Steam achievement metadata explicitly includes Free Mission in the Ace all-S objective. Separately, one player reports earning an all-S medal after replaying two remaining missions. For the Ace achievement, fill missing S ranks on Ace; neither source establishes a Free Mission shortcut for no-damage or guns-only full-run medals.
On this page
Free Mission and the two different award sources
Steam’s Ace all-S objective includes Free Mission and specifies Ace difficulty. For that achievement, choose Ace before checking missing ranks. This does not make every campaign medal the same objective.
Kekszky’s reply separately describes finishing the story with S ranks on all but two missions, then replaying those two in Free Mission and receiving a medal. That report leaves difficulty unspecified.
- Open Free Mission and select the difficulty required by your exact goal.
- Review displayed ranks and list the missions below S.
- Replay a missing mission on that selected difficulty.
- Check the result and displayed rank after finishing.
- After filling the last gap, check the exact achievement or medal.
Erico360 also notes that selecting a difficulty shows the highest rank for each mission. Keep it visible when recording the remaining list.
Keep different medals on separate checklists
| Task | Evidence boundary |
|---|---|
| Finish an all-S set with Free Mission | One player reports the medal after two replayed missions |
| A single mission’s special medal | Use that mission’s own condition; a rank is not a detection check |
| No-damage or guns-only campaign challenge | No confirmed general Free Mission shortcut in this discussion |
| Aircraft-type campaign challenge | A commenter reports an Electronic Warfare story run; this does not prove a replay shortcut |
Do not combine ranks earned on different difficulties and assume they satisfy a single set. We have no tested rule for mixing difficulties, restart types or full-run challenge counters. Older-series recollections in the thread are not treated as AC8 verification.
Use a guide for the mission that is still missing
If Mission 28 keeps returning A, use the separated S-rank aircraft and difficulty reports before changing your entire campaign plan. Its reported scores are not a universal S threshold for other missions.
If your problem is the Mission 14 detection medal rather than its rank, use the cloud-route and ending detection checks. For a Mission 8 survival failure, start with ground priorities and ammunition. Save a result screen when a replay does not update the expected award; include mission, difficulty and the exact medal name when asking for help.
Sources & limits
Community reports are attributed, not tests performed by this site. Builds are unspecified unless stated.
- Reddit: campaign medals in mission select — Kekszky and Erico360 replies ↗
Original and visible replies read October 4. One all-S replay success; full-run shortcut conditions remain unverified.
- SteamDB: Ace all-S achievement description ↗
Read October 4; explicitly includes Free Mission for the Ace all-S objective, not every full-run medal.