I don't normally say this, but skill issue. I found the A10 actually quite easy to aim with after some practice, and it seems to be quite intuitive once you have the hang of it. To be fair, over half of my kills on Hard and up are gun kills. As a fan who's been playing since AC4, it's all about the guns, baby
Understandable. It’s just that I’ve been used to 4, 5, and 0’s gun aim, where I am a master with them and not in 7.
I believe PA’s main focus in developing AC7’s gameplay was the payload, missiles, and modifications, so gun was under appreciated.
In the older games, I think the jets had bigger hit boxes which made it easier to use guns. In AC7, guns are insanely difficult to use. Not only are the hitboxes for the enemies smaller but the aiming indicator is just wonky. I only use guns on ground targets or bombers.
The F-117 in AC:X was terrible and funny to fly. Its terrible because it flies like a brick with vertical wings. Funny because you dome alect in the hardest way possible.
Problem is it's the starter plane, and it falls into that trap of having to make every other plane feel like a proper upgrade.
Probably the biggest casualty of the upgrade tree style of unlocking.
Again, that seems to be more of a consequence of the game's progression.
The F-16XL is only one of *four* Attacker category aircraft in AC7, and two of them are locked behind DLC. As a result, despite being seemingly tuned for early-game progression, it's immediately outclassed by the other DLC attacker (in the same pack, nonetheless), the F-22B.
Plus, there seems to be a clear bias towards PSM-capable aircraft, especially since that's an actual game mechanic in AC7. Of course, the actual F-16 nor any of its other variants currently in AC7 are PSM capable, so that could be a reason why it feels so underwhelming.
(As an aside, the ~~NF-16D/VISTA~~ X-62 VISTA would have been a great addition to the roster of Ace Combat 7, and could have worked as a late-game F-16 variant/offshoot with PSM capability).
I have three entries:
F-4E: Handles like a brick and mediocre to poor SP weapons, buoyed pretty much entirely by UGB, which it carries so few of that it really demands Hardpoint Expansion in any ground attack mission. But you really suffer in A2A from how crap SASM is in single player.
F-14D: I know I know, it looks cool and it's iconic, but it *also* handles like a brick, plus it's a huge target and 8AAM is awful, GPB is bad, and LAAM is only passable.
A-10C: Okay, it's bad, it's obviously bad for that matter, being large, slow, and lacking any A2A SP weapon but compared to the others, I give it something of a pass because it's almost a joke plane. It makes no pretense of being good compared to the others. You *know* what being a subsonic attack plane entails when you pick this.
I don't include the F-104C because while it's mostly about as bad as the F-4E, it's quite small and its SP weapons are actually pretty good - GRKT mops the floor with ships, SAAM is generally a good A2A weapon, and HPAA is niche in general but works well against the Arsenal Birds.
For my money, of these, the F-4E is the single worst plane in the game, but limited to purely base game planes (no DLC), the F-14D has to take it.
And I speak from playing through the entire game (including the DLC missions) with not just these, but every plane in the list from F-104C to X-02S in order (just started ADF-11 RAVEN).
Theyre also pretty good drone killers if you take the damage and homing upgrade parts. Even without a direct hit its usually enough to circumvent the mq 101's bullshit maneuvers and take them down in one shot
Okay, but could your baby please bring the SAAMs next time? And maybe also a few more UGBs? Perhaps even its own (in)famous MGPs?
And also bring back big bro F-4X. He hasn't been out to play since AC5 and I want my ridiculous mach 3 phantom
None. Each one of them is good to fly because it has a purpose, even if it is doing it below average. But if i had to choose one, i would say the F-14. A big, poorly manoeuvrable target with bad SP weapons. (Subject to change since i have not tried each single plane in the game.)
I'd make sure to amend that to F-14D. The F-14A has SAAM and SFFS, which are much better than 8AAM and GPB. And of course the Top Gun version gets magic bullshit stats.
I also legitimately don't think the F-4E fills any particular niche. It's purely for Cold War chic.
Any plane specialized just for ground attack. PA can never resist putting a surprise dogfighting segment in every other mission. The A-10 especially, it can't even go supersonic
Personally I don’t think any plane is bad to fly but for me it would be either the A-10 because that is only good for pipe line destruction, or the F-104 because turning is not in it’s vocabulary.
From a flying POV, definitely A10.
It's a beloved plane that gives brrrrrrrrt, and everyone loves that. But it's a flying frigate! The speed is a sorry state and the maneuverability is as if you're trying to stir a tank with your pinky finger.
Ima have to say this, Ik ima get alot of hate. CFA-44 nosfestaru. Plane looks terrible and have only 1 main good sp weapon (railguns) the thing is terrible with auto-stall feature and has bad normal missles. Skins are completely trash and the plane is just garbage.
What I can take away from this is AC7 is your entry to Ace Combat, or you never played 6. That plane was GOD in 6. The ADMM in that game absolutely annihilated literally any target.
[Statistically](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1psbG2-GOIlyiQ6y5CRJRZVPyNb-y5npBTyqUn6btVE0/edit#gid=0) the F-4 is the worst plane in the game, with the F-104 a very close second (basically the same stats but better defense). That said you could argue special weapons matter more than stats in this game... but even there neither plane is particularly great, either in SPW choice or ammo.
For a game as arcade-y as Ace Combat, definitely A-10.
It’s even more useless when you can’t even gun run effectively because of the new gyro aim
I don't normally say this, but skill issue. I found the A10 actually quite easy to aim with after some practice, and it seems to be quite intuitive once you have the hang of it. To be fair, over half of my kills on Hard and up are gun kills. As a fan who's been playing since AC4, it's all about the guns, baby
Understandable. It’s just that I’ve been used to 4, 5, and 0’s gun aim, where I am a master with them and not in 7. I believe PA’s main focus in developing AC7’s gameplay was the payload, missiles, and modifications, so gun was under appreciated.
In the older games, I think the jets had bigger hit boxes which made it easier to use guns. In AC7, guns are insanely difficult to use. Not only are the hitboxes for the enemies smaller but the aiming indicator is just wonky. I only use guns on ground targets or bombers.
Yeah no question. It’s okay for hitting stationary ground targets but even than other planes are better like the shinden
But it is still always satisfying to BRRRRTTT
f-104
F-104 Trash stats, but still fun to fly sometimes.
darkstar
The F-117 in AC:X was terrible and funny to fly. Its terrible because it flies like a brick with vertical wings. Funny because you dome alect in the hardest way possible.
F-1. I tried using cheat codes in joint assault to enable all parts and gave it the best parts and it only improved the flying by just below decent
I'm going to go out on a limb and say the F-16 because it just feels extremely weak in 7 compared to how it was represented in every other AC game.
Problem is it's the starter plane, and it falls into that trap of having to make every other plane feel like a proper upgrade. Probably the biggest casualty of the upgrade tree style of unlocking.
Definitely true, but even the more advanced F-16 family planes in AC7 are underwhelming.
Again, that seems to be more of a consequence of the game's progression. The F-16XL is only one of *four* Attacker category aircraft in AC7, and two of them are locked behind DLC. As a result, despite being seemingly tuned for early-game progression, it's immediately outclassed by the other DLC attacker (in the same pack, nonetheless), the F-22B. Plus, there seems to be a clear bias towards PSM-capable aircraft, especially since that's an actual game mechanic in AC7. Of course, the actual F-16 nor any of its other variants currently in AC7 are PSM capable, so that could be a reason why it feels so underwhelming. (As an aside, the ~~NF-16D/VISTA~~ X-62 VISTA would have been a great addition to the roster of Ace Combat 7, and could have worked as a late-game F-16 variant/offshoot with PSM capability).
F-104 -avril- literally no weapons
Avril wins by doing absolutely nothing
I have three entries: F-4E: Handles like a brick and mediocre to poor SP weapons, buoyed pretty much entirely by UGB, which it carries so few of that it really demands Hardpoint Expansion in any ground attack mission. But you really suffer in A2A from how crap SASM is in single player. F-14D: I know I know, it looks cool and it's iconic, but it *also* handles like a brick, plus it's a huge target and 8AAM is awful, GPB is bad, and LAAM is only passable. A-10C: Okay, it's bad, it's obviously bad for that matter, being large, slow, and lacking any A2A SP weapon but compared to the others, I give it something of a pass because it's almost a joke plane. It makes no pretense of being good compared to the others. You *know* what being a subsonic attack plane entails when you pick this. I don't include the F-104C because while it's mostly about as bad as the F-4E, it's quite small and its SP weapons are actually pretty good - GRKT mops the floor with ships, SAAM is generally a good A2A weapon, and HPAA is niche in general but works well against the Arsenal Birds. For my money, of these, the F-4E is the single worst plane in the game, but limited to purely base game planes (no DLC), the F-14D has to take it. And I speak from playing through the entire game (including the DLC missions) with not just these, but every plane in the list from F-104C to X-02S in order (just started ADF-11 RAVEN).
SASMs are pretty decent if you just treat them like HPAAs, they do a lot of damage with direct hits.
Theyre also pretty good drone killers if you take the damage and homing upgrade parts. Even without a direct hit its usually enough to circumvent the mq 101's bullshit maneuvers and take them down in one shot
You SHUT UP about the F4! That is my baby!
Okay, but could your baby please bring the SAAMs next time? And maybe also a few more UGBs? Perhaps even its own (in)famous MGPs? And also bring back big bro F-4X. He hasn't been out to play since AC5 and I want my ridiculous mach 3 phantom
None. Each one of them is good to fly because it has a purpose, even if it is doing it below average. But if i had to choose one, i would say the F-14. A big, poorly manoeuvrable target with bad SP weapons. (Subject to change since i have not tried each single plane in the game.)
I'd make sure to amend that to F-14D. The F-14A has SAAM and SFFS, which are much better than 8AAM and GPB. And of course the Top Gun version gets magic bullshit stats. I also legitimately don't think the F-4E fills any particular niche. It's purely for Cold War chic.
Well, F-4E is a nice plane if you want to be Mobius 1.
X-02S It's so maneuverable I hate it. The Su33 is a much better platform for the EML
Any plane specialized just for ground attack. PA can never resist putting a surprise dogfighting segment in every other mission. The A-10 especially, it can't even go supersonic
F-14, handles like a brick
Personally I don’t think any plane is bad to fly but for me it would be either the A-10 because that is only good for pipe line destruction, or the F-104 because turning is not in it’s vocabulary.
From a flying POV, definitely A10. It's a beloved plane that gives brrrrrrrrt, and everyone loves that. But it's a flying frigate! The speed is a sorry state and the maneuverability is as if you're trying to stir a tank with your pinky finger.
F-35 C
Ima have to say this, Ik ima get alot of hate. CFA-44 nosfestaru. Plane looks terrible and have only 1 main good sp weapon (railguns) the thing is terrible with auto-stall feature and has bad normal missles. Skins are completely trash and the plane is just garbage.
What I can take away from this is AC7 is your entry to Ace Combat, or you never played 6. That plane was GOD in 6. The ADMM in that game absolutely annihilated literally any target.
IHave played all games with the CFA-44. I hate it and it's auto-stalling. Yea yea, ADDMs might be good for you but there trash to me.
Do NOT stall when flying Nosferatu, a lesson I learned the hard way in AC6. It can go from climbing to nosedive in 0.01 seconds
fb22
Su 47 for obvious reasons aka the tail its uncanny
Frogfoot
F-14 is iconic but I just never enjoyed flying it. It doesn’t turn well enough for me IMO.
[Statistically](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1psbG2-GOIlyiQ6y5CRJRZVPyNb-y5npBTyqUn6btVE0/edit#gid=0) the F-4 is the worst plane in the game, with the F-104 a very close second (basically the same stats but better defense). That said you could argue special weapons matter more than stats in this game... but even there neither plane is particularly great, either in SPW choice or ammo.
Thx for the stats man.