Ace Combat 8 Mission 18 doesn’t let you settle into one kind of fight. You start by helping Queen Flight, then have to race towards two launched rockets before their wreckage hits Comona Base. Moonlight and Shadows starts as an aerial engagement, pulls you into protecting Queen Flight, then turns into an interception of rising rockets and falling debris. The key is to stop treating every enemy fighter as equally important once the story moves to the launch site.
Don’t ignore Shadow 24 in the opening dogfight. Shooting him down sets up the hidden Ace Curis on a Veteran-or-higher replay and matters for a later Assault Record in Mission 28. It’s worth dealing with Shadow 24 during the normal campaign rather than discovering much later that you’ve missed a connected Assault Record.
Ace Combat 8 Mission 18: Moonlight and Shadows walkthrough
Operation Branching Path is mainly an air-to-air mission. Bring a fast, agile fighter with useful air-to-air special weapons. Missile guidance and reload upgrades are more valuable than a ground-attack loadout because you’ll spend most of the sortie dealing with hostile aircraft and fast-moving launch targets.
1. Head to Queen Flight
At the start of Ace Combat 8 Mission 18, turn towards Queen Flight in the northeast. The mission soon updates to assist them, so you can avoid wasting time fighting every bandit along your original route. There are enemy airships generating targeting lasers inside some jamming areas if you want extra score, but reaching your allies is the immediate priority.
Once you reach Queen Flight, take down the Su-47s attacking them. Watch the target labels carefully: the unnamed Shadow 140th aircraft are Su-47s, while Shadow 22 and Shadow 24 fly Su-57s. Shadow 24 is the one you need for the later record, so don’t mistake another Shadow for him.
2. Ace Combat 8 Mission 18: Shoot down Shadow 24 before the rescue
Shadow 24 is the important optional kill. Shadow 22 cannot be shot down during this mission’s scripted confrontation, so don’t waste the opening fight trying to force that outcome. Shoot him down before the engagement advances beyond the opportunity to reach him. Another Shadow aircraft will pursue Queen 1, and the mission will direct you to rescue her. Switch to that priority target and destroy it promptly; protecting Queen Flight still comes before chasing unrelated enemies.
The action then shifts to Baxter and Shadow 22 in a scripted close-range encounter. Follow the close-range combat sequence and keep control of your aircraft. The fight doesn’t continue as an ordinary dogfight indefinitely, so don’t waste the window looking for an optional target that has already departed.
3. Intercept the rockets after launch
Following the rocket launch cutscene, turn immediately towards the rising rockets and use your afterburners. They climb rapidly and can move beyond the altitude where you can intercept them. Do not wait to clear the remaining fighters before chasing the launch objective; once the rockets climb too high, the mission can fail.
This is a race against altitude, not an excuse to farm the remaining fighters for points. Get into position early, concentrate your missiles on the marked rockets and avoid flying far below them. There’s no benefit in trying to damage a launch vehicle long after the objective has moved into the sky.
4. Destroy every falling debris target
Once the main rocket bodies are destroyed, the danger isn’t over. The first falling wreckage breaks apart as you damage it. There are five debris targets in the complete sequence, so two rocket kills are not the end. Follow the new markers, shoot the fragments before they hit the ground and keep checking for smaller pieces you may have missed. A single surviving fragment reaching the protected area can cause failure.
The mission ends after the dangerous debris has been destroyed. If Ace Combat 8 Mission 18 appears not to finish after the rocket kills, that’s the reason: you still have a cleanup objective in the sky. Expand the radar and follow the remaining marked fragments instead of returning to chase fighters.
How to spawn Curis in Ace Combat 8 Mission 18
Curis is an F-15J hidden Ace who appears if you shoot down Shadow 24. To collect Curis, finish the campaign first and replay Moonlight and Shadows through Free Mission on Veteran or higher. Destroy Shadow 24 during the Queen Flight battle, then progress to the rocket phase. Curis appears south of the launch pad among the aircraft guarding the launch vehicles.
The difficult part is timing. You cannot ignore the rockets while chasing Curis, because the rockets can climb out of reach. Take a safe shot at Curis when you have an opening, but keep the launch targets under control. You may have another brief chance during the falling-debris phase, although that is risky because even one missed fragment can fail the sortie.
Ace Combat 8 Mission 18 and the Mission 28 connection
Destroying Shadow 24 during Operation Branching Path is also the condition linked to the Lux Lunae 22nd Unit in Mission 28, A Thousand Points of Light. The 22nd Unit has five Su-57 records: Doctus, Saltatrix, Acrobates, Anteros and Ares. Acrobates in particular has a documented Shadow 24 dependency. If that later record is missing, check what happened in this fight.
For that linked record, shoot down Shadow 24 and carry on to Mission 28 within the same campaign run. This is the reliable way to preserve the earlier story condition. Do not assume that replaying Ace Combat 8 Mission 18 once in Free Mission will retroactively change a later chapter already cleared in another run. An isolated Free Mission replay of Mission 18 isn’t a dependable substitute for the campaign sequence. Treat the two objectives separately: use Free Mission to collect Curis, and one continuous campaign for the Mission 28 dependency.
Common Ace Combat 8 Mission 18 problems
Ace Combat 8 Mission 18: Why can’t I catch the rockets?
You’re probably reaching them too late or attacking from too far below. As soon as the launch cutscene ends, ignore other fighters, accelerate and intercept the marked rockets before they rise beyond your effective reach.
Ace Combat 8 Mission 18: Why did I fail after destroying both rockets?
Because the debris still threatens the base. Track the falling pieces, including fragments that split away from larger bodies, and destroy every marked threat before impact.
Ace Combat 8 Mission 18: What if rocket debris falls through the ground?
That was a known launch issue, not a second secret objective. Update 1.01.002 fixed a bug in Mission 18 where shooting rocket debris near the ground could cause it to sink into the terrain and stop the mission progressing. If a fragment seems to vanish below the playable area, check your installed version before retrying.
How are Curis and the Mission 28 records connected?
Shoot down Shadow 24, then collect Curis on a post-campaign Veteran-or-higher replay. For the later Lux Lunae 22nd Unit, account for the Shadow 24 choice in your campaign route before reaching Mission 28.
