Greasy Mullet,

Let me start by saying thank you for all the time you and the dev team have put into creating such a great mod. The coolest part, though, is that you are here, in this forum, asking for input from the fans on how the gaming experience can be made even better. Very cool.

When I would play with my clan-mates in vanilla BF2, I was always into flying the attack choppers. I'm a horrible gunner, but I have about 300 hours in the choppers in vBF2, almost exclusively as a pilot. When coming to PoE I was looking forward to getting to fly some new choppers, but ultimately was let down by the chopper situation in PoE. It seems like now I rarely fly while playing PoE, but end up playing as infantry with the rest of my clan. Sometimes, after we've had fun playing a little Fallen or Spies, and there's only two of us [TOC]ers left on the server, we'll leave and head over to vBF2 just to get some chopper action in. That's really the only reason we play vBF2 anymore. I also want to say that I have never had any first-hand military experience, so all of my experience on choppers is only based on what I've read/seen on TV, or from other games I've played. So, with that said, here's some suggestions for the choppers in PoE:


Flight Dynamics
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Flying the Hind in PoE is an exercise in frustration for me. The controls are very sluggish, and it is very easy to get into a situation where you can't recover from an evasive maneuver you have had to pull to evade enemy fire. I seem to crash the Hind into the ground while lying on my side more than anything else. Of course, I've never flown a real Hind, so who knows, this could be exactly how they would fly.

The Tiger is much easier to fly, and clearly more maneuverable - maybe too maneuverable. It's almost like the dynamics for the Tiger are too simplified. I feel like it changes direction too quickly, and doesn't carry enough momentum. I guess if I had learned on the choppers in PoE, then moved to BF2, I would be complaining about it the other way, but it just seems like there could be a little tweaking to the flight model to make them more enjoyable to fly, and certainly more evenly performing.


Pilot/Copilot Teamwork
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One of the biggest draws to the choppers for me in vBF2 was that it is a vehicle that requires teamwork to operate effectively. It seems like some of that is lost in PoE, especially with the German Tiger. Since the pilot has both rockets (quite a few) and AtoG missiles available to him, this makes it a serious threat as a solo vehicle, and there is less emphasis on teamwork. In addition, it makes it so the gunner gets less enjoyment out of flying since all he's left with is cannons and AtoA.

With the Hind, the gunner still has a role with AtoG and AtoA, but giving the guns to the pilot makes the gunner useless when all there is down there is infantry. Furthermore, since the gun on the Hind is fixed, not on a turret, this makes it very difficult to use effectively. I don't know much about real Hind helicopters, and I'm sure great care was taken to model them in-game accurately against their real counterparts, but for me, the Hind doesn't make for a very exciting chopper experience. Isn't there a better chopper the Ukrainians can get their hands on?

Also, I don't think the Hind's ability to transport troops is very useful. It seems like every time I try to bail from a Hind to parachute on an enemy location, I end up getting killed on my way out.


The Chopper's Role on the Battlefield
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One of the things that I have always disliked about the choppers in vBF2 and even PoE is that they are rarely used the way combat choppers are intended to be used. A modern combat helicopter, like the Apache, Cobra, Havoc, or Tiger, is designed to take out armor and soft targets. Normally they would be found hiding behind the next hilltop, or peeking out over the tops of trees, using their electronics to pinpoint tanks on the battlefield. Then with sophisticated fire-and-forget Hellfire missiles, they would take out their targets with precision, without putting themselves in harm's way. Of course, in game, this would be a lot of fun for the chopper crew, but not so much fun for the unsuspecting column of armor on the ground. So, I understand the need to tweak things to make a more enjoyable and balanced game experience for everyone. But, what if there was a way to setup the choppers to be used in more of a traditional role?

What about an interface for the gunner that shows a radar view of the battlefield, maybe provided to them by someone on the ground "pointing out" armor targets, sort of like the way the mobile arty works. Or maybe the pilot has to maneuver the chopper to a position where they can acquire targets, but then can drop back behind cover and maintain those targets for a certain period of time. Then the gunner can launch AtoG missiles, one at a time, manually guiding them to the vicinity of the target, where the warhead would again lock onto the marked target to finish the job. Maybe limit the ammo to only 4 AtoG missiles before having to go back to rearm. I don't mind flying back to the base to re-arm if I feel like I can effectively and consistently take out 4 hard targets on each load-out.

What about allowing the chopper crew to determine their load-out before taking off? Load up on 8 AtoG if they want to do some tank hunting, or add some AtoA if there's enemy aircraft in the area, or just rockets for the pilot, if no gunner is available? This may balance the choppers a little more by removing their ability to strike air, armor, and infantry at any time.

I realize some of the suggestions above would not be trivial to implement, but I thought I would suggest them anyway. Again, thanks for all your time and effort into making such a great mod. I'm looking forward to playing those new maps too!

-[TOC]Floyd