In-Depth Novice Guide

Guide that hopefully covers most information about the game. Contains an overview of all weapons and aircraft, as well as some tips, tactics and AI. Feel free to skip through parts of the guide you find boring, or non-useful. Feel free to provide any feedback regarding inaccuracies, spelling errors, or things you'd like to see added to this guide in the comments.

General Tactics

Missile Evasion

Long version:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3054393630

Short'ish version:
IR Missiles: Preflare if you know you will be fired at. Notch the missile and reduce thrust (lower throttle to 0-10%) if there is one coming for you. If you don't want to notch, you can also flare it off it it's coming from the front, but do not flare if it's coming from the back, because it will take a lot of flares.

SARH/ARH Missiles: Notch the missile while jamming (you don't have to jam, but it makes notching far easier), fly below 50m(150ft) with jammer on (effectiveness diminishes as power drops), or 20m(60ft) with jammer off. Note that SARH missiles can relock for 2 seconds after breaking lock.

Optical Missiles: They have bad turning and don't lead, so just pretend you are playing ace combat, sometimes you don't even need to do any maneuvers and they miss.

ARAD Missiles: Turn your radar off and keep it that way until the missile flies past you.


Bullet Evasion

In some cases it's possible to dodge bullets in this game. It can be quite difficult at short range, however.

Evading ground unit fire:
If there is only one ground unit firing at you, lock it as a target and when you see it fire, change course as fast as possible, while flying low, which increases the chance of terrain getting in the way of its' rounds.
If you are taking fire from multiple ground units, the best way to evade their fire is to fly eratically, which means constantly changing course, while flying low and preferably away from any other enemy ground units.
Changing course constantly, while at close range can sometimes increase the time it takes for a SAM to fire.

Evading aircraft fire:
When under threat of taking fire from enemy aircraft, change course when the enemy aircraft is pointing its' nose at you to throw off the pilot's aim.

Flight

Basic Plane Controls

Maneuvering
As you probably know, every plane in the game is controlled by Pitch, Roll and Yaw surfaces, as well as flaps. They can be destroyed, resulting in worse handling.

• You use Pitch and Roll by moving your mouse, or joystick, which moves your nose up and down, as well as lets you do barrel rolls. You should mainly depend on those in flight.
  
• Yaw lets you move your nose left and right, but in general it's not worth using it, since it's not very stable and yawing at high speed can rip off your rudder.
  
• Flaps are used to lower your stall speed, which makes flying slowly easier, as well as slowing you down, making it possible to use them as makeshift airbrakes. They are deployed when flying slowly.

Propulsion
Each plane has a slightly different method of propulsion, those being turboprop engines (Cricket), jet engines (Compass and Darkreach) and special jet engines capable of using an afterburner (Revoker and Ifrit). The amount of thrust an engine is able to produce is based on your altitude (the higher you go the less air there is, which means less power and less speed) and intake/engine damage (being damaged reduces thrust, with intake damage reducing engine thrust the most).

• Jet engines are the simplest. They just push your plane forward. All planes that have those have two, which increases the plane's survivability, but adds the risk of unproportional thrust when damaged (if only one engine is damaged, your plane won't fly, nor taxi straight).
  
• Special jet engines are a bit more complex. If your plane has those, you will be able to set your throttle to 101%, activating the afterburner, which essentially doubles your thrust, but greatly increases fuel consumption.
  
• Turboprop engines are just jet engines that rotate a propeller. They are the most survivable engine type, but also produce the least thrust. The amount of thrust they produce is based on propeller and engine damage - if any is destroyed, they cease to function, but in general your plane will fall apart before that happens (unless you touch the ground with the propeller, which can sometimes happen).

Most planes also have airbrakes, which are activated by setting the throttle to -1%. They are in general the fastest way to decelerate without gaining altitude, nor passing yourself out, the alternative being flying up and down (which can cause you to pass out if you do it at high speeds).



Lift
Planes have wings for a reason - they increase stability and decrease the speed you have to fly at in order to avoid stalling. Some planes like the Compass can fly without wings, but will be hard to land, fly slowly or maneuver, as well as not being able to hold any weapons (at least in Compass' case).

Advanced Plane Controls

Pitch Limiter
The Pitch Limiter, well... limits your pitch, helping new players avoid stalling, or passing out. In general it's recommended to disable it, as it stops you from making sharp turns, so disabling it can greatly help you in some combat scenarios (if you find yourself often stalling, or GLOCing, you should probably keep it on).

In case of the Revoker the pitch limiter behaves a bit differently, however. Turning it off disables some flight assist, making it harder to fly, however allows you to pull off some impressive tricks (it essentially lets you do Post Stall Maneuvers from Ace Combat 7). In general it's not very useful, because if you are going too fast (above 700km/h) you will either pass out when making sharp turns, or when going too slow (below 300km/h) you will stall out and most likely crash. It's mostly useful when turning the nose of the plane upwards for a short amount of time to fire off a missile and when you want to take off quickly.



Thrust to Weight Ratio
The higher a plane's TWR is, the more it is able to pitch up without stalling. If TWR is greater than 1, that plane is able to fly straight up. Taking advantage of your plane's TWR can save you in a dogfight.

This means that if you have a cricket on your tail and it's almost within gun range (if you have a plane on your tail, that's within gun range, never pitch up, because that makes you a very easy target), and if you are in a plane with a higher TWR (Compass, Revoker), then you can just pitch up, and the cricket won't be able to follow you.

Helicopter Controls

Collective
Collective doesn't change the power your engines produce, but instead the angle of your rotor blades. The faster you want to fly, the higher the collective should be, however increasing collective often also lowers RPM. If rotor RPM is low, an alarm will start playing and maneuverability will be reduced. Depending on how fast you want to fly, you should change your collective, here are the general tips for what collective to use:

• When descending, it's recommended to just pitch down and get some free speed, but if you do not want to gain speed while doing so, use 20-40% collective.
  
• If you want to hover, you should set collective to about 50%.
  
• When flying slowly, set collective to about 60%.
  
• For flight at medium speed, set collective to about 70%.
  
• If you want to fly quickly, set collective to around 85%.
  
• When flying at max speed, set collective to 100%.

Autohover
Holding the Pitch Limiter key while in a helicopter enables autohover. Autohover tries to keep the helicopter at 0 horizontal and vertical speed, as well as changes collective controls. Setting colective to below 10% makes your helicopter descend and setting it to above 90% makes it ascend.



Vortex Ring State
VRS happens when your main rotor sucks up too much air it exhaled, which means when air is coming into the rotor from the bottom (when descending vertically, or moving horizontally, as you are pitching up). There are essentially 2 types of VRS, those being:

• Vertical VRS, which happens when you are descending quickly with little horizontal speed. It causes you to start quickly losing altitude, which can result in a crash. To get out of it, you need to either land on the ground (which often results in death), or gain horizontal speed.
  
• Horizontal VRS happens when you pitch up too much, while quickly moving horizontally. It's mostly harmless, as levelling your craft should end it.

Landing
Landing a helicopter may be one of the harder basic things in Nuclear Option. There are several helicopter landing methods, which vary if you are landing on a static, or moving surface (like a ship).

List of helicopter landings on a static target:

• Long Landing - The easiest to pull off, you land the helicopter like a plane, which limits the chance of VRS. Requires a long runway.
  
• Standard Landing - Slighlty harder to pull off, you slowly decrease altitude and speed while approaching a short runway like a helipad.
  
• J-Hook - The hardest landing to pull off, you quickly approach to the right or left of a short runway and pull a 180° hard turn to lose all of your speed and land.

List of helicopter landings on a moving target:

• Long Landing - Essentially completely eliminates the chance of VRS, due to the added speed of the platform. Can be performed on aircraft carriers.
  
• Standard Landing - Easier than on a static target, because movement of the landing platform decreases the chance of VRS.
  
• J-Hook - Not really feasible, as the speed of the target may make it impossible to land quickly after turning, essentially turning into a standard landing.

Weapons #1

There are many different weapons in Nuclear Option, ranging from Guns, Missiles, Cruise Missiles, Bombs to, even lasers. I'll try to explain all of them in detail.

Guns

Guns are the simplest weapons, they fire bullets, which cause harm and destruction on touch. Most of the time they aren't very useful, but can prove to be decent secondary weapons. They are very space efficient (for example if you take the 25mm gun and slap it on the Compass' weapon bay, you can rack up a lot more kills than with a bomb, or AGM-68). Their main drawback is their range. You need to get very close to use them and when firing them, you are extremely vurnerable. Here's a list of all the guns:

• 12.7mm Machine Gun/Gunpod - They have an effective range of 1km and deal pretty low damage. Their main upside is being able to link up to 8 of them on the Cricket, as well as high ammo capacity, of 500 rounds per gun. You always have 2 on the Cricket (unless you for some reason detach them).
  
• 25mm Gunpod - They have an effective range of 1.5km and deal a pretty high amount of damage, as well as have a very high fire rate and decent ammo capacity at 460 rounds. They can absolutely shred all air and light ground units. The main drawback is their spread (which sometimes can be a good thing).
  
• 20mm Gunpod - Very simillar to the 25mm gunpod, it has lower damage, similar fire rate and less ammo capacity at 250, but has slightly less spread. Always equipped in pairs.
  
• 20mm Cannon - Only available on the Revoker, this gun has a range of 1.5km, fires extremely fast, deals a lot of damage and has a high ammo capacity at 750. It removes any aircraft it hits and deals decent damage to light ground vehicles. You always get it on the Revoker, unless you for some reason remove it.
  
• 27mm Autocannon - Good at destroying ground units and large/slow moving aircraft because of the high damage and low firerate. Has a max range of 1.7km and is only carried by the Ifrit with an ammo capacity of 540.
  
• 30mm Rotary Cannon - Only available on the Chicane, this gun shreds anything it comes into contact with, be it aircraft, or even medium armor ground vehicles. It can track targets about 80° left and right, as well as about 80° down and 10° up. It has an ammo capacity of 750 and an effective range of 1.5km.

Air to Air Missiles

AA Missiles are used for air to air combat (obviously), they can pull 180° turns and are near unstoppable when launched close to the target. It's generally not recommended to use them at longer ranges, since the target can easily evade. Here's a list of all AA Missiles:

• MMR-S3 - This missile tracks targets based on their Heat. It has a long range of 15km, can maneuver very well, and is the best missile against Revokers, due to their large heat signature. The best way to them evade is to decrease throttle and start notching them, before launching flares, or use terrain masking. Available on almost all aircraft.
  
• IRM-S1 - Little brother of the MMR. It can maneuver better than the MMR, but is limited by it's low range of 5km and low explosive power. It's also more likely to be fooled by flares compared to the MMR. Available to COIN Aircraft like the Cricket and Attack Helicopters like the Chicane and IR SAMs. If presented with a choice between 1 MMR, or 2 IRMs, it's usually better to grab the IRMs.
  
• AAM-29 Scythe - The only Radar Homing Air-Air Missile, as of time of writing. It tracks the target using a radar mounted inside of the missile. It relies on datalink and enables it's radar within 10km of the target. Has an effective range of about 20km, but as all missiles should be launched close to the target for maximum effect. Can be carried by Attackers and Fighters like the Compass and Revoker.

Propelled Air to Ground Munitions

Propelled Air to Ground Munitions include missiles, rockets and cruise missiles. They have an IR signature, thus can be intercepted by IR SAMs, as well as, are easily visible, especially at night. A list of all the Propelled Air to Ground Munitions:

• AGM-48 - The simplest A2G weapon, based on the real life AGM-114 Hellfire. They can destroy most ground units in 1 shot. Not very effective against buildings, nor tanks. It has a range of 8km.
  
• AGM-68 - AGM-48, but bigger. This missile is based on the real life AGM-65 Maverick. It can destroy all ground units, most buildings and even, sometimes, Shard Class Corvettes in 1 shot. It has a range of 15km.
  
• AGR-17 Lynchpin - These rockets have a short range of 5km, poor tracking, and low damage. They make up for this in their high speed after launch, and extremely high number of 7 per rail (as opposed to a max of 2 AGM-48s per rail). The Lynchpin is still one of the best AG weapons in the game, taking 1-3 rockets to destroy lightly armored vehicles, but up to 8 per tank.
  
• ARAD-116 - Hypersonic missile, which tracks radar bearing units, like ships, radar SAM batteries, dedicated radar units and even aircraft with their radar on. Does not require lock-on to track targets. Very effective when combined with the radar jammer. Available on Multirole and EWar Aircraft. Has a range of over 30km.
  
• Cruise Missile - Only carried by large aircraft like the Darkreach and Medusa, these missiles have a very long range (can travel the entire map), aim to fly under 20m, avoiding radar detection, while on relatively flat terrain. They use GPS guidance and are effective against ships.
  
• 20kt Nuclear Cruise Missile - Very similar to the non-nuclear variant, however flies above 20m, thus is always exposed to radar tracking missiles and radar detection. Not really viable due to them being large and exposed. If this missile reaches it's target, a huge explosion wiping out everything in the vicinity occurs.

Bombs

Bombs, when compared to other Anti-Ground Munitions are far less versatile and more situational. They have limited range, guidance and carry capacity, being more cumbersome to use. They make up in their lack of an engine, and thus an IR signature, which makes them invisible to IR missiles, as well as makes them almost impossible to spot from longer ranges. List of all the bombs:

• PAB-80LR - Equipped with wings, this glide bomb behaves like a missile. Has variable range and deals damage comparable to the AGM-68. Extremely effective against IR SAMs and armored ground-ground combat focused units. Its' full name is PrecisionAerialBomb-80LongRange. Can be carried by Light Attackers, Multiroles and even EWar Aircraft.
  
• PAB-250 - This bomb mostly shines in carry capacity, that being between that of an AGM-48 and 68. Deals a lot of damage and is mostly useful against buildings and ships, however is outclassed in dealing with IR SAMs and tanks by glide bombs. This weapons' full name is PrecisionAerialBomb-250. Carried by all but the heaviest fixed wing aircraft.
  
• GPO-500 - The big brother of the PAB-250. Deals more damage, at the cost of worse carry capacity. This weapons' full name is GravityPropelledOrdinance-500. Carried by Attackers, Multiroles and Bombers.
  
• GPO-2P - 1000kg penetration bomb. Deals immense damage to a single target. Its' full name is GravityPropelledOrdinance-2Penetration. Only carried by Bombers.
  
• Demo Bomb - Deals massive damage in a medium sized area. It has a carry capacity of just 2, in the Darkreach's larger bays and weights a lot. This bomb is mostly overshadowed by the better in almost every way 1.5kt nuclear bombs.
  
• GPO-N 1.5kt - Essentially a direct upgrade to the GPO-500. Creates a huge explosion capable of destroying half of a large airbase, if it manages to land near it's target. Can only be carried in weapon bays. Do NOT use it once GPO-N 250kt is unlocked, unless you have a good reason for it.
  
• GPO-N 250kt - Way stronger version of the GPO-N 1.5kt, better in every way.

Weapons #2

Other

This part of the guide refers to things that are not guns, missiles, or bombs. These so far include lasers and radar jammers.

• 120kW Laser - Self-defense laser for intercepting missiles. Uses up a lot of the plane's capacitor, however can quickly destroy any munition. Has a ~60° cone of vision, a max effective range of 12km, min jammer charge for effective use of ~40% and requires pilot input. It's very ineffective against aircraft and essentially completely useless against ground units. Only available to the Medusa.
  
• Radar Jammer - Meant for Suppression of Enemy Air Defences, it temporarily disables enemy radar. Works very well when combined with ARADs, or friendly aircraft attacking the jammed radar. Can also be used for self-defense by jamming SARH (or the radar unit guiding it), ARH missiles or aircraft equipped with a radar. Each jammer can target 1 unit, effectiveness diminishes with range and capacitor charge. Only available to EWar aircraft.

Low-Tier Aircraft

CI-22 Cricket

A COunter INsurgency plane based on the OV-10 Bronco. While designed for low-intensity battlefields, this plane can stand it's own in most combat scenarios. Best used in close range Air-Ground combat(2-6km), and extremely close range Air-Air combat (<1.5km).


Maneuverability
The Cricket has the best maneuverability of all planes currently in the game (excluding weird Revoekr maneuvers). It's able to outturn any other plane in a dogfight, and getting close to it is a deathwish. It has decent acceleration for what it is and a measly top speed of ~500km/h, due to it being equipped with a turboprop engine, instead of a jet. It's recommended to fly low in this plane (below 100m above the ground), in case of being shot at with radar guided missiles.


Offense
The Cricket cannot carry a lot of weapons, however has access to the extremely overpowered lynchpins. It has 2 12.7mm (50. cal) machineguns attached at all times, which are pretty good self-defense weapons. When compared to the Compass, it's able to carry just a bit less AG munitions that it, however way less AA weapons. Here are my recommended loadouts for the Cricket (note that I excluded the 12.7mm Ammunition from this list, because you should always take it):

• AA Focused Loadout: 20mm Gunpods/AGR-18 Lynchpins; MMR-S3; IRM-S1
  
• AG Focused Loadout: AGR-18 Lynchpins; AGM-48 x2/AGR-18 Lynchpins/MMR-S3; AGR-18 Lynchpins
  
• Anti-Building Loadout: AGM-68/PAB-250; AGM-68/PAB-250; AGR-18 Lynchpins/IRM-S1/AGM-48

Defense
This aircraft is outfitted with a below-average amount of flares, at 48, which isn't much of an issue most of the time, thanks to it's miniscule IR signature, which lets it shake off IR missiles, with just 4-12 flares (2 are fired at a time). The Cricket isn't equipped with a radar jammer, which makes notching very difficult, especially because it's Radar Cross Section is massive (0.35). This makes using ground clutter the only reliable option to dodge Radar Guided missiles. It's quite vulnerable to guns, however it's difficult to completely disable it, thanks to it's turboprop engine.


Detection
The Cricket is equipped with with the 2nd best optical sensors in the game, with a max range of about 10km, which makes it the best aircraft for recon.

T/A-30 Compass

The T/A in the Compass' name either stands for Advanced Trainer, or Trainer/Attacker. However, being a trainer doesn't stop the Compass from being an effective war machine, outperforming the Cricket in almost every way, only having worse turning, stall speed and lynchpin carrying capacity.


Maneuverability
The Compass has better maneuverability than even some real fighters, like the Revoker. It can turn really well at low-ish speeds of around ~450km/h, making it very effective at destroying SAMs using guns and flying in mountainous regions. Unlike the Cricket, this plane has an airbrake. The Compass is equipped with twin jet engines. It's acceleration is considerably better than the Cricket's and has a max speed of ~900 at high load and over 1000km/h at low load. As the Encyclopedia suggests it's easy and forgiving to fly. It's possible for the Compass to reach 1.0 TWR by unequipping all weapons and reducing the fuel load.


Offense
In terms of weapons, the Compass has access to the most varied armaments out of all the aircraft currently in the game. It can carry optical bombs, missiles, rockets, IR missiles, ARH missiles and gunpods. What's unique about this aircraft is that it doesn't have any onboard guns. Some general loadouts that may be useful:

• AA Focused Loadout: 25mm Gunpod; AAM-29 Scythe/MMR-S3 x2; MMR-S3/AGR-18 Lynchpins; MMR-S3
  
• Multipurpose Loadout: 25mm Gunpod/MMR-S3; MMR-S3 x2/AGR-18 Lynchpins; AGR-18 Lynchpins; MMR-S3
  
• AG Focused Loadout: GPO-N/MMR-S3; PAB-80LR x3/AGR-18 Lynchpins; AGR-18 Lynchpins; MMR-S3/AGM-48
  
• Anti Ship Loadout: AGM-68/MMR-S3; PAB-250 x3/AGR-18 Lynchpins; AGR-18 Lynchpins; AGM-48/MMR-S3

Defense
This aircraft is equipped with both kinds of countermeasures - it has 64 flares and a radar jammer. It's IR signature is quite a bit larger than the Cricket's, making it harder to lose missiles, needing around 4-12 flares per missile under best conditions. The radar jammer makes it viable for this plane to notch (0.25 RCS), as well as makes it easier to lose missiles using ground clutter. It's not as vulnerable to gunfire, as the Cricket, but being hit poses a great risk of critical engine damage, because of this planes' large engine and intake area.


Detection
The Compass is equipped with optical sensors with a range of about 6km.

SAH-46 Chicane

SAH-46 is currently the only helicopter in the game, as well as the only aircraft capable of rescuing downed pilots. SAH stands for Stealth Attack Helicopter, which is similar to the name of the Chicane's inspiration - the RAH-66 Commanche. It can carry a lot of Air to Ground Propelled Munitions, even though it's not really worth using it due to it's slow speed (at least when lynchpins aren't banned).


Maneuverability
It, obviously is the slowest aircraft in the game, but is also very nimble, thanks to it being a helicopter. It can be pretty hard to use at first, because it's not as intuitive to fly as planes. The main advantage of this aircraft is being able to fly low above the ground, over terrain not easily accessible to planes and the ease of using ground clutter. The Chicane has the biggest advantage over other aircraft in rough terrain, like over steep hills, near mountains and inside cities.


Offense
The Chicane can carry an amount of weapons comparable to strategic bombers, like the Darkreach. It's always equipped with a very powerful 30mm rotary autocannon and 8 AGM-48s stored inside it's weapon bays. It also has 1 stub wing pylon slot reserved for AG munitions and 1 for AA munitions. Since the Chicane's loadout is so limited here's information on all the weapons you have a choice over changing out and when to equip them:

• AG Slot: In general you should take Lynchpins; Take AGM-48s if you plan on engaging enemies from far away/very close (<1km); Take 20mm gunpods when exclusively engaging other aircraft; Take AGM-68s when exclusively fighting MBTs or when attacking buildings
  
• AA Slot: Take the IRMs when you plan on intercepting missiles/defending yourself; Take MMRs when you plan on attacking other aircraft from far away.

Defense
This aircraft is equipped with just 72 flares as countermeasures, and a very low heat signature, taking just 2-8 flares to lose IR missiles. It doesn't have a radar jammer, but has a very small RCS (0.08), making it possible to notch (haven't tried it myself). Because it is a helicopter, it can easily utilise ground clutter. It is very susceptible to being gunned down by any fixed-wing aircraft, however if the tail rotor, engines, or pilot aren't targeted, it can survive a lot of gunfire. Important note that enemy IFVs can target and fire optical missiles at the Chicane, if it's moving below 100km/h.


Detection
The Chicane is equipped with optical sensors with a max range of about 8km.

Medium-Tier Aircraft

FS-12 Revoker

The Revoker is the first real combat plane unlocked via ranking up. According to the developers it is a multirole, which suggests it's full name may be Fighter&Strike-12 Revoker. It can carry the most AA missiles in the game, as well as utilize bombs to their fullest potential thanks to it's high speed. Best used by "Boom&Zooming" - utilising the plane's speed and avoiding dogfighting. It's outperformed in nearly every way by the KR-67 Ifrit.


Maneuverability
This plane is equipped with a jet engine capable of using an afterburner, which greatly enhances it's speed and acceleration, being able to reach supersonic speeds. It has canards, instead of traditional elevators, which increases it's maneuverability. With the Pitch Limiter on, the Revoker is very stable and pretty easy to control, however turning the Pitch Limiter off lets the pilot pull off advaced maneuvers, which can be useful in a dogfight, but also increases the risk of stalling, or passing out. It also requires the shortest runway of all standard fixed-wing aircraft, when the Pitch Limiter is disabled.


Offense
The Revoker has an onboard 20mm gun and can carry up to 10 AA missiles, making it great for intercepting hostile aircraft. It's also able to carry up to 4 500kg bombs, two of which can be 1.5kt nukes, or 4 AG missiles, trading 4 AA missiles, per pair of AG weapons. It's gun is very good against aircraft and buildings, thanks to the high Rate Of Fire, as well as Damage Per Second. Some loadouts I use (doesn't include ammo for the 20mm gun, which you should always take):

• AA Focused Loadout: AAM-29 Scythe x2; MMR-S3 x2; MMR-S3/AAM-29 Scythe
  
• Multipurpose Loadout: MMR-S3 x2; PAB-80LR x3; AAM-29 Scythe
  
• Specialised Loadout: 1.5kt bomb/MMR-S3 x2; ARAD-116/MMR-S3 x2; AAM-29 Scythe
  
• AG Focused Loadout: 1.5kt bomb/500kg bomb; PAB-80LR/AGM-68/500kg bomb; Empty/MMR-S3/AAM-29 Scythe

Defense
This aircraft gets 64 flares, however due to it's insanely high IR signature, they are very ineffective, sometimes requiring 10+ flares per missile. It has a radar jammer and a RCS slightly smaller than the Compass (0.2). If the pilot is skilled, it can be almost impossible to hit this plane with bullets, when in a Cricket, or Compass, however hitting the Revoker's engine almost instantly disables the plane.


Detection
The Revoker has the worst optical sensors in the game, able to detect ground units at ~5km. It also has a radar with a range of about 40km and about 40° of peripheral vision.

High-Tier Aircraft

KR-67 Ifrit

This aircraft is basically a better version of the Revoker, as it has 2 more powerful engines, more weapon carry capacity and is able to operate from aircraft carriers, however is more expensive. The main difference, when compared to the Revoker, is a very different 27mm gun (instead of 20mm) which is worse than the FS-12's at shooting down aircraft, however better at destroying ground units. It's named after a Boscali city "Kramenko" and is inspired by modern 5th generation fighters like the Su-57, F-22 and YF-23


Maneuverability
Just like the Revoker, this aircraft has Thrust Vectoring(TV), however, unlike the Revoker which has both vertical(Pitch) and horizontal(Yaw) TV, the Ifrit only has vertical (Pitch+Roll), which means it cannot PSM. The Ifrit can reach extremely high speeds of Mach 2+ which is very powerful when combined with PAB-80LRs, however it's acceleration, while very good, is worse than that of the FS-12. Because the Ifrit is a Naval fighter it has large wings, thanks to which it has a low stall speed, which combined with it's Thrust Vectoring makes it a decent dogfighter.


Offense
The KR-67 has the most versatile loadouts of all aircraft in the game, being able to equip regular, penetration and glide bombs (including nuclear ones), double racks of AGM-68s, ARAD-116s and AAMs. This aircraft has the highest AAM carry capacity of 14. It also has access to a Hook, which should be removed if there are no friendly Aircraft Carriers currently on the map. Here are some loadouts I recommend using (excluding the 27mm gun, which should always be equipped):

• Air Superiority Loadout: AAM-29 Scythe x3; AAM-29 Scythe x3; MMR-S3 x2; MMR-S3 x2
  
• Multi-Role Loadout: MMR-S3 x3/GPO-N x2; AAM-29 Scythe x3/GPO-N x2; PAB-80LR x3/AGM-68 x2/MMR-S3 x2; PAB-80LR x3/AGM-68 x2/MMR-S3 x2
  
• Anti-Ground Loadout: MMR-S3 x3/GPO-N x2/GPO-500 x2; AAM-29 Scythe x3/GPO-N x2/GPO-500 x2; PAB-80LR x3/AGM-68 x2/PAB-250 x3/GPO-2P Auger; PAB-80LR x3/AGM-68 x2/PAB-250 x3
  
• DEAD Loadout: MMR-S3 x3/GPO-N x2/GPO-500 x2; AAM-29 Scythe x3/GPO-N x2/GPO-500 x2; ARAD-116/PAB-80LR x3; PAB-80LR x3

Defense
This aircraft is equipped with 64 flares and a radar jammer. It's RCS is low (0.12) and it's IR signature is average (slightly higher than that of a Compass). Notching in this aircraft is very easy and it's relatively easy to flare off missiles, taking 4-12 flares per missile.


Detection
The Ifrit has a radar with an FOV of ~50° and a range of 50km and the same optical sensors as the compass (~6km detection range dor ground units).

EW-25 Medusa

The ElectronicWarfare-25 Medusa is quite unique in that it is the first EWar, VTOL and AWACS aircraft in the game. It also has a self-defense laser. It's the best aircraft for destroying enemy radar SAMs, intercepting missiles and spotting enemies when radome is equipped. Thanks to it's VTOL capabilities it requires the shortest runway out of all fixed-wing aircraft to take off, or land.


Maneuverability
The EW-25 is the most maneuverable fixed wing aircraft at low speeds in the game, however can be outmaneuvered by all aircraft unlocked before it at high'ish speeds. It's generally best to stay at high altitude, jamming any Radar SAMs that may be a threat in this plane. The Medusas' TWR is equal to 1, when it has ~85% fuel left and no weapons attached. The Pitch Limiter key toggles autovectoring. It's max speed is ~1000km/h (~540kn).


Offense
The Medusa can't carry many weapons, those also being limited to ARADs, and extremely small amounts of IR Missiles, Glide Bombs, and possibly a single Cruise Missile. It's laser is very bad offensively and should only be used against aircraft as a last resort. Here are some Medusa loadouts (Laser is not included and should always be equipped):

• DEAD Loadout: ARAD-116 x2/MMR-S3 x2; Radar Jammer; ARAD-116 x2
  
• SEAD Loadout: ARAD-116 x2/MMR-S3 x2; Radar Jammer; Radar Jammer
  
• Lategame Loadout: MMR-S3 x2; PAB-80LR x3/Radar Jammer; MMR-S3

Defense
This aircraft has a lot of defensive options, which lets it stay in the air for a long time. It is pretty stealthy, thanks to it's low RCS (0,1), however it's relatively difficult to flare off incoming IR Missiles. The EW-25's 120kW Laser can get rid of all types of missiles, which is the best way to counter IR Missiles. It's also very good for supporting friendly units. In countering Radar Guided Missiles the Laser is outperformed by the Radar Jammer, being way more energy efficient.


Detection
The Medusa has a Radar by default, which has a FOV of ~80° and range of 50km. It has decent optical sensors (same as compass, ~6km ground unit detection range). It has an optional Radome attachment, which increases the radars' FOV to 360°, as well as decreases the Radar Floor for hostile aircraft down to ~5m and has a range of about 100km, at the cost of increasing the aircraft weight by a substantial amount. It's also the only aircraft able to triangulate radar sources, automatically marking them as targettable.

SFB-81 Darkreach

This is the largest plane, so far, in the game and it's based on the real life B-2 Spirit Strategic Bomber. It's full name most likely is StealthFighterBomber-81 Darkreach (the S could also mean Strategic), the Fighter part is presumably leftover from previous prototypes, similar to how the Nighthawks' designation is F-117, even though it's an attack aircraft.


Maneuverability
Because of this plane's size and weight it's the least maneuverable aircraft in the game. This aircraft has extremely powerful engines, however is subsonic, due to high weight and drag. It needs a really long runway to take off (for example, it needs to use the entire runway of the Naval Airbase to take off when loaded).


Offense
This aircraft can carry a lot of medium and long range Air-Ground munitions like AGM-68s, Bombs and Cruise Missiles. It has, unlike any other aircraft, only 2 weapon slots, those being it's inner and outer weapons bays. It has no access to Air-Air missiles, or Guns and requires Medusa and/or Revoker escorts Here are some loadouts I use:

• Long Range Attack Loadout: ALM-C450s/AGM-68s/ALM-4s (Nuclear); AGM-68s/ALM-C450s
  
• Medium Range DEAD Loadout: GPO-500s/AGM-68s; AGM-68s/GPO-500s/GPO-Ns

Defense
The SFB-81 is equipped with a radar jammer and has a small RCS (0.1), however the easiest way to evade Radar guided SAMs in this aircraft is to avoid them, or use terrain masking/ground clutter. It can carry up to 86 flares and has an IR signature slightly smaller than the Revoker.


Detection
The Darkreach has a radar with an FOV of ~80° and a range of 40km, as well the best Optical Sensors in the game with a max range of ~12km.

Ground Units and Buildings

All ground vehicles and buildings are simplified when compared to ships and aircraft. They are made up of 1 part, which when destroyed, results in a loss of the entire vehicle/building. Direct hit damage done to ground vehicles depends on the angle the vehicle is hit from(back is generally weaker).

Cosmetic
These vehicles and buildings serve no real purpose besides being extra targets to shoot at.

• Refinery Structure - Good for creating industrial looking things in the Mission Editor.
  
  
• Storage Tank - Good for creating industrial looking things in the Mission Editor.
  
  
• Control Tower - When destroyed, disables an airbases' runway lights. Can be used as a tower to place radar trucks, or other air defenses on.
  
  
• Small/Large/Sloped Platform - Cannot be locked onto and does not appear on the map/datalink. Extremely useful as supports for custom builds and custom airbases/roads.
  
  
• HLT Tractor/Flatbed - Part of the HLT wheeled ultility truck platform. Unarmored and destroyed in 1 lynchpin, moves at 100km/h. Good as additional clutter on the roads/in airbases.

Ground-to-Ground
These vehicles and buildings are equipped for Ground-to-Ground combat, however still can engage low flying aircraft.

• Pillbox - Very tough building equipped with a 12.7mm machinegun. The gun has a very low FOV, so it's not much of a threat.
  
  
• LCV45 Recon Truck - Light recon vehicle equipped with a 12.7mm machinegun, ideal for spotting ground units. It's very fast, being able to move at 110km/h, however very lightly armored, taking just 1 lynchpin to take it out.
  
  
• AFV8 APC - Wheeled multipurpose platform with light armor, taking 1 lynchpin to take out and being consistently destroyed by 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 80km/h. Often associated with the Boscali Faction. This model is equipped with a 12.7mm machinegun.
  
  
• Linebreaker APC - Tracked multipurpse platform with medium armor, taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, but being very resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. Often associated with the Primeva Faction. This model is equipped with a 12.7mm machinegun.
  
  
• AFV8 IFV - Wheeled multipurpose platform with light armor, taking 1 lynchpin to take out and being consistently destroyed by 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 80km/h. Often associated with the Boscali Faction. This model is equipped with a 25mm autocannon and 2 Ground-to-Ground missiles.
  
  
• Linebreaker IFV - Tracked multipurpse platform with medium armor, taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, but being very resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. Often associated with the Primeva Faction. This model is equipped with a 25mm autocannon and 2 Ground-to-Ground missiles.
  
  
• Main Battle Tank - Heavy ground unit specialised in Anti-Vehicle combat, moving at just 64km/h. Has heavy armor, from the front, able to comletely resist lynchpins and taking 2 AGM-48s to take out and taking 6 lynchpins, or 1 AGM-48 from the back before being blown up. It's equipped with a 12.7mm machinegun it uses against lightly armored targets and low-flying aircraft and a 130mm cannon, firing SABOT rounds, which has a high range and is able to destroy most ground units in 1 hit.

Ground-Air
These vehicles and buildings are designed with Ground-Air combat in mind, using either IR, or SARH missiles, or fast-firing/proximity-fused autocannons, or just having a radar.

• AFV8 Mobile Air Defense - Wheeled multipurpose platform with light armor, taking 1 lynchpin to take out and being consistently destroyed by 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 80km/h. Often associated with the Boscali Faction. This model is equipped with 8 IRM-S1 short-range IR missiles, with a max range of 5km.
  
  
• Linebreaker SAM - Tracked multipurpse platform with medium armor, taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, but being very resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. Often associated with the Primeva Faction. This model is equipped with 12 IRM-S1 short-range IR missiles, with a max range of 5km.
  
  
• T9K41 Boltstrike - Part of the Linebreaker tracked multipurpse platform with medium armor, taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, but being very resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. Often associated with the Primeva Faction. This model is equipped with 16 medium-range RAM-45 SARH missiles, with a max range of 15km and a radar, used to guide them.
  
  
• AeroSentry SPAAG - Most likely a modified Linebreaker, has medium armor taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, however is resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. This model is equipped with Twin 30mm Autocannons firing Proximity-Fused shells, with a max range of ~5km.
  
  
• FGA-57 Anvil - Part of the Linebreaker tracked multipurpse platform with medium armor, taking 1-2 lynchpins to take out, but being very resilient against 12.7mm machineguns and moves at 70km/h. Unlike all other Linebreaker models, this one is often associated with the Boscali Faction. This model is equipped with a 57mm autocannon firing Proximity-Fused shells, with a max range of ~8km and is effective in both Anti-Air and Anti-Ground combat.
  
  
• HLT Radar Truck - Part of the HLT wheeled ultility truck platform. Unarmored and destroyed in 1 lynchpin, moves at 100km/h. This model is equipped with a radar capable of spotting and tracking aircraft at all ranges. Can be used for spotting and guiding targets for the Stratolance R9 Laucher.
  
  
• Stratolance R9 Launcher - Stationary unmanned air defense trailer, part of the HLT family. Even though it's a trailer, it cannot be towed by any of the HLT trucks. Holds 7 long-range Stratolance R9 SARH missiles, which have a range of 50km, or more. Does not have a radar and relies on tracking from HLT Radar Trucks within 300m.
  
  
• Radar Station - Building equipped with a long-range radar. Better, however stationary, when compared with the HLT Radar Truck. Barely able to survive being hit with 1 ARAD-116.

Utility
These vehicles and buildings are unarmed, however still have a real impact on the game.

• HLT Munitions/Fuel Truck - Part of the HLT wheeled ultility truck platform. Unarmored and destroyed in 1 lynchpin, move at 100km/h. These models are designed for rearming/refuelling friendly units within 300m. Munitions Trucks explode if destroyed by being hit in the back.
  
  
• Large/Vertical Factory - These buildings produce 1 of the specified unit every time the amount of predetermined seconds reaches 0. They are the only source of non-prespawned AI units.
  
  
• Aircraft Revetment - Lightly-armored building used for spawning small fixed-wing aircraft.
  
  
• Helipad - Lightly-armored building used for spawning rotary-wing aircraft.
  
  
• Hardened Aircraft Shelter - Very heavily-armored building used for spawning up to medium fixed-wing aircraft. Capable of surviving even nuclear explosions.
  
  
• Medium Aircraft Hangar - Medium-armored building used for spawning all fixed wing aircraft.
  
  
• Vehicle Depot - Medium-armored building used for deploying ground units.

Ships

Ships behave like ground units, merged with aircraft - they pathfind in the same way as ground vehicles (following nodes around the map) and have dynamic destruction like aircraft. They are also generally the most powerful singular units in the game (well, and real life, too). The amount of munitions required to destroy ships can be inconsistant due to them targetting random parts of the ship.

• Shard Class Corvette - Light ship equipped with a 57mm autocannon (8km range), 20mm CIWS turret (~4km range), ~64 RAM-45 SARH missiles (15km range) and a radar. It moves at 72km/h and is able to rearm and refuel friendly aircraft that land on it's helipad. It can be taken out by 2 ARAD-116s/AGM-68s, ~21 lynchpins or 1 Cruise Missile.
  
  
• Hyperion Class Aircraft Carrier - Aircraft Carrier capable of spawning, rearming and refueling most Aircraft. Armed with 16x2 MMR-S3 IR missiles (15km range), ~16 RAM-45 SARH missiles (15km range) and 2 30mm CIWS turrets (~5km range). Moves at 58km/h. Takes a lot of damage before sinking (Multiple AGM-68s, Cruise Missiles and/or bombs).

AI Behaviour

[Ordo]

Gotcha, thank you.

Without slow mo, no clue how I'd do that. It's hectic when you got missiles coming at you lol

[Scoobe]

Yes, you need to lock onto the missile before lasering (lazing?) it.

[Ordo]

But I still need to manually click onto the missile to target it, right?

[Scoobe]

If the missile is close to you already, use flares/jammer and if it's far away you should be able to laser it to death. Laser only targets one thing at a time.

[Ordo]

How can I target the missiles with the laser before getting blown up?

Slow mo?

Can I click all the incoming missiles on the map, or do I need to down them one at a time?

[m3lizard2]

Ah, thank you! it worked!

[Scoobe]

Pretty sure it requires you to hold the button down now

[m3lizard2]

Upon pressing F in the chicane, it makes no attempt to hover. is it my game or me?

[javiairplane]

the limiter is bound to F by default if you still need it

[Scoobe]

Maybe it's called flight assist in the options? I'm not entirely sure and can't check right now. You can ask about your control filter issues in the game's discord server, or submit a bug report there. Links to the server are located in the game's main menu, store page and can be found online pretty easily.