Trailer

I've been playing ED games since Flanker 2.0, and I just recently got back into this series and bought FC3. However, AMRAAMs seem to be quite nearly useless. On a 180 aspect at 10 miles, I should be Pitbull, yet they seem to miraculously avoid my slammers. Sure, a few get through, but I usually end up just getting two kills or so and expending ALL of my Slammers. Did ED gimp them on purpose to give the eastern aircraft more of a chance? I mean, I know the Su-27 is a formidable aircraft (actually my favorite) and the AMRAAMski is as well, but sometimes I feel like the entire envelope was dumbed down on the Eagles. I know it's FC3 and not a true simulator, but does anyone have any tips or links for BVR in this game? I'm not talking about tactics, I'm fully versed in tactics as I used to be a GCI controller. I'm talking about how to do this in FC3 since the game suspends space and time and missiles seem to disobey laws of physics.

Obviously all missiles need to be improved, I'm just using the AMRAAM because it's the only one I've delved into so far. If you guys are saying that the R-77 is crippled just as the AMRAAM is, this sounds like it should be adjusted on the dev side.

Yes, I know what the real thing can do. I studied it, briefed it, controlled the fights, went to the ACMI de-briefs, and was stationed in Florida for two years where we controlled live-fire missile testing against drone F-4s by just about every fast-moving fighter squadron in the US, with some Navy and Marine squadrons visiting every now and then as well. Look up Combat Archer. I've seen the Eagle take shots from what I thought were crazy ranges, only to actually get the kill. I'm not saying it should be like this, I'm simply saying that, in my opinion, ED may have hamstrung the AMRAAM a bit too much even in "simming" the missile. Range IS important because without range, it's not BVR. Range determines tactics. Range is THE most important factor in all of this. It's needed to determine your shots as well as your adversaries' shots and when to retrograde or drag out. Doing a perch setup, going cold as a flight and getting a spike inventory and then pitching in all have to be done with strict adherence to RANGE. I see what you're saying, however, and I agree that the missile's radar tracking needs to be buffed more than the ranges, but at the same time having to wait until 15 miles to launch an AMRAAM with an APG-63 is a lot like not even having BVR tactics at all.

Hi everyone, I apologize if this isn't the place to make such an announcement; I'm new to the community, although not new to ED's sims. I was wondering if there was an up-to-date forum or thread detailing the various online fighter squadrons. I'm mainly looking to fly multiplayer with the Eagle. I recently tried multiplayer and I have to say that DCS got it right with the online aspect of the game. I'd really like to join a community and fly with a few of you guys, but it has to be rather laid back as well. Realistic is fine, but I'm not going to be waking up at 7 in the morning for a pre-brief and print out dance cards for the mission ladder like I did in an old Falcon online squadron. I love realism and I'm all for training to spin people up to a certain level so they can fly with other people, but it still needs to be fun and laid back. I've scoured the forums but I only found older, outdated communities/squadrons and I dunno how many are still active. I live in Italy but I'm American so English is no problem. I speak Italian as well but I'd rather comms in English. I usually play every night for quite a while, but this goes in spurts, as real life happens sometimes and I might be away for a week or so. Just wanted to put it out there that I'm available and eager to fly with anyone willing. Got a good PC, headset with mic, Saitek X52 stick, but no TRACKIR..that will be my next project. Already tried other face tracking software but it's a mess, so for now I've got just the hat switch for views.

I think I'm gonna break out the Flanker now. It has always been my one true love, even though the avionics run on tesla coils and gremlins. It's endearing to me. Such a beautiful bird.

Leave it to the Swedes. Too bad they practically gutted their military. Hopefully they'll keep up the R&D. I have no problem defeating missiles; a simple notch can defeat them usually, depending on F-pole/E-pole. I know realistically that an Eagle and an AMRAAM are extremely hard to defeat, and I realize that we have to dumb things down a bit for simulators, but the fact remains that an F-15C with an AIM-120C is very poorly represented in FC3 in terms of capabilities. Ranges and such are always fudged because they're classified, obviously, but I know those ranges and I know what the real thing can do, and the issue isn't so much a question of it not being like the real thing but rather the possibility of it being severely hamstrung on purpose so as to not completely dominate every other airframe in the sim, which actually makes sense. It's just that I wish there could be some sort of sliding scale for realism (not game mode), so when people fight against each other, they could all be on some sort of even playing field. When you play alone, however, a Fulcrum shouldn't be trashing 2 slammer shots at 5 miles with an altitude disadvantage. Just no. Missiles aren't death rays, but neither are they lawn darts...unless it's an AMRAAM, apparently.

Yep, that's what I'm talking about. I unloaded from an altitude advantage at 5 miles TWO AMRAAMs into a MiG-29 and he beat BOTH of them. I got so pissed off that I went in and guns killed him, but just damaged him enough so he would crash into the mountain.

Yeah this is the advice I'm talking about...so ranges are pretty much moot then? I'll definitely keep this in mind. The nonsense guidance is ridiculous. "Ohai MiG-29, this is AIM-120 here. I know I'm in active guidance right now, but I figured I'd just let you know that I'm gonna just do a nosedive into the dirt and ignore every single one of my characteristics." I can adapt with no problem, but I'd like to know what I have to adapt to. This isn't a twitch first-person shooter; it's almost like they just said, "Let's make the flight model realistic but completely fudge every single combat aspect of it, just to mess with them." It's almost like combat were an afterthought. I can get X-Plane and just fly around and see the sights if that's the case.

Thanks for the info! I still love FC3, but I guess it's just going to be one of those things we all have to work past. Glad to know I'm not the only one. I don't even wanna see the multiplayer difficulty.

Is it just me or have they completely gimped Slammers? I've been playing ED games since Flanker 2.0, and I just recently got back into this series and bought FC3. However, AMRAAMs seem to be quite nearly useless. On a 180 aspect at 10 miles, I should be Pitbull, yet they seem to miraculously avoid my slammers. Sure, a few get through, but I usually end up just getting two kills or so and expending ALL of my Slammers. Did ED gimp them on purpose to give the eastern aircraft more of a chance? I mean, I know the Su-27 is a formidable aircraft (actually my favorite) and the AMRAAMski is as well, but sometimes I feel like the entire envelope was dumbed down on the Eagles. I know it's FC3 and not a true simulator, but does anyone have any tips or links for BVR in this game? I'm not talking about tactics, I'm fully versed in tactics as I used to be a GCI controller. I'm talking about how to do this in FC3 since the game suspends space and time and missiles seem to disobey laws of physics.

Yep, I have the same problem. I just got FC3 on Steam and started the campaign, only to be put in the pit of a Russian Su-27. At first I thought it was like a, "Here, at least try the Flanker and see if you like it; it's just a fam ride." as maybe a sort of way to get players to experiment a bit, but I've been playing since Flanker 2.0 and I wanted to get on with the Eagle campaign. Ah well, we'll just have to wait.