So I decided to give the snail some money by buying the Swedish J35XS (which is odd that Sweden would use its own 1970 export variant… but I digress).
Oh man, this thing is bad. In the current MM meta its always 11.3/11.7 matches. That means it fights AIM-7F’s, Pheonixes, and IRCCM missiles like the Magic 2.
The J35XS has NO RWR, 10 flares, enough fuel for one engagement, and some fairly mid IR missiles.
I remember dog fighting the J35 over the years in my SMT and F5e. It always seemed like a competent and challenging dogfighter having an advantage in 1-circle fights. But now I’ve learned (and experienced) that it cant even do that after nerfs I failed to read about.
The only thing its got going for it is that its a flying deployable air brake slowing down from mach 1 to 500kph in a single jink. It sometimes catches people off guard allowing for … well you to survive another 30 seconds. The missiles are only going to hit flares after the overshoot… sigh
TLDR. J35XS needs to be at 10.0. SMT, F8, and F5c are both better aircraft at 10.3. God help the J35D on the tree. That thing must be abysmal with less power and missiles.
Due to premium spam flooding matchmaker with ongoing sales.
No, it doesnt. You get 6 AIM-9Js, something the Italian F-104G gets TWO of at 10.7. Your fuel management must be garbage to think you have enough for one engagement. Use your eyes for radar missiles, they arent particularly prevalent at 10.7 unless you get fully uptiered. You should not have to blow through your 12 flares in an instant. They are large caliber. Positioning better makes you more likely to survive, and you will be able to use your weapons to greater effect.
Dont know about 21SMT as they nerfed it too this patch.
F-8E is really stupid and needs to go up. Invalidating everything that wants to climb when it gets downtiered is dumb.
F-5C isnt actually that great. I flew the Taiwanese F-5A at 10.7, being essentially the same as an F-5C with AIM-9Js. It is not that great. It is just too slow and has a pretty bad flight model for low-speed sustained fights.
I agree with this, but it also applies to literally every 10.3, hell even 10.0 aircraft that lack countermeasures. Flares are essential at this BR, and not having them is miserable when someone can just point their cursor on you and shoot missile for free kill.
The F104G has the immense advantage of being able to control the start and stop of the fight by being extremely fast. The J35 has no such advantage. 6 missiles that can only kill unaware players is not that big of a deal. And trust me on the fuel, I have thousands of hours in similar BR jets and the fuel is definitely an issue. Using only 103% (a lower stage AB) helps some when just flying from engagement to engagement… but still. And why must I “open my eyes” to look for radar missile spam at 10.7 when every other similarly tiered aircraft has a RWR. And there IS most definitely radar missile spam from oh lets see, F4S, F4J, F14A, Mirage F1… the list goes on.
My point being, its not a match for 10.3 aircraft. 10.0 seems better but then again I dont intend for it to fight F100’s at 9.0. So maybe 10.3?
And having zero actual performance outside of being fast. You are not killing anyone by zipping around at 1500kph with people latching onto your six and chasing what they cant catch.
So you have your biggest advantage, 6 AIM-9Js which are a fine missile for the BR and you have more than everyone else. Your flight model allows you to actually contest people in a dogfight situation and even kill them, considering youre actually skilled enough to dogfight someone.
Seems you didnt know the Eyeball Mk.1 paired with C key is the biggest key to survival.
Only because youre being sucked into 11.3 with the premium spam ongoing.
In all my Sweden 9.0 matches, nearly none were ever uptiers to 10.0. I maintain a 54/4 K/D in J29F. Pretty good fighter.
Theyre alright, J32B definitely better than A32A because better engine.
LOL. Epic. I must say though, it is much more peaceful flying not having the high pitched RWR tone constantly going off.
Also, the F104A in the American tree is one of my favorite jets. I’de gladly trade maneuverability with the ability to dictate the terms of the fight. Getting 1500kph gun kills is a thing btw : ) God that plane is busted at 9.3…
Eh, somebody mentioned that the J35D was rough in a uptier, idk why the Tunnan & Lansen came into my mind, And i agree that the J29F is a good aircraft most enemies dont know how to deal with you. they try to energy drain you, that almost never works since the J29F has a pretty insane energy retention for its br.
You trade survivability aka more flares and RWR with 2 more missiles, plus recent FM changes made this plane really hard to play against any 11.0-11.7.
Before the changes and constant uptiers this plane was really good but now? It just a shadow of former itself.
Mig 21’s got a .2° turning nerf this patch but the SMT is probably still the strongest 10.3 in the game or a close contender with the F8E. Very fun jets
J-35XS has a sustained of 13.0 with full fuel [which is as much fuel as an F-4 Phantom’s AB time], equivalent turn rate to Mig-21SMT and F-5C.
And 1 degree lower per second than F-5E, which has less weapons as well as a slower speed.
This stat is completely misleading. J35XS does not retain its energy and therefore cannot sustain the turn rate you are quoting. An F5c at 10.3 will easily be able to maneuver away from the Draken simply by retaining energy in high speed turns. The F5e is a far superior aircraft from what I can tell having flown both (granted many more hours in the F5e at this point).
Best 10.3s go to Mirage 3E, F-8E, and AMX.
21SMT is good, as good as Mig-21MF, and that’s where it stays really.
While SMT dogfights as well as Mirage 3E and F-5C, it lacks the guns to match F-5C, and it lacks the missiles and guns to match Mirage 3E.
@HammerSickleTime
That’s not how physics works.
Sustained is literally defined as not bleeding speed.
The F-5E is only superior in dogfight, not weapons.
You are talking to someone that flies both, and your post is dismissing reality.
My post is not dismissing reality. Reality is that the draken does not sustain its energy in any type of meaningful turn fight. Maybe on paper there is a 2-circle fight where a F5c and a draken rate identically… but come on man. You claim to fly them both and you cant honestly tell me that a draken will keep up with an F5c in a turn fight. Draken has one shot at focing a 1-circle before it is down to 500kph.
