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

[FalconC45 157]

What about doing few DACTs with prop jobs? Like S-199 Vs Vampire etc?

 

Falcon

[+EricJ 3,985]

Both sound entertaining, and I've always wanted to see how a Crusader handled... stay tuned both...

[saisran 84]

Both sound entertaining, and I've always wanted to see how a Crusader handled... stay tuned both...

 

Looking forward to it! I myself found myself flyng one again without a stick as i left mine somewhere.... Took a CAP mission where i found myself eating more than what i bargained for...

 

1v1 wih my F-14B with D hud armed with 2x 9M, 2x7M guns and 75%fuel. vs Mig-29G with 4x R-73M and 2x R-27R.. i didn't pay attention to the position of the AC on the editor and was surprised to find the carrier launching SAMs. Map view and saw the mig flying close to my carrier just above my nose (about 4nm) flying way from my direction probably due to the SAM. took off and followed. once i was in the air. I would have been able to launch a sparrow and it would definitely hit. but that would be too boring so i waited from 9Nm until were far and away from the convoy's reach. kept following and soon enough i hear a rwr and my rio called a missile launch. i fell asleep waitig and didn't notice the mig when it turned my nose on me and engage. since i also have radar lock on it i fired my own sparrow to force it to break lock. since he was at least 2k ft. below me and were about travelling 0.9m i decided to pull up and drop chaffs. it worked as the missile flew past underneath. ofcourse my own Sparrow missed. rolled and turned into the mig. this is where the problem start. without a stick its, either pulling too hard or not pulling at all. Once circle. Found myself inside the Fulcrums turn radius but while he can maintain 430kts i was bleeding energy fast. I got a good tone for a bout 3 seconds under 2nm. well inside his radius flying almost parallel, but well behind on speed still a good shot, fired.. miss! had to rebuild energy. break off dive full burner. as the mig has plenty of energy to spare. i was on defensive at this point. It took another shot at me. kept diving and dropping flares and chaff. Hard left pulled up. managed to dodge that one. took a peak on the mig and it still has one R-27 left. The mig maintained advantage on me from this point on. as i don't have optimal control of the tomcat im forced to stay on the defensive in hopes that it'll run out missile to fire at me and then i have advantage with my remaining stores. I didn't bother with maintaing circles. just kept flying scissors and doing split-s. Alas its down with just 2 heat. still have plenty of flares. i was well determined to receive both of them but then Fulcrum decided it had enough and turned towards the boarder. i chased it, locked it up again with the sparrow. no movement. Fox 1. Of al the time for it to go dumb. but the mig still flying straight with no sign of retaliation. check fuel load ..im about 25% down from my orig load. he's must be empty and desperate to get home. My fuel levels ain't looking too bright either and were probably miles away from the carrier. got a 5 sec tone Fox 2. WTF?! that one was spoofed by chaffs!!! he ain't firing flares and it missed??!! Followed it to go for the gun kill. but getting a gun solution without a stick is pretty tricky. got some shots in but not enough. the fight ended up with the mig running out of fuel and crashing and the tomcat barely making it to the carrier.

 

close but not quite.

[thodouras95 25]

WTF?! that one was spoofed by chaffs!!! he ain't firing flares and it missed??!!

 

AFAIK, chaffs are capable of fooling a missile's, uh, what's it called, I think proximity fuze.Dunno whether TW modeled that too, tho.

 

Anyway, nice report.Definitely ended up way better than some of my other x vs MiG-29 battles :P

[+EricJ 3,985]

Me: F-18J with 4 x AIM-9P-1

F-14D(06) with sparrows, gun, AIM-9 (I think)

 

This one started off with my first (or second) time in the Crusader. I let the Turkey take off and shadowed it until it realized I was behind it. Once it did, it turned inside me, and passed me on my right side, it didn't have time for a missile launch, so it came around. And I wasn't feeling the turn so I took the risk of turning into the Tomcat. I probably could have gotten off a missile, but... I didn't have them selected. The Tomcat acquired me and then it shot me down with a 'winder.

 

Takeaways: The F-8 for me is old, so I don't push it as much as say, the Super Hornet, mainly because I've flown the Super Bug quite a bit. And in some ways it feels like a Phantom, all speed and no maneuverability to save it. I'll go for round two and see where it goes.

 

EDIT:

 

Second bout:

 

After getting a little better I managed to stay behind it and let the AI work itself out of my six. Then I got into a rather extensive turning circle, dropped flaps and hoped for a solution.

 

Takeaways: Unfortunately after the second time it still is an issue working out of the Tomcat's energy envelope. While the AI enjoys breaks (no g-limit, etc) it's still an issue when you're trying to maneuver against a more modern equivalent aircraft. It's fast, and that's the Crusader's hallmark, but then again this is my perspective on the jet, and that's my story. I'm pretty sure (and I think he has) Caesar can fly it better but in a sense getting into a turning fight spells doom. Had I taken the easy route I could have for the first two minutes shot the Tomcat down with a rear shot, but gotta have fun...

Edited September 29, 2012 by EricJ

[saisran 84]

AFAIK, chaffs are capable of fooling a missile's, uh, what's it called, I think proximity fuze.Dunno whether TW modeled that too, tho.

Anyway, nice report.Definitely ended up way better than some of my other x vs MiG-29 battles :P

 

thanks. read Eric and Caesar's Dacts they're way better than mine.

 

Me: F-18J with 4 x AIM-9P-1

F-14D(06) with sparrows, gun, AIM-9 (I think)

 

This one started off with my first (or second) time in the Crusader. I let the Turkey take off and shadowed it until it realized I was behind it. Once it did, it turned inside me, and passed me on my right side, it didn't have time for a missile launch, so it came around. And I wasn't feeling the turn so I took the risk of turning into the Tomcat. I probably could have gotten off a missile, but... I didn't have them selected. The Tomcat acquired me and then it shot me down with a 'winder.

 

Takeaways: The F-8 for me is old, so I don't push it as much as say, the Super Hornet, mainly because I've flown the Super Bug quite a bit. And in some ways it feels like a Phantom, all speed and no maneuverability to save it. I'll go for round two and see where it goes.

 

Man, u really did took the F-8 against a hard opponent. Good luck on the next round.

[+EricJ 3,985]

Me: F-8J(69) with 4 x AIM-9M and gun

Opposition: F/A-18E Super Hornet with 2 x AIM-9X and 8 x AIM-120, gun

 

Started off the same way, I snuck up on the Super Hornet from the rear, and for a few minutes worked him into an energy circle. At some point the Super shot at me, but I don't know when that was, maybe he just didn't feel like a missile kill. Anyway, I managed to get out of a rather extensive energy circle by finally going into the vertical and while I was going up the Super tried to cut my feet off with a 12 round burst. After missing the rest kinda slowed down... either for some reason the Super lost energy but after that I managed to select a winder, and first one missed by him being perpendicular to my aspect. At this point the Super Hornet was pure defensive and I managed to cajole the beast of the Crusader into another firing position, firing my second 'winder, this time being defeated by flares. After a little bit, I managed to get him closer to the HUD and finally splashed him.

 

Takeaways: I expected this to go the same way as I did with the Tomcat, but I think my total virtual flight time of over 700 hours just in the Super Hornet allowed me to defeat him, along with some praying and cajoling of the Crusader. Flown against the AI you CAN defeat it, but then again I did fly it with an Average skill. But then again it showed me that the Crusader can win the day. BVR? No.

 

But lastly, I wanted to talk about perpendicular shots... since I keep on thinking of it but just forget. Anyway if your target is going perpendicular (horizontal, vertical, diagonal) it's best to not shoot a missile at him, as the geometry is too much for even the most advanced missiles to intercept your target. Guns may work but even then you're still chasing the target. "Stabilize" your target and then work for a gun or missile kill.

[Do335 382]

interesting dact thnx!;) i think prolly a good move to go vertical, hornets have good alpha, roll and turn at 90kts but always lack bit of a smash. the B and later tomcats it seems outclass old crusader in every aspect by numbers....

 

and ericJ i found side shots with winders are possible in july patch now since tk upgraded the missile warhead, just need to pull a lot of lead, missiles in sf seem to use direct lead intercept instead of proportional

Edited September 29, 2012 by Do335

[+EricJ 3,985]

I actually found that out earlier when I went against an F-14D(06) in a Hornet. I managed to keep my nose ahead or so and managed to give the 'winder enough pull to intercept the Tomcat and shoot it down.

[saisran 84]

Found myself going vintage myself. As im a grumman fan decided to go with the F-9F against 2 faggots. i decided to bring 4x -9B's despite them being mostly useless. After take off i decided not to follow the way point as the one provided by the game is kinda screwed. It plan to take me to every inch of map before redirecting me towards the target. Since i set t up as an intercept mission i just kept on bugging the hawk-eye for target positions... the fight went 2 rounds.

 

First round. hawk-eye directed me right into the fray behind and under the fags. i zoomed up and armed the winders i came real close until the winder kicked in, unfortunately i was too close and too fast for it to track. the fags split and I rolled back down on the lead. managed to keep on his six through a short circle. Up onto when he decided to pull up on a loop then into a descending scissors. by this time the winders still has a cold nose and can't smell the fags stinking exhaust. before i could get close enough to try for guns. number two entered the fray and the fight from then on look like this...

 

This went on for 3 more times until below 4kft, on a forced split S to avoid being gunned down. the control froze. toggle flaps, toggle airbrakes, played with the rudders. tried pulling up and down... the cougar kept building airspeed and wont pull up was forced to eject and watch it spearhead into the ground.

 

second round i cheated. since my stick is MIA i flew this on normal. not much is different between hard and normal, the plane reacts the same with the input just more responsive. and that this time my controls didn't froze. Still has the 9B's and doing the same as before. i landed myself on the same position but this time i cut back on the throttle earlier to give myself a bit more room to position myself. About 1nm the fags are finally alerted to my presence as they split up immediately. As number two gave me hell earlier i decide to went for him. after a series of scissors. i managed to get him right in a very good position for a winder. Armed the wider, surprisingly a clear tone right away, fox 1. went straight to the ground the winder did. still hot on its six, winders cold went for guns. Added a bit of throttle and as soon as i see it start to change direction i moved in before in. managed to predict its movement just right as the fag went straight through my gunsight and i managed to knock of its tail.

 

 

 

check six for the lead fag. not there must have ran... called Hawkeye and minutes later found myself above it. he was probably unaware of my presence as he never made a move.

 

 

dove down on his six. got tone and fired all my winders for good measure. 1 out of the 3 hit and he goes down in flames.

 

 

Im not sure how good the modeling of the F-9F is. but aside from the controls freezing, it handled pretty well against the fag. good turn and quite quick on the pickup to 380kts. managed to reach sub mach numbers easily on the first round.

 

Oh yeah some bad quality vid with me trying fraps and not really working well with SF2 and my anemic system.

 

A neat landing despite the lack of stick.

Edited September 29, 2012 by saisran

[Caesar 305]

Good stuff, saisran!

 

With regard to the F-8 against the F-14, I'd be more willing to take on an A model Tomcat in the Crusader, in spite of the fact that it, too, outclasses the Last Gunfighter in every category I can think of. The A's ~.75:1 T/W, lower sustainable "g" and worse Ps curve compared to the B/D, I feel, could more easily tip the scale in the player's favor in the F-8. Generally, against the F-4J I don't have a hell of a hard time in the F-8J, but I do find the Crusader more of a handful if I'm flying the Phantom II. I took up an A-4 Super Fox (hard wing) two nights ago against an F-14A and an A+. The A shot off my starboard stabilizer and ran for home. I caught up and shot off his port rudder before RTB. Against the A+, I was painfully defensive through most of the fight, but it ended in my favor, because we had gotten low, and the AI pilot had made a few hard vertical presses, including one which caused him to have to pull hard and into my flight path to avoid hitting the ground. Estimated his position and put a stream of gunfire in his flight path. Not a very satisfying victory, but at least both fights were fun!

 

Will test out the F-8 tomorrow.

[+EricJ 3,985]

Here's an "okay" DACT, might as well get used to the new Vipers. It could have been shorter but shows my rust in the knife fight:

 

[saisran 84]

Nice vid Eric. question, what terrain are you using?

 

Looking forward to it Caesar. this might get you in the mood.

 

http://youtu.be/FBZ6-cCseCw

 

the 2nd half makes me wanna see if i could survive the same situation.

[+EricJ 3,985]

It's the Southern California map

[thodouras95 25]

Seeing you guys fighting close-in without using the red visual target square makes me feel like the ultimate rookie.

[Caesar 305]

OK, folks, I ain't beat yet, but I sure had my ass handed to me on the last three fights I took up! The F-14A Tomcat is underpowered and large, to be certain, but it is a maneuverable SOB, as has been proven time and again in history, and taking the F-8J in-game up against it is not the easiest fight. I feel like my biggest mistake was trying to go slow with the Turkey, even though the AI never dropped the flaps. If it had, I wouldn't have stood a fraction of a chance, but as it turned out, even without this tactic, I couldn't capitalize on my position of advantage against the F-14A nearly enough to gain victory. I'll bag the Turkey yet - here's what we had.

 

Loadouts (all):

F-8J: guns, 100% fuel

F-14A: guns, 100% fuel

 

All three fights were very similar, so I'm only going to list what generally happened, and what end results were. In all fights, I was picked up by the F-14's radar first. I was unable to lock the Tomcat until about 7-10NM or so away. By the time I had lock, I was near visual range, and typically with about 1.3M to play with. In all fights, I went high, and then rolled the F-8J on its back to try to get on the Turkey's tail with gravity and "g" aiding me in the press. The AI (in all fights) turned hard into me and went for my tail as I went for its. The problem is that the AI was getting the Tomcat slow, and so didn't need so much "g" to out-rate my F-8J. Every time, as I came back up and over, the Tomcat was gaining a position of advantage.

 

All fights ended up with me dropping the F-8's flaps, and the Tomcat able to out turn me as speed bled down, however, I was able to get a position of advantage several times against the Turkey. This usually happened by performing a vertical press and working the rudder to direct my nose at the F-14, the problem being that I was running into the F-8's lift limit, and when I thought I would end up in a firing position, wasn't able to hold the nose long enough to shoot. As can be seen in the various shots I've included, I was able to get the Tomcat on my gun camera, just not in a firing position. Those few times I was in a position to fire, I took the shot, but it was never good enough to land a hit.

 

Example: I end up with an angle-off shot, but the F-14 is already in the middle of his turn, and if I try to follow, gain nothing. Reversing into a two-circle still isn't good enough, and the F-14 typically gets nose on first.

 

 

 

In the first fight, I wound up going too aggressively for the F-14's tails and put my nose into the dirt from a low-altitude vertical press. Fight two saw an elongated horizontal scissors with the F-14 in the position of advantage, and when I tried to pull hard to force an overshoot when I saw he was getting a firing solution, we had a midair collision. Fight three ended with the F-14 following me through the vertical, and as I saw it run out of energy and unload as I came down, the AI pilot flopped the Turkey on its back to follow me. I ran for the deck, then put the stick in my lap, but the F-8's worse alpha saw me run into the lift limit my wings/stabs could sustain, and the F-14 put a stream of 20-mike-mike through my starboard wing. The F-8 caught fire and I was forced to eject.

 

Crash in fight 1:

 

About the closest I get for a shot:

 

Turning with the F-14:

 

Mid-Air fight 2:

 

Vertical press in fight 3:

 

End of fight 3:

 

Takeaways: I'm not done yet - I wound up in a position of advantage too many times to say this fight isn't winnable, but I will say that the F-8 is certainly outmatched by the F-14A. To win, I'm thinking that I have to maintain the slow fight, keep those vertical presses, but I need more available energy so I can capitalize when I'm behind the F-14. Every time I tried, I could get nose on but could not sustain the turn, and the F-14 kept pulling and got away as I could not match the AI's pull, forcing the fight neutral, then forcing me defensive as it came around. I tried multiple times to go from one circle to two circles and the AI still got on my six. I think fight three had the closest call for me, as I wound up on the F-14's five, six and seven o'clock on several occasions, but never long enough for a shot, and again, the F-14's better angle of attack limits and higher available "g" at lower speeds thwarted my presses until I went vertical and the F-14 followed, ending the fight with a gun shot.

[+EricJ 3,985]

Seeing you guys fighting close-in without using the red visual target square makes me feel like the ultimate rookie.

 

Don't feel bad, sometimes I feel like using Padlock is cheating, so... it's all the same I guess.

 

But makes me feel good (in a way) that it's not me that the low alpha of the Crusader was the problem, and not my rusty skills.

Edited September 30, 2012 by EricJ

[saisran 84]

real pilots have 20/20 vision. plus they have the ability to swivel their head around and spot the bandit. ingame your limited to infront of your screen and the graphic quality of your screen. i also use the red target whenever i can't get a visual. i only turn it off until i'm near enough that i can see it.

[Caesar 305]

Finally got it (F-8J vs F-14A). Fight started as normal, but upon tally, rather than dive down on the F-14, I pulled into him, and had .97M on the aircraft. The Crusader was able to sustain about 7g throughout our one circle for a good 15 seconds, as speed bled down. The F-14 was again gaining on me. This led to the series of loops that I had been getting in and more than one set of shots taken against my Crusader. As we battled, the altitude got lower until the fight was on the deck. As per the last three fights, the F-14 had me highly defensive, but because we were so low, I knew one of us would make the mistake of making a diving press at too low altitude (like I did in my first fight). In this case, however, it was the F-14 that tried to roll onto my tail with too little space to work with (AI still not deploying flaps!)

 

 

 

 

What this did was allow me to shoot up into the vertical as the AI made a hamfisted recovery. I didn't have a lot of energy, but I realized that departing the plane and quickly recovering it might actually help, so I overfed the rudder and lo and behold, the F-8's nose sliced down toward the F-14's six. Recover, flaps, good pitch and I've got nose-on! I take a snap shot which doesn't hit, but the AI starts burning its energy by pulsing the jet, maybe in an effort to cause me to overshoot or as a jink. Regardless, I pull hard, get the nose ahead of the F-14 and let a stream of 20mm into his flight path. These rounds strike, but don't destroy the aircraft. They do, however, cause it to fly far less aggressively, so the follow up was easy.

 

 

 

 

I then took up an A- Tomcat against the F-8J. I was driving the fight, I had the power, rate and radius advantages even at 100% fuel. That fight started with myself going high and looping into a turn from above to below the F-8. After a series of two loops, I was behind the F-8, who began diving for the deck. Flaps down, keeping the nose low, I found myself inside of the Crusader's turn and from here, the AI was unable to shake me. But damn did it move that F-8! It took some 180 rounds before I finally landed a clean hit and kill.

 

 

 

 

Takeaways: The F-8 can defeat the F-14 (as any airframe can defeat any other!), but the fact of the matter is that I was not driving the fight. When I tried, shooting for the F-14's tail, the Crusader, as before, wasn't in a good enough position as the F-14 either continued its turn or brought itself vertical, usually firing just as we passed each other. The F-8 doesn't have the lift, the power, or the maneuverability of the F-14A. I knew this going into the fight, as with the previous ones, but I didn't expect to loose as many times (the F-14 doesn't have the maneuverability of the F-31 concept fighter or the fictional KF-2, but I was able to secure a victory more quickly against them!), and even when I finally got my victory, I was able to get the kill more so because the AI didn't want to become a lawn dart and had to worry about recovery. This in turn allowed me to get onto its six for the gun shot. Well, a kill's a kill!

 

Perhaps, I shouldn't have been trying to put my nose towards the tail, now that I think about it. As one pilot put it, "Lag Pursuit is for [sissies]!" (didn't use that word, but it is more family-friendly). Time to work on that high angle-off gun shot...

[+EricJ 3,985]

Me: F/A-18D (03) WIP with 2 x AIM-9L and 2 x AIM-7, tank and gun

Opposition: F-8J with 4 x winders and gun

 

Started off just like the video, once he noticed me he immediately tried to force me into an overshoot and he did a good job of almost making me crash (close to the mountains, natch), but after unscrewing myself he immediately tried to put me into an energy circle. After defeating it I did a half loop and nailed him with a 'winder.

 

Takeaways: Knowing that the Crusader lacks high alpha means that if you're in a high-alpha fighter, well it's pretty simple. I can guess that the F-8 tried to come up with me as I was past vertical, and therefore was slower and made a near (probably, maybe, no ACMI unfortunately) impossible shot, one I know I couldn't pull off with anything that has good maneuverability. In short, as an opponent vs. Missiles the F-8 is easy bait. Theoretically I could have played more but I wanted to get one over before I went to bed.

[saisran 84]

Nice fight Caesar, Eric. I haven't come up on top against the F-14 or the F-16 for that matter when flying the F-8. Is there a terrain map for SF2 that has the same Valley and Ridges gradient as the American North West Terrain? or will ANW work on SF2? i figure that having deep valleys and tall mountains to hide in might work in my favor against the AI. forcing them to crash before i do.

[+EricJ 3,985]

ANW works fine with SF2.

[saisran 84]

Since i lsot my stick i was kept far and away from sf2. can't figure out which release of ANW i had so just settled with mountain thaw. Oddly the raptor is easily detected by the F-14B from any distance. so upped the -22s RCS a bit and tailored a mission for an analog vs stealth. Took of with 4 F14D made a mistake of not tailoring the load so was flying with 4 54s on the pancake and 2 winders for each plane. vs 8 raptors with long range load. what happened was a crazy dive to the trenches fast and low flying while avoiding an onslaught of AMRAAMs.

 

Took off and follow the way points. nearing the obj i ran a radar scan for the raptors. can't find them. called hawkeye and he got no contact either. called the squad to spread formation and climbed up to 20k and cycle through the ranges. some time passed and i got a missile launched on me. My rwr began blaring and got a 22 mark on my 12. They were right in front of me and they're completely invisible. I was right above a set of valleys. Called my squad to break and engage air (problem is we still dont know exactly where the enemy is. RWR is getting stronger. turned ECM on and dropped chaffs while diving to the deck. Another missile launch called on me. pressed shift+R got visual lock and called my wing on in. got another launch and called my squad on it. they valley that i took isn't that deep but very narrow with large elevation gradient and with sharp turns and curve. i was literally threading the D inside it. I was thinking that i'll be the decoy attract fire and asked my squad to attack wthoever it was that's firing. Several times i come out of the valley and got missile launch called on me. dove down steep and fast to remove lock on me. barely managing not to crash on several attempts. flicking the tomcat in the opposite direction each time i came to close to a wall or the deck. Great thing the tomcat doesn't depart. i would have been dead in anything else.

 

I really wasn't able to track what is happening but i heard my squad call for positive kill several times. got into a long deep valley and my rwr has been quiet for a while and then i call my wing for a status check. F6 to cycle through the planes in the air. only got no.4 left and still have 3 raptors remaining. check map and they're on my 9 heading in opposite direction. probably out of AMRAAM and going home. gave chase following the canyons. i quickly caught up with a trailer, cycle to radar ACM, TWS and search, cycle through the ranges. freakin raptor is now virtually invisible to the radar from any ranges. moved in closer for winders. i called no.4 on the lead raptor. my mark decided to go vertical since im already nose up and carrying more momentum it was a piece of cake to follow and close in. got a long clear tone from its afterburner and fox 2. a couple of second and he's a burning mess.

 

Visual on no 2. from map view. were flying perpendicular towards each other probably about 5nm apart. i turned into him and he did the same. selected guns for the merge and the bastard let his winder loose. Rolled the cat immediately. Were closing in to fast for it to track but that scared me a bit. revenge. Even with the useless phoenix underneath, thanks to all those climbed and dive i did to avoid the AMRAAMs i burned a significant amount of fuel and i was able to get into a better position. Followed the raptor through a one circle for a very long time, waited for it to straighten out or reverse direction. What it did was it straighten out and dive for the deck. i followed maintaining a good firing distance for my winder. the raptor got low and when the terrain began to elevate it went for a steep climb. By this time i was tracking it with the winder and fired as soon as we cleared the terrain clutter. the winder hit its mark. the lead raptor is still alive but im out of usable missile and no.4 is winchester. decided to let him go before it gets lucky and RTB.

 

 

 

Checked the log. It seems that i managed to avoid 11 AMRAAMs and 1 9X. The Raptor only able to bag 1 tomcat with missile as my wingman seemed to have crashed into the scenery along with 2 F-22. and between the 3 of them they managed to down 3 -22s with the winder. add the 2 kills i have and the one that turned chicken. it was probably the best mission i had as of late. It's certainly one of those rare events that my wingmen were more than useful against a difficult opponent.

[+daddyairplanes 9,123]

wondering on you guys take on this but was thinking of a part from The Warbirds where Jack Locke gets invited to fly a stored F-4E against a Mirage 2000. he tools around in the weeds awhile flying a max fuel conservatio profile while the Mirage is looking for him. then when the Mirage is gettin skosh fuel he zooms up gets the gun camera photage and RTB. how workable is just such a scenario esp. when the opponent is far more advaced than yourself? i usually fly A2G myself and first thing when RWR is screaming at me is to get on the deck and go fast (usually 200ft, 450-600 kts depending on loadout and where i am in mission). i usually complete the mission this way and might even get a -23 or two on the way home. wondered how it works for A2A though esp for DCA.

[Slartibartfast 153]

DA I must admit I normally fly attack and am having fun with OP Darius at present and I prefer older metal as we know and I am having a blast shooting down Tomcats (Sorry) Su-27's Mig's of all colours and the odd J-10 with a GR-4 Tornado and so far I am about 10 missions in and still alive... getting a gun kill on a J-10 was hard hard work and I nearly didn't make it back to base but it was great fun... I will probably do a series once I have time with the A-4E over Vietnam fully bombed up with iron as I can normally once cleaned up outfly pretty much anything with one or run it to Bingo first...