[Rothnang]

I think it's a pretty solid analysis of the state of the game you have there, but in all honesty, what makes ground vs. air balance so annoying in this game is simply the fact that there is absolutely no interesting gameplay that emerges from anti air fire for the pilots.

If you're in an ESF in a region that has plenty of mountains or canyons you can have some fun even with AA in the area, because you can dive in and out of their firing zones. The only thing that really puts a damper on enjoying yourself there is that it takes much longer to land and repair an aircraft than it does to hop out of a tank to repair, and you need to repair it much more often since the damage you take from even just a second of AA fire is pretty severe.

If you're in a Liberator though it's just gotten boring. You can't really go low, you don't have the kind of speed and maneuverability you need to survive for any length of time, and you're much too vulnerable to other Liberators and ESFs if you're low to to the ground. Also the belly gun just doesn't really perform well when you're going really low, since your gunner won't really be able to hit a lot of targets.

Flying high is really boring though, there is nothing to frame your flight experience at all, just empty air all around and you get attacked by giant cones of bullets that you can't really effectively dodge. (Not to mention, when you start to dodge in a Liberator your gunner will have a hard time)


I personally think the design for air vs. ground balance is just bad. It's the one instance in this game where it just doesn't feel like its a real contest of skill, but just a contest of numbers. When AA opens up on you there isn't anything you can do but say a little prayer for mr. hitpoints and start going the other way. If you survive you repair, rinse and repeat, and if you don't there is really no way to effectively operate in that area for the time being anyways.

I really think there needs to be a bit more interesting gameplay between aircraft and AA.

Aircraft should have shields maybe, because that way it would actually be rewarding to get out of the AA fire fast, as opposed to right now where taking a tiny little bit of flak or taking a total wallop makes no difference, because it's the running and landing that takes up the time for repairs, not the actual HP you need to restore.

Having some clouds in the sky would be a huge improvement, because it would give you something to hide behind, instead of just being stuck in an empty expanse where distance is the only thing that matters.

Maybe AA weapons need to be changed around so that you can actually actively dodge them, right now you can't really talk about "dodging" with any weapon like that, because dodging implies you saw the projectile coming and moved out of the way, but that's not what you're doing against AA, you're just moving around in a way that makes you a harder target.

Generally speaking smaller clips but higher fire rate would do AA good, because it would be more rewarding for people who hit right away and not have such an extreme normalizing effect by giving people plenty of time to adjust their fire.

Perhaps aircraft could have some kind of visual stealth option, where you can't see them very easily from the ground if they are moving really slowly.


I just really want some interesting gameplay out of the air vs. ground battles, right now it's just boring, there is simply nothing there that really lets people shine on either side. You can't be a really good AA gunner who's feared and respected and useful on his own, because AA fire normalizes so much. As a pilot you constantly just feel like you can't do anything to actually avoid damage except just get out of range as quickly as possible, which is especially boring if you fly high where there isn't anything to frame your movement.