For context: I am very much an average player in Air RB, and I’m still kinda new to Rank VI jets, with only the F-86F-2 Sabre and the F3H-2 Demon spaded, but I perform much better in those planes than this. I prefer dogfighting to boom n’ zoom but the Starfighter seems to be good at neither.
I understand that the Starfighter is supposed to be an interceptor, with its signature feature being its fast speed relative to its BR, but the aircraft seems nearly unusable to me. Yes, it can roll quickly, but the turning is abysmal. Not only does this make the aircraft useless in turnfighting but just trying to keep on the tail of enemy planes is a fool’s errand, since any pilot who isn’t oblivious to my presence can pull Gs and turn away from me with ease. Also of note is that the bad turning makes it difficult to aim the Vulcan cannon which I must say absolutely shreds fighters provided I can actually hit the target.
I accept that fighters in this BR range don’t have countermeasures, but the Starfigher’s poor maneuverability makes it a death trap when facing missiles, particularly in uptiers where I’m facing jets armed with missiles that are far superior to my measly two AIM-9Bs.
To me, the Starfighter has little going for it beyond being fast. The majority of kills I’ve gotten with this plane have been from head-on engagements, where it’s much easier to aim the Vulcan cannon and hit the enemy, but in most other cases I feel like I’m piloting a flying target for the enemy. Am I doing something wrong or am I flying a genuinely bad jet?
That`s why you NEVER turn against anything at all in a F-104, purely a BnZ fighter.
It can dominate the battles in the right hand (not mine)
It requires a very specific playstyle in order to be used effectively. It’s OP when not facing 10.0+, but it’s also an awful plane in uptiers.
You just need to stay above mach 0.9, and choose your targets wisely. Watch out for other supersonics that have missiles you can’t dodge (anything better than an 9E basically).
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The F-104A is a very specialized jet.
Compared to its peers, its incredibly fast and has incredibly good acceleration with a very good gun. But horrid turn rate and energy retention.
The best way to play it is as a support fighter by doing strafes at high speed or BnZ.
If you don’t have anyone following you, you SHOULD slow a bit down to around 800kph and deploy takeoff flaps when you are about to strafe someone to gain some agility, and then bolt out of the furball, if you didn’t get the kill, don’t commit and disengage immediately.
You will have very good success with it if you are good at deflection shooting, also take any head-on you can but don’t commit.
If you did screw up and someone got on your six momentarily, it’s best to nose counter with slight maneuvers and use your roll rate to avoid gunfire by going straight while building speed to create distance. Most of your enemies, especially the fast ones, will have low roll rate/ nose authority at near transonic speeds.
This jet is untouchable in a downtier, but at the same time, the other better maneuvering jets can also easily avoid you if they are good pilots.
If you get into a situation where you are against people who can easily avoid your strafes, start bleeding tickets because the F-104A is incredibly good at farming ground too. Just don’t get slow.
Yes, the F-104A is a rather bad aircraft.
It suffers a notorious rudder issue that makes it incapable of ever effectively fragging competent pilots in subsonic aircraft.