizard. There's also the off chance that allied craft winged an ace in a mission and he got away before you could kill him? That happened to me at least once in Mayhem.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by tajisdurmin

You sure about that? My assumption was that Axe & Hammer (Precision Instrument Industry, per the screen) was merely responsible for the UI that generates the briefing images, because the Osean briefing computers in AC5 flash a North Osea Grunder Industries logo the same way during startup. Mercenaries might be precision instruments, yes, but...one company purporting to be an industry?

Well you may be right also. Axe & Hammer just sounds like a cool name for a PMC. Besides, does Precision Instrument Industry really sound like a company that just makes UI's for briefings? Maybe it's both, maybe it's a PMC that also has its own briefing UI. It's not really pertinent to the story, but it would've been nice for a little more detail.


I just found a nice Namco easter egg: You know that little bar underneath the aircraft name while selecting an aircraft in the hanger? The one that shows how much you use the aircraft (I think that's what it's for)? Well if you use one aircraft a bunch, eventually the symbols on the bar turn into little Pacmans and ghosts! Kinda cool. It happened for the Morgan for me, don't know if it works on other aircraft or not.

How ya doing, buddy?

Mobius 1, its on my SU-37

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Skwerl

Mobius 1, its on my SU-37

Ah, the Su-37. I don't know what they were thinking when they made 16 XLAAs and eight FAEBs available options on the same machine, but I saved up for one blind on my first game and didn't buy another aircraft until I was playing on Expert. It ties with the S-37/Su-47 in AC04 as the most broken aircraft to cross a return line in, although the title doesn't mean much in ACZ.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

good news gentlemen, project aces.net just scored an interview with ace combat zero's voice actor. feel free to suggest questions to ask. That is all, dismissed.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

MOBIUS doesn't appear in the gallery of downed aces. I was hoping for a bio of some sort.

That fight was intense. He took 4 burst missiles, that's almost as much as Pixie. I had to cross the return line once just to escape him (I always fight next to the return line on Gaunlet). One of these days I'm going to down him in his own F-22. Dear god that will be an undertaking!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I actually think that the F-15S/MTD is the best normal plane...it has XLAAs and FAEBs, and it seems to be just a tiny bit more manuverable than the Su-37 at low speeds. Plus, it has the blue+white Sorcerer paint scheme. <3

For what it's worth, I couldn't clear The Gauntlet on Ace using the Su-37 in 20 tries, but I beat it in under 6:00 (fighting ROT, SCHWARZE, and MOBIUS, no less) using the F-15S/MTD...20 seconds faster than my best time with the ADFX-01.

Oh, and I noticed that my hangar screen just gained a bunch of GALM banners and Ustio flags. I'm not quite sure what I did to unlock them...they do look nicer than the bare metal walls, though. ^^

Originally Posted by Mobius One

MOBIUS doesn't appear in the gallery of downed aces. I was hoping for a bio of some sort.

That fight was intense. He took 4 burst missiles, that's almost as much as Pixie. I had to cross the return line once just to escape him (I always fight next to the return line on Gaunlet). One of these days I'm going to down him in his own F-22. Dear god that will be an undertaking!

So, how do the burst missiles work against the regular ace squadrons? I don't think that I've ever tried using them on Ace. At the very least, I'm guessing that they'd make Schwarze pretty easy, since the MiGs seem to clump together.

Oh, and I managed to shoot down MOBIUS in the Mobius One paint F/A-22. It was a bit of a pain, probably because I don't use the Raptor that much, but he's not hard. He's amazingly good, but there's only one of him versus 8 very good planes in GAULT, WIZARD, or SORCERER.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah guys, we need some good questions for the interview.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Skwerl

good news gentlemen, project aces.net just scored an interview with ace combat zero's voice actor. feel free to suggest questions to ask. That is all, dismissed.

Well...for starters, exactly whom are we asking questions of? Last I checked, there was more than one voice actor in ACZ; did you mean the voice director?

Things that initially come to mind:

Were there characters cut from the game because their voices were unavailable (i.e., no Heartbreak 1 because no Steve Blum)?

How much time overall (hours/sessions/weeks) does it take to record a main character's dialogue for an Ace Combat game?

What information, if any, do you receive about a character to help cast his or her voice?

What kind of effects work goes into making pilots sound like they're aboard aircraft in-game?

Is there any room for improvisation in the localization process, if a Japanese expression has no immediate English equivalent?

ACZ is the first game in the series to include live-action footage as well as voice work. How much of a factor did the voice actors' appearances become in casting them?

Based on your experience with ACZ's live-action work versus AC5's synthesis of voice work and CG animation, which approach seems most promising for future games in the series?

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I believe it's Pixy's voice actor.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Not to change subjects, but I took someone's advice and did The Gauntlet with the Falken. I gotta admit...it was pretty anti-climactic. The laser shot off Mobius 1 instantly. That didn't feel right. However, when I went to re-arm my laser, he unleashed SO MANY MISSILES. That was crazy, and I thought I would be dead... lol.

I think however, i'll use the Su-37 against all the aces again.

FELIPE NO

It's no fun using the Falken in Gauntlet. I like to have some real dogfights in there. Granted it's much harder, but it feels so much better when you win.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Alright guys, does anyone have a question for Pixy's voice actor? We need a good one.

Jam it back in, in the dark.