Simple idea but add a new armor that gives a 75% resist buff to flak and G2A rockets; however it also reduces damage done to anything that's not a flier by 95% (may need to play around with resist allocations to make this possible). Now the ESF can engage enemy air more effectively even in high pop areas and really focus on the A2A game but can't stick around for ever playing scout for their own ground forces and help the ESF to really be an A2A superiority fighter even in larger engagements. So rip into it forumites...
I don't fly so I cannot comment on the pros and cons of this suggestion for the air game. But I do play anti air infantry and tbh I don't care if you are exclusively A2A or not........you come in range then you are fair game to me. If I'm supporting my own faction flyers in the process then so much the better. And the suggestion would significantly limit Air Deterrence xp and assists, which are the main thing a G2A launcher gives you (as well as knackering a part of the new LA rocket rifle utility). In general I'm not in favour of anyone being more or less invulnerable to certain things just to support preferred play style although fair play to OP - who does at least suggest a balance in terms of reducing A2G effectiveness as well.
erm... how about NO? What is it that makes skyknights think they are such an exclusive club? God dammit ESF are totally OP already, why should they get (almost) invulnerability to anything but aircraft to have their skyknight battles without distraction from ground Units? What is next? Tanks that can ONLY killed by tanks? sundys that can only be killed by sundys? infiltrators only being killed by infis? Why don't you suggest such a resistance as a passive (that you don't have to sacrifice anything for) for infantry against everything that is not infantry as well? This is a game of combined arms and even though i personally think HE tank spammers and ESF lolpod farmers have way too much impact on infantry dominated fights, they all serve their roles and (theoretically) anything can get killed by anything. ESF are rediculously strong so at least deal with the fact that you are vulnerable to any other unit, JUST LIKE ANYTHING ELSE IN THE GAME! You can (much too) easily farm vehicles and infantry so deal with the fact that they shoot back and that this might harm you! If anything, we need much more and stronger AA to get ESF back on the ground (yes, i am aware of that irony...) in the field of an equal ratio of ressource cost/lethality/survivability compared to other units! They want to deal enourmous amounts of damage to anything with rediculously short TimeToKill? Then you should be prepared for an rediculously short TimeToBeKilled as well to keep it fair for everyone! Edit: If your suggested armor included disabling secondary weapons and decrease nosegun damage against anything that is not an ESF by 95% to make A2G just as useless as G2A would be, then i would totally agree with your suggestion!
if i've got a skyknight on my butt i like knowing that i can get back to the ground forces and hopefully atleast a few of those groundforces will have some form of AA, usually the skyknight won't follow you over your ground forces anyway. your proposing that we let skyknights be allowed to hunt you down with impunity. thanks but no thanks.
No, absolutely not. First off, these type of ESF would be ludicrously good against... G2A units. You fly one in front of some G2A, they engage it, allied aircraft can use their incredible DPS to annihilate the G2A weapons while they are busy. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if players will use these resistances to just roadkill infantry. Second off, giving Skyknights a free pass to attack aircraft without danger of ground forces means you set them even farther apart, allowing them to screw the air-balance even more. We already see that ESF are used 5 times more than all other aircraft combined. This isn't some boast, this is the actual truth. By allowing these Skyknights to engage all other aircraft without interference from ground you only make those aircraft used even less. The ESF already beats these aircraft, and you are changing it so that these ESF can only be countered by itself. How about this: Let's give MBT's the ability to equip an armor that reduces damage from infantry and aircraft by 75%. Now MBT's can engage enemy tanks more effectively in high-pop area's... It's the same thing, but you can instantly see why it's ridiculous. So why should ESF get such a treatment? Especially since ESF already are the premier A2A weapons and don't need any more ways to obliterate the other aircraft?
