AA has officially gone to far.

[PredatorFour]

Originally Posted by Wahooo

Truth; IMHO

ESF's are still the single best solo unit in the game.
Libs are fine.
Lock-ons are annoying, there needs to be a change of tone between locking on and missile in the air, and the missiles need to show up on the mini-map.
Annihilator was a bad idea, as much as people cried big sobby tears when they announced the removal of dumb fire from the Grounder/SKEP or ES equivalents that was actually a good idea. Default RL, AA lock-on, AV lock-on, a Slower MOAR powerful dumbfire. an all in one AA and AV lock-on has too little drawback.
Skyguard is still shit... or at least the worst vehicle in game.
Burster is fine, full health dual burster vs full health softie the softie should win every time if skill between the two is even... but to be effective the burster probably shouldn't be running around alone anyway.
Sundy and MBT's should NEVER have gotten a flack gun, though I don't know how many are actually using it. High angle .50 cal was fine.

I agree with everything you said there apart from AA sundy's. It sure is fun driving around in 2 AA sundy's and a couple of burster maxes

[ShadetheDruid]

You know what would be a fun experiment? Swap the stats on MAX bursters (combined stats of both, that is) and Skyguard for a day and see what happens.

[Rothnang]

Originally Posted by RobUK

Everybody is free to play the game as they see fit. But people that play solo and/or want to use the same vehicle all the time in every situation will inevitably run into more problems than those that play together using voice comms and the correct tools for the job.

I just don't like the fact that the correct tool for every job is infantry at this point. People whine, bitch and moan about how vehicles are so overpowered, but at the end of the day when you want to flip a base and you're going to grab whatever it takes to do so, another HA is just never a bad choice.

Air units are a luxury at this point. They may be useful at times, but there is nothing you absolutely need them for. You can defend yourself from enemy air perfectly well with just infantry based AA, you can take down tanks and Sunderers with Infantry as well, and flipping bases ultimately comes down to an infantry fight no matter what.

I do in fact play in squads and with other people, I have just continuously made the experience that when you're dealing with outfits that want to get stuff done you can easily spend all night without once anyone saying you should pull an aircraft.

[zulu]

Originally Posted by ShadetheDruid

You know what would be a fun experiment? Swap the stats on MAX bursters (combined stats of both, that is) and Skyguard for a day and see what happens.

Maybe. I think right now there's a problem because, as far as I've noticed, there's no effective difference between Skyguards and AA Maxes (don't know for sure, though) in terms of range or power. Ideally, I think, Maxes would be able to provide strong AA cover for a small area -- accurate and strong enough to keep low-flying liberators and strafing ESFs from coming near a small base. But AA against high-flying Liberators and ESFs that are just flying around should probably require something stronger, and that's where Skyguards and friendly ESFs would come in.

Skyguards should probably be much more powerful against air (shorter TTK) and have much stronger top armor.

Maybe Lightnings could camouflage or something, too. Like if they're holding still and not firing they can stay camouflaged (indefinitely? Dunno) and only reveal themselves when they start firing. That would be sort of neat.

[CraazyCanuck]

Originally Posted by zulu

Maybe. I think right now there's a problem because, as far as I've noticed, there's no effective difference between Skyguards and AA Maxes (don't know for sure, though) in terms of range or power.

Based on my experiences the Max has the upperhand on the SG. Without even going to the the other benefits of a max over a SG, the TTK is shorter with the max. They need to improve the clustering on the SG and/or a slight improvement in dmg.

I'll see if I can more concrete testing info done this weekend by conscripting a bud into service as Aircraft dummy and post my results. I'll try to include effectiveness at different ranges for comparison as well.

[ShadetheDruid]

Yeah, the issue with the Skyguard is not only the lack of accuracy in comparison to the dual bursters (therefore the DPS as well), but also the fact that the Lightning itself is a lot easy to see and pick off by A2G than a MAX, which can hide in buildings and is much smaller.

In my mind, it should be the opposite. The Skyguard should be deadly (but obvious), whereas the MAX should be less so (but have the advantage of infantry-like mobility).

[Rothnang]

I think Skyguards should have significantly more range than Bursters. Bursters should be for point defense, like standing next to a Sunderer to prevent aircraft from doing rocket/tankbuster runs, but not so much standing on top of a tower and ruling the airspace for several hexes around.

[CraazyCanuck]

Originally Posted by ShadetheDruid

Yeah, the issue with the Skyguard is not only the lack of accuracy in comparison to the dual bursters (therefore the DPS as well), but also the fact that the Lightning itself is a lot easy to see and pick off by A2G than a MAX, which can hide in buildings and is much smaller.

In my mind, it should be the opposite. The Skyguard should be deadly (but obvious), whereas the MAX should be less so (but have the advantage of infantry-like mobility).

Exactly. Totally agree.

Originally Posted by Rothnang

I think Skyguards should have significantly more range than Bursters. Bursters should be for point defense, like standing next to a Sunderer to prevent aircraft from doing rocket/tankbuster runs, but not so much standing on top of a tower and ruling the airspace for several hexes around.

Agreed.