LW: Avalanche vs Stingray

[frdnwsm]

Does the stingray have any specific uses? Maybe preferable over the Avalanche against smaller alien craft?

Also, I'm getting pretty disgusted with the way the airwar is desgned here. One interceptor with Avalanche misiles can't shoot down squat. It takes 3 successive attacks usually to shoot down a crummy scout. Good luck trying to bring down a raider; I once sent 4 interceptors against the same raider and they all got severely damaged. The raider escaped.

If I can send up 4 planes sequentially against the same craft, why can't I send them up all at once, where they might have a fighting chance?

[Mhblis]

This sounds like you are playing LW if so put it in the title.

In LW each weapon has very distinct uses and it tells you so in their description and some loading hints.

In vanilla there is little difference early on and you should not be struggling in that way with the air war.

[OUnilateralis]

Originally posted by Mhblis:

This sounds like you are playing LW if so put it in the title.

The title does say "LW:" for Long War, so it is in the title already.

Anyway, the diffrence between the two, for the OP, is that the stingray missiles do more against armored UFOs and avalanche missiles are better for non-armored ufos. You should generally safe stingray interceptors for taking down raiders if they stop by, and avalanche for the scouts and stuff. The air game in Long War in my opinion is a bit unbalanced with the repair times and power of ufos, so there isn't really much that can be done with 2-3 being needed to take down a scout. However for the raider problem having one with stingray missiles, while it still won't do so well, at least should give a chance.

[Doing gens, you?]

I wouldnt advise taking on any aircraft bigger than small without at least laser cannons (Better aim, better rate of fire, AND better damage), even Raiders. They just have too much hp, and will end up sending a bunch of your jets to repair. Small ufos are already a challenge enough for starting jet weapons.

Stingrays have better armor penetration, so use them against fighters (The only small aircraft with armor).

As for aim, aggressive gives you the highest chance to hit (55% base on starting weapons) so always do that. The enemy ufos already have more aim than your jets so u need to get hits in when u can.

Most importantly, every kill a pilot has increases his aim by 3% and his damage by 1%, up to a max of 30% and 10% respectively. Keep that in mind when choosing pilots to go on important fights.

[draxthewickedone]

Originally posted by smol catto:

Most importantly, every kill a pilot has increases his aim by 3% and his damage by 1%, up to a max of 30% and 10% respectively. Keep that in mind when choosing pilots to go on important fights.

Damage bonus is not limited. Everything else is correct.

[frdnwsm]

I finally managed to afford to outfit two of my Ravens with laser cannon. Now they do too MUCH damage to scouts; there's no wreckage left to salvage. They can also take down raiders; same result. Oh well, I still get a cash award for shooting them down.

Unfortunately, I am chronically short of alloys, due to having a ton of item repairs, so it will be a while before I can manufacture a third such laser.