Question about dogfight.......

[Mikemonster]

In the end its only luck and the randomness of BF2 that can save you. If an enemy fighter sees you first then you are already dead - there is no way to shake him off your tail.

Air to air combat in PR is first see-first kill.

It pretty much is...No tactics or actual skill needed...

In real life it's the same. If you are disadvantaged and WVR you are dead. Obvious exceptions being the enemy not carrying IR/short range capable missiles, but in that case he was never going to be a threat anyway.

Obviously a much superior jet will give you a greater chance of escape.. But if you double a 1% chance it still isn't looking rosy for you.

If you spot the enemy first you either disengage because you are disadvantaged, or engage after positioning yourself to guarantee a good shot.


Example:

You are in a combat ready F-16 block 50 (all tanks dropped, no A-G ordinance on the pylons, and carrying half a tank of fuel) and a 1970's era MiG-21 has the drop on you, carrying 2x IR missiles. Whichever way you want to paint it, you're f00ked. That's why the AWACS is there, positioning yourself for the fight is key to winning.

(Positionally disadvantaged could mean anything from slow speed, too high a speed [overshooting a hidden low alt enemy patrol], low altitude, or poor aspect. Lacking any of these would end in death against a trained adversary). Off boresight missiles may even the fight, but that just means two fireballs, not one.)

[Jarhead101]

Quick question. What does turning the radar off do???

[inlifex]

Quick question. What does turning the radar off do???

Radar is used to lock unto a heat source (jet engines and what not), by pressing opt 1 you don't have the missile ready to fire so the radar will not seek for any heat signatures, so basically if you get behind an enemy jet it will not try to lock onto it.

That's about it, so when you are trying to get in position behind the enemy jet you want to be in position 1 so that you don't lock onto him and lose the element of surprise, once you're in position you switch to either 2 (short range AA) or 3 (long range AA) and once locked fire one missile and almost simultaneously you need to switch back to position 1.
Doing this will ensure a perfect hit, I've always done this and never miss, what can happen is that the missile explodes and does not kill the jet but does major damage it will either smoke badly, catch fire, or explode.
But do stay on him to confirm the kill, better be safe than sorry.

[mat552]

Quick question. What does turning the radar off do???

With my radar on, if I accidentally spot you for a few seconds, you're going to know I spotted you, as the missiles are automatically spiking for a lock, alerting you someone's getting ready to dance.

If I fly around in bomb or radar off mode, I can line up a nice, perfect gunshot and unless you're checking behind you, you won't know it until the aircraft explodes out from under you.

[Stealthgato]

Dodged the Eurofighter in a MiG on Silent Eagle 2 nights ago, he got right on my ***, I kept popping flares and dove straight down, pulled up at last second and he crashed into the floor right behind me, I laughed so hard 'cause I though I was already going to get f'ked.

[Mikemonster]

Hahaha Stealth, nice one.. I think thats how an F-15 got a kill on a MiG 23 in Iraq 1991.

[inlifex]

Hahaha Stealth, nice one.. I think thats how an F-15 got a kill on a MiG 23 in Iraq 1991.

haha I remember that one on the history channel but it was the other way around tho, the Iraqi tried to dodge the F15 doing a flip but he was too low and slammed the ground, idiot.

[Jarhead101]

Radar is used to lock unto a heat source (jet engines and what not), by pressing opt 1 you don't have the missile ready to fire so the radar will not seek for any heat signatures, so basically if you get behind an enemy jet it will not try to lock onto it.

That's about it, so when you are trying to get in position behind the enemy jet you want to be in position 1 so that you don't lock onto him and lose the element of surprise, once you're in position you switch to either 2 (short range AA) or 3 (long range AA) and once locked fire one missile and almost simultaneously you need to switch back to position 1.
Doing this will ensure a perfect hit, I've always done this and never miss, what can happen is that the missile explodes and does not kill the jet but does major damage it will either smoke badly, catch fire, or explode.
But do stay on him to confirm the kill, better be safe than sorry.

Ah, I know that it will keep you from getting a lock on an enemy but what I don't understand is why do you recommend going back to 1 as soon as you fire a missile?

[Bufl4x]

It's a vBF2 glitch that all good jet pilots were using in the vanilla days to shoot down enemy aircraft. So basically he is suggesting that you use an exploit to gain advantage over your opponent.

[saXoni]

So switching directly over to Bombs or Radar Off, will help me?

[mat552]

Ah, I know that it will keep you from getting a lock on an enemy but what I don't understand is why do you recommend going back to 1 as soon as you fire a missile?

To clarify. In vanilla, the missile lockon warning tone is triggered by the aircraft doing the lockon, not the missile. So if you obtained lock, fired, and then switched off your radar, the tone went away, leading the person you're following to (hopefully) assume you're no longer following him and stop maneuvering, letting the missile impact easily.

So switching directly over to Bombs or Radar Off, will help me?

In PR, it's become a dodgy tactic. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn't. Couple that with the knowledge that once you're spiked in PR, you should know for certain to check behind you, and there's not usually any benefit to doing it. Once you're in terminal engagement mode, you should pursue the kill with all available munitions as fast as possible.


It's not like there's going to ever be more than two planes to fight.

[inlifex]

It's a vBF2 glitch that all good jet pilots were using in the vanilla days to shoot down enemy aircraft. So basically he is suggesting that you use an exploit to gain advantage over your opponent.

You may call it an "exploit" but it really is a simulation of "fire and forget" method, there's a reason why the devs kept it there or else they would have removed.

Anyway, all I can say is that it works as long as you do it right, the missile will hit its target.. try practicing in the co-op server however, the bots tend to pop flares as soon as you try to get a lock so it might be a bit difficult.