Wes Scantlin's Run-ins With Law Enforcement... & Let's Play Ace Combat 5

AKA: Donald Trump’s America Simulator 2017 – Let’s Play Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War

Kazutoki Kono’s Wild Ride continues.

This is the fourth 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, 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.

Just as before, I would also like to pay tribute to my predecessors in the realm of “LPing Ace Combat 5”: AC LP thread regular and lovable forums gadfly bunnyofdoom attempted to LP it back in 2010 before it was eaten by Viddler. And The Hater (previously PauseAction) attempted to LP it back in 2008 before that LP was eaten by both Viddler and GameVee. And lastly, Concordat attempted an LP of it even earlier than that (I want to say in 2006?), before it was eaten by Google Video and the fucking forums themselves.

Seriously. Where did Condordat’s Ace Combat 5 LP go? Has anyone figured that out? :confused:

To date, the only surviving record of its existence remains a select few videos covering Operation Katina on their YouTube channel. But I swear to god, it happened. I’m not making it up. I’M NOT FUCKING CRAZY!!!

Games covered thus far:


Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War is the summer blockbuster movie of Ace Combats. To date, no other Ace Combat has been as flat out large and over the top as The Unsung War in terms of story, scope, presentation and mission size. It is the tentpole game of the “Golden Trilogy;” every other Ace Combat game is measured against Ace Combat 5 and generally all come up wanting in most fans’ eyes. “Yeah, but it’s not as good as Ace Combat 5 was” is the most damning barb anyone can throw at any given Ace Combat game from Shattered Skies on down.

While I enjoy 5 immensely, and I don’t begrudge it its place on most people’s pedestals, I am not one of those people who says that it’s where the franchise is at its categorically best because each Ace Combat game does different things well, as we’ve seen several times over now. So let’s reserve our “Crow vs. Popular Opinion” ammunition for when we really need it and I tell you all my Real Thoughts on Ace Combat 6 come summer (hopefully).

Like Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5 was also released in the PAL territories under a different subtitle: Ace Combat: Squadron Leader. It also featured a different plane on its cover in certain reasons, the first and only time an Ace Combat game has done this. The North American, Japanese, Australian, and UK version featured the F-14 Super Tomcat. The French version features the Rafale, and the Spanish version features the EF-2000 Typhoon Eurofighter.

As for what exactly The Unsung War is, it is the proper debut of the Strangereal setting in its 100% completed form. 5 took all the waffling retcons of the games that preceded it and made a bold and blatant statement on them that yes, this was in fact a completely different, strange but real world apart from our own that the franchise was set in. It also introduced us to several of what would become the series’ mainstays like the America analog of the Osean Federation and the ever-present thorn in Strangereal’s side, the Principality of Belka, among other things.

Ace Combat 5 picks up 5 years after where Ace Combat 04 left off in the late summer of 2010. The action begins on a small and seemingly unimportant naval air station out in the Pacific Ocean far removed from the contemporary society and geopolitics of the massive Osean Federation, easing us into this new Strangereal we find ourselves in by starting small and slowly opening up to a larger perspective as the game goes on.

Much like the majority of other Ace Combats, The Unsung War also has a frame narrative told by an outside narrator, in this instance freelance photojournalist Albert Genette. However, what sets 5 apart from its siblings is that its frame narrative is also its main narrative. Other narrators in the franchise tend to be separated from the gameplay narrative by either time or distance; Ace Combat 5 places Genette shotgun to the main action, making The Unsung War effectively one seamless story as opposed to several that need stitching together.

Now, I am not going to lie, I expected to be LPing this game in a much different political climate when I first outlined this project. Thought it is surprisingly more politically relevant today that it probably would have been had a certain election gone in the direction everyone had just assumed it was going to. And it’s not like I can sidestep politics anyway seeing as how Ace Combat 5 itself was a political statement in its original time anyway.

Ace Combat 5 is, no bones about it, an anti-war game. A hilariously inapt and ham-handed anti-war game, but one none the less. It was written in response to the 2003 Iraq War, a war initiated by politicians under false pretenses purely for the sake of re-litigating old international and personal grudges which the entire world is still dealing with the repercussions of nigh on 15 years later, and to the George W. Bush Era of geopolitics in general. So without spoiling anything too deeply for AC5, basically mid-00s era politics ahoy! It also definitely prefigured the Obama Era in many prescient ways with its hammer-fisted peacenik messaging. …But then again, Barry also droned more people to death than any other modern President, so make of that what you will too.

Basically, what I am saying is that while I will try to keep this LP as apolitical as I can, there will be moments where, for the sake of analysis, I will have to stray into political discussion because the game itself is dragging me into it. Now, I still, despite the bevy of evidence against it, have a shred of faith in human decency and that no one is going to set this thread on fire with abhorrent political statements. I will say straight up though DON’T SHIT UP MY LP WITH POLITRASH ARGUMENTS. If I feel anything has crossed the line I will start reporting people to the mods for complimentary cooldown probations, and if you turn this thread into a fucking dumpster fire, I will lock it for up to three weeks and just go play Final Fantasy XV or something depending on how exasperated I get.


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 Air Combat, Ace Combat 2 / Assault Horizon Legacy, Ace Combat 3, Ace Combat 04, Ace Combat 5, Ace Combat Zero, Ace Combat 6, Ace Combat X, Ace Combat Xi, and the recently announced Ace Combat 7.

That said, I will not be covering the following games:

  • Air Combat – The very first AC game is a sparse arcade-y game with zero real connection to the Strangereal games. It was later retconned into Strangereal with the mightiest of :shrug:s
  • Air Combat 22 – A literal arcade game.
  • Ace Combat: Joint Assault – A PSP game set on real world Earth, not a part of the Strangereal series.
  • Ace Combat Advanced – A GBA game also not set in Strangereal.
  • Ace Combat: Infinity – A freemium PS3 game built on Assault Horizon’s engine that takes missions from Strangereal and sets them on our Earth.
  • Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Trigger Finger – iPhone multiplayer game designed to hock Assault Horizon. Pass.
  • Ace Combat Xi: Skies of Incursion – It’s literally Ace Combat X told from the perspective of the game’s B-Team. It’s also not available on the App Store any more, nor was it available in Canada when it was anyway.


Now, the uninitiated among you might be asking yourself “What the fuck is a Shakespeare Strangereal?” And to that I say “welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Ace Combat!”

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 in-universe chronological order from 1995 to 2020. The order we will be going in will be Zero > 2 > 04 > 5 > 6 > X > 7 (depending on where it falls in the timeline when it eventually comes out). We even might do Air Combat and Ace Combat: Assault Horizon in some capacity for shits and giggles at the end as a bonus depending on how burnt out I am of Ace Combat in general and how good you’ve all been.

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 Blaze is actually Wes Scantlin trapped inside Ace Combat 5 itself, or that Captain Hamilton voted for Donald Trump.

Because that shit just sucks.

Presenting the “Great Up-Till-Now Ace Combat In-Universe Timeline”. As we go through the games and possibly threads, this timeline will fill in with bullet points on events in the Strangereal world as new updates are posted.

1900s - 1910s

  • The First Osean War between Belka and Osea erupts. The conflict rages for five years between 1905 and 1910.
  • The war marks the first time aircraft are used in combat roles during a conflict. The Belkan Air Force leads Belka to victory over the Oseans with their superior planes.

1940s

  • The Second Osean War erupts between Belka and Osea following decades of tension between the two nations. Belka annexes a large portion of North Osea south of the Waldreich mountains.

1950s

  • The Cold War between Osea and Yuktobania begins following the end of the Second Osean War.

1970s

  • The Belkan military invades and annexes the nation of Recta.
  • Belka begins selling munitions to the Union of Yuktobanian Republics on Verusa and the Federal Republic of Erusea on Usea.

1986

  • The Tyumen Dispute between the Union of Yuktobanian Republics and its neighboring Republic of Kaluga erupts. During the climactic Battle of Zhytomyr, the Yuktobanian Air Force crushed the Kalugan military, though at the cost of numerous lives.

1987

  • The Blood War between the Union of Yuktobanian Republics and the Republic of Romny is fought. Yuktobania claims victory after the Romnian Air Force collapses.
  • 17 December, 1987 – The Belkan Federal Law Review.

1988

  • 8 February, 1988 – Belka permits its eastern territories to secede amidst economic strife. The newly established state of Gebet declares its capital at Mons.
  • 12 May, 1988 – The Republic of Ustio announces its independence from Belka. Directus declared new Ustian capital.

1989

  • 18 December, 1989 – Project Pendragon initiated. Belka begins construction of a chemical laser weapon installation codenamed Excalibur in the mountain town of Tauberg to act as a missile defense system.

1990

  • May, 1990 – Construction of Excalibur briefly halted after a violent riot by conservationists at the Tauberg construction site.

1991

  • 29 August, 1991 – Northern Belkan territories sold off to the independent and FATO states. Northern islands and Five Great Lakes regions are ceded to the Osean Federation.
  • 2 September, 1991 – Yuktobania announces the development of 2 Scinfaxi-class nuclear submarines.
  • 16 December, 1991 – Territorial reformations are made. Boundaries of Ustio, Belka, Ratio, Recta, Gebet, Osea, and the FATO states are finalized.

1992

  • November, 1992 – Economic woes in Belka continue. Far-right Fatherland and Workers Party wins majority in Belkan National Assembly, pledges to restore strength and stability to Belka.

1993

  • 3 August, 1993 – Construction completed on Excalibur installation.

1994

  • 14 July, 1994 – Excalibur chemical laser deemed fully operational by the Belkan government after successful test fire.
  • December, 1994 – The International Astronomers Union announces the discovery of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid.

1995

  • 25 March, 1995 – Belka launches an invasion of Ustio, Sapin, and Osean held territories following the announcement of the discovery of natural resources in Ustio.

  • 30 March, 1995 – The Republic of Ustio falls to Belkan forces. Valais Air Base in the Tyrann Mountains is Ustio’s last remaining military facility.

  • 1 April, 1995 – Osea and Allied Forces counterstrike action begins.

  • 2 April, 1995 – Operation Crossbow: Ustio’s Galm squadron repulses a flight of Belkan B-52s and escort fighters sent to destroy Valais AFB.

  • 15 April, 1995 – Operation Roselein: Galm squadron conducts a bombing raid along Route 171 in Arlon, Sapin to secure a supply line for the Allied Forces.

  • 20 April, 1995 – Operation Choker One: The Allied Forces begin their counter-attack on Belka. Galm Team is dispatched to Belkan Priority One Airspace B7R (Codename: The Roundtable) and is confronted by Belka’s Indigo, Grun, and Rot fighter squadrons.

  • 24 April, 1995 – Operations Gelnikos, Round Hammer, and Costner: The Galm Team secures the shipping lane of Futuro Canal on the Sapin/Osea border, crippling Belka’s ground and naval forces, and escorting the Osean flagship OFS Kestrel safely through the canal.

  • 12 May, 1995 – Operation Varsity: As the Allied Forces press closer to the Ustian capital of Directus, Galm Team provides top cover for an Osean paratrooper insertion into the occupied mountain town of Solis Ortus.

  • 13 May, 1995 – Operation Constantine: The Ustian capital of Directus is liberated by the Allied Forces. Galm Team provides air support for the advancing army and downs Belka’s rapid response fighter squadron, Gelb Team.

  • 17 May, 1995 – Operation Hell Bound: Using Ustio as a springboard, the Allied Forces press into Belkan territory for the first time since the war’s outbreak. The Galm Team is tasked with crippling the Belkan mountain fortress of Glatistant, the centerpiece of Belka’s legendary Hydrian Line.

  • 19 May, 1995 – Operation Dynamo: The Allied Forces attack Belka’s airbase, ground defenses, and air squadrons on Schayne Planes. Alpha Team focuses on the ground defense installation. Beta Team cripples Schayne AFB. And Theta Team mops up the base’s fighter contingent.

  • 19 May 1995 (cont.) – Belka launches a surprise counterattack on the Allies during Operation Dynamo with their experimental chemical laser installation Excalibur.

  • 23 May, 1995 – Operation Judgement: The combined force of Galm Team and Crow Team is dispatched to Tauberg, Belka to destroy the Excalibur laser weapon.

  • 28 May 1995 – Osea announces the abrogation of its international non-aggression treaty with the Assembly of Nations.

  • 28 May 1995 (cont.) – Operation Battle-Axe: The Allied Forces launch a massive assault on the B7R airspace in Southern Belka, intent on crippling Belka’s local air superiority once and for all. Galm Team and Crow Team are thrust into the center of this battle and encounter Belka’s Schwarze, Schnee, and Silber Squadrons in the war zone.

  • 28 May 1995 (cont.) – Wolfgang “Huckebein” Buchner attempts to defect from Belka to Osea and is pursued by Schwarze Squadron into the B7R Round Table. He is shot down in the chaos of the battle and officially listed as “missing, presumed deceased.”

  • 1 June 1995 – Operation Cannibal: Galm and Crow Teams are dispatched to provide top cover for an Osean bombing run on the city of Hoffnung, Belka. While the mission is intended to cripple Belka’s war production facilities, the Allied bomber crews begin to take matters a little too far…

  • 6 June, 1995 – Operation Ravage: Galm and Crow Teams are sent across the Waldreich Mountains to rendezvous with an Osean strike team bound for the South Belka Munitions Factory in Sudentor. The operation is aborted after the Belkans detonate seven V1 nuclear warheads on their own soil in a last ditch effort to keep the Allied Forces from invading Dinsmark. In the chaos following the nuclear strike, Galm Two, Larry “Solo Wing Pixy” Foulke, turns against his wingmate Cipher and deserts the Ustian Air Force, fleeing the battlefield to parts unknown.

  • 13 June, 1995 – Operation Stone Age: The newly restructured Galm Team of Cipher and PJ are sent to investigate reports of a Belkan remnant contingent at the Yering Mine complex at Mt. Schrim and eliminate any hostile forces they encounter there.

  • 20 June, 1995 – The Belkan War comes to a close with the signing of the Treaty of Lumen at an official capitulation ceremony in Lumen, Osea (formerly Belka). Ratified by representatives from Osea, Belka, Ustio, Sapin, and Yuktobania, the treaty calls for the immediate cessation of hostilities between Belka and the Allied Forces, as well as the disarmament of the Belkan military, and the relinquishment of South Belka to the ownership of the Osean Federation.

  • 20 June, 1995 (cont.) – Operation Broom: As the capitulation ceremony gets underway in Lumen, the Allied Forces launch one final covert assault upon a Belkan contingent hiding in the coastal town of Anfang, Belka, who refuse to abide by the cease fire order. Galm Team is dispatched on a three pronged operation: Mars Strike Team attacks the Belkan remnant’s naval and land forces occupying the town, Mercury Strike Team bombs the makeshift runway in the highway tunnel just outside of town, and Jupiter Strike Team mops up the remnant Belkan Air Force unit stationed with the contingent, including the squadron’s E-767 AWACS unit.

  • Early October, 1995 – The Sapin Air Force’s Espada squadron goes AWOL from their airbase and disappears into Belkan territory. Similar incidents involving other fighter squadrons from Osea, Ustio, and Yuktobania are also reported around this time.

  • Late October, 1995 – Researchers from the Usean Universities of Shellsbridge and Comona determine the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid, discovered the year prior, is indeed on a collision course with the Earth. It will pass Earth’s Roche Limit and impact the planet on July 3rd, 1999.

  • Early December, 1995 – The Federation of Central Usea (FCU) convenes a continental congress of the nations of Usea to discuss the Ulysses threat. After much debate, the nations of Usea agree to begin construction of a railgun network in a politically neutral nation in order to attempt to shoot down oncoming asteroid fragments. The central Usean nation of Delarus is chosen as the home of the turret network codenamed “Stonehenge”. Development of Stonehenge and the existence of Ulysses is classified as top secret for the foreseeable future in order to prevent a global panic.

  • 25 December, 1995 – Operation Valkyire: Several high ranking members of the Belkan military stage a coup and reveal they have seized control over a large amount of former South Belka Munitions Factory and Project Pendragon assets. Under the command of former Project Pendragon chief engineer Dr. Anton Kupchenko, the organization calls itself “A World With No Boundaries”, and lunches a surprise attack on the city of Lumen, Osea, with a massive gunship codenamed XB-0 Hresvelgr. After the XB-0 attacks Valais Air Base, Cipher and PJ are recalled to active duty to hunt down and destroy AWWNB’s “Talon of Ruin”. However, before they can strike, they are intercepted by the Espada Squadron, defectors from the Sapin Air Force.

  • 31 December, 1995 – Operation Thunderbolt: The Allied Forces launch a final strike on A World With No Boundaries’ HQ at Avalon Dam to prevent the launch of their V2 WMD. Cipher and PJ are dispatched towards Avalon through the B7R Round Table, where they encounter interceptor squadrons lead by members of AWWNB’s core leadership.

  • 31 Decemeber, 1995 (cont.) – Operation Point Blank: Cipher and PJ reach the Avalon Dam and disable the V2 launch control modules. As they celebrate their victory, they are intercepted Larry “Pixy” Foulke, piloting an advanced fighter craft known as the ADFX-02 Morgan. After killing PJ with the Morgan’s on-board tactical laser pod, Foulke reactivates and launches the V2 MIRV. He is then shot down after a grueling final battle with Cipher and the V2 scuttles itself in mid-flight when the control transmission from the Morgan is terminated.

1996

  • Early January, 1996 – Cipher resigns from the Ustio Air Force’s Mercenary Division and leaves the country. All records of his involvement in the Belkan War are sealed by the Ustian and Osean governments due to the politically sensitive nature of his role in the post-armistice conflict against A World With No Boundaries. He is never seen again.
  • 21 April, 1996 – FCU President Robert Sinclair announces the existence and potential impact event of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid to the world, as well as the FCU’s response plan: the Stonehenge Turret Network, currently under construction in the desert of Delarus.
  • Mid Spring, 1996 – The last remnants of the deposed wartime Belkan government are dismantled as the Rald Party is forcibly disbanded.
  • Mid Spring, 1996, cont. – Tensions between the FCU and the Federal Republic of Erusea begin to rise. The FCU orders the withdrawal of all Allied Forces from the Republic of Amber and the Independent State of Ugellas on the Erusean border in an attempt to diffuse the situation.
  • Mid Summer, 1996 – Terrorist forces seize control over the Skully Islands off the coast of Usea. They are defeated by the Scarface Squadron of the Federation of Central Usea’s mercenary division. Nobody cared.
  • Early Fall, 1996 – Following their thaw in relations with their cooperation during the Belkan War, Osea and Yuktobania sign a historic peace treaty, formally ending the Cold War and laying the foundation for a trans-Pacific trading and military partnership. Included in the treaty is a sweeping nuclear disarmament agreement between both superpowers.
  • Early Fall, 1996, cont. – The surviving members of the former OADF Wizard Squadron attempt to assassinate the President of Osea in response to the signing of the Yuktobania Peace Treaty, leading to an armed standoff with Osean Special Forces. Joshua Bristow, the squadron’s former leader and co-founder of the A World With No Boundaries terrorist organization is not among their numbers at the time.

1998

  • January to March, 1998 – Tensions between the nations of the Usean continent begin to rise in response to newly forged alliance between the superpowers Osea and Yuktobania. One side favours the Usean nations joining together to form a military and political bloc against their international rivals, the other favours initiating a peaceful alliance with, possibly even assimilation into the Osean Federation.
  • Mid March, 1998 – While an FCU envoy is overseas in Osea to sign an Usea-Osea peace treaty, extremist military leaders from the northern and western Usean nations launch a coup d’etat against their governments and occupy territory across all of Usea with martial force.
  • 20 March, 1998 – Operation Gambit: The FCU Allied Forces Air Division recalls the pilot known by the callsign “Phoenix” to active duty as part of its counterstrike operations agains the Usean Rebel forces. As head of the reinstated Scarfrace Squadron, Phoenix is dispatched to intercept and shoot down a flight of Rebel bombers before they can destroy Twinkle Islands Air Force Base and Naval Station.
  • 31 March, 1998 – Operation Easy Money: Phoenix shoots down a Rebel reconnaissance and transport flight over the Lambert Mountains and encounters the Lancer Squadron, one of the Rebel’s most elite fighter units.
  • 5 April, 1998 – Operation City on Fire: FCU Allied Forces retake the city of Anchorhead, Erusea and cripple the Rebel Forces’ western naval power base.
  • 14 April 1998 – Operation Tin Castle: Scarface Squadron conducts an early-morning assault on a URF frontline base codenamed “The Keep” in the Amber foothills just outside of San Salvacion.
  • 14 April 1998 (cont.) – Operation Opera House: Later that afternoon, Scarface Squadron disables the Rebel-held offshore oil drilling and refinery complex Opera House in Gunter Sound off the south coast of Delarus.
  • 29 April, 1998 – Operation Greased Lightning: Scarface Squadron destroys an under-construction Rebel airfield hidden in the Meriton Highlands in Delarus.
  • 29 April, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Hunting Season: Later that day, Scarface Squadron launches an assault against the bulk of the URF’s eastern air force and comes face to face with Belkan War veteran Sergei Brynner and his Beast Squadron.
  • 10 May, 1998 – Operation Midnight Assassin: Scarface Squadron is dispatched on an early morning mission to intercept and destroy a URF electronic warfare flight and encounters a mysterious red fighter.
  • 10 May, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Bear Tracks: Later that day, Scarface Squadron bombs a mining complex in Hatties Ravine, Delarus, to cripple the URF’s flow of raw materials to their war production facilities.
  • 22 May, 1998 – Operation Sledgehammer: Scarface Squadron provides escort for an Allied bombing run on the URF-occupied shipyard facilities in Axel Bay City and encounters another Z.O.E. fighter amid the Rebel forces.
  • 22 May, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Acid Rain: Later that day, Scarface is scrambled across the bay to Anchorhead City in Erusea to repulse a URF retaliatory on the city in response to its liberation late last month.
  • 22 May, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Rising High: Phoenix is dispatched to run down a flight of URF high-altitude bombers and reconnaissance aircraft retreating from Allied territory over the Amber Mountains.
  • 1 June, 1998 – Operation Cuckoo’s Nest: Phoenix cuts off an airdrop of ammunition and chemical weaponry to a URF guerrilla detachment operating out of the Chopinburg forest in south central Usea.
  • 22 June, 1998 – Operation Swordsmith: Phoenix helps the Allied Forces retake a rebel-held weapons manufacturing facility on the Scofield Plains by destroying the facility’s anti-air defenses and guard squadron.
  • 22 June, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Groupies: Later that evening, Scarface Squadron is dispatched to Mt. Lambert, Erusea, to escort a recently rescued FCU government VIP back to Allied territory aboard the evac transport Dryman.
  • 1 July, 1998 – Operation Toy Box: Scarface Squadron tracks down and destroys a prototype bomber stolen by the Rebel Forces and hidden at Riass Space Center in the Comona Islands.
  • 7 July, 1998 – Operation Seagull: After locating the remainder of the URF’s detached naval power, the former Allied Navy’s Second Fleet, Scarface Squadron is dispatched to sink it and its flagship, the carrier Arquette. However, the Rebel navy’s top ace squadron and another mysterious red fighter move to intercept them.
  • 18 July, 1998 – Operation One Night Stand: Phoenix infiltrates a URF controlled submarine silo deep inside the Seal’s Bridge ravine to destroy one of the Rebels’ two Dragonet-class ballistic missile submarines, the Fensalir.
  • 21 July, 1998 – Operation Power Play: Scarface Squadron destroys the URF fortifications erected around the Waiapolo Lake hydro-electric dam facility in northern Usea.
  • 3 August, 1998 – Operation El Dorado: Operation Alphaville commences as Scarface Squadron neutralizes a URF ballistic missile launch facility in the desert outside of Faith Park by destroying the launch silos’ exhaust ports.
  • 4 August, 1998 – Operation Dark Star: Operation Belissima commences as Scarface Squadron intercepts and downs a URF arms transport over Hatties Ravine bound for Saint Ark.
  • 13 August 1998 – Operation Dead End: Phoenix conducts a hit-and-fade mission on a URF airfield and radar installation in White Valley using the valley’s terrain to mask his approach to the base.
  • 16 August, 1998 – Operation St. Elmo’s Fire: Scarface Squadron provides top cover for the FCU Navy’s 4th Fleet and the carrier White Valley at it breaks through the URF naval blockade at Payton Channel en route to Saint Ark.
  • 18 August, 1998 Operation Calvary: Scarface Squadron is scrambled to the Sandbury Desert to provide cover for an Allied search and rescue operation to recover the crew of a crashed Allied E-767 surveillance plane which landed in hostile territory.
  • 18 August, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Electric Dreams: Phoenix destroys a URF controlled particle accelerator facility codenamed Pancake in the Altoora Desert in northern Usea.
  • 20 August, 1998 – Operation Visiting Hours: Phoenix is tasked with disabling the core generator of the URF’s Turntable geothermal plant in the Rocky Islands in order to render the Rebel capital of Saint Ark virtually defenseless.
  • 20 August, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Juggernaut: Following the 4th Fleet’s path up the eastern coast, Phoenix is sent on raid against the last remnant of the URF’s eastern fleet off of Fort Grays Island to destroy it before it can intercept the 4th Fleet, or retreat back to Saint Ark.
  • 23 August, 1998 – Operation Sentinel: Operation Alphaville concludes. Scarface Squadron knocks out the Rebel early warning radar network along the Petrol Coast, leaving the way clear for the final assault on Saint Ark.
  • 31 August, 1998 – Operation Final Countdown: Operation Belissima concludes. Scarface Squadron is dispatched to Snider’s Top to finish off the remainder of the Rebel naval power on the continent and encounters the Rebels’ last remaining ace squadron.
  • 1 September, 1998 – Operation Jewel Box: The Allied Forces cripple the remaining Rebel air power by destroying the URF’s makeshift airstrips along the highways of Port Edwards in preparation for their final assault on the Rebel captial of Saint Ark.
  • 7 September, 1998 – Operation Kingpin: The Rebel capital of Saint Ark is liberated by the Allied Forces. The URF GHQ is destroyed by Scarface Squadron during the battle, and most of the Rebel commanders are rounded up and arrested by Allied military police. A Zone of Endless AI-powered fighter encountered during the battle was also shot down and destroyed.
  • 7 September, 1998 (cont.) – Operation Last Resort: Later that evening, Phoenix is scrambled to intercept and destroy the Dragonet-class submarine Folkvangr, which has surfaced off the coast of Saint Ark intent on destroying the city in a retaliatory strike now that the Rebel forces have lost control of it.
  • 18 September, 1998 – Operation Fighter’s Honor: The remaining commanders of the Rebel forces flee to the old Fortress Intolerance complex in North Point. Their plan to launch an ICBM at the Union of Yuktobanian Republics to draw them into a war with Usea is averted by Phoenix and Scarface Squadron. An experimental fighter, the ADF-01 FALKEN, piloted by the artificial intelligence combat unit Zone of Endless (ZOE) also appears to stop Scarface from preventing the launch, but is also shotdown.
  • 18 September, 1998 (cont.) – With the fall of Fortress Intolerance, the last of the Usean Rebel Forces’ leaders are taken into custody and the Usean Continental War officially comes to a close as the Allied Forces claim victory.
  • Late September, 1998 – Construction of the Stonehenge Turret Network completed in Delarus. Operational trials are hastily scheduled in preparation for Ulysses planetfall.

1999

  • 3 July, 1999 – Ulysses Day. Asteroid Ulysses 1994XF04 passes Earth’s Roche Limit, fracturing into uncountable meteorite fragments which impact the planet causing severe—yet survivable—damage to the global infrastructure. Catastrophic damage is prevented by Stonehenge and other spaceguard installations around the planet, but the world is left irrevocably changed afterward.

2000

  • Throughout 2000 – The Erusian Refugee Crisis unfolds. Millions of refugees displaced by the Ulysses planetfall the year prior are taken in by the nations of Usea, but the Erusian government suspends immigration and seals its borders after taking in only a fraction of those it promised to, citing economic hardship at home. Hundreds of thousands of people are forced into refugee camps on the Erusian border and left in squalid conditions and no legal recourse, earning Erusea the ire of the global community and harsh economic sanctions from Osea and other Assembly of Nations member states.

2003

  • 22 August, 2003 – Erusea seizes control of the shuttered Stonehenge Turret Network facility from the FCU. The Erusian Parliament passes legislation “legalizing” the invasion and occupation of Delarus as a means of controlling Stonehenge.
  • 23 August, 2003 – The Usean Treaty Organization (UTO) publically repeals all funding and support from Erusea on the demand that the Erusians relinquish control of Stonehenge back to the FCU. Erusea is given a deadline of September 14th, 2003 to comply.
  • 14 September, 2003 – FCU President Robert Sinclair prepares to mobilize the newly-formed Independent States Allied Forces (ISAF) against Erusea to retake Stonehenge by force after the Erusians flout the UTO’s peaceful surrender deadline.
  • 15 September, 2003 – Stonehenge is reactivated by the Erusians and begins shelling ISAF facilities across Usea. The Second Continental War, also known as the “Shattered Skies Crisis” beings.
  • 20 September, 2003 – ISAF GHQ in Los Canas is destroyed by fire from Stonehenge. ISAF command announces a general retreat order for all ISAF personnel and equipment to the east coast of Usea and to North Point, well outside of Stonehenge’s operational radius.
  • 21 September, 2003 – Erusea begins military invasion and occupation of the remainder of Usea, beginning with its neighboring nation of San Salvacion.

2004

  • Throughout 2004 – ISAF suffers heavy military losses to Erusea and Stonehenge as Usea falls almost entirely under Erusian occupation, eventually being driven off the mainland entirely. ISAF GHQ is temporarily relocated to North Point City, on North Point.
  • 19 September, 2004 – Operation Umbrella: Erusea moves to crush ISAF completely and claim total dominance over Usea by bombing ISAF GHQ on North Point. A last-ditch effort to defend North Point is mounted by the ISAF Naval Air Force south of Newfield Island. ISAF pilot Mobius 1 is deployed from the carrier Fort Grace to intercept the Erusian bomber flight before it reaches North Point.
  • 5 October, 2004 – Operation Harvest: Mobius 1 and other ISAF fighters are dispatched to destroy an Erusian bomber flight stationed at the former ISAF Rigley Air Force Base. Yellow 13 and his Aquila Squadron arrive in San Salvacion City.
  • 10 October 2004 – Operation White Out: Mobius 1 destroyed an Erusian-held radar facility atop Mt. Shezna, allowing ISAF’s remaing ground forces in Saint Ark to evacuate off the mainland to North Point. Plans for an invasion to retake Southern Usea are in the works.
  • 2 November, 2004 – Governor Vincent Harling wins the 2004 Osean Presidential Election in an electoral landslide on a strident anti-war platform, becoming the 48th President of the Osean Federation. President-Elect Harling and his running mate Vice President-Elect Applerouth are due to be sworn in on January 18th, 2005.
  • 7 November 2004 – Operation Hunting Hawk: Erusea sends its “invincible” Aegir Fleet to Comberth in preparation for a naval invasion of North Point. Mobius 1 shoots down a flight of FEAF supply transport planes and E-767 jammer escorts bound for Comberth Harbor in order to delay the Aegir Fleet’s eventual deployment.
  • 19 November, 2004 – Operation Early Bird: Mobius 1 conducts a pre-dawn raid on an Erusian-held pretrochemical complex in order to delay the Aegir Fleet’s deployment by cutting off its oil and gasoline supply. While the mission is successful, multiple ISAF planes are lost when Erusea’s Yellow Squadron arrives on the battlefield.
  • 23 November, 2004 – Operation Rough Seas: ISAF conducts a massive airstrike against the Erusian Aegir Fleet at Comberth Harbour. Mobius 1 alone sinks the majority of the Erusian naval force scoring a major victory for the ISAF and opening a vital corridor for retaking the mainland.
  • 16 December, 2004 – Operation Blackout: Mobius 1 leads an early evening airstrike on an Erusian-controlled solar power plant at Mackenzie Crater in Faith Park to disrupt the Erusian military’s power supply lines. While the mission is successful, however, the ISAF strike team is forced to flee the combat zone when the Erusians begin shelling the area with fire from Stonehenge. In San Salvacion, the Storyteller Boy discovers the existence of a local Resistance cell acting against the Erusian military.
  • 31 December, 2004 – Operation Countdown: A massive aerial battle between ISAF and the Erusian Air Force breaks out over Riass Space Center in the Comona Islands as ISAF attempts to launch a recon satellite into orbit on New Year’s Eve. During the battle, Mobius 1 and Yellow 13 cross paths once more.

2005

  • 1 January, 2005 – Yellow 13 reviews the enemy pilot intel from the previous day’s mission with Yellow 4, taking note of a standout pilot among the ISAF ranks: Mobius 1.
  • 18 January, 2005 – Vincent Harling sworn in as the 48th President of the Osean Federation in Oured, Osea. Harling vows to remain neutral in the face of the Erusea-FCU conflict raging on Usea, promising to spend his electoral mandate focusing on domestic policy matters and improving Osea’s tarnished diplomatic relations with its allies rather than foreign military involvements.
  • 24 January, 2005 – Operation Bunker Shot: ISAF commences an invasion operation to retake the Usean mainland, making landfall on Crowne, Halle, and Cranada beaches on the Seal’s Bridge peninsula just outside of Stonehenge’s firing radius. Mobius 1 is deployed to provide top cover over the landing site and ensure the invasion effort is successful.
  • 28 February, 2005 – Operation Woodpecker: ISAF forces retake control over Istas Fortress south of Los Canas, effectively collapsing the Erusian “Tango Line”. Erusian forces begin withdrawing westward for the first time, deeper into Stonehenge’s firing umbrella.
  • 14 March, 2005 – Operation Noah’s Ark: Two Air Ixiom 767s take off from Farbanti International Airport smuggling the chief engineers and scientists responsible for Stonehenge’s development and operation, as well as their families, out of Erusian territory. Mobius 1 is dispatched to rendezvous with the airliners over Chopinburg and defend them against an Erusian interceptor flight and escort them back to ISAF territory.
  • 2 April, 2005 – The San Salvacion Resistance blows up highway used by Yellow Squadron as a makeshift runway. Yellow 4 is injured by shrapnel, and her Su-37 is badly damaged and unable to be repaired in time.
  • 2 April, 2005, cont. – Operation Stone Crusher: ISAF launches a massive air strike on the Stonehenge Turret Network. Mobius 1 single-handedly destroys the entire STN complex. Yellow Squadron arrives shortly thereafter, but is too late to defend the facility. Yellow 4 is shot down and killed by Mobius 1 in the subsequent skirmish over the STN wreckage.
  • 7 May, 2005 – Operation Blindman’s Bluff: Mobius 1 escorts an ISAF U-2 Dragonlady spyplane carrying intel on the new Erusian superweapon Megalith back to GHQ in Los Canas by destroying an Erusian laid aerial minefield of airship noise jammers.
  • 18 June, 2005 – Operation Aurora: Mobius 1 is dispatched to intercept a salvo of cruise missiles inbound to ISAF troop positions over the Ice Creek glacier, including a Belkan-made MPBM.
  • 9 July, 2005 – Yellow 13 discovers the identity of the perpetrator of the runway bombing that led to Yellow 4’s death and is confronted by the Storyteller Boy.
  • 10 July, 2005 – Operation Firefly: ISAF launches a massive assault to retake the city of San Salvacion from Erusian occupation. With the city liberated, ISAF now has a direct corridor to advance into the Erusian homeland.
  • 11 July, 2005 – As San Salvacion celebrates its liberation, the Storyteller Boy falls in with a group of retreating Erusian soldiers to follow Yellow 13 westward toward Farbanti.
  • 15 August, 2005 – Operation Sandstorm: ISAF crushes the last organized line of Erusian resistance at Old Anchor Point City in the Whiskey Corridor. As the ISAF Navy moves in to secure Anchorhead City in Southern Erusea, the main force presses onward from Whiskey to the Erusian capital of Farbanti.
  • 7 September, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Erich “Phonix” Hillenberand (Schnee 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at Jackson Hill International Airport in Jackson Hill, Osea.
  • 13 September, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Rainer “Cormorant” Altman (Gelb 2) for Warriors and the Belkan War at his home in Directus, Ustio.
  • 19 September, 2005 – Operation Autumn Thunder: ISAF invades the Erusian capital city of Farbanti by land, sea, and air in a massive battle to end the Shattered Skies War. Yellow Squadron is defeated above Farbanti and Yellow 13 is killed by Mobius 1. The surviving Erusian command officers capitulate to the ISAF ceasefire treaty. Erusea officially surrenders.
  • 22 September, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Dominic “Vulture” Zubov (Schwarze 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War in an abandoned apartment complex in Oured, Osea.
  • 24 September, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Dietrich “Boss” Kellerman (Silber 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at his dairy farm in Birneheim, Belka.
  • 26 September, 2005 – Operation Judgement Day: A group of young Erusian officers who fled from Farbanti before the Erusian surrender bring the Megalith ballistic missile launch facility back online and threaten the rest of Usea with a campaign of missile attacks. The newly restructured Mobius Squadron, led by Mobius 1, is dispatched to destroy Megalith and end the Erusian threat over Usea once and for all.
  • 10 October, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Dimitri “Blue Heron” Heinreich (Indigo 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at his family estate in Lichtenburg, Belka.
  • 12 Octorber, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Dr. Detlef “Red Swallow” Fleisher (Rot 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at his office at the University of Dinsmark.
  • 15 October, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Berhanrd “Night Owl” Schmidt (Grun 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at Pop’s Diner in Sudentor, Belka.
  • 20 October, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Marcela “Macarena” Vasquez (Espada 2) for Warriors and the Belkan War at a bar in Gran Rugido, Sapin.
  • 25 October, 2005 – Unable to track him down for an interview on account of his alleged death, OBC’s Brett Thompson visits the grave site of Dr. Anton Kupchenko (Gault 1) at Holtz Public Cemetary in Dinsmark, Belka.
  • 31 October, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Anthony “Bedivere” Palmer (Sorcerer 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War at his office in Oured, Osea, on Halloween.
  • 11 November, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Joshua “Lucan” Bristow (Wizard 1) for Warriors and the Belkan War in his cell at Land Ford Federal Prison in Osea.
  • 25 November, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson interviews Larry “Solo Wing Pixy” Foulke (Galm 2) for the documentary Warriors and the Belkan War on the border of Delarus on Usea.
  • 30 November, 2005 – OBC’s Brett Thompson charters a helicopter flyover of the now-defunct and flooded Avalon Dam facility. While exploring the shoreline of the Mund River, he comes across a makeshift grave site constructed out of F-16C wreckage, and a bouquet of flowers recently planted there in honour of the late Patrick James “PJ” Beckett. This is the closest Thompson ever came to encountering Cipher, missing him by mere days, possibly even hours.

2006

  • 23 March, 2006 – Brett Thompson’s documentary special on Cipher and the Belkan War, Warriors and the Belkan War, airs on Osea’s OBC broadcast network.
  • 10 June, 2006 – The news magazine COLOR OF THE WORLD publishes a retrospective on the Second Usean Continental War. The article features stories on the failed first attempt by ISAF to destroy Stonehenge, the ISAF New Year’s Eve satillite launch from the Comona Islands, a look back at Ulysses 1994XF04, and photos and dispatches from war corrispondant Jim Lisle, who reported on the war from inside Erusian-occupied San Salvacion.
  • 20 September, 2006 – Operation Katina: An Erusian resistance front calling itself “Free Erusea” launches a campaign of terror against ISAF and the FCU across Usea. ISAF dispatches Mobius 1 to spearhead the effort to disarm and destroy Free Erusea.
  • 24 September, 2006 – Operation Katina (cont.): Mobius 1 destroys Free Erusea’s HQ in White Valley Bay. A flight of stolen automated Erusian X-02 Wyvern super fighters are engaged over White Valley and also destroyed by Mobius 1. ISAF proclaims victory over Free Erusea.

Continuing.

2007

  • 3 April, 2007 – Pythiopolis, Estovakia is seized by the Lyes United Front (LUF), under the command of General Lyes. Lyes announces he plans to reform Estovakia into an orthodox state. The Estovakian Civil War begins.
  • May 2007 –The Republic of Emmeria announces it will resume its foreign aid program to its asteroid-ravaged neighbor Estovakia. It becomes clear very quickly, however, that the LUF is using the Emmerian money and supply donations to suppress its enemies.
  • June, 2007 – The Estovakian Civil War escalates. The Eastern Faction led by General Gustav Dvornik emerges as the strongest of the five factions vying for control over Estovakia. Vampire and Strigon Squadrons are created as part of the Eastern Faction’s air force contingent.
  • August 2007 – The G7 Summit, originally to be held in international waters off the coast of the Democratic Federation of Wellow, is cancelled after an anti-globalist terrorist attack shuts down the harbor in Faxa Bay.
  • 20 September, 2007 – The news magazine FRONT LINE publishes a retrospective on the Second Usean Continental War focusing on the ISAF and Erusian air forces. ISAF’s Mobius Squadron and Erusea’s Aquila (Yellow) Squadron and their flight leads headline the article.

2008

  • February 2008 –The LUF defeats the Independent Tariff Foundation faction, gaining control of half of Estovakia’s current territory.
  • July 2008 – The Island Coalition and the Northern Highlands Faction join the Eastern Faction to counter the Lyes United Front. The Estovakian Civil War escalates under the two remaining factions.
  • 21 August, 2008 – The 2008 G7 Summit is held aboard the recently unveiled Osean spaceplane Arkbird. The leaders of Osea, Yuktobania, the Federation of Central Usea, Erusea, Emmeria, Verusa and Nordlands take in the trade summit in zero gravity.
  • 21 August, 2008 (cont) – President Harling of Osea and Prime Minister Nikanor or Yuktobania discuss the possibility of a Second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START2).
  • October, 2008 – The Eastern Faction takes control over an abandoned oil refinery complex on the east coast of Estovakia, beginning construction of a large hanger facility reminiscent of the SBMF’s XB-0 Hresvelgr hanger at Mt. Schrim.
  • Late October, 2008 – Emmerian Security Intelligence Service spy photographs show Belkan expat and former SBMF/Project Pendragon engineer Lorenz Riedel arriving at the repurposed EF oil refinery complex.
  • 4 November, 2008 – Vincent Harling re-elected to a second term as Osean President with over 48.5 votes and a landslide lead in the Electoral College.

2008

  • April, 2010 – After sustained public outcry, the Emmerian government terminates its Estovakian aid program. The Estovakian Civil War now enters a lull period. The Lyes United Front condemned the discontinuation of aide, claiming the Emmerian government had abandoned the people of Estovakia. The Estern Faction, now with the apparent upper hand in the conflict, vowed eventual reprisal against Emmeria for prolonging the Civil War with its aide of the LUF.
  • July, 2010 – Yuktobanian Prime Minister Nikanor’s last confirmed public appearance in Cinigrad.
  • Late August, 2010 – The Union of Yuktobanian Republics begins an unprompted campaign of saber rattling against the Osean Federation. While the Osean military quietly shifts to a higher state of readiness for war, a cover up campaign is enacted to hide the potential threat from the general public, lest panic erupt.
  • Late August, 2010 (cont.) – Freelance photojournalist Albert Genette arrives at Sand Island Naval Air Station off the west coast of Osea to film a documentary about the base’s Wardog training squadron.
  • Early September, 2010 – Yuktobania recalls its Osean ambassador and all high level diplomatic corps members. Osea retaliates in kind, recalling its ambassador to Oured.
  • 23 September, 2010 – An OADF training flight led by Captain Jack Bartlett and two other instructors is ambushed over Sand Island Naval Air Station by unidentified fighters approaching from a vector across the Pacific Ocean. Only Bartlett, Albert Genette, and one flight cadet (2nd Lt. Kei Nagase) survive the attack.
  • 24 September, 2010 – Operation Lagoon: Wardog Squadron is dispatched to Cape Landers to intercept an unidentified SR-71 Blackbird spyplane caught probing the Osean coastal defense zone and force it to land for interrogation. They are attacked by another unidentified aggressor flight, once more seemingly hailing from Yuktobanian airspace.
  • 27 September, 2010 – Operation Gyre: Wardog Squadron is dispatched to intercept a flight of UAV reconnaissance drones launched from an unidentified spy ship off the coast of Sand Island. Captain Jack Bartlett is shot down by enemy interceptors and ditches in the water.
  • 27 September, 2010 (cont.) – The Union of Yuktobanian Republics formally declares war on the Osean Federation.

2020s

  • Twenty years after the Shattered Skies War ends, the Storyteller Boy, now a grown man, reflects on his experiences during the war with Yellow 13 and Yellow 4 and writes a series of letters to Mobius 1 telling their side of the story to him.

2030 - 2040

Shorebirds

Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Attract Movie
Mission 1: Operation Lagoon – September 24th, 2010 | [NO COMM]

Ace Combat 5 moves us ahead five years from the end of the Shattered Skies War to the early fall of 2010. It’s been 15 years since the end of the Belkan War. As conflict raged on Usea, and Ulysses 1994XF04 ravaged Anea, the Osean Federation has enjoyed a decade and a half of relative peace, prosperity, and partnership with its new ally the Union of Yuktobanian Republics across the Pacific Ocean.

Sand Island Naval Air Station sits on a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Pacific, the last vestige of Osean territory west of the continental mainland. While this remote island base may seem to be the farthest extreme of the known world to many who call it home, it stands as Osea’s first line of defense and early warning bulwark against possible aggression from Verusa or Anea. But with the Cold War over, and 15 years of peace between the global superpowers, a new non-aggressive government enshrined in Erusea, and the Estovakian Civil War entering a lull, it seems as though Sand Island may have outlived its usefulness to the world.

Albert Genette, a young freelance reporter working for the Osean Broadcasting Company, has come to Sand Island to work on a documentary about the pilot training program run by the firebrand captain of the base’s fighter squadron, Jack Bartlett, and on the rookie pilots under his charge. However, things begin to go amiss for all involved one day as unidentified planes firing live ammunition invade the OADF training area attempting to shoot Bartlett’s squadron out of the skies.

Genette may not realize it yet, but he has just stumbled into the story of the century. If he survives to tell it, anyway…

Overview: An unidentified SR-71 spyplane was caught over Osean airspace just outside of Cape Landers. Osean SAM artillery damaged the spyplane in its escape and it is now attempting to ditch in the waters off Cape Landers. The OADF believes the plane is connected to the unidentified squadron that attacked the training flight over Sand Island the day before.

Wardog Squadron is dispatched to intercept the SR-71 before it reaches the water and force it to land at a nearby airstrip so its pilot can be interrogated.


WARDOG SQUADRON
Osean Air Defense Force 5th Fighter Wing, 108th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Members:

  • Wardog 1 – Jack “Heartbreak One” Bartlett
  • Wardog 2 – Kei “Edge” Nagase
  • Wardog 3 – Alvin H. “Chopper” Davenport
  • Wardog 4 – [REDACTED] “Blaze” [REDACTED]
    AWACS Operator: [REDACTED] “Thunderhead” [REDACTED]
    Squadron Composition: F-4E Phantom II (x1), F-5 Tiger II (x3)

The training and naval air defense flight of Sand Island Naval Air Station. Wardog Squadron is Sand Island’s principle fighter wing and is currently under the command of Captain Jack Bartlett. With the relaxed era of global peace ushered in by the Osea-Yuktobania peace accords, Wardog Squadron, like Sand Island itself, has fallen from prominence as a part of the Osean military’s operational hierarchy.

The squadron’s “glory days” are long behind it, and as much as it exists as a training farm to turn nuggets into real pilots, it also exists as a purgatorial dungeon to hold Captain Bartlett in—for the rest of his military career, if need be.

The surprise attack by the unidentified enemy squadron has left Wardog’s total numbers depleted and left 2nd Lieutenant Kei Nagase, herself barely out of flight school, as the squadron’s ranking member after Bartlett. 2nd Lieutenants Alvin H. Davenport and [NAME REDACTED] have been called up from the provisional rotation to serve as the squadron’s Number 3 and 4 planes, respectively.


BLAZE
Real Name: Unknown
Callsign(s): Blaze, Kid, Wardog 4
Age: Early 20’s
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: Player choice (F-14A Tomcat in all promotional material)
Voice Actor: None

As far as low men on totem poles go, you can’t get much lower in any Ace Combat game than where Blaze is right now. You can already sort of picture the kind of arc we’re going to have as a player character already, seeing as how we’re starting out a game that’s subtitled Squadron Leader in certain territories… not in command of our squadron.

Yes, this is the first and so far only time an Ace Combat game does this to you, placing you in any position other than at the head of your protagonist squadron at the outset. In addition, before William Bishop in Assault Horizon, and Phoenix in Assault Horizon Legacy’s remake of AC2, Blaze was the only Ace Combat pilot protagonist to physically appear in a particular game’s story segments. We never see his face or hear him speak, and he’s only actually physically there in one shot of a cutscene (he appears in a photograph earlier in that same cutscene), but none the less for an Ace Combat game, this was groundbreaking stuff. The person in the picture above isn’t actually Blaze, canonically anyway. It’s just the way that things line up in the opening cutscene that make a strong case that that might actually be Blaze, given how he’s sitting right next to and yukking it up with Chopper, whom it’s established early on that he’s something of a piss-take friend with.

However, Blaze isn’t the real focus of our attention here. Unlike Cipher, Phoenix, Nemo, and Mobius 1, Ace Combat 5 isn’t really about Blaze, it’s actually all about…


EDGE
Real Name: Kei Nagase
Callsign(s): Edge, Wardog 2
Age: 23
Sex: Female
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: Player choice (F-14A Tomcat in all promotional material)
Voice Actor: Karen Strassman

The Ace Combat franchise’s poster girl returns again, and let’s get one thing out of the way right up front: this is NOT the same Kei Nagase from Ace Combat 2/Assault Horizon Legacy or Ace Combat 04. Canonically speaking, this Nagase is AC2’s Nagase’s cousin.

Nagase is Ace Combat 5’s true protagonist in terms of story arc and screen time. She is the character which the game’s narrative turns around. Blaze is merely our Access Character.

Inspired to join the Osean Air Defense Force by hearing stories of the accomplishments of her older cousin on Usea during both the Continental War of 1998 and then as a civilian pilot in the Shattered Skies War of 2004, Kei Nagase was practically born to be a fighter pilot. After completing her basic flight school at Heierlark AFB in North Osea, Nagase and her fellow graduates, including the likes of Alvin Davenport, Hans Grimm, and [NAME REDACTED] were reassigned to the Sand Island Naval Air Station in the Pacific Ocean to finish their flight training program under the care of Captain Jack Bartlett before being reassigned to other OADF air bases around the planet.

Though she possesses a sharp mind and decisive will (she quickly earned the callsign she requested for herself—Edge—a homage to her cousin’s old TAC name—with her quick and unequivocal orders in battle), Nagase also has a surprisingly gentle soul and is actually a bit of a peacenik at heart. She is an avid reader of old poetry and mythology books, such as the old Belkan fairy tale A Blue Dove For The Princess, to the point where most of her bunkmates joke that old book is her ONLY possession.

She was also a strong supporter of President Harling’s through high school and college, having cast her first vote ever in a political election for his re-election in 2008.

Her commanding officers, namely Bartlett, however, believe she may have a bit of a martyr complex, as she has a troubling tendency to throw herself into situations where the odds don’t favor her survival for the sake of protecting others with nothing more than the foolhardy belief that she will somehow come out unscathed. This resolve will surely be tested in the near future.


CHOPPER
Real Name: Alvin H. Davenport
Callsign(s): Chopper, Wardog 3
Age: 29
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: Player choice (F-14A Tomcat in all promotional material)
Voice Actor: Eddie Frierson

One of the in-training pilots stationed at Sand Island currently under Captain Bartlett’s care. Davenport is the “class clown” of Wardog’s reserve roster. His flippant mouth and undisciplined attitude have earned him many reprimands from both the Wardog squadron adjunct, Captain Hamilton, and the base commander of Sand Island, Colonel Perrault, not to mention his TAC name: Chopper. One justified criticism about Davenport is that 9 times out of 10 he just doesn’t know when to shut up.

That said, his ever-running mouth aside, Davenport seems possessed of the same righteous and honorable streak that Nagase does when situations permit. It too has caused certain amounts of trouble for him, and will not doubt continue to cause problems as sometimes doing the “right” thing doesn’t equal doing to “smart” thing, and he’s more liable to do the former than the latter, damn the consequences.

Beyond that, Davenport is an avid lover of music, having brought and extensive collection with him from Heierlark in formats ranging from MP3s to hard vinyls. A preferred trolling habit of his is to blast songs of particularly sketchy musical quality over his stereo system very loudly during his free hours before lights out. There’s a running betting pool among the Sand Island air staff on when exactly Davenport’s music stash will “go missing” mysteriously.

Despite his abrasive personality, Davenport actually has a gift for making peculiar friends. In addition to being good natured rivals with Blaze, Davenport has also found a kinship with Wardog’s crew chief, Peter N. Beagle aka “Pops” and his dog Kirk, and has recently fallen into the company of freelance photojournalist Albert Genette.


HEARTBREAK ONE
Real Name: Jonathan “Jack” Bartlett
Callsign(s): Heartbreak One, Kid, Wardog 1
Age: 42
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: F-4G Phantom II Wild Weasel
Voice Actor: Steve Blum

An aging relic of the Belkan War. Jack Bartlett’s distrust of his commanding officers and outspoken nature has seen his once-promising career railroaded into the dead end posting as a flight instructor at Sand Island AFB. Bartlett saw heavy action during the Belkan War as part of the OADF’s contingent in the Allied Forces. He flew in the famous Operation Battle Axe which secured the B7R Roundtable from the Belkan Air Force and placed him in the skies alongside the likes of Cipher and Pixy of Ustio’s famous Galm Squadron, the OADF turncoats and AWWNB members of Wizard and Sorcerer Squadrons, and the legendary Belkan ace known as Huckebein the Raven, among others.

Oh and PJ might have been there. I don’t really give a shit.

Bartlett now resides as head of Sand Island’s Wardog trainer squadron, a fierce firebrand loyal to his students in the vein of the old instructor aces of yore like Dietrich Kellerman or Edgar Grint. Though his combative and surly nature have put him at odds with generally everyone else on Sand Island from Col. Perrault all the way on down to some of his trainee pilots like Alvin Davenport.

Generally the only person on Sand Island whom Bartlett appears to get along with is Peter Beagle, aka Pops, Wardog’s crew chief. However, he is opening up slightly to Albert Genette, the freelance photojournalist working for OBC currently stationed at Sand Island, even going so far as to invite Genette to take the co-pilot’s seat of his Phantom on certain training missions to get b-roll footage for his documentary on Bartlett and his pilots.

In his younger days during the Belkan War, his flight lead referred to him by the moniker “Kid” as a means of hazing him. Shortly before Operation Battle Axe, however, he changed his TAC name to “Heartbreak One” after he broke up with his battlefield romance Maj. Nastasya Obertas of the Yuktobanian Army Intelligence Division when she was recalled to Cinigrad. After the war, Bartlett was interrogated on the nature of his involvement with Obertas and whether or not he revealed classified intelligence to her intentionally or accidentally during the duration of their relationship.

It is speculated that he may still be in contact with Obertas in one form or another.


POPS
Real Name: Peter N. Beagle
Callsign(s): None
Age: 56
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: C-1 Trader
Voice Actor: Bob Papenbrook

A member of the Osean Air Defense Force’s 703rd Maintenance Company and crew chief for Sand Island AFB’s Wardog Squadron.

Known for his genial and paternal nature, Beagle earned the nickname “Pops” early on and it stuck with him throughout his career in the OADF. Though always ready with a sprinkling of helpful advice, he otherwise keeps his head down and focuses on his work, remaining largely a background fixture of Sand Island’s personnel.

Though he has repeatedly declined to appear on camera in any capacity, he has made fast friends with Albert Genette during the reporter’s time on Sand Island, and is also a longtime friend of Captain Bartlett’s, going all the way back to their time together during the Belkan War 15 years ago.

Beagle is also the owner of Kirk, the black Labrador hound and mascot of Wardog Squadron, though the dog seems to have found a new part-time owner in Alvin Davenport as of late.

Pops was named after the fantasy author Peter S. Beagle, whose works include The Last Unicorn (both the book and the movie) among MANY others. Pops was also among the last major voice roles done by actor Bob Papenbrook before his death in 2006.


THUNDERHEAD
Real Name: Unknown
Callsign(s): Thunderhead
Age: Late 40s
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: E-767
Voice Actor: Kirk Thornton

A stern, by the book, some would say “uptight” AWACS operator in the Osean Air Defense Force serving as Wardog Squadron’s AWAC for their time at Sand Island.

Thunderhead, is, no bones about it, an asshole. Eagle Eye may have been a calm professional trying to maintain his head while the world went to shit around him, and Keynote may have been a gruff but ultimately fatherly figure, and SkyEye was an occasionally dopey but through-and-through soldier, Thunderhead is… none of these things.

Easily flustered, quick to anger, and acting more as an extension of the OADF command brass than a medium between them and the pilots under his charge, don’t be surprised if we end up fighting with Thunderhead almost as often as we do the enemy over the course of this game. Thunderhead, generally, has no business being behind the console of an AWACS, almost as little as Crux does in Ace Combat X, though Thunderhead doesn’t have the excuse of being a rookie like Crux does.

So yeah, we’re going to have an… interesting time dealing with Thunderhead as the game goes on, to say the least.


INTEL
Real Name: Unknown
Callsign(s): None
Age: Mid 40s
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: None
Voice Actor: Jamieson Price

While Perrault (and others) may give us brief intros to our missions, Intel will, unfailingly be the man who actually briefs us on what to expect each time. Just like in every other game so far, Intel is a background functionary character who’s more a gameplay mechanic than actual presence in game.

Though as the story progresses you probably will be asking yourself at times “just how the hell is this guy following us around, anyway?”


PERRAULT
Real Name: Orson Perrault
Callsign(s): Island King
Age: 48
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: None
Voice Actor: Peter Lurie

The so-called “Emperor of Sand Island.” Colonel Orson Perrault is the commander of Sand Island Naval Air Station, and for all intents and purposes is our boss.

He generally limits his involvement to being a righteous ass at the start of each mission briefing, but he’ll slowly become more involved in the story as things progress. Perrault is largely a gruff grump lacking in the kernel of warmth that made Ulrich Olsen a good commanding officer. He is thoroughly unimpressed with the shit of literally everyone under his command on Sand Island and has zero time for any of their bullshit, and will quite often express it vocally simply because he outranks everyone else here and has the free reign to say it.

He’s basically who Chopper will be in a few more years and after a few more souring experiences.

Beyond that though, he actually likes his posting on Sand Island, being the general misanthrope that he is. Its position far away from general Osean civilization (and the Osean military flag staff) and on a tropical paradise is utterly perfect for an entitled shit who hates interacting with a social circle larger than ten people. Unfortunately, this means that if shit ever goes down between Osea and Yuktobania (or Estovakia or Emmeria, for that matter), then Perrault gets left holding the biggest, wettest bag of dog shit in history, being the commander of literally the first line of defense for the Osean Federation.

Again though, it’s not that Perrault is incompetent, he’s just a fucking asshole. Luckily though, he delegates the majority of the work that involves interacting with other people to his adjunct, the much more personable Captain Hamilton.


HAMMILTON
Real Name: Allen C. Hamilton
Callsign(s): None
Age: 28
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: None
Voice Actor: Crispin Freeman

The vice commander of Sand Island Naval Air Station and Wardog Squadron’s adjunct. Hamilton is the primary channel between Bartlett and Wardog to the upper brass of the Osean military.

Though often constrained by the demands of his job, he has taken a shine to Albert Genette both as a reporter and as a friend, and has worked to get him special clearances and access that a freelance journalist in his position ordinarily wouldn’t ever receive.

As a soldier, Hamilton rose through the ranks with nearly unparalleled speed, suspected many of his compatriots that he had people in high places pulling strings for him, such as his uncle, a high-ranking member of the Osean Army. Beyond that however, Hamilton has shown himself repeatedly to be a model soldier and patriot, the envy of any armed force on the planet.


THE NARRATOR
Real Name: Albert Genette
Callsign(s): None
Age: 32
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: None
Voice Actor: Mathew Mercer

A freelance photojournalist working for the Osean Broadcasting Corporation and a colleague of Brett Thompson’s. He came to Sand Island AFB originally to work on a documentary on Captain Bartlett and his Wardog Squadron.

Mild-mannered an non-confrontational by nature, Genette quickly blended into the background at Sand Island without obstructing its daily operations. However, his good nature and quiet determination have lead many of his documentary subjects to open up to him and even befriend him like Jack Bartlett himself, Kei Nagase, Alvin Davenport, and Allen Hamilton. Even those who’ve asked to remain off camera such as Peter Beagle or [NAME REDACTED] have shared off the record stories with him and appreciate his nature as an attentive listener.


SAND ISLAND

Functionally speaking: our home.

Constructed on a dormant volcanic atoll in the Ceres Ocean off the west coast of Osea, Sand Island Naval Air Station is the farthest western air base considered to be a part of “mainland” Osean territory. The OADF and OMDF maintain other bases and ports in other nations farther out around the globe beyond Sand Island, however.

The island is due west of Cape Landers, where most of the civilian families of Sand Island personnel are housed, near the Osean Coastal Defense Force’s own airbase. Built in the 1950s as part of Osea’s Cold War expansion, Sand Island was intended to be an early warning lookout post for any sign of aggression by the Union of Yuktobanian Republics across the Pacific Ocean, and a staging ground for any possible counterstrike operations against the Yuktobanian mainland if need be.

In addition to its airstrip, the jetty at Sand Island provides safe harbor for up to five naval ships at a time, with docks large enough for three destroyers, and two frigates or submarines, plus space for additional unmoored vessels to drop anchor behind its breakwater.

As the Cold War between Osea and Yuktobania waned, however, Sand Island saw its troop and material deployment numbers decline, slashed to near skeleton crew levels following the Osea-Yuktobania Peace Treaty in 1996 and the various cooperative treaties signed by the two superpowers throughout the rest of the 90s and early 00s.

Today, Sand Island serves a technical, if not functional purpose in the Osean Air and Maritime Defense Forces. The enduing embodiment of the phrase “trust, but verify,” and an uneasy, yet often ignored reminder that, yes, the unthinkable, unfortunately, does not equal the impossible. At least not yet anyway.

From a design perspective, Sand Island shares a name, design and function with the USAF Midway Naval Air Facility. An airbase in the middle of the Pacific roughly equidistant between North America and Asia.


CAPE LANDERS

A coastal town on the southern shore of Osea’s western peninsula. Barring Sand Island AFB, Cape Landers is the westernmost city in the Osean Federation and home to both an Osean Costal Defense Force air and naval station and an automated aerial defense battery array protecting Osean airspace against any unauthorized intruder.

Protected from the ocean by a lagoon, the OCDF base at Cape Landers is able to cover the majority of the southern coast of the peninsula out to November City. The northern coast, meanwhile, is protected by both the OCDF and the Osean Marine Defense Force based out of Port St. Hewlett.

Cape Landers is also the home to the majority of the civilian housing for the families of the soldiers stationed at Sand Island off the coast. Beyond that, the otherwise sleepy seaside hamlet is relatively unremarkable as far as Osean cities go.


ADEZ

The franchise has, up this point, been rather sparing in its use of inside baseball military jargon, acronyms and initialisms, so it’s strange that this one is dropped so casually in the briefing, but it helps sell that Ace Combat 5 is centered around an actual military a little better, to say the least.

As far as I can tell, ADEZ is not an actual military acronym, though it is a modification of one. Any time “EZ” appears in military jargon it’s usually shorthand for “engagement zone.” So as far I can infer, ADEZ is short for either “aerial defense engagement zone,” or “automated defense engagement zone.”

In short; Osea’s land-based automated surface-to-air batteries.


OSEA
Full Name: The Osean Federation
Capital: Oured
Continent: North Osea
Head of State: President Vincent Harling
Government: Federal presidential constitutional republic
Real World Analog: United States of America

The Osean Federation is the world’s single largest military, political, and cultural superpower, rivaled only by the Union of Yuktobanian Republics and the Federation of Central Usea in terms of global power. Since the days of the Cold War, Osea has been considered to be the “leader of the free world,” and a shining beacon of democracy, liberty, progress, and peace in a world often gripped by conflict. The world looks to Osea as its pillar of stability.

Yet Osea, as we’ve seen so far, has a troubling history of being as much of a destabilizing force as it has been a pillar of stability. Though most of the world views it as the hero of the Belkan War and the savior of the Belkan sub-continent, there are just as many who will never forget Osea’s diplomatic blunder in setting off the Usean Continental War 12 years ago, and its refusal to aid the Independent States Allied Forces in repelling the Erusian occupation of Usea in 2005. It just shows that Osea is not a perfect nation; no country is, however, it is continually striving to improve.

This national appeal to better angles is exemplified in its current president, Vincent Harling, a strident anti-war crusader and a diplomat’s diplomat. Elected in 2004 on a platform of unprecedented peaceful co-operation with its national neighbors and allies, Harling was seen as a sharp repudiation of the old Cold Warrior politicians who gleefully drove the Federation into the Belkan War and then tried to stage a bloodless coup in the FCU for access to Usea’s natural resources.

And by and large, Harling’s approach appears to be working. Relations with the FCU and North Point have been repaired under his administration, even the new post-war Erusian government appears to be willing to cooperate with Osea for the first time in literally decades, and the Federation’s alliance with the Union of Yuktobanian Republics across the Pacific Ocean has never been stronger.


YUKTOBANIA
Full Name: The Union of Yuktobanian Republics (Союз Юктобанийских Республикand | Soyuz Yuktobaniyskikh Respublik)
Capital: Cinigrad
Continent: Verusa
Head of State: Prime Minister Seryozha Nikanor
Government: Federal Republic
Real World Analog: Russia, USSR

A union of formerly communist, now tepidly federal capitalist states on the continent of Verusa and the second largest military super power on the planet, rivaled only by Osea and the FCU. Over the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Yuktobania expanded rapidly from its original home territory centered around its capital of Cinigrad into a powerhouse empire that spanned nearly 3/4s of Verusa as neighboring states joined its international military pact: The Union of Yukotbanian Republics.

Following the Osea-Belka war of the 1940s, Yuktobania began to build up its military and nuclear arsenal to an unprecedented degree, believing (rightly) that the Oseans were doing the same, thus kicking off the Cold War and an age of global tensions and suspicions between the two nations that would last for nearly 50 years, until the advent of the Belkan War, however.

Yuktobania and Osea found themselves in a “strange bedfellows” situation during the Belkan War when Yuktobania joined the Osean-led Allied Forces in a supporting role to help push the Belkans back within their own territory and disarm their war machine for good. Yuktobania saw Belka’s loose nuclear arsenal and Belkan Chancellor Waldmarr Rald’s unhinged dictatorship as a threat to the entire planet and apprehensively joined the effort to quell said thread on the order of then-Premiere Samanov.

The military co-operation between the two nations ultimately fostered political and cultural co-operation as well, and in 1996 Yuktobania signed a bilateral peace treaty with the Osean Federation in Cinigrad which officially ended the Cold War. Following the abrogation of hostilities between the two nations, Yuktobania experienced a period of cultural reformation and opening up to the rest of the world. The once-secretive and paranoid communist bloc lifted its iron curtain and allowed western companies and cultural influences from Osea and Usea into its borders. It even, to the shock of the international community, held its first free and open democratic election with Seryozha Viktrovich Nikanor a former intelligence agent from the Yuktobanian Federal Security Bureau being elected on a populist platform of peaceful outreach to the world the Yukes had once bitterly shunned.

Since that time, Nikanor has worked with his Osean counterparts, including President Harling, to strengthen the relationship between their two nations and build a bridge of peace across the Pacific. This has included signing the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (StART), a follow up to the nuclear arms reduction clause outlined in the original Treaty of Lumen, and the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) forbidding the development of new nuclear weapons technology. Yuktobania also lead the way in the development of the International Space Station, a collaborative peaceful space exploration project after years of developing its own proprietary space laboratories and (alleged) space-based weapons platforms. And with the destruction of both the Stonehenge and Megalith spaceguard platforms in Usea, Yuktobania has also emerged as a frontrunner in keeping the planet safe from the lingering threat of the Ulysses 1994XF04 asteroid, whose fragments still litter the upper atmosphere in Earth orbit and pose continual jeopardy to both satellites in orbit and targets on the ground should their orbits decay and they fall to Earth.

But while everything may be going swimmingly on the surface of Yuktobania, Osean Central Intelligence has become concerned in recent months over the stability of Nikanor’s government on a parliamentary level. The Yuktobanian Assembly is still packed with old hardline Cold Warrior types, many of whom wielded considerable power in the old bloc and have found themselves out of place in the new era of global peace. A further troubling matter has been the Assembly’s continual refusal to allow Nikanor to dismantle the Yukes’ conventional military forces, such as its still-massive army and air force or its two Scinfaxi-class ballistic missile super submarines.

Osean military central command has quietly asked its flag officer-level command staff to shift up their combat readiness status on reports that Prime Minister Nikanor has not been seen in public since July, at the latest. As the Osean diplomatic corps works to confirm the situation in Cinigrad, it is feared in the halls of power in Oured that Nikanor has possibly been disappeared by those old grey men lingering in his government (like many an old communist-era premiere before him were), or worse yet, that he has finally been swayed to their line of thinking and is planning to abandon his long-held belief in peace and co-operation in favor of something awful.

Only time will tell.


BELKA
Full Name: The Principality of Belka
Capital: Dinsmark
Continent: North Osea
Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture)
Government: Federal Republic
Real World Analog: Germany

The broken shell of “Nord Belka” remains walled off from the rest of the world behind a scar of seven irradiated nuclear blast craters, the so-called “Seven Pillars” or the “Northern Gate” of Belka, as it has been for the last 15 years since the tragic end of the Belkan War.

While Belka’s senseless self-destruction remains an open wound on the planet, one that no one is liable to forget, at least in this lifetime, the world has functionally moved on without Belka. Its legendary air force is gone. Its once-famous aces and generals now teach history classes or shovel cow shit in farm fields, or scurry from haven to haven under assumed named dodging war crimes charges. Its massive political reach that once gripped half a continent has shriveled to the size of a pea. And the rich history of Belkan art and literature has been blown away to the dust of history, now overshadowed by a thermonuclear taboo.

Belka’s attempt to reassert itself as a power player in global politics ironically ended with it being erased from the global community. Its true legacy now lies in the things that others have stolen from it and appropriated for themselves—picked clean off its corpse, more like. The innovations of Project Pendragon, the Excalibur Tactical Laser System, the Multi-Purpose Burst Missile, the XB-0 Hraesvelgr, the ADFX-01/02 Morgan and its successor the ADF-01 FALKEN, the V2 nuclear MIRV, the Stonehenge Turret Network, the alleged Estovakian airborne aircraft carrier platform currently under development. All these and more are the real remnants of Belka, as the South Belka Munitions Factory bled its entire design catalog onto the black market before it died. All of them making life more difficult for someone somewhere else in the world far away from the “Holy Land of Belka”.

Yet none of this changes the obvious fact of history: Belka is dead, and it’s never coming back…


SAPIN
Full Name: The Kingdom of Sapin
Capital: Gran Rugido
Continent: North Osea
Head of State: Prime Minister (conjecture) / King or Queen
Government: Constitutional Parliamentary Monarchy
Real World Analog: Spain, England

The largest surviving constitutional monarchy on the planet. Until the early 1900s, the Sapish Empire held territories and colonies all across the globe as holdovers from the Age of Exploration and Colonization, the largest of them being the Dominion of San Salvacion (later the Republic of San Salvacion) on Usea. However, with the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, the parliament in Gran Rugido reluctantly permitted its various territories to attain their independence, forming instead a ceremonial Sapish Commonwealth, as the cost of maintaining an empire in the modern era had grown prohibitively high.

Sapin withdrew from prominence in global affairs becoming a sort of “quiet kingdom,” deferring to the flourishing Osean Federation of the course of the 20th century as the de facto world leader, and strengthening its ties with Oured, becoming Osea’s closest international ally. As the Belkans pushed into Sapish territory in March of 1995 at the outset of the Belkan War, Osea sprang into action to defend its top ally, becoming the leader of the Allied Forces’ counterstrike operation against the Belkans.

Since the end of the Belkan War, Sapin has returned to its role as the quiet kingdom and good neighbor to Osea across Oured Bay. Though in recent years it has been developing a reputation as a leader in bleeding edge cybernetics and bionics research. Osean Central Intelligence believes that one or more Sapish defense contractor is currently at work developing a compact bionic exoskeletal battle suit for use in urban combat.

However, the project is still at least 15 years away from even a prototype-level of completion.


USTIO
Full Name: The Republic of Ustio
Capital: Directus
Continent: North Osea
Head of State: Prime Minister (Conjecture)
Government: Democratic Republic
Real World Analog: Switzerland, France, Spain

As the unwitting catalyst of the Belkan War, the Republic of Ustio earned itself an indelible spot in the history books through no fault of its own. When Belka invaded Ustio in March of 1995, using it as a springboard to launch into Sapin and then into Osea to reclaim its seceded territories, Ustio became the eye of a swirling storm of chaos that would eventually end in Belka’s complete self-destruction with the Seven Pillars nuclear strike, followed by the near nuclear holocaust attempted by the Belkan resistance-cum-terrorist force A World With No Boundaries.

Ustio’s understated role in the Belkan War was highlighted recently on the 10th anniversary of the Belkan War’s outbreak by the OBC documentarian Brett Thompson with his special Warriors and the Belkan War, which explored the war through the exploits of an Ustian mercenary known only as Cipher, and those who encountered him on both sides of the conflict.

We’re not actually going to be seeing Ustio itself in any real way over the course of Ace Combat 5 other than a brief cameo on the map in the opening cutscene (where the game mistranslates the name of its capital as “Dilectus”—later corrected to “Directus” in Ace Combat Zero). Basically, at this point in the franchise, Ustio was just a big blank blotch on the map like the rest of the Belkan sub-continent was before Zero came along and filled it in with its prequel story by making it the “witness to history” or sorts as Osea stepped in and slapped Belka into the Stone Age with its big giant military dick.


AND THE REST
Full Names: The Republics of Gebet, Recta, Ratio, Wielvakia, Nordlands, and the FATO States
Capitals: Mons, Cor, Centrum, Unknown, Unknown, and Brunies (respectively)
Continent: North Osea
Head of State: Various
Government: Various
Real World Analog: :shrug:

Yep. The rest of the Belkan sub-continent is still there. And, no, I don’t have anything new to say about any part of it, though who knows, maybe Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown with change that.

We’ll see.

Just like in 04, the “Assault Records” heading remains an artifact title, but we’re officially now just one game away from it returning to its proper status in Ace Combat 6. Unlike how they’ve been in the games that have preceded them, however, Named Aces in Ace Combat 5 will not be showing up in every mission.

Yes, in The Unsung War Named Aces only show up in only half of the game’s 32 missions. Though unlike in Shattered Skies, the Named Aces aren’t held off for New Game+ and will appear mixed in with the regular enemies during a normal run of Ace Combat 5 on any difficulty, like they did during Ace Combat 2, should you meet their spawn requirements. Also there’s no recurring naming convention between Aces like there was with Shattered Skies’s astronomers.

Gigantor

  • Plane: BAE Hawk T1
  • Mission 1
  • Spawn conditions: Appears above the third wave of enemies if the first two are defeated exclusively by the player.


Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War Original Soundtrack
Composers: Keiki Kobayashi, Hiroshi Okubo, Junichi Nakatsuru, Tetsukazu Nakanishi, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Stephanie Cooke, Puddle of Mudd
Release: 2004
Discs: 4
Tracks: 22, 20, 15, 35

Tracks featured in Mission 1 & Intro:

DISC 1

DISC 2

DISC 4

To start off, we have a large selection of wallpapers from the Ace Combat 5 website for you to browse as well:

First up, some headshots of our three principle characters, Bartlett, Nagase, and Chopper:

Bartlett, Nagase, and their planes:

Computer interfaces, including the North Osea GründerIndustries OS splash screen:

Miscellaneous Osean iconography, including the Project ACES logo, which made its debut in this game:

Historical and political maps of Strangereal (note how it’s not “up to date” compared to the one in the OP, as both Usea and Anea are currently blank):

And lastly, Genett’s makeshift workstation (including an article from the Newfield Island Review on Mobius 1’s saving New Field Island City and Allenfort AFB from the Erusians):

Finally! A forum where I don’t need to wait every few months for the site to let me view it without logging in!

I’m glad you decided to have the AC5 forum for a user who only keeps track through YouTube.

I’m happy to finally join in this rollercoaster of an LP project and ready to take it all awayyyyyyy

Hey what’s up, ground floor yo. This is the one I’m least familiar with, I got it blurred together with Zero as I watched my brother play through them when I was younger.

Open War

Mission 2: Operation Gyre – September 27th, 2010 | [NO COMM]

Overview: An unidentified spy ship has been detected off the coast of Sand Island. It appears to be launching UAV spy drones on vectors leading towards Sand Island and the Osean mainland. Wardog Squadron is dispatched to verify the situation, and if need be shoot down the drones before they can penetrate Osean airspace.


Guest Commentator: I am joined for this video by the fantastic mateo360. Mateo has done a series of really great LPs including Star Trek: Bridge Commander (sometimes jokingly called the defacto 5th game in the X-Wing Tetralogy), Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force with berryjon (winner of the “IP most ill-suited to base a first person shooter off of” Award in perpetuity until the Heat Death of the Universe – I actually liked Elite Force II better, but don’t tell anyone), ReBoot, and many others.

He was also running a co-op LP of Castle Crashers along with dscruffy1, Miz Kriss, and shibbotech, though it was recently eaten by the Archive Lock.


OPEN WAR

For a mission that literally sees the start of the titular war of The Unsung War, there’s really not much to say about it on its head that doesn’t spoil what actually happens in the video. The in-universe boilerplate is this:

On September 27th, 2010, the Union of Yuktobanian Republics formally declared war on its former international ally the Osean Federation, beginning what would later be called the “Circum-Pacific War”. After a period of rapidly rising tensions and apparently instability in Yuktobania, the UYR parliament voted unanimously to formally abrogate the Osea-Yuktobania Peace Treaty of 1996 and declare open, unprovoked war on the Osean Federation. No official reason for the declaration has been given, though Yuktobanian state media has cited “unchecked Osean aggression” as a possible reason. The Osean government vehemently denies these allegations. Yuktobanian state media also claims that Prime Minister Nikanor was present for and voted in favour of the war declaration, though no footage of the vote or his signing of the resolution has been released to the public thus far.

In response, both the Osean House of Representatives and Senate voted unanimously to declare war on the Union of Yuktobanian Republics, with President Harling calling on all branches of the Osean military to defend the Federation from any land, sea, or air strikes by the Yuktobanian military and repel any invasion attempts on cities and territories along the west coast.

The Assembly of Nations has called for harsh sanctions against Yuktobania to be enacted, and for the UYR to be ejected from the G7 council. Both resolutions are expected to fail, as Yuktobania has permanent membership on and veto power over the AN Security Council.

As of this moment, the Yuktobanian Navy and Air Force appear poised to strike the city of St. Hewlett and its naval port, home of the Osean Maritime Defense Force’s 3rd Fleet, and its flagship, the famous O.F.S. Kestrel.


GYRE

Broadly, a gyre is any swirling vortex of air or water. In oceanography, the term gyre refers to the massive swirling currents that churn in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans that circulate the waters between the continental shores. For example, debris swept out to sea by the massive 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami was carried from the shores of Japan to the coasts of British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California by the North Pacific ocean gyre over the course of roughly three months.


LEITMOTIF

Something I didn’t get the chance to mention in the video, so I’ll say it here, is that if you listen to the background track of this mission, “Wardog,” you can very pointedly hear the main theme of Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies creep into the melody in certain places. There’s two songs on the base game soundtrack that do this, this and the one coming up in two missions’ time, “First Flight”.

It’s not often that the various Ace Combat games reference one anothers’ soundtracks, so this makes a nice little musical passing of the torch from 04 to 5 in a way that’s not readily noticeable unless you know what you’re looking for.

Tracks featured in Mission 2:

DISC 1

Wait, if Osea is under the AN, shouldn’t there have been other countries also coming to Osea’s defense from the unprovoked attack from Yuktobania? I.e.: USEA.

But then again, this WAS 2004 after all, Ace Combat still has yet (and probably never will) to further expand Strangereal’s expanded universe.

I would assume that the AN is just as functionally useless as the UN is in the real world. There’s also probably a lot of countries that didn’t want to involve themselves in a war between two super powers out of fear of touching off an actual world war. Also yeah Erusea and the FCU were still rebuilding from Shattered Skies and were probably like “Yeah, it’s not so fun when it happens to you, now is it, fuckers?”

But yeah, the real reasons are just Strangereal wasn’t that well fleshed out yet, and they probably didn’t want to muddy the waters by throwing more sides into a relatively cut and dry two-sided war.

(Waits casually for the update)

Narrow Margin

Mission 3: Emergency Sortie – September 27th, 2010 | [NO COMM]

Overview: Wardog Squadron is rerouted to the naval port at St. Hewlett on an emergency sortie to provide top cover for the Osean Maritime Defense Force’s 3rd Fleet and its flagship the O.F.S. Kestrel as it evacuates the harbor. The Yuktobanian Air Force and Navy have launched a coordinated surprise attack on Port St. Hewlett to sink the OMDF fleet at anchor as their official first strike in the Circum-Pacific War.

With Capt. Bartlett’s status after bailout still indeterminate, Nagase is promoted to acting captain and given command of Wardog Squadron for the remaining duration of the mission.


Guest Commentator: I am joined today for this mission by CirclMastr. After I ruined an episode of his Covert Action LP, he has come to this LP to return the favor.

In addition to Covert Action, he has also done LPs of Alpha Protocol, Contradiction, Just Cause 2, Kengo: Master of Bushido (with Danaru), and Superhot (also with Danaru), among others. He is currently conduction a group LP of the Jackbox Party Pack 2 after a successful run at the first one.


SWORDSMAN
Real Name: Marcus Snow
Callsign(s): Swordsman, The Wandering Pilot
Age: 34
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: F-14A Tomcat
Voice Actor: Beau Billingslea

An OMDF naval air captain and the flight lead of the ONADF’s V-206 strike fighter squadron. Stern and responsible, Marcus Snow is a model of naval professionalism and one of the keenest flight commanders in the Osean Navy. Based off the carrier Kestrel, Snow is the Commander Air Group (CAG) for the Kestrel’s entire fighter wing.

Snow commands the respect and loyalty of the pilots under his command, a loyalty he repays fiercely. Much like Nagase and Davenport, Snow also possesses a strong moral compass and a firm belief in right and wrong.

As I mentioned in the Ace Combat Zero LP, the Belkan ace squadron Schnee is a reference to Marcus Snow, both in their name and their choice of plane. Both Snow and Schnee team fly F-14s, and the word Schnee is German for Snow. Marcus Snow also shares a voice actor with Zero’s Anthony Palmer. Beau Billingslea voices both Snow and Palmer, an though Palmer appears first in-universe, he is actually Billingslea’s second outing in an Ace Combat game.

Snow is also, as a matter of trivia, one of only six black characters in the Ace Combat franchise, the others being Electrosphere’s Keith Bryan, Zero’s Anthony Palmer, Assault Horizon Legacy’s Edgar Grint, Yellow 4 in Shattered Skies, and Assault Horizon’s Doug Robinson.

Additionally, Snow, thanks to a translation error, is one of the highest ranking characters in the franchise as a naval air force captain (the equivalent rank to a regular air force colonel). In the Japanese version, Snow is a naval lieutenant (the equivalent of an air force captain, on par with Jack Bartlett).


ANDERSEN
Real Name: Nicholas A. Andersen
Callsign(s): Captain Andersen, Kestrel Actual
Age: 61
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: None
Voice Actor: Simon Prescott

The commanding officer of the aircraft carrier O.F.S. Kestrel and the in-field commander of the Osean Maritime Defense Force’s 3rd Naval Fleet.

A life-long veteran of the Osean naval forces. Nicholas A. Andersen joined the OMDF naval academy right out of high school. Having grown up during the height of the Cold War, he has spent the majority of his life preparing for the day, God forbid, that Osea and Yuktobania went to war. He never possibly imagined he would actually see it unfurl after 15 years of peace no less.

As the captain of the O.F.S. Kestrel, Andersen is effectively the highest ranking non-flag officer in the Osean Maritime Defense Force just in terms of men and material under his direct command.


ST. HEWLETT

Situated on the shores of the Ceres Ocean, St. Hewlett is an industrial city on the Osean west coast, and home to one of the largest naval and civilian shipping ports in Northern Osea. St. Hewlett is also home of the Port St. Hewlett Naval Base, the home port of the Osean Maritime Defense Force’s 3rd Fleet under the command of Captain Nicholas A. Andersen of the O.F.S. Kestrel.

The port at St. Hewlett services most of western Osea as a major shipping and transport hub and was, until the outbreak of the Circum-Pacific War, the primary shipping gateway between Osea and Yuktobania. The Yuktobanian bombing of St. Hewlett as their opening salvo in the war was seen as as much of a symbolic blow as it was a strategic one.


O.F.S. KESTREL

The flagship of the Osean Maritime Defense Force’s 3rd Fleet and, functionally, the flagship of the OMDF’s entire Pacific armada.

The aircraft carrier recently celebrated its 15th birthday and the 15th anniversary of its maiden voyage during Operation Costner, an Osean-led counter strike operation during the Allied Forces’ push to retake Sapish and Ustian territory in the early days of the war. With the signing of the Treaty of Lumen, the Kestrel’s role in the Belkan War came to a close and she made her long trip from Oured Bay to her new home in St. Hewlett to take her place at the head of the 3rd Fleet.

Sometime after she arrived at St. Hewlett, her provisional captain, Commander Weeker, turned over command of the ship to her new captain, Nicholas A. Andersen. Andersen has been at the conn of the Kestrel ever since.

In the 15 years since the end of the Belkan War, the Kestrel has seen action around the Pacific and Ceres oceans as part of a global peace keeping force and joint training operations with the Yuktobanian Navy. She recently returned to St. Hewlett after a brief deployment to the Fuscum Sea. The Kestrel recently conducted joint operations with the Emmerian flagship, the battlecruiser H.M.E.S. Marigold, in response to intelligence that the Estovakian Civil War may about to boil over into armed conflict again.

In addition to her support fleet and logistical craft, the Kestrel is joined in the 3rd Fleet by her younger sister ships, the carriers O.F.S. Buzzard and O.F.S. Vulture.


EMERGENCY SORTIE(S)

This mission unveils something that, so far, has only appeared in Ace Combat 5: the in-mission briefing. Yes, as part of 5’s effort to have more cohesion between story and gameplay, there are an unsmall number of missions in the game that don’t have traditional briefings. Instead, Intel will contact you directly in the cockpit and give you an ad hoc in-field briefing using the mini map. Sometimes you won’t even get a briefing and will just get thrown into missions blind have to rely on your AWACS to get you through it with real-time info.

This also means that with these new emergency or serialized missions, there will be certain stretches where you never get to visit a proper hangar and make adjustments to your flight loadout. It’s not a big deal right off the bat because we still don’t even have access to the hangar period yet, but in the coming missions plane choice is key, because there will be several chains of missions that happen one after the other and your time in the hangar will be surprisingly truncated over the game.

Of course, this is only if you’re playing through the campaign mode normally. If you come back and play any of these missions in Free Mission mode once you’ve beaten the game, you can take any plane you have access to into the mission.


WINGMAN COMMANDS

Now that we have functionally assumed command of Wardog Squadron as of this mission, the Wingman Commands menu is now at our disposal. You may remember a more refined version of this little menu appearing in Ace Combat Zero. Wingman Commands are mapped the to the D-pad, which each of the four buttons activating a certain command mode which affects the behavior of your AI squadron members.

The Wingman Commands allows you to direct your squadron members to do certain things in combat and shift between different AI behavior stances. Your three primary settings are CVR (Cover), ATK (Attack) and DSP (Disperse), with a fourth one SPW (Special Weapons) being a toggle instead of a mode change.

Cover tells your wingmates to stick close to your tail and cover you. They will focus on defending you from any immediate threats that might be gunning for you specifically, with a lesser focus on peeling off and engaging targets of opportunity in their immediate area when possible.

Attack tells your wingmates to go on the offensive, but still stick close to you in case you need to order them to form up quickly for one reason or another.

Disperse tells your wingmates to basically fly as they see fit. It cancels all range and behavior restrictions, allowing them to roam wherever they feel like it on the map and attack any target they wish. This is good for those Ace Combat 04-style shooting gallery missions or missions with objectives spread out across vast distances of the map.

Special Weapons authorizes your wingmates to use their special weaponry in combat.


JACK BARTLETT, MIA

And thus, Ace Combat 5 earns that “Mentor Occupational Health Hazard” bullet on its TV Tropes page.

Despite the quick scrambling of an SAR flight and having the precise coordinates of his ditch location, Sand Island Search and Rescue was unable to locate and recover Captain Jack Bartlett. His parachute and ejector seat were found floating near the last known location of the Yuktobanian spy ship, but no other trace of Bartlett was found by the SAR team.

It is possible that he was recovered by the ocean by the Yuktobanians and taken as a prisoner of war, however Osean Military Intelligence believes this to be highly unlikely, ruling Bartlett and his copilot likely drowned before the rescue team reached them.

Captain Bartlett is currently listed as “missing, presumed deceased” by the OADF. No further search efforts are planned at this time.

Aircraft featured in Mission 3


Nimrod R1
Manufacturer: Hawker Siddeley
Role: Maritime patrol / anti-submarine aircraft
Manufactured: 1967-???
Status: Retired
Primary Operators: United Kingdom
Quick Facts:

  • Appears in Ace Combats 5, and 6.
  • Is a heavily modified version of the de Havilland DH 106 Comet, the world’s first commercial jetliner.
  • Designed to replace the aging Avro Shackleton.
  • Functions primarily as an anti-submarine reconnaissance plane, but can function as a bomber as well.
  • Saw combat in the Falklands War, the first Gulf War, and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
  • Involved primarily in seaborne search and rescue missions off the coast of the United Kingdom.
  • Has an underside bomb bay that can deploy torpedoes, missiles, or non-combat equipment like sonar bogeys, inflatable dinghies, and survival packages.
  • Powered by a quartet of Rolls-Royce Spey engines.
  • Can fly for 10 hours continuously without refuling.
  • Has five production and design variants: the R1, MR1, MR2, AEW3, and the MRA4.
  • Replaced by the Boeing P-8 Poseidon.
  • Named after the biblical hunter-king Nimrod (the guy who built the Tower of Babel).

Zipang

  • Plane: F-14A Super Tomcat
  • Mission 3
  • Spawn conditions: Appears to the west during the second part of the mission (the open sea section) after all enemy aircraft are destroyed. Only appears during Free Mission mode or on Hard difficulty or higher.

Notable for its vivid purple and pink cherry blossom pattern, Zipang is, without equal, one of the most popular and most recurring non-story Named Aces in the entire franchise. Zipang’s paint scheme appears as an unlockable plane colour in Ace Combat X, Joint Assault, Assault Horizon, and Infinity, and as paid DLC for Ace Combat 6. It’s also one of the few non-protagonist, non-rival planes released as a physical model through Hasegawa Hobby Kits.

Zipang is notable among Named Aces for several peculiar behaviors. It tends to dive under the water at random intervals to evade missiles (because enemy planes can clip the water and survive in AC5), as well as deploy countermeasure flares to deflect player and wingman missiles.

Named after the 2002-2009 historical naval drama manga by Kaiji Kawaguchi, Zipang is derived from “Cipangu”, one of the foreign words for “Japan”, which is transliterated into Japanese as ジパング (Jipangu), and the pattern on its airframe is derived from one of Japan’s major cultural symbols; the cherry blossom, or sakura.

Tracks featured in Mission 3:

DISC 1

Marcus Snow inspecting his F-14 on the deck of the Kestrel:

Captain Andersen on the bridge of the Kestrel:

First Flight

Mission 4: Emergency Sortie – September 27th, 2010 | NO COMM
The Cutscene That Was Promised

Overview: The Yuktobanian Air Force launches a nighttime raid on Sand Island AFB. Wardog Squadron is scrambled to defend the island, but with Captain Bartlett gone, and his replacement, Colonel Ford still en route to the island, they are vastly outnumbered.


Guest Commentator: I am joined today for this mission by Max Payne 3 speedrun world record holder (I’m not lying, look it up), CJacobs.


ARCHER
Real Name: Hans Grimm
Callsign(s): Archer, Wardog 4
Age: 19
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: Player determined (F-14A Tomcat in all promotional materials)
Voice Actor: Johnny Yong Bosch

A recent graduate of the Osean Air Defense Force’s pilot training program out of Heierlark AFB, and one of the reserve trainees not yet officially cleared for active duty at the time of Sand Island’s attack by the YAF.

At the age of 19, just two years out of high school, Hans Grimm is the youngest pilot (and arguably youngest person) currently stationed at Sand Island AFB, as well as the least experienced in active combat. Prior to his first combat flight on the evening of September 27th, 2010, he was officially posted to the OADF’s 703rd Maintenance Company under Chief Peter Beagle while he waited for flight clearance from Captain Bartlett.

Military service runs in Grimm’s family. His father and older brother served in the military. SPECULATION: It’s speculated that his father (who is curiously never mentioned in Ace Combat 5, while his brother and mother are) is actually Heinrad Grimm, aka GrauOrca 2 of the Belkan Air Force, whom you might remember from the Assault Records from Ace Combat Zero’s Mayhem. It’s never confirmed by any canonical sources, but its implied that Heinrad’s widow took her two sons and emigrated to Osea after the end of the Belkan War, or merely remained in South Belka and became an Osean citizen by default as Osea assimilated the territory, and her sons later joined the military of their new homeland.

Despite his inexperience and occasional lack of faith in his own abilities, Grimm is a quick learner and quite skilled for a beginner, possessing incredible courage under pressure. With the loss of Capt. Jack Barlett at sea and the death of Lt. Col. Ford en route to Sand Island, Col. Perrault has decided, begrudgingly, to maintain Wardog Squadron’s current configuration as of the conclusion of the Sand Island defense sortie.

Hans Grimm now assumes the position of Wardog 4, with [NAME REDACTED] granted an in-field promotion to the rank of Captain and assuming the position of squadron leader, Wardog 1. Flight Lieutenants Kei Nagase and Alvin H. Davenport, respectively, retain their original positions as Wardogs 2 and 3.

(Possibly) named after German author (and Nazi supporter :stonk:) Hans Grimm, though that’s probably an intentional reference. He was more likely named after the German fairtale authors Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (aka the Brothers Grimm), as Hans and his unnamed brother are literally the Brothers Grimm in Ace Combat 5.

He also shares (obliquely) a birthday with his voice actor, Johnny Yong Bosch. Bosch was born on
January 6, and dialog from Grimm in the final mission of the game places his birthday between the week of January 3 and January 9.

This is also Johnny Yong Bosch’s “return” to the Ace Combat franchise after we first saw him as PJ in Ace Combat Zero, though like Beau Billingslea last time around, his AC debut was here in 5, with PJ coming later.


KIRK
Real Name: Kirk
Callsign(s): …seriously?
Age: 7 (47, dog years)
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: BAE Hawk
Voice Actor: None

A Labrador Retriever owned by Peter S. Beagle and the unofficial mascot of Wardog Squadron.


FORD
Real Name: [UNKNOWN] Ford
Callsign(s): Wardog 1 (provisional)
Age: Unknown
Sex: Male
Nationality: Osea
Signature Plane: Unknown
Voice Actor: Uncredited

A Lieutenant Colonel in the Osean Air Defense Force. He assigned to Sand Island AFB to assume wartime command over Wardog Squadron as its immediate flight lead and to act as the Commander Air Group for all additional OADF and ONAF squadrons expected to be transferred to Sand Island in the coming days and weeks in preparation for possible counter strike operations against Yuktobania.

It can’t be said for certain whether Ford was assigned to Sand Island purely to fill the hole left by Jack Bartlett in the base’s command structure following Bartlett’s apparent death, or if Ford’s reassignment was intended from the beginning in response to the war’s outbreak. The latter is highly likely, as the OADF would probably want someone with command experience and the highest in-field rank possible at the command of Sand Island’s air wing, plus it would give Perrault an excuse to either sideline or outright turf Bartlett, which Perrault would consider a personal bonus given Bartlett’s history of self-righteous insubordination.

Not that matters now, anyway, because Ford’s kind of a dead motherfucker now.


WHY IS THERE A PUDDLE OF MUDD SONG IN AN ACE COMBAT GAME?

If ever there was a question to build an LP around, I think we have landed on it. It’s a truly curious thing, but not entirely out of the blue. Prior to Ace Combat 5’s release, Namco actually put out a press release touting that Blurry by Puddle of Mudd would be featured prominently in AC5 after securing the rights to it from PoM’s recording studio, Geffen Records.

To quote a Gamestop article on the announcement from 2004:

[quote=Chris Kohler]
The captain has turned on the “Rock Out” sign, because Namco announced today that its aerial combat title Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War will feature music by Puddle of Mudd. The multiplatinum rock group’s hit song “Blurry” will appear in the opening trailer and in several other segments of the dogfighting game, which ships to retail on October 25.

Interestingly enough, “the Ace Combat 5 development team had this song in mind when creating the game,” said Yoshi Niki, business unit director at Namco Hometek. …[/quote]

So basically, the answer to this question ultimately lies with Project Aces boss and series executive producer Kazutoki Kono, he of the LP series subtitle “Kazutoki Kono’s Wild Ride,” aka the “Ship.” dude depicted in those Ace Combat development comics that Cooked Auto posted in the Shattered Skies thread.

The above quote shows that this wasn’t some last second decision made by Project Aces, they had Blurry in mind throughout the game’s development, which means they were listening to it probably non-stop during the making of AC5. Blurry is even included on the Ace Combat 5 soundtrack as a bonus track at the end of the last disc.

So the question still is, “why?” Again, that’s probably a question better pitched to Kono himself, but I have my theories. Ace Combat 5 is ostensibly a game about America, specifically early 00s George W. Bush-era America, explicitly Japan’s interpretation of 00s George W. Bush-era America. So the production team was no doubt immersing themselves in contemporary American pop culture at the time in order to properly get the “feel” of the game world down as much as they could. This means they were probably watching a lot of American TV shows, American movies, American news broadcasts (particularly CNN), reading American books, and listening to American music. And one of the songs that happened to stick with them for one reason or another was Blurry, by Puddle of Mudd, which had been released in 2001 just four years prior.

Now, separating it from all the baggage associated with it coming from an also-ran American second wave grunge band and what an utter bonkers shitbag Wes Scantlin is, Blurry is, for the most part, a halfway decent song. So I can see why PA went with it over its contemporary compatriots because it is a really catchy song if you don’t pay attention to or think about its lyrics. I mean, what the hell else were they gonna go with? Something from Limp Bizkit, Smash Mouth, Creed, or Nickleback? Probably because they were too expensive :V

Still, it’s probably worth diving into just what specifically Blurry is actually about which isn’t readily apparent at first blush.

CJacobs ddinkins and I discussed this in the Operation Katina video, but, to directly quote from the Wikipedia article on the song:

[quote=Wikipedia]
Puddle of Mudd’s lead singer Wes Scantlin wrote this about his desire to be a good father and hang with his child. “Blurry” angered Scantlin’s son’s mother when she first heard the song. She and Scantlin are separated. According to Scantlin, “Blurry” helped bring some issues into the open and improved their relationship.[/quote]

[quote=Wikipedia]
The music video for the song shows Scantlin playing with his son, Jordan, interspersed with shots of the band playing in a garage. Towards the end, as the song picks up, it shows Jordan driving off in the back seat with a man and a woman in the front seat (presumably Jordan’s mother and stepfather), as Wes watches the car sadly. The video was directed by Limp Bizkit vocalist Fred Durst.[/quote]

So yeah, basically Wes Scantlin is a creepy fuckup shitbag.

Scantlin has, apropos of the thread title, been arrested or had run-ins with the police 11 times since 2001, including one incident in August 2016, a mere three days after the Ace Combat 04 LP kicked off where Scantlin tried to jury-rig a carbomb as a means of deterring alleged thieves whom Sctanlin believed were repeatedly breaking into his car.

In April, that same year, Scantlin was involved in an armed standoff outside his Los Angeles house involving 30 LAPD officers. He has also had several on-stage meltdowns including one incident in 2015 where he destroyed his guitar, headset, and part of a drum kit before storming off stage seemingly unprompted, and an incident from February 2016 where Scantlin paused in the middle of a show, singled out an audience member in the front row, and then went on a protracted rant about how the person “stole [his] fucking house” and then left the stage in a fit of anger, cancelling the show.

Don’t believe me? Watch the video.

I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about Wesley Reid Scantlin as a result of this LP and I am utterly fascinated by all of it.

Aircraft featured in Mission 4


C-1 Trader
Manufacturer: Grumman
Role: Carrier transport / anti-submarine aircraft
Manufactured: 1955-???
Status: Retired (1988)
Primary Operators: United States
Quick Facts:

  • A carrier onboard delivery (COD) aircraft and variant of the Grumman S-2 Tracker.
  • Used as a ship-to-shore transport to ferry personnel, mail, supplies, and high-priority cargo between land ports and aircraft carriers at sea.
  • Originally designed to be an anti-submarine aircraft.
  • Can carry nine passengers or 3,500 pounds (1,600 kg) of cargo.
  • As of its retirement in 1988 it was the second to last radial aircraft in service in the US military.
  • Approximately 10 Traders are still in operation as of 2010 as Warbirds (former military craft now operated by civilian firms, primarily as display planes for airshows).
  • Its companion/successor plane, the C-2 Greyhound is still in service as a COD craft today.
  • The C-1 that appears in the cutscenes of Ace Combat 5 is stamped with the OMDF (Osean Maritime Defense Force) logo on its fuselage in the place where the real world Trader would have the NAVY marking.
  • This would either suggest that the Osean Navy it still operating C-1s in 2010 (22 years after their real-world retirement) or that the Trader that appears in this mission is a warbird privately owned and operated by Pops, yet still possessing its old OMDF identification markings.
  • Interestingly, the C-1 model that appears in-game is marked with the roundels and flags of the Yuktobanian Air Force…

Mindripper

  • Plane: F-4G Wild Weasel
  • Mission 4
  • Spawn conditions: Appears from the north in the first part of the mission (before Grimm takes off) after some F-4s and B-1Bs are destroyed.

Tracks featured in Mission 4:

DISC 1

DISC 4

The final member of Wardog squadron, Hans Grimm:

The Four Three Wings of Sand Island:

Rendevous

Mission 5: Operation Whalebird – September 30th, 2010 | [NO COMM]

Overview: Wardog Squadron is dispatched on its first official sortie under Blaze’s command: escorting OMDF 3rd Fleet and its aircraft carriers, the Kestrel, Buzzard and Vulture through the Eaglin Straits to Osea’s inland Benning Sea.


Guest Commentator: For this mission I am joined by four-time returning Ace Combat co-commentator Skippy Granola.


EAGLIN STRAIGHTS

A narrow inlet leading from the Ceres Ocean to the Benning Sea. A massive bridge across the straight connects the western Osean states of Bronstein and Shelton via a stretch of Osea’s massive interstate highway system. The bridge, as well as a large portion of the highway on either side of the straight, has been closed temporarily by the Osean military to allow the Kestrel and her fleet to move through the area and to keep civilians out of a potential combat zone should a Yuktobanian ambush occur.


MULTI-PURPOSE BURST MISSILE

You knew it was only a matter of time before these wonderful bastards reared their ugly heads again. After a brief blip of a “cameo” in Ace Combat 04, the dreaded MPBM makes its “return” (debut, actually) in Rendezvous.

Belka may be long dead, but her awful toys are still making life miserable for the world. Among the many items the South Belka Munitions Factory staff saw fit to scatter to the winds of the international black market before the SBMF was shuttered were the plans for the Hypersthene Multi-Purpose Burst Missile (MPBM). The MPBM is a massive, hyper-volatile ballistic missile that uses a nitrogen polymer accelerant and a molten tungsten shrapnel component to creative a massive, unstoppable burst shockwave capable of disintegrating nearly anything caught in its blast radius, followed by a near-instantaneous bombardment by a “rain of molten metal,” which pulverizes anything that may have withstood the original blast.

In the 15 years since the SMBF’s dismantlement by the Osean Federation, the Yuktobanian military has worked in secret to replicate and enhance the old MPBM design, producing an even deadlier variant as the primary weapon of its two Scinfaxi-class super submarines. The Scinfaxi’s burst missiles contain multiple independent warheads capable of creating multiple air bursts around a target area. Each warhead has a blast radius of approximately 2,500 feet.


SCINFAXI

Since the initial announcement of their construction in 1991, the Yuktobanian Navy’s two Scinfaxi-class nuclear super submarines have been shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Even after 15 years of peace between Yuktobania and Osea, they were still considered a top-level Yuktobanian state secret, and virtually no information about their capabilities, armament, crew compliment, or location at any given moment has escaped from the halls of power in Cinigrad.

As of Operation Whalebird, it has been confirmed that the Scinfaxi-class is capable of launching multiple Submarine-Launch Burst Missiles (SLBM) from an unspecified depth below the surface of the water and from well beyond visual range of any surface ship it may be targeting.

The Federation of Central Usea and the Independent States Allied Forces have forwarded declassified intel on the FCU’s former Dragonet-class submarines Fensalir and Folkvangr (which the Yuktobanians were accused of copying in an act of brazen espionage) to compare with sonar and spy satellite data on the Yuktobanian sub.

However, it is unlikely any useful information will be gleaned from this. The OMDF has stepped up its anti-submarine patrols of the coastline and the Eaglin Straits in an attempt to locate the Scinfaxi before it escapes to deeper waters.

Osean Central Command is currently formulating a strategy to counter the deployment of the Scinfaxi.


WHALEBIRD

In nautical terms, a whalebird is any type of bird known to follow and flock to whaling ships out at sea and feast on the oils and excess byproduct and scraps of the whaling process. Petrels are the most common types of whalebirds.


THE HANGAR

What is this sorcery? Yes, it’s taken five missions, but we finally have access to the hangar, for an ever so brief stretch.

Ace Combat 5’s hangar functions generally identical to the hangars of the other games in the series, however there are two key differences that set its hangar mechanic apart from the others. The first is how the game treats its special weapons sections. Instead of giving you the choice of three different special weapons to unlock and chose from per plane, each plane on 5’s roster has only one special weapon unlocked and equipped on it at the time of its purchase. This allows 5 to pad out its roster to an utterly bonkers degree by restricting certain special weapons to certain variations of planes.

For example, the F-5E Tiger II, our default plane has UGBs as its special weapons. To bring an air-to-air weapon in the fight, you have to (like I do in this mission) unlock the F-20 Tigershark with its SAAMs instead.

Ace Combat Zero would hastily abandon this mechanic, returning to Ace Combat 04’s style of a (semi) free choice of special weapons per plane in addition to cutting some of the more redundant planes from 5’s roster.

The second element that sets 5’s hangar apart from (most) of the other Ace Combat hangars is that planes purchased in the shop are not universally unlocked for your squadron. They are instead purchased on a per-pilot basis. This approach has its strengths and weaknesses, of course.

If your aim is to diversify your squadron, then you only need to buy specific planes for specific members of Wardog Squadron. The good part about this is that Edge, Chopper, and Archer are all relatively well-rounded in the AI department, so you don’t have to fret on building any of them towards a specific role exclusively. Generally speaking, diversifying your squadron with at least one attacker, interceptor, and multi-role is a sound strategy to cover your bases in terms of whatever The Unsung War will throw at you, but most missions will telegraph quite heavily.

The downside to this, however, is that buying multiples of the same plane gets prohibitively expensive after a while, so if you want to present a united squadron for one reason or another, it can be quite difficult to accomplish sometimes, at least on your first go through the game.

Again, this is a feature later games would ultimately move away from. In Ace Combats 2 and 04 you were only buying planes for yourself because you were basically a squadron of one, with Edge and Slash in 2 coming with their own planes already based on whatever role you wanted them to fulfil in each mission. In Ace Combat Zero, you only had to focus on buying planes for yourself as you couldn’t select what plane your wingman sortied in, only what special weapons they used (Pixy stuck with his F-15C while PJ kept his F-16C). In Assault Horizon Legacy, when you buy a plane for the shop, it automatically purchased for Edge and Slash to use as well. It’s been quite some time since I’ve played Ace Combat 6, so I can’t say for certain if you also have to buy Shamrock his plane as well you’re your own, but I’ll edit this with the proper information either way.

Tracks featured in Mission 5:

DISC 1

White Bird (Part I)

Mission 6: Operation Silver Bridge – October 3rd, 2010 | [NO COMM]

Overview: After a layover at Heierlark Air Force Base, Wardog Squadron is sent to Basset Space Center to provide cover for an SSTO catapult launch bund for the Osean spaceplane Arkbird, currently in orbit over the space center.

In order to counter the firepower of the Scinfaxi’s burst missiles, the Osean government has taken the extraordinary step of arming the Arkbird with a tactical laser pod to strike the Yuktobanian superweapon from the safety of low Earth orbit.


Guest Commentator: YOU HAVE UNLOCKED: Guest Commentator Lunethex. The Champion of the Taser returns for Ace Combat 5. Since his last appearance in Ace Combat 04, he has since started an LP of Urban Chaos: Riot Response, a game that is equal parts amazingly over the top and existentially horrifying if taken as anything other than tone-deaf parody. He is joined in this fascinating examination of mid-00s American Law Enforcement and Counter-Terrorism Pornography by his Syphon Filter cohorts, the Time Warriors aka Coolguye and TheLastRoboKy, and the patron saint of hardware failure, Jade Star.


HEIRLARK AFB

We return to Heirelark Air Force Base for the first time since our brief visit there in Ace Combat Zero.

Heirelark AFB was once a Belkan Air Force facility on Belka’s one time southwestern frontier and a knife at the throat of the Osean Federation. Now it stands as a vestige of the social upheaval brought about by Belka’s economic collapse in the late 1980s, Osea’s unchecked expansion in the early 1990s, and the Belkan War that brought it all to a head.

When the Belkan Army ceded South Belka to the Allied Forces in the late spring of 1995, the cities and provinces of the south surrendered to Osea and declared themselves independent of the government in Dinsmark to the north. With the signing of the Treaty of Lumen that officially ended the Belkan War, the demilitarized lands south of the Waldreich Mountains and the Hydrian Line were officially consigned to Osean control and “South Belka” became “North Osea” overnight.

Fifteen years of living as involuntary Osean citizens has created an unsmall amount of strife among the former Belkan population of North Osea. While the Osean government has been relatively considerate about maintaining Belkan culture and traditions in North Osea, most North Osean citizens have assimilated into Osean culture fairly well. However, there are a vocal minority to traditionalists and Belkan nationalists with North Osea who resent living under the alleged thrall of the Osean Federation. These hardliners will pointedly tell you that you are in South Belka when you visit, and that North Osea is a term of oppression.

Trying to wrangle a peaceful and progressive solution to the “Belkan Issue” had been one of President Harling’s key domestic policy planks in his re-election bid, however the outbreak of the war with Yuktobania has caused his administration to suspend all work on the matter for the time being.

As for Heierlark itself in the here and now, the air base is home to the Osean Air Defense Force’s pilot training academy. All four members of the current Wardog Squadron received their initial flight instruction at Heierlark before being posted to Sand Island to finish actual combat school with Jack Bartlett’s training flight. The Wardogs have been ordered by OADF Central Command to bring Heierlark’s current crop of nugget pilots with them home to Sand Island AFB to reinforce the base’s fighter wing numbers.


BASSET SPACE CENTER

Located close to the equator on Osea’s western peninsula, Basset Space Center is one of the world’s preeminent space launch facilities, rivaled only by Usea’s Riass Space Center in the Comona Islands. The facility lies south east of McNealy Air Force Base, which often co-ordinates operations with Basset.

Basset is the home of the Osean Air and Space Administration, and features multiple rocket and shuttle launch facilities and a gigantic magnet-accelerated mass driver for sled launched single-stage-to-orbit launches. Mission control for both the International Space Station and the Arkbird project is also handled by Basset.

The facility was jointly constructed and invested in by both the Osean Federation and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics as a symbol of their new era of international cooperation. However, with the preceding freeze in international relations in the run-up to the Circum-Pacific War, the delegation from the Yuktobanian Space Agency unanimously withdrew from Basset Space Center and returned to Yuktobania before the outbreak of the war.

Osean President Vincent Harling redirected a significant portion of the Osean Federation’s defense budget into funding Basset and its programs like the ISS and Arkbird. Harling announced in his first State of the Union Address to the Osean Congress that the time had come for the world to focus its efforts on the peaceful exporation of the cosmos rather than petty and destructive conflict between individual nations.


THE ARKBIRD

“A bridge of peace to outer space.” Those were the words President Harling used to describe the newly unveiled Arkbird to the world.

Conceived of during the Cold War, the Arkbird was originally an ambitious plan for a continuous orbital spaceplane platform designed to act as a mobile shield against and interceptor platform for potential ICBMs launched from Yuktobania or Erusea. However, a lack of funding and sufficiently advanced technology to see the project completed hobbled its development until the mid-90s after the official end of the Cold War.

Ironically, it was only with the cooperation of Yuktobania that the Arkbird came into existence. Having outlived its purpose as a missile defense shield, the Arkbird was instead repurposed into a vehicle for peaceful space exploration and scientific experimentation and as a part of the joint Osea-Yuktobania spaceguard program.

After Stonehenge was shuttered in Delarus after Ulysses Day, the responsibility of clearing out asteroid fragments lingering in orbit around the Earth was turned over to the Arkbird with its short-range beam laser systems. As of 2008, nearly 80% of all remaining Ulysses 1994XF04 fragments and satellite debris left in its wake have been cleared away.

In 2008, the Arkbird also hosted the final day of the G7 Summit, where the leaders of Osea, Yuktobania, Erusea, the Federation of Central Usea, Nordlands, Verusa, and Anea (represented jointly at the time by delegations from Emmeria and Nordennavic—the Estovakian delegation was disinvited after the Osean, Erusian, FCU, and Nordlands delegations refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the Lyes United Front’s de facto military government as the Estovakian Civil War raged on). During the “space summit,” President Harling and Yuktobanian Prime Minister Nikanor jointly issued the “Arkbird Declaration,” announcing the proposal for the START2 nuclear arms reduction treaty.

Now, the Arkbird has been reluctantly pulled into the war with the country who helped build and support it. The Osean Department of Defense has declared that only the Arkbird can stand as a potential match for Yuktobania’s Scinfaxi super submarine and its SLBM weaponry and has ordered an experimental A-SAT tactical laser pod ferried up to the craft via an SSTO supply ship to be installed upon it and used against Scinfaxi when she reappears next.


SSTO

The holy grail of space launch technology. The acronym is short for “single-stage-to-orbit”. An SSTO craft is capable of going from a stationary position on the surface into Earth orbit without ejecting any hardware components such as booster rockets or fuel tanks. While several concepts and plans for it exist, there has yet to be a successful SSTO vehicle or launch. The Lockheed Martin VentureStar was intended to be an SSTO spaceplane platform meant to replace the Space Shuttle, but was ultimately cancelled by the US government along with its testbed predecessor, the Lockheed Martin X-33.

In Ace Combat 5, the Osean SSTO craft is actually a hybrid propulsion system called a “Sled Launch SSTO,” a concept that has been floated as a means of making SSTO launches realistically feasible. In addition to having only a single-stage scramjet to push the laser pod into orbit on the supply ship, the SSTO launch is aided by a mass driver catapult that propels the craft to launch speeds along a parabolic magnetic rail, thus reducing the overall thrust and fuel needed to achieve escape velocity.


THE FOUR WINGS OF SAND ISLAND

We saw in Ace Combat 04 that Mobius 1 quickly attracted the attention of the Usean media following his standout performances in key air battles during the Shattered Skies War. And so it is with the member of Wardog Squadron. Of course, they happen to have a leg up on the other Ace Combat protagonists in terms of media accessibility, as Albert Genette is right there with them to tell their story and get it out there to the rest of the world.

Gennette’s headline story “The Four Wings of Sand Island” is the larger world’s first exposure to Wardog Squadron and its exploits up till now, namely saving the O.F.S. Kestrel from the Yuktobanian sneak attack on St. Hewlett. Of course, this is just a front page puff piece, all told, something to make people feel good and regain a sense of stability in the wake of Yuktobania’s blitz attack, not a zeitgeist changing cover store like “LONE FIGHTER DESTROYS STONEHENGE” from Shattered Skies.

What this little aside really does is develop the character of Albert Genette himself a little more. Through sheer circumstance, he has been forced to rapidly shift from documentarian to embedded war correspondent. His focus has shifted from telling the story of one man in peacetime to telling the story of an entire war through the eyes of a single squadron. So let’s talk about that.


EMBEDDED JOURNALISTS

This is where The Unsung War starts to show off the contemporary cultural colours it was dyed in. As a commentary on and in some ways parody of modern warfare (notably of the Iraq War), the game has dressed itself up in a lot of the trappings developed either naturally or artificially in the broader public consciousness. The nationalism, jingoism, paranoia, polarization, and the blurring of propaganda and real journalism. We’re getting our first taste of them here, and they’re going to crop up more often at the game progresses.

The concept of journalists of one sort or another covering a war directly from combat zones is about as old as journalism itself. However, the term “Embedded Reporter” only entered public parlance during the 2003 Iraq invasion. The US news media had pressured the military for increased access to frontline operations after the first Gulf War and Afghanistan War were tightly regulated in terms of press access. The concession was to allow certain war correspondents to be embedded directly with deployed frontline troops during the initial invasion of Iraq when it was clear that the US military would be deployed into the country.

While never openly acknowledged as such, Albert Genette fuctions as an ad hoc embedded journalist with Wardog Squadron, being stationed with, moving with, and reporting on their actions—with strict oversight from Osean command, of course.

Of course, the concept of embedded journalism is a controversial one. Embedded reporters have been criticized for acting as press flacks and propagandists for the US military, telling versions of the story that the military wants to be told rather than the truth, acting as propagandists or cheerleaders for US military action. The concept has been derided as an inherent violation of basic journalistic ethics, and as being inherently silly and fraught with potential danger to both the journalist and the troops they are covering. For example, Geraldo Rivera, famously drew the ire of the media and military alike for accidentally revealing information about US troop deployments and plans of attack on live television and was quickly recalled from the frontlines by his superiors.

Because no matter what your politics, we can all agree that Geraldo Rivera is a fucking dumbass.


THE BELKAN WAR: A CRASH COURSE

If ever there was a time to go back and familiarize yourself with Ace Combat Zero, we’re getting closer and closer to it.

In many ways, Ace Combat 5 and Ace Combat Zero make something of the perfect double feature if you’re looking for a pair of games to play back-to-back. They each tell a complete story no matter what order you do them in. If you go 5-Zero, you to see the story of the Unsung War play out and then go back and see what really caused everything to unravel. If you go Zero-5 you get to see inverse of that arc and see how a seemingly minor and random chain of events lit the fuse on a bomb that would take 15 years to explode. Because the ingenious thing about them as a two-part story is that neither 5 nor Zero tells the complete truth about the Belkan War on their own. You need both games and what they say about each other to get the full picture.

Honestly, if I was doing this the smart way, I would have gone Zero-5 back to back, but I self-rationalize it that by doing 2 and then 04 as a buffer between them, you have time to either conveniently forget about Zero, or, if you know what’s coming in the future, to keep Zero in the back of your mind as the tension builds as we inch closer and closer, game by game, mission by mission, day by day, to that aforementioned big fucking bomb going off.

But in the here and now, with the cutscene preceding this mission, Albert Genette outlines everything we need to know about the Belkan War as far as it relates to Ace Combat 5.

Belka, a one mighty global super-power (albeit a second-rate super-power like Erusea or Emmeria) saw its fortunes rapidly decline as its economy collapsed in the mid-80s and it began to spiral out of control. To stave off the economic disaster any way it could, it permitted territory after territory to secede and become independent nations, such as Ustio. When Belka hit its absolute nadir in the early 90s, a far-right nationalist party swept into power in its government on the promise that it would Make Belka Great Again restore its lost strength and pride.

It did this by building up its military force to unprecedented heights and then launching a blitz campaign in early 1995 to forcibly retake its seceded territories, including those relinquished to the Osean Federation. Claiming Belka had no right to those territories any more, Osea led a campaign to liberate besieged countries along with forces from its neighbor and ally the Kingdom of Sapin, and most surprising of all from its former international rival and enemy, the Union of Yuktobanian Republics.

The Belkans were pushed out of the occupied territories, but the Oseans wanted to crush them completely, so they would never be a threat to the world ever again. Over the next few months, the Allied Forces pushed into Belkan territory until they reached the Waldreich Mountains. Faced with the prospect of enemy troops storming the heart of their nation, the Belkan government ordered the unthinkable: they detonated a wall of seven nuclear bombs along the Waldreichs, stopping the Allies in their tracks and sealing themselves off from the rest of the world behind an eradiated thermonuclear firewall.

Shortly thereafter, the Belkan government was deposed and the Belkan military leaders formally surrendered to the Allies. All territory that the Osean military had currently occupied south of the Waldreichs up to that point was officially relinquished to Osean control, while the globally recognized border of Belkan was redrawn to reflect the scar it had burned upon itself as a means to stop the bleeding.

Since then, with regard to Belka, it’s basically been 15 years of static and spite toward the global community, with an occasional burb of activity elsewhere on some foreign battlefield from her wayward sons and daughters like Sergei Brynner, Lorenz Riedel, or Larry Foulke.

The long and short of it is; a lot of people on both sides committed a lot of sins during that pointless abomination of a war. And Hell has a funny way of catching up with sinners…

Zaharada

  • Plane: Mirage 2000D
  • Mission 6
  • Spawn conditions: Appears from the east after some F-16Cs and F-20As are destroyed.

Tracks featured in Mission 6:

DISC 1

DISC 4

NOTE: This mission has one of (at least) three songs that aren’t on the official soundtrack for Ace Combat 5 associated with it. A down-tempo, almost vaporwave-like remix of White Bird (Part I) plays over the outro cutscene for this mission. Unfortunately, I can’t get a clean rip of it like I could the unreleased tracks from say, White Knight Chronicles because the audio for the pre-rendered cutscenes is all compressed down to one channel, so I can’t strip out the dialog and sound effects.

If you want to hear it, be sure to watch the no commentary version of the video. That way you at least don’t have to put up with Lune and I also yapping over it too.

Sketches of Basset Space Center’s catapult from ACES AT WAR:

Various renders of Basset: