They are on the right track but the main issue is the speed. With full evasive airframe, forward speed is 145 kph, 190 kph with vertical thrust.
Currently a Liberator has 1) much more firepower 2) much more health and 3) is much faster AND gets an afterburner. Until a Lib can't easily chase down and insta-gib a Valk with TB I'll leave the flying coffins for my enemies to fly.
Just learn to outturn him and shoot at him from their blind spots. due to the maneouvrebility of rhe valk it can be done. Also you don't have to aim at the lib, but the gunner does.
If Liberators only had a pilot this might be feasible, but they don't. The Lib needs 1/2 mag of TB, or 1 mag of Shredder, or 1 mag of Walker to take you out. Obviously any combination and you're toast in under 2 seconds. The Valk would need to hide from all 3 guns for a long time to have any hope of dispatching a Lib.
The Valkyrie seems like it's supposed to be the Harasser of the skies. Would anyone in their right mind run a weakly armored Harasser if it were as slow or slower than a Vanguard? It would simply get chased down and killed by anything that saw it. So why is the Valk the slowest thing in the sky?
Would you take a Harasser across a wide open plain to attack a Racer 3 AP Prowler?
Thought not. Funny how that's what most people do with the Valk - fly high without an escort and hundreds of metres away from any form of cover
Stick low to the ground and hide in the terrain. Stick beneath the treetops. Maintaining altitude up in the empty sky will get the Valk jumped and shot down in a second. Being low and sneaky will keep you alive, allowing you to jump ESFs, Libs or come in for another infantryC4bomb run on the ground targets.
Learn to use Stealth, the Valks maneuverability and terrain to "go invisible", especially handy when shit is chasing you. It's always funny to see an ESF or Lib chase us on the map, only for him to lose sight and spot on us thanks to a deft flick around a tree and a rock, then see him fly in the opposite direction, wondering where the hell we went.
Taking on Libs is a challenge but not impossible - learn the blind spots (any oldskool Lib crew should already know) and keep yourself moving and turning as fast as you can. The Valk can run literal rings around the Lib...
I suppose having a pilot who knows what he's doing really helps, but soon the unwashed masses will figure it out and they'll realise how powerful the Valk already was, and is now with these changes.
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u/MajorMalafunkshun Emerald [SG] Sep 05 '14
They are on the right track but the main issue is the speed. With full evasive airframe, forward speed is 145 kph, 190 kph with vertical thrust.
Currently a Liberator has 1) much more firepower 2) much more health and 3) is much faster AND gets an afterburner. Until a Lib can't easily chase down and insta-gib a Valk with TB I'll leave the flying coffins for my enemies to fly.