I've noticed that a lot of people try to use the A10, but so many players from the uber newbie to the uber experienced fail to use it to it's full potential. While many decried the A10 as underpowered when AF was released (myself included) the A10 happens to be one of the easiest vehicles to obtain a lot of kills in, and very few if any deaths. With this guide, you'll soon find yourself going round after round without dying.
There are some factors inherent to AF that help out here:
1) No air to air missiles.
2) Ground fire is easy to avoid with the right precations.
There are some factors inherent to the A10 particularly that help out even more:
1) Quirk-free maneuverability compared to the other AF jets.
2) Easier to pull out of steep dives (perhaps an adendum to point #1).
On to HOW to use it.
The first step here is kit selection. Always fly as medic. This offers benefits both in target aquisition and in survivability. As a medic, your mini map shows critically wounded friendlies as little red circles with a lightning bolt type symbol through them. This is helpful when there is no UAV overhead, or no team mate has spotted an enemy. This symbol suggests that it is highly likely there is an enemy or enemies in very close proximity to your downed team mate, giving you a viable target for a gun/bombing run. In terms of survivability, you will often find it useful to fly deep into the red zone to avoid AA fire. As a medic, you can spend a longer amount of time in the red zone, because as soon as it starts to harm you, you begin to heal yourself. Granted, you can't heal yourself forever, so you have to get out of the red zone eventually, but you have additional time as compared to other kits.
The next step is finding things to kill. As mentioned, being a medic helps, but there are some other simple rules to follow. Most of these are obvious if you think about it. Flags that have just been turned are always prime targets. Other prime targets are choke points for vehicles, such as the bridge coming from the MEC base on Operation Road Rage. You will often find a convoy of vehicles here, especially if the MEC team is down to one or two flags. If the MEC team has the flag closest to your main, you can often expect a lot of action here. Enemies seem to enjoy the idea of spawning here in attempts to rape your uncap. This is your chance to teach them a lesson. The added benefit to this is that you can increase the rate at which you gain kills, as your airstrip is very close buy to refill your munitions (sure beats flying across the map everytime in that slow as mud aircraft). This next one is VERY important yet often overlooked: COMMUNICATION. Communicate to your team (commander and otherwise) that you are there to help, and can be highly effective in bailing them out of tight situations if they SPOT ENEMY VEHICLES for you. You'd be surprised how much more often your team mates and commander will do this after mentioning it....as a lot of people simply don't think to do it unless reminded. Nothing is better than knowing exactly where you are headed, and exactly where your guns and bombs will help your team the most.
But anyway, it is late and I am going to bed, so stay tuned for Part 2 on getting kills, and living to tell about it (and get MORE kills of course).
Unless the response to this Part 1 guide is just abysmal.......then I'll figure "screw it" and keep all the A10 kills for myself.
KiL
There are some factors inherent to AF that help out here:
1) No air to air missiles.
2) Ground fire is easy to avoid with the right precations.
There are some factors inherent to the A10 particularly that help out even more:
1) Quirk-free maneuverability compared to the other AF jets.
2) Easier to pull out of steep dives (perhaps an adendum to point #1).
On to HOW to use it.
The first step here is kit selection. Always fly as medic. This offers benefits both in target aquisition and in survivability. As a medic, your mini map shows critically wounded friendlies as little red circles with a lightning bolt type symbol through them. This is helpful when there is no UAV overhead, or no team mate has spotted an enemy. This symbol suggests that it is highly likely there is an enemy or enemies in very close proximity to your downed team mate, giving you a viable target for a gun/bombing run. In terms of survivability, you will often find it useful to fly deep into the red zone to avoid AA fire. As a medic, you can spend a longer amount of time in the red zone, because as soon as it starts to harm you, you begin to heal yourself. Granted, you can't heal yourself forever, so you have to get out of the red zone eventually, but you have additional time as compared to other kits.
The next step is finding things to kill. As mentioned, being a medic helps, but there are some other simple rules to follow. Most of these are obvious if you think about it. Flags that have just been turned are always prime targets. Other prime targets are choke points for vehicles, such as the bridge coming from the MEC base on Operation Road Rage. You will often find a convoy of vehicles here, especially if the MEC team is down to one or two flags. If the MEC team has the flag closest to your main, you can often expect a lot of action here. Enemies seem to enjoy the idea of spawning here in attempts to rape your uncap. This is your chance to teach them a lesson. The added benefit to this is that you can increase the rate at which you gain kills, as your airstrip is very close buy to refill your munitions (sure beats flying across the map everytime in that slow as mud aircraft). This next one is VERY important yet often overlooked: COMMUNICATION. Communicate to your team (commander and otherwise) that you are there to help, and can be highly effective in bailing them out of tight situations if they SPOT ENEMY VEHICLES for you. You'd be surprised how much more often your team mates and commander will do this after mentioning it....as a lot of people simply don't think to do it unless reminded. Nothing is better than knowing exactly where you are headed, and exactly where your guns and bombs will help your team the most.
But anyway, it is late and I am going to bed, so stay tuned for Part 2 on getting kills, and living to tell about it (and get MORE kills of course).
Unless the response to this Part 1 guide is just abysmal.......then I'll figure "screw it" and keep all the A10 kills for myself.
KiL