1stStrike said:
Yeah, you absolutely know when you're being targeted and when you've been locked onto/had missiles shot at you so good luck shooting down any decent jet pilot. The flares will rend your stinger missile useless, or they can just fly up above 800 feet to get out of range of your lock on.
I've only been shot down by someone on the ground once in all the time I've flied. Infantry can't really do jack shit to jets. Save your stingers for helicopters, who are much easier to shoot down. If you're close to them even if they fire flares it probably won't save them.
It's a shame because there is an opportunity here for a great mindgame. The soldier needs to wait before the pilot pops his smoke, but may be losing an opportunity here by the plane not popping it at all or just flying away/up. The pilot might want to hold off on a flare because he might be re-aquired, but endanger getting killed (even though you can freelook pretty easy with planes flying slow and always at cruise speed).
I think it was this way in BF2, which made it fun.
About the Stinger/AA and Jets, I disagree with them being unequal. With freelook, flares and flying above 1000 meters, Jets have more than enough tools to dispose of stingers. It's just that most pilots fly planes as if they're stuck on a horizontal plane, dogfighting other planes. You need to divebomb a lot in this game.
Also, as with the chopper, it feels like aircraft in Battlefield always had this high skill ceiling, a lot higher than other vehicles. Sure it is hard, but have a good pilot or two against you and you will die a lot, more so than a tank or a personal carrier because they are limited in their options.
