The smokeless motor makes it hard to see where it went
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Sometimes the flare rejection thingy that prevents you from firing can be a little over-zealous (once had it prevent me from locking because of a burning hulk miles behind the reheating target off my nose) , but usually the 9M is the better option
I don’t get it, once its off the rail you cant do anything anyway.
And you can pretty easily tell that your aim9m aint hitting after 5 seconds even if you dont see it.
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With the smoke trail you can see if it went for flares, ran out of energy, etc etc.
Without you just have to make a guess as to why it was defeated unless you go look in replay. I’ve had Aim-9Ms before that seemed to just… disappaer into the ether but could never be bothered to go check the replay to see what happened to them
They absolutely do not seem to behave the same. I’ve watched them fly directly into the ground after I shot at a jet that was well with in its range with a clean shot. We where both a good 100 meters of the deck and neither went lower.
In SIM the whole smokeless things isn’t the biggest deal imo.
the radar really isnt that bad
i think your opponents not being able to see you launch a missile at them at all is a pretty big deal actually
I mean in sim people don’t really pay attention. If they have seen you they are expecting a missile launch regardless and will likely be pre-flaring.
So no it doesn’t make all that much of a difference.
i mean if your constantly preflaring those flares are pretty easy to spot so you are basically given the option of either hope noone shoots a 9m at you or tell everyone in nearby radius what your exact position is
Do you play sim?
i dabble
Had a match tonight, where the radar contact I was tracking was just teleporting all over the place.
The radar is broken.
There is no argument, there is no debate. It is broken.
The fact we dont have IRL lock ranges for the Aim-9M means you have to fire from very close range where mostly likely the enemy has already seen you coming and thus a lot of the benefit of the smokeless motor is gone.
For example, we can currently only lock an AB target in front aspect from 3km, it should be 14.45km and whilst physical missile limitations probably wouldnt be ideal for launches at that range, i’ve had a many a time where the target was well and truly in range, maybe even in the LSZ and couldnt fire. By the time I could, the target physically saw me coming and started to pre-flare or saw the launch and flared it (and the 9M is instant defeat in front aspect)
If we had night maps, that might be a factor, but honestly, most fights are 1v1 anyway. Its safer to pre-flare the guy flying straight at you than to risk “making yourself more visible”
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No way dude, that one guy 50+ km away might spot you and get to you before the Mach 3 missile closes a 2km distance…
True, I forgot Su-30s and Rafales had terrible radars and were 100% dependent on visually spotting aircraft
Yes, the fighter jet mafia was correct. Truly VID targets with binoculars like the A10 is the superior method.
Fighters don’t need radars.
what you are describing is something that i have had happen to every single radar i have used, including the rafales.
i have had no issue locking people from upwards of 5km
and in all honesty im like struggling to understand how you dont see having an effectively invisible missile as a massive advantage
Its been ongoing since the introduction of the Typhoon 6 months ago. Other radars have had issues with TWS+ but Id still list CAPTOR-M as the weakest “Advanced” radar in the Briitsh TT
Because its range is terrible meaning you rarely can fire a surprise shot and its the weakest dogfighting missile in game at top tier. Let alone the fact its very easy to defeat, especially in any aspect other than direct rear.
It would be good for semi-BVR with fixed lock ranges but compared to Magic II and R-73 for WVR, its by far the weakest
compared to similar mech scan radars of other trees it is on par or better
it is borderline unflareable from side aspect and it order to flare you need to actually see where its coming from to align yourself properly, which is problematic because it is invisible.
Its weaker than the Blue Vixen and Foxhunter. Period. Only radar its stronger than is the Su-27s
It gets 1 flare defeated all the time for me unless its rear-aspect
weird considering its the weakest in rear aspect, i dont think ive ever had someone flare mine from anything other than direct rear aspect.
i mean i guess? pretty much every mech scan has near identical stats so yeah it would only really be beating out the su27s, but the ef has nctr which not everything else dose which is a massive benefit