To land or not to land?

[Quemical]

Am i the only one that gets annoyed at transport pilots that land near the silos? The worst is when it's the first transporter out of the titan and they land it on the nearest silo.

Personally, if i jump on the transporter, i am going to do what the transporter was intended to do and that is transport people. I always keep mine in the air so my team can always have access to any silo. Sure my score is lame in the end, but atleast i am helping out my team win.

I've been a part of squads that use the transport well in which they jump from silo to silo with everyone taking it in about 20 seconds and bounce to the next one. If this was going on all the time i wouldn't mind ppl landing it, but these douches using transporters land it in a bed of motion mines or a heavily guarded silo. My strategy would be, hover over the silo at a nice distance, let my gunners try and clear some enemies, have ppl spawn on me and drop down to catch the silo. But of course that never happens.

My favorite time in the transport is when i have good gunners and start cleaning house by taking out infantry near silos and chasing transporters and taking them down.

So, do you care if pilots land their transporter???? And don't get me started on stupid bailout pilots

[iQue]

I wish pilots could stay in the air instead of landing, leaving everyone at the silo since some bastard usually destroys our own transporter out of pure boredom. Also you die 25% of the time you exit the transport if it's landed. :p

IMO I think you would get maybe 0.25 points when dropping people to a silo/titan so that pilots would stay in the air longer.

[Paudman]

I'm a crap flyer and landing or hovering is NOT one of my strong points, but personally if it comes down to it and I have to fly the transport first time off the Titan, I'll leave the Titan and aim for the furthest silo from us - this means all the fighting takes place there, the enemy concentrate there, and while they're trying to avoid your motion mines and traps you can capture silos closer to your Titan at a more leisurely pace.
If you only go as far as the nearest silo, by the time you leave it, the enemy have all the others...:cry:

[Skates]

I like to fly over the silo dropping off everyone and then circle back around to pick them up and drop them at the next one. Practice on an empty server coming into different silos from different directions until you get to where you can come in fast, flare out and set it down quickly. You'd be amazed at how hard you can set them down if you come in just right while taking little to no damage.

[Zalym]

Typically I will fly-over and the soldiers not operating the guns will jump out anyway, I'll stay aloft and let the gunners cover the silo if its contested. Otherwise I'll make a loop and come back to the silo to pick up anyone who needs a ride out. As a pilot it's not only my job to get them to the first silo but to get them to the -next- silo.

In my opinion there's very little that is more frustrating than a pilot who takes a group of 5 or so soldiers to a silo and then leaves them there without cover or a way out. Yes I know vehicles spawn but if they are taken by another group and are still active they won't be coming back for awhile and the team is left to march to the next target. It's simply a waste of time to force a group of soldiers to walk instead of hopping with them from one silo to the next.

That being said it's also my job to keep the transport alive, so if there's mines, AAA, or a gunship active in the area I'll be more careful about setting down but I'll try land and pick them up away from the action.

For the most part though this is my line of thought:

Let the soldiers jump out over the target as it's faster than landing
Stay and cover the troops with the helo's guns if needed
Land and pick them up if they don't need to stay at the silo and defend it from a counter attack
Keep the transport alive at all costs in order to spawn reinforcements later

[Wizrdwarts]

Fly at 300-400 meters above the middle of the map = super awesome spawnpoint that can cover up to 3 silos depending on the map. High enough to avoid most danger unless you have dedicated transport hunters. Too bad no one does it cause it's so boring up there.

[TheDesert_Fox]

I like to land, simply because no one gets out!

You end up with people sitting in the guns the whole time, even if there are no enemies to shoot. Probably because they fear you'll never come back to pick them up, even if vehicles spawn at that silo after capture.

Plus, I'm pretty skilled with the transport (don't get me started on titan landings, they're my only weakness). If you land in the right direction you can fly in at 300 of whatever units the transports use for speed and not get scratched, just make sure no one jumps out until you're at a full stop, which does a take a while at that speed.

Some maps, like Shuhia Taiba, are harder to land at due to the more crowded silos, but Sidi Power Plant is like a gift from God. All the silos have a straight in landing option in titan mode except the middle one, all but a few have a straight in option on conquest.

For titan, I prefer to land. The chances of titan AA catching you and enemy gunships seeing you while coming to resupply is very great. The only problem is that the lower deck is full of boxes, the side railings will kill you instantly if you land even slightly on them, and the titan AA can shoot you if you land farther back on the upper deck. Not to mention people podding from the enemy titan crushing it, or robbing it. Titan attack isn't made for transports.

[[-NM-]-SS-]

You never land a transport at a silo, for any reason. If they cap the flag, they have vehicles to move to support the next flag you are going to [if they can understand your intent]. Otherwise you drop the next batch off and keep moving.

'Nuff said.

[imported_Ezekiel]

There's not enough points for a transport pilot if he just stays in air dropping people off as he gets no points for that

[Braveman]

i prefer to drop them off and circle around then get em and go to the next flag. if when ive dropped them off i see someone left in the wilderness then i usually give them a pickup. Its best if you know at least one of your gunners cos then you can trust them to stick with you to give fire support and take out other aircraft, i was just on a server with Eze an we owned the enemy gunship three times as the transport even when it got the drop on us two of the times.

[DesmondLocke]

The problem with relying on vehicle spawns is that sometimes you get one FAV. So five people might jump/spawn out of the Transport to cap the CP/Silo. But all it takes is one idiot to jump into the FAV and drive off. Leaving the other four to just stare at each other and ask "Well, WTF do we do now?"
Landing isn't as much an issue as whether the pilot comes back for you.
If it's a neutral or non-contested point, the pilot should hang nearby to pick up his teammates afterwards.
Relying on people spawning on your transport over each silo isn't always that smart. Sometimes the only teammates who are interested in your transport are the ones you left behind at the last silo. So they're hoofing it to the next silo while you're hovering over it, with no one spawning on you.

[Salad Snake]

Am i the only one that gets annoyed at transport pilots that land near the silos? The worst is when it's the first transporter out of the titan and they land it on the nearest silo.

Personally, if i jump on the transporter, i am going to do what the transporter was intended to do and that is transport people. I always keep mine in the air so my team can always have access to any silo. Sure my score is lame in the end, but atleast i am helping out my team win.

I've been a part of squads that use the transport well in which they jump from silo to silo with everyone taking it in about 20 seconds and bounce to the next one. If this was going on all the time i wouldn't mind ppl landing it, but these douches using transporters land it in a bed of motion mines or a heavily guarded silo. My strategy would be, hover over the silo at a nice distance, let my gunners try and clear some enemies, have ppl spawn on me and drop down to catch the silo. But of course that never happens.

I love to "transport bus" around, having people spawn in and get off at the silo they want to take.

Even better with gunners but a lot of people just don't trust the transport anymore I guess, as a lot just run around still.

[-Spartan`II7^]

Playing bus driver is a lot of fun imo and I land my transports whereever it's not too dangerous to land and usually, I have 1 or 2 clan m8s with me who use the guns or SAAW gunships for me while I'm support to resupply them

Loads of teamwork points and pretty fun job :)

The problem is, I never get to be gunner, on a transport or a gunship because no matter where I go, I always seem to be the only one around that can keep his machine intact for more than 2 minutes (in combat).

[Vreki]

You never land a transport at a silo, for any reason. If they cap the flag, they have vehicles to move to support the next flag you are going to [if they can understand your intent]. Otherwise you drop the next batch off and keep moving.

'Nuff said.

Sure you do.
When the rest of the team is busy Titan-padding, I have many times taken a transport and gone silocapping. I just land withinin the capping range and take of the moment it is capped (or I get shot at)

If I fly while there is till action going on, it will usually be one of two situations.

1. I am doing the "transport pilot" role, in which case I will do passes over relevant silos, allowing people to spawn and drop to the silo
2. I am using it as a transport to my squad / target, in which case I will do a slow pass over the silo to let the impatient out, and then set it down in safety a bit away

[Salad Snake]

Playing bus driver is a lot of fun imo and I land my transports whereever it's not too dangerous to land and usually, I have 1 or 2 clan m8s with me who use the guns or SAAW gunships for me while I'm support to resupply them

Loads of teamwork points and pretty fun job :)

The problem is, I never get to be gunner, on a transport or a gunship because no matter where I go, I always seem to be the only one around that can keep his machine intact for more than 2 minutes (in combat).

While I agree that it's strangely enjoyable, I almost always end up with a negative score (due to "teamkills" from clipping the transport :cry:).

Anyway, a good way to stay alive is to go really high up, just always be on a slight incline and, while you might be a lil slower, by halfway through the round you'll be higher then anyone ever looks.