Any hope for Aerofighters?

[Keiseth]

Ow. I mean, seriously. Ow! I can't see any redeeming qualities of Aerofighters: Very low evasion rate from a low MV, as I understand. Having to fly is a given, and that means going below a certain speed is certain death. That lowers what kind of weapons you can put on it.

So, Poor defense, poor dodging, poor weaponry. What makes the Aerofighters actually worth using? I was thinking of buying a Wraith with the intention of upgrading it heavily but... -8 MV? If anything I expected Aerofighters to dodge well from moving so fast. Or something.

[The Lone Badger]

(GH2) You get the +3 piloting from Born to Fly even when you're inside a Spinner?

[Joseph Hewitt]

Anything that moves quickly gets a bonus to dodge. Aerofighters get massive bonuses to their movement speed; the low MV score is a way to make up for this. Of course they lose this bonus as they get damaged or if they stand still. Like most things in the game, it's a trade off.

[Francisco Munoz]

And your enemies get a -3 to hit you unless they have an antiair weapon (or they fly too)

[Erathoniel]

I think Aerofighters should be incredibly hard to hit, to be realistic, and equal to a mecha of their size for MV. It's realistic. Not fair, but realistic.

[The Lone Badger]

If you've got a targeting computer and a zero-latency weapon (laser, particle cannon etc) then hitting anything is pretty easy, to be realistic. Aerofighters would be even easier to hit because you've got an unobstructed LOS to them all the time.

[Joseph Hewitt]

When dealing with giant anthromorphic fighting machines, it's best to not think too much about realism. I'm concerned about matching the feel of mecha cartoons, but not so much about reality.

[The Lone Badger]

I agree. My suspension of disbelief does struggle a little with using humanoid mecha in space (why do you have legs again?), but prevails. Humanoid mecha on land are definitely cool, and cool is to be encouraged.

[Epsilon]

Quoting: The Lone Badger

(why do you have legs again?)

For kickings?

[Erathoniel]

Kicking in zero-gravity, zero-friction environments deals minimum damage, unless you are approaching your foe. And you wouldn't really want to use your legs, as they are probably needed for landing/ground transportation, so you would want to use your arms.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Tell that to Char.

[Onisuzume]

Well, I could see the legs being used as mounting points for jets...

Grapple opponent, aim jet at opponent, turn on jet, have fun. ^^

[macksting]

Even then, wouldn't it me more pragmatic to have a smaller, less jointed and fragile pivot of some kind, combined with vectored thrust?

Leg:
\\
//
^

Ball:
(_)
.^.

Let me tell ya, that second one? With fewer joints? Looks a lot easier to lay thick armor on.

HEY! I'll bet the Harpy uses thrust vectoring!

[Erathoniel]

Armored Core Four. Jets rock for transportation. Personally, though, Aerofighters are a novelty, souped up Jousts are the best. (Mine with about 8 jets could be in Armored Core Four.)

Also, I've had 100-200 tonners going at 200+, never being hit and getting three moves to my enemy's.

[macksting]

I beat the game flawlessly in a souped-up Aegis. Don't underrate what is, in all honesty, the best.