Target Practice Mission -- Su-34 Fullback and R-73 Missiles

[LennysCopilot]

I'm currently working my way through the target practice missions that come with this module. This is a set of four missions, with varying levels of difficulty: easy, medium, hard, and hardest. You have AWACS giving you target intercept information (BRAA), and then you try to find the targets and destroy them. In order, you have to destroy an F-16, a C-130, an Su-34, amd a Tupelov Bear.

 

I'm stuck on the "hard" level at the moment. Specifically, whenever I get anywhere near the Su-34 Fullback, I get blown out of the sky by an R-73 IR missile. Even when chaff and flares are dispensing properly, I get destroyed before I can take any kind of evasive action.

 

Any suggestions for how I defeat this guy? The engagement is at relatively low altitude; he spawns at 2000 m.

 

I thought that maybe I could try putting my radar in standby mode and flying really low to the ground. Would that defeat his ability to see me so quickly? Or does this guy have AI "sixth sense," like one sometimes finds in other games?

 

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Thanks!

 

 

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[Custard]

He'll still see you, he has look down/shoot down like all modern A2A radars.

[LennysCopilot]

Drat. I tried hugging the ground yesterday, and I got close enough to use my guns. I didn't hit him with a single round. He then shot me down with an R-73.

 

 

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[probad]

give more info on your engagement setup, are you trying to joust this?

[LennysCopilot]

Target Practice Mission -- Su-34 Fullback and R-73 Missiles

 

give more info on your engagement setup, are you trying to joust this?

 

 

 

I am vectored in on the Fullback by AWACS. I try to close with him as soon as possible, so that it is harder for him to launch his missiles. (I think his armament has a longer range than mine.) Every time I approach him, he turns toward me to engage, so the engagement always starts head to head.

Edited April 8, 2016 by LennysCopilot

[Frederf]

The fighters with radar warning it is best to go radar-off and use IR missiles.

[LennysCopilot]

The fighters with radar warning it is best to go radar-off and use IR missiles.

 

 

 

Yeah, I've been shutting off my radar. Does this work against AI opponents? It seems like this guy knows I'm there even when my radar is shut off.

 

It could also be that I just need to keep practicing.

[zerO_crash]

Does not work, AI has a simple perception such that it sees around itself. Imagine a ball, and inside it a unit, that unit is the AI and the ball is its vision. The whole part of tactics that relies on sneaking up from behind (and close) is pointless with AI. Other than that, they provide decent training all around.

[probad]

i dont fly against the ai much but in my experience the ai seems to have a fov.

 

there are times the ai is flying away from me and i use a hard lock to get its attention on rwr so that it turns around so i dont have to chase so far.

 

@op, the su-34 might have longer ranged missiles but the close ranged r-73 is even scarier. in general a joust against a more modern fighter in a 21 is a pretty bad idea. always try for a rear quarter engage and avoid using your radar. you have awacs so look for blind routes to put you in a position where you can pop up and make visual contact.

 

as for defeating missiles, your description sounds like you do not have visual on the missile. always try to make visual contact with your target or even just know roughly where to look so that you can see the distinctive smoke trail of the russian missiles. this will give you enough time for your evasive maneuvers to become significant. r-73s are very agile but it is still possible to kinematically defeat them (or at least the first one) when you maneuver appropriately.

Edited April 9, 2016 by probad