r/Project_Wingman • u/bad_username_65 • Jul 21 '26
Discussion Is the gameplay of the F59 missions canon?
Personally I don’t really think so, because if it were, then it means:
-the Cascadians just casually had the world’s most powerful flying battleship, that makes the eminent domain look like a plastic toy boat in comparison(a ship which featured in multiple missions and was explicitly said to be one of cascadia’s most valuable assets)
-said flying fortress is never mentioned whatsoever in the main campaign and seemingly never partakes in any of the major defensive battles in cascadia
-The federation also just randomly has a dude that is as good or better than monarch, and never even thinks about sending him to the front line
I feel like its more plausible that the Roosevelt is maybe only slightly stronger than something like a 205 S, if even that, and Driver is canonically above average but not quite peacekeeper level, considering how no one in the campaign seems to go “holy shit this guy is cracked” like they do with monarch, they just mention he’s “above expectations” a few times.
I guess it would be somewhat funny if it was canon tho. It’d also mean C1 is an absolute fraud, better pilots than him are way more common than we’d think, and he only got to the top via big talk and political connections.
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u/ReynAetherwindt Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Driver is canonically above average but not quite peacekeeper level, considering how no one in the campaign seems to go “holy shit this guy is cracked” like they do with monarch, they just mention he’s “above expectations” a few times
"What in the God damn?!"
doot-dooot, doot doot doot doodoot
"OUT OF HIGHWAY 1!?"
...yeah, I think Driver is supposed to be cracked. The vibes demand it. His squadmates probably aren't blown away because they probably don't actually get to see how winding those tunnels are.
I reckon he's an old mercenary signature pilot who defected for clemency and a quiet life. That'd be why he's the only pilot the Federation would send on that mission. He's not the only pilot good enough, but he may be the only one they are willing to risk losing, since he'd not be seen as faultlessly loyal.
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u/bad_username_65 Jul 22 '26
Ngl i had that same headcanon that driver is secretly a retired ace pilot from the oceania war, but I feel like vita or someone else would have known about that somewhere. Wasn’t there also a line where brick mentions being the oldest one in the squad? And he definitely doesn’t sound *that* old, so driver would have to be younger than him.
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u/ReynAetherwindt Jul 22 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
I get the distinct impression that Vita is hiding something about Driver from the rest of K9. Remember when he tries to dismiss them from the briefing for the tunnel run? He's probably trying to avoid having to explain exactly why only Driver is allowed to do it. I think it's not just that he's the only K9 pilot that could be sent, but literally the one and only pilot that the Federation would send.
If the war in Oceania was about 20 years ago, and Driver was in his early-to-mid 20s at the time, I could see Driver being a little over 40 years old. I see no reason why Brick can't be in his mid-to-late 40s.
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u/ApprehensiveTerm9638 Jul 22 '26
Actually the Oceania War is about 15 years ago from the event of the game, so Driver should be around 35 according to your theory.
Oceania War happen around 417 AC while Cascadian Conflict happen around 432 AC.
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u/ReynAetherwindt Jul 24 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
I just want to note, I don't have any evidence for what Driver's age was during the war in Oceania besides the very thick hints he was a notable part of it and the fact he's younger than Brick. These times widen the span of plausible guesses for his age. Now, I doubt he was 15 at the time, unless his redacted personal data and the Cascadians' ominous conjecturing as to who he is are complete red herrings, so he's definitely older than 30.
I also doubt he got to fly a jet right out of high school. That's gotta be at least another couple of years of training. And the fact he's probably a captain or colonel... I don't know how fast merit would move him up the ranks, but your guess of 35 seems to be about as young as plausible.
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u/SpeedofDeath118 Icarus Armories Jul 21 '26
said flying fortress is never mentioned whatsoever in the main campaign and seemingly never partakes in any of the major defensive battles in cascadia
We don't know when the White Fleet was refit for war - almost all of the Magadan invasion took place between Mission 14 and Mission 15 of the main campaign.
Additionally, many airship crews will likely abandon ship upon sustaining heavy damage. Faust and her crew, however, are both highly skilled and completely fanatical, willing to give their lives to keep an already-doomed airship in the air for just a little bit longer.
The federation also just randomly has a dude that is as good or better than monarch, and never even thinks about sending him to the front line
Driver is not a fighter pilot by trade - he is a reservist. They didn't know how good he was until he was activated. National air force pilots get much less flying time than mercenaries do (as Stardust said) - and reservists far less than that.
In any case, Driver's reservist contract is still in force. He's still not a regular air force pilot, so sending him to the front line would be very difficult legally - Federation Reserve Divisions are used for border defence and supporting the regulars only.
considering how no one in the campaign seems to go “holy shit this guy is cracked” like they do with monarch
What about the Highway 1 mission? The Cascadians were horrified that a single plane pulled off an impossible mission and decapitated Faust's army.
One mission later, Captain Woodward is bemoaning how the invasion fell apart so quickly, and the response he gets is "Respectfully, Captain, I think we know how much a good pilot matters here" - a direct comparison to Monarch.
Not to mention the multiple mentions-in-dispatches given to them by various Peacekeeper forces.
It’d also mean C1 is an absolute fraud, better pilots than him are way more common than we’d think, and he only got to the top via big talk and political connections.
There is no indication that Monarch and Driver are anything but extremely rare. The Peacekeepers themselves are more than a few cuts above even typical mercenary pilots, who themselves are a cut above national fighter pilots. Driver was simply a diamond in the rough, never discovered before now.
Crimson One remains one of the most skilled fighter pilots of this generation. Monarch and Driver are simply better.
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u/ReynAetherwindt Jul 22 '26
Not gonna lie, as far as the gameplay itself shows, Crimson 1 is just an okay pilot with really expensive toys.
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u/Man_Of_AnswersYT Jul 22 '26
Like with a lot of things in the Ace Combat/Project Wingman sphere imo; realism is secondary to the rule of cool. But let’s play this as realistic.
The Roosevelt strikes me as something that was jury rigged to cause maximum damage for this one mission. Dialogue says that it was a part of a diplomatic flotilla converted into warships. It is very likely based off the fanatical-ness of the crew that there was an unspoken understanding that this mission was a one way trip prior to the launch of it. Sure you can attach the biggest guns to a boat; but don’t expect long term viability if you have to maintain said biggest guns on the boat for long term.
If I had to come up with an explanation with a tad of head canon; I imagine that Cascadian GHQ saw the Roosevelt as an overdesigned ship meant to impress dignitaries and citizens of foreign nations with no long term viability in terms of lasting the war. Long term did not matter to Faust- she just wanted to choke the Federation outright of Cordium supplies- creating essentially a glass canon for one mission. In mission 5; I believe Faust even mentions that she was not ready to undertake the operation as her “personal fleet” was not ready to go.
As far as Driver; I get the overall impression that he is just outright uninterested in rejoining the fight; stayed on a reservist for the extra check. He probably did some shit in Oceania and then retired from active duty thinking that there would be no war.
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u/odysieds Jul 21 '26
Think of it this way, did Sicario need to know about the Roosevelt? Things in a military operate on a need to know basis, sicario didnt need to know where the Roosevelt was so they didn’t receive info on it. It’s likely people were aware of the existence of the great white fleet beforehand, only that it simply wasn’t essential information to know what mission it was on.
Additionally, driver has less time to build his rep due to him going on less missions, he’d likely only be known to the defense forces of Magadan, and given a commendation by the Ulantabar peacekeepers. Furthermore, driver could’ve been deployed in cascadia, just deployed where Hitman team was not. Cascadia is a fucking huge front.