SF2 Series DACT Reports And Related A2A Discussions (Game only)

[+EricJ 3,934]

This is like the Screenshot Topic where we post various views and experiences with opposing aircraft.

 

There's no real restriction on loads, either friendly or enemy and aircraft or time period, just starting a resource that doesn't exist for the experienced or inexperienced player wanting to know what's going on as far as capabilities. Note this should be restricted to GAME ONLY capabilities and experiences and not a forum to argue real-world tactics or possibilities. We have a forum for that, use it.

Edited February 15, 2011 by EricJ

[+EricJ 3,934]

Decided to take the KF2 for a DACT spin against two Super Hornets. Really I wanted to test the 18km IRM so anyways I took off and headed south. Found the bogies and launched my first missile out of range, got it. Launched the second one and killed the lead Super Bug and decided to go for a head to head maneuverability kill but one thing I forgot to do on takeoff is raise my flaps... which may or may not have made a difference. So anyways we're in the knife fight and trying to get a missile kill.... first mistake as he went right in front of my HUD with my guns ready and missed the chance. So he gets behind me and for the next few minutes I couldn't shake him as every turn I made he made along with an assortment of tracers as he had me cold and managed to be missed by the majority of the bullets. So after quite a few times blacking out (the KF2 gets high marks for maneuverability but you black out too easily or maybe i was just pulling too much g's in the first place) and dodging the bullets the Super Hornet either ran out of ammo or got tired (which I'm not sure why he did that). After finally calming down and getting reoriented I fired another 18km missile at him, missing. I fire again and this time I winged him, literally. He flies south so I do the gentlemanly thing and salute him, go vertical and eventually gun him down.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Decided for a role reversal and take the KF2 on again. Last time it took me only five minutes to kill him but it can be done. Suffice to say that you need a good maneuverable plane to shoot it down. Most of my Blue on Red engagements are all standard fare with the Super Hornet. I take off from the carrrier and the opposing aircraft is already flying and I meet up and go there.

 

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F/A-18F with EPE/4 x AIM-9X, 4 x AIM-120. M61A1 Full load, 1 centerline tank

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: KF2-HAMMER/2 x M61A1

 

For a BVR engagement the KF2 has a good stealth profile you're looking at WVR engagements if he hasn't already shot you down (the weapons are overmodeled but hey it is a What-If plane anyways) brecause you can pick up the radar but not lock it up.. Lock on with an AIM-9X is about ehh... five or so miles reliably, enough to shoot at him. I didn't bother with the AMRAAMs since I was close anyways. In the knife fight it is of course a beast, able to turn with you (much like my modded Super Hornet) and get in a good jockeying position. Eventually he got into a turning fight and I nosed up for the sky and managed to turn back into him, fired one 9X and missed. Re-attacked and got him with a 9X shot only by pushing my nose parallel with his flightpath generally and getting a good enough angle to shoot him down (third to last image). End opinion the KF2 is a very well designed and maneuverable aircraft, but don't bring an elephant gun to a pistol fight. Lighter, more maneuverable aircraft and off-boresight missiles (not sure how the AA-11 would do, maybe in the future) will get you a win against this if you make it into the WVR fight.

 

And you'll notice the shots are out of sequence but not my fault...

[Caesar 305]

DACT/BFM: F-14B Tomcat vs. MiG-29A Fulcrum

 

Loadouts were as follows -

 

F-14B: 4x AIM-9M, gun, 75% fuel, no tanks, clean "pancake"

MiG-29A: 2x AA-10, 4x AA-8, gun, 100% fuel, no tank

 

Fight started at the merge at about 15,000 feet with both fighters turning into each other, generating a one-circle fight. I plugged in the Tomcat's blowers and the Fulcrum did the same. I initially came into the turn a bit hard, at 8-8.5G, and realized I would bleed away my speed way too early, so I dropped the turn to the typical 6.5G, saving me energy.

 

 

This resulted in a sustained 6.5G turn at about 400KIAS - the GE engines did not have to work as hard with the Tomcat having about a 1:1 thrust to weight ratio in the configuration I had selected, and had decided to turn into the Fulcrum nose-low, by comparison to the Fulcrum driver's decision to go nose-high, while trying to sustain higher G earlier on - he was bleeding energy. This became immediately apparent to me as we got through about the first 30 seconds of the fight, and I was gaining on him, still pulling 6.5G, now correcting to nose level as he started to go nose low to regain energy.

 

 

I knew I'd have to exploit my position of advantage soon, so I went from max performance to max G turn to get my nose on him. Pushed the Turkey to a quick 9G yank, getting my nose on the MiG, and causing him to reverse. At this point, I'd have called a missile shot on the Fulcrum, hell, I had 4 heaters with his name on 'em, but this had to end correctly.

 

 

Because he initially reversed, I let the plane unload and rolled toward him. For a short time, he flew in a straight line, probably trying to regain speed. In real life, the Fulcrum driver wouldn't have been able to see me, thanks to the huge headrest and poor visibility from about 4-8 o'clock, and it seems like he reacted similarly as he might have in real life, initially pulling hard left. I had more energy than him, so followed, then he reversed again, and began bucking the plane - burning more energy and loading up positive, then negative G. He did about two iterations of this, and I took a snap shot with the Vulcan cannon as he began a dive, knocking off part of his right wing. It was here that he decided to only dive and run, but to no avail.

 

 

His dive made him completely predictable, and I fired another short burst, igniting a fuel cell behind the cockpit. This was the death blow, as his aircraft spiraled in.

 

 

By the end of the fight, I still had more gas in my jet than he did at the start of it.

 

Pretty straight forward example of energy management deciding the victor. Total fight time was around 2.5 minutes.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F/A-18F with EPE/2 x AIM-9M, M61A1 Full load, 2 x tanks, 1 x AGM-65, 2 x GBU-12, 2 x GBU-38 (modified Afghan strike load)

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: F-4E(78) x M61A1

 

Rhino vs. Rhino duel. I chose the Strike Loadout due to maybe comparable weight for some fairness but in the end didn't work out still. Even on Expert the F-4 just doesn't have the power or maneuverability compared to the newer generation of fighters. It's a great plane and I do enjoy flying it but sometimes its age really shows. In this case before the merge he did manage to get a few shots off but after that it was all about maneuverability and skill (realistically I'm not that great of a dogfighter though it seems I'm improving somewhat) as he did try to scissors and i managed t slow down (even idling and using my speedbrakes) to prevent me from overshooting but most of the time... he was in my sights quite a bit and almost went for a guns kill but decided to shoot him down with a 'winder instead.

Edited February 17, 2011 by EricJ

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F-22A with 2 x AIM-9X and 6 x AIM-120

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: MIG-29C w/4 x R-73M1 and 2 x R-27R

 

As modeled the R-73 is actually kind of innacurate. Unfortunately I didn't get a missile launch warning when it fired its first missile, then not for the second shot. Other than that standard fare as it took two or so minutes to finally get a shot down. Only complaint is that the radar needs to be tuned for longer ranged lock on for longer ranged shots. Like Ceasar's above it was pretty much an energy fight and I eventually again managed to bring my nose in line for a good shot as at that point he was low on energy and took the shot and downed him.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F/A-18F with EPE/2 x AIM-9X, 6 x AIM-120. M61A1 Full load, 1 centerline tank

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: J-10A with 23mm Gsh-23

 

Dealing with the J-10A isn't too difficult but is like fighting the Mig-29 on the energy scale while fighting the F-4. Initially the J-10A starts off strong and really feels like it loses energy quick. Or maybe it's just getting more experienced through going through various aircraft and seeing how they react. It tried to get me in an energy circle but instead I came over the top. What I noticed as "hesitation" is the AI's particular vision problems and now will add it as an addendum to the F-4 post above as its not just the particular age but the lack of vision. So the aircraft tries to look for me and I end up taking advantage of that hesitation. Which gave me the shot that I took in the screenshots below. I went pure vertical, came over the top and my nose ended up "past" his line of flight while he was stuck in his circle. This allowed me to fire my 9X and bag him.

[Caesar 305]

F-14B Tomcat vs. F-16A Blk 15 Fighting Falcon DACT

 

Loadouts-

F-14B: 4x AIM-9M, gun, 75% fuel, no tanks, clean pancake

F-16A: 4x AIM-9M, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks

 

This fight started similarly to the MiG-29 fight, with both aircraft entering a one-circle engagement. I figured that rather than just yank for a two-circle, where we'd both end up nose-on, I'd rather try for sustained turn rate to match him. It worked well for the first 20 seconds or so, but unlike the Fulcrum, who went nose-high/high g, the Viper went nose low, moderate g. The result was a descending spiral with neither side gaining much of an advantage until I began to slide into his six in a 7g turn at about 550kts.

 

 

I turned this into a max g turn to get on his tail, and should have shot him then and there - by this point I had more energy than him, and was approaching fast. I selected guns as the Viper driver decided to pull into the vertical. He was around 450kts to my 550, and it was then that I had the horrible realization that I was going to overshoot. I pulled for all I had, probably doing a 9.5g yank for about three seconds, but I had already overshot. The Viper quickly performed a high yo-yo and was quite literally dead six. I didn't have much room to maneuver, since we had gotten down to about 5k feet.

 

 

That energy that I still had wound up saving my bacon, as the Viper began to slide back, and was unable to get a missile solution on me. The fight went neutral, and I tried to press into the vertical to force him to do something. I was being careful not to press past 6g at this point, since I was trying to maintain some energy to work with. Both aircraft went vertical, then we turned into each other, at roughly the same turn rate, nose to nose. No shot, rolled back into him and he came out a bit wider. Screw the gun, I'm bagging this SOB! FOX 2! Wouldn't you know it, he deployed flares and the Mike went for 'em!

 

 

He pulled back into me and we got into another nose-on-nose situation; I figured I might as well have another shot, I still had 3 heaters left. This one had no chance, the closure was way too fast. By this point, I was bleeding energy, and both of the aircraft were hanging around 4g turns trying to rebuild some speed. The Viper extended, then turned back into me. I got my nose on him, FOX 2 again. One of these damn things HAS to hit! Nope. Flares again. Now I'm ticked, because I know he's got 4 heaters, I've got 1 and I might yet just have to gun him.

 

This turned into another slow turn where neither the Turkey, nor the Viper was gaining on each other. We're literally on the deck (<500 feet), and by now, I've got my flaps down, curling inside the F-16. Problem, we end up nose to nose, no shots, he hits the burner and extends some as I continue my turn. I'm still on the deck, and he's gained a bit of energy. I pull the flaps back up, seeing he didn't want to get into a scissors, and having them down added drag and burnt energy. The Viper is now in a better situation, slightly above me, with more energy, and 4 heaters. He decided to cash in on his good position, at the same time made a fatal flaw. I'm about 200 feet off the deck, and he yanks for all he's worth into a diving attack (not pure vertical, actually quite horizontal, not unlike a low yo-yo). The Viper driver realizes too late that his jet isn't going to make the pull and crashes, lawn-dart style, into the desert.

 

 

This particular DACT didn't go as well as I had hoped, but then, the F-16 is not an easy opponent. Ideally, I'd have shot him down at range with an AIM-7 or AIM-54, but that's not the point of DACT. In this instance, it was also the Viper, not me, that decided to drag the fight low - he initiated the descending turn, and continued to follow down to fight in the dirt. In the end, it cost him the fight. At the end of the DACT session, I think I had about 6000lbs of gas left, so we nearly ran each other out of gas (if the AI could run out of gas).

 

Edited February 18, 2011 by Caesar

[+EricJ 3,934]

I've done a couple times and they've run into the mountain...

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F-14B with 4 x AIM-9M and tanks

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: J-10A with 23mm Gsh-23

 

This is an illustration of inexperience at energy management and the fact that I've put a few hundred hours into the Super Hornet rather than the Tomcat. Essentially I don't think like a Tomcat driver so therefore Ceasar is obviously so far the best when it comes to driving the Turkey. So anyways... same thing, made it to the merge and got into the energy fight immediately. Tried to pull the same break out of the circle but altogether... the J-10 when against a nugget on this bird will outmaneuver you and as you can see the well modeled cockpit has that annoying ejection handle in the way but that's okay, it's realism at it's best. The J-10A did get some shots off a few times, and as you can see on the last screenshot, he tore me up quite well forcing me to eject.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F/A-18A with 2 x AIM-9X and 2 x AIM-7M and one 300-gal tank.

Aircraft/Opposing loadout:MIG-29C with GSh-301

 

After the merge it was standard fare and a pattern is starting to emerge as the lighter fighters prefer the energy fight while the heavier fighters go for the scissors and other ways of trying to get an advantage. The handling of the F/A-18A versus the MIG-29 is a lot better than say the F-4 or even the F-15C. Even then once I got in a good position, took the shot and got him with a 9M shot.

[Caesar 305]

F-14B Tomcat vs. J-10A

 

Loadouts-

F-14B: 4x AIM-9M, gun, 75% fuel, no tanks, clean pancake

J-10A: 23mm GSh-23, 100% fuel, no tank

 

Because the J-10A doesn't have its missiles for some reason, I flew the DACT three times. What I found seems to reflect what open-source documents say about the J-10A - it has better instantaneous turn than the F-16, but not as good sustained turn rates. Knowing this, I knew I would have better chances of survival, or indeed killing the J-10 if I could force him into a drawn-out turning fight. What I didn't realize was exactly how much of a flying speedbreak the J-10 could be. Two of three engagements ended up with missile kills on the J-10, the third with a gun kill, and the third engagement was the shortest "true" engagement, lasting 1 minute, 49 seconds (second was solved with a quick heater to the face). The first engagement was the longest, by far, and ended up with the J-10 in my 5 to 7-o'clock quadrant three times, never long enough to have been able to take a missile shot (if he had missiles).

 

During the first and second engagements, I went against my gut and decided to do a hard two-circle, the first time having what would have been potentially detrimental effects to my fine Grumman war machine. Because I plugged in the burner, I wasn't turning as fast as he was, and he pulled inside my circle. The energy I saved was burned pulling quickly into the vertical to try to reverse. It worked, though he probably could have called a snap shot on me. We continued through both vertical and horizontal planes, but I kept my energy up enough (>310kts) so that he couldn't ever directly threaten more than a second or two. After about the third time he got nose-on, he took a snap shot, which I performed a high g barrel roll to evade, followed by an inverted pitch-moment-coupling maneuver that was actually unintentonal, but left me inverted at the end and caused him to overshoot. Time to extend! I brought the Tomcat into a descending loop to gain energy and get some distance. The J-10 performed a moderate nose-low spiral to come down to my altitude, only to have my Turkey rocket past him into the vertical. I continued the high loop, as the J-10 brought his turn to an ascending turn; I cut throttles towards the top of the loop trading airspeed for g until I was close to the bottom, plugged burner in to sustain g and was now level with the J-10 on my nose at the bottom of the loop. Set up the heater, FOX 2 and BOOM! Sheared off his vert stab.

 

 

 

DACT #2 started similarly, only this time, instead of plugging in the burners, I decided to cut throttles, yank the Tomcat into an absolute max g turn, got my turn inside of the J-10's, then unloaded a bit (his nose still wasn't threatening at this point) and shot him. Kill #2.

 

 

 

DACT #3 was the first one that I did where I actually followed my gut instinct and went into a one-circle, sustained turn fight. Just like the Fulcrum, and as predicted by the open-source docs, the J-10 wasn't just yanking on his stick like in the first two engagements, but was instead trying to pull more "g" than me, and he didn't sustain his turn as well as the F-16. This higher g burnt his energy, and I performed a calculated 8.5-9g turn after my sustained 6.5g circle that had gotten me aft of his wing line. This put my nose right on the J-10. Unlike my blunder against the F-16, I went to match speed with the J-10 and brought the throttles to below military power. The J-10 initially tried to break left, but I followed him without problem. He leveled. 20mm, 6000 rounds/min SELECTED! GUNS! ZZip! Off goes his right wing! The pilot literally rode the aircraft into the ground as it spiraled in a tight corkscrew to the desert floor.

 

 

 

 

 

So, what can I take away from the J-10 fight? Don't do a two-circle, especially if he has heaters! The second DACT turned out in my favor because I decided to burn my airspeed very quickly to get inside him, but probably wouldn't have worked as well in a 2v2, or if I were carrying other stores. Looping vertically seemed to work well, as did a sustained one-circle turn fight. Also, the J-10 required a lot better energy management, since if I had too much, the Turkey wouldn't make the corner. If I had too little, I'd leave myself exposed. I made sure to unload a bit in the first fight, costing angles, but in the end probably keeping myself alive. Unlike the MiG-21 or MiG-17, the J-10 doesn't like to get into a scissors, so trying to beat down his energy to a point where I had the advantage was out of the question - it'd have left me as a wide open target. This engagement was far more satisfying than the Viper was, going off and killing himself. J-10? Anytime, Baby!

Edited February 18, 2011 by Caesar

[+Coupi 4,279]

Hello,

 

Thank you for your reports.

 

My DCAT report!

 

Another time, others aircraft...

 

A Chilean Tiger II targeted by a Mara of the FAA... with Magic AAM and DEFA guns!!!

 

Coupi.

Edited February 19, 2011 by Coupi

[+EricJ 3,934]

 

Non-standard report.

 

Me: F/A-18F EPE w/ 2 x Tanks, 2 x GBU-32 (1 x time of engagement), 2 x AIM-9X, 3 x AIM-120)

Opposition: 2 x Su-27 with 6 x R-27 and 6 x R-73 (Assumed as I'm going off of the Loadout.ini, did not visually look at loadout in-game due to engagement), GSh-301 full load.

 

Was doing a strike mission against a train South of Hanoi (want to say near Bai Thoung but KMD is acting retarded). Approximately five minutes into the engagement I pickup two Su-27s heading north. I push on and continue to the target, jamming the airwaves delaying the inevitable. Managed to get altitude releasing the bomb and destroying the Full Train. Heading back the two Su-27s are pushing north hard so I fire up the radar, Red Crown is telling me they're coming so I lock up the first one and fire an off-boresight shot with one AMRAAM. Unfortunately (but fortunately) the wingie that was heading south for some reason took that hit and one down, one to go. After watching the kill on the terrain map I see the lead is within five kays. Again lock up and fire another AMRAAM. Guess it couldn't make the intercept because the Su was still alive. Switched to 9X and padlocked and turned into him firing. That one connects I drop flares just in case as I yank my bird west and to home.

 

Not particularly a "typical" report but shows how 1 v1 duelling is working out so far.

[+Coupi 4,279]

Hi EricJ,

 

I didn't understand the topic!

 

Tomorrow, I'll try to present a standard DACT report like yours... with new aircraft.

 

Coupi.

Edited February 19, 2011 by Coupi

[+EricJ 3,934]

Cool!!!

 

[+EricJ 3,934]

Year: 2011

Aircraft/My loadout: F/A-18F EPE with 2 x AIM-9X and 6 x AIM-120 and one tank.

Aircraft/Opposing loadout: F-15C(85) with gun

 

I've done bouts with the F-15A,C, and D versions and I always liked to "play" with them as they can be quite fun to spar against, even though in all cases I am unfair since I give them no missiles and I got everything. Regardless the intent is to get a maneuverability idea.

 

i started off with the standard fare, merge and maneuver. Instead of rolling and turning into him I banked hard left and brought my nose to him. Immediately for some reason he went vertical and I went' vertical as well. Locking him up with my 9X I could have really taken the shot and probably gotten him good there. I attempted a couple of times to shoot him with the gun but he was a bit far off for me to hit him. However I came up on the top with him and maneuvered for an AIM-120 lock. This again wasn't going to the point of a quick shootdown but again to "play" with him. Down lower we got into a vertical scissors and then I took my first 9X shot misjudging the angles and it flew somewhere... Pulled the nose up and tracked him again and then fired another 9X shot. That missed again so I had two options, go for a guns kill or use an AIM-120. Since I was far off I took the shot by locking him up and firing my first AIM-120 killing him.

 

In all honesty the F-15 is a nice plane as well as the older ones just I got a maneuverable jet.... So I will be eventually be going against the older ones with older planes.

 

And for some reason it's from finish to beginning so...

[Caesar 305]

Had a couple fights today: First was a CF-5A vs. MiG-21PFM

 

Both aircraft were armed with all-aspect short ranged missiles and guns, full fuel. The fight started with both of us entering a sustained high g one circle fight in a slightly descending turn. I managed my energy better to get nose-on, but I was at a poor angle, and didn't take the shot. He passed and a horizontal scissors ensued. Both aircraft are highly comparable, and both of us were turning at almost identical rates, with the MiG-21 just barely getting inside my turn for the first two iterations; no where near enough for a shot. The third iteration I had cut throttles to point the nose at him, and it worked. The fourth also saw me inside his turn, and it was here that he tried to run after I reversed inside of his turn. He reversed, and then we went into a rolling scissors, which flattened into a vertical scissors. I decided to try a little trick, stepping on the rudder to force my nose to slice into him. Didn't work as well as hoped, and he rolled through the bottom of the scissors, but I was able to snap my nose back towards him. He had run a bit and was now climbing to come over me vertically. The position allowed for a good shot with the AIM-9, and I took it. One MiG-21 down.

 

 

Second fight was ACEVAL/AIMVAL style in an F-14A Tomcat vs. a CF-5A. This fight was over very quickly, with an initial sustained one turn fight, with the sudden nose pull I had used on the MiG-29 and J-10A. The F-5 saw me and tried to pull into my turn, but I rolled with him and pressed the advantage. Guns on the F-5.

 

 

Third fight was what I expected to be the most difficult: F-14B Tomcat vs. Su-33 "Sea Flanker"

 

I knew the Flanker was more maneuverable, so I'd have to play the game of turn rate vs. available energy - like fighting the J-10, if I was too fast, I'd not be able to turn with the Flanker, and if I was too slow, the Flanker's better slow-speed handling would probably cost me the fight. In this instance, I had 75% fuel, 2x AIM-7, 4x AIM-9, no tanks. The pancake was otherwise clean, and the Sparrows don't ruin airflow like the Phoenix pylons. The Flanker, however, was heavily laden (I did not realize this when I set up the fight). Carrying some 6 AA-9's and 2 AA-8's with full fuel, a more fair fight would have been if I had loaded up my Turkey with 6 AIM-54's and 2 AIM-9's.

 

The fight was actually very quick. In this case, I wasn't aiming for total energy conservation, as mentioned. I started the fight in a more aggressive 7.5-8g turn, keeping some energy, but also trying to bleed a little to sustain about 410kts or so rather than 500. The Flanker was turning initially at about the same rate as me, but as I slowed, I turned in a smaller radius without sacrificing turn rate by keeping the plane in the blower after the initial energy burn. I pulled the Tomcat a little high as I started to see my opportunity open to curl onto his six. Once I was at around his 8o'clock region, the Flanker initially reversed direction, which caused me to unload - 6o'clock, time to shoot, but wait, he's pulling back left. I'm still easily on his tail and follow him. My nose gets right back to his dead 6, and I take the opportunity. I'm not looking to gun this guy, FOX 2! Flanker pops flares, but keeps flying in a predictable direction - the Mike isn't fooled and blasts off his right wing, at the same time igniting the whole plane. Fight was over in 1 minute and 50 seconds.

 

 

 

[+EricJ 3,934]

Me: F/A-18F EPE w/ 2 x 9X, 6 x AIM-120 and 1 tank

Opposition: MiG-23MLD with gun

 

Started off the same we merged and I turned to the left (port) and saw him go near vertical as he tried to reacquire me. As soon as he did he kept in an energy circle for a little bit and I went vertical and came over the top. He climbed up to meet me and started the circle again and I fired my first 9X, missing him. He slowed down a bit (pics below) and banked right and the geometry was better for a kill and I took the shot killing him. Total time may be less than two minutes as I wasn't in the mood to toy with the opposition today and as mentioned before the light fighters exhibit the same behavior so there was no point in drawing it out.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Me: F-22 w/2 x 9X, 4 x AIM-120

Opposition: Su-35 with gun

 

I would say that this one was pretty interesting in that most of the time I flew in circles and he flew circles around me. The Saturn-Layulka (should be right) engines put out a lot of thrust and he even managed to get a gun pass on me. So after a little bit more of floundering he extended and I shot him with a 9X. And one thing about planes with a lot of fuel? They blow up easily. LIterally no plane left just one explosion.

[+EricJ 3,934]

Me: JAS-39C with 4 x IRIS-T and 2 x AIM-120C and 1 tank

Opposition: Su-35 with gun

 

First time with the JAS-39 and it's pretty good though I found out that puling on the stick too hard isn't going to get me what I want but in the end I got him. Less dramatic (though it was still a beautiful explosion) than the F-22 kill but anyways... Same setup made the merge and he nearly began a circle fight which it ended up being. For some reason which I gotta fix on my own the Su-35 disappears due to visible distance settings. Managed to finally get behind him as the Su-35 initially has a high energy state but after a bit gravity slows him down and all that massive energy goes away, which left me an opportunity (which I managed to unsucessfully gun him, bad focus on my part as I'm still going for the missile and not guns kill). Missed with my first IRIS-T (taking a shot when it seems good but its not) but once the Su-35 slowed down it was just a push of the fire button and he was exploded again. Again the sequence is bottom from top so not sure what the deelio is anymore with the filenames, I guess I gotta use the gallery as it would look much better...

[+EricJ 3,934]

Me: F-15C (10) with 4 x AIM-9M, 4 x AIM-7M and 1 center tank

Opposition: F-4E (78) with gun.

 

The F-4E isn't a bad dogfighter when you're flying similarly heavy aircraft so in a sense you're kinda matched even though realistically again I had the advantage. Ended up in an energy fight after the merge and it devolved into another missed shot with one 'winder and then he extended and set himself up which is starting to become quite common. Or its just they try and "retire" from the fight and accept the inevitable.

 

Me: F-4E (78) with 4 x AIM-9J and 4 x AIM-7M

Opposition: F-15A with gun

 

Suffice to say this is another case that I really do not enjoy the heavy legacy fighters anymore (the only exception being the F/A-18A). Again inexperience and I remember that daddyairplanes mentioned that the E is not a great dogfighter. And this time it was agreed as I had the F-15 following my every move. The best way to not get in a dogfight with a more maneuverable aircraft is to shoot him down WAY before he gets anywhere near the merge. But again that's just my opinion based on inexperience with the aircraft rather than just a totally informed and experienced opinion. But if you are an F-4 driver I would like to see more DACT using this jet as well apparently I'm not doing it right OR I am doing it right and just need a more experienced view on the matter.

[Caesar 305]

F-4E Phantom II (78) vs. F-15C Eagle (85)

 

Loadouts-

 

F-4E: 4x AIM-9M, 2x AIM-7M, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks

F-15C: 4x AIM-9M, 4x AIM-7M, gun, 100% fuel, no tanks

 

In a 59 second fight with surprising results, I wound up killing the F-15 with the F-4E. Now, something to remember here is that I started with both aircraft passing each other at the merge with a bit of distance between the two. This was, like my Tomcat vs. Fulcrum, J-10 and Flanker, a matter of smart energy burning. One thing for damn sure is that the F-4 is a speedbreak compared to the Tomcat, but unlike the F-14B (or even the F-14A) is that it doesn't like to get its energy back up as quickly.

 

In this case, I started probably at about 6-7g turn (one-circle), and at about 600KIAS at the start of the fight. As I turned into the Eagle, I noticed a scant few seconds into the fight that my stall warning came on almost immediately. I'm not even through 90 degrees of turn yet! Well, I backed off a bit, probably down to about 5g (no noticeable accelerometer in the F-4E, so I'm going off "feel") which still puts the Eagle about 20-degrees nose off, just enough to send a heater his way. His nose was just barely starting to get on me when I fired. He rolled to go tangent to my turn, and dropped flares, fooling the Mike. Problem was that I kept turning, and wound up at his 7o'clock, FOX 2 again. This one guided and blew off his wing. Rather than wait for him to hit the ground, I closed with the wreckage and gunned it to get Red Crown to clear me from the mission.

 

 

 

Now, here's the thing - this mission ended in my favor, but had I decided to burn too much energy too early, the Eagle would have eaten me alive. The simple fact that the Phantom couldn't hold a roughly 6.5g turn without giving me grief (stall warning) illustrated that well. If I let my energy get below 450KIAS, he'd have had me, and if I hadn't taken the shot with the Mike early (if I were guns only) he'd have probably pulled inside of my turn (I was close to overshooting when I fired my first Mike) and then reversed, and shot me. This was an instance of luck, and knowing he'd have to fool a heater if I put one out in his direction, in spite of the fact that I was bleeding energy like a madman. Might try it with guns only, but I seriously doubt I'll survive...

 

Edited February 21, 2011 by Caesar

[Murphy'S 15]

interesting series of report (and i'll do mine soon i guess), but we must not forget one thing

 

we don't fly on the same level as ai do.....

[+EricJ 3,934]

True enough but since SF2 has no multiplayer we have to use what we have.