"444" is the fifth campaign mission in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The player must defend the 444th Air Base from invading Erusean forces.
Briefing[]
All right guys, I'll let you in on some juicy info. The new guy was found guilty by the International Union Peacekeeping Force's court martial. He is the murderer of Harling in the flesh. His TAC name's Trigger. Now, as of today, he may be attached to the Osean Air Force Base 444 Squadron, but that's just some symbolic bullshit. It doesn't really matter if he's Harling's murderer or not. Every last one of you has been incarcerated for one reason or another. A few of you in the penal unit know how to fly, and HQ needs to plug the deficit in our air force. So they proposed sending you guys on a reconnaissance mission to the Waiapolo Mountains. But that idea was flat out rejected. No, you'll be atoning for your crimes right here at this base. This base is a decoy designed to draw enemy fire. And, as members of this base, you'll be taking hits from the enemy. This will allow our forces to safely prepare a counterattack.
Incoming!
Switch off that alarm! It's just the usual. I thought Zapland was supposed to be an isolated area.
Okay, I'm gonna need a few aircraft to scramble.
Again?!
I wonder how many we'll lose today...
Better than solitary.
How many can actually fly?
Enemy aircraft detected over the dummy runway.
We just need to make it look like we can put up a fight. Some of those piles of junk can at least take off. Let's get the guiltiest cons in the sky first. We'll start with Harling's murderer. We don't expect you to down any bombers. But what we do want is to make them think that we've got an active base here.
Objectives[]
Initial[]
The Spare squadron is dispatched in the air in order to fool Eruseans about the air power of the 444th Air Base. During this period, the player's weapons are locked and cannot lock-on to enemy aircraft. The player may fly around near the base while evading enemy fire and lock-on. The Erusean bombers are bombing the fake runway - which works as expected. However, the bombers managed to bomb the control tower. Base commander McKinsey asks the squadron to keep the enemy away from the base. However, when Bandog requests authorization, he lost contact with McKinsey.
Mission Update[]
Following the bombing of the control tower, Bandog orders Spare squadron to shoot down Erusean bombers and authorize the use of weapons to shoot them down. The player must shoot down all enemy bombers in the area.
Enemy Lists[]
Standard Units[]
Unit | Points | Count | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
SU-33 | 600 | 6 | ||
MIG-29 | 340 | 9 | ||
TU-95 | 1,000 | 11 | ||
MIG-21 | 220 | 3 | ||
TU-160 | 1,200 | 3 |
Special Unit[]
Unit | Points | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
F-15C "FANG" | 1,200 | [note 1] |
Debriefing[]
Did I say you could take down the enemy? Throw anyone who disobeys into solitary.
S Rank[]
Earning an S Rank on this mission requires earning a combined score and time bonus of 34,740 points or more.
The maximum time bonus available is 18,040 for completing the mission in a total of 8 minutes less. This includes time spent retrying from the checkpoint. If the player can complete the mission in that amount of time, they only need 16,700 points from destroying targets in the mission itself to earn the S Rank.
If the player goes past the 8 minutes threshold, the time bonus decreases by 40 points every second, so the player must compensate by destroying more targets to hit the 34,740 point threshold.
Trivia[]
- "444" is an allusion to Tetraphobia, the superstitious fear of digit four in the Far East. (It is the equivalent of Triskaidekaphobia, the superstitious fear of number 13 in the West.) The Sino-Japanese digit 4 (四) and the Japanese word for "death" (死) have the same pronunciation: "Shi." Hence, the "444" airbase is where one is certain to meet death.
Footnotes[]
- ↑ The player must have completed this mission at least once, and must be playing on Normal difficulty or higher. Endure at least 51% damage while your weapons are disabled. FANG spawns in the middle of the map after shooting down the first three bombers.
References[]
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Missions | |
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Campaign | |
VR Mode | |
DLC |