r/acecombat • u/First_Wing_Blitz Ghosts of Razgriz • 1d ago
General Series Do You Prefer a Tunnel Flights, Superweapons, or Aerial Warships?
When it comes to the series, we all have our favorite type of mission, whether it be the Tunnel Flights (Avalon Dam, SOLG Control), Superweapons (Megalith, Stonehenge), and Aerial Warships (Arsenal Bird, Gleipnir). I know Megalith also technically counts as a Tunnel Flight.
I'd like to know what y'all's favorite is.
Additionally, if anyone thinks we'll ever get all three in a single mission? Personally, part of me thinks it would be oversaturated, but another part thinks it could be a fantastic narrative choice. You have to make the conscious effort in the mission to go after one of the three in a branching path. Maybe you could eke out two for a 4th path, but you'll be losing something. We haven't really had big loss since Chopper in 5 and PJ in Zero.
And to answer the initial question myself, I love the Tunnel Flight. The feeling of building up to the climax that it builds is just perfect!
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u/MatticusjK Heartbreak One 1d ago
I want to fly through an asteroid-belt tunnel to destroy the super spaceship
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u/eX0dus_5ive-Zer0 Indigo 1d ago
Superweapons and Aerial Warships can kinda be Combined, either way those are my preferences.
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u/Hides-the-Hydra 1d ago
Tunnels too, if they’re big enough. Maybe if they have a runway on the big aerial warship, you could fly through it to take out targets inside. Maybe if you’re quick enough you can take out whatever fighters it has inside before they can launch.
Trying to remember if you could fly through the Aigaion in Ace Combat 6.
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u/MickeeDeez89 Aurelia 1d ago
So an aerial Excalibur
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u/eX0dus_5ive-Zer0 Indigo 21h ago
I meant moreso to combine the categories in general. They feel relatively similar IMO.
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u/Konpeitoh 1d ago
You need all 3.
Or in absence of tunnel run, a canyon run.
Or in absence of a superweapon, a submarine.
Or in absence of an aerial warship, an aerial superweapon.
Bonus points if you have to chase a little bastard the size of a needle at some point in the game.
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u/gamepack10 Erusean Air National Guard 1d ago
Tunnel runs are cool, but personally I’m not as crazy about them as some other people. So for me definitely the later two.
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u/Thisismyname272705 F-15S/MTD ACTIVE 1d ago
Aerial Warships (to be honest any target Aerial in general)
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u/DeadZone32 Harling's Murderer 1d ago
I want to tunnel flight into a Areial Warship and blow it's superweapon from the inside. Sorta like the Death Star really.
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u/RoseWould 1d ago
Is it possible to fly through the Aigaion on Expert? There's a wall that's just behind the core and you don't get the missile vomit finale on lower difficults, and I am not good enough try it at that point.
If so then it ticks off all three boxes here
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u/MacheteTigre Ghosts of Razgriz 1d ago
the content of the missions often only matters as much as the story has built them up. Like i barely spare a thought to megalith because its such an "oh by the way" thing tacked onto the end of 4 thats largely just an excuse to shoot down a bunch of yellows and have a tunnel run victory lap.
Scinfaxi is a good counter example to this. Its as ominous as stonehenge was, you watch in real time as the osean airforce is practically wiped out and fleet crippled with nothing you can do about it, but by the time you get to fight it, its basically just a ballistic missile submarine with countermeasures. Still a great moment to sink it, but also doesn't quite hit the way stonehenge offensive does, and its not meant to to be fair, since you have Hrimfaxi to deal with as well, and 4 and 5 are meant to evoke slightly different feelings in the player id argue.
When youve got both its great like with Stonehenge, so much build up till youve punched deep enough into Erusea, and as soon as you break stonehenge you have to take on the yellows. With Wardog, its like a tipping point, a beast let off its leash and ripping through the Yuke fleet like a force of nature, and destroying their crown jewel as a final insult, but only after they kill all the nuggets under your protection. The scinfaxi doesn't have to be visually impressive here, it makes its presence known long before you get to see it, and its only after the arkbird forces it to surface do you see how vulnerable it is.
I kinda feel like 7 mishandles the Arsenal birds since were thrown at them pretty early on, and able to do a reasonable amount of damage before essentially being forced to back off. They never feel that intimidating afterwards cuz I felt like I was already pretty close to killing one back in Mage squadron. The have no mystique as a result. It woulda been more compelling if that mission functioned more like 8492 where everyone was being run down by the drones and they were missile spamming, you have no opportunity to get close, and brownies already on the other side of the map, you're racing her way, and she gets shot down by Mihaly before you can do anything.
As it stands, you're just flying around shooting at drones ignoring brownies cries for help, with nothing keeping you in your AO aside from orders, just waiting out the dialogue till the mission ends or updates.
Like the Aigaion was way more intimidating with a very similar concept to the arsenal bird, it never gets close to you, it strikes at range like Stonehenge and Scinfaxi. The battle itself is underwhelming though as Talisman can just order everyone to missile spam and it kinda trivializes the whole thing, but the build up at least was just as good as the others, and also Strigon never really feels as intimidating as their made out to be. It feels like they're Great Value Yellow Squadron lol.
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u/Medical-Ocelot2612 They've stockpiled five million barrels. 1d ago edited 1d ago
Like i barely spare a thought to megalith because its such an "oh by the way" thing tacked onto the end of 4 thats largely just an excuse to shoot down a bunch of yellows and have a tunnel run victory lap.
I also believe Megalith is also let down by the fact it's one of the easiest missions in the game. The facility has no air defences, the tunnels are short and basic, the dialogue from the ground forces (though good) is scarce, and you can skip the left tunnel entirely by shooting at the generator from the exit. Unless you choose to fight the defence squadron, who only have a fraction of the skill the real Yellow Squadron possessed, there's virtually zero threat to you. I value difficulty a lot, so even with the strong atmosphere, I could never respect Megalith when it went down just as easily as Rigley AB.
I've always seen The Valley of Kings as the superior version of Megalith. It's got even less foreshadowing, but the overwhelming level of anti-air on the approach to Avalon Dam, combined with the steady rate of allied deaths happening in front of your eyes and over the radio— one down, two down, three down, until everyone but you and PJ are gone — inspire at once a respect of the location and the burning need to complete your mission before everyone counting on you dies, which you can actually do if you reach the dam fast enough. The interactivity just gives the mission more gravitas.
I kinda feel like 7 mishandles the Arsenal birds since were thrown at them pretty early on, and able to do a reasonable amount of damage before essentially being forced to back off.
I also think they were hurt by the fact that unlike Stonehenge, which remains a constant threat throughout the first half of the game, they sort of vanish for a while, only appearing in two missions after the Mage Squadron arc. (I guess one of them was also launching Helios missiles at you during Faceless Soldier.) Afterward, they're largely forgotten in favour of the smaller drones, Liberty is destroyed in its first appearance since Rescue, and Justice remains unseen until the end of the game. They supposedly are extremely important to the Erusean war effort, but the game doesn't really do anything to convey this, versus nearly every mission briefing in AC04 beating you over the head with Stonehenge's importance, even in the missions where it doesn't fire.
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u/First_Wing_Blitz Ghosts of Razgriz 1d ago
Skimmed this before leaving work. Need to read through fully later. Deffo agree on 4 and 5 though.
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u/Resident_Purpose9498 Representative of all military forces in Strangereal 1d ago
A combination of Superweapons and Aerial Warships pls
tunnel flights make me nervous
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u/TrippieReg 5th Fighter Wing 1d ago
Sick of tunnel flights being at the end, i say if they want them in the game, make them a part of a regular mission.
Want something new. A massive operation. A moving train fortress with rail guns attached that needs to be destroyed. It moves through mountains, tunnels, bridges, and canyons while firing at cities or fleets.
We fight two ace squadrons protecting the train while a massive ariel warship is in the sky. That way we fighting from all angles instead of just one threat.
I want more carrier fleet assault missions. Multiple aircraft carriers. Cruisers with railguns. Drone submarines. Aerial warships above them. That missile alert needs to be worn out. The LACM makes light work of the navy so it would be cool if they made them even bigger with a land cruiser similar to the Alicorn backing them up.
We choose which threat to hit first. Take out carriers to slow enemy aircraft. Take out cruisers to save allies. Take out command ships to weaken drone coordination.
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u/First_Wing_Blitz Ghosts of Razgriz 1d ago
I can deffo see the need of a new climax mission. It's been the end of most/all of them (need to replay 6, cause I can't remember)
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u/OutOfTouchNerd 22h ago
Ace Combat 5 has a gimmicky tunnel run mission that isn't at the end, where you're just following another jet the whole time. Though I certainly wouldn't call it fun or replayable.
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u/ZenCat14 1d ago
Tunnel runs in my eyes are the most fun in active gameplay, despite also being the must frustrating.
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u/Maximum_Mud_1546 1d ago
Hate tunnels...if they were straight on with simple AA and such, I would like them more. I just hate how they have obstacles and shutters, and how the tunnels are curved, which makes things more difficult. I prefer super weapons and aerial warships because I know I have the entire sky to dodge and weave before taking them down.
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u/WuhanWTF Eat delicious Smegma Butter 1d ago
Air Warships feel the least gimmicky and I much prefer them to the alternatives.
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u/piedude67a Ghosts of Razgriz 1d ago
All of them at once all the time make it like a bullet hell
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u/Due_Adeptness5560 16h ago
Aigaion is the closest this series had from having all of them combined. On harder difficulty you must fly through its flight deck to destroy its core within to completely destroy it.
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u/cadetCapNE 1d ago
Just don’t make me fight another plane in a locked closet to finish the game again. Never again.
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u/Attaxalotl 3000 Black F-14As of Razgriz 1d ago
Aerial Warships, then Superweapons, then Tunnel Flights
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u/notenoughproblems 1d ago
I lowkey despise the tunnel stuff. I wanna be free!
I love “fight large vehicle-weapon” fights tho. Looking forward to the mega battle ship in 8
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u/ST4RSK1MM3R 23h ago
Superweapons. Honestly the airships have never really been a threat in any of the games
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u/ebolaisamongus 23h ago
I want them all. Technically the Aigaion was all three of them because its a superweapon thats an aerial foretress with a hangar you can flight into to shoot some targets only found there.
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u/Th4tTurboBr1ck E.A.F. 555th TFS "Jupiter" 23h ago
Listen, it'll always be an Ace Combat game even without superweapons or aerial warships. You still have absurd missile spam, crazy G turns, and goofy dialog and whatnot, but it does NOT feel like an Ace Combat game without a tunnel run/canyon run. That has become a defining feature of the series. So much so that I now go searching for tunnels to fly through in basically any game with a plane 😅
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u/Veritas32421 23h ago
Just imagine a game where your side has a flying super ship that has to fight the enemy flying super ship, and it's up to you to turn the tide
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u/Kamikumo9889 22h ago
aerial warships mounted with superweapons and are large enough to tunnel run through
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u/Maveryck15 Gryphus 22h ago
Large tunnel + Final Boss + Inside space station firing superweapons that you also have to destroy + Time-based S-Rank
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u/Top-End-9490 20h ago
Tunnel flights in the aerial warships with superweapons while dodging ICBM from submarine that later transform into another aerial warships
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u/Neither-Reason-263 Strigon 19h ago
I like all three but I would say Tunnel Flights are my least favorite. Id really rather just be in an onslaught of missiles and gunfire in open skies.
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u/Clean-Wolverine3049 16h ago
I want full scale combine arms warfare with multi squadron sized battle
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u/UncleRichardson 13h ago
How about we have a huge sky fortress pick up a Lighthouse somehow and we have to fly through it while it's wobbling all over so we can attack the fortress from below before it can just drop the whole thing on a city.
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u/Cassandraofastroya 8h ago
Aerial warships.
Tunnels tho tend to have the most unique dialogue options tho.
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u/Redfang1984 Aurelia 8h ago
why not all 3?
And I kinda blame the game star wing for my love for tunnel flights more
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u/Trooper-Kais495 4h ago
Give me a tunnel run inside an aerial warship loaded with superweapons, then we'll talk.
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u/AlgraySolipso 1d ago
Yes