How would you rebalance ESFs/Flak if they did not have Rocket Pods ?

Just give me empire specific MBT secondaries for my ESF in place of rocket pods. For my Mossy the Banshee/Vulcan, and go kill all you stupid enough to run outdoors when air is present. For my Scythe, I'd probably stick to a Hailstorm/Saron combo. Air Hammer/Enforcer in my Reaver. That would be so much fun.

Your EMP bomb and A2G lock-ons are lame... having ESFs with guns only means they'll require some level of skill to use. For guns to be viable however, you have to tone down AA significantly.

No rocket pods, all Bursters must be removed from the game and the MAX never given another AA viable weapon again! You can keep all those G2A lock-ons, just get rid of those abomination called Bursters. Lock-ons can be countered with flares. AA turrets and other forms of AA (Skyguard, Walkers) would need some tuning so they aren't so damaging, but they can stay too.

And for those that own rocket pods, just give them the empire specific MBT secondaries when you remove their pods. One Burster is free so you can yank it totally, give them the new empire specific AV MAX weapon in place for their 2nd Burster.

Also undo IRNV nerf on ESF.

For the Lib, they should be fine. ESFs can counter them and shoot them down, you don't need AA for that function. Let air be air, and factions without air/pilots should LOSE.

Airborne Saron, what could possibly go wrong ?

Miss means you'll do no damage and be waiting on a reload. Accuracy is paramount... no spray and pray like rocket pods or cluster bombs.

"introduce a new Fighter module. No hover, highly reduced damage from flak, higher top speed, resistance to lock-ons" - This is the best idea ive ever heard for fixing the problem. Amazing idea

Correlation does not imply causation, friend.

Landing bombs in BF2 took quite a lot of practice and good pilots had pinpoint accuracy.

True - bombs could be a viable addition. But the empire specific MBT secondaries are already mostly built and would be super easy to put on to an ESF, they'd just need to work out some graphics.

But really, I don't want more lock-ons... can we skip on those A2G lock-ons? I once thought about them myself but just not something we need more of. I think the Vulcan/Saron/Enforcer ML85 on ESFs would be a fun thing to have, and would further differentiate them.

Personally, I've always wanted rocket pods to be a set of two missiles that deal an immense amount of direct damage but have very little splash. The ESF would have four to six sets of two, and two would get an MBT burning from the rear.

THEN I would make the A2A main gun have a much higher bullet velocity, make A2A rockets more numerous, do less damage, lock on faster, and have them turn much more slowly. That way they can be dodged by a skilled pilot or hit with correct leading by a skilled pilot while still making it easier to hit aircraft at longer ranges and forcing an enemy ESF to take evasive maneuvers.

ESFs shouldn't be able to kill infantry better than they can kill ESFs.

if they had no pods or A2G nose guns...hmm...

probably just remove G2A damage exp and double composite armor effectiveness. might need to separate flares into an A2A and G2A version, and give them all one G2A flare free with the "flares" cert giving one of each so you'd have two G2A flares on separate cooldowns.

but that will never happen for the same reason none of my changes actually nerfed the G2A weapons directly, people already paid for that ****.

Yep.... Flying is hard... .twitch.tv/spencley/c/2216646 Flying is broken beyond belief and ESF's are in no way balanced...

So you want me, as a slow-as-**** VTOL aircraft to do bombing runs with A SINGLE BOMB, and rely on ground troops to pick my targets?

What're you smoking?

A flying fortress flies 50% faster than my aircraft. My aircraft handles and flies more like an Apache. How many Apaches are fitted for bombing runs?

Momentum > 1

I'm not surprised. You deliberately blind-sighted yourself by listening to loud music and, hence, the ESF could sneak up on you. Closely listening to your surroundings is as importing as watching for detecting enemies early.

These threads are beyond useless. Rocketpods are fine.

Airborne Vulcan, what could possibly..... HOLY ****! OH GOD WTF!?!?

Not sure what this is supposed to mean? I have more momentum than an Apache?

Momentum is an irrelevant point... Bombing is the least efficient way to deliver ordinance to a target when you factor high risk (slow) low altitude flying. It's the future, and we currently have aircraft bound A2G missiles. Why would people stop using these in favour of a bomb?

I'm not campaigning for realism; I just don't get the thought process nor need for this. I wouldn't even put bombing in the game currently as an extra option, much less a replacement.

As far as I know, the more altitude the farther the bomb goes.
Air resistance would usually slow it down, but this game can just avoid physics.

If only gravity applied and not air resistance, when flying in a straight line your bomb would land right below your aircraft.
This is momentum = 1
Increase momentum, like say 1.5, and your bomb will gain in range.

So landing bombs from higher altitude would still have more range, but less accuracy while divebombing and low altitude drops are 100% accurate.
Balanced risk/reward I guess

I want more ESF weapon choices.

Bombs - multiple types
Lock on missiles - Both air and ground
Cannons - more variety

Lets mix it up some.

Ok, I got to admit that Dual Photons which offer huge damage and close to zero drop-off are OP. I was more thinking about Breaker and Hellfire rockets.

I only play AA out of spite the keep the ******* Lolpodders from insta-gibbing everything in sight.
Vengeance is sweet