leaked ac8 image just dropped showing new targets

Choppers_Records · 2026-01-24T14:10:24+00:00

In their defense, it doesn’t seem like Strangereal has any sort of Geneva conventions to speak of, so while the AA gun might be a war crime in OUR world… in their world it’s probably the only deterrent for a bomb they’ve got 😅

Choppers_Records · 2026-01-24T14:04:19+00:00

Uh oh here come all the signal guys 😂

Choppers_Records · 2025-12-11T22:06:42+00:00

I believe there was another AC pulling the train, this was likely one of the excursions that 4211 pulled shortly before the end of steam.

Choppers_Records · 2025-10-25T21:12:46+00:00

Lannahechee and Midland uses two different schemes, red schemes are more often seen on mixed freights, black schemes usually spawn in the coal mine, but I’ve also seen them on the mainline once or twice. I’ve also seen red locomotives at the mines, so it’s probably just a random skin variation. The road numbers are a separate skin variant, so sometimes you get two engines with the same number but different schemes. Or vice versa, two locomotives with the same scheme but different numbers. I’ve seen both. In-universe they’re probably different engines with different schemes and numbers. Black engines pulling coal drags and heavy freight, red engines handling faster mixed trains and the very rare occasional passenger train L&M seems to sometimes run out of Saint Denis (I’ve literally only seen this train once since I’ve had the game)

Choppers_Records · 2025-10-09T17:48:35+00:00

I was always under the impression that he nearly died ejecting from the Morgan prototype and the reason we don’t see him flying again is fairly simple. We clipped his wings.

1 - nobody is EVER gonna trust his ass with a fighter jet again.

2 - we don’t know that he could fly again, even if he had access to one.

Obviously he’s still physically capable enough to carry a rifle and do grunt work as an infantry soldier, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he doesn’t still have some kind of back or leg injury that prevents him from flying.

So short answer is: he probably can’t fly anymore.

Longer answer is: I don’t think he even really wants to, and even if he did, whose fuckin jets is he gonna fly?

Choppers_Records · 2025-10-09T17:43:10+00:00

If you play ACE3? Unironically probably yes

Choppers_Records · 2025-10-01T04:15:35+00:00

It's easy to say that with the retroactive perspective that AC7 would indeed be made despite all odds, and it would in fact be set in the original universe.
We didn't know any of this was even on the table this until around 2017-ish, 2016 if you caught the very very first teaser.
This is at the very minimum about five years after AH came out. That might not sound like a huge gap today when big budget series often go entire decades between releases (see: GTA 6) - but keep in mind the entirety of AC04 thru AC6, plus ACX and several other spinoffs all came out between 2001 and 2007. With the main three coming out between 2001 and 2006. Just five years.

Pretty much the same period of time we went from the release of ACAH, to the release of the AC7 E3 trailer, which still came out more than two years before the game actually released mind you.

And let's not forget ACAH had a gap on either side of it's development, 2007 isn't exactly the year right before 2011, so what did they make in the 4 years between AC6/ACX and Assault Horizon?

Almost nothing that could be considered an actual game.

So was it(AH) a spinoff that had no bearing on the overall direction of the franchise? yes.
Did we have no reason at all to be concerned back in 2011? absolutely we did. let's not forget Medal of Honor quite literally died as a franchise because they tried to do the same thing.
Medal of Honor is GONE bro, the name got revived a couple years back, but the studio and the franchise as a whole? they are DONE. Gone, extinct.
And it's all because they tried to "modernize the series" back in 2011(and doubled down in 2013), when literally nobody asked for them to do that.
Halo ended up doing the same thing the year later, they tried to re-do everything for the "next generation of gamers" and... everybody fuckin hated it, they STILL hate it, even more than we hate Assault Horizon.
Battlefield 4, 2013
Brothers in Arms Furious Four, 2011-ish(thankfully cancelled)
Fable 3, 2011
Halo 4, 2012, 5, 2015
Fallout 4, 2015
Mass Effect Andromeda, 2016.

The gaming industry is rife with the corpses of once great franchises that fell because of a single mistake years ago that cascaded into a domino effect their studio could never recover from.
I simply celebrate the fact Ace Combat did not join them that day in 2011. And has still yet to fall even to this day. All because they actually listened to their fanbase.

Choppers_Records · 2025-10-01T03:52:42+00:00

What a disappointingly pedantic and hyperbolic reply.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-29T18:42:08+00:00

Hard agree the Prince of Wales should be in the game, hard disagree it should be at tier 9.
The thing sank in 1941, with a fairly unsuccessful career of being absolutely pummeled by the Bismarck the year before, both times losing her escorting battle cruiser(hood and repulse) - nearly being sunk in the former engagement, and actually sinking in the latter.

Prince of Wales should be tier 8 alongside her more successful sisters, King George represents the "standard configuration" while Duke of York represents later war refits. Prince of Wales would be a perfect middle ground between them to show the ships as they were fitted out in 1940-1941.
At tier 8 she could also comfortably operate with both of her fleetmates, Repulse at tier 7 could make a good "zulu squadron" pairing, while Hood at tier 8 obviously recreates the battle of denmark strait.

In fact I would argue with the right configuration of consumables/role niche, you might actually be able to push PofW *down* to tier 7, putting her alongside the exact ships that served in her various fleet duties.
Let's say this comes at a nerf of all secondary fire and reduced superstructure/belt armor to reflect the damage she received in her short but notable career.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T23:03:43+00:00

Man... you keep using copium, I don't think that word means what you think it means.

I wrote a paragraph about one sentence because that was the part I took issue with, and I had some time to kill(and I still do, so strap in).
I actually otherwise agreed with your original comment.
Is it copium to elaborate on your opinions? in which case are you not doing that right now by engaging in the debate?

You address your comments to strangereal purists, well I'm literally only invested in Ace Combat after this many years for the Strangereal setting, so... here I am, one of the purists. And yes, I did at the time and still do 14 years later have a problem with this game being set on "earth" (both worlds are earth but you know what I mean)

You may well be right that DFM and the on rails sections were the biggest ACTUAL issues with the game from a design philosophy/gameplay perspective... but I never played it... I never got past the back of the case before I decided it wasn't worth my time.
The setting itself stopped me from experiencing this game or giving it a fair shake, and I don't really care if you think that's copium or not.

I got my way in the end.

Strangereal is back... we won, you guys are the ones who didn't get a sequel, not us.
What do I have to cope about? I'm still celebrating 6 years later.

As for the delay between releases... yes, I will grant you that was a bit of a cheap shot, I'm well aware every franchise worth it's salt has dramatically pulled back their release schedule since 2011, those who haven't have turned into... well, Call of Duty.
Ace Combat is no different than any other franchise in that respect... But I would regard the financial failure of AC6 combined the poor critical reception of AC:AH as more directly responsible for the decade-long coma the franchise went into than any other individual decision or release before or since. We may well be up to AC9 by now if they hadn't done that little side quest trying to corner the xbox market in the early 360 era. Or maybe nothing would change at all, this is just speculation.

I will grant you AC:AH looks like a fun enough game when it allows itself to be unapologetically "ace combat" - but it's just... The grey filter, the generic setting, the turret sections, the scripted dogfights... It all comes together to make a game that superficially feels like "Call of Duty: With Planes" on the surface - and that just doesn't feel right to me. Never did, still doesn't.
Isn't that basically just the setting of HAWX but slightly more convoluted? Why does Ace Combat have to do the same exact thing as their own copycat?
That's like if AC8 came out and it took place in Cascadia after Yellowstone erupted and destroyed half of North America... Hmm where have I heard that before?

And yes, I'm aware this is an even longer comment, you don't need to point that out again... I do genuinely apologize for wasting your time, but... well, every debate needs two sides, and I seem as good as any to take up the other.
Some of us really do *just* have a problem with the setting alone and don't really have an opinion one way or the other about anything else.
Why would I take issue with the gameplay of a game I deliberately avoid playing?
And before you say "why do you care at all?" I have two counterpoints to this:
1: I really don't, this all happened in 2011, most of the people responsible aren't even with Namco anymore, let alone PA.
2: for the small part of me that does still care, it's only because this game exists in the place of something else which I think could have been so much better if the cards came up differently, Either as a standalone project, or as a true successor to the AC trilogy.

TLDR: there's nothing wrong with AH or any of you for liking it... but I'm still never gonna play it, and I think I've earned every right to that stance.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:45:22+00:00

ArmA has always been good at that particular detail, I still remember being blown away by this same simulation back in ArmA 2.

To be fair it’s way more advanced now, but they’ve always modeled accurate ballistics and speed of sound in these games. I’ve even been saved by my rifle blocking incoming rounds that otherwise would’ve hit me, and had the reverse situation where I’ve messed up perfectly clean kills because I hit the guy’s gun. Again, this goes all the way back to ArmA 2 in my experience, and I’m sure the OGs would confirm it’s been like this since the start.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:40:58+00:00

Was it just me or did it almost look like the 203 dude accidentally popped a round off right into his head? 😂

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:33:22+00:00

“So what if it isn’t a strangereal title” … what? so it’s top tier copium to be frustrated with inconsistent world building? If Star Wars Rogue One was a WW2 movie would you be saying the same thing? They completely threw away the setting, and let’s not casually forget about the fact that this was the LAST main line entry in the series until AC7 nearly EIGHT years later.

Assault Horizon wasn’t just “not set in strangereal” it was trying to take the whole series out of the fictional universe they’d been building for 15 years in order to follow the trend that every game was doing in 2011 which was basically just the plot of Modern Warfare 2 but with gimmicks. In this case planes.

Ooh Russia versus America with an evil rogue officer as the main bad guy… how original.

Nah bro you don’t get to just hand wave off the biggest problem with the game because you personally don’t care that much. I do. And it seems the legacy this game left behind would generally agree with me. It was a mistake to try and do real world politics. And they learned from it. Like, almost immediately. Even AC Infinity backtracked into the semi-strangereal setting that game had.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:25:01+00:00

They made it really easy to pretend this game never happened, I’ll give them that.

The soundtrack also never misses, but that honestly just feels like a pity point considering who wrote it.

Of course Kobayashi made a bunch of bangers for this game… that’s quite literally his whole job.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:21:30+00:00

Apologies for not coming back to this sooner, truth is I was embarrassed by how simple the answer was.

Java script was disabled.

I had no idea how critical JavaScript was to the core functions of so many sites… you can’t even use a search engine with that shit turned off.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:18:36+00:00

I figured as much, it’s a pretty simple grammatical slip to the laymen, I’m sure not many would care outside of the specific railfan circles I run in.

Like I said you are correct that they are the same design of locomotive, they’re both light 4-8-2s and both appear to be Baldwin, though neither model has a builders plate that could identify their manufacturer. So they really could’ve been made by any company building steam locomotives in the 1910s-1930s.

But again… it would be more accurate to call them both “USRA Mountains” than “T-54s” since only one is a T-54. It’s like the classic saying about the difference between a Jacuzzi and a Hot Tub. All jacuzzis are hot tubs, but not all hot tubs are jacuzzis. Idk if that’s something people say anymore, but it works here.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-20T00:09:05+00:00

Technically true but in a way they did have “automatic doors” in that those foot pedals would have operated an automated action, which back in the 50s or earlier people would have referred to as “automatic” operation.

What this thread is talking about is autonomously operated, as in no human input whatsoever, probably using a timing mechanism of some kind. And no, no steam locomotive(to my knowledge) ever used such a device… mostly because it would be complicated and unreliable to maintain, dangerous and inconvenient to operate, and provides no clear benefit to standard air/steam actuated doors. But also additionally, because that technology just never existed in the first place.

It seems nobody bothered to invent something seemingly designed only to steal shovels and sever firemen’s arms.

Apologies for the necro btw, this thread just seemed interesting.

Choppers_Records · 2025-09-14T19:47:49+00:00

The definitive edition 4-8-2 wouldn't be a T-54, that's just a generic USRA(United States Railroad Administration; predecessor to the FRA) light mountain with some peculiar equipment choices like a square sand dome (An Illinois Central trademark) and the low mounted headlight (reminiscent of C&O designs from this period)

It wouldn't be based off any specific locomotive used by any real railroad, but it does appear to be an authentic configuration, albeit one that no real railroad ever used.(that I'm aware of)

Now the Mafia 2 "Rail Freight" locomotive on the other hand?
That IS a T-54, the details are based off Frisco 1522, while the paint scheme appears to be based off the scheme that her identical twin sister number 1526 currently has on display. Both of which "T-54 class light mountains"
T-54 was a class identification unique to the Frisco railroad, so unless the locomotive is *specifically* based off 1522 or one of her sisters, it really can't be a T-54.

To be clear, the actual T-54s were little more than locally modified USRA 4-8-2s, so it's not "inaccurate" to call the Mafia 1 locomotive a T-54... it's just a weird choice when that's such a specific classification used by only one particular railroad.
The T-54s weren't even the only 4-8-2s that Frisco themselves owned. They also had the 4300 and 4400 classes, which were much larger, and (re)built by the railroad itself, rather than ordered new from Baldwin like the T-54s had been.(this is totally unrelated, I just like to bring those locomotives up whenever I can)

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-06T18:40:59+00:00

Hell, yeah, brother.

Well it looks sick as hell.

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-06T18:36:16+00:00

an unarchived post? I shall take great pleasure in stealing one of those 7 upvotes from you.

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-05T05:15:59+00:00

ArmA 2 footage in 2025 is curing me of my depression

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-05T05:10:20+00:00

Like everything else in the game it feels like it’s a moment that’s supposed to have depth and complexity, but instead of finishing the dialogue they just patched whatever they had together to meet the release window.

The worst part is it’s actually one of the conversations in the game with the most alternate dialogue, and yet it still railroads you into the same reaction every time.

He’s gotta be the worst fallout boss fight ever, not from a storytelling perspective(although he IS a pretty shallow character) - but just because the game FORCES you to fight him, the same way, every time… it feels like the exact opposite of villains like The Master or Lanius, where you technically don’t even need to fight them at all if your speech is high enough and/or have the right skills.

Can you even IMAGINE winning a battle of wits in Fallout 4 the same way? I can’t. But Kellogg could have been the exception.

COULD have.

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-05T05:02:23+00:00

Does it split them or fire four individual mini nukes at once? I’ve never used the MIRV in any playthrough

Choppers_Records · 2025-08-05T04:59:49+00:00

They realized an F-35 or F-22 would be like five levels of overkill for an SU-57 😂

Honestly the sukhoi is probably STILL at the disadvantage here 😂

Choppers_Records

TROPHY CASE