O wow, that's not good to hear. I'm still on my 1st playthrough, Elite diff. For the record, I have gotten S ranks on every mission prior 1st time (S rank requirement seems to be more lenient this time around compared to AC7). Then on finishing mission 28, not only was it my 1st time getting lower than a S rank, I got my 1st C rank :/

It sucks too, because not only is it such a LONG mission, but you are just spread so thin with the # of enemies spread across the entire map. That isn't also including the 'boss' encounter at the end, which was arguably one of the hardest fights I have ever done in this series.

So sounds like I just probably hold off on S ranking this mission 2nd playthrough until some god gamer releases a guide on doing this mission proper.

*Edit: Just beat the campaign. Yea, last 2 missions were nothing close to mission 28 in terms of diff (S-ranked them easy btw). I also checked my last completion time for mission 28, which was ~40 min D:

literally shot down everyone on ACE and dispatched the shadows and got a B LMFAO

I overall agree with this mission's issue. But, there's one thing nagging me:

Originally posted by Ibaraki Doji's Husband:

Used one of the experimental planes post-game. The fighter variant. Higher powered missile for the bombers during the first 60-75% of the mission, then SASM for the squadron.

That's the Game, right? Yea, that's pretty much a seaborne Raptor in this game. Tbh, I think this mission wants you to use the X-40 Nightmare for S rank. Bad Shadows fight, going across the map for mandatory bomber dominoes, everything just aren't balanced for the base receiving no damage.

It's definitely possible, I've S-Ranked it on Veteran (doing my second playthrough on Elite, so we'll see if it's worse then)

For S-Rank I got 169,420 points, in 33'44"60 - not sure how that compares, but the bar is somewhere under that, if it helps. Don't know if it's a strict points requirement, or how much the time plays into it.

FWIW, I was using either the F35 or the F22, and basically just focussing on the bombers, letting my wingmen handle the escorts until there was a lull, when I'd shoot down some escorts in between bomber waves.

Try using a terrible plane and see if that helps.

hi, i have s ranked the mission on ace difficulty and even for the maschine gun medal on lower difficulty. my tip is to start on top of the map and work ur way down by spamming down all bombers with the maschine gun and normal rockets until kate and the mercenaries appear. use ur special for the fast bombers which appear in the bottom right corner. After all bombers are down u just wanne spam qaam or other special rockets on the normal jets and refill after u run out of special rockets. In the boss fight u should leave the last target alive and clear all other remaining planes for guaranteed s-rank. Score is always more important than time for s rank so u wanne clear the whole map

Originally posted by Graf Koks:

hi, i have s ranked the mission on ace difficulty and even for the maschine gun medal on lower difficulty. my tip is to start on top of the map and work ur way down by spamming down all bombers with the maschine gun and normal rockets until kate and the mercenaries appear. use ur special for the fast bombers which appear in the bottom right corner. After all bombers are down u just wanne spam qaam or other special rockets on the normal jets and refill after u run out of special rockets. In the boss fight u should leave the last target alive and clear all other remaining planes for guaranteed s-rank. Score is always more important than time for s rank so u wanne clear the whole map

Basically this. You either have to Blitz the Shadow 2Xs dude within 2-3 minutes to be carried by the time bonus or leave one alive, clear the map, then kill em.

It's an absolutely grueling mission, but was very fun for me!

You have to shoot everyone down and basically afterburner the entire time. You have to shoot everyone down REALLY FAST

I pretty easily S ranked it with the F/A-36 on Elite. The HPAAs and SASMs can one shot the bombers with the right parts and the SASMs are REALLY good against the Shadows.

I just started with the northern most bombers, worked myself south, switched targets when the TU-160s spawned, then killed the B-1s that spawned south and after that just went for whatever.

It's really not that hard.

140k + points for S on ace

I did it with an f22 that had parts set up to maximize the special weapons protentional (power, tracking, lock on reduction, increased ammo count, ext.) and just spammed/reloaded them by landing at the base. They literally tell you that multiple times over the radio during the mission, go crazy with the specials.

Originally posted by Senlias:

I pretty easily S ranked it with the F/A-36 on Elite. The HPAAs and SASMs can one shot the bombers with the right parts and the SASMs are REALLY good against the Shadows.

I just started with the northern most bombers, worked myself south, switched targets when the TU-160s spawned, then killed the B-1s that spawned south and after that just went for whatever.

It's really not that hard.

Okay, troll

That's odd. I haven't played it on Ace yet, but on Veteran I mostly just deal with the bombers and then clean up fighters until Shadow Squadron shows up. Burn at the bombers with guns running from about 1600 out and if you've got the lead right they'll just blow up by the time you reach them. Swing around to get the stragglers the same way. Hit the Tu-95s in a line top to bottom, circle down to get the Tu-160s bottom right, then come around to get the B-1s coming in from the bottom and beeline it to the top, then clean up the rest of the incoming bombers on the right. I end up having a massive number of missiles remaining to deal with fighters, never had to land and rearm. Probably much harder with limited gun ammo on higher difficulties, almost certainly would need a rearm. I got an S on the first go with the F-22A and 4AAMs + QAAMs (saved those for Shadows). 178,920

I got an S rank on my first try and I was on elite difficulty. It's definitely possible

150K for S Rank. It's a real ball buster.