Two things to say:
1. To those pilots who say they switch to bombs straight away, I say that one of the things that grinds my gears the most in the 'vehicle-friendly' maps. Nothing is more annoying than having your ass handed to you by a blackhawk/cobra combo, while your own planes are off at the other side of the map looking for ground targets. I maintain that the *primary* purpose of the fighter planes (not necessarily the fighter/bombers) is to provide air cover for ground units and transport aircraft. Unfortunately there are too many airjockeys who think that planes are just for getting your K/D ratio up. I've played in a Clean Sweep game where it was pretty obvious that the two main pilots (one on each side) had a private agreement not to kill each other (they flew past each other many, many times) and just bombed opposition targets.
2. Carrier AA is not nearly as bad as people here are making out, in my opinion. When I play Wake Island, I often take the score 'hit' and snooze my way through the round in the AA gun, punctuated by brief moments of excitement of course. At the end of the day, making the main spawn point safe is very important to your team's success, methinks.
Sitting in the AA all round, I very very rarely get fewer kills than deaths, and I think it's just a matter of timing. Sure, the missiles suck, but they can be effective if you wait for the right moment. See, you sit there, scanning the horizon, and when you spot someone, you ping them, fire one missile and start firing the gun. First time around, the pilot will be lining up his bombs to take out the deck aircraft, and usually will miss you with the bombs if he changes course. Either way, you time your gun to follow him on the fly past, and then you launch 3 missiles when he's only metres away. You should have recaptured the lock by then. Assuming you're a decent shot with the gun, one missile should be enough.
If he survives, or when he respawns, hopefully, most pilots will be determined to get revenge and while he's rearming and returning, you repair your gun if necessary, and then wait to do it all over again. There is no question that there are some ace pilots out there that are good at coming in at angles difficult for you to get them in this manner, but as soon as you recognise that, you get someone, perhaps the CO to man the other AA gun and drive them off.
I totally sympathise, GotMex, but with the PLA chopper, spraying it with gatling gun-fire usually does the trick, plus it has the added benefit of perforating anyone trying to bail out.
1. To those pilots who say they switch to bombs straight away, I say that one of the things that grinds my gears the most in the 'vehicle-friendly' maps. Nothing is more annoying than having your ass handed to you by a blackhawk/cobra combo, while your own planes are off at the other side of the map looking for ground targets. I maintain that the *primary* purpose of the fighter planes (not necessarily the fighter/bombers) is to provide air cover for ground units and transport aircraft. Unfortunately there are too many airjockeys who think that planes are just for getting your K/D ratio up. I've played in a Clean Sweep game where it was pretty obvious that the two main pilots (one on each side) had a private agreement not to kill each other (they flew past each other many, many times) and just bombed opposition targets.
2. Carrier AA is not nearly as bad as people here are making out, in my opinion. When I play Wake Island, I often take the score 'hit' and snooze my way through the round in the AA gun, punctuated by brief moments of excitement of course. At the end of the day, making the main spawn point safe is very important to your team's success, methinks.
Sitting in the AA all round, I very very rarely get fewer kills than deaths, and I think it's just a matter of timing. Sure, the missiles suck, but they can be effective if you wait for the right moment. See, you sit there, scanning the horizon, and when you spot someone, you ping them, fire one missile and start firing the gun. First time around, the pilot will be lining up his bombs to take out the deck aircraft, and usually will miss you with the bombs if he changes course. Either way, you time your gun to follow him on the fly past, and then you launch 3 missiles when he's only metres away. You should have recaptured the lock by then. Assuming you're a decent shot with the gun, one missile should be enough.
If he survives, or when he respawns, hopefully, most pilots will be determined to get revenge and while he's rearming and returning, you repair your gun if necessary, and then wait to do it all over again. There is no question that there are some ace pilots out there that are good at coming in at angles difficult for you to get them in this manner, but as soon as you recognise that, you get someone, perhaps the CO to man the other AA gun and drive them off.
I totally sympathise, GotMex, but with the PLA chopper, spraying it with gatling gun-fire usually does the trick, plus it has the added benefit of perforating anyone trying to bail out.
