Escaping from a skyknight

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Halkesh, Jun 11, 2016.

  1. Halkesh

    Everytime I spawn my scythe, I get killed by an airplane within the 2 minutes, making waste nanite, time and drive me mad because I can't do anything except seen my health bar drop to 0.
    Due to that, I've boycotted airplane gameplay from BR1 to 90, but now I want to play ESF sometime, mainly to defend a base swarmed by enemy. (I mainly use A2G weapon)

    So, it's mainly the same thing again and again :
    1) Check the map for enemy presence, look in all direction in the sky then I spawn a scythe. (it prevent being killed at the terminal or just after spawning a vehicle)
    2) After flying for ~2 minutes one ESF attack me from behind.
    3) Trying to escape by running in direction of the warpgate or an ally skyguard.
    4) I die

    Since I'm focused on the ground, they often engage the fight at 30 meter from my rear/top.
    As I'm playing with A2G weapon (LLA+FuelTanks or nosegun+lolpods/hornets) I don't even try to fight back.


    So my questions are :
    -As a scythe with LPPA/fueltank, how can I react when attacked by a reaver or a moskito that also have nosegun/fueltank ?
    -How to run away from a equally skilled or higher skilled ESF ?
    -Does scythe have stats disadvantage over other ESF when attacking from behind ? (pitch down/up seems slower than on reaver/moskito and I think scythe hitbox is larger than other ESF outside from dogfight)
    -Reaver have better afterburner and moskito have better cruise speed, what's scythe main advantage ?
    -What frame is better to escape other ESF ? (I'm currently using hover frame)
    -When they engage me at close range and I want to fight back, how do I turn back without losing half of my HP ?
    -When the enemy hug your rear, is it possible stop to be on their back or at least crash on you ?
    -When attacking from behind, should I consider myself doomed and peacefuly land on the ground to escape ?
  2. DismayNtheVJJ

    Im not the best pilot, but i have enough time and kills to auraxium the mosquito. The air game has a steep learning curve, as you know. However, you can maximize survival by being a bit more situationally aware.

    First, only use the LPPA if your empire has air superiority and you don't have to worry about a2a esfs.

    Second, Scythes are a pain in the *** to straight on hoverduel against because of their thin frame. Knowing this, a a2a pilot will do his damnedest to engage you from the top and behind. Even with jumping a scythe in this fashion, a skilled scythe pilot can maneuver into hoverdueling position before taking too much damage, putting the advantage to the Scythe (especially if they pop fire suppression right away)

    It seems like you just need to tap into your situational awareness a bit more as you admitted to getting tunnel vision when attacking ground. Do you have headphones? Are you able to identify the sounds of other ESF engines and their arsenal over the sounds of battle, and which direction? This is huge for survival.

    Most of the time the air game centers on who engaged who first, but their is also a lot of other factors (aa locks, flak, another ESF engaging, ect).

    "-How to run away from a equally skilled or higher skilled ESF" the best option is to turn and fight. A fleeing ESF is usually a dead ESF, but you can shake some enemies if you go low and fly sporadically until your Fire extinguisher is recharged.

    "-When they engage me at close range and I want to fight back, how do I turn back without losing half of my HP ?" If you can, break line of site (mountain ridge, biolab, ect) and immediately pull a reverse maneuver and ambush them as they come in sight. Otherwise an immediate RM (I prefer a lateral RM) and pop your fire extinguisher if you take enough damage can work.

    ",what's the scythe main advantage" - it is the best geared ESF for hoverdueling. If 2 equally skilled pilots engage in a hoverduel and the scythe is able to keep its distance while facing their opponent, the Scythes frame coupled with the nose gun velocity will put it on top almost every time.

    However, when there is multiple of each ESF, Scythe loses that advantage due to being able to be "pancaked" (shooting from above or below), so it all balances out.
  3. TwoSkies

    It takes a lot of time and patience to become a good pilot. I remember the first time I got a dogfighting kill and was ecstatic. The one thing I will say is that now that most players have a lot of time under their belts, the learning curve is compounded by a need to be competitive with certs. Just like IRL air war, the more advanced machine often wins. If you enjoy flying around, stick to it, do your research, and know that you will have to invest lots of time and certs before you see results.
  4. AirPilot

    1. The only way to save yourself would be: Fly to friendly air, underneath a friendly skysheild, to WG, line of sight and lose them around mountains.
    Also a cheeky trick you could try is once they're on your tail pitch up and don't stop moveing, (fly in circles) this makes it harder to hit you and gives friendly air / AA to help you.

    2. As above. (Keep in mind the best pilots would still die when being jumped by some other best pilots).

    3. To jump a sycthe would be like jumping a reaver I find however when it comes to fighting multiple targets in the air or being jumped mossies are the best for their small frame. The pitch up and pitch down feels the same to me when I play sycthe, it also feels easier to aim to me.

    4. The best frame to escape is the racer frame but it won't make much of a difference for you when being jumped.

    5. When you get jumped you should lose more then half of your HP if it's a good pilot. If one of the best pilots on the server jumped another of the best pilots of the server the one that got jumped would still die very fast, jumping is a big advantage when engageing. You can try flying behind an obstacle like a mountain or building then turn, that's what I do if I can.

    6. It comes down to the skill of the pilot, but the chances are if you try and slow down then pitch up or down to make them crash into your body you will just die faster, other pilots have tryed this against me before but I simply slow down.

    7. When being attacked from behind never consider yourself doomed. If you try to "peacefull land on the ground" it's even easier to 1 clip you. I orignally started off flying farming ground, I had the same problems as got and quit flying and planetside 2 for about a year, recently I've come back in the past few months, my flying has improved, I can beat about 75% of the ESFs in the air atm including ground farmers, this is becuase I learned how to fly air to air and dogfight before I learned to go A2G and it's paid off. I still ground farm somtimes and I can fend off enemy aircraft to a decent extent meaning the air game is much more fun for me and I can appriciate it for what it is.

    That being said, I still get wrecked a lot myself.
  5. Gromwort

    Almost half a year ago i spend TOOONS of hours learning how to fly without a success.I was flying in VR and test server a lot but when i finally went to real action i got totally owned by nobody and his dog.

    Only real advice i can give you is something i was unable to do myself despite my efforts because nobody wanted to help me even od reedit - do some practice with other pilot, try to learn how to aim and how to escape.GL
  6. Pfundi

    You deserve to die, thats correct
    -sincerely a pissed ground peasent
    • Up x 2
  7. WeRelic

    When you get jumped, the best way to get away is to turn as much and as fast as possible, fly in spiral patterns, make random turns, and just be erratic in general while keeping a generally forward momentum towards whatever safety you can find (warpgate is usually the best choice, though airshields are a good second). This will mess up even the best pilots and drop their TTK somewhat, hopefully enough for you to get to your cover.

    I would also suggest forgoing the LPPA and throw a Saron/Maelstrom on. It'll be more difficult at first, but it won't leave you completely open to an A2A ESF, and you'll still have your rocket pods to deal A2G damage.
  8. Halkesh

    Do you think having a squadmate playing as AA MAX or skyguard is enough ? Or you really need 3-4 scythe with you everytime ?

    I've 2 loadspeaker so I can only say if I the sound come from left or right. When I hear a non-scythe sound I immediately check around. I have tunnel vision only when I swoop. About their arsenal, I can't say what gun they have until they have fired, then I know if they have AH, banshee or nosegun (can't differentiate them).

    Is it possible to do reverse maneuver while at full speed ? :eek:
    About breaking the line of sight... Indeed, it's a great idea. I should do that. :p
  9. WeRelic

    No, it's not. You have to wait until your contrails disappear before being able to RM. Can't remember the exact speed off hand though.
  10. Halkesh

    I already do that, except I avoid to put my personnal waypoint on skyshield (except for repair when i'm not chased) because with the construction I'll just crash myself.
  11. Vorest

    Hello there. Same problems here. Currently I have around 48.000 kills on my character and BR 112-113(doesn't matter). I do not play ESF much. Mainly because like you, after being spotted by any enemy Reaver or Mozi, I'm being killed in ~30 seconds. I consider myself good with A2G combat with PPA/lolpods. That being said I can count my A2A nosegun kills with fingers. On one hand. Problem with air game in Planetside is that you are either bad pilot(like me) or good pilot, there is not much middle ground, at least now.

    Your options are:
    Use engagement radar so you cannot be sneaked upon
    Consider racer airframe so you can outrun attacker with your nitro (you lose hover ability tho...)
    Always set escape waypoint so you do not have to think where is your safe zone after dancing with enemy
    Learn to fly low and fast (VR is good)

    Either way you will most likely die a lot, but bit less than in your current state. Many players can score near 100% accuracy even while you evade a lot at high speeds while using ground bstacles as shield. How? No idea. Maybe some skilled A2A players will respond here.

    Main advantage of Scythe over other 2 ESF's is better agility and evasiveness, however our funny shape of fighter make for a bigger hitbox IMO.

    Crashing is also an option, but only against other ESF's. If you want to survive with no hope of winning fight, pilot as Drifter LA, upon taking heavy damage bail and redeploy while hoping enemy pilot won't damage, fly over you on 10 seconds. Not much to do, at least you can deny that one more kill to skyknight.

    That being said, do not consider my tips as definite and perfect. While my skills in air are low, mu computer is not good enough too topping at 20FPS while midair(lowest possible settings ofc), thus I prefer sticking to ground where I have safe 30FPS and can engage easier.
  12. chuck105

    First off, it's always best to pull aircraft from the Warpgate. This ensures you're safe selecting load outs, and won't be immediately spotted.

    As many will suggest, learn the reverse maneuver. This is significantly more complicated than most will tell you, but basically it's how you turn around quickly, and ideally it causes you to fly backwards. Practice hovering in VR, then tilt to the side and hover low over the ground first left then right. Then pitch down while tilted to the side, notice how your momentum keeps you moving in one direction, even as you're turning the other way. Do this in third person. When the contrails, the white smoke, disappears, you are in hover mode. While in hover mode, using the afterburner will direct you upwards. Reversing is done by after burning while in hover mode, while pitching down so that you spin in a circle around your target.


    Obviously this is something that can't really be explained like this.

    Running is often a bad idea, but you can escape. Do not fly straight unless using afterburners, instead wiggle up and down while flying on your side. Only run away if you are low on health or ammo, in enemy territory or an unfair location for a fight, and or safety can be reached. Fuel tanks help with this, the new racer will make running away more viable.

    Your best bet is to try to get to favorable/even fighting airspace with afterburners, then throttle back while turning upside down. Then turn back to 90 degrees (on your side) and pitch down, looking for your pursuer. This should be down in third person to maximize field of view. Once you've located your target, you can stay in hover and dodge their fire using your vertical thrust.

    I get you're focused on ground, but I would recommend ditching the lol pods and focusing on air at first. As you have probably realized, you will be at a moderate advantage, even more so if they don't know how to properly reverse. The vast majority of pilots suck at dogfighting, just like you do now. Learn a few moves, improve your aim, and understand basic strategy, and you'll be able to easily best most threats you'll face when flying, unless outnumbered. The scythe is the slowest ESF, without fuel tanks you will have difficulty outrunning anyone. Add tomcat a2a missiles to the mix, and you are forced to hold your ground or engage your attacker.

    Ground farming may be profitable, but constantly dying to a2a or even multirole ESF's will keep you grounded. I doubt those you're facing are at the level of "Skyknight," even mediocre pilots can chase you and put you down if you don't dodge.
  13. AirPilot

    Just pull an air to air ESF and take it out or AA. PPA isn't good against aircraft.
  14. Liewec123

    my main tip as a fellow bad pilot who hates skyknight gankers,
    don't over-extend, stay near your allies (ground or air) and run back to them when the skyknight come to claim his certs,

    most of the time they cut off the chase, some times they follow and die,
    rarely they follow and you have useless allies who don't care about the easy target :p
  15. Syllabear

    What is a skyknight???
    Oh nvm...

    Mhmm suspicious. I know how hard is to aim in air.
    The more i fly the more i notice it. I am getting better aiming in the air... and those guys that dont take time into re aim after you do a really close turn is pure ********.
    I don't want to start acusing... but they are really suspicious.

    Is an online shooter after all, i wouldnt be surprised if they are cheating the **** out of this game.
    Devs should use fairfight to be sure.
  16. Halkesh

    I don't think it's a fair advice. Since it assume he have at least the same skill than the A2G farmer with full certed ESF. Plus, most of the time A2G pilot take their ESF because they're close to warpgate or they have the sky control. At least, that's what i do.


    Let's be clear about my skill : I'm not a total noob about airplane. :p
    I've already learn RM, I'm not that bad at dogfighting. And sometimes I even kill ESF with my LPPA. I think I'm average to above average about air gameplay. I've nearly 2day of cumulated time inside scythe.

    It seems my main problem was trying to run away because I had LPPA. And I also have bad placement, as I often fly alone. Thanks for the help everyone.
  17. Halkesh

    Skyknight, skymaster, etc are people that have great skill at ESF, if not the best skilled pilots.
  18. DismayNtheVJJ

    Yeah, most solo a2gers I know target armor and run non ai nose guns to fight other air threats, and supplement damage to their hornet/rockets. The LPPA just doesn't have the velocity or fire rate in a 1v1 setting. That's why it is recommended to have a wingman if you do choose the AI route, or have air superiority and just want to go jnto farm mode
  19. Luminari

    Once you start receiving damage, check your map. If it's an enemy ESF press ESC and then Log Out. You lose nanites but it's a surefire way to prevent a death. **** those skygays.
  20. LaughingDead

    Skyknights hate an "unhonorable/unfair" fight, simply have friendlies run ground2air locks or run near a AA sundi or skyguard. If there's more than one and they insta-gib you, it simply means your ground has to push up and you need to support that push,