[Vehicle] Remove the "Scout Radar" from ESFs

As The title suggests, I think the scout radar should be removed from ESFs.
Unlike ground vehicles, ESFs are in NO danger of getting a brick of C4 stuck on them.
The combination of the scout radar and Airhammer/Banshee/LPPA and/or lolpods is atrocious.
If infantry is going to be protected from every piddling vehicle weapon, go the whole length!

/discuss

Just changing it to proxy would be best, and giving scout to the sunderer would be ideal.
ESFs don't need to tell the whole faction where someone is, and having scout sunderer might make people use it. Maybe.

But then the people who fly with scout radar will switch to something else. Something that might actually be useful for defending themselves to other ESF

It won't happen, tweaking, moving it to another slot, maybe, but SOE doesn't remove stuff from the game.

PS1 Mosquito

I'd like it if we could impose that 50% maximum speed, or an arbitrary speed limit, for the functionality of the radar systems.
Also, don't we have a Sensor Shield implant?

Take it off the ESF, throw it on the Valkaryie. ESF is for combat, Valk is for support.

This would further balance ESFs because it would limit their "vision". The Wargame series, although an RTS, does this well to balance aircraft. In Wargame, aircraft are extremely powerful (albeit fragile) weapon platforms. However they are also fairly blind against ground targets, and unless they simply bomb a designated position they're no good without ground spotters. This makes it so there is meaningful counterplay against aircraft; kill the spotters and the enemy aircraft is next to useless.

The current problem is that the ESF is too good at seeing and killing. These abilities should be split so they are only good at one thing and have to rely on teamwork to be effective at both. Seeing ESFs actually use teamwork to form hunter-killer teams with Valks would be pretty cool, and would improve the game.

Valks are fragile enough that giving them Scout Radar wouldn't be too problematic, especially if they had to give up some other utility/defense.

Originally I was thinking a flier is the best place for a scout radar. They've the best freedom of movement in the game, can't do much better then supporting a team as a scout then that. They're 'balance' is they've no where to really hide if they're staying in place to use the a scout radar to spot infantry as support.

As offense? Infantry have a counter to air-AI in being clever with a ESF's field of fire and AA lockons. They don't have much of a defense to being always spotted from overhead to a enemy designed to kill them.

Suggestion: Remove scout radar as a utility (or at least the direct source of radar), and tie a ESF's radar to their nose or wing weapons. They could still get radar, they just couldn't always tie in a Eye of God view with a Finger of God weapon.

If nothing else, A2A locks have some kind of independent tracking. It's kind of silly you can't tie their sensor setup into the main flight controls.

You realize it's the only team benefit ESF's provide, and we give up a LOT of survivability to provide it (no Flares or FS).

I don't need Scout... I have thermals. Scout is my contribution to the troops on the ground below me since I can't kill all of them, I can make their fighting easier.

I want my PS1 Advanced scout craft build back.
Mossy, radar, cloaking. -> Valk, scout radar, stalker-style cloak.

Ever heard of 'reconnaisance'?

You haven't really presented a strong argument against scout radar on ESFs, so it's hard to "discuss" this idea.

AI noseguns only kill infantry, so are fundamentally balanced. Don't want to die to them? Field AA (ESF, Skyguard, Burster; in that order; G2A lockons don't count since that's about as smart as using infantry rockets against PPAs.)

If you can fix the fundamental problem by not playing badly, there isn't a balance issue.

Tanks, Lightnings, Harrassers & Liberators provide no team support.
What's your god-damn point here?

My point is I'm giving up survivability to be a team asset.

Removing Scout radar from ESF isn't going to make me less of a threat. It will make me more of a threat.

The only benefit it really gives me personally is spotting the mountain HA lockons and Snipers which I usually see with thermals anyways.

My "god-damn point" is Scout radar is not really a problem in my experience. I use it largely cause I certed it

I'll take those certs back, sure, no problem. Fire Supp is a better Utility. So is Flares.

Only thermal helps farm infantry. Scout radar means - no Fire Suppression.

As long as it doesn't work against stationary cloaked infiltrators anymore, I'll call it balanced enough




Anyone still dying b/c of it is probably a C4 fairy and those guys need more deterrents keeping them in check

1.

2. Erm no, the MAH for example is still viable against air targets. But this is not about the guns, this is about a detection system that enables the ESF to become a PURE infantry farming machine. SOE has displayed a tendency to nerf vehicle AI capabilities and I find it somewhat inconsequential that the ESF has access to the scout radar while being the fastest vehicle and the only vehicle that allows the operator to use two weapon slots, both of which can be equipped with weaponry that is very effective against the oh so beloved infantry.

Edit: this does not mean that I agree with the infantry pandering in general.

They should remove BASRs from you filthy infiltrator cowards! Low risk infantry farming at its very best.

You do know those AH/Banshee/LPPA people are seeing you with thermal optics, not radar, right?

I agree that Scout Radar is too good.

I use Scout Radar almost all the time for ESF. And I fly ESF almost all the time when I play. I also use Mosquito Banshee or Scythe Light PPA almost all the time on my ESF Loadouts.

It's especially effective at shutting down Infiltrators and players that want to move away from their ally group, any battle with small enemy population (especially with Cap points open to Air), and it can be massive in big fights where the ESF can find some terrain to safely hover behind outside of enemy line-of sight. It's also great to hover over a base and help search out and squash any lurking players there. So it shuts down the enemy in certain battles, and it provides a massive 1-sided benefit in certain battles.

And for my soloing/farming, it's great along with Thermal Optics to help me locate and pick off targets with my AI weapon, while keeping me aware of any potential HAs with OHK Rocket Launchers I might be otherwise recklessly hovering over.

What do I give up? Flares and Fire Suppression (Heal). Both very good, but I can live without them. For Flares, I know how to deal with most ground lockons (coordinated simultaneous 2x lockons is deadly... but it's very hard for 2 players in this game to coordinate firing 2+ simultaneous lockons). For Fire Suppression, it's mostly really big for me in the ESF vs. ESF duel, and I'm already gonna beat a worse ESF player and lose to a better one anyway... plus I am using a Banshee or Coyote (on the Light PPA Scythe) as my only A2A, so it's not like I'm gonna win vs. a non-weaker pilot or Gank Squad with that anyway.

I don't currently use Ejection System or Engagement Radar. Ejection System is good for using the ESF as a sky taxi and I have used it before, but I am not currently playing Infantry and I don't do things like run solo Infiltrator in Towers anymore (which could use ESF + Ejection to get into the Tower) cause there are too many ways to counter that. I don't know much about Engagement Radar, it seems like it may be there for newer pilots who lack situational awareness and for A2A (which we've already covered I am going to already win/lose depending on my opponents skill), and I don't use it.

i might believe that if i had never been lolpodded under the stone arch. Thermals are subjected to LoS, radars not so much. Once the dot is there on the minimap it's gg for the peon.