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Who is the best Ace Combat protagonist? This poll is closed. |
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| Cipher |
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79 | 32.24% |
| Phoenix |
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9 | 3.67% |
| Mobius 1 |
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84 | 34.29% |
| William Bishop--lol get out |
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24 | 9.80% |
| SHOOT VISARI |
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49 | 20.00% |
| Total: | 245 votes | ||
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Nuramor posted:Did we actually see that battleship during the mission? They called a carrier, but I don't remember a battleship. It's a blink and you'll miss it thing in the video, but the Tanager is actually the first ship I take out. There's a bit of conflicting information about what was edited. Acepedia links to a tweet by Kono which implies that the event happens in-game, while a video that comes up in the related links seems to suggest that it was only this promotional image that was edited to remove the towers of the Comberth skyline from it:  It also highlights the changes to the frame narrative story segments that were highlighted following last week's update, and I will touch on the edits once I get the full post written up for it because I'm lazy.
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Sep 25, 2016 10:30
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Cooked Auto posted:I'll give crow a C for barely trying with the anthem. Yes.
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Sep 25, 2016 11:48
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Fabricated posted:Am I misremembering, or could you tag a yellow the first time they show up? Comona is the first time you can hit a Yellow and the game will actually acknowledge it. But we'll talk about that when we get there.
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Sep 25, 2016 17:40
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Final warning:  THOU SHALT NOT PLANE GIRL, SHIP GIRL, OR TANK GIRL OF ANY SORT IN THIS THREADFurther violation will result in thread lockage 
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Sep 25, 2016 22:51
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War crimes, boss fights, and alarming enthusiasm for napalm drops?  Mother of god, it really is an Ace Combat game!
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Sep 26, 2016 04:35
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Blastinus posted:True that. AC Advance is so much about the acronyms that I don't think that they ever actually spell out what UAD stands for. I'm sure it mentions it in the manual, but from just playing the game, for all I know, we could be a rival corporation called Urban Assessment & Development. It just helps sell the narrative that no matter what universe it's in, General Resource LTD. will be filled to the brim with such massive raging evil cockwhistles that they can provoke literally ANYONE into declaring war on them.
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Sep 26, 2016 21:36
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Deep Strike Mission 7: Operation Blackout – December 16th, 2004 Overview: Mobius 1 is dispatched to cripple a vital piece of Erusean-occupied infrastructure: the solar power farms in the Faith Park region. Disrupting power to vital Erusean facilities will allow ISAF to operate more freely elsewhere on the mainland while the Eruseans scramble to restore the plant to operational status. However, this mission puts the ISAF air strike team within Stonehenge’s firing range for the first time. Meanwhile, in San Salvacion, the Storyteller Boy makes a startling discovery about the Barkeep’s Daughter and her family…  Guest Commentator: The fantastic frozentreasure joins me for this video. FT has generously volunteered to LP the export edition of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, specifically the PAL version, which is virtually identical to the NTSC-UC version, as a contrast to Lunethex’s LP of the Project Nemo fan translation of the original Japanese version of Electrosphere. I show up several times across his LP as a guest commentator, so this is him completing the circle, if you will.   FAITH PARK Briefly glimpsed in both Ace Combat 2 and Assault Horizon Legacy, the Faith Park region in north eastern Usea is a vast arid stretch of land dotted by many canyons, buttes, mesas, and mountains lying between Expo City and Port Edwards. The region was once home to a Minuteman ballistic missile launch facility located deep in the Faith Park Gorge, however its capture by the Usean Rebel Forces during the Continental War of 98 and its destruction at the hands of Scarface Squadron during Operation Eldorado led to the FCU shuttering the facility following the end of the war. Faith Park also lies close to the Tango Line, the outermost extreme of Stonehenge’s firing range. As such, the area is dotted with impact craters from the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid impact due to Stonehenge’s inability to destroy the smaller asteroid fragments effectively at extreme distance. One of the larger impact craters in the region, Mackenzie Crater, was repurposed by a utilities subsidiary of the rapidly growing Usean General Resource LTD. corporation, to serve as the parabolic base for a brand new solar power facility.  SAN SALVACION RESISTANCE This chapter introduces us to the San Sanvacion Resistance. Or rather, unveils them, as we’ve already “met” a couple of its members before. The Skykid Bar owner, his employees, and his daughter, are all active Resistance members. Together, they serve as the covert intelligence front for the SSR, gathering loose intel from the Erusean soldiers and pilots who frequent Skykid. The Barkeep’s previously traitorous seeming friendliness and catering to the Eruseans has been revealed to be a calculated act to get them to loosen their inhibitions and share military secrets out in the open amongst a civilian cohort whom they think are both friends, and could not possibly know anything about what they’re discussing. All information gathered by the Skykid SSR cell is then disseminated throughout the Resistance cells across San Salvacion as well as forwarded onto ISAF GHQ on North Point via a hijacked Erusean ethernet line. This revelation throws the Storyteller Boy even further into conflict with himself and his surroundings. With his Uncle vanished by the Erusean Secret Police for making anti-Erusea statements, the boy is now functionally on his own in the world, and the two camps who have taken him in and given him a home among their ranks; Yellow Squadron and the Resistance; are actively at war with one another. The boy finds himself torn between his burgeoning friendship with Yellow 13 and Yellow 4, and his loyalty to his country and countrymen. He’s thrust into an oddly strategic position suddenly. He could end the Resistance in a sentence by revealing them to Yellow 13, or he could obliterate Yellow Squadron all the same by revealing their secrets to the Resistance. Or he could do neither, and let them fight it out and see who comes out on top. Also of note, this interlude segment which reveals the Resistance is also one of the story segments that got censored for the European and North American releases of the game. In the image above, the Barkeep’s Daughter is mostly obscured by shadows, but can be clearly seen to be holding something. In the Japanese version, she is holding a shotgun at the ready and acting as the door guard. Again, just like the instance of the Storyteller Boy acquiring a knife and gun earlier in the game, the shotgun is edited out to avoid any depictions of minors wielding deadly weaponry. The shotgun is also edited out of another frame in the vignette as well where the frame is redrawn sans gun. So there you go, it’s taken us three and a half games to get here, but you can now cross Child Soldiers off your big giant list of “What War Crimes Will Ace Combat Explore Next?”  
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Seven is De Vico. Named for Father Francesco de Vico, born May 19th, 1805. Italian astronomer and Jesuit priest, in 1835 becoming the assistant superintendent and then in 1839 the director of the Vatican Observatory. His career was cut short by the Italian revolutions of 1848, but in that time he discovered a number of comets; alongside the American Maria Mitchell, who independently discovered the comet C/1847 T1 two days before de Vico, he was awarded a gold medal from the Danish King Frederick VI for being one of the first two people to discover a comet by way of telescope rather than by the unaided eye in 1847. He toured Paris, London, and the United States in his search for a new home after leaving Italy, planning to settle in America and once again touring Europe to recruit colleagues to come with him; he was unfortunately worn out from the constant traveling and died on November 15th, 1848, at 43 years old.   Tracks featured in Mission 7: DISC 1  Concept art of the Mackenzie Crater Solar Power Plant and Faith Park George    ACES AT WAR page: 
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Nov 7, 2021 |
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Oct 1, 2016 21:09
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Da_Higg posted:So, it failed to reliably target the smaller asteroid fragments but Stonehenge can hit fighter planes with little effort? Compared to asteroids zooming in at reentry speed (in excess of Mach 25), fighter planes flying at top speed are hilariously slow targets. Plus, as you'll notice in the video in the "failed" run, its not actually a projectile from Stonehenge that kills me, its the massive shockwave it produced as the shell flies past literally ripping the plane apart 
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Oct 1, 2016 22:02
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I suppose I should point out, in deference to the game, that there are only three targets you need to destroy in this mission to complete it: the three control stations. Everything else is an optional target... unless you want to get the S rank for this mission, in which case 
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Oct 1, 2016 23:43
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Shattered Skies Mission 8: Operation Countdown – December 31st, 2004 Overview: ISAF plans to launch a new reconnaissance satellite from Riass Space Centre in the Comona Islands on New Year’s Eve. Mobius 1 and the ISAF air strike team engage in the largest aerial battle since the end of the Belkan War as they provide top cover for the rocket launch and guard it against an Erusean air assault spearheaded by Yellow Squadron. The following day, back in San Salvacion, Yellow 13 and Yellow 4 review the combat results of Comona mission, with keen interest in the standout enemy pilot of the engagement: Mobius 1.  Guest Commentator: We leap from one Electrosphere LPer to the other as Lunethex joins me for this mission. In addition to guesting on frozentreasue's run through Electrosphere, he's also in the midst of LPing the both the final game in the Colony Wars trilogy, Colony Wars: Red Sun, and is doing an LP of both Battlezone 98 Redux and its expansion, The Red Odyssey, along with the old Syphon Filter LP crew: Coolguye, TheLastRoboKy, and Jade Star.  RIASS SPACE CENTER We return yet again to the future home of Once one of the most active spaceports on the planet, Ulysses Day and the subsequent Shattered Skies crisis saw a moratorium on all launch activity enacted at Riass Space Center by both the local Comonan government and the FCU parliament. Furthermore, Erusea’s declaration of war on the FCU and the Independent States of Usea created significant internal upheaval at Riass, as the Erusean Air and Space Administration (EASA) and all its personnel and equipment were forcibly removed from Comonan territory by the FCU and taken into custody and held as prisoners of war. Since Ulysses Day, Riass Space Center has been on the frontlines of the continuing spaceguard efforts to protect the Earth from the lingering threat of Ulysses 1994XF04. It currently forms a pivotal link in a chain of national space agencies around the globe responsible for detecting and tracking the countless asteroid fragments left behind by Ulysses that have settled into orbit around the planet and still pose a risk to satellite traffic, the International Space Station, the proposed International Space Elevator construction site, as well as the Earth itself. The New Year’s Eve launch of the ISAF recon satellite marks the first space launch undertaken since Ulysses Day, and also highlights just how desperate the ISAF is for actionable intelligence over the Usean mainland, as even in orbit the satellite will be incredibly vulnerable to both stray asteroids, rouge space debris, and to being shot down by Stonehenge, should it pass within the STN’s firing radius.  NARRATIVE CONVERGENCE The interlude for this chapter highlights, among other things, the accelerating intertwining of the narratives of Mobius 1 and Yellow 13. The New Year’s Eve furball over Riass is the second time they’ve met in combat so far, and 13’s review of the mission the following day is the first time he acknowledges Mobius 1 as a potential rival, albeit obliquely. This is also, for the record, the Storyteller Boy’s first exposure to Mobius 1, through Yellow 13’s second-hand account of the Comona engagement. The initially distant plot threads the game began with are slowly beginning to weave together. Yellow 13 and the Storyteller Boy are now aware of Mobius 1, and we as the audience are aware of Yellow 13 and the Storyteller Boy, and meanwhile Mobius 1 the character has been aware of Yellow 13 since Lifeline, and the bond between all three of them is going to grow ever tighter as the game progresses. We also see more conflicted loyalties begin to play out in this interlude. The Storyteller Boy reveals that the Barkeep’s Daughter—an active member of the San Salvacion Resistance—has a teenage crush on Yellow 13, despite the fact that he remains her hated enemy. Just like the Storyteller Boy, she has found herself disarmed by his personable charms and the fact that he just so happens to be a decent and upstanding human being in general. The Storyteller Boy’s conflicted loyalties are borne out further as well in this interlude. You can hear the trepidation in his voice as he relays Barkeep’s Daughter’s hopeful nugget of intel, “the Allies are coming to our town.” The ISAF counter attack on the Eruseans is imminent. It won’t be long now until they make landfall on the mainland. To run out the Eruseans, and liberate San Salvacion, and kill his newfound friend and role model Yellow 13. And Mobius 1 is coming with them.  SHATTERED SKIES This mission provides our title drop for Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies. Or rather, our first title drop. The term will crop up at least once more in-game, and I’ll be sure to point it out when it does. The Golden Trilogy games were noted for their title drop missions. We saw “Zero” as the name of the hidden 18th mission of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, and there will be a mission coming up in Ace Comabt 5 subtitled “The Unsung War,” and the opening mission of Ace Combat X is titled “Skies of Deception,” while “Skies Unknown” is referenced several times in Ace Combat 7's dialog as well, but that’s all spoilers for where we are right now. And no, despite our joking, the mission is not called “Distant Thunder” in the European version (where the game is known as Ace Combat: Distant Thunder). That said, Distant Thunder does indeed get its own title drop in the opening cutscene of the game. When the Storyteller Boy describes the aerial battle between ISAF and Yellow Squadron above his house, he describes the roar of the plane engines as “A sound like distant thunder.” 
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Eight is Vaisala. Named for Yrjö Väisälä, born September 6th, 1891. Finnish astronomer and physicist, primarily known for his work in optics. Nevertheless, he discovered 3 comets and 128 asteroids/minor planets, which he usually named after personal friends, between 1935 and 1945. In particular, this is the reason the Palomar Mountain Observatory in California does not have an asteroid bearing its name, due to Väisälä naming one of his discoveries after a professor named Palomaa and the rules against asteroid names sharing all but one letter. He was nicknamed the Wizard of Tuorla, which was later used as the name for a book describing his works. Died July 21st, 1971, at 79 years old. Tracks featured in Mission 8: DISC 1 Concept art of Riass Space Center, storyboards and rough drafts for the interlude sequences up till now, and a promotional shot of Mobius 1’s ISAF Navy F/A-18C being transported via a patrol boat through a city canal     
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 01:08 on Nov 30, 2022 |
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Oct 8, 2016 11:01
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I might have to do a write up on the X-32 now since we shamedropped it in the video 
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Oct 8, 2016 11:10
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Well, it's been almost a month, but I finally got around to writing up up the full post for Lifeline, so here it is for posterity's sake for those who are interested, seeing as how this update contains actually a fair deal of interesting behind the scenes tidbits compared to a usual update. I'm also going to be including Kadorhal's write ups for each mission's ace from here on out: Lifeline Mission 5: Operation Early Bird – November 19th, 2004 EXTRA: Tagging A Yellow Overview: ISAF moves to further cripple the Aegir Fleet at Comberth by striking an Erusian-controlled petrochemical plant and off-shore oil drilling complex along the east coast of Usea, south of Expo City in an early dawn raid. As the mission draws to a close, Mobius 1 comes face to face with the dreaded Yellow Squadron and its ace Yellow 13 for the first time. Meanwhile, in San Salvacion, the Storyteller Boy encounters 13’s wingman, Yellow 4. NOTE: Be sure to also catch Blastinus's ill-adviseded trip into Ace Combat: Advance. Guest Commentators: I am joined in this video by Lazyfire, who is our second Ace Combat LP commentator hattrick after Jobbo_Fett in the second video. Lazyfire has recently started work on a LP of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, in addition to wrapping up Call of Duty: World at War recently, meaning that barring Advanced Warfare, he is officially out of Call of Dutys to LP!    AQUILA (YELLOW) SQUADRON Federal Erusian Air Force, 156th Tactical Fighter Wing, 1st Tactical Fighter Squadron Members:
Formally known as Aquila Squadron, the 13 plane division code named Yellow Squadron is, by all accounts, the crown jewel and pride of the Federal Erusian Air Force. No single squadron on Usea since the end of the first Continental War of 1998 boasts a more impressive and deadly combat success ratio than Yellow Squadron. Their name sends ripples of fear through ISAF pilots and soldiers, and their appearance on a battlefield is often enough send enemy planes running without a fight. The squadron was originally founded after the end of the Continental War in memory of the former top ace of the FEAF, Col. Edgar Grint, who had died in combat during the war. The Erusian military government, however, covered up the fact that Grint had defected to the Usean Rebel Forces during the war, instead emphasizing that he died a hero, rather than died fighting for the wrong side. When Erusea launched its surprise attack on the rest of Usea at the start of the Shattered Skies crisis, Yellow Squadron acted as the tip of the spear for its aerial assault on the ISAF member states. Yellow Squadron alone accounts for almost as many confirmed aerial combat kills as Stonehenge. Despite having a thirteen plane pool, the principle core of Yellow Squadron is a five-plane formation headed by Yellow 13. The remainer of the squadron operates on detached service elsewhere around Usea conducting missions of lesser import than those that require the attention of the “proper” Yellow Squadron, primarily acting as a morale booster for Erusian troops and pilots on the battlefield more than anything. In the months since ISAF was driven off the mainland, Yellow Squadron has since been recalled to the Erusian occupied San Salvacion City in western Usea, within close intercept range of Stonehenge in the Delarus desert. There the squadron acts, officially, as the principle guardian and interceptor flight for the Stonehenge Turret Network itself, and as well as a last line of defense for the Erusian homeland itself. A motion re-assign a squadron of newly developed EASA X-02 Wyvern fighters to the Stonehenge guard position in order to free up Yellow Squadron to conduct mobile operations elsewhere on Usea, however, is currently tangled up in the Erusian parliament, which is reluctant to place the fate of a vital weapon such as Stonehenge in the hands of an as yet unproven X-plane super fighter. As such, Yellow Squadron remains on guard near Stongehenge at all times. However, now that ISAF has begun its counterstrike operations against the Erusian military, Yellow Squadron finds itself deployed on increasingly longer range strike and intercept missions to counter its aerial presence on Usea. In terms of behind the scenes trivia, Yellow Squadron was at one point going to be called Gold Squadron. The localization staff of the American version of Shattered Skies believed that Yellow was “too weak” of a name for the principle antagonist squadron of the game, but Kazutoki Kono, the game’s art director, and other members of the 04 production staff insisted the name remain Yellow Squadron, which it ultimately did. Yellow Squadron itself was actually one of the first things created for Shattered Skies, according to the game’s director Sunao Katabuchi. His development of Yellow Squadron inspired the rest of the production team to create Mobius 1 as a character who would be a fitting rival for not just Yellow 13, but the entirety of Yellow Squadron itself. Katabuchi explained in a Reddit AMA, "...when I came up with the idea with the Yellow Squadron the developers came up with [Mobius] 1. It was a good environment where we were able to [inspire] each other." Yellow Squadron as a whole, and Yellow 13 in particular, is one of the most iconic and enduring elements of the entire Ace Combat franchise. The Yellow Squadron colours have appeared in nearly every post-04 Ace Combat in the franchise in one form or another, both on enemy Aces and as playable alternate paint schemes or DLC. And for the record, I try to make use of the Yellow livery as often as I can in multiplayer situations, as glimpsed in the Ace Combat Zero Multiplayer Disaster video and the Good Friday 2016 Extra Life stream of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy with Cirv and ACES, aka “the last thing I did before I went in the hospital and almost died of H1N1.” And I assure you that if we ever do dip into multiplayer for Ace Combat Infinity and Ace Combat 6, I will be flying Yellow colours there as well. And one last thing to point on w/r/t Yellow Squadron’s proper name. “Aquila” is Latin for eagle, and Yellow Squadron’s mission patch depicts both an eagle and the constellation Aquila itself. So you can clearly see what Albireo Squadron from Assault Horizon Legacy was trying its damndest to ape in retrospect, huh?   YELLOW 4 Real Name: Katie W[NAME REDACTED]* Callsign(s): Yellow 4 Age: Mid 20’s Sex: Female Nationality: Erusea Signature Plane: Su-37 Terminator Voice Actor: None The precise identity of the pilot known by the TAC name "Yellow 4" remains a mystery due to the Erusian government sealing, and in some cases destroying, the records of many of its top pilots and soldiers out of tactical paranoia. Partially recovered documents released by ISAF Intelligence reveal a portrait of by all outward accounts a model soldier, the envy of any military around the world. Flight Lieutenant Kathrine W[LAST NAME REDACTED] serves as the second-in-command of the vaunted Aqulia Squadron aka Yellow Squadron, the guardians of the Stonehenge superweapon and the crown jewel of the Federal Erusian Air Force. Unlike her fellow pilots on Yellow Squadron, and just like her commander, Yellow 4 forswore a pilot callsign and instead preferred to be referred to by her TAC number. Along with 13, she was one of the continuous presences on Yellow Squadron's roster. While other pilots would rotate in and out of Aquila, or head up other divisions of the squadron elsewhere on Usea, 4 remained a member of the core five of Aquila. Yellow 4, beyond that, serves as the eyes in the back of 13's head, protecting him from any and all threats both in the air and on the ground. The two have an inseparable relationship. She has been under 13's tutelage or command for nearly all of her career in the FEAF since graduating the air force academy in Farbanti, and rumor has it within Yellow Squadron and its on-ground flight crew that their relationship extends beyond that of commander-second or mentor-student, possibly into the realm of romance. Though with 4's stern professionalism and 13's aloof geniality, it's hard to tell, really. * The name "Katie W" comes from the behind the scenes storyboards showing an ad hoc kill count/squadron roster for Yellow Squadron written on the wall of the Sky Kid bar. While in the actual cutscene, many of the names are just scribbles, in the storyboard, multiple names are clearly legible including one that spells out Katie W--the rest of the name is covered over with a piece of paper tacked to the wall. It's the only female name included on the wall, and the Storyteller Boy notes that Yellow 4 is the only female pilot on Yellow Squadron's roster. Ipso facto...  VIDEO GAME CENSORSHIP Oh god yes let’s touch this topic with anything but a 30 foot pole.  Anyways, Shattered Skies has the distinction of being one of the few, if not the only game in the Ace Combat franchise that got whacked with the censorship stick. 04 had the unfortunate distinction of coming out hot on the heels of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., so certain intestinal elements were altered for its North American release which we will cover in a subsequent update. Beyond that, the frame narrative of 04 was also slightly darker in the Japanese version, which was altered in the North American and European releases to comport to, for lack of a better term, “Western” cultural sensitivities and to prevent the game from getting an M rating from the ESRB or an 18 rating from the PEGI, both of which would have severely limited the game’s mass market appeal. The scenes in question involve the Storyteller Boy’s various confrontations with Yellow 13 across the game. In the original Japanese version of this mission’s interlude, the Storyteller Boy is described as having pickpocketed both a knife and gun from an Erusian soldier, either of which he intends to kill 13 with when he confronts him. The vignette in question was edited and the line and frame depicting and describing the acquisition of the gun is removed. A subsequent frame showing the Storyteller Boy hiding the gun under his jacket as he prepares to face 13 is also redrawn to show his hand clearly visible over his coat and no gun in his possession. The remainder of the scene plays out as normal, but with the added tension of Yellow 4 managing to intimidate what she doesn’t even realize is an armed potential threat. Personally speaking, I think the censored version works a lot better than the original version. While the gun and knife may give the Storyteller Boy a degree of increased agency as a character, as well as show that he’s actually got a level of skill, determination, and perception beyond what you’d normally expect an average 12 year-old boy to possess, it also takes the story in an unneeded direction, in my opinion. The Storyteller Boy works better as a character driven by impotent and futile rage who learns to put that rage aside as he comes to see both Yellow 13 and Yellow 4 as people and eventually as friends. While the element of the knife and gun adds tension to the situation, it weakens the characterization over all. But that’s just my opinion. Additional instances of alternations to the game between versions will be highlighted as they appear, but they’re few and far between. 
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Five is Mrkos. Named for Antonin Mrkos, born January 27th, 1918. Czech astronomer and, again so far, the most active of the game's namesakes, discovering thirteen comets and 274 asteroids between 1977 and 1991. He was also the second Czech citizen to set foot in Antarctica, and the first to reach the southern pole of inaccessibility, as a member of the 3rd Soviet Antarctic Expedition from 1957 to 1959; the second flag to ever be raised in Antarctica, in fact, was a Czech flag (after that of the USSR). He also came along with the 7th Expedition from 1961 to 1963 to study auroras. Died May 29th, 1996, at 78 years old. Tracks featured in Mission 5: DISC 1
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Oct 12, 2016 06:13
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ninjahedgehog posted:Out of curiosity, did you get Jean-Louis and Gene's callsigns from storyboards as well? For what it's worth, their Terminator skins in Infinity show them as Yellow 21 and Yellow 18, respectively. But I'm confident we'll talk about these two a lot more later in the game. No, unfortunately. I just pulled those out of my rear end because I wasn't aware they had actual canon numbers. Their names aren't shown on the Sky Kid wall roster in either the legible draft version or the semi-legible finished one, I just threw them up there because I had three spaces left over after adding in all the names that were visible/discernable. Plus it makes Megalith all the more hilarious if you imagine poor Jean-Louis and Gene to be the basement dwellers of Yellow Squadron 
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Oct 12, 2016 21:41
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I keep feeling like I need to apologize to you every time you post one of these updates, Blast.
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Oct 14, 2016 10:07
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Operation Bunker Shot Mission 9: Operation Bunker Shot – January 24th, 2005 Overview: ISAF’s long-planned invasion of the Usean mainland begins as ground troops make landfall on the Seal’s Bridge peninsula, just outside of Stonehenge’s firing radius. Mobius 1 and the ISAF air strike team are tasked with providing top cover for the landing operation as well as eliminating Erusean artillery positions further inland to clear the way for the ground troops.  Guest Commentator: We welcome yet another newcomer to the commentary stable with this mission. Today I am joined by LEGO Genetics, because he volunteered to be here. He doesn't have any LPs to plug either his own or anyone else's, but if he eventually wants me to plug something here I will edit this line in the update... (If you're still reading this line on the LP Archive, you can infer how this bit went  ) BUNKER SHOT Today’s “Crow Explains Things That Are Out Of His Depth” is all about golf. And my exact experiences with golf involve many rounds of minigolf as a small child, a few sporatic weekends with my father swigging a club in a field or at a driving range, touring a few local golf courses but not actually playing on any of them, a Saturday night binging Kuvo’s Neo Turf Masters LP, and a few disastrous games of Golf With Your Friends with a select core of the Team Frog Nugget Discord crew. Mission 9, meanwhile, takes its name from a particularly tricky golf shot known as, pointedly enough, the bunker shot. In the loosest possible terms, a bunker shot is any golf swing made during a golf game in order to get a golf ball out of a sand trap (formally known as a bunker) after it has landed one from a previous swing. Getting a ball out of a bunker is a particularly difficult task in golf, due the bunker’s sand lining and often its craterous shape. The loose sand often makes getting clean contact with the ball difficult thereby diminishing the power transferred from the club to the ball and other physics type stuff that ultimately translates to you having a hell of a time trying to get the ball out of that hole. They don’t call them “hazards” for nothing, people An “Explosion Bunker Shot,” meanwhile, is described as a bunker shot that sends both the ball and an accompanying spray of sand onto the green.  ISAF COUNTERSTRIKE This mission in particular is one of the major turning points of the war with Erusea. With the Erusean bomber flights and the Aegir Fleet destroyed, ISAF GHQ is safe from any foreseeable attack by the Eruseans, taking the pressure off the Allies to allow them to plan and conduct this invasion attempt. The satellite launched from Comona has already provided valuable intel on Erusean troop positions and movements, as well as allow for clearer and more frequent communication with ISAF and civilian resistance fronts behind the Erusean lines in places like Los Canas, and San Salvacion. However, ISAF still faces an intense fight ahead of it. Though similar landing efforts to Operation Bunker Shot have been made along the entire east coast of Usea, ISAF’s ground forces are still vastly outnumbered and outgunned by the Eruseans, and at present only 20% of the continent can be viably liberated. The rest of Usea still remains largely inaccessible under Stonehenge’s firing umbrella. Any attempt to push inland beyond the Tango Line and hold territory remains doomed to failure until Stonehenge is destroyed.   ACE COMBAT DOES HISTORY Yep, it’s time once again for Ace Combat Does History… Poorly. We return to Ace Combat’s favorite historical haunt, World War II, for this mission, specifically the D-Day landing. This mission is basically “D-Day With Modern Fighter Planes,” in terms of historical replication. Much like the actual Normandy landing operation from World War II (codenamed Operation Neptune), it revolves around a massive allied force making landfall from the sea at a set of strategic beaches in order to establish a foothold on an occupied continent in an effort to repulse the invaders and liberate the continent. This mission as even features the exact same troop carrier landing crafts originally used in World War II itself, as seen in the concept sketches down below. The three codenames of the beaches featured in this mission; Crowne, Halle, and Cranada; are reminiscent of the six codenamed beaches that the Allies landed on in Normandy; Utah, Pointe du Hoc, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. The landing resulted in a decisive Allied victory and the establishment of a foothold on mainland Europe and set the Allies on the path of beating back the Nazis from all occupied areas, eventually leading to their downfall and a complete Allied victory in Europe. So you can probably see where things in 04 are going to be going from here on out…  PRIMING THE FIRES One of the real fun things about playing the older games for this LP project has been going back and finding the DNA of what would eventually become other Ace Combat games hidden in plain sight throughout Shattered Skies. Every modern Ace Combat, for better or worse, has been built on the bones of 04. After playing the later games and then coming back to 04, certain parts of the game really stand out and you can go “oh, so THAT’S where that comes from.” We saw the genesis of the massive air battles in Zero last time in Comona, and the inspiration for certain big giant superweapon boss battle missions is coming up in the near future. But for here and now, this mission primarily played a big role in inspiring a large chunk of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. Fires of Liberation features several missions of this sort where you are playing air support for the soldiers on the ground and hopping between different parts of the battlefield essentially carrying out sub-missions on a pop up basis. And just like in this mission, you get the sense that while you’re playing an important part of the battle in your own right, the real meat of the mission is actually taking place on the ground outside your purview. All the base elements of 6 are there in this mission, they just need a little more mechanical refinement before they assume the form we see them in in Fires of Liberation. 
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Nine is Tuttle. Named for Horace Parnell Tuttle, born March 17th, 1837. American astronomer and Civil War veteran who served the Union, first in the Army, then as a paymaster for the Navy, primarily stationed on the monitor ship USS Catskill. Discovered two comets and fifteen asteroids between 1857 and 1888; in particular, in January 1866 he independently discovered the same 55P comet previously discovered by Tempel the prior December; the comet is now named for both of them. Died August 16th, 1923, at 86 years old. Tracks featured in Mission 9: DISC 1 Concept art of the gameplan for this mission and shots of the three beaches:      
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 06:16 on May 3, 2021 |
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Oct 16, 2016 09:08
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In other news ACES CURE PLANES's Armored Core 2: Another Age LP got started the other week. I'd meant to plug it in the thread but kind of forgot in the midst of working on 04 and helping with the planning for the upcoming TFN Extra Life stream. So go check that out when you have a chance.
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Oct 19, 2016 06:47
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Tango Line Mission 10: Operation Woodpecker – February 28th, 2005 Overview: ISAF pushes deep behind the Erusean Tango Line for the first time in an attempt to retake Istas Fortress south of Los Canas, the former ISAF GHQ site. Rather than put ground troops in harm’s way, Mobius 1 and the ISAF air strike team are sent in to conduct a hit-and-fade assault on Istas—well inside Stonehenge’s firing range.  Guest Commentator: For today’s video I am joined by He is also one of the volunteer translators working on the Project Nemo fan translation of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere. After watching Lunethex’s LP of Electrosphere, he was inspired to join the PN team and is now helping them put further polish on the localization effort.  TANGO LINE Originally referring to the farthest extent Stonehenge’s firing radius, the “Tango Line” has been repurposed by the Eruseans to form the central line of defense for their occupied territory on mainland Usea. With ISAF retaking FCU territory along the east coast, this network of captured ISAF facilities and embedded Erusean troop positions has become the frontline in the Allies push into the heart of Usea. Retaking Istas Fortress will give ISAF a vital springboard towards securing the rest of FCU territory, starting with the city of Los Canas in central Usea, the site of the former (and, hopefully future) ISAF General Headquarters.  LOS CANAS Situated in the geographical middle of Usea, the major metropolis of Los Canas is the continent's central city and main hub of transit, commerce, and military co-ordination, both within Usea and around the globe. Prior to the Erusean forces seizing control over Stonehenge, the city was home to ISAF's original GHQ in conjunction with Istas Fortress in the Choppinburg highlands. With ISAF's air forces routed by Stonehenge, and Istas Fortress coming under heavy shelling prior to the Erusean eastward advance, Los Canas was abandoned by the alliance as it consolidated its forces at North Point outside of the STN's operational radius in preparation for a counterstrike operation. However, many ISAF soldiers and officers chose to remain in the city as it fell behind enemy lines and became a part of the Los Canas Resistance forces, operating in tandem with their sister resistance cells across the continent like the one currently sabotaging the Erusean efforts in San Salvacion. If the Erusean forces at Istas can be neutralized, it will give ISAF a clear route to bypass the Tango Line and liberate the city from the south. Retaking Los Canas and Istas Fortress will solidify ISAF's control over western Usea and return the FCU to a state of semi-normalcy now that the majority of its political territory has returned to Allied control. In Spanish, the grammatically correct "las canas" translates out to "grey hair"  ISTAS FORTRESS Constructed in the early 90s by the former Federation of Central Usea Allied Forces, Istas Fortress is one of the most advanced fortress complexes on the Usean continent. Located in the mountainous rainforests north of the Seal’s Bridge peninsula, Istas Fortress served the primary ISAF military facility on Usea short of its civilian general headquarters located in Los Canas. The fortress saw action during the Continental War of 1998 as well, serving as provisional general headquarters for the FCU Allied Forces in their fight against the URF. The facility currently resides under Erusean occupation following its abandonment by ISAF in the latter’s retreat across Petrol Coast Channel to North Point after losing control of Los Canas. Istas itself is comprised of four primary blocks, each serving a vital portion of ISAF’s army, naval, and air force apparatus. Scion Air Base, built atop a large mesa at the south of the facility, was the home of many pilots in the ISAF air strike team before ISAF was forced off of Usea by the Eruseans. (Remember, Mobius 1 is an ISAF Navy pilot hailing from the U.S.S. Fort Grace. He merely got repurposed into the ISAF Air Force due to manpower issues. ) In the west is the submarine dock and supply base, one of the largest inland naval stations on the continent. Submarines and naval ships are capable of docking at this facility by following the deep river inland from Seal’s Bridge. Spy photographs taken by SR-71 recon planes and the reconnaissance satellite launched from Comona have shown that the few remaining ships from the Aegir Fleet to survive the assault on Comberth Harbour fled to Istas Fortress for repairs after escaping Comberth. To the north, buried under the mountains, lies the actual fortress complex of Istas, its heart and nerve center. These facilities are untouchable by standard fighter assault, being hardened against potential nuclear strikes. They were briefly opened to the public as an impact shelter in preparation for Ulysses Day. Additional bunker facilities have also been built around Istas since its initial construction in the run up to the Ulyssess 1994XF04 impact. The fortress is even capable of withstanding direct shelling from Stonehenge. And lastly, to the east are the VTOL launch hanger facilities. Built in a series of sinkhole caves in the eastern mountains of Istas, these facilities use the natural geography of Istas to their advantage by forming natural bunkers to protect VTOL launch aircraft from any potential attack short of high-risk direct dive-bomb attacks. As a matter of trivia, “Istas” is the Latin accusative feminine plural form of “iste” effectively meaning “that”. When the game says “Istas Fortress” it literally means simply “That Fortress.” I don’t particularly believe this to be an intentional thing on Project Aces’ part, however.  Aircraft featured in Mission 10: Operation Woodpecker  Mi-24 Hind Manufacturer: Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant Role: Gunship/Assault Helicopter/Troop Transport Manufactured: 1969–Present Status: In Service Primary Operators: Russia, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya Quick Facts:
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Ten is Faye. Named for Hervé Auguste Étienne Albans Faye, born October 1st, 1814. French astronomer, best known for the discovery of 4P/Faye, discovered in November 1843, which attracted worldwide attention and in the following year won him the Laland Prize from, and a membership in, the French Academy of Sciences. His work covered the entire field of astronomical investigation, from the determination of comet periods to the study of stellar and planetary movements, and advancing original theories on the nature and form of comets, meteors, the aurora borealis, and the sun. Died July 4th, 1902, at 87 years old. Tracks featured in Mission 10: DISC 1 Concept art and in-game renders of the various parts of Istas Fortress:         
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 06:17 on May 3, 2021 |
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Oct 23, 2016 08:27
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Also, just as a heads up:THERE WILL BE NO ACE COMBAT UPDATE NEXT WEEK!!! We will instead be doing something very special in its place that I hope you all tune in for. More details will be forthcoming by midweek. Watch this space.
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Oct 23, 2016 08:31
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Nanomashoes posted:Tango line is the mission where your mind goes numb from 20 minutes of thrilling air to ground combat and you crash into a mountain and have to do the whole thing over again. And then you crash again. And again. And then you stop your replay of the game. Funnily enough, Tango Line is where the first recording session for this LP ended. This is the start of the second session, which runs from here to Farbanti.
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Oct 23, 2016 10:50
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Yes, Oka Nieba is the best AWACS, but let's save that for Ace Combat 5, shall we?
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Oct 24, 2016 02:53
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So I mentioned that there would be no Ace Combat update this weekend, and that is because (aside from coming down a case of shingles  ), I will be co-hosting several blocks of the Team Frog Nugget Pre-Halloween Extra Life 24 Hour Charity Stream! Join me and fellow Ace Combat co-commentators/co-LPers Faerie Fortune, ChaosArgate, poorlywrittennovel, FPzero, The stream begins at 12:00 PM EST (9:00 AM PST) on Saturday, October 29th, 2016 and will run through to 12:00 PM EST on Sunday, October 30th. You can check out the action on our Hitbox account, including donation information, donation incentives, raffle prizes, and much more.Last time around, we raised $950, and this time we're hoping to go for $1500. See you there!
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Oct 27, 2016 23:51
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Well, I just got a flu shot earlier this week, so hopefully that helps a bit. I've also go a vaccine against pneumonia. The shingles was also caught early enough that I got on a good medication for it that should hopefully clear it up fairly soon so right now it's just a "major annoyance" as opposed to "JESUSCRISTTHISFUCKINGHURTS " agony like it has the potential to be.
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Oct 28, 2016 02:31
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NobleSixFour posted:I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems that all AC6 DLC, as well as the game itself, is gone from the store. Shame. I know that a lot of 360 games are being quietly discontinued from Live support. So I guess that means that the multiplayer safari is out the window for 6. At least I got the majority of the non-Idolmaster plane skins... I think.
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Oct 29, 2016 20:09
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Also, the 24 Hour Extra Life Charity Stream is now live! My blocks aren't till later, but that's no reason to hold out. Tune in, watch some cool games, and donate money for charity!
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Oct 29, 2016 20:13
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 Ace Combat: Advance, everybody! Fine work showing this one off Blast. Well done. That was really... a thing... I guess... Maybe...
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Oct 31, 2016 05:48
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Some stuff to chew on as we wait for Ace Combat 04 to resume. Here are two of the three blocks I hosted or was otherwise a part of during this weekend's 24hr Extra Life charity stream: Oxenfree Golf With Your Friends The Oxenfree block has some minor audio issues for the first couple of minutes, but that gets sorted out fairly quickly. The third game I hosted, Forza Horizon, will be up later after some minor editing work. Other blocks where I appear in, like Rocket League, Mario Kart, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, will be up later either on the Team Frog Nugget YouTube page, or on Artix's YouTube page in the case of THPS5.
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Nov 2, 2016 10:35
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Psion posted:https://zippy.gfycat.com/FearfulSoggyFox.webm Looks good man! NobleSixFour posted:Okay, so after talking with Crow a bit, I am proud to announce that me LPing Assault Horizon is officially going to be a thing. I have all the hardware, and most of it is set up, so I hope to start recording footage sometime within the next few days. I was thinking of doing the PC version, but if for whatever reason there was sufficient outcry I could supplement that with the 360 version. Additionally, I know that Crow et al did show off multiplayer and a tiny bit of coop at one point, but if there's interest in a more detailed look at it than that, I'd love to get some names of people who would be into providing the other warm bodies for that. I should also amend that to note that this will be happening in tandem with Ace Combat 5, which will be starting up early next year. Because AHL's plot is kind of a soft retread of 5's, and a fourth AC LP in this thread will kind of be belaboring the point a bit.
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Nov 2, 2016 21:40
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What have I done? What have I done?! WHAT HAVE I loving DONE?!!!!
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Nov 4, 2016 09:21
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Escort Mission 11: Operation Noah’s Ark – March 14th, 2005 Overview: A pair of Air Ixiom 767-200s have defied the Erusean No Fly Zone order and have taken off from Farbanti carrying a group of important Erusean defectors and freed POWs: the engineers and scientists who helped create Stonehenge. Mobius 1 is scrambled on an emergency intercept mission to rendezvous with Air Ixiom flights 701 and 702 above Chopinburg and escort them out of Erusean airspace and into ISAF custody, and defend the airliners from an Erusean intercept flight scrambled to shoot them down. If the Stonehenge staff makes it out of Erusean territory, the intel they possess on the rail gun network’s inner workings could potentially turn the tide of the war for ISAF.  Guest Commentator: Today I am joined once again by Trizophenie, who very graciously provided the footage for the Assault Horizon Legacy half of the Ace Combat 2 LP. He is currently (very slowly) trying to finish the LP of the Wii version of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II for the Casual LP Thread.  NAGASE Real Name: Kei Nagase Callsign(s): Edge, Scarface 3 (formerly), IXIOM 701 Heavy Age: 27 Sex: Female Nationality: FCU (Far Eastern Usea) Signature Plane: 767-200 Voice Actor: Uncredited (possibly Jane Fox) Kei Nagase makes a surprise return cameo from Ace Combat 2 here in this mission of Ace Combat 04 as the first officer of Air Ixiom Flight 701. Originally, it was just speculated that this Nagase was the same Nagase from 2, but a line from her bio in Assault Horizon Legacy about her wanting to become a civilian airline pilot after the end of the Continental War basically confirms that this is the same Nagase as our wingman Edge from Ace Combat 2/Assault Horizon Legacy. After mustering out of the FCU Allied Forces after the end of the Usean Continental War of 1998, Flight Lieutenant Kei Nagase received an honorable discharge and commendation for her exemplary service to the FCU in a time of war. When the FCU Allied Forces were restructured into the Independent States Allied Forces, the former mercenary pilots wing, of which Nagase’s Scarface Tactical Fighter Squadron was all but the poster child of, was disbanded. The pilots who comprised its ranks were offered commissioned positions in the new ISAF air force, and while many took ISAF up on its offer, only one member of Scarface opted to stay on. Captain John Harvard, the former Scarface Two accepted a promotion to squadron leader and assumed command of the Stonehenge Guard Squadron (codenamed Shooting Star), stationed at Peterson Air Force Base, directly adjacent to the STN complex. When Stonehenge fell under Erusean control, the STN Guard detachment was overwhelmed by the FEAF’s deadly Yellow Squadron, and Harvard himself was shot down by Captain Dave Jordan aka Yellow 13. Though he survived his encounter with Jordan, Harvard is currently being held as an Erusean prisoner of war. The mysterious Scarface flight lead Pheonix retired from the air force following the FCU’s victory over the Rebels. It is speculated that he may have accepted a command position within ISAF following the war, though rumour also has it that he may well have retired to civilian life following the war. Accounts vary widely and are highly inaccurate due to his personnel file and service dossier being sealed by the FCU government due to his direct involvement with the illegal North Osea Gründer Industries-developed Zone of Endless AI fighter project, as well as the Gründer ADF-01 FALKEN next generation superfighter—the existence of which is still denied by the Osean government. As for Nagase herself, she returned to the civilian airline flight school she was forced to drop out of at the outbreak of the war and passed all her qualifications with top marks. With her exemplary skill and distinguished service record from the war, she was headhunted by multiple airline firms upon graduation, ultimately choosing the prestigious Air Ixiom International Airlines to begin her career as a civilian pilot. In the seven years since the Continental War, Captain Nagase has flow as both a pilot and co-pilot on hundreds of domestic and international flights for Air Ixiom. When the operation to smuggle the Stonehenge developers out of Erusea was formulated by the Erusean Fifth Column, Kei Nagase was at the top of the list for potential pilots with the skills needed to shepherd the engineers and their families to safety. On the morning of March 14th, 2005, Nagase and her captain aboard Flight 701 helped escort the Stonehenge personnel and families aboard the aircraft (including, as a matter of historical trivia, former Belkan Air Force pilot Dr. David “Ibis” Hartmann, who emigrated to Erusea following the end of the Belkan War and became one of the principle engineers behind Stonehenge) using a falsified flight manifest and travel itinerary forged by the Resistance and took off as usual from Farbanti International Airport bound (ostensibly) for San Profetta International Airport in San Salvacion. Flight 702, bound allegedly for Okchabursk, Yuktobania, followed shortly thereafter. However, Erusean Intelligence quickly discovered the Fifth Column ruse and scrambled to stop the takeoff. While Flight 702 was able to get away without issue, Nagase’s Flight 701 was strafed by both small arms and anti-air fire upon takeoff, resulting in moderate damage for the 767-200’s airframe and the incapacitation of 701’s pilot. Nagase was forced to take sole control over the damaged airliner and pilot it out of Erusean airspace. Captain Nagase was officially commended by ISAF command for her skill and composure during the airlift mission, as there were a remarkable few pilots—civilian or otherwise—who could have been able to bring Flight 701 home safely in its compromised condition (leaking fuel from a punctured fuel tank, its flight controls compromised by gunfire, its pilot in critical condition from a bullet wound, unable to climb above 6,000 ft due to bullet holes in the canopy preventing pressurization of the fuselage, all while being pursued by hostile interceptor fighters). The stories of Nagase’s heroism during both Usean conflicts ultimately inspired her younger cousin (who also shared a first name with her) to join the Osean Air Defense Force upon graduating high school.  AIR IXIOM The Usean-owned and operated Air Ixiom International Airlines (IXI) is one of the world’s premiere domestic and international airline operators, and part of an alliance of international air carriers that together service virtually every major hub city on the planet. Air Ixiom operates a vast fleet of Boeing 747, 767, and 777 civilian airliners, including the two 767-200s fated to become the renowned Flights 701 and 702. Following the outbreak of the Shattered Skies crisis, a No Fly Zone was enacted over the Erusean homeland, as well as all territory across Usea ceded to the Eruseans by the FCU and Independent States following ISAF’s withdrawal from the mainland. All international flights in and out of Erusea were cancelled, save from select nations that retained diplomatic relations with Erusea despite AN sanctions (Yuktobania, Verusa, East Clavis, Estovakia, Leasath, and Belka). Given the ongoing war on Usea and the threat of Stonehenge, the international community was strongly encouraged to boycott all travel to Usea in general, and Erusea in particular. During this time, Air Ixiom functionally split into two distinct carriers, an international carrier serving the rest of the world, and an Usean domestic airline under strict control of the Erusean military government, serving a severely curtailed number of destinations on Usea along flightpaths dictated by the Federal Erusean Air Force. Air Ixiom Airlines is one of several links between the Ace Combat and Ridge Racer franchises and strongly suggests that Ridge Racer is indeed set on Strangereal too. Air Ixiom iconography and aircraft appear in both R4: Ridge Racer Type 4 for the PlayStation 1, and Ridge Racer 5 for the PS2, in addition to ISAF and Erusean aircraft and logos.  Erusean RESISTANCE This mission basically implies but never outright confirms the existence of an Erusean fifth column organization operating within Erusean territory against the interests of the Erusean military government itself. The idea being that there had to have been some form of resistance infrastructure in place within Erusea itself to even set up, much less execute the Flight 701 and 702 operation. The term “fifth column” generally refers to a civilian, military, or paramilitary faction operating inside a nation or organization to destabilize it in favor of its opposition. The term was coined by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General under Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. He recounted to a journalist that as the four columns of his army marched on Madrid, a “fifth column” comprised of the common people would rise up and help them capture it from within. The term saw widespread use in Spain afterward, and came to international attention via Ernest Hemmingway, who wrote the play (and later book) The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories during the bombing of Madrid while serving as a war correspondent for the North American Newspaper Alliance (NANA) alongside Martha Gellhorn (who was writing for Collier's Weekly at the time). Since then, the term has been used to describe any general seditionist faction, largely unmoored from its original meaning or connotations. For example, The Atlantic columnist Andrew Sullivan once publically described those opposed to the 2003 Iraq War as fifth columnists. He later apologized for the use of the term. In popular culture, the organization known formally as the Fifth Column played a large role the various incarnations of the television franchise V. In the original 80s series, the term was broadly applied to specific members of the reptilian Visitors who worked against the occupying V forces, while their human allies were specifically referred to as the Resistance. On the 2009 reboot of V, the largely human resistance was branded a terrorist organization known as the Fifth Column by Visitor propaganda and the connection to the true meaning of the term “fifth column” was never touched upon at all, because V 2009 was spectacularly  stupid—and I say this as someone who watched every episode of it. THE CANADIAN CAPER This mission also contained a (heavily punched up) implied reference to another real life act of asymmetrical warfare broadly known as the “Canadian Caper.” Dramatized in the film Argo, by Ben Affleck, the Canadian Caper (also known as Operation Argo) was a joint covert operation conducted by the United States Central Intelligence Agency and the Canadian Government to rescue six United States Embassy workers from Tehran after they narrowly avoided becoming hostages during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979–1981. The plan involved sneaking the six diplomats (who had been in hiding at the residence of the Canadian ambassador to Iran—Canada having maintained strained, but functional diplomatic relations with Iran during the crisis) out of the country on a civilian airliner by having them and a CIA extractor pose as a Canadian film crew who were allegedly location scouting in the Iranian desert for an upcoming Hollywood science fiction film called Argo. The plan worked flawlessly, and the six embassy workers escaped Iran aboard a Swissair flight on January 28th, 1980—a full year before the remaining hostages held at the US embassy were released by the Iranians following Ronald Reagan’s swearing in as President of the United States (a final gently caress you to Jimmy Carter by the Iranians).  NOAH’S ARK The codename for this mission also further confirms that both Christianity and Judaism exist in Strangereal. The mission takes its name from the eponymous vessel at the center of the tale of Noah’s Ark, from the Old Testament of The Bible. The story recounts how a man named Noah was chosen by God, for his and his family’s uncommon virtue, to build a massive ark meant to house his family and two of every animal on Earth, for God was to flood the world and exterminate the rest of humanity due to its untenable wickedness. Because OT God was a prick like that. In this instance, the mission is referencing the purpose of the Ark itself, which was to safely shepherd innocent life through the storm and the flood, which is basically what Flights 701 and 702 do—and, funnily enough, they do it two-by-two. Aircraft featured in Mission 11: Operation Noah’s Ark  767-200 Manufacturer: Boeing Role: Widebody civilian and cargo jetliner Manufactured: 1981–“Late 80s” Status: In Service Primary Operators: Worldwide Quick Facts:
NOTE: This Ace also flies the recurrent white-blue-red colour scheme seen on Aces in other Ace Combat games like Zero (shown off by Aces no. 108 and 109, Lynx 1 and Lynx 2), by the elite late-game URF fighters in Ace Combat 2, and by Aces who will be appearing in both Ace Combats 5 and 6 in due time. Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Eleven is Neujmin. Named for Grigory Nikolayevich Neujmin, born January 3rd, 1886. Russian astronomer credited with the discovery of 74 asteroids, notably 951 Gaspra and 762 Pulcova, between 1913 and 1936. He also discovered or co-discovered some periodic comets, including 25D, 28P, and 42P, all named after him. A lunar crater and the asteroid 1129 Neijmina are both named after him as well. Died December 17, 1946, at 60 years old. Tracks featured in Mission 10: DISC 1 Air Ixiom Flight 701 from afar: 
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 06:17 on May 3, 2021 |
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Nov 6, 2016 09:21
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LEGO Genetics posted:Dang that was an unexpected YouTube alert just now Crow, guess you aren't sleeping either. I'm always up late on weekends. Plus I ate up the majority of my evening getting the latest Killzone 3 update ready, and then having a fist fight with Premiere after it decided it didn't like the latest firmware update Nividia put out.
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Nov 6, 2016 09:32
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https://twitter.com/Tyty210/status/795862985298186240 I have been asked by one-time Ace Combat 2 guest commentator Tyty to post a poll in this thread. Please vote in it. No, you will not get any further context than that. Thank you.
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Nov 8, 2016 07:00
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Speaking of which, yeah. I'm officially putting the LP on hold for the moment. It might be a short pause, it might be a long one, I just don't know. I am not in a headspace where I feel it is appropriate to continue LPing this franchise at this particular moment. Artix said to me last night "we are entertainers, at the end of the day. We have a job to do in times like these: entertain." But I just don't think I can in good faith live up to his example right now. Not like this. I am sad and I am angry and I am sorry. And I don't want you to be subjected to the public spectacle of me rationalizing this utterly awful thing that has happened via an LP, especially one I vowed to keep as apolitical as I could in spite of the franchise's hamfisted at time geopolitical philosophies. Stonehenge Offensive, the last thing I had commentary recorded for, will be up within the hour, and then that's it. Watch this space.
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Nov 9, 2016 19:15
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Stonehenge Offensive Mission 12: Operation Stone Crusher – April 2nd, 2005 Overview: Using the intel provided by the defecting Stonehenge engineers, ISAF is able to formulate a new strategy to penetrate rail gun network’s defenses. With Istas Fortress and Los Canas back under FCU control, ISAF launches a massive airstrike against the Stonehenge Turret Network, with Mobius 1 at the tip of the spear. If Stonehenge is destroyed, ISAF will regain control of the skies over Usea. Meanwhile, in San Salvacion, the Resistance deals a crippling blow to Yellow Squadron with a deadly act of sabotage.  Guest Commentator: Today I am joined once again by my near-continuous LP partner in crime (Blind Sally excluded) CJacobs. Having just wrapped up co-LPs of The Evil Within and Resident Evil 4, he has now begun work on an LP of the Stephen King-inspired horror game Alan Wake along with fellow Ace Combat alum Skippy Granola.  STONEHENGE As noted in the video, Stonehenge, the megalith, is one of history’s most enduring architectural mysteries, and the subject of much debate, speculation, mythmaking, and just flat out lies as to its purpose, its method of construction, and just who built it. Located just outside of Amesbury, England, the site has been officially denoted as UNESCO World Heritage site and is actual owned and maintained by the government of England itself. Stonehenge has many conflicting etymologies, but many of them work out incredibly roughly to suggest “Stonehenge” basically means “hanging stones.” People have taking this literally in both directions, regarding the seemingly suspended nature of several of the stones in the megalith, and suggesting that the site was once also used as a gallows for hangings. In its earliest incarnation, it was thought to be a burial ground, as human remains dating back to before the megalith’s erection have been recovered from the site. The Stonehenge we know in the modern era is actually the seventh incarnation of the stone circle. Each successive generation of Stonehenge (numbered 1, 2, and then 3-I to 3-V) added a new layer of complexity to the site, though most of the traces of the first two generations have been lost to the decay of time. Only the ruins of Stonehenge 3 remain. A sister site, called Woodhenge stands 2 miles north-east of Stonehenge. Theories abound on the relation between Stonehenge and Woodhenge, suggesting a symbolic representation of the transition between with life and death and what would have been a ritualistic pilgrimage between the two sites on the night of the sunset of the Winter Solstice. The keystone of the Stonehenge site is aligned near-perfectly with the angle of the sunset on December 21st, just as a matter of reference. Stonehenge also has a connection to the Arthurian Legend, which allows us to very briefly dip back into Ace Combat Zero territory and put our HEY GUYS DO YOU KNOW ABOUT KING ARTHUR?!! hats back on.According to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain, Stonehenge was constructed by Merlin and Uther at the behest of King Ambrosius Aurelianus, who wished a monument be constructed to honor the deaths of 3,000 soldiers who fell in battle against the Saxon hordes. Now the thing was, Stonehenge was already constructed at the time… in Ireland. It had been built by the giants, who hauled the stones up from Africa and planted them in the ground at Mount Killaraus. So Uther and Merlin decided they were gonna steal it and give to Ambrosius as a gift. Because, as we remember from that whole “let’s play dress up and seduce your future wife away from her soon-to-be-ex-husband via rape” thing that resulted in Arthur’s birth, Uther and Merlin were a pair of HUGE assholes. So with the help of 1,500 of Uther’s soldiers, Merlin’s magic and inventions, and a whole lot of dead innocent Irish, they packed up Stonehenge and moved it to England. Beyond that, Stonehenge has appeared in a vast number of works of fiction. It is the site of the climax of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, where Tess makes her final stand as a grand gently caress you to the world that basically destroyed her before the cops take her off to the klink. It has been referenced and parodied in countless works of fiction (like Ace Combat). There is, I’m not kidding, an accurate recreation of the stone circle in Alliance, Nebraska made entirely out of automobiles called “Carhenege.” And in the realm of music it also led to a bit of hilarious rock history minutia. Black Sabbath had an instrumental track on their album Born Again called “Stonehenge,” which ultimately lead their manager, Don Arden, to suggest that the band use a recreation of Stonehenge as a stage backdrop for their tour for the album. Ozzy and the boys loved the idea, but when the plans for it were drawn up, they were mistakenly labeled in meters, instead of feet, so that when the set was assembled, it stood three times taller than it otherwise should have. This famous mixup was parodied in the mockumentary This Is Spın̈al Tap, where the boys from Tap, who also have a song called “Stonehenge,” are also talked into having a Stonehenge replica on stage for their tour by their manager. Only, the inverse occurs, and instead of feet, the plans are labeled in inches, resulting in a comically tiny stone arch.  NUMEROLOGY With the death of Yellow 4 in this mission, we have to sort of address the elephant in the room at play here with the Erusean characters in 04, which is of course numerology. For people who have even a passing familiarity with Asian numerology and numerical superstitions, they would have known Yellow 4 was a dead woman walking the second she entered the story as was identified as Yellow 4. In the majority of east Asian languages descended from Chinese (including Japanese) the words for "four" (四) and "death" (死) are written differently but pronounced similarly, roughly as “shi.” It carries a similar superstation to the number 13 in western cultures. Buildings will often omit the number 4 to denote their fourth floor, opting for roundabout numbers like 3A or the letter F, groups of four are shunned or looked upon with suspicion, or are otherwise generically terrifying (see: the Four Holy Beasts, the Four Heavenly Generals, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Elite Four, and on and on). This superstation continued in eastern fiction, and western fiction influence by eastern storytelling styles and tropes. In fact, there is a whole page of TV Tropes (where I liberally lifted material from because I’m lazy and this isn’t an academic setting so I can get away with straight plagiarism ) dedicated this peculiarity of numerological superstition. Basically anything with a number 4 on it or in its name is either going to die or cause someone else to die before the end of the story.To take it even further, the ACES AT WAR 2019 lore book also reveals that the broken turret seen in this mission at Stonehenge is also the "number 4" railgun. So yet another instance of 4=death at play here. Similarly, we should also keep a studious eye on Yellow 13 too. 13 is also crowned with a culturally unlucky number, this one with a lot of western hang ups, so we’re covering ALL our bases here. The origin of the “13 is unlucky” belief allegedly stems from an old 19th century belief that if 13 people are seated at a dinner table, then one of them will die before the year’s end—a belief which more than likely tracks back to the Last Supper in the New Testament, where Jesus had one final supper with his twelve disciples (meaning there were thirteen people at the table), and then died several days later after Judas betrayed him to the Romans and they crucified him. Much like in Asia with the number 4, buildings in the west will often omit (acknowledging) their 13th floors. The superstitious wariness of Friday the 13th also allegedly stems from the realm of Norse Mythology (another stomping ground for Ace Combat), this time with a connection between Freyja and Loki. Loki was the 13th Aesir, and betrayed the others, repeatedly. Friday the 13th was considered unlucky because people believed bad things happened on that day because it was Freyja’s Day (Frey-day—Friday), and Freyja had a particular hatred for Loki and all things associated with him, such as the number 13. So it particularly incensed Freyja whenever her day fell on the day of the month associated with Loki, and people assumed that any catastrophe to befall people or things, major or minor on that day was the result of Freyja’s anger. Watch out, Yellow 13.  TURNING POINTS So this is officially, the halfway point of the game. Yes, numerically the halfway point was back in Mission 9, but this is the thematic halfway point of the game. If Act Two of the game was Deep Strike to Stonehenge Offensive, then everything from here forward is basically Act Three: our mad dash to the finish line. With the loss of Stonehenge, Erusea has been pushed on the defensive and forced to retreat in a major way for the first time. For the first time since the start of the Shattered Skies crisis, the Erusean military has been pushed back within its own national borders. As ISAF continues to retake territory across Usea and restore control of the continent to the FCU government, the Eruseans have begun to heavily fortify their own national border to levels not seen since the Erusean Refugee Crisis of 2002. To make matters worse, the death of Yellow 4 and the failure of Yellow Squadron to defend Stonehenge from ISAF has shaken the FEAF’s confidence in Aquila Flight, as well as the squad’s confidence in itself. Moreover, Mobius 1’s single-handed destruction of the rail gun network has now made him the hottest topic of conversation on both sides of the war. The front page of the Times of Usea Yellow 13 posts in the Sky Kid bar openly names Mobius 1 in its opening paragraph about Stonehenge’s destruction, meaning that just about all of Usea now knows the story of the ISAF’s greatest pilot. The ISAF troops now see him as an invincible hero, the great avenger in the skies. The Eruseans effectively see him as the Grim Reaper, Death in an F-22* (we’re getting there, but the point remains). And as for Yellow 13, the days of regarding Mobius 1 as a bemusing curiosity are over. The next time they meet, one of them is going to die. And 13 doesn’t seem to care which one of them it is, so long as it’s a well-fought fight. Now that Stonehenge has been taken out of the equation, the Eruseans have effectively ceded Delarus to the FCU and its allies. Their only major stronghold outside of the Erusean homeland still under occupation remains the city of San Salvacion. If ISAF can retake San Salvacion itself, they will have a major springboard into Erusean territory, and ultimately into the Erusean capital city of Farbanti on the west coast. Plans for the liberation of the city are already being drawn up and preparations are being made. Both sides are painfully aware of how vital the inland metropolis is their war efforts, and that a massive battle for the city is now brewing. With Stonehenge now gone, whoever controls San Salvacion by the end of summer wins the war.   STONEHENGE In the winter of 1995, when the existence of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid and its collision course with Earth was revealed to the governments of the world, plans were hastily put into motion to ensure the survival of the human race from what was being doomsayed as an extinction level event. The first ones to come up with a viable solution were the Useans, who called a continental congress of all the nations of the continent to draw up plans for a Spaceguard countermeasure program to mitigate the inevitable damage from Ulysses’ planetfall, calculated to occur on July 3rd, 1999. While the independent states focused on the construction of impact shelters in and around the metropolises of Usea, the FCU and Erusean delegations fought over a weapons system that would, in theory, be able to intercept incoming asteroid fragments and explosively reduce them to relatively harmless sizes before they did serious damage to populated areas. The original proposal called for the construction of a chemical laser array similar to the old Excalibur Tactical Laser System build by the Belkans. However, those plans were hastily shot down when analysis showed multiple weaknesses and shortcomings in the TLS system when it came to asteroid interception. The Belkan laser was ultimately written off as an inviable curiosity—a testament to Belka’s engineering mastery, no doubt, but ultimately nothing more than a curious ahead-of-its-time dinosaur. The final approved proposal instead consisted of a plan for an array of eight independently targetable railguns each mounted on massive turntables and counterweights to ensure for the largest possible firing arcs. The project was to be codenamed “Stonehenge,” after the old Neolithic stone circle and ANESCO World Heritage Site in the Kingdom of Sapin, believed by many to be associated with ancient astronomical-based druidic rituals. The final product of this development would be the Stonehenge Turret Network, or STN for short. The project would be headed up by rewound physicist and munitions expert Dr. Yang Tomic and overseen by the hastily assembled Central Usean Treaty Organization (UTO). Among the Erusean delegation to the STN design bureau was physicist Dr. David Hartmann, a Belkan expat who became an Erusean citizen after leaving the Belkan Air Force following the signing of the Treaty of Lumen in 1995. Through his contacts in the BAF, Hartmann was able to provide the design board with plans from a proposal drawn up by the old South Belka Munitions Factory for a hybrid gunpowder-magnetic railgun from the controversial Project Pendragon, which produced the V2 nuclear MIRV and the still-classified ADFX-01 and 02 Morgan superplanes, among other weapons. (Partially unreacted documents suggest that the proposal was authored by Lorenz Riedel—now suspected by FCU Intelligence of working for the Estovakian government.) Though the proposal was rejected in its time for its unfeasibility, Hartmann argued that with the advancement of technology since the late 70s and early 80s, the designs could be easily adapted and upscaled to meet the needs of the potential Stonehenge railguns, an idea Director Tomic ultimately supported. The UTO settled on an area of land south of San Salvacion in the Delarus Desert designated Area 26021-3 to be the construction site for both the STN complex and the adjoining FCU-operated Peterson Air Force Base. Numerous governments and corporations contributed to the construction and outfitting of the STN. Both the Osean Federation and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics initially came onboard as partners in the STN initiate, intending the STN site in Delarus to be the first in a series of facilities around the planet, but ultimately backed out of the project for economic and political reasons (bad blood between Osea and Usea still simmered over the botched Osean sublimation treaty that sparked off the Continental War). Construction of the base facility of the STN was completed in June of 1998, as the Usean Continental War raged on around it. Construction of the actual railgun turrets would not be completed until well into early 1999, leaving precious little time for testing before Ulysses Day. When the IAU released an updated projection of the impact path of Ulysses fragments in June of 1998, it led to severe protests on Anea, which was now forecast to receive the blunt of the impact along with Usea and Wellow. By that point in its construction, however, no additional modifications could be made to the STN to extend its range beyond Usea. The Estovakian government on Anea hastily scrambled to begin construction of its own spaceguard facility, codenamed “Chandelier,” but poor planning and construction and insufficient time to complete the project saw the facility fail spectacularly during its startup tests, leaving much of Anea utterly defenseless against Ulysses. While Stonehenge performed admirably on Ulysses Day, it was far from perfect, and unable to prevent catastrophic destruction to key Usean cities such as Newfield Island, Saint Ark, and the Erusean capital of Farbanti, each of which suffered direct or glancing blows from asteroid fragments which Stonehenge failed to intercept. Even Stonehenge itself fell victim to Ulysses’ wrath, as one uncanny asteroid fragment managed to strike the STN complex while the turrets were focused on larger fragments, disabling the number four railgun, severing its counterweight gimbals and locking it in a straight vertical position. The disabled gun was ultimately left as-is rather than repaired, for political and economic rationales. The Erusean military later attempted to restore it to operational status, but abandoned the effort before making any significant headway. Following Ulysses Day, the facility was placed in a semi-shuttered state by the FCU government. Thanks to the unusual political arrangements brokered by the UTO to facilitate its construction, Stonehenge existed in a troubling legal and political grey area which the FCU now had to contest with. While the facility remained operational in diminished capacity to intercept any Ulysses fragments still in orbit which could potentially fall to Earth, it was placed under heavy guard, lest it fall into the wrong hands. The STN design board had tried to have all data on its potential usage as a terrestrial assault weapon suppressed, but intelligence leaks saw this information slip out regardless—information that quickly found its way into the hands of the Erusean government. And that’s how we got here. On April 2nd, 2005, seven years after its initial construction, the Stonehenge Turret Network was destroyed in a massive assault upon the facility by ISAF and its Air Strike Team lead by Mobius 1. As the remaining seven railguns fell, and Yellow Squadron was driven off, the Eruseans quickly abandoned the facility as ISAF ground troops closed in to retake the complex and free the POW technicians, soldiers, and pilots who were being held at Peterson AFB next to the facility. Rather than repair the complex to use against the Eruseans, the FCU ultimately decided to shutter Stonehenge completely. The cannons were left where they fell, though the vital components of their firing systems were removed or sabotaged so they could never again be used for war making purposes. From that point forward, clean up of any remaining orbital or Trojan Ulysses fragments would be handled by a soon-to-launched orbital unit developed by the Osean Federation. A weapon codenamed “Arkbird.” Stonehenge as a stage and enemy is a massive trend setter for Ace Combat, it is, in effect, the series’ first actual super weapon. It’s the first “boss” mission that really shows up in the series. Electrosphere experimented with certain elements of this, but it’s here in Shattered Skies where the formula is set in stone, as it were. Contrast this to what we saw in Zero with the Excalibur mission, or what we will be seeing down the line in 5, 6, X and 7. I said that Shattered Skies is where Ace Combat really becomes Ace Combat, and now we’re finally getting to see that in action. Stonehenge is also one of the many setpiece missions remade for Ace Combat Infinity, the Free-To-Play game for the PlayStation 3 built off of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon’s engine. 
Kadorhal posted:Ace Number Twelve is Urata. Named for Urata Takeshi, born sometime in 1947. Japanese astronomer who is, by far, the most-prolific namesake of this game's aces, with 641 asteroids discovered between 1978 and 2000. Particularly, in 1978 he became the first amateur astronomer to discover a minor planet in 50 years, 2090 Mizuho, which he named after his daughter. This feat lead to an upsurge of such discoveries, and within the next ten years another 160 minor planets were discovered by Japanese astronomers. He also co-discovered the comet 112P alongside Niijima Tsuneo in October 1986. Tracks featured in Mission 12: DISC 1 Stonehenge concept art and renders:    .jpg) .jpg) .jpg)    Stonehenge pages from ACES at War artbook:   Stonehenge, as it appears in the Ace Combat 7 trailer:  Stonehenge from Ace Combat Infinity:  .png)  
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 18:25 on Apr 24, 2023 |
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Nov 9, 2016 20:00
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Mods please change the thread title to "Donald Trump Ruined My Let's Play - Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies Hiatus" tia
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Nov 9, 2016 23:02
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HOOLY BOOLY posted:It's weird to me that Nagase is some series long in joke that i'm just now hearing of Yes*. The Kei Nagase from Ace Combats 2/Assault Horizon Legacy and 04 are the same person. The Kei Nagase from Ace Combat 5 is a different person who happens to share the same name. AC5's Nagase is also like 10 years younger than AC2's Nagase. It's implied that they're cousins, at the very least, but it's never been officially stated anywhere in any of the games or supplementary materials. As for Ridge Racer's Reiko Nagase, additionally, is canonically stated to be AC2 Kei's older sister.
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Nov 11, 2016 04:48
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was replaying 04 because of this LP and got a bit excited to hear the name. But since this game is technically before 5 i guess it's not even the same Nagase? Her cousin or something?
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Shinjobi posted:I lived. I'm sorry White America cost you your gay hockey avatar, Shinjobi. And $10 to rereg.
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Nov 12, 2016 04:16
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AradoBalanga posted:I'm a bit curious of the "V" after Ace. Is that supposed to be the letter or the Roman numeral? According to Kobayashi, it's a typo. If anything though, this is encouraging that they're beginning to score the game now. Usually laying down music is one of the last things that gets done during production. ...Unless you have an insane scattershot production like Final Fantasy XIII that results in an entire album of prototype tracks that got thrown out because the game was constantly changing and the music staff had to do mad dashes to keep up with it.
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Nov 13, 2016 00:11
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Happy 1st Anniversary, everyone!
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Nov 17, 2016 21:06
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So while, yes, Ace Combat is coming back in due time, I would just like to take a moment to plug the other LP project I've decided to start back up again on an insane whim: TOTAL EXTREME WRESTLING 2016 a goon-driven wrestling manager game that I promise I will make as batshit and over the top as I can. We have a character submission drive going on right now, so feel free to pop over, have a read through the guidelines and submit your own creation into the insanity. It'll be fun.
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Nov 22, 2016 01:43
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 07:31 |
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I will endeavour to be there if I can.
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Nov 23, 2016 09:11
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