If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

[[SAJ]Sentinel]

Long rant, but what the hell... everyone seems to rant today

I'm a chopper "whore", to say so. I am one of those "whores" flying/gunning alone (when my gunner is not around), getting 50+ kills with TVs on slow maps.

But I was ANNOYED by the way this worked (and started playing city maps more and more). If there was no chopper duo on the opposite side, I'd rape the enemy with chopper. If there was a skilled chopper duo (or lone pilot/gunner) on the opposite side, we'd end up chasing each other whole round, seeing who'd kill who more. It got boring. I actually felt sorry for people on the ground when I'm in a chopper and they don't have chopper or plane chasing me. So many times people from enemy choppers would tell me "This loses the appeal.. getting shot down by TVs all the time" - which is entirely true. They'd get killed from 600m distance, without ever seeing me. I was spoiling their gameplay. I mean, when I had a good commander (who spots things), I was able to take out all their armor within 30-45 seconds, without even needing to get close to them - on Daqing Oilfields or Dalian Plant, for example. Up to 60-90 seconds on Dragon Valley. That is NOT fair. It spoils the game for others in such a ways that people would leave the server during/after such rounds, making it empty.

From current posts, I can conclude (and hope) that AA can take down choppers faster, which will make game more playable. And if TV missile range is reduced, this will be good.

Why?

Because we (hopefully) won't have EVERYONE jumping into choppers/planes now. And "seat switchers" (me being guilty as well ) won't be seen that much. And you will NEED a gunner now, in order to be effective. And you will need to FLY a choper, not hover. There won't be any more "safe" hovering at 100m altitude, looking for easy kills. And people who don't know how to fly chopper will get shot down quickly, thus leaving chopper to someone else. Hopefully.

If AA is locked onto chopper, chopper will use flares and have 5-7 seconds (or whatever is the reload time) to kill the AA or hide. If it doesn't kill it - bye, bye. That's why choppers will need gunners, probably good ones, to survive.

Bottom line is - those who whine the most are those used to "easy kills", and amusing K ratios. Highest K ratio I had in a round, flying ALONE in a chopper, was 53:1, and that 1 death was me crashing. That's just not normal, no matter how bad enemy team was.

Well, I hope it's over now. I honestly do :)

[DrJambo]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

hear hear!

well said that man.

[Mureke]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

I couldn't agree more. Pre-patch I was annoyed when playing as infantry. As a pilot, I felt sorry for the people I killed. Patch 1.2 is clearly an infantry patch, but it's not only that. By balancing the game, the patch makes the game more enjoyable for all of the players, and that includes the pilots.

[Roger Smith]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

ive played 1.2 and am very pleased, hard turning in a jet wont save you, only flaring. bombing the carrier is no longer safe.

[Talus]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

Man...AA is actually useful now. It isn't overpowered...it's FINALLY USEFUL!

[MrChris_CJ]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

*dances...

so u can actually hit jets with AA now instead of the 1 outta 2 i could rarely get from a well timed stinger...man this will be fun...

and if i get painted by mobile aa in a heli i usually fly above em lol i wonder if u can do that in a stinger

[Solver]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

Well said.

The great part is that ground AA actually locks on... which means that you pilots have to really be concerned about the ground troops now, and which means that ground troops can do something about a good pilot.

[sturmvogel]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

It's nice to hear an honest chopper whore! JK.

I totally agree with your post, I hope we'll see people actually getting off the carrier and taking flags. Nothing more annoying than seeing half your team waiting for a plane or chopper.

Even though the AA has been fixed I think we'll see the expert pilots take it up a notch.

[The Soup Nazi]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

I've held my comments until I could finally experience both sides of the new AA algorithm first-hand that EA/Dice has released with 1.2. After only a couple hours of gameplay both in a jet and in an AA turret, I am not satisfied with how the AA is now.

Jet fighter perspective: Flying a jet while being an asset to your team takes time to learn and lots of practice. I have gotten quite good at flipping, circling, etc. over my targets until my team spots enemy armor, etc. all the while staying just out of range of the AA. If I try the same tactics now, no matter what kind of crazy manuever I try to pull after AA has been launched hits me... everytime.

AA perspective: The AA is finally accurate enough to hit enemy jets with surgical precision. The only thing I have to do now is to lock on, wait for them to drop flares, get another lock, and fire. There's no strategy to firing AA whatsoever anymore. It used to be that I would have to wait until a jet leveled off and was flying past me to get a good, clean hit. The way it is now, you can jump in an AA emplacement, wait for flares and fire away. Instant kill. If there's no possible way to "out manuever" enemy AA, I think the algorithm is flawed.

Many people begged EA/Dice to "fix" the AA, but I think they tweaked the accuracy a little too far, personally. I don't mind getting hit by someone who is skilled in the art of AA, but getting gibbed by someone who has little-to-no experience with nearly 100% accuracy is absurd. What's next? Auto-aim for infantry weapons? Some sort of skill should be necessary to be able to hit with such consistency.

[vbl]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

I've held my comments until I could finally experience both sides of the new AA algorithm first-hand that EA/Dice has released with 1.2. After only a couple hours of gameplay both in a jet and in an AA turret, I am not satisfied with how the AA is now.

Jet fighter perspective: Flying a jet while being an asset to your team takes time to learn and lots of practice. I have gotten quite good at flipping, circling, etc. over my targets until my team spots enemy armor, etc. all the while staying just out of range of the AA. If I try the same tactics now, no matter what kind of crazy manuever I try to pull after AA has been launched hits me... everytime.

AA perspective: The AA is finally accurate enough to hit enemy jets with surgical precision. The only thing I have to do now is to lock on, wait for them to drop flares, get another lock, and fire. There's no strategy to firing AA whatsoever anymore. It used to be that I would have to wait until a jet leveled off and was flying past me to get a good, clean hit. The way it is now, you can jump in an AA emplacement, wait for flares and fire away. Instant kill. If there's no possible way to "out manuever" enemy AA, I think the algorithm is flawed.

Many people begged EA/Dice to "fix" the AA, but I think they tweaked the accuracy a little too far, personally. I don't mind getting hit by someone who is skilled in the art of AA, but getting gibbed by someone who has little-to-no experience with nearly 100% accuracy is absurd. What's next? Auto-aim for infantry weapons? Some sort of skill should be necessary to be able to hit with such consistency.

Fly high and only attack targets that are "safe" or that your teammates spot. You know, like a REAL pilot.

[Prince]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

Well said Sentinel.

[imported_Spuddy]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

It's been a fair few months but finally on Feburary 14th 2006 the skies above the battlefield became a much SAFER place. :laugh:

[Kattspya]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

I seriously wish that we had a helicopter equivalent of planewhore. He actually had a good K/D (dunno about KPM).

Congratulations Sentinel you are a mediocre to good pub helo pilot/gunner. It could also be that your regular pilot sucks. How can you have it easy with a 2.50 KD as the gunner?

[PoweredBySoy]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

Jet fighter perspective: Flying a jet while being an asset to your team takes time to learn and lots of practice. I have gotten quite good at flipping, circling, etc. over my targets until my team spots enemy armor, etc. all the while staying just out of range of the AA. If I try the same tactics now, no matter what kind of crazy manuever I try to pull after AA has been launched hits me... everytime.

I know this is a canned response, and something you probably don't want to hear: but don't you think that maybe the pilots are going to have to adapt a bit now? You mentioned that you're doing your same maneuvers as in 1.12. Surely 1.2 is going to demand some different tactics. The obvious one being to make AA your first target priority. You'll also probaby need some teamwork from your infantry too, to help you take out the AA.

I've been the biggest advocate of fixing the broken AA in this game, because airpower on certain maps was insanely unbalanced. But I'd hate to see Dice take the AA buff too far though.


Excellent post by the way, Sentinal.

[[SAJ]Sentinel]

Re: If AA is really "fixed" - thanks DICE. For real.

I seriously wish that we had a helicopter equivalent of planewhore. He actually had a good K/D (dunno about KPM).

Congratulations Sentinel you are a mediocre to good pub helo pilot/gunner. It could also be that your regular pilot sucks. How can you have it easy with a 2.50 KD as the gunner?

Amazing. Do you always make conclusions based on numbers?

Take 70% of my chopper kills, take 30% of my chopper deaths, consider that done in past 35-40 days (that's when I started "whoring" alone in a chopper - so, I was not a gunner for a pilot, I was both at once), and calculate. I think I had chopper K/D less than 1.00, 5-6 weeks ago.

Since I play for fun, and for months, I've piloted at least 100 hours for others (most of it for gunner I usually fly with), including least 10 hours of transport chopper flying. Hell, I had 0:19 K/D in a round (my death streak), annoying BH with Mi17 (and throwing things at it), and it was BIG fun. I died a lot, but they didn't do much damage either.

Keyword - fun.

Score? Talk to someone who cares.