Strangereal Timeline

Lore & Background

The Strangereal timeline is defined by two major events that shape its history. The first is the 1995 Belkan War, a conflict in which the advanced ultranationalist nation of Belka attempted to invade neighboring countries during an internal crisis. Belka was repelled by an international coalition, and used nuclear weapons on their own territory to prevent a retaliatory invasion, causing their defeat and earning them global condemnation and scorn. Belkan nationalists seeking revenge for their defeat play major roles in some of the games. The second is the 1999 impact of the asteroid "Ulysses 1994XF04", which split into numerous fragments, some destroyed by anti-asteroid weaponry but others striking the planet, causing widespread destruction and global crises. The international tensions caused by the Ulysses impact and its aftermath play a large role throughout the series, and some of the games' superweapons are, or originate from, anti-Ulysses devices. As shown in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, the nations of Strangereal are eventually superseded by sovereign megacorporations. Strangereal was later established as part of Bandai Namco's United Galaxy Space Force shared universe, representing the earliest period in its timeline, in which the nations of Strangereal unite to form a world government around 2090.

In Their Own Story

The rain hammered against the cockpit canopy as I looked out over the burning horizon of a city that had once been peaceful. Below, the smoke rose in thick black columns, a grim testament to the day's fighting. My instruments flickered, warning of incoming radar locks from enemy fighters hidden in the storm clouds. In Strangereal, history is not written in books but in the scars left on the land and the memories etched into the souls of those who survive another sortie. Every pilot carries that weight — the faces of wingmen lost, the cities they couldn't save, the orders they chose to disobey. This timeline is their story, told in the gaps between missile trails.

Reader's Guide

The Strangereal Timeline acts as the backbone for understanding the geopolitical shifts across multiple Ace Combat titles. It begins with the 1995 Belkan War, a conflict in which the advanced ultranationalist nation of Belka attempted to invade neighboring countries during an internal crisis, was repelled by an international coalition, and used nuclear weapons on their own territory to prevent a retaliatory invasion. Belkan nationalists seeking revenge for their defeat play major roles in some of the games. The 1999 impact of the asteroid "Ulysses 1994XF04" caused widespread destruction and global crises, with the international tensions caused by the Ulysses impact and its aftermath playing a large role throughout the series. Some of the games' superweapons are, or originate from, anti-Ulysses devices. As shown in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, the nations of Strangereal are eventually superseded by sovereign megacorporations. Strangereal was later established as part of Bandai Namco's United Galaxy Space Force shared universe, representing the earliest period in its timeline, in which the nations of Strangereal unite to form a world government around 2090.

Did You Know?

• The Belkan War of 1995 was a World War II-esque conflict in which Belka used nuclear weapons on their own territory to prevent a retaliatory invasion.
• The asteroid "Ulysses 1994XF04" impacted in 1999, splitting into fragments that caused widespread destruction and global crises.
• Some superweapons in the series originate from anti-Ulysses devices designed to destroy the asteroid fragments.
• As shown in Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere, the nations of Strangereal are eventually superseded by sovereign megacorporations.
• Strangereal represents the earliest period in Bandai Namco's United Galaxy Space Force timeline, with nations uniting into a world government around 2090.