How to kill the MiG-19P in dogfight?

Set up a dogfight between the Viper and ACE level MiG-19P. Try to beat him. I can not do it and seriously want to know how to.

Maneuver vertically. Hit and run. The Viper can maneuver more easily in the vertical plane (more power-weight). Avoid fighting on the horizontal plane. The Mig is much more of a maneuverer. However, in dogfight the result is not obvious, it depends on many factors (first of all, who is the pilot).

Try the Mig-21 with just guns as well. :)

If it is AI all bets are off that is following the rules of physics.... but it should be possible without gimmicks.

Please report your airspeed and g-load when you are attempting to maneuver with this AI Mig-19. A track or video would be helpful, too.

If you can maintain at least 6g and stay between 350-450 knots I don't see why you wouldn't win. Once you get on his 6 he will start looping (like all AI) and then it is OK to get slower.

Here's a track against the MiG-16P at Ace AI level starting from 10,000 ft neutral and maneuvering to the control zone. By no means a great run, with glaring mistakes resulting in two scissors, but hey it shows what to do in a scissor! I uh, meant to do that, for uh educational purposes :D

Pay attention to airspeed and G. When in the vertical, I'm pulling enough G to avoid going too much over 450 knots, and relaxing G to avoid going below 250 knots.

General rules of thumb:

At the early, neutral stage of the fight:

• Try to climb into the vertical with 400 knots or more airspeed
  
• Avoid going below 250 knots over the top of the circle. Relax G as necessary to maintain speed.
  
• Pick up speed on the descent side of the circle such that you are around 300-350 knots towards the bottom of the circle. If you do this, you'll have 400+ knots by the time you climb vertical again.
  
• Repeat, and you gain angles on the MiG
  
• If you find yourself going over 450 knots, pull more G! It's like getting a bonus check in the mail. Spend it!
  

As the fight switches from neutral passes to you gaining an offensive position:

• Tighten your turn circle by going more vertical out of plane of the hostile. Only do this if you have enough airspeed.
  
• If don't have enough airspeed then favor lower nose positions. Losing altitude faster = more airspeed. Not going as high in your circle on the vertical ascent side = less airspeed lost.
  

You'll see that I fail to recognize I'm going too fast and have energy to spend, and miss a shot opportunity by failing to just pull the stick more. The hostile reverses on me and a scissor ensues. The game changes at this point:

• Stay in afterburner.
  
• Spend all your energy! Pull G and go nose high as necessary so you don't fly out in front of the bandit.
  
• Maneuvers should be between 160 knots on the low side and 250 knots on the high side.
  
• If in an offensive position, reverse slightly before you cross the hostile's 6 o'clock line. This will get your turns in sync so you get to the control zone.
  
• If defensive (not shown in track), reverse at the time the hostile crosses your 6 o'clock line. This keeps your turns out of sync so shots are harder for them to take.
  

I end the fight with a sloppy snap shot, but hey, my landing will be on wheels and his, not so much.

F-16 vs MiG-16P Ace AI guns only.trk

Maneuver vertically. Hit and run. The Viper can maneuver more easily in the vertical plane (more power-weight). Avoid fighting on the horizontal plane. The Mig is much more of a maneuverer. However, in dogfight the result is not obvious, it depends on many factors (first of all, who is the pilot).

It's an AI, so don't expect this to be in any way physically realistic behaviour.

Just out of curiousity, can Mig-19 turn better than the Viper? I have never flown a Mig-19 in DCS but I heard it's a quite good turner.

I don't really agree with Razor's statement. It turns better in slow speeds. Even MiG-15 turns better in low speeds but it lacks thrust to chase you. Well you may not own it, you can still setup ace level dogfight and see.

IMHO, best way to improve dogfighting skills outside of multiplayer is river racing in the TF51D. Take the Hot Start from Batumi and race up and down the river at Poti. Then do it again in the Viper. This has improved my turning skills immensely. I do it once a week (the mustang part) just for relaxation. The rules are you can't go outside the river banks and you must try to stay below tree top level if you can. Of course you have to trade energy for altitude on those hairpin turns. That's the real fun! Bonus points for dead sticking it down in one piece when you run out of fuel. :)

Hey OP, sorry for the late reply, but didn't really have the chance to fly the last couple of weeks. Here is a short video on how to handle the AI, set to excellent-ACE difficulty.

Basically, exchange your energy for position and vice versa. I would advice you to learn your exchange rates first in any other plane (either through experimenting or through the E-M charts), but this is a Viper. You have so much specific excess power across the entire envelope, the only thing you have to watch out for is getting in a slow sustained fight or running out of fuel.

The AI (in the early-mid Cold War era planes) cheats by not losing energy, but it doesn't cheat my creating the said energy out of nothing. So it will eventually run out altitude. And then you'll have it!

Hey here are the results from my merges against the Ace AI Mig 19.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/741034458

From 6 merges the AI only managed a kill once and that was by shooting me in the face. Even one circling the Mig 19 is possible if you know what you are doing. Running out of fuel is only a concern if you are not aggressive enough. Try to create turning room prior to the merge, get as many angles as you can early on, and then decide whether you want to one circle or two circle him. You can do both in the viper against the Mig19, no problem.

Hi, this is my take on this task:

Pls exuse the quality of the video, i do not have appropriate equipment for uploding HD videos on YT.

I stayed on high energy level, all it took is one turn and one lil dive :).

O.