I decided I should try my hand at piloting again, I liked it a lot in BF2142 and it was nice in BF3 too. PS2 quickly alienated me though, I suppose I'm thinking with simulated physics which doesn't help much. Not saying any BF was close to being a flight sim, but PS2 is Arcade/Action flying for sure. Be that as it may I'd like to hear it from the best of our pilots; 1 Load-Out for Lib Escort(So purely AA duty, minimal effort, staying back, focusing on area denial and creating safe zones - Stealth capabilities to not draw aggro would be good for this type of ESF I'd wager)... And... 1 more aggressive Load-Out. Let's hear it, if you please. Thanks in advance.
1. Tank busta required. A Shredder with 2x zoom and magazine upgrade. A Walker for tail gun. Flare. Nanite repair. Precision Bomber Frame. 2. Tank busta. Dalton with thermal. A walker for tail gun. Fire suppression. Nanite repair. High-G.
I'm no ace pilot, but I do love to fly, For a quick in and out type of esf i'd go for: fire supp, stealth, racer, fuel pods, and your choice of primary, maybe the standard or the new noseguns for the larger mag. For the more aggressive loadout i'd recommend: fire supp, auto repair, hover, fuel pods, and the rotary. This is the most common loadout nowadays.
Lib escort, I'd say Needler, afterburner pods, autorep, flares (or fire suppression now that's buffed, but I don't have experience running it), Hover. Fly higher and a fair few metres behind the Lib, enough that most pilots will engage the Lib without noticing you beforehand, then jump them. The Lib is tough enough to withstand a fair few ESF clips so you needn't worry about them taking such light damage. If it's an enemy Lib coming though, light that bugger up ASAP unless there's ESF escorts. Aggressive loadout, depends if you mean aggressive A2G or aggressive A2A. For aggressive A2A, I'd say the same as above. Maybe swap out the Needler for the Rotary but only if you think you can reliably stay in the enemy's face. TR rotary is one of the worst noseguns around right now (pretending the Locusts don't exist), as while the Vortek retained it's CQC power and the Scythe guns were undernerfed in comparison, the Rotary got a full kick in the nuts. I'm only still using it as I didn't have auraxium yet with it, tis what I get for playing all roles. Aggressive A2G would be Needler, Hellfires, autorep, flares, hover. Always engage from the high rear of vehicles, never stay still, memorise and keep tabs on known flak and lockon sources, afterburn out as you start taking flak fire, flare and afterburn out if you start taking locks from more than one source, do not engage skyguards until you're MLG or have Libs tanking for you, don't waste ammo on vanguards unless necessary, don't try to take on AA MAXes solo until you're MLG, don't overextend until you're MLG, don't fly solo until you're MLG. And good luck, you'll bloody well need it. EDIT: Also, never hover low in NC territory if they can pull Vanguards. Don't try and take on good Libs solo until you're MLG.
For the first one, i would reccomend hover + flares + nanite autorep + deafult nosegun + AB tanks, for the second one either hover + fire supp + nanite autorep + rotary + AB tanks, or eventually racer + fire supp + max stealth + rotary + AB tanks, but only if you have max stealth.
For the escort you should be fine to go mostly vanilla. I haven't played with the new ESF gear much, but assuming that it's not all that great/situational, I'd go with extended AB. The AB will make you significantly more survivable and will also let you get back to your lib easier. Lock ons are only useful against heavy air, a retreating target or one that is engaging you, but too far to land nosegun rounds accurately. Locking on to any smart pilot that is engaging a lib will cause him to flare and run away (and then come back), and any dumb pilot engaging a lib is an easy kill anyways. Rocket pods can be great against heavy air, but I wouldn't recommend for ESF. For the nosegun, you should use the rotary cannon. You'll be going back to reload often, but the high dps (you can one-clip any ESF by default with the rotary, if I remember correctly) will serve you well. The other noseguns are also fine, but the rotary works great for escort because most ESF's chasing libs aren't trying to evade you, so extra magazine size isn't going to be as useful as it normally is. For the utility slot, go with fire suppression and try to stay above A2G lock range. The radars might also work well, but I've never tried them. In the defense slot both stealth and auto repair are good choices. Auto repair, however, is probably the better choice, as stealth doesn't provide much benefit against a distracted target. If you're attacking an ESF engaging a lib, the ESF probably won't notice you until you damage him or he hears you getting closer. In 1v1's stealth can be pretty handy not only for the approach, but the enemy is far more likely to lose LoS because you aren't on his minimap. Again, however, you won't be any quieter, which is still the #1 method for detecting enemy ESF's. As for the A2G ESF, rocket pods are the obvious choice for secondary. Any nosegun should also be fine, but remember if you pick the AI nosegun you're not gonna have anything to defend yourself with against an enemy ESF (unless you're in a reaver). Go composite if there is so much AA that you couldn't survive one pass over your target, otherwise auto-repair is the way to go. And get flares and max those out ASAP. Yes, that last cert level is well worth it on this one. As for air frame on either, it's all preference. Hover is probably the most useful all around for the most people, but all are effective.
Thanks, this is all very welcome advice and in detail! ^_^ May I ask how come none of you suggested A2A LockOn? Because if it's just about reputation, claims that I have no skill or getting trash talked, I don't really care as long as that Lib is safe! My reasoning is, drawing so much aggro IRL(Forums I mean) must mean they aren't bad actually. But I don't know.
A2A lock ons might work if your lib partner and his gunner are good enough to keep the other esf busy, or if you have the lock on speed decently well certed out. Otherwise your nosegun (and theirs) will out dps your lock ons in a 1v1 fight at close/mid ranges, provided the pilots are decently accurate. If they are rolling with extended afterburner, you will be at a pretty major disadvantage, as its pretty easy to break line-of-sight when you are more agile than your opponent. Most pilots also run with flares, so that gives them plenty of time to wake up and get into melee range. Lock ons are much better when you're flying with wingmen and can engage your targets from a distance, but I'd only recommend using them if you have back up or know you're going to be in an engagement with lots of air participating on both sides.
Well, for my Lib escorting duties I would imagine it'd be safe to extend the Lock range, sit back and let ESFs know that not only the Lib can fight back(I know the crew IRL) and screen them from getting me but they'll have to avoid my Lock too if they want to harass the Lib. Not saying it will work 100%, just seems like an interesting approach. The main function would not be to down the other ESF but to keep them away. I should mention that from what I've seen I can't aim adequately with the ESF's primaries. HellFires I can get used to, same with Hornets and Coyotes and obviously the Lock ones. You could say I'm not really looking to be top tier but good enough to do what I want to do safely.
That's one way to do it, I suppose. If you're not accurate with the nosegun than the tomcats are a good choice, especially if you're just trying to deter an enemy ESF. If you get attacked by multiple ESF's, however, or a decent pilot you'll not be able to disengage, which will put you at a disadvantage.
Rotary and Rocketpods are good for everything. Once you get used to them, rocketpods are good AA as well.
I've purchased the Pods already, will try out the Rotary more. Going for Hover frame as soon as I can invest, this all will be a drain and I'm having difficulty investing knowing that the Colossus might be here sooner than I think. Plus of course any Infiltrator and Liberator toys we might get. Decisions, decisions...!
Ah a quick extra question, seems like the TomCats now require more than 2 hits on VR, was it like that before? Because I'm pretty sure it took 2 missiles at the most?
