Now that Banshee has been Adjusted*

Agree with you.

And yes, I love Stealth. Fire Suppression is amazing too.

I'm 99% infantry. Combined Arms is an excuse for me to have good, tactical gameplay that extends beyond a series of TDMs. If I wanted TDMs, I'd play a TDM game, not a combined arms game.

They are more maneuverable, faster, far easier to hit and can only attack outside. If I get killed by an ESF, it's because no one in the whole damn battle had anti-air. That's my side being stupid. If a pilot is going against a couple of Skyguards or Burster MAXes, more than likely they'll pick a different fight.

PS2 isn't, or shouldn't be, about 1v1 skill. It's about team skill. And team skill, just like 1v1 skill, includes bringing the right loadout. If you're worried about tanks, take AV tanks, engineers with Tank Mines, lots of Heavies and MAXes and so on. If you're worried about air, bring Skyguards, Walkers and Burster MAXes.

Nope, in bigger battles there is plenty of AA, in the form of bursters, some skyguards, and even the stationary anti air turrets. The old Banshee didn't have to "hover farm" (it could be flying towards the battle, turn on the thermals, pick out a few targets and kill them with splash then fly away), not having to hover farm means that most of the AA is automatically negated. Anti Air can destroy aircraft, but it can't melt them at the rate which the Banshee would to infantry. The pilot could make his escape very efficiently due to not having to stop and actually keep his crosshairs on target. ESFs are not "far easier to hit" in any sense either, UNLESS they are hovering (which is what this nerf makes the pilot do more of).

If you are talking strictly about a burster MAX vs AI nosegun, then I more or less agree that skill should probably be a factor there(though circumstance probably more so than skill, since using a burster MAX definitely requires less skill). But if you're just talking about regular infantry, then no, the vehicle becomes a power multiplier. Clever infantry can counter them, like C4 fairies counter tanks, but for the most part, an LA against a tank head-on will lose. Sorry if I misunderstood your post, but that is how I took it.

Speaking on the strafing thing, that actually isn't a huge deal. For starters, it takes a lot of practice to get good enough to where you can survive a strafing run with a lot of AA without crashing. Also, this strategy generally puts the ESF on a very direct path, which means anyone who's pretty good at shooting down ESFs with a decimator is going to have an easy time Same for tanks. And then there is focused fire and lock-ons, which when combined with flak can take an ESF out really fast, or at least keep them from getting close. If doing a strafing run doesn't get at least 1 kill, then it's just not worth the stress. I can farm infantry with an HA about as easily as I can with an ESF in a big battle with loads of AA, so I just don't see what the big deal is.

You downplay the risks associated with flying AI air, but the risks are very real. It is stressful because there are tons of people on the ground who can shoot air with a number of different weapons, and then there are experienced pilots hunting air, who definitely aren't deterred by AA, and are very good at finishing off wounded ESFs who have just finished a dangerous strafing run. Combine that with the time it takes just to learn how to fly well enough to kill anything, and you have an experience that had better net more kills than using an LMG in order to be appealing.

Here's how a strafe run with the old Banshee would go, he'd be flying to the battle at 300 km/h or so, engage thermals when he saw infantry, pitch down slightly and fire off a few bursts and probably melt all of them. Then he'd pitch up and afterburn away. With this speed, most flak users can't track for **** or won't hit enough if they do, dumbfires are totally out of the question, and lockons are probably negated by usage of the enviroment. There are plenty of buildings, towers, mountains and such that pilots can use to break LOS.

Pretty sure farming infantry with a HA/LA or whatever is nowhere nearly as easy as farming infantry in an ESF. With HA/LA you run the risk of shotguns, large groups of infantry jumping you, MAXes, grenades, prox mines, SNIPERS etc. etc. With the old Banshee, the extremely nimble Mosquito platform in conjunction with the hilariously lethal Banshee would mean that you could avoid most of the threats. Now, Mosquito pilots wanting to farm infantry actually have to aim at the specific target they want - not relying on splash means that you need to slow down to mow them down. This actually opens you up to the risks you mentioned, not changing your hover pattern leads to dumbfires, flak can open up on you, and lockons have an easier time aquiring you.

Love how people are living in denial and say that AH can 'instakill' ESFs. This thread lost all merit very early on.

Have you ever tried shooting at an ESF with an anti-air Phalanx Turret? It's laughably easy. If it flies straight towards the battle and I see it at a fair distance (which is anti-air's job), it'll be down by the time it gets here. ESFs can't take much punishment.

Yep, and if the ESF has any brain he will take another route to the battle. Phalanx turrets are placed in a fixed position and while they can turn in a very obtuse manner, there is also the problem of the building itself (like in a watchtower) obstructing your view. There's also the matter of the turret being hacked or destroyed. ESFs are weak, yes, and any novice pilot will adjust his gameplay to this weakness.

One Phalanx on a tower, for instance, covers 180 degrees. Given that there are two of them, there is nowhere an ESF can safely approach.

If they're destroyed or hacked, then the defenders failed, didn't they? It's not the ESF pilot's fault you didn't defend it, and it's not his fault you don't have any Infiltrators willing to unhack it or Engineers willing to fix it.

Besides which you still have Skyguards, Bursters and lockons, all of which can take down an ESF fairly quickly.

So, while he does have the defense of nape-of-the-earth initially, that's a skilled counter, and once he actually approaches the battle he has to be vulnerable to anti-air fire. If he survives for a second run, it's the defenders' fault. Have you ever seen an ESF farming a big battle with lots of anti-air? I haven't.

The worst is when you have a GAL dropping people directly above a tower at 800m, and neither turret can aim straight up. Kind of a silly 'feature' for AA guns but hey.

Old Banshee was a bit OP, that's for sure. Unfortunately, it was overnerfed and now strafing runs are only going to work on targets who are already weak.

And farming infantry is just as easy with an HA during big battles due to a number of factors, the biggest being loads of AA. I will not say that about small battles where there is very little effective AA, then the AI noseguns are easy mode. MAXes are like taking the AI noseguns and removing the learning curve, so even if you don't agree with me about farming with an LMG being as good, then consider farming as a MAX. Why would someone spend dozens of hours learning to fly well enough to strafe in big battles if it doesn't get them kills compared to a MAX?

Stats stats stats... they are meaningless in a real fight.

It is easier to land 4-6 hornets on a Lib and live than it is to land 2 on a tank and live. Mixing fire on a Lib and moving around is MUCH safer than engaging ground.

I don't care about the stats, I car about what actually results in success in real battles. The hornets require you to fly in a predictable manner and repeatedly over a populated area. Even flying in an unpredictable manner over population in this game is a ticket to respawn... flying toward your target over and over... that's suicide.

im sorry but that is plain, simple, and objectively BS. tank weaponry is ALL more effective than the weapons available to infantry, and mounted on a platform that can only be instagibbed by one thing in the game. and sure, C4 is annoying to deal with, but as long as u stop the HE farm from 300m out to look around every few seconds ur fine. mind explaining in what way infantry are "stronger"?

I have been flying Hornet/Needler/Stealth/Fire Suppression/Racer Mossie for months now almost exclusively. I have a absolute ton of time in it.

MBTs are not tough targets. As I said, Hornet can kill Mag and Prowler from one good pass or just turning above them and chipping them down. 4-6 shots.

One Good Pass
You can approach at moderate speed and fire 2 Hornets from distance and fly in with them as you reload (I usually do this from low and behind them if possible), as they hit just fire two more and you have 4 hits back-to-back. Sometimes you have to break off before you can land all 4, or you have to move at quicker speed and can't get all 4 off in time. Sure, if there is nothing to break line-of-sight or they have especially nasty AA, then it's not gonna happen, and you need to just move on.

Turn Above Them And Chip
In most non-massive battles I can just unload 2 hits on an MBT and then turn above them and chip them away with Hornet until they are dead. Their allies are either lacking in AA or too slow to repond: MBTs die fast. Other targets like Sunderers are much harder because they take many more shots and have much better AA and can spawn a bunch of dudes to drive me off, etc. Even Vanguards can be tough because they might have a buddy Vanguard nearby that can OHK kill you, and even just their shield can slow your time-to-kill down enough that it gets more dangerous.

A good Lib can smack me out of the air with one good shot. And they don't need that many chances if I stay within Hornet range or mess around trying to keep my Hornet on target. Sure, a bad Lib you can just fly right above them and hit them with Hornet... but you can just hit them with Nosegun too cause they are a bad Lib and you can kill them however you want unless they get help.

Yes, flying a G2A ESF into/over an enemy with massive numbers or fierce AA is suicide. But I am not talking about engagements in those situations. Those are high risk situations, and you can try them if you enjoy that, but you are better off survival-wise avoiding them.

I fly TR Hornet as my main loadout these days. Mags, non-Max Infantry, and Valkyries are by far my reliably easiest targets. I am like a hard counter to them. If I spot them, I hone in on them and if I can get em without too much support, I can usually knock em out, like the Wolf singling out the young animal in the herd and getting it before the herd can react.

lmao

Well, it depends on context.

Server Smash is organized competitive gameplay, and for that Infantry (supplemented by Air for transpot) has so far proven to dominate.

For the Standard Game (full or casual players and uncoordinated gameplay and uncerted players), Vehicles are very effective.

ok your first point... 4% larger is still the largest ... *******. now add 4% larger with 10 -20% less maneuverability than the mossy.
i've got the 1 less than max rank of AH on my reaver, and thats only 8 shots you can not one shot any ESF with the airhammer even touching noses... so why would you lie about 10 shots one magazine... are you just stupid? only have 2 ranks in mag capacity with banshee, and i can still manage to get 4-10 kills per magazine against ground... maybe your just very bad?

against air, the AI weapons are decent.. i got flat out R@ped by a ppa with a good pilot i bet that thing is just outright evil.. banshe does better against esf's now than it did before... you know 9x more minimum damage and all... i havn't tied using the banshee against air... but have defended myself against air a few times and i can hold my own enough to make them think twice. air hammer.... does wonders against slow targets but hard to land hits against esf's unless they are very bad and fly straight... i still thnk your jsut bad and want everything nerfed down to your pathetic playing level... you know there are kiddie shooters out there... maybe you should consider a change of game. this one might be too complex for your preteen reflexes.

I'm a crazy aggressive pilot who's auraxed the AH (after the major NERFs it had) and i've melted MAYBE a dozen MAXes at close range, all of which took ALOT of piloting skill to get close to. (remember, I RUN people over most of the time)

Here's a little video of a good Air Hammer run I had a few weeks ago - notice how many rockets I dodge, and how freaking CLOSE i have to get in order to score a 1HK or even a 2HK. (most of the time I spam the trigger for assured effectiveness) There are shots where I need 3-4 shots (where pellets hit on each shot) to get a kill on Infantry, let alone a MAX.



These guys were all low BR (the first half of the clip) and likely didn't know how to defend against an ESF, If you're on this forum, you should know better. Especially when i'm SPAMMING my dive horn and glowing with a giant "SHOOOT ME" lumifibre. ONE burster would have driven me away - Hell an Infiltrator manages to take like 15% of my reaver out with his semi-auto. If those Heavies had focused their LMGs on me, guess what, I can't spam my AH at long range and get assured kills, I HAVE to get in close, and even then it's hard.

If i'd had a Banshee or LPPA, it wouldn't have even been a funny video, it would have just been me being even MORE of a dick to a bunch of players who don't know how to defend against me.

AH need a nerf like Banshee. I saw it today. I got severel times killed in my max from a AH Reaver in less than a half second. I didnt even have time to activate Charge. Its ridicoulus strong and need a nerf like SOE did it do the Banshee. Thats my opinion.