Would you ever cert tomcat A2A Pods?

If you were to use them..it seems most think lock on time is what you buy...but lock on range seems better to me for some reason when I look at it.

Go for range. The only reason you would use A2A pods would be to hit something too far for you to accurately hit with your rotary. If you are close enough to hit them with your rotary, use it. Get range to maximize on what A2A pods are meant to do.

Never.

No.

They're antifun.

And unlike what some might say they are absolutely not vital for dogfighting, and most pilots get by just fine without them. In fact I don't think the best pilots use them at all.

The range is 400m from what I can tell. Doesn't seem like an extra 50 would be that major. I'd go with lock on time if I were to get them, but I've been able to resist the temptations of the dark side so far.

Definitely, I use them as spite missiles because airchavs hate them so much.

See two uber 1337 pilots dogfighting? Time to load up in my reaver and lob some spite missiles their way.
Never forget the lolpodding, never forgive.

the best pilots? LOL the ENTIRE idea behind dog fighting is to win. You do what it takes an use whatever it takes to win. Or els why are you fighting?....
I always recommend people use them an the silly jibes an insults that the fringe wakjobs throw at people for it are irrelevant.

"AirChavs" ROFL now that is the "Perfect" name for it. They are chav/pikeys.....

Sorted.

I have a couple ranks of range, but to be honest I haven't used them much since the lock on cone was narrowed and times adjusted. Plus the heavy proliferation of flares makes them an iffy tool much of the time.

Against ESF they are a good alpha to draw flares out early, and a finisher if they try and run. They fare much better against Liberators and Galaxies, but to be honest lolpods do faster damage and aren't much more difficult to use on those target types.

Generally I run lolpods or AB tanks when I fly these days (a much more rare occasion since GU6 or so).

Set a waypoint and check what 50 meters actually is to you. Check what 400 compared to 450 meters is to you... and see if it's worth spending the certs for that. I honestly think lock on time is best for highest DPS, because you're likely using it in between rotary shots to take down libs/galaxies. So you want to be able to fire that missile off and switch back to your nose gun as fast as possible.

Maybe when paired up with a wingman, the range is useful, though I'd find the lockon timer still better...

NOTE: A2A are broken at the moment, and rarely if ever hit their targets. You'll see them hit, but no damage is done. This happens a lot...

There are "The Best" pilots who like to dog fight and will call you for "honor" in a game about war and territory if you gun them down with an A2A missile. If you're one of them, and all you really care about is dueling and dancing in the skies with no care for the ground game, don't get A2A missiles.

If you're just about being effective A2A, they have their place and are useful. Just don't rely on them. There's a great video out there by Youngblood who says they're good to have but often players rely on trying to lock a missile on their target instead of trying to use the nose gun. You should not constantly try to lock on a missile, I tend to use it as a tool to nail people running away or maybe get one good hit on a target before we enter dog fighting. But again, if you have "surprise" on your side, it's best to use your nose gun. It will also make them waste their flare if they have one and other ground lock ons will force them to leave the area.

I have certed them a little, I use them for pegging skilled lib crews and the occasional galaxy.
There's no way in hell I'm getting in close for a rotary-only fight against a Dalton or Shredder lib.

The increase in range is pathetic, lock time is the best option since it shaves time spent on getting a lock and also increases the amount of missiles you can fire over a period.

Ever bit of range counts when were talking about A2A lock-ons and 50m is huge. Could be the difference between kill and not kill. Lock-on time is not as large a factor due to flares. Usually I use the a2am as a deterant to enemies anyway and not a actual weapon. Its really only good vs libs and Galaxies. Even then a good rocketpod volley is better.

Hello TR.
I dare you to dogfight a mozzy with the anti-air rotary with a Light PPA & scout radar equipped on your non-existant Scythe.
You're wrong, they are absolutely vital for dogfighting, depending on your ESF setup.

You can argue "skill" all you want while i swoop inside bridges and under the canopy on amerish, taking out sunderers with my Light PPA that does less damage to vehicles than both the Saron and Hailstorm, while providing much needed radar support for my ground troops, staying alive with no flares or rocket pods equipped, ever.

Go back to your K/D games.
This game is about being useful to your faction, not dogfighting in a secluded alternate dimension with no impact on the capture progress on the ground. (Which is why i'm incredibly opposed to the Dome Shields, which will only further cement this useless playstyle by seperating ground from air.)

I did, and they are just terrible. In a dogfight they are far too slow, and against libs or galaxies they jsut dont hit hard enough to warrant the lockon time when you could just be firing your nose gun. If you want to be dedicated AA in an ESF its far better to fully cert the rotary gun (atleast mag size) and pair it with fuel tanks than to waste the 500 or so certs on the rockets.

They can help if your target is slightly laggy or doing really quirky maneuvers where your nose gun just isnt able to really connect much... but fuel tanks just give you the ability to get out of situations quickly that arent in your favor, or chase down someone. Which is why i recommend them.

So the ability of air dominance doesnt help out my faction? What if you were taken out by him, wouldnt your forces no longer have that radar you provide or the ability to harass ground troops from the sky? Wouldnt that also free up their empires forces to no longer be worried about air threats and only focus on ground targets where the capture points and objectives are?

So please tell me now how ones ability to quickly deal with air threats doesnt impact the face of a battle now?

It is not worth it to cert them until the ESF update. This is especially true since the devs have hinted at the fact they will become anti lib/gal torpedos and they have comfirmed AB fuel tanks will be buffed with cert lines. It's very likely you will find yourself as an A2A fighter feeling your A2Am are inferior to other choices (especially AB tanks) and any certs you dump in tomcats now will be wasted. Except of course the cheap ammo capacity increases, those are still worth it, but the improvements of increased lock on time or range are negligible at best and too much will change in GU12 to make it worth investing the certs.

Because the thread was about wether or not A2A missiles were "useless" in dogfighting or not.

Range.
Without range you might as well be using the gun.
But they are excellent finishers and a good way to get those that try to flee.

I love the tears you get when u kill with them.
I am not here to be cool.
I am here to kill you.

I certed all the way in the ammo capacity (10 missiles ftw) and 3/4th of the lock-on time.

I don't use them a lot, because libs are rare sights and lolpods are more effective all-around. But sometimes i like to pull them and enjoy annoying the crap out of every NC and VS pilot i found. I have a lot of L2P /tells from people that claims that apparently i'm bad because it took me 20 seconds and 3 missiles to kill them instead of 3 seconds and a mag of rotary... >.>

I work for the fun police, I use them sometimes.

IMO, lock-on's should be unlockable, once you get a certain number of enemy ESF kills with a nose cannon.

They are a serious crutch and I'm really glad i put them aside for so long as it really helped me to get better at dog-fighting. I now use them every now and then as a tactical option, depending on the situation.

Or if i notice ADoSAttack flying around on Briggs... then i equip them and go looking for him. Ehehehe

In my dog-fighting experience, without additional afterburner fuel, it is difficult to keep the fight at the range that you would prefer, be it knife-fighting in a telephone booth or beyond visual range alpha strikes. If you like to sit at flight ceiling, kill-stealing at max range that's fine. I do it when i'm too drunk or too tired to try. However, once an enemy is alerted to your presence and the fight moves from you floating about being a dick and generally being in control of things and into a regular dogfight, the extra lock-on range is rarely a benefit. Additionally, you won't always get the jump on your opponent.

Lock-on time reduction on the other hand is almost overkill. I've noticed that my reticle will lock on again sooner than it has taken my next missile to reload in some cases.

I have both maxxed out and I've found that of the two, Lock-On timer reduction has been more regularly and noticeably beneficial.