Why would anyone choose Striker over Annihilator?

Add some time before reloading since striker actually can't reload until rockets hit the targets (like the phoenix reload mechanics).
Striker range is 500m and rockets travel 100m/sec = 5 sec travel time

Striker:
2.25+5+2.6+5 = 14.85
2500/14.85 = 168DPS (according all rockets hits: the target don't move farther than 500m, don't used flares/smoke and didn't gide its lock on hitbox behind cover)

Add to this risks factors (the time you spend facing the target):
Annhi exposition (lock) time: 3 sec.
Striker exposition (lock+shooting time+keep locking) time: 2.25+2.6+5 = 9.85 sec.
According you don't stay in open for reloading and get cover instead.

You didn't used striker for the last nerf isn't it?

I wasn't aware that you couldn't reload until your rockets hit (which sounds a bit silly).

In any case, the Striker is still better each individual use if you can hit 3/5 rockets.

If you don't keep aiming the target, rockets instantly lose the lock and fly to the sky. (You never saw the 5 red tracer curving to the sky and selfdestruc like fireworks?)

But you're right, if the target don't break the lock (whatever the way) in 2.25+2.6+3sec(300m range)= 6.6 sec, the damage burst will be higher.
But in other hands, the annhi requires to takes less risks, is more reliable and more regular.

Btw, G2A are certainly the most versatile and the most effective launcher whatever the faction. (Not far ahead/equal to the lancer, but it requires higher skill ceiling, then is less accessible and popular).

As an ESF pilot myself, nowadays the striker is more of an annoyance than a threat provided i have cover to run towards. If there's a bunch of striker HAs on a spire somewhere, I got a serious problem. though any lock-on other than the striker is a death sentence if there's more than 1.

that said, can't wait till the lock-on revamp. I hate lock-ons, no matter what form.

The TR here are just so used to what was, and what was, was overpowered. The pre-changed striker ruined air combat and it caused the TR to have a severe air advantage. It's balanced now and if you don't think so, then you don't realize how over powered it was. It was terrible to those of us who had to live with it for months, and I think you should be happy for having an op weapon as long as you did.

Its pointless to use the striker now.
I was holding lock trying to get all missiles to hit, I wound up getting stabbed.

The striker is as poor, if not worse than the annhi actually.

The real question for TR is why not using the grounder?
That thing lock aircraftas, have decent damages and have an awsome velocity/low drop.

I own both and used both extensivly. 1200 damage vs 2500 is HUGE; it's not theory... it's fact and it works great in practice.

Here's what looks good in theory but in practice doesn't matter. DPS is higher for the anni because you can fire and reload right away. However 9 times out of 10 your target reacts to your first magazine; be it anni or striker. You fire your anni once, reload, and they pop flares / evade / zip off and exceed 800 meters. They don't just over there like morons and wait for you to nail them again (ok some do but maybe 1/10th the time) Same for the striker; you fire off and they react.

Fact is the only kills you get with these are:
- Morons / newbs who stick around and take multiple hits
- Morons / newbs who don't have flares / smoke.
- Morons / newbs who pop a flare / smoke, stay in range, and get hit because their flares / smoke havent recharged yet.

So those times you do actually land hits you are FAR better off getting 2500 damage on them than 1200. Only reason to have the anni is for cross faction players and to buy it with SC so it's account wide unlock.

Plus, if things go as planned, any G2A lock on RL will have to keep lock on air target, with lock on time depending on distance from the target. So the advantage of Annihilator will quite fade away.

And now Striker dmg was nerfed.

So now Striker is even more useless than before, while Annihilator retained all the advantages. The question still stands:
Is there any positive traits for Striker?

What does 2500 damage?

Striker is still good, it's just more of a choice now. I still use it often on my TR character. It does significantly more DPS, which is nice.

Against fast moving vehicles, it's sort of a toss up. DPS doesn't matter since you usually only get to fire one rocket (Anni) or one volley (Striker). But your one volley is worth a lot more than that one Anni rocket. The downside is you get to fire at fewer targets, since they can get out of range in time. So it's a question of reliable but significantly less damage on a fast mover, or less reliable but nearly lethal damage. At that point, it's a toss up and depends on the terrain. Since there's usually other AA and AV present, I tend to prefer going for the Striker, since it'll often kill an ESF or Harasser that has taken almost any damage from another source. But if there's a lot of cover or ridgelines for vehicles to retreat behind, I'll switch to the Annihilator.

Where it really shines is against the slower guys. Liberators, Galaxies, MBTs, Sunderers, etcetera. It's not just the DPS, either. The large volume of smaller rockets, especially if you've got one or two other Heavies shooting with you, makes it really difficult for a pilot to judge how long to stay and when to run. They won't always realize they're taking hits from multiple Strikers until its too late, and if they are, from how many Striker users. You can get a lot of kills just out of that confusion. Annihilators, on the other hand, are a bit easier to predict and get away from.

Striker is so boring, sure it can be effective at times, no one can dispute that, but honestly, TR have the worst faction specific launcher, the Phoenix and the Lancer are both so much fun to use, simply because of how unique they are. TR are given an extremely mundane launcher, the only benefits being high damage. I honestly don't care for another lock-on launcher, I would trade my striker for less effective fun launcher any day.

From my experience, no ESF have any trouble with strikers. And of course nobody cares about multiple lock-ons - the evasive maneuvers+flares are the same.

beter say why are all rocket launchers that all faction can use beter then the special ones ??
in my few it not right why make a special rocket for ea faction when its crap ??

then you not beter make them
and save alot of certs

Unless you can kill within a single clip of the Striker, the TTK is actually shorter for the Annihilator due to the fire and forget and faster reload time.

The Annihilator is a DIRECT upgrade to the Striker.
And since they are both the same cost, you buy the better one.
You are only kidding yourself if you buy the Striker over the Annihilator.

You have to hit at least 4 out of the 5 rockets to do more than a single Annihilator rocket. And the maintain lock nonsense makes it hard to land any (since losing sight of the target loses all 5 rockets)