F8E's AIM-9C no longer effective/worthwhile?

[lilneoman1]

Hi there! A while back, I recall that bringing 2 9Cs and 2 9Ds on my F8E worked out great, and I could usually get roughly one kill per match with the 9Cs. But after a long break, I've played the F8E again and for the life of me, I can't get kills with them.

Locking and launching at 2-3km in a headon doesn't work, as the missile fails to pull into the target even as I keep them locked and they don't evade until like 500m from me.

I've tried firing at targets at 9km as we approach each other at high alt in the beginning of a match in the hopes that the motor burns out before getting too close and they fly into it without knowing. This has worked in the past, but now people have seem to caught on to this tactic and evade just as the coasting missile gets within 1km.

Does anyone know how to use them effectively nowadays? Or is it just better to take 4 9Ds?

[Ddinosaur]

It can be bit goofy sometimes, F-8E's radar is extremely sensitive at times.

R-3Rs also have a similar line of issue randomly missing headons.

Most times you can get easy kills by when people are diving below you are away, when they focus on diving and getting away.

[JuX]

Haven't played it recently, but was working fine last month at least. When the major update was launched it broke it's radar, but it got fixed.

The radar seemed to be working fine. I typically fly at high altitudes for better locking capabilities and narrow down the radar cone for faster radar sweeping.

If you want to retain lock at low altitudes, you basically have to be at lower altitude then your target. And if when you lock targets give it lead and wait for the lock to give you two red circles before launching.


I personally favor AIM-9C over AIM-9D.