Want to know why A2G has been a problem?

Because AA was made to be a deterrent!


Also the fact that ESF's suck at there jobs when it comes to taking out Libs & galaxies.

For smaller fighters and valkyries its fine

For Galaxies and liberators theres an issue with taking them down from the ground unless you have alot of firepower going at it at once

On the flip side

Choosing air options means youre not ground viable in many cases

ESF's need more teeth against air, by a significant amount, so that A2A becomes less of a minor irritant to more of a "Oh **** wtf omg get on the rear guns NOW!!!" followed by significant crashing and burning. All A2A guns need the damage increased so Lib and Gal rear guns become very nast whilst ESF nose guns become things of ground farmers nightmares

AA needs more teeth in general, so lock on's are based on distance (closer you are shorter the lock on).

Libs tank buster needs to have its clip size reduced by 50%, or conversely flak needs to do 300% more damage to them as it stands the meta build for a lib consists of the following

Tank buster for nose gun
What ever for belly (usually dalton of zephyr)
Tailgun ignored.

With Flak armor or auto repair combined with max fire suppression.

Because you decided it was a problem? lol

Know what I do when A2G esf's are pestering me? I pull AA, not whine about it.

Its not about me, its about the game.

so uhhh hows that AA working out?

Oh really?


First and most important question, do you fly the Liberator?


You don't. And I know this because if you did, you wouldn't call the Tank Buster OP. You would recognize it as the only viable nosegun for the Liberator with many severe drawbacks and penalties that can be exploited by any competent player.


Plus, you disregard the tailgun, which is a surefire sign that you don't know a thing about what you are talking about. A Drake tailgun provides a significant DPS bonus against armor. A Bulldog provides a reliable infantry killing method. A Walker provides a viable ESF deterrent. Your tailgun isn't your hammer's head like your belly gun, but your leverage. It determines how effective you are at your role or how versatile you can be.

Well from my perspective playing this game, it's not really high on the list of big problems that need to be addressed.


It works out pretty good actually, usually when I pull AA there are others that do too so the combined effort usually kills them pretty quick. Idk how NC on emerald react to A2G but VS usually just pull AA collectively when the air gets annoying.

At what point does X amount of AA = Kill?

Well there are situational variables that come into play, the number of AA, the size of the fight, how many aircraft etc.

But everyones experience in the game is different too.

Right.

But I'm not speaking from the player perspective.

The only problem with esf is they shouldn't be able to hover. They should behave like fighters, not like helicopters.

Libs are ok. The only change I'd make is to remove afterburners. A bomber shouldn't be that fast at leaving the battlefield.

Valkyries instead have the problem they are balanced around having continuous repair from rumble seats. Any other crew composition makes them bloody easy to take down.

Oh I see you're speaking from a theoretical perspective I guess? Honestly there are so many variables and things in one situation that an X amount of people using G2A launchers or flak can't be assumed to= X amount of kills

Well considering that a number of players, solo libs, the lib TB therefore needs to be nerfed.

TB needs to be made into a support weapon for something like the Dalton, ie it unloads followed up by the bomber providing the coup de grace, lookup the Vulture in planetside 1, it had something very much like the tank buster, but it could not 1 clip a tank, the normal gun could, just took a lot longer, in fact the basic gun was one of the deadliest weapons, yet the Vulture Tankbuster could do what the basic gun did very quickly.

Then add a 5 second timer for the pilot switching seats (5 seconds of follow the last flight plan whilst reducing power by 20% every second).

Instead we get a flying tank (and yes I have flown the Lib, and came to the conclusion in smaller fights it was massively OP and only excluded from the larger fights by mass AA ie 48+).

Well, the point in the OP is this:

ESF's failed at there jobs of being the A2A fighter to the point that ground got farmed by liberators & Galaxies, and ESF's who turned A2G(because they faied at A2A).

AA is a deterrent & generally ineffective, which means air can destroy ground and ground just scares them away.

Remove flak from everything (Skyguard, Bursters, Ranger) except for base turrets. Up the direct damage of AA options, tighten up their COF. Now we have a skill-based mechanic that rewards aim and doesn't cause escalation of flak.

Currently there's an issue with Flak escalating exponentially the more there is.

1 Flak Source = Skyguard, Burster MAX, Two Rangers, and Base Turret

1 Flak can deter 1 ESF, maybe even kill it in the right situations, maybe die if the ESF is AV (Hornets). Seems balanced.

2 Flak will kill any ESF that gets too close, deters any from medium range, can deter most Libs and Galaxies. A Lib or Gal that tries to engage directly will get one of the sources.. but will likely die from the other without cover.

3 Flak will kill any ESF out to long range. Deters Libs and Gals from getting into effective range, killing them if they do.

4 Flak will nearly kill any ESF that renders who isn't move perpendicularly to them. Kills any Gal or Lib that gets in Medium Range.

5+ Sources likely kills any aircraft within 400-500m. Deters everything else out to render.

One the surface this sounds fine. One aircraft shouldn't come near 5 sources of AA right? On paper, I'd agree with you. But should a MBT instantly blow up within getting 300m of 5 Heavy Assaults? Well he COULD.. but with clever driving and awareness, he can kill those Heavy Assaults. Even MAXes equipped with AV aren't a sure thing against a MBT in great numbers, even against Harassers, Flashes, and Lightnings.

Difference Air have is the rarity of cover in the wild blue. Pulling maneuvers doesn't do very much at longer ranges when you invariably start taking damage. However if the flak wasn't as prevalent and they had to actually hit you. You could go into defensive agile maneuvers. Of course doing so ruins your attack run. You could try to risk it and make the run anyway, making yourself an easier target to heftier damages than current AA. But that's a choice, and we all know that more choices are better than less choices.

Second issue. When you pull 5 flak sources. To deal with air. What do you do when air leaves? Thats a big complaint AA people have with current AA. And they'd be right to feel the way they do. It doesn't justify pulling 5 units and denying one third of the game, however. Imagine if I pulled an asset that could negate, not make it hard, but utterly make it impossible for infantry to get on a control point. These forums would be lit up. (And don't give me that nonsense that Air can do that, or any tank. I have NEVER been utterally negated by any other single asset in the game).

Now that AA weapons are straight firing auto cannons instead of spewing flak like oversized blunderbusses. Up their damage against Armor. Lag them slightly behind the effectiveness of Basilisks (MAX and Ranger, Skyguard would be significantly better.. but not better than the Viper, just a bit behind).

Now when the air dries up either detered, or because the AA user was good and knocked them down. They can still stay in the fight with the weapon they pulled.

Right now a Skyguard that is found by a Stock Lightning is dead meat and a free kill. Sure we've all heard stories about someone knocking down a MBT with a Skyguard. I've done it too. But those are newbies, excruciating circumstances, or pure luck. A stock lightining that lands as many hits as its taking will wreck a Skyguard.

At least with this change the Skyguard will still be at a slight disadvantage.. but not a forgone conclusion that requires the moons and planets to align with the stars to survive.

With increased damage and tighter CoF's the AI potential goes up a tad. You won't be farming infantry effectively, but you won't be a sitting duck either.

The only ones who are at a disadvantage are those who can't aim or lead. Well its been three years. Figure it out.

This.
Not making a kill means you didn't do **** but delay the enemy's farm session the few seconds it takes to self-repair.
I lead very well, I'm a very, very good AA that gets completely ignored, 0 support at any time I'm the first to pull it and ask for help.
The only targets that are going down are new players that dive in to try starting my MAX's HP when they're already smoking.
G2A lockons are trash, due to win-key Flares, less for the Swarm, which is the only launcher with the firing bugs fixed.
If this was balanced around the bugs being okay, A2G missile pods and hornets would fire diagonally and sideways.

Would you like to fly in my Auraxiumed Lib and see us instagibed by ground fire? NVM A2A.

If air is being annoying I take a heavy with swarm and go hunting, it's that easy, for more dickheadedness pull a skyguard and become every pilots most hated pest... PS. pull it at the next base back or somewhere useful.

Good, you flew in a Liberator for 20 seconds, demolished some dip**** unaware MBT's and now think it's OP and needs nerfed. Glad to see that PS2 players are as ignorant as ever.


Great logic you got there! Because a player goes 1/3, the TB needs nerfed? Does that mean we should nerf the Vanguard's main cannons? The Prowler's? Oh, better, because more players are 2/2 for the Magrider, that automatically means we should nerf the Saron! Yay, logic!

The Tank Buster is, surprisingly, a 30mm rotary anti-tank cannon that in real life can wipe out entire armor columns in a single strafe. It's damage is fine. The only reason it's used the most, as I said before, is because all other alternatives are complete crap.


If you want the tank buster nerfed that badly, I'd want a pretty massive buff for my belly guns in return. How's about x3 damage on the Dalton, x2 the splash on my Zephyr, belt fed magazine with a double RoF and the old splash damage for the Shredder and half the CoF with twice the RoF for the Duster.

In fact, please, do this. Maybe a little accuracy buff along with the TB. That, and a gunner camera. Please, make my day.



Let's bring a few facts into this "discussion".

Fact, the Tank Buster can only 1-clip a tank from the rear if the entire clip in max damage range makes it's mark. With max extended magazines, you can extend this range to about 70m vs 50. From any other angle, you will not secure a kill.

This means that in order to 1-clip a tank, said tank has to allow the Liberator to creep up from behind, be moving slow enough to get the entire magazine off, and be flying low enough to actually deal decent damage. Most of these things can be avoided easily, through something magical I like to call "situational awareness". Notice a Liberator heading towards you? Rotate your chassis towards the Lib and boom, free shots from your main cannon on it's belly.

If you don't have time to turn your tank, drive backwards towards the Lib, which will give it a lot less time to line up it's shots. Works like a charm.

I don't like A2G ESF's I hate them. That said, I don't particularly see them as imbalanced.

From a ground pounder's perspective when we run ops and we have air coverage we can take almost ANY base. If you have just ground vehicles enemy air can quickly find and destroy spawn points or at least spot them for friendlies. So air is a very large force multiplier and while there are some guys who just harass infantry if I pull a MAX they usually scram, simply because life just got harder for them.

All in all I think G2A could use a very slight buff but too much and you make learning to fly virtually impossible and frustrating, that is NOT good for the game at all. My buff would be to decrease the spread on flak and maybe a buff to knock down the time for lock on G2A launchers.