Hi everyone, I have a question about recommendations for what jet I should be researching next in this changing meta. I am concerned about how well each jet will work in uptiers and compressed brackets. Here is my current research progress:
As you can see, I have a chunk of progress in the Scimitar, but the Lightning and Swift F7 are also available to research. I’ve heard the Hunters are good but the Vampire is completely dismal. Additionally, is the Swift F.1 still worth purchasing right now?
Scimitar is quite fun once you get used to it and a few mods on it - ridiculously high climb rate means you will almost always be top of the heap. It’s bit and ungainly to manoeuvre tho’, so you don’t want to be dog-fighting.
Swift is nothing much, Vampire is a great dog-fighter - very manoeuvrable but a bit slow. Lightning is iconic but I can never get it to quite work… which of course is likely to be just me. Hunters are also iconic, but the first one only has guns and no external armament at all.
All of them! 😂
Lightning is pretty cracked, it bullies F-104s
I quite enjoy the harriers, so IMO id suggest Swift F.7, Jag GR.1 Then the harrier GR3.
Scimitar is an amazing vehicle, useful in GRB because of the bullpups, and very strong in air RB because of the speed, you just need to get used to not having a rudder, which means that it has a fairly high skill ceiling. The Lightning is fine, you will get clubbed in upteirs but you can do fairly well at your own BR and you will club in downteirs, both swifts are fun vehicles, a little worse than they used to be because Gaijin forgot to move any minor nation vehicles down when they moved the 8.7’s/8.3’s down to escape F104 hell but still very playable, the Hunters are terrible, the F.1 is the best of them all but is really not worth playing, and the Vampire is a great vehicle, just not for 8.0. The vampire is like the Zero of jets, turns very well and because people turn with it, it then overperforms and goes up in BR. My advice for this would actually be to grind out the rest of the Scimi, then research the Spitfire Mk24, that thing recently went down in BR because they moved the Mig-15’s and Sabres down and now it is even more of an absolute monster than it was before. The Tempest that you havent bought yet is pretty strong too, and i would say dont ever bother researching the Sea Venom. As for stuff further down the tree, the Jaguar GR.1 is awful, the Harrier GR.3 is good, the Jaguar GR.1A is very useful for ground, and because it has flares it is pretty playable in ARB, all the bombers are really useless right the way to the end of the tree, if you play the Hunter F.6 Gaijin should be paying you to do so its that bad, the Phantoms are fine for what they are, the US tree just has a better version in nearly every way, the Sea Harrier FRS’s are not great nowadays, but you will still be able to kill things with the 9L’s, the Sea Harrier FA.2 is a novelty vehicle, it was an absolute nightmare to spade before they added stock amraams, and now it is much easier, though is still very limited by the airframe, the Tornado F.3’s are both fine, though neither are meta-defining, the Harrier GR.7 is solid in ground, though in ARB it relies very heavily on the 9M’s and the Gripen is one of the best planes in the game.
I must be crazy for saying this, but I never got along well with Spitfires. Maybe I will research the mk.24 and revisit them though. I don’t know what MEC to use; they seem to cook their engines quite fast.
I tend to get third partied and jumped a lot from my experience in the others and the LF Mk 9. Particularly by Yak-3s and the like.
Any tips?
Swift F.7
What do you want?
Line 1 - Fighters
The Vampire, Venom and Hunters are the main dogfighter of that range for our tree. Good, though maybe a tad over BRed these days. The Hunters can be especially good, though the 30mm ADENs are tricky to use and the SRAAMs on the Hunter F6 can be unpredictable.
This line also leads onto the Phantom FGR2, a main stay high tier fighter for us, though best used for close range SARH missiles, and unfortunately Over Br’ed with its current loadout and eventually onto the Gripen C, our top tier fighter. One of the best dogfighters in game.
Line 2 - Interceptors
Lightning F6 is a very fast, hit and run aircraft, one of the few super-sonics of that BR range, but is a tad limited by the performance of the Red Tops and the tricky nature of the 30mm ADENs. But quite a fun aircraft nonetheless. Just dont try to dogfight.
This line leads onto the Tornado F3s. These are very potent BVR trucks and can be highly effective when used right, recent buffs have given them a new lease on life, though still in need of further refinements, mostly in the CMs
Line 3 - Naval
Scimitar is a quick and fairly potent naval fighter, though one I havent got a vast amount of experience in.
This line leads onto Sea Harrier FRS1e which can be very fun, though is in need of some notable buffs/bug fixes. Below that is the FG1, a carbon copy of the FGR2 except for some difference in the landing gear and the Sea Harrier FA2, which is a very good top tier AMRAAM slinger (when downtiered), but also in need of some notable buffs/bug fixes
Line 4 - Strike aircraft
Jaguar’s are decent strike aircraft, with good payload and overall performance, but ARB is a poor enviroment for them, excellent in ASB though. The Gr1A has the advantage of flares, the Gr1 has the advantage of a lower BR, but overall they are the same.
Also in that line is the Harrier Gr3, a good strike fighter, and can be effective in air to air combat, though that is not its main role. Like all Harriers, it can struggle to deal with IR missiles, but with proper throttle management this can be mitigated. Learning to use the vectored thrust is highly important in all harriers. At the bottom of this line current is the Harrier Gr7. One of the better CAS aircraft on our tree at the moment and a capable dogfighter when used right, It carries the Aim-9M which is both a blessing and curse, in that it is good, but forces the Harrier Gr7 perhaps higher than it should be placed. The Gr7 also has excellent CM count and MAWS
Line 5 - Bombers
The Canberras are very good bombers for the BR range and the Canberra Mk6 even has a gunpod, meaning it can fight back or hunt other bombers surprisingly well. An aircraft I dont have much experience in, but have heard it is truly a laugh to dogfight fighters and win in.
This line leads onto the Buccaneer S2s, both very powerful base bombers, with some of the largest bomb loads in game, though both can be vulnerable to attacks at their respective BRs, with no guns and limited 2x AAMs for self defence (if you choose to take any at all) they can be tricky aircraft to use in ARB like all bombers are. But excellent fun in ASB.
F-111C is an aircraft I have yet to research, but boast good top speed, good bomb load and a good defensive loadout. The Tornado Gr1 below that is a very capable base bomber, though perhaps a tad slow for the BR range, making it hard to reach bases within ARB, But is very well equipped to deal with incoming threats. Very fun in ASB, with the right team.
(Whilst it is only a rumour, the Tornado Gr4 may be coming in the next major update, and that could be a very very good strike aircraft and if its got its full IRL loadout, one of, if not maybe the best CAS aircraft in game)
Conclusion
So it really comes down to what you have enjoyed so far the most. If its dogfighting in a spitfire, probably aim for the Hunters, if its hack and slash tactics, then the Lightning, if its more multirole, defensive gameplay, the naval line and if its mud moving then either the Jagaur or Canberra.
I dont bother using MEC, just throttle down to 100% when it starts to heat up. Best way to play them is to climb as much as you can, and only actually turn when you are forced to, if you can BnZ people do so. If you are getting 3rd partied that can indicate that you are either starting fights when there are enemies nearby that can join in, or that you are taking a while to end fights and people have the time to come over. If you can, staying high will greatly limit how many people can get anywhere near to 3rd party.
