British Deck, why all the hate?

[Hussar]

British Deck

I was playing yesterday with a British Deck when I was told not to use it, that it was very inferior to other National decks and put the entire team at a disadvantage. Is this really the case? I play with a number of decks and find they each have strengths and weaknesses. I win more than I lose with my Brit Deck so have not noticed a big problem.

I don’t use SEAD much so its only the lack of Napalm that I find difficult but some well placed Royal Marines make up for it, after the recent patch I in-fact find there AAA to be very good, spread out Rapier's that can't be hit by SEAD backed up with some of the anti plane Rapier's at the back making a mobile AAA trap works really well for a small cost.

Tanks are very good apart from the Scorpion, infantry and recon are good, artillery is the same as the US, air has a nice mix of cheap and expensive, ATGM helicopters are really good.

Am I missing something really obvious? I don't want to piss of all my team if it really is a big disadvantage, or put my self at one but I can't see a problem. I get that the US is the most well rounded but are the French and West German Decks really so much better? Why all the hate?

[stww2]

I have used a Brithish deck before and I really liked it. While it certainly has its disadvantages, so does any national deck. The British tanks might be slow and their lack of SEAD napalm is a disadvantage, a US deck suffers from poor AA, the French tanks lack good amour and stabilizers, and West Germany lacks some units as well. In my opinion Britain is one of the best national decks.

[orcbuster]

Ignore the idiots. I play norway 95% of the time and my win ratio is around 70%

[Airows]

its slow as ♥♥♥♥
thats the only reason

[Hussar]

OK thanks. Its good to know I'm not missing something big.

Brit decks used to get decimated by Air and I think some people have not realised that they have some good AAA now.

Its personal preference but I like lots of cheap ish Rapiers all over the place, I find air rushes easy to turn back now and with 8 shots each they don’t eat supply like US AAA.

As for speed, Saracen IFV and Linxs Helos do well to get your infantry to the nice spots its just the heavy armour that is slow and I find the high armour and good guns makes up for it. Its all depends on how you play I guess. I always have a hard time as France when T-80s start turning up, I miss heavy tanks then... :)

[Drang]

Brits decks can't fight helicopters, the majority of their tanks have mediocre DPS, they have no SEAD, their air superiority fighters are inferior to both the Swedish Viggen and the American F-15 series, and it has crap artillery. It's the weakest "major" nation deck, just above Can/Nor/Denmark in terms of utility.

[Hussar]

See thats my point, Rapiers now slaughter helicopters easy since the patch/DLC, its almost overpowered how is it still said they can't fight helicopters? The numbers on the Tornado are the same as the F-15 but with a worse cannon and a faster refuel time. Are there hidden numbers? Again the arty is the same as the US in its numbers?

The one thing I think they should change is more it more on par with France as for the number of points you get in a deck. It's the second lowest at the moment after the US and that’s a little low.

[Macadam]

Ask your teammates to give you a chance before criticizing your choices. If they don't want ... Well you'll know them a little bit more ...
If you have fun with a country deck no one should tell you what to do. If you make your team lose time after time then you should listen to their advises.
My two cents

[Hussar]

Good words, my main concern was that not all the numbers are shown on the armoury screen. Jet rearm times are something I would like to see more of since they vary a lot and it can make a big difference. So I was not sure if there was something I was missing, I always want to know why something is the case.

If someone says something is bad or good, I want to know why...

[Macadam]

If you know how to use it, a british deck is as deadly as any other deck. Developpers have spend a lot of time to balance all the forces even if they had to go for unrealistic... So you should not to much worry and enjoy the game. :-)

[Nats]

Idiots - you cant get way from them. Play how you want. I cant stand these people who take a flaming game too seriously. Dont play a game with them again is my advice. This is the problem with multiplayer you know. You get a lot of idiots. It does make me really wonder about what the world is really like you know, the number of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ in the world is staggering. Thank goodness there is some normal people like you and me

[DarthHammer]

Okay this is totally off topic and not actually answering your question (though in my defense that answer is pretty obviously that those people are wrong and a UK deck is fine) but you keep referring to Rapiers as AAA. That stands for "Anti Aircraft Artillery" which only referrs to shell-based anti aircraft weapons, like Vulcans or Falcons. A Rapier would be classified as a Mobile SAM (Surface to Air Missile.)

The More You Know.

[Hussar]

Good to know, I thought Anti Aircraft Artillery included mobile SAMs as well as anti-aircraft guns. Rocket Artillery is still a form of Artillery after all, even if it is not a gun. I can't find a clarification for this, do you have one? I think your right however because most places mention both separately when talking about SEAD.

The Rapier system itself has been call AAA a number of time by the Royal Artillery but not in any literature I can find so it may well have been a mistake.

Would self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon (SPAA) be a better classification for both?

[FakeMessiah]

I used to not like it very much, but I realised most of their power if in the infantry, and since putting them to use, I find the deck rather effective. My only complaint, which I wish would be sorted out, is how all the British fighter aircraft (The Tornado F2 and F3) only have the option for Trained skill level units. I find them to be utter trash, I usually go for quality over quantity, but there is no option with them. I just find when you use them 8/10 times they will get shot down or simply not kill anything, as due to their skill level they just miss every shot and get hit by every missle despite a half decent ECM and accuracy rating. Just please, instead of only having 2 units of trained aircraft put in the option for only 1 of Hardened at least!

[FakeMessiah]

Originally posted by Drang:

Brits decks can't fight helicopters, the majority of their tanks have mediocre DPS, they have no SEAD, their air superiority fighters are inferior to both the Swedish Viggen and the American F-15 series, and it has crap artillery. It's the weakest "major" nation deck, just above Can/Nor/Denmark in terms of utility.

I find their arty actually rules for taking out enemy AA.

[Hussar]

I agree the option would be better, but with jets I like numbers.

With the Tornado's have you tried sending them out with wingmen? I first started doing it when I was using low end fighters as the Chez but now I do it whenever I can, two jets not only gives you much better chance of hitting things but most incoming fire is split between the two aircraft so the chance of one getting shot down is greatly reduced, in-fact its very rare I lose a Tornado F3 now to anything. Two jets are more than twice as good as one. The fast rearm time of the Tornado makes it ideal for this as you don't lose much air-cover.

I know it can be very expensive as each costs 155 or 140 but it's more than worth it when you get the two out at once, rules the sky better than anything (ok MIG 31's snipping you can still be a problem but in 1v1 he will only have one of these tops). I almost always send my jets in pairs now, even ground attack missions as the chance of them getting shot down is hugely reduced.

One of the awesome things about this game is the way each person gets there own tactics and tricks but its always good to share