[Artalion]

The key to reducing the ace pilot problem is giving newbies a means of taking them at significantly longer ranges. It is very telling that most of the ace pilots prefer using close range cannons to longer range AA missiles.

It's not really that difficult to figure out why either. Using AA missiles to lock on will tell your opponent that you are out there, which makes it difficult to sneak up on him. AA missiles take a long time to lock on, more than enough time for a pilot to begin taking evasive maneuvers. Finally, if you do manage to get a lock, he can break the lock easily by deploying flares.

When newbies are trying to take out an enemy pilot, they use AA missiles, but the enemy pilot knows how to get out of this. The enemy then maneuvers his plane into a close quarter dog fight, gets behind the newbie and blasts them with his cannon.

So, it naturally follows that the devs would tweak missiles so that they could be fired from further away and take less time to lock on, right?

Nope. Instead, they give us missiles that require us to keep the target in sight, not just for the lock on, but for the entire duration of the flight. Also, the moment you lock on and fire, you announce your presence, not just to the target, but to every hostile in the vicinity, thanks to the auto-spot mechanic.

At that range, it would be better just to use the cannons. There is no warning to the enemy until you decide to fire, and when you do fire, you won't activate a magic "I'm here! Shoot me!" option. We don't have this kind of thing for infantry or tanks, and it is for the same reason that we shouldn't put it on air targets: it punishes stealth.

At the end of the day, the Ace pilots would still be beasts at the close range game and have the advantage of being able to see their targets more clearly. The addition of close range lock on missiles will not work, because Ace pilots don't use them, nor do they need them to take out their targets. Other pilots do.


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Something that really needs a balance pass is the flare launcher. Pilots love that it can break missile locks, but they hate the recharge time. Missile people hate them because they can break the lock and fly out of range before they can reacquire.

I have a way of making both players happy. Here is how I would change it:

1. Make flare launchers be ammo based. Each ESF has a certain number of flares. They can be fired at any time, but if you run out, then you will have to resupply them at the nearest ammo center.

2. Flares are no longer 100% effective, how much less effective is negotiable. For the sake of argument, let's say it is 50% effective. This means that if two missiles are chasing you, a flare might fool one of them.

Both of these combined would remove a key frustration to both pilots and missile folks. The pilots would be able to use their flares as frequently as they were locked, without having to wait for that ability to recharge. The downside is that they run the risk of running out at an inconvenient time or using one and still getting hit.

The missile folks would be happy because their targets wouldn't be guaranteed escape, and even if they did, the missile folks would know that it would have cost them a couple of flares. Furthermore, there would be the hope that they would run across a fighter which had run out of flares.

There is also a financial advantage to making the second change. Currently, missile players (read: SAM's) are not very good at killing aircraft because flares give fighters de facto missile invulnerability. If you need AA defense, you pull a MAX, which has a free burster.

But limit that effectiveness and SAM's become a lot more viable, particularly since MAX's now cost significantly more infantry resources. If you want a SAM, you're going to need certs or station cash, and people will pony up the latter if they think the weapon will give them an edge over MAX flak.

I wrote this from the perspective of someone who bought a Hawk, only to find that it was effectively useless in an environment where every pilot equips flares. But it also applies to players that use lock on missiles on their ESF.

The updated flare launcher would also be good for pilots. Rather than just hitting a flare and running for cover, you could a couple flares, which is more dramatic (and realistic, if that sort of thing matters to you.) It also isn't vulnerable to cool down times (reloading is another matter, but a clip would still give you some flexibility.)

Until this mechanic is updated, missile weapons, any kind of missile weapons, will be at a disadvantage when compared to their projectile counterparts (flak, cannons, etc).