Nerd1000

How big is the distance between the lower and upper pedals on the 109 and 190? I can't imagine it being large enough to have a massive effect, but even the ability to pull an extra 0.1G helps in combat.

Airborne Intercept. Probably descended from the british WW2 naming of radar systems (e.g. AI Mk X for american SCR-720 set).

Try a Cd of 0.3 or so- should be pretty close for a WW2 General purpose bomb.

I bet they're all too busy trying not to laugh at our wild speculation to get any work done.

Here's a thought- does anyone know whether the SAMs will target guided bombs like the KAB-500Kr? A Su-25T at high altitude could probably drop one and stay out of the range of Short range missiles like the SA-15.

In the absence of missiles with a good Pk even when launched under favorable conditions, there is one solution: launch more missiles. F-15s don't respect an incoming ER, but they might respect launches more if they found that they usually had 3 incoming ERs. This isn't optimal and would of course mean engaging fewer targets per sortie (possibly as few as one fighter) but its all the Flanker has against AIM-120 carrying aircraft.

I doubt that the devs would write an entire CPU emulator- they already have access to a real CPU that is far more capable, to wit the one running the game. All they need to do is write appropriate control code in the FM. The player isn't going to know the difference so long as the plane flies correctly.

The main limitation of the Vikhr missiles is that the launching aircraft can't maneuver much until the missile impacts the target. The Vikhr is a beam rider, so maneuvering will make it fly out of the laser beam and lose track. This makes them IMO a poor choice for SEAD missions, because the launching aircraft is forced to fly directly towards the SAM or AAA in order to ensure that their missile hits. The Kh-25ML is a better option- the pilot can at least put the target on his shkval gimbal limits after launch so he isn't flying directly towards the incoming fire. If the SU-25Ts are dedicated to SEAD I'd also be inclined to give them rocket pods or cluster bombs to take out MANPADS and AAA emplacements that don't have radar.

My understanding from that link is that the radar operates in track-while-flyby (I'm fairly certain that this is not TWS as such, but more of a 'mult-target tracking' mode, as it says that volume scanning is disabled when track-while-flyby is activated) until the marked target is in missile launch range, at which point the radar will attempt to aquire the target in STT mode. After that point it is presumably up to the pilot to launch the missile. Its worth noting that the radar being described is the original MiG-29 radar, not the updated N019M Topaz radar used by the MiG-29S.

At least one of the 104th missions has the option for helicopter pilots to deploy stinger teams near the fighter AO. If you really wanted to be realistic, the eastern block would have various SAM systems (ranging from Strelas to Medium range systems like the SA-6 and SA-11) all over the place, while the US would be fielding Patriot systems near their strategic areas and relying on fighter cover (along with some short range missiles, AAA and MANPADs) pretty much everywhere else.

Indeed. That sort of funny business is restricted to the most modern IR missiles like AIM-9X and ASRAAM. The real utility of the ET over the R-73 is its greater range against targets that are flying away from you. If the target is flying towards you then the effective ranges are likely to be set by the seeker rather than Delta-V, so there is no reason not to fire the more maneuverable R-73 instead.

Hmmm. Terrain hugging, ambushing bast*rd. Isn't that another name for a SAM site? Oh god. We're becoming the thing that we hate most :D.

But in game the ET seems less prone to being spoofed than the 73. The ET has more wave drag than the ER and thus less range, but that fact means little because the seeker can't see far enough to engage at distances where that difference is noticeable. Someone earlier in the thread said something about a lock on after launch mode, but its not in game (I gather that the in game missile had the ability but it was removed).

Looks like you lost lock because he flew behind a hill. The radar can see upwards pretty well, but it has difficulty looking downwards and can easily lose contacts in ground clutter, and of course nothing can see through a mountain. Speaking of which, when you're flying at low level you should set the middle switch on the radar panel to the centre position. It damps out some of that clutter at the bottom of the radar screen so that you can see contacts better at close range. The up position goes a little further by angling the entire search pattern up 1.5 degrees, which is useful if you're flying very low and seeing clutter near the top of the screen.

For a given distance, the ER will by flying faster and thus have more ability to maneuver than the R. The ET is often not spotted because it is IR homing and thus gives no launch warning. The smoke trail is huge, but it is still easy to miss in the heat of combat, especially if the missile is in one of your blind-spots. This is kind of irrelevant in BVR because the ET's seeker cannot lock on at normal BVR ranges.

I'm flying the MiG-21 that launched the R3R :P R3Rs can be launched from 10km against a target that is approaching at high speed. Against slow targets like A-10s I delay launch to 7km head-on. Rear aspect shots are only good to 2km or so against a fast jet, and that's assuming you are traveling faster than the target at launch. It would be rare for me to engage from behind with a R3R though- I'd typically launch a R-60M against a opponent that is pointing his tail at me, as they have better range and are more maneuverable. The R3R is obviously a very limited weapon because of that short range, but it does have some abilities that are a little silly for such a low tech missile. In my experience its very rare for them to miss, though I expect that is partly because most launches have the element of surprise on their side.

But...But... I wanted a SPAD :cry:

Would I be right in saying that the VS mode is intended for locking on in turning fights? AFAIK the idea is that turning towards an enemy plane will naturally place them somewhere in the VS scan zone.

Aim at a position upwind of the target so that the wind carries the bomblets onto the target area. It would be helpful to know how long it takes for the bomblets to get to the ground after release- then knowing wind speed and direction you could estimate where to aim with a decent level of accuracy.

The SA-15 Tor shoots down mavericks and other A2G weapons within its relatively short range. The S-300 (Russian Patriot equivalent) should be capable, but I don't know if it will target missiles in-game. You could also try ships- they will target incoming cruise missiles etc. I don't think there's anything that will shoot at A2A weapons (pretty sure even the Patriot won't do that). If you want to make absolutely sure the AWACS doesn't get killed by fighters, you should set his patrol path so that a S-300 battery is between him and any incoming aircraft. That will soon teach fighters to stay far, far away... The AIM-54 is active radar homing like the AIM-120. AFAIK shots while in TWS mode won't make a RWR warning until the missile goes active. From then on, I don't know whether it should create a launch warning or just a lock warning. Probably depends on how good your RWR is.

Either one offers something that DCS doesn't have at the moment, namely low level, high speed precision strike missions. I prefer the F-111 just because its so iconic in Australia, but the Fencer is awesome too.

Its also worth noting that the AIM-54s that are in DCS at the moment have a broken FM and can hit mach 5 at sea level (they share this trait with a few other missiles, including the RIM-66 Standard and the Patriot). They are in no way representative of the real thing or the simulation we're going to get with the F-14 module.

There is always the option of the cannon, which will generally bring down A-10s with one burst (cannon kills also make you look like a badass). If anyone is having trouble with the guns pipper only moving in the vertical axis, I discovered that the trick is to flip the little black lever near the fixed grid brightness knob to the bottom position. Doing so allows the pipper to move left and right around the ASP glass. If you're using manual mode, you also need to set the intercept angle to 'ГШ-23' on the knob or the bullets will pass below the target :(.

And of course with a Zero we could reenact the F-14 vs Zero scene from The Final Countdown.

The R73 is not dodgable full stop. It can turn so tightly that no plane with a human pilot has a hope of outmaneuvering it. I'm pretty sure the ET has the same seeker, but it gets fired from further out, They both get spoofed by flares pretty easily, but the R73 usually gives you less time to deploy them before it hits you. The MiG-21's R3R on the other hand... No smoke (unrealistic), not much in the way of warning because it is only ever fired at close range and AFAIK it is unaffected by chaff (VERY unrealistic). Its pretty easy to dodge kinetically though. The missile cannot turn at more than 15G, so in general a 5G turn will be enough to make it miss, assuming appropriate timing.