Heavy Command Cruiser (mission)

This article is about an in-game mission. For the in-universe event, see Assault on the Aerial Fleet

Heavy Command Cruiser
Campaign Mission 09 Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
Other Names	The Dead Sea To Slay the Great Shadow over the Southern Sea
Mission Order
Previous	San Loma Assault
Next	Ragno Fortress
Mission Details
Focus	Anti-air
Objectives	Destroy the P-1112 Aigaion, Aerial Fleet, and Strigon Team
Time Limit	50 minutes
Character	Talisman

"The heavy command cruiser's radar capabilities temporarily falter whenever it's refueling in midair. A lot of good agents lost their lives getting us this intel."

― AWACS Ghost Eye

"Heavy Command Cruiser" is the ninth campaign mission in Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. The player must ambush the Aerial Fleet and shoot down the Strigon Team.

Briefing

This is an order of deployment. We've obtained a portion of classified intelligence concerning the enemy's heavy command cruiser from the Department of National Safety. The heavy command cruiser's official name has been identified as P-1112 Aigaion. The team consists of a mid-sized Kottos aircraft in charge of electronic warfare, and a mid-sized Gyges aircraft in charge of close-range air defense. Aigaion, a command craft, takes care of all cruise missile related duties. After acquiring this intelligence we were able to draw up an operation to destroy the Aigaion. Listen closely.

Fuel is added to the Aigaion through an opening in the front. Multiple tankers must make their way to the front of the Aigaion for for refueling purposes. Once the tankers are positioned in front of the craft to refuel it, the Aigaion's radar signals are temporarily weakened. This is where it gets important. While the Aigaion is being refueled, its radar is almost completely unable to detect any type of movement in front of the craft. If you can stay on course and maintain a certain altitude, you could approach the Aigaion from the air without being noticed by enemy forces.

So our best chance of taking that monster out is during its midair fuel up. The Aigaion's flight schedule is also included in this piece of intelligence. We'll go over the flight route after our meeting in the hangar. Get prepared at once.

Objectives

Initial

The mission starts off with the player and their allies at a long distance away from the enemies. The player needs to approach the Aerial Fleet while maintaining bearing and altitude to stay within the enemy radar's blind spot, or else they may risk getting detected early in the approach and face bombardment by Nimbus missiles.

Mission Update 1

When the player aircraft flies close enough to the Aerial Fleet, or is detected prematurely by the enemy, the tankers will abort detach from the Aigaion and attempt to flee, while the rest of the enemies will begin to engage the player and their allies.

The player will be ordered to destroy the Gyges, Kottos, Strigon Team, and Aigaion. Gyges must be destroyed in two stages: first, by eliminating the AA guns on it, after which its engines and cockpit will become marked as targets.

Kottos can be destroyed all at once by destroying its ESM, engines, cockpit, and any anti-air defenses mounted on it (all are displayed as targetable at once). Strigon Team will spawn shortly after the player engages the Aerial Fleet in an attempt to defend the Aigaion.

The Aigaion also displays its targets in stages: first, the player must destroy its anti-aircraft defenses, after which its engines will become marked as targets and become destructible. The Aigaion will also fire Nimbus missiles if the player wanders too far away from the Heavy Command Cruiser.

Mission Update 2

On Normal difficulty or below, the Aigaion's cockpit will be shown as a TGT once all engines have been destroyed, and it will be flanked by AAMs. The player then needs to destroy the cockpit from the front in order to complete the mission.

On Hard difficulty or above, the mission is extended by the addition of Aigaion's core after cockpit's destruction. The core is located between the upper part and the lower part of the fuselage within the "mouth" of the heavy command cruiser, and is guarded by a pair of AA guns. As a last resort, the Aigaion will attempt to attack the player's aircraft with Nimbus missiles. The mission is complete once the player destroys the Aigaion's core.

S Rank

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An S rank on this mission requires earning 39,500 points.

Aces

• Su-33 FENIKS - Takes off from the Aigaion when all of the conditions below are fulfilled:
  • At least 1 KC-10 Extender shot down; and
  • All Kottos and Gyges shot down; and
  • All engines on the Aigaion destroyed.

Debriefing

Good job. The Aigaion and its air unit have been destroyed. The cruise missiles aimed at Emmeria have also been eliminated. This was a huge victory for us, and I'm sure it'll have a significant impact on the war. Garuda Team, you have received a letter of commendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff for your invaluable service in this mission. Tonight you're free to do what you want.

Enemy units marked as TGT usually must be destroyed to advance the mission. The TGT text is always in red, except if the player changes this in Ace Combat 7.