How to increase your chances of hitting your target

Optimal Firing Position

There are upgrade parts that increase your standard and SP missile’s performance. You should consider equipping parts that improve flight speed and homing as this increases your chances of hitting your target. Some SP weapons such as SASM and QAAM are high-tracking, high-performance missiles already by default so you can further augment their performance by equipping the corresponding parts.

When fighting enemy aircraft or drones, the optimal firing position will always be behind them. That’s why you have to match their turns and loops so you’ll end up tailing them instead. Avoid firing at enemy aircraft while in the middle of a turn or maneuver or if they’re too close to you. Aircraft and drones are usually very vulnerable after executing their turns so if you’re able to keep tracking them from behind, you’ll maintain optimal firing position until you can release your missiles.

Flying Head-on

Another optimal position for missiles is directly at your 12 o’clock towards an enemy flying head-on towards you. Whoever locks on the target and release their missiles earlier will be able to hit the target. This is especially useful when intercepting incoming aircraft with medium to long-range SP weapons. When using standard missiles, you have to make sure to bank sharply to the side to avoid getting hit by enemy missiles. Keeping an eye on your short-range radar is the key for making this very risky move to work. You have to learn executing this move since you’ll need to employ it against very difficult enemies in the later missions.

Machine Guns

When using your machine guns, you have to get close to the selected target for the reticule to appear. You can’t fire your machine gun in a long, sustained rate since it will overheat and will require a few seconds to cool down before you can use them again. Shooting stationary targets are easy but when dealing with moving targets, you have to “lead” your shots. This is done by aiming ahead of the target’s flight path. Bullets don’t fly in a straight line, especially in tight turns and high speed so compensating them this way will increase your chances of landing your shots.

Flanking Maneuvers (high G turns)

High G turns are sharp turns that you can perform with your aircraft at the cost of acceleration and speed. It’s primarily used as an evasive maneuver though its use for offense is invaluable as well. High G turns performed on high-mobility aircraft allows easy flanking at a target (even if it’s in a middle of a turn) and keep you focused on an optimal firing position. You’ll feel the edge this strategy can bring once you have access to planes with better mobility parameters but this is still applicable to any aircraft, nevertheless.

Line of Sight

Lock-on weapons will always need a clear line of sight to reach their targets. That’s why you don’t indiscriminately fire even if you have a lock on, especially if the target is in the middle of obstacles like terrain or buildings. If you’re locked-on a target with a dotted circle around it, it means that there’s an obstruction on the projectile’s path like buildings, trees, terrain, etc. You have to adjust your approach to have a clear shot for your projectiles to connect.