Remembered getting the model out from ACEINF 3 years ago to become an ACE7 Mod. Now I'm opening it again to actually play the the game itself.

General Information about the Invasion:

1. Sotoa is a neighbor of Yuktobania, and they aren't exactly friendly to each other.
2. Sotoa's political and military affairs are still ruled by longstanding elite clans.
3. What caused Sotoa to invade a continental federation faraway behind an ocean remains unknown.
4. They send Podarge gigantic aerial transport carrying something "big" to be "assembled" at the destination.
5. Whatever they did during the invasion was so successful that the last land of FCU is apparently now "lost".

Based on that, Sotoa probably serves as a belligerent country that doesn't go along well with everyone, resembling more of a mix between Balkan and Middle East in terms of geography and geopolitics.

Being ruled by ancient clans means Sotoa is more likely to be tribalistic and less diplomatic, easily influenced even (most likely by Megacorps), leading to FCU invasion.

About the Superweapon:

I'm not talking about the superweapon vehicle, but "superweapon" as a plot concept that defines the theme for each game.

For example:

• AC4: Ulysses Disaster = Anti-Asteroid Weapon (Stonehenge & Megalith)
• AC5: Cold War Arms & Space Race = Tactical Laser (Arkbird & ADF-01), Submersible Carrier (Scinfaxi), Kinetic bombardment (SOLG), Nuclear Terrorism (V1)
• ACZ: World War Wunderwaffe = Missile Defense (Excalibur), Continental Superbomber (XB-0), Retaliation Weapon (V2)
• AC6: Ulysses Disaster & Civil War = Anti-Asteroid Weapon (Chandelier), Civil War Suppression (Aerial Fleet & CFA-44)
• ACX: Superweapon For Profit = Meson Bomb (Shock Cannon, SWBM, & LSWM), Optical Camouflage (Gleipnir & Fenrir)
• ACAH: Russian Coup = Thermobaric Warhead (Trinity)
• AC7: Drone Scare = Drone Mothership (Arsenal Bird), AI-specialized superfighter (ADF-11F)

Ulysses Disaster superweapon like anti-asteroid railgun is out of the scope since Strangereal's well over 30 years past that event now, and Sotoa's problem appears to be desertification and water scarcity, which is a common Middle Eastern climate challenge.

ACE8 likely won't follow the same Drone Scare since that concept idea got completely exhausted on the entire plot of ACE7.

That leaves arms race as a possible driving factor in Sotoa's arms buildup.

Considering Sotoa is within the same continent as Yuktobania during a high tension in the region, it's more than possible that they would be developing a land-based superweapon. But due to invasion of FCU, they sent them in packages and transported by these Podarges gigantic aerial transport, to be assembled later.

What exactly the superweapon is, I don't know. It most likely wouldn't be another aerial or naval in nature (why would you transport them and not be launched from your country?), and numerous in terms of units (if shooting these transports down only mean slowing down the reinforcement).

Balkan/Middle Eastern-inspired Sotoa, in an arms race against Yuktobania due to regional tension, invading transoceanic federation several times larger than itself and drove out FCU forces from the mainland.

It might be the first mobile land-based superweapon in the franchise.

Instead of the player plane being anchored static at the center while the camera orbits around it (ACE7 - GIF2),

The player plane is now tilted offset view relative to the camera's point of direction (ACE8 - GIF1),

Which gives it a more dynamic tracking view in terms of a focused perspective (ACEINF - GIF3).