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  It’s the deep breath before the plunge. This is the sixth entry in our larger look at the Ace Combat series’ Strangereal-based games. Much like the previous LPs I helped create with my partner in LP Crime Blind Sally, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, and Killzone/Killzone: Liberation/Killzone 2 /Killzone 3, this LP will also be an in-depth look at the fictional history, politics, setting, and characters of Ace Combat’s Strangereal shared universe as told over the course of multiple games and done in in-universe chronological order. HOWEVER! Ace Combat X actually takes place after Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown in the timeline, but rather than end this project on a whimper PSP game we’re going to be tackling X first before finishing up this project once and for all with Skies Unknown later in the year. Games covered thus far:
  The “dawn of a new chronicle” is Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception’s production tag line, when really it should have said “the end of an era”. Because it and Ace Combat 6 were the last two Strangereal games made before the franchise drifted off into la la land with the likes of Joint Assault and Assault Horizon. Ace Combat X is one of the more oddball entries in the mainline Ace Combat franchise, in that it’s clearly a part of the franchise, yet it’s also one of the more easily ignorable parts of it, being set off in the “distant” future of 2020 and set for the first time in the southern hemisphere of Strangereal and involving virtually no mainline country we’ve seen thus far outside of Osea, albeit obliquely. It inhabits the same kind of “if you want to, I guess” canonicity zone as Assault Horizon Legacy and Electrosphere do—in the outer orbit of the “Golden Trilogy + 6 & 7” tentpole zone. The Aces At War: A History 2019 art and lore book that came with the Strangereal/Aces At War editions of Ace Combat 7 doesn’t even include X as a footnote, so that shows you where Project ACES stands on it as of real world year of 2020 itself. And this is very much by design. Because X is inescapably a PSP game. It’s one of the PSP-est of PSP games. Because only lunatics release a game for a handheld platform that has actual continuity ramifications for the rest of its console-based series. Hence the X in Ace Combat X, which might as well be Ace Combat * for what it’s worth. It’s Project ACES’ way of hedging their bets on it. It’s a side game for the PSP and they didn’t want to glorify it with a number like they at least did with Zero. Otherwise X would be the true Ace Combat 6, Ace Combat 6 would be Ace Combat 7, and we’d all be celebrating the glorious return to form that was Ace Combat 8: Skies Unknown right now. So what does this game concern itself with, now that I’ve spend three paragraphs telling you how  ? Well, Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception tells the story of the war between the Democratic Republic of Leasath (a stand-in for every South American military dictatorship since the 1800s) and the Federal Republic of Aurelia (Strangereal’s stand-in for Australia, since a physical Australia analog does on exists/is replaced by Usea). The main narrative is relayed to us by our old friend Albert Genette of the Osea Times, the narrator of Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War. Genette has come to Aurelia to cover the war for the Times as a war correspondent and has found himself trapped in the southern hemisphere now that the country has fallen under Leasath occupation.However, as the Aurelians launch a desperate counterattack to retake their homeland from Leasath, Genette finds himself falling into the inner circle of Leasath’s dictator, General Diego Gaspar Navarro. Genette quickly surmises that something is amiss in the southern hemisphere, and it’s not just the war. For Navarro is a man of secrets and lies, and uncovering his deceptions could once again turn the tide of history. Ace Combat X also spawned two other games from its engine, the non-sequel Ace Combat: Joint Assault (also called Ace Combat X˛: Joint Assault), which was set on real world Earth, and Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion, a halfway port/prequel made for the iPhone and iPad iOS platform. Skies of Incursion tells the story of the ten days leading up to the start of Skies of Deception’s storyline from the perspective of Falco Squadron, a B-Team group who cross paths with Gryphus 1 near the end of Deception. It was released in 2009, but pulled from the AppStore at some point before 2015 for unknown reasons. Meaning copies of it in the wild are exceedingly rare. That said, SA goon Ashsaber is one of the lucky(?) few who still has a functioning copy of Xi and has volunteered to give us an after action report on it and where it lines up with relevant events in X. So stay tuned for those as well between updates. I have yet had anyone offer to take a swing at Joint Assault, but if anyone feels up to it, you are more than welcome to try just so that it’s not the one that got away… Also for the record, this LP is utilizing the Ace Combat X HD Texture Pack created by Super Ostrich. The pack utilizes the texture replacer feature in PPSSPP’s Developer Tools options to replace the stock SD textures for playable and enemy aircraft, HUD readouts, and tactical map displays with high definition ones. This makes the game look infinitely more presentable when played via an emulator on the PC. A similar pack is also available for Joint Assault too.   Project ACES' Ace Combat franchise is a sprawling mass of games spread out over many different consoles and handheld platforms with several wholly unrelated continuities depending on which sub-set of games you want to look at. The games most people are familiar with and have played, however, are the ones we will be covering over the course of this Mega LP: the ones set in Strangereal. These of course are That said, I will not be covering the following games: 
  Now, the uninitiated among you might be asking yourself “What the gently caress is a The majority of the Ace Combat games are set in a shared universe setting that has been dubbed by fans as the “Strangereal” world. The name originated from a trailer for Ace Combat 04 which contained the phrase “A strange, real world.” Fans compacted the phrase into the portmanteau of “Strangereal” to describe the setting of the game. As you can see by the two world maps (the left one is “canon”, the right one is fan-interpolated conjecture), the world of the Ace Combat series shares a number of similarities to our own while also being radically different. Namco itself would come to adopt the term Strangereal to describe the setting in more recent Ace Combat games such as Ace Combat: Infinity. It has also been implied that the Ridge Racer series also takes place in Strangereal, as background worldbuilding elements and settings from the Ace Combat games appear various Ridge Racer games, particularly the character of Reiko Nagase, who is implied to be a relative of several other Nagases who appear throughout the Ace Combat franchise. Project Aces also previewed a trio of concept games at the dawn of the PlayStation3-era that used the Strangereal setting as well. They were, in no particular order, Brave Arms, a Metal Gear Solid 4/Bionic Commando third-person action/espionage game set in the Kingdom of Sapin; Second Season 01, a first-person cop drama game which appeared to be set in Oured, Osea; and Chain Lim!t, an Alpha Protocol-style action spy game with multiple user-determined solutions to action problems. All three games were either cancelled shortly after their announcement or were just internal proof-of-concepts that somehow were teased to the public as actual games before being pulled. Either way, they remain just another aspect of the enduring enigma that is Strangereal. The Strangereal world is a massive, intriguing, and reactive place that gets developed a little more with each Ace Combat game set in it and elements of this setting speak to each other across multiple games. We’re going to be looking at this setting from a near-pedantically scholarly viewpoint, so I hope you all have your over-analysis caps on like I do! Because this is a thinking man’s LP, not one of those “Shoot Visari in the face—RICO NO!!!” LPs. (Actually it is one of those LPs, don’t tell anyone though!) For the purpose of this LP series, we will be following the games in (mostly) in-universe chronological order from 1995 to 2020. The order we will be going in will be Zero > 2 > 04 > 5 > 6 > X > 7. X ultimately comes after 7 in the timeline, but 7 makes for a better finale, but if you’re that desperate for rigid continuity, then just read/watch it after 7, if you’re so inclined. For more information about the Ace Combat franchise, please consult Acepedia, the Ace Combat Wiki. (Note: there’s a lot of bullshit conjecture stuff on the AC Wiki, so read at your own risk. Also, lots of unmarked spoilers for the whole franchise.)  I’d prefer you didn’t post spoilers, if you are one of those people who do know what happens in this and subsequent games. So try to avoid letting huge things that could ruin the game for people who are experiencing it fresh slip out like how Gryphus 1 is actually Santa, or that Diego Navarro is just a pastiche of every South American dictator ever. Because that poo poo just sucks. 
Prologue nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Dec 15, 2023 |
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  Hello, Ashsaber here. I'll be covering Ace Combat Xi Skies of Incursion, the mobile game made based on X, as a sibling game to X. Back in 2010 I watched TyrantSabre's LP of Ace Combat 6 and was entranced, and I decided I needed to get into the series. I devoured my way through 6 and X, but lacking a PS2 of my own and knowing that the Golden Trilogy was old enough that it would have been nigh impossible to find any of those games I turned to Xi, released in 2010 on the itunes store. It was not exactly able to live up to expectations. While I lack the ability to do video, I assure you you aren't missing much, especially not my fat thumb flying. The game is fairly slow and awkward, and all coms chatter is pretty much ripped straight from X because Skies of Incursion is not exactly a story heavy game, nor does it really expand upon the world. What it does have is fairly simple, and mostly outside of game play, but I will try to show off what is relevant. 
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Skies of Deception Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Attract Movie Mission 1: Skies of Deception – October 20th, 2020 | (Redo) Ace Combat X moves us ahead four years from the end of the Emmeria-Estovakia war of 2015/2016, and one year past the end of the Lighthouse War between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea in 2019. It also begins one year after the end of the Leasath Civil War, which raged from an unspecified date until late summer/early fall of 2019 as well. With the civil war over, a new military regime led by General Diego Gaspar Navarro has seized power in Leasath and has sworn to bring all of South Osea under Leasath rule as “retribution for years abuse”, starting with their southern neighbor, the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Leasath struck suddenly and mercilessly, pushing the Aurelians back to the very southern cost of the country with the might of their military and their super weapon, the invisible flying fortress Gleipnir and its shockwave burst missile ordinance (SWBM). In only 10 days, they have seized control of 90% of the country and have entrenched themselves in the Aurelian capital city of Griswall. At this point all seems about lost for the Aurelians... Overview: A flight of Leasath bombers is approaching Aubrey Air Base at Cape Aubrey, the last standing Aurelian military facility in the country. If Aubrey AFB is destroyed, the war is over. Gryphus Squadron is scrambled from Aubrey Base under the command of a young AWACS operator named Eugene Solano (codename Crux) and a pilot known only by the TAC Name Gryphus 1.   GRYPHUS SQUADRON Aurelian Air Force 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron* Members:
Squadron Composition: F-5E Phantom II (x5), later Player Determined An Aurelian Air Force squadron based out of Aubrey AFB in Cape Aubrey. Little information is known about Gryphus Squadron directly prior to the start of the Aurelian counter-strike operation against Leasath. Even their official squadron number is still in dispute thanks to the general disarray in materials and information created by the sudden attack on Aurelia and the AAF’s hasty retreat and reformation around defense lines in southern Aurelia. Photographic evidence taken by unknown sources prior to the squadron’s disastrous encounter with the Gleipnir over Cape Aubrey list it as the 247th Tactical Fighter Squadron out of Aubrey AFB, while later intelligence material disclosed by the Republic of Emmeria Air Force lists Gryphus as the 207th Tactical Fighter Squadron from Aubrey. The Aurelian Air Force has thus far declined to comment on the discrepancy. Regardless, Gryphus’ first flight under its new commander and AWACS operator Eugene “Crux” Solano proved devastating to the squadron, as the mission was interceded by an attack from the Leasath flying fortress Gleipnir and its SWBM weapon. While Aubrey Base was saved, Gryphus 2, Gryphus 3, and Gryphus 4 were all shot down and killed as their planes were torn apart by the SWBM’s shockwave. Only Gryphus 1 survived the attack unscathed, while Gryphus 5 escaped with moderate damage to their plane. Lacking the manpower to restore the squadron to its proper five ship formation, Solano was forced to deploy Gryphus from that point on as a single plane flight element consisting of Gryphus 1 alone and supplemented by additional unaffiliated units where possible. Solano had remembered the success a single ship flight element had had during the Shattered Skies War on Usea in 2004 and hoped beyond hope that a little bit of Mobius 1’s magic would rub off on the scared but surviving Gryphus 1.    GRYPHUS 1 Real Name: Unknown (Player Determined) Callsign(s): Gryphus 1, Sir, Southern Cross, Nemesis Age: Early 30’s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: Player choice (F-22A Raptor or XFA-24A Apalis in all canon material) Voice Actor: None Captain, commander, and flight lead of the Gryphus Team. Much his personal history is sealed under order of the Aurelian Air Force’s Intelligence Division. The only known facts about him at present is that he is, or rather was, functionally, the flight lead of Gryphus Squadron stationed at Aubrey Air Force Base just up the coast from Cape Aubrey. Being stationed at basically the last air base on the extreme southern tip of Aurelia proved a stroke of immense luck for Gryphus 1 when it came to the Leasath blitz invasion of Aurelia. It left him and his squadron mates as virtually the last operational squadron left in Aurelia as the Leasath forces solidified their grip on northern and eastern Aurelia. His surviving the SWBM explosion from the Gleipnir while the rest of Gryphus Squadron was wiped out is a testament to his skill as a pilot, or perhaps just his sheer luck… As a matter of trivia, Gryphus 1 is the only player character who can potentially have a real name, albeit in a meta-game sense. When you create a new save file on your PSP for Ace Combat X, you are asked to input both a real name and TAC name for Gryphus 1. Neither of these are referenced anywhere but on your save data, but it is a nice little piece of minutia regardless.  CRUX Real Name: Eugene Solano Callsign(s): Crux Age: Late 20s – Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: E-767 Voice Actor: Michael Naishtut A young Aurelian Air Force AWACS operator recently cleared for flight operations at Aubrey Air Force Base. Though nervous and inexperienced, Solano is a fast learner and a dedicated soldier to his homeland. The loss of 4/5ths of his primary fighter squadron on his first mission as battlefield control steeled his resolve to never lose another plane under his care so long as he could help it. He is clearly an admirer of Gryphus 1’s from even before the start of the game, becoming slightly flustered when having to deal with him directly, and constantly referring to him as Sir, despite possibly outranking him. (Acepedia speculates he may in fact only be a 2nd Lieutenant and thus actually an inferior officer to Gryphus 1, who would be a Captain as the flight lead of Gryphus). Much like Keynote from Assault Horizon Legacy, Crux will be pulling double duty as both our intel officer overseeing our briefings and debriefs, and our in-field AWACS operator too.  GENETTE Real Name: Albert Genette Callsign(s): None Age: 42 Sex: Male Nationality: Osea Signature Plane: None Voice Actor: Peter von Gomm Our old buddy Albert Genette returns from Ace Combat 5 to once again fill the role of narrator for Skies of Deception’s interstitial story cutscenes. We catch up with Genette ten years after his career-making exploits covering the Circum-Pacfic war between the Osean Federation and Union of Yuktobanian Republics from the very heart of the conflict. A decade’s worth of time and experience however have turned the slightly naive and optimistic man seen in Ace Combat 5 into a more jaded and cynical reporter at the mid point of his career and finding himself in the midst of yet another war. He has come to Aurelia to cover the Leasath invasion for the Osea Times as a war correspondent, but has found himself drawn into the inner circle of General Diego Gaspar Navarro, the supreme commander of Leasath’s military and head of its junta government, now residing in Aurelia’s capital city of Griswall. With the occupying Leasath forces exercising tight control over media sources and keeping journalists on a short but lavish leash, Genette has become increasingly bored of simply being a stenographer for Navarro’s repetitive propaganda speeches and a captive guest at his dinner parties at his provisional capitol palace, Gaiuss Tower. At the outset, Genette doesn’t seem too invested in one side or the other’s victory. He just hopes someone wins period, and wins soon so he can go home back to Osea. However, as news begins to filter in to Griswall about the little squadron that could bearing the Southern Cross from Cape Aubrey, a touch of his old fire returns, inspiring him to start pulling the threads on Navarro’s coat of lies that his fellow reporters in Griswall seem utterly oblivious to...  NAVARRO Real Name: Diego Gaspar Navarro Callsign(s): None Age: Mid 50s Sex: Male Nationality: Leasath Signature Plane: None Voice Actor: Uncredited The commanding officer of the Leasath military and its de facto head of state. He also has strong ties to Leasath’s private sector arms manufacturing industries. Navarro rose to power in the Fall of 2019, almost unnoticed as the world was plunged into chaos by the disruption of the global satellite network during the Lighthouse War between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea over the International Space Elevator in Gunther Bay and the death of a beloved leader and visonary. Navarro emerged as the commander of of the victorious faction of the Leasath Civil War, which swept the impoverished nation’s unstable civilian government out of power in favor of military rule. Upon the declaration of ceasefire between the combatants, Navarro proclaimed himself dictator, seizing Leasath’s capital city of Alendal, executing his rivals and enemies and enshrining his closest lieutenants into power as a de facto government, not at at all unlike Gustav Dvornik and his Generals did in Estovakia in the northern hemisphere nearly a decade prior. General Navarro’s early rule consisted of a massive consolidation of power and wealth and expansion of Leasath’s military forces, as well as the commissioning of the terrifying Gleipnir heavy command cruiser to serve as Leasath’s flagship for its implementing military takeover of South Osea. Both military strategy and political maneuvering come naturally to Navarro. Not only did he win the civil war for his country’s reigns of power, but his invasion of Aurelia was also a smashing success, taking over 95% of Aurelian territory in under 10 days with minimal losses thanks in large part to the Gleipnir and its SWBM super weapon. Since then, Navarro has been strutting around the world stage acting as though he has already won, declaring victory over Aurelia and transitioning his forces from invasion to occupation. His raw charisma has made him a media darling, even if global media has shown him to be a warmongering lunatic in line with Waldmarr Rald, Gustav Dvornik, Rosa Cossette D'Elise, and the old Belkan Grey Men. Regardless, at the moment, Diego Gaspar Navarro has every right to feel like an invincible victor. However, there seems to be a darker shadow behind his calculated bravado and the dictatorial opulence he presents to the world. His rhetoric of retribution for years of abuse and exploitation of Leasath by the richer nations of the world like Osea, Emmeria and Aurelia does not seem to jive with official records of aid efforts organized by the Assembly of Nations and how Navarro seems to have amassed such vast personal wealth with virtually no paper trail. So far the world seems to be buying Navarro’s official state-sponsored story on Leasath’s rise to power. But sooner or later people are going to start asking questions about how one of the poorest nations on the planet produced one of the most powerful militaries in recent history and the most advanced flying fortress since the P-1112 Aigaion stalked the Fuscum Sea.  RICK Real Name: Rick [LAST NAME UNKNOWN] Callsign(s): Gryphus 2 Age: Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: F-4E Phantom II Voice Actor: Uncredited Our dearly departed #2 on the Gryphus Squadron totem pole. Though perhaps that’s for the best, seeing as he routinely buggered up even basic combat flight protocol such as using real names and ranks over open radio frequencies, was openly insubordinate against a superior officer, and then had a meltdown panic moments before his death at the hands of the Gleipnir. And that’s on top of doing relatively jack poo poo all mission. The supplementary short story to Mission 1 Eugene Solano's Memoirs: Skies of Deception does little to salvage Rick's character either, despite being the featured character of its narrative. Described by Solano as rude and a major goofball, he has little time or use for Crux... until it's suddenly too late for him and he dies screaming in terror. Here lies 2nd Lt. Rick: he somehow managed to be a worse wingman than even Shamrock in only 5 minutes of screen time. He will not be missed.  ROY Real Name: Roy [LAST NAME UNKNOWN] Callsign(s): Gryphus 3 Age: Early 30s Sex: Male Nationality: Aurelia Signature Plane: F-4E Phantom II Voice Actor: Uncredited The recently deceased Gryphus 3. Poor Roy gets comparatively little dialog next to Rick, but he’s shown to at least be calmer and more professional and competent than Gryphus 2. Unfortunately, he is also caught in the blast that kills Gryphus 2 and Gryphus 4 and knocks Gryphus 5 out of commission indefinitely, all in the name of showing you that Leasath isn’t loving around. RIP ROY. He was not our boy.   CAPE AUBREY Home of Aubrey AFB, the small coastal city of Cape Aubrey on Aurelia’s west coast is one of the few population centers in Aurelian territory yet to be occupied by the invading Lesath forces. It is the hometown and home base of Gryphus Team, including Gryphus 1 and their operator Eugene “Crux” Solano. The city features a thriving industrial sector along its coast, but is largely insignificant and regarded as a low-priority target by the Lesathian forces. It was this underestimation that allowed for Gryphus Squadron to fly under the radar and survive the invasion up until now, placing them in prime position to spearhead the counterattack… assuming they can defend Aubrey AFB. To the east lies the Puna Planes and Puna Air Base, and to the south lies the transport hub city of Port Patterson, where Aurelia’s western naval fleet once lied at anchor. Both locations have since fallen under Leasath occupation are are being used as staging areas in strike operations against Cape Aubrey and Aubrey AFB.  GRYPHUS The name Gryphus is derived from the species name of the Andean condor, “Vultur gryphus”. Found in the Andes mountains running down the western coast of South America, the Andean condor, also known as just the condor is the largest flying bird in the world with a wingspan of 10’10” and an average weight of 11 to 15 kg. The condor is also the national bird and symbol of Chile (along with the huemul), one of the nations Aurelia is primarily based upon. As such, the emblem of Gryphus Squadron is a condor clutching the Southern Cross constellation in its smug rear end beak.  THE SOUTHERN CROSS Known by the asterism the Southern Cross, the constellation Crux (from where Eugene Solano gets his TAC Name) is one of the more easily recognizable constellations in the southern hemisphere and is the counterpart to Cygnus, also known as the Northern Cross. The four stars that comprise the cross of the constellation (Gacrux (γ Cru), Mimosa (β Cru), Acrux (α Cru A), and Imai (δ Cru)) have an apparent visual magnitude of +2.8, making them among the most visible stars in the night sky. The stars of Crux were known to the Ancient Greeks, and the astronomer Ptolemy erroneously cataloged them as a part of the constellation Centaurus, which is about 20° higher in the southern sky than Crux is. The four (sometimes five) stars comprising Crux are featured on the flags and iconography of a number of nations in the southern hemisphere including Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, the Australian state of Victoria, and on the battle flag of the Australian Eureka Rebellion, among other places. Basically, get ready to hear the term “Southern Cross” thrown about with reckless abandon, as the emblem of Gryphus Squadron is going to become shorthand for the team and Gryphus 1 in particular. This also further confirms that the cosmology of Strangereal is pretty much a 1:1 parallel to that of real world Earth’s as this is now at least the fifth major constellation mentioned or alluded to in an Ace Combat game after Aquila, Cygnus, Andromeda, and Cassiopeia.  GLEIPNIR Much of the data on the Leasathian airborn fortress codenamed Gleipnir is currently unavailable due to the information disruption experienced by the AAF’s battle network as a result of the invasion. More details are certain to emerge in time, but at present only a few key facts are known about the craft through the few survivors of direct engagements with it. The craft appears to be a massive heavy command cruiser type airship akin to creations like the Belkan XB-0 Hresvelgr, the Erusean XB-10 Big Bad Mama, or the Estovakian P-1112 Aigaion, though nowhere on the scale of the latter. And with the destruction of the AAS-01 Liberty and AAS-02 Justice Arsenal Birds during the Lighthouse War one year ago, the Gleipnir is now the largest airborne object currently in existence. The craft appears to be entirely of Leasathian propriety design, though Aurelian Intelligence has not yet ruled out any possible involvement from Belkan ex-patriots, or firms such as North Osea Gründer Industries in its development. The craft has one known sister ship, its own prototype, codenamed the Gandr, which was pressed into service on Navarro’s order over the objection of Leasath Air Force brass and subsequently destroyed by the Falco Squadron of the Aurelian Air Force several weeks prior to the attack over Cape Aubrey that wiped out Gryphus Squadron. The Gleipnir’s currently know capabilities include launch abilities for devastating Shockwave Burst Missiles (SWBM), and a revolutionary 360° optical camouflage system utilizing retro-reflective paneling and stealth technology on the aircraft’s hull to effectively render it invisible to both visual and radar detection. MORE DETAILS FORTHCOMING, STANDBY The name Gleipnir itself is derived from the magical binding forged by the Dwarves in Norse mythology that holds the mighty wolf and child of Loki, Fenrir, at bay. Fenrir slipping loose from Gleipnir’s bind and devouring Odin is one of the key events of the Norse apocalypse, Ragnarok. The Gleipnir binding itself is said to be made of six impossible ingredients: the sound of a cat’s footfall, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of bear, the breath of a fish, and the spittle of a bird.  GAIUSS TOWER The tallest building in the southern hemisphere and centerpiece of the skyline of the Aurelian capital city, Griswall. Few buildings rival it in height, among them being the International Space Elevator off the southern coast of Usea. The conjoined twin towers were originally built to be a symbol of Aurelia’s longstanding peace and prosperity and were a hub of commerce and finance, but since the invasion, the Leasath forces have encircled the building and turned it into their central command headquarters in the occupied nation. Since taking Griswall, General Diego Gaspar Navarro has assumed residency in Gaiuss Tower and has taken to holding nightly banquet parties in the observation lounge of tower, playing host to his own military underlings, the international press, and various Leasath, Aurelian, and international oligarchs who have come to Griswall to bask in Navarro’s opulence. Few question where Navarro is getting the money to hold such lavish events on such a recurring basis, though it is clear to anyone paying attention that they are paid for with the plundered wealth of Aurelia, to an almost spiteful degree of excess. The general public has been barred from entering or approaching Gaiuss Tower while Navarro occupies it, and the Leasath military is currently in the process of fortifying its surroundings and modifying the Atmos Ring encircling it for some as yet unknown purpose. The name Gaiuss is derived from Gaius, a Latin given name popular among citizens of the Roman Empire and second only to Lucius in popularity. One possible origin of the name comes from the word gaudere, meaning “to rejoice.” It also shares an uncertain linkage with Gaia (also spelled Gaea), the Greek personification of the Earth and one of the primordial deities who birthed the Titans and their descendants the Olympians.    AURELIA Full Name: The Federal Republic of Aurelia Capital: Griswall Continent: South Osea Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) Government: Federal parliamentary representative democracy Real World Analog: Argentina, Chile, Australia The beacon of the south. Comprised of a mixture of indigenous peoples and settlers from northern Osea and the Kingdom of Sapin who arrived during the Middle Ages, the nation of Aurelia has a long and storied history of both war and peace. Its capital city of Griswall’s founding dates back the Age of Exploration and can be found on many early maps of the world. Eventually, the fractious Aurelian states consolidated into a single federal republic capitulating to a government in Griswall and comprised of four provinces. The Federal Republic of Aurelia is both the southern most and largest nation in South Osea, as well as the richest. Its position in the southern hemisphere protected it from the ravages of the Ulysses 1994XF04 impact in July of 1999. And with its economy and infrastructure intact while Usea, Anea, North Osea and Verusa spent a decade in recovery, Aurelia has emerged as a world leader in various scientific and technological sectors. Its proprietary aerospace firms have even mass produced several models of fighter aircraft presently unseen anywhere else in the world, including the alleged XFA-27 Scarface, previously thought lost at the end of the Usean Continental War of 1998. Aurelia also saw an influx of refugees from areas afflicted by Ulysses, being one of the few remaining safe and stable places on the planet in the chaotic aftermath of Ulysses Day. Much like its diametric counterpart in the north, Emmeria, Aurelia welcomed these new citizens with open arms and provided them with safe housing and work in its economy, catapulting its GDP to unprecedented heights and it remains a world leader to this day, especially with the Osean Federation just beginning its recovery process from the so-called Lighthouse War a year earlier. In recent years, Aurelia has begun full scale research of meson energy production through particle accelerators in an attempt to better understand the nature of the universe. One of these particle accelerator facilities, the Atmos Ring, is the pride of the Aurelian capital of Griswall and a counterpart to its main landmark, Gaiuss Tower. The name Aurelia is a feminine derivative of the name Aurelius, which is derived from the Latin word for gold, aurum. Names of various locales around Aurelia are also derived from words in various South American native languages.   LEASATH Full Name: The Democratic Republic of Leasath Capital: Alendal Continent: South Osea Head of State: General Diego Gaspar Navarro Government: Military dictatorship Real World Analog: Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, various South and Latin American dictatorships Also known as the Peoples Republic of Leasath. If its southern neighbor Aurelia is one of the shining post-Ulyesses success stories, then Leasath is one of the world’s most infamous failed states and most well-known remaining military dictatorships now that the Federal Republic of Estovakia has restored civilian leadership to its nation following the death of its dictator Gustav Dvornik at Sonne Island and its military’s official surrender in April of 2016. Leasath’s economy had been in shambles for years prior to Navarro’s rise to power, and social unrest was rampant, leaving it a veritable tinderbox just waiting for a spark to set it ablaze. When simultaneous anti-satellite strikes by the Kingdom of Erusea and the Osean Federation created a Kessler Syndrome catastrophe in orbit and knocked out the global information network in late September of 2019, Leasath was one of several nations around the globe that erupted into civil war during the chaotic aftermath. Eventually, forces led by Diego Gaspar Navarro emerged victorious. Prior to Diego Navarro seizing power, stable governments in the nation were a rarity, and often fell through political weakness or civil unrest, and Navarro is far from the first military strongman to sit in the government palace in Alendal. For years, the world’s richer nations have supported Leasath through generous aid donations in both food, supplies, and money. The Osean Federation, Republic of Emmeria, and Federation of Central Usea are among its top benefactors, but its single largest donor of relief aid and funds is its southern neighbor, the Federal Republic of Aurelia. Despite this, the Leasath government routinely claims it is being exploited by these nations. And there is a kernel of truth to this claim, as Osean and Yuktobanian oil and resource companies have plundered Lesathian oil and mineral resource claims for decades, taking advantage of constant unrest in the nation while their governments send meager recompense in return. As the world’s attention was tuned to the fighting on Usea between the Osean Federation and the Kingdom of Erusea over the International Space Elevator in Gunther Bay, the latest round of tensions flared in Lesath and exploded into a full-blown civil war. After months of fighting, and with the Osean military and International Union Peacekeeping Forces occupied on Usea, there was no one to step in and quell the conflict and eventually General Diego Gaspar Navarro emerged victorious from the fray. Navarro quickly disposed of his enemies and consolidated his power in Alendal, but his real plan was to unite all of South Osea into a single state in what he promised would be an unending series of wars with the alleged intent of challenging the Osean Federation and its allies around the world, or at least holding enough clout to extort them even more than he already was. One of the great modern mysteries of the post-Circum Pacific War era world is where exactly all the aid money from the superpowers has gone in Leasath. By all outward accounts, the people of Leasath are largely impoverished and suffering, with a non-existent middle class and rampant inflation leaving most Lesathian households pulling in the equivalent of barely Ƶ1,000 OFD a year with at least three working family members. And yet, the Leasath army, air force, and navy are among the most advanced and strongest military branches on the planet, claimed to be a match at the very least for the Kingdom of Erusea in strength at the outset of the Aurelian War. And that doesn’t even factor in Lesath’s flying fortress and Navarro’s personal pride, the Gleipnir. The story of Navarro’s financial deceptions are just sitting bare waiting to be broken to the world and to the people of Leasath themselves. And as it happens, one of the world’s best journalists has the dictator and his pocketbook at arm’s reach now...   OSEA Full Name: The Osean Federation Capital: Oured Continent: North Osea Head of State: President Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic Real World Analog: The United States of America As is par for the course, the Osean Federation’s shadow looms long across Ace Combat X. Having just suffered a brutal pyrrhic victory in the Lighthouse War against the Kingdom of Erusea, the Osean Federation is left to gaze into Harling’s Mirror and think upon their sins and their losses. With their naval fleet decimated by Erusean precision attacks and the Osean Air Defense Force in a state of upheaval after events still classified from public view, the “world police” are in no condition to interfere with anyone’s affairs at the moment, let along Aurelia and Leasath’s. So as the Southern Hemisphere ignites below their borders, the Osean public watches with perhaps mild interest, if any at all. Covering the war for the Osea Times is award-winning photojournalist Albert Genette, but that is basically our only real connection to Osea’s presence in the game. The standard refrain, “Osea is not the good guys” remains in effect, but they are thankfully hands off for the duration of Ace Combat X. For now, just keep what I’ve said in mind, because after we’re done here, we’re gonna take a step back in time one year prior and find out just what exactly happened to knock Osea off its high and mighty rocker...  As a part of the supplementary materials for Ace Combat X published on a now-defuct portion of Project ACES’s website, there were three short stories written as well. Two of them are told from the perspective of Eugene Solano, and recount his point of view on the events of Skies of Deception and Standoff in the Skies II. The third story is written from the POV of the captain the Gleipnir, Frank Burlington, and recounts Standoff in the Skies II from the Leasath perspective. All three stories also include never before seen supplementary artwork done by the game’s cutscene story artists. They also confirm at the very least that both Ice Bound and Standoff In the Skies II are the “canon” versions of Missions 6 and 7, and also depict Gryphus 1 as flying the XFA-24 Apalis during Mission 7. Two of these stories were translated into English by the folks at Electrosphere.info. The third one, “Standoff in the Skies II: Leasath Side” was done by me for this LP. EUGENE SOLANO’S MEMOIRS: SKIES OF DECEPTION quote:To tell the truth, I had a hard time growing fond of the emblem of Gryphus Squadron. I couldn't help but feel that its design, a condor wearing a complacent smile, beefed up the atmosphere of a provincial base. It just wouldn't make me feel fit.  Now that we’re passed Ace Combat 6 the Assault Records section returns to being an Artifact Title. Named Aces return in Ace Combat X and can be spawned in each mission by completing certain hidden sub-objectives. Shooting them down will unlock a special paint scheme for their respective planes to be purchased upon the completion of Single Player Mode. Unlike previous Ace Combats except for Ace Combat 2, Named Aces will spawn in a first time playthrough of Ace Combat X. In prior games, Named Aces would only spawn in New SP Game runs or on Hard difficulty or higher for a first run game. Skies of Deception also introduces a second type of spawnable enemies: Star Units. Denoted by a ★ beside their target name, Star Units will appear in various maps as optional targets that, when shot down, will unlock new parts to customize your aircraft with. Star Units begin appearing in Mission 3B and later; there are no Star Units in Mission 1, 2, or 3A. 
MANTA   Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Soundtrack Composers: Hitoshi Akiyama, Maiko Iuchi, Seiji Koike, Akira Yamasaki Release: 2006* (No official soundtrack release) Discs: None Tracks: 41 Being a PSP game, Skies of Deception did not receive a proper soundtrack release. Information on its soundtrack is highly fragmentary at best, as there is no official track listings for any of the songs that appear on it, let alone official names. The onboard music player doesn’t list any track names or give any indication of a playlist order, and is incomplete as well, with the multiple tracks from the game left out. So it’s basically a free-for-all in terms of what you want to go with. I will be uploading the soundtrack on my YouTube page with best guess approximations of a playlist order and track names, as the complete soundtrack is not available on YouTube and otherwise only available through  . Track names are based on the missions they appear in or what gameplay segment they appear over.The above “cover art” for the soundtrack was made by me, styled after a lower-res version made by a user on the A9VG BBS forums whose user name I couldn’t readily find and also appears to have been banned so RIP that guy, I guess. If you would like to use my version of it for whatever purpose, *wink wink*, by all means, go right ahead. Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC X
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 20:54 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Mar 1, 2019 19:47
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bingsu posted:Yay, first page! I've never played X nor have I watched an LP of it so this is the first time I'm ever seeing this game. I think the only interaction I've had with things from X are some Pokemon/Ace Combat crossover pics with the Gleipnir. The voice acting has something off about it, I think. Feels like they're half-assing it. Yeah, there's a lot of PSP caliber "cheapest actors available" performances in the game. They run the gamut from actually trying, to not giving a poo poo, to TRYING TOO HARD, so it's going to be one hell of a trip. Like, this was done in the same timesphere as 5, Zero, and 6, which had relatively competent big name voices attached to them. So again this is clearly as case of "PSP money" strikes again, like how Brian Cox is in every Killzone game except Liberation because Guerrilla couldn't afford him on PSP money.
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Mar 2, 2019 00:01
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thetruegentleman posted:"In recent years, Aurelia has begun full scale research of meson energy production through particle accelerators in an attempt to better understand the nature of the universe. One of these particle accelerator facilities, the Atmos Ring, is the pride of the Aurelian capital of Griswall and a counterpart to its main landmark, Gaiuss Tower." I'm trying to keep the spoilers for 7 to a minimum in the update posts and the commentary, but yeah that's probably a good idea.
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Mar 3, 2019 06:39
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Icedude posted:The controls for ACX always stopped me getting past around mission 3, so I can't wait to see what actually happens in this game I was the same way, not going to lie. Playing it on PPSSPP is so far the only way I've been able to make any real progress on it, and that's kind of a crying shame. It was a game that deserved to be on the PS2, but came out after the PS2 was dead and buried and wasn't up to snuff enough to be on the PS3 or Xbox 360, so it was suck on the PSP with no where to go. I've recorded commentary for the entirety of Part 1 of the game now and the general through line of commentators who weren't experienced with it seems to be "this game looks really solid and good and does some cool things with the hand it was dealt, what is it doing on the PSP?"
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Mar 3, 2019 08:47
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MayOrMayNotBeACat posted:Excited for this! The man has been shot enough already, perhaps it’s for the best. CRIMES!, however, are very much in season lately.
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Mar 3, 2019 22:08
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And just like that, we've got our first portion of the soundtrack! Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception Soundtrack Composers: Hitoshi Akiyama, Maiko Iuchi, Seiji Koike, Akira Yamasaki Release: 2006* (No official soundtrack release) Discs: None Tracks: 41 Being a PSP game, Skies of Deception did not receive a proper soundtrack release. Information on its soundtrack is highly fragmentary at best, as there is no official track listings for any of the songs that appear on it, let alone official names. The onboard music player doesn’t list any track names or give any indication of a playlist order, and is incomplete as well, with the multiple tracks from the game left out. So it’s basically a free-for-all in terms of what you want to go with. I will be uploading the soundtrack on my YouTube page with best guess approximations of a playlist order and track names, as the complete soundtrack is not available on YouTube and otherwise only available through . Track names are based on the missions they appear in or what gameplay segment they appear over.The above “cover art” for the soundtrack was made by a user on the A9VG BBS forums whose user name I couldn’t readily find and also appears to have been banned so RIP that guy, I guess. Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro: DISC X
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Mar 5, 2019 21:46
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Out of the Fire Mission 2: Out of the Fire – October 22nd, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The severely depleted Gryphus Squadron launches a surprise attack on Puna Base, a Leasath-build front line base on the Puna Plains. Their objective is to strip the base of its defenses and destroy the fleet of B-52s parked on the runway so the army can move in and claim the supplies stockpiled there.  Guest Commentator: I am joined today by the always fantastic Trizophenie, aka the Man Who Made Assault Horizon Legacy possible. Over the course of this LP project he has gone from not knowing a thing about Ace Combat to being one of the lucky few to buy the full bore Strangereal Edition of Ace Combat 7. ...Because he lives in Europe and Namco didn’t release it in North America  He may or may not be working on an LP of Digital Anvil’s cult classic space sim Freelancer, which I may or may not be appearing in.  PUNA BASE A hastily constructed military storage and staging area utilizing the natural flatland of the Puna Planes to build a runway. The base itself is not Aurelian in origin, it was build by the Leasath army during their blitz across western Aurelia, cannibalizing a rural municipal building into an on-site HQ. Puna Base has been the principle staging area for operations in western Aurelia by the Leasath Air Force and served as the base of operations for the flying fortress Gleipnir. Though the massive craft appears to have left Puna Base for parts unknown further south. Taking Puna Base from Leasath will give the Aurelian ground and air forces a massive cache of supplies to repurpose in their war effort, as well as give them a key staging area to launch a planned invasion of Port Patterson to retake the port city in the coming days. 
ARI Tracks featured in Mission2: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 6, 2019 21:04
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Prelude Mission 3A: Prelude – October 27th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The battle to retake Port Patterson has begun. Gryphus Squadron must prevent the Leasath Navy’s Transportation Corps from landing troops inside the harbor. If Leasath can get enough landing ships into the bay, they will be able to repel the Aurelian forces in the city.  Guest Commentator: I am joined in something of an LP cultural exchange by GrandmaParty and his horribly offensive cat-hating avatar. Grandma is responsible for one of two dueling LPs of Ackk Studio’s monumental indie disaster YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG, a game that Toby Fox did a music track for and then quietly disavowed after its launch because it was that bad. Along for the ride is his wife, and cat, and a rotating stable of guest commentators including myself. Seriously, YIIK is a thing that needs to be witnessed, I can’t do it justice in this tiny blurb. He also LP'd Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass a beautiful, heartbreaking game infinitely more worthy of of attention than YIIK and actually managed to be everything YIIK tried and failed to embody. He's also LPing Chrono Cross... for some reason.  PORT PATTERSON The seaside metropolis of Port Patterson is the gateway to western Aurelia and its principle port city in the Pacific. Aurelia’s pacific naval fleet was also stationed at Port Patterson, but was driven out to sea by the Leasath attack, escaping with the help of Falco Squadron’s cover early in the war. With the city back under allied control, Aurelia once again has an operational naval port and the Aurelian 1st and 3rd Fleets are due back at Patterson once their operation at Terminus Island against the Gleipnir has concluded.  THE MULTI-PURPOSE GAUGE (MPG) Ashsaber kind of bigfooted me on explaining this one, but that’s because Skies of Incursion whips out the MPG in its first mission. Skies of Deception holds off until the third mission before unveiling the MPG… with literally no fanfare or explanation. In it’s most simple terms, the Multi-Purpose Gauge is your countdown to failure/success bar. Appearing in the upper right hand corner of the screen just below the mission timer during certain missions, the MPG will help you gauge the flow of the mission and how well you are doing on mission-critical parameters. At the start of each mission or at relevant mission updates, Crux will explain what each particular MPG readout relates to. Usually your objective is to prevent the bar from reaching maximum, at which point you will fail the mission. The higher the MPG bar goes, it will turn colour from green, to yellow, to red. In this instance the MPG is tied to the number of landing ships that make it through the Port Patterson bridge. If more than three ships make it into the harbor, the gauge will reach max and it’s game over. However, certain missions will feature an inverted MPG which starts at maximum and you will have to bring down to zero, usually by destroying a sufficient number of enemy targets. There are also certain missions where you will need to fill up the MPG by inflicting damage on targets as well. The MPG is exclusive to the X Ace Combats: Skies of Deception, Skies of Incursion, and Joint Assault, mainly as a means of making the most of the limited resources of the PSP and iPhone/iPad. 
SABER Tracks featured in Mission 3A: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:02 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 9, 2019 22:36
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Situation Report #1 Tactical Briefing, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY Overview: Port Patterson has been retaken, and it is finally time to go on the offensive to retake the rest of Southern Aurelia. The ultimate objective of this phase of the campaign is to retake the major metropolis of Santa Elva, but there are multiple routes available to get there.  That’s right, I’ve lost my mind. So I’m going to throw the floor open to the masses and let YOU, yes you reading this right now, choose how things are going to play out for the foreseeable future, within reason of course. So take a look at the tactical map here and watch the first situation report video from Crux linked up above to get a feel for where things stand before making your choice.    Keep in mind though that Ace Combat X features an active battlefield map. This means that if you choose to do certain missions, they may have unforeseen consequences, both negative and positive for how the rest of the game plays out. The tactical options are infinite and your choice will set us the road to one of two possible versions of the finale in Santa Elva (there are a bunch of smaller variations to both missions but they’re only seen if you skip or gently caress up missions, which we’re not going to). So, here is your first slate of choices:
Please state your chosen mission, and, if you feel like it, a rationale for your choice if you want to win others over to your side. Voting will remain open until Tuesday at midnight PST, and the winning mission will be posted the following day, and you’ll just have to live with the consequences. CHOOSE WISELY nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 11:49 on Oct 4, 2021 |
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Mar 9, 2019 22:45
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Really Pants posted:How many planes can you fit up your butt? Depends on the scale.
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Mar 9, 2019 23:23
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Cooked Auto posted:Hooray Viggen. Fwiw, Root becomes the best part of the show once she gets over her whole “The Machine chose me, I’m special and I worship it like it’s god” thing. There’s a lot of great stuff in the final season and it will forever be a black mark on CBS that they just straight up murdered it... and that they let a rampant sexmonster run their network for over a decade, but still.
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Mar 10, 2019 00:20
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So we're currently at:
5A Rolling Thunder - 5 6A The Midnight Sun - 1
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Mar 11, 2019 05:11
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So it’s looking like a tossup between Rolling Thunder and Last Line of Defence. Today’s your last chance to vote for one or the other, or make a last minute rally for The Midnight Sun. If we’re still tied by midnight, I’ll let an RNG decide and you get to live with the consequences.
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Mar 12, 2019 10:20
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Mar 13, 2019 00:48
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Kadorhal posted:When do I send over the white with purple flame skins from the PS1 Air Combat? That's a default skin for the Typhoon in X. The HD pack by SuperOstrich has an option that includes the Scarface logo too rather than the Aurelian iconography.
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Mar 13, 2019 03:26
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Kadorhal posted:useituseituseituseituseituseit There's a bunch of cool meta-game extra skins that SuperOstritch has included in the pack that aren't in ACX itself and I will be showing them off in some capacity here and there.
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Mar 13, 2019 03:32
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Rolling Thunder Tactical Briefing 1 Mission 5A: Rolling Thunder – October 30th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: Gryphus Squadron is deployed the Stand Canyon to aid in the rescue operation of the Davis tank unit, which has been pinned down in the canyon by Leasath ground forces. Gryphus must secure the area before the Davis unit is wiped out, however, SWBM fire from the Gleipnir at Terminus Island won’t make this an easy task.   Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission by Estovakian Sympathizer Dr. Snark, who makes a really good case for sending his rear end back Snow Level Hell for Ace Combat 7. For the redo versions of Mission 5A and 5B by my old buddy Blastinus. Blast, for reasons beyond my ken, decided to screenshot LP Ace Combat Advanced completely blind as a side hustle to the Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies LP, so he is an inescapable part of this LP canon just as much as anyone else. Blast is currently LPing the entire Half-Life game anthology, having completed both Black Mesa (in lieu of the original Half-Life) and Blue Shift at the time of this posting, and is currently working on Opposing Force before moving onto Decay, and eventually Half-Life 2 and its Episode follow ups. He is filling in for Dr. Snark (who is very much alive at the time of this writing, thank you for your concern) for these videos because when I sent the contact requests out to get the band back together for the redo, I'd forgotten that Snark was only available for contact by a certain platform, which I had completely forgot had a social media component to it. When asked about doing a third run at 5A and 5B just for consistency's sake, Snark replied that he was in this LP enough already. Fear not, he--and Blast--will be back in Ace Combat 7 later this year.  CHOICES, CHOICES More than any other mission in Part 1, Rolling Thunder is the unambiguous “trap” mission. Each part of the game from here out will have one or more missions that largely result in more net negatives than positives for your run to the finale. In this case, yes, we have saved the Davis unit, and they will be joining us in Standoff in the Skies at full strength, but… they’re ground unit in an Ace Combat game, what kind of help do you really think they’re gonna be? Also, in rushing to their aid and neglecting our other possible options, this means that Leasath has come in behind us and retaken Port Patterson, thus losing us vital ground we just fought to retake so we have to retake it again in Mission 3B, Captive City, or risk losing our fuel supply for the subsequent missions. Having no fuel means the time you have to complete certain missions is curtailed significantly from what the game normally allots you. We’ve also blown our one shot at giving the Gleipnir at least a bloody nose, as it retreats out of our reach to Santa Elva following this mission. This means that it will be at full strength for Standoff in the Skies, with its cloaking device, SWBMs and Shock Cannon all fully operational. See, this is what happens when you let goons decide things…  STAND CANYON A canyonous desert area of southern Aurelia between Port Patterson and Santa Elva. The canyon is a major natural resource location for the Federal Republic of Aurelia and a mining complex was established on a large mesa near the center of the crisscrossing ravines. However, since the Leasath invasion, the mine complex has been temporarily abandoned by its workers as the Leasath military commandeered it to serve as an outpost for their forces in the region. The Stand Canyon area is also one of the multiplayer stages available in Ace Combat X's multiplayer mode, particularly for its Capture the Flag game mode.  APALIS The namesake of the first of Ace Combat X's proprietary super planes, the XFA-24 Apalis is a genus of small passerine birds in the family Cisticolidae. They are found in forest, woodlands and scrub across most parts of sub-Saharan Africa that feed primarily on insects. The genus was erected by the English naturalist William John Swainson in 1833. The type species is the bar-throated apalis. The name Apalis is from the Ancient Greek hapalos meaning "delicate" or "gentle". There are about 24 species of apalis; the exact number varies according to differing authorities. The African tailorbird and long-billed tailorbird were formerly considered to be apalises but are now often placed either with the tailorbirds (Orthotomus) or in their own genus Artisornis. The apalis featured in the image is the Chestnut-thoated apalis (Apalis porphyrolaema).  Aircraft featured in Mission 5A: Rolling Thunder Clearing Mission 3A unlocks the first of Ace Combat X’s local un-super planes, the XFA-24A Apalis. With the exception of Ace Combat 3, whenever a game unveils a completely fictional plane, it is usually an endgame unlock and the most powerful plane in that game. X, however, is more in line with Electrophere, including a small slate of completely fictional and in a few cases very-Electrophere reminiscent planes equipped with COFFIN systems. The fictional planes on Ace Combat X's roster are also the only ones that can be tuned with parts, thus making their base performance better over time and potentially lifting them up into the realm of super planes with some effort. Which means don't judge the Apalis by fact that we unlock it right at the start of the game. With the right parts loadout, you could very easily take it to the endgame no problem as your primary plane of choice. But it will take some effort to get it there though...  XFA-24A Apalis Manufacturer: Currently undisclosed manufacturing firm Role: Experimental Multirole Manufactured: ????-Present Status: In Service Primary Operators: Aurelia Quick Facts:
 quote:"A respectable aircraft in all areas, the Apalis boasts unrivaled expandability."
 Medal: Land Guardian Awarded for: Completing Mission 5A or 5B with less than 20% damage to allied ground forces on the MPG. Description: Awarded for keeping allied casualties at Stand Canyon to a minimum. 
ICE We'll cover Star Units in detail in their official debut in Captive City, but for now here's this.  
★HANGAR Tracks featured in Mission 5A: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 20:08 on Jan 18, 2023 |
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Mar 13, 2019 20:34
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Captive City Mission 3B: Captive City – October 31st, 2020 (Redo) Overview: Leasath forces led by the Miller artillery division have taken advantage of a gap in the Aurelian defenses and have retaken the recently liberated city of Port Patterson. Their forces have clustered in the petrochemical storage yard in Patterson Harbor, and are using the valuable and combustible fuel reserves in the complex as cover to dissuade enemy attacks. Gryphus Squadron must eliminate the Miller unit without damaging the fuel complex or Aurelia’s mission to retake Santa Elva will be severely impacted. Guest Commentator: Joining me once again for this mission is GrandmaParty, thus setting up the commentary gimmick of Ace Combat X: the same guests will be on for both the A and B and in some rare cased C versions of each mission from here on out.  LOL THIS MISSION PATH So this where Ace Combat X starts to unfurl its complexity with its mission path and choices throughout the game. For example, this mission, Captive City, is called 3B because it’s set in the same location as 3A, Prelude, but it is potentially the fifth mission you might play through. Basically Mission numbers and Operation numbers in the game aren’t a 1:1 parallel. You might have seen in the briefing and debriefing screens the term Operation Number, and what that means is just what order a mission is done in as the game progresses. For the sake of the LP, now that we’ve chosen a path, we’re going to follow that branch of missions to the finale of Part 1, Standoff In The Skies, and then go back and look at the alternate run of Part 1 with the missions we missed the first time around. Then we’ll repeat the process for Parts 2 and 3. So we’re going to do Captive City first, because it’s a good follow-up to do it immediately, and then I will let you all choose which mission we do next between 4B and 6B (7B is ruled out for obvious reasons despite it technically being an option now too). But anyway, the only way that you can unlock Mission 3A in the game is to do one of the two “trap” missions, 5A Rolling Thunder or 6A The Midnight Sun. Doing Mission 4A Last Line of Defense prevents Port Patterson from being retaken and thus locks out Mission 3A. This also means that Last Line of Defense is replaced with Mission 4B False Target and The Midnight Sun is replaced with 6B Ice Bound. These mutually exclusive missions and a fluid mission tree make it so that every playthrough of Skies of Deception is truly unique in some way and encourage multiple runs through the game to experience the full… I don’t want to say story, because there isn’t that much of one to be found here, and “experience the full experience” is redundant, but you are at least getting the picture here.  TUNING PARTS I’ll talk about Parts in more detail at the end of the LP but for now this is just a general introduction to an important but often overlooked element of Ace Combat X’s gameplay. Mission 3B is our first encounter, numerically speaking, with Part-holding Star Units and the informal introduction of Parts over all, even if 5A et al. might get a tiny bit out over our skis here. And yes, I’m gonna get sick of talking about Parts with a capital letter too, bear with me. We’ve already seen Parts before as a gameplay element in Assault Horizon Legacy, although they went largely unremarked upon. And they return in a big way for Ace Combat 7 in both single and multiplayer modes. In both those games, any plane could use any part that had been unlocked and purchased. However, in Skies of Deception, only the custom planes like the XFA-24A Apalis, or the XR-45 Cariburn can be upgraded with parts. The real world planes’ stats are locked as-is and can’t be altered with parts. This is to let the fictional planes keep pace with the rest of the roster as the game goes on. As I said in the write up on the Apalis in the last update, it’s an early game plane on its face, but with the right upgrades you can mainline it right up to the endgame if you’re that dedicated to it. Like, I’m not joking how much of a beast the Apalis is with the proper parts setup. Parts are broken down into five categories: Engine, Wing, Armor, Weapon, and Cockpit. Each category has 12 parts in it for a total of 60 possible parts. Some parts are unlocked for completing certain missions, meeting certain in-mission challenge requirements, completing cumulative achievements, participating in multiplayer matches, or by destroying Star Units in missions. There is an infinite amount of strategy involved in picking what parts are suitable for what planes, as certain parts cannot be equipped on certain planes. Also, while all parts raise a plane’s base stats, some also lower other stats, so finding a balance or at least a way to cancel out the stat nerfs is key to getting the most out of your tuning setup. Engine parts affect your plane’s speed, Wing parts affect mobility and stability, Armor parts pertain to defense, Weapon parts can increase air-to-air/ground potential, or stats that affect your standard missiles, special weapons or guns specifically, and Cockpit parts are catch-all parts that pertain to other aspects of the plane that don’t fit nicely into little stat boxes. Again, we’ll see more of this later on at the end of the LP, including a full parts break down of every available option. 
SHIVA Mission 3B also sees the first of our Star Units. These special units are unique spawns similar to the Named Aces which appear on the map if certain conditions are met in-mission and reward you with parts to tune the various custom planes like the Apalis with if you destroy them. Captive City’s Star Unit is a gimme, but every other one from here out has to be worked for.  
★C-5 Tracks featured in Mission 3B: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 16, 2019 23:48
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Also for the record, Chimera Squadron are the chumps who show up in the attract trailer for both Ace Combat X and Xi, so this is what they look like up close. Their skin is the default Leasath enemy skin on Color 2 for the Su-37 that's unlocked when you beat the game.
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Mar 17, 2019 07:04
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 It's that time again. Time to decide which of the two missions we have left in Part 1 you want to see done first.
Each choice is of lower stakes now that we've already sprung the trap mission, but still choose carefully. Voting will remain open until Midnight PST, Tuesday night.
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Mar 17, 2019 23:52
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el dorito posted:4B  Rip
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Mar 18, 2019 10:21
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False Target Mission 4B: False Target – November 3rd, 2020 (Redo) Overview: Gryphus Squadron intercepts a Leasath air transport convoy delivering weapons and supplies to Santa Elva in the skies over Kingshill. However, the Leasath forces are prepared for an attack and have deployed numerous decoy transports to hide the real shipments. Gryphus 1 must locate the real transports among the decoys and destroy them before they can escape the combat zone.  Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission by Pythonicus, who is finally at long last coming to the end of his Destiny LP. And just in time for Anthem, too! Lol, just kidding, I would never wish a game like Anthem on anybody.  KINGSHILL Kingshill is a verdant hilly region in western Aurelia separating Port Patterson from the rest of southern Aurelia. A new highway route connecting Port Patterson to Santa Elva was under construction but abandoned thanks to the outbreak of the war. The Leasath Army’s Miller 3rd Artillery unit was able to slip into and retake Port Patterson through the highway tunnels built beneath Kingshill.  THE LULL The unfortunate part of Ace Combat X being a largely sparse game is that there’s whole points were there’s nothing to really talk about, and this is one of them. The only thing that springs to mind at present is to just highlight how this mission, along with 6B and technically 3B are all optional if you really don’t want to do them. The only required missions you need to do to complete the Prologue and Part 1 of the game are Missions 1, 2, 3A, one of 4A/5A/6A, and then 7A/7B. All you need to do is retake Port Patterson and then do one more mission to trigger the Gleipnir retreating to Santa Elva and then one version or the other of Standoff In The Skies will unlock. If you rush right to Santa Elva at the earliest opportunity, the mission is exponentially harder than it would be under normal circumstances as the compounding factors upping the difficulty for it would have been taken care of by doing the remaining missions in Part 1. The trade-off, however, is there is a medal you can unlock at the end of the game for taking the shortest possible route through each of the four parts of the game. But be warned though: leaving even a single incomplete mission on the table will net you the game's "bad" ending, which we'll see at the end of the game when everything is said and done. 
SAVANNA  
★C-17 Tracks featured in Mission 4B: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 21, 2019 22:50
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It’s kind of baffled me as to why Xi was a prequel to X instead of a side game, and this mission kind of crystallized my thoughts on it. Nobody cared to make it line up with X so it just doesn’t period.
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Mar 22, 2019 02:39
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I also missed a couple things. First off, the medal that you can unlock in Mission 5A (and 5B too) Medal: Land Guardian Awarded for: Completing Mission 5A or 5B with less than 20% damage to allied ground forces on the MPG. Description: Awarded for keeping allied casualties at Stand Canyon to a minimum. And I put the wrong music track in for False Target, so Tracks featured in Mission 4B: DISC X That one is now reflecting the proper song too.
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Mar 23, 2019 10:57
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Ice Bound Mission 6B: Ice Bound – November 8th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: An Aurelian intelligence officer was stationed at Terminus Island on an under cover assignment while the Gleipnir was docked there. Although the flying fortress has since left the area, the agent was able to uncover vital intel on it while it was there. The infiltration submarine Naiad has been dispatched to retrieve the officer and return him to Aurelian GHQ. Gryhpus Squadron must provide top cover for the distraction fleet and then escort the Naiad safely out of the combat zone once the agent is secure.  Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission by my good buddy FPzero. He is currently suffering his way through the befuddling Ocarina of Time romhack Nimpize Adventure along with several other Team Frog Nuggetiers, most notably Artix, ChaosArgate, and Krysmphoenix. Nimpize is notable for being the first OoT romhack to actually create new content within the rom itself rather than just shifting stuff around like OoT Randomized and Chaos Mode do. When asked for a quote to sum up his experience with the hack thus far, FP replied “gently caress! Goddammit.” from the frigid embrace of an ice chest.  TERMINUS ISLAND Terminus Island is one of the southern-most permanently inhabited locations on Earth due to worker housing accommodations for the many oil and natural gas refineries and naval station dotting the island. It is the northern most of six islands off the Aurelian southern coast and was named “terminus” as it is effectively the farthest boundary of both Aurelian and human civilization in the southern hemisphere. The island itself is covered in ice and snow year round due to its location on the cusp of the Antarctic Circle, even as the rest of the southern hemisphere is entering its summer season now as October gives way to November. It’s location in the extreme south also means it experiences the phenomena known as the Midnight Sun, where the sun does not appear to set or only partially sets for days on end at the polar regions thanks to the Earth’s axial tilt. The airborne fortress Gleipnir was originally stationed at Terminus Island to keep it out of range of Aurelian air power while still being able to utilize its SWBM ordinance at a safe distance. The remains of a makeshift water-based runway and docking berth fashioned from signal light buoys were found at the island by Aurelian forces who swept in and retook the island from Leasath forces following the completion of the Naiad’s operation. Due to increased Aurelian military activity in the western regions, however, Supreme Commander Navaro ordered the Gleipnir away from Terminus Island and back to Santa Elva in order to defend the city from what is at this point an inevitable Aurelian attack. The Gleipnir is now standing by in the skies over Santa Elva, invisible and fully armed and operational and ready to strike without warning.  THIS IS THE NAIAD! Named for the water nymphs of old mythology, the Naiad is an Aurelian Navy submarine specializing in covert infiltration and recovery missions. The vessel was one of those lucky enough to escape to sea during the initial blitz of Aurelian military assets by Leasath and has been a series of covert operations along the southern coast of Aurelia since the retaking of Port Patterson. However, the damage incurred by the collision with a mine and the near-miss with an iceburg during the extracting operation from Terminus Island has left the Naiad unable to dive. The sub will unfortunately be out of action for the duration of the war as repairs are conducted at the naval drydock in Port Patterson.  NAIAD The namesake of our very loud and enthusiastic infiltration submarine in this mission comes from the Greek mythological figures, the Naiads. Naiads were elemental spirits represented various fresh water bodies, including brooks, rivers, streams and even fountains. Their salt water analogs are the Oceanids, while the Nereids were representations of the Mediterranean Sea in particular. Wikipedia lists numerous individual Naiads that appear in various legends throughout Greek mythology, as most were only local deities worshiped by individual cults. A common practice was to discard the locks of childrens’ hair into rivers when they came of age or drown sacrificial animals in order to appease the Naiads and their life-giving waters. And yes, it’s with a measure of irony that the salt water-operating submarine in this mission is named after a fresh water spirit.  Medal: Sea Guardian Awarded for: Completing Mission 6B with less than 20% damage to allied naval forces on the MPG. Description: Awarded for keeping damage to the allied fleet at Terminus Island to a minimum. 
PALADIN  
★SUBMARINE Tracks featured in Mission 6B: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 23, 2019 23:14
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Sindai posted:I think you accidentally kept in your mic's audio during the briefing, since it sounds like you're having a one-sided conversation. Agh. Nice catch. I'll reupload a version without the audio as soon as I can.
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Mar 24, 2019 07:17
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Here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOZPxElnLp8
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Mar 24, 2019 07:48
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Standoff in the Skies II Mission 7B: Standoff in the Skies II – November 12th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The Aurelian forces launch an attack on Santa Elva to liberate the city from Leasath control. Everything has been leading up to this moment, and if the city can be retaken, then all of Southern Aurelia will be secured once again. As the Davis tank unit rolls into the city from the ground, Gryphus Squadron must hunt down and destroy the fully operational Gleipnir.  Guest Commentator: I am joined for this last mission of the “bad” timeline of Part 1 by my constant in the starry LP sky, the king of gastrointestinal issues, CJacobs. While he’s primarily switched over to streaming now, he has recently started an LP of Ashen, so go check that out while you’re busy very pointedly not posting in this thread, yes, I see you.  SANTA ELVA Located just off the eastern shore of southern Aurelia at the mouth of the Lenal River, Santa Elva is the second most populated city in Aurelian territory second only to the capital of Griswall. The city is also the capital of Lenal County. Along with Port Patterson and Challwa, Santa Elva is one of Aurelia’s primary port cities, servicing shipping traffic from western Osea, Sapin, Nordlands, Sotoa, and the Usean continent across the ocean. Port Patterson, meanwhile served shipping transit from eastern Osea, Yuktobania, Verusa, and Emmeria. Goods passing through Santa Elva would then be shipped up the Lenal River to distribution centers in the Aurelian heartland. Beyond that, there is not much else remarkable about Santa Elva as a city beyond its strategic geographic importance due its close proximity to Griswall. There is actually a real life town in Peru called Santa Elva in the Lambayeque of the country, but there’s not really much else available on the town itself on English websites to give any details. In Spanish, Elva is a variant and diminutive of Elvira, which means “truth”, “white”, and “beautiful”. So roughly Santa Elva equates out to “The Saint of Truth” or “The Saint of Beauty”.  TRUTH WILL OUT With the Gleipnir down, this mission marks the functional end of Part 1 of the game, and with it comes another story dump cutscene from our buddy Albert Genette. Genette’s promise to poke around at the loose ends of Navarro’s financial paper trail has paid off in spades. Through his research, he was able to uncover vast amounts of previously sealed financial information and government documents that have revealed the first layer of truth about Diego Navarro’s grand deception. As it turns out, Navarro’s claims of exploitation by Aurelia were nothing but lies, and the truth is that Aurelia was and still is Leasath’s top contributor of financial, medical, and other humanitarian aid. Navarro and his command retinue have simply been funneling the financial aid from Aurelia, Osea, Yuktobania, Usea and Emmeria into the coffers of Leasath’s military, buying vast supplies of weapons and battlefield technologies from firms like North Osea Gründer Industries, MacMillian Heavy Industries and General Resource Ltd. He then used the ongoing financial and humanitarian crisis inside Leasath to paint his people’s hardships as the result of lies and exploitation from the wealthier nations of the world. And with the real facts of the matter being known to only a handful of people, all loyal to Navarro, the world was none the wiser. And with the world still recovering from the chaos of the information network blackout caused by the Kessler syndrome catastrophe of September 2019, it’s easy to see how this information was able to be buried so effectively and how hard it is going to be to get the truth out, even for a famous reporter like Albert Genette. This vast and fraudulent accumulation of wealth allowed Leasath to construct its two flying fortresses, the Gleipnir and its predecessor, the Gandr, each loaded with top of the line weapons and defensive technologies a supposedly impoverished nation like Leasath would have no means to even develop let alone deploy. To complicate matters even further, once Navarro assumed control over Leasath at the end of the civil war, he also took complete control over its arms sector, which he was heavily invested in before even the outbreak of the civil war. The assault on Aurelia is just one of a number of eventual pre-planned artificial conflicts concocted by Navarro and his cronies purely for the purposes of driving arms sales around the globe and increasing his already vast wealth exponentially. As Genette and Gryphus 1 each come closer to unraveling Navarro’s deception in their own respective ways, each man now has a target on their backs as Leasath grows ever more desperate. But if the truth can be revealed, maybe this war can come to an end sooner than anyone thought. After all, who wants to put their life and career on the line for a selfish liar who’s only out to enrich himself… No, don’t answer that one.   GLEIPNIR The Gleipnir is the centerpiece of the Leasath forces’ might in South Osea, and the currently most powerful weapon in Diego Gaspar Navarro’s arsenal, though other weapons are being hastily completed as the Aurelian forces retake more and more of their lost territory. Developed covertly in the aftermath of the Leasath Civil War under the directive of General Diego Navarro, the Gleipnir is a multi-purpose heavy assault platform that is actually only one part of a two-pronged weapons platform. The second part of the weapons project, codenamed “Fenrir” was still in development at the time of the Gleipnir’s destruction over Santa Elva. Captained by Leasath Air Force officer Frank Burlington, the Gleipnir was Leasath’s primary offensive weapon for the early days of the Leasath-Aurealia War. With its revolutionary stealth and optical camouflage systems, the Gleipnir could cruise into a combat zone virtually undetected, deploy its devastating SWBM ordinance on a target, and disappear again without a trace making it practical impossible to defend against. The Gleipnir’s airframe made it remarkably maneuverable for a craft of its immense size. It could fly for prolonged periods in a 45°+ stall angle thanks to its powerful engines, and could even fly completely upside down for brief periods. The craft was frequently the subject of propaganda speeches by Diego Navarro, touting it’s invincibility and the destructive force of its weaponry, turning it into a symbol of Leasath as a nation, not just its military might. Navarro was so proud of its accomplishments he even had artwork commissioned of the Gleipnir to hang in his office in both Gaiuss Tower and the presidential palace in Alendal. It was even a grim joke among Aurelian pilots and soldiers that the only way you could tell the Gleipnir was near by was by spotting the LAF chase planes trailing it with cameramen in their cockpits there to film it in action. In addition to its conventional air-to-air and air to ground defensive ordience, the Gleipnir utilized two highly specialized and powerful weapons: the Shockwave Burst Missile, and the Shock Cannon.  SWBM The Shockwave Burst Missile (SWBM) is a proprietary Leasath-engineered heavy weapon utilized primarily by the Gleipnir to catastrophic effect. Unlike the weaponry derived from the old South Belka Munitions Factory’s Multi-Purpose Burst Missile (MPBM), the SWBM relies on more advanced technology to deliver its destructive payload. Each SWBM warhead is loaded with a compact cyclotron accelerator capable of creating highly charged and intentionally unstable particle energy. This meson particle fuel is vented from the missile shortly before impact and then ignited by the warhead to create a massive shockwave that tears apart anything unfortunate enough to be caught in its blast radius. The shockwave is most powerful along its horizonal axis, thus making the SWBM ideal for air to air attacks, as air pressure differentials increase its effectiveness at higher altitudes while the explosion is less powerful at ground level. While the SWBM is intented as a long range weapon, capable of hitting targets hundreds of kilometers away if needed, the Gleipnir itself is able to survive close proximity detonations of the warhead in close combat situations thanks to its heavily reinforced airframe. Additional details are currently fragmentary, but intelligence suggests a further scaled down version of the SWBM is currently being developed by the Leasath military-industrial complex for use with the mysterious “Fenrir” weapon.  SHOCK CANNON Housed on the underside of the Gleipnir is a small-scale particle accelerator cyclotron ring capable of producing the same type of high energy particle charge as the ones on SWBM warheads, but more stable in nature. The “cannon” part of the Shock Cannon’s name is actually non-indicitive of the weapon’s nature. The device operates by seeding the area over a target with highly explosive gas and then igniting the gas cloud with a directed energy charge of meson particles fired from the cyclotron disk. The meson particles then create a fuel-air explosion producing a downward-directed shockwave that then crushes and then rips apart anything unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast radius. As with the SWBM bursts, the Gleipnir is protected from the effects of its own weapon by both its altitude above from the shockwave’s origin and its reinforced airframe. The Shock Cannon requires a prohibitive amount of energy to fire, however, so it is often used only as a last resort or as an overwhelming first strike on enemy forces. The cannon requires so much energy to charge and fire that the Gleipnir cannot maintain its optical camouflage system while the weapon is in use. This leaves a brief window of opportunity for attacking forces to locate and strike at the flying fortress while before it can re-engage its cloak. As a result of its infrequent usage (and the devastating results of its firing), its very existence was known only to the Gleipnir’s crew and the upper echelons of Leasath command. As a part of the supplementary materials for Ace Combat X published on Project ACES’s website, there were three short stories written as well. Two of them are told from the perspective of Eugene Solano, and recount his point of view on the events of Skies of Deception and Standoff in the Skies II. The third story is written from the POV of the captain the Gleipnir, Frank Burlington, and recounts Standoff in the Skies II from the Leasath perspective. All three stories also include never before seen supplementary artwork done by the game’s cutscene story artists. They also confirm at the very least that both Ice Bound and Standoff In the Skies II are the “canon” versions of Missions 6 and 7, and also depict Gryphus 1 as flying the XFA-24 Apalis during Mission 7. Two of these stories were translated into English by the folks at Electrosphere.info. The third one, “Standoff in the Skies II: Leasath Side” was done by me for this LP. EUGENE SOLANO’S MEMOIRS: STANDOFF IN THE SKIES II quote:The Gleipnir had always been lingering on my mind since that nightmare of the battle where Gryphus Squadron was almost annihilated by the attack of just a single SWBM. Aurelian ground forces organized a formation to settle the score with that monster and were advancing toward the river side city of Santa Elva. STANDOFF IN THE SKIES II: LEASATH SIDE quote:[1]  Medal: Eye of the Storm Awarded for: Completing Mission 7A or 7B in six minutes or less. Description: Awarded for destroying the optically camouflaged airborne fortress Gleipnir. 
FIRESTORM  
★CONT.SHIP Tracks featured in Mission 7B: DISC X
 Some beauty shots of our dear departed Gleipnir from the game’s cutscene artwork:   
nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:04 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 29, 2019 01:58
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Cooked Auto posted:This is the Naiad! FIRE THE SHOCK CANNON! He really does sell Genette as being a tired old man now compared to young Genette seen in AC5. Shame they couldn't get Matt Mercer back to voice him on PSP Money though.
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Mar 29, 2019 03:18
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Ashsaber posted:Thank you to anyone who was interested enough in Skies of Incursion to actually read all of that. According to Acepedia there is supposed to be an 'Air Combat Challenge' mission, but I don't know whether it was DLC or if it is unlocked by beating Hard difficulty, either way I am not able to show it. Thanks again for showing it off. Ace Combat X does feel a little incomplete without it either way, so I'm glad we were able to cover it in some capacity.
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Mar 29, 2019 03:46
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Last Line of Defense Tactical Briefing 1 Mission 4A: Last Line of Defense – October 30th, 2020 (Redo) Overview: The Leasath Army’s Miller 3rd Artillery Division is pressing through Kingshill en route to Port Patterson. Leasath intends to retake the recently liberated city with their support. Gryphus Squadron is dispatched to Kingshill to eliminate the Miller unit before they can reach the safety of the highway tunnels in the foothills. Stopping the Miller unit at Kingshill will safeguard Port Patterson from any further threat to the city. Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission once again by Pythonicus.  CHOICES, CHOICES And now we get to go back and pick up all the missions we should have done to make Standoff in the Skies a hilarious pushover joke. The biggest win from doing Last Line of Defense first is that you don’t lose any ground you’ve previously taken by completing it. As we’ve seen already, doing either The Midnight Sun or Rolling Thunder first will result in Port Patterson being retaken by Leasath and forcing you to do not just Mission 3B, Captive City, but also opens up Mission 4B, False Target, since Last Line of Defense would otherwise be moot afterwards. The trade-offs from doing 4A first are that the Gleipnir will retreat to Santa Elva immediately and at full power, so you lose your one shot at weakening it heading into Standoff in the Skies at the end of Part 1, and Mission 5A, Rolling Thunder, now becomes the much harder Mission 5B, Pinned Down, and nets you a weakened Davis tank unit for ground support in Santa Elva. Mission 6A, The Midnight Sun, is also replaced with the generally harder escort mission 6B, Ice Bound. Basically, this is Ace Combat X’s gameplay thesis statement: every win comes bundled with a defeat of some sort elsewhere, so just learn to deal with it. 
ROSE  
★VEHICLE Tracks featured in Mission 4A: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Mar 31, 2019 00:15
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The Midnight Sun Mission 6A: The Midnight Sun – November 1st, 2020 (Redo) Overview: Gryphus Squadron make the bold choice of confronting the Gleipnir head-on at Terminus Island near the Antarctic Circle. While this choice may leave Port Patterson and the Davis unit in Stand Canyon vulnerable for the time being, if the Gleipnir can be destroyed or at least damaged at Terminus Island, then retaking Santa Elva that much easier with it out of the picture.  Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission by the Pit Lord himself, FPzero. In the time since his last appearance (which was actually recorded several weeks after this one), he has finished his odyssey through Nimpize Adventure and will soon be posting the final videos of the stream (which I actually appear in!).  CHOICES, CHOICES It might seem a bit counter-intutive to do 6A first before 5B, but Pinned Down doesn’t unlock unless you drive the Gleipnir away from Terminus Island one way or another, so let’s get this one out of the way first. Taking on the Gleipnir right out of the gate is perhaps the riskiest choice you can make at the start of Part 1, but it also nets you your biggest reward once you get to Santa Elva. The Gleipnir leaves this mission with its cloak and SWBMs destroyed, meaning aside from the still-functional Shock Cannon it will be a pushover when it comes time to fight it for real. You can now compare the Gleipnir fight to the version we’ve already seen in Standoff in the Skies II, and contrast it to the nerfed Gleipnir that will be showing up in Standoff in the Skies I in the coming days. The trade-off, however, is that because we left Port Patterson undefended, the Miller unit has rolled in and retaken the city behind us, meaning we now have to do Mission 3B, Captive City, or our fuel reserves will be severely depleted in the following missions. And since we left the Davis unit to twist in the wind, their ground support won’t be as effective in Santa Elva due to their depleted numbers. Doing any other mission first results in the Gleipnir leaving Terminus Island and heading to Santa Elva at full strength and Mission 6A is replaced with Mission 6B, Ice Bound. This is your one chance to face the Gleipnir before the finale of Part 1.  TERMINUS ISLAND Terminus Island is one of the southern-most permanently inhabited locations on Earth due to worker housing accommodations for the many oil and natural gas refineries and naval station dotting the island. It is the northern most of six islands off the Aurelian southern coast and was named “terminus” as it is effectively the farthest boundary of both Aurelian and human civilization in the southern hemisphere. The island itself is covered in ice and snow year round due to its location on the cusp of the Antarctic Circle, even as the rest of the southern hemisphere is entering its summer season now as October gives way to November. It’s location in the extreme south also means it experiences the phenomena known as the Midnight Sun, where the sun does not appear to set or only partially sets for days on end at the polar regions thanks to the Earth’s axial tilt. After its successful strike on Cape Aubrey, the airborne fortress Gleipnir retreated to Terminus Island to keep it out of range of Aurelian air power while still being able to utilize its SWBM ordinance at a safe distance. A makeshift water-based runway and docking berth fashioned from signal light buoys serve as the at-sea landing zone for the massive airborne fortress, which is capable of both surface and water landings. The surprise attack on the Gleipnir by the Aurelian air and naval forces, however, has left the airborne fortress severely damaged, but still airworthy. The Gleipnir's captain, Frank Burlington has ordered its retreat back to the Leasath stronghold of Santa Elva for repairs. However, it is unlikely that the Gleipnir will be back to full operational status by the time Aurelian forces arrive at the city, and its optical camouflage and SWBM launchers are functionally crippled.  MIDNIGHT SUN The phenomenon known as the “midnight sun” is a solar event that occurs in regions of the planet above the Arctic Circle in the north, and below the Antarctic Circle in the south in each hemisphere’s respective summer months where the sun takes far longer to set than at lower latitudes, or does not set below the horizon at all and the areas in effect experience up to 24 hours of daylight at a time. The phenomenon occurs due to the Earth’s axial tilt and orbital path around the Sun. At higher latitudes up and down the planet, the severity of the midnight sun increases, topping out at the polar circles where the sun will remain visible for a full 24 hour day during the summer solstice, appearing to travel in a complete circle around the horizon. At the North and South Poles themselves, each pole only experiences one sunrise and sunset per year on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. The inverse of the midnight sun phenomenon is the polar night, a period of time where the sun does not fully rise, or rise at all depending on latitudinal location, for much of the winter months of each hemisphere. When one hemisphere is experiencing a midnight sun, the other hemisphere experiences polar night. The naturally occurring long night has been the subject of fodder for several books, comics, movies, and TV shows, particularly involving vampires, including 30 Days of Night and Game of Thrones. 
GHOST And for the record, yes, Ghost sports the same paint scene as the default Wardog Squadron skin for the F-5E in Ace Combat 5, only with the Wardog and OADF iconography overridden by Gryphus Squadron and AAF ones.  
★CONT.SHIP Tracks featured in Mission 6A: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Apr 4, 2019 01:48
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David Corbett posted:Did I read that correctly - you're at 188° east longitude in this mission? How does that even work? They made a similar error in AC5, if I recall correctly. The Strangereal map wasn't exactly designed with a globe in mind and when people have tried to turn it into a sphere and line up the stated coordinates with the map grid or similar locations in the real world it falls apart completely. See: here.
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Apr 4, 2019 03:23
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Hwurmp posted:Planet Strangereal is actually shaped like a Goode homolosine rather than a sphere. Joint Assault is only going to happen if some generous soul steps up and does it of their own accord like how Lunethex and frozentreasure took a swing at both versions of Electrosphere for me, or Blastinus doing Ace Combat Advance, or ACES CURE PLANES recording Infinity for me, or how Ashsaber just finished up Skies of Incursion. Up next for me is Ace Combat 7 and then I'm finally, finally done. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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Apr 5, 2019 05:48
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power crystals posted:I remember seeing a couple people all volunteer for it so I was just curious if they'd all failed/fallen through. NobleSixFour’s LP of Assault Horizon fell through after he posted the first update and then disappeared from the internet completely. Like I messaged him on Discord about once a month after he stopped updating and posting here and he never replied to me and has been offline for going on two years now, so I legit don’t even know if he’s even still alive at this point. So that one’s toast. The other person who volunteered to do* Assault Horizon for me, Makrond, is still around and came through with an entire game’s worth of footage. I’ve got most of it commented on but it’s just a matter of getting it all edited and ready to post. It’s just that Assault Horizon is such a miserable slog in general that I lose my inspiration to work on it really easily. I’ll probably have the thread for it up once I’ve got the majority of my work on X done and use it as a buffer to get ready for 7.
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Apr 8, 2019 08:12
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Pinned Down Mission 5B: Pinned Down – November 3rd, 2020 (Redo) Overview: Gryphus Squadron is deployed the Stand Canyon to aid in the rescue operation of the Davis tank unit, which has been pinned down in the canyon by Leasath ground forces. Gryphus must secure the area before the Davis unit is wiped out. Guest Commentator: I am joined for this mission once again by Dr. Snark in the original run and Blastinus in the redo take.  CHOICES, CHOICES Pinned Down is another one of those missions where there’s not much to say about it because Rolling Thunder did what it does better by having the Gleipnir making GBS threads SWBMs at you every minute or so while you’re trying to navigate through the canyon and save everyone. This one also changes the dynamic of Standoff in the Skies the least too. The biggest changes to things for Pinned Down is that you’re now free of Discount Stonehenge from Tango Line looming over you, so you can fly about freely, and the position of the Davis Unit has changed from Rolling Thunder. In 5A they were all grouped together on the ground in the boxed canyon in the center of the map, but in 5B they’re up on the mesas in the high ground of the canyon and spread out more across the map. This gives you an advantage in that it will take longer for the enemy to reach each group and take them out, but you’ve also got to spread yourself thinner to protect everyone. You might have noticed that there were destoryable bridges in the area when we did Rolling Thunder and they just kind of felt like flavor bits for that mission. In Pinned Down the bridges now have a tactical use to them and destroying them will cut off the Leasath tanks from reaching the Davis Unit easily, forcing them to take longer detours up the sides of the canyon instead. Medal: Land Guardian Awarded for: Completing Mission 5A or 5B with less than 20% damage to allied ground forces on the MPG. Description: Awarded for keeping allied casualties at Stand Canyon to a minimum. 
GARUDA Garuda is a reference in this case to Garuda 1, the protagonist of Ace Combat 6, which Project ACES was working on at the time of Ace Combat X’s release on the PSP in 2006 (6 would release in 2007 a year later). That said, the Mirage or its special colour has nothing to do with Garuda 1 or any depiction of him seen in 6. Instead the second special skin for the plane is a rerun of the ace Zahrada from Ace Combat 5 (aka the special Mirage you’re forced to fly in Mission 11B, Reprisal).
★HANGAR The hangar in 5B is in the exact same spot as the one from 5A, for reference. Tracks featured in Mission 5B: DISC X nine-gear crow fucked around with this message at 12:05 on Jul 14, 2021 |
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Apr 11, 2019 05:03
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:53 |
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It's been literally a year. I should get back to finishing this at some point 
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Apr 17, 2020 06:28
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