Higby on Air/AA balance.. Is it the fast track to Airside? - Page 3

Stanis · 2012-11-29, 10:10 AM

I can understand the reason for additoinal resilience of the liberator and galaxy.

I do think however, that with a squad of AA maxes and two more squads in support they should demolish anything that flies overhead. They don't.

The typical situation is three libs circling like vultures as the numbers steadily grow because they are just being run off and returning in ever growing numbers.
ESF seem to be far too resilient.

It is suprisingly difficult to actually kill air from the ground - and that is what counts.

The ground game doesn't work to that model.

At range it should be:
AA > ESF > LIB > AA

At less than 100m range it should also be
AA > AIR

Xaine · 2012-11-29, 10:11 AM

Originally Posted by Snipefrag

One person with AA shouldn't be able to destroy an air vehicle on its own unless the pilot is stupid, that's his point. And i agree with it. I guess for all you VS out there that were so used to camping pads with the Skillfire PS2 has been a bit of an awakening to you guys. The counter to air with ground troops? Teamwork. That's the way it should be, the TR on Waterson we're getting zerged by massive amounts of air at one of the bio labs, no one could get anywhere near. You know what solved it? Archangels rolling up with 20 people. AMS, Burster maxes, HA lock on rockets and engineers. Planetside is about teamwork, not one man armies.

Really not sure why you had to take a random dig at the VS midway through that point.

It sort of renders the rest of your post inert when you act like a childish cunt in the middle of it.

Just saying.

Canaris · 2012-11-29, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Xaine

Really not sure why you had to take a random dig at the VS midway through that point.

It sort of renders the rest of your post inert when you act like a childish cunt in the middle of it.

Just saying.

your skin, it's almost see through you know

Revanmug · 2012-11-29, 10:25 AM

Originally Posted by Soothsayer

I'd like ESF to have to coordinate to take out my prowler. Teamwork people...

Because your 1 man tank require teamwork to be use right? I don't think you'll get much pity for your MBTs considering air is the most efficient way of culling the almighty tank zerg.

I see people constantly complaining about dying to rocket but I can count on my finger the number of time it happen for me. I can't say the same against MBTs.

Dragonskin · 2012-11-29, 10:28 AM

I don't see the problem with air. Like others have said the most effective way to counter air is through teamwork. Burster maxes, AA rockets and A2A ESF do their job well enough. The problem I see a lot is people not willing to switch roles to deal with air. Then air takes over an area until people finally decide to do something about it.

MrBloodworth · 2012-11-29, 10:34 AM

All I need is my rocklet.

Rahabib · 2012-11-29, 10:44 AM

My problem, and this is for vehicles in general, is that the ratio of players feels off. SO to take out an MBT tank its roughly a 3:1 ratio - with heavies, unless the tank driver is an idiot then its still a 2:1 minimum. Air is worse, AA maxes you still need a 3:1 ratio.

So if 1:1 doesnt work (vehicles should be stronger I agree) the problem then is that its too easy to roll in tanks all day. So if you have a squad of say 6, you are far more effective to have 6 tanks (cause now its going to take at least 12 infantry to deal with all of you) or 6 fighters/libs.

I still think the best answer to this is:
increase cool down timer on vehicles or increase resources. In fact you can fix some of the meta game issues by making the cool down timer longer or make vehicles more expensive the further away from the warp gate. You can minimize this by capturing tech plants. This makes tech plants even more worthwhile, and it gives low pop defenders a better chance to hold off full caps.

Also, they need to make the prowlers a bit more effective. They increased the number of rounds, which is nice, but if a prowler has 2 people in it, it should be able to handle a fighter and even put a great deal of fear into a lib. Make the secondary gunner spot cert into lock on rockets. These take a while to reload, but can make a fighter at least have to start using more of their counters and run instead of just turning and blowing up the prowler. Its not a deterrent if the fighter can stick around.

Xaine · 2012-11-29, 10:58 AM

Originally Posted by Canaris

your skin, it's almost see through you know

Ah, I see!

So i can randomly take digs at people for no apparent reason, and its their problem if they react? I see how this works.

Here we go. Let me know if I do this wrong

You're bad at the game, you're probably overweight and have a stupid haircut. Your faction is full of retards and noobs, which is why all your weapons are so OP.

You also smell strange.

VelRa · 2012-11-29, 11:21 AM

I was in a skyguard for 2 hours last night. No deaths. Tawrich. 10k XP per hour. I had outfit mates around me but we weren't running ops. Just good aim which got better as the night wore on and bad scythe pilots which remained bad. I do say it was fun.

Setting up 1 squad air batteries is one of my favorite things to do in my outfit. Engineers, a couple medics, bursters, skyguards, and a sundie tucked away.

Maybe AA just isn't for you.

sylphaen · 2012-11-29, 11:23 AM

What about making ground AA cost air resources so it stays deadly vs. air at the cost of the ability to fly, of range and of awareness and spent on the
same resource pool as air vehicles ?

Dragonskin · 2012-11-29, 11:34 AM

AA is deadly. This isn't COD. You aren't meant to be a 1 man army with all things balanced to a 1:1 ratio. This game focuses on team work.

Rbstr · 2012-11-29, 11:35 AM

I drive a lot of tanks, I fly a lot of planes...and I frankly don't see the supposed OP of air, especially regarding the ESFs. There's an argument for Lib OP-ness though, I think.

A couple of dual Burster maxes makes fairly quick work of any low flying ESF. When the infantry missiles hit they hurt a lot and they make excellent deterrents.
I've shot maybe a dozen or more aircraft with the Magrider's main cannon...It's not like these things are terribly tough. And esf rocket spam is probably 10% of my tank deaths?

Fundamentally ground based units can't swat aircraft all over the place because that simply eliminates the usefulness of aircraft. There's no reason to pull aircraft of your own if you can simply shoot all of them down from the ground.
And that gets to the Liberator. It's pretty easy to shoot one down with an ESF yet so hard to deal with from the ground.
Maybe some more speed and maneuverability but less some HP would go to fixing that some?

Soothsayer · 2012-11-29, 11:47 AM

Originally Posted by Revanmug

Because your 1 man tank require teamwork to be use right? I don't think you'll get much pity for your MBTs considering air is the most efficient way of culling the almighty tank zerg.

I see people constantly complaining about dying to rocket but I can count on my finger the number of time it happen for me. I can't say the same against MBTs.

I said prowler.

But even if I had said lightning, how come the 1 person skyguard has to work together to take out a single ESF but the ESF doesn't have to work together to take out the lightning? As far as an arugment goes, you can't have it both ways.

Dragonskin · 2012-11-29, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Soothsayer

I said prowler.

But even if I had said lightning, how come the 1 person skyguard has to work together to take out a single ESF but the ESF doesn't have to work together to take out the lightning? As far as an arugment goes, you can't have it both ways.

Actually in this case it usually takes 2 ESF to take out a skyguard with a competent gunner. Those guns hurt and 1 full rocket salvo may not kill the tank if they have upgraded armor or if some of the rockets don't connect. Trying to get 2 runs in can be your death as a pilot.

Oh and let me add. Tanks are rarely solo. If you are trying to solo an entire faction with your tank.. you are doing it wrong. It normally doesn't take long for the enemy to focus their other skyguards, bursters or heavies at you if you manage to kill the tank.

Duckforceone · 2012-11-29, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Storn

I fly my Mosquito with A2A missile a lot and find that AA can be very effective as a deterrent. I have to stay high out of the general AA view to hunt effectively. The problem with people is they want to be able to do it all. You can’t be a one man army able to take down tanks, air, and infantry. That’s what DEVs are trying to get across; it’s a team game. If you’re tired of getting shot-up on the ground get in the air or throw out a Skyguard. I have had several frustrated nights due to effectiv

Like where your head is Sledgecrushr

problem is, one ESF, is a one man army. It can take down air, it can take down tanks, and it can take down infantry with impunity.

A few coordinated ESF's with 1-2 libs, can decimate all AA that's trying to kill it, almost no matter how many they are.

Also, the only people doing the AA job, are those that are in serious outfits. No casual player would be in AA, as they would simply not gain any xp and levels, while the pilots would still rake in 1000+ xp per mag of rocket pods.

I can agree, that AA should not do more damage, and Rocket pods should stay at their damage level.... if.. and i repeat, if, AA hits would give 1-2 xp points per hit. That would give ordinary people a reason to go into AA, as currently, when you go AA, you give up on earning XP...