After a CAS Lancaster wiped out half my team in a RB 6.8 match (Lancaster as a CAS…sigh) I went SPAA to try and get some revenge. My useless M19A1 proved to be comically ineffective at hitting the jets, yet they seem to go out of their way to attack the SPAA. Even when they are diving straight at me the slow firing (although powerful) SPAA couldn’t get a single hit in. A quick spray from the jets guns blew me up. I had a reserve M19A1 so I respawned and tried again. This time I saw a Lightning, opened fire and he immediately disengaged from his attack and spun around and attacked me, again blown up in the spawn…
Makes me think, what’s the point of going SPAA? Low rewards, ultra high risk, expensive to fix and usually ineffective in their intended roll. They just seem to attract the dam planes… The only think that scares them off is those chaingun packing higher tier US tanks.
I know the best plane defense is another plane but I’ve got little interest in grinding a decent mid level fighter. Actually find the plane part of this game boring.
CAS is way too effective in this game, indeed. With only 1 or 2 spawnpoints CAS players don’t even have to look for targets, they just have to wait till they spawn. Not only planes but helicopters sniping from 4 km way too.
It’s kinda funny that the scoreboard leaders are most times the CAS players and therefore have the most impact in ground battles.
Unless your aim is good, you are better off using the M16 with it’s 4x .50cals against jets. The M19A1 has a poor rate of fire.
If you can, never fire from the spawn! You might be invulnerable due to spawn protection, but after that you are easy to locate and attack.
I love the SPAA, but many of the US low tier ones are lackluster in their ability to protect the skies. But that’s why your team should of had some air cover.
Panes and helicopters broke ground RB. Not to mention idiots who will get salty and revenge bomb. Planes and helicopters should have never been integrated into ground RB.
SPAA are priority targets for CAS because they are threat and… tend to be lightly armored.
You have to learn when to hold your fire and wait until you have a good close range shot. If you are firing at someone 3km away, yeah you are going to attract the attention of everyone on the other team, air and ground.
Conversely, you can bait planes to come at you (bro) by firing a bit and then moving off under cover of the direction they are coming from and then lighting them up as the pass overhead.
Oh and don’t stay in the spawn.
I know going SPAA in arcade is a death sentence as its just a huge highlighted beam of light on you for anything with wings… RB its disappointing to see it just as bad:(
Still think all planes should be visible on the map in both RB and AB, just to let tanks know when a 2 ton bomb is about to land on them. Certain maps CAS are just too lethal.
-CAS SP cost should go up by 1.5x to 2x universally, and CAP should stay the same in SP.
-Scouted target markers and drone markers should be removed for CAS. Seriously, you already have a Birds Eye view of the battlefield.
-KA-50 should not be able to bring APDS first spawn, rocket rushing is fine but it’s pretty much the only heli with such an effective autocannon, and like I said it can bring it WITH rockets.
-The “air alert” marker needs to show up like a scouted target marker, it needs to last longer, and it needs to track the target. This can counter low flying strike aircraft who use terrain for cover and fly behind SPAA without them expecting it.
-Kind of going with the last one, give SPAA the ability to scout planes (but not tanks) so they can know where the CAS plane is going and teammates will also know where it is, including friendly AA.
-There needs to be a limit on how many planes a single team can spawn, I’m fine with it being several but I’ve had games where 10 minutes in im the only one left in a tank, or games where I get swarmed by CAS constantly.
-I don’t know if this is a personally issue, but stingers seem to have issue locking things. The stat card says all-aspect lock range is 6km, but I have trouble locking anything beyond 2.5-3km.
No different than tank machinegun fire, or cannon fire. I’ve found that some types of AAA is almost hard to see from the air.
I have over a month using SPAAs, and there are plenty of good quality SPAA. WZ305, 341, Falcon, PG87 etc. It’s just all in how you deploy and use them. The 341 is great, because CAS try to strafe, and quickly find out it’s fairly well armored.
The majority non-SPAA users, just sit in the spawn, shooting at one plane, which is way out of range.
Unironic skill issue, these are the easiest targets to hit even with bad AA
You can’t jump into an SPAA and expect to hit everything off the mark, you do need practice with them, they also add value for friendly fighters as they can spot enemy planes you’re shooting at. By far the worst aspect of early AA rn is overpressure, dying to an HVAR landing 15m away from a Wirblewind is very dumb.
SPAA vs CAS is unbalanced at top tier. Everyone is aware of that issue. Outside of top tier, SPAA vs CAS is decently balanced outside of outliers. Both take time to learn to use effectively, and so practice makes perfect. Awards for using CAS should be higher, but people have nobody to blame but themselves for not utilizing SPAA and/or CAP when it’s needed.
I’m not interested in the gutteral groaning of those that don’t make any attempt to use the tools available to them.
I did try to suggest stealth ammo for SPAAs, and that went nowhere. I have lost the WWII vets I could have asked about stealth ammo, and never had the idea of asking them about that while they were alive, yet stealth ammo is available for even some of the really early aircraft, but never for any of the SPAAs.
I would LOVE to drive an SPAA with stealth ammo. Just watch the fighter pilots fight against this idea!
