Heat-seeker help

[Muzzy12]

can someone tell me the trick to getting heat-seeking missiles to connect?

I lock on and shoot and even keep the lock the whole way through but my missiles sorta follow then just give up. And they seriously intentionally dodge choppers. Even straight-forward shots to planes aren't that consistent.

Meanwhile, people chase me and hit me with two in a row when i'm making a turbo 90 degree turn, and I don't see how they possibly do it. It really ****es me off how all Dice gives us is "wait for the tone and fire away!" when there's CLEARLY more to it.

I've been resorting solely on my machine gun now.

------IMPORTANT EDIT--------

Thanks for replies so far, but I'm mainly talking about Jets' missiles. Sorry, I didn't make that very clear at all.

[3Libras]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Heh, you're not missing out. The AA in BF2 is horrible and most will agree with me. They're supposedly fixing it in the next patch, but they said that last time. As of now stick to those machine guns.

[GotheriK]

Re: Heat-seeker help

The thing about the AA in BF2 is that it's latency-proportional. Basically, the lower your ping, the more chance you have of hitting something. The people who are owning you with the AA are usually people with pings below 20.


I guess the only thing that I could say is hold the lock until the aircraft/chopper lets out his flares, then fire, as they have to wait a bit for their flares to reload.

[ulm4lyf]

Re: Heat-seeker help

the trick to AA is to not man it until you see a chopper...prefferably from the side or from behind. hop in..and once you lock on....DO NOT SHOOT!!!! Wai until they deploy the chaf, then blow them away. works quite well if you simply have a little patience. As for jets.... fuhget about it! I have yet to see AA shoot down a jet. I have done it with Essex rockets though.

[Splinter]

Re: Heat-seeker help

The trick to AA is

NOT TO USE IT.
get in a jeep and park near a tree.
why
Because trees and Jeep MG's are the BEST AA in the game...
For choppers use the MG and for jets well hopefully he will hit the tree when he strafes you.

[Muzzy12]

Re: Heat-seeker help

hahahahaha that's hilarious, i've been using cars as AA but i never thought to use trees.

[Twisted-]

Re: Heat-seeker help

I'm also a believer that the problem is a latency issue. While i'm not sure 100% i'd assume the Ground AA missiles are the same as the jets. Using them on other jets i find leading them increases the odds of you hitting, as for choppers just use you cannon as primary means of damage.

[poisonsoul]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Am I the only one that has ever had a rocket launch from above?

Sorry if I'm a little off topic.

I've missed several times because my level airplane apparently has rockets strapped to the canopy.


Where the red dot is is where I had rockets
launched from.

[[B1]Creasy79]

Re: Heat-seeker help

you have to lead the target..Wait till the heli is close enough, Let it lock once wait for flares to drop then fire.

[PHPT]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Hold down the trigger. I don't know if it's just luck, but holding down the fire button while the missile's in flight seems to produce a LOT more hits for me.

At least on choppers, with jets the missile tails it for about 2 seconds then runs out of fuel. Worthless.

[mopar_dak]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Is it just me or do the choppers have waaaay too much armor? There's no way in hell a heli could survive a direct hit from an M1A1 main cannon yet they do in this game. Then 5 more seconds of point blank .50cal fire into his engines before the he takes me out with rockets and flies off. That's just not right, and happens all the time.

[ed_chiang11]

Re: Heat-seeker help

To answer your question about when you are doing the 90 degrees turn and got hit. When you are doing a90 degrees turn and people hit you is because they have a tighter circle than you and when they firre their missile they are right "above" your airplane and the missile will hit form atop. And when you notice that you got hi in a tight turn is because they shoot before you change direction and the missiles hit you in that 1~2 seconds of straight flying when you try to change directions. FOr any question you can PM me I dont mind sharing tips on jets.

Ed

[imported_TigerRei]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Honestly, you cant improve on AA mechanics right now. Hopefully the patch will help, but the general rule is this:

If you see a plane, just run. 8 times out of 10 they will already know where you are and strafe you. Even if they pay no attention to you, they will dodge your missiles by sneezing appropriate before, during, or after your launch, which will instill fear in the hypochondriac missile. Best thing to do is spot the plane and let the flyboys take care of it.

If you see a helo, hopefully you're not in the AA launcher yet. Once again, most of the time they will already know where you are and hit you with a rocket run. Even if you fire directly at them, your missiles will enter a sphere of influence around the helicopter which forces them to suddenly want to elope and escape to Bermuda. There is a chance one of them will decide to have a few screwdrivers and Long Island iced teas first and drunkenly collide with the helo, but your chances of getting laid while playing BF2 are higher than this occasion happening.
If he doesnt see you, then lock on, hold your fire, and let his flares go. An additional tactic I like is, hold the lock on him continuously until he dismisses it (happens a lot with newb pilots who think it's just someone who cant hit them) and goes back to what he's doing, which gives me 2 clear shots on him. If by chance your two missiles miss, get out immediately. You will show up as a nice box to the gunner, who will promptly be hit with a powerful desire to decorate his window garden with some wire-guided tulip bulb diggers.

The key thing though is: patience. It's better to wait for your shot than to die and wait for the stinger/ILGA to respawn. You wont always get your shot. But when you do, it has an enormous impact for your team. So take your time and fire your missiles as if you were trying to save Little Mikey from eating too many boxes of Life Cereal. Er...wait, nobody cares about him, so pretend that the missile is your one chance to score with Jessica Alba.

[ClericSunT2u]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Whilst I don't like it, I can kinda, emphasis on KINDA, put up with the poor accuracy. The thing that really irks me is when you watch the missile join the flames of the jet you've just targeted, only to have the missile go "You know I really don't want to hit this target I am gonna get that team vehicle over there instead". Upon which it proceeds to do 120 degree turn to take out the attack helo just minding its own business capping a flag miles away, completely unaware of the rogue missiles intentions and their iminent doom. UUUGh I can see the tk punishes mounting.

[Aradiel]

Re: Heat-seeker help

Missile lock warning get enemy pilots in a frenzy, dodging, launching flares etc. The trick is... don't lock them with your AA missiles: when left alone without any missile threat warnings, pilots tend too often to think they are safe and they will fly more or less level to strafe or make a bombing run.

Thus my approach of dogfigth it this :
- fly using bombing mode, this way you won't get your prey nervous :-)
- identify a plane you want to shoot down
- maneuver yours to get in his six but without crossing his path first otherwise he will spot you and know a bandit is after him
- once in his six, get close enough (his wingspan fill 1/4 to 1/3 of your screen width)
- then you have to make the crucial choice: Gun or Missiles
- if you go for missiles, make sure your crosshair is slightly above your target (as the missiles shoot from below your wings). When you're ready to shoot him out of the skies, switch to AA missiles mode. Chances are you'll achieve a near instantaneous lock as you're right behind him then ley fly 2 or 3 missiles. Sometimes, I let loose with the first missile before the lock: very often the time needed for the missile to launch and close the gap is enough for the radar to get a solid lock on the target.

This method can sometime achieve wonders because pilots know that the enemy wants them to get nervous and let loose with the flares before shooting missiles. Thus some of them think "You won't get me this easily... wait a bit longer to launch my flares, wait... wait... NOW!"

I've been victim to this kind of attack quite often and it feels like this:
Flying quietly looking for a target then out of the blue sky you hear this beep...beep...BEEEEEEEEP BOOM and it all last 1 or 2 seconds.

Now if you happen to have a nasty bandit glued to your six and you manage to stay alive but not shake him there one funny thing to do: head for another enemy plane and get in his six trying to kill the other one. Chance are you'll be that close to your own target that the missiles launched by the one following you will hit his own wingman you have in your sights instead of kicking your butt out of the skies...