So I finally got the Gripen. and i am perplexed. It has the same shitty missiles that my last ikea shitbox had. Im Constantly getting uptiered to 14.0 and at any given time have atleast 5 aim 120Bs coming at me. What can i do to get some kills here folks im 0-12 Litterally. I really enjoyed the JA37C Viggen but this JAS39A is absolute torture. I have the IRAF from the event but that gets a bunch of cool missiles at the exact same BR its not making much sense to me.
I did try it in sim and had more fun and got a few kills, probably cause its not 20v20 Aim120B simulator.
Im working my way to the RB74M whatever that is after i get the BOL upgrad so i stop falling over to BVR spam. it took me 14 games to unlock chaff. Im in spain with out the S here. I have about a 1.5 KD in the JA37C/D My current KD in the grippen is -12 in air arb (i am not lying). If i cant make any headway with this thing im gonna grind out the F18 instead and slam other sad Grippens with my 10 Aim120Bs at 1.0 BR higher cause that makes complete sense.
If you are getting that many fox 3 launch at you that would be because you are running it straight down mid and you are the first few targets people see with a high closure rate to boot. You wont be able to rely on MP to save you from fox 3 launches from high alt.
Try side climbing (i lnow lol) you wont be first out, you will also make it clear to people launching spamraams that you are already in a half notch so they probably wont bother and you will be on the edge our outside most peoples radar sweep.
Dodging fox 3 from 20km+ out should be something that you learn to do even without chaff it should be easy once you get the hang of it. Remeber the missles have iog, so even if you notch perfectly, if you dont change alt they will still probably slam into you, dive down a bit when you lose the rwr launch warning and you should be safe.
Take a few games and make you only focus dodging missiles to get the hang of it, just try to survive. Stay out of furballs, climb to the side and learn how to defeat these hail mary fox 3 shots, then go from there.
13.0 is a feast or famine br, you will either get dragged down to 12.0 by f4s spam, or up to 14.0 from top tier spam, but really in my expierence you get 50/50 on these. 12.7 is the absolute best BR to play right now if you can. Out of reaxh of 14.0, f4s pulls you down and now you also get pulled down by 11.7 premium spam like mig23ml.
It took A LOT of games for me to feel comfortable dealing with radar missiles, so dont feel bad if this is like your first week dealing with it. This isnt an easy game to learn, snd toptier is basically an entirely different game.
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Ill try the side climb thing. Anytime i get above 400m i get lit up like a christmas tree though and i dont have a BOL mod or Chaf Pods yet so i can only dodge a few missiles but ive just been running out. Before chaff it was bascially impossible.
What worked for me was going far to the left and when you reach the bases, head towards the bases. Usually there’s a few planes there, so just missile them from behind with RB74Ms. Stay close to the ground, I don’t know why everyone thinks going higher than 300m is a smart idea.
Flank right extremely hard and farm base bombers. In a downtier, climb to like 3000-4000 meters and orbital strike them.
Learn to notch/multipath/use all the tactics to avoid missiles.
Do not climb in an IR gripen.
With only Aim-9Ms your best bet is to hug the deck and generally try and avoid being in an exposed position early game (i.e try and stick behind hills and such) Once the game switches from BVR to WVR, its your time to pounce and try and engage in the necessary WVR combat for your aircraft. Watch out for things like the Typhoon and Rafale though, they;ll beat you in WVR with ease.
Also to note, when you unlock it, drop a lot of BOL chaff when defending. Ideally about 2-4 in a rapid bursts.
Unfortunately the Gripen A is a bit of a “legacy” aircraft and really just a stepping stone to getting the Gripen C unlocked at the moment. Its got its flaws, but the Gripen C is a fairly solid aircraft and a worthy successor to the Viggen DI. Unfortunately IR only aircraft at 13.0 are in a really wierd place at the moment
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honestly go on youtube and watch Bad Karma, hes cracked at Top Tier, actually hes just cracked at War thunder in general, and he goes into detail about how and why he does the things he does. Its also normal to suck at first, 13.0-14.0 is like, a completely different gamemode, you have to learn everything again, and it can be very jarring, when i first got the Rafale is was also barely staying a 1kd and after +60 matches im slowly figuring out top tier, and when to BVR or not.
Maybe try and play like a rat to collect free kills on stupid players who spam missiles blindly, lord knows theres a bunch of them at this BR.
in fact heres the video i mentioned, hes also got a bunch flying every nation so you can have an idea of who and what youre facing, best of luck on improving!
Why side climb though. He’s in gripen A, no ARH, will just get slapped if he climbs. I agree with the rest though. I just think a BR extension to at least 14.7 is needed for top tier alone.
Play more passive, take your time and let other planes engage first, i usually go really wide and attack from the side when the enemy is already pre occupied.
