Missile range and flight charactersitics mod to get more 'BVR' with 'BVR-weapons'.
V0.1 only some NATO air-to-air Missiles
EARLY ACCESS VERSION!
Hi to y'all!
Since the vanilla missilies in DCS seem to have a lack in Performance (especially in Range), i did a little mod to 'correct' these problems.
For the first version of the mod i will only include the NATO weapons AIM-7M, AIM-120B/C and AIM-9M. Other Missiles (air-to-air, air-to-ground, SAMS and SEAD) will follow (air-to-air shortly).
I want to clarify, that all datas used were given by several sources and show slight variations. Figures given below and used in the mod may therefore be inaccurate and not completely realistic!
The missile range depends heavily on firing parameters and aircraft radar, and these numbers are only rough estimates for maximum effective range in head-on engagements.
To be very clear - even if DCS World is one of the most realistic flight simulations out there - we will never have 100% realistic flight and weapon behaviour. The aim of this mod is a better experieence for players. In my opinion BVR Engagements never really happened in DCS because of the lower missile ranges eagle dynamics implemented.
Nethertheless we are talking about approximately 40-60% increase in range for these air-to-air missiles. Modded missiles were testet with F/A 18C and F-15C (both client and ai) and worked fine for me (single- and multiplayer).
Please note, that this will significantly change the meta-game in PVE and PVP environments especially in fights in higher altitudes. Longer attack ranges and slightly longer flight times also mean more time for the radar to track counter measures but a bit lesser chance to see the missiles contrails (obviously).
These changes also might affect the balancing implemented by eagle dynamics.
For now i did NOT change any flight characteristics other than 'max range', 'missile acceleration', 'rocket motor burning time', 'rocket motor thrust' and 'max mach'.
All range data below refer to the following factors while shooting the missile: plane h: 10.000 meters V: 900 km/h - the missiles flight characteristics vary greatly under other circumstances - the lower and slower your plane is flying, the lesser range you get.
First tests showed that sensors and AI behavior work perfectly with these changes. Pleas note, that the AI in DCS will not fire at all targets at max range by default. But you can change these settings in the editor under 'advanced waypoints' (for testing and scenarios).
weapon | vanilla range | modded range | vanilla max mach c.a. | modded max mach c.a. |
AIM-7M | 50km | 70km | 3.2 | 4.0 |
AIM-9M | 11km | 18km | 2.7 | 2.7 |
AIM-120B | 41km | 70km | 4.0 | 4.0 |
AIM-120C | 63km | 100km | 4.0 | 4.0 |
I'm very greatfull for any kind of feedback.
If you have any credible data about russian missiles characteristics - please send me a link.
Mod should be JSGME ready.
Best regards
Iceman
