Reasoning: The generally low missile count of 2 Radar missiles and 2 IR guided ones combined with the 16 Flares and 18 Chaff make this plane extremely difficult to play as at 12.3 you only see uptiers to at least 12.7 and when going up against ARH slingers (F-14A, F-14A IRIAF) the dumping of chaff to fool the missiles is impossible as you would run out of chaff before leaving the square of the Airfield. At 12.0 the plane would still face the Tomcats in certain brackets but they are not included in the “best case scenario” brackets.
Closest comparable vehicle to the Strela is probably the Type81C. Tbf the japanese system has double the launch range but idk if thats worth 1.4 BR difference.
Reasoning: Fakour-90s are highly unbalanced as there is no counter to a team that spams fakours AND aim-54s, which makes the games extremely un-fun to play, as everything you do is, try to take off, get slapped by Fakour and or phoenix, rinse and repeat.
It is crazy that they are moving the F-15s down to 12.7 the same BR as the Premium F/A-18s which have 9Ls while also being the same BR as the F-14A which is worse then the F-15A in every way bar the AIM-54s. The F-14A still has AIM-9H it had when it came out it has been left in a meta that only existed long ago it should get the AIM-9Ls
Reasoning: The Long Scan cycles of the Radar combined with its atrocious RWR and a crippling lack of ARH missiles make this plane completely useless in the current BR brackets as it has to go up against Eurofighters, Rafales and other ARH slingers constantly already, with the F-16 spam coming in addition. You can only beat a dead horse so much before it gets pointless. The F-15 which has much better radar and a working rwr gets to be at 13.0 and even 12.7 if the planned change gets through in sim. No one in a sane condition of mind can tell me that the Mig-29 with 4 R-60 and 2 R-27ER is the same capability as a F-15 with 4 Aim-9M and 4 AIM-7M.
At 13.0 the Su-27 can also be a counter to the Fakour Spam that is the Wall of missiles being sent directly to any aircraft taking off.
In addition to this the Su-30Mk2 AMV is 13.3 in sim WITH ARH missiles, so what the f is the point in the BASELINE Su-27 to be at the same BR?
That’s not an “outright lie”, it’s simply describing how the system performs when used correctly and in the right engagement envelope — and yes, I am explicitly referring to in-game behavior, not IRL specs.
Target switching is not a Pantsir-only issue Automatic target switching happens on all modern radar SPAAs: (ITO-90M, ADATS, Tan-SAM, CS/SA5 and FlaRakRad)
SPAAs that are only really good at one thing often can be exploited and worked around pretty easily.
TOR and OSA can just get strafed with little to no issues.
Strela is in a similar spot, but it’s small (and can easily hide behind buildings), has good turret rotation speed, and doesn’t need constant LOS to kill a target (Strela can just pop out, shoot, and pop back into cover).
OTOMATIC is pretty good at close-mid range (especially against Helicopters) but it struggles to deal with aircraft even at ~5/6km.
It’s why CS/SA5 and especially the Pantsir are still used even at top tier Squadron Battles (they are still by far the most versatile SPAAs, though MAMBA and IRIST are still commonly used).
Tunguska is in the same position, where it can kill planes with guns at close range, intercept munitions fairly reliably, engage helicopters fairly well, and at least has a chance to kill jets at further ranges of 6km.
Of course, the OSA may be better at further ranges, and the Strela doesn’t need to keep LOS to function, but the Tunguska doesn’t have any innate weaknesses to exploit other than that its missiles are not the greatest.
That’s true, but it isn’t as detrimental as it seems (at least the thermals and radar part).
Air Alert gives you accurate Azimuth (which you can check on the Compass Bearings at the top of the screen), Altitude and even what type of threat (Drone, Heli, Plane) every 5s or so, though it is definitely doesn’t substitute for an actual radar.
Reasoning: The Long Scan cycles of the Radar combined with its atrocious RWR and a crippling lack of ARH missiles make this plane completely useless in the current BR brackets as it has to go up against ARH slingers with the F-16 spam coming in addition. You can only beat a dead horse so much before it gets pointless. The F-15 which has much better radar and a working rwr gets to be at 13.0 and even 12.7 if the planned change gets through in sim. No one in a sane condition of mind can tell me that the Mig-29 with 4 R-60 and 2 R-27ER is the same capability as a F-15 with 4 Aim-9M and 4 AIM-7M.
At 12.3 the Mig can also be a counter to the Fakour Spam that is the Wall of missiles being sent directly to any aircraft taking off.
It has thermals so that’s something.
Missiles seem to be a lot better as well and when I played it, I doubt I’ve ever failed to kill someone that went inside my 7-8km bubble.
Hey, I personally feel like the Pakwagen Sd.Kfz. 234/4 should receive some update to its BR. I don’t see why is it placed in a BR in the German tech tree where there is nothing else at 4.7. So I’d propose to turn this vehicle into 4.3. Knowing how rare the vehicle is, this wouldn’t affect the balance too much. It’s a turretless open-top that gets hunted down by CAS in seconds anyway and the gun is the same as on tanks found at 3.7 Germany. Yeah, those tanks are less mobile of course, but they have armor and fully rotating turret.
The T72B’s would like to have a word with you. The tanks in this BR range only have armour going for them. Nothing else. Moving them up would drop Russia/USSR win rates even more just because you decided that “muh russian bias” is to blame for your skill issue
Reasoning: The Long Scan cycles of the Radar combined with its atrocious RWR and a crippling lack of ARH missiles make this plane completely useless in the current BR brackets as it has to go up against ARH slingers with the F-16 spam coming in addition. You can only beat a dead horse so much before it gets pointless. The F-15 which has much better radar and a working rwr gets to be at 13.0 and even 12.7 if the planned change gets through in sim. No one in a sane condition of mind can tell me that the Mig-29 with 4 R-73 and 2 R-27ER is the same capability as a F-15 with 4 Aim-9M and 4 AIM-7M. You either fly on the deck hoping that the enemy wont find you and yeet a ER at it from below or you die horribly, and with only 60 Flares or chaff it is rather a daunting proposition to go up against people who have 240 flares and chaff or even more
Looking at the comparison of other 13.0 semi active radar missile carriers it would make sense to NOT lower the F15A variants to 12.7 but leave it at 13.0. This would cause massive compression for 11.7 and 12.0. As no other aircraft has the amount of capability pared with a strong Pulse Doppler Radar and IRCCM missiles.
What would make more sense would to bring the 13.0 SU 27 Flanker variants to 13.3.
REASON
-Flankers carry R27ERs. Arguably the best semi active radar in the game. Even proving to be capable at the highest BR. They also have Data link capability with the flexibility of having long range Fox 2 R27ETs and having highly maneuverable IRCCM R73s. Also the flankers have HMS and IRST. The other 13.0 semi active planes do not have this capability or flexibility. Not to mention the stock grind performance. The current 13.0s that are not flankers have to stock grind with a much worse semi active radar missiles and none IRCCM Aim 9Ls. The Flankers do not have this issue, yet they are better off being able to get up to 6 R73s or 4 R73s and 2 R27T/ETs through progress. These progression paths are not even comparably the same or reasonably fair in terms of 13.0 planes
Lets keep the positive gameplay changes moving forward with increasing the BR ceiling, rather then bringing things down causing unnecessary compression.
We should be moving “2 steps forward.”
“Not 1 step forward, 2 steps backwards” this does not create positive change.
I rarely play this thing, decided to take it out not too long ago and was like wtf the turret just reposition itself when the vehicles is moving, then it needs to come to a complete stop to deploy the missile into firing state. Sort of like the missile pod from Bradley’s would retract when the vehicle is on the move and there is a waiting time for it to redeploy lol