SAAW: Is it worth it?

[BaseballBat-Boy]

Ok well I got 2 unlocks available at this moment and I'm deciding between taking Baur OR collect 2 more and get Mitchell SAAW. Could you say me anything more about this gun? Like how many shots do I need to shot down a gunship and are they warned when they're locked? Or is it effective against damaged tanks and can I kill a buggy with that? I'd like to hear all your comments and experience with this gun, if it's worth it at all. Thanks.

[King-Poulet]

I don't know if it has been fixed in 1.2

[WarGimp]

There's lots of threads about this...

Cliff notes:
The SAAW is the most specialized weapon in the game. It's only good for one thing... but it rather rocks at it. One dude with a SAAW can really cause problems for the enemy's airpower.
It's about useless for anything else.
2 shots to drop a gunship (yes, they get a lock-on warning tone) and 4 to down a transport.

Personally, I advise not bothering to spend the unlock point. You can always use a field upgrade to unlock it if needed... but that's my personal preference.

[drunken sailor]

i like it its pretty good it stops them from boarding your titan

[siiix]

the SAAW :
no its fairly useless and boring weapon

you cant kill anything else but air vehicles with it
this means not effective near at all : infantry, vehicles, even cars (buggy) get not more damage then maybe 10% (meaning you would need to hit the car/buggy 10 times to kill it)

and seriously how often do you need such weapon IN STEAD of the other 2

it would be great as addition, but not as replacement in what you can carry with your self

in other words SAAW sux donkey

but for your questions:
-yes they make a sound at lock
-2 hits take down any air vehicle
-and the lock works about 50%, but strongly depending on distance
-it is possible to kill infantry but at least 80% less likely to kill then the default gun up close
-targeting any land object farther then 30meter is just about imposible
---------------
the BRAUR.. i like it

[Cann0n-Fodder]

Get the pilum if you are into conquest maps

[WarGimp]

There are some fun things you can do with the SAAW... riding in the back of a transport and shooting down gunships that thought they were about to get some easy kills is good for a laugh. so is landing on the enemy Titan and blasting everything that tries to take off.

Personally, I wish it had a more effective dumbfire mode. when you aren't locked, the missiles should got straight and inflict about 3/4 of the damage the pilum does. Then it could actually be worthwhile.

[siiix]

There are some fun things you can do with the SAAW... riding in the back of a transport and shooting down gunships that thought they were about to get some easy kills is good for a laugh. so is landing on the enemy Titan and blasting everything that tries to take off.


there is an easier method for that :
just go on top titan up front and trow motion mines on top of the shield (they will hover)

so soon the air ships leave the shield they go BOOM

[The Punisher]

Take the Baur man, seriously. It kills anything with either 4 or 5 shots. It's the most powerful assault rifle and has a very low reload time. The SAAW is completely circumstantial. It's only good for killing gunships. Since it takes 4 hits to kill transports, that means you have to reload, and that means by the time you've gotten the second rocket thing in and ready to go, the transports gone. Get the Baur.

[Dibbly]

i like it its pretty good it stops them from boarding your titan

sorry disagree as soon as the lock on tone happens a full transport trying to land on a titan becomes a very empty transport very quickly, as they all pod out ,,, if you want to stop the the transportes deploy a few mines ;) lots of points

Back on track the lock on SAWW is about 75 % dependable for attack craft
and about 35% for the transports and unless the transports are trailing smoke your better saving your ammo as you are not going to bring one down

[WarGimp]

there is an easier method for that :
just go on top titan up front and trow motion mines on top of the shield (they will hover)

so soon the air ships leave the shield they go BOOM
I've done this, but it only works against noobs for the most part.

If you pull forward without gaining much height before you leave the Titan bay, those mines can't get ya.

With a SAAW, you can stand up on the middle portion of the Titan's upper bay area and bingo aircraft all night long... assuming you have resupply handy.

But why split hairs?
Do both!

[siiix]

ohh from landing (not take of) on the titan! no there is not enough time to hit the transport 2-3 times at landing, that would rarely work

if so you can do the same with the pilum or default because the SAWW wont be effective when the transport is still far, and you wont have a lock because they transports have to always fly under the titan to avoid the AA's on top
--------------
not to split hairs, but if you take the SAWW with you , you have to leve the pillum home .. thats a disadvantage.. now if i could have BOTH at the same time :guns:

[BaseballBat-Boy]

Ok so y'all saying it's definetely not worth it. That's what I didn't want to hear. :D I mean I'm really disapointed, I hoped that gun is kickass... Ok nevermind, now I gotta practise with Pilum. I won't take Baur, coz I can't really get used to it. I know it's goddamned powerful, but it's very difficult to hit the target for me, not like Voss.

[Spodeboy]

I only got the SAAW unlock so I can get the extended clip for engineer SMGs from Northern Strike. But I should actually try the SAAW sometime.

[WanderingZephyr]

The SAAW kills infantry in one hit.

...that's really all I have to say that's positive about it. It can be a fun weapon to run around Camp Gibralter with hitting infantry with it--because there's probably nothing short of being killed with the defibrillator that makes you feel kinda silly. And running around an infantry map can just be for some fun.

As a real weapon though, I don't use it. On vehicle heavy maps, I stick with the Pilum. The SAAW is a one trick pony, it's for killing aircraft, and little else. It can do in infantry, but it's best to use your SMG to deal with them. The Pilum is just much more useful and can tackle any vehicle, and if you're good, aircraft and infantry.

[nadicus]

Pretty much what everyone said is true. Its tough to get kills with it, even for its intended purpose. IMHO, its not that good of an AA weapon, even after 1.2 and the fix for it. I mean I'll get solid lock-ons of a transport moving away from me and it just seems the missles disappear. Gunships too.
It is totally a novelty weapon.

I have about 230 kills with it and that puts me about 240th place in the world. So you can see how difficult and time consumming it is. The top 5 people haven't even broken 2000 kills with it yet.

The only redeming thing about it is, IT has the potential to kill infantry. Each missle will kill a full health soldier. The thing is, you pretty much have to be scoped to hit infantry and you have to catch them unawares. ***There are exceptions to these rules***

I would wait until your last unlock unless you like sitting in places for extended periods of time spamming the commander for a supply drop.

Or you could take it with you in a tank so you can protect yourself from gunships.

[McDutchy]

Here's the deal. If you plan to get NS and you play engineer on air maps a lot, get SAAW first. If you play more assault, get the baur first. Only reason I have unlocked the SAAW is because of the sweet-*** magazine capacity upgrade for the SMGs which comes with NS. Otherwise, just stop at motion mines.

[Durutti]

Unless it has been changed in patch 1.2 the SAAW takes out a transport with three missiles and a gunship with two.

No one has bothered to ask this guy what his preferred style of play is.

Do you like smaller, infantry based fights or larger maps. Do you like to drive tanks, walkers, and apcs or do you hop in a fav and do most of your fighting on foot.

If you like driving tanks or walkers the saaw is a great weapon to have. In a tank you don't really need the pilum because your vehicle is already a powerful anti-vehicle weapon. Your main weakness is from above, especially in a tank which only takes ten missiles from a gunship to blow up. If a gunship is attacking you and you have the saaw equipped, you can pop shields and hop out with your saaw, lock on and pop two missiles into him. He will either

a) get blown up
b) activate shields and get the hell out of there

either one is beneficial for you. so if you are this kind of player the saaw is a really great unlock. However if you are more of a cerbere/gibraltar/berlin/belgrade type player the baur is definitely a better choice for you as these maps do not contain any air vehicles. does any of this help?

[Ized]

SAAW is in my book one of the useless unlocks. Does too little damage and has too little range. If they beefed up damage and made the missiles true "fire and forget" style (after lock), it would be more useful.

[Buttoneer]

I agree completely with what Mech_Whore has said.

The thing with the SAAW is that while it won;t get you many kills it will help your side a whole lot because it denies air support to a large area of the map. Most gunship pilots will panic and run when they get the lock-on sound. Sometimes you'll get them and sometimes not, but they will run.

Transports are more difficult because they take four missiles to down from full health. 1.2 has improved matters a lot.

Also, the SAAW is essential if you want to play the 'transport gun platform' strategy. Two SAAW equipped engineers, two medic gunners and a support pilot can own a map.

In summary: If you want points, get the Baur. If you want to teamplay and help as part of a team, get the SAAW.

[karnstein]

Yeah, get the baur. My next unlock will be the SAAW or the ganz, but i'm Field Commissar Silver and I only aim at those two because i want the NS SMG amo and support IDS unlocks.

So: get the baur and either unlock (NS) or fieldunlock the pk/herzog extra ammo. That's more useful than having an anti AA launcher, unless you're playing solely titan maps and getting annoyed of gunships.

[Vikaman]

If you do get the baur, please dont whine about it, its a hard weapon to use, but once you get used to it and realise its true pwer:
the baur > voss.

ONLY if you understand the weapon dynamics...

[Razzor7]

Ok so y'all saying it's definetely not worth it. That's what I didn't want to hear. :D I mean I'm really disapointed, I hoped that gun is kickass... Ok nevermind, now I gotta practise with Pilum. I won't take Baur, coz I can't really get used to it. I know it's goddamned powerful, but it's very difficult to hit the target for me, not like Voss.

Look, it's useful and lots of fun. It's like hunting. You devote yourself to voiding the enemy's air abilities. It's challenging, but you get kills out of it. Is it worth it? Arguably.

Is the extended SMG clip worth it? Abso-****ing-lutely.

[AboveAndBeyond]

I love my Baur. The single shot mode rocks rocks at longer assualt rifle ranges and up close and personal the recoil isn't really detrimental to killing foes. If you have the Voss already though I would look at another unlock area; unless you really want the PK rocket 4-shooter unlock. By the way, I have found the extra PK Rocket ammo to be really nice. An increase of 9 shots to 16 shots is a very nice unlock. Sounds like you have engineering and assault covered enough to be playable so I would ask what is you situation in the support and/or recon area? Support can be made useful with as few as 3 unlocks...EMP grenade, netbat helmet, and sentry gun. As far as recon goes, the Lambert tree and the APM make for a good loadout. One final word of advice on the Baur, if you unlock it, I highly recommend practicing in single player games to become proficient with this weapon at a highly accelerated pace. GoodLuck & GoodHunting:)

[siiix]

If you do get the baur, please dont whine about it, its a hard weapon to use, but once you get used to it and realise its true pwer:
the baur > voss.

ONLY if you understand the weapon dynamics...

agreed

i use the braur like a shoot gun, most of the time 2 hits take out a guy because near noone is at full health

in close/mid battles its awesome, i like it better then the shoot gun because it has a bigger clip and faster reload time

the baur however is not good for sniping ! or long range, even at single shoot

but saaw or baur should not even be a question

[St.Sasquatch]

ive killed a walker with that murder!! it was burning and i shot at it! mohaha!

but yes. get it. its great. especially on conquest suez! oh my!

[RICHGB]

I love my saaw86 (placed about 60th) its a great thing to have when some gunship whore is flying around thinking he owns the sky and you can kill infantry with it but why would you want to.
pick it as your next unlock and have some fun with it

[Buttoneer]

Rich - got any tips generally? In order to fire off two missiles and take out a gunship in one go, sometimes I can manage to keep the launcher scoped and sometimes it forces a reload. But I have no idea how or why.

[IZZ0]

The SAAW is worth it ...in this day and age of spray and pray most don't have the gonads to stay dedicated to the job it performs...... 2 guys armed with will clear the skies....

[siiix]

The SAAW is worth it ...in this day and age of spray and pray most don't have the gonads to stay dedicated to the job it performs...... 2 guys armed with will clear the skies....
and on the end of a 30 minute round they both have 6 points each and are fighting with able to stay awake : )

[Vikaman]

and on the end of a 30 minute round they both have 6 points each and are fighting with able to stay awake : )

so true my friend, so true.

Its boring to be honest, you run around a massive map trying to lock on, and also hope it hits, not worth it.

[IZZ0]

and on the end of a 30 minute round they both have 6 points each and are fighting with able to stay awake : )

Ahh, I see .....you, for some reason, seem to think the SMG, knife and motion mines disappear when equipping yourself with the SAAW so boredom would ensue. Methinks my spray and pray statement would hold true with you.....

[The_Eliminator]

OMFG get the Baur!!!! Look at sig!!!

[mrchuckles]

I will say that as a gunship pilot the SAAW is annoying. But to be honest my gunship gets taken down more by the pilum than the SAAW. The SAAW is pretty boring because even if you do happen to kill a gunship with it, it takes so long for the gunship to respawn you are sitting around doing nothing. And most of the time, you hit the gunship once and it flees to repair. So no kills and more waiting.

[Biotech2142]

Due the EU gunship hitbox problems, SAAW is mostly useful only against PAC air vehicles.

Use SAAW against EU gunship expecting to scare it off, not to kill it.

[Heavy552 AWG]

The boring parts is when you go look for additional ammo on that SAAW Soldier!

Duty demands dedication and total focus, not whining about how long it takes to sit around doing nothing.

Yes Im one of those people who sat in the AA for a year of BF2. I sat on the Mortor and Stingers in Novalogic's JO, I manned the battle stations in PC 486 games before some of you were born.

Boring? Hell yes! But it is effective! Especially when the opponets give up the sky to us.

[[TW] Alixsar]

Get the SAAW if you play Engy a lot and you:
1) play titan maps or big conquest maps often, it's useless on smaller maps like Gibraltar/Berlin/Tunis etc.
2) hate air vehicles
3) use the SMG a lot and the clip upgrade sounds useful to you
4) don't like the Pilum or Mitchell/Sudnik

Since the Baur is a love it or hate it kind of thing (I like it but prefer the Voss) I suggest you field unlock it and give it a try before you invest in it. The SAAW is similar in that it's love it or hate it (I would much rather have the Pilum, which I love like a son I never had) but it has its uses. The upgrade after the SAAW is really useful too, but not everyone digs the SMGs so...yeah.

[BaseballBat-Boy]

Ok so I'm not going for SAAW. Mech_Whore's tactic might be good, but I still prefer infantry maps and I'd only go for large maps and take SAAW if it was kickass weapon and it's not. Maybe if there was some point bonus for taking gunships down, it'd worth it... But there's not, right? So now I'm gonna only take motion mines for enemy walkers and practise with Baur as field upgrade. Thanks for all your comments, you saved me one unlock. :)

[WileECyte]

Ok so I'm not going for SAAW. Mech_Whore's tactic might be good, but I still prefer infantry maps and I'd only go for large maps and take SAAW if it was kickass weapon and it's not. Maybe if there was some point bonus for taking gunships down, it'd worth it... But there's not, right? So now I'm gonna only take motion mines for enemy walkers and practise with Baur as field upgrade. Thanks for all your comments, you saved me one unlock. :)

10 kills with SAAW = Clear Skies Pin. There's your point bonus. It's very effective on Suez conquest mode as has been mentioned. It's also effective on titan maps if you sit on top of your titan and take down transports when they're trying to land. The closer they are, the more likely the hit.

[Demize99]

I just want to drop in on this thread and let people know that we're reading your opinions on the SAAW and evaluating them. We're also aware of the Talon's missile avoidance abilities. We're always listening and reading, even if we don't always have the time to post.

[The_Eliminator]

10 kills with SAAW = Clear Skies Pin

This is not correct, the SAAW does not count towards this pin at all.

[Vikaman]

I just want to drop in on this thread and let people know that we're reading your opinions on the SAAW and evaluating them. We're also aware of the Talon's missile avoidance abilities. We're always listening and reading, even if we don't always have the time to post.

:eek:

Expects a patch :D

[BaseballBat-Boy]

Demize99, I'm not sure if this is possible at all, but I was thinking if you could make some special point bonus (not an award) for destroying specific vehicles, like 2 for tanks and walkers, 4 for gunships etc. IMO it'd be pretty cool and also a great motivation for people. What you think? :D

[Heavy552 AWG]

Well. I got the Air Defense ribbion the old fashioned way, sitting on the Titan AA today.

The Clear Skies Pin works well with this particular item.

Dont forget you can fire the SAAW from Seat F5 on board the transport against the gunship chasing you. They dont expect that little tidbit along with repairing the damage.

[Durutti]

I will say that as a gunship pilot the SAAW is annoying. But to be honest my gunship gets taken down more by the pilum than the SAAW.

if you get taken out by the pilum in the gunship you need to practice a lot more. it means you are staying in one spot for too long. I hardly ever get shot down by pilum/sudnik and only by the saaw when it surprises me. I have a good strat now for dealing with saaws and it usually works well.

I just want to drop in on this thread and let people know that we're reading your opinions on the SAAW and evaluating them. We're also aware of the Talon's missile avoidance abilities. We're always listening and reading, even if we don't always have the time to post.

AWESOME!!! PLEASE FIX THE TALON HITBOX ISSUE!!!! I have figured out how to take down talons with the doragon but my kills drop a lot when flying the doragon and it is so annoying to be right behind a talon, perfectly lined up and all the missiles miss.

[Kraxis]

I have found a nice little tactic that actually makes the SAAW fun to use.

Well, I already liked it and since the patch it has been a lot more consistent in locking on.
But have a buddy (have him be Support with the advanced hub) and get the FAV. You sit in F3 and he drives, pick up a gunner if needed. Then actively hunt the gunships with your mobile SAM-site.

It is hugely fun and the driver might get himself a lot of roadkills. And never forget that you can repair the FAV from F3 and throw down mines (can potentially make you a very evil little vehicle).

You won't get many points, but you will have a lot of fun, and fun > points.

Just the throught of having a selfrepairing combined minelayer/SAM-site is fun to me.

[siiix]

Ahh, I see .....you, for some reason, seem to think the SMG, knife and motion mines disappear when equipping yourself with the SAAW so boredom would ensue. Methinks my spray and pray statement would hold true with you.....

your limiting you self thats the point, you can shoot at occasional air vehicles but in exchange you missing most of the land vehicles, and the SAAW is the least effective against infantry as well from the 3 choices

but again if you have already ALL unlocks hey get it (i have it), but the question was "BAUR OR SAAW".. and in my opinion from ALL the gun unlocks near the SAAW should be the last one

and the problem if temporary selecting the SAAW because you need it right NOW is that you have to die immediately and after you shoot down the dude you need to die again to switch back to pillum (or what not) , now in my experience the annoying thing is noone is there (or near by) to kill me (or dead to pick up a kit) when i want to die to switch weapons and suicide costs -2 points, so i end up climbing on buildings jumping down to reduce my health or drive the car in the wall 5 times... so its annoying as hell SOO finally i get my weapon back

off topic:
and the spray statement IS TRUE, but in the tread where this came up i would like to see anyone using the mounted gun on ANY moving vehicle with "hight precision" aiming : ) those things barely hit/damage the target when the vehicle is in total still stand, try hitting a target when moving (just to remind everyone in bf2 it works fine, i tuke down numerless helis with the machine gun mounted to cars), honestly now when i sit occasional as gunner i just wait for the 1st opportunity to get the hell out

so although my main/preferred fight-style IS in general "stray+pray" this has nothing to do with the statements i make, and the PROOF is that noone is using those with a reason

[blank1]

I remember loading up a Mitchell on Gibraltar on initial spawn to mine the crap outta Toll for the FAV rush. However, I loaded up a SAAW on accident (wasn't even paying attention.) So I ended up getting 4 kills from just my MM's, but some dude who bailed when he saw a mine went up the ladder, with his Voss. He gets up and crouches to shoot and I went into feral Gazelle panic mode and shot my SAAW (which I then realized was a SAAW because it sure as heck was not a Mitchell) and it blows this dude off the catwalk I was on. It read as a SAAW kill. I was like... Zomgoshwtf. and I taunted him afterward :D

[WileECyte]

This is not correct, the SAAW does not count towards this pin at all.

The SAAW does not count towards the ribbons and badges, but sure does count towards the pin. The couple I've gotten were from SAAW kills.

[GooberMIT]

I have found a nice little tactic that actually makes the SAAW fun to use.

Well, I already liked it and since the patch it has been a lot more consistent in locking on.
But have a buddy (have him be Support with the advanced hub) and get the FAV. You sit in F3 and he drives, pick up a gunner if needed. Then actively hunt the gunships with your mobile SAM-site.

It is hugely fun and the driver might get himself a lot of roadkills. And never forget that you can repair the FAV from F3 and throw down mines (can potentially make you a very evil little vehicle).

You won't get many points, but you will have a lot of fun, and fun > points.

Just the throught of having a selfrepairing combined minelayer/SAM-site is fun to me.

That is one of the best ideas I've heard of for the SAAW.

The SAAW is extemely effective at keeping their gunship down - I'll actually pod onto the front of their Titan, dropping down to the front ledge. You can see the gunship appear on your map and dissapear when someone boards it. Then you just wait for it to leave the hangar and you're looking at the back end of a gunship. I can usually get four rounds off before it leaves range. If they don't activate their shields, you'll get a kill message even if they have gone to the other side of the map.

Also, I was battling a hovertank and only had the SAAW. I got under him and fired four missiles into it to blow it up. It was 100% to start - I was "battling" it from a buggy. So the SAAW will do some damage to tanks.

[Wizrdwarts]

Anyone know if the SAAW gives lock on tones to tanks if you dumb fire it at them?

[ICE*T]

camp near an opposition helipad and wait for mr .smoking gunship to come in aim missile press fire, almost guranteed kill.I prefer the pilum though and luv shooting a hovering gunship down . I normally work from the back of a FAV, with the engies vehicle scanner and motion mines;roll up behind tanks and shoot them in the rear,this tactic can work even when working alone switching to F3 to shoot /repair and lay mines,works better with good driver and gunner for obvious reasons though.......I once drove between two tanks laid some mines and sped away before they new what was happening, most people dont use the FAVs properly in my opinion...

[Kraxis]

That is one of the best ideas I've heard of for the SAAW.

The SAAW is extemely effective at keeping their gunship down - I'll actually pod onto the front of their Titan, dropping down to the front ledge. You can see the gunship appear on your map and dissapear when someone boards it. Then you just wait for it to leave the hangar and you're looking at the back end of a gunship. I can usually get four rounds off before it leaves range. If they don't activate their shields, you'll get a kill message even if they have gone to the other side of the map.

Also, I was battling a hovertank and only had the SAAW. I got under him and fired four missiles into it to blow it up. It was 100% to start - I was "battling" it from a buggy. So the SAAW will do some damage to tanks.

Well I worked it out from a combination of the 'old' Pilum AT FAV tactic that can be great fun too, and the fact that when I flew with gunships the only vehicle that consistnely got away was the FAV, and fast moving targets that shoot back are nasty. The combo has proved great fun, just don't expect gold medals.

[siiix]

so i ran a test see screenshoot, it takes 7 SAAW (you have a total of 8 with you) shoots to the most sensitive area to take down a tank, front or side of the tank damage vary between 4-7 (this means 20 SAAW shoots can take down a tank)
http://home.arcor.de/siiix/saaw.gif
in other words you kill a land vehicle with it its pure luck

Anyone know if the SAAW gives lock on tones to tanks if you dumb fire it at them?

no it does not lock on to anything else but air vehicles

[COD_FILLETS]

The SAAW has a nice range though. You can pretty much cover the sky, even beyond your visual range. Id say nearly across a whole map if you are high enough.

Its also fun to carry onto a transport ship. You sit in the seat with a ledge between your feet so you can heal the transport. While in the transport, you can give an enemy plane a run for its money and target them with the SAAW.

[Kraxis]

so i ran a test see screenshoot, it takes 7 SAAW (you have a total of 8 with you) shoots to the most sensitive area to take down a tank, front or side of the tank damage vary between 4-7 (this means 20 SAAW shoots can take down a tank)
http://home.arcor.de/siiix/saaw.gif
in other words you kill a land vehicle with it its pure luck



no it does not lock on to anything else but air vehicles

Actually you have 12 SAAW missiles. 2 loaded and 5 reloads of 2 each.

[BaseballBat-Boy]

So today I finally had SAAW in my hands and damn how could you recommend me not to take it? It's awesome! Either skilled pilots didn't have any chance, I was shooting 'em down again and again. It's definetely way better than some poor EMP missiles, that only annoy, but not actually kill. Now I take it all the time with myself, no matter if I drive a tank or a gunship, IMO it's enginner's best friend.

Didn't try to shoot ground vehicles with it yet, but who would use AA weapon against tanks, right?

[Buttoneer]

I'm glad you like it. I don;t think anyone misrepresented the SAAW here. It does have limitations and really only works well in a tight team because it leaves you otherwise unable to defend against armour.

[Dead_And_Gone]

As a gunner for a top 50 ranked tanker, I'll carry the SAAW most of the time. He gets the armor kills. I watch his back, and shoot down or scare off enemy transports or gunships.

Since the SAAW is weak, even against it's designed purpose of killing airships, I often will damage the transport or gunship enough that they will bail. You won't get many kills unless the transport was already damaged, so if you are a stat hound, the SAAW will NOT be your friend.

So they bail out of the transport, they lose that asset, and a long walk for the crew back to where they can get another one.

Transport gunner as SAAW is sweet. Gunships do NOT think of a transport as being able to hurt them. Your side gunners are shooting at the gunship while you try and get a lockon. You pump 2 missiles into him, since he is calmly lining up behind the transport to take you down. BOOM !! 1-2 kills.

Had squaddie as Support with advanced hub, me in SAAW and rollers. We RULED the skies for 3-4 rounds. I'd drop rollers on flags, he'd resupply me. I'd shoot any gunships or transports that got too interested in me dying. So, some armor kills with rollers, some kills with SAAW, but they did NOT like to see us coming. Totally situational, and you must have the others in the correct class to make it work. Seat 5 to fix the airbus if damaged.
Did we win points totals for the team? Nope.. But that wasn't the point. We caused mass confusion within the enemy ranks. We denied them entire areas of the map for quick silo runs with transports and the like. It only takes 1-2 rollers to take down an FAV, so dropping them randomly around a silo will get you some quick and easy kills. 2-3 rollers will take out a fast moving APC/Tank/Walker..

I agree that the SAAW is tremendously underpowered for it's intended role. Used judiciously though, it can be effective in a team concept. Resupply is a must have, so if everyone is eng/assault, you are going to be out of missiles before 5 minutes is over on any TiTan style map. Then it is waiting for the commander to drop a supply crate (IF they will pay attention to your request, that is).

[VegaBond]

As a gunner for a top 50 ranked tanker, I'll carry the SAAW most of the time. He gets the armor kills. I watch his back, and shoot down or scare off enemy transports or gunships.

Since the SAAW is weak, even against it's designed purpose of killing airships, I often will damage the transport or gunship enough that they will bail. You won't get many kills unless the transport was already damaged, so if you are a stat hound, the SAAW will NOT be your friend.

So they bail out of the transport, they lose that asset, and a long walk for the crew back to where they can get another one.

Transport gunner as SAAW is sweet. Gunships do NOT think of a transport as being able to hurt them. Your side gunners are shooting at the gunship while you try and get a lockon. You pump 2 missiles into him, since he is calmly lining up behind the transport to take you down. BOOM !! 1-2 kills.

Had squaddie as Support with advanced hub, me in SAAW and rollers. We RULED the skies for 3-4 rounds. I'd drop rollers on flags, he'd resupply me. I'd shoot any gunships or transports that got too interested in me dying. So, some armor kills with rollers, some kills with SAAW, but they did NOT like to see us coming. Totally situational, and you must have the others in the correct class to make it work. Seat 5 to fix the airbus if damaged.
Did we win points totals for the team? Nope.. But that wasn't the point. We caused mass confusion within the enemy ranks. We denied them entire areas of the map for quick silo runs with transports and the like. It only takes 1-2 rollers to take down an FAV, so dropping them randomly around a silo will get you some quick and easy kills. 2-3 rollers will take out a fast moving APC/Tank/Walker..

I agree that the SAAW is tremendously underpowered for it's intended role. Used judiciously though, it can be effective in a team concept. Resupply is a must have, so if everyone is eng/assault, you are going to be out of missiles before 5 minutes is over on any TiTan style map. Then it is waiting for the commander to drop a supply crate (IF they will pay attention to your request, that is).

I've seen something similar to this, we were watching from the ground as this transport always seem to be in the air and i would hardly hear "enemy gunship spotted" so I got in to goto a flag and there they were 1 engy and pilot was support and they were droping people off and Defending/hunting gunships

[Kraxis]

If you have a halfway good pilot and two good gunners (or just one very good gunner) you have little need for the SAAW in the Transport. The guns can easily shred the Gunship in the time it needs to line up and the time the shields are up.

But I have done that too, and it is fun enough. And you can of course also use it against enemy Transports. Very nice when the gunners are shooting at it as you will likely get the kill.

[Argh...]

But I have done that too, and it is fun enough. And you can of course also use it against enemy Transports. Very nice when the gunners are shooting at it as you will likely get the kill.

Kraxis u SOB! :D My knife will slip next time you lead.....

[Wizrdwarts]

so i ran a test see screenshoot, it takes 7 SAAW (you have a total of 8 with you) shoots to the most sensitive area to take down a tank, front or side of the tank damage vary between 4-7 (this means 20 SAAW shoots can take down a tank)
http://home.arcor.de/siiix/saaw.gif
in other words you kill a land vehicle with it its pure luck



no it does not lock on to anything else but air vehicles

No, I meant the lock on tone that the tank pilot recieves, not the guy with the SAAW.

[Kraxis]

Kraxis u SOB! :D My knife will slip next time you lead.....

I will silently bring up the rear...:laugh:

I think I have busted up about 3-4 gunships that you thought you were going to get too. But Transports are hardy enough to withstand enough punishment to make it an almost failsafe engagement. Let the gunner shoot for a sec, then let loose. The first missile should bring it down.

Yes, I have learned to fragsteal from the mighty F2 on the Transport.:p And I did that before they fixed the SAAW's lockon problems against Tranports.

[Griffa87]

i think the baur owns, go with that :P

[1sebastian1]

The boring parts is when you go look for additional ammo on that SAAW Soldier!

Duty demands dedication and total focus, not whining about how long it takes to sit around doing nothing.

Yes Im one of those people who sat in the AA for a year of BF2. I sat on the Mortor and Stingers in Novalogic's JO, I manned the battle stations in PC 486 games before some of you were born.

Boring? Hell yes! But it is effective! Especially when the opponets give up the sky to us.

Hilarious! I love it! we need more players like you!


Someones gotta do the boring work right? we can't all be rambo :laugh:

Anyway I remember the 486 days, even the 286 and 386's. Ah those were the days. I remember playing wolfenstein 3D!

Anyway, enough with the explanation marks! I'm off to play with my new SAAW!;)

[1sebastian1]

Oops, I just realised I've resurrected a really old thread :rolleyes: