Halve splash damage. That'll make infantry happy. Bring their dps up to the rotary, but at 1/2 the rotary's range, and maybe 75% of the rotary's velocity. That would make them a decent dogfighting option, while being half as good at farming infantry, but still considerably better than AA noseguns. I'd be happy because I wouldn't have to run Coyotes when doing A2G. The PPA would need the most help in the AA department. I suggest upping the velocity, halving damage, doubling rpm, and doubling magazine and ammo capacity.
I think we should stop the nerfculture. Rather than nerf the AI guns, who already perform about as good as the rocketpods against infantry but leave you more vulnerable against AA, give infantry some utility options against aircraft. Lets start small with 3 non-lethal items. The first is an aerial smoke launcher, which when deployed keeps shooting a smoke grenade in the air which remains there to obscure what's beneath. The second is an miniature air shield which protects against a few shots (not entire magazines) to give infantry a bit more time to seek cover and increase the time aircraft need to score a kill. The third creates the same distortion effect as cloak does but without the cloak, and the farther away you are the more distorted the area looks (reverse of what the current Sunderer cloak has). This encourages aircraft to get closer to get a better look at their target.
AI noseguns are multitudes better that rocket pods. I actually dueled a Mossy with Lolpods with my medic and chased him away. AI noseguns are also infinitely more survivable against all AA sources because you can run fuel pods. I consider my proposal an overall buff, because the gun could hdandle anything. And while I don't like to default to "nerf", AI guns are too easy to use for how they dominate infantry. It just think the devs took the complete wrong approach to the recent Banshee nerf. And while more options can be good, Daybreak is so inept at balancing air and ground, I don't want to see any more variables thrown in the mix.
ALL of the noseguns on ESF's are a little quicker TTK'wise than they should be compared to almost every other Weapon unlock for aircraft. It's what makes learning to fly against all these ESF players who are ALWAYS in the air so impossible. There's no TTK "Bridge" between Coyotes and MLG Needler. And I'm not even venturing into the realm of 1v1's. Against GROUND, you bet I'm gonna win a 1v1 against a Striker Heavy at least half the time when using my Mustang or AH without ever having even unlocked BreakerPods. But even 2 mediocre ESF pilots running Coys or A2A's will get totally destroyed by 1 suspiciously FAST (as in covers a lot of ground as if they had Racer3) but also difficult-to-track Hover Knight. (and of course, they all ANALOG Yaw like they had Dogfighter3 without missing more often like every other Binary-Input user experiences) And all because the Nosegun TTK is so damn superior in that suspiciously good player's hand compared to what was originally intended to be the "Hard" Air to Air Counters. and it wouldn't surprise me if Wrel wanted to "take another look" at their Magazine sizes or at least their Spread & damage against other ESF's
That's entirely backwards. Everyone gets lucky, but as a fight drags on, consistency matters more and more. The longer the TTK, the more likely the better player is to win. For all the experience flying you claim to have, you're awful salty about good pilots. I've got about 50% more time in the air than you do, just a noob in the big scheme of things, but the more I fly the more I see is possible, and the things you're seeing aren't cheating. As for a bridge between skill missiles and noseguns, I 100% agree air needs one.
