The Gauntlet

The Gauntlet
SP Mission Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War
Mission Details
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy all TGTs.
Time Limit	30 minutes
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy all TGTs.
Time Limit	Remaining time from initial stage
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy all TGTs.
Time Limit	Remaining time from Update 1
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy all TGTs.
Time Limit	Remaining time from Update 2
Focus	Air-to-Air
Objectives	Destroy all TGTs.
Time Limit	Remaining time from Update 3

The Gauntlet is an special mission featured in Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War. It pits the player against all of the Belkan ace squadrons encountered in the story. The Gauntlet can only be played in Free Mission.

How to Unlock

The Gauntlet is unlocked by acquiring all of the following Assault Records:

• The Round Table

  010–013: Rot 1–4
  015–018: Grun 1–4
  021–024: Indigo 1–4

• Diapason

  044–045: Gelb 1, Gelb 2

• Mayhem

  069–076: Schwarze Leader, Schwarze 2–8
  084–088: Schnee 1–5
  093–097: Silber 1–5

• The Talon of Ruin

  127–128: Espada 1, Espada 2

• The Demon of the Round Table

  137–144: Sorcerer 1–8
  145–152: Gault 1–8
  153–160: Wizard 1–8

• Zero

  168 - Pixy

Objectives

All enemy units in this mission are TGTs, therefore every enemy unit encountered must be shot down. The player will have 30 minutes in total to shoot down the enemies; the timer does not reset at each Mission Update. The squadrons the player faces will depend on how fast they take down Gelb Team and Espada Team.

The player will complete the mission once they shoot down Wizard Squadron, Gault Team, Sorcerer Squadron, or Mobius.

Enemy List

The following enemy list is taken from the Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War Perfect Guide Book.

Section		Unit	Points	Count	Notes
Initial		Su-37 "Gelb"	2770	2
Mission Update		Typhoon "Rot"	2400	4
		F/A-18C "Grun"	1680	4
		Gripen C "Indigo"	2040	4
Mission Update 2		MiG-31 "Schwarze"	2380	8	Template:Notecall
		F-14D "Schnee" EA-6B "Schnee"	2500 2130	4 1	Template:Notecall
		F-4E "Silber" F-16C "Silber"	1980 1980	1 4	Template:Notecall
Mission Update 3		J35J "Espada" Rafale M "Espada"	2190 3030	1 1
Mission Update 4		YF-23A "Wizard" F/A-22A "Mobius"	3480 30000	4 1
		F-16XL "Wizard" YF-23A "Wizard"	2790 3480	4 4
		Su-47 "Gault"	3000	8
		F-15S/MTD "Sorcerer"	2800	8

S Rank

Earning an S rank on The Gauntlet requires completing the mission in 14 minutes or less. It would be best to take a fighter with air-to-air special weapons to make quick work of squadrons, especially those that spawn in front of the player.

It is recommended to avoid fighting Schwarze and instead fight Schnee or Silber, by waiting more than 60 seconds to shoot down Gelb. This gives the player fewer enemies to fight in Mission Update 2.

Gallery

• 

  "Mobius" after shooting down Wizard Squadron

Trivia

• The background music for this mission is "Zero", from the eponymous mission.
• While the player's ammo and damage do not reset between the Mission Updates, a Return Line is available to the south of B7R, which allows the player to land at Valais Air Base and rearm.
• "Mobius" is the first enemy unit in the Ace Combat series to feature the ability to fire up to four missiles at once instead of two. Previously, only the XFA-27 in Ace Combat 2 was capable of this.
  • Mobius is also capable of performing 90-degree High-G Turns as well as firing his four-missile salvo backwards.
  • Mobius's F-22A also features increased armor, requiring four missiles to be shot down.
  • Mobius is worth 30,000 credits, the highest value of any single unit in Ace Combat Zero. Funnily enough, the player would earn more total credits if they engage the full Wizard Squadron instead of Mobius.