-Balance changes- ~Lock on time increased by 2 seconds across the board. ~Missile acceleration must grade with distance and slow as it reaches out further. Allowing Lock-on launchers to effectively combat vehicles based on proximity but not smash them at greater then intended/feasible ranges. (0-200m full speed, 200-400m .75, 400m+ .5 speed) ~Lock-on acquisition time must grade with distance. Increases the further away a target becomes. (Note: Both the scaling speed and lock 'nerfs' are actually also supposed to swing in favor the closer the target. It will imply actually a great boost to lock speed and missile velocity if the target is very close by. Instead of starting off with the base we have and progressively getting worse. The entire idea is to give the lock-on weapons a boon when the targets are being careless but limiting their overkill potential on targets that are simply trying to exist in the same hex.) ~Missile tracking should receive a small nerf so fully aware and skilled pilots can juke an incoming missile by ignoring all other threats to concentrate on the maneuver. ~Global buff to Stealth and its delay per cert (A laughable 1 full extra second at max) -New features- ~Lock-on will only maintain as long as the target is kept within an aiming reticle. Lock can be lost and reclaimed for the duration of the missile. (Allowing for lock, side fire, and reacquiring the target if the shooter is skilled enough. End result you can 'bend' the rockets around obstacles with enough practice. Even hitting weaker points of armor if used well enough. Would also mean the HA in question would have to commit anti-vehicle instead of snapping off a FAF weapon and going back to anti-infantry duties.) ~Missiles both lock and dumb fire will appear on the mini-map regardless of target. ~HUD 3D indicator of an incoming locked missile dictating both direction and distance (This is not only a neat feature but also heavily needed in fact that most missiles are being fired from beyond render distance and are hitting vehicles that cannot even see the incoming ballistic.) Lots of changes, I know but they are absolutely vital in the current game. Aircraft have been getting nerf after nerf after nerf and this latest has push it well past the point of balance. Pendulum has swung much to far and it is impossible to effectively use aircraft and more specifically ESF when there are HA within the same hex. Rendering ESF useless anywhere there is a conflict. The proposed changes would gives boosts where they should be applied while also fixing the problems represented with such a great many free infantry having such a potent and long range anti-vehicle weapon. I'll go ahead to just get the obvious refutes out of the way so we can focus on what sounds good and what else could possible make the cut. ^Buy Flares! Flares, even when fully certed only let you recycle every 25 seconds. 1 second is given to you as you drop lock and 5 seconds of immunity there after. That leaves 19 seconds that any HA can simply keep tracing and refire. Against other ESF they were balanced well enough because of the low volume of A2A that could potentially be brought to bare. G2A scales far to much for any flare system to even begin to counter. There can only be so many ESF. There are potentially hundreds of HA in any given area. ^Buy Stealth! As mentioned above. It simply is not nearly potent enough to do anything tangibly beneficial enough to warrant the insane price. It is more of a 'don't show up on radar' then anti-lock it cert tree anyways. ^Buy Skill! With this latest buff to lock speed and distance we have also seen a tremendous increase to the tracking ability. G2A do not miss. Period. Even if fired under perfect conditions with the origin point known and the pilot able to fully concentrate on the reverse thrust side flip. Lock-on missile don't give a ***- damn. No amount of skill will allow you to evade them as they are now. ^Buy Cover! Another byproduct of the improved tracking. Any missile that is within 150m of your tail will simply follow you around obstacles. Unless you pull on hell of a air brake and boost at a 330' angle into a rock pocket that missile is going to find you. The few times you do have enough room to get squarely behind cover and not give the missile a chance to curve are in-proportionally a viable solution to the number of times you are going to get chased by a missile. Not impossible but not at all an option that can be relied upon. ^Buy Fast! I've tried the Racer frame along with using the After Burner reserves and even then. The missile is far too determined. Unless your lead is so massive that the question of why in the heck anyone can lock you from that distance is more at the forefront of your mind then getting away, speed will not save you. (Note this is one of those points that would be address with scaling speed/lock on. Vehicles that render 500m away from you should not be targets you can reliably knock down.) ^Buy Combined arms! This is what really is the problem with the HA's new toy. There is no scenario in which the Air can exist where there is conflict. Before other vehicles hunted vehicles, HA just lent support or acted as deterrent at best. As it should be. A vehicle is an asset that can be target, lost, and must be required at the price of res points and respawn timer. You could buy a few minutes of activity by knocking out a Sky Guard or AA MAX cluster. Making them counters but also vulnerable to their own counters which were most land based. That is a good cross counter system. You must protect or target assets that are a danger to your ground forces and they must reciprocate against threats you cannot engage. The whole point is to cover each other and break dwon the enemies defensive network until you can bring the full brunt of your vehicular and infantry advantage on top of their heads. That is impossible with HA's having such potent anti-vehicle capabilities. (Most notably for ESF. Tanks don't mind as much do to lower damage output. ESF are paper thin though and uncommonly vulnerable.) You cannot 'take out' Lock-on HA. You cannot target them. You cannot even suppress them to the point. You cannot force their timer. They are essentially everywhere there is a conflict. They are free. They repspawn instantly and they are frankly too damn good at what they do. The only time ESF can work within a conflict zone is when your ground forces have so utterly routed the enemy HA cannot even afford to look up at the sky for a fully 3 seconds. At that point, what is the point? There will be people who are going to accuse us of being whiners. How we 'deserve' this because of the earlier imbalances that gave ESF teeth beyond reason. How this is the 'intended' results but in the end look at the game and look at the sky. It is a thin horizon and will never be as fun as it should for all parties involved when an entire element of the combine arms dynamic absent. So completely hard countered that they are removed from the over all strategy except as a means of cross cont transportation. Let's have a real discussion about how we can find a fair balance for everyone so we can end this ceaseless see-saw balancing act and get a relationship everyone can enjoy.
I disagree,and yes your a whiner because you put that in ill point it out,you can never truly balance a endless war game,get over it.
It's not a new toy ... It's a toy that is finally working correctly .. Weeks went by with it broken and even if you were lucky to hit you were even more lucky for the thing to actually register any damage. The hit detection / damage were bugged. So now when they hit they actually do DO damage you are noticing what they should have been like on release. One part I will agree on and something I was thinking of last night after using the G2A vs Lib's is that the lock on timer is to quick now . For me the best option would be for them to increase the lock on timer but decrease reload time .. So time between shot's is the same but pilots have more reaction time due to longer lock on. Edit: And the reduced G2A lock timer should have been a certable ability rather than free across the board And btw your post isn't really about balance but more NERF HA rocket launcher's
G2A is strong only if there is many of them vs a solo or a few air, when air get out in force there still wipe the ground out
