I don’t see why you would depend on good TWS tracking with the su-27 and r-77s. Those missiles are better used within their seeker range to begin with, many top tiers don’t have very reliable TWS tracking either, especially if there is a cluster of targets nearby. The Eurofighter is a good example too.
The su-27 at 13.7 can’t be all strengths and no weaknesses, you already get a big missile load, IRST, and decent FM that arguably only loses to the euro canards in maneuverability, the flankers were buffed, the su-27SM, the su-27 and the J-11B are actually quite good now.
R-77 has much better performance in HOBS, and higher explosive payload which helps against multipathing. You guy keep comparing everything to the aim-120 which only wins in pure range, it’s not the best within medium/short ranges even in a straight line, and it is the worst by far for HOBS.
Even though the instantaneous turn energy retention isn’t the best, the sustained turn rate is comparable to the F-16C. The su-27 doesn’t have the bad FM that everyone suggests.
The su-30sm on the other hand, has a bad FM, but it gets arguably the best missiles in the game with an overpowered number of them which you can afford to spam in order to make your enemy lose all its positioning advantage.
I use IRST to great effect all the time. Lock a target you picked with TWS, swap to IRST, get near, swap back and launch within high PK ranges. And since you aren’t pinging RWRs when approaching, that is a huge deal.
I fail to see the upside here versus me just holding the old eyeball lock and keeping radar off, unless you mean the data it gives you regarding their speed/direction etc which I admit could be useful but its very high level stuff to be utilizing compared to most advantages which are direct and up front
It’s not a straight better fox3, better range, worse maneuverability. But the PL-12s might be the most well-rounded missile, well now there is the r-77-1 which outclasses it but still…
Anyway I think the J-11B should be 14.0, its FM is also a bit better than the su-27sm
It’s the closest thing to the derby. The aim-120 is in its own category, no other missile has such bad maneuverability but it has less drag / better range than the rest.
From a quick test drive, the su-27sm and the rafale lock the mig15s at similar ranges, (very short ranges since they are very cold targets idling their engines).
Now from normal gameplay, I can lock targets over 30km away all aspect with both the Eurofighter and the Rafale unless they cut the afterburner, rear aspect even further. Sometimes even through light cloud coverage (probably due to clouds not being server side)
And considering that now they fixed the automatic IRST swapping issues, it is even more useful now
That’s what I do on my 27sm in sim, being caught out because I was relying on my radar and I essentially falsely thought there was nothing there, has killed me every time. The simple truth is the 27sm is not a good top tier simmer. My eyes pick up far more than the radar does. And I can use regular tws for a second on narrow scanning to identify friend vs foe then lock and launch.
The Su-27SM and Su-30Sm are kind of a joke in sim. I just got back from trying the Su-27Sm again and I did manage to eek out 2 kills in just under 30 minutes. I had to fire 6 (SIX, Six, 6) R-77’s at a target just under 10 miles (10 MILES) (16 km) off my nose and the only thing that hit him was the R-73 I fired after I closed the distance, just before an F-15 took me out. I shouldn’t have to fire 6 radar missiles at a solitary target that close to me and not get a kill with them.
To all of you flanker enjoyers getting these things to work properly my hats off to you. I cannot get them to work reliably for me at all