chnapo

I consider Hornet ( F/A18 ) unfihished because harpoon missiles deal very low damage to the ships. Unfortunately, afaik, Viggen wasn´t part of the past event, it wasn´t on trial, I was waiting for it, so I would notice. EDIT: So it seems that it is early access, so there is more unfinished stuff.

It also seems that viggen requires much less programming and preparations to fire those anti ship missiles, is that correct? One aircraft vs four ships is of course stupid. My scenario usually is one aircraft vs 8-10 ships... :D because in those MP scenarios, they keep pushing on you from air bases and ships. And there is no way you are going to deffend against that, so then usually I take my SU25T and I just keep shooting at ships, but it takes hours to take them down even if I am not intercepted. So naturally I am looking for ways to shoot them down more efficiently. Even if they are only four. I doubt that 4 harpoons will take down 4 ships even with corrected damage models. If I could take down ONE ship per run, that would be so great. Now I have to do 3 uninterrupted runs per ship, and considering that in 30-40% cases I get intercepted, it is more like 5 runs per ship. Sucks, if the distance is 100+km and the aircraft is subsonic. Yeah, I hope they will put it on sale again. But I still consider Hornet because now it is clearly unfinished, I may get it for cheap now, and when they finish it, it will be expensive. I hope they will put viggen on trial at some point so that I can check it out.

That is an interesting fact. I see that RB-04e in Viggen has even larger warhead, but I get your point. It should definitely deal more damage than it does. I understand that the damage model is very basic, although that should apply to all missiles, right? So basically I will find the same amount of setups in viggen, F16 etc.? EDIT: Also it seems that Viggen can carry only two anti-ship missiles, while Hornet can carry four, so it can technically carry more payload, it just doesn´t work properly. EDIT 2: One more argument pro Viggen is, that as someone already mentioned (and as I tested) Hornet has a REALLY hard time getting into transsonic speeds when carrying air to ground weapons, even on full afterburners, so not THAT fast. Idk how fast Viggen flies when equally armed tho. EDIT 3: So discount on Viggen has finished, so it is not an option for me anymore (until the next discount).

Okay guys, update. I am very disappointed in damage that harpoons deal to ships. I also realized that in MP missions, I actually know most of the enemy positions beforehand. So if I want to attack ships and known positions, Viggen may still be a choice, right? Such a pity that it is not among the free planes, I would love to try it so much. Also, I admit that I may be the faulty part of the hornet, I will try more missions and tutorials, before I stop considering it.

So I tried F/A 18 and here are my first impressions. Harpoons are not anti-ship missiles, because they do not damage ships. Like, one KH58U deals more damage than 4 harpoons. Am I doing something wrong or it is supposed to take like 30 harpoons to take down a ship?? Also, I am not enjoying FBW, but please can someone confirm that low damage and if it will ever be fixed? Also am I supposed to set up each missile separately??? :-O I hate to compare Hornet with Frogfoot, but come on. Frogfoot takes no setup, just hit air to ground mode, turn on fantasmagoria pod, tag the ship, get within the range and fire 6 missiles that will take at least 30-40% off carrier HP. All of them will hit if not shot down. Then fly closer, turn on shkval, laser on, and fire remaining two S-25L to cripple the ship. So much damage with so little setup. Hornet requires like 5 minutes of setting up four missiles separately, I have to release them just in the general direction of the ships hoping they will manage to target at least SOME ship, then observe as they are flying a little off and miss the ships overall. Okay, rearm, go again. This time, I account for the movement of the ships, set up correct heading, set up all missiles again, get within reasonable range and fire four missiles. That carrier gonna be sunk soon. 3 out of 4 missiles hit the carrier. 6% damage.

Guys, thank you so much for advice. I would consider JF-17 as my first choice, but it is just too expensive for me. What a great timing for the free month! I can try Hornet, Viper and Harrier for free and ultimately decide which one I will keep :) But I am leaning towards Hornet as I only want to buy one aircraft and be able to play as many scenarios as possible.

I see Hornet at discount from 80 to 40 dollars, is that a discount or there was some better one? So now for me it is: Viggen - a very interesting plane that I would love to have and fly, but I am afraid that it would not fulfill some of the roles I would like it to as it seems to be more specifically oriented. I did not gave up on it, but I have to check it out more carefully and think more critically about it. Maybe it will suit my gameplay but I am afraid it will not. Now it is more or less F-16C vs F/A-18 - I wanted neither of these, but I understand that these are the best multi role fighters and especially if I want to buy only one aircraft that will do the most of the jobs. So now which one? Most of you recommend Hornet. What advantages do they have over each other? Is F-16 more air to air oriented? I am thinking Hornet, because for air to air I already have F15C. Being able to take off from carrier can also be useful in some situations.

Guys, thank you all for answers. Maybe I myself don´t know what I want. You answered much better than I asked. I understood that my wishlist is unreal, so I am keeping SU-25T as option for CAS and also SEAD and anti-ship, latter two when the skies are clear of enemies. So far: Mirage is out, thanks for clarification. Warthogs are out as they would be better and slower frogfoots, but similarly vulnerable against let´s say Hornet or Viper. JF-17 would be my first choice, but 65 dollars is way more than I would ever spend for a GAME, not for a plane for the game :( not living in a rich country. But thank you for clarification. Maybe I can wait for some better discount. Harrier is half out, as it is interesting, but lack of anti-ship options is a bit of a deal breaker. That leaves Hornet, Viper and Viggen. Viggen - what does it do exactly, again? It is not great SEAD, not CAS, not air superiority either I guess, so what does it do? I put some coordinates into GPS, fly over that location and go home? Hornet - based on your answers, it is the most universal aircraft, so whatever I need, Hornet will do it. I like that, because my fear from buying Viper and especially Viggen is, that they will miss something I will need and I will have to buy another aircraft. But I really disliked Hornet when it was free trial, because: 1. It is very difficult to learn, unlike F-15C, Mig-29, Frogfoot. But later I learned that all FC3 aircraft are supposed to be easier to learn, so I can expect Viggen and Viper to have similar learning curve? 2. It was buggy and unfinished. Engines wouldn´t start up sometimes, at some ocassions my cockpit look locked itself at very uncomfortable angle etc. 3. Everybody has it. I don´t usually buy stuff that everybody has. Just some part of my personallity prevents me from doing so. But if everybody has it, it has to be good and just to make it clear, I don´t want to buy any more aircraft any time soon. Viper - like Hornet, but does not take off from carriers and does not have anti-ship missiles. I really like F16 but it costs the same as Hornet and lacks features. Does it have any air-ground advantage over Hornet, or all of its advantages are air to air? Because I don´t necessarily need even better air to air, as I already own two air-superiority fighters that seem to be better than either of these. Maybe my question was all wrong. I am not very experienced in DCS and currently I play mostly multiplayer server where you capture bases and I play on the side of defense. Therefore I naturally look for the best way to destroy ships (as that cripples enemy capability to launch aircraft at bases), SAMs and tanks. Before that, I played dogfight server, that´s why I got Mig-29 and later F15C. Maybe I will find that there is more to DCS and whatever I buy for what I play, will be useless there. So maybe a much better question would be: If I have F-15C, Mig-29 and SU-25T and I can buy one more aircraft, say, under 40 dollars, which one would you recommend me to fill in the gap, so that I don´t have to look for another one anytime soon?

I am looking for replacement for SU-25T that can fulfill its roles. My usual equipment: Versus ships: fantasmagoria pod, 2x KH58U, 4x KH28MPU, 2x S25L and ECM pods - this basically means I can sink aircraft carrier (or cripple it severely) in one successful attack Versus airfields and ground targets: Either the same, or I replace two KH28MPUs with Vikhr missiles. So I can destroy either 4 SAMS from safe distance (as it takes usually one KH58U or two KH28MPU to kill one) plus two ground targets, or 3 SAMS, 2 large targets and up to 16 tanks (realistically, 8 at best). So I can pretty much clear the entire airfield in one successful attack. It also has, not so terrible, air-air missiles R73. If I want to kill tanks + infantry, I can load it with 16 VIKHR missiles and some 192 or who knows how many unguided rockets. My issue is not with the firepower, that is perfect. My issue is with the speed. Basically I don´t manage to reach my target in 60-70% cases, because enemy can spot me flying, land, arm their fighter jet, take off, fly literally triple my speed and kill me before I release my missiles (sometimes I manage to fire the KH58Us as they have very decent range). And my chance to fight them is next to zero. So I want a better jet. Such one that will have at least the firepower of SU25T but supersonic and that could at least have realistic chance to shot down another jet. But which one? I did not buy FC3 (yeah, stupid me) but separate Mig-29 and F15C, neither of these has air-to-ground weapons that I could use for my missions. Bombs are useless for me as I get shot down by SAM waaaay before I am close enough for the bombs, and even then, they are not accurate. I would like to spend up to 30 USD. F/A18 - a bit pricier than I want to pay, I would like to avoid that one. And I hate that jet, for some reason. But you may change my opinion. F16 - a bit pricier than I want to pay, but if it proves to be much better than other jets, I may take it. A-10C - it seems to have good firepower, but very slow too, prove me wrong. AJS37 - my primary choice, seems to be fast, capable for both air to air and air to ground, seems to have decent firepower and anti-ship missiles. No idea if it has radar-guided, laser-guided or TV-guided missiles, I think I would miss my fav shkval. M-2000C - does it even have guided air-to-ground missiles? Harrier - a bit pricier than I want to pay, seems to be a bit slow, although faster than SU25T and A-10C, but still slow and only has 6 hardpoints, so I also worry it would not have as much firepower as SU25T. BUT if it has significantly more firepower than the other jets, I may take it. Did I miss any viable option? Thanks to anyone who read this and can provide helpful advice. I don´t have money to try all of them and choose the best one. That´s why I count on you who already own some of them. Thank you again!

Hey guys, I am pretty new but I am doing everything as I should. I turn on radar on my F15C, lock target, keep him in the circle in HUD, wait for yellow light and then release my AIM-120. But that missile (both variants) instead of launching and starting its engine, will just drop like a bomb. I am not jetissoning it, I am releasing it. I use the same button to launch AIM-9 which works. I tried lots of tutorials and I see no obvious mistake in what I do, so the only thing that comes to my mind is a bug. Please can anyone help?