Is Rotary/Turbolaser too good against infantry?

[phungus]

Granted it took hundreds of hours getting comfortable enough to shoot infantry beyond 25m or so with the rotaries but now that I do I don't even bother with rocket pods. The rotaries take care of lone wolf tanks well enough - not as efficient as rocket pods for sure, but is certainly effective (working with another A2A reaver we were even able to take out sunderer's provided they didn't have more then 2 people trying to protect them). Against infantry though it almost seems absurd. If I had to guess TTK on infantry with the rotary, I'd peg it at 0.24 seconds or so, pretty much an instagib.


Does this seem reasonable to everyone? I'm fine with it, I love the fact i can load A2Am and not sacrifice my ability to to take out pesky infantry who are a legitimate threat to me. In my opinion A2Am really helps in Air to Air combat despite what people say and despite the fact they are broken. It does feel like too good of an all around weapon though, honestly it's better at killing infantry then the default gun.

[Sifer2]

If your flying low enough to be accurate with it against Infantry your low enough to get horribly murdered by AA so I don't think its an issue. ESF's have always been good at picking on lone wolf Infantry at some random outpost though.

[phungus]

If your flying low enough to be accurate with it against Infantry your low enough to get horribly murdered by AA so I don't think its an issue. ESF's have always been good at picking on lone wolf Infantry at some random outpost though.

I find I'm more likely to get killed by tanks and dumbfire rockets when killing infantry with the rotary. But they get you infrequently enough it's well worth taking the risk to close at that range and hover for the fraction of a second it takes to gib infantry with the rotary. The TTK is really low, that's what really surprises me, I guess it makes sense though given the rof of the rotaries.

[Snoopy]

I agree with the above in that if you're close enough to be in effective range of the hailstorm/rotary, you're generally in a vulnerable place for AA or some body wielding a dumb fire rocket to take advantage of you in return.

I personally wish more ESF pilots would learn to actually dogfight, and stop harassing infantry on the ground all day long with lolpods. That way, when I sneak up behind them and unload a clip into them... they mightn't just fly straight into the ground.

[Figment]

If your flying low enough to be accurate with it against Infantry your low enough to get horribly murdered by AA so I don't think its an issue. ESF's have always been good at picking on lone wolf Infantry at some random outpost though.

What AA? Handheld lock on that takes 5 seconds to lock on and when it finally does is negated by a single flare creating a safety marging that is more than ten times the length of the TTK you have on the infantry?

AA MAXes? You think those survive long now with all the AV and ESF gun upgrades?

I've had situations where a Banshee would kill me as soon as I popped through a door and before being able to fire even a dumbfire missile or aim at the aircraft.


It's very questionable if this is fair and fun at the very least.

[Sifer2]

What AA? Handheld lock on that takes 5 seconds to lock on and when it finally does is negated by a single flare creating a safety marging that is more than ten times the length of the TTK you have on the infantry?

AA MAXes? You think those survive long now with all the AV and ESF gun upgrades?

I've had situations where a Banshee would kill me as soon as I popped through a door and before being able to fire even a dumbfire missile or aim at the aircraft.


It's very questionable if this is fair and fun at the very least.



I dunno man in my experience I still die almost instantly to dual burster MAX's. I think it really depends on where you go. If you go to any big battle, and try to swoop down an kill Infantry with Rotaries your not going to survive in my experience. Some mostly abandoned outpost with no AA present? Sure. Also isn't the Banshee designed to kill Infantry?

[Figment]

I dunno man in my experience I still die almost instantly to dual burster MAX's. I think it really depends on where you go. If you go to any big battle, and try to swoop down an kill Infantry with Rotaries your not going to survive in my experience. Some mostly abandoned outpost with no AA present? Sure. Also isn't the Banshee designed to kill Infantry?

Yeah and it got buffed for no other reason than being better than the things mentioned by the OP, after all, it's supposed to be better than the AV version.

But AA MAXes aren't always available and it takes many seconds to kill air. Many more than its target needs to get kills and get away, ESPECIALLY when flying low (good pilots make use of buildings as cover and lock breakers).

I don't mind flares, I do mind extremely long lock on timers, having to to reload non-scoped and not being able to reacquire a lock after a flare has popped for several extra seconds that make no sense. After a flare is popped, targets should be immediately open to new locks.


PS: what feels like instant death by AA to you is about 40 times longer than what air does to infantry. IMO - since air is so fast to weave in and out of areas - AA is the only short TTK that should be allowed.

[Snoopy]

Dual burster MAX should hit ESFs hard and do lots of damage. If they don't get the kill, they should damn well be a deterrent.

[Emperor Newt]

It's just the same issue with ESFs people have been complaining about the whole time: ESFs being too good at everything without the need to sacrifice something.
I doubt this is every going to change. They are "broken" by design.

Lately ESF pilots have become more risky from my experience. Decided to switch to my AP lightning again for AA. Way more effective then the skyguard (which is pretty much crap anyways) as all air seems to be flying low these days. One shot one kill, not tickle damage while the ESF finishes his swoop and flies off to repair and be back in a minute for another kill.

[Assist]

Yeah and it got buffed for no other reason than being better than the things mentioned by the OP, after all, it's supposed to be better than the AV version.

But AA MAXes aren't always available and it takes many seconds to kill air. Many more than its target needs to get kills and get away, ESPECIALLY when flying low (good pilots make use of buildings as cover and lock breakers).

I don't mind flares, I do mind extremely long lock on timers, having to to reload non-scoped and not being able to reacquire a lock after a flare has popped for several extra seconds that make no sense. After a flare is popped, targets should be immediately open to new locks.


PS: what feels like instant death by AA to you is about 40 times longer than what air does to infantry. IMO - since air is so fast to weave in and out of areas - AA is the only short TTK that should be allowed.

You're ignoring that if they're low enough to kill infantry they're low enough for an AV turret, dumbfire missile, or tank to also hit the ESF. Killing infantry *requires* you to be low, so they draw on your screen, and I personally find that I die far more often to the random heavy dumbfire, tank gun, or other ESF when I try to kill infantry. Killing infantry = sitting duck, you're not weaving in and out if you're killing infantry in an ESF, the game doesn't render infantry fast enough to make that possible.

IMO the balance of rotary's against infantry is perfectly fine. It requires time and skill to aim at a player on the ground as an ESF, this is not the same thing as killing a vehicle on the ground. I guess you could say TR have the short end of the stick in this situation, because a low flying ESF is done for against the Lancer or Pheonix. The Decimator seems to find me more often than any other dumbfire when I'm in my ESF. That said, the Striker is the best area vehicle denial weapon in the game, behind the Bursters.

[ThatGoatGuy]

It's just the same issue with ESFs people have been complaining about the whole time: ESFs being too good at everything without the need to sacrifice something.
They sacrifice armor. Do you understand the difference of the amount of flak that a liberator can receive versus an ESF?
Yeah and it got buffed for no other reason than being better than the things mentioned by the OP, after all, it's supposed to be better than the AV version.

Haha on what Auraxis do you live on? The banshee is shit for every thing in the game outside of killing infantry. I was nerfed (max mag size it 10 rounds lower), what GU are you claiming that it was buffed?

[Figment]

You're ignoring that if they're low enough to kill infantry they're low enough for an AV turret, dumbfire missile, or tank to also hit the ESF.

That's bullshit.

Don't come in here proclaiming it is easy to hit air with slow speed, high gravity effect dumbfire AV on any aircraft flying remotely low. Even a Phoenix can't lead that well. Unless you're a crap pilot and hover for a long time in place without even making minor adjustments to height and don't strafe in random directions at all.

Come on. Even I haven't been hit by AV dumbfire yet and I'm considering myself a horrible pilot.

[Snydenthur]

I think there should be some changes to everything. At the moment there is no reason to run without the better automatic weapon and rocket pods for esf. Except for fun.

[ThatGoatGuy]

That's bullshit.

Don't come in here proclaiming it is easy to hit air with slow speed, high gravity effect dumbfire AV on any aircraft flying remotely low. Even a Phoenix can't lead that well. Unless you're a crap pilot and hover for a long time in place without even making minor adjustments to height and don't strafe in random directions at all.

Come on. Even I haven't been hit by AV dumbfire yet and I'm considering myself a horrible pilot.

Seeing that since you are a horrible pilot, you obviously aren't in the air often. Not being in the air that often means that you don't have the possibility of getting dumbfired.

[Figment]

Seeing that since you are a horrible pilot, you obviously aren't in the air often. Not being in the air that often means that you don't have the possibility of getting dumbfired.

Maybe you need a better definition of bad pilot instead of relying on arbitrary assumptions derived from statements that do not imply that at all. Bad pilot does not mean never flies.

[RLxJame]

.
PS: what feels like instant death by AA to you is about 40 times longer than what air does to infantry. IMO - since air is so fast to weave in and out of areas - AA is the only short TTK that should be allowed.

No offence Figgie but according to your stats page you only have 4 kills with the reaver in more than 2 hours flying it.

From a pilots of perspective the biggest problem with air/AA balance is the render ranges. You have to get so close to the ground before your targets even appear on your screen.

Aircraft have been nerfed so much since launch (which is hilarious since all these issues persisted in beta yet they released the game anyway!) and any further nerf they might as well be removed from the game.

[Snoopy]

That's bullshit.

Don't come in here proclaiming it is easy to hit air with slow speed, high gravity effect dumbfire AV on any aircraft flying remotely low. Even a Phoenix can't lead that well. Unless you're a crap pilot and hover for a long time in place without even making minor adjustments to height and don't strafe in random directions at all.

Come on. Even I haven't been hit by AV dumbfire yet and I'm considering myself a horrible pilot.

You'd be surprised how many idiotic pilots you can get with a dumb fire rocket. Yeah, you mightn't get them every time but once they see the rocket fly by their screen, they'll hit the thrusters and afterburners and be out of there. By which time, you'd have called for some body in your squad to go AA max and get rid of him when/if he comes back to try his luck again...

[Figment]

No offence Figgie but according to your stats page you only have 4 kills with the reaver in more than 2 hours flying it.

I don't like going after ground targets, so I mostly use it as discardable transport (only killed a couple of aircraft), when I see infantry I need to tackle, I'll bail because it's more fun to have a fair fight. I've practiced the ESF in VR to see how easy it is to line up on a target. With hover certs, that's not too hard and you don't need a long line up to kill those targets. Sometimes spamming in their general direction even suffices. :/

I deliberately have not acquired shotguns either, nor do I use MAXes. That doesn't mean I wouldn't know what I could do with them.

[RLxJame]

Yeah and it got buffed for no other reason than being better than the things mentioned by the OP, after all, it's supposed to be better than the AV version.

But AA MAXes aren't always available and it takes many seconds to kill air. Many more than its target needs to get kills and get away, ESPECIALLY when flying low (good pilots make use of buildings as cover and lock breakers).

I don't mind flares, I do mind extremely long lock on timers, having to to reload non-scoped and not being able to reacquire a lock after a flare has popped for several extra seconds that make no sense. After a flare is popped, targets should be immediately open to new locks.


PS: what feels like instant death by AA to you is about 40 times longer than what air does to infantry. IMO - since air is so fast to weave in and out of areas - AA is the only short TTK that should be allowed.

I don't like going after ground targets, so I mostly use it as discardable transport (only killed a couple of aircraft), when I see infantry I need to tackle, I'll bail because it's more fun to have a fair fight. I've practiced the ESF in VR to see how easy it is to line up on a target. With hover certs, that's not too hard and you don't need a long line up to kill those targets. Sometimes spamming in their general direction even suffices. :/

I deliberately have not acquired shotguns either, nor do I use MAXes. That doesn't mean I wouldn't know what I could do with them.

Lining up targets in VR and actually doing it while under live fire is completely different.

I am not gunning after you deliberately Figgie but one of the things that vexes me most in this game are the cry babies who complain about aircraft yet can't fly them.

I am seeing less and less aircraft flying these days. On occasion I can be the only NC pilot compared to 50+ troops on the ground. I have the reaver nearly maxed out (full flares + full composite armour) and I can still find it difficult to survive. I can't imagine how new pilots feel in their rusty tin can of an aircraft. I feel that is a lot of the hostility towards (good) pilots because the average joe falls out the sky after 2 seconds so they (wrongly) feel that should happen to everyone.

[Lonehunter]

It's pretty hard to worry about all the AA, flak, Turrets, etc you all keep mentioning when it literally takes less then a second to kill an infantry. You don't have to hover, you don't have to be inside 300meters.

Hell I can squeeze off a few infantry rotary kills AS I'm running from flak or lock on lol, and still get away.

[Figment]

You'd be surprised how many idiotic pilots you can get with a dumb fire rocket. Yeah, you mightn't get them every time but once they see the rocket fly by their screen, they'll hit the thrusters and afterburners and be out of there. By which time, you'd have called for some body in your squad to go AA max and get rid of him when/if he comes back to try his luck again...

AA MAX is overrated by pilots, got dual bursters myself and it really requires a bad pilot to quickly kill one. If they start evasive maneuvres once they get hit, you'll hardly manage to kill them unless you have several people on them. Especially in situations where you're locked into a confined area around or even in the spawnroom, these short TTKs make it impossible to break out. If your AA MAX dies, you are out of AA for a long time as handheld AA does not work well enough (takes too much time to get a lock and just deters an aircraft for a few seconds till lock was broken).


You're dismissing this too easily. We cannot assume idiotic pilots are the ones we balance around, you balance around averag pilots. Sure, I've killed air with tank shells, AV rockets and AV turrets. USUALY BY SHEER LUCK. The amount of missiles I've fired at them compared to the amount that hit are probably in the order of 1 out of every 50.

You cannot defend OP AI weaponry by stating that luck shots might win the day.

[Figment]

Lining up targets in VR and actually doing it while under live fire is completely different.

You think I don't know the difference?

The difference is extremely marginal tbh (bit more recoil from getting hit - PROVIDED you get hit and really, leading a gun with this rate of fire and projectile speed is no different from aiming at a stationary target). Gunning a Harasser is harder because of random terrain, in ESFs you control all your movements.

It's not like you need to stay absolutely still to hit something. And with this TTK, all you need is a very short time, not even a second of lining up your target. Sorry, but I don't agree that it's completely different.

[PredatorFour]

IMO An AA calibre machine gun should definately tear infantry a new one. It is fine as it is.

[Neutral Calypso]

The real question is: Is Airhammer too good against ESFs?

[RLxJame]

You think I don't know the difference?

The difference is extremely marginal tbh (bit more recoil from getting hit - PROVIDED you get hit and really, leading a gun with this rate of fire and projectile speed is no different from aiming at a stationary target). Gunning a Harasser is harder because of random terrain, in ESFs you control all your movements.

It's not like you need to stay absolutely still to hit something. And with this TTK, all you need is a very short time, not even a second of lining up your target. Sorry, but I don't agree that it's completely different.

Give it a try. I think you'll be surprised.

[Figment]

Give it a try. I think you'll be surprised.

I think I won't. Came across plenty situations where I could have gone for the kill but like I said, went for the bailing. When there's no challenge, I don't do it.

Why do you think the people with the most kills have the most airtime?

[RLxJame]

I think I won't. Came across plenty situations where I could have gone for the kill but like I said, went for the bailing. When there's no challenge, I don't do it.

Why do you think the people with the most kills have the most airtime?

There is a general correlation that the better FPS players are the best pilots also. Take peoples infantry accuracy and pilots will for the most part have a better stats also.

[Figment]

There is a general correlation that the better FPS players are the best pilots also. Take peoples infantry accuracy and pilots will for the most part have a better stats also.

Typically, the tool provides at least half the "skills" to get kills (which is why it was called mossiefarming) and these players then get an ego that makes them think they're good.

In that order.

A lot of players look at K/D as a way of determining if someone is good at FPS games, few look at the amount of effort required for the playstyle. I can tell you know that a CQC infil is going to have a lower K/D than a HE tank. Does that mean the better FPS players are in tanks? Hardly.

Air have the most flexibility and the greatest firepower/player with all kinds of alterior bonuses in movement and agility while it is significantly harder to kill them than it is to kill others simply because the tool is hard to hit and lead and you can't even AoE splash it like you can ground units. This is why they get high K/Ds, not because better players gravitate to them.

Sorry James, but I'm not buying that statement that good players are per definition good flyboys or the other way around. Typically, the ones with the best scores are the ones using the cheapest of strategies and easiest of tools to get kills. This is true in any game you come across.

[Boildown]

The real question is: Is Airhammer too good against ESFs?

I used the Airhammer extensively since GU8, and its trash against ESFs now. The TTK is much better on the rotary. The only exception is if they let you kill them, i.e. don't maneuver as you shoot them at point blank range, in which case it doesn't really matter anyways, except the rotary would allow you to kill them from a safer distance.

The Airhammer IS superior to the rotary against Libs, Gals, and ground vehicles. The rotary is better against single infantry, the Airhammer better when spamming into groups of infantry (though honestly, that's suicidal).

If the Airhammer is supposed to be an anti-infantry weapon, they need to buff it in another way. I would never equip it to go "infantry hunting". The only time I would use it is when I'm Lib or Gal hunting.

And yes, I have the certs on both it and the rotary maxed out.

[RLxJame]

Typically, the tool provides at least half the "skills" to get kills (which is why it was called mossiefarming) and these players then get an ego that makes them think they're good.

In that order.

A lot of players look at K/D as a way of determining if someone is good at FPS games, few look at the amount of effort required for the playstyle. I can tell you know that a CQC infil is going to have a lower K/D than a HE tank. Does that mean the better FPS players are in tanks? Hardly.


It all depends on your definition of "better FPS player". I was merely saying going on the principle that the person able to land the most bullets (i.e. most accurate) and has the best reaction skills will make the best pilots.

Basic maths will tell you that a player with an average accuracy of 22% is 6x more likely to kill someone with an accuracy of 17% (taking 7 bullets to kill which is pretty standard in PS2).

We could have a lengthy argument on the semantics of "good" PlanetSide 2 player. I merely put it out there that the best pilots are likely to be those with the best shooting skills.

Figgie. Honesty I don't have an axe to grind against you but it seriously annoys me when non-pilots, and especially those who never fly complain about air being op.

If you could prove that joe bloggs off the street could jump in an ESF and go around murdering everyone then I'd see your point. But the nerfs to aircraft have made it that only a select minority can really get the best out of aircraft now. If you still think aircraft are overpowered just suggest removing them from the game.

[Assist]

That's bullshit.

Don't come in here proclaiming it is easy to hit air with slow speed, high gravity effect dumbfire AV on any aircraft flying remotely low. Even a Phoenix can't lead that well. Unless you're a crap pilot and hover for a long time in place without even making minor adjustments to height and don't strafe in random directions at all.

Come on. Even I haven't been hit by AV dumbfire yet and I'm considering myself a horrible pilot.

Try shooting at one with a dumbfire before you comment on how hard it is. I'm not saying it's easy either, but killing infantry with a rotary isn't easy. The last thing this game needs is nerfing one of the high skill-ceiling weapons from the game.

[Assist]

I think I won't. Came across plenty situations where I could have gone for the kill but like I said, went for the bailing. When there's no challenge, I don't do it.

Why do you think the people with the most kills have the most airtime?

Out of the top 10 kills, 2 are ESF's, 1 Liberator, 1 Tank, 6 Infantry. Not quite what you're stating.

People that have the most kills per minute do what is easiest to do solo, because it's easier to jump from active fight to active fight as a solo player than it is in a squad. Other than that those are just people with ridiculous playtimes.

[Figment]

James, if you give someone a tool that kills in 0.3s or 0.8s without and the counter to that thing takes well over 10s (handheld AA), you can't tell me that's balanced. Note, that is the counter, a tool those people are likely not even carrying. Regular weapons take fastly longer to kill an aircav, if you can even hit them reliably (which even the actual counter cannot do).

Air to ground however, is a VERY reliable method of firing and hitting.

I'm sorry, but I just don't have much faith in pilots, knowing they feel superior 90% of the time when they ignore their counters are few in number and have massive handicaps and poor efficiency they can exploit.

Out of the top 10 kills, 2 are ESF's, 1 Liberator, 1 Tank, 6 Infantry. Not quite what you're stating.

People that have the most kills per minute do what is easiest to do solo, because it's easier to jump from active fight to active fight as a solo player than it is in a squad. Other than that those are just people with ridiculous playtimes.

Should have probably phrased the stat differently. You know what I meant though. It's like the people with a 56 K/D in a Magrider during the even more excessive spawncamping days would contribute this purely to skill. We all know that equally skilled players in PS1 who had different tools would get different K/Ds. If you had HA, you'd get a higher K/D by default than someone who used Sweepers, simply because you're disadvantaged by default. Air advantages the user a lot in every conceivable way and trades that for very few weaknesses. To just look at situations where there's a lot of AA and say "see? It's hard!" is asinine though.

[Lonehunter]

James, if you give someone a tool that kills in 0.3s or 0.8s without and the counter to that thing takes well over 10s (handheld AA), you can't tell me that's balanced.
You're assuming 2 things that don't work with PS2's design.

Everything has a perfect counter for another thing

1 vs 1 is supposed to always be fair.

Their are random deaths, there's are 50 people around you who should help you take down that ESF, there's are thousands of elements to this equation that have to all balance with each other. Not just 1 Rocket launcher vs 1 ESF.

[Figment]

You're assuming 2 things that don't work with PS2's design.

Everything has a perfect counter for another thing

1 vs 1 is supposed to always be fair.

Their are random deaths, there's are 50 people around you who should help you take down that ESF, there's are thousands of elements to this equation that have to all balance with each other. Not just 1 Rocket launcher vs 1 ESF.

Okay, how's this:

There are random deaths, there are 50 people around you who should help you take down that infantry unit, there are thousands of elements to this equation that have to all balance with each other. Not just 1 ESF vs 1 infantry unit.



Now why do I get the feeling you will object against this? Why the hypocrisy to make this statement when an infantry unit uses AA, but not say so when an aircraft uses AI? There are MORE units carrying AI than there are units carrying AA (even AV and AA fall in the AI category!). There are no instant saves from AI weapons, but there is a way to instant save you from AA weapons. Sure, the ESF costs a couple resources, but on the other hand, the unit frame didn't cost certs to acquire (some of its weapons did), whereas AA lock on did. Yet the AA weapons are considered less worthy to actually pay off than the aircraft weapons. There's quite a bit of hypocrisy and arbitrary bias in there.



I don't really see why AV weapons should be good at hitting infantry and then hit them really hard. What's the point of having AI weapon trade-offs then? AI weapons like the Kobalt don't even harm armoured units at all!

[Hamma]

Short answer: no it isn't to good. It's got a massive skill cap, it would be one thing if you could spray and prey the rotary.

[CrankyTRex]

Okay, how's this:

There are random deaths, there are 50 people around you who should help you take down that infantry unit, there are thousands of elements to this equation that have to all balance with each other. Not just 1 ESF vs 1 infantry unit.


Combat scaling.

[WarbirdTD]

I just had to come in here to offer a different opinion. In an answer to the original question of whether or not the rotaries are too good against infantry, I'd have to say no, though my answer would be due to my experience with the Mosquito and its rotary, not the more stable Reaver and its nearly double damage (meaning less bullets needed on target). I feel that there is more skill needed to hit targets directly with the rotary enough times to kill than with rocket pods, though the constant nerfing to rocket pods (at least Hellfires.. not so sure about photons) has done a pretty good job at reducing their effectiveness against large numbers of infantry. Are rocket pods worthless? Hell no. Would I use the rotary instead of pods for infantry killing? Not a chance. Rotaries require a pretty high skill level to get a consistent result, and unfortunately, I find that I am a somewhat average pilot compared to others on Connery.

The majority of this thread, however, has changed direction into an AA vs. ESF argument. Normally, I would just let this further degrade into a "You're a shitty player"-"No, YOU'RE a shitty player" type of argument that so often happens on the official PS2 forums. However, Figment, I like you and most of your ideas about base design. Therefore, I feel that you may need to take a larger look at the balance aspect of the game we both love.

Regarding your comments about Burster MAXes being ineffective, I highly disagree with you. Being a day-to-day ops leader of an airborne infantry outfit that runs 1.5 to 2 squads consistently (so I have to be careful about our force makeup), current game mechanics and gameplay have taught me that 2 AA MAXes will heavily damage ESFs in about 3 seconds while the ESF is running away, and 3 AA MAXes will kill ESFs before they have much of a chance to escape, while also being able to clear airspace around your immediate vicinity within 20-30 seconds. 4 AA MAXes damn near gives you air dominance of a region.
Regarding lock-on rockets, they were never designed to be a hard counter to fighters from a 1v1 perspective. Seriously, would that make any sense? A heavy assault doesn't have to spend resources to pull a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher, nor do they have a pull timer. Lock-on rockets are designed to dictate the time that a fighter can stay in the combat area. If an aircraft stays in the area too long, he is either dumb and doesn't know any better, or he is sacrificing the plane to kill an objective. If you truly want an instant and direct damage AA tool, use the dual burster.
Regarding your statement that the reason you do not have more kills with your plane is because it is just too easy to get kills with, and thus you are "above" using an ESF to get kills with, I simply don't buy it. Perhaps your server isn't as competitive nor as AA-filled as Connery, but that doesn't fit with what I've been hearing about Miller. The way my outfit operates, if there is an objective with enemies between us and it, we do whatever is necessary to neutralize them before they neutralize us.

So there it is. Like I said Fig, I like you and your ideas, but in this instance, my perspective says that your issue with AA vs ESF balance is incorrect. If you would like to experience the kind of balance that I think is present in the game, TR Connery would like to invite you to try and fly the unfriendly skies with us.

[Emperor Newt]

They sacrifice armor. Do you understand the difference of the amount of flak that a liberator can receive versus an ESF?
Do you understand that I was talking about loadouts?

[ThatGoatGuy]

Maybe you need a better definition of bad pilot instead of relying on arbitrary assumptions derived from statements that do not imply that at all. Bad pilot does not mean never flies.

you only have 4 kills with the reaver in more than 2 hours flying it.

I have around 60 hours of flight time. <-----Fair pilot