So this is my first time posting so first off I would like to say WELL DONE to all the devs on PS2, overall this game is surprisingly balanced given the large scale and is small life span. But nothing is perfect...I feel that the range of the anti air burster on the MAX is way too long. I mean the range for the burster is significantly more than the anti air turret which from a logical standpoint doesn't make sense given their relative sizes. Also anti air turrets are in preset positions so smart flyers will know to avoid them, MAXS on the other hand can be anywhere and if a flyer is at a decent altitude the max won't even render. So I think that the bursters range should be equal to that of the turret, I feel that the role of an anti air max should be to ward off air attack on mobile forces and not instantly dominate such a large chunk of airspace. Respectfully, D3athByRo8
I have to agree with this. I've made a comment about this on a long post I made a bit back. The Burster Max is a 100 infantry resource item thats better than AA base turrets. You can turn on a dime, and look in any direction instantly with the smallest profile of any AA vehicle. I'm able to knock off ESFs at crossroads from the crown (assuming they're flying straight so i can lead). A good burster MAX is too powerful for its own good. The worst is that if you look at the resources spent and an AA max still decimates an ESF 1v1. The ESF stands no chance to a a single burster MAX. The problem occurred really has to do with the fact they did a pan-air nerf. and ESFs also got a composite debuff within all the other AA buffs, which forced ESFs into a purely AA capacity which is NOT the correct way to do things (I can't believe how many idiots on here argue that ESFs should be AA only. :Facepalm: The reason a range nerf is necessary is that it still means ESF will get murdered by a MAX if he's too close to the area, but he'll still be able to SUPPORT his ground forces. If I'm above my own team's lines and getting hit with unkillable MAXes Behind enemy lines, I can't even SUPPORT my team. As it stands now once both sides get a single burster or two up, ESFs got completely pushed to play off in the corner. ESFs NO LONGER contribute to the battlefront. Meanwhile lib's can still withstand that kinda damage and stick around... yet another :Facepalm: which shows how all these AA buff's hit the ESFs way harder than Libs, which was the point of them!
You should feel nervous and threatened when flying over occupied enemy territory. You should not feel safe in your little personal death turret. Balancing risk vs. reward is an important game design task. Even right now, flying an ESF offers great reward, with little risk, if forethought is put into angle of attack and map position. What you don't seem to understand, is that you should not be able to remain in an enemy occupied AO, indefinitely. I know that you got used to playing this way, but the game changed, because you abused the ESF's total superiority. If you want to figure out what it takes to operate effectively post-AA and post-ESF nerf, then I suggest watching some top pilot streamers. They demonstrate the same general awareness of troop and AA positions, and behave in a way that makes it almost impossible to deploy flak against them, effectively. I hate airchavs, but I'm going to help you out anyways: either hug terrain at max speed, or hug the flight ceiling and stay mobile wile you acquire a target. Make attack-runs, not attack-strolls. The vast majority of Reavers and Scythes I shoot down with bursters are just lazily poking along, with their nose down, trying to give infantry or vehicles a firey death. The pilots I CANT shoot down with bursters, are the ones that zoom in, slam rockets into the *** of a tank, then zoom off behind terrain before I can even really line up consecutive shots. tl;dr if you are dying to flak, the game is telling you that you are doing it wrong. p.s. flak/aa killed fighters about twice as fast in PS1 as it does in this game, and air was still deployed effectively.
You didn't read my post at all. I'm talking about being over MY OWN lines and getting bursted to hell. I have no problem getting owned behind enemy lines lol. Thus the "nerf" is to range only, not damage or accuracy.
If you're over your own line and being 'bursted to hell' then you are still doing it wrong. Use the terrain, fly erratically. You are not, and should not be safe if ground has line of site to you. Stop assuming that you should ever be totally safe in your death turret. It's impossible to down an esf at the range you are talking about, if they are actually maneuvering. Flak has flight time, if you are hovering or going in slow, straight lines, then you deserve to die. It's really that simple. You cannot tell me that you are flying defensively, using terrain, changing speeds, and still getting shot down by flak all the time. Also, guess what? Sometimes you're going to get caught by surprise and lose your fighter. It happens. It doesn't mean the game is broken.
I know this. Problem is, i burst MAX MORE than ESF flying now. It's easier to take down air with a burster MAX than an ESF. An ESF can't even fight back AT ALL against a burster MAX and has all the other lock-on skill-less noobs pointing and clicking. A burster MAX can sit in his own base, behind and on top of buildings with nothing countering him. Obviously, I agree the burst MAX is a hard counter to ESFs, so it should be MAX>ESF, however its unbalanced in the favor of burster MAX by too much now. A Burst buff AND a composite nerf put it too far over, only one of those changes should have occurred for ESFs. The flying tanks needed the composite nerf, not the paper planes. Look around the forums, I'm reading more and more posts everyday where people are definitely admitting that right now the Burster is slightly overpowered. Cause it is. If you fail to admit that burster are more overpowered than they should be right now, you don't have a feel for balance.
A lot of people who didn't play PS1 haven't realized this yet. Since flak has to lead you by a pretty wide margin, it's easy to fly in patterns to avoid dying to it. The only exception to this is obviously when a battle is filled with flak, but you should see that and not even be flying right into the thick of things until it cools off. And yeah it is inevitable to get your ESF killed. This is why I fly as LA so I can safe land and go right into infantry fighting. Whenever I need to repair I fly to a friendly outpost and change to engineer to repair, then go back to LA. The extra time it takes to do this is, IMO, well worth it to get an extra life when your ESF is definitely going to get blown up. The only thing you really give up is the ability to land and repair anywhere you want, but frankly when I need to land and repair it would have usually only taken a few extra seconds to fly to a friendly base anyway. I also find that when you bail out as LA into an enemy base, everyone just sees your ESF crash into the courtyard and thinks you died, when really you just landed on the roof and dropped a spawn beacon.
what they really need to do is buff burster's damage and fire rate even more, and lower their effective range to 150 to 250m. Their effective AA coverage should only be within their render distance. Skyguards cone of fire needs to be tightened up so they can hit up to 800m which is also within their render distance. There is currently no meaningful choice between the different AA. AA maxes perform way better than skyguards and AA turrets with absolutely no downsides. AA maxes have just as much damage as an AA turret, while also having the longest flak range of all 3.
I thought they made MAX render at the same distance as vehicles now? I was being engaged by an ESF with his nose cannon at an extreme range last night. If anything, the MAX range has gotten shorter and ESF's don't render to a range they used to. I certainly can't hit ESF's at the range I used to be able to. Beyond 200m, unless the ESF has a thumb up his ****, hitting a dodging target is pure luck that far out. I have to anticipate where you'll be when my flak reaches your range, if you've moved - I miss. Learn evasive maneuvers. If you fly straight and level, you're only presenting me with a gift. An AA MAX range is shorter than render distance. Especially noticeable with Liberators at maximum altitude. Fire all you want at something you can see and it won't hit.
Do realise also that an AA MAX cant do a single dmg against vehicle and requires like 5 magazines to take down a heavy assault.. we need to be nice at AA because we cant do anything else during that time. Even an heavy assault with an Hawk is an better idea then a MAX suit. The rockets do massive dmg, heatseeking, the only appear on the map for 1 small time while shooting and thus are more stealthy.. and they can switch to anti-infantery mode if they need to. Also they can attack tanks etc. to i mean.. come on.. stop whining about a MAX suit who does the only thing he can.
It was buffed last AA patch. Infantry are now a lot easier to kill. I would say since the last patch, I've killed 3 times more infantry than pilots. My infantry kills with Bursters may have been ~3 since release (lucky last hit, mostly) but I've been consistently getting at least 10 kills a night. One instance a dopey sniper decided to take potshots at me from one of the first few bases on Indar NC side. I climbed down off my rock, scooted over so that he was unable to see me from where he was sniping from, ran the 200 odd meters and stood right infront of him. He took another shot and I tore him up with my Bursters. I guess he didn't read the patch notes either..
Yes, the AA MAX can do decently agains infantry now, which still comes as a surprise for a lot of people that think they can just stand still and take potshots at it. Anyway, an ESF is not supposed to duel a AA unit. If you managed to ambush it then sure, a salvo of rockets is a fair kill. But you are not supposed to notice you are taking fire, locate the AA MAX and then take it out. likewise the AA MAX is not only there to protect itself, it is providing cover from nearby teammates. So it needs the range to hit aircraft at high attitude, even if they are not directly on top of it. I remember a period in the beta where burster MAXes had enough range to clear the skies. There was almost nothing flying. Thats not what I want, but we are also nowhere near that situation.
That was a gravy change. Before, people would run up and hose you in close range only to be peppered with AA and then meleed once for a quick, messy death. Now AA's got an even easier time protecting itself. It's no DC but it feels a lot better now. Reliable. *nod* And, yea, if you're having AA problems and are on VS (and NC, soon) just have your tanks snipe them. QQ.
I have to disagree. As long as you do not dive at a burster max there is no reason why it should shoot you down. Besides ESF are fighters not bombers. You can sub as a strafe bomber but your main role is to fight other aircrafts with your agility. Leave the bombing to liberators who utterly lay waste to burster maxes and sky guards alike while shrugging off any damage.
You think that's OP? How about multi AA fun times? But yes, in all seriousness, seeing MAXes outclass stationary AA guns seems off considering MAXes can go wherever the hell they please. The stationary guns should be superior due to the fact they can only cover a limited area.
If anything I think they should take things even further and bring Skyguard and flak turrets up to Burster level.
But nothing is perfect...I feel that the range of the anti air burster on the MAX is way too long I'm sorry but i have to disagree with this... First, there is only one anti-air weapon, which i think is not enough, next, it's hard to touch a mosquito from 500-800 feet above you so, don't complain.
Dual Burster MAX is OP and it's distance if knowing how to lead is long. Either way it serves it's purpose to piss on a rocket podding ESFs parade which can also be considered OP by infantry and tanks. What I find strange is the Range of Skyguards seem to be shorter than the MAX.
An ESF has the power to go up, down, left, right, faster and slower. A large enough change in any one of those directions will make that MAX's flak miss. Knowing how far to lead comes with practice and I'm pretty good at it now. If you're altering your speed and direction, every one of my long shots will miss and there's not a single thing I can do about it.
