Faust (mission)

This article is about an in-game mission. For the in-universe event, see Mission Telmort-00-Exil.

"All Black Eagle elements, engage. May the Mother of Dust find us all!"

― General Faust

"Faust" is the sixth and final mission of Project Wingman: Frontline-59. The player must stop the eponymous now-amok Cascadian Independence Force General's madwoman plans of wiping out Base Station Zero, now the only thing holding Magadan—and potentially the entire Pacific Federation—from succumbing to wintery death.

Objectives

The initial part of the level is a straight dogfight with the advance scouts. Simply shoot them down to proceed with the mission—and the real challenge.

You'll be facing the Faustian might of the Cascadian White Fleet and its flagship CDV Roosevelt—much larger than the 205-class air battleship, capable of tighter turns to make difficult shot lineups, and armed to the teeth with anti-aircraft armament. The escorts are not to be underestimated either, as they can screen for time for the flagship by providing annoying bursts of missiles and bullets.

Orion Squadron will take the place of the original airship escorts, flying the best planes the side campaign can find. They are slightly more agile than the usual thugs, but are only as armored as them. The anti-aircraft flak receive a heavy buff by creating area-of-effect spheres reminiscent of the PW-Mk.I's in Kings. Take them down along with the Roosevelt's new defenses to continue the mission.

The final phase will almost certainly nib a significant portion of your HP—if not the flak or heavy close-range AA/missile fire, then the HPBCs that have now come online, with a helping hand of railgun barrages from the new Arcion-class air heavy cruisers. Use everything you've learned to wade through the immense fire, smoke, and beams to bring down the rebel threat once and for all.

The campaign ends after a short revelatory speech by Faust, which is served with familiar overlapping chatter and the HUD fizzling out a while later.

Mercenary difficulty

No change.

Enemy List

Section		Unit	Points	Count	Mercenary
Initial		SK.37	250	2
		F/E-18	250	12
Phase 1		CRUISER ANURA MK.I AA ADVSAM	750 100 100	2 4 4
		BATTLESHIP "CDV ROOSEVELT" AA SAM FLAK	- 100 100 100	1 8 6 3
Phase 2		VX-23 "ORION"	250	8
		BATTLESHIP "CDV ROOSEVELT" AA FLAK SAM	- 100 100 100	1 8 3 2
Phase 3		SK.37	250	4
		HEAVY CRUISER ARCION MK.I RAILGUN SAM	750 100 100	2 4 4
		BATTLESHIP "CDV ROOSEVELT" HPBC FLAK AA	750 100 100 100	1 12 3 2

Behind the scenes

Matthew Nguyen, when questioned on the Cascadian spoken by Faust, stated he forgot to write down its meaning; he initially wrote it down in English and constructed a conlang translation method, but the memory left him because it was entirely "free hand." His direction was making Kira Buckland (Faust's voice actress) speak it in her natural American accent. Later on, he compared the frequency of speaking Cascadian to that of a Latin mass, and tangentially claimed World on Fire English is called Federation Standard.

The following month, he clarified he had recording session notes that clarify the meaning, but disregards divulging it as that privilege is reserved to the staff.

Nguyen also revealed Division K-9 and AWACS Vita's "Diplombreakdowns"—referencing both their scathing elocutions against the CIF and Faust, and Diplomat's verbal implosion against Crimson 1 in Return—were narrative goals, and noted how Brick and Vita's were apparent fan favorites.

Trivia

• When completing the mission on Mercenary difficulty, the credits play the base campaigns Mercenary completion dialog. Nguyen was notified and stated while they were managing it, no extra dialogue is actually present for the time being.
• Faust's final speech before being shot down is a reference to writer Ilya Ehrenburg's "Kill" pamphlet, made during the Battle of Stalingrad: "Kill the German, this is your old mother's prayer. Kill the German, this is what your children beseech you to do. Kill the German, this is the cry of your Russian earth. Do not waver, do not let up; kill."
  • Kaiser, in Presidia, referenced the pamphlet's earlier portion as his first line.
• The Roosevelt crewman quote "The old world is dying, the new world is about to be born" references a derivative quote of philosopher and Italian Communist Party founder Antonio Gramsci’s prison writings: “The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. Now is the time of monsters." out of ”The old is dying and the new cannot be born: in this interregnum, morbid phenomena of the most varied kind come to pass."
• This mission takes elements from multiple final and superweapon missions from Ace Combat:
  • The plot of Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown's "Ten Million Relief Plan," being a DLC and pursuing a rogue military officer commanding a hi-tech naval ship with intelligence support from your side's agency (OIA/FIIA) and trying to stop the officer from committing mass destruction and murder.
  • The Estovakian Aerial Fleet from Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation; the airfleet featuring five ships in total and the lead ship being capable of lighting the sky with large dangerous explosions.
  • The snowy theme and a rogue enemy faction attempting to create a new world through mass destruction from Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War's "Zero." As well, the name of the geothermal plant being Base Station Zero.
  • The blue-purple empty skybox color, the initial phase engaging an advance group before the main engagement, the eight-plane enemy formation (Orion and Grabacr/Ofnir Squadrons) guarding a massive air target (SOLG/Roosevelt) set to wipe out a protected target area, and said target's shattering climatic explosion from Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War's "The Unsung War."
  • From the same game above, the boss being a white-painted diplomatic aerial ship (Arkbird/Roosevelt) weaponized and/or modified by a shady cause and equipped with laser beams. Likewise, an enemy supership in the Arctic (Hrimfaxi/Roosevelt) capable of firing wide-area explosive projectiles.
  • The background missile animation, unseen allied ground forces, and premise of rogue splinter forces seizing a superweapon from Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies' "Megalith."
• This is the only time the Cascadian Air Force can be fought directly outside of mercenaries.
• Cruise missiles can be constantly seen launching in the background. Eye-Tee, if brought along, lampshades this. This nods to the Prospero Disaster and what happens at the mission's end.
• This mission's number coincides with Machine of the Mantle, which also involves the targeted destruction of a major geothermal facility. In addition, some of the mercenary enemies lampshade being with Monarch around that raid and how there is no intervention by Crimson Team this time around; because of K-9's capabilities, the attack fails for the other side.
• This is the only mission aside from Kings where no mission completion notification appears in the end.
• This is one of the four missions (the others being Bottom of the Barrel, Express Lane, and Kings) where the mission splash doesn't appear at the start of gameplay.