Shooting bullets at aircraft

[MFour]

I'm sorta new and I've been wondering, do small arms actually do anything against enemy ESFs? Often I find myself shooting at enemy sytches just to see the red marker, but how much damage does it do? Would say, 20 soldiers, be able to shoot down an ESF with just their light weapons?

[belch]

Small arms do damage ESF's. As an individual trooper, not going to do much damage. But 20 guys, all making well aimed shots at one time? Yeah, that would hurt.

ETA: as for shooting an ESF down like that? Only if the pilot is dumb enough to stick around. When I take 3-4 guys firing small arms at me, I generally don't hang around much longer. Not to mention one of them is probably an HA with a rocket launcher.

[Hamma]

Yea it definitely hurts and it will make me turn around and fly away - I don't like to wait around to see how hard I'm getting hit. I believe composite armor suppresses some of the damage.

[ShadetheDruid]

It doesn't do a lot like the others have said, so most of the time the best it will do is probably cause them to move away. That said, if you're an engie (because you practically have infinite ammo) or they're on very low health, there's no reason not to go wild on them. I've killed a few low health ESFs with small arms before.

Hell, the other day I killed a Mossie at about 500m with a carbine.

[belch]

Originally Posted by ShadetheDruid

Hell, the other day I killed a Mossie at about 500m with a carbine.

I hate you.

j/k...nice bro.

[Neutral Calypso]

I need to save my nickels and dimes and buy more comp armor...

[Palerion]

Yeah I think I notice this a bit... On the receiving end xD

When I fly my mosquito low I definitely take some small arms fire.

As apparently shade has done before, I have actually been shot down by an LA.

[Hamma]

Originally Posted by ShadetheDruid

Hell, the other day I killed a Mossie at about 500m with a carbine.

Hax!

[psijaka]

It's definately worth taking a pop at them if you have the ammo to spare, especially if you notice that their health is down a bit. There's a good chance that you'll make them flee, even if you don't get the kill. And damage XP incoming!

Are there stats around on ESF health and the effects of the composite armor? Would be nice to get a feel for this.

[Baneblade]

Two Hawk hits and shotgun finisher.

[typhaon]

Yes.

Shooting at an ESF, especially if it's low and slow, is a worthwhile thing to do. I feel like the damage is a little more than some are indicating... I feel like I've taken off 20%-ish by simply unloading an entire GD-22S magazine into one. I suppose this would vary depending on the level of composite armor equipped on the ESF.

At the very least, it almost always gets them to fly away quickly.

[Figment]

Seems the rattling of small arms fire scares them as they wonder if it might be an enemy air unit using a nose gun. The damage dealt is minimal, but as others have said, it mostly has a psychological impact.

[notSpecial]

Too bad SOE couldn't fit in a "golden BB" concept into the game. After all, canopys can't be as fully armored as the belly, etc

[mrmrmrj]

Got kill assist exp with my Jackhammer on a low flying Scythe just last night.

[Scythan]

I am sitting here writing this reply because the servers are down for a restart (2/6/13) but before that, I was shot down by a damned NS-11A in a Mosquito while buzzing The Crown. Note that 75%+10% of the damage was done by a Reaver and a Flak-MAX respectively but the NS-11A gunner DID get the kill XP as I flew over.

THAT SAID,

Usually shooting at the pretty lights in the sky is a bad idea unless you have good top AA cover, as a pilot if I have one nitpicky INF shooting at me from below, I will stop, turn and blast him into the next world for giggles.

So...that.