Su-27SM with 4x R-73s and 8x R-77-1s would instantly make it one of the strongest aircraft in game and few things could really go toe-to-toe with it.
Su-30 is probably coming this year.
You also likely have the Typhoon coming this year or early next and Germany and Italy are always redfor. France is getting the Rafale at the same time and they can be 50/50 Redfor.
The balance of power could quite easily shift back to redfor again, just like how it was when the Mig-23MLD was added. Only thing that kept other nations in the fight was better multirole payloads like on the Phantoms
This really isn’t what I see happening… They even raised it slightly from the initial 50m value and there’s been no threads since regarding reducing it further, just some discussion. Even the title here says 60m is fine. Also “until it’s no longer an effective method of counterplay” is pretty ambiguous, my vision for MP is that it’s dynamic, a possible last resort over terrain that allows it. If you want it high enough to where it’s always effective, which I assume would include all sorts of hills, we might as well put it at 500 meters or remove radar missiles altogether…
It’s also been the singular mechanic that allowed the blue-team jets with (still) superior flight-models to absolutely curb-stomp red-team before the change…
I also believe we are 1-2 updates from red-team being fine again. In my opinion the main reasons for red teams struggle (much more-so than aim120 being a bit better than R77 currently) has been the radar-sets and 2 of the 3 red-team nations being pretty much excluded from top-tier for almost a year. With Germany having not received anything competitive since MIG29G 10+ months ago which also arrived with the destruction of its flight-model. And China having the same radar-struggle as Russia, but along with their 13.7 addition not even having a usable RWR. Now just this update China is receiving J10 and JF17 with great radars/missiles. Russia got an ACM buff to 20km and 2 extra R77’s.
Germany is likely 1 update away from F18 with 10 amraams and Russia will have its radar-issue solved next time they receive a top-tier. within one of the 2 updates in the coming 3.5 months.
Fair enough, But I feel the soviets are making it out like the Su-27SM is a sub-sonic bus that cant turn at all. It has a weak radar, sure. But it still probably runs laps around a number of top tier aircraft.
My ideal loadout would be 4 x R-73, 4 x R-77, 2 x R-27ET, 2 x R-27ER tbh. The R-77s are great but they lack range and the ET/ER make up for that which would make the Su-27SM a versatile aircraft probably more than the F-15s. (not necessarily mean better)
The flankers flight model is in my opinion excellent at transsonic regions and higher, It’s got great acceleration, doesn’t fall out of the sky at altitude when turning like MIG29. Not better, but still a pretty good contender to the F16C/F15C in my opinion (I’m talking about manoeuvring, when it comes to top/speeds and altitudes there’s still a pretty big gap to F16C/F15C). When people refer to it as a bus it’s mainly regarding dogfight speeds, below ~0.8-0.9 mach.
I really can’t stress this enough…
ACM buff is very welcome, and HMS IR will be good. But I’m talking about the radar itself, acquisition time in TWS can sometimes be over 7 seconds, and that’s not even considering this bug Community Bug Reporting System
Below mach 0.7 the Su-27FM is trash, the only 4th gen fighters with worse FM below mach 0.7 are the MiG-29SMT, tornados and the F-14A. At 13.7 it is the worst subsonic fm and is not even close. That’s because it’s underperforming in STR. Shameless bug report self advert.
Yeah at high speeds it is surprisingly decent. Speed also isn’t that bad compared to the 16C. (15C still is a rocketship compared to both thought and it is even underperforming at high altitude…)
I’ve only BVR dueled it against F15C, but I was told F16C’s engine/twr was actually better at altitude/acceleration so I just figured the gap was similar
Currently depends on the altitude, above 9000m F-16C may be a tiny bit better because 15C is underperforming quite a bit there… the thing is that in most situations the extra climbrate/acceleration of the 15C at lower altitudes (below 6000m) will allow it to reach high altitude either earlier or at an higher speed than the F-16C.
Then the radar (you have mig-29 9-13 which has N019) is definitely not good compared to others… it’s pretty decent at holding lock and is usable at 12.7, but detection wise it is horrible compared to top tier radars