BF4 Vehicle Balance

Of course all of this is subjective and some of you guys will disagree but I'm curious to hear your opinions.


=== SCOUT HELICOPTERS ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

Minigun (starting weapon): Good, borderline overpowered.
Terrific against infantry, helicopters, and even jets, this weapon in combination with the scout's improved mobility make this chopper probably the best anti-infantry vehicle in the air.  Using the scouts to zip around islands and skyscrapers cleaning up infantry everywhere you find it is one of the most fun experiences in the game right now. However, I find the range to be a little excessive.  In jet aircraft I often found myself taking damage from these at ranges of 500m or more.  Its accuracy and ammo pool combine to leave the 25mm to a niche role.

25mm Cannons (12,000 points): Bad.
It doesn't have enough ammo, takes too long to replenish ammo, or doesn't do enough damage to armor to make it a viable replacement to the minigun.  As most dedicated scout pilots will have a good mechanic riding along with them, it's far more effective to leave the anti-ground vehicle role to their MBT LAWs or javelins and just stick with the minigun to better deal with everything else.  Furthermore the trajectory of the shells at range leaves you at a severe disadvantage to an opposing scout helo with a minigun.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Heatseekers (6,000 points): Good.
The best secondary option for most maps, unless you have stellar AA on your side.  Find a nice central point on the map (over the C-point island on Lancang Dam for example) and you deny jets access to the great majority of the map.  Scout helos still don't seem to be taken seriously enough by jet pilots, and you will get a lot of kills with these as a resault.

Laser-Guided Bombs (28,000 points): Okay.
If you don't have an engineer with a homing AT weapon riding along with you, these are viable options against armor.  Only doing 30 damage per hit to IFVs and MBTs and only having 2 available means you won't get many kills with it unassisted by ground forces, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for overall balance purposes.  The scout's already lethal enough against pretty much everything else.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Flares (starting countermeasure): Good.
Cooldown timers for these on all aircraft seem just about perfect.  Frustrating that they're not 100% reliable though, I don't like RNG in my FPS.

Fire Extinguisher (9,000 points): Borderline useless.
A decent pilot in this game will usually only take mobility hits in places where he or she's able to recover, so the critical hit negation aspect is hardly worthwhile.  Furthermore actually catching on a fire that would require extinguishing is excessively rare, only within the last 10 hit points of the chopper's armor at a point where you'd probably be bailing out anyway.  The only way I could see this unlock could be improved is by removing the restriction that it can only be used when the vehicle is in a critical state.

ECM Jammer (21,000 points): Okay.
Flares will trump ECM in most situations.  The only advantage of ECM is its ability to deny the enemy the ability to fire for the duration of its use, however flares cause lock-on to break and it takes almost as long to recover the lock against them as the amount of time that ECM denies locks.  Activating ECM after a missile is already fired produces unpredictable results, often the missile will fly tight circles around your helo until ECM disengages and will then hit you anyway.  If anything, the best way to make ECM more viable would be to make it easier to re-acquire lock-on through a field of IR flares.

UPGRADES

Gyro Stabilizer (starting upgrade): Good.
Does its job, although if you fly safe enough you'll probably prefer other options.

Stealth Coating (3,000 points): Good.
Noticeable impact on lock-on times.  It'll win you some helo-vs-helo fights if you use it in combination with ducking behind buildings for cover.

Proximity Scan (18,000 points): Okay.
Barely tried this, to be honest.  As a pilot, I don't spend a lot of time watching my minimap.  I'm sure it does its job.  Furthermore it's probably the best option for nearby friendly ground forces, so especially useful on close-quarter maps like Dawnbreaker.

Belt Feeder (15,000 points): Good.
My personal preference for the slot.  This will have your minigun up and running about 50% of the time.  If you're a good enough shot with the primary weapon it's probably a better option than stealth coating against other choppers.

Air Radar (24,000 points): Okay.
Once again, it does its job if it's what you're looking for.  I prefer to focus on infantry with the scout though.  Also, I wish it had longer range.


=== FAST ATTACK CRAFT/ATTACK BOATS ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

25mm Cannon (starting weapon): Good.
Very nicely balanced being extremely effective against infantry but you'll probably prefer using your secondary against most vehicles.  May have a little too much ammo.

30mm Cannon (7,000 points): Bad.
Runs out of ammo far too quickly and is only marginally better than the 25mm against vehicles.  Does not fulfill its role. Avoid until patched.

Burst Cannon (13,000 points): Okay.
Does well against helicopters, and may be your best anti-air option if that's how you look to use the boats.  However, its damage against other vehicles and especially against infantry is disappointing.  In my opinion the shells should do the same damage against vehicles and infantry as the default 25mm cannon, leaving this unlock to only be held back by the fact it runs out of ammo so quickly.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

TOW Missile (starting weapon): Good.
Your best option against enemy boats and any armor you come across.  It will struggle with active protection systems as more players begin to unlock those, but it should remain viable.

Passive Radar Missiles (3,000 points): Okay.
Not the greatest AA weapon in the game, but until you get the Burst Cannon this is your go-to AA weapon for the boats.  As a general balance note I feel laser-guided weapons like these should only be disrupted by ECM, not flares.  Unless and until such a change is made they will be difficult to use effectively.

Laser-Guided Missiles (9,000 points): Bad.
Avoid, avoid, avoid. Enemy boats with TOWs and zoom optics will eat you for breakfast. The lock-on needs to have much longer range for these to be effective.

Zuni Rockets (11,000 points): Okay.
A well-rounded secondary weapon.  Like the 25mm cannon it's viable against everything so pairing the two weapons and switching off reloads is probably the best way to use this.  However the arc of these rockets will leave you at a severe disadvantage against TOW users at long range so their use is somewhat relegated to the close-quarters boat gameplay style niche.  They're very good for high-speed drive-by attacks at least.

TV-Guided Missile (15,000 points):  Bad to okay.
Barely even tried this.  The concept of a weapon that requires me to take my eyes off the road (or sea, in this case) bothers me immensely.  Furthermore I have heard only bad things about its damage output so far.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Smoke (starting countermeasure): Good.
Does its job well.  You should stick with it until reaching Active Protection.

Smokescreen (4,000 points): Bad.
At the speeds you're generally going to be traveling at with these boats you will fly by your smokescreen in less than a second.  That makes it only useful against anything behind you or when nearly stationary, and only very briefly in the first case. Can't imagine anyone making extensive use of this.

Fire Extinguisher (12,000 points): Bad.
Both mobility hits and catching fire are rare in a boat.

Active Protection (16,000): Good, borderline overpowered.
Ignore one direct hit from any explosive weapon or even tank shells. Huh. No one in their right mind's going to not use this when they get access to it. It's even slightly glitchy and will take so long to disengage after intercepting a hit from a guided bomb that if a second guided bomb was launched directly afterward it will intercept that as well. The only drawback I have seen on this unlock has been its inconsistency against the engineer rockets.

OPTICS

Zoom Optics (starting optics): Good.
On a boat, there are really no other choices.  These optics in combination with the TOW are your best bet for becoming king (admiral?) of the high seas.

IRNV Optics (6,000 points): Bad.
Terrible range, terribly vulnerable to blindness from random light sources, terrible resolution.  You will not want to use these on any vehicle for which you have them unlocked.

Thermal Optics (14,000 points): Okay.
If you're looking to highlight enemy infantry against the background, these are at least much more useable than the IRNV optics. However the strobing effect they have causes me a lot of problems and I personally don't find them nearly as effective as they were in BF3.

UPGRADES

Maintenance (starting upgrade): Good.
It was the only option in the category for me.  Sea battles are such hit-and-run affairs that the improved recovery time will almost always be kicking in before you're into another fight.

Thermal Camo (2,000 points): Okay.
It does what it says on the box but personally I'm only really locked onto by attack jets when I'm in a boat, and active protection will be up every time an attack jet's guided bombs are ready so this unlock hasn't really been that useful.

Proximity Scan (5,000 points): Borderline useless.
An unlock for the sake of having more unlocks if I've ever seen one.

Belt Feeder (8,000 points): Good.
Quite viable.  I personally found the reload speed of my preferred primary weapon, the 25mm Cannon, so short as to find this unnecessary, but others will probably prefer it.

Air Radar (10,000 points): Okay.
I could see this being quite useful for dedicated anti-air attack boats, if people are doing such things.


=== INFANTRY FIGHTING VEHICLES ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

25mm HE Shells (starting weapon): Good.
Nicely balanced primarily anti-infantry weapon.  Good but not excessive splash damage.  Helpful against armor but you'll prefer a strong secondary.  Ammo deep but not overly so.  All around quite useful.  Only one glaring issue: it actually does not do enough damage to take out an enemy IFV with the ammo available so until you get the TOW anti-armor fights are going to be realllly brutal.

APFSDS-T (alphabet) Shells: Bad.
Very strongly nerfed from BF3, they will no longer do enough damage against armored targets to be worth losing the splash damage of the 25mm HE Shells. Look for a strong anti-armor secondary instead.

Canister Shells: Okay.
Again, they do what they say they do.  If this is your IFV playstyle then by all means go for it, but I prefer being able to hit people behind walls and corners with the 25mm.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Coaxial LMG (starting weapon): Good.
Although effective, its hard to find a use for these considering the secondary slot seems best utilized for anti-armor work. This renders their use to an anti-infantry specialist niche, but it is very good in that role so no real balance complaints there.

TOW Missile (6,000 points): Good.
Your best anti-armor threat.  It will lose efficacy as tank and IFV drivers unlock Active Protection, but for now it's the only real contender for the slot.

Zuni Rockets (31,000 points): Okay.
Much less effective against armor than the TOW, but better against Active Protection and enemy infantry to boot, these may eventually overtake the TOW as the best option for the slot.  However, their stated anti-air capability is severely limited by the vertical traversal range of the IFV turrets.  If the turret traversal could be improved to be more like the mobile anti-air with these equipped they'd be terrific.  As is though, they left me disappointed.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Smoke (starting countermeasure): Good.
Like the boats, your best option until Active Protection.

Smokescreen (15,000 points): Good.
Unlike the boats, relatively useful in many situations.  You will probably prefer IR Smoke for breaking missile locks, but breaking enemy spotting and repositioning can be more effective in some situations.  Especially in narrow streets.

Fire Extinguisher (26,000 points): Okay.
You'll probably find yourself critical hit a lot more in an IFV than you are in a scout chopper or attack boat, so you may find a use for the extinguisher here.  Furthermore a disabled IFV loses its one major advantage over a main battle tank, its speed, so I wouldn't be surprised if some people have been using this effectively.

Active Protection (35,000 points): Good, borderline overpowered.
Your "get out of jail free" card.

OPTICS

Zoom Optics (starting optics): Good.
Not necessarily as clear a choice as for the Attack Boats, it's useful for the TOW but won't help your primary weapons too much.  Still my preferred choice for the slot.

IRNV Optics (11,000 points): Bad.
Everything I had to say about them in the Attack Boats section applies here as well.

Thermal Optics (17,000 points): Good.
At least less niche than for attack boats, I still hate whatever that strobing/glowing/bloom effect is.

UPGRADES

Maintenance (starting upgrade): Good.
High speed hit-and-run attacks are, like with the boats, maybe the best way to use the IFVs. To this end maintenance will get you moving after a critical hit faster than anything but the Fire Extinguisher countermeasure, and will have you back to full armor faster to boot.  Very viable even after everything's unlocked.

Thermal Camo (4,000 points): Okay.
Does what it does well enough, but the other options are generally preferable.  Could be slightly improved by preventing MBT LAWs and Smart Rockets from homing (maybe it already does?).

Autoloader (19,000 points): Good.
My personal go-to.  The 25mm has ammunition in enough supply (and the enemy has infantry in enough supply) that maximizing your firing uptime seems like the best use for this slot.

Reactive Armor (28,000 points): Okay.
I simply don't get critical hit enough for this to be useful to me.  Apparently you also still need to repair it manually like in BF3.  In my opinion with its damage-ignoring effect removed from BF3 to BF4, it should now auto-repair with the rest of the tank.

GUNNER OPTICS

Gunner Zoom (starting optics): Okay.
The .50 cals the gunners have on tanks and IFVs have too much recoil, too little uptime, and do too little damage to enemy helicopters for this to be worthwhile in my opinion.

Gunner IRNV (17,000 points): Okay.
Considering the effective range of the gunner's machine gun is very short anyway, the range limits on the IRNV aren't terrible.  And I believe it can see through some cover, can anyone confirm on deny?

Gunner Thermal (30,000 points): Okay.
My gunner personally prefers this but again, thermal is not what it used to be.

GUNNER UPGRADES

Gunner Belt Feeder (starting upgrade): Good.
Probably your best bet if your gunner can aim and is decently situationally aware.  Remember:  the gunner MGs have unlimited ammo.

Gunner Proximity Scan (9,000 points): Good.
I put this on hoping it displayed everything to the driver as well, but it does not appear to.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.  Still even if it doesn't it's probably the best way to have your gunner keep pesky recons from C4ing you.

Gunner SOFLAM (23,000 points): Okay.
Why is this an unlock for a vehicle without laser-guided weapons?  For teamplay purposes?  Good luck coordinating that.

Gunner Incendiary (33,000 points): Okay.
I'd rather it killed nearby soldiers instead of just damaging them.  By the time this DOT can kill a recon you'll probably already be looking at a C4 death screen.


=== ATTACK JETS ===

PRIMARY WEAPON

30mm GAU Cannon (starting weapon): Overpowered.
Your only choice for the category, not that you'd want another one.  Strangely the best anti-aircraft weapon in the game, it will annihilate any stealth jet unfortunate enough to find itself in your crosshairs.  It contends with the mobile AA for the fastest way to down an enemy AC-130 gunship.  It performs decently against armor, shines against helicopters, and will kill infantry in 3 hits if your aim is up to the challenge.  So incredibly powerful and well-rounded it leaves selection of your secondary weapon completely wide open.  Which maybe was the idea?

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Laser-Guided Missiles (starting weapon): Good.
30 damage per hit against armor, 2 missiles available.  That's 60 damage on a good pass without using the 30mm.  You should be able to do 30-40 damage with the 30mm on the second pass.  So you can solo tanks reliably with the combination.  Just prepare to rage when you go after a vehicle with Active Protection.

Heatseekers (6,000 points): Good.
Want to own the sky?  Equip these.  You don't even need to actually use them.  Just switch to them, scan back and forth across the sky until you see a red diamond, then switch back to your 30mm and fire away.  You now own the sky.  Enjoy!

Hydra Rockets (12,000 points):  Okay.
The problem here isn't with the weapon itself but the way it's utilized.  You already have the 30mm for strafing passes, so another strafing weapon probably isn't the greatest choice.  I much preferred the added versatility of Heatseekers, so I barely tried these.  I wouldn't be surprised to hear people have been using these quite effectively though, they were terrific in BF3.

TV-Guided Missile (21,000 points): Bad to okay.
See my comments under the Fast Attack Craft section.

JDAM Bombs (27,000 points): Good.
Very well balanced in their difficulty to use versus their efficacy.  It's extremely tricky to make a good pass with these things compared to the laser-guided missiles.  However, they do much better damage.  Some pilots will probably be dominating everything in the open with them soon, but they weren't for me.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Flares (starting countermeasure): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

ECM Jammer (15,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Fire Extinguisher (18,000 points): Borderline useless.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

UPGRADES

Gyro Stabilizer (starting upgrade): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Stealth Coating (3,000 points): Good.
My preferred option.  The one disadvantage of the attack jets is their lack of an afterburner, so you will remain in lock-on range of stingers and the like for longer than you would with the stealth jets.  Giving yourself a little more time to get out of that range is a good option.

Proximity Scan (9,000 points): Borderline useless.
Really not sure what this is doing here.  Leave recon to the recons.

Belt Feeder (24,000 points): Okay.
I found it to be overkill, personally.  It's hard to exhaust the 30mm in a single strafing pass as it is, so the only advantage this realistically confers is for dogfighting purposes, and in that case you (1) won't need to fire long to down the enemy jet and (2) probably won't have your crosshairs on him for long either.


=== ATTACK HELICOPTERS ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

Hydra Rockets (starting weapon): Good.
Decent anti-armor damage, good anti-infantry damage and splash.  Wish the ammo pool regenerated just a little bit faster though.

Zuni Rockets (17,000 points): Overpowered.
Far, far better than the hydras against enemy helicopters.  And so subtle about it, the enemy will not know the difference between these and hydras before it's too late.  Before you get these, scout and transport choppers will be real threats to you, probably even at an advantage over you.  After you get these, you will no longer need to worry about them.  All of this is well and good in terms of overall game balance, especially considering the limited ammo pool for these compared to the Hydras (8 Zunis compared to the 12 Hydras).  I take issue, however, with the splash damage against infantry.  It is too high.  Barely less than the Hydra splash.  There should be no splash on these whatsoever.

Smart Rockets (38,000 points): Terrible.
I took these out on one attack helo run, did 30 damage to an enemy tank, ran out of ammo, then searched for the nearest tree I could find and rammed my chopper into it.  Just horrible damage.  No one with the lack of aim required to get anything from these will ever score the 38,000 attack helo points required to unlock them.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Heatseekers (starting weapon): Good.
If you are like me you will never even look at the TOW.  These are absolutely essential for self-defense at long range.

TOW Missile (32,000 points): ???
I like TOWs and all (no I mean [I really like TOWs...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L98aUKnvVFs)), but not here, sorry.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Flares (starting countermeasure): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Fire Extinguisher (11,000 points): Borderline useless.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

ECM Jammer (20,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

UPGRADES

Gyro Stabilizer (starting upgrade): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Stealth Coating (4,000 points): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Air Radar (26,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

GUNNER SECONDARY WEAPONS

Laser-Guided Missiles (23,000 points): Good.
You don't trust your gunner's aim? Equip these.

TV Missile (35,000 points): Okay.
You trust your gunner's aim? Equip these. But the damage could be a little better.

GUNNER OPTICS

Gunner Zoom (starting optics): Good.
More or less essential for battles with other choppers.  Unless you've got great AA or jets with you, leave it in the slot.

Gunner IRNV (14,000 points): Borderline useless.
I'm pretty sure the range doesn't even reach the ground in most situations.  I guess it's good for trolling gunners.

Gunner Thermal (29,000 points): Good.
Viable if you expect to be dealing with mostly infantry and aren't concerned about enemy choppers.  To that end, maybe look at it for Rogue Transmission.

GUNNER UPGRADES

Gunner Belt Feeder (starting upgrade): Good.
You'll probably want to keep this here if you don't want to be at a noticeable disadvantage against enemy attack helos.

Gunner Proximity Scan (7,000 points): Okay.
That said, proximity scan is not a terrible alternative.  Decent gunners may be frustrated by it though.


=== MAIN BATTLE TANK ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

AP Shells (starting weapon): Okay.
All shells should one-shot helicopters in my (tank lover) opinion.  Otherwise this shell is fine, but currently at a clear disadvantage to HE Shells.

HE Shells (25,000 points): Good.
You will want these in this slot at all times.  Their damage output against armor is significantly higher than the other two options without any sacrifice in reload time or ammunition pool, so without these equipped you are going into every 1v1 tanking situation at an immediate disadvantage.  That said, their splash damage against infantry is noticeably reduced compared to the AP shell. Therefore these are fine as they currently are for overall balance purposes, but the other shells should be given increased ammunition counts or slightly reduced reload times to make them more attractive.

Sabot Shells (64,000 points): Okay.
May have a niche use on longer-range maps like Golmud Railway, but I'm sticking with HE.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Coaxial LMG (starting weapon): Good, borderline overpowered.
Accurate, fast-firing, hard-enough-hitting.  I tried the other options but I always came back.  Combined with Zoom Optics these make tanks a force to truly be reckoned with.  If it has to be scaled back I'd recommend adding a slightly faster overheat.

Guided Shells (12,000 points): Okay.
In my mind, a tank does not exist to take on other tanks, but to take on 10x the number of infantry.  But if you want a dedicated anti-vehicle platform and have Gunner SOFLAM, look no further.

Coaxial HMG (39,000 points): Good.
It does hit hard.  And it is accurate.  I was tempted to replace the LMG with it, but ultimately the LMG is just too much more forgiving against rapidly moving small targets like infantry and quad bikes.  And on a personal level I feel confident enough in my aim with the shells to not want the HMG for air targets.  Oh, and the ammo box will occassionally block the screen like in BF3, but at least this time when you switch to 3rd person and back it disappears.

Canister Shells (46,000 points): Bad to okay.
I'm entirely too active a tanker to use a secondary weapon that shares its reload timer with the primary weapon. I did force myself to try it for two lives and it seemed liked its damage had been reduced from BF3, but to be honest I never really used it there either.

Staff Shells (58,000 points): Okay but glitchy.
I thought these were badass when I first tried them and killed an enemy infantry behind heavy cover with no backdrop for splash damage. Then I tried doing that again, four or five more times actually, and it never happened again.  They do damage tanks, but minimally, and again share a reload timer with the primary weapon so you'd never want to actually use them in a 1v1 tank situation. So, niche and inconsistent at the moment.  Not a great combination.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Smoke (starting countermeasure): Good.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Smokescreen (29,000 points): Good.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Fire Extinguisher (49,000 points): Bad.
Main Battle Tanks are much less shoot-and-scoot vehicles than IFVs, so I'd avoid this here.

Active Protection (69,000 points): Good, borderline overpowered.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

OPTICS

Zoom Optics (starting optics): Good.
It will mess with your estimation of shell trajectories but it is phenomenal in combination with either of the supremely accurate Coaxial MGs.

IRNV Optics (21,000 points): Bad.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Thermal Optics (42,000 points): Good.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

UPGRADES

Maintenance (starting upgrade): Okay.
It won't be kicking in in the middle of any tank duels, but I suppose it's useful for people afraid a teammate will steal their tank if they get out of it after the duel's over.

Thermal Camo (7,000 points): Okay.
Does what it says it does.  Like I mentioned with the IFVs, it would be interesting to see this affect homing weapons without lock-ons like the MBT LAW and Smart Rockets.

Autoloader (32,000 points): Good.
Like HE Shells, basically required for 1v1 tanking situation where both tankers are of equal skill, equal positioning, and equally aware of each other.

Reactive Armor (55,000 points): Okay.
Like with IFVs I'd like to see this regenerate with the rest of the tank now that it's lost its damage mitigation mechanic.

GUNNER OPTICS

Gunner Zoom (starting optics): Okay.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Gunner IRNV (36,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Gunner Thermal (61,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

GUNNER UPGRADES

Gunner Belt Feeder (starting optics): Good.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Gunner Proximity Scan (17,000 points): Good.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.

Gunner SOFLAM (52,000 points): Good.
Obviously strong in combination with Guided Shells for a dedicated anti-vehicular tank.  What would be really interesting would be to see this in the optics category instead.

Gunner Incendiary (67,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Infantry Fighting Vehicle section.


=== STEALTH JETS ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

20mm Cannon (starting weapon): Bad.
Absolutely the worst vehicle weapon I have seen in any Battlefield game all the way back to 1942. A terrible pea-shooter of a weapon. Forcing jet pilots to use this until they manage 12,000 points is a cruel joke, DICE.  And I've historically despised air power in Battlefield games.  Its damage must be doubled.

25mm Cannon (12,000 points): Bad.
And then things don't really get better.  As far as I can tell, the 25mm has the same rate of fire and does the same amount of damage to most targets as the 20mm.  It even had the same sound effect, which originally made me think I failed to equip it until I noticed it did 2 damage to enemy jets instead of 1.  Terrific.  Its damage should also be doubled but with a slight rate of fire reduction.

30mm Cannon (24,000 points): Okay.
Only viable against enemy jets.  Choppers will not respect it, boats will laugh at it, armor will not even notice it.  This is not the 30mm GAU of the Attack Jet.  But it is the only option for this slot.  Its damage does not need double like the other cannons, but 1 point more damage against air would be nice considering how fast this cannon is to overheat compared to the Attack Jet's GAU.  I do like clear the rate of fire tradeoff from the other cannons.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Heatseekers (starting weapon): Okay.
You'll need to use these often and quite well.  They are your only source of points for quite a long, long time.  The most effective technique seems to be to charge helicopters with these locked, force them to flare without firing or fire at the last second before passing by so they can't flare in time.  Good luck.

Passive Radar Missiles (6,000 points): Bad.
Requires the lock to be actively maintained while the missile is in flight, which is simply not viable in contested skies.  These missiles need to have their airspeeds increased to reduce the time the lock needs to be held before they can become real alternatives to Heatseekers.

Laser-Guided Missiles (18,000 points): Good.
A legitimate air-to-ground threat, especially with the damage boost from friendly SOFLAM.  Once you hit 18,000 points and unlock these the rest of the stealth jet unlocks will come a lot easier.  Stealth jets tend to get ignored by pretty much everything on the ground except mobile AA as no one seems to be aware that this unlock exists.  In fact, because of that I actually prefer the stealth jets to the attack jets for bombing purposes.  Their supermaneuverability comes in handy for bombing as well.

Active Radar Missiles (30,000 points): Good.
The final unlock for the stealth jets is arguably the most important.  A truly dominant air-to-air weapon, these missiles can be dumb fired but then home to the nearest airborne target they come across.  They do damage on par with heatseekers to all aircraft.  Just don't go crazy with them, you only get 2 and they take a long time to regenerate.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Flares (starting countermeasure): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

ECM Jammer (15,000 points): Okay.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Fire Extinguisher (21,000 points): Borderline useless.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

UPGRADES

Gyro Stabilizer (starting upgrade): Good.
See my comments under the Scout Helicopter section.

Belt Feeder (3,000 points): Good.
The 20mm and 25mm cannons are not exceptionally fast to overheat, but the 30mm (the best primary weapon available) absolutely is.  You will need this if you want to be able to fire every time you get a target into your crosshairs.

Proximity Scan (9,000 points): Borderline useless.
See my comments under the Attack Jet section.

Stealth Coating (27,000 points): Okay.
As the stealth jets have afterburners and are supermaneuverable you will probably find that this slot is much better spent on belt feeder, as defense will be less of a concern than in the attack jets and you'll want to increase your damage output as much as possible.


=== MOBILE ANTI-AIRCRAFT ===

PRIMARY WEAPONS

20mm Cannon (starting weapon): Good.
The DPS against air targets feels very fair.  Its minimal bullet drop makes it an exceptional anti-infantry weapon at range as well, giving the mobile AA a little more purpose.  Feels just right.

30mm Cannon (9,000 points): Good.
Like the 30mm stealth jet cannon, do not expect the 30mm GAU of the attack jet here.  What you do get is a moderately harder hitting cannon with a significant reduction in rate of fire from the 20mm, a tradeoff I feel is pretty well-balanced.  This cannon is also the better option against infantry in close quarters, but once again there is a nice tradeoff with the 20mm being quite easier to hit infantry with at range.  Overall this category seems quite well balanced at the moment and the two options come down mostly to user preference.

SECONDARY WEAPONS

Heatseekers (starting weapon): Good.
Damage, range, ammunition pool, everything feels fine here.

Passive Radar Missiles (5,000 points): Okay.
More viable than in the stealth jets as you won't be dogfighting as you guide them to their targets.  However, I still think these weapons that require active lock should only be affected by ECM and not flares.

Zuni Rockets (13,000 points): Good.
A nice close-in unguided missile option with a very important bonus:  efficiency against armored ground vehicles.  This is probably the best option for short range AA work on maps without jets, such as Zavod 311.

Active Radar Missiles (15,000 points): Overpowered.
You receive entirely too many of these beasts, and they replenish too fast as well.  The ammo pool should be reduced to the same 2 missiles the stealth jet gets, with the same regeneration rate as well.  Mechanically I don't have a problem with them.  Jets need a good hard counter.

COUNTERMEASURES

IR Smoke (starting countermeasure): Good.
As mobile AA, most of your incoming threats are going to be from long range lock-on attacks, so this is a great unlock to start with.

Smokescreen (8,000 points): Okay.
You'll probably end up blinding yourself more than anything else.  But it does what it says it does.

Fire Extinguisher (12,000 points): Bad.
As with tanks there are far better options for the slot.  As with all vehicles I'd like it to be able to start vehicle regeneration without the vehicle being in a critical state.

Active Protection (16,000 points): Good.
A little more essential and a little less overpowered than it is for the other armored vehicles as you're not a credible offensive threat to those vehicles so you'll need all the defensive help you can get.

OPTICS

Zoom Optics (starting optics): Good.
With the accuracy of the cannons at range, you won't want to use anything else.

IRNV Optics (3,000 points): Borderline useless.
A range-limited set of optics for a vehicle that specializes in fighting at long range. Wonderful.

Thermal Optics (10,000 points): Okay.
Perhaps viable on Zavod.  Not for me though.

UPGRADES

Maintenance (starting upgrade): Good.
Useful for maximizing your airspace denial uptime by saving yourself the need to get out and repair.

Thermal Camo (2,000 points): Okay.
You're likely to be mostly stationary with an AA vehicle, so it's not like you'll be ducking behind cover with 1 more second before lock-ons.  Again, having this affect MBT LAWs and Smart Rockets would be a little better.

Autoloader (4,000 points): Good.
Permanently replaced Maintenance for me, as it even further increased my airspace denial uptime.

Proximity Scan (7,000 points): Okay.
Only really useful on close-in maps like Zavod.

Reactive Armor (11,000 points): Okay.
There are better choices in the category, but there's something to be said for not being disabled in an AA tank.  You'll probably be running from any enemy armor you come across, so this will help you run when you need to.  But I personally just try to stay back.

Air Radar (14,000 points): Okay.
It'll do what you ask of it.  May be quite useful if there's ever a map with both the mobile AA tanks and low visibility, but right now there isn't.


=== CONCLUSIONS ===

OVERALL VEHICLE BALANCE

I hope I didn't come off as too negative, as overall I think the balance is actually really good.  I think most everyone recognizes stealth jet cannons need a buff at this point, and mobile AA is too good at airspace denial at the moment but I think most of that can be attributed to the number of Active Radar Missiles it receives.  Just improving the stealth jet cannons and reducing the AA's number of Active Radar Missiles would fix most of the issues I have with the current vehicle balance.  The rest is mostly picking nits.  What do all of you think so far?


CLIFF NOTES

* Stealth jet cannons are a bad joke.
* The Attack Jet cannon should do less air-to-air damage.
* Scout helicopter miniguns could use a range nerf.
* Zuni Rockets should have no splash damage whatsoever.
* Tank shells need more diversity in reload timers or ammunition pools.
* Reactive Armor should self-repair with the rest of the vehicle.
* Flares and ECM should not use RNG.
* Flares and IR Smoke should not affect weapons that require an active lock all the way to the target.
* Fire Extinguisher should let you start vehicle self-repair without the vehicle being in a critical state.
* The 2nd and 3rd Attack Boat cannons should have their damage slightly buffed.
* Mobile AA should receive fewer Active Radar Missiles.
* Passive Radar Missiles need an airspeed increase.
* Maybe Thermal Camo/Stealth Coating should affect homing dumb-fire weapons like MBT LAW, Smart Rockets, and Active Radar Missiles.
* Maybe the Coaxial LMG should overheat a bit faster.
* Maybe Gunner SOFLAM should be in the Gunner Optics category.
* Maybe Air Radar should have longer range.
* IRNV is terrible.