Yak-38M Needs a slightly lower BR, OR, Flares

Machinery of War Discussion Aircraft
,
1

I recently got the Yak-38M and have grinded all the modifications, and i really like it, it’s very good for CAS on Ground RB, and the BR in Ground RB is good as it is, however in Air RB it needs to go from 9.3 to 9.0 IMO, OR, Flares!

It has some okay missiles, 4x R60 yes, however, since at 9.3 I more often than not get uptiered and meet i.e(not limited to only, ofcourse) Su-25Ks, which not only have missiles but also flares and a okay turntime, and there isnt much you can do here, either offensively or defensively, so i feel its safe to say in uptiers theres nothing you can do.

But in your own BR, 9.3? See it has 40s turntime, so you can’t outturn ANY missiles, also no flares, so you cant flare off the missiles, only escape is to not be seen which isnt, easy… Considering also, Most planes here can also outrun you, or the opposite, catch up to you easily.

Now, the R60s are decent at 9.0, however not at 9.0-10.0, (lets be fair, you never play your own BR, it’s often 0.3-0.7 above in every single match) Nearly all planes you’ll meet have flares at this br, so they just outflare them, and if they dont have flares, they have the turntime to avoid them instead. You can’t do much more than give a free kill at this BR. Arguably you can maybe ground pound somewhat, but still you’d need flares for the defence.

-“But if it’s 9.0 and get downtiered, the 4x R60’s will be absolutely overpowered!”
I don’t think its fully fair to account for the downtiers, but i did account for uptiers so i will.

Lets play with the idea that you get downtiered, and meet Mig-15s which have no flares or missiles.
Theyll outturn the R60s more often than not, with the disadvantage of not having any RWR to let them know. (Skill issue atp)

I’d say it either needs a BR drop to 9.0 in Air RB, or atleast 20-30 flares.(preferrably the latter)

I’d happily start a debate and hear what anyone has to think about this idea, and if perhaps i just suck at using the plane?

1 Like
2

YES! I’d really love flares on both of the Yak-38’s!! I have asked before how to fly them and have gotten an answer, but always die to missile even when I try doing what people say. And if I don’t die to a missile, I die to guns because it’s not fast enough to outrun trans/super sonic aircraft… And not maneuverable enough to do anything to anyone

3 Likes
3

Exactly! I usually opt to climb as much as i can and then dive in behind someone and shoot missiles, but they usually just flare a little then turn around and end up 3km behind me, at which they launch their missiles at me, and i can only try to turn to no avail and end up dying. Flares are very much needed for the Yak-38(s), especially since its the only USSR “low”(Mid tier really, but compared to the other VTOL its low) tier VTOL, and its a shame to ruin it so much by not giving it any defence. Its like a bomber without rear turrets, you NEED it.

1 Like
4

Yeah. It’s really situational it seems. You can maybe dodge one missile but then another will finish you or they’ll just gun you down at that point… :(

That’s another thing… The VTOL doesn’t work above like 350MPH so you can’t use it to bleed speed fast and it doesn’t have an airbrake either :(
Edit - just looked at my K:D and holy cow… It’s .083 💀

5

No ways for winning against Yak38 when I’m on Hunter F.1.

3 Likes
6

Even then Hunter F1 stands a slim chance of surviving, I was more worrying about things like the Javelin (and these are aircraft that the Yak-38 can already see)

1 Like
7

I don’t really have an opinion on your post because I don’t play the Yak-38 but in balancing down tiers are the most important part. If you hate getting crushed by up tiers than so will your opponents at a lower BR.

1 Like
8

I do agree on this, however at 9.3 I more often get uptiered than downtiered, in 10 games i maybe get a slight or major uptier 6 times, my BR 3 times and a downtier 1 time, maybe its just my luck but still. I feel that downtiers are harder even due to the (more often than not) decreased turntime in the lower BR opponents.

9

Yeah the Yak-38 is in a pretty bad spot right now and a lot of that is compression, 10.0 is a black hole right now too

10

4 undodgeable missiles (if fired with a proper firing solution) at 9.3 is allready very good tbh.

Decompression would benefit the Yak, but its hard to see them dropping missile busses like it lower

3 Likes
11

I just want to see it have a lower battle rating in ground battles. Russia is really lacking in fixed wing CAS options around BR ~8.7 or 9.0. The airframe just isn’t good, and four hardpoints worth of CCIP rockets or a pair of Kh-23M’s wouldn’t be earth shattering for CAS at this BR. For perspective the A-4B gets three bullpups and the FJ-4B VMF gets FIVE at 8.7.

The only reason that this flying brick has such a high BR is because it sits in that awkward spot where a lot of planes simply don’t have flares whatsoever. I think that’s a fair complaint for air RB but I think it can be ignored outright for ground battles where both the ground is the main focus and it is easier for a plane to play around the R60’s and sneak up on the yak.

We have the technology for separate ground and air BRs. Gaijin should use it. I think that the yak-38 could easily be downtiered to 8.7 in ground RB without making any waves.

12

Yak38 vs vampire

2 Likes
13

Thats fair, its good at cas but maybe its 8.7-9.0 in ground as you say, optimally. The cannons do 30mm damage iirc? and the rockets DO alot of pen, but, its rockets, they rarely kill targets well. And as you said, its a flying brick, one singular turn and any SPAA can hit it from the speed loss and non manueverability. I agree on this too, however for air i wouldnt think 8.7 is good at all, thats too low, but 9.0 air or as said flares for air, preferably flares due to the missiles being quite good. I dont know if its just me but, USSR generally has REALLY poor mid-low tier CAS right?

14

You can turn in that thing?!? 😂

15

Yeah downtiering it might be the worser option, however it does need flares, Air RB is primarily fighting (PvP) no matter how you’d twist and turn it, so it does indeed need the flares. Although the missiles arent as good as they sound in theory (at this br) Since of all the flares everyone else has, and then they’re IR, so they struggle to keep a good lock, Clouds? Lock gone. Rockets? Lock gone. Another missile? Lock gone. Too close to ground? Cant lock. Not driving behind them? Cant lock.

16

They are IR missiles yes, but they are undodgeable when presented with a propper firing solution. And they are very good. Undodgable missiles is why it is the BR it is.

If it had flares IRL then yeah give it flares. I didnt even mentioned flares as i didn’t comment on it.

17

Flying in a straight line technically counts as turning, since the earth is curved? :D Seems to be all the turning it can do

1 Like
18

Lmao 😂

19

Russia is just lacking in good fixed-wing CAS around the BR where CCIP rockets and MCLOS guided missiles are state of the art. About their best option is the premium Mig-15 BIS ISH, which is a bit expensive and not always available for sale. Granted I’m sure Russia isn’t the only nation lacking in fixed wing CAS at around this BR, but lowering the BR of the Yak-38 would help provide a tech tree CAS option. I think this would be fine since the Yak-38 isn’t anything special except that it has R-60’s at that awkward BR where a lot of planes don’t have flares. That’s just no fun at all in air battles which IMO is reason enough to keep the BR elevated in air battles, but I think we can safely lower the BR in ground battles.

For what it’s worth regarding russian CAS at this BR, Russia does have good helicopter CAS with the early Mi-24 variants. They’re just lacking in fixed wing options.

20

It was brought back permantly for a while now I think