EricJ

2nd bout Me: F/A-18F with EPE with 2 x AIM-9X and gun Opposition: F-31A with gun I thought with a lighter loadout I'd be good to go but it's just the same way, just maybe with a different view on how I get shot down. The only notation is that before the last image was taken I had thought I was at Mach 1... nope my engines were shot and my tailplanes gone. Some of my right rudder was missing. Needless to say I ejected and got another Purple Heart.

First off Dels, I hate you In all seriousness.... Bout 1 Me: F/A-18F EPE with 2 x AIM-9X, 8 x AIM-120. Opposition: F-31A with gun. In short the F-31 is just simply lethal. The F-31 is of course a "What If" concept borne out of the X-31 technology demonstrator and well... it's agile to say the least. This bout started off with us in the merge and we overshot each other. Well usually I can turn into my opponent and well do what i gotta do but this thing.. it's on you like flies on s*** instantly as while I was trying to figure out where it was it was coming from my right getting into gun range and by the way firing. So I tried to shake him and well just couldn't as I tried to pull into him, nope right on my ass and not stopping either. Maybe I should have cut thrust and forced an overshoot but then again I think it would have just set him up for a better shot as I tried it before and at the merge just got chopped to shreds. I blacked out quite a bit but still he was on me so eventually he gunned me down just like that. Takeaway? If you have long range missiles use your BVR-Fu

@Heretic I have little experience in the Rhino (F-4) other than strike missions and small training missions and can shoot down a MiG with a good Sparrow. And yeah adapting the map to SF2 standards is not very hard, best bet is to also check the topic about adding carriers to maps here in General Discussion. @daddyairplanes No you're seeing right as when I switched aircraft I didn't switch nations (EF2000 vs. Mirage 2000C fight) so didn't pay attention to detail when changing

Me: F/A-18F with EPE, 2 x tanks, 1 x ATFLIR, 2 x GBU-38, 1 x GBU-12D/B, 1 x GBU-51, 2 x AIM-9X, and gun Opposition: F-22A with gun. I had done a similar bout in the SF2 Screenshot Topic but a heavier load, so I modified by Afghan strike loadout by adding an additional 9X for the fight. Turns out I didn't need it after all. As it was unarmed except for its gun it should be noted that I had to visually acquire it. After the merge I went high and turned into him, managing to stick with him most of the way. The only limiting factor of course that I blacked out easier due to the lower G tolerance of all the weapons (and I was 62,890 pounds as well) so most of the fight in order to keep energy was to keep it in burner most of the time. He managed to get me nearly into a horizontal scissors and I broke away. He turned east and I reacquired him with my 9X after trying to gun him down or at least I tried to set myself up for a gun kill prior to the scissors but that didn't turn out as I liked. As he turned east he came around to the west with me pulling on top of him on my perch and took my first shot with the 9X tracking and killing him. As noted the F-22A is a phenomenal aircraft and should not be taken lightly. As noted sometimes I give the enemy weapons but in all sense of the word I would have been shot down before I even got within visual range. Then again I start out with him heading towards me so...

Nice Pureblue! Prowlers

You mean a line bird?

A lot of this has been covered before but Thirdwire is three people, so you're not going to see the level of development companies like Eagle Dynamics or other major flight sim developers. So a lot of the future of the game will be known in "two weeks".

As far as SoCal being updated I don't think so as I updated it on my own.

Year: 1969 Me: F/A-18E with 8 x AIM-9G Opposition: Mig-21F with 2 x Atoll and gun Just did a quick "What If" fight with the year same as the one set from the F-105 engagement just to see how things would work. Made it to the merge and he was high over me as he overshot. I turned around back into him and he went low and from my perch I took my shot, shooting him down. Went kind of fast but the contrast is obvious that turning into the MiG while so light was not very difficult at all and I took so many missiles on the expectation that the G would be useless. Quite obviously I got lucky since he lost sight of me and I could have handled him in the dogfight. Sure I should have played with him but I knew I had him cold and broke even on my first shot.

Yep it is

Thanks! Wing work...

I think somebody more experienced in the Phantom can give a report as IMHO its good for a bomb truck and that's it.... Bur that's my limited experience rather than an opinion with the Mig Killers on the forum... But yeah I've done that already and most of the bouts have been with friendly stuff against friendly stuff. so you'll see more though I like to vary it by using the Fulcrum..

Good point :) And no problem! As for the maneuvering and such I really don't have much experience (that was my first dogfight in a Thud) so I've dealt with MiG-21s in the BVR front which in reality isn't much when you've got an AMRAAM and he's got Atolls

Me: F-105D (66) with two tanks, 2 x AIM-9E-2 and 6 M117 bombs and gun. Opposition: MiG-21F with 2 x Atoll and gun I have SF2E so I "have" the F and the -105D. Anyways.... the long and short of this engagement is that the F-105D is of course OLD and therefore does not have the maneuverability to handle the lighter more maneuverable Mig-21. It's simply a bomb truck so fighter like maneuverability isn't in its design. As back then aircraft were single role. You had attack planes, and you had fighter planes. Today you have attack an fighter planes. The best anecdote of course is the Super Hornet versus MiG-21 fight. It's 15,000 pounds and I'm an even 53,000 pounds and I'm turning along with it so it's also the technology. Suffice to say I spent fourteen minutes turning with it on my tail. As you can see in the screenshots I'm removing stuff like tanks and bombs. If you're going North and you have the mission editor, assign yourself an escort flight or hit the deck and pray they follow you and smack the ground. Plus remember back then 'winders were rear aspect so you're not going to have the ease of a kill as people do now. The rest of the images show the 14 minute fight in snapshots of trying to get into firing position. After a few gun passes the MiG also fired both Atolls which thankfully missed, as you see in the screenshot with the speed actually there I was a sitting duck but after another turn and burn he decided that he was going to go home and tell his buddies that he nearly shot down a Thud. I did manage to try and snapshoot but still the 9E doesn't have all aspect capability so yeah... I missed. As he left the battlefield I slowed down, got a tone and lock, firing and getting my first Vietnam-era kill even though it was in SoCal. So can you bring it down in a fist fight? Not with rear aspect only AAMs and if you manage to ambush him yeah but if you got the fuel then good luck!

Specific loadout? If you're going north you're going to be carrying bombs or tanks or Shrikes so the more specific the better.

Nice work JAT!

Thanks and you too!

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Mirage stuff

Canadair I got you on that as far as the Strelas and the like, I'll PM you some stuff I use

Me: KF2 Hammer with 4 x KF2 18km IRMs and 2 x gun Opposition: Mirage 2000C S5 with tank, 2 x R530D and 2 x MICA IR At the start the Mirage did "detect" me but I think it was an issue of the stealth properties as it turned into me and then turned away heading north so I had to turn into it and get close enough for it to "see" me visually. After that the fight was on and we began the turn fight. The Mirage as a target (just like when you're flying it) immediately goes into the energy fight. Overall for the first half of the engagement I kept off the burner as initially I had some energy but then it decreased. But before that I got into a horizontal scissors and mindful of the last few times in this situation I merely swung with him not letting him A) Get close for a mid air and B) not overshoot. I successfully did both easily and worked for guns kill but no joy. Really my intent was to see how the KF2 18km missile really handled and having looked at the stats through the respective data_ini I was a bit leery with a 5 degree FOV, which is only better than an AIM-9A, which with a max turn rate of 50gs... makes it HOBS capable but the poor FOV ruins it. My guess the design intent is that of course using the stealth properties it needs only to be able to intercept it catching the target unaware. Anyways after that I got into another energy fight and this time came over the top, using AB now that I realized that I need the energy. I brought my nose parallel and fired, missing. Not to miss again I tried gunning him down but again no luck. After another scissors he managed to turn away and then extended and then I turned into him and shot him down finally with another KF2 18km missile. The only thing I can takeaway is that the KF2 is very maneuverable and once I got myself more energy turning with the M2000C was near flawless and easy to pull into. Only thing is that even though a 9X has a wider FOV its still able to miss as you've seen before. However I do have a better feeling of confidence in my weapons that have that capability versus this weapon. So after this I'm going to mod the FOV a bit and maybe get better results down the line.

It has to do with an ini issue, eburger68 will sort you out when he can.

Heading north

Me: F/A-18E Stock with 2 x AIM-9X and 8 x AIM-120, gun Opposition: Tornado ADV I had previously done a DACT with the ADV before and put simply I got annoyed and just shot him down. So as Ceasar reported above the aircraft in AI hands isn't very impressive. So anyways got to the merge and he overshot me and I turned back into him. At this point or so he extended to the north and I honestly had a perfect shot. There is no doubt in my mind I could have splashed him as I tracked him for at least a good minute if not 45 seconds. Instead I played with him some more and got back into the fight getting closer to him. At that point he turned and got me in a horizontal scissors and nearly clipped me. I managed to stay out of his gunsight fairly well up into that point but he bled speed and I pulled the stick into my lap heading for the ocean and he tried to cut me in half with his Mausers as also I was fumbling for a guns kill instead but he almost got his... After that near miss in two ways he turned away and I turned back into him firing one 9X and shooting him down. As Ceasar mentioned above the ADV isn't the most dangerous opponent in the skies (it's missiles if it had any would have been) but he didn't press the attack too well so I shot him down easy.