No place for ESF?

Lol...

There are no "noob weapons", that is a spiteful term invented by 5 year olds on Call of Duty to refer to anything that kills them. Real life planes also have lock ons and they are no "noob".

A plane can instantdelete any infantry, afterbun then do the same over and over. is this fair for you?

Good pilots or rocks will block your lock most of the time, it doesn't prevent them from coming to destroy your forces. Just bad pilots complain about the UP lock ons.

Also balancing weapons based on cost is a chidish reasoning. So if a weapon costed 300.000 certs then it would be fair to instant delete the entire server? LOL

Also 1 (one) cert in flak armor saves you from dying to anti personnel mines which costs 200. That's 200 times more. Unbalanced? lol

I'm just going to throw this out there and if it goes over your head I'm sorry.

ESFs surely are weak as they are now, but isn't that the point? They're the cheapest of the aircrafts, though in comparison to the cheapest ground vehicle they outshine them in every regard. You won't see a crowd of 10+ ATVs dominating the ground, but you'll occasionally see 10+ ESFs owning the air while harassing the ground effectively, yet I see no complaints towards them. In this viewpoint, you will note the lack of the number of air vehicles, perhaps buffing ESFs isn't a goal worth pursuing but instead adding another air vehicle is, and you should voice that possibility more than making crazy amounts of posts towards an aircraft that can be spawned like ATVs.

I think you'd need to argue with Higby. The upcoming ESF changes are primarily A2A so that the default kit won't be rocket pods which will probably mean less ground AA. The fact that the default kit for the majority of ESF's are rocket pods are a concern to the devs as well as everyone on the ground.

It makes no sense to me that the ESF is a better ground pounder than the Liberator. Buff the Lib, make podding ESF very vulnerable to A2A ESF and then you'll have an air superiority fight conducted mainly by air where successfully escorting a Lib over enemy territory can do significant damage if not intercepted by friendly air.

That would be awesometastic but it won't happen as Higby said they wont touch ground based AA, which is the main issue why escorting is simply of no use -- to make up for the sheer amount of AA, it would have to be nerfed drastically - leading to more complaints etc. and making zones that dont have entire platoons in them a free-to-farm zone for air forces.

Only when it's raining frogs in the frozen hell I will believe that ground based AA will reduce by making ESF more air based. Everyone got those weapons and likes to troll aircraft with it and will continue to do so.

Higby's rationale (though I don't want to speak for him..) appears to be, buffing A2A ESF will create a situation where ESFs that carry pods will be at a severe disadvantage against them in the air. I pull AA because I'm being threatened by podders, not because I want to stand on a tower with my thumb up my **** waiting for ESFs to shoot at - it's reactionary most of the time.

If A2A ESF deal with podding ESF then I'll only bother to pull AA when there's Libs in the air with no local air support. Why would people AA MAX when there's no threat to ground? It's boring enough as it is.

As a pure grounder until recently, I was always annoyed at the pilots whining on the forums; “Lock-ons are too good! Pods are nerfed! Flak is too accurate!.” Being on the receiving end of rockets fired from completely stationary fighters hovering – virtually immune – overhead since beta I can tell you that I thought you deserved your comeuppance.

And then I got in an ESF. And I still think we – all pilots – deserve what we get when it comes to ground fire.

Flying takes a lot of skill and now I’m flying a little you can really tell the difference between a novice pilot and a great pilot. I am not, by the way, a great pilot – I suck.

It seems to me that most people who get into an ESF want to attack ground targets, an activity which previously seemed to require no skill beyond being able to fly in a straight line and push your mouse button. It’s clearly gotten harder – much harder. If you are still getting kills this way, then you are clearly a skilled pilot to avoid all that AA, so be proud that you can match the increased difficulty. Wanting anything more is just cert farming greed. Enjoy the challenge (enjoying a challenge is what games are about, no?).

Personally I have no interest in ground attack. A fighter is about shooting planes down. I’m not very good at it yet, but I think even I’ve only been shot down once by a lock-on and never by flak. It’s not that I’m skilful, at all, but that I rarely go beneath 300m – and only then to scare off any hovering ESF below me. At 300m+ you have nothing to worry about but other fighters, as you can easily outrun any lock-on with a quick burst of basic thrust.

If you’re finding ESFing frustrating, then please come on up to 300m+ and enjoy some dogfighting, because I’m discovering it’s hella fun (and the more the merrier). It’s absolutely not a cert farm – in no way – but you could just sit on the crown if you wanted a few quick certs, no? Personally, I think ESF are in a good place. It's the Libby which is suffering more.

For month i defended Air "not to be broken" but in the last weeks it gets so unplayable. Every Outfit / platoon deploys 2-3 AA Max and 1-2 G2A missiles and the airspace is closed. The TTK is so hardly reduced, that playing an ESF in a "medium to big" fight gets nearly impossible. Sometimes you can use the terrain for your advantage to get a few easy kills, but once you have been spotted you will die quickly. Playing an ESF has become an Air-to-Air fight only. Useless, because the objectives are on the ground.

My ideas / thoughts - Fair and balanced:

- Increase Health Points on ESF like they did with the tanks. This increases the survibility. Most ESF pilots turn round an fly away once they get hit by a MAX AA gun, so this change increases their chance to rearm / repair and reengage.

- Increase costs for MAX deploy. 100 Ressources is so cheap and the enemy can deploy them so quickly and lock down an air space completly. I have seen fights where 20 friendly tanks where sieging a base but no blue ESF could help them to take the base because three AA MAX cleared the air.

- Increase the time engis need to invest to repair a MAX. Repair needs to deplete quicker. This increases the time a MAX can move again into battle after it has been damaged. Repairing a MAX in a combat situation vs infantry or vs Air always outperforms infantry revive time and ESF repair time.

- Increase AB Speed / flight speed. ESF must be harder to hit. Most ESFs hover when they fire so they are still an easy target, even for HA with the standard rocket launcher.

- Change the flare mechanic. Flares deplete after use. Each rank gives you one more flare in stock. So if you have this rank on 4/5 you will have 4 flares stored in your ESF so you can prevent lock-on for a while. Flares can be used every second. Flares prevent lock-on for a certain time. Flares can be refilled like ammo.

- Slightly decrease flight speed of AA MAX projectiles. A MAX is OP when shooting at a hovering / stationary target. A MAX shouldnot be OP to bring down a moving airplane. Moving planes should be brought down by lock-on missiles. This idea will make it harder to hit an ESF which just bypasses a base in a certain distance. An ESF shouldnot be taken out so easily, while its not engaged in combat.

How to break the "one-size-fits-all" fitting for ESF:

- Decrease the COF for the A2A Primary ESF gun (the AA superior gun), so its harder to hit infantry.

- Slightly increase the DMG done by the A2G Primary ESF gun (TR - Banshee) in case used against other air vehicals. On TR side the banshee is balanced vs infantry. But its too weak vs air. This change will motivate ESF pilots to use the Primary gun vs Ground (and vs air) instead of rocket pod spam vs ground and AA superior gun vs air.

- Inrease the flight-speed of A2A Lock on Secondary ESF weapon missile system. Its easier to kill other ESF with the Primary, instead of switching to the A2A missile pods. The flight speed of the A2A missile is too low.

- Change the A2G Rocket-Pods to a lock-on launcher tanks / turrets only. First of all, this will stop missile spam vs infantry and an ESF pilots who still wants to engage infantry will be forced to change the primary weapon to an A2G gun. Lock-on range need to be about maximum distance. (This is still fair, because MAX will still fire at you once they see you. The ESF will have to hover or fly directly towards the target to get a lock. This is still an easy target for a AA MAX). Flight speed of A2G rockets needs to be lowered, so people on the ground can move around, make it harder for rockets to hit. Moveability / agility of rockets need to lowered. So if a vehical is moving rockets should miss. Tanks wont fire accurate while moving. So why should missiles hit accurate when the tank moves? A moving flash should never be hit by a lock-on A2G rocket.

I think the aa max should just be a bit more for closer range.
There is almost no real good use for a skygeard whit max as srtong as it is now.
it sould protect infantry not make the sky unflyable.

Max cost sould go up.
The cost being the same as a C4 is just odd.

I think having 5 flairs would make it a bit OP.
lvl 5 Sould have sorter cool-down i think.
having to wait 25 sec at lvl 5 before you can come back in the fight is way to long.
Maby 8-10 sec cool-down

I would like to see the rochet pods split of in to groups.
One being only for vehicles and one only good for infantry.

meh i still remeber 2 weeks ago or something we were being spawn camped by nc, (was on tr waterson or miller can't recall)
then 5libs 10esf came by.
then there weren't any nc left after 1min apart from some snipers trying to run uphill.

but but i'm an ace pilot! i should be immortal and this is dogfight sim 2213.
/sarcasm off.
ever seen flyboy stream? it is pathetic.
flak hits them dealing 1% dmg at 600m away.
"waaaawwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa flak op waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa dogfight sim waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa unfair waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa op! waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

also this.
they should disable flyboys ESF for a week and force them to play lightning and they would learn what it truly means to get instant kill at max render range while being unable to do anything while driving top speed.

Your richt a smal squad can get overrun by 5 libs and 10 esf.
But a full good squad can break the air is 3 sec.

OK 5 libs 2 or 3 players. that's one squad right??
10 esf. that make it around 20 people in the air.
How long do you think it would take 20 aa max on the ground to take down that whole air??
1 or 2 sec. im not sure??

lets see last time we got a suprise AA party, hmph nope no one survived long enough to pull anything before dead.
sorry my Ace AA max can't 1v20, like your ESF is suppose to do right

also only time i've ever seen more than 8aa max is
skydock.
or 1 hex left. even with 2-3hexs left there are never more than 8.

You know why there is never more than 2 or 3 aa max cuz that's more than enough to clear the sky no matter how many air there is.

if you get killed by 2 AA maxs then you are bad sorry

I dint say i get killed bij 2 max. there is just no way to enter the place where there are 2 or 3 max.
Seeing there is no big cost for pulling a max ive seen on buzy nights there are always 2 or 3 max on the frontlines.
So if there if no weapon that is realy afective in range vs max or skygeard there is just one thing to do for fighters.
killing ESF that barely cros the frontline or lol podding infantry that are to lazy to pull a max or lock on weapon.

I like them. Often i take one to travel where i want to/have to, and when going there i can shoot down few enemy fighters.

Well if you have trouble aiming whit a lock on louncer you are a realy bad player.
So yes maby a 5 year old invented the word but lock on weapons do not realy need a lot of skill.
And gifing them a range of 500 m and a extra 2 sec lock on when the lock is broken and damage 72% on a ESF and almost no way to dodge.
sorry but that is making a no skill weapon OP.
A TR main battle tank gif 50% damage to ESF.
while making that hit is so mutch more hard.

And yet last night on Matherson I saw on 4 different occasions the TR had at 7+ Fighters and 3+ libs in the air.

If they can't fly and AA is so bad why where they there? Why were they absolutely owning the area until there was a concentrated push to remove them

Cause you didn't have anyone pull Burster MAXes or use AA properly? Slaughtered a whole squad of TR air on Waterson yesterday during an alert, 6 Burster kills directly, bunch of others suicided/crashed into the tower/etc still yielding assist XP. The only sad part was when there wasn't anymore air, their initial air got cut down... me and another Burster mostly at the start when they arrived. Sad times after, wish they brought more air, it was crazy stupid easy XP.

We got more MAXes and people showing up after that, so I got mostly kill assists after that, and there was only random air headed our way at that point. Wish they had brought more air - its like shooting ducks in a barrel!

I love how a pilot with a 3.18 K/D is complaining that the guys he farms can shoot him down. Sorry, no sympathy from me.

Oh they did get shot down and left when the bursters came out in mass.

However one of the times it was just me and one other burster. the 2 killed one or two but MOST of the time was watching them afterburn away after taking 50% damage. Very few kills.

See the difference here was they were working together. While we shot at one or two and they ran or died 2 or 3 more where diving on our position. Killing us or driving us inside until an engi got to us.

Can a LONE ESF fly around with no concern? not very well, but a squad communicating in the air working together takes more than one or two guys... as it should.