I'm no pro, but I've unlocked everything and played around a bit, so here are my thoughts. Share your strategies and thoughts as well, enlighten us all.
I've boiled it down to the same setup whether I'm flying a fighter plane or the A-10/Frogfoot and gives you decent air-to-air fighting ability, as well as decent air-to-ground.
1) Stealth, just to keep the locks down; nothing else is very helpful, I've found. Could go with maintenance if you're only being harassed by machinegun fire.
2) IR Flares. Extinguisher stops the bleed if you go below 50%, but you can't recover back to 100% at that point and your jet is still flying wonky.
3) Rocket pods. Everything else is useless shit.
You only need the default machinegun/cannon to take down jets and helicopters, and you can usually disable a tank in a single pass with rocket pods (if you're in an A-10 or Frogfoot, the rocket pods serve as great spam from a distance, then switch to main cannon and finish them off easily, with a full destroy).
Regarding other unlocks,
- ECM jammer is ok and has about the same cooldown as the flares, but you have to use it before the enemy launches their heat seekers. That's not good since it lets the enemy keep their missiles ready for one of your teammates or ready for you if you come back around for another pass too soon. It could be helpful if you're getting multiple locks from all over the place though.
- Beam scanner (faster lock with heat seekers or guided missile) is lulzy when used in conjunction with guided missile because that shit locks on so fast. Useful for a quick little pass on a vehicle with lots of high cover nearby. In the end, though, the guided missile doesn't do a whole lot of damage and lets the enemy know you're coming, and they also have a chance to use their own IR flares. I prefer the dumb-fire rocket pods because the enemy won't see it coming, and you can at least disable a vehicle with a solid pass; with guided missile, you fire one and have to reload, giving the enemy plenty of time to repair the vehicle.
- Heat seekers are a total waste. Even if the enemy isn't using flares, you still need to line up a good pass just to get a lock, at which point you might as well be machinegunning them. Plus they'll be aware of your presence before you can even damage them.
- Air radar can be helpful if your teammates suck at spotting but it's easy to live without it.
- Auto loader can be useful I guess, but you should focus on being accurate and hitting all your shots, not spamming and more spamming. It's a waste of a slot.
- Below radar is the only one I haven't used, but I've heard it's broken? Who knows. Seems to be a waste of a slot anyway.
I've boiled it down to the same setup whether I'm flying a fighter plane or the A-10/Frogfoot and gives you decent air-to-air fighting ability, as well as decent air-to-ground.
1) Stealth, just to keep the locks down; nothing else is very helpful, I've found. Could go with maintenance if you're only being harassed by machinegun fire.
2) IR Flares. Extinguisher stops the bleed if you go below 50%, but you can't recover back to 100% at that point and your jet is still flying wonky.
3) Rocket pods. Everything else is useless shit.
You only need the default machinegun/cannon to take down jets and helicopters, and you can usually disable a tank in a single pass with rocket pods (if you're in an A-10 or Frogfoot, the rocket pods serve as great spam from a distance, then switch to main cannon and finish them off easily, with a full destroy).
Regarding other unlocks,
- ECM jammer is ok and has about the same cooldown as the flares, but you have to use it before the enemy launches their heat seekers. That's not good since it lets the enemy keep their missiles ready for one of your teammates or ready for you if you come back around for another pass too soon. It could be helpful if you're getting multiple locks from all over the place though.
- Beam scanner (faster lock with heat seekers or guided missile) is lulzy when used in conjunction with guided missile because that shit locks on so fast. Useful for a quick little pass on a vehicle with lots of high cover nearby. In the end, though, the guided missile doesn't do a whole lot of damage and lets the enemy know you're coming, and they also have a chance to use their own IR flares. I prefer the dumb-fire rocket pods because the enemy won't see it coming, and you can at least disable a vehicle with a solid pass; with guided missile, you fire one and have to reload, giving the enemy plenty of time to repair the vehicle.
- Heat seekers are a total waste. Even if the enemy isn't using flares, you still need to line up a good pass just to get a lock, at which point you might as well be machinegunning them. Plus they'll be aware of your presence before you can even damage them.
- Air radar can be helpful if your teammates suck at spotting but it's easy to live without it.
- Auto loader can be useful I guess, but you should focus on being accurate and hitting all your shots, not spamming and more spamming. It's a waste of a slot.
- Below radar is the only one I haven't used, but I've heard it's broken? Who knows. Seems to be a waste of a slot anyway.
