Ace Combat 8 Mission 14, Two on the Run (Operation Homing Pigeon), takes your weapons away. You fly an unarmed A-6E Intruder through a canyon full of radar beams and quadcopters, so you survive with terrain and throttle, not firepower. There are no missiles and no way to fight back.
Quick answer:
- Stay low and use the canyon walls to break radar coverage.
- Keep away from the green radar beams and line up with each gap before you enter it.
- When Baxter calls for speed, go full throttle toward the next clear gap.
- Fly through the mushroom cloud to break missile tracking, then drop back into the canyon.
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Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 Walkthrough
After mission 13 of Ace Combat 8 (The People of the Lost Country), you have to escape from a bunker of a Resistance group. You are flying an unarmed A-6E Intruder. This mission is also called Operation Homing Pigeon.
Here is a complete walkthrough for the mission.
Take Off and Navigate the Canyon
The escape from the bunker starts with a makeshift runway on a curved mountain road. Keep the aircraft aligned and at enough speed, take off. Once in the air, you need to navigate the canyon full of radars and quadcopters.
Here is the trick: stay far from the green lasers (which are radar coverage), and you will be good. Also, before entering a narrow space in radar coverage, line up with its opening and leave room for small corrections. In my experience, stay low and in the center of the radar coverage area to have space for maneuvers and escape.
Accelerate!
The second phase of the chase needs a different strategy. When Baxter calls for speed, accelerate and keep moving through the next clear gap.
I recommend full throttle during this pursuit. Waiting cautiously around patrols will not do any good!
Keep looking ahead and never look back. Do not forget: your intruder A-6E is unarmed, and you do not have any weapon to engage. Turning toward the enemy aircraft only takes you away from the escape route.
Beware that some radar lasers are moving, and you have to evade them. So try to adjust your position according to the lasers to avoid detection.
Mushroom Cloud: Your Ticket to Escape
Baxter will tell you to dive into the mushroom cloud to divert the missiles. Actually, this advice turns out to be really useful. Try to be inside the mushroom cloud since the missiles will be gone because of it.
After leaving the cloud, return to the canyon and continue using the terrain cover to fully escape from the Sotoan fighters.
Finally, Severskaya (Tasha) and Joker 4 Noise will come to your help and destroy your enemies.
Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 Achievement
By completing Mission 14 of Ace Combat 8, you will be awarded Vanishing Act. This achievement is for finishing the mission, not for completing a perfect stealth run.
How to Get the Mission 14 No-Detection Medal?
During the mission, avoid all radar detection by radars. You can check your results under Data Viewer > Campaign Data > Campaign Medals
For a medal attempt, I would restart from the beginning after a known radar detection rather than assume a checkpoint reload clears it.
You can return any time you want for the medal through Free Mission (after completing the campaign). There is no need to do it on your first run.
Can You Change the Aircraft in Ace Combat 8 Mission 14?
The short answer is no. Mission 14 requires the A-6E Intruder as the main aircraft. Learning the canyon and knowing how to avoid radar are more important. Clearing the mission adds the A-6E Intruder to your Aircraft Tree, and your first copy unlocks for free.
In the next mission, named Wings of Wax (mission 15), you have to defend a whole fleet. Mission 16, or Singer, is about detecting three terrorist container ships.
