Before I begin I'm going to say that the AA equipment defiantly needed the buff that it got, and its now actually a threat to planes.
That said the difficulty of being a "good pilot" went way way down.
Lets just go with the F-35
Helos
Before you needed to aim and shoot targets like helos as AA was not reliable. However now its a matter of slowing down to a hover and waiting for the helo to waste their missiles. At that point the pilot might as well eject, becuase my missiles WILL hit him no matter what that pilot trys. And once Ive finished that up its a matter of hitting the turbo and in seconds im back off to 500 ft cruising altitude.
AA
Its better, but defiantly not hard to deal with if your willing to adapt. Usually you can scope out whose using AA with the bomb drop HUD, and after escaping the set of missile warnings its only a matter of: Circling back and rising to 500ft cruising and diving down on the target. Its defiantly made pilots adapt which is good.
Planes
I used to be able to go in the sky and fight someone and say, "Wow theyre good". Now? Its more or less everyone of similiar skill. The idea of a "good" pilot is pretty much dead as missile locks have made fights much much shorter. That said a lot of the skill has shifted from following your target to anticipating the way that theyll be coming in from.
Im not really complaining, but I'm just saying that flying is defiantly "different" now. Planes can still melt face like no one's business (AA really didnt change anything in that regard), but really the biggest impact I've seen has come in air to air combat). I just kind of miss the thrill of fighting a really really good pilot every now and then. Its just sorta bland now; but not matter, i guess i can still get high k/d ratios w/ planes /shrug.
That said the difficulty of being a "good pilot" went way way down.
Lets just go with the F-35
Helos
Before you needed to aim and shoot targets like helos as AA was not reliable. However now its a matter of slowing down to a hover and waiting for the helo to waste their missiles. At that point the pilot might as well eject, becuase my missiles WILL hit him no matter what that pilot trys. And once Ive finished that up its a matter of hitting the turbo and in seconds im back off to 500 ft cruising altitude.
AA
Its better, but defiantly not hard to deal with if your willing to adapt. Usually you can scope out whose using AA with the bomb drop HUD, and after escaping the set of missile warnings its only a matter of: Circling back and rising to 500ft cruising and diving down on the target. Its defiantly made pilots adapt which is good.
Planes
I used to be able to go in the sky and fight someone and say, "Wow theyre good". Now? Its more or less everyone of similiar skill. The idea of a "good" pilot is pretty much dead as missile locks have made fights much much shorter. That said a lot of the skill has shifted from following your target to anticipating the way that theyll be coming in from.
Im not really complaining, but I'm just saying that flying is defiantly "different" now. Planes can still melt face like no one's business (AA really didnt change anything in that regard), but really the biggest impact I've seen has come in air to air combat). I just kind of miss the thrill of fighting a really really good pilot every now and then. Its just sorta bland now; but not matter, i guess i can still get high k/d ratios w/ planes /shrug.
Last edited by thatol (2006-02-28 00:29:27)