Re: UAVs, to shoot or not to shoot?

**Thesleeper01** · 01-24-2009, 06:30 AM

I believe that the UAV lasts longer than 30 seconds. Some times they seem to implode right away and otehrs they last and last and last.

They have low hp and are as large as 2 elephants humping. Use your pea shooter and take it out or other weapon, works well if you have a ganz or similar long range weapon but anything works though only weapons better than the engi SMG could be said to work well.

The important thing to remeber is that when you destroy a UAV you reset the UAV button so if the enemy commander was about to plunk a UAV down right where your team is attacking and you kill the UAV then you deny him that option likely till the battle is almost over.

Combat awareness is an amazeing thing, with a UAV on your side and none on the other side I would guess an observant players 1 VS 1 kill rate goes from 50% to 75-80% rest being equal.

Usualy when you see them your not in there range unless your on tight maps like fall of berlin. But maps like fall of berlin get the most net advantage from one because in large open maps you can see the enemy walk/drive up so you know who/what is there but on FoB they give all SL the ability to see where the defences are light/heavy or where the attacks are comming from.

IMHO it is almost worth haveing the commander assigning a single person to be on UAV duty to keep the enemy UAV's down while letting your side's UAV's survive.

**pred011586** · 01-25-2009, 02:40 AM

Just hopped on as CO and tested, UAV lasts only 30 seconds.

**Thesleeper01** · 01-26-2009, 10:31 PM

Was that on an empty server or a full one? They seem to only last 30 sec on an empty one but a lot longer on a full one.

**pred011586** · 01-26-2009, 10:39 PM

Wasn't full, but it was 20+ vs 20+ on TG's CQ server. I actually counted 28 "mississippi"s but I added 2 seconds because I felt I was counting slow. And I was the CO of the round, so I knew the exact moment that the first and last pulse went out, since I through the UAV out there with the intent of determining duration (was a Camp Gib stand off between Central and Ruins, I had nothing else to do =\ ).

Unfortunately, shooting down the UAV would give an amazingly awesome tactical advantage, but only if you can take it down within 10 seconds (ie, via gunship, or AA Rorsche if you're already looking for it), or if they extend UAV's duration to 45-60 seconds.

Looking at the non-NS maps in which you would (logically) be able to pack a SAAW, you got Suez, Sidi, Shuhia, Wake, Minsk, Verdun, and Tampa. Out of those, the only maps in which an enemy UAV is enough of a tactical disadvantage that you'd want to go out of your way to destroy it would be Suez, Sidi, Shuhia, and Minsk. Wake is too small for the enemy to need UAV to predict enemy movement, Verdun and Tampa are too big for UAV to give any kind of serious tactical advantage.

For the remaining 4, Minsk and Suez have no transports, and if you're packing a SAAW solely for anti-gunship use, you might as well just pack default rockets and point at the gunship, they still get the beep and you'll rarely hit them with SAAW shots anyways so it's just as useful, plus you got an AV rocket in case of an emergency. Which leaves Shuhia and Sidi. Two maps in which you could potentially be able to give your team those 7 seconds of secrecy...

I hate to be the one to shoot down a brilliant idea, if I remember correctly, it was Arithea who initially mentioned it a few months ago in a discussion of new tactics for Fall of Berlin, I have to give her credit for thinking that far outside the box, I never would've thought of it. Theoretically, it's an ingenious tactic, but it is unfortunately, impractical, and does not give enough of a reason to pack a SAAW over Default/Pilum. =(

**Arithea** · 01-27-2009, 06:14 PM

I think it's something the 3rd tried once, honestly. The theory was we could keep the enemy commander from knowing exactly where we were so we could effect a breakthrough on a map with an easily-defended choke point. Once the UAV was down, the engineer switched kits (always an option

) and moved on. Only really effective for an initial assault, though; trying to time it past that would be entirely too difficult in the heat of battle.

I'm still a proponent of the "why not?" school, though. It's never a bad thing for the enemy commander to be without eyes for even a short amount of time. Plus, if you're playing one of the larger maps, such as Shuhia, you probably won't be the only engi on your team. Thus, you're not as critical for active anti-armor actions or mining. To be safe, you can manage it at the squad level, if your commander doesn't designate an anti-air squad--run two engineers, one with SAAW for anti-air and one with Pilum or Mitchell/Sudnik. Two engineers in a squad on an armor-heavy map is never a bad idea, IMO.

Now, if you're in a designated anti-air squad, I can definitely see keeping back your SAAW rounds for gunships and transports.

**Spur** · 01-27-2009, 07:02 PM

After some thought, I have decided it does make sense to try and shoot down the enemy UAV. This is the theory from the point of view of someone who almost never commands. I think a uav has a set recycle time before it can come up again. Knocking off 10 seconds from the life of the uav also "extends" the time to the next spawn of uav 10 seconds.This sort of gives you an additional 10 seconds equaling 20 seconds of no sight time. Coupled with the amount of time you naturally have to wait anyway, it is enough to get a cloaked squad leader past a choke point without the commander seeing.

Of course these are likely just the meaningless meanderings of the mind coming from a simple redneck

**[AGB]Quasae** · 01-27-2009, 07:06 PM

I have always tried to shoot the enemy UAVs down. If I'm not support I jump in the nearest AA, tank #2 spot, or walker #2 spot and take them down. If I am SL and have a support in my squad I tell them to take it down.

**tovarich cokie** · 02-01-2009, 04:25 AM

it is a simple choice for me really. First, if you see a uav, SHOOT IT with your bullet weapon: if you see the hit-circle around your reticule, you know it is a hostile UAV, and if it doesnt, it is probably friendly.

Here is a good relevation: a UAV has about the same HP as a gunship (1 engineer rocket, 3 railgun shots, etc)

So, the conclusion: only when deemen nessesary. You TG guys would probably know the line.

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