I know the fundamentals: notch, chaff, go cold if far enough, dive to the ground and fly low if can’t go cold. However, this seems to NEVER work for me if the missiles is launched within 10km. I can be flying lower than the treetops (which are like 50-70 meters tall for whatever reason), popping chaff and notching while changing directions as fast as possible and flying as low as possible and the AMRAAM still hits me. Meanwhile, when I launch my AIM120, R77 or MICA within 10km at a bandit flying at 5k altitude - he just does a slight turn, pops a few chaff and defeats my missile without even trying. I even watch replays using Sensor view to see what happens and my missile’s beam seems to just “drift away” from the enemies if they do even the slightest defensive maneuver, or go for chaff, whereas their missiles are locked in.
I just don’t get it man. Is defeating FOX-3s basically a random chance? The only FOX-3 I can reliably defeat is the AIM-54, and even then if I decide to not go cold and not chaff and just fly low it still somehow hits me. What am I doing wrong?
that’s just straight death sentence unless you are flying in something super maneuverable and do at least 2 notch changes while close to ground and releasing chaff before it hits you. but 99% of the time ARH that close is basically a guarantied kill.
What map? They have fixed a lot of maps from this issue already and if there are more you should report it if it isn’t already done.
do you fire straight at them or “pre aim” to where they are going? The latter helps the missile conserve energy for the first notch so that it has a chance at even making a second notch.
anything closer than like 15km is really just luck even after applying all of the skills you still need some luck towards the end. 20km+ is where you can reliably apply tactics and actually have them work.
Just wait until we get even newer missiles where the games will evolve into never actually seeing the opponent other than on radar.
Only way to see what you have done wrong is to use a server replay or video clip of you attempting to dodge the missile.
While it might look like a better strategy than notching, I recommend to use multipathing only as a last resort. I find that terrain tends to differ too much to consistently do it and its use reduces the amount of options you have greatly (for example: since you have to consistently manage altitude, you cant really fire back and you have to wait until the missile has passed below you)
In top tier jets, you can quite simply notch an incoming missile launch from a minimum of 4-5km. This cannot be said for jets that turn worse (such as phantoms/tornado) where the minimum distance is around 7-8km. Remember that unlike SARH, ARH missiles track with the radar on their nosecone. Its important to keep in mind to notch the missile itself and not the launching aircraft. I find this to be very important in closer ranges.
Indeed, that sounds like a player who knows what they are doing. It can be that easy to dodge ARHs, as I find it that easy myself.
I wouldn’t say so, if you know where the missile is coming from (thanks to modern RWRs you generally do) and can react to it, they are relatively simple to dodge. Though a few things might be confusing you:
IOG - When notching and chaffing ARHs at close range, the enemy missile turns into the chaff instead of losing track. It seems that this happens a lot less as distance between you and the missile increases. Because of this, the missile loses track and flies via IOG instead of going for chaff. In such situations, turning in can cause the missile to regain its lock onto you. Knowing this, to counter such situations, you can do an immelmann or split s (depending on the situation) while maintaining notch in order to completely throw off the missile. If that’s not an option, repeatedly changing your altitude while maintaining notch can help a lot.
RWR Sensitivity - Currently, I find RWRs to be too sensitive (not on a historical basis). E.g. your RWR will often notify you of an incoming missile, but its quite often that the missile is actually headed to the mirage 2000 4km below you (I have even had aircraft lock warnings from enemies 2-3km ahead of me that I am chasing). This, combined with the chaos of 16v16 ARB can really make it difficult to keep track of which RWR warnings you need to pay attention to and which you can just ignore. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a way to avoid this, but being aware of your surroundings and sideclimbing a bit at the start of the match can really help.