Doc3908

A few weeks ago, I challenged myself to defeat various opponents (F-14, F-15, F-16) armed with long- and short-range missiles using the good old F-5E. In essence, it came down to defeating the AIM-120Cs and AIM-54A/Cs. Once close enough, the F-5 can hold its own (at least against "veteran" AI). This time, I opted for a different challenge - defeating the mighty SD-10 fired at relatively close range (14nm and 7.5nm) by a JF-17. Turns out, the SD-10 was not my biggest worry: The PL-5EII, fired at 2.5-3nm is apparently more deadly than the AIM-9M/AIM-9X (at least as modeled in DCS). In about 10 engagements, I was never shot down by an SD-10 - not once. But I got killed 6 times by the PL-5EII. I did manage to win 4 engagements. Two of them are in the video below. Any hints on how to defeat PL-5Es fired at close range are very much appreciated. Doc

The MiG-29 is more than match for the JF-17 - even when carrying only short-range missiles. How about something more challenging: F-5E vs. JF-17? As usual, the F-5E carries two AIM-9Ps and the JF-17 is "fully loaded" - two SD-10s and two PL-5EIIs.

It's happened to me 2-3 times - with v.5.9 as well as with the latest version. But usually, after DCS restarts, I jump into the same mission and I have no issues. The aircraft is so much fun that, for me, it's worth suffering through an occasional crash. But if your installation crashes over and over, I can see how this can be very frustrating. You should probably provide your system specs and any info on the crash you have available to the developers, so they can look into solving the problem.

As the free play period is coming to a close, I was trying to decide on whether to pull the trigger on the JF-17. I fly mostly A2A engagements, so it was important for me to find out the dogfighting capabilities of the JF-17. So, I put it up against the MiG-29S. First, I flew the Jeff against the MiG, then flew the MiG against the Jeff. Overall, I find the MiG to be the better dogfighter, but the JF-17 is a lot of fun, too. So, in the end, I pulled the trigger and the Jeff has now joined my DCS collection.

Apparently "Bob" speaks fluent Chinese... LoL!

For the next challenge, I'm taking my MiG-29S (with two R-73s) against a fully armed JF-17 (two SD-10s and two PL-5EIIs).

Got to try the A today for the first time (I'm on stable, so I only got the A a few days ago in the latest stable update). All I did was AAR and a trap. In short, here are my practical observations so far - the A is easier to AAR and harder to trap than the B. Again, this is from a VERY limited experience with the A - just one flight (and from a relative newbie - about 60 hours in the B and 30min in the A).

Here's a video of my second attempt yesterday. Tried again today and it was even smoother and easier. I still find the Jf-17 somewhat more "temperamental" than the other airframes: Today, right after the Jeff, I refueled the F-18, and the F-14 A and B. All three are easier than the Jeff. To my surprise, the F-14A was actually easier to refuel than the B (but a heck of a lot harder to trap on the carrier). The biggest problem with the Jf-17 is the sluggish engine response to throttle movement. I did not use AG2, by the way - don't seem to need it. And, yes, I agree that flying in VR makes a huge difference. There's no going back to a flat screen after you've flown VR.

Yes!! Got it refueled twice in a row - second time with no interruptions/disconnects. It's just a matter of getting used to the throttle response (which is quite sluggish). After I figured out the throttle movement, the rest was cake. Thanks guys and happy New Year!!! Doc

Testing out the F-80C against the mighty MiG-15. Thank you for the wonderful mod Hawkeye60 and VSN!!!

Having fun with JF-17 during free-play: Instant action mission - WVR against the Mirage2K

I downloaded the JF-17 to try during the current freeplay, and last night tried AAR for the first time. I agree that this one is one of the hardest aircraft in the DCS stable to refuel. I have air-refueled every refuel-able airframe - F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18, Su-33, AV8B, and A-10. I have never had so much trouble except for the AV8B, which took a few tries to get used to the refueling probe being behind the cockpit (but once hooked, the Harrier is a a piece of cake). I will certainly try the useful suggestions in this thread later tonight and see if I can get the Jeff air-refueled more consistently.

This is the "Cat vs. Eagle" instant action mission in the Syria map. I was just testing if my machine can handle Syria in VR (unfortunately, not so well...), but it proved to be a fun engagement.

I was hesitant to bring this up in this forum since I'm a relative newbie, but I'm glad I found this thread. I've been trying to work out missile defense strategies that would allow me to get close to any opponent. After figuring out how to deal with the dreaded AIM-120Cs using different airframes, I thought I'd up the challenge and try to learn to defeat the AIM-54 since it's supposed to be very difficult to defeat. To my surprise, I found that the AIM-54s are almost trying to avoid hitting me. Take a look at the Tacview in my video below (there are three engagements with Tacview after each one). Aside from the stupid AI firing an AIM-54 from 1.25km away (min range should be 2km, I believe), even the long range shots (from 25km and 8km away) are missing me when they they should easily be tracking. It's frustrating to me because I can't work on a strategy to defeat a missile of the missile is not even trying to hit me. I find the AIM-120C much more challenging and, therefore, more rewarding to defeat. There's no sense of accomplishment if the F-14 opponent fires an AIM-54 at me and the missile essentially defeats itself. I fly single player almost exclusively, so I imagine AIM-54s are much more deadly when fired by a human opponent, but still, I would love to see the missile performance improved in SP.

Thanks, MarvK, but I'm using stable, not OB. So, I have to roll back to the previous stable (which I'll probably end up doing because otherwise WWII warbirds over Normandy are unflyable). I sure hope they find a fix quickly!!!

+1 Settings: Normandy map: Spitfire and P-51 in single-player System: i8700, Nvidia 1080GTX, 24GB, Rift S Started with the installation of the latest DCS Stable. I guess the OB problem has propagated to Stable. I'm rolling back to the previous Stable - this is unplayable.

Just wanted to report back as promised: This is NOT a Spitfire issue - probably related to the Normandy map. I flew a P-51 dogfight mission over Normandy, and the same yellow streaks were observed. I have not seen these yellow streaks in any of the other maps. The question is "Did the latest update cause this?". For me it started after installing the latest DCS Stable update yesterday. But judging from the link above, this may have been an issue earlier. Most likeky it was an Open Beta issue with the Nevada map that propagated to the latest Stable version. I really hope they fix this quickly - the Nevada map becomes unusable otherwise.

Glad I found this thread. Just saw this for the first time in the Spitfire dogfight instant action mission in the Normandy map. I have flown that mission on and off (including only 2 days ago) and never had this issue before, so I assumed that it's related to the update I downloaded this morning. I'll try it with a different map as well as with different planes in the Normandy map. I fly VR with a Rift S, and my set up is on the low end (i7-8500, 24GB RAM, Nvidia 1080GTX), but up until now I haven't run into this issue. It really is VERY annoying.

I'm probably the last person in the world to download this fantastic mod. Just wanted to say "THANK YOU!" for the outstanding module and the generosity of sharing it for free with the rest of us. Best wishes on making this a third party module - I'll be glad to support quality work. Doc

Got it. Thank you!!!!

I clicked on the link, but apparently the download is not available (it's a German site). Could you please repost the mod? Thanks in advance!! And thank you for the work!!

I haven't flown any WWII warbirds in months, so I'm rusty to say the least. But I wanted to learn to fight with limited ammo, so I jumped in the Spit for a showdown with two FW-190s. And, of course, I quickly ran out of ammo. Now what???

Ok, so AMRAAMS are deadly but manageable. What about the AIM-54? This was my first attempt to learn to dodge Phoenixes, and I have to say I'm not impressed. Seems the AIM-54 is way too easy to beat - I don't think that's very realistic. As you will see in the video, I flew three rounds and won all three, with AIM-54 mk.60s fired at me at different ranges (from 35km to point-blank). I'm not doing anything fancy, so I'd call it luck, but I keep flying the same mission (probably 7-8 times now), and the AIM-54s always seem to lose me. The AIM-120Cs certainly appear much more deadly.

One more: Refining my technique going up against the F-15C (2x AIM-120C and 2x AIM-9M), starting at 26500ft/8100m. This time, I drag the second AMRAAM low and to the right, then reverse hard left a couple of seconds after in gets into the critical circle on the RWR. Works like a charm every time - I've been downing that poor F-15 all day today. LoL!

Let's try taking on the mighty F-15C. This time, the fight starts up high - 26500ft/8100m.