@Stevie said in When to engage defensive?:
you NEVER want to approach a bogey at or above Mach 1.0
My own (4.35 PvE) experience is rather different. Besides giving my own missile more speed, I need to be as fast as possible to not end up too slow after turning cold.
The F-16 is notoriously bad at turning at high altitude and after lofting my missiles, turning to the side (to reduce closure rate while keeping the bandit on my radar) and then finally turning cold and diving away, I could end up so slow that I can’t maneuver efficiently anymore if I didn’t start with all the speed I could get.
For the same reason, I launch at a fairly low altitude. I could launch at 40k ft, but then I’ll end up at 300KIAS or lower after turning cold. What I do instead is to stay high until ~40NM out, then dive to 20k ft, loft (I do gain a little altitude during the loft), launch, turn around and run away. If I get into a situation where I have to turn hard at 30k ft or higher, I’m in trouble.