DCS Su27 Combat Guide
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DCS FC3 - Sukhoi Su-27
A COMPLETE GUIDE TO AIR TO AIR COMBAT EMPLOYMENT
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By Santi871
INTRODUCTION
The Su27 can be an absolutely deadly bird. The issue is that to achieve so, certain
tactics, strategies and knowledge of the aircraft’s systems are required. While the
current product is a simplified FC3 module, its systems offer a variety of quirks and
tricks that can be exploited to get the most out of it. I’m going to teach you how and
when to use these systems, as well as their quirks and tricks.
Things you will NOT learn in this guide:
-Aircraft basics (“how the hell do I start this thing up?”)
-Navigation
-Basic handling (takeoff, landing, level flight, autopilot, etc.)
-Communication
NOTE: The tactics in this guide are NOT based on real-life tactics and should NOT be compared to them.
Revision 4 - 20OCT2015
PART 1: THE MANEUVERABILITY
Dogfights
The Su27 is agile, but you should not rely on its agility when you have a full tank
and/or when you’re fully armed. Turn fights will bleed all your energy and that’s the last
thing you want - the F15C has a better thrust-to-weight ratio and the ability to get rid
of most of its fuel in an instant. Perform vertical turns, Immelmans, Split-S, oblique
turns and so on. Respect the aircraft instead of yanking on the stick all the way trying to
out-turn your opponent.
There’s a fly-by-wire system in the plane (called ASC - Automatic Control System)
that will limit the deflection of flight controls surfaces in an effort to prevent your
maniacal flying from bleeding all the energy your plane has. Unfortunately, this also
means that if you have plenty of extra energy and you want to spend it to out-turn your
adversary, the Sukhoi’s true turning capability will be limited by the ASC. There are two
ways around this.
Wheel brake button - ASC relax
A little-known feature of the Su27 is the ability to force the ASC to “relax” and let
the flight surfaces deflect more than usual. This is achieved by holding the wheel brake
button (while flying, obviously) and it will allow you to perform sharper turns than
usual. Note that the plane isn’t able to stand such a high angle of attack and you will
bleed much more energy, but it’s very useful when you just need that extra turn rate.
Use with care.
The feared “S” button - ASC disconnect
Also known as the suicide button, and usually just a different way to respawn, it
can be very useful if you learn to dominate it.
Pressing the “S” key will flip a switch in the cockpit that disabled the ASC
altogether, which means there’s nothing standing between your controls and the flight
surfaces. This will make the plane quite unstable and violent but it can prove useful in a
dogfight to surprise your enemy, dodging missiles and recovering from stalls.
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First of all, be very careful when disconnecting the ASC if you’re going faster than
500-600kph, make sure to reset trim before doing it - or it will make your plane want
to pull an instant frontflip. As a matter of fact, it will always nose down when you
disengage it (because you have probably trimmed the plane), and how
violently/strongly it does depends on how fast you’re going; that’s why it’s important to
pull and hold your stick down slightly before and while disconnecting the ASC until
the plane is more or less stable. Another important note: the Sukhoi is now extremely
sensitive to frontflips so avoid pushing your stick forward violently at all costs
unless you want to die.
So now you may be wondering why in the world you’d want to use this risky switch.
One of the advantages of this magical little feature is that it will save you from
weird stalls. If you haven’t noticed, the Su27 gets very unresponsive below 200kph and
it starts wobbling in the pitch axis. To fix that, flip this switch and you will gain back
some responsiveness, which will allow you to nose down and hopefully recover some
speed. Another advantage is the fact that when you pull an insane cobra, your opponent
will get confused and try to outturn you, which often ends in them smashing into a
mountain. It can also be used when you are diving into the ground and aren’t able to
pull up properly. Last but not least, if you see a missile coming towards you, you can
dodge it with a last second cobra and some countermeasures.
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However, bear in mind that proper usage of this feature takes a lot of practice. I
suggest that you don’t fear it to begin with because the plane is still dominable without
the ASC. You should hop on singleplayer or an aerobatics server and practice
disconnecting it and flying around before you take it to combat. Either way, you are
bound to die plenty of times before you master it, but it’s worth it. Oh, and do yourself a
favor and bind a button to it in your throttle or stick.
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PART 2: THE SENSORS
Introduction
The Su27 has a rather nice combination of a conventional Pulse-Doppler radar and
an Infrared Search-and-Track (IRST, also called Electro-optical system, EO or EOS). The
two should be used in conjunction to get as much information about your enemies as
possible while remaining more or less stealthy. Along with those two there’s a passive
Radar Warning Receiver that is capable of giving more than enough information for you
to have a good time (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise).
Radar
The Phazotron N001 Myech Pulse-Doppler radar in the Su-27 is decent, good
enough for your needs but not as fast or effective as the F15C’s AN/APG-63. On the
bright side, it has a very neat integration with the HUD which makes it more intuitive
and pleasant to use. In my experience, the max. detection range is about 120km. The
azimuth scan arc is 60 degrees.
If you follow my strategies (which we’ll get to later), your radar will be off most of
the time as it will only be used to briefly check on targets.
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The radar information is accessed by switching to Beyond Visual Range (BVR) mode
(default assignment is “2”), then pressing I to turn the radar on. You can change the
display range (doesn’t affect the power of the radar, only the display) and Pulse
Repetition Frequency (PRF). Use HI (high) PRF for targets that are coming towards you,
MED (medium) for targets that are going away or closer than 45km, and ILV
(interleaved) for when you don’t know. Using the appropriate PRF gives you a small
range boost (maybe 20%).
Modes
1. Scan: for finding targets
2. Track while scan (TWS): for keeping track of a target more accurately and still
being able to see other targets
3. Track: aka lock, for firing a missile, getting more precise information or luring
4. Home on jam: for locking onto jammers before punching through them, pretty
much useless due to how inaccurate it is
Scan mode and symbology
On the HUD, in scan or TWS modes: enemies are marked with with a dash ‘-’,
friendlies are marked with an equals sign “=”. The width of these symbols represent the
size of the contact (AWACS and transport or fighters). ILL means that the radar is on.
LA means launch authorized.
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On the radar screen, friendlies have a circle at the base of the line, whereas
enemies do not. The contact’s speed is represented by the length of the line that is
parallel to their flight direction, whereas their altitude is represented by the length of
the line that is perpendicular to their flight direction.
Note: scan mode gives a top down view, so contacts closer to the bottom of the HUD are
closer to you and so on.
Locking a contact
To lock a contact, simply move the Target Designator (the box) over the contact on
the HUD and press the lock button. They will get a lock warning on their RWR at this
point.
Antenna steering and stabilization
The antenna can be steered up, down and to the sides. Usually one or two notches
up is enough to detect anyone flying high if you’re flying low, and one or two notches
down for the opposite case. Steering to the sides is useful when you can’t be arsed to
the turn the plane and want to scan to the sides.
Additionally, the antenna is stabilized in the pitch and roll axes. That means that
when you pitch up, you will have to manually steer your antenna upwards in order for it
to “look” where your aircraft is pointing, otherwise it will still look towards the horizon.
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Jammers
Detected jammers will be represented with a dotted line pointing to their direction
in the radar screen and fuzzy dashes moving around on your HUD. Once you are close
enough, your radar will “burn through” the jamming and the contact will appear over
the fuzzy dashes or dotted line. Note that until that happens you don’t know know
whether the jammer is friendly.
Locking onto the fuzzy dashes will enter Home On Jam mode. You will lack certain
information compared to a regular lock and if you fire a missile it will be horribly
inaccurate, so… don’t.
Track While Scan mode
TWS is a bit disappointing in the Su27. It’s not as powerful as the F15C’s TWS
mode. It will not give you target speed and altitude (most of the time) and it will not
give you the small circle overlay over the target on the HUD. All it does is give you
constant updates on your enemy and it will also automatically steer the antenna to
keep track of the designated target. It does not work if any jammer is present on the
HUD/radar screen.
To use TWS, simply press your assigned hotkey and slew the Target Designator
over your preferred contact. There is no need to press the lock button. When the
contact is within the maximum range of your selected weapon, the radar will
automatically enter Track mode.
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Track mode
Once in track mode, you will get a range scale on the left of the HUD and an arrow
that represents the distance to the target. A circle will overlay the target and you will
get the target’s speed and altitude, indicated above your own in a smaller font. On the
bottom left, the letter A will display if the locked target is enemy or AFR if it’s friendly.
At the bottom of the range scale there is an arrow that represents your target’s velocity
vector (where it’s going relative to you).
Radar screen symbology remains pretty much unchanged.
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Electro-optical system (IRST)
The Su27 is equipped with the OLS-27 Infrared Search and Track system. This is
straight out the best single feature the plane has to offer. This EOS allows the aircraft to
find, track and engage targets without ever popping up on their RWR.
Because this system tracks the infrared emissions from other planes’ engines, it is
the most sensitive and has the higher range (up to 200km) when your targets are flying
away from you or perpendicular to you. However, if your target is on afterburner and/or
you are close enough to it, or you’re above or below it, it will work all aspect just
fine. This usually means being closer than 50-60km to the target.
A big flaw of this system that usually results in a lot of teamkills (and thus I have to
strongly stress it) is that
THE IRST/EOS CANNOT TELL FRIENDLY
FROM FOE AND IT WILL ALLOW YOU TO
ENGAGE FRIENDLIES WITH NO WARNING
Read it again and repeat it in your head.
For this reason this section is very sensitive and you need to pay attention.
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Usage
To enable the EO system, switch to BVR mode and press “O”. The word EO will
come up on the left and the ILL on the bottom will go away (if your radar was on),
meaning that your radar is now off. The IRST can be steered the same way as the radar.
The EO system has two modes: track and scan.
Scan
The scan mode is very similar to the radar, however it has three major differences:
-Instead of a top-down view, it gives a longitudinal view, so contacts on the bottom of the
HUD are below you, contacts towards the top of the HUD are above you, and so on.
-Instead of showing “=” for friendly and “-” for enemy, it will ALWAYS
show dashes REGARDLESS OF ENEMY OR FRIENDLY.
-The width of the dashes depends on how strong the return is, so usually, wider = closer
(“----”), but this only applies when the contact is flying away from you. A contact flying
towards you will always have only a couple dashes (“--”).
-The last difference is that it doesn’t show contacts on the radar screen when in scan mode.
Track
Track mode is again very similar to the radar’s track mode. On the left, the word EO
will appear to indicate that you are using EO to track. Target altitude and speed
information may or may not be available. A circle will overlay your target and the target
will appear on the radar screen. If you fire a radar guided missile, the radar will turn on
automatically.
The range scale will be shown on the left and the range to target may or may not be
available. The target’s velocity vector will be shown on the bottom.
It will ALWAYS show “A”on the bottom left regardless of whether your
contact is friendly or enemy.
Important
There is a trick to IFF your target (determine whether he is friendly) once you are
locked with EO.
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The “trick” consists of flashing your radar on and off WHILE you are locked with
EO. Simply press I twice to flash your radar on and off, without unlocking your target.
This will be represented by the word ILL flashing on and off on the bottom of your
HUD.
If the target you are locked onto is friendly, ONLY WHILE YOUR RADAR IS ON,
the “A” will change to “AFR”. When you turn the radar off again, it will turn into an “A”
again.
If the target you are locked onto is enemy, the “A” will remain as an “A” when your
radar is on.
Turning your radar on while locked with EO will not give your target a lock
warning, and you will not appear on their RWR. It will only give your target a lock
warning if you happen to fire a radar guided missile at him.
Please, for the love of everything, take your time and perform this “trick” a couple
times before firing to confirm that the target is enemy. Do not fire if in doubt.
Practice this technique in singleplayer and practise multiplayer servers before
taking it to PvP.
Sample video of this technique.
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SPO-15 Radar Warning Receiver
The SPO-15 RWR in the Su27 is not as good for showing the greater picture, but it
gives very accurate information about the primary threat. It has a 360 degree azimuth
coverage and +-45 degree elevation coverage.
It’s unlikely that you will be paying attention to anything in green, as those
represent secondary threats (usually ground units) and their information.
To be clear: yellow = primary threat and its information, green = secondary
threats and their information.
The 8 large yellow lamps on the top half represent the direction of the primary
threat. The number inside them is the degrees.
The 2 large yellow lamps on the bottom half with triangles represent left or right
rear hemisphere. When the threat is behind you, the RWR isn’t as accurate.
The 2 yellow semi-circular lamps in the center of the display with the B and H
represent the primary threat’s relative altitude (both on is more or less same altitude).
Note: these indicators aren’t accurate if your plane is banked to either side.
The 6 rectangular lamps on the bottom are the different types of threats. There’s
no point learning them all by heart. The left-most is fighter radar, the rest are a mix of
different ground units and AWACS.
The circle outline lamps represent primary signal strength. To give you an idea, if
an F15C was the primary threat, three quarters full means he is quite close, usually
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within 50km. Half full would mean that he’s between 50 and 100km from you. In a
nutshell, if the circle is half or more full, you should check on it. If it’s more than
three quarters full, you should turn away and dive into a mountain because the
threat is likely to lock onto you soon.
The red circular lamp in the background turns on when you’re locked, and it will
produce a steady sound.
When the red circle starts flashing and you start getting an intermittent beeping,
that means a radar-guided missile has been fired at you, or that you’re being
illuminated with FLOOD mode.
How do you tell what’s happening then?
If you a radar-guided missile has been fired at you, the signal strength indicator
now shows the signal strength from the missile. As the strength grows, the missile
gets closer to you. You can use this to judge when to use chaff and turn.
If the signal strength doesn’t seem to change much, then you are being painted
with FLOOD mode, or the missile ran out of energy.
If you bank to the sides like in this picture, it is likely that the RWR ceases to give
you warnings.
The RWR does not provide any warning for heat-seeking missiles or EOS.
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Part 3: The Weapons and Countermeasures
Semi-active radar-homing missiles
Vympel R-27ER
This medium range missile is, unfortunately, garbage.
It’s very easy to outmaneuver and fool with chaff and
as such, it should be used as a last resource, or when
attacking your opponent from below or above, where
his RWR cannot detect you. Otherwise, expect to use
at least two per kill.
In my experience, at low altitude, it has a range of no
more than 30km. However, launching at that range
would effectively be wasting the missile, so don’t use
it beyond 20-25km if you want a higher chance to kill.
Vympel R-27R
Same as the ER, just shorter range. Haven’t used it
and there’s no reason to use it unless you’re forced to
(loadout availability) or want a challenge. I would say
don’t launch it beyond 15km, which makes it basically
a fat R-73.
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Infrared-homing missiles
Vympel R-27ET
One of the goodies of the Su27. Hated by
most F15C pilots, this all-aspect medium range
heater has guidance that is just as bad as the ER’s,
but being IR guided, it gives no warning, and so
unless your enemy sees it, he is bound to die
(given that you lock onto him with the IRST).
This missile can track a target from any
hemisphere if they are using at least military
power.
Like the ER, the maximum range is around
30km at low altitude, but if you want to guarantee
yourself the kill, launch it at around 15-20km.
Sometimes the LA (launch authorized) will take a
bit to appear, depending on aspect.
Best used in conjunction with the EO system
(as always making very sure your target is actually
an enemy). Will expand more on the tactics
section.
Vympel R-27T
Same deal as the 27R. It’s the same as the ET except shorter range. Use it if you are
forced to (loadout availability) or want a challenge.
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Vympel R-73
This short range heater is, right now, the
best short range missile in the game.
With its simple thrust vectoring, the R-73
has exceptional maneuverability. It has a
maximum range of 12-15km, though it’s best
used within 10km. Fairly resistant to flares (don’t
expect miracles though), it’s the only missile I
actually trust to get a kill. Combined with the
helmet-mounted sight, it can be fired
off-boresight (meaning that you don’t need to
point your plane at your opponent’s plane). It
can even pull 180 degree turns.
Given the chance, you’ll want to get close
enough to use this missile, as it’ll nearly
guarantee a kill.
One note - be careful when firing this
missile off-boresight while turning, as it’s known
for turning around and targetting your own
plane.
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Guns, guns, guns - the Gryazev Shipunov GSh-30-1
This 30mm cannon is actually quite favored by the EO system in the Sukhoi.
Because the EOS locks planes without setting off their RWR, it’s very possible to simply
approach them and use the cannon on them. The EO will take care of giving the
distance solution so you will not need use the gun funnel, which makes aiming quite
easy. Being 30mm, it will rip planes apart easily. Just mind your aim, ammo is limited.
The only case it’s not easy is when your target is flying perfectly straight. Because
it’s very likely you will miss and scare him, I recommend you approach him from below.
Why below and not above? The IRST can’t look down because it’s mounted on the nose,
so if you want to approach from above you will have to use the funnel.
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Countermeasures
The countermeasures in the Su27 are fairly simple. It can carry 96 flares and 96 chaff,
although my preferred mix is 30 flares and 162 chaff, because you will usually be avoiding
AMRAAMs, and at times you will have to spam as much chaff as you can.
There are two indicators on the right side of the cockpit for chaff (left) and flare (right).
Note that they are calibrated for 96 flares and 96 chaff, which means regardless of however
many of each you set, the “full” is 96.
Electronic countermeasures - the jammer
Personally, I’m not a fan of it. It will prevent F15C’s from using their powerful TWS
mode on your aircraft, but I much prefer a couple of R73’s. Also have in mind that you
will clutter the radar screens of friendlies.
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Part 4: The HMS and Vertical Scan
Vertical Scan
This is, to me, the most powerful mode of the Su27 because of the large area it
covers. The vertical bars represent your lock window, but have in mind they extend
above the HUD by X HUD lengths, which means that vertical scan actually covers a big
area at once.
Regardless of whether your radar is on (although I suggest you keep it off), vertical
scan will use the IRST to lock aircraft. The maximum lock range can be anything from 0
to about 50km depending on target aspect.
The fact that this system uses IRST means that it does not distinguish
friendly from foe (unless you lock with radar on, or you use the trick I explained
earlier).
Holding the lock button down will make it lock onto the first aircraft the
IRST detects. This means you don’t need to spam your lock button like a maniac.
Helmet-mounted Sight
This is absolutely great for when you have sight of an aircraft. Simply look at it and
press the lock button to lock. Again, uses IRST, so it does not distinguish friendly from
foe, unless you lock with radar on or use the trick I explained.
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Part 5: The Strategies and Tactics
Entering battle
As you fly into the battlezone, I recommend switching to EOS and steer it around,
IFF contacts you find with it. Sometimes you happen to find a sneaky lonely enemy
that’s destroying your friendlies. You can also do it with the radar.
BVR in the Sukhoi
is… a lost cause. The Su27 simply can’t hold its ground in a fair BVR (Beyond Visual
Range) fight against the F15C’s active radar homing AIM-120B and C AMRAAMs. The
R27ER are sluggish and produce a huge smoke trail that will easily be visible, not to
mention the fact that you need to keep the aircraft more or less pointing towards the
enemy whereas the F15C’s can just wave off.
I can’t stress this enough: don’t ever
go head on against anyone. You will die
90% of the times.
Attempting BVR in the Su27 against Eagles is roughly the same as flying into the
ground.
So then how do you destroy Eagles?
Luring Eagles into the Sukhoi’s game - WVR
The correct way to turn F15Cs into scrap metal is luring and dragging them where
you can beat them with easy, and that is WVR.
First of all, I think it’s opportune to clarify that WVR means “Within Visual Range”.
That is the same as saying “within 40km”. It doesn’t mean that you need to find your
enemy visually. Vertical Scan will be finding targets for you 80% of the time.
There is only one requirement for the Su27 to be able to play its game, and that is
mountains. If your battlezone is above plains and there aren’t any mountains close, you
may as well fly a Bf109. The Su27 is unable to do anything without terrain masking.
Okay, yes, you can fly a ship of 5 Su27’s and fire ER’s at everything, but my strategy
makes no use of wingmen and allows you to score victories on your own.
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If your battlezone is already above mountains, that’s the best possible case as you
won’t need to do anything to lure F15C’s - they will come for you.
Let them get close. I usually fly straight towards them until they are at 40km from
me. While I fly towards them, I try to find them with the EOS in order to get their
altitude and speed. Alternatively, you can briefly lock them with your radar which will
get you that information, and it will piss them off a little. Either way, I recommend you
keep your radar on and blasting towards them until you reach the 40km mark (more or
less).
As you can see in the pictures above, the contact is a little less than 40km from me.
I have high PRF selected because I know he is coming towards me since my RWR is
being set off by his radar. My radar’s antenna is steered upwards a notch because he’s
flying above me, which I found by simply playing with the antenna steering until he
appeared.
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At this point, when he’s around 40km, you need to dive into a valley to the left,
right, or behind, while simultaneously turning your radar off (if it was on).
In my case I dove into a valley to my right and switched to EOS.
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After this, carefully fly as low as you can around the valleys and sneak around until
they dissapear from your RWR. At that point you are safe to assume that they have lost
sight of you and are looking for you. It’s now important that you more or less remember
their location and guesstimate where they could have flown.
Once you feel it’s opportune to turn around (long enough for them to not be right
on your ass and not long enough for them to have flown away), try to find a nice
mountain to climb and peek out of and switch to Vertical Scan - have your R-73s
selected in case he appears right infront of you.
This is the most critical part: right as you peek out of the mountain, hold down
your lock button and start banking your plane to the sides moderately slowly. The
idea here is to cover as much sky as possible with your Vertical Scan. Try going beyond
90 degrees in the banks in case he is below you. As soon as he enters your IRST field of
view, he will get locked.
In my case, the Eagle dove into the valleys to look for me and I caught him with
Vertical Scan flying towards me at only 2,5km.
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But what if this or that?
There are lots and lots of variations to this type of engagement: sometimes your
enemy will come for you, sometimes he will wave off, sometimes he will fly higher,
sometimes he will try to sneak around. Depending on the distance at which you find
him, you may want to use ET’s or the gun (never really an ER…).
If he locks onto you and fires, perform the exact same tactic while deploying plenty
of chaff (now you know why I carry 162 chaff and 30 flares).
Either way, as I said, you will find many different variations, and the only way you
will learn how to properly react to all of them is practicing. You get the gist of it. Wait
until they are close, dive down and disappear from their RWR, then sneak around
and peek out to find them. It’s important that you understand that mountains and
valleys are your biggest friend and savior. When you dive down, any missiles heading to
you that are still a few kilometers away will attempt to lead and will crash into the
ground.
If you happen to run out of mountains and fly towards flats, it’s game over for you,
so keep an eye out for cover - always. When you are flying towards your target, at first,
and you are nearing the 40km mark, start looking around for possible valleys to dive.
It’s all about disappearing as quickly as possible and sneaking around.
In the case it’s not possible to dive or you are extremely close to your enemy, turn
around and fly back with full afterburner in an attempt to flee, then come back later
and try again.
It’s also important that you monitor your RWR because it will alert you of any
Eagles nearby. You could do all of what I said above without ever needing the radar,
simply looking for at your RWR.
Don’t try to use R-27ER’s to distract your target because it just doesn’t work. He
will fire an AMRAAM at you, wave off and laugh his ass off while your ER is wondering
what a plane is and you blow up.
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Getting the most out of your missiles
A lot of players let their missiles do most of the flying. That’s a mistake. You can’t
trust missiles to do the flying because a) you don’t know what your opponent will pull
out of his sleeve and b) they have limited fuel.
Think of your missiles as a dumb can that can only fly straight. With the EOS, you
can approach your target as much as you wish. The closer you are, the higher the odds
you won’t waste a missile. I generally try to get within R73 range, and even guns
sometimes. If I get interrupted by another enemy, I fire an ET. ETs are also useful when
your enemy is high above you and your missile needs to climb.
There are two notches on the range tape on the HUD during EO or radar track
mode:
The top one is the calculated maximum range (known as Rmax) for your current
selected missile (R27ER in this case, as seen on the bottom right) against a
non-maneuvering plane. The notch in the middle is the start of the “no escape zone”
(known as Rtr) which is kind of bollocks because your target can still escape. The
bottom notch is the minimum range (known as Rmin). As a rule of thumb, don’t fire
beyond the middle notch, and try to get within it as much as possible. The range tape
will automatically change as you get closer to the target.
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The Rmax is also shown in the radar screen as an arc with a solid line, both in scan
and track modes.
When the Eagles run
Destroying a target that is flying away from you is difficult because your missile has
to travel a very long distance. This results in a waste of missiles most of the time.
If your target is within your Rmax, you can try firing an R-27ER with hopes that he
will freak out and start maneuvering. Then, unlock him and lock him again with the
EOS so he thinks that you’re not after him anymore, done that you can nail him with an
ET if he gets within range.
If your target is beyond Rmax, you can try locking him with the EOS and following
him, but most of the time this will be a waste of fuel.
Conclusion
Hopefully this guide is a good starter for you to learn how to properly use the Su27.
I would love to describe every single tactic I can think of but that wouldn’t be possible,
so I recommend that you venture on your own and try to discover them like I did.
Taking the Su27 to PvP is a lot of fun as it’s based mostly around ambush tactics. I
hope you enjoyed reading this guide as much as I enjoyed making it. As always, practice
will make you better. You will die a lot, but you will also learn a lot of things that can’t
be taught with words.
I will try to update this guide with any corrections or suggestions that come up.
Happy flying!
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Addendum 1: Radar vs EOS
I’ve been seeing arguments over at the DCS forums over whether radar should be
the primary sensor and EOS used as a backup, or vice-versa. The way I do it is:
-Use the radar to check on RWR contacts that are beyond 50-60km
-Use the radar to find their altitude and speed
After that, I turn radar off and switch to EOS:
-If the EOS cannot find the contact, switch back to radar
-If the EOS can find the contact, lock onto it
Once locked with the EOS it’s pretty straightforward. If the lock is lost, I try to find
the target with EOS again and try with radar if that fails.
The idea of this tactic is to keep the radar off when the contact is <50km
away to prevent showing up on their RWR.
Just remember that the EOS is generally not as good or as fast at finding contacts as
the radar. There are a lot of factors that come into play, but generally the EOS will not
be able to find contacts that are nose hot, above 60km away and with afterburner off.
The EOS should be able to find contacts with afterburner off within 50km, depending on
their altitude in reference to yours.
In conclusion, the radar should be used in the following situations:
-When you need to find a contact quickly or else you die
-When your contact is beyond 50-60km and invisible to EOS
-When you want to find your contacts altitude and speed and the EOS cannot
-When you want to try to scare your target
Either way, the radar is most of the time unnecessary as you can guide yourself
just by looking at the RWR, if you wish to be the most stealthy. As such, the radar is
merely a convenience and is not indispensable at all
for the tactics in this guide.
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