This is a guide to help you get 100% achievements in Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol. All the achievements are single-player, and it should take you around 25 hours for completion.
General Knowledge
- Altitude is Key: Maintain high altitude to maximize maneuverability.
- Cloud Advantage: Utilize clouds to your advantage, as the enemy AI struggles to track you, even on higher difficulties. Missions without clouds can be significantly more challenging, especially when flying with one pilot.
- Difficulty Scaling: Adjust the difficulty to the highest level you can comfortably win for maximum points. If it becomes too difficult, lower the difficulty and repeat the mission or choose a different one.
- Critical Damage: Planes taking over 50% damage suffer a critical hit, resulting in damage each turn, reduced maximum altitude, decreased accuracy, or the inability to perform inverted flight maneuvers.
- AA Fire: If you eliminate the last enemy in their zone, you won’t take AA (anti-air) damage.
- Luring Enemies: In non-balloon missions, lure enemies to your side of the map to disrupt their formation and inflict extra damage.
- Difficulty Impact: Mission selection is influenced by difficulty; higher difficulties offer more mission variety. For example, Forlorn Hope mission won’t appear on low difficulties.
- Mission Repetition: The game does not offer the same mission twice in a row.
- “Save Scum” Technique: To reroll unwanted missions:
- Complete a mission.
- Click “Save Game” and save to a slot.
- Click “Select Mission.” If you dislike the options, click the ✔️ to return without saving.
- Click “Main Menu.”
- Click “Don’t Save” (alternatively, during a mission, click “Save Progress and Exit,” then “Don’t Save”).
- Click “Load a Saved Game.”
- Choose the save slot from step 2.
- Repeat steps 2-7.
- Save Scumming Limitations: The “save scum” technique doesn’t always guarantee three new mission choices.
- Best missions: In function of your needs, I recommend the following missions:
- Balloon Buster (Rookie difficulty): Best for farming kills.
- Sitting Duck (Legend difficulty): Balanced for farming both kills and score.
- Forlorn Hope (Ace+ difficulty): Best for farming score early game.
- Ace vs Ace (Leader+ difficulty): Best for farming score late game.
Here is the full list of missions with number of friendly entities, and enemy entities.
Special abilities are granted to squadron leaders at the start of the campaign (or to pilots who perform exceptionally well during the campaign). You can restart the campaign until you get the desired ability.
- Grease Monkey: Allows the pilot to repair damage each turn. (My favourite)
- Dead Eye: Increases firing range, allowing the pilot to shoot from 2 tiles away instead of the standard 1 tile.
- The Baron: Inflicts more critical damage to enemy fighters.
Ace maneuvers are special movements that give your pilots an edge. You can even “save scum” to acquire desired maneuvers.
- Wingover: A rapid turn within the same tile, highly effective against enemies sharing your tile.
- Immelmann: A turn that positions you one tile behind your current location, perfect for pursuing enemies that have just flown past.
- Split-S: A 180-degree turn performed by combining a half-loop and a half-roll, good for quickly reversing direction to pursue or escape.
Achievements – Campaign (British)
How to Unlock: Refer to the Legendary British Pilot (50 Victories) achievement.
How to Unlock: Despite the title, you need 50 kills with a single pilot. Difficulty doesn’t matter, so Rookie (Easy) is recommended. Choose the Grease Monkey ability for your pilot to enable quick repairs, ensuring they’re available for every mission. If your pilot falls in enemy territory, consider restarting the mission. Ensure the pilot you’re focusing on gets the final hit on enemy planes. Balloon kills count. Missions with the most enemies (4) are Balloon Buster, Forlorn Hope, and Turkey Shoot. Balloon Buster is arguably the easiest, pitting 2 of your planes against 2 enemy planes and 2 harmless balloons.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Win the Campaign – British achievement.
How to Unlock: Complete the campaign regardless of scores or kills. If you’ve already earned the Legendary British Pilot, 15,000 point mission – British, and 150,000 Squadron points – British achievements, you can quickly finish missions by leaving the territory or landing on your side of the map.
How to Unlock: Refer to the 15,000 point mission – British achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the 15,000 point mission – British achievement.
How to Unlock: Achieve 15,000 points in a single mission. Higher difficulties yield more points; aim for at least Leader (Very Hard) difficulty. Prioritize this achievement before the first offensive, as enemy planes become stronger as the campaign progresses. Your designated “Legendary” pilot will be upgraded, but the rest will be weaker. Forlorn Hope (1v3) and Ace vs. Ace (1v1, but with a strong enemy pilot) offer the highest potential scores in my experience.
How to Unlock: Refer to the 150,000 Squadron points – British achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the 150,000 Squadron points – British achievement.
How to Unlock: Accumulate 150,000 total points before the campaign ends. Farm points before the first offensive when enemies are weaker. Frequently choose Forlorn Hope and Ace vs. Ace. A successful Forlorn Hope mission on Legendary difficulty with minimal damage can yield over 30,000 points. In later levels, use Legendary (Impossible) difficulty and farm Sitting Ducks missions, especially on maps with ample clouds and with a well-upgraded pilot.
Achievements – Other
How to Unlock: Refer to the Win a Mission – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Win a Mission – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Win a Mission – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: You’ll inevitably earn this while progressing through the game, as you’ll be adjusting difficulty based on your achievement goals (higher difficulties for points, lower for pilot kills). These achievements are not stackable; you must win a mission at each specific difficulty.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Hat Trick – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Hat Trick – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Hat Trick – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: Refer to the Hat Trick – Legend achievement.
How to Unlock: You’ll likely earn this while pursuing the 50-kills achievement, especially in the Balloon Buster mission, which offers two “free” kills (the balloons). These achievements are not stackable either.
How to Unlock: Have each of your four pilots achieve 5 kills. You can aim for this early in the game by choosing missions with four enemies: Balloon Buster, Forlorn Hope, and Turkey Shoot.
How to Unlock: Keep rerolling missions until you get “Train to Nowhere.” Destroy the train before it reaches the opposite side (mission completion is not required).
How to Unlock: Zeppelins are the large enemy balloons at the end of each offensive. You’ll automatically earn this alongside the Win an Offensive – British achievement after completing your first offensive.
Achievements – Campaign (Rest of Nations)
And that wraps up our share on Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol: Sid Meier’s Ace Patrol – 100% Achievements. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by Aziz, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!