Is it me, or does it seem like the missile AI has gone back 10 patches? I lock-on, shoot the missile, and it goes right to he target, as if leading (mostly into the building or mountain or whatever) it. This *new* problem seem to have developed after this new patch came out with the new stuff.
This is probably the way Lock-On missiles should have always been, assuming I understand what you're saying correctly. I haven't actually played in about 2 weeks, so I'm just interpreting what you said about how they work now. If this makes lock-ons easier to ground out on terrain, then I am all for it. And I'm a huge G2A launcher user.
Isn't F2P great? without spending anymore money in this game, I don't have to deal with guilt and regret every time they pull s*it like this....
This change is absolute garbage and I hope it's a bug. If it's a feature, I'd like to learn whose idea it was so I can put him on the list of people I'll never hire.
Yup - they most definitely don't ignore terrain now. Its like they have a love affair with terrain these days.
The change to air lockons in particular was noticeable and immediate as a heavy assault, but ultimately it is refreshing to feel like personal judgement makes some contribution when using them now, as far as timing of shots, positioning, and target selection.
I use the NS annihilator, and I think it works fine. You just need to consider where the target is traveling, and how the rocket is going to fire(it fires ahead of the target). I don't see what the problem is. So you have to think a little for your points, so what? It's still the easiest weapon to use.
This change was needed to reduce the EZ-mode of using the Lock-Ons so that pilots will ***** about them less. And trust me; I am NOT a pilot. I am almost always in favor of Anti-Air power. But the old Lock On AI was horsecrap, and everybody knew it.
I noticed the lock-on guidance change last night and thought it was a good thing. Now my missiles don't fly in random directions to strike at the target from unfair angles.
Has anyone else had issues (specifically with the Annihilator) when using it for AA next to a building/wall/tree where the Rocket flies sideways into the object next to the launcher, despite having clear line of sight on the aircraft? I'm finding it extremely frustrating. Yes G2A missiles needed to have less ability to circumnavigate cliffs etc that the ESF was using to break locks, but having missiles collide right into the cover next to you because it decided to go sideways instead of straight towards the ESF you're aiming at is bloody stupid.
Its part of the terrain avoidance checks it makes in flight. The Missile has 2 behaviors when it detects obstacles, but both are a bit sketchy depending on where those objects are. - The tracking behavior attempts to get in front of the intended target and puts it on an intercept path. - The second is a Javelin-like arc when it thinks there is a terrain mismatch. Normally you see this happen with ground vehicles near cliff edges, since the lock is dead center of the vehicle, immediately detects a LOS error and attempts terrain avoidance. A side effect of this means having insufficient clearance (particularly when hugging objects) results in terrain avoidance miscalculating a route or trying to pass "through" terrain as the middle space is in fact empty.
Thanks for clearing this up. I only got the annihilator in the last month or two, and it felt like these situations were happening more often since the patch reducing missile AI, but maybe its just me.
I know at one time GtA and AtA lock ons had a different tracking mechanic than Annihilator or striker lock ons did. GtA and AtA used a "Chase" mechanic, they would fly to were the ESF is right then, resulting in them ending up on the tail of the esf untill they hit or ran out of fuel Annihilators and strikers had a "lead" mechanic, were they woul fly to were the ESF was going to be. This ment annihilators and strikers were easier to "ground out" as if you flew like you were going to crash into something the missile would be heading for that thing and crash into it itself. The predictive manner however gave the shorter path and thus reached the target faster, giving less time to outrun or flare, and being harder to turn dodge. The chase rockets were harder to ground out, in order to make them crash into an obsticle that obsticle needed to be between you and the rocket, harder than it sounds. They could be turn dodged (making a sharp turn right before it hits you) more easily, but without a range indicator that was almost purely luck based. A chase flight path however is longer than lead flight path, making it take longer to hit, and being more able to outrun or flare the missile (unless the target is coming strait at you or strait away from you, in which case they are the same, though that rarely happens except with A2A missiles as air movement occurs at an elivated plane than ground movement). it almost sounds like they set the GtA to use lead instead of chase. Of course back then missiles had not accounting for terrain in their AI, they only considered were they are, were their target is, and if useing lead tracking thier targets velocity. sense my return I noticed lock ons avoiding terrain, which i thought was weird from a gameplay perspective, and I would have thought thats what they were removing with the patch, not changing the tracking type
