Question: How do you maintain the F-16's airspeed in BFM?

[darkman222]

Beating any AI aircraft, no matter what AI level, does not mean anything in my opinion. AI cheats, does not obey the laws of physics, will fly infinite loops around you, defends missiles with only 6 flares while flying straight, does not know how to jink. And it has no soul

I usually fly on a dogfight server which has only one AI aircraft that appears from time to time. And I know 10 seconds in the fight if that it is the AI Mig again or not.

 

The only thing that counts for a fair comparison: Fly against a friend or someone whom you use to know on a server.

Fight against him, see how the score is after that.

Then change your aircraft. See how it develops now. If you start losing now, either you cant handle the new aircraft (yet) or the aircraft is inferior or a combination.

It took me literally half a year to grasp the concept of energy fighting in combination with the F16s current flight model and G modelling (please no discussion here). Also getting rid of the radius fighter mindset the F18 (I started in DCS with) gave me, was also a huge factor why it took me so long.

As stupid as it sounds, or as clever: How to maintain airspeed is by maintaining airspeed. You need to learn when to spend it. The better you get in judging when you get a shot opportunity the less will you find yourself in a situation spending airspeed.

Edited September 1, 2021 by darkman222

[Doc3908]

I've been following all the answers with great interest - thank you all for the valuable advice. Here's a new video of my recent 2-circle BFM practice against the MiG-29. I'm starting to get the hang of it I think, though I still let the airspeed get away from every now and then... and my aiming truly sucks.  Unfortunately, I don't really have any friends who fly DCS (or any flight sim), so I can't experiment on multiplayer. The few times I've tried to go 1v1 on the Just Dogfight server I ran into people who either kicked my butt before I knew what hit me or people who barely knew what they were doing. It really helps to have friends more or less at your own level (or slightly better), so you can improve together. 

At any rate, your advice is VERY MUCH appreciated.

Doc

 

 

 

[darkman222]

Disclaimer: What I am showing here is a fight against a stupid robot scripted AI Mig29 without a soul. On a MP server it could work (against a Mig29), but the outcome will not be as certain as with an AI Mig. And I am just a gamer and not a pilot. So everything you read here are just my observations but I could also be horribly mistaken instead.

 

When I watch your video it looks like you want to get to the perfect shot position, in his control zone, by controlling your speed only. It sometimes looks like playing with the prey instead of remembering the most important rule: To kill as quick as possible.

I am afraid what you want to achieve is very hard to do with the current FM and G modelling. Anyway: I realized you dont want to bleed you airspeed for a kill in that video and end up in a scissors. Watch my video when to bleed air speed. Remember: Your goal is to kill, not to maintain airspeed.

 

Here is what works and what will happen 90 % of the time when you do it against AI, and it just takes one minute. Me and the Mig have 65 % fuel.

 

Enter the merge slightly above corner speed. With full afterburner. Lead turn, because the AI does not know what that is, and his shots will miss. Dont go up with him, stay horizontal the first pass. Which also is an F16 rule. When you are getting too fast, use the stick to slow down by pulling GS.  Reduce thrust only if you are almost blacked out. Thats the way it is now. A real F16 pilot can withstand 9 Gs for a very long time. But in DCS what you can just do is: speed up, pull until almost blackout and repeat.

Now drag the Mig down on the deck. Nose position for optimizing the rate.

Once on the deck, the AI will try to do a high yoyo just once. Then it will reverse turn and go up with a very low energy state. Here is where you bleed all your energy because he wont jink and you can easily kill him.

Remember that was an stupid AI Mig and he does that every time.

 

I know the dogfight server, I am a frequent visitor, and the F16 is clearly inferior in 1v1 there at the moment. If you enter a 1v1 you get roasted all the time. Because those dudes in the 1v1 slots just do that all day long. Most of them will roast me and maybe you too in any other aircraft. So dont worry.

Go to the "guns only" area instead. Where people cant just focus on one bandit, but need to fight many. If you lose an attack, dont think about it, speed up, disengage, reset the fight, come back, fight another guy. Much more rewarding than those 1v1 fights which feel like almost a clincal surgery to me. When FM and G modelling of the F16 is updated, who knows how she will perform in MP 1v1 then.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2021 by darkman222