Pay2Anni-lock

ok, i got it. I thought that may be it, but wanted to make sure before i wrote something irrelevant

the problem with your solution is that that annie teams also double up as the best AI teams (HA's). Annie teams are quite literally the most effective class using the most effective weapons. infantry runs would yield similar results to air runs: death for those with less numbers. the difference, of course, would be that the infantry runs would have a skill factor involved, but there should not be a mechanic, which forces ALL vehicles to withdraw, and forces an infantry only encounter. Multiple mechanics that force this? sure. but not a single mechanic, which is also the easiest to use.

in your example, armor has to withdraw or air has to withdraw. usually air clears out ground defenses, and ground units are used to clear AA. with annie teams, this is not the case. only one, VERY specific attack can work, and its because of a weapon that is so simple to use, literally anyone can do it.

LOL! well theres a manipulation if i ever saw one! so do i destroy your entire argument simply by calling them groups? no, because simple turns of phrase do not determine good mechanics or bad ones. I call them squads because (well because it rolls easier) they are a group that is sticking together. there is still so little teamwork involved that it shouldn't be counted.

Blah, blah, blah. I just flew around The Crown for half an hour in a major 2 way battle, with some minor third party engagement.

Not one Annihilator or Lockon was fired at me.

But hey, I totally hear you man. It's lame you can't be a one-man army in an ESF these days right? I mean...who needs noob stuff like platoons and outfits coordinating ground and air attacks? That's tots for nubs.

So funny read this. I've being farmed by planes and tanks since the first drop on this game, having to change the strategy.

one? really? one? seriously? i mean.....REALLY?

BTW, im not a pilot, so im trying to rid this game of horrible weapons, not give myself an XP machine, but flying a plane and killing ground units(as easy as that is) requires a HELL of alot more skill than looking and pushing a button. Just saying. dont believe me? how many people give up on flying because they cant keep from running into the ground. how many are good enough to hit ground targets. its not a high learning curve, but anything beats the gutter.

Infantry vs infantry requires coordination, training, vehicle (AMS) placement, tactics (forward spawn point control) and skill to be performed properly.
aircraft vs infantry requires someone to hold the right mouse button to 'see all enemies' and then use the left mouse button to 'kill all enemies'. Then you might hit your flare and run away with your 4-5 kills each time.

Infantry is more skilled then aircraft.

The Annihilator is good as it is in the moment. Its really no problem as a mossy pilot to kill everything on ground. And the Annihilator is a good choice for HA to defend himself against armor and air.

The only thing i dislike being in a mossy right now is that i dont get a missile warning after GU2. But thats another bug....

The Annihilator is ok. Learn how to fly i u dont like it. Most times i get killed in my mossy is the AA of the scythe. This thing is really tough though...

Thx

I find it funny people call they annihilator fire and forget and say that is why it is bad. Every single rocket in this game is fire and forget.

Other then that can say that I think lock on rocket that can lock on ground targets is a bit OP, unless we talking about the magrider (there empire bonus makes them imposable to hit at range with dumb fire, not that that is OP). The use of Lock-on to attack air is a totally fine thing and should stay as is. The reason is this, in a 1vs1 fight, IE one player vs one player, the ESF will beat any and all ground targets with ease. As long as the ESF retain that level of strength there will need to be many way to deter or counter them. Should that change I would agree that lock-on should be removed.

LOL seriously? again?! way to fail to address that inf have a ton of AA options at their disposal. very calssy.

secondly, i never denied that inf combat could not utilize teamwork and coordination. i never claimed that inf combat is skillless. i claimed that annie squads are. so please read posts in their entirety, and if you get confused, read them again.

Also, aircraft are more powerful than infantry, but by no means require less skill. it is a different skill set that is utilized while flying. you have 3D control, and must always maintain an eye for threats. there is no cover, only escape. its kind of like ALWAYS using a jet pack on an LA, and never turning it off. you have to constantly monitor your height, only that comparison sucks because using the LA is far more simple. in either cae aircraft require a TON of skill to be used correctly (this game, not as much as others) and infantry fighting is so diverse, and so different, that you cant really compare the 2 directly.

I can one man army with my Anihilator and farm any who is stupid enough to get in a vehicle. I feel like I am using a Hand held prenerf liberator.

first sentance: Touche! a bit off base, but funny nonetheless.

second sentence: burster, stationary AA, skygaurd, and ranger will ALL beat an ESF 1v1. free units with free missiles do not need a crutch to beat a purchased vehicle with so many threats as it is.

ESFs when no skill is required, just rocket pods.

What Annihilator are you using? Unless you have a peasant engineer dropping ammo boxes for you all the time and just target all the red ones others are working on...

Once the Lancer comes back...

Dear SOE Devs:

Give us some stats here:

EMPIRE-LEVEL breakdowns ONLY (otherwise Annihilators will be artificially high due to NS), one for TR, one for NC, one for VS., give us rockets fired/targets hit/targets destroyed by STOCK LAUNCHER, AA Launcher, AV Launcher, Decimator and Annihilator.

If by overpowered you mean versatile, useful and fun to use at times, then sure!

Yep, infantry groups destroying air by using tons of launchers? Seems fair when only a few air can destroy large groups of infantry if unchecked.

Also, while lock on might seem skill-less, let's face it you aren't going to be effective vs. air with a dumb fire.

Single or dual buster max, and a single ranger can take out a ESF in one volley of rockets? How many things other than those things named kill, can a skyguard kill your ESF and go farm infantry, or sunders or tanks? And have you ever seen a good ESF killed buy a non lock-one rocket?

And yeah I understand their many threats, that why I think ground lock-ons should be removed. Compared a ESF, a tank, the tank will always be at a bigger disadvantage then a ESF in terms of threats.

You named the few threats to a ESF other than a lock on rocket and A2A esf. However tanks have to worry about lock-on and dumb-fire rockets, mines, C4, AV turrets. Oh and the tank cant run 4 hexs away and repair, or do a hit and run in the time it takes to fire one lock on rocket. (assuming you can get a lock)

Now if the goal was to give a version of composite armor to ESFs that on worked against small arms and rockets but not flak sure, then they could choose flak or rocket protection. If you wanted to say bring the max cool down on flare use to say 10 sec sure.

There is no 10 second limit for them to clean up the tanks. They can see the tanks way before they are rendered for the tank crews. Probably the tanks would panic and run after two tanks were insta killed by ghost damage. That is if they were working together as a team otherwise they would just be oblivious and pop one after the other. And this is 5 HA + 1 engi to feed ammo vs 10 tank crew.