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"Second Military and Military" is a newly created series of columns in the Military and Military Subplane. Our goal is to break the "secondary wall" and explore interesting military knowledge in "secondary" fields such as games and animation. If you are a second-dimensional enthusiast like us, then this place will definitely be for you!

之前，军武菌给大家推荐过不少Air combat themes 的动漫，包括《空中杀手》、《荒野的寿飞行队》，也有很多网友想让军武菌讲讲其他一些关于战机的作品，例如《战斗妖精雪风》、《超时空要塞》和《强袭魔女》。

不过，Just watching other people fly a plane is definitely not enough fun。很多网友肯定都想自己上手，体验一下飞行的乐趣。

Of course, in reality, the threshold for flying an airplane is too high. Even in some flight simulation games, flying an aircraft is quite difficult, let alone shooting down enemy aircraft in air combat to achieve victory. Even in search fighter plane games, many of which appear are still 2D bullet screen games, which are difficult to satisfy the dream of flying an aircraft.

那么，有没有这样一款游戏，玩家在里面既能Flying a wide variety of modern fighter jets 参与空战，模拟真实战场，又能够在十几分钟的时间里大杀四方，取得远超现实中王牌飞行员的战果，体验一场A refreshing and exciting air battle呢？

Today, what Junwu Jungu wants to introduce to you is such a game.

The birth of classics

1993年，南梦宫公司在街机平台发售了一部飞行射击游戏《空战》（Air Combat），当时的《空战》还是一部画面相当简陋，缺乏剧情和世界观设定的游戏，玩家需要在街机上操纵战斗机，消灭敌方的战机。1995年，南梦宫将《空战》移植到了PS平台上，并重新命名为 "Ace Combat"。

The 1993 arcade game "Air Combat"

虽然受到当时的技术能力限制，《空战》以今天的角度来看非常粗糙，但也有一些独具特色的设定，例如 The HUD that imitates real fighter jets, far surpasses the performance of real fighter jets, and each fighter jet can carry dozens of missiles 等等。玩家驾驶的战斗机将会面临一波又一波的敌人，必须将这些敌机全部消灭，才能取得游戏的胜利。

These basic settings have become the cornerstone of the "Emperor Air Combat" series of games.

1997 's "Emperor Air Combat 2"

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In 1997,"Emperor Air Combat 2" was officially released. The game not only underwent technical upgrades, added take-off and landing functions, but also introduced a unique worldview:"Strangeal", a planet very similar to Earth, but completely different continental plates and countries. Since "Emperor Air Combat 2", almost all works have taken place in this fictional alien world.

Map of the world of "Strangeal"

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"Strangeal" is similar to the classic otherworld setting in fantasy works, and the country above is completely different from Earth. But in this world, we can see countless fighter jets that actually exist in reality. The story of "Emperor Air Combat 2" takes place here. Since then,"Emperor Air Combat" has successively released many works, further expanding its world view.

2007 's "Emperor Air Combat 6"

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However, at that time,"Emperor Air Combat" was mainly launched on mainframe and handheld platforms, so it was relatively narrow among the domestic player community and its popularity was relatively average. 2007,"Emperor Air Combat 6:After the release of War of Liberation, the series gradually fell into silence, with only a few experimental and rumored works appearing.

Landing on the mobile game "Emperor Air Combat Xi" on the iOS platform

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Until 2019, the latest work in the "Emperor Air Combat" series-**"Emperor Air Combat 7:Unknown Airspace ** has finally met players from all over the world.

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As a new work 12 years later,"Emperor Air Combat 7" has undergone a huge change compared to previous works. But compared with the changes in the game itself, Junwu Junjun felt that what really changed the fate of this work would probably be the landing on the PC platform.

虽然2011年的**《皇牌空战：突击地平线》** 就已经在PC平台上发售，但本作不仅在剧情上与正作毫无关系，就连操作方式和飞行手感都和以往的《皇牌空战》大不一样，The final sales were also very bleak。

The failed "Emperor Air Combat":Assault on the Horizon "

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"Emperor Air Combat 7" obviously draws on the lessons of "Assault Horizon", and has greatly improved its flying feel, shooting experience, etc., attracting a considerable number of new players who have never been exposed to "Emperor Air Combat".

Thanks to the powerful strength of the Unreal 4 engine,"Emperor Air Combat 7" has made great progress in image quality. Especially for the various fighter jets controlled by players, the models have almost completely restored the real machine shape. However, after all, it is a flying game, and the modeling of those ground targets in the game is somewhat perfunctory.

In different weather conditions, the experience of players flying an aircraft will also vary greatly. When flying in the clouds, the player's visibility will drop sharply, the body will shake slightly, the radar's detection range, locking range and missile guidance capabilities will also be affected, and even performance will drop sharply due to collective icing. When flying in clouds and rainy days, the player's game interface will be covered with rain. In strong airflow, the player's flight will continue to yaw. When the aircraft encounters a lightning strike, the flight system will temporarily fail.

Original X-02S fighter jet in the game

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In "Emperor Air Combat 7", players can fly more than 40 types of aircraft, including fighters in real mass production, such as the F-35C, F-22A and Su-35S, as well as experimental models that are stuck in prototypes, such as the F-16XL, F-15S/MTD and Su-47, and even some completely original models, such as the X-02S "Flying Dragon", CFA-44 and ASF-X "Seismic Electric II". If you include those aircraft that are only NPCs, then add the C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft, E-767 early warning aircraft, etc., which are extremely rich in variety.

The "arsenal bird" with terrifying combat effectiveness

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Moreover, in order to enhance gameplay,"Emperor Air Combat 7" also features a giant war machine similar to the "ultimate BOSS". In the game itself, the giant war weapon players have to face is the "Arsenal Bird". This is a huge flying aircraft carrier that transmits electricity remotely through space elevators. It can carry 80 MQ-101 unmanned combat aircraft on the fuselage. A large number of anti-aircraft missiles are installed on the aircraft, and they also have a microwave protective cover, which can withstand attacks from almost all weapons.

The submersible aircraft carrier "Sky Horn Beast"

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In the game's DLC, the giant weapon that appears is the submersible aircraft carrier "Skyhorn". This is a giant submarine with a length of 459 meters and a displacement of 810,000 tons. It is equipped with electromagnetic guns that fire nuclear shells, air defense and anti-missile systems and submarine-launched ballistic missiles. It can also carry 30 "Rafale" carrier-based fighter jets. This submarine is also the final BOSS that players will want to eliminate in the DLC.

剧情方面，《皇牌空战7》的剧情讲述了两个大国——Federation of Eurasian States and Kingdom of Ergia 之间的战争——第二次大陆战争，爱尔吉亚王国不满欧西亚联邦的霸权主义政策，发动了突然袭击。而玩家扮演的则是欧西亚联邦的飞行员，呼号 "Trigger"。

In one operation,"Trigger" was involved in a conspiracy at the top of the military, turned from a combat hero to a criminal, was incorporated into the disciplinary force, flew old-fashioned aircraft to perform the most dangerous tasks, and was eventually cleared of his guilt, becoming a hero who ended the war and saved the world. The plot does not have the American main theme of "Call of Duty", nor does it have the smuggled goods commonly found in other Japanese military-themed works. Overall, it is reasonable.

The core story of "Emperor Air Combat 7" revolves around drones ，随着科技的进步，无人机正在某种程度上取代有人战斗机，一架战斗机可以指挥多架无人机成为“忠诚僚机”协同作战，一艘搭载集装箱的货船也可以突然变身航母，弹射出数百架无人机，甚至出现了拥有人工智能，具备学习能力和自我复制能力的高性能无人机。这些设定放在今天或许不新鲜，但放在2019年，着实能够让人眼前一亮。

对于初次接触《皇牌空战》系列的玩家，对于游戏中乱七八糟的人名、国名恐怕会感觉云里雾里，叙事又并非本作的核心内容，很多人直到通关都没看到游戏的剧情故事，不得不说是一种遗憾。不过，即使完全搞不懂剧情，也并不影响本作最为核心的体验： Extreme refreshing aerial combat。

Be real or be cool?

Depending on their performance, the fighter jets in the game can be mainly divided into three categories:Fighter aircraft, attack aircraft and multi-role fighter jets. Fighter aircraft mainly focus on achieving air superiority, typical examples such as the F-22, Su-57 and F-15C; attack aircraft are mainly used for ground attacks, such as the Su-34 and A-10; multi-role fighter jets take into account both performances, such as the F-35C, F-15E, etc., all belong to multi-role fighter jets.

The F-22A in the game is a typical fighter jet

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In the game, the main means to distinguish these fighter jets is on the one hand their non-basic flight performance, and on the other hand, their unique weapon mounting systems.

不过，为了让玩家在游戏中足够“爽”，《皇牌空战7》继承了前作的一个重要设定——Each aircraft can carry a huge amount of weapons, and many aircraft can even carry hundreds of missiles!

The A-10 is the most popular attack machine in the game

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Generally speaking, it is already very impressive that a fighter jet in real life can carry more than a dozen missiles, and the cannon will run out of artillery shells in the blink of an eye. However, in "Emperor Air Combat", the aircraft carried at least dozens of basic missiles, and hundreds of heavy fighter jets. If special weapons are included, the number is even higher.

Although the bomb load is outrageous,"Emperor Air Combat 7" is the same as its predecessor. Players often have to face countless enemy fighter jets and ground targets in battle. Some of these targets must be eliminated, such as enemy strategic bombers, interceptors, radar stations, etc. If these important targets cannot be quickly eliminated, the mission will fail.

The other part is irrelevant targets, and destroying these enemies will earn extra points and help players unlock more powerful aircraft and weapons. Therefore, in a battle, it is entirely possible for players to fire hundreds of missiles.

Under normal circumstances, enemy fighters in the game need two ordinary missiles to be shot down, and large strategic bombers need three. The most powerful fifth-generation stealth fighter not only requires three missiles to be shot down, but also releases jammers to interfere with missiles in air combat, and the locking distance will be shortened accordingly. As for drones and helicopters, it is usually possible to destroy them with a single missile.

Interestingly, if the player completes certain hidden tasks in combat, there will be enemy ace pilots flying special fighter jets. Eliminating these ace pilots will not only earn high rewards, but also achieve unique aircraft painting.

Generally speaking, the fighter jets in the game can mount powerful multi-target mid-range air-to-air missiles and can simultaneously destroy multiple enemy aircraft at medium range. Among them, the most powerful F-22A can use the most powerful 8AAM, which is to lock and attack eight targets at the same time. Correspondingly, the attack aircraft in the game can mount multi-target air-to-ground missiles or various high-power precision-guided bombs.

而多用途战斗机将两种飞机的优势结合起来，武器的选择更加多样。以F-35C为例，这种飞机既能搭载对空的4AAM，也能搭载对地攻击的8AAM，或者是滑翔制导的SOD集束炸弹。而且， There are also many original weapons in the game，例如苏-33战斗机居然能够携带一门电磁炮，苏-57则具备挂载脉冲激光炮吊舱的能力。

Kill enemy aircraft with direct electromagnetic guns

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当然，每种飞机能够XUANZE1的特殊武器只有3种，而且只能同时挂载一种，想要更换配置，就必须降落后重新挂载武器。这样的设定极大增加了游戏的趣味性， Players can choose the aircraft that suits them from a variety of aircraft，而不是驾驶一架全能飞机从头打到尾。

为了增强玩家的游戏参与感，The missile performance of "Emperor Air Combat 7" is completely different from that of real missiles 。基础的导弹造型类似近距格斗弹，但能够同时锁定空中或者地面的任何目标，射程只有2000米。这种导弹的机动性和引导能力都很差，如果不是在敌方战斗机的6点方向追尾发射，很容易就会被躲开。

Therefore, in most cases, players have to grab the shooting window through the appropriate angle, speed and direction, just like aircraft in the propeller era, and then launch a missile to shoot down the opponent.

In combat, players often face an entire enemy fighter squadron, successive waves of strategic bomber formations, airtight air defense missiles and radar air defense networks, and even enemy aircraft carrier battle groups. When facing an enemy aircraft carrier battle group, players must give priority to concentrating firepower on the Aegis ships and air defense weapon systems in the formation, otherwise most missiles will be intercepted by the anti-missile system.

当然，如果玩家对自己的操作有信心，也可以使用电磁炮等武器在拦截距离之外直射，摧毁被重重保护的目标。 This unique design between simulation and entertainment is almost unique among all games on the market。

By the way,"Emperor Air Combat 7" has also been linked with some classic IPs, such as "Top Gun 2" and even "The Longevity Flying Team in the Wilderness" mentioned by military martial artists before! In the game, players can drive the F-14A, F/A-18E that appeared in Top Gun 2, the special edition Su-57 and the original Dark Star fighter jet. As for "Shou Flying Team", the antique World War II aircraft in it obviously cannot be added to the game, but players can spray the aircraft with the emblem that appears in the animation as custom content.

Why are there no Chinese fighter jets?

For Chinese military fans,"Emperor Air Combat 7" still has a regret. This is not that the game officials deliberately treat it differently, but to avoid legal problems caused by infringement. In fact, most of all aircraft in "Emperor Air Combat 7" are licensed by the original factory, such as Lockheed Martin, Dassault, Saab, etc.

Authorization page at game launch

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However, the game development team of "Emperor Air Combat" obviously hopes to add aircraft from more countries to its game in a legal way. Take Russian fighter jets as an example. Although the "Emperor Air Combat" series of games has added a large number of Soviet/Russian fighter jets, the game official only communicated informally with Russian airlines and did not obtain formal authorization.

《皇牌空战7》发售后不久，网络上就有传言称，游戏的开发团队已经和中航工业取得了联系。因此军武菌觉得， In the future "Emperor Air Combat" series, there is still a high chance that we will see Chinese aircraft.。

Netizens painted "Emperor Air Combat" painted with J-8II fighter jets

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2023年底，《皇牌空战》系列的制作人河野一聪曾经表示，New works in the series have already begun production 。至于这部新作是不是玩家们期待的《皇牌空战8》，玩家期待的中国飞机究竟会不会登场，只有时间能给我们答案了。

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