[Vehicle] Should ESFs be 150 Nanites?

Or should they just be free?

But in all seriousness, the air game needs a 'cheap and cheerful' option similar to the Harasser. I can't be the only one to notice how the air duels turn into Air Battles when Indar locks, and one faction starts flexing their air superiority. I hate being in a fight where there's one ESF in the air, but it's great fun when that same fight has 5+ fighting each other for dominance.

I'm fortunate enough to be far enough along in my climb of the ESF learning curve that I don't usually die within 10 seconds anymore. I don't slam into trees and rocks all that much. I also only pull air when I've got the Indar discount because otherwise I'd be running on empty Nanites constantly.

There's no real reason for new players to try and enjoy the air. You'll find a Skyknight, or a 4v1 and get blown up. There goes 7 minutes of Nanites, and you've been in the air just long enough to realize that you should go change your "Invert Flight" option.

What's the better option though? Just make ESFs cheaper outright? Make a new air option to fill the gap? Split ESFs into Air Superiority and Ground Assault variants? Personally I think it works itself out if ESFs are just universally cheap. While it may seem at first like it would just be lolpods for days, those same cheap ESFs do great AA work to clear out the farmers.

I like the idea but the outcry would be off the charts, and furthermore the density of AA will raise a LOT.

Why not just:
1. Remove the gunner seat of the valk and move the gun to slot 1.
2. Reduce the valk to 150 nanites.

Most of the time, I end up outlasting my ESF's nanite wise. It's just about getting better and choosing your battles, not making everything cheaper

Well, that's a pretty natural reaction to more aircraft in the skies.

I wouldn't go for changing the Valk, just because the cheap aircraft option should be an AA vehicle as ground really can't do the job.

But every time you choose your battle, somebody else loses 350 Nanites. What if they chose their battle as well as you did? Would anybody ever fight?

The point would be that things like the MBTs and Libs can be the "Oh, I don't want to lose my Nanite investment" vehicles. ESFs and Harassers are for throwing yourself into the fight.

nooooo. lower the valks to 150 if anything. do you really want to see that kind of spam?

Yes.

That's the thing - When there are ESFs from both side in the air, they fight each other. The ground pounders get to fight unmolested because anybody stopping for a lolpod salvo gets 1-clipped.

Why not just make aircraft cost dependent on what you have equipped?

So for example.

If your esf is decked out with anti-tank weaponry, defense slot filled, performance slot filled, and ability. It should definitely cost more, because it's built to take out tanks, something that if done in mass, can be VERY deadly.

If your esf is decked out with anti-infantry stuff and all the slots filled, it should cost a bit less, since it's less devastating when you take out a few soldiers, compared to a sunderer or tank.

If your ESF is just a default esf with a gun, and you even removed the fuel tanks(If possible, never tried). It should be very cheap, so you can spam them in MASSIVE hordes to absolutely overwhelm the enemy, block out the sun with esfs.

Often they choose it, but if I'm better than them, I'll usually win it and keep on going. I'm running solo 99.99% of the time, so it's not like I gank-squad. Also, sometime I expect to die really fast, for instance when I pull out A2G. That's a near guaranteed quick-death give it a few minutes. But it allows me to shoot that PPA or AH in that sweet yellow glowing spot of enemy tightly packed together. I chose to get AA looking at me and rocketeers shooting at me for a usually not too long life (ofc it's not always short) but a really quick reward.

Because it's a lot harder to do, and not necessary.

As I keep harping on, the ground farming that people hate and fear is only possible when there aren't any friendly ESFs in the area. When you get a sky filled with fighting aircraft, the first playstyle to vanish is the lol-podders. So I don't have to penalize the A2G loadouts, because simply choosing that loadout already puts them at a serious disadvantage in the air scrimmage they're about to enter.

Hell no, look what happens when one faction captures Indar. There are ESFs everywhere and they dominate everything.

IMHO, ESFs should not be cheaper. 300 Nanites is around the ideal cost to pull an ESF. Especially when a faction has aircraft cost bonuses from an Indar lock. The Valkyrie should be reduced to 150 nanites and given a 5-10% HP buff to be more competitive. Weapons and all that should remain the same.

Additionally, the model of the Valkyrie needs to be changed as the swiveling thrusters block the view of the rear seats when the pilot is holding down the ascend button.

Not sure about the ESF since they usually are quite strong for whatever role they are equiped. I'd rather have the Valk cost reduced to either 150 or 100 since it seems to be the least used vehicle. Maybe if it was cheap enough people would actually try it out for a bit. If it becomes a problem the price can still be increased of course.

As long as 150 nanites ESFs have no weapons - sure, you have my blessing.

Simply split the ESF into a A2G version (300 Nanites) and a A2A version (150 nanites) and make sure the second one can do sod all to ground but gains inbuilt flak resistance. That way people can learn to fly as A2A and move on to A2G as they get more experienced.

If anything make the Valk 150 or free. Because the Valk needs some love.

Portable gliders, Firefall style

If they want to add an NS Air-to-Air fighter for 150 resources, I'd be all for that.

Lowering the cost of the current ESF with their extreme "one loadout to destroy all targets" nature would be a huge mistake. ESFs are to deadly and versatile to make spammable.

Hrm........


No

If they'd just rework how the primary and secondaries work on the ESF they'd be fine, but right now they're way too strong for how cheap they are as it is.

Nope....there just needs to be an light strike fighter. Which basically only has machine guns. similar to what the Mosquito use to be in PS1. It just had a forward mounted 12 MM rotary gun that did good damage to aircraft, and infantry...it was pretty accurate but again it was an MG so you actually had to aim.