FYI THIS IS NOT ME COMPLAINING ABOUT THEM I THINK THEY ARE GREAT!!!
Also this is with the F-4J with aim-7f’s
Ok with that out of the way here are my questions. What is a good range to launch it because I’ll sometimes hit 35km shots but I want to know the max range at like 2000m? Why do they sometimes over lead the target and how can I improve to fix it? I have been trying to launch them going about 1.1-1.3 mach but i’m not sure if that speed is to high or to low. Another thing is do I have to have those 2 circles to launch or is one enough? I’m level 97 and trying to improve my skills. Thank you in advance!!!
Instead of relying on an arbitrary range when launching radar guided missiles, you can just read what your radar tells you. Take this test drive instance for example:
To the right of the radar screen we can see 3 lines (I have rectangular display of radar enabled, but it should be very similar for the regular display). Now, the shorter two lines represent our launch window, this is either how close you can launch it, or how far the missile will predictably go. The long line in the middle there is us and in this case the launch window is perfect and the sparrow should strike comfortably. After you launch, its up to the enemy to dodge it or notch it. Do you know what those are?
Sorry for the late reply I had some stuff to do. Yes i know about notching/dodging. I have the rectangle one on too so I see what you’re saying. Just a couple more questions that I have now. Does my altitude matter? What about my speed? Will it change anything if I launch it going 800km or 1.1 mach? How far should I lead the missile? Finally is it worth switching to the f-14a for the better radar even with the up tiers? I’m really good with the phantom and I like it a lot but I have the f-14 that I fly in sim sometimes. Thank you for your reply.
The display already takes into account your altitude, speed, angle towards target etc. In general though you should aim to launch missiles at high speed and/or altitude for maximum range (Though this isn’t always ideal for in-game purposes).
Leading, altitude and speed matter more when launching IR missiles, especially at higher brs (around 9.3 - 11.7) and for those you are probably better off learning by experience instead of going by arbitrary measurements since statistics differ wildly across each missile.
The F-14s I would say are definitely worth it even in uptiers and I have about 700 games combined in both (quite a lot for me). Phoenixes seem to be universally hated by a majority of the player base but I find that they are really unique, fun to play with and do the job fine if launched properly. Out of 10 games, 3 of them are generally 3-4 phoenix kill games before the match has even properly started which gives your team a significant advantage. I would say try it out and see if you like it, if you don’t theres no reason not to switch back to the phantom if you do better in it.
Heres quite a dated but still very much relevant and useful guide for the F-14: https://youtu.be/JbPCku6OYpw
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Use the missiles to get a feel for them and see how long the sustainer motor burns and how well the missile glides. Its important to learn by feel and experience so you can efficiently fire in other situations.
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Most of the time I launch 4 aim54s i’m the beginning then dog fight in the middle of the game. My favorite thing to do is in late game I launch my phoenixes at enemies that are trying to RTB to resupply. I love seeing what they say in chat when a Phoenix going mach Jesus hit em in the back.
Just some back story but I bought the F5c about 3 years ago now. I split the price with my brother because we both wanted to grind to get to the top tier. He went the bombing approach to grind which lead to him getting more RP and getting the stuff faster. me on the other hand only wanted to dogfight. This lead to me having to learn how to only launch my IR missiles when I know they will hit. So once the game develops i’m really good at helping clean it up with my dog fighting skill. The Problem Was I couldn’t seem to get more than one sparrow kill each game and sometimes I got hit with a SARH missile which in turn didn’t allow me to dogfight. BUT NOW THANKS TO YOU GUYS I HAVE HAD INCREASINGLY BETTER GAMES DUE TO THE FACT I CAN BVR CORRECTLY WITH MY SPARROW’S. I want to thank you both for helping me get better. I hope you both have great days.
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I learned from using the aim-9c’s first. then the aim-7-e2 which had similar effective head on range, then the aim-7f which had same minimum distance but way higher maximum distance
Atleast you’re good now
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Some quick tips and corrections that I should warn you about:
When it comes to IR missiles anything above 18Gs of pull is generally undodgable (Not unflareable) when launched properly so keep that in mind. For SARH missiles its around 30G that is undodgable since you can dodge sparrows head on by pulling max elevator and doing a barrel roll, provided you time it correctly ofc.
Corrections from the video I sent before:
You can actually use multi stage afterburner with keyboard keys, mousewheel is not necessary but a little easier.
Side-Climbing in the F-14 is not really a good idea imo, just climb towards the enemy until when you are at 9km alt and fire at targets when you are less than 35km away from them. Keep in mind that targets higher than sea level can be engaged further but you will have to guide the missile for longer with TWS.
Good luck in game :D
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