Are lolpods intended to shred tanks to pieces in a second?

Your talking sence. Yes, please. It is rediculous that ESF's get the rear damage bonus, since they can hit you from any angle already. 8-9 seconds is very reasonable for the TTK tanks. All those people saying it is hard to get behind a tank and they "expose" themselves is BS. Even if a tank manages to turn it's rear armor away from the ESF (impossible since your dead when the first pod hits you), the ESF just flies over and hits the rear again. Furthermore, when they do this, the top armor becomes usefull. As it is now it is worthless. (Aircraft will hit you on your rear anyway, not on the top of the MBT) Just don't give air rear damage bonus (Not for MBT's/ not for lightnings)

Mossies swinging in on my rear - blowing up my Vanguard with top armor faster then I can eject just ensures I don't bother pulling tanks.

Now when playing my TR toon - I will pull out a Prowler - at least it has speed and I don't have to worry about mossies flying in and killing me in less then 2 seconds. Reavers I can down with a prowler gun. Mossies are a PITA to hit with a walker not even trying with the main gun on a vanguard

Yea but a tank can accelerate to full speed in 0.5sec, hit a bump, jump 100m in the air, do a 180 flip and one shot the ESF. They do it all the time. They should tone that down aswell, atm it's just not worth pulling an esf.

This back and forth debate about buffs and nerfs is pointless, if the OP's zerg had adequate air cover and communication with others warning him of such threats, he couldve avoided getting killed or at least gotten out before his tank was destroyed.

TEAMWORK people, how many times do I have to keep repeating this? A farmer doesnt blame his tools.

Although cert'ing the frame that improves acceleration might help, it should not take literally 2 seconds or less for rocket pods to kill an armored vehicle while simultaneously requiring the same effort to kill infantry. It makes no sense to have TTK equal between a tank and infantry, which my gameplay tells me is currently true. This isn't an anti-rocketpods vs armor argument, btw. I've shot at infantry with rocketpods and it takes a lot of rockets to kill a squishy soldier while taking down ARMOR does take less effort.

Well, if Farmer A bought his rake at the same store at the same price as Farmer B, but found out his was manufactured with significant defects as to inhibit him from finishing his work that day on the farm, he absolutely could blame his tool.

Cookie4me?

I personally find it hilarious to hear a tank driver crying about dying. Try playing an infantry, and having tanks one shot you from insane ranges, to the point where the tank looks like its just a part of the landscape. I got sick of it, and so i started certing out a tank. Screw it, if you cant beat em join em. It's really cheesy and not much fun right, cause its not a challenge vs infantry. Silly heavies trying to rocket me and i just one shot them.

Especially when you have a shield to retreat through, you just pull out one shot a couple infantry, who will return fire with ineffective rockets, then you reverse behind the shield, hop out and get even more exp healing your tank.

Flying an airplane on the other hand is very challenging. Its not easy to fly into position behind a tank when you have AA maxes that will shoot you down in about 5 secs if you dont afterburner away. You have sunderers which are basically anti aircraft turrets, i know cause i use em that way all the time. And then you have tanks with skyguard.

Vehicles in general should be toned down vs infantry. You can put whatever label you want on the game. Say its a team based game blah blah, but in the end, no new player enjoys getting one shot by a zerg of 50 tanks every time they step onto the battle field.

So lets ask them to make it fair. Planes dont one shot tanks, tanks dont one shot planes, and neither one shots infantry. Tanks should require 2 to 3 direct hits to kill an infantry. And you must give infiltrators the ability to attack tanks and planes. It's a horrible pvp game mechanic that allows one class to attack another with no chance of reprisal whatsoever. Infils should be able to hack tanks. If you wanna just sit there and shell a town from 400 meters thats fine but im gonna hack you out shoot yer face off and drive away in your tank.

Tank zerg is teh suck, that is all.

There are several reasons that lolpods are such a pain in the ***. The walker and the ranger are horribly inadequate at their jobs, they cannot realistically drive off even a single ESF before it can kill a tank or liberator. A sunderer with dual AA guns can probably protect itself against lone ESFs but then it is completely worthless against anything on the ground.

Lolpods are not killing tanks instantly because they do so much damage or are OP, its because the netcode for this game is absolutely awful. By the time your client registers that you are getting hit, they have already unloaded 80% of their rockets into your backside and since their hit detection is entirely on their client, that means you are dead and have almost no chance to react. Yeah I'm aware of the massive battles and blah blah blah. I died around corners less when I was gaming on dial-up with my phone line lying frozen in a damn cow pond.

Having some guy hover over head where you cannot hit him while he leisurely blows the crap out of you takes all skill out of the equation and only adds insult to injury. The fact that they can afterburner up to full speed in a few seconds from a dead stop and escape what should be the obvious downside to hovering only makes matters worse.

As for teamwork: If you need multiple dedicated units that are crap at anything else just to stop one guy from lol spamming people to death with full auto AOE weapons over and over, that is a balance problem. Not a teamwork problem.

Watch the radar. I can often see the attacker as rarely ever does anyone use stealth.

An attacker can easily be found- it's the slow moving ESF that's behind your tank, heading directly towards it.

As soon as you notice it, start rotating so the rockets hit the side, and then start moving and/or shooting back to throw off the attacker's aim before the whole salvo gets to its target.

In case of the Vanguard, I can sometimes kill the lolpodder before my shields even go down- they're usually so close and so slow I can aim directly at their highest point and fire without further correcting for their velocity or gravity.
Sometimes I don't even shield up if I can see that most rockets will miss due to me going full throttle.

What does moving with the zerg have to do with knowing how to play?

In fact tanks are far safer on a wide and deep front than in a small cluster.
I get some of the best air kills (often numerous before getting spotted) when parked in a weird position somewhere out beyond the main battlefield. Enemies often consider me a boulder/stone/container/other non tank object and fly above very slowly while taking aim for the zerg.

P.S. Get either a Walker or a Ranger and always have a gunner. The Kobalt also does a half-decent job at scaring planes away but is far more universal than the AA weapons.

It's just that, it does not take less effort. If you make a perfect approach then yes, you blow him up fast. Outside of fantasy land most people in this thread seem to live in, you have to: spot him, fly high and hope he doesn't spot you, make a loop to come behind him, start dropping low so you hit back armor, get close and while doing all of that hope that none of the following is around: enemy esf or lib, multiple lock on ha, burster max, skyguard, tank and sudnerer mounted aa, you're not near a tower, any other lightning or mbt.

In other words you either have to find a solo tank, or fight oblivious tunnel vision opponents.

Let me ask you this. Let's say we remove pods (altho i don't really see esf's farming tanks) what exactly is a counter to tank zergs ?

Aircrafts can barely come close to a tanks zerg as is, infantry is getting farmed from distance, maxes are useless against tanks. Another tank zerg ? They are only really vulnerable to one thing (rocket pods) and look how much whine it produces.

I'm pretty good in my lightning, i've had a 100+ kill streak in it and an esf sneaking up on me is the only thing i'm scared of. Honestly it seems to me like tank farmers don't want to have any counters at all and just farm infantry all day. But when all this whine nerfs rocket pods further, who do you think is next in line ?

The people on your server must suck REALLY bad if they cant even kill your tank in one pass. Like REALLY EPICALLY bad. Your not jesus, if your not dying to this then the people hitting you are terrible, if anything its the esf's on your server that need to l2p not the OP.

I've killed tanks in a single pass with my Hailstorm. If you can't kill a tank in a single pass with rocketpods then you probably shouldn't be flying.

It's so easy to do. Even with a totally inappropriate gun like the Hailstorm they still don't even stand a chance.

What's a counter to armor? Well, let me count:

1. AV Engy Turrets
2. Annihilators
3. AV Mines
4. Devastators
5. C4
6. Lightnings
7. Magriders
8. Vanguards
9. Prowlers
10. Lib/Dalton/Zephyr
11. AV gun emplacements
12. AV equipped Sundys
13. AV grenades

And I wasn't asking for a nerf to rocketpods, but instead making the argument that TTK of mere 1-2 seconds from full health armor is a bit much. I expect that against infantry, but when you are running around in a vehicle designed to take some hits, you expect to be able to take some hits. Going from 100 health in a Tank to dead in 1-2 seconds doesn't make much sense.

If a tank was some special hard to get unit, I might give the nerf'ers another thinking. But they are not. Anyone can spawn a tank. It has no special meaning. Therefore their deaths should be a regular occurrence. I see a game mechanic working as intended.

I vote no to any further nerf to rocket pods or removal of rear armor weakness.
suck it up and deal with it.

Do you know why there are so many deterrents to armor? Because it is so darn USEFUL when put in the right hands.
I have taken my prowler from Allatum Bio, deployed on the cliff above TI Alloys, and let 'er rip.

I usually get 3-4 tanks and maybe a sunderer before I have to retreat to repair and reload. Thats not even counting the accidental infantry kills. Sometimes Ill get c4 in the rear by a smart little LA, but that doesnt happen often.

3-4 tanks in a span of 2 minutes max.
Cant do that with a Mossie, unless the AA is oblivious or the tank pilots are blind.
Also remember that if you are a hybrid ESF, or full ground, you are much more vulnerable to enemy ESFs and likely to be picked off early in a big battle.

When I get into the cockpit of my ESF, unless I am in a squad or platoon, I usually do hit n runs to slow down whoever is attacking. Cant stick around cuz of AA/Air, so I fire a volley, and get the heck out. THen come back a little later. Rinse and repeat.

ESF Rockets are needed, not nerfed, just like c4 and dumbfire rockets.

Your gunner should be constantly checking the skies for ESFs trying to sneak up behind you. This also helps against the infantry who are constantly trying to C4 you. Or, I guess in a prowler or vannie you can do it yourself. Unless there is zero AA in the area all you have to do when an ESF is lining up on your tanks rear is face the side armor to him. You survive, he bugs out, you repair. Also, if you ever look around in your tank and see no AA, unless you have a ranger or walker get out of there. It's ok to retreat sometimes.

Also, don't sit still. Those C4/tank mine suiciders are slower than your tank, as long as you relocate frequently they have trouble even catching up. ESFs usually make a pass, see where a tank is, then make another pass to take it out. If you're in a different spot on that second pass it's difficult for an ESF to find you if he's doing a strafing run. And if he's hovering and surviving, you're in the wrong spot again.

Sure it's frustrating to lose a tank that fast to mines, C4, or ESFs, I hate it, but if you maintain your awareness instead of getting tunnel visioned in on the infantry you're farming it should not happen. This is especially hard for prowlers of course, they like to lock down 2 bases away and shell away. But remember to stay aware of what's around you while you're doing that.

Let's try it this way:

Funny how that's so easily turned round.

“If a aircraft was some special hard to get unit, I might give the nerf'ers another thinking. But they are not. Anyone can spawn a aircraft. It has no special meaning. Therefore their deaths should be a regular occurrence. I see a game mechanic working as intended.

I vote no to any further nerf to Burster MAX's or removal of Lock-on-Launchers.

suck it up and deal with it.”

I have no issues with ESF's dying due to enemy. So I have no issue with statement above. Tanks need rear armor weakness to keep them from over running the battlefield.

Lower the TTK ESFs with Burster MAXs to 1.6 seconds, lower TTK ESFs with Skyguards to 1.8 seconds, allow G2A rocket launchers to 1 shot ESFs (which means around at least a TTK of 7-10 seconds anyway) instead of requiring entire squads just to drive away enemy air -- much less actually kill many ESFs. Lower the TTK ESFs with Walkers and Rangers to around 2 seconds as well while we're at it.

After all, these AA are the so-called counters to Air, so why can't they do their job against Air like Air does to Armor?

If you agree that rocket pods do not require a nerf, how can you logically agree then that AA doesn't need a serious buff? Why is it OK for Air to destroy Armor in 1.6 seconds, and yet large groups of AA must work in concert with each other in order to be even a deterrent against Air? Much less actually be able to kill Air in anywhere near an equal timescale. (For the actual TTK numbers and effectiveness of AA -- before blathering about your opinion on it's current state read this)

Air has already been nerf'ed
AA has already been buffed
Tanks need rear armor weakness.
I have no issues with current balances.
I do have an issue in any attempt to extend TTK for armor.