an honest question to AA maxes...

do you really have fun. I mean really. you spend 3000 certs but when do you ever find yourself in danger. if an air vehicle comes by you kill it, if infantry comes by you can handle yourself more than adequately at full health and normally you have engies close by. why does spending certs allow you to in theory never die due to the simple fact your support role is so simple you never find yourself in any danger. (dont tell me you get blown up by rocket pods all the time because then you must just plain old suck)

... you must be a terrible pilot.

I rarely ever die as an AA max. But mainly because people don't tend to target me for some reason, and when they do, they don't target me enough to kill me, just bring my health down a few notches. Which can be fixed up by an engineer quick enough. Although back to your question, I don't think spending certs means that I'll never die, I think it's more to do with being a MAX and when some people see one they go "RUUUUUuuuunnn", also having more health and usually a nearby engineer around means if you're not standing in the open taking all manner of fire, then you'll probably be ok. But the same could be said of a HA hiding behind a rock/corner with a medic, taking shots at people.

Don't think it means anything especially, as anyone can get into a MAX.

Also I do have fun with my AA max

an honest question to ESF lolpodders:

do you really have fun. I mean really. you spend 3000 certs but when do you ever find yourself in danger. if an AA max comes by you afterburn away, if infantry comes by you kill it and normally you play engie. why does spending certs allow you to in theory never die due to the simple fact your attack role is so simple you never find yourself in any danger. (dont tell me you get shot down by AA maxes all the time because then you must just plain old suck)

Love killing hovering rocketpodders with my burster MAX because I disagree with the way ESF and Libs weapon loadouts were designed. I'd much rather nail them with the vanguard though and oddly enough a lot of the podders make that laughably easy as they line up on vehicles or infantry they expect are unable to fight back.

I love flying my lib and all but the whole air and anti air system is so out of whack that the tweaking of damage and resistances on either side isn't the solution.

The burster max player gives up much of his ability to defend himself (from anyone who isn't asleep at the keyboard) in exchange for increased effectiveness against a single target type in the game - and that increased effectiveness does not even make him a deadly threat to that target, merely a deterrent.

It is a role where one can expect the incredibly occasional kill (on bad or previously wounded pilots), a handful of kill assists, and (now that they've added it to the game) a "you chased them away for a few seconds" consolation prize for his efforts.

And yet, the alternative is to let enemy pilots rain death upon your allies virtually unabated.

It's a necessary, but largely unrewarding role, that must be filled if one's empire is going to accomplish anything at all. We don't pull AA maxes because they're roflstomping killing machines, we pull them to drive off the roflstomping killing machines.

The AA max can expect to die to:
LA with C4, any drop-podding enemy infantry, AP mines, MBTs with good firing angles, roadkills from high-health or sneaky and fast-moving aircraft, coordinated strikes by enemy air, and overwhelming numbers of enemy aircraft.

Against any target that isn't an aircraft, he can do a modicum of damage in an effort to help defend himself. But he is not slaying anyone or anything (including his chosen target type) with any efficiency.

Only reason I get my max out is to make you flyboys rage

and I know it sure as hell does.

So yeah, I enjoy it.

When I played a TR MAX, your statements are far from the reality. Without proper support, the MAX is useless. The dual bursters I purchased were nerfed almost immediately, and/or lag keeps me from consistently taking down aircraft (though I get hit markers and explosions where they should be), chainguns and bursters and anti-armor seem very ineffective against infantry (Players charge the TR MAX, they run away from the NC MAx.

Many engies walk by without dropping ammo, or repairing, even when you're spamming V-3 and V-4.

Some ESF pilots, either through certs or stupidity (or invulnerability cheats), can fly straight at a dual burster MAX and get enough rocket pods off that I do, in fact, die while they live. Seen it so m any times my jaw drops in amazement and frustration.

Due to lack of support from teammates, lack of engineers willing to repair/supply, the overall weakness of the TR MAX in general...
NO, it is really not fun to play.

did i ask for your opinion on regular maxes? nah not really i have 2 mercys workin fine on mine and im damn well never gonna purchase AAs cause they are broken. as for this fly right at you thing. uhh they spent 200 resources and you spent 90. im pretty sure they shud be able to drop you 1v1.
score so far
1 say boring
0 say fun to shoot in sky

as for a bunch of other windowlickers how do ESFs defend themselves when they dont have a2g. i roll afterburners and a rotary so does that mean i dont have the right to be in an area where there is a single AA max? i think not.

are you really that stupid. have you ever gone up in the sky at all? i mean the sheer stupidity of you is enough to put Lindsay lohan to shame. the second you go up there i can guarantee 25% of your hp from skyguard, 25% from AA max and the other 50% from a lock on. Now the ranger will put some % points soon aswell. my skill as a pilot isnt an issue because by the time i die its mostly after ive become an extreme menace its the fact that a noskill pew pew man can put more damage out than someone who has to actually plan his attacks thanks to the massive r@pe of AA in existence.

When I fly, I still die to the same sources in about the same proportion as before: Enemy air, followed by friendly air collisions, followed by terrain collisions, followed by all other sources of AA. Burster maxes (and ground based lock-ons) only kill me when I get greedy chasing a target and overextend myself.

@cupcakecaptain
You lost us all with your ad hominems and venomous spoutings.

Most people flying around are just bad. I even see people using flares to try and escape flak...

Anti-air is for shooting things out of the air. If it can't kill effectively it's pointless, like it was a few patches ago. Anti-vehicle rockets are just as nasty against tanks and they cost even more resources.

But yea, killing air-chavs is fun. They seem to think they should be outside of balance rules and invincible for some reason.

all dem bumhurt players only support AA because their precious tank zerg would be countered if AA was toned down. If you are so worried about being killed as infantry... heres a thought nerf damage against infantry for a2g in turn nerf all AA range and damage hard. fair trade off and now if you are bumhurt you are probably just trying to zerg without airsupport

genius. mad-libs, PS2 whiners' edition!

In light of the response (or lack thereof) to my reasoned rebuttals, I'm simply going to say this:

ITT: Hoverspammer tears of rage.

Heck yeah I have fun with 'em! Beating up on the bully is always a hoot! Usually I pull an AA MAX after my squad gets farmed by spamming Zephyrs from floating Liberators that are invulnerable to small arms an racking up a great KD for the gunner. Then, my squad pulls a couple of AA MAXes and begins fighting back, usually having to assist each other to get a single kill, if any, before they fly away to repair. We don't get any real XP, since we only get A2G damage XP (under the new system), which is a measly +10 points.

You know what the best reward for it is, though? Watching dedicated ESF pilots and Lib gunners with KD's that put ANY dedicated infantry player's to shame whine about getting chased away by AA. That's the best part!

I run my AA MAX not because I want to, not because its rewarding, in fact its just the opposite. I run my AA MAX because it prevents the rest of our forces from being farmed as well as creating a safe zone for friendly pilots to repair and restock. ESF / Lib gunning net me 12 - 15 k per hour, (min)I've never broken 10k per hour running AA MAX.

If you want to complain go after heavies with G2A launchers, not a thankless job that is the AA MAX.

First, you don't get to blame AA-MAXs for lock-on spam - last I checked, I don't have rockets on my Burster MAX.

Second, frankly, I'd have a lot more sympathy for pilots if 2/3 of you weren't complete fools. I racked up 104 certs in a little over an hour today on Miller Esamir during the assault on Snowshear, because apparently most of the TR pilots(and I use this only as an example, I've seen plenty of elbow-licking dafties flying blue or purple colours as well) thought it was a great plan to keep hovering stock-still over a Sunderer protected by three double-Burster MAXs, and after dying, to respawn and try to grab another plane from Snowshear itself, ie right in front of our bloody weapons. I took out a Liberator solo, despite being in clear view and directly in front of him, because he just hung there in mid-air while I emptied four reloads worth of shells.

And don't give me any bollocks about that being because AA is super-OP and the poor victimised pilots had no chance, because there were a couple of 'em that were proper slippery buggers who wouldn't go down even with three of us trying to hit them - lock-ons are excessive right now, but if you're genuinely dying as easily as you say to regular projectile-AA? PEBKAC mate, PEBKAC.