Now Is The Time To Learn To Fly

Is it just me or have many of the good pilots left the game? On Connery, it used to be I was engaged by an ace almost every time out. Now, it seems like hardly any aces roam the air. Also, gank squads are less frequent then a year or two ago.

So if your going to hone your skills, now is the time. For whatever reason, the air opportunity has opened up.

It does seem easier on Emerald, but that just means I went from dying in 3 minutes to dying in 7.

I'm sorry but you'll never get me flying as anything more than taxi and, even in that case, I'll only be flying straight.

No one - including aces - wants to fly ESF with the rampant lock ons, liberator one shots, skyguards, and bursters everywhere.

Recently unlocked the air hammer. Fun stuff. Kind of ignored the ESF AI stuff, but I unlocked them all.

Now is the time to run that stuff as I agree, the backwards flying, nose whipping fly boys are gone or bored.

Rubbish. The only problem with anything in that list is A2A lockons. Avoiding G2As is a simple matter of location, timing and terrain; if you're being taken out by those, it's almost exclusively your fault. Daltons just need distance and they are useless. Skyguards are a little less predictable than MAXs, but yet again, it's about knowing your battlefield.

I'd like to mention, though, that all of the above has far more to do with dogfighting than groundfarming, even though there's plenty of crossing over.

Yeah i dont know what is up with all the g2a locks but its constant. You cant fly over the smallest fight 400 meters above the ground not rendering a single infantry, without getting locked.

I'm pretty sure its due to the heavy directive.

Funniest thing about G2A locks is that they are completely useless against A2G pilots.

I threw my banshee on the other day as i needed 35 kills to reach the directive and get my uber new lumafiber and i was amazed at how easy it was to get kills .Easy to jet over the nearest hill at low altitude and avoid flak and locks

Meanwhile when im flying A2A as i usually do as i dont find shooting fish in a barrel to really get my juices flowing, and im getting constantly locked on and hit by flak 800 meters away while engaged with other aircraft.

So tonight my rl friend logged on and we got a harrasser cause its something 2 people can do together. The locks were pretty constant there too.

PS2 has become the most skilless un-fun game to play most of the time. Unfortunately there isnt much else worth playing for pc so we keep playing for that occasional fun run.

A2A missiles went a long way to ruin skilled gameplay.

Libs were never a problem. They aren't weak, they are competitive, but they don't ruin air game like lock ons

You're surprised by how easy it was fo farm infantry with a2g and then you wonder why you get constantly locked every time you hover over a small fight?

Overwatch and Fallout 4 have stolen a lot of people lately.

So there's all the reason to play then? Because lock-ons are not rampant. Liberators don't one-shot as easily anymore. Skyguards are almost non-existant (and can often be included in the farm) and only Bursters are seen with some frequency... Near spawns, which are easily avoided and/or hunted down for kills until they give up and return to AI/AV role.

I like pilots. Gives me something to shoot at.

'Bout the only way to hit a Harasser if you are no more than an average player- they're so fast. But I do sympathise (no, really) even though I am pure leg infantry.

Try this experiment: spend 1 or 2 hours trying to stop Harassers with dumbfire launchers, maybe with the Striker. Do that while the driver attempts to run over you, or the gunner shots you. Things about lock ons will look much clearer

All I ever do is fly 99% of the time. I might get down on the ground with the stupids once in a while when im drunk or just cause. I can tell you lock ons are rampant.

You have guys all the time who setup lock on squads or just solo on the sides of mountains in the middle of nowhere cause of how stupidly easy it is. Even valkyries carrying lock on heavies is a thing now which is brokenly OP. You don't even have to be involved with a fight just somewhat in the vicinity flying by and you are getting locked on. Get into an air duel and they all come running out with locks trying to get an easy kill.

Locks need to be changed to a defensive only type weapon (alot shorter range) not a camp on the side of a hill or in a field nubbit womp cannon. Alot of the time games like this lose alot of people trying to oversimplify things in order to keep up player retention. The casual bads that were reliant on easy weapons weren't usually here to stay in the first place so don't **** on your loyal players for temporaries. A fun game presents a challenge and pushes its players to want to get better, not rely on easy mechanics anyone can do on day 1.

Well.... that is simply a working rock-paper-scissors principle. At least if the AA is lock-ons.
ESFs prepared to deal with it can kill (farm) the ground.
A2G ESFs get preyed on by A2A ESFs.
A2A ESFs in turn have trouble with the AA.

Bursters and Skyguards mess this up a bit since A2G ESFs can't really harm them (if they don't mess up) and they can't kill the ESFs either. Although they almost certainly will make them retreat for a lengthy repair in 10 seconds or less. but nobody seems to appreciate not being farmed for a whole minute before the pilot returns for his 10 seconds of fun.... after all kills are everything
They are still more dangerous for the A2A ESFs though...

The G2A lockon situation is nowhere near as bad as you make it sound in your reply. It just isn't. You know why? Because it's very easy to rationalise why 95% of the time, if a decent pilot is wiped out by a G2A, it's their own fault. The rest is pretty much "bad luck" (ie. you had an unfortunate run-in with a very cleverly placed squad, which is a rarity...and often not too hard to avoid, too).

This fault often comes from pilots believing they have some right to cruise/fight at low altitude over even somewhat populated hexes, let alone heavily defended or besieged ones. It's a matter of judgement whether you engage a target or not; this has to include an assessment of the surroundings, if you don't feel like dying. I'm mainly speaking about A2A combat here, mind. A2G farming is almost entirely about playing the terrain and there's plenty of locations/situations that make it almost too easy to mention.

I'm not trying to teach you something here. This is simply the way I think and, for the last three years, it has consistently been effective. The airgame, as fractured as it is in parts, is as nuanced and complex as ever; throwing around the big Oh Pee isn't likely to get you much constructive feedback. According to you (can't find you on Das Anfall), the majority of your time in this game has been spent in ESFs. I've also been flying a while. I find it difficult to believe that our experiences have been so different, if it really is a matter of broken game mechanics. That's why there's a likelihood that something ELSE is being missed.

You trolling or wat? Look at my char stats and see its majority ESF. Hell i even have chars that haven't ever been on the ground. wtf is Das Anfall that something I should know? KDRs generally over 3 and i don't fly bail assault. Not saying I ever get killed by these idiots who use locks but its still annoying as all hell when they pop up like hyenas when you are in a fight or about to kill an enemy ESF no where near an objective point. I know enough to fly over 500m but random hills and mountains still make you lockable. I generally cruise above 800m but some places like Indar for instance have half the map at 600m so you literally have to be at the ceiling to not be locked.

But its just as that other guy said. Lock ons are really only a nuisance to the people who aren't even worried about attacking ground (those not carrying flares). Hell if I get bored and want to ground farm bring all your locks not going to make a diff. I'll pick you off wait for a lock on to fire see its location and smack the nubtard using it in the face and fly off and wait out the flare timer. Rinse and repeat.

Ignore this post alcohol

Flying is just as terrible as before. Maybe there are a few less dedicated Skynights, but overall flying is still a terrible experience. It's not unusual to see during EST prime-time fights 1-10 ESFs, 3-4 Bursters, 3-6 Skyguards, 3-4 AA Sundys, 20+ HAs with G2A lock-on launchers at the main fights. It's not unusual to see 4 dedicated AA Sundys (2-Repair & 2 Ammo) all parked next to each other controlling the skies at a base fight.