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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
You die. Especially at high altitudes. That is unless you can go unspotted and mange a BnZ on them.
If they have any semblance of awareness you’re there, your butt is eating the missile. My personal experience with the F8U-2 illustrated that jets like the F104A is a free lunch.