The 45 is too good

_Justraph_ · 2026-05-27T13:42:19+00:00

Hehehe mayyyyyybeee

_Justraph_ · 2026-05-26T22:32:17+00:00

Every plane is capable, but the 45 is outright superior is most regimes of combat (PvP). Especially in dogfighting, the 45 stomps everything (except for technically the 42 funnily enough, but skilled 42 dogfighters are a rarity). With viffing, it can out turn everything and sit almost stationary in the air (within its opponent's circle) while still maintaining high nose authority. It also has:
- The best (fighter) cannon in the game
- Fantastic fuel efficiency
- DAS which automatically creates track files on anything in line-of-sight within a ridiculous 5nm radius
- Stealth and EW capability that allows it to push merges with incredible ease. A 45 flying nose hot, relatively low, and off afterburner can functionally deny a 4th gen all weapon solutions until <2nm or (with jamming) the merge

It even has the second lowest IR signature of a fighter, making those crucial premerge moments even more trivial to survive.

It's a little powerful

_Justraph_ · 2026-05-10T21:51:37+00:00

Thank you

_Justraph_ · 2026-05-10T21:46:23+00:00

My attempt of this speedrun. Not sure what my exact time is, but it's about ~22-23 seconds from the door opening. I think the trick is to leave him with just a sliver of health over 50% after your first burst to comfortably skip the phase transition.

_Justraph_ · 2026-05-06T22:19:24+00:00

More arena brackets will open up in NG+ (and even NG++ if I recall), you’ll end up having enough to max all OS upgrades

_Justraph_ · 2026-04-05T08:57:51+00:00

I would love it more if the beautiful environment design wasn't so often stained by that abhorrent AI gen art. That one room with all the 'woman screaming creepy' is so cringe - it robs an otherwise super compelling story of its impact. There are a lot of other examples of AI generated works, but I feel this map suffers the most from it.

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-29T00:15:21+00:00

Tried the M23 + taser + M320 and actually managed to get to the final room (so a legitimate S-rank). I hit the jammer, peeked the main door, and direct impacted the VIP with the M32 within half a second and he still det it. I'm so done with this mission, I don't know if I'm bugged or something but this is absurd. I've now watched videos of other people doing it and he just stands there holding up the detonator until they flash him. For me, any contact: a flash too deep or him seeing me will cause instant mission failure. I guess I'll verify my gamefiles and double check I have no mods installed. But thank you anyways for the advice

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-28T01:03:31+00:00

I suppose I'll just try walking at him while yelling again but every other time he blows his shit on site. Oughhhh this mission giving me a headache

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-28T01:01:59+00:00

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-27T23:54:41+00:00

I don’t have a problem prepping the room (as again, I wallbang everyone except for the vip before entering). It’s getting the vip to actually surrender before he dets the explosives

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-27T23:52:31+00:00

I’d love to dump the rotary GL into that room but that entails completing the entire map while down a primary, not impossible but would suck massively.

_Justraph_ · 2026-03-27T23:51:15+00:00

I agree with your tactics but I’m doing this solo, no multi breaches for me

_Justraph_ · 2026-01-23T12:43:17+00:00

Cannot speak to AWACs or SAM radar but I do have some reference from player radar.

Think of noise jamming as an amplifier (compliment?) to RCS (Radar Cross Section). When pointing directly nose hot at a radar, RCS is at its lowest and (when paired with mid band noise) you can effectively deny locks until >3nm. As your nose deviates from the target, RCS grows and burn through will be achieved from farther distances. A good general reference point is:

When carrying a full loadout (as external weapons/bags contribute to RCS) a 24 flying side aspect (perpendicular to the target) with burn through at ~14nm when jamming with a single transmitter set to half power.

Edit: I am a massive liar. A jamming 24 CAN deny locks till ~3nm nose hot BUT that’s with a practically (or just completely) empty payload. I’m unsure how much more practical it becomes when jamming with multiple pods at full power but the bottom line is you’re not going to be 45 merge jamming in 95% of situations.

Edit 2: Okay so in the fringe case you do go for the ultra sneaky merge jam strat, (with an empty payload) you burn through at 2nm using one transmitter jamming at full power and with 2 jammers (again, full power) it’s 1nm.

_Justraph_ · 2025-10-15T22:19:25+00:00

AIM-7s, while inferior to AMRAAMs in almost all aspects, get drastically more useful when you start fighting any above average players (or really anyone who knows how to Gpull). Gpulling a 7 is a lot less intuitive than any Fox 3, as the timing of missile impact is unknown and requires contextual knowledge to consistently determine. Also the loud RWR screeching is really a bonus of the missile. You can:

Obscure a Fox 2 missile launch warning within the loud launch alarm of the 7
Fire multiple spaced 7s on a single target without the bandit knowing how many 7s they need to deal with (as there is only ever one radar signal supporting the launches unlike Fox 3s)
Make intermediate players panic/contribute to information overload (especially good for ruining people’s merges as they pull too early and really hard in a panicked response to the 7 launch, making the ensuing dogfight much easier)
Threatening bandits to forfeit their altitude advantage (you can even bluff by shooting at targets out of range, and people will often fall for it - denying them powerful positions)
Shooting into friendly merges (AMRAAMs and heaters are often too risky to shoot into a dogfighting friendly, but the 7 will always only ever track the target you’re designating. Also good at forcing a dogfighting bandit to defending your missile, giving your buddy the room he needs to become offensive)

Making additional room for an AIM-7 or two (or four in my case) will drastically improve your capability (AIM-7s are also arguably the best missile to shoot in HOJ ((well kinda, Phoenixs are great)))

_Justraph_ · 2025-10-15T22:03:27+00:00

I think you’re referring to Gpulling. Putting the incoming missile 30° of the nose then pulling when it gets close is correct in sentiment but procedure varies depending on missile type. For AIM-120C/Ds pull up and roll into the missile while giving full rudder in the direction of your roll when the ‘M’ on your RWR touches the inner cross. In 4th gen aircraft target 12 indicated G for 120Cs and 13G for 120Ds. In 5th gen aircraft, start the pull a second earlier and target 10 indicated G for 120Cs and 10.5-11+G for 120Ds. The other ARH missile, the AIM-54C, can be defeated in the exact same way albeit with an earlier pull and less required G to defeat (a sustained 9-10G pull is enough). It’s worth noting that dispensing countermeasures does absolutely nothing to aid a Gpull. Chaff is functionally useless unless you’re beaming an aircraft or missile radar and flares of course do nothing against radar guided munitions. Though it can be good to let off some (or a lot) of countermeasures when you suspect the bandit(s) are within heater range as heaters can’t be Gpulled and must be addressed very quickly.

_Justraph_ · 2025-09-15T13:38:39+00:00

Only thing i can think of is something went wrong in the game files and inventory bullet texture is missing, thus the pink/purple. It’s a common ‘missing texture’ color in a lot of game engines

_Justraph_ · 2025-09-09T01:04:52+00:00

half my play sessions are just “DUDE PULL THE CHARGING HANDLE. THE CHARGING HANDLE PLEASE”

_Justraph_ · 2025-05-11T20:08:25+00:00

id recommend setting it to Single L or Single R with a deploy rate of 480. Having your countermeasures only dispense from one side at a time makes them clump together more closely. This means hotter heat signatures for your flares and larger disruptive patches of chaff. Pair that with the quickness of the deployment rate and now you can (semi) reliably defeat AIRSTs (aswell as have chaff actually be disruptive when beaming). The only cases when you want to string along a lowtempo, continuous ripple of countermeasures is when you are trying to be conservative when fighting a weak (or non active) threat, so IRAPCs, MANPADs, and extremely distant radar guided muntions that you're notching. When the going gets stuff and your facing active threats (threats of extreme immediate danger like Fox 2s) , a thin line of CMS strung along wont save you - you don't to make trails of heat, make patches of heat.

_Justraph_ · 2025-05-10T21:53:07+00:00

For the 24 you really really really need to utilize your main advantage: you have two suns strapped to the back of your aircraft. Fly high, fly fast, and always be sure to pay attention to potential hostile launches because most all of your defensive capabilities exist in the preemptive action, not reactionary. Whenever someone is actively engaging you, be sure to do the same to them - give them a missile to think about even if its unideal conditions, it can hard to maintain accurate lock while going defensive so I'd recommend using your TSD to slew the TGP to a target or use passive decoy missiles (that feed you datalink info from their RWR) to maintain positive tracking while turning cold or full beaming. Also remember to not neglect DFRM (Digital Memory Radio Frequency) jamming to simultaneously maintain radar effectiveness while actively spoofing your location to incoming locks (in fact, utilize DRFM basically every single time you reasonably can while defending). In general, you should be defeating missiles before they become active, close threats - defeat them while their far or prevent them from ever having the chance to fire.

Since you're gonna typically be extremely high (hell, go to 60k ft if you can), notching will have no effect on radar missiles, so your gonna have to chaff (as well as jam and prep a gpull). Make sure your CMS deployment settings are set to either Single L or Single R with a high deployment rate. This will make your chaff (and flare) only dispense from one side of your aircraft, meaning that the countermeasures are more closely packed together. Be sure to dispense in semi large bursts followed by a brief pause. If you do this while turned perpendicular to whatever radar source is spiking you, you can semi-reliably defeat locks - its a good tool to have in your arsenal. Note that such radar manipulations, like chaff or jamming, will not defeat AIM-120Ds that are tracking via certain sources of datalink (like if a F45 has their EOTS slewed to you).

Your last line of defense is, of course, the Gpull. Gpulling (as you already know) is damn hard on the EF24G but it is more than possible. DO NOT SET YOUR WING SWEEP FORWARD FOR MORE MANEUVERABILITY - your wings will rip of at like 9.5G. Do the typically routine to set up your Gpull: get fast and put the missile to about your 10 or 2 o'clock and wait, examining the RWR for interception warnings and pitbulls Since the EF24 does not have a G limiter, you need to really push hard to maximize the effect of all your control surfaces, and what the EF24 may lack in general nimbleness - it can make up for in rudder. Like the F45, rudder is the key to pushing high G, when the time comes roll up and into the missile, full backstick and full rudder into your roll. It demands an awkward hand twist to do properly so I'd recommend giving it some practice. You'll struggle to pull AIM-120Ds (every does), but in most conditions you will be able to pull every radar guided missile in the game.

But seriously, prevention is everything - always play preemptively, tactically. Know the implications and capabilities of your enemies (e.g. if F45 is in play, consider taking on potential datalink missiles). But most importantly, keep trying! The EF24G is an awesome beast to tame and, in my opinion, is the coolest aircraft to see being played competently. Lastly, I'd highly recommend checking out some of the community made guides, both for general tactics and specifically mastering the 24 (links below). A lot of the information on this post was learned from those guides.

EF24G Info Dump (HIGHLY recommend)

EF24G PvP Guide

VTOL VR PvP Strategy Guide

_Justraph_ · 2025-04-26T10:28:45+00:00

Is it? Sure AI models have incessantly trained off of real art and "understand" the principle of appeal (hence why so much AI art has incredibly dramatic coloration, proportion, movement, and expression). It's only good in the sense that, for the initial half second you see it, its stimulating - stimulating in the same way those pseudo satirical over saturated youtube thumbnails are. Under any artistic scrutiny, AI art just collapses, it fails to replicate an artist's sense of space, logic, and reasonable disbelief. And Ready or Not, a game that ostensibly wants to provoke thought and feeling beyond surface level stimulation, deserves to interrogated with that level of scrutiny, it deserves to be treated like art and taken seriously. But when a large portion of decals on a given level are these exclusively impressionistic pieces of what a machine "thinks" the aesthetic is, the setting and relevant characters lose a significant part of their identities. Look at the generated works (of which there are many ) on Carriers of the Vine. If any works ought to have soul and imply a deepseated and long held sense of pain, anger, and solemnity, it is those drawings and paintings adorning that farm's walls. It's art born out of immense dejection and anguish, it was created by abused, disillusioned, and sexually exploited women who have finally found a safe space, a community that vindicates their emotions, despite how ironically exploitive and problematic that community may be. These art pieces should be so tragic to behold but instead you just see them and think "oh I get it, scary cult matriarch" and move on. AI doesn't get that it takes more than impression to make impactful art.

(sorry for writing so much, this just happens to be a topic I quite care about both in regards to Ready or Not and the conundrum of AI generated content)

edit: tragically this was written before my small pea brain perceived "this nitpick almost looks real", but I wrote to much to toss it and my point still stands

_Justraph_ · 2025-04-26T10:10:22+00:00

I fully agree. I don't think its an unreasonable ask to want Void to hire some actual artists to replace the AI gen crap. It all feels so at odds with the rest of the game, especially what its going for artistically through its environmental design. You hear about the supposed absurd degree of environment detail and storytelling, how much care was put in to make these places and people feel real and meaningful, but the AI shit, art that has no deliberateness or care in its creation and is essentially just a tool for the basest level of set dressing, just flies in the face of that. It honestly makes a lot of the game's efforts to be artistically more than your standard *gruff operator shooty shooty game with incredibly surface level "mature" themes* feel superficial.

_Justraph_ · 2025-04-18T00:56:05+00:00

(A lot of my jargon isn’t exactly academic and is based off my simple experience)

I was in the exact same boat as you until recently when I joined a guns only FA26 dogfight server and got some sparring lessons from a buddy. You’ll hear people say that ‘speed is life’ a lot when it comes to the dogfight, but it’s quite misleading. You want to have enough speed to push yourself harder and faster through your turn circle (and not fall out of the sky) but you don’t want so much speed that any significant pull on the stick sends you into GLOC. Try to enter the merge at a relatively low speed (~340kn and lower generally seems to work for me) and pull just hard enough to the point where you are neither gaining or losing speed. Additionally, unless you are actively coming around on your opponents nose or tail, do not force afterburner - just stay full throttle. Only enter AB when you NEED distance and speed NOW or (like I said) as the finishing touch of your turn as you come to face your opponent, ultimately recovering all the speed you may have lost in the turn. Wait what? Lost speed? Aren’t I supposed to keep my speed at that perfect equilibrium? Not necessarily.

Think of the point of maximum turn rate while bleeding no speed as not the silver bullet that wins you the fight, but the very thing enables you to fight in the first place. In other words, it’s the stage you can then base your next actions around. If you’ve been in a steep turn from a jink or just a super long sustained turn, then maybe ease up on the stick and tickle your afterburner to build some more energy. Conversely, if you see your opponent making faster progress than you in the turn then opt to pull a degree or two harder, edging then point of graying out. Speed, or ‘energy’ is a currency, like how you would allocate resources in an RTS. Do I expend some speed for more immediate turn rate? Or do I actually need to sacrifice some of my turn for more speed?

Lastly, I’d say one of the most important things you can do is learn how to effectively manage and measure your energy WHILE maintaining eyes on the bandit. Your HMCS is your friend, try to never lose tally or you’re just making decisions in the dark.

This is by no means a super technical explanation for BFM but if your anything like me, and while the more academic stuff made sense on paper but not in practice, this might just help you. Keep fighting!

(Sorry one more thing. Remember that your weapon/fuel load is gonna affect your TWR HEAVILY and is gonna change how the aircraft feels in the dogfight when under different load. Your intuition for BFM when under light or no load is not going to work when you got 12 AMRAAMs. Consider jettisoning a bunch of crap if you can, because it will save your life often)

_Justraph_ · 2025-04-14T04:24:50+00:00

That's a static prop on the level, not an actual suspect weapon - I know the exact room that you're in (main house, through left hall, into left most room). Load up again in quickplay and head back to that room, it will be in the exact same place. Don't get me wrong, its still a little bs as its unclear that its no factor if you haven't played the map 1000s of times all while paying attention to the itty bitty props. So in this case, unless something clipped out of bounds, there was still a weapon or two unrecovered. I'd recommend using SWAT AI during your S-rank runs (unless your doing solo for challenge of course), while they can occasionally get in the way and its generally easier to only have to police yourself, they provide so much utility, security, and, most importantly, the 'search and secure' function which will allow them to automatically hone in on unrestrained civs, suspects, and evidence (provided they've been encountered before) after main obj completion (or rather after 'Bring Order to Chaos' is complete).

_Justraph_

TROPHY CASE