Some random thoughts on air combat in PS2

[MrMorton]

So, from watching the beta footage, I am starting to see the roles the aircraft are designed for, specifically regarding the fighters. Drawing comparisons from tactics used in more conventional flight sims, I would like to just theorycraft on the best use of these aircraft.

The Mosquito is shaping up to be the energy fighter of the game. Energy fighters are usually very survivable as they can run from most every fight. They should be used by starting far from the lines and at max altitude, and diving down on your target using wide sweeping maneuvers to attack your opponent and then immediately extend out of range.

In groups, the mosquito should rush down en masse, grouping and target firing and almost instantly killing multiple targets, then extending away before the opponent can retaliate. Then proceeding to rinse and repeat.

The scythe is the complete opposite, and is a little bit trickier to use against the mosquito, as tr will always have the speed advantage. The scythe is the turn'n'burner of ps2, being able to easily outmaneuver every other aircraft in the game. against anything but the mosquito, the scythe will just be able to chase down and outmaneuver them, however fighting an energy fighter requires special tactics (<3 whitera).

The best option should be to turn to face the approaching enemy (hopefully the scythes have seen them in advance) while not moving very much and using the vs's superior accuracy at range to whittle down the approaching mosquitos (targeting one ship at a time to take it down as fast as possible). Then just as the mosquito's get into their effective range, accelerate towards them and slightly at an angle, minimizing the firing time TR has on the VS. If the mosquitos make the mistake of breaking formation to dogfight, it should be easy to take them down.

The key to this match up is surprise, as an unprepared group of vs fighters will not be able to effectively counter the first sweep.


Now on to the reaver....sigh....As far as I can tell the reaver will be at a disadvantage to the other two races, not to say that it is underpowered, but in a 1v1 dogfight vs two pilots that are of equal skill, imo the reaver will always lose. This is because no matter how durable your aircraft is, once your opponent gets behind you, if you cannot shake him off he WILL eventually kill you (unless you have butt rockets or something).

that being said the reaver's best bet is to fly low and slow, making good use of its durability to soak up ground fire while taking out aggressors from the ground (antiground weapons will be a necessity). This will force the more fragile aircraft lower as well if they want to fight you, exposing them to NC ground fire. When fighting, the reaver will need to use vtol to get a good shot off on the other aircraft.

Against the scythe stay in vtol and attempt to stay with it and out dps the more fragile and weaker firing scythe.

Against the mosquito you should turn around before the mosquito passes you, and punch afterburner right as he overshooting in order to stay with him for as long as possible and get as many shots as possible into him. Hopefully the reaver will be able to turn with the mosquito so that if the mosquito panics and breaks, you should be able to keep up.

overall the reaver seems like it will be the hardest to survive in, but also have the best ability dominate air vs ground.

the vanu will be the dogfighter, but for balance purposes will probably be fairly fragile.

and the mosquito will be the hit and run fighter, rushing into a battle, and extending to the fringes to shake off chasers.


just some theorycrafting and general tactical concepts, what are your opinions?