ACE COMBAT 8 Checkpoint Retries and S-Rank
Understand why checkpoint attempts are excluded from this score diagnostic, what evidence a retry rule needs, and how to preserve a useful result log.
This site does not apply a universal checkpoint penalty. The current diagnostic refuses a run with a checkpoint retry, or an unknown retry history. That is a limitation of this tool, not a claim that every retry makes an S rank impossible.
Why a fixed deduction would be misleading
A penalty rule needs mission scope, difficulty, mode, version and evidence showing what the deduction changes. It may not be valid to reuse a value observed in one mission for another. The available community guide contains mission-specific retry statements rather than a complete verified table covering all these conditions.
The implementation therefore does not silently subtract a constant, assume the retry cost is zero, or borrow a rule from an earlier ACE COMBAT game. Unsupported cases produce a clear message and no retained prior result.
Record a retry as a separate attempt
After completing the mission, capture the game's actual rank, destruction score and result time. In your notes, distinguish a restart from the beginning from loading a checkpoint. Record where the retry happened, and whether the displayed time or score visibly changed. These details are more useful than a single “retry used” label when researching the rule later.
Do not combine the best score from one attempt with the quickest time from another. If comparing a clean run with a retry run, keep equipment and difficulty similar and preserve both actual result screens. Such a comparison can reveal a discrepancy without proving its exact cause.
What the tools currently allow
The mission diagnostic accepts only the selected no-checkpoint-retry community scenario. The separate manual target comparison is arithmetic, not a workaround that certifies an unsupported game result.
The flight log still allows you to record a retry run's actual result and explain it in notes. Refusing a prediction must not prevent you from retaining legitimate personal observations.
Does the warning mean I must discard the run?
No. You can finish the attempt and save what the game actually awards. The warning only says this tool cannot assess that run under its current reference scope.