You’re betting on your opponent missing. If he doesn’t, tough luck for you.
This is ultra simplistic and doesn’t reflect reality. Not only does a two-circle have to be initiated by both parties(and a good F-18 pilot won’t do that, instead opting for the one-circle cause why would he play into your strength/his weakness). Which one comes out on top is highly dependent on the skill of both pilots. You can find experienced F-16 pilots gunning down dumb LTs in F-22
Hell, the merge alone can determine how easy or hard a fight will be for a plane. The F-18 will struggle in a Butterfly set but put up much more of a fight in a Beam set.
I’ll say it again: if there’s a Hornet vs. Hornet duel, the one who doesn’t lose speed but stays in two circles fight will win. This works very well on older aircraft (example F-5 vs F-5) whose missiles cannot be turned properly. A fight from one circle with a loss of speed is usually a defensive fight, in which the aircraft simply cannot out-turn the opponent in any other way (example M2000C vs F-16).
And ignorance of these basics is the cause of your poor statistics in simulator mode on 3rd generation aircraft.
No, it’s entirely dependent on what plane fights what. Read what I said. A good F-18 pilot is NOT going to entertain a two-circle fight with a F-16. He’s going one circle and will use his AoA authority to cut into your turn and bag you there.
If the F-16 goes with a sustained turn there as you’re implying, it’s possibly already bagged and done at the one circle. Back to what I said, it’s entirely up to pilot skills. If the Hornet guy can get the Viper pilot slow, then Hornet guy will most likely come out on top. Otherway around, Viper comes out with the win.
I suggest you watch this video from the timestamp provided. They address exactly this subject after a growler guy said his F-18 couldn’t dogfight anything.
I don’t need to watch this video; I know everything perfectly well without you. I even showed you what would happen if identical planes fought. And you’re still arguing. You’re a theorist arguing with a practitioner. That’s the difference between us.
