Best air to air jet?

[Narfmasta]

What is the current best Air to Air fighter?

[startrekmike]

This is a simple question with a complicated answer. It really depends on what you personally mean when you are talking about "air to air". If you are asking just about basic dogfighting, it will come down to turning capability, maximum G's, and energy retention more than anything else. If you are talking about air to air in a more comprehensive manner, datalink, radar strength, weapon range, and the ability to put the target on the defensive all the way into the merge are going to be very important factors.

The other consideration is module fidelity. The Flaming Cliffs style fighters (the F-15, MiG-29, Su-27, and Su-27) are all lower system fidelity and as such, what you gain in ease of learning, you lose in versatility and options. The full fidelity stuff (with the clickable cockpits, full system modeling, etc) will take a longer time to learn (though I would argue against notions that they are "harder" to learn) but having full control over the various systems, sensors, and weapons will give you a lot of options to work with that can potentially give you the edge when you need it.

The last consideration is your own interest. This is more important than anything anyone else can tell you (a lot of folks will just tell you to buy their own personal favorite with no consideration for your own individual taste). You need to look at the list of aircraft and ask yourself what interests YOU the most. Don't worry so much about what others think (the more insistent they get about their choice being "the best", the less you should listen to them), just get what really excites you and gives you the capability that YOU need.

[Skeletybob]

As said above it comes down to your own personal opinion. But usually people end up choosing either the hornet or viper. Both planes are very good in air to air. The viper however is a bit more agile but still in EA so not complete yet.

[Narfmasta]

Thanks for the comments gents! I was leaning towards getting the Flaming Cliffs module and the F-16 to kind of have a bunch of planes to fly. What do you think of that combo?

[Skeletybob]

Originally posted by Narfmasta:

Thanks for the comments gents! I was leaning towards getting the Flaming Cliffs module and the F-16 to kind of have a bunch of planes to fly. What do you think of that combo?

FC3 is really good for when you are new to flight sims as they are easy to learn to not complex and provide a good range of aircraft both air to air and air to ground. I started with this and found I couldnt stop flying the Su-33 which led me to purchase the hornet. Ever since I never touched FC3 again just because full fidelity adds so much more immersion and capabilities.
So in short if you are relatively new to flight sims I would recommend getting FC3 to get an idea of what you like. If not definitely get the viper if you want.

[Skeletybob]

And f-16 and f/a-18 are both very capable of air to air and ground pound

[Narfmasta]

I'll be coming from War Thunder from sim mode if that helps.

[startrekmike]

Originally posted by Narfmasta:

I'll be coming from War Thunder from sim mode if that helps.

The Flaming Cliffs planes are generally fine but keep in mind that while they are less complex in terms of systems fidelity, their lack of clickable cockpits can make things a bit less convenient in terms of controls since you need to bind a lot more to your setup or lean more heavily on the keyboard if you don't have enough controls on your stick/throttle.

As far as coming from War Thunder sim mode, DCS is going to be a very, very different experience no matter what aircraft you start with. The priorities are just so different between the two titles. War Thunder is focused on (even in sim mode) simplified mechanics and very gamey, very grind/F2P gameplay. It really isn't meant to be treated like a sim. With DCS, the focus is on simulating the aircraft and procedures in a sort of "sandbox" environment where you have maps, AI assets, and player aircraft that you can combine to make any scenario you wish (from very realistic to more fanciful stuff).

In the end. You just gotta pick the stuff that speaks to you the most.

[Skeletybob]

I came from war thunder as well and even just using the FC3 aircraft was still a big learning curve. I recommend starting with just that and then taking things further once you have gotten an i idea of what you like. But if you want to start straight in with F-16 thats fine as well

[Sizigmund]

Originally posted by Narfmasta:

I'll be coming from War Thunder from sim mode if that helps.

I don't think it will help you much because even the low fidelity aircrafts in this game have realistic flight model, so to flight them well you need a lot of practice. I mean, turn to hard and you will loose speed. In air to air battle, speed is everything, slow plane - dead plane. You have to learn how shake missiles off your tail. You have to learn how to save the energy for your plane and how to consume it wisely, so you will be in advantage in air to air battle. There is a lot of things to learn in this game.

As for choosing the first plane. I personally started with "Flaming cliffs 3" DLC which includes "A-10A", "F-15C", "Su-25", "Su-27", "Su-33", "MiG-29A", "MiG-29S", "MiG-29G"(This one is for Germany) and "J-11A"(The licensed chinese version of Su-27 that can use R-77 missiles which have an active radar guidance).
I have started with "A-10A". It is a very easy plane to flight, but it is a ground strike plane. Then I went to F-15C. This plane is good and it was the first plane that I was able to refuel in the air (don't try aerial refueling from the start, it is a very difficult operation).
After F-15C, I moved to Russian planes and I liked them so much that I can't stop flying them. I also fly a high fidelity helicopters Ka-50 and Mi-8MTV2 and I have a couple of high fidelity planes that I'm planing to learn. But I like the MiG-29S, Su-33, Su-25 and Su-25T so much that I will never stop flying them. If one day there will be a high fidelity version of these planes, I'll switch to them, but currently they are the planes that I like the most and it doesn't matter for me that they are low fidelity planes.

So as already was mentioned. Buy the plane that you interested the most in it. Even if others will tell you that this plane have disadvantages it doesn't matter. Every plane in this game have disadvantages. You have to learn how to use the advantages of your plane to be a good pilot. There is no balance in this game like in Warthunder. If you fly a very old aircraft like MiG-21BIS, take in account that you are always at disadvantage when you meet F-16C for example. But there is a video on youtube where one guy flying MiG-21BIS and shooting down F/A-18C-s, so the experience is matter.