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Ice_'s avatar
Ice_
4 years ago

Fighter jets are broken

Title says it all.


Cannon:

I've been battling helicopters of different kinds and they are unbeatable when flying a fighter jet. It's completely broken.

Even if I manage to aim well with the (25mm) cannon, it won't dish out much damage at all. It's also useless against vehicles on the ground and good luck hitting soldiers. Even if I have the aim reticule on a spotted soldier on the ground and flying in a straight line, it'll miss 99-100% and I don't know about hits but I bet they don't do much damage at all even on a soldier...

So what is the purpose of the cannon? Is it just there to make funny "pew pew" noises and harass laughing helicopter pilots?

Missiles (anti-air):

You have two missiles, yet you can only fire one at a time (I've tried holding down attack and spamming it)? How on earth should I have the time to lock onto another aircraft and shoot the second missile? I would rather want to see that you can fire both missiles at the same time and eliminate a helicopter/fighter jet in one attack providing they don't have their flare. Because each time you get the chance for a second attack, the helicopter will have their flares back which means airplanes are totally useless against choppers under some situations which I'm going to whine about now:

I just got from a game where the enemies used attack helicopters, camped airspace (very high up) and just locked onto helicopters and airplanes. Soldiers on the ground cannot reach them so only other helicopters and fighter jets can reach them. I played for over 20 minutes without dying and I managed to hit them with the cannon but gave up on it because it doesn't do enough damage. So my only choice was missiles which always get rendered useless by flares. I maybe got five hits in total with my missiles during those 20 minutes so you can imagine how frustrating it was...

And when one attack helicopter had wasted its flare and even on low health, the god damn missile circles the helicopter and eventually blows up without hurting the helicopter! I mean, come on!!!!

I don't have all the unlocks so I've not tried the 30 mm cannon. I simply cannot progress with fighter jets unless I come in contact with bad helicopter pilots (or jets).

The fighter jets really need a dramatical boost and those helicopters really need a nerf.

[Title edited by moderator]

discussion

7 Replies

  • theCrazyOnes's avatar
    theCrazyOnes
    4 years ago
    @Ice_ With the US jet I just press Z and go into a hover and I can switch to guns after shooting the first air missile. 3 seconds and boom attack helicopter is dead. That's even if I don't make contact with the missile due to their flares.

    Russian jet without the hover ability is just trash.

    USA jet - vehicles destroyed = 84
    Russia jet - vehicles destroyed = 0

    Since the Russian jet has such a disadvantage I don't use it anymore. I can get a few infantry kills here and there but can't destroy any vehicles. Without the hover ability you just weaken it as you make your pass. By the time you turn around the US jet and now heli are targeting you. Boom later russian pos jet.
  • Ice_'s avatar
    Ice_
    4 years ago
    @theCrazyOnes Fighter jets are built for speed.
    I understand this is a game but requiring them to be stationary is far from "realistic" hm.
  • WillyCheekz's avatar
    WillyCheekz
    4 years ago

    So I generally agree with you and I felt the same way but I kept practicing with the jet (both jets) and I have to say that they can actually be extremely powerful in air-to-air combat. Last night I destroyed 14 vehicles (all air btw), the next game I destroyed 10, and the game after that I destroyed 12; there was one game where I went 5/5 in dog fights against other jets (though to be fair dog fighting is really bad in BF2042 - it basically becomes who can get behind the other jet first, that's who wins). 

    Some constructive feedback is that the jets can actually turn much quicker than you think (don't need to do wide sweeping turns) and that you should take more risk in re-engaging helicopters right away. Generally what happens is that you lock on with one AA, fire, enemy heli flares. So what I do is I fire the first AA then immediately swap to cannons and attempt to get a few bursts in (doesn't always work but that just an aim practice thing), but as soon as I pass the heli I immediately bank while holding S (or back petal for on foot - whatever that is for you) - that is essentially hitting the e-brake in a car and you turn relatively quickly. Most of the time I can turn sharp enough to re-lock with AA and fire while the heli flares are still on cooldown. At that time I am confident that I will take the heli down because now the pressure is on the heli pilot. They have to decide whether to run and hide (which takes them out of the fight rendering them effectively useless), or continue their original course. But you can keep applying the pressure with your jet e-braking and eventually take out the heli without having to fire cannons. It can be really satisfying actually - I've noticed that if you can establish early into a round that you are the apex predator (I know that's a title and I'm using it purposefully here) with the jet, the enemy team tends to stop using helis or uses them infrequently because they know that you will hunt them down immediately. 

    As it relates to anti-ground vehicles and infantry, I 100% agree that jets tend to feel useless. I haven't practiced much with AGMs, but I do know that a good jet pilot using AGMs can be deadly to ground vehicles - I just personally don't like feeling vulnerable in the sky because my cannon aim needs a lot of improvement, so that is why I don't run AGMs over AA. I will contend though that the primary purpose of jets is NOT to be anti-infantry - that is what helicopters and ground vehicles are more aligned with. Jets, from my perspective, are primarily anti-vehicle. When I'm in the jet the only thing I am worrying about is protecting my infantry from helicopters. That's my role - my role isn't to rack up high infantry kill counts - my role is to dominate the sky so that my infantry can focus on ground vehicles and enemy infantry. 

    Don't give up on the jets just yet - they take time and practice to become effective and once you've started to get the hang of it, flying a jet will become very addictive because of how satisfying it is to control the sky.

  • theCrazyOnes's avatar
    theCrazyOnes
    4 years ago
    @Ice_ wrote:
    @theCrazyOnesFighter jets are built for speed.
    I understand this is a game but requiring them to be stationary is far from "realistic" hm.

    They have Jets that do that in real life LOL and it's not even new technology. The harrier jump jet.

  • Ice_'s avatar
    Ice_
    4 years ago
    @WillyCheekz Thank you for your thorough input! I'll take everything into consideration and see if I'll change my mind about the jets!

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