A nice little thing to also mention with TWS is that it still works for Sidewinder Expanded Acquisition Mode, which is nice since you don't need to actually lock someone to slave the sidewinder seeker to a target now.
Sidewinders on the outer pylons than sparrows in the inner wing pylons with two phoenix’s in the middle and sparrow in the back is the classic load out the f 14 used in the us navy for fleet defense and a good mix of all weapons
funny enough the configuration which you just mentioned is nearly the same as the one i run, which i named the 2 Pair 1 One sidewinders on the outer and sparrows on the inner and 2 phoenix's in the middle in the custom setup
the naval line is all very capable, the only plane i might recomend skipping is the f3h demon, besides that most are pretty painless and some are even good
honestly BVR capabilities are realistically depicted (but with lower range), even in real life the probability of a hit are less than 30%, that's why fighter pilots fires more than one missiles at a target in hoping one of it will hit, even to this day this is what they did.
Not really, pilots Normally fire 1 missile only and bank 45 degrees, russians are the only ones i have seen firing 2 in quick succession and not alwys, and i remember a f15 or 16, not sure, firing 2 aim 120 into a mig during the Kosovo war
@@hemendraravi4787 the plane itself costs 35000 - 40000$ per hour of flight, and unlike war thunder many a hours were spent getting to and from battle. the US frequently fires of millions in a single sortie. they do not care
@@StoneCoolds yes thats indeed the f 16, f22 and f35 (aswell as some other models) way of firering their advanced missles. however it wasnt uncommon for f14 pilots to fire them in volleys of 2 at a time
Shit, that was fast. I haven't even played my first game of top-tier Air RB in this update yet. Not that I'm in a hurry, it being with an F-104S ASA and all. I'll get to this beauty eventually... in a few years... maybe...
Seven months since this video was released and almost all of it is still true. The F-14 DID redefine the top end meta, the player base WAS crap at adjusting to it at least for the first few months, and it's position as king of the skies WAS short lived once the F-16 and MiG-29 were introduced. I am old enough to remember when 4th gen fighters were introduced IRL, my dad was a private pilot and used to get military aviation mags every month. I still remember the panic that everyone got in to when they realised that AIM-9Ls and (then yet to be introduced) AMRAAMs were going to turn every head on engagement into a potential suicide pact. Naturally the SOP adjusted and pretty soon everyone settled in to the new meta, just like it has and will continue to do in game. Man I love this game !
Tim! I know you love visible RWR s in cockpit and I made a discovery. If you bind a key for "Switch MFD mode second", it will replace your radar scope behind your stick with an RWR. Its a small attention to detail but i LOVE it. I play simulator battles alot, and i prefer to not use the HUD, and this was perfect for me to find out.
I feel like people are gonna need to adapt to having very useful fox 1s in top tier as gaijin balances this thing with more modern R-27s etc. BVR engagements are very different to the furball of fox-2s and a few fox-1s we're all used to. Will be fun to see how the playerbase adapts
Even if the phoenix gets fixed i think people vastly overestimate how good a missile like that is in war thunder, where people are all of the time doing insane manouver's pretty much impossible irl by the time they reach the middle of the map, and so a phoenix is very much dodgeable compared to irl . Also it's silly people use the phoenix that took out 3 migs as somehow proving the phoenix had amazing capabilities since that was pretty much pure luck. Not like the missile went after one after the other.
There's just too many aircraft packed into too small of a space for the Phoenix to really be that useful. The missile indicator also doesn't help, as it makes it very trivial to see and dodge the missile. Even with all that aside, the arbitrary notch sectors of the radars ingame make radar missiles a lot more unreliable than they probably should be.
Great review! One thing that might’ve been worth mentioning, is that there is a large amount of simplification for this plane to go into war thunder considering the huge workload that the Rio had in the backseat of this plane in real life. There are some things that we will never fully be able to experience in WT such as having someone watching for enemies behind us and assisting with working the radar and weapons system the way that having another human in the plane accomplished.
For my 5cents, I think WT has actually found a pretty good balance between "realistic specs and operation" and "simplified for a single-pilot computer game" with most of its stuff. The only thing that annoys me is when I use my channel to the devs and ask for some specific minutia details about HOW they simplified a few specific things, and I don't get specific answers (and thus, can't pass them on in my videos). ;-)
@@TimsVariety I absolutely agree. I have the full HOTAS and VR setup to play DCS, but find myself firing up WT more often just due to the simplicity of hoping into a quick game that I can enjoy. I appreciate the happy medium that they have found here, and am looking forward to the modern aircraft on the horizon.
I can’t believe that it’s here, honestly. I didn’t think they’d be adding 4th Gen for a while. I grinded the Air Force line, so I won’t be getting the tomcat for a while (and my favourite plane, the hornet that’s bound to come after.) But, I’ll be happy with the F-15C bound to be added after the F-4E. (Assuming the F-16 will come after the F-5 and F-20, since the development of those planes led to the viper.)
They'll probably add the F-20 or YF-17 in the Air Force line (hopefully if Gaijin doesn't make it a premium), so I hope you can get those quicker than the F/A-18
@@Tigershark_3082 I really hope not, it's one of the greatest what-ifs in aviation history, plus it just makes too much sense to put it after the F-5E and before the F-16 to show the jump in capabilities.
Something I've noticed that once the Phoenix go active they love chaff like the R60s love flares You don't even need to manouver hard. Once you spot a Phoenix about 5km away you drop one chaff and pull up gently and it will miss
I'm looking forward to later F-14s like the B and D eventually showing up and giving us better acceleration and precision weapons capability, as well as the C-model phoenix
There wasn't enough time/space to fit the footage into the review, but I did capture a clip of just spamming the AIM-54's 10 seconds after taking off, just to demonstrate that all of them will miss if you do that. Sure as shit, six shots - six whiffs.
Hey man about having a visual radar warning system, bring up the multi function menu, then go to mvd/nvd you can change the radar screen to a radar warning one
01:40 Libyan fan here! Small trivia info: The former Libyan regime called the 1981 engagement a triumphant victory years later claiming they shot down the F-14’s and aired footages of the body of Captain Paul F. Lorence who was shot down in his F-111 during the air raid in 1986. My uncle, a retired Air Force mechanic, said the Libyan pilots who were shot by the TomCats were known to be staunch dissidents of the former regime and were sent in hopes to be silenced by foreign hands instead of the Libyan secret police to avoid backlash from their tribes which they belonged to (massive and influential tribes to this day in Libya).
If the Phoenix loses track of its intented target the missiles radar will track a new target, friendly or not. Or just keep flying until it runs out of energy. The RIO will normally keep lock onto the target until the radar guidance in the missile activates and guides itself. Plus the maximum amount of targets it can track is 8 targets. And can fire on 4 to 6, depending how many 54s you are carrying.
Its not easy to tell, but in one of the clips where I made a 20km-ish shot, that happened - when it went pitbull it found a different target than I had launched on since my original target had already been shot down by somebody else.
In my personal experience, I've gotten behind and shot down a few F-14A's with my F-104c. Each time both of us were supersonic and I had to be careful not to overshoot cause the F-14 bleeds speed quicker. I never wasted a missile, only used my vulcan cannon. Didn't have a screen recording program at the time so I haven't the proof. The only way it will work is if the F-14 player is distracted enough to get behind.
here's a tip. TWS was created in order to shoot phoenix missiles at bombers without giving a lock warning. what bombers do is fly in formation at a specific altitude so the area that TWS tracks is very limited. this is why most teams in WT get obliterated by the F-14. they have the misconception that if they fly low they avoid getting locked but what they actually do is create a nice easy line of targets for the radar in TWS mode to guide phoenixes to. how you avoid TWS launches (and even evade missiles launched in that mode without having to notch) is by rapidly changing altitude the moment you suspect that a Tomcat is targeting you at long range.
I just remember the one time I got an EC map after unlocking my Phoenix missiles and seeing some guy at 65km. Decided "Fuck it" and lofted one at him at 60 in TWS. I just expected to throw him defensive, but he never saw the launch and ate it XD. God I love these things.
The addition of proper 4th gens before things like the Tornado ADV and JA37D worries me a little bit, since there is a relatively high chance they will be dead on arrival once they finally get added with things like the MiG-29 on the horizon.
4:08 Gaijin changed the meaning of default loadouts, for new custom loadout aircraft, the loadouts just mean where weapons can be mounted and you are expected to change it to your needs. We know War Thunder doesn't like hand holding. The basic F-16A won't be meta changing as she would only have access to AIM-9s, we would need the F-16A ADF or F-16C for that. 7:05 It isn't call that as a mode per se but as radio callout / brevity code just like "Fox 3".
the way i find the most success with phoenixes is to only use them on the bigger maps, fly up to around 8000m, and then fire 2 phoenixes per target spaced 5 or more kilometers apart. This gives the second missile more time to lead if the enemy starts evading the first, greatly increasing the chance of scoring a hitl
The thing is that you know how the snail adds basically the same vehicle with some minor changes that were exported to other countries as premium packs so I feel like they might do it with the f 14 look at the new premium lighting it's basically the same plane. Idk
seeing as how slowly the pheonix leaves the rail, Im interested to see if you can hit yourself with it by sharply maneuvering towards it immediately after launch
It just phases through you, I accidentally figured it out when trying to roll over and launch upside down so it’d loft better but it just went straight and noclipped through my plane
@@raksomething6942 On the Dev server the missile trail would burn my own plane down if I pulled into it which was funny, seems to do nothing now which is good
Glad to see I’m not the only one having issues with the close range radar not working. Also with the current bug of not picking up AI on radar I would t worry to much about hitting a ai….hopefully this will be fixed soon
14:15 I imagine that we didn't get an Iranian skin for the Tomcat because it will eventually be a premium variant of it, but that's just my guess. it would fit with the other export premiums that Gaijin likes to do. They'd probably do something cursed though and put it in the Israeli tree or something haha.
In the future we got the potential to get F-14A Late as a prem or event, F-14 Iran as a prem or event, F-14B, F-14D, & iirc Japan at least tested the 14 and 15 but choose the 15 for future operability. Since they tested the 14 and we do have a couple test vehicles ingame already, we could get the F-14 for Japan! I hope.
Man this will be a long and painful grind...I got the F9F-8 Cougar finished and just bought 10K GE to get some Prem acc and SL...I'll maybe buy the F-5C too but I really dont know if its worth the money...
Another great video; don't stop educating us my friend. This channel is also very Educational. Thanks for all the info and your time spent on researching this, much appreciated!
@@TimsVariety ; Another reason they need to add drop tanks, would be especially nice since the F-14s drop tank locations (one under each engine) wouldn't interfere it weapons.
I know I'm a year late but, you probably shouldn't be using full afterburner anyway. Outside of getting your ass up off the ground and up above clouds, or getting up to speed for missile launch.
The F-14 was flying before the mig23 in the game IRL. F-14 was operational in 1969. Not to mention the mig27 was introduced in 1975. We should already have F-16s and F-15s. 1974 and 72. F-18 in 78
Honestly, I've never been a fan of the tomcat. It really never appealed to me especially the giant shoulders and the really wide set engines. The swept wings, while looking cool on the F-111, just look odd on the F-14. I think the AIM-54 and its radar set paved the way for the AIM-120 and the doctrine using them but the aircraft itself is just not my thing. I don't see myself grinding for it, one because of the reasons previously stated and second, I only have the first bearcat in the naval line.
Very unpopular opinion for sure! I don't think I've seen a single person who disliked the way the Tomcat looks, even if they think it's overrated otherwise. But either way, can't argue with that second reason for not being super interested in getting it! At least you'll hopefully have the F-15 or F-16 to look forward to if you grinded the USAF line(s).
@@_ace_defective_ I think the f16 is the ugliest American gen 4 personally no clue how you could think the f14 is ugly. My personal favorite jet look is the su27
its a shame im not a fan of the buttons needed to really use all of the modes and such; even using the a10 is a little bit of a spaghetti hands, im going to get the f14 anyways, its a sexy heavy fighter and is beloved
You can't change display modes on the bottom screen? In the real thing, you can cycle between navigation (HSD), processed radar data (TID repeater) and RWR.
Congrats, dude. The method outlined in my video on grinding upgrades in stock jets can apply to the F-14, don't be afraid or ashamed to grind on ground targets while unlocking better air to air missiles.
I feel like the f14 especially in tws is a bit worse in terms of guiding the aim7f into its target than the f4j. Speaking of which the f4j is surprisingly capable fighting the f14. Which is probably due to its size, which helps to trigger the proximity Fuze.
Hi, I just researched the Mig-27 and all though i played verry much Air rb in medium tiers, I never played 11.0 rocket fiesta. Question is there any other way than just deleting my account?
I'll admit that I'm shit at using the AIM-7F, I have watched many of your other videos, including the new updated missile one. The problem is you do everything in one video. Could you just do an idiots guide to the F14 and the AIM-7F, what keys to press (show them on the video as you do the actions), what radar mode to be in etc. please.
Yeah that’s the typical American cycle. Kick ass for maybe 3 weeks or 4 until it suffers a long lasting suffer trip as other contenders are added to the game. Same thing that happened with the f4e.
It wasn't that bad man lol, you have to play it like a rat for the stock grind. Stay behind your team and try and catch slow planes that are in the fur ball.
@@faq187tim9 When you're stock, you're the slow plane in the furball. And without the flarepod you'll just eat a missile every time until you at least grind that out.
Every WT youtuber right now: Uses a giant 1k lb missile with a 120 mile range meant to hit high and slow bombers on a small, supersonic, maneuvering fighter jet at sea level at less than 10 miles and then complains it isn't maneuverable enough.
saddest part about the iranian F14's is that when australia was looking to replace its mirage III's, iran had their revolution and offered them to the aussies for dirt cheap, australia chose the hornet and the Tomcats are left to rust away in iran or eventually be shot down, they could have been returned to a friendly country but now they are stuck there
lol whats the point of grinding anything at these br's when you can just died across the map from a missle you never seen or had hope of surviving. just not fun.
MiG pilot here. The Aim-54s are pretty easy to dodge as long as you're paying attention. The problem is the Aim-7s with a radar having wide angles. They are harder to notch. Also dogfighting is mostly pilot skill. Just yesterday I shot down a couple of tomcats in a dogfight.
@@imperialenforcer2271 Yep I agree, the AIM-54s are trivial to dodge. The Sparrows were always going to be more dangerous in practice. I took out the MiG-21bis yesterday and was shooting down several F-14s. Today I did the same in the F-4J. It seems a lot of the F-14 players right now just are not very good at the game, because I shouldn't be having this much success.
I give the F-14 a 7/10. Its fast and has good maneuverability but the AIm-54 right now is like 40% effective. Impossible to know if your locked on a target or a missile at the moment because TWS doesnt care so long as it has a radar signature and 30 seconds after take off there are dozens of missiles in the air. That being said i disagree that launching them at the beginning isnt a good tactic because Thats how i have achieved about 30 of my kills thus far. People just dont see it coming
Hmm... Saab JAS 39 Gripen is generally viewed as a 4.5 gen fighter. But it did first fly in 1988. Still, generation bit is just made up. And not everyone agrees on what planes are what. Clearly, it fits with the other multirole planes of the era. As do later plans like the Eurofighter and the Rafale. Rafale and Gripen being some of my favourite jets. Do hope they add the IAI Lavi to one day even if it only had 3 prototypes. But I do like my prototype crafts. Part of the fun of games is you can get to fly those planes that never got beyond prototyping.
I fly the milan, this plane isn't a mirage, he turn like a rock.. and the missile can't be launch to fast so i miss a lot opportunity to make a kill. Maybe you gonna make a review for the milan ?
most detailed review on the f14a so far. nobody else even comes close with the historical information and explaining how to use the new radar modes.
I'll be going into a lot more detail in the next update to my "using radar in war thunder" tutorial, probably done in a couple of weeks
@@TimsVariety I'm Iranian you pernonced our pilot name perfect 👏❤
A nice little thing to also mention with TWS is that it still works for Sidewinder Expanded Acquisition Mode, which is nice since you don't need to actually lock someone to slave the sidewinder seeker to a target now.
Could you dumb this down for me
@@DEATHREAPER330 radar slave
@@sylamy7457 so if I'm in tws it will help with my sidewinder getting a lock? Without locking the radar.
Sidewinders on the outer pylons than sparrows in the inner wing pylons with two phoenix’s in the middle and sparrow in the back is the classic load out the f 14 used in the us navy for fleet defense and a good mix of all weapons
Yep. Pretty much standard CAP configuration plus the two drop tanks that were always fitted.
funny enough the configuration which you just mentioned is nearly the same as the one i run, which i named the 2 Pair 1 One sidewinders on the outer and sparrows on the inner and 2 phoenix's in the middle in the custom setup
Why didn't they use 2 sparrow on wingroot and 4 phoenix or 2 phoneix on wingroot and 4 sparrow on the fuselage
One thing I want to add that might be useful for ground RB is the ability to drop bombs at supersonic speeds, especially the 4 2000 lbs bombs
Wahoo! Just now grinding my first jet but hey I’m going to watch this with eager anticipation! (American tech tree F2H-2).
Great to hear, that’s for sure a mile stone. I remember getting my first jet 3 years ago, which was the Me 163 that’s technically not a jet but still
F2H is an excellent starter
The F80 is probably the best for starting but the banshee is amazing too
By the time you get it, the Russians will have the Mig-31
the naval line is all very capable, the only plane i might recomend skipping is the f3h demon, besides that most are pretty painless and some are even good
The F-14 does have a visible RWR system in the cockpit( you have to change the second MFD panel to show it
Otherwise the RIO has it
Can you explain this I'm not sure what the mfd panel is
@@DEATHREAPER330 should be multi function display
But it is not shown witch radar mode you've selected
honestly BVR capabilities are realistically depicted (but with lower range), even in real life the probability of a hit are less than 30%, that's why fighter pilots fires more than one missiles at a target in hoping one of it will hit, even to this day this is what they did.
But aim54 costed 500k usd a piece lol , this was like in the 70s
@@hemendraravi4787 war was never cheap, operating the jet alone was already costly.
Not really, pilots Normally fire 1 missile only and bank 45 degrees, russians are the only ones i have seen firing 2 in quick succession and not alwys, and i remember a f15 or 16, not sure, firing 2 aim 120 into a mig during the Kosovo war
@@hemendraravi4787 the plane itself costs 35000 - 40000$ per hour of flight, and unlike war thunder many a hours were spent getting to and from battle. the US frequently fires of millions in a single sortie. they do not care
@@StoneCoolds yes thats indeed the f 16, f22 and f35 (aswell as some other models) way of firering their advanced missles. however it wasnt uncommon for f14 pilots to fire them in volleys of 2 at a time
Thanks for the review Tim! I'm enjoying the F-14 quite a bit so far!
the history combined with the practical aspect and the dedication makes your videos unmatched.
Shit, that was fast. I haven't even played my first game of top-tier Air RB in this update yet. Not that I'm in a hurry, it being with an F-104S ASA and all.
I'll get to this beauty eventually... in a few years... maybe...
I always try to get a review of the "primary" aircraft in each patch up within a day or two. I gotta deliver for my subscribers.
@@TimsVariety Much appreciated! Helps me know a bit about how to fight them, even if I won't fly them.
Seven months since this video was released and almost all of it is still true. The F-14 DID redefine the top end meta, the player base WAS crap at adjusting to it at least for the first few months, and it's position as king of the skies WAS short lived once the F-16 and MiG-29 were introduced.
I am old enough to remember when 4th gen fighters were introduced IRL, my dad was a private pilot and used to get military aviation mags every month. I still remember the panic that everyone got in to when they realised that AIM-9Ls and (then yet to be introduced) AMRAAMs were going to turn every head on engagement into a potential suicide pact. Naturally the SOP adjusted and pretty soon everyone settled in to the new meta, just like it has and will continue to do in game.
Man I love this game !
Tim! I know you love visible RWR s in cockpit and I made a discovery. If you bind a key for "Switch MFD mode second", it will replace your radar scope behind your stick with an RWR. Its a small attention to detail but i LOVE it. I play simulator battles alot, and i prefer to not use the HUD, and this was perfect for me to find out.
It does have a rwr but you need to set the second mfd control and toggle between the radar and rwr
They gave the viggen its track while scan as well btw
Yep! Great addition, will be using it in some footage soon.
I feel like people are gonna need to adapt to having very useful fox 1s in top tier as gaijin balances this thing with more modern R-27s etc. BVR engagements are very different to the furball of fox-2s and a few fox-1s we're all used to. Will be fun to see how the playerbase adapts
Big changes, for sure.
Even if the phoenix gets fixed i think people vastly overestimate how good a missile like that is in war thunder, where people are all of the time doing insane manouver's pretty much impossible irl by the time they reach the middle of the map, and so a phoenix is very much dodgeable compared to irl .
Also it's silly people use the phoenix that took out 3 migs as somehow proving the phoenix had amazing capabilities since that was pretty much pure luck. Not like the missile went after one after the other.
There's just too many aircraft packed into too small of a space for the Phoenix to really be that useful. The missile indicator also doesn't help, as it makes it very trivial to see and dodge the missile. Even with all that aside, the arbitrary notch sectors of the radars ingame make radar missiles a lot more unreliable than they probably should be.
Great review! One thing that might’ve been worth mentioning, is that there is a large amount of simplification for this plane to go into war thunder considering the huge workload that the Rio had in the backseat of this plane in real life.
There are some things that we will never fully be able to experience in WT such as having someone watching for enemies behind us and assisting with working the radar and weapons system the way that having another human in the plane accomplished.
u got DCS for that, but u have to get one each for u & ur friend.
War Thunder tries to gap arcade & realism into their game.
For my 5cents, I think WT has actually found a pretty good balance between "realistic specs and operation" and "simplified for a single-pilot computer game" with most of its stuff.
The only thing that annoys me is when I use my channel to the devs and ask for some specific minutia details about HOW they simplified a few specific things, and I don't get specific answers (and thus, can't pass them on in my videos). ;-)
@@TimsVariety I absolutely agree. I have the full HOTAS and VR setup to play DCS, but find myself firing up WT more often just due to the simplicity of hoping into a quick game that I can enjoy. I appreciate the happy medium that they have found here, and am looking forward to the modern aircraft on the horizon.
Thank you for your thoughtful and perfect review
I always learn so much about many techs that comes to game from you.
Hope you the best from🇮🇷
You know what would be 'rude'?
Putting the Iranian f-14 as a premium Israeli jet.
you mean like putting taiwanese jets in the chinese tree?
they will definitley do it ^^
@@Lxcx333 or how they added an Irish ship to Britain
Iranian F14 to russia lol
Gaijin : hold my beer
@@2milk867 most likely if we don’t get mig29 really onto something
I can’t believe that it’s here, honestly. I didn’t think they’d be adding 4th Gen for a while. I grinded the Air Force line, so I won’t be getting the tomcat for a while (and my favourite plane, the hornet that’s bound to come after.) But, I’ll be happy with the F-15C bound to be added after the F-4E. (Assuming the F-16 will come after the F-5 and F-20, since the development of those planes led to the viper.)
They'll probably add the F-20 or YF-17 in the Air Force line (hopefully if Gaijin doesn't make it a premium), so I hope you can get those quicker than the F/A-18
yeah this game really isn't ready for 4th gen, it's still a total mess. that being said, I'm also looking forward to the hornet too
@@sorrymabbad The F-20 is probably gonna be either an event or premium, due to it only ever having 3 prototypes made
@@Tigershark_3082 I really hope not, it's one of the greatest what-ifs in aviation history, plus it just makes too much sense to put it after the F-5E and before the F-16 to show the jump in capabilities.
@@sorrymabbad That depends which F-16 variant we'd get.
F-16s before the Block 15 ADF didn't have BVR capability, while the F-20 did
Thanks for details Tim, I'm struggling a lot with the plane right now, can't quite get good radar locks.
Something I've noticed that once the Phoenix go active they love chaff like the R60s love flares
You don't even need to manouver hard.
Once you spot a Phoenix about 5km away you drop one chaff and pull up gently and it will miss
I'm looking forward to later F-14s like the B and D eventually showing up and giving us better acceleration and precision weapons capability, as well as the C-model phoenix
I wish they would have added the F4S before the F14
Thank you so much for all the videos! You have the best explanations from any WT youtuber.
Finally somebody that understands and explains how the Phoenix works!
I really like that you also share some history about the vehicles you review. Looking forwards to the new radar guide!
Another great review !
Glad to see someone actually using it properly too
There wasn't enough time/space to fit the footage into the review, but I did capture a clip of just spamming the AIM-54's 10 seconds after taking off, just to demonstrate that all of them will miss if you do that. Sure as shit, six shots - six whiffs.
Been waiting years for this, and I'm not at all displeased
Hey man about having a visual radar warning system, bring up the multi function menu, then go to mvd/nvd you can change the radar screen to a radar warning one
The Mirage F1 CT (And the Cyrano 4M in general) is supposed to have TWS (PSID/PCID) with up to 4 target tracks while scanning.
Nice to know that the aim54s aren't active homing from farther than 8km. This will be useful for countering them. Thank you!
01:40
Libyan fan here! Small trivia info:
The former Libyan regime called the 1981 engagement a triumphant victory years later claiming they shot down the F-14’s and aired footages of the body of Captain Paul F. Lorence who was shot down in his F-111 during the air raid in 1986.
My uncle, a retired Air Force mechanic, said the Libyan pilots who were shot by the TomCats were known to be staunch dissidents of the former regime and were sent in hopes to be silenced by foreign hands instead of the Libyan secret police to avoid backlash from their tribes which they belonged to (massive and influential tribes to this day in Libya).
If the Phoenix loses track of its intented target the missiles radar will track a new target, friendly or not. Or just keep flying until it runs out of energy. The RIO will normally keep lock onto the target until the radar guidance in the missile activates and guides itself. Plus the maximum amount of targets it can track is 8 targets. And can fire on 4 to 6, depending how many 54s you are carrying.
Its not easy to tell, but in one of the clips where I made a 20km-ish shot, that happened - when it went pitbull it found a different target than I had launched on since my original target had already been shot down by somebody else.
Watching this while grinding for the new Iranian Tomcat, love the history but on Jalil Zandi, can’t wait to unlock his picture
In my personal experience, I've gotten behind and shot down a few F-14A's with my F-104c. Each time both of us were supersonic and I had to be careful not to overshoot cause the F-14 bleeds speed quicker. I never wasted a missile, only used my vulcan cannon. Didn't have a screen recording program at the time so I haven't the proof. The only way it will work is if the F-14 player is distracted enough to get behind.
No one :
Dev: AIR SPEED NAH WHO NEEDS IT?
Can I get a f for my coll 0%
definitely need a new radar guide, been using the f4e never messed with pd till f14 and now we got tws and all this other stuff
Dont worry, its coming 🙂
Outstanding review, as always. Thanks, Tim!
here's a tip. TWS was created in order to shoot phoenix missiles at bombers without giving a lock warning. what bombers do is fly in formation at a specific altitude so the area that TWS tracks is very limited. this is why most teams in WT get obliterated by the F-14. they have the misconception that if they fly low they avoid getting locked but what they actually do is create a nice easy line of targets for the radar in TWS mode to guide phoenixes to. how you avoid TWS launches (and even evade missiles launched in that mode without having to notch) is by rapidly changing altitude the moment you suspect that a Tomcat is targeting you at long range.
I just remember the one time I got an EC map after unlocking my Phoenix missiles and seeing some guy at 65km. Decided "Fuck it" and lofted one at him at 60 in TWS. I just expected to throw him defensive, but he never saw the launch and ate it XD. God I love these things.
Man I gotta say just from the gameplay you know what you are doing by launching AIM-54A above Mach 👏👏👏
Can confirm, the F-14 is a huge target. Shot one down in SB with Pe-8 gunners. Don't understand how he didn't get me but not complaining xD
The addition of proper 4th gens before things like the Tornado ADV and JA37D worries me a little bit, since there is a relatively high chance they will be dead on arrival once they finally get added with things like the MiG-29 on the horizon.
Well this aged interestingly
Please review the LIM-5P next, it sounds very interesting.
its mig-17
@@michalherman15 it is a Mig 15 with an afterburner and a radar
@@emmata98 no its mig-17pf
4:08 Gaijin changed the meaning of default loadouts, for new custom loadout aircraft, the loadouts just mean where weapons can be mounted and you are expected to change it to your needs. We know War Thunder doesn't like hand holding.
The basic F-16A won't be meta changing as she would only have access to AIM-9s, we would need the F-16A ADF or F-16C for that.
7:05 It isn't call that as a mode per se but as radio callout / brevity code just like "Fox 3".
I think the playerbase has adjusted to that meta you mentioned in this vid.
Top notch content as per usual. Nice work Tim!
The Viggen has TWS and its super nice
the way i find the most success with phoenixes is to only use them on the bigger maps, fly up to around 8000m, and then fire 2 phoenixes per target spaced 5 or more kilometers apart. This gives the second missile more time to lead if the enemy starts evading the first, greatly increasing the chance of scoring a hitl
The F-14 is pretty fun. I like it : >
My guess as to why there is no Iranian skin is because they are going to make it a premium f14 with the Iran skin for the Russian tech tree.
The thing is that you know how the snail adds basically the same vehicle with some minor changes that were exported to other countries as premium packs so I feel like they might do it with the f 14 look at the new premium lighting it's basically the same plane. Idk
seeing as how slowly the pheonix leaves the rail, Im interested to see if you can hit yourself with it by sharply maneuvering towards it immediately after launch
It just phases through you, I accidentally figured it out when trying to roll over and launch upside down so it’d loft better but it just went straight and noclipped through my plane
@@raksomething6942 On the Dev server the missile trail would burn my own plane down if I pulled into it which was funny, seems to do nothing now which is good
missile truck is definitely useful on extremely large maps where I'll run nothing but Phoenix and get a kill with each missile
So Gaijin probably won't change it, but if you launch the AIM-54 without using TWS it should be a SARH missile like the AIM-7
I always love your detailed reviews
Glad to see I’m not the only one having issues with the close range radar not working. Also with the current bug of not picking up AI on radar I would t worry to much about hitting a ai….hopefully this will be fixed soon
It’s nice the gave the Tomcat the markings it had during Vietnam. I can’t wait for them to add the tornado
Tomcat didn’t exist during vietnam war
14:15 I imagine that we didn't get an Iranian skin for the Tomcat because it will eventually be a premium variant of it, but that's just my guess. it would fit with the other export premiums that Gaijin likes to do. They'd probably do something cursed though and put it in the Israeli tree or something haha.
In the future we got the potential to get F-14A Late as a prem or event, F-14 Iran as a prem or event, F-14B, F-14D, & iirc Japan at least tested the 14 and 15 but choose the 15 for future operability.
Since they tested the 14 and we do have a couple test vehicles ingame already, we could get the F-14 for Japan! I hope.
I’m still at tier 3 and am waiting to use this plane in the future
In battlefield: don't die with your granades on you
In war thunder: don't land with your missiles on your plane
Man this will be a long and painful grind...I got the F9F-8 Cougar finished and just bought 10K GE to get some Prem acc and SL...I'll maybe buy the F-5C too but I really dont know if its worth the money...
Another great video; don't stop educating us my friend. This channel is also very Educational. Thanks for all the info and your time spent on researching this, much appreciated!
Jesus Christ, your fuel!?!?
"Bingo fuel."
"Already?!?"
"Scratch that, Joker fuel...."
@@TimsVariety ; Another reason they need to add drop tanks, would be especially nice since the F-14s drop tank locations (one under each engine) wouldn't interfere it weapons.
I know I'm a year late but, you probably shouldn't be using full afterburner anyway. Outside of getting your ass up off the ground and up above clouds, or getting up to speed for missile launch.
Confirmed, Iranian Tier 7 F-14 Premium on the 10th anniversary update alongside Tier 8
This plane is a real diamond but with the afterburner it drinks fuel like it’s a vodka shot
The F-14 was flying before the mig23 in the game IRL. F-14 was operational in 1969. Not to mention the mig27 was introduced in 1975. We should already have F-16s and F-15s. 1974 and 72. F-18 in 78
Age has nothing to do with balance
@@DustyBustty Oh dont even talk about balance as if there has ever been any resemblance of that word when it comes to WT.
@@uninvestigated well maybe lets strive for balance instead of nationalism
@@DustyBustty Tell that to gajin
Hey man! Thank you for the effort you're putting out in every video
I just wanted to ask what are you're specs? and is this 4K res?
I'm running a threadripper 3960X, and an RTX3070.
This is 4k/60
Honestly, I've never been a fan of the tomcat. It really never appealed to me especially the giant shoulders and the really wide set engines. The swept wings, while looking cool on the F-111, just look odd on the F-14. I think the AIM-54 and its radar set paved the way for the AIM-120 and the doctrine using them but the aircraft itself is just not my thing. I don't see myself grinding for it, one because of the reasons previously stated and second, I only have the first bearcat in the naval line.
Very unpopular opinion for sure! I don't think I've seen a single person who disliked the way the Tomcat looks, even if they think it's overrated otherwise. But either way, can't argue with that second reason for not being super interested in getting it! At least you'll hopefully have the F-15 or F-16 to look forward to if you grinded the USAF line(s).
@@_ace_defective_ I think the f16 is the ugliest American gen 4 personally no clue how you could think the f14 is ugly. My personal favorite jet look is the su27
its a shame im not a fan of the buttons needed to really use all of the modes and such; even using the a10 is a little bit of a spaghetti hands, im going to get the f14 anyways, its a sexy heavy fighter and is beloved
fr in the old days it was so simple but now it's another story not really a fan of it either
You can't change display modes on the bottom screen? In the real thing, you can cycle between navigation (HSD), processed radar data (TID repeater) and RWR.
Something cool is that an Iranian pilot got 3 kills with one phoenix missile he shot down 3 mig 23s flying in right formation
Got mine today working on stock grind atm
Congrats, dude. The method outlined in my video on grinding upgrades in stock jets can apply to the F-14, don't be afraid or ashamed to grind on ground targets while unlocking better air to air missiles.
I feel like the f14 especially in tws is a bit worse in terms of guiding the aim7f into its target than the f4j. Speaking of which the f4j is surprisingly capable fighting the f14. Which is probably due to its size, which helps to trigger the proximity Fuze.
Hi, I just researched the Mig-27 and all though i played verry much Air rb in medium tiers, I never played 11.0 rocket fiesta. Question is there any other way than just deleting my account?
I'll admit that I'm shit at using the AIM-7F, I have watched many of your other videos, including the new updated missile one. The problem is you do everything in one video. Could you just do an idiots guide to the F14 and the AIM-7F, what keys to press (show them on the video as you do the actions), what radar mode to be in etc. please.
you should use the rectangular radar display mode
Yeah that’s the typical American cycle. Kick ass for maybe 3 weeks or 4 until it suffers a long lasting suffer trip as other contenders are added to the game. Same thing that happened with the f4e.
Using this thing stock is the most torturous and frustrating experience I have ever had in this game.
It wasn't that bad man lol, you have to play it like a rat for the stock grind. Stay behind your team and try and catch slow planes that are in the fur ball.
@@faq187tim9 When you're stock, you're the slow plane in the furball. And without the flarepod you'll just eat a missile every time until you at least grind that out.
I think the default loadouts look like this bcs they show us the weaponry and on what pylon it sits
But why does the phoenix get 16g max but that was only when it entered hyper sonic speeds but at the super sonic it could do 25g
Every WT youtuber right now:
Uses a giant 1k lb missile with a 120 mile range meant to hit high and slow bombers on a small, supersonic, maneuvering fighter jet at sea level at less than 10 miles and then complains it isn't maneuverable enough.
God this thing is going to stomp the ASA into the ground, near impossible to dodge radar guided missiles in it
i wish they add the iranian f14 and give it the hawk missile surface to air missile on it
We may get it as a premium or something later.
More like air to surface*
@@lemangeur2poulet248 no, hawk is a SAM, they strap it to F 14 because they run out of AIM 54
@@farhanrahmaddani3218 Surface to air missiles can not be launched by airplanes
@@farhanrahmaddani3218 its Air to ground/surface if its on a plane
saddest part about the iranian F14's is that when australia was looking to replace its mirage III's, iran had their revolution and offered them to the aussies for dirt cheap, australia chose the hornet and the Tomcats are left to rust away in iran or eventually be shot down, they could have been returned to a friendly country but now they are stuck there
is the SRC PDV mode basically pulse doppler vertical scan?
Man, trying to grind out my stock F-104G against these things is impossible. This thing really should be 11.7 or even 12.0
If you change mfd to mode 2 it’ll change the radar to an rwr
6:10 i puckered
.. me too .. ;-)
I think you could just use a 101% or 102% afterburner instead of the full 110 to save fuel
lol whats the point of grinding anything at these br's when you can just died across the map from a missle you never seen or had hope of surviving. just not fun.
MiG pilot here. The Aim-54s are pretty easy to dodge as long as you're paying attention.
The problem is the Aim-7s with a radar having wide angles. They are harder to notch.
Also dogfighting is mostly pilot skill. Just yesterday I shot down a couple of tomcats in a dogfight.
@@imperialenforcer2271 Yep I agree, the AIM-54s are trivial to dodge. The Sparrows were always going to be more dangerous in practice.
I took out the MiG-21bis yesterday and was shooting down several F-14s. Today I did the same in the F-4J. It seems a lot of the F-14 players right now just are not very good at the game, because I shouldn't be having this much success.
Might be a skill issue on your part
Oh yeah....about that Iranian skin......
I give the F-14 a 7/10. Its fast and has good maneuverability but the AIm-54 right now is like 40% effective. Impossible to know if your locked on a target or a missile at the moment because TWS doesnt care so long as it has a radar signature and 30 seconds after take off there are dozens of missiles in the air. That being said i disagree that launching them at the beginning isnt a good tactic because Thats how i have achieved about 30 of my kills thus far. People just dont see it coming
Hmm... Saab JAS 39 Gripen is generally viewed as a 4.5 gen fighter. But it did first fly in 1988. Still, generation bit is just made up. And not everyone agrees on what planes are what. Clearly, it fits with the other multirole planes of the era. As do later plans like the Eurofighter and the Rafale. Rafale and Gripen being some of my favourite jets. Do hope they add the IAI Lavi to one day even if it only had 3 prototypes. But I do like my prototype crafts. Part of the fun of games is you can get to fly those planes that never got beyond prototyping.
I fly the milan, this plane isn't a mirage, he turn like a rock.. and the missile can't be launch to fast so i miss a lot opportunity to make a kill.
Maybe you gonna make a review for the milan ?
Its on the list for a review.
What about the f-18 hornet not the super hornet the Legacy version
I hope we do someday get the F-111B in game just to see how bad it would be compared to t he Tomcat!
Low key spam 3 phoenix missiles at one target, rinse and repeat.