The Air-combat thread

[Adept]

I tried to map throttle to the mouse wheel, but it didn't work. Damn the crappy programming in this game

[FIZ]

In regards to the throttle, it is definitely the worst part of flying.  With the joystick it's either all in or no.  I pretty much use it as an afterburner, if I am supporting ground troops I cut it off and use afterburner and upthrust to maintain a decent speed/ altitude for scouting and hitting ground units.  Even for larger galaxy and liberator targets, I find it more effective to keep the helicopter flight model active and just hit them from above at a slow x velocity.  I just full throttle when getting hit by AA or enemy fighters.

Also what really helps me is setting a personal waypoint on the map.  I put it on the home warpgate side of the objective, it helps a lot with barrings.  I can hover confidently enough to update it as long as I don't spend too much time on the map screen.  (7 seconds?)  It does help to be part of a squad though, waypoints from your squad leader can really help you with direction and the friendly forces in the area do not hurt.

[Adept]

Hmm, I started a new thread for Solarflux since he promised to share his flight controls... but it seems to have disappeared. Maybe he'll post them here?

[Solarflux]

Keep in mind i'm a lefty. These are my controls:

LMB shoot
RMB Ascend
C Descend
A left
D right
W forward (dont use thrust)
S Brakes
F Afterburner
G Countermeasures
Mouse movement to aim up and down and roll.

[Adept]

Thanks Flux 

Quite surprised by the mouse button on ascend, but otherwise close to what I expected.

[Solarflux]

My keyboard jams If i hit boost, forward and up simultaniously with keys only. Hence the mouse button for ascend.

[Andon]

A bonus with my keyboard: 18 key rollover. I will have no such issues!

I do have to go and look at all the bindings though. See what everything is and where it is as well

[Adept]

Right, I feel I have a grip on the basic flight controls. I have counter measures unlocked (how do I know when a missile is actually in the air after me, rather than just somebody having locked on to me?), and air-to-air missiles for my Reaver. I also have a short cool down timer, nanite repair system and some zoom for the cannon. I feel the rest is mostly up to tactics and skill in execution.

I have gotten some air-to-air kills (scythes seem to be much more common than the imperial fighters) but the gunships and galaxies are such bricks it seems they would need more than the firepower of a single Reaver to destroy... especially if there are gunners firing back.

I really miss the side/rear-thrusters of Allegiance though 

[FIZ]

Hero flying seems rather difficult, having 2 or more reavers deal with gunship seems to be ideal, confuses the pilot enough.  Got the scout radar on my American toon, works pretty well if you just have to go slowly, but spotting sneaky sunderers and tanks, even if you can't pop em, is where it really pays off.  Keep in mind that it detects in 3 dimensions, so you can't just hover 800 meters over the ground and expect to see everything.

[Adept]

I need my countermeasures FIZ 

[Adept]

Check out this youtube vid for how a real pro flies in PlanetSide2    amazing 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7YlwMvn ... xDKxQCRiLA

[Adept]

Alright, my Liberator gunship is now quite a bit better again. I just equipped it with the anti-air machinegun for the tailgunner. Fighter cover is still much appreciated.

[Adept]

I feel I'm getting the hang of this. A good long 20+ min flight without losing my reaver. I killed 5 people, destroyed lots of vehicles, rearmed and repaired myself loads. 6 cert points earned by the time I was finally shot down, just after downing my latest victim.

I suck at FPS, but maybe I can become a decent pilot in the game 

[FIZ]

I would be highly disappointed after all we did Allegiance if we could not field a nice fighter pool 

[Adept]

What FIZ said