8.3–9.3 Air RB is a Mess for Subsonic Jets

Game Discussion Realistic Battle
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1

I really think the current state of Air RB between BR 8.3 and 9.3 needs serious attention.

Right now, subsonic aircraft are constantly matched against supersonic jets that completely dominate the pace of the game.

Aircraft like the:

  • F-86 Sabre
  • MiG-15
  • G.91

regularly face:

  • MiG-21, Mig19
  • F-104 Starfighter - F106, F100
  • Lightning F.6
  • Ariete (yo 10.0 perfs but 9.3)

And honestly, the gameplay difference is massive.

This is no longer just about pilot skill.
Supersonic jets decide:

  • when to engage,
  • when to disengage,
  • who to target,
  • and how every fight happens.

Subsonic aircraft simply cannot keep up.
They cannot catch enemies, cannot escape properly, and often cannot even reposition before getting third-partied by something going Mach 1+.

The Main Problem: BR Compression

The biggest issue is BR compression.

The game currently puts together:

  • early gun-focused jets,
  • aircraft with weak early missiles,
  • Mach 1+ fighters,
  • and planes with vastly superior energy retention and acceleration.

The technological gap is just too large for a single matchmaking bracket.

Constant Uptiers Make It Worse

BR 8.3–8.7 aircraft are constantly uptiered into 9.3 matches.

Instead of fighting similar aircraft, they become free kills for faster jets with better missiles and superior climb performance.

Current Meta Punishes Classic Jet Gameplay

The current matchmaking heavily favors:

  • raw speed,
  • missile performance,
  • energy fighting,
  • and boom-and-zoom gameplay.

Traditional gunfighters and maneuver-based jets are becoming less and less relevant.

A lot of iconic aircraft are simply frustrating to play now, not because they are bad aircraft historically, but because they are placed in impossible matchmaking situations.

Possible Solutions

  • Decompress BRs above 8.0
  • Separate subsonic and supersonic aircraft more clearly
  • Reduce full uptiers around this BR range
  • Re-evaluate the BR of some dominant supersonic aircraft
  • Create more technologically consistent matchmaking brackets

Because right now, the 8.3–9.3 range feels less like balanced gameplay and more like survival against aircraft from a completely different generation.

The game loses variety when everyone is forced to play only the most competitive meta jets.

2

Tbh the entire game has a serious compression issue from 7.0 all the way to top tier. Most balance issues come directly from this. You talked about the F-86, MiG-15 and G.91 getting bullied by everyone in uptiers, but these very planes also bully everyone in downtiers. The only solution is some big decompression, but BVVD said that’s not happening because they’re afraid people will not want to wait a bit more for better matches.

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3

Let me help you better understand what the real issue is:

*Right now, WW2 aircraft are constantly matched against korean and transonic jets that completely dominate the pace of the game. *

Aircraft like the:

  • Me-262*
  • MiG-9*
  • Vampire*
  • Meteor*

regularly face:

MiG-15bis
F-86F

And honestly, the gameplay difference is massive.

This is no longer just about pilot skill.
Korean/transonic jets decide:

** when to engage,*
** when to disengage,*
** who to target,*
** and how every fight happens.*

WW2 aircraft simply cannot keep up.

They cannot catch enemies, cannot escape properly, and often cannot even reposition before getting third-partied by something going near mach.

I’ll just leave it with the line you already provided:

The Main Problem: BR Compression

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4

I don’t think so, you have many aircrafts at 7.3/7.7 who can actually do great job against uptiers.

5

Such as? I can assure you that the MIG-15 and F-86s are doing just as much harm to compress the game as 9.0-9.7 supersonics are doing to the MiG-15 and F-86.

You stand zero (read: zero, 0, none, nada, zilch) chance against an F-86 or MiG-15 in any 7.0-7.7 jet.

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6

F80/all’s F84G/F2H/Sea Meteor/Meteor 7.7 and+/MB326+

7

Yeah, so exactly none of that stands any chance against a F-86 or MiG-15bis. Fully and extremely outclassed.

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8

Well they can do stuff, but only if the Sabre/MiG-15bis player has a severe skill issue (which happens often, but that shouldn’t matter for balance)

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9

So, exactly like the relationship between the F-86s and MiGs versus the 9.0+ supersonics?

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10

Yeah lol, and the relation of pretty much anything in the game to opponents when in an uptier. At this point something that doesn’t suffer in uptiers is clearly undertiered

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