Was probably for the best it didnt lock. That is a bad shot for something like the aim7c.
I have been playing a couple matches in it and the aim7c seems to be locking fine for me. I can get locks several kms out and fire. But i would suggest to not be doing shots outside of like 5km. The engine just does not give it enough energy.
It doesn’t even try to lock for me. Finally got around to re-spading the FGR.2 so I could test the Skyflash missiles, hoping that they would at least attempt to work. However, seems they can be added to the list of ‘does nothing’ missiles. Thought that was as much as I could do, but then remembered I have a MiG-21 SMT that’s been semi-spaded for years and I have a radar missile for that - the R-3R. Tried that in Test Flight and, what a surprise, the Russian missile actually goes into ‘ACQ’ when you fire it up and can lock onto targets, unlike those other missiles.
I can promise you, you are doing something wrong if this is what you think.
I agree. All of my missiles will at least warm-up. And they only have trouble locking when given bad aspects.
Ah, they work - well, Skyflash does, not confirmed the others. My mistake was expecting some sort of info from the game HUD, top left, when the missile is powered up, like you get with R-3R and that French thing (the missile line in the HUD flashes while acquiring and turns red on lock, just like IR missiles). Tried firing a few Skyflash in Test Flight despite lack of ACQ notification and all hit.
I understand that IRL Sparrow (and derivatives like Skyflash) don’t actually lock until after launch, so I guess this is the WT way of replicating that. Still, some sort of ready, ‘RDY’, message might be useful so you know if you’ve actually prepared a missile or not.
AIM-7C/E are the earliest model, and not horrible if used right, but they are hampered by the early radar sets.
Yeah, this is the main issue and I doubt it is realistic. Sometimes you can only lock targets with the F-4C at almost gun range, which defeats the purpose of the missiles.
As for me the aim-7Cs are mainly against bombers that is too fat to evacuate. Well, you say what if it’s a normal level fighter? The answer is only sleep drunk pliot who just fly straight will be hit by this.
To make it more useful(or less useless), your strategy can be “stealth kill”, which means send your 7C not too close front of the enemy.
That depends on AIM-7C’s properties: a very long straight fly, which makes it performs like a normal rocket in close distance.
BTW, it’s necessary to predict enemy’s flying trajectory, like what u do in a traditional cannon kill.