is RCSs even modeled in warthunder yet
In reality F-16 will kill the Tomcat when the fight is on the good part of its envelope, which are a bit higher speeds than Tomcat’s.
If Tomcat gets low (where we mostly play, 2km altitude for example is low in reality) and slow, opens wings and flaps…around 450-460km/h it outrates everything.
However this is good for 1v1/2v2 scenarios…else you’re begging to be 3d partied. F-16 on the other hand has energy retention and that’s a better card to play in the initial and mid course of the fight, it just doesn’t bleed much energy and you need to prepare/prethink what you do in WVR, something that most of us are pretty bad doing (me too).
I understood the concept while playing Kfir recently, where you can just bleed energy to take a shot, yet when you lose your energy in those stages of the fight you literally begging to be swiped…
With the 16 you don’t have to think much in changing directions in those stages, yet by the end where you actually maneuver and dogfight you have to prepare what you do, because that thing doesn’t bleed unless you make it to. Also you don’t want to overdo it in bleeding energy since it doesn’t like too low speeds (unlike Tomcat).
Also, the 16s we have in game are PW ones… when GE ones arrive in the game that will be a rude awakening with an extra 2,4k kg thrust…
But yeah, the current F-16As against the F-14B should have trouble. Against F-14A, not so much… since pushing the vertical is an uno reverse card against it. However in the game F-14A doesn’t have technical problems, so it gets pictured a bit stronger than what it was IRL, since the limitations do not apply…you don’t have to be careful and progressive with the thrust and that gives you precious seconds in getting the plane where you want to in its behavior …
For me it’s not easy to rate F-14A because it lacks all-aspects, any top tier has all-aspects. But comparing to F-14B, current 16As are lacking. I mostly rated them the way i did to protect everything i’ve put as 12.3, most of them not having PD or even BVR and clearly lacking in any department against F-16As with BVR.
And to be honest i didn’t put much thought in a lot of stuff as you see (mostly because i know GJ won’t do those changes) and that’s mostly a pattern about how it should have been against what we currently have in my opinion.
The major part of the ranking is around decompression and that we must take major account on the armament/radar capabilities and countermeasures … and in a lesser extend in performance, because the performance part plays serious role in smaller scale combat near the end of the match (4v4 max).
And by the start and mid course you don’t want to ditch speed/energy essentially “trading” and shooting while on foot with the opponents. At opening and mid game , a stronger/faster lock and weapons makes bigger difference than maneuverability… CMs also is a big part since the more/stronger CMs you have the more chance you have to get out alive and if you have as many to keep you safe till the end is a big “pro” in my book…
My point in extending the limit of the BRs is not where to put the upcoming planes with modern features such as AMRAAM/R-77 and AESA/PESA .
My point is that in the current rankings there are too many planes that are not really balanced. Essentially every game in a 11.3 plane results in a 12.0 game. Similarly i see too many F-4Es (BR 11.0) that they are heavily handicapped in those games.
Similarly , planes in even lower BRs have the same problem… F-4C is a 10.0, meeting a 11.0 you have… NOTHING on it, you don’t even have CMs and its missiles suck comparing to 11.0s.
MIIIC same BR with MIIIE , while MIIIE having CMs… And having CMs vs not having CMs in practically the same plane is huge difference in power. F-104J doesn’t have CMs, yet ranks the same with 104s with CMs…
You don’t have to hold back the numbers in BR, you just make them convenient for you in order to have balanced games. And you shouldn’t have in mind only top tier… there are another 50 vehicles in lower BRs that get affected because top tier is too low… I don’t want them 50 vehicles to be a chore for just grinding. I want them to be playable and fun…
Lol, the day they add Armata is the day I’m done with this game. We already have Russian tanks with over-bloated technical stats, and if we get Armata based on it’s declared specifications, then it would be best tank ever.
a separate br in ARB and GRB will be better. The mission in arb is eliminate all enemy with only one spawn and in GRB every one get 2 tank spawn and 1 aa spawn point which makes ground proud important in the GRB. So when consider the plane br in ARB should mainly consider about plane’s AA ability and in GRB the br should mainly consider about plane’s AG ability.
1 match i got 4 kills with the F-16 without even trying.
Totally agreed. BR decompression should be radar/missile led rather than simply base on the performance data, especially when the game expands to BVR-age of the air battle.
Thanks again for such objective and precise analyzation.
Then I would suggest you play 100 more. 1 single match don’t prove anything. Once I even got 6 kills in J-8B, but you can never say it outperforms F14B, or F16.
well since they did something to the radar i’ve stopped playing it, and the F-14s radar is messed up so… meh