Close range combat help please

[Stratos]

Ok after improve my BVR range skills, want to get some help with close range and missile dodging. But first of all, is normal that If a enemy plane is flying low ( 200m or less ) it costs a lot to get a contact on the radar??

Ok now the questions,

 

1-If I get merged, what A/A mod should I use??

 

2-Should I dump the fuel of my Su-27/33??

 

3-Vs more agile fighters like Mig-29 or F-16, should I search the "security" of the hills??

 

4-And specially, how to dodge the IR missiles specially AMI-9 and R-73??

 

Thank's!!

[Kevlon]

1 : I personally use verical scan or the Helmet mounted scan.

2 : Depends how much fuel you got left.. 80-90 % then yes

3 : You can never know where they are comming from, so theres no real answer here .

4 : Dump lots of flares and turn into them and high.

[Stratos]

4: When you say high, are you talking about wining altitude??

[britgliderpilot]

Ok after improve my BVR range skills, want to get some help with close range and missile dodging. But first of all, is normal that If a enemy plane is flying low ( 200m or less ) it costs a lot to get a contact on the radar??

Ok now the questions,

 

1-If I get merged, what A/A mod should I use??

 

2-Should I dump the fuel of my Su-27/33??

 

3-Vs more agile fighters like Mig-29 or F-16, should I search the "security" of the hills??

 

4-And specially, how to dodge the IR missiles specially AMI-9 and R-73??

 

Thank's!!

 

What Kevlon said - but a couple more notes:

 

1 - If merging head-on, I'll use vertical scan. If starting to twist and turn, I'll use helmet mode . . . . that's what it's there for. The only real problem with helmet mode is that it'll let you launch what is actually a very low PK shot . . . . while you can fire a missile across a turn, it burns a lot of energy to get there, and is easy to dodge by the time it gets close to your enemy. See point 4.

 

2 - The big Sukhois are only really maneuvrable at 50% fuel or less. If you have more than 5,000kg fuel, start dumping.

 

3 - Against a more agile fighter . . . . . you should shoot it down :p

The hills won't offer you much in the way of safety. Especially against a human opponent.

 

4 - Hand in hand with dodging IR missiles is knowing how best to get one of yours to hit.

First, dodging . . . . the basic theory is to offer a better target to the missile while making yourself a less appealing target. The flares are nice and hot, so you try and get them between yourself and the missile to confuse it, you turn off AB to make yourself cooler if you can, and you bank hard so that while the missile is confused (or even tracking your flares) you can get out of the way.

 

Making your missiles hit . . . . . well, the perfect IR missile shot is from behind, at close range, no turning.

 

Make your missile do as little turning as possible - give it as straight a flightpath as you can, and fire it as close to centreline of the aircraft as possible. It's worth practicing with the other two CAC HUD modes to appreciate this - the boresight mode and the LMA mode. The first still uses the aircrafts sensors to pick up a target, but in a limited field of view (circle in centre of HUD), and the second uses the missiles sensor to lock a target directly. Tiny, tiny field of view smack bang in the centre of the HUD. You'll probably get better PKs with LMA (just because it's more picky about when it allows you to launch), but it's not something you want to be using as a combat mode all the time.

 

The longer your missile is in flight, the longer the enemy has to run it out of energy, outmaneuvre it, confuse it, and spoof it. However, at extreme close range, the missile often can't make any maneuvres it needs to . . . . especially during a head-on merge, when closing speeds are high. There's a happy middle ground, but working out where it is takes a little practice.

 

Heatseekers like hot targets (duh), so try and shoot at an afterburning target, from behind.

 

You hardly ever get a perfect missile shot. You should be trying to maneuvre for one from the very beginning of the fight, but during the twists and turns you may have the opportunity to fire and score a hit. It's up to you to consider whether it's worth risking one of your limited missiles on a shot that may not score a kill.

Set up head-on heater missions with the AI. The AI WILL fire before the merge . . . . . try and dodge that shot without firing a shot of your own, then when you can do that start investigating head-on PKs. Work out when you can and can't score hits firing across the turn circle.

 

Practice, practice, practice . . . . . know when to fire and you'll do well.

[Stratos]

I always get good results while making vertical ascenses when the missiles are 1'5km of me, but that not work too well when the missile is coming fom behind. Any help with this??

About shooting myself, is also hard as it seems that high angle shots tend to fail, specially Vs agile fighters, the vertical mode work great for me and Yes, I'm using FBP to practice lots of different scenarios!