saisran

I Kinda mixed in all the SAMs available in game. but the most common i encounter on the Dessert terrain are the following Grail, Gainful, Gaskin, Gecko, Gremlin, Gimlet, Grouse, Gadfly and Guideline

Well, the Viper does sounds more promising for a merc as its cheap (netz atleast). So i'm being torn between splitting the missions between the Viper and the tomcat or. I could just splurge a bit and use BOLs and JDAMs instead of iron bombs and old LGBs I tried flying at 30000 ft. Hell of a lot of work keeping altitude but didn't save me from the SAMs.

I almost always fly Tomcat when campaigning; if not the tom, then its crusaders, older vipers and phantoms set in 1980 - 2000 so its pretty much just LGB and iron bombs. Another thing is, i like to fly as a merc. so i can swithc aircraft when i fancy. The problem with this. It seems like the Game like to drop you on suicide missions flying as a merc. Last time i went in I had to dodge a fleet of enemy warships on ingress and fly though a cluster of enemy bases on egress. I managed to dodge the SAM's, miss the target, got two AIM-7 kills on enemy interceptors; and finally saw tracers fly in towards my plane at 200ft. FOD'd my left engine which i wasn't able to put out and got captured by the enemy. :) I guess, the time frame i fly, gave me a lot of reliable SAMs to deal with.

Just my thoughts. Try to ease up on the stick. I actually configured my stick to give me just as little movement possible while im only using minimum input. I find that gradual movement on the stick and a bit of throttle management (B/D) works best for the Tomcat. Although if you do get slow and your in a 1v1, take comfort in the fact the you can drop your flaps and get an extra advantage. Still, as much as possible keep you speed up. http://combatace.com/topic/62762-sf2-series-dact-reports-and-related-a2a-discussions-game-only/page-58

Was trying to get to doing the dead is dead thing, however i just realized that i suck at using dumb bombs to LGBs from a low altitude. Going up trying to get altitude for a release can get you a lot of SAMs going your way. And flying as a merc kinda seems like the Game keeps placing you on a suicide mission. Used up 70% of the tomcats over all fuel load just trying to reach the target. https://youtu.be/dFGF2zHTGUM any tips for doing strike mission like the one above?

i tried to see i can replicate the fight against the F-22. Still have some quirks on the recording software but its working somewhat but with audio issue. The first practice battle was all over the place. as i was trying to fight while trying to maintain visual by using the mouse to pan the camera. End result was i lost orientation to my planes position to the ground several times. Therefore, i went back on what i was usually do and made this DACT. F-14B vs F-22 Raptor Guns only. I was cruising at 8000ft, speed of 450kts when i got a RWR warning. My instruments shows i'm getting pinged by someone upfront. Of course, even the Tomcats Awesomely powerful radar can get negated by the raptor's stealth. Added power and head straight to the threat. Got visual around 5nm just a bit to the left of my nose. Just around mach one we merged. i nosed my jet up and take a climbing left turn. Trading my speed for altitude and in attempt to get a position of advantage. I allowed the tomcat to bleed off airspeed as i climbed above 14,000 ft. At this point we were probably just behind the 3-9 line of each others plane. as the tomcat's speed drops to 400 Kias, plugged in the burner as the tomcat begins it's descent; pulled just a bit harder to tighten my turn. I was on the descent and hes trying to gain altitude. (We are just about to complete two turn cycles) I felt that the position was good so i eased of the power to try and maintain speed and turning rate. Slowly but surely my nose bagan to threaten him. He was going around 350Kias and i was coming in from 500 Kias to about 450 Kias. The Raptor reveresed is turn to throw me off but i was able to cut him off. trying to steady the piper on center as best as i could, i saw a probable opportunity and took it. It was a bit too far and not enough lead. I kept on pursuit and saw him level his plane. I dont know if he was either trying to extend, or reversing his turn. either way, i had too much energy for him to try either. He grew bigger on my sight and before he could try anything else. I pressed the trigger and allow as many rounds as needed. https://youtu.be/Cw2EgTOYYPg For whatever reason, the raptor wasn't as aggressive as the one i met in the campaign. Probably because i was able to met him on equal ground on the merged and i kept him on the defensive early on since i knew who he is and what threat i had to deal with. In a campaign scenario, if ever i got an RWR screaming at me ad can't get a radar lock myself i would have dived into the clutter immediately which would have placed me on the defensive and would have made it hell trying to reverse position while still keeping an eye out on other threats. Still Tomcat 2! Raptor 0!

Same thing. The only difference is you have much more agile and powerful jet which means you don't have to be in afterburner all the time. Also in the B/D; you can play in the 450 region (wing on mid swept) and watch as eagles and other modern fighter go round wide at .90M.

Sorry Cougar. Still unable to make my Mirilis work. I gues one of the nvidia update butchered the software.

Here's to hoping for some playtime during the coming holidays. As of now i managed to sneak it a couple of flights. I got no vids or pics just a story. F-14B Vs F-22A Raptor. Guns only After sweeping a flight of bombers and their escorts i was left with plenty of fuel after the drop tank so i decided to order my flight home and practice some low flying. RC spotted a bandit 5 miles 7 oclock. Not wanting to be a sitting duck i went and pointed my nose in the bandits direction to get him on radar. Got nothing asked RC for bandit position; 5 miles, 12 oclock, angles 0. Im looking at the right place but the tomcat's radar isn't showing the bandit. I scanned the horizon and saw the bandit just in time before he passed underneath. Took the cat up for a hard climb to the right, Blowers in full. Got visual on my shoulder, the game identified the bandit as an F-22. We Oscillated up and down in a right hand turngoin g around 320 to 380 Kias in about 4 turns in which duration the raptor took some snap shot which didn't connect. I needed some separation and more speed. endured until we get up to 5000 ft; rolled the cat in an inverted dive until before 1k ft. rolled right up and pulled out of the dive just before the water. i was able to get 1nm and started a climbing back up in a right turn. managing my throttle and stick input i was able to maintain an airspeed of around 450 to 520 KIAS while maintaining a G loading of 4.5 to 4g. As it turns out the Raptor doesn't like flying this profile and had to back down to just over 400 KIAS just to turn with my tomcat. I felt an advantage and took the tomcat in the vertical which placed my tomcat above the Raptor. What happened next is the reason why the raptor should be feared. There i was; half a mile behind with my sights right on point and no radar lock. I toggled out of ACM to try for manual acquisition and no joy. My gunnery hasn't always been my strong point but it has always been quite a long time since i went analog. I followed the raptor though every turn with each of my shot being a result of a misinterpretation of the gun sight. Finally, i threw caution out the windows and drove my tomcat right up close so that his afterburner can melt the nose of my cat. He jinked up and i waited for him to bring his nose down, placed a bit of rudder correction to steady the sights; and took a short burst which set the raptors engine on fire. After that it's a slow descent to the ocean below. It was really amazing that during 16 mins( i think) i tangled with the raptor, i only spent a few thousand lbs of fuel. I was never in the burner except for the instance i needed to extend and for the couple of occasions i went vertical. for the most part i was only using 30 to 50% of the tomcat's power to keep up with the raptor. I guess it help the fight that i didn't pulled the stick too hard. it seems like the raptor doesn't like it when the opponents isn't going for who ca turn the tightest approach. Although the radar failing to lock has always been an issue against stealth fighters; given the right circumstances you can get a radar lock. And even if you don't you can always rely on the latest -9s and good gunnery.

Just read everything that Caesar said.

Can i join? wait... no nukes?

Have tried this before in an F-16 loaded with heaters and rockets in a ground mission even got my squad to turn off their radar. All of us got nailed from long range by the fleet of flankers, foxbats and fulcrums set to intercept us. P.S. I have had an experience where the Long range AHM missle (R-60 or R-77 cant remember which one) loitered for an hour and struck me right after i thought it was safe. How long does this missiles stay airborne? I knew from experience that an AIM 54 can sometimes loose track and go on flying trough the stratosphere which is also weird.

Nice reads guys! Glad i ventured into the thread today. Bad start of the year for SF2 for me. I gained significant amount of weight so now all of my free time are now devoted to boxing and badminton. Plus I cant get my Mirilis Action video recorder working. Still,really nice reading about the Lightnings and the BVR engagements. @stratos. I haven't found a decent counter to the AIM-54 and other AHM missiles except being aware that they are there. As you wont really receive any warning when they are launched. What i do is i fly as low to the ground as possible and hide at uneven terrain then get as close as possible really quick as to make the long ranged useless. It would also be great if you could get the bandit to pass overhead so ou can pop up behind them and get them with a heater. Although by using this strategy, your basically sacrificing your squadron as they wont be able to follow you on the ground. You could try ordering them to break from time to time or get them to engage as many bandits as they can so your free from fire.

If this ever comes out. I'll definitely going to get it along with a new set of hardware.

It's quite nice to see the tomcat receiving such care. even though its an alley cat.

Finally able to walk so im gonna take that trip assignment tomorrow and before i go i decided to play some quick missions. Started up a new campaign in the black seas, i rolled down the runway for a take off. nose up gently and retracted the wheels and flaps but the aircraft continues pitching up pushed forward on the stick and to level the nose and as soon as i let go it pitched up. I thought i got a bug on the tomcats data so i went ahead and re installed them. However the problem didn't go away. Then i thought that it might be my controller. so i unplugged the stick and flew with the keyboard. And bingo! the tomcat flew straight and true. Did anyone had any like experience and have tips on how to fix this? Thanks!

Just got back to civilization and i'm very sorry for the delayed reply. Well... Good News. When i opened up my System earlier it asked me to do an update. Once done. Following centurion's tip i opened the properties and saw the joy stick cross hair dead center i unplugged it and plugged again and it was still in the center. So i fired up the game and to my delight the problem went away. :) But still i think it's time for me to think about saving up for a better set up. Thanks guys!

didn't even paid attention to that. got curious nd took a peek. just 80 hrs for my 50:52:49 for my current pilot. is that read as hh:mm:ss?

cool vid cougar! really nicely done. Once i'm able to move about i'll try to get back to flying.

Life caught up and been too busy to post. Anyways, Nice Flying cougar. It has always been easier to take on the Viper using the vertical. Hope to get back to SF by January.

Is this because its December or did everyone went on a mission and left me behind?

2nd hop was against the F-14B AI (limiter and auto flaps.) This one was a lot more scary than hitting the ground. The F-14B with the limiter has really turned into a fun opponent. Got into a left hand one circle where the F-14B just simply negates all my attempt to get the advantage at all speeds. From above 350 to well under 300Kias the tomcat demands a long fight if i was going to stick with it. 350Kias region is tomcat territory. I figured that the only way to go on this fight is to force a nose on nose scenario where my plane's smaller size can be an advantage. Went really slow for a tighter radius to get our plane to pass at a shorter distance. This engaged the Turn tight - head on shot - extend - turn tight - head on shot routine of the AI. Now, while the fulcrum wasn't able able to get any shot off. The tomcat managed to get nose on almost all the time. The fight was then a race against time as to who can hit the other plane first. Lucky for me that even as the tomcat is getting off first it was my rounds that managed to hit first. Hes a a very big target up close after all.

Finally able to DACT. I placed Crusaders avionics on this model which i think is an updated version and the issue with the landing gear is now gone. First bout was against the Mig-29A. The mig began the merge low and climb ed up to meet me at around 7K Ft. Took a hard left turn, fighting blackouts as i got into a more advantageous position than the AI which began the mandatory one circle fight. Being a nimble little jet the goshawk was able to match the fulcrums turn at 400KIAS the problem with this is the consistent blackouts. I let the goshawk slow down under 400KIAS for better management. 350Kias seems like a general sweet spot for most birds and the goshawk turns really at this region. The AI countered by ignoring blackout and accelerated to 450Kias which i countered by placing the goshawk nose low to increase my energy and shorten my radius. Though there's no radar lock i thought i got a good estimate and took a shot which missed. The fulcrum then straighten out and reversed direction. I got to eager trying to get lead and i bled out my energy for a shot which didn't connect. Since trying to gain energy on the Goshawk takes forever i decided to press on with the offensive and went down to 250 region where i can deploy flaps. This enables me to get on his six and he responded by going vertical and pulled inverted towards me. I took another shot which also misses as he passed by over head. I leveled my wings belly up and pulled to complete the loop exited at 500ft and found the fulcrum going back into another half loop. He wasn't able to threaten me at the merge but i was able to get a shot off which also missed. Got fairly excited and went for a suicidal move by doing a Split S just starting from under 2500 ft. level out at around 400ft but having the altitude indicator turn red is a bit scary. he passed me on my right on the merge. I was already very low and doesn't really have the energy to climb without loosing the offensive. I took a left hand turn and decied to try my best in sustaining what little energy i have on the turn. Two passes and i was able to take part of the left wing out and maybe do some damage on the engine or fuel line. The fulcrum accelerated away from the battle i followed him for a bout 20 miles and watched him hit the ground to confirm the kill. you might want to skip to about 5 mins on the vid to get to the good stuff.

Thanks for the info. Good to know it wasn't just me blundering it. There's another Goshawks available with the A-4 pit. That one doesn't go into the ground. Guess it'll be easy to switch Crusaders pit into that. P.S. Having the AI drop flaps will be a great visual add on even if it doesn't help them that much. Thanks.