Interceptor/Precision Strike Stealth Fighter

[modern fossil]

Just food for thought in case something like this ever thought about for the game. Inspired by that 80s triangle thingy, a bird and that other "6th gen" thingy probably being guarded by skunks somewhere in the in the Nevada desert.

• Also comes with a 25mm coilgun for hitting those faraway running bombers and integral radar jammer capable of disrupting a single radar; both drawing from a "not so efficient" capacitor when used as to not be OP.

[wary glacier]

How do you aim the gun? Does it have any gimbal? Fins and a seeker?

[warped trout]

Id assume the same way you aim a regular cannon, you just get higher velocity probably

[iron orbit]

And also slower firerate

[warped trout]

I mean, kinda same situation as the ifrit revolver, just more exaggerated

[wary glacier]

Yeah but it’s for “long range” i assume it would be tricky to aim if the target is a few kilometers away

[modern fossil]

I planned it as the standard gun on the frame; but it could just have a normal cannon. Aiming would be the default nose pointer; the pip would be the only difference appearing at longer ranges; maybe 4/5kms, since railguns in test right now have a muzzle velocity of around 2500 m/s. Obviously only "useful" against larger slower craft, hence the interceptor

[wary glacier]

I thought of some kind of radar guided aim assist were the plane moves to help you aim, but if one plane gets it, then I think everyone's gonna want it on the other planes too
probably best to just let the player aim and use their sniper skills to aim

[idle cradle]

looks like that drone plane from stealth (2005)

[viscid gulch]

25mm coilgun? how big is this thing?

[olive tangle]

coilgun 🤔

[iron orbit]

Wouldn't be much bigger than 25mm rotary

[wary glacier]

might be heavier

[modern fossil]

Figure it might take this sort of space

[iron orbit]

Definitely yea

[wary glacier]

nice drawing though

just noticed the engine outlines inside the diagram lol. I thought it had four

[iron orbit]

Not really?
I mean, coilguns can be sized down to be manportable (mostly as a gimmick, admittedly), but if it had a super slow fire rate it wouldn't be unreasonable

[summer trail]

no the whole suggestion

[iron orbit]

Oh I was looking at the wrong rule 1

I dunno

[modern fossil]

Not really tho?
As I stated in the first line "food for thought in case something like this ever thought about for the game", and artists can draw from a lot of places.
And it's just my design anyway, inspired by mechanics in the game: like the medusas lasers; which we already have contemporary counterparts...

[warped trout]

I think its vauge enough and mostly conceptual

They arent giving you a name, designation, and whole host of performance stats like some people have tried. Mostly playing with the idea of high speed interceptors with coilguns for cost effective bomber kills

[silent wren]

That is basically what Darkreach was intended to be (SFB stands for Stealth Fighter Bomber), F-117 but also A2A capable

[wary glacier]

for real?
would be cool I guess

[wary glacier]

I don't see the "fighter"

[silent wren]

Remember F-117, which was "fighter"

[wary glacier]

yeah the darkreach is supposed to be the stealth plane, I thought you were comparing it to the fighter drawing above.

I guess the only a2a the darkreach could do is scythe spam, which could be pretty scary if it werea added

[bitter cape]

A 6th gen in the game would be interesting and good addition for something stealthy, since the game takes placve in the 2070s, but I don't see it working in the current map given how small it is.

Bombers are already quite vulnerable with the current cast of aircraft in this map, so a dedicated 6th gen interceptor isn't really necessary imo.

I definitely dig adding this when the bigger map gets added into the game where larger expanses make this more useful, both in stealth attack roles and as an interceptor with supersonic bombers being concievably being added by that point.

[idle cradle]

lmao darkreach figer

[viscid gulch]

considering it the future. i imagine kinectic strikes might become a reality's. hyper sonic interceptors arent outside of the relms of relaity

[elfin cave]

i very like concept that aircraft) idk about loadout, but visualy fighter(like alternative ifrit) must be very good

[willow forge]

e

[junior topaz]

Finally, an airframe that screams 2070s

[spice lintel]

This suggestion is fine as it's an archetype of a plane and not a specific plane

[summer trail]

yeah i sent that months ago i realize its wrong

[queen edge]

is there a way to vote for this? because im deffenitly gonna vote for this to be brought into the game.

[summer trail]

just react

but there isnt really an impact from those i would guess, the devs are aware of the suggestion already

[junior topaz]

Gives an idea of how much it's wanted I think

[elfin cave]

I very like design. Im pretty sure if it will have maximum stealth ability and small sizes, maybe it will become even stealth tactical bomber.
Which maybe carry 2-3 gpo500 or 4-6pabs 250.
https://discord.com/channels/909034158205059082/1290307854892273685

[junior topaz]

Bump

[odd valley]

pretty sure the f117 was given the role of fighter to confuse soviet spies. not sure tho

[iron orbit]

I heard it was because it needed fighter pilots due to it flying not at all like a bomber and closer to a fighter, but fighter pilots are extremely prideful and would never fly a bomber

[paper socket]

ive gyat to bump this

[fringe sequoia]

This is beautiful and allow for darkreach-like operations with some defensive capabilities, meaning you could take it into uncontrolled airspace without fighters escorting you. This would be amazing!

[bronze anvil]

Super cool concept. I’d love to see the BDF get a land based 5th or 6th gen fighter to compliment the Vortex and compete with the Ifrit as a high complexity, highly capable fighter. Not sure how a tailless design will work though seeing as there’s no true FBW ingame at the moment.

[marsh prawn]

It's interesting how the game has no 6th gens, considering it's near future. I'd definitely like to see a super high end-high rank fighter.

[bronze anvil]

I think part of the problem is the Scythe is only so good. 6th gens rely heavily on stealth and BVR, but past a certain point there’s not much difference between 12 Scythes and 24 if every time you alert an enemy when you fire one and every time they get the chance to notch. I’m sure the devs would have a cool way to add this, but I don’t know if it would be a true 6th gen, or maybe just a really good 5th gen. Shoot, can we even differentiate the two with the way aircraft perform in NO?

[marsh prawn]

The scythe is basically an AMRAAM, but every plane has a button to just deactivate it. It's a modern missile in a futuristic world, and it really suffers for it.

It can manage within a few km, as the enemy plane doesn't have time to turn side on, but for BVR it's completely useless unless the target is a tarantula.

[bronze anvil]

That is the rub, ain’t it? How do you design a BVR gameplay loop that’s both fun and effective for the shooter and the target?

[marsh prawn]

Something which is extremely long range and hard to jam/notch. But also takes a long time to accelerate and not very manoeuvrable.

So extremely poor close up (scythe still far better here), but good at shooting at people who are high altitude 100km away.

[bronze anvil]

Yeah but then how do you make defending against that fun? Seems like a weapon easy to camp players across the map with, which would suck to be on the receiving end of.

[marsh prawn]

combination of using terrain and manoeuvring. Similar to the AIM-54 it could struggle to hit targets which are rapidly changing direction

[bronze anvil]

A hypersonic AIM-54 (or something like the AIM-174) could work, give it a massive heat bloom and contrail so it’s hard to miss. But it would probably have a big blast radius, so you’d have to really build up some speed during maneuvers to put some distance between you and it so the blast radius still doesn’t hit you.