Hi everyone, firstly I would like to say that I'm not an awesome pilot or gunner, in fact my graphics card doesn't draw distances very well even though I set it to 100% and most vehicles don't appear until it's too late, but here are a few general tips to help those who can't find the feeling when flying in an attack chopper.
For the pilot:
As the pilot your goal is to balance target spotting and staying alive. Although flying level and hovering is a brilliant way to rack up alot of kills for your gunner, you leave yourself open to anti tank personnel, tanks, APCs and other attack helicopters. Leave most of the killing for your gunner and use your 8 missiles as a defensive precaution in case your gunner misses or for engaging other helicopters. Barrel rolls are quite useless unless a jet is on your tail because most likely all you've done is lost alot of altitude and for stationary AA sites you're just as easy to take down. Usually AAs will get you down to red and can't kill you with only two shots, drop your flares and make a dive so it scrambles the AA sights for longer, and try to get behind buildings and walls so the AA loses your heat trail.
Enemy jets love slowing down when shooting you down, the easiest way is not to TV them but rather fire your 8 missiles at it, usually 2 or 3 will bring it down and since they're travelling in a line slowly towards you, they make for an easy target.
When engaging other helicopters, don't just gain altitude because it makes TVing you very easy. Try to roll to one side, wait for the TV to pass, then line up for your own gunner to TV the enemy chopper. If you get really close, use your 8 missiles! Getting them burning is enough to score the kill.
For the gunner:
You are the primary offensive platform for engaging ground armour for your team so use your responsibility well. Not alot of things can harm you, AA is easy to avoid if you have a decent pilot and jets usually fly by too quickly to reengage you after you've dropped your flares. Your worst enemy is probably the enemy chopper.
You have a TV missile, use it. It's not only for tanks and transports, but it's deadly effective against enemy attack and transport choppers. When shooting an attack chopper with your TV, wait till he is moving vertically or slightly sideways and fire away making small adjustments. If he's flying across your screen don't fire, you'll miss, unless you can lead it successfully. If you've never used the TV before, use your cross-hair to continuously click slightly in front of the helicopter. Where ever your cursor is is where the TV missile will centre on, and if you still can't hit it, just practise. Get a patient and good pilot and soon you'll be TVing everything in sight.
It's generally good practise to destroy any AA sites before entering enemy territory to make sure you don't get a few AAs up your tail end, your pilot will be very thankful.
If you missed a TV, don't go blazing with your cannon, because the enemy chopper might not know you're there and it gives you another shot. Using your cannon will tell your enemy where you are, and they'll turn around and you'll be in a chopper duel.
Chopper duels are absolutely miracles of nature and they're extremely fun to watch and participate in. Remember, TV, switch to guns (he knows you are there anyway, so use your guns) and aim for the body because that'll give you the largest target area, after a while switch to TVs again. Try to coordinate it with your pilot when to TV, don't TV when he is rolling and pitching because it's very hard to aim.
Shooting tanks and APCs should be no problem, although FAVs should be taken down by the gun only (it's too fast and your guns are good enough). TVing transport choppers is the easiest of all trades because they're so slow and unmaneuverable, if you miss just use your guns, your pilot can also help. Usually they'll bail and you can finish them off then.
So pilots and gunners each have their own roles and if coordinated well, you can lead your team to complete air domination. Don't get disheartened if you don't succeed at first, no one was born knowing how to TV choppers, it requires practise and patience. I've only been in a chopper for about 15 hours, not alot really, but I get a kick out of TVing attack choppers and transport choppers. Chopper gunning and piloting is just another skill waiting to be mastered (not saying I've fully mastered it though), so if you keep at it you'll be surprised at how good you become.
Oh, and for the record I use my keyboard to fly, I've never gotten the hang of the mouse
Good luck to all learner and budding attack chopper subjects.
For the pilot:
As the pilot your goal is to balance target spotting and staying alive. Although flying level and hovering is a brilliant way to rack up alot of kills for your gunner, you leave yourself open to anti tank personnel, tanks, APCs and other attack helicopters. Leave most of the killing for your gunner and use your 8 missiles as a defensive precaution in case your gunner misses or for engaging other helicopters. Barrel rolls are quite useless unless a jet is on your tail because most likely all you've done is lost alot of altitude and for stationary AA sites you're just as easy to take down. Usually AAs will get you down to red and can't kill you with only two shots, drop your flares and make a dive so it scrambles the AA sights for longer, and try to get behind buildings and walls so the AA loses your heat trail.
Enemy jets love slowing down when shooting you down, the easiest way is not to TV them but rather fire your 8 missiles at it, usually 2 or 3 will bring it down and since they're travelling in a line slowly towards you, they make for an easy target.
When engaging other helicopters, don't just gain altitude because it makes TVing you very easy. Try to roll to one side, wait for the TV to pass, then line up for your own gunner to TV the enemy chopper. If you get really close, use your 8 missiles! Getting them burning is enough to score the kill.
For the gunner:
You are the primary offensive platform for engaging ground armour for your team so use your responsibility well. Not alot of things can harm you, AA is easy to avoid if you have a decent pilot and jets usually fly by too quickly to reengage you after you've dropped your flares. Your worst enemy is probably the enemy chopper.
You have a TV missile, use it. It's not only for tanks and transports, but it's deadly effective against enemy attack and transport choppers. When shooting an attack chopper with your TV, wait till he is moving vertically or slightly sideways and fire away making small adjustments. If he's flying across your screen don't fire, you'll miss, unless you can lead it successfully. If you've never used the TV before, use your cross-hair to continuously click slightly in front of the helicopter. Where ever your cursor is is where the TV missile will centre on, and if you still can't hit it, just practise. Get a patient and good pilot and soon you'll be TVing everything in sight.
It's generally good practise to destroy any AA sites before entering enemy territory to make sure you don't get a few AAs up your tail end, your pilot will be very thankful.
If you missed a TV, don't go blazing with your cannon, because the enemy chopper might not know you're there and it gives you another shot. Using your cannon will tell your enemy where you are, and they'll turn around and you'll be in a chopper duel.
Chopper duels are absolutely miracles of nature and they're extremely fun to watch and participate in. Remember, TV, switch to guns (he knows you are there anyway, so use your guns) and aim for the body because that'll give you the largest target area, after a while switch to TVs again. Try to coordinate it with your pilot when to TV, don't TV when he is rolling and pitching because it's very hard to aim.
Shooting tanks and APCs should be no problem, although FAVs should be taken down by the gun only (it's too fast and your guns are good enough). TVing transport choppers is the easiest of all trades because they're so slow and unmaneuverable, if you miss just use your guns, your pilot can also help. Usually they'll bail and you can finish them off then.
So pilots and gunners each have their own roles and if coordinated well, you can lead your team to complete air domination. Don't get disheartened if you don't succeed at first, no one was born knowing how to TV choppers, it requires practise and patience. I've only been in a chopper for about 15 hours, not alot really, but I get a kick out of TVing attack choppers and transport choppers. Chopper gunning and piloting is just another skill waiting to be mastered (not saying I've fully mastered it though), so if you keep at it you'll be surprised at how good you become.
Oh, and for the record I use my keyboard to fly, I've never gotten the hang of the mouse
Good luck to all learner and budding attack chopper subjects.
Last edited by Vub (2006-10-25 06:46:22)