Source: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment (official art via Steam)
This Ace Combat 8 beginner guide exists because the game's aircraft tree is a trap for new pilots. Wings of Theve — the first numbered Ace Combat in seven years, and reportedly the fastest-selling entry in franchise history — launched October 2, 2026 on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. It's generous, it's spectacular, and it will absolutely let you waste your early currency on the wrong jets. Here's how not to.
Ace Combat 8 beginner guide: start with the controls
Novice is the default and it softens your inputs, which feels nice for about one mission. Switch to Expert as soon as the tutorial ends. Expert hands you full manual pitch, roll, and yaw, and the game's mission design expects it — Novice's training wheels become a ceiling fast.
You get three camera views you can swap mid-flight: classic Third Person, a helmet-style HUD view, and a full Cockpit with working instruments. Pick per mission. HUD view is the sweet spot for most players: situational awareness of third person without the cinematic distance.
Plan your aircraft tree route before you spend a dime
You start with a free F/A-18C Hornet, and the aircraft tree forces you to buy every node along a route before the jet at the end unlocks. Do not buy every cheap plane that lights up. Pick a destination first.
Budget route: Mirage 2000-5 to Rafale M — cheap, capable, gets you competitive fast.
First-campaign flagship: build toward the F-35C. It's the sensible endgame plane for your first run.
Big swing: the Su-57 node sits behind a 550,000 MRP fighter gate. Only commit if you're ready to farm.
And this is the real beginner tip: upgrade parts before buying new jets. Spend early Military Result Points on parts for your starter plane. Parts improve any plane you bolt them onto, so they're never wasted — unlike a mid-tier jet you fly twice.
MRP farming: work smarter, not longer
MRP payouts scale with difficulty, from x0.8 on Casual to x1.5 on Ace. The full aircraft roster costs roughly 8.9M MRP, and the completion milestones track total earned (16M and 25M) — spending doesn't set you back, so buy freely once you've planned your route. A full campaign clear only nets about 3-4M MRP, so you'll need to farm.
Early game: Mission 7, roughly 65,000-78,000 MRP per run.
Best density: Mission 28 (A Thousand Points of Light) — rearm mid-sortie and chain the kill count.
Wingmen, clouds, and things that kill you
Wingman commands are back for the first time since Ace Combat 5, and they matter. From the D-pad you can order a Forward Attack (selected target; press again for nearby enemies), a Dispersed Attack for free targeting, and Support — wingmen peel off pursuers or draw fire. There's a separate order for special-weapon use. Catch: wingmen need their own purchased aircraft equipped. You're leading Joker Flight's four pilots, not flying solo.
Clouds are both a weapon and a hazard. They break enemy radar lock and hide you — but they shrink your lock-on distance, impair your guidance, and cause icing that bleeds maneuverability if you linger. Trade, don't camp.
Two more combat habits that separate rookies from aces:
Carry two special weapons at once — new in AC8. Bring one air-to-air and one air-to-ground for mixed missions.
Time your countermeasures to the missile-lock tone turning solid, not when it first beeps. Early flares are wasted flares.
Use the debris system. Wreckage from downed enemies damages nearby targets — in crowded furballs, kills chain into other kills.
The online grind is separate
Ace Combat Online — co-op Assault, the series' first cross-platform multiplayer — runs its own credits and ranks. Campaign planes don't carry over. The winning co-op team earns more, the F-22A and Su-47 Berkut are the online priorities, and some jets are gated behind rank or the Premium Ace Pass Season 1. Treat it as a second game, not an extension of the first.
