(SPOILER) The Path to the Future

[Order]

Played the Campaign a second time now and i realise that lots of the Campaign and Lore we get here is somewhat an indicator where we could be heading in the future of Ace Combat. For the sake of the Thread i will make a short brief of the Story now. Also it includdes Spoilers to the following Games: AC2, AC3, AC5 and AC7. Lets start it!

First we need to know that the AI Tech the Belkan have is actually old in Terms of the Lore, around 20 years or even more in development. Its beginning was the End of the Belkan war which led the Belkan Army decimated in all of its core Aspects but more important in its legendary Airforce. To solve that problem Gründer Industries developed the so called "Zone of the Endless" Programm which should learn from actual Pilots and Aces and get Data for Combat. In AC2 there were multiple Aircraft equipped with this AI, but it was flawed and the Prototypes got shot down in the Events of AC2.

Gründer Industries is involved in the Erusean Militry pretty damn hard, so hard that they let their Z.O.E. Artifical Intelligence manufactured into Drones that exceeds the Expections of the young erusian Officers by far and let them start a War. They also develop it further by enhancing the AI with Flight and Combat data gathered by Mihaly A. Shilage which lead to the advanced Prototype ADF-11 "Raven", the pinnacle of Drone Warfare.

Osea also got advanced Drone Technology in the Form of the Arsenal Bird and its MQ-101 Drones it carries. Where do they get the Tech? For those that dont know Ace Combat 5, Gründer Industries belongs to North Osea formerly known as the South Belkan Ammunitions Factory (yep that Guys!). After the Belkan War the "Grey Men" are responsible for Gründer Industries and its Affairs in the World.

And now comes the big Plot for AC7, its themes overall include Rogue AI and its capability to learn and adapt to certain Situations. Also Mihaly A. Shilage had a great discussion with his Sol Squadron Members about "Yet what is a Nation?" which implies heavily that in this Strangereal world the Nations as we know are not really that important anymore, or at least not for long as we know.

After the second Battle in Farbanti we see in the End the Explosions of ALL Military Satellties in the Orbit. Erusea launched Missiles and Osea too, i wouldnt even be surprised if the Grey Men also had their Fingers in that. The resulting Explosion and the Scrap from those Satelites shut down every other Satelllite from private to corporation and government. The Result was Chaos, Anarchy, Civil Wars and no direct Contact to Command for Osea and Erusea and the rest of the World. Schröder was right when he said "What kept the world relatively sane up to that point had been free flowing data andd information" which in its own terms was right. The whole War and the World, much like ours, is dependent on this Network and of course Internet. Needles to say it was like a Apocalpyse.

Until that the AI for all the Drones were also dependet on their Programming and their Missions, Objectives and overall Data they got from that Network from the Erusian Military. But you could also say it was limited, holded onto a leash you could say. Because then things got pretty ugly as Z.O.E learned without guidance of some Programmers from Gründer Industries how to fight. Even Dr. Schroieder was fascinated yet terrified at the same as the Drone Jets opend fire on the Osean Military and even more so called for backup from nearby Drone Containers. Now you could say this AI really turned to rogue now.

In the End it got Data for its automated Production Facilities from Mihaly A. Shilage from the "honourable" Doctor which led to the final Form of Z.O.E. which we saw, as previously stated, in the Drones "Huginn" and "Muninn" ADF-11 Drone Fighters with advanced Technology and autonomous programming. They even learned from Trigger (the Player) and his flying Style. If both these planes had achieved their Goal for transmmitting its Data to all the Facilites we would have gotten an AI Uprising in the Form we only know in Movies like Matrix and Terminator. Still we dont get a Explanation if the world itself restores to peace itself as the Chaos still is there and yet to resolve with the total World Wide Network being shut down.

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So now we are in for the overall Theory to where we are heading right now with Ace Combat and why i feel that the only Conclusion could be Ace Combat 3 or at least something in that kind of Story. In the original Japanese Version of that Game there are multiple News and Documentaries about what lead the World to that future.

1. The Nations of the world ran multiple Wars which led to conquering / loosing multiple Areas and States in their Territory.

2. Corporations had a massive uprising in the years after the total collapse of the politics and wars of that said Nations.

3. Neucom and General Resource Limited are the Megacorps that have replaced the Nations almost entirely.

I think that this collapse they explained or at least the power vacuum created by it that we will see maybe Gründer Industries, which is already yeeears ahead of any other Corporation, or other corporations overtake the strangereal world. It could take years of not decades of work to gain access to networks again or need new Tech even like the one used for the Space Elevator to be used for Data Transfer like it was used by the Drones.

And since we are yet again at this theme, there is NO explanation what happened with the Construction Plants, except they run out of power. I wouldnt be surprised if some Data from Z.O.E. would be still there and could be used for more Projects or it could also lead to the total bann of any use of advanced AI in the strangereal World as all saw what kind of damage some Rogue AI Drones could do. Who knows? It could be even the Case that Z.O.E. was or is the "Father" of Nemo who is in Fact itself an AI programmed by Simon from the Corporation Neucom in AC3.

All i can say is ... the Skies are truly unknown for the Future!

What do you guys think? Total Apocalypse in the End? Corporation Uprising? Maybe nothing of all that? Say it here!

PS: Sorry for Grammar Failures from my Side!

[Lafettie]

Corporation Uprising since AC3 plays after 7. I wouldnt be suprised if the next Game would be an AC3 Remake which lets you see what really will happen, instead of it being simulated by Simon.

[Order]

Originally posted by Laffetie:

Corporation Uprising since AC3 plays after 7. I wouldnt be suprised if the next Game would be an AC3 Remake which lets you see what really will happen, instead of it being simulated by Simon.

Yeah i think so too, there are so much references here that could lead to that dystopian future.

[Kameraden]

The writer Sunao Katabuchi actually predicted the social and economic problems that mass refugee problem would cause all the way back in Ace Combat 4, in fact it was the main background story that lead to the war to begin with in Ace Combat 4, sadly not explained in the game itself. Ace Combat 7 touches on some of that background history as well finally.

He also points out in the game that a large nation like say the "EU" or "USA" isn't as united as we personally like to believe. If the "System" fails so to speak we will go back to tribalism though most likely at a national level. You see this during the collapse of the Russian Empire, when nations like Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, and Poland all emerged and declared their Independence, which lead to the Red Incursion ie the Red Army while still fighting a Civil War launched invasions of most of these countries, nations like Ukraine and Belarus were occupied before they could defend themselves, but the Balkan States and Poland held strong, and repelled the Communist.

You later see this again with Yugoslavia, and the Fall of the USSR, when everyone found an excuse to leave the "Master" state or 'break' up into smaller states.

[Order]

Well its always intresting how some things really are different and then the same as in our real world i would say.

[Order]

Based on the Season Pass Trailer i guess we can say we have a few more Proofs (or at least speculations) about the ongoing Story for AC7 and after that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C2GM1InwNc&t=1s

I am completly honest with you, i believe that at 1:05 we see Abyssal Dision and IF he really is it it fits perfectly for the Description of the Season Pass Page that says something like "fight against the biggest Evil in the Series" and we all know Abyssal is Chaos incarnated.

But then again someone mentioned you can see the Butterfly Symbol in der Trailer for a split Second, which could lead to the Butterfly Master who was, in Infinity, an insane Ace that primarly used UAV´s to his Advantage with his CFA-44 Nosferatu Plane (maybe thats the 3rd plane?)

What do you Guys think?

[Lafettie]

Well Infinity wasnt Strangereal. It was the AC2 Universe which comes close to the "real world". Would be weird if they merge that now. But yeah i guess its AC3 related stuff cause Dision and other Characters are in their 20´s/30´s while the Events of AC7 happen. Also Megafloat should also be under construction.

[Catnipz0r]

Sooo... AC3 remake soon? I'm okay with that...

[Lafettie]

Originally posted by Catnipz0r:

Sooo... AC3 remake soon? I'm okay with that...

Well i guess theres still time in between so theres that.Also it wouldnt be a remake imho,they would make a real AC3 (since AC3 is just a simulation story wise ^^)

[Order]

Originally posted by Lafettie:

Well i guess theres still time in between so theres that.Also it wouldnt be a remake imho,they would make a real AC3 (since AC3 is just a simulation story wise ^^)

I would laugh out loud if they would make a AC3 Remake and then in the End it Turns out it was the real Deal this Time.

[BrySkye]

As a note, remember that AC Assault Horizon Legacy (or Cross Rumble 3D) served as a remake of AC2 and retconned/expanded some details to make it fit better with the more established Strangereal lore (for example, Sergei Brynner of Beast Squadron may be Belkan, and alludes to having fought at both B7R and even against Cipher).
The Z.O.E drones in particular were sent to fly against Phoenix in order to gather more combat data, building upon the data of Cipher and Pixy's battle that formed the basis for it all.
Z.O.E. in that game was a lot more capable than the ones in the original AC2.

They mimic the pattern of Yellow Squadron and Mihaly.
Namely that they are impossible to shoot down during initial encounters. They will instead either run or there will be some kind of outside interference.
That this changes in the end games isn't meant to represent these aces losing their edge, it's meant to highlight the growth of the player character.
In the case of Z.O.E. with Phoenix, or the AC7 AI's with Trigger, they learn and adapt, but the player character learns and adapts even more.

One detail not mentioned often is that the IUPF mentioned in AC7? That acronym was also used in Ace Combat Joint Assault, which was not based on Strangereal, but another alternate 'real' Earth that may or may not be connected to either Assault Horizon or Infinity.