I keep entering what can only be described as fugue states in which I have inhuman skill with the games flying system, which I am normally trash at.

I beat the final encounter with crimson squadron without taking any damage, I beat the final encounter with crimson 1 while only being hit with one missile.

EDIT3: beat the final crimson 1 boss battle on hard first try, in an F-15. I'm quite literally the guy from Ace Combat Zero

I am truly the wingman, and this is my project.


EDIT: Trust me, you aren't good enough to cross the line and attack that fleet, just trust me bros, if you do, then you will be constantly having to evade 50 missiles, the number of missiles chasing you will never lower, that's how many SAMs they have.
No, MLAGs will not save you from the fleet, I did three missile runs on them and still was evading missiles.

EDIT2: Don't fall for the mercenary difficulty meme, it's not anywhere near as easy as hard difficulty, the sudden jump in difficulty is impossible to truly convey.
On the first mission, on mercenary mode, you have to deal with TWO (or three I'm not going back to count) CONTAINER SHIPS FULL OF SAMS THAT FIRE LIKE 10 MISSILES AT ONCE, PER SAM!
I still hear the missile alert sound effect as I'm typing this.
I couldn't beat it, even in one of the best planes in the game!