After skilling them to prof 3 my only gripe with them is the stupid flight paths they take.

Earlier today, my squad and I were running some chain domination games. We ran into a lot of the same squads. One in particular spammed vehicles like there was no tomorrow.

In response, we had an ADV FG and two Minmatar Commandos rocking Wiyrkomi Swarms. We wrecked tanks with ease, but the Incubus the other team called in was damn near impossible to kill. After three close calls he recalled his Incubus and whipped out a triple rep Maddy. Between the three of us we were able to continually scare him off, but we never killed him. I wish to God I had the video from the match.

The Incubus had 950 shields and 38xx armor. As soon as his armor started to get low, he would hit the afterburner and rocket straight up, outrunning all 12-24 of the swarms in the air after him. This should not be so simple and easy to do. I'm sorry, but it just shouldn't. Nerf afterburners. Buff swarm flight speed. Something...but swarms are not in a great place right now.

I can't find the thread, but one forum poster described swarms as "fire-and-forget rockets of death". Lets break that down...

You mean the rockets that can be easily outrun by a ADS with a burner?
You mean the rockets that crash into the ground if you dodge behind a low hill?
You mean the rockets that you can see coming and dodge so they smash into anything you choose to hide behind?

Fire and forget, indeed. Forget that you fired, maybe.

Swarms DO NOT need a straight damage buff. They are space-age, futuristic rockets...the USAF has rockets that travel at Mach 6 and you're telling me that the Caldari can't engineer rockets that can chase down a fat dropship traveling at a few hundred km/h? If anything, I'd like to see them get a significant flight speed buff. If you see them coming and have the reaction time to find cover, good on you. But if they're behind you and homing in for the kill, there should be nothing in the game currently that can outrun them.

Flame as you will. Running swarms is fun for me and I do not regret for an instant that I spent the SP to get them to 5 and start working on proficiency...but they desperately need a buff. Right now the only vehicle I can "fire-and-forget" my swarms with is a FULL militia fit DS/LAV/HAV with a crap-ass pilot. And maybe any variant of shield LAV because they're pretty squishy.

I really don't know that Wyrkomi's do. I had Marquess chase me around the map using Swarms on my Shield HAV and he was doing some very impressive damage per volley.

dropships rep too fast, some shields can rep THROUGH blaster fire, I couldn't do anything to an incubus' shield earlier
and he had almost 4000 armour underneath that!

and what about the dropships with over 4000 shield? there is NO CHANCE that any amount of proto swarms will ever get through that.

i think vehicles can stack way too much health, i understand it's either actives or passives but that madrugar
with 7335 armour sat on a hill doesn't need hardeners.

There's nothing wrong wrong with the damage, nothing at all.

The issue is that swarms are incredibly easy to avoid...and when you sink millions of skill points into something and are a dedicated AV'er (or at least use a dedicated build), it would be nice if the swarms actually hit the target from time to time.

I really like the suggestion another poster had where aircraft pilots should have a bitching Betty that has a slow intermittent tone when you're being painted, a fast intermittent tone when you're locked on, and a solid tone when missile are in the air. Then there's no excuse when the missiles are as fast as they're meant to be and can't be outrun...because you'll have a 1.5-4 second head start depending on how far from the launcher the aircraft is...because then by the time the second and certainly third swarm is in the air, the pilot should be bugging out and evading.

Since you don't actually aim the gun....... well look at it this way, those same swarms that are "so easy to avoid" will turn on a dime around corners to hit you in places you never thought was possible....

Not arguing, just giving my perspective.

Until they fix the render issues that are STILL in the game, I really don't care how unfair it is for AV that I can go straight up to the skybox. ADS's need to be like fifty feet above someone for them to render half the time, meaning most of the time all you see are swarms coming at you or forge gun shots materializing around you as they get close enough for the game to decide they are a threat. The render issue is a fundamental game mechanic, it can screw up balancing for everything that comes after it, until it and other core issues (like redline sniping, adding adv and proto vehicles, adding the other races' vehicles) I doubt it's ever going to be balanced. It'll just bounce around from AV being OP to vehicles being OP and back again. Although, as a vehicle pilot I have to say that you guys don't really have it that bad, it took us 7 builds to be effective again you guys have only gone through 2, I might be more sympathetic in 2.2.

And ADS's are flying tinfoil that forges and rail guns punch through like, well tinfoil. Swarms can knock them upside down while the people launching them duck in and out of cover. Don't act like swarmers have it so bad, fire and forget and all.

Since you don't actually aim the gun....... well look at it this way, those same swarms that are "so easy to avoid" will turn on a dime around corners to hit you in places you never thought was possible....

Not arguing, just giving my perspective.

he didnt say that did he ??? ^... AREAD DUST DESCRIPTION OF SWARMS----NOW WHY DNT THEY SEE A BUILDING OR A HILL--a lock on is a lock on, guys are asking for balance which brings me to a point ADS missles dont kill you, its the outrageous splash...you dnt even have to aim

Rather than nerf of buff anything, I think a change would be better.
ASL is rather usless at the moment at an increase in price, wouldn't it be better for an Assault SL to have a longer lockon range at the cost of damage. Maybe give a longer flight time as well. Basicly thinking a higher damage/shorter lockon range, and a lower damage/higher lockon range and flight time variants

It's just easier (and much more profitable) to spec Heavy, Scout, or Logi and just avoid the tanks altogether.