Who are the best pilots and any tips on flying.

It isn't impossible, but it is definitely harder. If you are truly good, you can fly around solo and still kick major ***. I was doing that myself during an Amerish alert on Friday or Saturday. Group flying happens during Ops nights or when two or all three factions' best pilots realize they are all operating on the same continent.

I enjoy flying in groups up to about 4 or 5 people and looking for other groups of coordinated aircraft. Any more than that and it gets a bit ridiculous, and if there isn't much to shoot at I much rather fly around solo or with a single wing man.

Ganging up on better pilots with 2 or 3:1 odds is a surefire way of stalling improvement as a pilot though. If you want to get better at a faster rate, fly solo.

And here I thought the point of the game was advancing your empire. When you see an enemy air zerg, get your own air zerg. The point of the game is to take over territory and a big helper of that is clearing the sky. It's a team game, so fly with a team. I've never gotten angry when I get taken out by 2-3 NUC pilots, it just means they're doing their job to help their empire because if they don't kill me, there's a good chance I'm going to really harm the TR liberators bombing that base, or I'm spotting sunderers on the ground or eliminating a lot of air in that vicinity.

When I am flying, 90% of the time I am just looking forward to killing stuff, preferably other good pilots. Whether I am helping my empire or not is just a secondary goal to that.

If you don't have an ESF certed to 5 minutes or don't have resources, it takes all of 10 seconds to get a fresh naked BR1 ESF.

You're forced to fly better as well since you have no frame, no flares, and default weapons. Am I wrong? No. Are you a bum? Yes.

What does this have to do with "having a life outside gaming" lololol

Please do tell.

No need to get so defensive. If you and others wish to devote your lives to Planetside 2, then more power to you.

If you and others wish to go through the trouble of deleting and recreating characters simply to master one aspect of a game, then so be it. Personally, I think it's a bit overkill. But that's just me.

It has nothing to do with being a bum and everything to do with prioritizing one's life.

It takes literally a minute you absolute spaz, this is what I did back when I was still learning too.

My computer is too laggy to ever fly properly and I can never get used to the controls. What is a good loadout for a scythe and what can I change in the settings? (either less lag or different controls)

Don't know what to tell you about lag.

I use gamebooster but that is negligible. Just stay away from large fights really, if even in clear air you lag just buy a new rig or wait until they optimize, which knowing SOE is a hell of a long time away.

Loadout.

Obviously hailstorm, I prefer to use rocket pods, but if you don't have them I suppose AB tanks is fine. A2A seems like a good thing, but it will make you reliant on them and while your KD might be nice if you know how to use it, actual dogfighting skill takes a hit.

Nothing wrong with A2A imo though, it's just what I found from using them back in beta occasionally.

Frame- Hover for reverse manuever(learn it), or dogfighting if you are accurate and want a better lead.

Auto repair is a must, everything else is trash.

Flares of course, until you learn how to dodge lock ons or lose the lock and fly carefully, even then I still use flares.

Recap:

Nose Gun: Hailstorm
Wing Mount: Rocket pods/AB tanks
Utility: Flares
Defense:Nanite Auto Repair System, everything else is trash
Performance: Hover for advanced maneuvering/dogfighting for noob maneuvering and/or leading

I should also add, thermal on everything. Unless you are using A2A in which case use zoom, or unless you have good accuracy and can manuever with zoom use it on your nose gun.

Using zoom in a plane causes massive tunnel vision though, you WILL get target fixation unless you are highly accustomed to it.

I disagree, when i was with ABTF we would go to opposite sides of the map just to get a good fight.

Like I told the other guy, no need to get defensive. If mastering one part of a game matters so much to you that you feel compelled to delete and recreate characters, then more power to you.

I just think it's overkill, but that's just me.

I recognise you from Briggs. You'll want to fly with as many allies you can and never attack anyone unless you have the advantage. Always 2+ vs 1. At least that's what everyone does to me...

No NC players come to mind. The biggest threats from the NC tend to be running liberators these days.
As for the VS - just pick any scythe. Pretty much the only scythes in the air are the losers people who play too much BR80 players who will just insta-gib you while being impossible to hit.

I don't know the name of a single TR pilot. Sure I see mossies around but I don't know who to look out for if I need support and not someone who will just be useless and get themselves killed or crash into me.

Like others have said, practice in the VR with aiming at infantry. But most importantly - cert everything. Buy all the things.

There are many good pilots on TR such as Neiche, TenzotuskeN and 1508AD...

I'm not that useless myself either

I'll keep an eye out.
I might need to start keeping a notebook of names handy...

Aww HLM, you can always try to find the outfit's dedicated Skyguard user if you're getting swarmed by Scythes.

You're a bum plain and simple. It takes literally less than a minute to remake your BR1 and pull a new ESF.

Like I said, no need to get so defensive. If you can rationalize deleting and recreating a character in PS2 just to master the air game, more power to you. For most everyone else, we simply play PS2 (or any game for that matter) to have fun without resorting to such extremes.

So you don't like being criticized for being a petty bum. That's fine. But still, you will be. Welcome to forums.

OP asked for the best tips to becoming better at ESF.

When you haven't got a fully certed ESF, deleting and remaking fresh BR1s for a constant stream of ESF is one of the best ways to quickly improve your play.

This video wasn't posted yet?? This is super important!

He plays infantry much more than he used to. I saw him the other day playing an HA loadout in a base fight.

Tip one for being a top tier pilot: Don't fly a Scythe.

A good pilot is good in any plane. Each has a strength and a weakness

The Scythe has no strengths to be honest. At one time it could ram other vehicles and have a really good chance of surviving it, but no longer (though I'll have to admit I SOMEHOW managed to kill a Prowler by ramming it with a Scythe the other day).