so im grinding France for Rafale C F3-R
any recommended planes for every rank? im rank IV rn
i feel that the best toptier early jet i can get is Mirage 4000 since it has access to IRCCM missiles and 530D in stock, while Mirage 2000C-S5 only has 530F and Magic 1 and u need to unlock the 530D and Magic 2 at the end of the grind, and also it has a lot less CM in stock
For Rank 5, F-84G is incredibly reliable.
For Rank 6, I have only positive things to say about the Etendard. Once you learn the flaps, it becomes a highly adaptable plane that can answer almost any challenge.
For Rank 7, I only ever used the Mirage 3C (on the Israeli tree), and think that it’s pretty dang good.
Never touched Rank 8 (personally I’m going for the 4000)
France gets really good when you get mirage 3c or the f8efn, both are s tier besides right now because of the sales matchmaking. Everything but the f84 in rank 5 is trash and I believe everything in rank 6 is too besides the etendard.
Rank 4: Sea Fury, F4U-7, F6F-5N, F8F-1B.
Rank 5: Meteor Mk8, any of the MD450s you feel most comfy with.
Rank 6: F-100D, Alpha Jet E, Etendard IVM.
Rank 7: Mirage 5BA, Jaguar A, Mirage F1CT, Mirage 3s.
The mystère series is pretty good but it suffers from a week engine. Alpha Jet is quite manuverable but slow. The Étendard idk but i only heard good thing about it. The rest is just pure pain (especialy rank V)
For rank V just go with the meteor, the Ouragans are very underwhelming imo and compress heavily at high speeds, and the Mysteres at just kinda slow and badly armed for their BR, though the IIA can retain energy pretty well if you master it. The real banger is the Vautour IIB/n which is an amazingly fast plane with great retention that gets an airspawn and FOUR AA nords which are not only fun but pretty damn effective, especially against larger targets. Avoid the R.511, they are way too slow and need a radar lock, the AA Nord does everything it does and more and it does it better (once you got used to the manual controls). The plane itself is also no slouch and can effectively energy trap people be used as a heavy fighter with four DEFAs to shred anything you get in your gunsights. F84G is as always a solid choice in any tree.
For rank VI Super Mystere B2 is really good at accelerating in straight lines and climbing and gets two AA Nords which are really fun to play with, you just have to manage your energy carefully cause you bleed a lot of speed if you’re below compression velocity. Etendard has the same problems but even more insane acceleration and a bit less speed bleed and really good flaps for slow speed control (though you don’t want to find yourself in those kind of fights most of the time, you want to use your speed and climb to get position on people). The Alpha E is a nimble little dogfighter and great fun to play with up to three DEFAs for a real big whammy of firepower, and it can retain its energy really well too if you manage your maneuvers carefully (and it can also pull really hard when it has to go for the finishing blow). F100 is goated in the right hands but suffers from 60%+ full 10.3 uptiers. Avoid the F86K, it might have an afterburner and four cannons but its acceleration isn’t nearly good enough to make up for the SEVERE lack of maneuverability, it doesn’t even go faster than a regular sabre so your only hope of escape from other players is climbing away to alts where missiles will just fuck you up or slowly bleeding them of energy in wide turns, but that won’t really get anything faster than you off your ass.
For rank VII just go with the MIrage IIIC, the other mirages might have flares but they are a literal TON heavier and the engine just can’t handle it, any moment you get in any dogfight with them you just die. IIIC has some hands at least, though ofc you have to fly and position yourself carefully to avoid missiles but it’s an excellent plane for 10.0 and doesn’t suffer from 50%+ 11.3 uptiers like 5BA or getting sucked up into mig-23ML br like IIIE. Mirage V might get magic 1s stock but it’s another fat one so you really can’t do much once you use those two missiles. Jag is kind of trash imo, it’s flyable but its too slow and bleeds too much energy, its a 9.7 airframe at 10.7. Much like the Mirage IIIE its armament is just not worth the BR and bad perf for 10.7. Stick to MIrage IIIC and Mirage F1C or CT.
I would suggest you avoid the mirage 4000 though, it’s just not up to competing with planes of its br even if it gets a lot of magic 2s, but this is really beyond the tiers that i play regularly so don’t take my advice on that as gospel.