Flanker562

It's a slow night... Me: F-14D (06) with 4 x AIM-9M and 4 x AIM-7M Sparrows, gun, tanks Opposition: Two F-5Ns with 2 x AIM-9Ls, guns I guess maybe they wouldn't play right or it just seems that once you kill the wingman, they don't want to mix it up. Anyway, I had forgotten that there were two so I killed the lead first and decided to play with the leaderless wingman. Well after a near mid-air collision the wingman... just wasn't biting at all, so after rollig around he decided to adopt a fatalist attitude, so I locked him up eventually and had a Sparrow kill. Takeaways. It seems to me that the lead is always the more aggressive (which isn't often the case but...) than the wingnut, which in some cases is true but it left me with "yeah I got two kills but uh..."

Me: F/A-18D (03) with 2 x AIM-9L, 2 x AGM-65E2, 2 x AGM-88, 1 x AIM-120B, LTD/R, tank, gun Opposition: A total of three Mig-23MLAs This was just a mission I had played, and actually used it for a more "sneak attack" type scenario but at the end turned out different. The first two kills were easy, with the exception of the first. After padlocking him I turned into him, and waited, then fired. Upon looking at the top map view I was crossing my thumbs as there were two friendlies in the area (and the Migs had taken potshots at them) I hoped... and got a good shooting! instead of a friendly fire kill... Anyway that was taken care of and the enemy Mig had given me a good angle to take care of the HQ Building I was tasked out with destroying. I launched my Mavs and there was one other Mig heading south and after getting a Mission Complete I turned into the next -23 and fired my last -9L, killing him. After that it was time to head home and I had found another two Migs were harassing another of my friendly Weasel flights so I initially turned into him and was like "No worries" but... he came after me and I had dodged and he fired an AA-8 at me, with me dropping flares and using terrain masking while it tried to follow me in the weeds with the missing going for the flares or me just getting lucky with the rocks behind me... anyway we ended in a small energy circle and then since I had my AMRAAM left... I locked him up and once he leveled out I popped him with it and finally headed for home, with the fighter sweep aircraft coming into cover my butt and to rescue the Weasels. Takeaways. The biggest problem with this whole ordeal is battle tracking for the earlier part of the mission. If I hadn't paid any attention I'd have a friendly fire incident on the mission and I would have had to refly it, with a damaged ego fuelling it. But luckily I had gotten the right one and walked away with three kills.

Doing TMF Tomcats is never my favorite skinjob... Anyway, some Marine airpower...

The Archer as it stands is a crap missile and not as advanced as many would like to think, the IRIS-T and 9X outclasses it (as well as the Pythons) despite the fact its the most well known HOBS missile on the market. Though the R-74EM shows promise... As for the Viper, well... don't know what to say, I would have popped it with another heater (you probably would have gotten it then)

Me: F/A-18F with 4 x AIM-9X, 6 x AIM-120D, gun, tank Opposition: Two F-5N Tiger IIs with 2 x AIM-9Ls, guns Same scenario as above, but played out different. Since I knew they took off in pairs I headed out to the airfield and orbited a bit, staying out of the flight's sensing range. Lead then his wingman finally took off. Instead of playing around with the wingman, I shot a winder at him off-boresight, killed him and moved to the lead, in which yeah... I could have picked him off with an AMRAAM I instead played with him a bit. We got into a few energy circle and finally went vertical to break it. Once I came over the top I had a much better play as now he wasn't moving so much across my HUD (and trying for a missile shot or simple maneuvering). Once I launched he dumped flares and the 9X impacted, killing him. Takeaways: Much different from above isn't it? If I had been truly ruthless I could have picked them off from takeoff but I do have some honor in knocking them down. But in any case, the whole point is take the time and use tactical patience. One less jet in the sky is better than two very capable planes gunning for you...

Me: F/A-18F with 4 x AIM-9X, 6 x AIM-120D, gun, tank Opposition: Two F-5N Tiger IIs with 2 x AIM-9Ls, guns This is NOT how you should fight the Tiger II, just so people get an idea of not playing dirty. Okay, same setup, I let the first jet go ahead while I picked up his wingman coming from behind. After some yo-yoing we get into some dizzying energy circles, he nearly plows into the ground, and well... it gets interesting. But while I'm playing with wingnut, lead is coming around and is setup and fires a winder at me. After praying and dropping some flares I managed to avoid it, fixated on No. 2. This is like the movie Top Gun... but I don't got no wingie, but remember, they talk to each other so while No.2 acts as bait, No. 1 is shooter and again, I go into a turn and I think either No. 2 crashed or got shot by the No.1's winder. Which brings me to another point, he fires again and misses, after some praying and flare ejection I managed to shake the second 'winder. So about this time where my original target was, and probably a funeral pyre, but I haven't realized, I'm the target now. After this the Tiger gets on my six, and it's only a matter of time as I go vertical and there he is, gunning me down... Takeaways.... Target fixation, don't get tunnel vision and think you're always going to pull off a multiple engagement, especially when they're spread out like that. Pick them off one by one. There isn't anywhere (except in chivalry) that says you have to fight all at once. Instead (as you'll see in the next situation) reducing the odds in your favor is your pure intent.

And here's where I can't say he's wrong, but I prefer to do it like that, and it's worked since Flanker 2.5, so is his way wrong? No, but as said it works for me and I stick with it.

That's how I approach more maneuverable fighters. Since I rarely make gun kills or unable to, going for the missile kill may take less time.

http://combatace.com/topic/44026-converting-older-planes-to-work-in-sf2-%E2%80%93-a-basic-guide-by-migbuster/

For me pitching the nose down exerts downward inertia on the jet, thereby forcing it to fly as gravity pulls your jet down and therefore it'll stop moving around so much.

I had the same problem when I got smacked real hard during on Op. Darius strike mission, I lost my left stabilizer and was rolling to the right. I assume it's just the mass isn't there to balance the plane out. And time dialation is still the weirdest experience

Super Hornet Problem solving: If I disabled auto-flaps it'd work (which no, I won't), but this is how it goes: 1. Fly up until you run out of airspeed. 2. Let go of stick, but keep nose pointed upwards (eventually you'll even go negative speeds...) 3. Flaps assist greatly with the Super Bug (never tried it with a Bug though...) 4. Let nose point downwards, apply thrust and fly away. In short it's impossible even on Hard FM to stall (I actually tried it after watching the video). Even pulling hard sometimes puts me close but nothing even remotely called "departure". I got close but hands-off the joker just settles, apply thrust and fly away. Okay maybe a little more feeling for the Bugs: 1. You can hold the stick as long as you want but eventually the plane is going to stop spinning (and that's very short) and once you hands-off or relax on the stick, it'll settle and you can start flying again. 2. I've never been a real Hornet pilot so if anybody has and can force a departure... let me know as I think I may be not forcing it too much, but if not, then refer to #1 above.

Me: F/A-18D (92). 2 x AIM-9M, 2 x AIM-120, gun Opposition: J-6 with guns Honestly I thought the J-6 would be different but after a quick internet search the thing is basically a Chinese copy of the Mig-19 and so... things to be expected were the UFO like qualities of flight and other fun flying associated with one Mig-19. After flying around near aimlessly (once he sensed me he was all over me like flies on... yeah) and I managed to wear him out (and I was a bit out of energy. One thing that the J-6 can't do is a power climb, as it mainly stayed near the ground when I went vertical, came over the top and fired a 'winder, killing it. Takeaways: The Mig-17/19/J-6 are all very good maneuverable aircraft and thinking because you have an advantage, and to some extent, you do. However, the thing is lethal and if he'd be quicker on the trigger he would have gutted me a couple times. Two is the hardest challenge as while you're dodging one the other is probably lining up on you for a gun shot. Kill it quickly and move on, if you have a missile shot.

Pretty damn good shooting... but Russian technical brochures (I want to say Kashtan, but some other system) say that 300m is... the blast radius for an ASM so when you shoot one down, you want to make sure it's shot before it gets to that point, and something you will now keep in mind But I'll let that one slide though... can't deny somebody kudos for shooting a missile...

Honestly I was waiting for a more unprofessional slide to end it but can't have everything...

Nice..

Not bad...

Me: Mig-29K with 4 x R-73, 4 x R-74EM, gun Opposition: F/A-18C (92) with two AIM-9Ms and 4 x Sparrows, gun (Current Download) At the merge it took the... enemy to finally bite. On my first try I got him to bite, but G-Loc (more discussed later) forced me to dart into the ground, not good. The second try took me a few (more like 6 to 7) minutes to get the Amerikanski to finally dogfight... and it was pretty exhilirating but I ended up in his sights and I managed to go vertical and dodge two AIM-9Ms (I think it was flares as I was too easy to pick off) and came out of the vertical and managed to get the Hornet to maneuver for I would say an R-73 shot and it missed mainly due to maneuvering though flares would have helped this missile launch. He managed to level off and the cursed thing missed (another R-73) and then I fired an R-74, and it missed! So the Hornet driver leveled out and I sent another R-74 up his tailpipe, killing him. Takeaways: G-LOC is a primary concern with this beta FM unfortunately, something experienced with the Rafale as well. Unfortunately the Hornet isn't a laughing matter so you'll probably black out and somehow get out of it (matter of fact i blacked out going vertical and had to use externals to wonder which direction I was going) or plow into the terrain. Sooo... When the FM gets tweaked and bettered I'll have a go at it, but don't get into ACM too much though... Otherwise it is a nice jet...

Me: F/A-18F with 4 x AIM-9X, 6 x AIM-120D, gun, tank Opposition: Mig-29K with 4 x R-73 and 4 x R-77, gun Fight started out (like others) with me on his tail, and once he recognized me, tried to shake me until I got a little bored and let him come at me. Once he bit the TIE fighter (though it stunk common Fulcrum) FM came about and he managed to lock me up for a bit (enough to take a shot) but he didn't fire (at least I'm aware of anyway). But after a lengthy energy circle he managed to lose energy and try to outrun me again, so I took pity on him and smoked him with a 9X. It took him a few minutes for him to "die" (so I could get a mission success) but otherwise the lack of rearward vision... got him. Takeaways: I don't want to say the FM is bad, or worse, but it is characteristic of a typical Mig-29. Unfortunately the K should be slightly heavier but overall a tough opponent so far.

I don't think anybody (I don't) takes your work for granted... it's just sometimes I get the more simple Soldier opinion of seeing how it works for real and base your opinions and observations on that. Such as a 5.56mm round has a maximum range of 3,200m or so. Cool to know but doesn't mean anything to me. Now if you said you can kill somebody at 500m then that's more relative and more informative.

Even in the Super Hornet the Mig-19s aren't very good, one I can deal with but you really have to watch it with two.. I've gotten shot down quite a few times by the UFOs (Mig-19s)

I think so, as it adapts for the 5-wet configuration, Id have to take a peek in the NATOPs and doublecheck. I know the FSX one you have to really trim to get it right though. And thanks for the link both!

Me: F/A-18F with 4 x AIM-9X, 6 x AIM-120D, gun, tank Opposition: F-5N Tiger II with two L/M winders, guns Started behind him and... nearly ran over him as well but pulled out of it and entered a few energy circles and after a few attempts... couldn't shake him out of it. I tried to lob the missile ahead of him, thinking "easy kill" but was defeated by maneuver and flares (though he was still in the circle so more by maneuver) and after another energy circle he got progressively lower. I thought at first he'd run into the ground but he pulled up and since I was turning into him and took the shot after realizing he was in a better position for me to shoot. Another 9X and it eventually got him. Takeaways. First is the first screenshot, and the point against the Tiger II is where is he? By logic he's in the middle of the screen so even with padlock its still hard to get a clear bead on where he is. Second was the lobbing of the missile. It was a risky shot and I had to try and take it. Other, slower and heavier planes you may get lucky but the energy level on the Tiger II is very high, and the first thing you should plan for is the energy circle if you're heavier. And the last piece is analyzing fighter behavior. Naturally (unless you're a kamikaze) you'd avoid the terrain. The Tiger II pilot did so and I used that to get my shot in.

Actually my "debug" is the radar symbology but whatever works

Which boils down to shooting at stuff and noting how it works and remembering it. Granted a great read so far but sometimes just getting in game and testing how it works is a different story or is the best way to understand performance because most of the time the hard data isn't always available.