ACE COMBAT 8 Mission 14: Two on the Run Walkthrough and Radar Route

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 is a completely different kind of mission. Two on the Run puts you in an unarmed A-6E Intruder at night and tells you to escape. No missiles. No flares. Just valleys, radar and a return line that feels very far away. Stay low, follow the valleys, keep clear of the green detection zones and let the hills hide you from incoming missiles.

For the story clear, getting out alive is enough. Skillful Escapee is stricter: the mission’s radar must not acquire you at any point. Those are different goals. The medal is the reason to take the longer, less heavily guarded route at the canyon fork instead of gambling on the fastest possible exit.

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: Two on the Run walkthrough

1. Reach the aircraft and take off from the road

Operation Homing Pigeon starts on foot. Follow the short button prompts to get from the truck to the steamroller and into the tunnel. Once you reach the A-6E, accelerate down the road and lift off before the road runs out. You cannot swap to a better armed fighter here, even when replaying the mission through Free Mission.

The Intruder has no weapons and no flares. That means Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 is not a dogfight with a different aircraft. Any enemy you avoid is one you never have to fight. If you’ve been using Expert controls for aggressive turns, consider whether Standard controls will make the close-to-ground flying easier for this particular sortie.

2. Stay under radar coverage

Once you’re airborne, use the green radar areas and red contacts on the map to plan your route. Keep to the canyon floor where practical, avoid crossing exposed ridgelines and turn with the valley rather than cutting across a detection circle. Slowing slightly before a tight bend can prevent an accidental climb into radar coverage.

Yaw is a lifesaver here. Use it for small corrections that keep you off the canyon walls without throwing the plane into a climb. You’re not trying to turn like a fighter in a duel; you’re trying to hold a safe line between hills. Recon drones also patrol set paths. Watch their movement and let them pass rather than chasing gaps that disappear before you reach them.

3. Follow the canyon through the pursuit

There is a section where the onboard radar briefly malfunctions and the route takes you over a hill on the right. Shortly afterwards, enemy interceptors become part of the chase. When the story directs you towards the mushroom cloud, follow the objective distance indicator instead of trying to turn and face the pursuers. You have no way to fire back.

Keep following the terrain after the cloud section. At a junction, the left route is longer but has fewer security threats; the right route is shorter with tighter detection coverage. On your first Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 run, take the left. It’s longer, but you have more room to avoid the radar. Saving a minute means very little if a radar contact forces you to restart the whole medal attempt.

4. Get to the return line

Friendly Green Flight aircraft eventually join your route, followed by another dangerous chase. When enemy missiles are coming, put ridges between your aircraft and the pursuers. Small changes in altitude and quick turns along the valley can help the terrain absorb attacks that you cannot counter with flares.

The last objective is to cross the return line. Keep following the canyon and the radar markers; don’t climb into a final detection zone because the destination looks close. Once you reach safety, the escape is complete. Version 1.01.002 addressed an issue where missiles could still hit the player after the safe zone, so make sure your game has the current update if that problem affected you previously.

How to earn Skillful Escapee in Ace Combat 8 Mission 14

The medal requires a run with no radar detection. Flying slowly isn’t the requirement in itself; staying out of the hostile radar coverage is. Watch the green zones and patrolling recon drones, keep your aircraft sheltered by the landscape and avoid taking short cuts across exposed hills. Following the safer side of the canyon fork is more sensible for this medal than for a pure speed attempt.

Don’t confuse the scripted moments where hostile aircraft appear in the story with deliberately flying into the radar’s marked detection fields. Your actionable goal is to prevent the radar detection that the mission tracks. If the game registers a radar acquisition, that medal attempt is gone. Restart rather than flying the rest of the canyon expecting the award. The scripted pursuit dialogue isn’t the same as deliberately entering a marked radar field.

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: S rank and replay advice

There is no hidden enemy Ace in Mission 14, and the aircraft restriction stays in place in Free Mission. For S rank, avoiding damage and restarts while keeping a good pace matters more than shooting anything down, because you can’t fire. A short route might be useful once you’ve learned it, but it is not where I’d start if you’re having trouble simply escaping.

Common Ace Combat 8 Mission 14 problems

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: Can I equip missiles or flares?

No. The A-6E for this sortie is unarmed, including on replay. Work on keeping altitude and changing direction behind the terrain instead of searching the controls for a weapon that isn’t available.

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: Which canyon route is safer?

Left for a less heavily defended route, right for a shorter but riskier one. The longer path is a good first choice for the radar medal because the tighter route makes errors more costly.

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: Does radar detection stop normal completion?

No. You can still finish the story if radar locks onto you, provided you survive the escape. It’s the Skillful Escapee medal that requires zero radar acquisitions. An S-rank attempt is judged separately on your performance.

Ace Combat 8 Mission 14: Why do missiles still hit after escaping?

Check whether version 1.01.002 is installed. Bandai Namco’s patch notes include a fix for missile hits after the safe-zone boundary in this mission. You still need to survive the active chase before crossing the return line.

Official Bandai Namco ACE COMBAT 8 1.01.002 patch notes