I only play infantry and tank; I tried flying and I suck at it. There are a lot of skilled pilots out there who can shrug off lock-ons time after time by using decoys, geography, afterburn. If you're struggling with lock-ons to the degree you describe then either you havent certed up your ESF enough or havent had enough time in the cockpit...maybe both? An infantry without lock-ons out on the open against ESF stands no chance...they dont stand much chance with lock-ons...but it's better than nothing. Lock-ons arent by any means a perfect AA weapon.
The only time I ever found my Striker to be useful was for when an enemy armor/air zerg was rolling into my faction's base (and if I had lots back up). I go back to my dumb fire because the lock on takes too long, and warns the enemy target of your presence. At least with dumb fire, I can get behind, and immediately fire and cause some damage. Good ESF pilots will always dodge lock ons.
Moin That's it. I'm gonna purchase a G2A launcher and see if it's really that difficult to down aircrafts with it. I didn't do until now because I didn't want to sully my stats with lock-ons, but I have to test this myself. See ya in a few days . Grüße, regards, the Toast
I sort of feel that in the lock on changes they should make target acquisition harder. What I would like to see is the kind of 'real life' (as portrayed in films) system of a little targeting box scrolling around in scope gradually getting a better lock on the target. Each time this box scrolls over a friendly, it should get confused and reset. This way, lock ons would be MUCH more 'hit and miss' (or rather, not fired at all) at planes that are actively engaged in dogfights. It's already difficult enough to encourage platoon members to get in the air to give us air superiority (when it's so much easier to get air superiority via a couple of AA units), the worst thing though is when people do it, and then continuously get no rewards for increasing the depth of everyone's gameplay because the more epic a dogfight (i.e. the longer the dogfight is), the more likely some 'pro' with his Striker will decide to steal the kill.
i bought cheap lockons some time ago to annoy annoying ESFs trying to farm spawns. In case you wind up as a single person in the AA business from the whole team - you won't kill a single ESF ever - 2/3 of ESFs will flare and do their attempted strafing run with lolpods regardless, only to fly away after that to wait for the cooldown to refresh the only thing you will have to show for your effort is something around 25xp per rocket for g2a damage. Only if you are with maybe 2 other guys or with an AA max, then you stand a chance of scoring a kill.
most a2a lockon users lock first, take u down to half health(if not more, followed by 2nd lock) and finish you off with rotary. you look at numbers too much.
But I thought A2AM lockon users were "NO SKILLZ!" but you're saying they're finishing everyone off with rotaries after firing a A2AM? How can they be "L33T" and "NO SKILLZ!" at the same time?
the smart ones finish you off with rotaries. the rest/majority chase you down for the 2nd/3rd lock whilst you are dodging/moving behind cliffs thinking its a striker
Put that **** down right now. Cobalt has enough lockons as it. I'm TR, and I can't fly over a single base without getting locks from infantry. When fighting VS especially, I see more G2A tracers than I do Striker tracers. It's getting ridiculous.
I don't even fire my lock-on G2A at ESFs anymore... it's a waste of rockets 99 percent of the time... just lock on and they fire flares then jet away... problem solved and I can still spam that rocket at a MAX or ground vehicle and get some use out of it it's also why the cheap G2A launcher is almost the only one I ever use... no need for lock on to tanks as I can hit them anyway, ability to scare away ESF pilots and can still dumb-fire for MAX/infantry/turrent work
If you don't want to be hit by G2A lock-ons don't attack ground targets. No Lock-on launcher can hit any aircraft that flies at very high altitude. You are free to do your A2A stuff there. BUT if you attack ground targets you have to live with the fact that unless you are SNEAKY or FAST you will get shot down. Most ESFs I shoot down with my Nemesis are either darn stupid (throwing a flare and thinking I won't lock them again when the 5 seconds invulnerability are gone/returning after I hit them once and they're already smoking), uncautious (like flying around at medium height above an enemy base and wonder why they get locked) or already damaged/getting shot (form a skyguard, AA turret or small arms fire). There are more than enough ESF pilots who can avoid getting locked pretty good by flying low and getting out there fast after they fired their rocket pods. Also they don't complain when they get shot down because they know the danger. If you are constantly getting shot down by G2A lock-ons it's your fault, not the game's one.
I rarely get killed by lockons in an ESF, also rarely do I get a kill with a lockon launcher... Nerfing it any more would make it useless. I'm not talking about striker *ACHEM*
I have been derping around on a stock ESF for the past two days being terrible and not actually killing much (plenty of sundy and tank assist though). Heres me experience: I can't remember one time I have been shot down by any G2A lock. I got hit about once every minute and a half by a G2A missile and then I promptly left, repaired, and marked that location as no fly for a run. I think one of the largest problems people have with the ESF is not understanding how powerful choice of engagement is(and not understanding how to go slower than 200kph without going 0). The TTK on an ESF is significantly longer than any infantry (Including the lock time in which you should be reacting). As an ESF I feel that I'm really fast when I need to be, a bit thick, and my gun is ******** accurate and hurts heavy vehicles. I don't even have suck-it-pods and I feel really strong in a scythe compared to on the ground (Where my stats say I'm OK). The ESF is in just as strong a place as it has always been IMO. Pay resources -> have advantage.
What you're basically saying here is our 'advantage' is to fly around the battlefield avoiding everywhere there might be a G2A lock, which on my server would be pretty much everywhere. So I'm supposed to just fly around in the rear lines, cowering in fear of locks. That our 'advantage' is a longer TTK than infantry, which should be used for us to avoid being killed, rather than do anything useful. What.
*Except for the 80% of the world where the flight ceiling is within the distance where vehicles render for infantry Besides, that's the point of having air in a combined arms game if all it can do is fight other air? There should be CAS and A2G options that can be countered by other air, creating a healthy air combat ecosystem. Instead, air can be excluded from most fights by 2-3 dudes with lock-ons hiding inside a spawn room. Air combat can be fun and thrilling, but it can also be incredibly frustrating due to the high skill ceiling and number of extremely skilled pilots already out there. Lock-ons simply create another artificial barrier for new pilots, which can very well drive them away from the game.
So the fact he doesn't get killed by them means they're harmless? Does it sound like fun when there is a chance at all times that you can get locked on and inevitably loose 40-60% of your health in a single (or five) blows? I'm not surprised he gets gunned down considering how much easier it is to kill a wounded target. I can't tell how many times a lock-on forced me to disengage and allow the loosing side to get on my tail, which usually ends badly depending on if the missile hit me, and if anyone else noticed me. You can never be sure you can't get locked on. There is a heavy assault hiding somewhere at all times.
The situation is pretty bad regardless of faction tbh. Also why is the general consensus that if you kill ground targets with an aircraft you are a dirty farmer. Tbqh unless you are playing CAS you aren't really helping your team at all in the grand scheme of things.
Doesn't matter. You can see an aircraft at max alt directly above you but you still can't lock on to it.
Lockons almost never get me a kill from the ground, and when I attempt to fly, it's always other ESF pilots that take me down. I really don't think locks are overpowered. Perhaps AA ones are but considering how hard it is to keep a plane in the crosshairs I doubt that's the case either.
