Why would intentionally face aircraft that are vastly superior to you, when you can just play something else instead. Thats the entire appeal of Sim to me, no forced uptiers, its optional and balance can be achieved not by looking at +/- 1 BR, but instead at the equivalent BR. I.e for the Mig-23MLD, just looking at other aircraft at 11.3 or the highest each nation has for the bracket in the absence of anything at the same BR.
I dont bother trying to play the Tornado F3 vs Mig-29s or F-15As.
I dont bother trying to play the Sea Harrier FA2 vs Su-27SM and F-15Cs
I dont bother trying to play the Sea Harrier FRS1 or Buc S2B vs Mig-23MLD
I just pick an aircraft that isnt in a full uptier and play it instead. Its nice as it creates diversity.
Obviously if you are fighting people who are uptiering themselves, then yes of course you will do well.
But assuming most people are doing the same, then you have equal performance aircraft fighting each other and you actually have more fun in my opinion.
You have more AI kills in Sim than you have player kills.
And for what it’s worth…I just had a game against you and your skills were not that impressive. You were 14-4 when I joined the game and 18-8 by the time I left. You were pretty much helpless in a dogfight against my F4E.
Why you dont say whole story that there was like 4x more jets on your side which I turned at once? + we literally dogfighted only once where we both wont be able to get on six. Then we both got shoted by other players. And yes AI kills on planes like Sea Harrier FRS.1 which is useless against players. On MLD I have 90% player kills.
First time we ran into each other my team had 10 players and yours had 8 players. I get hits on you after first turn but we both die to third party at same time.
Second time you start behind me…and then just reverse your turn and give me a free gun kill as you run back towards airfield.
Third time…you run back towards airfield and I dogfight J7E on your team. You come back and third party.
Fourth time…we go head-on merge and I kill you with guns at the 2nd turn.
Fifth time…no merge…R-27T doesn’t see flares. Probably dropped them into ground. Skill issue on my part.
Sixth time…you lose dogfight to Ja-37 and I had shot missile just before he shot you with guns.
Pretty much any time we were able to merge and have an actual fight…I was able to gain position and get a gun shot with the F4E…and that is a plane that is two BR steps below. An F4E with Aim-9Ls would probably perform just as good at the same BR as the MiG-23.
I’ve had zero issues with Skyflash missiles this year let alone in the history of using them.
I lead them when necessary, or I launch them far enough away where leading isn’t necessary and they always hit.
Dozens of shots in both air RB and air sim this year, zero misses.
I’ve chaffed R-24Rs every time, though most of the time the Mig-23 doesn’t even get a chance to launch on me in the first place.
IRST lacks IFF, so using it is a huge gamble in sim.
There’s no way of knowing an IRST locked target is a friend or foe in sim without being within visual range.
There was literally like three jets which was useful on our side. Others was CAS or too dumb to shot anything down in start of battle. So it was like 1:1.
When you came it was already 2:1 for your side:
In first encounter I was able give you away from my six. In second one I though that you was shot down by another MiG-23 so I went back to airfield (definitely it was not dogfight - I didnt even turn). Of course that was my mistake that I was not look on my six.
In third encounter I got you by R-24T when you was catched by J-7E. Then he changed to A-5C (and then even left battle) so literally we remained two with MiG-23MLD. Meanwhile you had 3x Ja-37C, 2x F-4E, F-5E and Sea Harrier.
Then in fourth encounter you got me by cannon because I didnt even know where you are (I’m really bad at looking around) but right after it I got you by R-24T. In last encounter I was dogfighting Ja-37C and I was finished by you in last second (pure luck). In that moment it was 6:2 in your favor and still I was able shot down another two F-4E by two R-24T. My last death was by rip off wing at speed 1.22 mach (non-combat loss). So at all we dogfighted only once in first encounter where you was not able to get to position. In other cases, it was just my inattention which I should improve.
I was writing a post about it, and I’m still going to finish it. Although I’m still waiting for @magazine2 response to my appeal for a final decision.
In summary: We will have the death of the BR 11.3 and one of the good aircraft was helping to stagger the Mig23, the AV-8B (NA) is going up from 11.3 to 11.7. Insane change!
I see this new change of BR as killing the dispute of the various princes (which was balanced) and appointing a new King (the Mig-23ML/A).
They are all right here. You were basically never away from your airfield anytime I encountered you.
Even in the first longer fight I was able to get guns on you. I didn’t hold down the trigger because I thought you were dead after both of your flaps popped off and you had straightened out in front of me like you were going to run to Airfield AA.
In the second one…you break off even though I am basically directly in front of you. And you keep dumping your flares so you obviously suspect that I am still alive…or you are just hedging bets so you can get to Airfield AA to turn around.
Third one…you shoot at me in head-on deflection and then run back to base…and then come back to third party while I am tangled with J7E.
Fourth…I kill you in one turn.
Fifth…Head on missile and it doesn’t track flares.
Sixth…third party missile from me.
Every time you died you were basically within spitting distance of your airfield. You lost track of a target that was directly in front of you. I am out-turning you in an F4E…a plane that is not exactly a great dogfighter…and my plane is 2 steps below yours.
Like you want to brag about your K/D in it…but as far as I can tell it’s not really a testament to your skill and more of a testament to how well you pick your lobbies and the days that you play.
If you do this the entire time in the 23MLD you will run out of flares. Not a big deal if your whole game is spent next to the airfield though.
Anyone that watches the video can see that you shot at me during pretty much every merge. The only case where I snuck up on you is the very last kill when you were fighting the JA37.
Yes. I agree. I should have pre-flared sooner.
I have played a lot of 11.3 - 12.3 this month and I have never seen you in a game.
We did not have huge numerical superiority. We also had ground attackers just like your side did.
So is it OP at 11.3 BR? Probably. Is it the most broken thing in the game? I don’t think so considering how dominant blue side is at pretty much every jet bracket besides this one.
MLD have pretty good amount of flares so it is enough for one or two attacks and retreats.
You couldnt see me this month because I had broken computer. But months before you could see me. From yesterday I started after month play again with MLD so I need some time fully get to it again.
You had numerical superiority 6:2 to end of battle (I am not counting CAS) so I was not able get to position in middle of map but still I was able to destroy some F-4E.
Yes its OP and always was and that thing should go much higher.
Fair enough. Not gonna shame you for having a broken computer.
Why did we get numerical superiority? Why do we have more fighters?
The whole premise of this thread is that there will be no blue side players at 11.3 down tier days because of how OP the MiG-23 series is.
It’s OP for it’s current BR. It was fine at it’s last BR except for the fact that it fights IRCCM missiles from Mirage F-1C and Aim-9M from A-10C at that BR. And that it fights F-14A and F-16A when it is at bottom BR.
It’s also not the only OP plane due to battle ratings changes. USA gets F8U-2 at 10.0 today which is just ridiculous. F4E will also have a day where it gets to be a seal clubber. Ja-37 gets to seal club today as well.
Mirage F1 is from them probably most dangerous thanks to Magic 2. But it can be solved. Give MLD R-73, R-24MR missiles, adding BS modes for the radar and the ability to carry additional chaffs for the UB-16/32 and B-8M, and it could go to 12.3. And we will have nice support for Su-25SM-3. And for BR 11.7 we can have MiG-23P which will be more suitable (also with BS modes and additional chaffs).
In average players hands the Mirage F1 will not be better due to Magic 2.
But also Aim-9M slinging A-10C is also a threat if it gets anywhere within 4km.
