Oh, I just saw F-14B armed AIM-9M-8
I don’t see F-14A (late service) early 2000’s mounted AIM-9M-8
9H or 9L on the F-14A is a point of contention balance-wise id say. Id argue the F-14A could probably take better advantage from having the 54A’s get corrected so they cant go active on their own, which is realistic and would make them less oppressive at lower BR’s, and MAYBE seeing a drop in BR to adjust for that as well (its radar is meh at its BR, and its RWR is bad, and it has all of the worst parts of the F-14 (low acceleration, high performance but finnicky FM, 2 suns strapped to the rear of it with only 60 CM<'s, etc…). If that were to happen, the 9H would fit better, but if the 54A is gonna stay otherwise unchanged, the 9L might make it fit better at its BR.
Hard to say tho, despite having a lot of experience in the A, I havent played it in a while, and i dont play RB anymore either, so maybe the issues it has are less of an issue than they used to be. That isnt to say it was a bad plane btw for any of you whos gonna try to argue with me about this. The F-14’s are objectively excellent, but they’re also tremendously inconsistent vs anything at/above its tech level and the pilots skill level, which seems to be something the F-14 haters dont realize.
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To add to this, the charts being posted are for roughly 40-45min of fuel and include a 4x4 AIM-7/9 load at 5000ft or 10000ft while the STR’s shown in some in-game player-made spreadsheets tend to be clean hardpoints at 30min or less fuel:
The “up to 24 deg/s” claims miss the fact that this is done in borderline ideal conditions in-game with low fuel, no missiles, at sea level, and with manual control of the wings set to 0% sweep for the highest possible aspect ratio, which is afaik otherwise uncommon in the case of the wings sweep both irl and in-game, and would increase the aircrafts sustained turn rate.
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Well it’s not like they are completely out of options for the Early F-14A, the AIM-95, AVG-8A or -8B (VTAS II or III) ALR-23, and AGM-53 remain possibilities.
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tbf… i dont think an f-14 would ever get that high for rate…
The consistency issues of the F-14 are more related to its airframe and sensors rather than its weapons.
- The F-14’s have (afaik) one of if not the best FM’s for dogfighting in-game, BUT need near mechanical precision to be used to their max potential, and aggressively fall off if not flown ideally.
- The F-14’s both have relatively poor acceleration which makes them severily punish their pilots for improper energy use (hence why it was commonly said that F-14’s should NOT be dogfighting when the F-14A was added for example)
- The F-14’s have a tremendously min-maxed radar, with incredible range, power and scan volume/speed, but horrid notch angles and TERRIBLE TWS bar height (4 deg for regular scan, 6 for narrow scan iirc).
- AWG-9 is not made to be operated by a single pilot, and as such all the short range aids (ie: ACM modes) are SUPER short ranged (9km) because the RIO is supposed to be doing all the radar work, letting the pilot focus on piloting the aircraft. This isnt modelled in WT, which could be rectified with this suggestion being implemented (cough cough shameless plug): Mouse designated radar lock for 2 seater jets
- F-14A has the largest heat signature by FAR in-game, with the only thing competing against it being the literal sun. The heat signature is so massive R-60M’s can lock it in rear aspect at over 30km’s THROUGH CLOUDS (devs hit that bug report with “not a bug, kick rocks idiot” long ago) and has a horrid 60cm’s to try to deal with it.
- F-14B caught a stray by having its BOL pods nerfed into the ground (unrealistically) when the gripen was murdering everything
- Neither have HMCS/HMD’s (downside in uptiers)
- They’re massive (super easy to hit)
- They’re fragile (unrealistic, but oh well, seems to be gaijins opinion of 99% of american planes, and there aren’t exactly “primary sources” regarding the health points of wings, tails, etc… so thats never getting fixed…
imo the weapons are sorta the least of their worries. The AIM-54’s are still inconsistent/horrid vs anyone with half a braincell, but that’s never gonna get a fix cuz the 54A is accurate (or possibly even overperforming a bit afaik), and the 54C is never gonna have its guidance adjusted to be an actual threat vs fighters at ranges its supposed to be fired at cuz gaijin thinks they’re funny.
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wdym?
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Without clean turn charts, comparison to in-game performance is meaningless because stores drag and the affect they have on the FM is not accounted for. This is why stuff like Gripen doesn’t top out at mach 1.4 with air to air loadout.
16 → 24 degrees/s due to a -5000ft drop in height and 8 missiles seems excessive to me
Isn’t it 8 missiles?
1st photo is F-14A because You can see glove vanes.
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oops yep
given f-15 rates at about 20 degrees in the same config…
I’ve always found the FM odd. The slightest amount of damage turns the jet into a leaf and just gets forced into a flat spin.
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5000ft drop in height, and 3225lbs drop in weight, along with a (likely) superior aspect ratio and no missile drag…
Also, the 24deg/s is with 20min fuel, so more like 6239lbs drop in weight.
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to cause an 8 degree/s change in rate? going from 5.25G’s to 7.5G’s? i dont buy it, especially for an aircraft of it’s size where changes in carriage and weight have a smaller impact
23.65 degrees is basically 24 for my point.
Even you didn’t get damages, you can go flat spinning if you pushed rudder at low speed.
It is really annoying when I force 1v1 duel against enemy because in 1v1 duel situation, rudder is most important things for controlling.
The difference is ~16.2% increase in optimal TWR and 15.2% in static TWR, omitting drag from the missiles and as I stated, wing aspect ratio, which would play a significant part in the improved performance.
The 23.65 deg/s is with combat flaps, which iirc rarely got used because they liked to jam. The F-14 is also one of the very rare planes where the flaps actually improve its rate performance.
so clean your saying an f-14 outrates an f-15 easily?