The F-4S, once a formidable premium jet, has been dwarfed to an irrelevant premium in the grand scheme of the US air tree.
With the addition of the new premiums for the tree, namely the F-18C (EARLY) and the F-20, and the addition of newer jets as a whole, I feel like some of the old premiums have been left in the dust power-wise.
In this case, I’m focusing on the F-4S. In my opinion, the plane has been powercrept.
While more than serviceable, it lacks a good airframe, and despite it managing to somewhat hold its own; the new matchmaker has left it in matches where it either faces things above its own BR or below it.
The inconsistent matchmaker is a problem due to the fact that it will perform very well in a downtier, yet the lack of a full PD radar and, what I’ll be focusing on later, its lack of CQC ability leaves it desolate in an uptier.
With the former in mind, I have a solution to the issue.
I propose that the BR of the plane be raised to 12.3 and that it be given 9Ls like it historically had.
This would allow it to not be completely overkill in a downtier and it would round its combat capabilities nicely, giving it the ability to hold its own in uptiers in spite of its flaws, especially in close quarters.
In addition to that, it would give anyone planning on buying an air premium for the US a good selection
A light(er) fighter in the form of the F-20 Tigershark.
A heavy missile bus in the form of the F-4S Phantom II.
And the best of both worlds (figuratively, I dislike the hornet), the F-18 Hornet.
Actually not an unreasonable suggestion. Definetly possible
Though I think before anything can be done regarding the balance of aircraft anywhere between 11.3 and 13.3, they need to decompress quite heavily first
Some 12.0s do okay, because they have comprable SARH weapons. Other dont because they have 11.3 SARH (like the Viggen D and FGR2). But in terms of FM and/or kit (like RWR and radar) they are outclassed
F-4S is my most played plane in ARB, and Phantoms as a whole are my most played airframe.
I also just came from spading F-16A over the course of the event (I swear this is relevant to the point im about to make).
So with that out of the way - I disagree with such proposition, as I believe the 9Ls would make the F-4S overall worse.
As to why, I dont believe that 9L will really fix the F-4S dogfight capabilites since these dont stem from its missiles but rather from its airframe. The thing is, that F-4S, or any other Phantom for that matter really, REALLY shouldnt dogfight. Its just not built for it.
On top of that, and im probably gonna get burned at the stake here for this take, 9L really isnt good dogfight missile. Its just too damn flarable from anywhere but direct rear with clean view of enemy engine or at like 1km. Ive seen it too many times spading the F-16A. Sure, I had moments where the 9L powered through flares and slamdunked the overconfident MiG-23, but these were exceptions to the rule. Most of the time, when the furball developed, everyone started flaring, and in such scenario, firing off 9L is a complete waste of a missile. And once the enemy is aware of you, 9L wont fare much better - single pop of CMs with turned-off afterburner will defeat it.
Way I found 9Ls on F-16A to work was to drop them, unspotted, from high-alt and at high speed at targets that didnt know I was there. Which F-4S can already do with 9Hs, only practical difference would be much broader spectrum of angles from which F-4S could attack. Another way that worked was to fire them in a headon at around 1.2km or so - but F-4S can also already engage the enemy from frontal aspect with Sparrows, at even longer range.
But, lets assume 9L is added to F-4S anyway and its BR is raised to 12.3.
So now you have airframe that really shouldnt dogfight, with missile that really shouldnt dogfight, finds itself at BR where, instead of facing “only” Su-27s with R-27ERs and F-15As and maybe legacy platforms with ARH carriers in full uptier, it can meet the 13.3 premium Sukhois, J-11A, JF-17, MiG-29SMT/MiG-29N etc.
I dont know about you, but playing both F-4S and Su-30MKK, the matchup would be likely this
And the F-4S BVR capability would get diminished further, the 60x CMs aint really cutting it, head-on only PD radar will also get progressively worse, its RWR will struggle even more, and its FM will limit both its offense and defense.
So for marginal increase in offensive capability that wont actually solve the F-4S inability to fight at close range, you would unlock entirely new world of pain.
moreso at 12.3 theres already F-4EJ Kai, 7F + 9L armed Phantom with much better radar, much better RWR and 30x more CMs.
All and all, Id much rather keep my 12.0 missile bus thats good in BVR but weak in WVR than to recieve a 12.3 missile bus thats bad at both.
If and when they finally decompress 13.0, I am prepared for the balance discussion.
FGR2, FG1, F-4J, and F-4S should be the namesakes of 12.0 IMO.
And anything notably stronger or weaker than them can be adjusted accordingly.
Like the F-4J UK that honestly should be 11.7 with having the worse of F-4S and the “worse” of FGR2 combined into one aircraft.
IMO just like the issue of F-16A in ARB cant be fixed by simple BR change or loadout change, neither can the F-4S inability to perform well in dogfight be fixed the same way.
Best fix for F-4S inability to perform well in dogfight would be to never get in one, which would require larger maps.
Gaijin constantly power creeping features lower than they should be is not an argument for saying these features now belong and start at their new low BRs. For example, just because Su-11 has been 7.3 for a long time now does not mean it is still not the outlier example of a 7.3 jet and cannot be used as the basis for comparison for other 7.3s.
The F-4E is probably the strongest 11.3 in the game, half because of its AIM-7E2 set. It does not even get a PD radar. To imply the same missiles (actually better ,since they’re skyflashes) would be considered “the same BR” on the power level scale with a PD radar set is ridiculous.
