In all fairness, the ESFs are still the most effective form of anti-air we have. I don't think this means they should be pigeonholed to that role, though. Honestly, and as a person who enjoys all roles on the battlefield, I think the AA/Air balance is pretty good (now that the lock on warning is fixed). There are a couple tweaks that still can be made, especially where, like the Skyguard, a unit is illogically bad in its designated role, but overall we're not in a bad place.
AA MAXes should own ESFs at close range for the aircraft. The fact AA MAXes hard counter ESFs within 300 meters is important, which is why I said AA MAX damage is good, and why I think a couple AA MAXes should be able to instagib aircraft that are hovering at close range (usually trying to pick off infantry); AA MAXes need to be effective at protecting ground troops and this means they need to be able to kill ESFs that get too close to them. I think a ground unit that costs 100 resources, and that can be instantly reequiped for zero cost at a terminal shouldn't also hard counter air vehicles and completely dominate airspace over multiple hexes. Why do you disagree?
Incorrect. They increased the render distance of MAX units by quite a lot. They are still small and Hard to spot, but they are there. Just follow the tracer rounds. At 500m, 70%, 2 seconds? Unless you are a REALLY bad pilot or you're trying to hover farm (often one and the same), this is incorrect. The MAX unit is indeed a strange one, we're classified as infantry and can be revived by Medics, require Infantry points to acquire, but can only be repaired by an engineer. No, feel free to join in on the countless of other NERFPLZ threads other people have made.
If you or anybody else for that matter dies as infantry to a Burster MAX, then you really do need to uninstall and go and play something else. A Burster MAX is the easiest thing to kill in this game. Even an Infiltrator with a pistol can do it.
300 meters? They're not a great counter at 300m at all. You can hit a target at 300m, but unless the target is highly predictable and flies into all of your shots, or if ESF is charging straight at twin bursters from 300 meters out...then you're asking for it. With lockon weapons they'll tell you the range; with everything else reliably estimating range is difficult at best.
An AA max without backup is a dead max to any infantry, 1v1 the infantry should win outright. Don't even need c4 just your rifle.
Agreed unless you have extended mags on both arms or extremely stupid flyer. Though skyguard is useless for anything else than galaxies or libs as you can actually hit them without them being 5 meters from you. Skyguard cannon atm cant even hit barn side from longer range. Its sprays bullets all over the place.
I have never been killed in an AA max by infantry. Ever. AA Maxes shouldn't be near huge spawns of infantry and 1 or 2 infantry is easily killed with your bursters and arm swings. Tanks always eat my lunch thou. As far as those that say you can't solo an ESF in a Dual Burster, it's about 10x easier to solo a ESF in a burster than it is to kill it in an ESF. The trick is to open up when their close, and be VERY GOOD at deflection shooting (something you become good at from flying)
Had an infil jump me with a pistol while dual Cometing, had to hop away from his knife attacks and pew pew him with splash.
During December I had good luck with max punches, but around January I had a terrible streak where I couldn't punch to save my life. I gave up trying to melee and just shoot instead.
Really? What exactly is that doing then? What use is an AA MAX stood in a spawn room or hiding in a building? I swear some people won't be happy until their preferred play style is immune to all incoming fire and every enemy dies if they even so much as look at them. It's not the game balance that is the problem here. It is the mentality of the players.
In Platoon vs Platoon sized engagements the game is perfectly balanced right now when rendering is working. AA MAXes and annihilator units only become far too dominant and break balance once you start getting close to 200 people in a fight, where things begin to completely break down and all go to hell even for infantry due to rendering as things get bigger: Things get especially stupid for vehicles around central Indar on Connery where you can try to fly to Allatum in a lib and just instantly pop from ghost damage that your death screen tells you is AA MAXes and Annhilators.
Why would anybody with even half a brain get close enough to find out? It is trivial to keep out of the range of an AA MAX, even if it runs at you. Killing it is even more trivial.
There is definitely an economy of scale at work. Unfortunately, ESF are barred by this mechanic from anywhere that matters.
The guy to whom that message was addressed had just described an encounter with an infiltrator wherein he was dodging knife attacks. If you're in melee range anyway, punch away. Heck, I've used max charge + max punch to take out the occasional infantry harassing me as I try to keep the skies clear. I've one-shot infiltrators that weren't expecting me to close the gap. It doesn't work super often, but when it does, it's satisfying.
It takes seven seconds for a single AA MAX to kill an ESF if every flak round counts. This discussion is pointless because it's not really about the AA MAX at all. It's about stupid and greedy pilots.
I'm not saying I'm the best ESF player out there, not even close, but I'm just trying to have a debate about this specific mechanic of the game. Maybe we come up with a great idea or solution and someone from SOE sees it, or maybe it will just be like another other thread - we end up flaming each other and nothing has been accomplished. MAX AA might be as powerful as they should, but then SG should be tweaked. Maybe increased rate of fire, more damage per round or larger explosion - there are many ways. I think a larger explosion radius would help - and then keep the maximum and minimum damage (which just gives you a larger slope for the damage, which then means you need to be more accurate. This would increase the damage slightly, and encourage you to aim more precisely.
If you have problems killing a lone infantry with a burster MAX you need to uninstall and go play something else. A Burster MAX has plenty of health to kill an lone infantry before dying, you just need to be patient and fire with enough time to let your burster's shots CoF not go to hell. Yeah, if you panic and try to unload on him non of your shots will hit, but if you control your fire he will die before he can take away all your health - which as a MAX is alot.
If that's how long it should take to destroy an ESF, then the damage for the MAX AA might be right - but that still doesn't fix SG.
