$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ACE COMBAT 04 PLANE GUIDE Version: 1.0 Copyright 2003 RichardB E-Mail: [email protected] $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Table of Contents: ================== 1. Version History 2. Introduction 3. Legal Disclaimer 4. Contact Rules 5. Plane List 6. Outro 7. Credits ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. Version History ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here is the short version history for this guide: ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Version 0.0 - 11/01/03 - Started my FAQ/Walkthrough for the game. Pretty slow, but hey. =) Version 0.01 - 11/05/03 - Realized a Walkthrough was going to be devastatingly difficult for me, so I started something smaller. Version 1.0 - 11/09/03 - Sent in the guide at last. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I've always been a fan of this awesome game I have for my PlayStation2 and I started to write a walkthrough for it... only to find out that it's a little too hard for an amateur like myself. I thought a little bit and then I found that perhaps this guide needs a few more in-depth guides, besides maps and lyrics and stuff... so I just thought that perhaps we need a guide on the planes, since there's a lot of detail on them that can be needed. So I got off the rock I'm sitting on and started to type out this guide. Anyway, here I am. Let's get started here. Note that this is not a walkthrough by any means. If you are curious what all the weapons in the game are and stuff like that like the UGBLs and that stuff, look in a walkthrough (although UGBLs themselves are bombs). If I don't do a walkthrough (which I probably won't), please don't send me e-mails on those things! And as for this not being a walkthrough, note that this is just the information about the planes, nothing more. Got that under control? Okay, good. Now... let's get it on. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3. Contact Rules ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ E-MAIL RULES ============ I love getting good emails, so you're free to email me with a question any time, but I will not answer questions already answered in this FAQ. I prefer e-mails with good grammar, and subjects with Ace Combat 4 <insert whatever here> or I will delete them, sorry. Also, don't send me e-mails about other Ace Combats with an Ace Combat 4 subject, please. And don't bother sending things like: "You friggin' idiot. Your guides suck, you suck, and everything about you sucks. DIE DIE DIE!" "BURN IN THE FLAMES OF HELL, YOU STUPID RETARD!!!" "What the hell did you think you were doing writing all that garbage, you piece of crap? "I hope you fall down the stairs and break every bone in your body!" "u su><0rz, eVrYtInG BoUt u sUx, dIe ass!!!!!!1" I will laugh at e-mails like that and delete them. IM RULES ======== I'm sorry to tell you that I have recently closed my AIM list. So for a while, you will have to take everything by e-mail. I will update this guide when I open my AIM list. If you absolutely have to be on my list and do it by IMs, you will have to e-mail me first while following the rules above, and keep the e-mail saying "Your AIM list" or something like that. Any e-mail without a subject goes directly to the trash. I am a good person to talk to on AIM, so you are more than welcome to e-mail me, asking. However, once I add you to my list, you can't keep talking to me every day. I am extremely busy on the internet usually, and if you have absolutely nothing to say to me, and it's just "hey", "hi", or "hola" and nothing else, please don't bother IMing me at all. And don't offer for me to do hard work on web sites, because you must have something better to do than that. And don't IM me too much either, or chances are you won't be responded to, and I wouldn't want to disappoint you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5. Plane List ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here's the plane list. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 1. F-4E - Fighter Speed: 7 Air to Air: 9 Air to Ground: 7 Mobility: 7 Stability: 7 Defense: 11 Guns: 650 Missiles: 52 UGBM: 8 NPB: 6 Ship: 76,000 Paint: 99,000 UGBM: N/A NPB: 32,000 F-4E is the very first plane that you pick up, so obviously it's not that great. Still, it's not _that_ awful. It has more missiles than the F-5E does, and in the first mission it's the only plain you have, and it's also pretty good at air combat, and for ground combat it has the UGBM and NPB, which are both bombs. Overall a pretty average plane we got here. Good for the beginning plane though, I suppose. Anyway, that's all. 2. F-5E - Fighter Speed: 7 Air to Air: 7 Air to Ground: 3 Mobility: 7 Stability: 12 Defense: 7 Guns: 650 Missiles: 48 UGBS: 12 RCL: 64 Ship: 52,000 Paint: 68,000 UGBS: N/A RCL: 41,000 Whether the F-5E is better than the F-4E, I cannot decide. For one thing, F-5E is very weak and falls in combat easily. Its ground weapons are absolutely horrible, and many people will buy it after the first mission if they shoot down a lot of planes in Sitting Duck... F-5E is a little faster, and really stable, but this can't make up for all the faults found in it. No wonder that it's even cheaper than the F-4E is... not to mention it has the least missiles of any plane in the game. 3. F-16C - Fighter Speed: 10 Air to Air: 12 Air to Ground: 6 Mobility: 12 Stability: 4 Defense: 10 Guns: 700 Missiles: 52 UGBS: 14 XAGM: 12 Ship: 97,000 Paint: 126,000 UGBS: N/A XAGM: 52,000 You get this plane around Lifeline, which is not exactly a good time to pick it up, seeing as how almost all of that mission, and the two following ones are totally ground combat. F-16C excels in air combat, but lacks in ground combat. Unfortunately though, it is pretty unstable, even though it's very agile. Try not to push things. Overlook these and you've got yourself a pretty nice plane here. 4. A-10A - Attacker Speed: 2 Air to Air: 2 Air to Ground: 20 Mobility: 8 Stability: 14 Defense: 20 Guns: 850 Missile: 56 UGBL: 12 XAGM: 16 CLB: 12 Plane: 123,000 Paint: 160,000 UGBL: N/A XAGM: 58,000 CLB: 55,000 A-10A is a real mixed bag. You get it around the seventh mission, which is an excellent time, seeing as how A-10A is a pure ground attacker. It has almost no air combat power at all. It is also the single slowest plane in the game, although it is still quite possible to get 1000 MPH in. A-10A is a horrible air fighter, but it is still heavily defended. It's pretty stable too, and it has the best ground weapons yet, and some of the best weapons in the game. All of them are bombs, giving any ground targets some hard time. 5. MIR-2000 - Fighter Speed: 15 Air to Air: 14 Air to Ground: 7 Mobility: 14 Stability: 2 Defense: 12 Guns: 700 Missiles: 52 UGBS: 16 LASM: 10 Plane: 111,000 Paint: 143,000 UGBS: N/A LASM: 56,000 The MIR-2000 is a little better than the F-16C, but not much. It is much faster, a little better at ground combat, more mobile, but even less stable. Actually I don't think that the MIR-2000 should be purchased at all, because while it is a good plane and has some great weaponry, you can purchase the F-14A, which is much better in every aspect. 6. F-14A - Fighter Speed: 12 Air to Air: 17 Air to Ground: 6 Mobility: 12 Stability: 12 Defense: 15 Guns: 750 Missiles: 64 XLAA: 16 UGBM: 10 Plane: 188,000 Paint: 244,000 XLAA: N/A UGBM: 66,000 If I am not mistaken, you can get the F-14A in Shattered Skies. This is extremely useful, because everything in Shattered Skies is in the air. The F-14A is THE air fighter, seeing as how it is an ace in combat (intentional pun) when shooting down planes. It also has nice speed to boot, and it's very mobile and stable. And it can take some gunfire as well, not to mention it has XLAAs. Nothing bad about it and I definitely recommend you purchase this one before Shattered Skies. 7. TND-105 - Attacker Speed: 8 Air to Air: 8 Air to Ground: 16 Mobility: 6 Stability: 14 Defense: 18 Guns: 750 Missiles: 58 BDSP: 12 PGB: 8 LASM: 12 Plane: 172,000 Paint: 224,000 BDSP: N/A PGB: 76,000 LASM: 70,000 The TND-105 is like another A-10A, except it's much better in air combat and speed. It's well defended with good stability, average mobility and superb ground capabilities. For Operation Bunker Shot, I recommend using the TND-105. However if you get past that mission and can't afford it, then just buy the F/A-18C afterwards, because it's better and more well-rounded. The worst part about TND-105 is that it uses BDSPs as main bombing weapons, and BDSPs are more or less entirely useless. 8. F/A-18C - Multirole Speed: 10 Air to Air: 12 Air to Ground: 12 Mobility: 12 Stability: 10 Defense: 14 Guns: 700 Missiles: 60 UGBM: 10 LASM: 14 XMAA: 14 Plane: 170,000 Paint: 221,000 UGBM: N/A LASM: 72,000 XMAA: 71,000 F/A-18C is one of the most well-rounded planes in the whole game. All of its categories are above 10, it has a good deal of guns and missiles to shoot things down, and it has some good bombs to come with it, and it's even cheaper than the TND-105! Overall it's a pretty good plane, but I think I prefer F-14A if going for air combat. 9. F-15C - Fighter Speed: 12 Air to Air: 16 Air to Ground: 6 Mobility: 15 Stability: 12 Defense: 15 Guns: 800 Missiles: 68 UGBM: 12 XMAA: 16 Plane: 272,000 Paint: 354,000 UGBM: N/A XMAA: 95,000 Except ground combat, F-15C is just as well rounded as the F/A-18C is. For bombs it has UGBMs, that's good, and it even has XMAAs to shoot down air targets. It's a pure air fighter, but it's not horrile in ground combat. It's quite agile and very well-defended, but it begins the point where planes start getting quite expensive. It jumped up 102,000 from the F-15C, so you can see. 10. MIG-29A - Fighter Speed: 16 Air to Air: 13 Air to Ground: 12 Mobility: 15 Stability: 7 Defense: 12 Guns: 750 Missiles: 64 UGBS: 18 RCL: 72 Plane: 259,000 Paint: 337,000 UGBS: N/A RCL: 81,000 While in no means a bad plane, MIG-29A is a total waste of time buying because it has absolutely no strong ground weapons. The RCLs are totally worthless. It's also a hefty 259,000, which you should save up for the EF-2000. I only recommend the MIG-29A if you are going back to play a lot of air missions like Shattered Skies for more money. 11. F-117A - Attacker Speed: 8 Air to Air: 2 Air to Ground: 17 Mobility: 8 Stability: 14 Defense: 17 Guns: 650 Missiles: 54 UGBL: 14 PGB: 14 CLB: 14 Plane: 386,000 Paint: 502,000 UGBL: N/A PGB: 126,000 CLB: 106,000 Actually you don't need the F-117A as it's way too expensive. You need to save the money up for the real pricey planes, which aren't too far off. Still, F-117A is a decent attacker. It's like an improved version of the A-10A. It's much faster, although it still has rotten air combat. It's good at ground combat and it's well defended, and it has the PGB and CLB. It even has more ammuntion, although I think that 54 missiles is not anywhere near enough. Still, a worth purchasing if you need a really good ground bomber. Buying it for Whiskey Corridor or Emancipation would work... 12. EF-2000 - Fighter Speed: 16 Air to Air: 16 Air to Ground: 7 Mobility: 16 Stability: 10 Defense: 14 Guns: 800 Missiles: 56 XLAA: 16 UGBM: 14 Plane: 351,000 Paint: 456,000 XLAA: N/A UGBM: 104,000 The EF-2000 is one of the best planes in the entire game. It even has decent ground combat because it has UGBMs to go with it. It's mainly an air fighter, as it has XLAAs and 16 points for air combat. It's also very agile, and it has 800 gun pellets for blowing up ground targets. Overall an extremely decent plane, and you'll use it a lot for later missions. 13. R-MO1 - Multirole Speed: 15 Air to Air: 13 Air to Ground: 12 Mobility: 15 Stability: 13 Defense: 17 Guns: 800 Missiles: 64 SOD: 14 XMAA: 18 LASM: 16 Plane: 370,000 Paint: 481,000 SOD: N/A XMAA: 108,000 LASM: 111,000 The R-MO1 is almost exactly the same as the EF-2000, except it's now a multirole fighter, but it's a total waste of money. The SODs are pure crap, the XMAAs are the ONLY saving grace, and the LASMs are worthless. It's improved in a couple areas over the EF-2000 like stability, but I still recommend you stick with the EF-2000. You need to save money up. 14. F-15E - Multirole Speed: 14 Air to Air: 16 Air to Ground: 14 Mobility: 15 Stability: 12 Defense: 16 Guns: 850 Missiles: 72 UGBL: 14 XMAA: 10 CLB: 14 Plane: 505,000 Paint: 657,000 UGBL: N/A XMAA: 117,000 CLB: 119,000 Actually the F-15E is one of the best multirole planes. It's pretty fast and stable, and it's agile with great air and ground combat abilities. It has XMAAs too, so you can easily take down the ships in the air. The CLBs will help out against ground targets. If you can't afford them, UGBLs can also deal with them in short time. I recommend giving this one a purchase. 15. F-2A - Attacker Speed: 13 Air to Air: 15 Air to Ground: 17 Mobility: 17 Stability: 9 Defense: 13 Guns: 800 Missiles: 68 UGBM: 16 LASM: 18 RCL: 80 Plane: 505,000 Paint: 657,000 UGBM: N/A LASM: 121,000 RCL: 99,000 Do we really need another well-rounded fighter? If you have an EF-2000 or an F-15E, don't even consider buying the F-2A. First of all, it's WEAKER than the F-15E in everything except air to ground and mobility, and it's only slightly stronger in these areas anyway. Plus, neither are that important. The UGBMs and LASMs are not needed, and the RCLs aren't that special either, seeing as how they can hardly hit a barn door. It's also EXPENSIVE too. Just forget about this one. 16. SU-35 - Fighter Speed: 17 Air to Air: 16 Air to Ground: 7 Mobility: 19 Stability: 10 Defense: 16 Guns: 850 Missiles: 72 XLAA: 18 UGBM: 16 Plane: 589,000 Paint: 766,000 XLAA: N/A UGBM: 133,000 What do you know, another useless plane. First of all you don't need yet more XLAAs and UGBMs. You are about to get the SU-37 soon, which is only a little more expensive than SU-35 and it's much better. SU-35 is still a decent plane, but you ought to just pass it up, because it's the last useless plane in the game. More great fighters are coming. 17. F-22A - Fighter Speed: 18 Air to Air: 19 Air to Ground: 10 Mobility: 16 Stability: 14 Defense: 16 Guns: 850 Missiles: 74 XMAA: 22 PGB: 16 Plane: 643,000 Paint: 836,000 XMAA: N/A PGB: 163,000 F-22A is one of the fastest, most useful planes in the entire game. It's extremely agile and pretty stable, and it's a huge air fighter. That's not to mention that it has XMAAs. The PGBs are also nice bombs if you know how to use them, which will make up for the F-22A's weakness in terms of ground combat, and F-22A isn't even that expensive. 18. SU-37 - Fighter Speed: 20 Air to Air: 19 Air to Ground: 8 Mobility: 20 Stability: 11 Defense: 17 Guns: 850 Missiles: 78 QAAM: 8 UGBL: 16 LASM: 20 Plane: 618,000 Paint: 803,000 QAAM: N/A UGBL: 139,000 LASM: 146,000 The SU-37 is hands-down, in the top five planes of the game. These planes are what the Yellow Squadron uses. There is simply nothing that the SU-37 cannot do. It has UGBLs to make up for the lack of ground combat, and the stability is good enough. It is EXTREMELY agile with high speed and excellent mobility, as well as great defense. It is also excellent in air combat, because it has 78 missiles and QAAMs. And it's only 20,000 more than the SU-35, when you can just compare... SU-37 rocks and I definitely recommend you purchase this one. 19. F-15 ACTIVE Speed: 16 Air to Air: 17 Air to Ground: 13 Mobility: 20 Stability: 17 Defense: 16 Guns: 900 Missiles: 78 XMAA: 22 FAEB: 8 Plane: 620,000 Paint: 806,000 XMAA: N/A FAEB: 286,000 The F-15 ACTIVE has the FAEB, which is the best bomb in the game. That is the strongest point, together with the XMAA missiles, some good strength in not only air but ground combat, and a lot of speed, together with tons of mobility. This is a pretty good plane, although actually I would prefer the SU-37 over the F-15 Active, but it's really your choice. 20. S-37A - Fighter Speed: 18 Air to Air: 19 Air to Ground: 7 Mobility: 18 Stability: 15 Defense: 17 Guns: 900 Missiles: 78 QAAM: 10 UGBL: 18 Plane: 889,000 Paint: 1,560,000 QAAM: N/A UGBL: 154,000 This is the SECOND best plane in the game. It is expensive, but very well worth it. It has a lot of gunfire in it, and 78 missiles. I doubt you'll run out with that many. It's as fast as the X-02 is, and it's an excellent air fighter. It also has decent weapons to go with it, so basically the only weakness is the lack of ground attacking power. Still, this is a good plane worth buying, using, and having victory with. 21. X-02 - Multirole Speed: 18 Air to Air: 20 Air to Ground: 17 Mobility: 20 Stability: 16 Defense: 11 Guns: 950 Missiles: 82 XLAA: 26 BDSP: 24 QAAM: 16 Plane: 1,414,000 Paint: 1,838,000 XLAA: N/A BDSP: 240,000 QAAM: 160,000 The X-02 is a secret plane, but it still by far the greatest plane in the game. It is THE ace air fighter, seeing as how it's extremely fast with a great power for air combat. It is almost as good at ground combat, and its agility astounds. It's pretty stable too, so just about its only weakness is the only average defense. Still, the Erusians should stand no chance to the X-02 and its weapons. It has 950 bullets, which is just about all you'll ever use, and it has more missiles than needed. You should never have to go back and repair for missiles alone. It has three of the best weapons in the entire game, seeing as the XLAA's are superb air missiles, the BDSPs are the best bombs in the game, and the QAAM tracks the enemy, basically leaving it with nothing left. Basically now all I have to complain about is the very expensive price, but you should easily be able to afford it after what it takes to get it. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ~~~~~~~~ 6. Outro ~~~~~~~~ Well, it is now the end of one of the shortest guides I've ever written. Still, I do think it's a pretty good guide and I did need some more in-depth guides anyway, since most of mine are 100+ KB walkthroughs. Anyway now, hope you enjoyed this guide. Sometime I might actually write an Ace Combat 04 walkthrough, but till then, see you later. ~~~~~~~~~~ 7. Credits ~~~~~~~~~~ Gbness: For wasting his time enough to write out this guide. Bah, whatever. CJayC: He is the one who made this excellent web site and my hat's off to him for that. DBM11085: Devin happens to hold a prolific list, and I'm on that list. Once I submit the guide, he has to move me up. I love that list. Minesweeper: The author of the greatest Ace Combat 04 guide out there, hands down. I loved it even though I didn't take anything from it. Namco: I have to thank them properly for making this fantastic game. I hope to see Ace Combat 05 soon. And of course, there are a lot of FANTASTIC authors on the GameFAQs FAQ Contributors and Social Boards. Some day, I really want to meet these authors in person; they rule that much! Check them out at these links: � Cyril: (Stephanie Nutter) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/26010.html � Psycho Penguin: (Steve McFadden) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/9471.html � DBM11085: (Devin Morgan) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/3579.html � ZoopSoul: (David McCutcheon) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/26774.html � Supernova54321: (Duncan Hardy) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/22472.html � Fox: (Martin Dale-Hench) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/30730.html � Meowthnum1: (Trace Jackson) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/11356.html � BSulpher: (Brian Sulpher) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/19608.html � BTB: (Chad Steele) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/26608.html � Karpah: (Rebecca Skinner) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/22431.html � AlaskaFox: (Ronan Murphy) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/7818.html � Snow Dragon: (Jesse Eubanks) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/10258.html � Warhawk: (Stephen Harris) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/12949.html � SinirothX: (Nick Henson) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/30775.html � Gbness: (Richard B.) http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/32454.html ---END OF FILE---