BF4 dealing with AA (not a moan post)

-Al-

So I just picked up BF4 a few days ago haven't properly played BF since BF2 (have 3 but probably only notched up a couple of hours play).

I've been making an effort to properly master the jets and choppers and I'm starting to do ok in air superiority i.e. Not dying within 2 seconds and actually getting kills.

Problem is when I change game mode and have AA to deal with I spend all my time trying to dodge AA (specifically mobile AA) it seems very powerful but I'm not here to moan about that. I'm looking for some tips to deal with it.

If I try a straight on strafing run I end up dead as I'm presenting an easy target to the AA. If I do manage to kill it I get killed too making the effort worthless.

So assuming youre on a public server and your team isn't helping to deal with the guy in the AA sitting at the edge of the map with the 20-0 kill streak and you don't want to quit server or just play on ground what do you do? What weapons/tactics do you use?

AbusesToilets

C-4

dreamers75

Use the map to hide from the lock and regen your flares.

Hercule

there is always a saddo in every server that wants to sit with AA in the edge of the map - only the attack jet can take them out solo.

in the maps where you can you can hug a building - thats a viable tactic.

otherwise the jihad jeep is your only solution.

Noxin

Jihad jeep is the way. Good fun too.

And you can generally get those pesky gits who sit back in their own area of the map as long as you are willing to die too.

Akrasia

The AA would be a piece of cake to deal with if the snipers used their PLD to laser designate the LAVs and mobile AAs and if engineers/jets/choppers obliged them and equipped lazer guided rockets

The ultimate combination is a squad with a support for resupplying, an engineer for killing vehicles, a recon for designating targets and a medic for reviving fallen comrades.

jonski

Had this conversation before , when I go sniper and use the PLD there are no engineers with lock on as they all use the RPG , when I go engineer I switch to RPG because no one is locking stuff up

irish coldplayer

Fly around the edge of the map to get behind the AA without him seeing you.
then climb as high as possible and use rockets first then cannon with an almost vertical attack.
alot of the time the AA will spin around looking for you and wont expect a top down attack.
It takes practice but is effective. you might also want to ecm as you attack in case he does spot you, most times they will attempt to fire a missile first.
Bring C4 or slams so you can eject and attack on foot if things go wrong..

Tazzimus

I really can't stand people who sit off the playable map with the AA or the rocket truck.

The AA is actually ridiculously good at mowing down infantry with the 30mm cannons, you can also help some engineers out by attacking tanks\LAV's.

I love bombing around the map in them.

When against them, anything explosive works quite well as the armour is fairly weak and they're not the fastest of vehicles

miju

Hercule wrote: »

there is always a saddo in every server that wants to sit with AA in the edge of the map - only the attack jet can take them out solo.

Thats what the AA is supposed to do , support not get into the middle of frontline battles.

To answer the OPs question it completely depends on the map your on in how you deal with the AA, the AA is piss easy to kill even in their own spawn.

Obvious example Lancang Dam, AA is so OP in one of the forward positions just outside of their spawns. A tank with noob shells will force that AA to sit further back and because their range on their guns is 300m it will make them useless except for spamming ARMs (and they nerfed them damage wise)

I will say though, learn to recognise a good AA gunner over a terrible one, if your in a jet and you die in like 2-3 seconds chances are you probably dont want to be taking them on in any kind of aircraft. Though nothing is more fun than when people think they can

Tazzimus wrote: »

I really can't stand people who sit off the playable map with the AA.

I do that on Lancang Dam and Dawnbreaker but you know why? It's because they are the optimal positions for the AA on those maps and I can cause most amount of mayhem from those points and make large parts of maps no go areas for pretty much the entire game.

Tazzimus

miju wrote: »

Though nothing is more fun than when people think they can

Its always funny when a chopper or jet comes straight at you thinking it can blow you up and gets shredded in the process.

miju wrote: »

I do that on Lancang Dam and Dawnbreaker but you know why? It's because they are the optimal positions for the AA on those maps and I can cause most amount of mayhem from those points and make large parts of maps no go areas for pretty much the entire game.

I got most of my unlocks on Dawnbreaker driving it around, sitting back at the base is massively boring.
Obviously it can't go toe to toe with an LAV or tank but if you keep to the outskirts of the map and pop into the middle when you know the heavier armour isn't waiting for you then it can be a surprise extra vehicle to use.

AA against AA on Dawnbreaker is funny though, takes an absolute age to kill each other just using the cannons.

miju

Tazzimus wrote: »

Its always funny when a chopper or jet comes straight at you thinking it can blow you up and gets shredded in the process.

Even funnier when they do it again and again and again. :P:P:P:P I'm always a fooker though I'll see a chopper go WAY wide to try come up behind me so I just keep them spotted and watch on mini map and as soon as they are up close thinking they have hop on me I turn around and open up so fast LOL

Tazzimus wrote: »

I got most of my unlocks on Dawnbreaker driving it around, sitting back at the base is massively boring. Obviously it can't go toe to toe with an LAV or tank but if you keep to the outskirts of the map and pop into the middle when you know the heavier armour isn't waiting for you then it can be a surprise extra vehicle to use.

I do that on Dawnbreaker myself but just drive horizontally to all three roads so gives you full view and plenty of room to get out of dodge when mr tank arrives to spoil the party.

Tazzimus wrote: »

AA against AA on Dawnbreaker is funny though, takes an absolute age to kill each other just using the cannons.

If you have 30mm cannon hit them on the rear portion of either side and you take 33 health of them per full burst, they usually go running after 1 full burst and when they do they expose their full rear = dead

Tazzimus

miju wrote: »

Even funnier when they do it again and again and again. :P:P:P:P I'm always a fooker though I'll see a chopper go WAY wide to try come up behind me so I just keep them spotted and watch on mini map and as soon as they are up close thinking they have hop on me I turn around and open up so fast LOL

Personal vendetta to blow you up, no matter how many times you kill them

miju wrote: »

I do that on Dawnbreaker myself but just drive horizontally to all three roads so gives you full view and plenty of room to get out of dodge when mr tank arrives to spoil the party.

Its quite an easy map to avoid the tank on thankfully as you'd be dead in about 2 seconds otherwise

miju wrote: »

If you have 30mm cannon hit them on the rear portion of either side and you take 33 health of them per full burst, they usually go running after 1 full burst and when they do they expose their full rear = dead

I usually hit hem with full burst, wait for them to turn and start running or overheat guns, hop out and hit them with a SRAW, jump back in and full burst again. Still takes forever though

miju

Tazzimus wrote: »

Personal vendetta to blow you up, no matter how many times you kill them

Had a round yesterday 37 - 0 . About 15 of those kills was the same dude flying at me in attack jet, then tried the chopper, then tried a Rhib all of which ended in a fiery failure......rage message afterwards was great too :P

Does be even funnier when I'm on my second account thats like Lvl 10 or something and get messages to get out of the AA as I'm a noob, and I say my global rank and they are like WTF your like Lvl 10 , never seem to cop on to the Closet Colonel thing

Akrasia

jonski wrote: »

Had this conversation before , when I go sniper and use the PLD there are no engineers with lock on as they all use the RPG , when I go engineer I switch to RPG because no one is locking stuff up

Yeah, It sucks, but I've started using the PLD with the recon class just because it's incredibly useful for spotting enemies at medium and long distances and taking them out with a DMR

When you spot a tank with the PLD, even if nobody has guided rockets equipped, you can often either scare them away, or attract engineers with RPGs to come from nearby

jumbobreakfast

Mobile AAs are fine but bad map design makes them too powerful and an irresistible option for points farmers. Last I read on the CTE there was a lot of debate going on as to whether to nerf the AA or buff the attack heli maneuverability.

Tazzimus

A maneuverability buff would be nice for the attack chopper, I used to be able to dodge homing missiles in BF3, not a chance now. The ECM jammer only works when it feels like it as well.

miju

jumbobreakfast wrote: »

Mobile AAs are fine but bad map design makes them too powerful and an irresistible option for points farmers. Last I read on the CTE there was a lot of debate going on as to whether to nerf the AA or buff the attack heli maneuverability.

Buffing attack maneuberability wont help especially with the existence of ARMs.
Only option is to nerf the AA but they have already done that to a large extent that much more nerfing and it will be near pointless , leading back to the bad old days of chopper / jet raping in BF3 and BC2.

-Al-

wow loads more tips than i was expecting. thanks for all the advice everyone - i was trying that going wide and sneaking up tactic on a server yesterday...then ran into a problem of trying spot the fecker before he seen me ah ill get there in the end, probably just in time for BF5!

I also spent a few rounds in the AA to see how it performs from that side of things, good to know its weapons ranges.

AbusesToilets

I love the AA myself, in the anti-infantry mode. 30mm and Zuni rockets is a great combo. On Zavod, I love to head to the far left in the open field, then mow down all the trees. You can push forward to the trains to tear things or just sit back in the open mowing down anyone foolish enough to pop up.

I think the AA is best in a somewhat aggressive role, supporting the infantry assault. You can take down a LAV or Tank if you can get the drop on them and unload a solid volley of rocket and cannon fire first.

miju

On the topic of dealing with an AA.
As a fine AA gunner, I've found the hardest attack to deal with being the time a fella in a jet kept coming in for top down attacks on me.
He was more or less flying as high as he could then coming straight back down shooting.
Very hard to pick up on the direction and he got me on his second run at it.
Most try to fly directly at you low down but if you're facing them in time you can kill them easy enough.

miju wrote: »

Buffing attack maneuberability wont help especially with the existence of ARMs.
Only option is to nerf the AA but they have already done that to a large extent that much more nerfing and it will be near pointless , leading back to the bad old days of chopper / jet raping in BF3 and BC2.

The problem isn't so much the AA but the map lay outs.

Too many maps where it's available are completely open from the base or near it.
Maps like Golmud Railway and Lancing Dam in particular.
You can cover everything from safety.

More maps like Dawnbreaker and Zavod would at least mean a smart pilot can support 2/3 flags.

As a helicopter pilot I find the Jets to be a bigger nuisance tbh.
If they need to nerf anything I'd make changes there as people are stopping the jets in mid air and taking the helis out with a strafing run.
That really does my head in TBH, you shouldnt be able to slow the jets to a snails pace and take all sorts of things out including infantry.

I'd prefer if a jets only ground/primary attack i.e (minigun/zuni rockets) was some form of bomb they release manually when flying overhead, add some skill to it.
Even vary the Frog to a degree where you can target a set area for infantry. That and lock on for other jets and cut out the other weapons.

If I got those changes to the jets, take the C4 off the snipers to stop giving them all the spades, I'd be very happy.

Tazzimus

gilberto_eire wrote: »

take the C4 off the snipers to stop giving them all the spades, I'd be very happy.

Why would you want to take the C4 off the Recon class?
They use the few blocks of C4 they have and it's gone unless they find a Support player willing to drop an ammo box (Almost none of them do)

Support are the bigger nuisance with it as they can resupply themselves with infinite C4.

Either way I don't have an issue with C4, I quite like sneaking up on a vehicle to plant some, although my new favourite trick is sticking M2 Slams to them instead.