Ace Combat 8 Mission 28

A Thousand Points of Light takes place at Cima Island. For an S-rank attempt, plan the bomber groups, reserve time to rearm at the air base, and avoid spending the late fight chasing misses. The Ace-difficulty video shows one successful run with FA-36 and SASM; it is a reference route, not a guaranteed score formula. Later mission enemies appear in the video and result screenshot.

**Mission 28: Ace difficulty S-rank run**ShinyGengar1 · 38:36Full sortie, air-base rearming and the final result screen.

Spend the opening on targets you can finish

Start with bomber formations you can reach and destroy efficiently. The video's uploader describes the order below; use it to plan a replay, then adjust to your ammunition and the targets still alive. For aircraft access, check the Aircraft Tree and campaign unlocks.

Mission 28 target priorities from a successful Ace run
Target group	Next decision	Why it matters
Slow bombers	Clear reachable formations first	The recording destroys 74 Tu-95s for 66,600 destruction points. Repeated attacks on fighter decoys can leave these targets untouched.
Named ace and faster bombers	Watch for the named target, then intercept bomber groups	The uploader prioritizes the named ace before fast bombers. Keep the target visible and account for travel time.
Stealth fighters and nearby remaining aircraft	Choose reachable targets before a long chase	Use your HUD and radar to decide what remains. The player's target order is a route to compare, not a mandatory spawn sequence.
Late fight	Keep weapons for the remaining opponents	A later phase has its own timer. Separate the time spent building destruction score from the time spent on the final dogfight.

Slow bombers: Clear reachable formations first; The recording destroys 74 Tu-95s for 66,600 destruction points. Repeated attacks on fighter decoys can leave these targets untouched.
Named ace and faster bombers: Watch for the named target, then intercept bomber groups; The uploader prioritizes the named ace before fast bombers. Keep the target visible and account for travel time.
Stealth fighters and nearby remaining aircraft: Choose reachable targets before a long chase; Use your HUD and radar to decide what remains. The player's target order is a route to compare, not a mandatory spawn sequence.
Late fight: Keep weapons for the remaining opponents; A later phase has its own timer. Separate the time spent building destruction score from the time spent on the final dogfight.

The sample uses SASM. That does not prove every other weapon fails. Choose a loadout you can use accurately, and keep the same aircraft and difficulty while testing a change in route. The aircraft comparison lists confirmed roles and access.

Land at the air base to rearm

This run uses a runway landing, rather than Mission 7's return line. Follow the AIR BASE marker, align with the runway and complete the landing. The weapon-selection screen then replenishes the loadout; confirm the weapon and choose Yes at the take-off prompt.

Mission 28 fighter on the air-base runway with Landing Successful shown — At 19:45 in the video, the landing-success message appears.

Mission 28 air-base weapon selection with SASM selected and replenished missile counts — At 19:48, the weapon menu shows 144 missiles and 26 SASM for this loadout.

Budget for the approach and departure before ammunition is exhausted. The counts above belong to this aircraft and loadout. Repeating the same landing is not a required rank condition.

Confirmed take-off, but the plane will not move?

Players on PC and PS5 Pro have reported being stuck after the resupply confirmation. There is no verified universal recovery for this symptom. Record the platform, checkpoint and whether the mission still responds; a frozen game belongs with the crash checks. Do not delete your save to test a reported workaround.

Keep the late fight separate from score building

Around 29:10 in this recording, the mission moves into the late fight and the HUD timer changes. The video also returns to the runway before the remaining duel. Enter this part with usable weapons and watch the remaining time in your own HUD.

If missiles keep missing, stop repeating the same firing angle. Compare a closer shot with a gun pass, and record which approach actually connects. Player reports include both missile kills and gun kills, so there is no basis to call this a gun-only fight.

For an electronic-warfare wingman, check the wingman's special-weapon control and look for ESM ACTIVE in the HUD. Equipping the aircraft alone does not establish that support is active. The wingman controls explain the available orders.

Replay notes worth keeping

Destruction score before the late fight.
Weapons remaining after the last rearm.
Time spent chasing misses versus landing hits.
Checkpoint restarts and the final rank shown.

Record these in the S rank attempt tracker so the next run tests one change.

What the successful result actually shows

Mission 28 result: S rank, 156400 destruction score, 16030 time bonus and 172430 rank score — ShinyGengar1's result at 37:45. The MRP reward is displayed separately from rank score.

Difficulty: Ace
Total time: 35:18.79
Destruction score: 156,400
Time bonus: 16,030
Rank score: 172,430
Checkpoint restarts: 0
Rank: S

These values describe one successful attempt. They do not establish the minimum S-rank cutoff or prove that a checkpoint restart always prevents S. Compare your own final result on the same difficulty.

Continue with the campaign mission list, or use the rank notebook to save the next attempt.