Strikemaster Mk.88 BR is to low

Machinery of War Discussion Aircraft
21

I mean, the RNZAF could have told you that as well, seeing as they literally used them as AA bait on exercises due to their speed, or rather lack thereof:

August included a simulated strike against the nuclear-powered cruiser USS Texas, some 300nm north of Whenuapai. On the first strike the Skyhawks went undetected until they were within nine miles of the ship. A second strike some days later was even more successful. 14 Squadron’s Strikemasters were sent in first to almost certain extinction, courtesy of the warship’s anti-aircraft defences. Thus, when the Skyhawks ran in two minutes later, having been guided to their target by a shadowing P-3, the hapless sailors were still in the process of reloading!

From Skyhawks: the history of the RNZAF Skyhawk (WillsonScott, 2011) p.112.

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22

And I thought the RAFs suicide swarm of hawks directed by tornados in the cold war was a grim plan xD

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23

Ok so after taking the Strikemaster for a couple of fly’s i conclude with:

Oh boi it will get increased in BR in no time plz no

Ground Realistic Battles:

StrikeMaster_Ground_00
StrikeMaster_Ground_001440×730 173 KB

Air Realistic Battles:
Strikemaster_Air_00

Strikemaster_Air_01

Or maybe i just got lucky with the few games i had…
Skill_Issue
Def_Skill_Issue

24

But do you think it’s legitimately overpowered at 6.3 or is this a case of the enemy not knowing how to deal with it?

25

I uploaded my replay to youtube to show for people

Honestly, I dont think theres really much I am doing here other planes cant do, the main thing is I have to RTB less then other UK planes, though IIRC there are other planes with similar levels of boom, be they bomber or strike planes. (like, if it was a Wyvern, how much different would that be?)

I wouldnt say its OP, its relatively slow and struggles to flee and when outnumbered it has issues, but of course, this requires your opponents to challenge you. If they dont, well… yeah.

Theres also a huge uptick in attackers and stuff right now due to the BP missions, it makes it hard to judge for GRB because you end up in a team of 5-6 planes all protecting each other.

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26

AIR RB speaking:
So far i’ve had no problem dogfighting props, haven’t fought any japanese plane (aside J7W1) nor spitfires yet.

P51H, P47s, F8Fs, F7Fs, AD4s, are quite easily killable if they don’t go in with multiple people.

1 v 1, you are gold.
1 v 2?, doable but good luck mate.
1 v 4?, (just had one till lag spike rammed me in to the ground), IT CAN SURVIVE as long you have teammates around.

It can climb, legit can climb like a prop.
The guns still mediocre (7.62mm) but can get the job done if you pilot snipe.
So far haven’t ripped my wings nor in a dive neither in a turn (even though it says OverG)

Right now people are just going for me like if there wasn’t anyone else on my team, they just want me.

I wouldn’t say it’s “OP” but is quite an easy jet to fly, (hence a trainer), if it had cannons i would definitely scream OP, but that’s my opinion.

2 Likes
27

Impression after flying some ARB:

  • Very pleasant and fun jet to fly. Handles nicely, overall good flight performance.
  • The guns are the equalizer. 10 7.62s dump a lot of lead but they are still 7.62s, very limited stopping power…though they did manage to set quite a few fires.
  • Air spawn is a plus.
  • More durable than expected for something that light. Structurally strong, no wing rips.
  • Did get dogpiled by the enemy team a few times and that was not great.

I don’t think the BR is too low at the moment, but we’ll see when more of them are in a battle.

28

Which, speaking to historical accuracy, is somewhat interesting given the represented aircraft configuration.

The Strikemaster Mk.88 in-game is one from the mid-1980s - the MDC in the canopy is an in-service refit from about then - and by that time, structural fatigue was a serious issue with the Strikemaster fleet, to the point where six aircraft got their wings completely replaced with new ones.

Due to levels of cracking - mainly caused by the level of turbulence encountered during the low-level sorties the aircraft flew over NZ terrain - some ended up with reduced G limits to keep them in-service just that little bit longer. The RNZAF even got to the point of drilling holes in the wings to keep track of the cracks, as can be seen by the circular patches on the wing of the Strikemaster here:

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29

Very interesting indeed. I know Gaijin does not model reliability concerns but I wonder if they would model G limitations for older airframes if there is documentation in a flight manual.

30

The easy enough solution for Gaijin would be to simply state that the Strikemaster is one of the six that got rewinged by the RNZAF (NZ6369 was rewinged in 1986, for example), thereby removing any acceleration restrictions.

1 Like
31

I have snapped my wing several times so far but that tends to only be when i drop a single bomb and am pulling up, so I would recommend heavily being careful when doing this and dont just pull up with the mouse but using the keyboard controls to do it. (also use your airbrake to control speed)

Very much feels like the old issue the saab 105s had back in the day if people remember.

Also snapped once in air combat, but i think that was more a me being silly moment and performing a weird turn at like, 10G xD

32

what

33

This thing needs tracers to be viable in air RB. Its quite an enraging jet to play, you cant even outrun props if you take ordinance.

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34

I would say putting this at 6.7 is reasonable with the loadouts it has

The Strikemaster Mk.88 is still missing some loadouts and i’m not referring to the AIM-9G’s

35

Can’t out run & can’t out turn on most cases (unless clean load-out) and the most important OUTGUNNED.

Having now played the Strikemaster Mk.88 for a longer time, IF the enemy prop knows what he is doing you stand no chance, unless he’s a sitting duck, otherwise prepare for quite the lasting dogfight.

its a really good strike-fighter though, quite hard to use because of the hit or miss type of payload but if you are accurate enough it pays off.

I would list the treats as follows:

Props:
Outperformed by:
Corsairs, Spitfires, G-56, Yak-3, all non heavy japanese fighters.

Can give fight:
P-51H, Bf109K, La-9, La-11.

Easy:
F8F, F7F, AD series, Fw-190s, Ta-152s, Spitfire(clipped ver).

Jets:
Everyone will out run you, wait for them to be slow.

Don’t bother:
Bombers, or heavy type of aircraft (you wont do damage).

Conclusion:
It’s fine where it is as is pretty slow in comparison to other aircraft of its tier, if it gets increased it won’t do any good going slow below 550 km/h trying to catch a jet going 800 cruise level EHEM F-84s

*EDIT:
CurrentStats

3 Likes
36

and those 7.62s plus it’s excellent flight performance are good enough to down the 6.0 aircraft that are basically 6.0 because they have high caliber guns which… funnily enough deal LESS damage than the 7.62s.

37

Your screenshot proves once again that this plane should be sold for at least 100 GJN, very strong imbo technique. Fools are dumping the coupon for a measly 60 GJN …

38

In general, who likes to do some trading on the stock exchange and on this to farm GJN, it is time to buy them now, because in half a year they will be worth a lot.

39

As long as the vehicle has a current combat rating, it is very strong. I couldn’t resist and kept it for myself and bought another one on the exchange to sell in the future. I expect at least 150 coins for it…

40

People vastly underestimate the killing power of the strikemaster. It can run 4 gunpods for minimal performance loss and although the firepower isn’t great, its perfectly adequate for getting a lot of kills. Combined with the fact that it outturns most props, is faster than every prop, and has an airspawn all at 6.3 makes it by far the best 6.3 in the game.