TR HA Anti-Air

Discussion in 'Heavy Assault' started by dasbluemedic, Nov 28, 2012.

  1. dasbluemedic

    Has anyone tried out/ know much about the effectiveness of the 1000 cert Bazooka (can't remember the actuall name, but it is an anti air gun, with lock on capability) unlockable for TR Heavy Assault?
  2. InducedApathy

    It's the grounder and it locks on to air. You won't take out a galaxy with it. If they're stupid you can eventually take out scythes/libs etc. The real benefit of the weapon is you can dumb fire tanks with it do a lil less than default damage yet retain coverage for air. Boon for air is primarily the lock on factor and how it makes even experienced pilots behave. You get a couple guys or more with these on the ground and they start to fly low sometimes crash etc. I usually tag people once or twice then they crash or run into a building and collect the crappy xp for half a kill. It helps your air more often than not since it gives the other team something to worry about. The lock on vehicle one will net you more xp and use since they're easier kills.

    Is it worth the certs? Nope. Cost is way too much for little benefit as it won't earn it's cost back compared to say something else like ams on a sunderer or blockade armor. You're better off putting points into nmg shield or the other things you want on ha. There's quite a few overpriced weapons and abilities that are sort of pointless or useless when compared to the cost.
  3. Cybergoblin

    I personally love the AA as an upgrade - makes my rocket launcher overall much more useful I find in general.

    I dont think I get tons of air kills using it - but it has a straighter and faster flight path making it more useful in general for shooting anything you aim at - plus the benefit of getting some AA assists/kills that you would otherwise never ever hit.

    I didnt spend 1000 cert points however - i just bought it with cash so I dont regret my purchase at all - if I saved up 1000 cert points I might consider other things more worthwhile - not sure.
  4. TheBloodEagle

    I tried it on trial and I definitely prefer it over the vehicle lock-on weapon. You can still shoot vehicles with it and rocket has NO DROP. You won't take out aircraft in one shot if they're full health (shouldn't be possible anyway) but it helps a lot in situations. If you fire at the factions fighters make sure they are out of booster so your missile will have a better chance of hitting. Shooting at a few also makes them more cautious so they don't just rocket pod everyone.
  5. Thudruckus

    HA AA launcher is awesome. Why people don't have more of it is beyond me.

    #1: 500 range is more than enough to clear out the sky above you.
    #2: 2 shots most of the time and he's dead, 1 shot and he's running away and repairing (thus releaving your group of him).
    #3: Most pilots are so bad currently they can only rely on flares to save them

    Get it, you'll get kills. I do every single day.
  6. Eric Smith

    I'm lucky if I ever get a hit with it, let alone a kill. Most pilots either turn on the Afterburners, use flares, or pull a quick u-turn to make the rocket miss.The lock-on time is horrendous too; by the time I've locked onto a plane he can rocketspam me, reload, and do it again. I don't regret getting it though, it's a necessary evil to make planes go shoot at somebody else. I'd have never spent Certs on it, but has some SC from my Alpha I used to buy it.
  7. ShadowEnd

    Not to be rude, but there is a good chance you are using it incorrectly. It all comes down to when you release the rocket, for example if an aircraft is flying towards you fire as soon as it passes you, this will hit 90% of the time, firing when they are flying towards you will miss 90% of the time. Also if an aircraft is hovering and staying still wait until it starts moving.
  8. Jawa

    I'm gonna assume the AA launcher is pretty much the same for all 3 factions. Vanu here, gave the Nemesis a try.

    I couldn't ever justify having it equipped. It takes three successful hits to kill an ESF. This is in a perfect world where the guy doesn't a) know how to outmaneuver it and b) doesn't have flares unlocked and c) the rockets don't decide to do whatever and fly somewhere else or miss.

    It might be useful for scaring off a lone fighter, but that's pretty much all there is it. Feels severely underpowered, not a threat to any pilot worth his license.
  9. Corsix

    Depends on the direction and angle, i often fire when they are coming towards me because they have a fraction of the time to pop a flare, everyone just needs to get a feel for the missiles so they dont under-shoot an on coming craft. I hate that if they fly over you and you lock on and shoot, it'll be out of range before your second missile locks on, and probably repaired within a minute.
  10. ShadowEnd

    If they blow a countermeasure simply wait 5 second and lock on and fire, no chance of a second cm, but yeah, dont fire when they are coming towards you.

    Also for true AA get a dual burster max, takes a ESF down in a single clip, did it twice in a row last night, felt badass.
  11. Azren

    It takes two rockets to take out an ESF. If you have a teammate with the same weapon, you can pretty much clear the sky. In fact, you can do that alone, since flyboys really don't like being locked on, so they usually run when you aim at them.

    After buying it, you can not upgrade it any more, it has no addons, so the you pay for it's full value. I bought it with SC and never unequiped once since.
  12. Corsix

    They can be out of range in 5 seconds, or knowing someone is targetting them, they can just find a safer spot to engage from, like circling a building or obstacle. Firing when they are coming at you can be a real easy hit.
  13. Kingside

    What I really enjoy about the Grounder is not that you get ridiculous kills and XP with it (although I have gotten 850xp for a Galaxy) rather, it is that you can effectively nullify someone's entire playstyle. For example, about two or three people using grounders will empty the skies of aircraft to the point where pilots either give up or are forced to roll tanks if they want to continue to use vehicles because they are out of resources. I have witnessed many times the clearing of the skies followed by a bunch of lightnings and MBTs. Rarely is it all ground vehicles with no enemy aircraft but it is very often the case that it is the opposite. The only time you have both is with a full zerg and then you can make a lot of xp off shared kills

    I typical defense scenario I hit Reavers and Scythes about once each for a shared kill value of 75-175xp each. Getting two rockets off on these aircraft is almost a guaranteed kill. Getting three rockets on a Liberator is easy and tends to be the best overall xp

    My strategy for rocket pod spammers is to find them during approach and get off an early rocket. Often they will flare and run off and if I happen to be high enough in elevation I can sometimes reacquire a lock and get off a rocket that hits as they try to escape. If I cannot catch them on approach I establish a lock, wait for the flare and then track, ready to fire once I have reacquired the lock. Most rocket pod spammers pre-flare so that they can get off a full salvo. If you wait, sometimes you can get two rockets off when they try to escape.

    Liberators are just fodder plain and simple. The issue with Galaxys is that you run out of ammo, but they tend to be good shared kills
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  14. {joer

    Exactly. This is what the air power whines don't understand. My TR HA has a grounder and while I'll only get a handful of kills with it per night on air, I keep the skys mostly clear by MYSELF. We were in a very large battle with Vanu yesterday, they had 2* the air we did (nearby bio lab), and despite their huge air advantage, 2 of us with grounders, 2 skyguards and a burster mech made their dozens of air units completely a non -factor.

    I think the big whiners in this are mag rider drivers who think they should be magically special.
  15. Lohk

    Grounder does 20% less damage to ground vehicles than the dumb fire.

    Also, if you get 3 people with Grounders you will clear skies and rake in a lot of xp. By yourself, if there is a decent air fight going on you will usually be getting assists for each aircraft you tag.

    Worth 1000 certs? eh :\
  16. {joer

    If you play to win its worth it.
    If you play for max exp, most likely not.
  17. Supercakers

    I play HA quite a bit, or get blown up repairing/in a Magrider. After giving the HA AA launcher a try, I immediately started saving for it. Saving certs, I think it is that worth it. It's not like unlocking a weapon ever wears off or disappears, or degrades. You always have it.

    The ability to utterly @!#$ with enemy air, whether it is just 1-2 harrasing a column, or full on battles, will be totally worth it. Plus the fact it is STILL useable against ground armor at 80% damage is what makes it absolutely worth it. Do you do less damage? Yes. However, the AA launcher with dumbfire mode shoots much much flatter, and flies faster than the base counterpart. The fact you are hitting more often will more than makeup for the fact you do less damage. Hitting distant targets is much more likely with the AA gun than the basic, let alone targets that are close to mid range, you will hardly ever miss. Only 480 certs to go.. >.>
  18. mareign

    How can you not justify it? It's better than the stock rocket launcher in nearly every situation except sneaking up directly on a tank's rear. It travels nearly twice as fast with next to no drop. It actually lets you hit tanks past 100m.
  19. TheBloodEagle

    Just want to note that the AA Launcher is the least damaging of the launchers, the default has the highest damage. (noted from the raw data spreadsheet posted around)

    I tried the AV Launcher in beta but learned to dislike it against actual vehicles. Hated the flying path of it with lock-on. But the best thing was it has virtually no drop. You could snipe turrets & tanks. I'm currently saving for the AA Launcher because I definitely need a deterrent against ESF's when in a small group and I get the no-drop benefit when not locked-on. Although less damage.
  20. Luciuskane

    A definite must for HA. I use it just to screw the pilots around. Having the lock-on warning flares up all over the cockpit makes even the most experience pilot start to fly for cover...even if you don't fire the rocket.