Is the F/A-18C Early from the US tech tree solid? I was wondering this because I wanted to use a premium to grind the US tree and the F-18 was the highest BR premium. If this helps I previously played the Su-30mk2 and the Su-34. I was wondering if I should buy this during the June sale OR if I should wait for a possible future F-14D Super Tomcat premium. Please tell me your experience with the F-18C early in the US tech tree and what you think I should do.
Altrough its a very good 12.7 jet and arguably OP if we ignore the F-15 sitting there aswell, currently the matchmaker will put you most of the time against 13.7-13.3, which means you will play partial to full uptiers almost all the time, and at those compressed BRs you will get you face caved in with fox3 slingers.
The best jet to consistenly grind the US tree is the F-4S, and has been for a very long time. 12.3 and 12.0 get lots of downtiers, and the F-4S is borderline OP at 12.0
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Its not a good vehicle in the slightest. It has ok missiles but other than that not a single good thing. Get the F-4S and use a 5 / 2 loadout for IR missiles with the cannon
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Really? I played the F-4J and it was miserable since it’s just spam uptiers against SU-30s
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This may be a little off topic but do you think there will be a f14d premium? ive heard rumors and idk it seems like a solid jet with bvr idk if this is completely true though
Maybe a bad day/hour, but when I pick up a 12.3, I get partial uptiers at most, often downtiers
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Yeah, it was predicted as well as the puma premium that was added so I’m expecting it
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thanks maybe ill just wait for that then :) is US a solid tree to grind though?
Yep, I’d highly recommend the naval aircraft line
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Who knows, I hope it gets into the TT though. I think a F-16 MLU of sorts (similar to the current ADF) or a early F-15C would make a better premium.
I prefeer to see slight variations or straight up copy paste versions with different skins for premium jets, so everybody can grind the F-14D
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Only decent naval jet right now is the F-18A at 12.3, the F-14s are in a bad spot, the top tier F-18s suck
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why are we recommending that
F-5C would be best for new players, F-18C Early should be fine
Its the best 12.0 in the game
Eh I dont think new players would like a 10.7 gun fighter
Its one of the worst 12.7s
it definitely is not
It’s one of the best, easily
great missile kit, good fm, one of the best radars of the br.
Unless you’re trying to tell me a MiG-29 is better?
Or an F-16AJ, or radar missile-less F-16
Or a mirage.
Name a single plane besides either F-15 better than the F-18Cs at 12.7
give me reasons
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Then they never learn to play
Why? Because of shamelessly underestimated F-15A?
Or a swarm of premium Su-30s?
F/A-18C Early itself is a decent 12.7BR jet and a decent premium jet
Just like how the majority of American premium jets did in past
Only one problem with the F-18C is power creep
Facing damn premium Su-30s, but it is a shared problem along with every 12.3-13.3BR jet.
Still, F-4S also would be a solid solution tho
FA-18A is fantastic, I hated the FA-18C late, F-14s aren’t bad the the F-8U and F-8E are some of my favourite jets in the game, not to mention the naval early jets are great as well. If I had to chose a premium I’d go for the F-5C since it doesn’t get uptiered too much and it can definitely hold its own at 10.7
OP asked which one is good for grinding, the F-4S is a far better grinder and more consistent than the F-5C could ever dream of.
The F-5C isnt the magical jet that suddenly teaches how to be a good pilot, it has some characteristics that can make bad habits, like being very easy to point the nose around to aim, easy to use guns and a very forgiving instructor.
The F-4S will teach better how to deal with top tier missile environment than the F-5C would, assuming OP is interested in higher tiers.
And the F-5C is just not a good jet at 10.7, it’s slow, it isn’t a very good dogfighter because of the bad energy retention at slower speeds, and it has very bad missiles. It belongs in 10.3 like it was before imho
Crusaders are one of my favourite jets too, the F-8U2 being my favourite, but I was talking about top tier.