Lighthouse

For the structure, see International Space Elevator.

This article is about an in-game mission. For the in-universe event, see Operation Daredevil.

Lighthouse
Campaign Mission 19 Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown
Mission Order
Previous	Lost Kingdom
Next	Dark Blue
Mission Details
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Score a certain number of points in the time limit.
Time Limit	9 minutes
Character	Trigger
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy the Arsenal Bird.
Time Limit	20 minutes
Character	Trigger

"Lighthouse" is the penultimate campaign mission in Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown. The player must join a coalition of Osean and Erusean forces in an attack on the final Arsenal Bird to recapture the International Space Elevator.

Briefing

Jaeger: Let's get the briefing started.

Fencer: We've done enough air operations. Just let us go home.

Jaeger: There's no path for us to get home. Whatever direction you fly, it'll be right into a hail of enemy fire. Earlier, we received a communication via the partially-restored general network. Here is what it contained. Apparently, the Erusean radicals have gathered around the space elevator... as it's a source of energy. Give the warmongers a powerful energy source, and you give them the luxury to keep on fighting. In response to this, people from both Osea and Erusea have joined forces... and will take down the final Arsenal Bird in a saturation attack from the air and the sea. Once that's achieved, they'll take the space elevator from the aggressors.

Skald: Has the source been verified?

Jaeger: It could be fake. I hear you, but take a look at what's written at the end. "Hey, dumbass. If you want to bring the world back from the brink, go to the lighthouse. You can see the future there."

Tailor: "Dumbass"?

Húxiān: Sounds familiar.

Jaeger: It certainly does. It's from those guys we met in Tyler Island: the 444 Squadron. It's a message to all those looking to end the war. But I also think it's a message for Trigger.

I guess we'll do what it says.

Skald: Okay, well then I'm thinking we go roast that damn bird.

Jaeger: Looks like we're all on the same page. It's time to end this war. Time to fly, guys! Let's go get that Arsenal Bird!

Objectives

Initial

In the first part of the mission, the player must shoot down as many of the enemy aircraft as possible. Like previous missions with score requirements, this mission's score requirement depends on the player's selected difficulty:

• Easy: 10,000
• Normal: 12,000
• Hard: 15,000
• Ace: 17,000

The player must surpass the point threshold within nine minutes to advance the mission. The player will have plenty of enemies to shoot down to surpass the threshold easily. Some enemies are drones and will be flying close to human pilots; if the player shoots down the lead plane in the formation, the drones will slow down and open themselves up to attack until another human-piloted fighter approaches them.

When there are approximately 3 minutes and 30 seconds left, Helios missiles will begin attacking the airspace. Similar to "Faceless Soldier", the player must avoid the Helios blast areas marked as red circles on the radar.

Mission Update

After the Arsenal Bird enters the airspace, the player must destroy its various propellers while dodging attacks from the Arsenal Bird and its swarms of MQ-101 UAVs. The Arsenal Bird's Microwaved Powered Dome will repeatedly activate before it eventually stays activated, preventing further attacks. At this point, the player must wait for its shield to dissipate before continuing to attack.

After the player destroys all propellers, two hooks underneath the Arsenal Bird will be available to attack. These hooks are difficult to attack from directly behind and impossible to attack from above, so the player must attack from below.

After destroying the two hooks, the Microwaved Powered Dome's APS unit will be exposed. The player must attack this unit from underneath to destroy the Arsenal Bird, forcing it to crash into the ocean and completing the mission.

Enemy Lists

Standard Units

Section		Unit	Points	Count	Other Notes
Initial		SU-35S	700	9
		F/A-18F	500	6
		SU-57	1000	6
		SU-33	600	3
		F-14D	450	2
		F-22A	1000	3
		SU-47	850	2
		RAFALE M	670	2
		TYPHOON	650	2
		YF-23	800	1
Mission Update		SU-35S	700	4
		F/A-18F	500	4
		ARSENAL BIRD MAIN PROPELLER SUB PROPELLER AAM PULSE LASER LASER JOINT HOOK APS UNIT	– 720 500 500 500 600 500 500 500	1 2 8 11 2 1 2 2 1
		MQ-101	500	40

Special Units

Main article: Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown/Aces

These special units only appear if the player has completed this mission at least once. The player must also be playing on Normal difficulty or higher.

	Unit	Points	Notes
	SU-57 "CALAMITY"	2,000
	F-22A "TEMPEST"	2,000

Debriefing

No debriefing is available for this mission, even when played during Free Mission.

S Rank

Earning an S Rank on this mission requires earning a combined score and time bonus of 67,640 points or more.

The maximum time bonus available is 16,840 for completing the mission in a total of 20 minutes and 30 seconds or less. This includes time spent retrying from the checkpoint. If the player can complete the mission in that amount of time, they only need 50,800 points from destroying targets in the mission itself to earn the S Rank.

If the player goes past the 20 minutes and 30 seconds threshold, the time bonus decreases by 40 points every second, so the player must compensate by destroying more targets to hit the 67,640 point threshold.