*Note, I am not talking about ground to air systems, like the one probably coming next update, top tier CAS is a plague and they have more than enough room to get around.
You know the ones I’m talking about, Aim-9X, IRIS-T, etc etc.
From a gameplay standpoint, I just don’t see the appeal. If two planes get within ~5km (or very likely further) of each other, and instantly two practically unflareable IR missiles are headed at the other plane. Dogfighting? Don’t even think about it, we have LOAL and can fire behind us now. The only real counter is terrain, and we all know gaijin’s maps.
We do already have R73, AIM-9M, etc. which are pretty strong, But nowhere near the strength of missiles with modern seekers or combinations of IRCCM types. I’d also say that the current state of IR missiles is decently balanced. Each missile has exploitable drawbacks and advantages, and different (mostly reliable) methods of flaring them based on the IRCCM type.
I mean, do you want to fight against stingers that could pull 50g’s and has TVC every match? Hell, most of these missiles have way more range too. More like an unflareable R27T also with TVC. Does everybody having the same OP missiles even help?
It’s still practically inevitable that gaijin adds these modern IR missiles, probably not too far in the future, as there are so many people asking for them for “balance” (lol.). But I do hope they consider at least an extreme BR gap to other systems or similar BR decompression first.
What do you guys think? Am I just geeked? Would this warrant a no-msl gamemode? Would longer range fox-3 make all this irrelevant anyways? Would gaijin balance it right and make it fun to play? (also lol.)
for the Br gap it will really depend on the missile load, but I can’t imagine a Mirage 2000 D RMV or a Tornado Gr4 which can carry 2 MICA IR or ASRAAM finding themself in 14.0 just because it has modern IR missiles (obviously they will go up to Br but it shouldn’t find itself facing top tier fighters just because it has modern missiles)
I think they will be a net negative for gameplay when / if they’re added.
Maybe if team sizes were massively reduced, like instead of 8/16 v 8/16, we had 4/6 v 4/6 it could be tolerable, but with 32 players slinging 128+ of these absolute gremlin sticks at each other, it’s going to be horrifically unfun for everyone.
There’s a reason many lobbies in DCS just outright ban them.
It will come to game cause it was asked for.
It will be nerfed in range and capability to keep the game “playable” & “balanced”.
Some documents will be leaked.
Some people will be banned.
In a year from now it will no longer be a discussion as something new will be begged for.
We will still have the same bugs we do now.
Air has been in a downwards spiral for years now, which was inevitable when you keep adding more advanced stuff without upgrading your game mode and maps.
Skill ceiling is coming down closer to skill floor by every meta change and I guess that is what Gaijin wants.