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This article concerns the Ace Combat Infinity mission. For other uses, see Operation Bunker Shot.

"Today's my birthday, by the way. Make sure this op is so successful, they turn it into a national holiday."
AWACS Sky-Eye

Operation Bunker Shot is the eighth and final[1] Campaign mission in Ace Combat Infinity. The player must support the UNF ground troops as they begin an advance against the USEA Federation.

Briefing[]

Operation Bunker Shot Infinity

Briefing screen

Goodfellow: Well, we're all set to go. Soon, we'll be staging a campaign to storm the territory claimed by USEA and liberate Eastern Europe. We're calling it Operation Bunker Shot. You'll be going through Area V9D over the Adriatic Sea and into Croatian airspace within the SEU. The ground force will divide into two grounds and circumvent Ruda, one of the Elaphiti Islands, for the landing. The landing point features a narrow road going inland. It is well-suited for defending against invaders, and we can expect heavy enemy resistance. Our air squadrons will wipe up hostiles on the beach and keep ground casualties to a minimum. If we succeed, this could be the tipping point that'll end the entire USEAn War. We're going to strike them right in the throat.

Objectives[]

Upon spawning, the player is allowed to begin engaging enemies immediately. More enemies will spawn after some dialogue is advanced through, and then the actual goal is laid out: as the ground troops advance, the player must support them and give air cover so they are not wiped out. Enemy installations are fierce and numerous, so the player has to proceed with haste before the time runs out.

Mission Update[]

As the ground troops begin their landing, the OLDS attacks the UNF for the very first time. Dozens of Ulysses fragments stuck in orbit start raining down on the forces, killing every air unit except Goodfellow, Sky-Eye, the Bone Arrows, and the Ridgebacks, and killing every ground unit that didn't land. The player is forced to defend against some enemy bandits that appear in the airspace while the meteorites continue falling, and everyone asks Goodfellow for orders. After a moment, Goodfellow orders the assault to continue.

At this point, numerous pillboxes will appear along the beaches. The player is tasked with destroying the ones marked as TGTs; other ground forces are typically SAMs and AA guns and can also be engaged. Bandits will continue flying above and engage the player.

Once all of the pillboxes are destroyed, more ground troops and four B-1B Lancers spawn. The player must destroy all four bombers as well as all howitzers marked as TGT. Finally, the player must destroy three coastal fortresses, and the mission will complete.

S Rank[]

An S Rank on this mission requires the player to achieve 100,000 points and get the "Mission Accomplished" message with at least 21 minutes remaining on the timer at the end (taking no more than 8 minutes in the final part of the mission). An S Rank awards the player with the nickname "Bertz' Savior".

If the player does not have any stronger equipment, the Rental Set is a good choice for this mission. The Lv.5 F-35B Lightning II has over 200 missiles and can turn very sharply very easily. It is also equipped with 20 Guided Penetration Bombs, which make very short work of the pillboxes and coastal fortresses in the final section of the mission.

When the mission first starts, the player should engage as many targets as possible out of the limited number available. Once more targets spawn when Sky-Eye announces his birthday, the player should try to destroy as many ground targets on Ruda Island, the island with all of the SAMs and AA guns. At some point, Bertz from Echo Team will request fire support against enemy ships; the player should now fly to the east and destroy the Corvettes using missiles or guns, followed by taking care of the three MSL Hovercraft and one Cruiser with GPBs. Once all ships are destroyed and Echo Team is completely clear, the player should then fly back to Ruda Island and destroy all of the pillboxes and howitzers harassing Whiskey Team. By the time Whiskey Team is clear, Sky-Eye should say or have already said: "Confirmed substantial strikes on hostile forces." This confirms that the player, Bone Arrow, and Ridgebacks have enough points to proceed with the mission. Until the Mission Update, the player should go north and destroy the three coastal guns that are firing on both Whiskey and Echo Team, and then spend the remaining time firing on all other forces.

After the meteorites strike, the player will be engaged with some bandits while the operation is discussed. The player should shoot down as many bandits as possible, since time spent here doesn't count for the final section's 30 minute timer and these bandits would spawn at the start of the final section if the player restarts from the checkpoint there.

Once the final section starts and all of the ground forces are shown, the player should waste no time in bombing the pillboxes on the beaches. Other enemy units can be ignored for the time being. Once the pillboxes are destroyed, all remaining forces on the beach are defeated and new forces appear further inland, along with some bombers as well as defenses on the beach side of the mountains. The TGTs here are more howitzers and the bombers, and the player should quickly destroy all of them. However, GPBs should be conserved since the howitzers are weak to missiles and none of the ground targets are clustered together.

Once all of the howitzers and bombers are destroyed, three coastal fortresses will spawn. This is the final stretch of the mission, and the player should preferably have some minutes to spare. The coastal fortresses are worth 2,500 points each, for a total of 7,500, so the player needs to have 92,500 points before destroying them. This can be most easily done by destroying AD Tanks and SAMs on the ground, as well as engaging the Su-27s in the air. As soon as 92,500 points are achieved, the player should swiftly use their remaining GPBs to destroy the coastal fortresses and end the mission before the timer crosses the 22:00:00 threshold.

If the player manages to end the mission with 100,000 points or more with 21:00:00 or more remaining on the timer, they will be awarded with an S Rank.

Debriefing[]

Goodfellow: Great to see all of you back here. The landing operation was a success, albeit a costly one. It'll definitely give us the advantage as we commence operations across the Eurasian continent. Meanwhile, though, it's still slow going for the battle lines in western Russia, where a separate operation is currently underway. The Butterfly Master's craft were[sic] spotted over Moscow. We still have no idea where he's actually based, though. As for the space weapon we saw in action, we'll brief you on what we know later on. For now, I want you all to take a well-deserved rest.

Trivia[]

  • Completing the mission, with or without an S Rank, will award the player with the nickname "Witness of Ulysses".
  • In order, the background tracks that play in this mission are:
  • The timer in the first part of the mission does not stay consistent. At first, it seems to display 5 minutes. Once all characters finish most of their dialogue and more enemies are shown on radar, which takes approximately 60 seconds, the timer then resets to 6 minutes.
  • During the first part of the mission, if the player protects Echo Team first, Warrant Officer Bertz will say, "Hey, pirates. We can manage here. You just focus on Whiskey Team to the west! My brother told me about you. He said, when the Reaper haunts you, you have nothing to fear." If the player protects Whiskey Team first, Sergeant Collins will say, "We're A-OK here, Ribbon! Get over to the Echo Team on the east side! If she dies on me here, the Lieutenant's probably gonna kill us from the afterlife. It's safe under the Reaper, right? Show her!"
  • At some point, Bertz will comment, "I guess the Reaper's smiling on us today, huh?" This references Shamrock from Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation; at the end of the cutscene prior to Invasion of Gracemeria, he says, "May the Golden King smile upon us."
  • The meteorite attack does not stop once it begins and will continue to strike the water. If a player is nearby one of the meteorites as it crashes, the screen will be covered in a blinding light until the player moves further away from the crash zone.
  • During the cutscene after this mission, Goodfellow says "Arrowheads" instead of "Arrowblades", as subtitled.
  • Based solely on enemy concentration and patterns during the final segment, this is the most difficult campaign mission released in Infinity. There are more AA and SAM installations than in any previous mission, and the bandits continuously track the player's aircraft.
    • The enemy aircraft do not spawn indefinitely. At some point after shooting them down, Sky-Eye will announce '"All units in the enemy squadron destroyed!" and no more aircraft will spawn.
    • A suggested method to dealing with the bandits is to draw them out to sea or further inland and deal with them out of effective SAM range.

References[]

  1. 河野一聡 on Twitter. Published October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
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