Devs please try to fly on Connery when Don Alfrego runs his air squad

This is the Air Paradox SOE/DBGs have created.

Whilst no one would suggest 1 infantry should beat 10 infantry moving and working together (no matter HOW skillful that 1 infantry is), in Air terms, a lot of people seem to think there should be no limit to how much "skill" outweighs numbers.

This is probably because Air provides the most powerful solo experience PS2 by far, and people seem to get used to it.

The problem is SOE/DBGs created a completely avoidable problem by combining the PS1 Mozzy and PS1 Reaver into the PS2 ESF.

It really made it extremely difficult to balance A2G with A2A on the same airframe (even in PS1 they eventually had to create the 3 "fighter", the Wasp). A2A lock-on are their answer to this, a bad one in many way, but still.

I'm unconvinced much can be done about it (other than making A2A missles useless - which creates as many issues as it solves) other than creating a new, seperate and pure A2A fighter.





Although in the context of the OP, I'm unconvinced it is really about the weapons systems, so much as how an A2A Platoon can be brought to bear at any one point......... which I don't think is "fixable" and am not sure it should be even if it were.

But then again, if you are alone and come across 12 or more of anything you are dead. it doesent matter if you are in the air or not.
You can even remove A2A lockons, but you are still going to instantly die to this Alfonzo guy.

Every air vehicle is hilariously OP compared to their ground "counters" and equivalents. Good ESF pilots are used to not ever dying to anything, ever. Another ESF? They beat them. Liberator? They learned to dodge the Dalton. Anything on the ground is either dead instantly or too slow to keep up with you. And now with Tomcats (and 1 noob with tomcats will still lose to a good ESF) and air zergs there suddenly is something to be afraid of.

AA is a joke. Has the ranger ever shot down an aircraft in the history of PS2? The Skyguard is so pitifully weak that you need an entire zerg of them to actually shoot down an ESF, and is just fodder for Liberators. The Walkers one advantage is that ESF pilots sometimes don't realize what they're being shot at with and don't run fast enough, so Walkers actually do get some kills some time off inattentive pilots. The G2A lockon Launchers are so weak, something like 70% of my G2A Launcher aircraft "kills" were noobs that panick-rushed their almost-full-health ESF into the nearest mountainside / ammo tower the instant they're hit by the pitiful damage. ESFs, made of tinfoil and foam plastic to preserve weight and agility, can take an entire squads worth of LMG ammo before deciding to run off. Liberators can take more tank shells than a Vanguards butt. Galaxies are strictly the most OP thing in the world - they're like a sunderer that can spawn infantry while taking way more damage than a sunderer, and being able to run and hide from anything on the ground that it can't simply outtank.

I really feel a distinct lack of sympathy to your plight here.

I know don Alfaro for a whole year,he's actually one of the best and most organized air squad leaders in VS,but in the whole server

Sorry,all I can say is go join the 666 air squads and face don alfrago'a squad

Edit: I'M SO SO SOOOOOOOOO DONE OF NERF CALLS!!tell me a SINGLE weapon that someone didn't complain about before???

If you want people to take you seriously, it's better not to write things entirely from a single perspective.

First, it takes significantly more than a second (or 2-3? - not using these much nowadays) to establish a lock. Second, it should be very easy to lose a trailing missile, slam it onto a rock. Third, you get beaten by teamwork, and you complain about it: you know what the response is going to be, and you know what alternatives to Planetside these responses will suggest.

Fourth, Tomcats are in no way powerful, they have way less DPS and versatility than a Nosegun, and they only provide a significant advantage while their user is still learning the airgame. Once they get better, there is no reason to user it over a Nosegun and something more useful in the wing hardpoint.

It would be hilarious to take away one of the very few entry points into the A2A-game, although I'm sure skyknights would be happy, as their farm would be much more undisrupted. Everyone else, not so much. Tomcats are inferior to noseguns, only they are easier to use, their skillcap being significantly lower.

Too much lock-ons? Use the hard-counter, Flares. Although I'm sure having to give up Light Assault for repairing capability and ruining the precious KD would be a disaster.

I don't think anything can be done as far as balancing is concerned. I think they could have implemented a system to encourage experienced pilots to help new ones, and also added a safe zone behind the battle, where off-sides air can't fly.

Yeah, a big part of the problems is the roaming gank squads, which is why I quit playing on Connery all together.

bring them into ground 96+ anti-air trap, lock them at warpgate

Hey now, there are plenty of us who have Skyguard auraxium , and then some,
You can not make such a false general statement about the Skyguard..

It works really well, in the right hands.. and lots of pilots turn tail when they get hit.
Working as intended.

If only NERF complains count.... TRAP?
And if its only in the version that is live now: Fractures propably.
T4 AMP i guess....

Don't have too much experience with VS and NC weaknesses, since those are the ones you never meet on the battlefield.
Like an LMG that is not Orion, Beetlegeuse or that SVA? thing.

*mocking voice*
Hey now - AA is totally useless, and everybody knows it.
I mean I don't want to use it, but if somebody did it would do nothing.
* normal voice*
Seriously though, the problem seems to become a lot better on Cobalt. Actually I can rarely even fly around anymore without being locked on from a total random position.

XD If you mean to tell me some dude with an Italian name manages to spam Tomcats along with a dozen other guys, that's called gangsterism, not overpowerederism. Big difference, man.

Hoow to kill don alfrego. Get 2-6 friends. Pull 2-6 skyguards with racer 3. Wait for them to be above then unleash h***. Works almost every time for me. Getting double digit kills between the squad. They scatter fast.

there's nothing wrong with that. massive games like planetside, EVE online, and others will always have that peculiarity. where the logic of the engagement changes from individual skill to numbers.

eve has a whole "theorycrafting" branch dedicated to tactics to deal with "blapping". AKA the point where the concentrated fire on one target deals more damage on an instant than what that target has of total Effective Health Points. thus negating the effect of RR (or healing)

the same thing happens on Planetside. have you ever faced a duo of AP/Halberd vanguards? with proper coordination only other MBTs and reinforced sunderers can survive the initial volley, only to die to the next volley of halberd fire. everything else instantly explodes on first hit.

or how about a small squad of lancer Heavies? back on Emerald i used to be on an organized outfit, we once held one of those old 200+ ppl Zergs with 20 lancer heavies. it was a massacre. similar thing happened with Engi AP towers when they were first introduced.

now days the same level of stupid can be achieved with Engis with antimaterial rifles, and even when the critical mass is harder to achieve, the results are even more OP than with the old AP towers.

its not even necessary to have such specialized formations. back when ppl where crying about harassers farming infantry. any organized group of players could trash harassers with ease at extreme distances. all they had to do was shoot at it. the moment you have 20+ ppl shooting at a harasser or ESF, it just dies. no matter the "skill" of the pilot/driver.

nerfing tomcats will have no effect, they will just use the nose gun. any player with some experience on air knows that having more than one nose gun on you end you. even if the pilots are terrible.

there's a point where the game is about numbers, no manner of balance with change that. and that's is why this is a great game.

Having a good AA squad on the ground and being able to fly low helps !

I already addressed your problem when I said you shouldn't fly alone.

Didnt they change Tomcats quite some time ago. As far as i recall Tomcats havent been fire and forget for a while.

Arent they a Maintain Lock weapon now? That requires you to aquire a lock, then keep the target in your crossheir until the missile strikes? Making you unable to swap to your nosegun and thus decreasing your overall DPS? Seems fairly balanced to me. If you cant stay out of your opponents crossheirs for the amount of time it takes Tomcats to kill you plus added time Flares/Stealth give you, then a Nosegun would have killed you much faster.

If its a whole squad running Tomcats, then Coyotes or Noseguns or any weapon really would have the same effect en masse. Overwhelming force is overwhelming regardless of weapon.

6 seconds of lock immunity, and flares off all actively tracking missiles when popped.

Lock Ons also show on the minimap, so you can wait for the missile to get closer before firing flares off.

In my experience, most people complaining about A2A use Fire Suppression.

And yes, a 12 man TomCat squad is basically a massive air death ball... but 12 skilled dogfighters with flares and AB pods could pretty easily take them out with minimal losses.

It's Sky Knight entitlement honestly.

Does it suck to get ganked? Of course it does.

**** happens. This is a game of numbers and no amount of skill will make you immune to that.

You can swap to nosegun, but you do need to keep on target...

At launch what I'd typically do would be fire off Tomcat, then do a vertical AB flip to change position and dodge enemy return nosegun fire while adjusting position for nosegun + another missile.

You cannot do that with current tomcats... and in fact why face hugging is a great way to counter TC usage.

Nosegun + TomCat does still offer greater potential DPS however... of course Coyote + Nosegun is even higher (provided they don't have stealth) and Afterburner tanks can help you face hug or get out of range (don't forget to use trees to temp break LoS to interupt lock sequences while escaping)

If you have Rocketpods or Hornets, you are at a disadvantage and should be. (though I've been getting a laughable amount of Hornet hits lately... facehug the tomcatter and your secondary is better than theirs)

Don is nothing special. He is not particularly good pilot, he lock's on from the back of the squad while zerglings attack, you will never see him on the ground. If he gets resistance - he just goes to another continent. He counts on superior numbers, thats all. I remember a fight on Hossin a month or so ago when I was on my TR alt and Don came around with his air zerg, well, we had almost equal numbers, but what's importantly we had better pilots in the air. We destroyed the once, 5 minutes later they came back, we've done it two more times then they went to another continent and they kept dying.

Tom cats suck since you can't really outrun them with ABs, flares will give you just a few seconds and you can maybe take one or two of them down ... but your ESF will still be shot down.

In fact, here is a video of one of those fights

Should we nerf infantry weapons like Carbines, Assault Rifles, and LMGs too?

I can show you a disgusting trick. Get 5 people (if NC, need 7 if TR or VS). And everyone shoot one round at a single target. They get instagibbed by a 500-600m/s bullet from everyone. You don't even need headshots to pull this off.

This is a poor attempt to get A2A lockon nerfed. You are not so Naive to think that 'fixing' tomcats would help the situation you are speaking of. That mean you, phungus420 are a liar and a scam. You know for a fact that even if Tomcats didn't exist in the game, that this squad you speak of would simply switch to rotaries and do the same thing. In fact you also know that rotaries are far more effective when used in a group than Tomcats could ever be.

You know this. You're not stupid, you're not naive. You're just lying to us and trying to further an agenda.