Can you guys help me with this plane? I’m just getting killed game after game and don’t know what I’m doing wrong… I’ve watched every possible video on this plane on Youtube and still can’t get many kills… When I’m low to the ground, I’m concentrating on not crashing into the ground and get slammed from above and when I go to below contrail height, I get killed by planes I have no idea were there. Thanks
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The 12.3 one?
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Yes
You can try to fly around the map and get behind lagging or distracted players
Multipathing is a useful tool, but you shouldnt rely solely upon it for defence as it can be mitigated. You are better off paying attention to your RWR. Stick higher, about 300ft, should make it easy to stay lower to the ground. If you get an RWR contact and visually spot the target as being very low, dive down to below 150ft, otherwise you need to notch and deploy chaff.
Guides like this can help:
Without SARH yourself, there probably isnt a huge amount of reason to climb (though diving down onto a furball firing Aim-9Ls can be quite potent) , and so you are probably better suited to sticking low and getting into dogfights. Also dont fly straight down the centre of the map, you are likely to just become a target for everyone, instead flank and engage from the side
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It’s not very reliable to get kills since you only have 9Ls. Half of my kills are with the gun.
To get aim9L kills you need to remain unspotted and at high altitude, preferably. That is easier said than done though. If you get near an enemy, consider yourself spotted and just run away from the battlefield for a minute and come back.
Even when targeting distracted people, if they fire a missile or randomly flare, your missile is wasted. So you need to target enemies that are distracted, not engaging anyone and not being engaged by anyone because they will deploy countermeasures and accidentally flare your missile too.
The F-16A is not that great to be honest. You need to be very comfortable in defensive flying and be good with your gun to have decent results. Fantastic FM. Trash loadout
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The F16-A is good for performing CAS with the rockets it has, being able to destroy multiple AI ground targets. It’s not the most fun, but it’s enough for grinding.
But since those targets are all crammed in the middle of the map, you will be distracted and very exposed while doing so.
If you want to go for that route. Use the 6 mavericks early game into the best targets like pillboxes and tanks/trucks. And either carry a few bombs to spam them quickly into howitzers or just 2 napalms for a base.
The F-16A is not reliable to get kills, but for grinding it can be reliable if you go for that route and then fight some people with your 4 aim9Ls and gun
Ultimately, since the F16ADF has AMRAAM, it is a better option than the A, it’s a shame that it is shelved.
Why a shame? Now you can research it much faster. The F-16ADF at 13.3 will give you a better experience than the F-16C at 13.7. 13.3 has a more favourable matchmaker
Assuming you’re playing the 12.3 one. You’re basically almost always the best flight model around.
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Start of the Match Tactic:
Now I’ve done both climbing and multipathing matches. Honestly I’ve had success with both. If you climb you should climb away from the center (aka going left like the rest of your team) and like you mentioned, go below contrail height (which is usually around the 5k meters mark). -
Armament:
The F-16A Blk 10 carries only 9J and 9L. Sure. The J’s are… Definitely not the best out there. That’s why I’d suggest grinding till the 9L. (I don’t remember the exact modification panel but you also want the Boosters to be able to maneuver like an F-16 and not like a P-47). -
Missile Solutions:
You should aim to fire your missiles to people who don’t pay attention (aka not actively flaring, going away from you and you haven’t made your presence known, or in head-ons, which might work here and there with people who just won’t flare for some reason (premium Timmy’s).
Fun fact: The 9L while lacking IRCCM can reliably go through flares depending on some factors like:
- Enemy’s heat signature and if they are afterburning (A phantom is way hotter than a Su-25 for example), and
- Aspect (directly from behind has usually higher chances of going through flares. Even higher chances of going through flares is shooting the missile from the direction the plane is shooting flares. From what I’ve noticed a straight from behind and lower 9L will go through flares easier on NATO flare dispense patterns and a straight from behind and above will go through Russian (Straight-up) flare patterns. I haven’t done tests or anything to actually check it and its reliability. It’s what I’ve noticed)
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Flight Performance:
Going over the flight performance. Well. You’re the top dog basically. Manage your speed so you get to maneuvering speed faster and try not to eat R-73’s and Magic 2’s. (F1C-200’s are pretty common…) Now. I won’t give dog fighting tips. I’m not in any way, shape or form the correct person to ask. But I’m sure other members can help with that. But what I can say is that your best speed to maneuver at is around the 0.8-0.85 Mach mark. -
Flaring:
Now to flaring. You drop one countermeasure per pop. So you effectively have the whole 60 countermeasures that you get. Also, you’re flaring pattern is the usual NATO one, aka straight down. When defending against R-73s or Magic 2s, keep your dispenser pointed toward the incoming missile and move through your flares, avoid afterburning. It requires pulling neg G’s. Magic 2’s have crazy acceleration. Your reaction time must be very quick. AAM-3 and 9M (not sure if others with the same IRCCM exist) are easier to flare if they are from behind. Just keep flaring and move around. (Side aspect is trickier but still doable). -
Radar:
You don’t really need your radar. Just keep it off at all times. (If you need ACM for the gunsight then sure. Otherwise you don’t really need it. It’s like saying to enemy planes “Hey!!! Over here!!!”.
To sum up: Sneak behind or above your targets, use your missiles smartly, flare correctly, stay aware (really aware) and be careful when you dogfight.
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It’s a shame that it’s shelved, but anyway the F16 line needs an upgrade like the AMRAAM C or (thanks to the Sufa being already available) an F16 Block 60 and onwards.
Sorry to break it to you. But the AIM-120C is effectively a downgrade from the A/B variant, which are already one of the worst modern fox3s around
At least I feel they’re better than their predecessors, maybe it’s because of my way of playing or perhaps luck. In any case, it wouldn’t hurt to make a modification that gives the F16-A/ADF an MLU.
They are only marginally better at long range, and worse on everything else. Also gaijin seems to think that AIM-120C automatically makes jets deserving of 14.0 for some reason. Example, sufa
Ive been tryna learn the F-16 and so far I’ve only found three reliable/semi reliable sources of kills.
A) Late game cleanup
The F-16A is an amazing dogfighter, however you can’t really use this advantage without gettimh third partied.Eeither a teammate missile snipes your enemy, an enemy missile snipes you, or both. Not to mention, closing distance on som1 with missiles is just hard if they’re not blind.
Late game cleanup solves both those issues as there’s fewer players to interrupt your dogfight, and missiles are depleted. Only issue is most games are a steam roll to you’re either in a 1v4 or competing with teammates for kills.
B) Side climbing
If you climb and go far enough to the side, you can gain altitude whilst evading radar. This allows you to sneak up on furballs from and rain down hellfire (sidewinder) from above. This ofc runs the risk of som1 on enemy team with radar missiles also side climbing and in that case you’re pretty much cooked if they can get close.
Be sure to fly below contrail alt aswell.
C) Side ground hugging
In this you also fly out the to the side, but this time hugging the ground. The advantage is you’re safer if someone launches a missile as you, but because it’s less risky, you’re more likely to see enemies.
I think the AIM-120C is pretty good at medium and short distances (the range where I usually play). I suppose Gaijin worsened the performance of the AMRAAM C because of complaints from players who don’t know how to dodge FOX3s at long distances and high altitude (skill issue, I guess).
The aim120c is literally the worst for short-medium ranges of all the fox3’s. But in its first iteration on the dev-server it was behaving like a pl-12, which was very promising, it had slightly less range than the 120a but turned far better off the rail. Then they switched it up literally and as a consequence, it is worse than the previous amraams right now.
Thank you for your piece of advice, looks axhausting. I’ve tried all that, yet I just can’t get kills… I don’t understand what the problem is.
You’re flying a jet that was powercrept into irrelevance, dogfighting performance at those BR’s is sadly not a very useful trait to have, your kit matters more and the F16A’s kit is abysmal. Shelve it and save your sanity, forcing yourself to fly decidedly un-meta vehicles these days is akin to self harm.