each now and then i try to play the J35A (i can’t speak of the other J35 models because in the swedish tree at the moment i’m playing the J32B, and NEVER play premiums above my actual BR range), and every single time i looked for some info about how to make it remotely useful besides the occasional lucky kill every 1-2 spawns, i found enthusiastic comments like these (from reddit):
“the most manouvrable plane in the game!” “it loses speed very fast but turns on the spot!” “it’s tricky but will win every 1v1 dogfight with every opponent”
the problem is, in my personal experience the J35A has this weird ability to make tight turns (and lose ALL speed) at low-medium speed (with AoA limiter OFF, of course), and around 1000 kmh it just locks up. not in the sense that it’s not manouvrable. in the sense that it can just go straight.
if - god forbid - i enter a shallow dive, the bastard gains speed and there’s no way to point it anywhere but in the ground. the airbrake doesn’t work fast enough.
i want to believe that this is 100% a skill related issue, because i refuse to think that half the bloody swedish tree is made of a plane that can either go moderately fast OR change direction.
can someone point out what i’m not getting about “the most manouvrable plane in the game”?
I have not played that specific plane, but a good amount of other “omg maneuver so op” planes.
A lot of the time it unfortunately falls to hoping the enemy doesn’t just run away. If you can get people to commit to trying to turn with you, you can get your first turn finished really fast and get one chance to take them out.
Unfortunately if they do not play to your strengths, there isn’t much you can do besides create distance.
And 3rd party kills work, but that is a universal strategy and anything can do that
Well, but at least other planes manage to make that first turn before losing alarming quantities of energy and becoming flying bricks. The Mig21 is an obvious example. The J35A refuses to do even that one!
the compressing in a dive part is a really big pitfall, imo. On J 35D, i only manage to pull out of the dive if i cut burner (sometimes all thrust), open airbrake, and start pulling with no regard for my surroundings. And that is, if i do actually notice that i’m losing Alt dangerously fast, and if my pilot doesn’t decide to take a nice nap in the middle of the life or death terrain escape.
The afterburner on J 35A kort is relatively weak compared to later models, so, once it gets slow it cannot recover as quick, nor can it keep the energy as well.
never played the J35a but a lot of the planes i like fall into the “can turn once and then fall out of the sky” catagory.
if youre caught with your pants down its game over no matter unless the enemy is trash or youre lucky, positioning is the most powerful thing in this game and thats true for drakens too.
Keeping speed up so you dont enter “im a scandinavian brick” mode is quite important, try not to pull too hard unless its really needed