Tbh its on par with the F-16D. But in my opinion, the F-16D should be moved up to 13.7 again.
-The F-16D can carry an all ARH loadout, the gripen can’t.
-It has worse energy retention and can’t turn as hard but its faster accelerating and gets to higher speeds easier, its in between the F-16A and F-16C speed/climb performance.
-Both have similar radar and are HMD capable.
-The F-16D can carry bombs with the 6 missiles, the gripen has to forfeit some.
-F-16D has 180 countermeasures that are now single drop, the gripen has higher count but most of them are from the BOL pods.
-F-16D has arguably the better gun, and more ammo to boot
Both make mediocre 13.7s and decompression would be nice and all, but the F-16D or the gripen C at 13.3 creates more balancing issues
It’s worse by a small margin on flight performance, and you get a different loadout with derby (which I prefer) and more flares.
They have almost the same empty weight, but the F-16C has a bit higher TWR so it has a slight advantage on sustained turns and a bit more acceleration and top speed.
The F-16C block 40 barack II has the same engine as the F-16D but it’s even lighter, it has a similar sustained turn compared to the F-16C block50 but better-unsustained turn rate, the differences are marginal.
But I would consider the F-16C barack II the best F-16 simply due to the option to carry both derby and aim-120 and having more countermeasures.
I never played it because why bother when I can play the F-16D at 13.3 and have higher chances for downtiers with a marginal performance loss that doesn’t even matter on most games and even on most dogfights I get into.
The F-2 only has TWS modes? I dunno what you’re talking about that.
It’s definitely not the strongest 13.7, but it still decently qualifies for it, and can’t really go down without some generous decompression happening. The only planes at 13.3 or lower with ARHs are like, two with very limited derby loads, and subsonics. And Derbies are by a massive margin the worst ARH in the game, meanwhile the AAM-4 is still a very good, one of the best at it’s BR of 13.7 (Although up tiers do make you fight better ones near constantly).
It, really doesn’t need HMD, as it is just the second best turn fighter in the game, and has an exceptionally good vertical ACM mode.
If there was some more top tier decompression, then yeah it could be at a lower BR then the J(M), but with how the game currently is it would be absurdly broken if it was.
Been playing the F-2 a lot recently, and I don’t think its bad at all.
I consider it better than the F-15J(M) easily, Its a bit slower but the turn rate and ability to quickly get into the notch are much more valuable than being a bit faster IMO.
I also prefer it to the F16A OCU, more missiles. better missiles, more CMs.
It out turns F16s with ease and can even match a JAS39.
AAM4s feel about equal to AIM-120Bs imo. not the worst, not the best. I definitely can feel the radar, I think it carries the AAM-4s a bit IMO. Don’t really have an issue with the 4+4 loadout. AAM-3s are probably the best IR missiles in the game right now, if not they are pretty high up there. I’ve been climbing and just bonking people from above with 5-6km AAM-3 shots.
the only real downside is the lack of HMD. thats pretty much it. In every other way I’ve been loving it. even tried being stupid and derping around with the ASMs and trying to sink the enemy carrier lol. Haven’t managed it yet, but I will and it will be hilarious.
Its not 14.0 worthy, but I don’t think its 13.3 worthy. I think 13.7 is fair
It’s highly unlikely to get a 1v1 engagement with Fox-3 missiles; it happens maybe once every 20 matches. In the large-scale Air Combat Maneuvering (ACM) mode you mentioned, it’s impossible to lock your radar onto a single aircraft. The game constantly throws a multitude of AI bots and enemies coming from the same direction at you, and with all this clutter, your radar simply won’t lock onto your desired target. The entire ridiculous premise of this game boils down to 3 to 5 seconds: radar lock, missile adaptation, and then it’s over. The F-2A’s capabilities can’t even be compared to something with Helmet-Mounted Display (HMD) aiming. A plane’s Battle Rating (BR) shouldn’t be determined solely by its payload. If that were the case, the Su-25 and Su-39 should be at BR 13.3, su34 14.0, su33 12,7 based on this absurd logic. You can’t go up against aircraft with ‘Bentley’ missiles when you’re equipped with ‘Fiat Uno’ rockets. These are just empty words.
I’ve been playing this game since 2014, and there have always been superior aircraft or equipment at any given time, but at this point, things have gotten completely out of hand. Our topic here is the Mitsubishi F-2A and its opponents. Every match, you’re facing EF-2000s, Rafales, and a bunch of subpar American planes. Even those ‘trash’ American planes come equipped with eight advanced Fox-3 missiles, while all variants of the F-2A are stuck with only four mediocre Fox-3s, despite its unfairly high Battle Rating.
Time is our most valuable asset, and enjoying how we spend it is our most natural demand. Like any player who invests money into this game, I’m voicing my complaints.
Though given you have some of the best missiles in game… Hu?
HMD is a relatively minor addition to be basing an entire aircrafts worth on.
AAM-4 is superior to Aim-120A/B in some areas and equal in the rest. It would actually be accurate to say the Japanese F15C is the best of the 3 F-15Cs in game due to ability to carry the AAM3s & 4s.
F-2A is quite happily onpar with the F16s, Gripen, etc also at 13.7
