History YMMV / AceCombatInfinity

** [[AbridgedArenaArray As for maps]], expect Area [=B7R=] Dogfight to be hosted on 80% of the lobbies at any given time. About the only thing that can displace [=B7R=] is a map having OEL challenges associated with it for a month, but even then it'll only last for four days maximum before everybody moves back to [=B7R=] -- which also has the added annoyance of effectively locking out those challenges for everyone who wasn't able to grind out the necessary points all at once. The only other match for [=B7R=] is Moscow Battle and Moscow Battle (HARD), mostly for being ground target central for planes carrying potent ground weapons alongside having some air targets here and there. Ironically, when Team Deathmatch events are running, [=B7R=] actually seems to take a backseat to most everything else, despite these events having introduced the map.

* ScrappyWeapon: The High Capacity Air-to-Air missile. It's a missile that targets aircraft and has a high loadout -- basically a second set of the standard missiles, but with very poor damage, doing less than a regular missile, and no use against the much more plentiful ground targets. It's considered a Scrappy Weapon because an almost disturbing amount of medium- to high-tier aircraft start out with it and/or have it in their arsenal instead of something with better range and/or damage than the standard missiles, especially since the standard missiles can be easily upgraded to extremely powerful levels, but missile-based special weapons really can't upgrade much more than their reserve capacity and speed without spending a lot of cash to progress quite a bit through multiple branches of the tech tree. While the November 2014 patch improved on this weapon greatly, it's still no substitute for other air-to-air weapons in the game.
** The Multi-Purpose Burst Missile is this for another reason. As noted on the main page's SlapOnTheWristNuke entry, the blinding flash of light generated by the explosion, in addition to [[KillSteal clearing the area of any of low-level targets the player was going after]], makes the task of navigating through tight spaces incredibly harrowing due to the several seconds-long loss of visibility. On maps where numerous enemies are grouped together in tight spaces that require expert maneuvering to reach (like Moscow Battle or Dubai Night Assault), the firing of this weapon is nearly a death sentence.

** The X-02 Wyvern, introduced via patching, is becoming the ultimate air-to-air plane. Massive upgrade slots and excellent weapon load outs for a fraction of the cost of any of the other fictional superfighters helped big time in cementing the Wyvern as the ultimate ASF. The ADF-01 FALKEN is a more minor one for those playing pure Fighters, also coming with a good amount of upgrade slots, getting the Tactical Laser System as its first weapon, and being one of the only two other superfighters that doesn't cost millions just to purchase -- the regular Morgan, in comparison, is only ever bought just to get to the FALKEN (or more specifically, the ADLER).

*** March's update adds a new mission, [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar Avalon Dam Invasion]], a HARD variant of [[VideoGame/AceCombatAssaultHorizon Dubai Night Assault (happening during the day)]], [[VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere the R-101 Delphinus]] and XFA-27 to the aircraft tree, plus 14 special ''[[VideoGame/TheIdolmaster Idolm@ster]]'' aircraft as random drops, including a B-2A!

** The X-02 Wyvern, introduced via patching, is becoming the ultimate air-to-air plane. Massive upgrade slots and excellent weapon load outs for a fraction of the cost of any of the other fictional superfighters helped big time in cementing the Wyvern as the ultimate ASF. The ADF-01 FALKEN is a more minor one for those playing pure Fighters, also coming with a good amount of upgrade slots, getting the Tactical Laser System as its first weapon, and being one of the only two other superfighters that doesn't cost millions just to purchase - the regular Morgan, in comparison, is only ever bought just to get to the FALKEN.
** [[AbridgedArenaArray As for maps]], expect Area [=B7R=] Dogfight to be hosted on 80% of the lobbies at any given time. About the only thing that can displace [=B7R=] is a map having OEL challenges associated with it for a month, but even then it'll only last for four days maximum before everybody moves back to [=B7R=] - which also has the added annoyance of effectively locking out those challenges for everyone who wasn't able to grind out the necessary points all at once. The only other match for [=B7R=] is Moscow Battle and Moscow Battle Hard, mostly for being ground target central for planes carrying potent ground weapons alongside having some air targets here and there. Ironically, when Team Deathmatch events are running, [=B7R=] actually seems to take a backseat to most everything else, despite these events having introduced the map.

** After the LAGM and UGB nerfs, another patch introduced buffs to weapons. One of them was the SFFS, which was more or less a cluster bomb. Nobody used it prior to the buff because of how powerful[[note]]even before the S/MTD and Berkut brought them to the forefront, most people paying attention would notice that planes with the LAGM and UGB like the Su-34 were almost unstoppable in the right hands[[/note]], widespread[[note]]before the buff, only the Mirage 2000-5 and F-15E could use the SFFS - and nobody used it with them because they both also got the aforementioned [=4AGM=][[/note]] and comparatively-simple to use the LAGM and UGB were, but it wasn't until the buff and the introduction of the FB-22 Strike Raptor that SFFS usage [[GoneHorriblyRight became rampant.]] In addition to demolishing ground targets over an even wider area, they also terrorized Naval Team Deathmatch battles by vaporizing enemy fleets in seconds. It got to the point that another patch was introduced to undo the buff that the SFFS received, though the weapon is still effective in co-op missions and it is expected to have an impact in Naval Team Deathmatch battles.

** The premier air superiority fighter in the game is the [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies X-02 Wyvern]], capable of massive upgrade load outs and carries both the [=6AAM=] and QAAM in addition to unbelievable performance. For extra gravy, it's actually the cheapest of the super fighters the series is known for - the four and a half million you'd need to buy nearly any other superfighter can bring this one to level ''10'' and give it near-perfect stats even ''without'' attaching parts.

** Upon the release of the XFA-33 Alect, players who leveled it up early noticed a ridiculous difference in its price tag compared to the tree version, with the Alect costing about as much as a mid-to-high tier Fighter up until Level 8 while the tree version costs as much as the other multimillion superplanes. Project Aces confirmed it as a bug, and quickly fixed the price tag on upgrade levels beyond 7 to make it comparable to top tier specials like the GAF-1 Sulejmani.

** [[AbridgedArenaArray As for maps]], expect Area [=B7R=] Dogfight to be hosted on 80% of the lobbies at any given time. About the only thing that can displace [=B7R=] is a map having OEL challenges associated with it for a month, but even then it'll only last for four days maximum before everybody moves back to [=B7R=] - which also has the added annoyance of effectively locking out those challenges for everyone who wasn't able to grind out the necessary points all at once. Ironically, when Team Deathmatch events are running, [=B7R=] actually seems to take a backseat to most everything else, despite these events having introduced the map.

** After the LAGM and UGB nerfs, another patch introduced buffs to weapons. One of them was the SFFS, which was more or less a cluster bomb. Nobody used it prior to the buff because of how powerful[[note]]even before the S/MTD and Berkut brought them to the forefront, most people paying attention would notice that planes with the LAGM and UGB like the Su-34 were almost unstoppable in the right hands[[/note]], widespread[[note]]before the buff, only the Mirage 2000-5 and F-15E could use the SFFS[[/note]] and comparatively-simple to use the LAGM and UGB were, but it wasn't until the buff and the introduction of the FB-22 Strike Raptor that SFFS usage [[GoneHorriblyRight became rampant.]] In addition to demolishing ground targets over an even wider area, they also terrorized Naval Team Deathmatch battles by vaporizing enemy fleets in seconds. It got to the point that another patch was introduced to undo the buff that the SFFS received, though the weapon is still effective in co-op missions and it is expected to have an impact in Naval Team Deathmatch battles.

** The premier air superiority fighter in the game is the [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies X-02 Wyvern]], capable of massive upgrade load outs and carries both the [=6AAM=] and QAAM in addition to unbelievable performance. For extra gravy, it can naturally go to Level 15, making this plane more powerful than even high-tier fighters and is actually the cheapest of the super fighters the series is known for (the four and a half million you'd need to buy any other superfighter can bring this one to level ''10'').

** The X-02 Wyvern, introduced via patching, is becoming the ultimate air-to-air plane. Massive upgrade slots and excellent weapon load outs for a fraction of the cost of any of the other fictional superfighters helped big time in cementing the Wyvern as the ultimate ASF.

** Initially, the F-35B, and to lesser extents the F-15E and Su-34, were this because of the [=4AGMs=] they carried, but an early patch introduced the F-15 [=S/MTD=] and the Su-47 Berkut. The latter two aircraft carried [=LAGMs=] and [=UGBs=], which had devastating damage and blast radius capabilities alongside greater range than the [=4AGM=]; this effectively made ground attacks with aircraft not using those weapons a waste of time. A later patch gave [=LAGMs=] and [=UGBs=] nerfs, however.

** The premier air superiority fighter in the game is the [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies X-02 Wyvern]], capable of massive upgrade load outs and carries both the [=6AAM=] and QAAM in addition to unbelievable performance. For extra gravy, it can go to Level 15 making this plane more powerful than even high-tier fighters and is actually the cheapest of the super fighters the series is known for.

** The X-02 Wyvern, introduced via patching, is becoming the ultimate air-to-air plane. Massive upgrade slots and excellent weapon load outs helped big time in cementing the Wyvern as the ultimate ASF.
** [[AbridgedArenaArray As for maps]], expect Area [=B7R=] Dogfight to be hosted on 80% of the lobbies at any given time. About the only thing that can displace [=B7R=] is a map having OEL challenges associated with it for a month, but even then it'll only last for four days maximum before everybody moves back to [=B7R=] - which also has the added annoyance of effectively locking out those challenges for everyone who wasn't able to grind out the necessary points all at once.

** As if the above wasn't enough, another patch introduced the FB-22 Strike Raptor serving as the high tier attacker of the game. It was further overpowered than even the above thanks to an earlier patch that buffed the power of the SFFS, a weapon that when used right made the Berkut's UGB look like a firecracker. Aircraft that carried this weapon could wreck ground targets in no time regardless of tier, but the FB-22 was the real gravy. The SFFS' earlier buff was negated, but it was still potent in spite of it.

** The Scinfaxi submarine of ''Ace Combat 5'' fame/infamy is this in the co-op emergency missions, as it launches unmanned fighters as bodyguards, '''[[DamageSpongeBoss has the health of 10 Aircraft Carriers]]''', slaughters players like animals with its ballistic burst missiles and has a lot of conventional weaponry to boot. What makes it worse is, in most levels it can show up in (which is ''almost all of them''), it leaves after it's submerged twice, meaning you've also got a limited amount of time to pound it or you're pretty much guaranteed to miss out on an S-Rank.

** Zig-zagged with the FAEB. Though capable of mass destruction in a wider area with upgrades and can be thrown across maps, armored targets [[NoSell shrug them off]] and it usually takes two bombs to destroy orange level targets. Also, it is exclusive to two aircraft in the whole game without taking into account special aircraft; the A-10A Thunderbolt II which is a slow attacker and has little room for upgrades but wrecks ground targets better, and the F-15 S/MTD which is a fast multirole plane with more upgrade space but lacks in the ground attack specialization and ultimately did better with the more-focused LAGM. Only time will tell if the FAEB will also receive the bomb nerfs.

** Of all things, the regular missiles end up with this status in Team Deathmatch with the right setup. Combine the best version of the mobile missile fin (increasing homing ability) with the high-homing Datalink on both linked planes, and your regular missiles suddenly think they're ''[=AC04=]''-era [=QAAMs=], and as such will absolutely refuse to give up on chasing a target until they run out of fuel.

** Low-tier: Most of the starter aircraft, particularly the non-multiroles, due to their wimpy upgrade slot count even after taking into account they can be leveled up to 15 or 20 much cheaper than later craft can. The exceptions to this are the special aircraft, but they're either tournament exclusives or random drop planes, and even then some ones like the [[JokeCharacter Block 1 Morgan]] aren't all too useful.

** High-tier: The higher end aircraft like the F-15E, F-22 and FB-22, being utterly overpowered and decimating targets despite obvious weaknesses. This goes double for multiroles because of their monstrous upgrade slot count and even more for special variants.

** God help you if you are ever brave ([[RandomNumberGod and]] [[GuideDangIt fortunate]]) enough to challenge Stonehenge Black Ring, the STONEHENGE RETURNS IV Special Raid. There, the Butterfly Master and her pack of [=MQ-90Ls=] will menace you once the all the ECM jammers, the elite enemy air forces, ''[[MarathonLevel and]]'' the three Kottos-class heavy command cruisers are destroyed, providing another lengthy roadblock before the last set of jammers and the Stonehedge railguns themselves. And then, when you finally ''do'' get around to attacking Stonehenge directly, a ''second'' QFA-44 Carmilla and a ''second'' wave of drones [[FromBadToWorse will appear to impede your progress]]. The same goes for the no less arduous Moby Dick Pursuit IV and Satellite Interception IV. Naturally, the sheer number of enemies thrown at you, in addition to everything else in these missions, makes the challenge of obtaining an S Rank--or even an A or B Rank--nothing short of a nightmare, even for an 8-player party with tricked out, high-end planes.

** The premier air superiority fighter in the game is the [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies X-02 Wyvern]], capable of massive upgrade load outs and carries both the [=6AAM=] and QAAM in addition to unbelievable performance. For extra gravy, it can go to level 15 making this plane more powerful than even high-tier fighters and is actually the cheapest of the super fighters the series is known for.

** Upon the release of the XFA-33 Alect, players who leveled it up early noticed a ridiculous difference in its price tag compared to the tree version, with the Alect costing about as much as a mid-to-high tier Fighter up until level 8 while the tree version costs as much as the other multimillion superplanes. Project Aces confirmed it as a bug, and quickly fixed the price tag on upgrade levels beyond 7 to make it comparable to top tier specials like the GAF-1 Sulejmani.

* BrokenBase: Already, people are throwing tantrums about the game apparently not taking place in Strangereal, the setting for previous ''Ace Combat'' games.

*** Update #11 goes full ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' and adds the Piston Aircraft, with four of the most famous fighters of them all (Supermarine Spitfire, Messerschmitt BF-109, P-38 Lightning, and the [=A6M=] Zero), plus a map restricted only to them and a Team Deathmatch for Piston Aircraft only. Many players welcomed this as a nice change of pace.

*** With another new year comes Moscow Battle (HARD), Excalibur Onslaught IV, additional Free Flight maps, a Ring Battle rule for TDM based upon the Pilot Aptitude Test Special Raid, the ability to exchange different types of Research Reports, and a host of new aircraft: the F-14B Bombcat, EA-6B Prowler, [=MiG=]-35D Super Fulcrum, and--by popular demand--ADA-01B Adler, a variant of the ADA-01A which was cut from both ''5'' and ''Zero'' that serves as the game's first Attacker superplane.

** The elite squad of CFA-44 appearing during Excalibur Onslaught III and higher. Far more durable than the ADFX-01 flight in other golden raids, and you're forced to fight them while also making sure you don't run into the superweapon's laser web. Not only does Excalibur Onslaught IV increase their health, but once they're defeated, '''the above demonic spider''' immediately appears, giving you no chance to rest.

*** Bandai Namco Games apparently caught on that, too, at least for a while, since a few main tournament prizes starting with Su-37 -Yellow 13- were awarded to Top 1000 players, while bonus skins can also be won by Top 3000; now primary special-plane prizes are still top 200, but extra ones are for the top thousand, and skins go to anywhere between 3000 to 10,000 - basically the lowest tier at which you can ''get'' any prizes - depending on how many there are. They are also random Lucky Numbers that net certain players the aircraft that would normally only be available to top placers, and the fact that as of the game's first anniversary the devs have begun to re-run classic events so new or unlucky players can get another chance at their rewards.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: Because the game runs on a modified ''Assault Horizon'' engine, it offers very detailed explosions when taking out enemy aircraft or ground targets, as well as sweet views of the battlefield, which is especially prominent in Dubai Night Assault.

** It's safe to say that with every month Namco-Bandai adds several elements that earn the game additional players and please some vocals ones.

*** The November 2015 update adds the F-35A Lightning II, A-6E Intruder, and F-15SE Silent Eagle, allows players to set plane cost limits when creating rooms (1500 or less, 1500 or more, 1800 or more) while also giving them the option of adjusting the levels of their aircraft if need be, introduces a Hard version of Weapons Base Assault, includes a greater variety of music to make the other Hard maps (Tokyo Martial Law notwithstanding) more distinct, and brings in a showdown with a heavily-revamped [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar Excalibur]] as the newest Special Raid mission. Like with the previous update, a lot of fans who found their interest waning in ''Infinity'' were brought back in full force with these new features ([[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Excalibur]] [[JustHereForGodzilla especially]]).

** The elite squad of CFA-44 appearing during Excalibur Onslaught III and higher. Far more durable than the ADFX-01 flight in other golden raids, and you're forced to fight them while also making sure you don't run into the superweapon's laser web.

** Of all things, the regular missiles end up with this status in Team Deathmatch with the right setup. Combine the best version of the mobile missile fin (increasing homing ability) with the high-homing Datalink on both linked planes, and your regular missiles suddenly think they're ''[=AC04=]''-era [=QAAMs=], and as such will continue turning back around to make another pass at their target for about half a minute.

** Similarly, the T-50 Albireo's MSTM could not fire more than 2 missiles before being forced to reload. This was acknowledged by Project Aces in an in-game notification, and slated to be fixed by January 2016's update.

** Tournament play can be seen as this. In addition to [[RevenueEnhancingDevices forcing people to buy up lots of fuel]] and [[ArcFatigue there never being more than two days between each event]], it's effectively the only way to earn tournament exclusive prizes. Hope you have constant access to a working [=PS3=], let alone lots of fuel and free time to play, or else no nickname, emblem or plane for you. It got even worse once the prize tiers were reworked -- previously, the main prize would be awarded for the top 1000 players in the event, now if the main prize includes anything more than emblems and nicknames it only goes to the top ''two or three-hundred''. Reworking the ranking points as well (they're now solely dependent on your personal score and whether your team won, rather than what rank the room gets in a mission and how much time is left with an S-Rank) softens the blow somewhat, but not very much. Combine this with the fact that the game is particularly overrun with boosters and "seal clubbers" (essentially newbie bullies) when these events take place and you have a real hard time reaching rank 200.
*** Bandai Namco Games apparently caught on that, too, at least for a while, since a few main tournament prizes starting with Su-37 -Yellow 13- were awarded to Top 1000 players, while bonus skins can also be won by Top 3000; now primary special-plane prizes are still top 200, but extra ones are for the top thousand, and skins go to anywhere between 3000 to ''10,000'' - basically the lowest tier at which you can ''get'' prizes - depending on how many there are. They are also random Lucky Numbers that net certain players the aircraft that would normally only be available to top placers, and the fact that as of the game's first anniversary the devs have begun to re-run classic events so new or unlucky players can get another chance at their rewards.
* ScrappyWeapon: The High Capacity Air-to-Air missile. It's a missile that targets aircraft and has a high loadout -- basically a second set of the standard missiles, but with very poor damage, doing less than a regular missile, and no use against the much more plentiful ground targets. It's considered a Scrappy Weapon because an almost disturbing amount of medium- to high-tier aircraft start out with it and/or have it in their arsenal instead of something with better range and/or damage than the standard missiles, especially since the standard missiles can be easily upgraded to extremely powerful levels, but missile-based special weapons really can't upgrade much more than their reserve capacity until the ends of the tech tree. While the November 2014 patch improved on this weapon greatly, it's still no substitute for other air-to-air weapons in the game.

--> (''[[FailedASpotCheck pinpoints an extra enemy naval fleet out in the open]]'') They were hiding ''this'' much military power?

** The initial release consisted of F-35B Lightning II with the [=4AGM=] being the go to aircraft due to the aircraft having massive upgrade slots and a high tier in terms of performance and damage. To a lesser extent were the F-15E and Su-34, both having access to the same weapon and slightly fewer upgrade slots in return for slightly better base performance in one or two stats.

** As if the above wasn't enough, another patch introduced the FB-22 Strike Raptor serving as the high tier attacker of the game. It was further overpowered than even the above thanks to the SFFS, a weapon that when used right made the Berkut's UGB look like a firecracker. Aircraft that carried this weapon could wreck ground targets in no time regardless of tier, but the FB-22 was the real gravy. A nerf was applied to the SFFS, but it was still potent in spite of it.

** The Butterfly Master returns with a vengeance as a rare spawn Mission Update mini-boss in Moscow Battle, Area [=B7R=] Dogfight and Adriatic Sea Landing Operation. Not only she is much, much stronger than her Campaign incarnation (albeit without the PlotArmor), her drones are much more numerous and this time, it's more than happy to gang up on any one pilot foolish enough to charge in headlong (which, provided you have a plane with enough speed, attack power, and durability, [[ViolationOfCommonSense can be a surprisingly reliable but obviously risky, if not outright suicidal, tactic]] as opposed to hanging back and trying to pick her off from afar). While their lasers do not deal that much damage, they will absolutely hit, damages you over time, and having more than two aggroed is a recipe for very quick deaths. This is on top of the fact that Butterfly Master's Nosferatu fires her [[MacrossMissileMassacre ADMMs]] at regular intervals.
** God help you if you are ever brave ([[RandomNumberGod and]] [[GuideDangIt fortunate]]) enough to challenge Stonehenge Black Ring, the STONEHENGE RETURNS IV Special Raid. There, the Butterfly Master and her pack of [=MQ-90Ls=] will menace you once the all the ECM jammers, the elite enemy air forces, ''[[MarathonLevel and]]'' the three Kottos-class heavy command cruisers are destroyed, providing another lengthy roadback before the last set of jammers and the Stonehedge railguns themselves. And then, when you finally ''do'' get around to attacking Stonehenge directly, a ''second'' QFA-44 Carmilla and a ''second'' wave of drones [[FromBadToWorse will appear to impede your progress]]. The same goes for the no less arduous Moby Dick Pursuit IV and Satellite Interception IV. Naturally, the sheer number of enemies thrown at you, in addition to everything else in these missions, makes the challenge of obtaining an S Rank--or even an A or B Rank--nothing short of a nightmare, even for an 8-player party with tricked out, high-end planes.

** Random plane drops are also considered this to a portion of the players. You can end up with an incredibly powerful aircraft such as an F-14A Zipang or the ADFX-01 Morgan in as little as one flight during the month-long events, or fly dozens of sorties all throughout that month and never get them at all.
** Tournament play can be seen as this. In addition to [[RevenueEnhancingDevices forcing people to buy up lots of fuel]] and [[ArcFatigue there never being more than four or five days between each event]], it's effectively the only way to earn tournament exclusive prizes. Hope you have constant access to a working [=PS3=], let alone lots of fuel and free time to play, or else no nickname, emblem or plane for you. It got even worse once the prize tiers were reworked -- previously, the main prize would be awarded for the top 1000 players in the event, now if the main prize includes anything more than emblems and nicknames it only goes to the top ''two or three-hundred''. Reworking the ranking points as well (they're now solely dependent on your personal score and whether your team won, rather than what rank the room gets in a mission and how much time is left with an S-Rank) softens the blow somewhat, but not very much. Combine this with the fact that the game is particularly overrun with boosters and "seal clubbers" (essentially newbie bullies) when these events take place and you have a real hard time reaching rank 200.
*** Bandai Namco Games apparently caught on that, too, at least for a while, since a few main tournament prizes starting with Su-37 -Yellow 13- were awarded to Top 1000 players, while bonus skins can also be won by Top 3000. They are also random Lucky Numbers that net certain players the aircraft that would normally only be available to top placers.
* ScrappyWeapon: The High Capacity Air-to-Air missile. It's a missile that targets aircraft and has a high loadout -- basically a second set of the standard missiles, but with very poor damage, doing less than a regular missile, and no use against the much more plentiful ground targets. It's considered a Scrappy Weapon because an almost disturbing amount of medium- to high-tier aircraft start out with it and/or have it in their arsenal instead of something with better range and/or damage than the standard missiles, especially since the standard missiles can be easily upgraded to extremely powerful levels, but missile-based special weapons really can't upgrade much more than their reserve capacity until the ends of the tech tree. While the November patch improved on this weapon greatly, it's still no substitute for other air-to-air weapons in the game.

--> (''[[FailedASpotCheck pinpoints an extra enemy naval fleet out in the open]]'') "They were hiding ''this'' much military power?"

** Low-tier: Most of the starter aircraft due to their wimpy upgrade slot count even after taking into account they can be leveled up to 15 or 20. The exceptions to this are the special aircraft but they're either tournament exclusives or random drop planes, and even then some aircraft like the [[JokeCharacter Block 1 Morgan]] aren't all too useful.

*** The August update features a new Special Raid Mission: one to destroy three variants of [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies Stonehenge]] (which replace the Aigaion special raids), as well as new aircraft and the 7th Campaign mission, in [[VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar Area B7R aka The Round Table]]. ''And'' there will also be three "Emergency Strike" missions.

*** December's update brings in four new missions -- black Level 4 versions of Aigaion and Stonehenge (as well as bringing previous three versions of Moby Dick Pursuit back altogether), a giant furball above the Round Table, and a Hard Mode version of the Tokyo map; to help pacify those who can S rank all of the other maps with over a minute to spare. Also, the addition of Special Payment Tickets, that, when accumulated, will allow the players to buy unique radio calls, Stocked Fuel and even additional skins, planes, and emblems that they could have missed during previous events or tournaments.

*** May's update adds Fenrir and X-49 Night Raven (as well as [=MiG-31=] "Foxhound"), a new map (Adriatic Sea Landing Operation), and celebrates the game's 1st anniversary with a [[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies Mobius 1]] tournament.
*** The "20th Anniversary" update features skins from the [[VideoGame/AirCombat original game]] as rewards for challenges, as well as some long awaited aircraft, such as SAAB 35 Draken, GAF-1 Varcolac, Su-27, [=MiG=] 1.44, the fourth variant of SOLG and a very special guest... [[spoiler:'''VideoGame/{{GODZILLA}}'''!]]
*** Update #11 goes full ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' and adds the Piston Aircraft, with four of the most famous fighters of them all (Supermarine Spitfire, Messerschmitt BF-109, P-38 Lightning, and the Japanese ZERO), plus a map restricted only to them and a Team Deathmatch for Piston Aircraft only. Many players welcomed this as a nice change of pace.

** After the LAGM and UGB nerfs, another patch introduced buffs to weapons. One of them was the SFFS, which was more or less a cluster bomb. Nobody used it prior to the buff because of how powerful[[note]]even before the S/MTD and Berkut brought them to the forefront, most people paying attention would notice that planes with the LAGM and UGB like the Su-34 were almost unstoppable in the right hands[[/note]], wide-spread[[note]]before the buff, only the Mirage 2000-5 and F-15E could use the SFFS[[/note]] and comparatively-simple to use the LAGM and UGB were, but it wasn't until the buff and the introduction of the FB-22 Strike Raptor that SFFS usage [[GoneHorriblyRight became rampant.]] In addition to demolishing ground targets over an even wider area, they also terrorized Naval Team Deathmatch battles by vaporizing enemy fleets in seconds. It got to the point that another patch was introduced to undo the buff that the SFFS received, though the weapon is still effective in co-op missions and it is expected to have an impact in Naval Team Deathmatch battles.

*** The "20th Anniversary" update features skins from the [[VideoGame/AirCombat original game]] as rewards for challenges, as well as some long awaited aircraft, such as SAAB 35 Draken, GAF-1 Varcolac, Su-27, MiG 1.44, the fourth variant of SOLG and a very special guest... [[spoiler:'''VideoGame/{{GODZILLA}}'''!]]

** The Butterfly Master returns with a vengeance as a rare spawn Mission Update mini-boss in Moscow Battle and Area [=B7R=]. Not only she is much, much stronger than her Campaign incarnation (albeit without the PlotArmor), her drones are much more numerous and this time, it's more than happy to gang up on any one pilot foolish enough to charge in headlong (which, provided you have a plane with enough speed, attack power, and durability, [[ViolationOfCommonSense can be a surprisingly reliable but obviously risky, if not outright suicidal, tactic]] as opposed to hanging back and trying to pick her off from afar). While their lasers do not deal that much damage, they will absolutely hit, damages you over time, and having more than two aggroed is a recipe for very quick deaths. This is on top of the fact that Butterfly Master's Nosferatu fires her [[MacrossMissileMassacre ADMMs]] at regular intervals.

** The Butterfly Master returns with a vengeance as a rare spawn Mission Update mini-boss in Moscow Battle and Area [=B7R=]. Not only she is much, much stronger than her Campaign incarnation (albeit without the PlotArmor), her drones are much more numerous and this time, it's more than happy to gang up on any one pilot foolish enough to charge in headlong. While their lasers do not deal that much damage, they will absolutely hit, damages you over time, and having more than two aggroed is a recipe for very quick deaths. This is on top of the fact that Butterfly Master's Nosferatu fires her [[MacrossMissileMassacre ADMMs]] at regular intervals.

* ScrappyWeapon: The High Capacity Air-to-Air missile. It's a missile that targets aircraft and has a high loadout -- basically a second set of the standard missiles, but with very poor damage, doing less than a regular missile, and no use against the much more plentiful ground targets. It's considered a Scrappy Weapon because some medium to high-tier aircraft start out with it and/or have it in their arsenal instead of something with better range and/or damage than the standard missiles, especially since the standard missiles can be easily upgraded to extremely powerful levels, but missile-based special weapons really can't upgrade much more than their reserve capacity until the ends of the tech tree. While the November patch improved on this weapon greatly, it's still no substitute for other air-to-air weapons in the game.
* SoBadItsGood: AWACS Heavy Cloud's voice acting is made fun of for being hilariously bad. Between the terrible pronunciation ("'''EX'''[=calibur=]" and "AWOCS", for starters), [[DullSurprise unconvincingly deadpan orders]], and jarring monologues, fans have singled him out as a minor FountainOfMemes.

** Since Day 1, a pack of Gripen's in second part of the Alps Air Corridor has the ability to pass through the mountains.

** Tournament play can be seen as this. In addition to [[RevenueEnhancingDevices forcing people to buy up lots of fuel]] and [[ArcFatigue there never being more than four or five days between each event]], it's effectively the only way to earn tournament exclusive prizes. Hope you have constant access to a working [=PS3=], let alone lots of fuel and free time to play, or else no nickname, emblem or plane for you. It got even worse once the prize tiers were reworked -- previously, the main prize would be awarded for the top 1000 players in the event, now if the main prize includes anything more than emblems and nicknames it only goes to the top ''two or three-hundred''. Reworking the ranking points as well (they're now solely dependent on your personal score, rather than what rank the room gets in a mission and how much time is left with an S-Rank) softens the blow somewhat, but not very much. Combine this with the fact that the game is particularly overrun with boosters and "seal clubbers" (essentially newbie bullies) when these events take place and you have a real hard time reaching rank 200.

** After the LAGM and UGB nerfs, another patch introduced buffs to weapons. One of them was the SFFS, which was more or less a cluster bomb. Nobody used it prior to the buff because of how powerful and comparatively-simple to use the LAGM and UGB were (the fact that the SFFS was seen fit to be put on one of the earliest and cheapest multirole planes in the game, the Mirage 2000-5, probably didn't help), but it wasn't until the buff and the introduction of the FB-22 Strike Raptor that SFFS usage [[GoneHorriblyRight became rampant.]] In addition to demolishing ground targets over an even wider area, they also terrorized Naval Team Deathmatch battles by vaporizing enemy fleets in seconds. It got to the point that another patch was introduced to undo the buff that the SFFS received, though the weapon is still effective in co-op missions it is expected to have an impact in Naval Team Deathmatch battles.

* DemonicSpiders: The Scinfaxi submarine of ''Ace Combat 5'' fame/infamy is this in the co-op emergency missions, as it launches unmanned fighters as bodyguards, '''[[DamageSpongeBoss has the health of 10 Aircraft Carriers]]''', slaughters players like animals with its ballistic burst missiles and has a lot of conventional weaponry to boot. What makes it worse is, in most levels it can show up in (which is ''almost all of them''), it leaves after it's submerged twice, meaning you've also got a limited amount of time to pound it or you're pretty much guaranteed to miss out on an S-Rank.
** In Team Deathmatch, anyone who uses planes like the F-22, Su-47, Su-35, ADFX-01 or T-50 can be this if they use their powerful planes well.

*** God help you if you are ever brave ([[RandomNumberGod and]] [[GuideDangIt fortunate]]) enough to challenge Stonehenge Black Ring, the STONEHENGE RETURNS IV Special Raid. There, the Butterfly Master and her pack of [=MQ-90Ls=] will menace you once the all the ECM jammers, the elite enemy air forces, ''[[MarathonLevel and]]'' the three Kottos-class heavy command cruisers are destroyed, providing another lengthy roadback before the last set of jammers and the Stonehedge railguns themselves. And then, when you finally ''do'' get around to attacking Stonehenge directly, a ''second'' QFA-44 Carmilla and a ''second'' wave of drones [[FromBadToWorse will appear to impede your progress]]. The same goes for the no less arduous Moby Dick Pursuit IV. Naturally, the sheer number of enemies thrown at you, in addition to everything else in these missions, makes the challenge of obtaining an S Rank--or even an A or B Rank--nothing short of a nightmare, even for an 8-player party with tricked out, high-end planes.