jex

OK we all know that piloting these birds are pretty simple and require little skill but there are still tactics that you should employ. When ever I fly a chopper I always do the following;

-Fly low or NoE. This should negate a lot of fire from the ground and make you less of a target. Use the terrain to mask your approaches.

-Check the map. Before you embark look at you ingress and egress points. Flying a straight line to the base is silly. Look for areas that make good landing points and areas that provide masking.

-If you come under fire from APC's take immediate evasive manouvers. You may be over the threat and away in 10 seconds but every round that hits you depletes your armour. Make it as hard for the enemy to get a clear shot by zig-zagging gently whilst constantly changing your height. Go down low and then up 50 feet and back low again. Use any terrain objects (hills, trees, buildings, etc) to put between you and your foe.

-Distraction. when your team-mates are in position and ready to make an assault on a base fly your chopper over it using evasive tactics. Whilst they're all busy trying to shoot you down your team are moving in to shoot them. Make sure you don't fly over the point your team are advancing from as they may be spotted.

-When ferrying troops you need to be down quickly and then dust off almost as soon as you are down. As soon as you are down count to 3 and then get out of there. Drop troops off near the base but try and make sure there is some cover for them. Remember the exit points for the bird.

-fixed weapons. Make sure your gunners are on the right side. If you see a target ahead then manoever the bird so they can get the shots off to it. Try and limit your movements because there's nothing more annoying than having a pilot move the chopper just as your about to fire.

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Jex

=Sarc=

Very good point. A good pilot could hover low enough so troops can board then be off in a jiffy. Another thing to remember is the helo can still rotate while on the ground. It's not realistic but it helps if you think you're in view of a sniper.

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Mirfee

Excellent ideas. If I may, I'd like to suggest a couple specific elaborations.

Regarding approaches, taking fire, evasion, etc... Stingers are terribly efficient at knocking a bird down, and they are extremely easy to hide. I've wondered about (but never tried) using trees for cover from Stingers. I know from trying to take out choppers with one myself, if the target is low and has clusters of trees breaking up its path relative to me, I have difficulty attaining lock-on. I presume that, if a shot goes off and the target flys behind trees, the missle will *try* to stay on a relatively straight path... it'll steer to maintain target lock, but it *won't* compensate for obstacles. Obviously this can be used defensively by a chopper pilot... keep moving, and use hills and trees to break up LOS to a stinger.

Also, in regard to strafing a base while troops assault it... I'd suggest planning to fly on a path perpindicular to the approach of the soldiers. Peripheral vision is nil with a monitor, and as mentioned, a chopper will definitely draw attention, allowing soldiers to close and even assault undected briefly.

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Mirfee

Another thought is that, with the game engine being what it is, passengers can jump off easily from above the ground (not high, of course). Passengers should be ready to disembark, and jump off right before touching down. The chopper should still touch down briefly, but troops can do this quickly and safely. I should mention that this will be much easier with birds fitted with external seats. Transports take longer to disembark as you have to actually unattach from a seat, and then exit the doorway. This could be counterred by *not* attaching to a seat upon boarding, and remaining standing for the entire flight. Gunners should definitely be attached, and perhaps should not dismount at all if aeiral cover fire will be needed.

Also (yes... stream of consciousness here ) - it wouldn't be a bad idea if every chopper had a copilot in the passenger seat... really just a dedicated aerial defender against other choppers. This soldier should have a Stinger kitted, and armed to fire out the side window vs. other aerial threats, be they attack choppers, or transports. Most pilots expect Stinger attacks from the ground... getting locked on from the air at stand-off range would be really nasty

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=Sarc=

I think it might be better to not touch down when dropping off troops. Sometimes I feel there's a lag in response to get off the ground just after landing as if the helo is sitting on honey. If the pilot can hover close to the ground, troops jump the short distance and the pilot can leave quickly.

I haven't piloted much in retail but I've found out that AT4 is very dangerous to helos. Has anybody ever been hit by one? The real threat is with the larger helos that make it easier to hit with AT4. It's quick and takes one hit to destroy the chopper.

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Karma

AT4 is really deadly to helos: RYN knocked me out of the sky a couple of times with them yesterday. They are a pain to aim, but I made the mistake of hovering, and got clipped from an unexpected direction. Little birds drop with one AT round, i'm not sure about the blackhawk. I suspect that it won't live through it either.

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Karma

=Sarc=

I'm sure blackhawks go down in one AT4 hit. I've done it to the rebel equivalent during the defend training mission. I used stingers at first and usually needed 3-4 hits before taking it out. On subsequent tries, I used AT4 and blasted it in one hit.

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jex

LOL Ryn got me that way too

Sarc you may take longer trying to hover than it takes to just drop it. I don't think dropping troops by the base is a good thing though. In my experience so far it ends in tragedy - too much of a target. Drop 6 guys down on the other side of a hill though is different. That way they don't come unre fire straight away and it forces them all in the same spot which then makes them coordinate there assault.

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Jex

H-Hour

I've stopped taking Stingers because they're too weak. I can hit helos with RPGs if they're flying straight at or away from me, very easily if they're hovering.

=Sarc=

It doesn't take longer to hover if you're a good pilot. The idea is you don't descend all the way but stop at the correct height to allow troops to jump out. Then the pilot doesn't waste time taking off again.

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jex

Oh yeah I keep forgetting you set the height of the chopper and it stays there. Just come in 5 feet off the deck and take your finger off W

As anyone tried exiting a chopper 5 feet off the deck at high speed? We should see if this works, that way you may not have to stop at all.

Ooh this could be interesting

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Jex

Mirfee

Sounds like somebody is feeling good about this game again

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fr1j0l3

I'm the same way... Usually kit up with AT..

I never really thought about how weak the stingers are till you mentioned it.

While AT won't track the target, stingers wont fire at anything but a bird...

hmmm..

AT wins... WAY more usefull.

WWraven

I've become an expert in air defense with the stinger, but yes the at-4 is deadly and so is the good old rpg as well. The better part of the stinger is that the enemy hears the sound of the alarm going off and goes into evasive action, and usually helps clear them from the AO pretty quickly. However I have found that having a co-pilot also firing those flares off and flying away from the person firing the stinger really lowers the chances of being hit. One other factor, atleast right now is the terrain. The trees don't amtter much but the mountains do and if u fly close enough to the top of it and duck to other side of the mountain, the missile will usually impact the mountain. To those that want to know the value of a stinger, that is weak, ask your snipers about what benefit a stinger is to them. It also is extremely benficial in any defensive operation. I once knocked down atleast 5 choppers in a row and took out the ground threats with my ak-74 and the mounted 50 cal before a raid with 2 choppers and a zodiac, and one sniper on the mountain finally killed me, but i respawned and killed the chopper i missed and nailed the zodiac with the 50 before going after a pesky sniper with the ak. Has anyone tried using the at-4 or the rpg for an air to ground rocket attack yet? If you have, what results have you scene with it, I figure the rockets may give a better punch on those bunkers than the guns would.

H-Hour

I am still very weary of firing when riding in a helo. Is that bug where you would kill your teammates still there?