Everything about them sucks, from all prospectives. They're ineffective for shooters and zero fun for targets. I think the entire system needs to be reworked. Sorry this is long. Missiles should, and easily could be a fun part of the game. Realistically, you're not going to reliably hit good pilots with dumb-fired missiles, so we need some sort of lock mechanic. Right now they're an annoying, zero skill weapon with little reward. I think the solution is to let missiles set ESF on fire with a single hit, make them lock faster, travel much faster, but turn much much much slower. This places skill on the shooter, in that he has to time his shot to when the target has the lowest lateral speed possible. This lets the aircraft also have a good chance to dodge the missile if he's paying attention and has a little fuel left in his tank. I don't think flares should be a hard counter, but instead be ammo based and give any locked missiles a tracking penalty. That way a great shot will still nail a pilot who doesn't maneuver properly, even if he pops a flare. Tomcats should work in the same way they do, but with the same principles applied. If two pilots are heading straight at each other, or the target is running straight away, that Tomcat is going to wreck him, but a target doing a reverse maneuver or flying at an angle would have a much lower chance at getting hit. The missile shooter would have to position his aircraft for the shot and time his shot perfectly based on target movement. Coyotes suck, and I think could benefit from something similar to the old Tomcat mechanic. Give them a near instant lock, very fast velocity, but very weak tracking and you have to maintain aim throughout the missile's flight. And seperate wing and nose reloads. I also think stealth should be looked at. Instead of adding time to lock, it should negate missile tracking ability. Adding wing mounts however would increaseaircraft radar signature and increase missile tracking. This would help in numerous aspects of the game. It would give good nosegun only pilots much better odds against missile planes, let G2A more easily hit ground farmers with Lol-pods, and let skynights fly around with less worry about G2A missiles than ground farmers. I think composite needs a serious buff. Stealth is universally better, and stealth/rotary combined with crap render distances makes ganking players extremely easy. Choosing stealth should put you at a serious disadvantage if you don't get the jump on your opponent. I think a 30% damage reduction against everything but missiles would be about right. Combined with easier missile tracking against Composite and showing up on everyone's rader, there needs to be a significant advantage it gives for people running it. I also think all wing mounts should be more powerful but much more limited in numbers. Reward a player for pulling off a Tomcat shot, but don't let him spam them. Give each aircraft 2 missiles and drastically increase re-supply time. Same with Coyotes. This lets a skillful nosegun pilot dodge those two Tomcats or Coyote salvos then move in for the kill, instead of constantly flying in the defensive. If you've got time, a friend showed me this video which pretty accurately resembles real life, and it shows that missiles don't have to be an easy button for noobs, but can be challenging and fun to shoot and dodge. Obviously this system is too complicated for PS2, and entirely removes canons from play, but aspects of it could make the game much more enjoyable for everyone.
