**OFFICIAL** AT Battlefield 3 FAQ and News Thread

[dougp]

In most places on the internet, people won't even read your post about stingers properly, their answer will be "1 person shouldn't be able to shoot down a 10 million dollar aircraft". Thing is, though, flares will break the locks of all stingers(no matter how many are firing at you), and when both the gunner and pilot of the chopper have flares/ECM, there is no meaningful window of opportunity between them, and even if you did get lucky and get a hit, vehicle regen will fix them right up.

As a result, and you know, I kind of agree that 1 guy with a stinger shouldn't be able to dominate aircraft, but 4 guys can't really knock down a chopper either. I was basically thinking that DICE should make it so that flares will break a maximum of 3 stinger locks at once(including both fired stingers and locked launchers). That way, if a raping chopper angers a team into respawning as a significant number of stingers(sacrificing AT ability), they won't be useless.

Notice I was talking about choppers. I find that stingers vs jets are quite capable of, maybe not killing them, but causing the jet to fly away for a few seconds since jets only have 1 set of flares.

A large issue I've noticed is the lack of AA vehicles or turrets on most maps, which was great in BC2 when you couldn't take them out w/ the Stinger. I'm not worried about jets as much because they generally don't concentrate on infantry as much as they do objectives and other aircraft.

 

[GullyFoyle]

twitter.com/Battlefield: "BF3 players get a head start in the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer demo, starting today! Head to our blog for full details: Link"

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

A large issue I've noticed is the lack of AA vehicles or turrets on most maps, which was great in BC2 when you couldn't take them out w/ the Stinger. I'm not worried about jets as much because they generally don't concentrate on infantry as much as they do objectives and other aircraft.

Someone was saying on Mordor that flares are limited to blocking 2 stingers at once. Can anyone verify if that's true? And if it is, that's "stingers that have been fired", I'm assuming flares will still interrupt all locks currently being attempted...?

 

[imaheadcase]

I think recon should just get laser designation instead of soflam. Just for use with stingers, point at aircraft and as long as its locking on stingers can hit it %100 of the time.

 

[llee]

Someone was saying on Mordor that flares are limited to blocking 2 stingers at once. Can anyone verify if that's true? And if it is, that's "stingers that have been fired", I'm assuming flares will still interrupt all locks currently being attempted...?

I doubt it. Flares will get rid of all IR missiles currently tracking you at short-medium range and reset the locking progress of anyone trying to achieve a solid tone. Supposedly if you fire flares when the missile is very far away it won't have any effect.

 

[dougp]

I doubt it. Flares will get rid of all IR missiles currently tracking you at short-medium range and reset the locking progress of anyone trying to achieve a solid tone. Supposedly if you fire flares when the missile is very far away it won't have any effect.

Of course it wouldn't, because the missiles IR tracker will still have the engine heat + flare in it's view. Flares are intended to be brighter at a shorter range that distract the IR tracker enough for the pilot to put his tail end away from the flare and IR tracker. This is why you see pilots jink and turn once they deploy countermeasures. It's also rather opposite of a radar guided missile, where you deploy chaff and present the lowest cross section to the missile.

 

[llee]

Of course it wouldn't, because the missiles IR tracker will still have the engine heat + flare in it's view. Flares are intended to be brighter at a shorter range that distract the IR tracker enough for the pilot to put his tail end away from the flare and IR tracker. This is why you see pilots jink and turn once they deploy countermeasures. It's also rather opposite of a radar guided missile, where you deploy chaff and present the lowest cross section to the missile.

As far as I know the IR mechanics that you just described do not exist in the game. The ECM in this game AKA chaff IRL works similarly to what you described but its effectiveness is strangely time-sensitive.

 

[dougp]

As far as I know the IR mechanics that you just described do not exist in the game. The ECM in this game AKA chaff IRL works similarly to what you described but its effectiveness is strangely time-sensitive.

Honestly, I was just confirming your last sentence with how the mechanics exist in the real world. Granted, I simplified it a lot given what I've read and seen in documentaries, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it works in game also.

 

[Phoenix86]

I doubt it. Flares will get rid of all IR missiles currently tracking you at short-medium range and reset the locking progress of anyone trying to achieve a solid tone. Supposedly if you fire flares when the missile is very far away it won't have any effect.

Are you talking in game or real life?

In game, I have seen flares affect singers at the edge of their lock range. As in, you lock on a target at max range, fire the stinger. They immediately fire flares and the stinger goes off to la-la land. I have never seen it lock back on or even lose the lock because the flares were deployed "too soon".

 

[chimaxi83]

Yea I'm pretty sure countermeasures are based on some super simple model, which is why flares can break a laser that's trying to lock on, and ECM can break heat seekers that are locking on.

 

[dyndragon]

Pertinent to this discussion is this Youtube video of some guy explaining how to use ECM and how it is different than flares.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnZY9OIOEkY

By the way, how flares work in BF3 is a bit more realistic than you think. It is possible to use someone else's flares to juke a missile that's locked on to you.

 

[raasco]

ha just ended up in a SQDM with tonythetuba

Was he using C4?

 

[QuantumPion]

Flares don't work at close range. I use heat seekers in jet against choppers very effectively. Lock on and wait till very close to fire and they can't dodge em.

 

[Zargon]

Was he using C4?

it was one of the 5 to win so you can complete the assignment servers so I didnt get to see

but I did win a round with a squad wipe on him....

he LOL'd when I was like, are you THE tony the tuba?

"yeah LOL i gues im internet famous now'

 

[maniacalpha1-1]

I doubt it. Flares will get rid of all IR missiles currently tracking you at short-medium range and reset the locking progress of anyone trying to achieve a solid tone. Supposedly if you fire flares when the missile is very far away it won't have any effect.

I know about the part of how missiles fired from a long ways off and the chopper drops flares too early, but that aside, so it's definitely false then, that there's a limit on how many missiles a flare drop will stop? I had recently suggested in a Mordor thread that one of the ways to leave stingers nerfed like they are, but make it so that when a bunch of people all get angry at once about chopper rape, that flares should only stop 3 or 4 stinger locks at once(that includes both fired missiles, locks in progress, and achieved locks where you haven't fired yet). I mean, really, if a full squad is going to fire at a chopper, at least one should get through.

 

[llee]

Are you talking in game or real life?

In the game.

In game, I have seen flares affect singers at the edge of their lock range. As in, you lock on a target at max range, fire the stinger. They immediately fire flares and the stinger goes off to la-la land. I have never seen it lock back on or even lose the lock because the flares were deployed "too soon".

I agree with you, it feels like flares are still effectively at max range. I was basing my reply off of this patch and specifically where it says "Using flares too early will no longer distract missiles fired at long range. The missile must be approaching the vehicle in order to reliably be distracted by flares."

so it's definitely false then, that there's a limit on how many missiles a flare drop will stop?

Pretty sure there's no limit to the number of missiles flares will stop.

 

[skipsneeky2]

This new update is pretty good i noticed faster loading times,little bit better performance on my gtx560 but it also has some issue with the scoreboard.

Been trying to get to my 100th resupply medal i am at 82 and the last 2 rounds i got 23 and 22 resupply ribbons respectfully but it counted 20 and 17 on battlelog so not sure what the story is there,usually its ricky tick and on the dime.

 

[Destiny]

Pertinent to this discussion is this Youtube video of some guy explaining how to use ECM and how it is different than flares.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnZY9OIOEkY

By the way, how flares work in BF3 is a bit more realistic than you think. It is possible to use someone else's flares to juke a missile that's locked on to you.

Crazy... he averted 4 heat seakers at the end... got to learn how to use ECM more often..

 

[llee]

12 BSODs yesterday alone. Sigh.

 

[Termie]

12 BSODs yesterday alone. Sigh.

Wow, is this a new problem after the patch?

I played just a couple of rounds yesterday, but I didn't have any crashes (and I also noticed smoother performance - seems like the CPU load may have gone down a bit). If this is a new problem for you, make sure to update Punkbuster and your VGA drivers.

But...my assumption is that if it's a BSOD, it's a hardware issue. I don't think I've ever had a BSOD while playing BF3, which is why it makes me wonder if it's actually an issue with the game. Reduce overclocks (if you have any), and consider listing out your hardware so we can give you some other ideas. Could be an SSD crapping out, memory timing instability, PSU being overloaded, or maybe even a motherboard issue. Again, if it hasn't happened before, it's more likely just something that needs to be updated to work with the new patch.

 

[GullyFoyle]

Ramblings on the next big patch from this thread...

twitter.com/gustavhalling: "I have tweaked the Havok for the next big patch already but you have to wait a little more."

(Gustav took over Demize99's position as Gameplay Designer/tweaker for BF3)

That´s the patch that will include the improved commo rose, Mav fix, usas fix and other tweaks. Working on getting you a list.

No ETA really. Still waiting for things to be added in, QA´d and then getting the results back. Should not be long before we announce the date of it.

 

[Zargon]

12 BSODs yesterday alone. Sigh.

you've rebooted since the patch ETC right?

 

[Termie]

you've rebooted since the patch ETC right?

LOL, if he BSOD'd, he rebooted!

 

[dougp]

12 BSODs yesterday alone. Sigh.

I'm sorry, but this doesn't seem like a game issue. What troubleshooting have you performed? Have you checked the crashdump file?

 

[Zargon]

LOL, if he BSOD'd, he rebooted!

hmmm duh. but yet not really.....

I would say its time to update drivers on well, everything.