A-Wing being unbalanced?

@EmmyV7Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more. For those reasons, I've given this some thought, and decided to provide an extensive and quick General Squadrons Piloting guide in this thread to help the community understand various topics about Squadrons mechanics.

Drifting and Micro-Drifting:
After 250+ hours into this game, I find that maybe only 20% of pilots utilize drifting techniques. Drifting is one of the main reasons I've excelled in both dogfights and fleet battles. If you really want to enjoy the game you have to learn this, apply drifting consistently, frequently, and eventually master it. Drifting is quite advantageous for both defensive and (more so) offensive purposes. If you haven't invested time to improve your drifting techniques, then you're likely not getting the most out of Squadrons gameplay. Spend more time in the "practice" map if you have to. It's worth learning and very rewarding when you get used to it.

Power Management and Power Converting:
Similar to the Drifting & Micro-Drifting paragraph above, I find maybe 50% of pilots applying power management well. Are you charging your shields before an engagement? Are you reangling your deflectors towards the rear when you hear a verbal AI voice warning that someone is behind you? Do you give yourself enough time to charge your blasters to double your ammo before engaging another pilot? Are you consistently charging your engines to always have available boost to drift and micro-drift? Basically, pilots should "always" be directing power to something all the time. Have you developed effective Power Converting habits for the Tie lineup? With exception for the Tie Defender, it's a different management strategy. Pilots should understand both power mechanics intimately.



Key Mapping
Drifting, Micro-Drifting, Power Management and Power Converting should be second nature. Specifically, every split-second choice that you make in any of these mechanics when piloting in Squadrons should become muscle memory. And the only way to make that possible is to ensure that you've established a key mapping layout that makes mental sense for your mind and physical sense for your fingers. For example, I dedicate buttons and hat switches for my Drifting, Power Management and Power Converting inputs which are all located on my throttle. I basically want my left hand to think about "management" and leave my flight stick for basic flight. Come up with a key mapping layout (regardless if you have different hardware, e.g., gaming pad, keyboard, etc.) that's efficient and makes sense for you.

Loadouts

Dogfights - I only use one type of A-Wing and Tie Interceptor loadout:
Rapid Fire Cannon
Targeting Jammer
Repair Kit
Particle Burst
Reflec Hull
Standard Deflector (A-Wing only obviously)
Propulsion engine

Again, after hundreds of hours of experimentation, I find this style quite efficient. However, it works best if you've started mastering Drifting and Power Management/Converting techniques. I learned to deal with the short range of the Rapid Fire Cannon to increase DPS as much as possible. I hit targets often because of my several "years" of flight combat sim experience. Essentially, I know how to "line up a shot." Also, I may sometimes use the Targeting Jammer offensively to sneak behind an opponent. Hence, I get close enough via stealth to "line-up" easy shots. Moreover, I try to time my Targeting Jammer usage with the Reflec Hull. In other words, I may activate the Targeting Jammer after exceeding the 1500 meter range of the Reflec Hull to provide myself with a few additional seconds of stealth before reaching the target. This is all happening as I'm boosting, with already fully charged shields, followed by a turning drift to smoothly end up behind the opposing pilot, as I'm redirecting power back to cannons before firing. I use particle burst because it has the lowest cooldown and I don't die often anymore. I use propulsion engine because it works really well with a HOTAS throttle and since the A-Wing is already so maneuverable by default, sacrificing 10% of maneuverability is worth the added acceleration control. Lastly, I don't use missiles or seeker mines. Missile homing strength isn't worth dealing with when competing against experienced pilots, and since I utilize a "stealth" and "survival" strategy, I'd rather have the targeting jammer and repair kit.

Fleet Battles –
New Republic - I manage 2 X-Wing loadouts, 3 A-Wing loadouts, 2 Y-Wing loadouts (although I don’t pilot Y-wings often anymore) and 3 B-Wing loadouts
Empire – I manage 2 Tie Fighter loadouts, 3 Tie Interceptor loadouts, 3 Tie bomber loadouts, and 1 Tie Defender loadout

I won't type and explain all of the loadouts. The key takeaway is that I have a starfighter and loadout for nearly every fleet battle scenario and engagement. Fleet Battle matches are changing constantly, so it's best to have several options on hand to effectively adapt to the situation. Countless scenarios including, a player dropping from match, team starfighter composition, and the "rhythm" of the battle should all be considered. Additionally, I made time to learn how to pilot nearly everything in the game since I don't fly with a squadron/guild. Essentially, if you're playing pickup games (PUGs), then create multiple loadout options to properly adapt and win matches.


Experience and Combat Flight Maneuvers:
As I've mentioned in earlier posts, I have several years of combat flight simulation experience. I used to play several "Jane's" combat sim games including Jane's F-15, Jane's WWII Fighters, Jane's IAF, etc. I've played years of the Microsoft Flight Combat Simulator games as well (Europe Series and WWII Pacific Theater). Aside from just understanding the basic feel and physics of flight sims, I do have a basic understanding of flight combat maneuvers (e.g., Split-S, Immelman turn, etc.). Most traditional flight combat maneuvers aren't exactly applicable to space flight combat since gravity and "aircraft energy management" don't apply in outerspace; however, I have found some maneuvers to be useful when paired with drifting. Simply, it helps to study maneuvers that allow you to "position" yourself behind an opponent without them knowing (versus falling into an endless turning battle).

Lobby
I do review every player's stats in the lobby both in my team and the opposing team (I'm a data analyst IRL):

Example: It's helpful to know if there are two other pilots in my team with K/D ratios greater than 2:1. That tells me that there are at least two other players that know how to shoot something and can possibly survive a bit longer than newer pilots.

Example: It's helpful to know in a Fleet Battle lobby that my teammates are lvl 100+ with low K/D ratios, "but" they each have 200+ subsystem kills. That tells me that I should probably provide air support during most of the match since those players will likely stick with "bombing" roles.

Example: In a Dogfighting lobby, if I see the opposing team has one exceptionally skilled player with a high K/D ratio but the other 4 opposing players are new inexperienced pilots, I'll likely ignore the experienced pilot, have that experienced pilot chase me the entire match, while I chase after easy/quick kills since the objective of a Dogfighting match is to race to 30 kills.

Hardware: As I mentioned earlier, I use a HOTAS & VR setup, which (I believe) can provide some advantages.

EVGA GeForceTRX 2070 Super KO
Oculus Rift S
Thrustmaster T.16000 FCS stick and throttle

A few highlights about the hardware. I spent substantial time calibrating and properly overclocking my graphics card. This shouldn't be news to anyone, but try to address any FPS issues before playing. You just can't afford to have your machine malfunction while making split-second choices/maneuvers during dogfighting or fleet battle matches. Especially if you want to climb the ranking system.

I use the Oculus Rift S over the Oculus Quest 2 because I'd rather directly tether and make the most use from my graphics card. I understand that the Oculus Quest 2 USB link cable/technology is promising, but I wasn't willing to risk more FPS and performance troubleshooting given the graphical issues we all were experiencing during the initial release of the game.

I don't use rudder pedals. I prefer to control "yaw" with twist flight sticks, which is why I don’t use high-end products such as the Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS. For me it's just easier to have fewer peripheral devices and to exert more input through two devices. I find that for this particular game a flight stick and throttle is the right amount of hardware since this is a "space" flight sim. I would likely prefer rudder pedals if I'm flying a P-51s in DCS.

At the very least I hope some of these tips and best practices are helpful for everyone in the community. Sorry in advance for any typos. Happy New Year and good hunting.