Skythikon

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

Like I said, it's not because the MiG-29 is better, it's because it's flexible. As a multirole, it can be kitted out for anything from air interception to ground attack. However, it lacks the traits that make planes specially made for those purposes, such as the MiG-25's speed and the Su-25's low speed stability and high number of hardpoints. It only seems better right now because the RP hasn't started yet and I imagine most want to play it safe.

I imagine that there will be a lot of times during this RP when I go 'Gee, I sorta wish I picked the Su-25/MiG-25.' XD

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

IMO, Flankers should be fine, but only the early versions, 'cause the MiG-29 and early Su-27 were pretty much on equal ground. The F-16 should be allowed as well, seeing as how it's not nearly as 'new' as either. Nationality-wise, I don't see a problem if your character isn't flying an aircraft that doesn't match up with their nationality. I was under the impression that this was a (albeit elite) cobbled together unit given whatever planes they had to spare, thus the emphasis on Gen 3 - Gen 4 aircraft.

Anyway, I added my second character to my initial post. For what it's worth, she's a ground-attack pilot specializing in SEAD flying the AMX International AMX (Brazilian variant)

EDIT: Yeah, definitely head of the Rafale that shot down the F-22. I heard of stuff such as Singaporean F-16s defeating USAF F-15s simply because the USAF pilots had been listening on RSAF comms throughout the exercise, and when our pilots switched to our mangled form of English known as Singlish, they got confused.

EDIT2: And to clarify, I had Everett take the MiG because it would be what was most familiar after having flown the Shenyang J-11, which is a copy of the Su-27. If I could, I would have had Everett fly an upgraded Su-27M or Su-27S

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

No problem at all. =) Just ask away here or through PMs when you feel the need to.

I wouldn't say the best, but it is up there. The MiG-29 was designed as a multirole, so it's sort of like the jack-of-all-trades. The Su-25 is arguable the best for ground attack; low speed, wide wings and a heavy load? That thing is going to pulverize anything on the ground into scrap metal, but it's easy prey for fighters. The MiG-23 and 25 are awesome interceptors; they'll catch anything that's flying with their Mach 3+ speed, but they have a lower range due to their fuel consumption, and their engines degrade at a comparatively higher rate.

Guess all I'm saying is that the MiG-29 looks to be the best right now simply because we don't know what's going to be thrown at us, but in missions that require specialization, it'll be the dedicated interceptors, ground attack, electronic warfare or fighters that will shine. The MiG-29 and other multiroles simply have adaptability on their side.

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

See those stuff under the wings? Those are the hardpoints. Image shown in a MiG-29 with the six hardpoints. The upgraded version, the MiG-35, has an additional two.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! =D I still have all my notes from school, so I'll be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

@Rafale: Yeah, the MiG-29's going to be pretty much the standard issue aircraft of our squadron. =\ I wish the Su-27 was available, since it was introduced just two years after the MiG-29 and it's maiden flight was only a few months after the MiG-29.

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

It's a part of the airframe that allows the aircraft to carry an external load.

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

Pilot CS: Everett

Name: Everett Yang Defei (As with Chinese names, Yang is his surname.)

Callsign: Sandstorm

Age: 28

Nationality: Russian citizenship (Singaporean origin)

Appearance: Everett stands at 1.75 meters tall and has light brown, tanned skin. His naturally skinny and slim stature often causes for confusion as doctors would often assume that he was underweight just by a visual inspection when he is actually quite healthy. Clean shaven, with a rounded face and expressive eyes, he looked a lot younger than his actual age. His black hair is cut short to military specifications.

Bio: Singapore died slowly. That is the only thing Everett remembers of his home. Protected by landmasses of Malaysia to the north and Indonesia to the south, Singapore was relatively unscathed by the tsunamis, and for a while, life went on as usual. A few buildings were damaged by the tremors, but it was not something that gave people cause for too much alarm. They were, after all, still alive. Everett went to school, his parents still had their jobs and it was as if the impact had never happened. Sure, it was all on the news, about how the coastal regions of other nations had just disappeared overnight, but everyone believed that this would pass. The government had stockpiled enough emergency supplies to last them for quite some time.

However, the rising sea levels were something that could not be ignored. When Everett was ten, he saw the news of the Netherlands being almost completely underwater, and that Venice had all but disappear. Singapore sat only inches above sea level, and many Singaporeans were all too aware that the island would soon be next. The reclaimed lands were the first to go. Everett remembers the day when the huge Marina Bay Sands finally collapsed into the ocean, and that was the signal for plenty that it was time to leave. Everett and his family packed up and left for Australia shortly afterwards. A year later, he saw on the news that most of Singapore had been reclaimed by the ocean. The only regions that were left were the core, original landmass of Singapore. The state itself had effectively ceased to exist.

That placed Everett and his family in a perilous situation. They had yet to gain any sort of citizenship; they had tried seeking asylum but had been turned down the the Australian government, who had their own troubles to deal with. He, and his family looked desperately for a place that would take them in, and they found it in the People's Republic of China. The only condition was that Everett had to serve in the PLA in one way or another for at least two years. With no other choice, Everett's family agreed to the terms and moved to the Xinjiang province of China later that year.

Life in China, while not luxurious, was certainly comfortable. They had a house, Everett received an education and his parents had jobs. It was good enough, even perhaps more than what they had expected, considering the dire straits the world was in. Eventually, he was conscripted into the PLA at the age of eighteen. He scored highly in the spatial recognition, physics and rapid thinking sections of the proficiency tests he had been given, making him a very attractive candidate for the PLAAF. Still, the PLA needed to bolster their ground force and as such, he spent the first few months of his service training to be an infantrymen.

Not four months into his service, the PLAAF started to create a lot of noise, clamouring for more pilots to fill their aircraft. Recruits from the PLA who had shown potential to be pilots were pulled from ground duties and sent to the PLAAF to retrain as pilots. It was a desperate attempt, and everyone knew it. Most of the PLA recruits washed out before they even set foot into the cockpit of an aircraft, unable to deal with the G-forces induced by combat flying. Everett was not one of them. He displayed a natural aptitude for flying, and before the year was out, he was qualified to fly the Xian JH-7, a Chinese ground attack aircraft of indigenous design. While he would partake in several cross-training exercises with the other nations who left the UN, Everett would never fly an actual combat mission throughout his years of service.

His two years ended just in time for things to heat up between the UNWO and the UN. Undecided as to where his loyalties lied, Everett decided to cash in his chips and leave China for Africa, where he had heard of lucrative deals for pilots willing to fly with no questions asked. Thus, much to the disapproval from his parents, Everett left for what was formerly the Central African Republic, now reduced to a bunch of rival warmongers. Everett flew several combat missions, most of them ground attack or close support, and in all of them he displayed himself as the 'CAS pilot who flew like a fighter'. His handling of the ground-attack aircraft he had been assigned to threw most people off-guard. In his hands, an attack aircraft could be like a fighter, though it was not without risks. Everett's approach towards everything was to be aggressive, even using cannon fire to bring down enemy aircraft if he had to. Sometimes, he even used induced stalls to evade missiles or to throw enemies off.

His mercenary career came to an end when he was offered an even better deal by the UN, who had taken note of his unique background. They wanted him to share his knowledge of PLAAF tactics, as well as the tactics of the other nations he had trained with, to the Avalon institute and the newly formed Excalibur squadron. In return, the UN offered him the citizenship of any European nation under their control and the choice of aircraft to fly. Seeing the Su-24 as having untapped potential, Everett agreed to join the UNF in exchange for Russian citizenship and a heavily modified Su-24M.

Service Record:
- 3 months PLA, basic infantryman training
- 1 year and 9 months PLAAF, 6th Fighter Division, Lanzhou Military Region (Achieved rank of Shao Wei, or Lieutenant.): Cross trained with North Korean, Iranian, Philippine and Vietnamese air forces, among others.
- 8 years with mercenary company Decisive Solutions (Dissolved as of 2017)

WSO CS: Zola

Name: Zola Vermaak

Callsign: Sandstorm

Age: 30

Nationality: South African

Appearance: Zola stands at 1.78 meters tall and has dark skin. She has a slender build, one that would perhaps be more befitting of a ballerina than a soldier, but don't go about telling her that to her face. She has a mischievous look about her, her lips always seemingly curled up into a subtle grin and her eyes twinkling with energy. Her black hair is often pulled back into a simple ponytail, and she wears a baseball cap over that.

Bio: Zola grew up in a remote region of northern South Africa, along the border with Zimbabwe. Far from any coastline, the only thing her family felt from the initial impact were the light tremors, but it did not take long to realize just how much trouble they were in. Cape Town, along with the seat of the South African government, had been all but washed away by the tsunamis that followed. With both a humanitarian and political crisis on their hands, the South African Defense Forces made the decision to enforce martial law until everything had calmed down. The upheaval resulted in her parents, both working for a government organisation, to lose their jobs simply because the organisation had ceased to exist after the disaster.

Her family lived in poverty after that. There was simply too much turmoil for anyone to find any sort of work outside of the growing mercenary industry and the military. By the time Zola was eighteen, she had already lived a large chunk of her life out in the African bush and was desperate to improve her family's situation. Thus, she decided to join the air force, where she would at the very least earn a steady wage. The SAAF had been badly affected by the impact, much of their stock had been swept away by the tsunamis or their runways wrecked by the disaster. As such, Zola did not really have a chance to fly in the Saab Gripens used by the SAAF. Rather, she flew a BAE Systems Hawk retrofitted for ground attack.

For the next two years, she flew several missions beyond the borders of South Africa, mostly to deal a heavy blow to enemy revolutionary forces active in Zimbabwe or Botswana. It was a tiring, repetitive job that amounted to little more than flying in, shooting the bad guys and flying out. There was no thrill to it, and sometimes it felt downright unfair to her when she was in a sophisticated flying machine gunning down enemies whose most technologically advanced weapon was a heavy machine gun mounted on a pickup truck. Still, the money was good and for a time, that was all Zola was concerned with.

A year later, word of lucrative deals for pilots willing to fly as mercenaries came down from the central regions of the continent. The pay was rumoured to be almost twice the amount the military would pay, and the only catch was that no questions were to be asked about any contract. Zola could live with that, it was pretty much like the air force as far as she was concerned. Do as you're told, do it well and at the end of the day, you go home with a paycheck. Thus, she promptly resigned from the air force and threw in her lot with the mercenary company offering the best pay and equipment.

Not a month later, she found herself in the cockpit of an AMX International AMX that the company had somehow procured from the Brazilian military. No doubt someone was going to get a firing for letting a piece of sophisticated military equipment fall in the hands of a mercenary company, but Zola honestly did not care. She was just happy to be flying again. She was assigned to SEAD missions, which involved her flying into regions covered by hostile air defense units and taking out the radar installations with anti-radiation missiles. It was a dangerous job, but at least it was more exciting than chasing down poorly-armed revolutionaries. It was during such operations where she displayed her daring by flying at incredibly low altitudes at dangerously high speeds to minimize the chances of being detected. On occasion, she flew alongside Everett with him being her fighter escort, but apart from that, they rarely interacted.

She stayed on with the mercenary company long after Everett left, and was sent to northern Africa just weeks before the company collapsed. Zola had long since heard about the UN-UNWO conflict, and had considered joining in on the UN side for moral reasons, but it was only when the company collapsed was she forced to make a decision. Unwilling to go on fighting for the highest bidder, she took her plane and set off for UN-controlled Italy, where she was nearly shot down upon being mistaken for an intruder and was detained even after landing. Once everything was cleared up, however, she signed up with the UNF.

It came as a surprise to her to know that she would be flying in an Su-24 alongside Everett, her former colleague. She had been hoping to be flying something a little more high-tech, given that she was supposed to be part of some advanced squadron. Still, she had heard that the aircraft had been extensively modified, so she was willing to be surprised. She just hoped that Everett could keep up with her.

Service Record:
- 3 years SAADF (Not inclusive of additional 1 year of training): Achieved rank of Lieutenant, but was grounded for last two months of service)
- ~9 years with mercenary company Decisive Solutions (Dissolved as of 2017

Aircraft: Ghost of the Straits

Name of Aircraft: Su-24M Fencer-D (Nicknamed 'Ghost of the Straits')

Profile Link: Su-24 Fencer

Modifications:

- All standard Avalon upgrades

- Full glass cockpit, but at pilot's request, analog backups exist for the basic six (Altimeter, Vertical Speed Indicator, Artificial Horizon, Airspeed Indicator, Heading Indicator, turn and bank indicator)

- Airframe further optimized by using composite materials wherever possible. Allows for speed increase and further modifications without affecting weight

- Wing root expanded in size to accept 2 additional hardpoints

- Hardpoints forward of fuselage and centerline hardpoints removed.

- Plasma Stealth system.

- Upgraded with SVP-24 navigational system to bring it close to M2 standards

- Perhaps the largest modification would be to the engines. The airframe has been slightly altered to allow for a modified version of the Lyulka AL-21F-3A engines. By fitting a fan upstream of the compressor, it essentially becomes a low-bypass turbofan engine. The engines have also been modified to allow for thrust vectoring.

Personal Colour Scheme: Sky Blue on the underside, PLA-styled camo on topside

Weapon Systems:
- 1 23mm Gsh-6-23 cannon, 500 rounds
9 Hardpoints (6 under-wing, 2 fuselage, 1 centerline), provisions for:
-R-74 Short-range air-to-air missiles
-R77 Medium-range air-to-air missiles
-KH-31A Anti-ship missiles
-KH-31P Anti-radiation air-to surface missiles
-KH-29TE long-range TV-guided air-to-surface missiles
-KH-29D IR-guided air-to-surface missiles
-RBK-250 or RBK-500 cluster bombs
-KAB-500KR and KAB-500L guided bombs
-ODAB-500M Thermobaric bombs

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

Driving Park said
Can the more knowledgeable folk here recommend a thrust vectorable or already thrust vectoring pair of engines to replace the 25's Mach 3+ turbojets? Or, if possible, can the turbojets themselves be modified and made to thrust vector? Wiki says thrust vectoring is typically only used with turbofans.

Thrust vectoring is just the hydraulic adjustment of the nozzle to redirect thrust, so there's no reason it can't be used with a turbojet since the powerplant doesn't quite matter, The MiG-25 uses a variable choke nozzle, so it'll just be a case of removing those, linking them to flight control systems and installing the hydraulics to allow them a greater degree of movement.

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

Oh...Has to be from the list. Sorry! ><''

MiG-29 and Su-25 (No WSOs on either, so it'll be two pilots) it is. Will get the CSes up tomorrow. Late over here, I should probably sleep.

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

Uh, could I get an yea or nay on the FC-1? I'll probably play a Chinese character, but he won't be affiliated with China. More like a defector or mercenary.

And the mozzie's a beautiful plane. Fastest and most flexible aircraft of WWII (At least until the Me-262, at least in terms of speed). Too bad it didn't do any good in the Pacific since the wood glue they used degraded in moisture. =P

Across Broken Skies [Ace Combat inspired RP]

I've done more looking up on Gen 4/4.5 aircraft, and I think I'll go with the FC-1 Xiaolong (Fierce Dragon). It's a multirole that's so far shown itself to be incredibly capable at air-to-ground operations. I'm hoping our pilots won't have to fly planes related to their nationalities, because I'm still hoping to eventually upgrade into a Su-34 eventually.

Still, all down to Silverwindblade to decide if the FC-1 is allowed.

EDIT: The Swedes do make some sweet aircraft. The Draken is still my no.3 favorite, just behind the Il-2 and De Havilland Mosquito (Always been partial to WWII planes.)