I thought of this as a way/an excuse to fix the odd bug where on some planes the stock missiles and the modification missiles are two different weapons in weapon selection, despite being the same missile. It is caused by the way stock weapons have to be coded, and implementing a full loadout of “stock” weapons would solve that issue and lead to more fluid gameplay.
Using the F-16 and MiG-29 as examples; which would you rather have available for stock loadouts?
F-16A-10/15 ADF - 2x AIM-9L
MiG-29 - 2x R-60M
or
F-16A-10/15 ADF - 6x AIM-9J (and 2x AIM-7E for the Sparrow variants)
MiG-29 - 6x R-60 and 2x R-27R
As another example, the F-4E, and derivatives, and MiG-21bis
F-4E - 2x AIM-9E
MiG-21bis - 2x R-13M1
or
F-4E - 4x AIM-9B and 4x AIM-7D
MiG-21bis - 4x R-3S/R
As a final example, the F-15A and Su-27S from the recent update
F-15A - 2x AIM-9L
Su-27S - 2x R-73
or
F-15A - 4x AIM-9J and 4x AIM-7E/F
Su-27S - 6x R-60 and 4x R-27R
I am not sure if the R-27R and AIM-7E are even comparable, but neither the Su-27 nor MiG-29 can use the R-23/24 so it has to be the R-27.
Please let me know what you think of this idea, and if you would rather have something like this over what is currently in the game.
Ideally I want a few stronger IRs stock, but with the weapons selector bug I prefer being stuck with crappy IRs in the long run because I don’t have to deal with it.
Let’s take the F15. It gets 2x 9L stock, then grinds a T1 mod of 4x 9L (Where weapons selector bug separates them into 2 groups of 2), then eventually you get the AIM-9M which is unbugged giving 1 group of 4.
This sucks because you spend AGES trying to unlock viable weapons.
Ideally, you would get 2x AIM-9M stock, then the T1 mod would be a max loadout of AIM-9L, then your final mod would be the 4x AIM-9M mod. Similar to how the MiG-29 9-13 in the USSR tree is implemented.
Also,
They’re not, one has more than 20 years over the other, 10g more pull, Datalink (which extends effective range as well as reliability), they’re only really similar in delta-V (so low-speed medium range engagements) But either way I don’t think radar missiles need to be stock in the current state of Air battles.
Not to mention the historical accuracy issues with using older missiles (Su-27 didn’t use R60, F16 would have 0 reason to use AIM-7E (and some couldn’t at all because of changes in how the missile is guided in-flight)
I think it was ER that had datalink and not the base R, but I might be wrong. It’s not like there’s much choice there anyway. As for the historical accuracy thing, if it can use R-60M it can use R-60, which the Su-27S could do, same with the MiG-29.
The F-16 would probably have only used the Sparrow F unless it was exported very early on and Sparrow capable, but the ADF project was only towards the end of the 80s if I’m remembering my timelines correctly. The AIM-7E did get upgrades to be guided by higher-power radars, specifically the E-4 upgrade let it be used by the F-15 and F-14, and presumably the F-16 as well if the radar had been CW capable.
And historical accuracy isn’t too big a concern, given that they’ve already given the Gripen Skyflash (which it couldn’t use) among other things.
Personally I’d rather have the worse missiles because its more chances but also more leeway if you mess up. For example, with 4x 9J instead of 2x 9L, yes you don’t have all-aspect but also you just get more missiles in general so its less punishing if your bad missile doesn’t do what you want it to. And the modification would be like
stock 4x 9J → 4x 9L → 4x 9M
and the 9L by itself isn’t even a bad missile, its just overshadowed (rightly, tbh) by the vastly superior 9M. Same with the R-60M and R-73.
The whole point of the modifications is supposed to be progression, and starting out with the best missile only to have to sludge through the worse ones seems like the antithesis of progression. It would make much more sense to start with a full kit of worse missiles and slowly work up to a full kit of good missiles.