David Hingtgen

My detailed saving Nagase mission/tips: 1. Location varies. Not a WHOLE lot (always Western half of map), but it does shift more north or south. 2. It always takes me about 2 mins to complete the "finding" part. Thus, start the mission by taking out every ground target and helicopter you can, then when you have 2 to 2.5 minutes left, start hunting for her. 3. You've probably figured out that banking seems to really mess up the indicator, thus yaw your way around. 4. Once you've found her (and of course, take out the 767 the moment it appears), go SE as fast as you can, and take out ground targets---and DO NOT MISS THE APACHE. Every time I've lost that mission that I can see what happened, it's an Apache that got the rescue heli. 5. I usually take an F-14 or F-15, for raw speed (while still having agility), to head SE as fast as possible after I've found her to help the chopper, then run NW again to fight off jets once the SE chopper's ok. PS---disperse wingmen. You want them all around, harrassing jets. Harrassing them all over is more important than killing them, as you merely need to stop them from shooting the chopper for like 2 mins.

For the past 10 years, Russia's developed more names and designations than planes.

I don't know why, but the 8492 mission--I either do well early, then bug out after the 2nd wave comes, or die in like 5 secs. Of course, I've never taken anything better than the Super Hornet against them. Actually did best with F-14B. I've yet to kill everything. I'm embarrassed actually, by not being able to do very well in a giant dogfight. BTW--anyone else think AMRAAM's suck against "good" opponents? They never hit. Sparrow's better IMHO, if the AI is better than average. And if you want to see missiles miss, end of mission 23. Yeesh.

The F-4G's HARM has a massive blast radius. 12A: actually one of my most-replayed missions, for exp pts for the planes. (that and 11A) Great for building up the Tornado. YF-23 3rd color is white. Very cool.

That's all I unlocked on my first run. F-14B seems to be the most commonly unlocked plane, for the first run-through. Though I seem to be one of the few to have had the F-20 unlocked already, the first time you could buy/select planes. Spent the last hour trying out some Free Missions, but having trouble---"normal" doesn't give much exp for kills, and early missions on Hard don't have enough targets. But trying to take on later missions with a Tornado on hard--not worth the effort. Yeah I could use the later planes, but most of them don't evolve so there's no point. Ironically, I have yet to actually USE the YF-23, since the time is better spent evolving the Rafale, etc. All in all---I do think the best way to "evolve" planes is to simply keep replaying campaign mode. Currently at mission 21 in campaign, 2nd run, Hard.

My opinions: Where possible, glue first, then paint. Paint: I like Testor's Acryl for brushing, their enamels suck for brushing IMHO. I personally don't like Tamiya much for brushing.

mike--I said earlier I got them confused--it's 11A that's fun (the airport), not 12A. But I still like 12A better than 11B and 12B. 11B's boring IMHO. 12A at least you get to fight. Yeesh, 19 already? I'm only on 17 for my second run. Though I didn't play anymore after I got my replacement PS2 yesterday. Emblems---nowhere that I know. The promo DVD only has very small pics. Best way to see Mobius emblem is to play Arcade mode in AC5, decent look at it there. MiG: Apparently, it's project 1.42, the plane is 1.44.

I like it. Looks very "Russian". IMHO, a lot of the work involved in painting is surface prep. Start with a good surface, and you'll get nice paint. Most of the work is thus the same for painted and unpainted--making the plastic/joints nice and smooth, etc. Actually painting is just 1 more step on top of all the previous work done in assembling the kit.

Debrief screen went "blurry"--like v-hold was slightly off. And it was like going at 1/2 speed. 20 secs later, froze at FMV. Then wouldn't load AC5, it went to browser screen and said no disc inserted. Wouldn't load anything. Wouldn't detect PS2 discs. Detected PSX discs, wouldn't load them (well, loaded FF Tactics, wouldn't load next 3 games). Didn't bother trying a DVD. Already returned and exchanged at Best Buy. Hope this one lasts more than a week. And it certainly wasn't an overheat issue, it'd only been on for 1 mission when it failed. Checked serial #'s, tried to get a very different one from a different batch. Mine was 144xxxx, all the others at Best Buy were 136xxxx and 166xxxx. Picked up a 136xxxx one.

Well I won't be playing AC5 for a while. My 1-week old new slim PS2 won't load anything at all, and won't even recognize PS2 discs. (will play SOME PSX discs) ****! Off to email/call Sony...

Replaying, Mission 17 is a pure dogfight. But seems less intense than "Shattered Skies". Though it really depends on what you're flying. Also had the FMV right after get stuck. Dunno why. Happened about 10 secs after I saved.

AC5 seems quite picky about OWNING planes before unlocking stuff. Unlocked Falken, need a lot more cash to buy it. Unlocked F-4X. Basically a faster F-4 with CFT's and AMRAAM's. Mission 16B is more fun than 16A. Very close to upgrading F-16 and 22.

Jolly Rogers CO plane destroyed: http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com/foru...ST&f=15&t=35804

AC-130 is tough to kill like it should be. And they are the highest-priority targets, they can kill friendly ground troops faster than even the A-10. Some notes: X-29 ace scheme is the "real" X-29 scheme. Way too many Aces give sucky, bad schemes. F-4G scheme is so godawful it's an insult to Mr McDonnell. F-14D is kinda weird--not good, but better than the boring default NWASC style. Ever seen the F-15J cherry tree scheme? Like that, but in dark blue. Anyone know if any plane has 4 schemes, or is the 3rd scheme an either/or for Yuke/Ace? F-14D special is Phoenix, and the plane is rated higher in most every stat than the B. Nice, but got it about 20 missions after it'd been useful. Shooting planes down in free mission will count for new schemes, can also acquire "special parts" in free mission. Kills in free mission only count like 1/5 as much as campaign though, for building up the kill bar.

Keeping my tube of Tamiya putty next to my bottle of Mr Surfacer 500, I stand by my claim they are similar. (yes, I'm aware topic is for 1000, not 500)

Everyone rants about the elephants (Oliphaunts) but I just don't see the big "wow" factor. New opera house is way better/impressive. Currently have 12 Ayane costumes unlocked (I like chicks with purple hair, see avatar). In AC5 news, unlocked F-4G and X-29. Also realized it's mission 11A I love, not 12A. 11B--only got an "A", despite doing very very well. What, do you have to never miss with your bombs for an S? Shot down F-4G ace, have his color. Haven't used it yet, can't describe. Working towards F-14D now, know where the ace is. Found EA-6B ace. (It's a lot more fun to hunt them down than look it up in the guide). Anyone know where a regular enemy X-29 is? I don't ever recall seeing one, and the standard X-29 colors are boring. (Same as F-5/F-20 default) Jet acquisition: just go a LITTLE older. F-8 alone would make me happy. Also, I don't like the "bunch" method they always do--fly 3 missions, get nothing new. Fly the next mission, and now like half the planes all unlock together. I much prefer like 1 plane every mission--then you've always got something new, and can try them all out. And I want more totally air, and some totally ground missions. I mean total ground, as in I could take an A-4 and rock, not get nailed by a Super Flanker squadron at the end.

No need for pics of the X-29, I've seen the real thing. TINY little fighter in person. Which must mean the F-5 is equally tiny.

Trying fighting an Ace F-14D in an F-4E...

I was really hoping to have at least one mission involving Farbanti or North Point. What's an AC game without North Point? Sequel: Upgrade planes faster! More pure air-to-air missions. There's no "Shattered Skies" mission in this, I want a pure giant dogfight at least twice in the game. With Phoenixes, for a first-strike advantage. Also, a bigger "difference" of planes. In AC2, the 1st vs 2nd time through changed like 50% of the available planes. AC5, there's only like 2 that change for 1st vs 2nd run-though. And bring back multiple weapons per plane.

I got missile warnings, but don't think I was ever actually fired upon. I flew through "sorta fast". Some R1, but not afterburner. Used F-22. PS--after the core, GO! Think ROTJ Death Star escape. And watch for low ceilings. (And high, there's a nasty spot mid-way) Like go up up down.

Aberfoyle Spring Water! And Tab B repair tips.

Haven't flown F-4G yet, just unlocked it. Did notice F-4 flying controls are now PERFECT. Ailerons only move down, not up. Uses spoilers instead of an "up" aileron. I supposed the JASDF helped with that, they still have F-4E's in service. I don't think we'll ever see a correct F-14 because the JASDF doesn't have them, thus no "first-hand" knowledge/base visits for Namco staff. I think "hard" builds up kill gauges faster. Got 75% of F-4E in 1 mission. Hard limits your gun ammo, but you still get a LOT. Seem to take a lot more damage though, I swear one missile did 88% on my F-20. Twice. Don't think it'll be much of a problem, I was never "shot down" the entire first run through. I either failed missions, hit the ground, or had a mid-air. Had a 95% damaged F-35 on the one mission I used it. (it's really good for one late mission). I think I took out more B-1B's in mid-airs than with missiles. (I don't like mission 4, but watch for an Ace F-4 early on, slightly SE) Free mission DOES build up kill gauge, but VERY slowly. Utterly pointless unless you need like one more kill, and don't want to "waste" a campaign flight for it. You must OWN a plane before you can unlock the special colors (either Yuke and/or Ace). If you take down an ace before you own their plane, the special color will not be there when you unlock that plane. You can kill the Ace F-14D very early on the second run-through, but you probably won't have the F-14D then, so you'll have to go back later and kill him again when you do. ECCMP--I vote for "Electronic Counter-CounterMeasures Pack". Or Pod. But ECCM is a valid term. Jammer jamming, etc. mikeszekely--absolutely true, pointless to "evolve" a plane, as you'll get next-gen stuff before you can upgrade. They should have made it take a LOT less kills to upgrade. Let me have the F-16 Block 60 before the Su-47 comes out... I do like the Tornado, and use it on the anti-sub missions. Bomblet dispensers ROCK. Will try out Hornet next time, since there's so few targets in the stage you can't build the kill gauge at all so it doesn't really matter what you use. (I so want a Tornado ADV) Finally---"add on" missions are denoted as "+" in the Free Missions. So the true final stage (which is pretty easy assuming your first AMRAAM volley works well) is "27+". The other "extra" stage is 19+. Which I actually tried to beat early on, before I figured out to RUN. I did well too, took out like 4 of the suckers and an E-767 with an F-14B...

Won. Hope you like the main theme song, you'll hear it a lot in the final missions. At the very end, I had 799 kills, Nagase 20, and everyone else single digits. Only got an A on the final mission, that's going to suck to try to go through again and get an S. I think all wingmen combined had like 8 ground targets, so don't ever bother giving them an A-6. Just give them all F-15C's and hope they cover you in your A-6/A-10 etc. All in all, the only planes I ever got upgraded were F-5E>F-20, and F-14A>F-14B. Got 16 and 18 and 22 halfway, others not worth mentioning. (Since I didn't have the YF-23, I had to use the F-22 for my all-purpose plane late in the game) Free Mission also includes an enemy-less option, if you just want to cruise around and look at the scenery. No music when there's no enemies though. Haven't decided if I need to go get all S on Normal, or win on Hard, for my next task. Through sheer luck I snagged the "prototype plane parts" hidden in the final mission, so I don't need to go through again. Final mission---I sure hope you got good at AC4's final mission, this is worse. Actually, it's lot more like AFDS's final mission. A lot. Even I go to "first person" mode for that. But don't worry, you don't have to go in space or anything.

P-51 may have speed and fame, but the original Corsair is the most truly kick-ass plane of all time. I vote F4U.

I don't recall a radar mission anything like that. Branching path? Now on mission 24. Mission 23---not too hard, but annoying. Su-35's seem to be able to outrun ANYTHING, the only way to hit is to get in ultra-super-close gun-range, and let off Sidewinders. Mission 18/19/20---all hard, no save, no plane change. Big main plot points/changes stuff, lots of cut scenes. Mission 19--run like hell. F-14B's are not fast enough, I died several times (but couldn't change planes since F-14B's rock in mission 18 and didn't want to go through it again). F-35C is quite good according to the stats, haven't used it myself yet, I just give it to Archer all the time. Gripen is surprisingly attack-heavy with the Typhoon being air to air.