I don't know why the range is so bad on this particular weapon. An ESF renders to everything at range why wouldn't the hornet missile travel up to render range? It's not like an engineer turret an ESF is perfectly visible and renders just fine. Flak hits an ESF at the ESFs render ranges I perfectly understand risk and reward, but wouldn't the risk be holding still for the hornets travel time while flak is being fired at you? We all know what happens to an ESF that is hovering. Even ground armor can hit an ESF at range that is hovering. All and all I feel this weapon is unjustly nurfed for range it should at least be on the level of compromise with the coyotes and fuel tanks.
The downside is you have to guide it in compounding it with limited range, slow travel time, and lowered yield is smashing the weapon into the ground.
Because without a range cap it would be horribly OP like an AV mana turret floating in the sky? The thing is absolutely awesome already, its a bane for Burster MAXes everywhere. Its a close-range support weapon, you're supposed to fire it as you strafe the target as opposed to hovering with pods. And the damage is quite good, it was buffed in a patch not long ago.
Run max stealth with these and hide behind a random mountain away from the armor zerg. Make sure you max reload so you can fire these things off quickly. Also make sure you can hit the backs of the armor zerg. You will quickly downsize the opposition.
I swear to god people think these thing seek. They are wire guided. Sniping with them requires you to turn your fckin plane. You do realise that SACLOS missiles are some of the most inaccurate things ever mounted on airplanes? Have you ever tried aiming them? You practically have to hover to hit a target with these things and hovering over an armor zerg in an esf= death. Seriously. Two skyguards already counters a air rush. People nee\d to realize that if you are a ground pounder, you should be working with armor and AA, not just crying every time an air unit kills you for prancing around in your tank with no air cover. Not angry at this thread in particular, just people crying about esfs in general.
Meh weapon right now, but any stronger and it competes with the lib too much, running two or three esfs with them attacking the same target is good but in general on the weak side of balance but far from useless.
What I want on Hornets is the reticule changed to the default dot, as a square is horribly ineffective as precise aiming, and a dumbfire mode where they simply travel to a fixed point when they were fired. That would allow them to be used as hit and runs or precise when you can risk it. As it is? Rocket pods deliver more damage over a wider area and you don't need to hover for long seconds to do it. I bought and fully certed them out and really, I'm only using them because dammit, I will auraxium these things.
Hornets are great when there's a lot of enemy armour and almost no air supporting them, which is usually never the case. It's hard to justify the disadvantage it puts you in the air vs the niche role they play compared to lolpods that can farm infantry and deal some serious damage to armour (even if you do have to get pretty close to make the most of them). Hornets remove your versatility and make you an easy target in the air as you try to lead targets. Even more so in the Reaver due to its fat slow ***.
Hornets work best to kill armour running away from your friendly armour or killing a tank that's away from the rest of the battle. Just get 2 hornets in the tanks *** then start hitting it from above with more hornets + the rotary and you should be good. If you can, switch to your rotary after you've fired the 2 hornets and hit them in the *** as well with that. If you manage that, 2 more hornets anywhere on the tank will kill it.
You should probably post this in the thread you're upset about this thread is about the hornet missiles as a weapon. I've gotten some nice constructive responds to this post that have helped me with using these missiles which is why the thread exists in the first place.
Theyre as bad as they are because a single ESF doesnt get to be able to kill an MBT from behind before they have time to react. As was once the case with rocket pods, and thankfully not anymore. Still, as far as im concerned, theres nothing better than Hornets for flanking and sniping a deployed Sundy.
