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1: NC

2: NC and TR

3: NC, TR and Vanu

[Spaghetti7]

Imagine the situation.
You're in a Sundy that does a drive-by of an enemy Sundy. You jump out and jetpack towards it, chucking down a brick of C4 as you narrowly miss getting run over by a friendly Harasser that drives beneath you.
Falling back down to the ground and getting to a safe distance you look around for the HUD icon of your explosive, unable to find it among all of the explosions around the enemy spawn vehicle.
Hoping that it hasn't already detonated, you spam the little red button anyway in a vague hope of getting a kill.

BOOM! The kill indicator springs up on your screen, but oddly with no XP accompanying it. Then you realise that the large explosion you saw off to the side the moment you pressed the trigger was the same friendly Harasser going to meet its maker.
...
Go figure.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

The guy was fine with it afterwards, saying he had tried to get to the enemy Sundy as soon as he saw my C4 sitting on his roof but he didn't quite make it in time.

[TolyK]

I <3 my Saron

It even works when driving solo: Fire the main gun, while it reloads switch seats, unload the Saron, switch back, etc. I don't need no second gunner. Also: laser accuracy and one-shotting infantry.

This even works for the anti-infantry 50-round one (the Proton II). Was going like a baws, then I got a gunner, and we got about 40 kills total before dieing... then he pulled his magrider, with the saron, and did anti-armor runs. <3 the saron.

[Reudh]

Here's hoping this humongous patch (8GB of which I've got what, 2GB downloaded? darn internet) fixes some of the AMD issues PS2 has.

[Werdna]

So i have my AV mana turret. HOWEVER now i'm thinking about a AA unit... And i'm torn between Skyguard and Striker.

The skyguard is obviously the go to mobile AA platform...
BUT
It's also a far bigger target for ESF/Liberators to blow up.
And it has a cooldown... and cost mech res.

I run a Skyguard frequently, with stealth for defense.  ESFs never get me unless I am getting tag-teamed, end even then I can frequently hold off two.  Even when they sneak up on my rear, I can survive the barrage, pump enough rounds into them to disengage, and heal the vehicle back to a safe buffer (I have nearly full repair certs) before they can return, and if they do they're toast.  I feel awful for Liberators, they are just so visible from so far away that I can chase them off way before they can put accurate rounds on me.  They still get Dalton kills on me, but only if I'm a) snoozing and let one get close or b) in a massive furball where there's just too many targets and one gets close enough.  Overall, the Lightning is fast enough and the Skyguard deadly enough that ESFs and Libs are not a serious problem so long as you're watching the sky, and not say, doing endless donuts trying to run over a medic or something.

What are a problem are Harassers.  Most vehicles you can get away from easily, but a Harasser vs a Skyguard is just a bad scenario.  I do my best to stick around with either infantry or vehicles that can fend them off.  HEAT/AP Lightnings are also nasty if you let them get near.  I've maxed my radar so I can see vehicles approaching; that allows me to get a head start away.  Generally, survivability in a Skyguard IMHO is high enough that it easily surpasses the cooldown/resources issue, as long as I'm not taking stupid risks with it.

Anyway, I've never used infantry AA.  The main reason I am not interested is the mobility issue - AA empties the skies pretty quick sometimes, and I liked that the Skyguard is mobile enough that I can move with the fight and quickly go hunting elsewhere once the sky is empty, or respond quickly to other nearby conflicts.  I can ditch it to take flags or mine a flag, or lay down a turret for AV.  I can repair other vehicles I'm running with.  Its really versatile.  I don't play in squads or units so that fits my play style; someone in a unit is more likely to have the ride problem solved.

[Sonlirain]

Oh so the skyguard looks tempting. Guess i'll look into it once i cert up my mossie.

Speaking of which...

I decided to test drive the Tomcat A2A missile rack for 30 minutes.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

First try - Whoops i forgot to equip them. Managed to get a reaver kill assist and a liberator kill assist with my nose gun tho.

Second try - Missile rack equiped. Let's go... oh there's a smoking liberator coming back from the fight... no wait it's burning.
BOOM.
And there's a reaver flying out of the explosion with its vortek murdercanon pointing straight at me.
Since wasting time for locking was not an option i took a few potshots with my gun but weren't nearly as accurate as i should.
I was at halh health and pretty close to the warpgate so i decided to GTFO (i have the racer airframe for hit and runs so trying to outmanouver a reaver using most likely a digfighting airframe was silly at best) but oh right... 80% less AB fuel.
The reaver promptly caught up to me and despite my epileptic manouvers blew me up with the vortek murdercanon.
Total flighttime ~1 minute... also i would have survived if i didn't have those rockets.

Third try - (barely made it since i had 20 seconds left on the trial when i grabbed the third mossie).
Came across a enemy liberator. Unloaded a clip of nosegun in him and fired a missile but had to disengage after getting a lock from somewhere (got a liberator kill asist later)
The missile hit me anyway but apparently i ran away from the source far enough to not get locked again.
I saw an unsuspecting reaver so i decided to fire my missile at it.
It locked decently fast.
I shoot... and it went straight like a dumbfire.
I decided to take potshots with my nose gun and i even hit him once or twice.
Another missile. This time it went for the reaver but it hit him for no damage.
A WILD SANDSTORM APPEARS. Visibility reduced to 50 meters.
He finally realized he was being chased by a noob mossie and hiding behind hills would do him no good so he turned towards me and started pew pewing me with his main gun... we tangled for a little while (with me barely avoiding crashing into the suddenly appearing ground) up to the point we crashed into each other leaving me critical (que using my fire extinguisher) and him crashing into the ground giving me a kill assist.
With 2 missiles left i flew off (i have nanite repairs in my mossie so i don't really land for repairs all that much) and saw another liberator.
Que missile 1 and full nose gun clip.
I'm being locked but i decide to fire my last missile at him.
And i got killed by being hit by a Annihilator (G2A) and Tomcat (A2A) almost simultaneously.

Now i understand PS2 forum trolls like IronfistNC.
Those missiles are just hilariously bad and it would be a shame if they ever fixed them.

[Toaster]

I've never heard a good word about the A2A missiles- the word I see most associated with them is "crutch."


Anyone have a good breakdown of the difference between the Reaver primaries?   I've been getting very slightly better with flying it and I'm considering branching out from the default.  I am aware that the AH needs many magazine size certs to be good.

[Sonlirain]

Grab the vortek.
You CANNOT go wrong with it.

The shotgun for nerfed so much it's probably a gimmnick weapon by now.

As for the A2A missiles... they're just terribly bad.
You get 5 missiles with a standard (uncerted) load and you need 3 to kill a ESF (assuming you're not using your nose gun) and a whooping 7 to kill a liberator (and probably even more for a galaxy).
And all that would be even understandable if they didn't go dud on you every other shot.
Oh and since you forsake the external fuel pods your AB duration is cut in almost half.

Basically those pods are not a "crutch" but a huge handicap and the A2G missiles are magnitudes better at killing aircraft then the A2A.

[Jim Groovester]

Hmm, I can see my "total" I guess... You mean on players.planetside2.com, right?

No, you hit escape in game, and click on the person icon on the far left of the menu tabs, and click on stats. There are line graphs you can look at, and when you hover over each point it will give you your total kills/deaths/score/certs for that day, week, or month, depending on what time scale you have it set to.

[Toaster]

Grab the vortek.
You CANNOT go wrong with it.

Even for A2G?  I tend to do more of that when I fly.  I lack lolpods, so I use the extended AB for Plan GTFO when trouble strikes?

[TolyK]

So, nearing 1k certs for the third time.

Should I grab the AV turret, rocket (photon) pods, saron for magrider, saron for harasser, fury for harasser, AP for lightning, or should I go do upgrades?

I'm currently thinking the dual photon pods would be the best investment, seeing as I'm already okay enough at flying to dogfight decently and dodge some missiles.

[Jim Groovester]

Are battle rifles worth it? I hear they kind of suck. I'm thinking I might want to cart one around while I'm running around in a tank or supporting a tank column. Is it useful in that capacity?

Grab the vortek.
You CANNOT go wrong with it.

Even for A2G?  I tend to do more of that when I fly.  I lack lolpods, so I use the extended AB for Plan GTFO when trouble strikes?

The Vortek is pretty good against vehicle targets, from anecdotal accounts I've read. Not so much that you'd want to make that the primary way you engage ground targets, of course, but enough to finish off a damaged tank after a lolpod blast, for example, or to shred down an enemy ESF in no time flat.

For the air game I think it's rotary or bust. The default nose cannon doesn't have fast enough TTK to shoot down or kill anything quick enough and the AI nose cannons have too little utility.

[Siquo]

So, nearing 1k certs for the third time.

Should I grab the AV turret, rocket (photon) pods, saron for magrider, saron for harasser, fury for harasser, AP for lightning, or should I go do upgrades?

I'm currently thinking the dual photon pods would be the best investment, seeing as I'm already okay enough at flying to dogfight decently and dodge some missiles.

I'd say Photon or Saron, depending on what you play most, and if you play more with others or alone.

[Sonlirain]

Are battle rifles worth it? I hear they kind of suck. I'm thinking I might want to cart one around while I'm running around in a tank or supporting a tank column. Is it useful in that capacity?

Imo you'd be better of with a slug shotgun. Suprisingly they (at least my haymaker) have pin point accuracy when fired stationary. The only downsides would be the somewhat large bullet drop but for most ranges they do what the battle rifle should... and they're availble for more classes.

Also i noticed our (TR) tactics during the last alert.
"Stall the VA and grab land from NC".
It even worked because we had 47% of the continent under control (NC being squeezed in 20%).
However 3 minuted before the end VA finally broke through and capped several TR territories leaving TR with 38% and giving VA the lead (and victory as usual).

[Jelle]

Are battle rifles worth it? I hear they kind of suck. I'm thinking I might want to cart one around while I'm running around in a tank or supporting a tank column. Is it useful in that capacity?

I've heard good things about the warden for nc, but I've never used it myself. I believe they're weapon that reward great aim, what I can tell.

Any non nc esf pilots on cobalt here? I need some practice!

[TolyK]

So, nearing 1k certs for the third time.

Should I grab the AV turret, rocket (photon) pods, saron for magrider, saron for harasser, fury for harasser, AP for lightning, or should I go do upgrades?

I'm currently thinking the dual photon pods would be the best investment, seeing as I'm already okay enough at flying to dogfight decently and dodge some missiles.

I'd say Photon or Saron, depending on what you play most, and if you play more with others or alone.

I typically fly to destinations a lot (sometimes alone), when I'm with another dude I'm usually the one manning the secondary (my magrider needs upgrades to be more useful >.>)