L-PPA needs a range nerf.

In the discussion which is going on in this thread, Lock Ons are completely ineffective. And there is a question as to whether or not Flak can really be relied upon at a vehicle (ab)using it's extreme range.

Skyguards/flak can deny air for entire hexes, the range is fine.

Uhh. I am poor as **** on AA. Though, I have seen players use AA Turrets and Skyguards effectively from 1.25-1.5 Hex distance. Just last night I was denied access to a Hex (southern part of Silver Valley Arsenal to Subterranean Nanite Analysis) due to a single Skyguard positioned right at Xelas North Gate.

It is a matter of perspective. When my Magrider is a victim of Vulcan-H or Raven, I yearn for a nerf. Even though a skilled Magrider pilot will dodge anything.

Have you tried VS weapons? No "physics" (drop) on Vortex and Lancer.

You also neglect to address your faction's Air Superiority in a Hex as one of your recourses. Nerfing the L-PPA won't stop dive-bombing Hornet Missiles or spammed Dual Photon Pods. I guess you'd like them nerfed as well.

If read the whole thread we have already established it's not just an L-PPA issue .. But an issue across all factions vehicle weapons, brought about by the increased render distance of infantry ..

I was highlighting Air Superiority as a critical force component. Hornet Missiles do have a severe range limit (understandable due to its 2000 damage) but are devastating - hence calls for nerfs there too. Nerfs can't make up for the lack of a good Air Wing. Or, as some ESF pilots fear, there is movement to defang ESF A2G ability altogether.

Flak doesn't have the range of 500 meters, do you people even play the game, at 500 meters you'll be lucky to land 1 in 20 shots and it's not like we didn't try, there is a buster max and the sundie has a ranger, I guess reading comprehension is hard to come by nowadays.

I want to see a video of anyone killing a stationary ESF with flak at 500 meters cause apparently I'm doing something wrong, what's next, your going to tell me to use a shotgun against a sniper 300 meters away and say oh you'll eventually kill him.

Lol. So when people don't buy YOUR ABSOLUTE TRUTH people either (1) Don't play the game or (2) Lack "Reading comprehension." Great….

I also find it funny that you conveniently gloss over Air Support.

Has the excuse "But we can't fight air" been used by any jaded vanu yet?
It doesn't matter if you can't fight air effectively (with your primary), the ground can't touch you at all without a hilariously lucky dumbfire, flak has too much spread to deal any significant damage to any intelligent target and lockons don't reach. 1 way AOE Anti infantry with no danger of being hit back at is kind of not okay, it gives vanu total control of an area as long as they have air superiority in the area, with the other factions ESF's A2G offerings at least the ground forces still have a say in defending themselves.

It takes 32 rounds to kill an ESF with a Skyguard. Because of COF I would say this increases to around 60-70 depending on how many goats you have sacrificed to RNGesus recently. Even worse if they dare move a few meters a second while still maintaining accuracy courtesy of simple aimless strafing.

And I can say on good authority that the Skyguard is the most accurate of the flak based AA guns. Bursters and Rangers have even more lol worthy accuracy, so I can't imagine they helped much. Flak needs a revamp tbh. The reward to risk ratio is too low compared to the stuff you are shooting at, and vanu forbid you actually manage to find a pilot that went AFK long enough for you to kill them. A revamp is needed badly for AA in general really. The only AA I can think of that isn't a deterrent are the only 3 tank cannons that OHK and Anchored Prowler AP for taking down non-ESFs. Which is sad, because its skill based AA that isn't actually AA.

This is not the matter of 1 or 2 hexes away, go look at the pictures in my OP, we are at the arch at tawrich, 3 hexes away tawrich tower [including the one we are in], 5 hexes away is the facility of broken arch, 8 away is Crossroads watch tower. Now each hex is 200 meters from one side of the hexagon to the opposite [but let's cut it short to 150 meters so we don't overestimate]

My guesstimate would be around crossroads and broken arch give or take a 1 hexes, now if each hex is 150 meters [actually 200 give or take 10] he would be around 5-6 hexes away but let's say 4 [cause we don't want to over estimate] he would be a minimum of 600 meters away already beyond my original number and we cut short on so many places, so he is well beyond 500 meters.

My range estimate cut real short, I mean I cut it really really short.

@Cryopaedia making a video of sky guard shooting from 500 meters away.

I'm in the killfeed on the first picture don't worry I'm sure I tracked down the farmer.

Except he wasn't on Hossin, he was farming VS on Indar just outside the warpgate. Don't use those guys as examples, they're trolls/bullies that never leave an aircraft and use bailassault to statpad themselves to an ego hardon.

Airhammer Reaver is much more powerful than an L-PPA Scythe. The stats may show them to be about even but that's because L-PPA's are really only pulled when they can easily farm. Airhammer Reavers are pulled all the time. There is a reason the airgame on Emerald is like 45% TR, 45% NC, and 10% VS.

I'd also like to state that I have my ammo certed to the point where I have max mags and a total of 320 PPA rounds (mag + reserve). On a good farm, I can reliably get 10 kills out of that 320 rounds. That's 32 rounds per kill or about 2 kills per reload. 32 rounds takes....9.6 second, on average, to get a kill. If you stand still for 10 seconds, it's your own freakin' fault.

Remember, the PPA is great at carpet bombing an entire area, but that's really it. And I see Reavers and Mossies using rocket pods to do that same crap. The difference is that the pods that Reavers and Mossies have are significantly better at killing ground targets because of their zeroing point.

ohh so you should be able to sit on top of that cliff uncontested. i see.

Attacking enemy bases just outside your warpgate is silly easy to do, considering you are one afterburner away from safety from enemy air and there is no way possible for enemies to flank you in any way. Even I can get killstreaks that way, and I can barely fly an ESF under normal conditions.

thats not my point.

my point is that a light ppa is almost always useless at those ranges unless goofballs decide to camp a cliff on indar.

the feeling im getting from op is that he is mad that someone ruined his fun. that does not make the light ppa op. you know what happens during any regular battle where you try to ppa people from 400 meters. jack happens. you get hit markers, enemies run for cover, and enemy air takes care of you.

or buff g2a lock-ons range

I agree with all points. Having tried them all, I believe that banshee was not only very good stat-wise but also overperforming because it was the weapon that was exactly designed like a weapon on a paper plane should be: an efficient strike-kill-run weapon, powerful with a relatively small magazine. Giving a weapon super slow rof and velocity but decent splash and huge magazine does not promote a fun playstyle imo. The current L-PPA shines in small bases with no AA and no Air around as you can just stay in hover mode around the base and unload magazine after magazine, and the other situation where it shines is from extreme distances. This is just cheap. You're right: my suggestion would make it very similar to banshee. But really, I don't see an alternative here, perhaps I'm just not creative enough. But that's simply how a weapon mounted to an air to ground fighter should work imo.

I have a solution for you NC and the TR who are afraid of our PPA... Step aside.

The thing we want you to do is bunch up. It's awesome! If you spread out, we do not get many kills... Plus the orbs fly real slow. Are they not rendering?