Nerd1000

The angle of intercept knob displaces the pipper downwards to account for the ballistics of the chosen weapon. When the sight is in automatic mode the setting is chosen automatically. In manual mode, setting it to the preset for the weapon seems to be enough (e.g. when you're using the guns set it to the GSh-23L preset).

The RS-2US is exclusively a radar beam rider.

If you're doing a large loop you might be going ballistic (Accelerometer shows 0G) near the top of the loop. If you do that for too long you'll starve the engine- it needs positive G to feed fuel correctly. As far as overshooting is concerned, you've got the right idea if you're going up. Its better to retain your energy by doing a zoom climb than to do a High-G turn in an attempt to get back on your enemy's tail (and bleed lots of energy in the process). It is worth noting however that bullets and missiles are faster than planes. Performing a zoom climb that is perfectly straight and takes you out right in front of your target is a very bad idea- You'll make a perfect target for a heatseeker shot or even a guns burst. Instead you should try to curve away to the side as you climb. If you suspect your enemy has missiles then it might be advisable to launch some countermeasures as well.

Its worth noting that the 109's characteristics are a little more forgiving in combat- its superior turning abilities make things easier for inexperienced pilots who have a tendency to do the intuitive thing and turn towards their opponent all the time, so in many ways its an easier plane to dogfight in if you're not a super-disciplined BnZ master. I expect that the Spitfire LF Mk IX will get plenty of K-4 kills simply because it turns a bit better, even though the K-4 is a better machine in every other respect (a Mk IX running 150 octane fuel might be able to keep up with the K-4's speed and climb at low level, but up high it hasn't got a chance).

Can confirm. Attached image shows launch tubes after firing two missiles.

You have to hold the 'weapons release' button for at least 2 seconds for the missile to fire. This helps prevent accidental launches at the expense of denying you snapshots (though if you're in a position where you can't maintain lock for 2 seconds the missile isn't likely to hit the target anyway).

Your best bet is to zoom in on the display. It helps if you know roughly where the target is beforehand, that way you can aim the camera using the circle on the HUD before looking at the scope.

Notably, lift/drag ratio. Even rockets with no wings at all have a L/D ratio that affects their rate of climb (all 'lift' is thrust generated by the engine in this case), which is why they generally have pointy noses to reduce drag.

Its also worth noting that the 109K is the most capable version of the 109. If the duel was P-51D vs one of the less capable 'bread and butter' 109s like the G-6 or G-14 that were common at the time when the Mustang was introduced then the outcome might be different.

But with the filter on you can lock jamming targets when they are outside the TDC :smilewink:

I guess you need to tunaout.

One could argue that even a tail aspect only sidewinder has the speed and rate of climb advantage over a MiG-21. A BnZing MiG would have to kill the F-5 on the first pass or the tables would very quickly be turned thanks to the F-5's superior agility in a dogfight. Under those circumstances, he'll either get you with his first shots or you'll get him (That is, if the MiG misses or fails his pass he'll be in perfect position for your sidewinder shot). The F-5 is on the other hand at a disadvantage in heads-on confrontations without an all aspect sidewinder or a radar missile like the R-3R. That said, the R-3R is a rather limited weapon in that it cannot attack targets below the horizon, and should have trouble with chaff or agile targets (it's performing better than it should at present).

The 120 also seems to induce a bug with the MiG-21 RWR- Incoming slammers will cause a lock warning, but after the missile has been defeated the lock warning tone persists indefinitely (The lights on the RWR on the other hand behave normally). I can only conclude that the 120 is rather buggy at the moment.

That can be arranged...

He may be referring to a feature of the sparrow- it has small antennas that look backwards and pick up some of the illuminating beam for comparison with incoming reflections from the target. This I assume is how the modern versions distinguish the target from clutter.

This may be a case of DCS changing its missile guidance parameters again. there is a thread about this in the FC3 forum- seems the R-27ER has the same issues. If your enemy is launching countermeasures after you fire your missile, you should expect it to fail. Early heatseekers will usually go off course if the target launches a few flares. If issues persist I suggest switching to the R-60M. It has shorter range than the R13M1 but has a better seeker and much better agility. Its warhead lacks explosive power, but still does enough to ensure that your target will be unable to escape your gun if he survives the missile hit.

I think DCS does this appropriately. I did some testing of the Ka-50 against a few radar SAMs (Tor, SA-3, SA-6), and they all fire on you even when you are flying at very low speed. That said, you can still defeat them if you know where they are. The SA-3 is the easiest because you can without difficulty fly below the minimum engagement altitude of its missiles. Tor has short range against slow targets (seems to be less than 9km, making a vikhr shot from max range viable). SA-6 is a little more interesting because it has both long range and a minimum altitude of 10m, but I've found that you can dodge the missiles at shorter ranges if you see them coming- presumably the rather large SA-6 missile is going too slow to pull full G so early in its flight, allowing you to dodge it by flying sideways and reversing your direction at the right moment. Combined with terrain masking this makes an attack on a SA-6 site possible, but very, very dangerous.

Thread went off-topic fast. He was complaining about the MiG-21's tendencies in the stall- if you stall it out the MiG rapidly pitches up to ~30 degrees AoA and 'sticks' there, requiring nearly full down elevator to recover. This seems strange, as it would imply that the centre of pressure moves forward when the stall occurs, something that seems at odds with the aerodynamic configuration of the MiG. On the topic of stability, I would submit that it is possible to control a statically unstable aircraft so long as its AoA does not go beyond the point where the controls cannot overcome the vehicle's tendency to increase AoA further. This is certainly the case with space rockets, which essentially always have their aerodynamic centre of pressure well ahead of their centre of mass and manage to fly just fine... .

The A-10A instant action you're doing is the one with the tanks, BMPs etc advancing on some friendly vehicles, correct? I've never beaten that one either. Taking down the Shilka AAA is easy enough (just tell your wingman to attack air defenses), but the BMP-2s make flying at altitudes below their max slant range of ~4km impossible. There also seems to be quite a bit of wind- it messes up your CBU drops rather severely.

Perhaps the 1 extra is the round thats loaded into the gun?

Also deploy the airbrakes.

Rocket exhaust plumes vary based on the fuel, the altitude, and the temperature to some degree. Most people expect a bright yellow flame and white smoke, like the space shuttle SRB: This comes from a specific family of solid fuel known as Composite Propellants- the white smoke is aluminum oxide, present because aluminium is used as fuel in this kind of motor. Composite fuels are inexpensive and provide good performance, so they were popular for many years even in millitary applications. One might compare the Zuni, seen here producing almost no smoke at all: This is a Double base engine, using some combination of Nitrocellulose, Nitroglycerine and other Nitro-compounds, as might be used in guns, only formulated for much slower burn times. You might get black smoke from these engines if the the oxidizer/fuel ratio of the propellant is fuel rich, causing carbon soot to form in the exhaust (I suspect low temperatures also promote black smoke formation). Finally, let's have a look at Titan II. As you can see, the exhaust flame itself is almost transparent, and there is no smoke (all that white stuff is steam from the flame damping system in the silo). The Titan II is a different beast from the previously discussed engines- it uses liquid fuel and oxidiser, in this case dinitrogen tetroxide as oxidiser and aerozine 50 (a 50/50 mix of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine) as fuel. Depending on the conditions the flame could look a bit yellow thanks to the carbon in the dimethylhydrazine. As the altitude rises, the exhaust plume will grow wider and more diffuse. The flames in DCS 1.5 look to me like they were intended to resemble a composite propellant engine operating at altitude.

From what I've read, different ammunition is also fired at different rates- heavier rounds refire more slowly as the springs have to overcome more inertia.

The MG151/20 guns also already exist in-game for the Dora, though the 190's synchronized guns might fire slightly slower than those in the 109's pods (I doubt that would be hard to fix if it is the case). That said, I can't imagine them being much use under most circumstances. The 30mm cannon is already lethal against bombers (wasn't 2-3 rounds normally sufficient for a B-17?), and the pods add extra drag that is unwelcome when dealing with smaller aircraft. An expanded bomb load would be more interesting IMO. On that topic, was fighter-bomber a common job for the 109? I would have thought that the 190s would have been more popular for that task given their more resilient construction and low altitude performance.

Those sensors are pretty handy if you employ them correctly. I've gotten used to flying the MiG-21 in MP. Yesterday I watched Ralfidude's MiG-29 video... And realized that compared to modern fighters the 21 is half-blind. The new scaled sprites have made it a lot better though, I can actually see planes beyond my radar range if the weather is clear. Sadly my only encounter with a hostile fighter on the 104th since 1.5 came out was with (I think) a Su-27 at low altitude in the mountains. I'm pretty sure he went to IRST or HMS and splashed me with a heatseeker, as I spotted the incoming smoke trail with nothing on the RWR. In spite of popping flares, the missile smacked right into me- This not only obliterated my MiG but caused DCS to crash (Dying now has consequences!). I also tried attacking the Hawgs on the operation leopard mission. I got nailed by a SAM for my trouble- seems that their second ground attack waypoint is in range of the Maykop air defenses.