Tips for A-Gears

Credits to Blind (Destiny from the other server)
edit: nvm he didn't write it he just posted it in their forum

This is stuff I've learned on my own as well as information I've gathered from great A-gear pilots like Duke but wasn't included elsewhere in this thread.

This leaves out a lot of our vulnerabilities but hints at them. Think about it and you'll figure them out. If you can't think of all of them ask around.

The A gears secondary weapons don't lock.
A-gear missiles actually do lock and require a lock to hit the target. They do NOT home in on the target. They also have a small blast radius, 90m so that you don't have to actually hit the guy with the missiles for them to take damage. However, unless they are flying towards you, away from you, or not moving, the missiles will not hit as even strafing will cause them to miss.
Side note: it would actually be better, imo if they DIDNT lock, and just fired in a straight line from where the gear was facing, but meh w/e. just wait for air mine release.
Another side note: if you're circle dueling (which is viable now with air siege) try getting particle of stinger guards (4x1 pref, not 6x1) and card with explosion cards. goood fun

The newer patches have added longer range radars for I/B gear missiles. They now have a maximum range of 1550m. This encourages A-gears to focus on a Turret style of play. Why? Because your maximum radar range for Standard weapons is only 1300m for Hover which is the best radar for A-gears right now. That means they've got a 250m range advantage over you with their missiles in the air unless you use siege mode or air siege (which face it, as much as it seems like flying, its just a floating turret.) At higher lvls siege mode will give a 30% radar range boost and air siege will give a 20%, which boosts your 1300m to 1690m and 1560, respectively. Don't forget that your prob drops as you exceed the distance on the gun however-Mass drives base 920m, Cannons base 1000m, and Dualists base 1050m. Meaning at 1690 and 1560m respectively, the prob loss would be 80%/70% (remember, the number used for distance penalty is rounded up, so even if you're at 920m, youd lose the same prob as if you were at 1019m.) for mass drives, 70%/60% for cannons, and 70%/60% for dualists. Which is why its always nice to have extra +distance fixes on your gun. (but for the love of god dont distance card them...) but DONT value them above other bonuses. (as in, look for them as a "bonus", not as a main stat). ALternatively, just go closer to them ~_~

So how else does this affect A-gear stats? Since you're gonna be spending most of your time in siege mode to be most effective I would suggest getting spirit to 63, the new standard for AGs. This'll give you enough SP to use fireshot/concen and defence up if you want then siege, multiple times. Also, it breaks the 500 sp limit which increases ur SP regen from 3sp/3sec to 4sp/3sec. Besides that, the highest stat engine you're ever going to use is Lvl 50 and reqs 64 Atk, 48 Def, 64 Shield.

-High atk will let you kill guys before they can hurt you. This is good if you're waiting for them to come to you and are guarding a portal. Also, good for grinding, and generally ALL low lvls since you don't have much stats to put into defence (what with the lousy +3per point instead of the +4 for atk)

-High def will let you take more hits as you try and land and will let you be a better meat shield. This is good if you're trying to break through defense and secure a portal or if you are in a group of A-gears and are the point man. Or you feel like sitting in siege defence and taking 1s from everything. not advised until 78+at least however, and preferably 80+

Now, about weapons, I prefer something with high probability and high reatk. High dmg is good but I'll take probability over atk anyday. Why? Because unlike all the other gears that rely on missiles, the distance on our weapon actually matters! You can shoot at anything within your radar range but your probability starts dropping drastically as you shoot farther pass your weapons distance! If you've only got a probability of 74.9% and try to shoot at something 1300m away, good luck. If you try to shoot at something 1690m away you're just wasting ammo. Higher probability will effectively let you shoot farther when you're in siege mode and will let you utilize your max radar range to the fullest. It doesn't matter how fast you shoot or how hard you hit if you can't hit what you're shooting at and the loss of mobility makes it very important that you take out the enemy as fast as possible since you can't dodge missles anymore, and barrier isnt something you can always count on.

Lastly a few words on siege mode.
-Dualists aren't good for siege mode! Use a Cannon-type or Mass Drive Type. Because siege mode adds 1 cont. fire it changes a 1x1 -> 2x1 which doubles dmg on a Cannon or Mass Drive. On a Dualist-type it'll change from 2x1 to 3x1 which is only a 1.5 increase. However, until you get +1cont on air siege, dualists are viable with air siege, since it only adds +dmg, but remember, if you land you'd have to change guns and rebuff, so id stay away from them anyways.

-Don't siege mobs unless it's something that you can kill really fast, otherwise you'll just end up being hit more, and no matter how much time you save killing, you'll waste that and much more when you have to regen both energy shield and sp.

-Don't stay in siege mode unless you're actually shooting. It just wastes SP so make sure you siege mode is number skill 1-5 so you can reach it w/o moving your hand. You should be toggling it on and off each time you shoot. Although keep in mind everytime you toggle, it costs 3 sp, so if you can change targets within a second, it doesnt matter too much, however beware of autolock, and make sure to check you have the right target before shooting, or you might find yourself in a bad situation. Also, for pvp, it might be wise to stay in siege mode even if your enemy is out of range, if you want to start shooting the moment they enter range. A small sacrifice of sp is worth it, to be prepared and ready.

-Siege mode doesn't allow you to shoot everything! Be aware of siege modes limitations. Just because you can see it doesn't mean you can shoot it. Just because you can shoot at it doesn't mean that you can hit it either. Siege mode relies heavily on your probability to hit in order to take advantage of it's extended radar range, as well as your gear placement (beware the ever dreaded min range, also you can only aim so high above you, and only so low underneath you)

-If you're landing, start landing close to the ground. This will reduce the amount of time you're vulnerable while it autopilots you to the floor. Helps to land while strafing too, since the side of your gear actually goes INTO the ground but you take no damage, and if you place it perfectly you can land instantly, and you have already turned half the way to face whoever is chasing you (if you are being chased) Beware though, a small slip or a bit too far results in a chunk of HP being lost.

-When camping any gate, stay about 1800~m away from it, unless you have the situation COMPLETELY under control, since this way, you have time to react and hit siege and then shoot without losing any shooting time. Or of course, if you can, camp at w/e the max range of your wep is, +300m, and kill them as soon as they get out of warp and before they can hit you.

Written by ravenklaw, updated by gumaster