Finally unlocked the Guided Missile for jets, and it seems like complete shit. It seems to hit for about 34% hp on tanks and you only get one missile with a long reload time. Sure it can lock on, but when it takes 2 passes to disable and 3 to destroy, its pretty useless.
 
Is there some fundamental trick I am missing? I sure can't see how its possible. Maybe it does more damage if the vehicle is laser designated or something?
 
At this point I can't think of any reason to use this over missile pods. I can get a tank destroy along with killing everyone inside the tank before they can get out using rocket pods and the minigun. So the guided missile is pretty disappointing.

They seem great.
But I don't have them yet.   

They lowered their damage from the beta for some reason. Not sure why they did that. They used to be a guaranteed disable on most vehicles and that was fine.

A Javelin will not disable a vehicle in one shot, but any RPG can disable any vehicle if hit from the back guaranteed.

Regardless, the AGTM is rubbish on a jet because of the way the weapon forces your camera into this weird angled view. Makes it incredibly stressful to fly. The rocket pods do a better job by offering more damage and allowing you to dispense said damage faster than it takes to lock on and deploy an AGTM.

I tried using them and yeah, they're kinda terrible. Last time I used them in a match I hit a tank with four missiles and it never even got disabled, yet I got a Vehicle Destroy Assist for like 41 points. I can't tell if they just somehow miss a lot or if they're just ridiculously underpowered.

@Xeiphyer said:

Finally unlocked the Guided Missile for jets, and it seems like complete shit. It seems to hit for about 34% hp on tanks and you only get one missile with a long reload time. Sure it can lock on, but when it takes 2 passes to disable and 3 to destroy, its pretty useless. Is there some fundamental trick I am missing? I sure can't see how its possible. Maybe it does more damage if the vehicle is laser designated or something? At this point I can't think of any reason to use this over missile pods. I can get a tank destroy along with killing everyone inside the tank before they can get out using rocket pods and the minigun. So the guided missile is pretty disappointing.

Dependency. It will do a 'Top Attack' on a laser painted target dealing extra damage. You can equip your plane to paint targets. Recon can paint targets with SOFLAM.

Either way, depencency just doesn't work well in PUB environments and unless the 'Top Attack' is a 1-hit-kill (I doubt it), it's entirely unsatisfactory.

That said, Jets will get a buff in the first balacing patch, which should be coming soon. Bet a guided missle buff is part of that.

@Xeiphyer: 
Well I just have to say that the Jet is immensely powerfull with its machine guns if you have but a second of straight aim on a vehicle.
I've taken out loads of tanks and humvees in firestorm and caspian with it, so I can imagine if locking on is not as powerful as the manual aim so to say.

@Voxel said:

@TaliciaDragonsong

@Xeiphyer:
Well I just have to say that the Jet is immensely powerfull with its machine guns if you have but a second of straight aim on a vehicle.
I've taken out loads of tanks and humvees in firestorm and caspian with it, so I can imagine if locking on is not as powerful as the manual aim so to say.

I've blasted tanks with the machines guns until they overheated and they didn't get disabled.

Fighter jets do minor damage. Bombers (A-10 and Frogfoot in Rush) tear them to shreds.

@Voxel said:

@TaliciaDragonsong

@Xeiphyer:
Well I just have to say that the Jet is immensely powerfull with its machine guns if you have but a second of straight aim on a vehicle.
I've taken out loads of tanks and humvees in firestorm and caspian with it, so I can imagine if locking on is not as powerful as the manual aim so to say.

I've blasted tanks with the machines guns until they overheated and they didn't get disabled.

I think you get a tank down 25% or so with a fighter. So when you coordinate with your wingman you will still get a disable.

The "fighter bombers" in Rush are killers. A single strafing run on an MBT from behind can kill it (100%->0%).

It's too bad that there are no maps with mixed jets.

@Wuddel said:

@Voxel said:

@TaliciaDragonsong

@Xeiphyer:
Well I just have to say that the Jet is immensely powerfull with its machine guns if you have but a second of straight aim on a vehicle.
I've taken out loads of tanks and humvees in firestorm and caspian with it, so I can imagine if locking on is not as powerful as the manual aim so to say.

I've blasted tanks with the machines guns until they overheated and they didn't get disabled.

I think you get a tank down 25% or so with a fighter. So when you coordinate with your wingman you will still get a disable.

The "fighter bombers" in Rush are killers. A single strafing run on an MBT from behind can kill it (100%->0%).

It's too bad that there are no maps with mixed jets.

The Super Hornets and Flankers will totally eat the A-10s and Frogfoots.

@White said:

@Wuddel said:

@Voxel said:

@TaliciaDragonsong

@Xeiphyer:
Well I just have to say that the Jet is immensely powerfull with its machine guns if you have but a second of straight aim on a vehicle.
I've taken out loads of tanks and humvees in firestorm and caspian with it, so I can imagine if locking on is not as powerful as the manual aim so to say.

I've blasted tanks with the machines guns until they overheated and they didn't get disabled.

I think you get a tank down 25% or so with a fighter. So when you coordinate with your wingman you will still get a disable.

The "fighter bombers" in Rush are killers. A single strafing run on an MBT from behind can kill it (100%->0%).

It's too bad that there are no maps with mixed jets.

The Super Hornets and Flankers will totally eat the A-10s and Frogfoots.

True, so teamplay comes in here. The fighters have to protect the bombers.

Guys, look at the big picture, think what the poor MBT has to go through.

Helicopter pilots with rockets + helicopter gunner, Jets with Missiles, Mines, other MBT's, crazy support players with C4's and of course engineers with their fucking AT launchers.

Yea its dumb that guided missiles don't kill a tank with 1 hit, but you are flying a fucking JET which is the easiest to score a hit with because a tank probably won't shoot back at you, so for balance sake its OK not to 1-hit kill a MBT with a guided missile that almost always is a guaranteed hit.

@Liber said:

Guys, look at the big picture, think what the poor MBT has to go through.

Helicopter pilots with rockets + helicopter gunner, Jets with Missiles, Mines, other MBT's, crazy support players with C4's and of course engineers with their fucking AT launchers.

Yea its dumb that guided missiles don't kill a tank with 1 hit, but you are flying a fucking JET which is the easiest to score a hit with because a tank probably won't shoot back at you, so for balance sake its OK not to 1-hit kill a MBT with a guided missile that almost always is a guaranteed hit.

Yeah but a jet only has, practically, 50 HP, and can only do 1 run every full minute because he has to wait for his flares to recharge. On top of that he has to dodge enemy fighters which is an omnidirectional threat. A jet needs as many ways to dispense his ground targets quickly as possible.

I think we're mistaking the jets and their skill-demanding assets for shitty useless junk. 

@AhmadMetallic said:

I think we're mistaking the jets and their skill-demanding assets for shitty useless junk.

Using a guided missle successfully doesn't really qualify for skill. If laser painting dependency is a skill, then it's more of a social skill.

Rocketpods is where its at. I wish there was no lock-on weapons at all in the game. Unguided or at most fire-by-wire like BF:BC 2's AT4. I believe boosting smallarms fire damage on aircraft is the way to go, it just doesn't mix with the modern warfare scenario. All this high-tech stuff is kind of a bummer.

Oh well, now everybody's a spoilsport regardless of skill level. Just lock-on fire and forget. Wanting to piss in a flyer's pot is all that's required to do so in BF3.

@TaliciaDragonsong said:

They seem great.
But I don't have them yet.

Beta gameplay. There's been a substantial damage nerf since. And he's performing 'top attacks' by laser painting the tanks first for extra damage. I got everything required to do this unlocked. I should give it a go tomorrow.

Jets are getting more powerful? Uh, its already hard enough to take them down with all the specializations. Hopefully Dice knows how to do this correctly and that it balances out.

I think this is a fair change from the beta. RPGs and the like that hit vehicles from the back should be the only way to disable in 1 shot. I like it. I don't want jets to become all powerful again.

If the enemy pilot isn't good and I'm in an attack jet, I bring beam scanning and guided missiles. You lock on super quick, launch the missile, then start spraying them before it even reaches the target. The damage practically happens simultaneously so they're fucked unless they have smoke.