Hi,
I recently unlocked the F104A and while its a quite fun airframe I really get in trouble as soon as someone launches a Missle from less then 3km at me. How can I circumvent this? Is there a special dodging technique or is it “just the it is”?
Your main advantage is pure speed. Anything with Aim-9L or R-60M that you will encounter will be sub-sonic and therefore you should be able to dictate the engagement. Maintain max speed and engage those aircraft in hit and run attacks. Ideally engaging the target from behind or the side where they cant engage you from.
Aircraft with Aim-9D and Aim-9G can be faster, though unlikely to be able to truly keep up with an F-104 at max speed. The main weakness of these missiles is they are rear-aspect only. So long as you dont give them an easy rear aspect shot at close range, it is unlikely these missiles will hit you.
use your speed and especially climb rate to engage in hit and run attacks. Avoid dogfighting at all costs. Engage targets from the side or rear whenever possible and learn which aircraft have the all aspect missiles (Su-25, A-10, Sea Harrier, A-6, etc). with the exception of those, you should be able to engage more freely in front aspect, but watch out for things using guns, as they can still get you with those.
Also look out for distracted targets, they are unlikely to react to you coming in.
(You can also defeat most missiles if you climb towards the sun as it hides your IR signature / the missile goes for the sun, handy trick if the oppotunity arises)
1 Like
Going into the sun is a great advice, I will try it soon!
1 Like
Boom and zoom.
1 Like
Otherwise known as “you’re overtiered and have no way to engage anyone besides surprising them and hoping they don’t pitch towards you and gun you down as soon as you pass them.”
(Talking about “Boom and Zoom” generally, not the F-104A specifically)
Ehhh… I half agree with that sentiment. Though aircraft like the F-104 and Lightning F6 are built as interceptors. Flat line speed is the name of the game and not low and slow dogfighting. Hit and run attacks are basically what they were designed to do.
I mean yeah, but if you aren’t catching someone off guard then they’ll gun you down which imo isn’t balance. Really the F-104A (and other interceptors) get hit by BR compression the most because you are either invulnerable since no one can turn fast enough or fire a better missile at you or you are helpless as you lack any advantages.
True, though they will never be easy to place/balance. At least not without the right tactics.
1 Like
I feel kind of imbalanced. In downtiers I shred, in slight uptiers i get shredded. I have tried to avoid having my back seen, but then I run into SU25K which have undodgable all aspect missles, going head on results in an f8u turning so fast, that the missle catches me. Trying to dodge it is impossible and I was yet unable to lose a missle with turning into the sun (and going cold).
Its just frustrating. Everytime I see and A10, F8U in my team I know I get clapped by some weird missle I cannot do anything against.
This is entirely the problem with that BR range, nothing is really possible to balance
And the repair costs are ridiculous. Living 3 Minutes: sometimes 3k repair cost, sometimes the full 11k. What is this and why is Gaijin doing this to me? Iam playing poorly and gaijin just mocks me with it.
I understand that but it cannot be that hard to not put flareless planes against undogable missles :(
That is the variable repair costs they added not that long ago, the longer you survived for the bigger the repair cost. before you would be paying the full 11k repair cost even if you died within the first minute
But its so random. Sometimes I have to pay full sometimes less. I dont understand it.
and the F-104 can somewhat dictate engagements via its speed. Imagine the issue aircraft like the Hunter F6 face with no flares and sub-sonic.
Its why the decompress happened and whilst its not perfect. It certainly helped
I will return to prop fighting for now. It just feels so much more rewarding to have actual dog fights then to get clapped by undodgable missles. Gaijin pls decompress further.
In many cases, you die in the first couple of minutes and still need to pay the whole repair cost.
Its pretty easy to avoid su25 and a10 in a supersonic.
They cant kill you unless you take a headon. Or get 3rd partied by them. R60m and aim9l are not at all threatening beyond 2km, and 9L is only slighter harder in that you may need to also cut afterburners. Whereas r60 just needs a flare.
gun it as fast as possible while increasing altitude if you are to slow turn your engine off and hope for the best
OP is in a flareless aircraft.
1 Like