I love the Valkyrie. It's relatively easy to fly, and economically priced in terms of nanites. However, it's not tanky enough to provide prolonged air support to allies, and is outclassed by Galaxies in the transport department in a big way. The recent (ish) buffs to the Valkyrie's vaiability were a step in the right direciton, but I don't feel like they did enough. My suggested change to the vehicle is this: Add a utility slot called "Ground Support Upgrade". This slot, when taken, will remove the Valkyrie's troop transport and gunner seats, leaving only a pilot. The main turret then locks forward, and only forward, becoming a sub-par gun of the same statistics that the current options have. The Valkyrie then gains access to all ESF ground-attack wing pods: Hornets, and rocket-pod variants according to faction. These are then managed identically to how they are on the current ESF build. In this way, the Valkyrie can now fill the role of light CAS gunship, as well as retaining it's prior operational characteristics without this Utility equipped. That is part one of my suggestion. Part two is this: ESF's lose access to all air-to-ground wing mounts, retaining Coyote and Tomcat missiles for air to air use. ESFs retain use of Empire Specific AI nose guns, though this could be removed as well. ESF nanite cost is reduced by 50 nanites, and move the flare upgrade to the wing-mounts as an alternate to afterburner fuel tanks. Why? Because most ground types complain about ESF's adaptability- they feel it is much too powerful against ground and air, and that ESFs should be relegated to air superiority operations. I agree, with the proviso that they should keep their AI nose guns so they can serve as a -secondary- air support, at the cost of almost all of their anti-air firepower. (Many ESF pilots run AA nose gun, with hornets/lolpods, allowing them to do both jobs without changing loadouts.) This solution makes ESF's more economical to fly- cheaper (So newer players can pull them and gain flight experience more often), and more mission-focused. They are also made more resistant and survivable, by having flares -and- fire suppression at the same time, or fire suppression -and- afterburner, allowing the pilots a more meaningful customization option: ESFs would then be free to focus more on CAP duties at altitudes former sky-knights were afraid to engage with. This neatly solves the ESF hatred of ground pounders- as ESFs will no longer be viable for ground farming, and then zipping away before they can be countered. ESF air to air viability is left essentially unchanged. However, ESFs would take on a -greater- CAP role, because they would be vital in escorting the slow, vulnerable, CAS Valkyrie types which will be the new favored air-to-ground platform. This new platform would not be overpowered because: Valkyries are much easier to hit (bigger targets) and are slower. They have a harder time zipping into fights, or fleeing them, meaning tactics and teamwork will be more important to the vehicle's success than with the current ESF based system. However, they are not helpless, and are already a good bit tankier than an ESF: Especially against direct small arms fire. Valkyries are also ideal platforms for strafing runs, as they are more stable and easier to fly than ESFs, and more crashworthy should ditching become necessary CAS Valkyries would sacrifice all squad support and transport ability, as well as the flexibility of a manned turret, and would need CAP support even against standard Valkyries, as those could potentially simply fly circles around them using the greater firing arcs of the turret to control the combat. The CAS Valkyrie would be only capable of air-to-air combat in the most limited of roles. I feel this idea would massively improve the airgame by giving the Valkyrie more versatility as an airframe, and would reduce the catch-all dominance of the ESF: While -increasing- ESF survivability against the "overpowered" lock ons pilots complain about, and ensuring the Air-Bushido way of life is left untarnished.
it doesn't solve the A2G ESF issue, infact it makes it much worse since valkyries have a lot more HP than ESFs they also have a chassis which allows them to hover without falling as ESFs do, at long range this would allow them to easily bombard a base
Given most players don't complain about ESF ability to hover well (and they're plenty precise as it is), but their inability to counter them before they can run away- or to detect them when they are inbound at such high speeds, the Valkyrie is a significant improvement from a ground-to-air scenario. However, the CAS Valkyrie will inherently be more lethal than the standard one, and infantry will need to plan their actions accordingly.
