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Repair common Windows errors and clear accumulated junk for a smoother, more stable PC - no reinstall needed.Free scan · no reinstallYes—you can clean up missed Assault Records after finishing the campaign. Current third-party guides count 83 records: 52 tied to special enemy units and 31 conditional named aces. The named aces require Veteran difficulty or higher, their individual mission trigger, and a completed sortie after you shoot them down. Free Mission is reported to unlock after your first campaign clear. These are guide-reported mechanics, not an official Bandai Namco checklist.
What counts as an Assault Record?
Current walkthroughs describe two kinds of entries. Special-unit records are generally obtained automatically across difficulties; named-ace records depend on a mission-specific condition. PowerPyx counts 52 special-unit entries and 31 named aces, for 83 total, but Bandai Namco’s official game pages do not publish that checklist or confirm the total. PowerPyx’s Assault Records guide is the source for the count and ace conditions.
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The distinction matters if a record is missing: an absent named ace usually points to its difficulty or trigger condition, rather than a general requirement to collect every special unit again.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsCan you get a missed ace after beating the campaign?
Yes. KeenGamer reports that Free Mission becomes available after completing the campaign once and can be used to clean up Assault Records and named aces. Replay the relevant mission on Veteran or higher, meet its trigger, shoot down the ace, and finish the mission. KeenGamer’s mission and replay guide describes Free Mission availability; PowerPyx says the ace must be shot down and the mission completed for the record to register.
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Why might a named ace not appear?
There is no single trigger that applies to every ace. The current guides list conditions involving timed kills, destroying a particular target, clearing a group, protecting allied units, or flying through a specific route. Missing the condition can mean the ace never spawns. A practical recovery approach is to identify the exact condition for that mission before replaying, then avoid finishing the main objective early if doing so would prevent the trigger.
- Difficulty: use Veteran or higher for named aces, as reported by PowerPyx.
- Mission condition: check the relevant entry; a trigger may be timed or depend on a particular target or route.
- Registration: shoot the ace down and complete the sortie. Do not quit or fail before mission completion.
Examples of named-ace triggers
These examples show why a generic “destroy all enemies” strategy is unreliable. Conditions below are reported by current third-party guides and are not publisher-confirmed instructions.
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| Mission | Ace entry | Reported trigger |
|---|---|---|
| 01, “Jokers Wild” | Gigas | Destroy every non-target enemy aircraft. |
| 02, “Nomad” | Crematio | Destroy at least four enemy aircraft within the first three minutes. |
| 03, “Purple Magic Takes Flight” | Raia | Destroy all bombers before they reach a certain range of White Valley Base. |
| 04, “The Fall of the Numbered Fleets” | Auster | Fly into the tunnel. |
| 05, “Retaking of Theve” | Custos | Keep all LCACs alive. One later guide specifies all eight; another says all LCACs must survive. |
| 06, “Attack on the Drinwich Airfield” | Flamma | Destroy at least five targets within the first three minutes. |
| 07, “A Lifeline in the Desert” | Orcus | Destroy the Land Aegis with a chain reaction. |
| 08, “Retaking of Theve II” | Tessera | Destroy all non-target surface weapons. |
| 09, “The Land Battleship Blockade” | Judex | Destroy the land battleship’s secondary tread armor before it reaches the second slowdown line. |
| 10, “Over the Rainband” | Vorago | Destroy an airship within 70 seconds after laser targeting begins. |
| 11, “Maximum Payload” | Larus | Eliminate all Shadows before the Podarge is eliminated. |
| 12, “An Island in Darkness” | Imber | Destroy all LCACs within three minutes of takeoff. |
| 13, “The People of the Lost Country” | Sicarius | Destroy at least five radar towers before the transport lands. |
| 15, “Wings of Wax” | Lupus | Destroy one Ladon, then destroy the ace before destroying the second Ladon. |
| 16, “Singer” | Currus | Appears when the UAVs launch. |
| 17, “Land Battleship No. 3” | Avus | Destroy all targets before the B-1B reaches the halfway point. |
| 18, “Moonlight and Shadows” | Curis | Destroy Shadow 24; Curis then appears near the launch pad at checkpoint 18-4. |
| 19, “Clearing the Lighthouse” | Aleator | Destroy all Su-47s. |
| 20, “Escort Orbiter” | Periodus | Destroy at least one B-2. |
| 21, “The Star-Bound Bird” | Alienus | Sink every enemy ship. |
| 22, “Pursuing the HSCA” | Caligo | Get close to the Celaeno without being spotted. |
| 23, “The Destruction of Expo City” | Milvus and Cantrix | Destroy all Lux Lunae ace units within three minutes of their appearance. |
| 24, “The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 1” | Unconfirmed | Getting all LCACs to land is reported as the condition, but the ace’s identity and aircraft are unresolved. |
| 25, “The Battle of Rocky Island, Day 2” | Cinis and Silacrum | For Cinis, destroy the land destroyers and Land Aegis. For Silacrum, fly between floating Podarges and the ocean surface. |
| 26, “Crossing Fleets” | Lucidius | Destroy all enemy surface units on Cima Island. |
| 27, “Fatsia, The Ocean Fortress” | Stiria | Fly through gaps in the Megafloat spokes. |
| 28, “A Thousand Points of Light” | Harmonius | Destroy five bombers within five minutes of mission start. |
| 29, “Selene” | Prudens | Fly under an urban highway bridge. |
| 30, “Song of Wings” | Tegimen | Destroy at least three submarine-launched swarm missile dispensers before they release their missiles. |
The mission-by-mission list is reported in PowerPyx’s guide and compared with other current walkthroughs by KeenGamer. Treat the Mission 05 wording as the safer operational instruction to keep all LCACs alive; the guides vary on whether to specify a count.
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- Mission 14: the current named-ace lists do not include an ace for this mission; the PowerPyx list skips from Mission 13 to Mission 15.
- Missions 23 and 25: each has two conditional aces in the current list, which accounts for 31 ace entries across 29 missions.
- Mission 24: the trigger is reported, but the ace’s name and aircraft have not been confirmed. Do not treat an unidentified entry as a known aircraft or character.
PowerPyx also reports that conditional aces reward a unique paint scheme for the type of aircraft flown by that ace, usable in Campaign Mode.
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Game and platform context
Bandai Namco lists ACE COMBAT 8: WINGS OF THEVE for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam. Its official pages describe aircraft selection, weapons, upgrade parts, and campaign systems, but do not document the Assault Records triggers. See the official game page and official FAQ for publisher information.
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