Ace Combat 7 guns only medal, called Machine Gun Maniac, requires a campaign playthrough in which you damage and destroy enemies using only qualifying gun weapons. It isn’t enough to complete a handful of Free Missions, and there’s one easy-to-miss detail that can save you from ruining 20 missions of effort.
At the end of every mission, look for the Guns Only bonus on the debriefing screen. If you don’t see it, do not casually move on to the next mission. That missing bonus is your warning that the run no longer meets the requirement, even if you thought every missile missed.
Ace Combat 7 guns only medal: the rules that matter
- Start or replay the full campaign rather than collecting individual Free Mission results.
- Only deal damage with the aircraft’s qualifying built-in gun, the MiG-21bis Machine Gun Pod weapon or a supported gun-replacement system.
- Avoid scoring damage with standard missiles, bombs, guided special weapons or ordinary special lasers.
- Finish each mission and check for the Guns Only bonus of 30,000 points on the debrief screen.
- If the bonus is missing, use the appropriate mission retry before carrying on with the campaign.
For the Ace Combat 7 guns only medal, the important thing is the damage type, not whether your missile button was ever accidentally pressed. Players have reported firing a missile that hit nothing without losing the bonus. That is not something we would deliberately test in the middle of a long run, though. Keep your missile control away from accidental presses and trust the debrief check more than guesswork.
Best planes for the Ace Combat 7 guns only medal
The MiG-21bis Fishbed is a popular choice because it can carry the MGP Machine Gun Pod special weapon, which counts as gun damage. Those extra guns allow much more firepower than relying only on the built-in cannon. Fit parts that improve your gun handling if you have unlocked them.
Another option for owners of the relevant DLC is the ADF-11F Raven. Its nose-mounted pulse laser used in place of the normal machine gun is recognised by players for the challenge. Be careful with the wording: that is not permission to use every ordinary PLSL special weapon or laser on another aircraft. The built-in gun replacement and a separately equipped laser weapon are different things.
You can also finish a guns-only campaign with a conventional fighter if you prefer its handling. A specialised setup just makes the challenge less frustrating, particularly against large airborne targets.
Ace Combat 7 guns only medal: MGP and PLSL weapons
| Weapon | Use for guns-only? | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Built-in aircraft machine gun | Yes | Your default option across the campaign. |
| MiG-21bis MGP | Yes | Machine Gun Pods are a qualifying special gun weapon. |
| ADF-11F Raven nose-mounted PLSL | Yes | It replaces the aircraft’s standard gun and requires that DLC aircraft. |
| Ordinary PLSL special weapon | No | Do not confuse it with the Raven’s built-in gun replacement. |
| Missiles and bombs | No damage permitted | A hit invalidates the guns-only condition for that attempt. |
This Ace Combat 7 guns only medal distinction trips people up because some qualifying guns are located in the special-weapon slot. The safest approach is to choose a known qualifying loadout, avoid cycling onto ordinary missiles and check the results after every sortie.
Ace Combat 7 guns only medal after an accidental missile
If a missile or bomb damages something, the safest recovery is to restart the entire mission and complete it cleanly. Checkpoint reloads can be confusing because a hit before the checkpoint may remain counted. Do not assume that seeing your damage counter reset means the guns-only condition reset too.
When the debrief screen appears, check for the 30,000-point Guns Only bonus. A recent player report described finishing a campaign without earning the medal because some earlier missions lacked this bonus. That’s exactly the kind of problem a quick debrief check prevents.
Ace Combat 7 guns only medal tips for difficult missions
Bomber interceptions: line up behind or slightly above the target, maintain a steady approach and avoid wasting gun time at long range. Large aircraft are easier than nimble fighters, but you still need to stay close enough for repeated hits.
Ground attack: give yourself enough altitude to aim down at the target and climb away safely after each pass. You won’t have the convenience of hitting something from afar with LASM or 4AGM, so patience matters.
Endgame drone fights: keep your speed controlled, get behind the aircraft and make short accurate gun bursts. Avoid trying to match every turn with a slow, stalled aircraft; you can lose the target just by flying too close.
Doing this challenge on a lower difficulty is a perfectly sensible way to reduce the frustration. The medal is about the weapon restriction, not proving you can simultaneously win the toughest campaign difficulty.
How to tell if your guns-only campaign is still valid
The Ace Combat 7 guns only medal is a campaign-wide achievement, so don’t use an unrelated Free Mission result to assume your campaign record is safe. Check the mission debrief after each successful sortie, confirm the bonus and only then continue.
For the Ace Combat 7 guns only medal, keep a simple checklist from Mission 1 through Mission 20. Mark a mission only when the correct Guns Only result appears. It sounds fussy, but it’s much nicer than discovering an invalid run at the end of Dark Blue.
For the weapons and aircraft you might use in other sorties, see Ace Combat 7 Best Aircraft and Ace Combat 7 Aircraft Tree.
Related Guides
Official source: Bandai Namco Ace Combat 7 official game and aircraft information.
