GotMex? wrote:
Ok I've done quite a bit of helicopter flying today with some clanmates and we were able to accomplish similar pre battlefield 1.2 scores in Sharqui. It took some time to plan out our lines of attack, and it took A WHOLE F***KING lot of vocal communication and commorose use to stay alive. But that's the way it should've been in the first place. Here's the stats for one of our rounds:
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8103 … 1pc.th.jpghttp://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3051 … 0rx.th.jpghttp://img45.imageshack.us/img45/8607/h … 3zj.th.jpgMy clanmate is bernoulli75. Don't ask about the clan tag hehe. Anyway, 30 person server, lots of action going on, but with some good coordination we got some good destruction. The key difference this time was that we died 7 times... which would usually be around 2-3 times with 1.12 patch. This is because sometimes you just get damn unlucky or I just sucked at gunning.
Couple of things we learned: First off, you can't just go around flying everywhere taking out people as you please. This was the 1.12 way of flying, and I think it's what the less experienced pilots are complaining about. We quickly realized that certain routes are simply suicide because of the multiple AA sites around us and because of how deadly humvees have become with the mounted gun. We would simply take low, direct paths to where we needed to go, avoiding exposing ourselves to the enemy, and aggressivelly pursuing AA sites constantly. If I took out the AA next to hotel, I wouldn't just forget about it... every 30 seconds lets say we would come back for another look and clear the area a bit. If I spotted any humvees or potental threats, i would point them out immediatelly to take care of them ASAP.
Next, running away is simply not an option anymore. Anytime our health started to decrease rapidly, we had to make a quick decision. First option, figure out where the threat is coming from and position ourselves to get a quick kill and make a repair trip back home. Second option, fly around some building that provides cover and retreat back to the base. Never just turn around and head home. This basically meant that we could no longer continue taking out the 10 people that were huddled in a group, as tempting as it may be with the Mi-28 gun splash damage. We now had to immediatelly switch gears and figure things out. There was no way to work this aspect of the game without vocal communication which gives immediate details and quick thinking on both our parts.
The chopper now has less hit points, which in the end translates to: You get shot down WAY quicker. This is especially true of Humvee mounted guns, which can take you down in 5 seconds or less. Overpowered some people say, but it seems like a reasonable thing when you have a gun with so much splash damage and power. Other pilots I've flown with simply take too long to react to this threat, and we get shot down and bitching immediatelly begins. The real way to manage this is to VERY QUICKLY identify the vehicle, take extreme evasive maneuvers to hide yourself and you simply have to get ready to take it out. If you just try to retreat, odds are they will take you down. Don't be scared to engage the enemy... I know in 1.12 us chopper pilots could stay back from the battle and just TV missle from afar and such, but now we must actively engage our enemies at closer ranges.
We had to engage the enemy chopper a couple times, but battles with them are pretty much the same as in 1.12. Only difference now is that damage is quicker and there's less rockets. With the Mi-28 gun, the cobra really had no chance if it missed TV missle shots. Our biggest threat was actually friendly AA fire which we managed by telling our teammates not to shoot if we were close by. PineappleDouche was the other pilot btw.
Last, it seems that a new threat has become AT rockets which are more maneuverable now. All I can say is, you need to be a good pilot to dodge them, or have a really quick gunner. This also leads me to the point that if you get damaged enough to send you down about halfway... you simply need to go repair. This is not an option, it is simply what I'm telling you you have to go do. You're like a sitting duck up there once you start smoking. Players want to keep their 1.12 habits of being semi invincible, but we need to face the reality that choppers are very vulnerable now.
All in all, we really enjoyed the new strategy we had to employ for the redesigned aerial component of BF2. It was very intense, and very fast paced, since there was constantly an AA tone, M95 Barret rape on the canopy, AT missles everywhere, and damn humvees shooting us like crazy. But hey, if you step your game up, stop blaming accurate AA for your inability to plan ahead good routes, and work as a team with your pilot and your ground troops, you can get some good results out of these choppers any day.