RWR, Jammer Craft, and Wild Weasles

Peacemaker · 2004-04-04, 11:51 PM

I think PS needs some serious attention in the area of flight. Im a dedicated pilot and some of the stuff in this game pisses me off.

1. AA maxs for NC and VS are vastly easyer to use than the Burster AA (and infinintly more effective at just scaring aircraft off let alone blowing them up)
2. There is no stratigic way of defeating a huge group of AA.
3. No one has any warning of lockable weapons.

Solutions

1. Add a RWR to all vehicles. RWR stands for Radar Warning Reciever. While its designed to detect enemy radar waves in this version it detects enemy guided weapons. (Phnx, Striker, AA maxs) If the enemy has their weapons set to guided (AA maxs switch from guided to unguided) they light up on RWRs. RWR shows a general position on the radar map (not very accurate, just a general idea)
2. Add a Jammer aircraft into the game that requires a crew of three. It slows down the lock time of enemy locking weapons and halvs the range of the phnx. The proximity explosive on the burster and skyguard will not detonate either, only direct hits will.(Modified liberator chasis)
3. Make the AA maxs unable to fire guided munitions at ranges under 25 meters. Also make them a little easyer to loose (although the easyer to loose missles may not be needed with counter measures soon coming).

The AA maxs should also all do the same amount of damage to infantry. The TR max got nerfed against infantry and does very little damage to them compaired to the other AA maxs. Why do the others get to do alot of damage and the TR maxs has to do a little. Nerf them all against infantry! The Burster Max also needs some kind of buff. I mean, guided missles vs flak? Whens the last time you saw the IDF using 88s to fend off scuds?

Latly ive been testing real world Wild weasle tactics against AA. It works against one or two but a huge number of people have AA max. Once a reaver is on station they all grab it. Not much you can do there. My goal is for my pilots to beable to clear an enemy base of AA in a single sweep. So far id say im around 50% on that goal. Practice makes perfect.

martyr · 2004-04-05, 12:12 AM

bliz and i have actually put together a concept "jammer aircraft", crew of two, but it's not complete yet.

i agree.

Rbstr · 2004-04-05, 12:46 AM

why include Phoenix? yeah its guided but it flys slower than a reaver it doesn't even track not to mention the horrible turning rate, the only thing i can consistanly hit with one is a liberator and i've had AV ever scence beta, it poses no threat, recently i've been flying with a TR alt on emerald never been hit by one of those unless i was being stupid enough to fly slow and low.

The real thing to do is up the Reaver rockets AV damage and make the AA maxes expend more ammo before a kill including Skygaurds.

BH has been working on AA maxes for a long time now(as nearly every BH member has Aircav) and ther are only two things tha work well against AA(mosly starfires as bursters aren't that comman the a locked down on runins our day very fast): getting a bunch of reavers and basicaly doing a suicide run, but generaly you lose one reaver per AA max you are trying to take out.

The only other way is to sneak up behind it and catch it by surprize

topknot · 2004-04-05, 12:51 AM

I have taken the liberty of weeding out the extraneous padding here and cutting to the chase of his/her post. Here it is in distilled form:

"My goal is for my pilots to beable to clear an enemy base of AA in a single sweep."

While I love wild-weasles (worked on the F-4G model for 2 years in the 1980's), we must be very careful about making air forces any stronger.

As it is, you can't run 50 yards without being mowed down by the ever present reavers. The anti-air maxes are a grunts best friend. Not saying it cant/shouldn't be done, just do it right, please...

Batousai · 2004-04-05, 09:19 AM

Now these are all good, but your puting all your ideas on a one on one basis.
Now being able to clear a "entire base" of AA is impossible. Maybe you can take out half but thats about it. Me, being a AA max myself, should know. Any and every AA max in the area is going to train its sights on the airplanes over head.
Now dont get me wrong, im also a pliot too, and I hate when a fly over a Nme base and get pwned by about 50 AA missiles/Orbs/Flak(which ever applys to you). I think the AA maxs should get a "SMALL" nerf, just a small one.

Cryptica · 2004-04-05, 09:24 AM

I think that the point here is valid, and I also agree with topknot. Something should be done about the AA maxes, yes, but it needs to be done carefully, since it could potentially unbalance the game. Bigtime. So here's what I propose:

AA Maxes should stay as they are. As should AV weapons. The pheonix (I play NC so I only know the pheonix, really.) isn't too effective against almost anything in the air. As long as the pilot keeps moving at a decent pace, there shouldn't be any worry about being hit.
However, I think that all aircraft should come with some sort of flare/chaff-like mechanism that lets them mess with the lock-on features of the AA weapons. It would be of limited effect, of course. The idea is that it might give a pilot a chance of surviving if they accidentally fly over a base filled with lancers.

SilverLord · 2004-04-05, 11:01 AM

Originally Posted by Cryptica

However, I think that all aircraft should come with some sort of flare/chaff-like mechanism that lets them mess with the lock-on features of the AA weapons. It would be of limited effect, of course. The idea is that it might give a pilot a chance of surviving if they accidentally fly over a base filled with lancers.

/agreed

Peacemaker · 2004-04-05, 03:08 PM

I agree on all counts. The last thing I want is for flying the Reaver to be easy. I want it to be a challenge. But in all other aspects of this game there is a counter attack to a strategy employed by the enemy that will work except for AA maxs. If there are 10 AA maxs you cant do shit. And usally they are bunched in a base and protected so its impossible for infantry to do anything. This is very unstable ground for the devs to tread on. But Id love to see them do it. One of the things Ive always wanted to see is a stronger version of the reaver that CANNOT stop. Its got better guns and rockets but it flys at a constant speed. Flying should take more skill than it does now. I my self grow board with the constant people who think they can dog fight by going into turrent mode (stoping in mid air and pointing)

EarlyDawn · 2004-04-05, 03:40 PM

The only new aircraft I really want to see are that Galaxy Gunship the devs were talking about, a command aircraft, and whatever Beyond BR-20 ideas the devs have cooked up.

Rbstr · 2004-04-05, 04:36 PM

Fixed wing aricraft woudl be cool someday, but i like flying helo like, its just if take 2 full clips to kill a lightning a reaver all 16 have to hit almost on the mark to do it, thats kind of sad, considering that 3 decis take it out, and they don't have to worry about AA fire

turrent? say what?

turret man turret.

Gal gunship and AirDel are basicaly the only Ideas that have been around for long time, that the devs have never ot my knowledge talked about(except recently the galgunship)

drsomewhere · 2004-04-05, 07:05 PM

Very Good Point Peace, there is absolutely nothing you can do about the 6 AA Vanub maxes sitting on top of every VS tower.

TheN00b · 2004-04-05, 07:50 PM

Originally Posted by drsomewhere

Very Good Point Peace, there is absolutely nothing you can do about the 6 AA Vanub maxes sitting on top of every VS tower.

O noes! A lone pilot can't defeat six constructs specifically designed to destroy him! O the humanity...

Onizuka-GTO · 2004-04-05, 07:54 PM

Incompetent · 2004-04-05, 07:58 PM

First off

to kill a lightning a reaver all 16 have to hit almost on the mark to do it, thats kind of sad, considering that 3 decis take it out, and they don't have to worry about AA fire

I am going to laugh hysterically this statement,

Now that i've got that out of the way, I think it would be better to have any electronic warfare units be ground based for now. I've always been of the opinion that air units should be used in support of ground units, not the other way around. Give them a nice big radius, and make sure the pilots know when they are inside and outside of a field, but don't stick in an aircraft.

Batousai · 2004-04-06, 09:24 AM

I want a B-17 type Galaxy and I want Command Galaxy.

I made my own Command Galaxy one time. I picked up my sqaud and flew over a Nme base at full afterburner and hotdropped my troops, flew into a holding pattern out of the range of the AA and over a friendly tower close by and gave my orders to my troops below. Its was oK till a renegade MOSSIE came over and took me out.