Introduction
In the right hands the gunship is the most effective killing machine in Battlefield 2142. It is fast, highly maneuverable, highly lethal and very fun to use. This guide will attempt to educate the reader about the different types of gunships, the roles they play on the battlefield, and how to use them to their fullest extent.
Types of Gunships and Differences
Each side in Battlefield 2142 has one type of gunship.
For the EU, it is the UD-6 Talon
The Talon is jet black with two large VTOL engines placed on either side of the vehicle towards the middle and a smaller one on the tail which acts as a rudder. The twin engines can move from perpendicular to the ground to almost parallel to the ground. Obviously when the engines are perpendicular to the ground the Talon will hover above the ground and will gain speed only when pointed down at the ground. When the engines are parallel to the ground the Talon will increase its airspeed and if it is pointed upwards the Talon will also gain altitude. It is important to note that both gunships do not gain altitude while hovering.
For the PAC, it is the Type 4 Doragon.
The Doragon is green and tan/beige. It has three VTOL engines of seemingly equal size. The two forward engines constantly point down and the rear one moves from side to side like a rudder. It seems due to the differences in the designs of the two gunships that the Talon is slightly more maneuverable than the Doragon.
Basic Controls
Pilot Position
W = Accelerate
S = Hover
A = Rotate Left
D = Rotate Right
X = Active Defense Shield
Mouse = Roll/Pitch
Left Mouse Button = Fire Missiles
Gunner Position
Mouse = Look (for chaingun only)
Left Mouse Button = Fire
Right Mouse Button = Switch between chaingun and tv missile
F1 = Pilot Seat
F2 = Gunner Seat
F9 = Inside View with Cockpit/Inside View without Cockpit
F10 = Outside View (In front of aircraft)
F11 = Outside View (Behind the aircraft)
F12 = Fly-by Cam
Seats and Weapons Systems
Each gunship has two seats. The primary (F1) position is the pilot’s seat. The pilot (duh) pilots the craft and has semi-heat seeking missiles at his/her disposal. These rockets load 10 at a time, and there are 6 rounds of rockets, for a total of 60 rockets. Unlike the attack helicopters in Battlefield 2, which alternated firing between left and right for each rocket, the gunships in Battlefield 2142 fire all the rockets on one side and then all the rockets on the other side. For the EU UD-6 Talon, the rockets fire from the left side and then from the right, and on the PAC Type 4 Doragon, the rockets fire from the right side and then from the left.
The secondary (F2) position is the gunner position. The gunner has two weapons at their disposal, a chain gun fixed to the front of the gunship, and a tv-guided missile. The chain gun has unlimited ammunition and there are 8 tv missiles when the gunship is fully loaded. The chain gun makes short work of infantry and the tv-guided missile is a powerful anti-vehicle weapon. The tv missile is controlled simply by moving the mouse in the direction you want it to go. This is not as easy as it sounds, however, as the missile moves incredibly fast and is highly sensitive to even the smallest movement of the mouse. As such, the tv missile is not as easy to use against air targets as it was in Battlefield 2. Your best bet when trying to take down an enemy air vehicle with the tv missile is to wait patiently until your pilot is directly behind the vehicle and both are flying relatively straight. Be advised though that this is most likely when the pilot will attempt to shoot down the aircraft and you may waste a missile.
Gettting the Gunship
At the start of each round assume there is at least one other person who is headed for that gunship and head for it ASAP. That means do not customize your soldier, pick whoever you want and spawn immediately at the spawn point containing the gunship. If you are shot down you can then take the time to customize your soldier as the gunship take approximately 45-60 seconds to respawn.
In Titan mode, the gunship always spawns on your titan.
On all Conquest maps containing gunships except Sidi Power Plant, the gunship is found in your back and/or uncap base. The Conquest maps containing gunships are Suez Canal, Minsk, Verdun, Shuhia Taiba, and Sidi Power Plant.
In Sidi Power Plant (64 player) the gunship is not initially available. There is only one gunship for the whole map. You must capture the center flag to make the gunship spawn on the helipad just south of the flag. If you are good at flying the transport ship get in one fast and fly directly to the center flag. If not, hop in a FAV and drive as fast as you can to the middle flag. Don't forget to exhaust the turbo boost on the straightaways or out of corners.
The Gunship's Damage Stats
Note: Damage stats have been updated to reflect the changes to the tv missile and chaingun in patch 1.25
Gunship vs. Walker:
Pilot’s Missile: 5 hp of damage per missile. 17 missiles will bring the walker down to 15hp at which point the walker will eventually tip over even if you try to repair it, and 20 will kill it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: One tv missile will set the walker on fire and it will explode a few seconds later.
Gunship vs. Tank
Pilot’s Missile: 10 hp of damage per missile, so one full load of 10 missiles will kill a tank, and 9 will set it on fire. Contrary to popular belief, the pilot’s missiles do not do extra damage if they hit the back of the tank, like other weapons in the game, so feel free to engage the tank from whatever direction you like. Obviously attacking from the rear is still the wisest decision as it gives you the element of surprise.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: One tv missile will set the tank on fire and it will explode a few seconds later.
Gunship vs. APC
Pilot’s Missile: As far as I can tell, the pilot’s missiles do anywhere from 7-10 hp of damage per missile, depending on where you hit the APC. More damage appears to be done when you hit the side of the APC. However, in my experience, one full load (10 missiles) of direct hits on an APC will kill it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: 75 hp per tv missile, regardless of where you hit it.
Gunship vs. Gunship
Pilot’s Missile: 15 hp of damage per missile, so 6 of them will leave the enemy gunship with 10 hp and it will catch fire, and 7 will destroy it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: One bullet does 3 hp of damage. 4-5 seconds of continuous chaingun fire will destroy an enemy gunship.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy gunship.
Gunship vs. FAV (car)
Pilot’s Missile: 33 hp of damage per missile, so 3 of them will destroy an enemy FAV.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: One bullet does approximately 7 hp of damage. One second of continuous chain gun fire causes approximately 70 hp of damage, so less than 2 seconds of chaingun fire will destroy a FAV.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy FAV.
Gunship vs. Air Transport
Pilot’s Missile: 10 hp of damage per missile, so 9 of them will set an enemy transport on fire and 10 will make it explode. It seems there is a weak spot on the transports. If you get a direct hit inside the cargo hold, a missile seems to cause 55 hp of damage but I cannot confirm this.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Firing until the gun overheats and hitting every shot will take off approximately 95 hp and the transport will explode a second later. However, the cargo hold is a weak spot on the transport and if you can hit every shot inside the cargo hold the transport will explode before the chaingun overheats.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile.
Gunship vs. Fixed AA Turret
Pilot’s Missile: 23 hp of damage per missile, so 5 of them will destroy an enemy AA turret.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Causes very little damage to the turret but can easily kill the guy inside. Firing until the gun overheats only causes 45 hp of damage.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy AA turret.
Gunship vs. Titan Gun
Pilot’s Missile: 15 hp of damage per missile, so 7 of them will destroy an enemy titan gun.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Causes only slight damage.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy titan gun.
Damage Stats To the Gunship
Fixed AA turret: Each round from these fixed AA emplacements causes anywhere from 17-20 hp of damage. Stay away from these things they will chew right through you. Curiously, as far as I can tell a direct hit to the cockpit glass only causes 2-3 hp of damage so if you must attack these, divebomb them from high up and you have the greatest chance of surviving.
Walker AA gun: 1 AA bullet from a walker deals 5 hp of damage. Since the AA gun fires so quickly, expect to be dead in 2-3 seconds if every bullet hits.
Engineer’s SAAW 86: One missile causes 50 hp damage to the gunship.
Air Transport Chainguns: Each bullet from these cause 3-5 hp in damage, so keep your distance if these guns are manned in the transport ship you are chasing. Less than four seconds exposure to hits from this gun will cause your gunship to explode.
Walker Main Gun: Though it is difficult for the main gun to hit you since it can’t look up very high, if you are hovering low to the ground it is possible for you to be in its sights. Beware, the walker has a very powerful main gun. Each bullet gives you 3.3 hp in damage, so three bullets equals 10 hp of damage. If every bullet hits, when the gun overheats you will have taken 67 points of damage, leaving you with only 33 left.
Walker Rocket: Again, the chances of one of these hitting you are slim. Unless you are hovering in place very low to the ground and close to a walker, which you should never do, you will not be hit by these. Nonetheless, one rocket causes 33 hp of damage, so after three rockets you will explode.
Engineer’s Guided Rocket: One hit will set the gunship on fire and will explode shortly thereafter.
Engineer’s Pilum H-AVR: One hit will set the gunship on fire and will explode shortly thereafter.
APC’s Main Gun: Does no damage whatsoever.
APC’s Second Seat Mortar: One mortar round causes 5 hp damage. Since 3 rounds are fired per volley, a maximum of 15 hp damage is possible per volley.
FAV Mounted Machine Gun: Unlike in Battlefield 2, where the Humvees and FAVs dealt significant damage to the air vehicles, the FAV guns in Battlefield 2142 do no damage whatsoever to the gunships.
Tank round: One tank round is an almost instantaneous kill against a gunship.
Tank machine gun: One bullet causes 1 hp of damage. Firing the tank’s machine gun until it overheats and hitting every time will cause the gunship to explode.
Railgun: Each railgun round causes 45 hp of damage, so after two hits you will be on fire and will explode a few seconds later.
Main Role
The main role of the gunship is air support and air suppression. You are the best defense against enemy gunships that will decimate your armor and infantry. Eliminate the other gunship, and your team can move about the map more easily, capping flags or silos, until the gunship respawns. Once you have taken the enemy gunship out, you should focus on eliminating air transports that are flying around capping flags or silos. If there are no air transports to eliminate, you should focus on APCs and tanks, but leave walkers alone unless you see they are very low on health. If one of your teammates is attacking a walker, you can strafe the walker quickly with your missiles or if you have a gunner, line him up for a tv missile shot, or both. The walker should be distracted by your teammate, but do it quickly. Once done, quickly get out of there before the AA guns on the walker find you.
Supporting Roles
Capturing Flags: Some may disagree with this, but in my opinion you should never attempt to capture a flag in a gunship. You are too valuable to the team, and too easy to destroy sitting next to the silo or hovering over it. Only cap a silo if it is vital to your team winning, there is no one else to do it, and you have UAV overhead. If there are other teammates on the ground capturing a flag or silo, you can be of enormous assistance to them. You can hover above, and from your high vantage point you can spot enemy armor or infantry moving in to defend the flag. If you have a gunner you can easily eliminate the infantry and even without a gunner any advancing armor should be no match for you (except walkers, which put up quite a fight and should be avoided if there are two men inside.)
Defending flags: Again, the same principle applies as capturing flags. From high up you can see all the enemies who are approaching your flag, and you can quickly kill them all, or in the case of ones you can’t kill, you can at least spot them for your team.
Scouting: At the speed you can fly you can cross any map very quickly. While flying above the battlefield you can spot any and all enemies you see on the ground. This can help your team and your commander enormously.
Titan gun eliminator: Enemy titan well positioned? Those enemy titan guns decimating your team? You are one of the best weapons in the game for eliminating those titan guns underneath the titan. Just don’t hover in one spot for too long. Those guns will make short work of you if they manage to hit you, so keep moving.
FAV destroyer: Those little things move too fast for any ground armor or infantry to follow, but they are not too fast for you. If one manages to break through your defenses you are your teams only hope for destroying it before it reaches one of your flags or silos. If you’re lucky it will be three easy kills for you. Try to remember to fire ahead of the FAV if it is moving.
Titan defense: One of the best ways to board a titan is to land an air transport on the back and use it as a spawnpoint. If your titan shields are down, make it a habit to check the back of your titan routinely for transports and destroy any that you see. If you’re lucky an enemy will spawn in one just as you blow it up, giving you a kill point and a titan defense point.
Tactics and Strategies
Flying
Ever seen Terminator 2? Remember the HK Hunter/Killers and how low to the ground they could fly? You can do the same thing. The gunships in Battlefield 2142 are incredibly stable 3 feet off the ground. Use this to your advantage by flying low behind small hills where AA fire can’t lock onto you. Or whiz along the road at 600 km/h just for thrills. Watch out for trees and lampposts though.
Conversely, you can also fly incredibly high in a gunship, and you should. Up high you are very difficult to spot and AA guns have a harder time locking on to you and hitting you.
In general I prefer to fly high and only descend to make a kill or help my team capture or defend an outpost. Try to stay towards the edges of the map unless you have a specific target to go after. Never fly aimlessly through the middle of the map, especially low to the ground.
Entering a Battle Zone
When entering a battle zone, be aware that you do not know everything that is going on. Be cautious. Where is that enemy gunship? Are the AA turrets manned? If you get a lock-on tone, hit “X,” and fly up and get out of there. Re-assess the situation and if needed move to a new position or re-enter the battle zone with a new strategy for dealing with the source of that lock-on tone. Don’t “be a man” and ignore that lock-on tone. You will just die and cost your team the use of the valuable gunship for 90 seconds. Even Superman has his kryptonite.
Check Your Six
What separates the great pilots from the dead pilots is how often they check their six (rear.) Even if you have the PDS-1 slapped on your gunship, you should make it a habit to check your six every five to ten seconds. No matter what your setup, mouse and keyboard, just keyboard, or joystick, you should have the button for cockpit view (F9) and rearview (F11) binded somewhere easy to reach so that you can be constantly checking your six.
Be Stealthy
The element of surprise is the biggest advantage you can have on the battlefield. Use stealth to sneak around behind your enemy, line yourself up for a sure shot, and unload as quickly but as accurately as possible before the enemy can put up their shields. If you are gunner do not shoot your chaingun at your enemy as your pilot is positioning himself. You will simply alert the enemy to your presence. This is especially true against armor, where your chaingun does nothing. Against other air assets, where your chaingun deals extensive damage, be patient, and only fire your chaingun when your pilot is in position and ready to fire. Otherwise you will let the enemy pilot know you are there early and ruin the element of surprise.
Gunship vs. Gunship
In air combat there are three possible positions for you to be in, defensive, neutral, and offensive. Defensive is when the enemy has a shot at you and you must take evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit. Neutral is when neither aircraft has a viable shot. Offensive is when you are in a position to shoot down your enemy. Obviously the offensive position is the most desirable. When in a defensive position your primary objective is to take evasive maneuvers in order to move into a neutral position, or if possible an offensive position, though this is not usually possible and you should just be glad to move into a neutral position. When in a neutral position you should then try to lose your enemy if you have just come out of a defensive position or move into an offensive position.
Dogfighting
DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE!!! This cannot be over-emphasized. If you are a veteran jet pilot from Battlefield 2 you have a whole new set of skills to learn. The gunships’ unwillingness to do a barrel roll in 2142 ruins any chances of dogfighting, and the addition of the hover capability gives a huge advantage to the pilot who best utilizes it. Hovering means that you no longer have to follow your enemy aircraft through all those loops and turns they do to try and lose you. Hover, watch them as they twist and turn uselessly, and follow them through all their maneuvers. Be warned though, don’t hover for too long, as a hovering gunship is an easy target for all kinds of ground vehicles. Even the machine gun on the FAVs will make short work of you hovering there.
Circumference Turns
Imagine a flag or combat zone. Now imagine a rough circle drawn around it. If you can hover following that imaginary circle while maintaining your front facing the battle zone, you have 100% dominance over that area, meaning there are very few places your enemy can hide. To do a circumference turn, or circumference hover, which by the way is sometimes called maintaining a diameter among many other terms, hold “S” to hover and either “A” or “D” depending on which way you want to circle, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Hold the mouse the opposite direction of the direction you are turning. In other words, if you hit “A” push the mouse right, and if you hit “D” push the mouse left. Also pull down a bit on the mouse. You will lose altitude but you will turn the circumference of the circle a bit faster, making you a harder target to hit. Practice this and in no time you will be racking up the kills and everyone will want to be your gunner. When flying and you want to quickly face in the opposite direction, slam “S” to cut your airspeed and use this trick to quickly face the opposite direction. This can be very useful when an enemy is behind you or when you swept in for a kill but didn’t quite get it and want to turn around quickly to finish them off.
Evasive Maneuvers
Evasive maneuvers are much more difficult to achieve in Battlefield 2142 due to the lack of barrel rolls and immelman turns. A standard loop with some twisting can work, but veteran pilots will most likely be able to stay on you. Watch your tail, wait until they are lined up for a shot, and hit your shields to maximize their usage. When the shields are up, hit “S” and do a quick 180? using the circumference turn technique described above to turn and face your enemy. With some luck and a lot of practice the hunter will now become the hunted, and you will now be in the offensive position. If you are low on health and can't risk an encounter, a good evasive maneuver is a reverse immelman (thx JohnLeavitt.) Get up high, flip the gunship over, and start a reverse loop back down to earth. Normally gunships cannot right themselves and you will crash into the ground, but if you are high enough you can manage to pull a reverse immelman loop out of it, and you will be headed in the opposite direction you were originally flying in. If you are lucky your enemy will not be able to replicate what you just did and you will lose them, or they may crash themselves. But beware, they may also have spotted you using the Comma Rose and may be watching you on the minimap for the next few seconds until your icon disappears.
In the Offensive Position
When attempting to shoot down an enemy aircraft remember that your missiles are semi-heatseeking. Get behind them or underneath them, near the hot jet exhaust, aim and unload. If you are close enough all of the missiles will find their way into the hot jet exhaust and give you a quick kill. Remember to try and use stealth whenever possible to move into position and quickly unload all of your rockets before they realize what is happening and put up their shields.
Gunship vs. Armor
This is the meat and potatoes of gunship piloting. Fully loaded tanks will give you two kills and fully loaded APCs will give you six incredibly satisfying kills. Don’t get too close to the APC or the tank though, or you will get EMP’d or worse, killed by a tank shell. You have the advantage here, because unless the driver has a PDS-1 slapped on his armor or a teammate has spotted you, you can easily close in on their six and quickly unload and kill them before they even know what is happening. The closer you are, the easier it will be for all of your missiles to hit. As you get better you will be able to aim from further away, increasing your lethality greatly. If you miss some shots and need to swoop in a second time, be cautious, as they now know you are there and will do everything they can to kill you before you kill them. Be wary as one of them may be an Engineer with a SAAW 86 who will be more than happy to hop out and unload two AA missiles into your freshly smoldering heap. In that case activate shields and get the hell out of there, or at least let them think you have left and come back when they least suspect it. Remember that armor are slow moving. Fly by, assess the situation, hit your rearview to watch them as you fly past, fly for at least five seconds, and then turn around. Don’t worry, they can’t have gone far. Check to see what approach you should make as you come back. Is the target behind some trees or a building which will make swooping down on it impossible from a certain angle? Fly around and make your approach count.
Start of a round
At the start of a round, be it Conquest or Titan, your number one priority is killing the enemy gunship so that your armor has a better chance of making it to flags/silos. Fly high, but not so high that you can’t see underneath you, and head for the spawnpoint of the enemy gunship. If you are lucky you will see it pass underneath you, in which case you should spot it with the “Q” button, immediately turn around, descend, get on its six, and destroy it. If it is flying at roughly the same altitude as you, it will see you and probably head straight for you. If so, activate your shields as it gets in range, and pray that you don’t collide. It is then up to your air-to-air combat skills to decide who will emerge victorious. Try to be aggressive and not get in the defensive position. Whatever you do, don’t run, as the enemy will simply follow you, get on your six and kill you. If you are having trouble finding the enemy gunship, do a quick fly-by over the enemy gunship spawn point to see if it is there. If no one on the team has taken it, and you are not playing Titan mode where the gunship is protected by the forcefield, destroy the gunship to put the enemy team at a significant disadvantage. Try to pass by every 90 seconds to keep denying your enemy the use of the gunship. If the gunship is not there and you still can’t find it, continuously check your six to make sure it is not tailing you, and wait. Eventually someone on your team will spot it for you. Try and stay towards the edges of the map, and fly high, so that AA guns will not be able to get you.
Once the gunship is destroyed, your two priorities are enemy transport ships and enemy armor capping flags/silos. If you have a gunner you can also quickly eliminate any infantry in the area, though these are not your highest priority at the start of a round. Don’t forget about the gunship that will respawn soon and the enemy pilot who will be out for vengeance. Check your six often, even when the enemy gunship has been destroyed.
Midway through a round
Your top three priorities are always gunships, air transports and armor, in that order, but later in a round, especially if you have a gunner, you can be of great help to your team in defending or capturing an outpost.
Titan Shields Are Down
When your team’s titan shields are down you should do routine passes over the back of your titan to check for enemy transports parked there. Also, once the shields are down your team tends to stay on the titan more to defend it. This allows the enemy armor easier access to silos. Don’t let them take those silos! Destroy the armor before it caps the silos or else you may face all five silos being in the hands of your enemy. If you are doing your job well, your team should hold an advantage of at least three silos to the enemy’s two.
AA Lock-On Tone Sounds
FLY UP!!! And don’t forget to activate your shield. It does nothing to counter the EMP of AA turrets and walkers but that is what flying high is for. The higher you fly, the further away from the source of the lock-on tone you get, and if the lock-on is coming from EMP, the higher you are the better chance you have of not crashing into the ground and not getting torn to shreds by AA fire.
Countering the SAAW 86
A persistent SAAW (shoulder-mounted AA missile) user is perhaps the most dangerous thing you can face on the battlefield. If you do not deal with the SAAW wielder they will continually cut your time in the gunship short. Find them and kill them with extreme prejudice. The best way to find them is to remember the approximate location of where they keep shooting you down. If they are continuously moving throughout the map you are in for a tough time, as this is possibly the hardest scenario a gunship pilot can face. If you notice that you keep getting shot down in the same area, take the gunship out for a flight over that area. Make sure there are no fixed AA emplacements manned by an enemy. If it is clear, turn around as if you are flying away from the area but hit your rearview camera (F11) so that you can see the area behind you. When you get the lock on tone, activate your shields and look to see where the SAAW missiles come from. When you see where they are, immediately turn the gunship around and dive straight for them. Time is of the essence here because the SAAW takes about 5 seconds to recharge but your shields take awhile longer. You must turn around and kill the person as fast as you can. Hopefully you will have a gunner. If so, the chaingun will make short work of them. If not, fret not. The missiles can still kill them. Get as close as you can to them and unload all ten missiles directly at them. Hopefully you will teach them a lesson not to mess with you, but always activate your shields when you hear that lock on tone and hit F11 as you are flying up and out of there to see if the lock on tone was AA EMP or a SAAW. If it was a SAAW, plan your approach back to that spot when your shields are recharged and eliminate the threat.
Gunning
The number one rule is: don’t ruin the element of surprise. Don’t just fire that chaingun because you have A.D.D and you’re bored. Jump out if you don’t want to be of any help. Beyond that you are at the mercy of the pilot. Hopefully he will line you up for some shots and do circumference turns to let you rack up the kills. Remember that your chaingun has a wide field of vision so look around and spot targets for your pilot.
Here is a pic that should help pilots line up the gunner for better tv missile shots.
Thanks to Jepzilla from TacticalGamer for the pic.
Helpful Hints
-Always spawn as Engineer and slap a PDS-1 on your gunship before you take off. This way the other gunship can’t sneak up on your tail and you can spot enemy vehicles on the ground from higher up.
-If it is late in a titan mode game, the two titans are close to each other, you can see the enemy titan’s hangar bay, and your team’s shields are down, while you are waiting for the gunship to respawn you can do two things that will greatly help your team.
1) Hang off the edge of your titan just through the forcefield protecting your hangar bay and spawn with the SAAW 86 and shoot the enemy’s aircraft as they leave the titan.
2) If the enemy titan’s AA guns are making mince meat out of your transports (or worse, you in your gunship) as they take off, spawn with the default wire-guided rocket, hang off the edge of the titan and take out that pesky AA gun. If you’re lucky the guy using it will be a noob engineer who will repair it to 2 hp and get back in. You can then destroy it again with just one rocket. If you are really lucky you can do this two more times before you run out of rockets and get the Titan Destructor Pin, an extra 20 points for you my friend, before the gunship respawns.
-Don’t bother practicing flying in single player. You will just pick up a bunch of bad habits which will do nothing for you online and that you will have to unlearn anyway. Be cautious when you start out, stay towards the edges of the map until one of your teammates spots a target for you, and you should learn quickly with minimal pain. If you have a new idea you want to try out, try it in an empty server before you take it to the battlefield.
-If stuck for repairs and/or ammo, you can always ask your commander to drop you a supply crate to act as a repair/refuelling station anywhere on the map.
That’s it. If you have any helpful additions to make please add them below and I will give you credit. Happy hunting!
View this guide as a wiki at BF2142Wiki.com
In the right hands the gunship is the most effective killing machine in Battlefield 2142. It is fast, highly maneuverable, highly lethal and very fun to use. This guide will attempt to educate the reader about the different types of gunships, the roles they play on the battlefield, and how to use them to their fullest extent.
Types of Gunships and Differences
Each side in Battlefield 2142 has one type of gunship.
For the EU, it is the UD-6 Talon
The Talon is jet black with two large VTOL engines placed on either side of the vehicle towards the middle and a smaller one on the tail which acts as a rudder. The twin engines can move from perpendicular to the ground to almost parallel to the ground. Obviously when the engines are perpendicular to the ground the Talon will hover above the ground and will gain speed only when pointed down at the ground. When the engines are parallel to the ground the Talon will increase its airspeed and if it is pointed upwards the Talon will also gain altitude. It is important to note that both gunships do not gain altitude while hovering.
For the PAC, it is the Type 4 Doragon.
The Doragon is green and tan/beige. It has three VTOL engines of seemingly equal size. The two forward engines constantly point down and the rear one moves from side to side like a rudder. It seems due to the differences in the designs of the two gunships that the Talon is slightly more maneuverable than the Doragon.
Basic Controls
Pilot Position
W = Accelerate
S = Hover
A = Rotate Left
D = Rotate Right
X = Active Defense Shield
Mouse = Roll/Pitch
Left Mouse Button = Fire Missiles
Gunner Position
Mouse = Look (for chaingun only)
Left Mouse Button = Fire
Right Mouse Button = Switch between chaingun and tv missile
F1 = Pilot Seat
F2 = Gunner Seat
F9 = Inside View with Cockpit/Inside View without Cockpit
F10 = Outside View (In front of aircraft)
F11 = Outside View (Behind the aircraft)
F12 = Fly-by Cam
Seats and Weapons Systems
Each gunship has two seats. The primary (F1) position is the pilot’s seat. The pilot (duh) pilots the craft and has semi-heat seeking missiles at his/her disposal. These rockets load 10 at a time, and there are 6 rounds of rockets, for a total of 60 rockets. Unlike the attack helicopters in Battlefield 2, which alternated firing between left and right for each rocket, the gunships in Battlefield 2142 fire all the rockets on one side and then all the rockets on the other side. For the EU UD-6 Talon, the rockets fire from the left side and then from the right, and on the PAC Type 4 Doragon, the rockets fire from the right side and then from the left.
The secondary (F2) position is the gunner position. The gunner has two weapons at their disposal, a chain gun fixed to the front of the gunship, and a tv-guided missile. The chain gun has unlimited ammunition and there are 8 tv missiles when the gunship is fully loaded. The chain gun makes short work of infantry and the tv-guided missile is a powerful anti-vehicle weapon. The tv missile is controlled simply by moving the mouse in the direction you want it to go. This is not as easy as it sounds, however, as the missile moves incredibly fast and is highly sensitive to even the smallest movement of the mouse. As such, the tv missile is not as easy to use against air targets as it was in Battlefield 2. Your best bet when trying to take down an enemy air vehicle with the tv missile is to wait patiently until your pilot is directly behind the vehicle and both are flying relatively straight. Be advised though that this is most likely when the pilot will attempt to shoot down the aircraft and you may waste a missile.
Gettting the Gunship
At the start of each round assume there is at least one other person who is headed for that gunship and head for it ASAP. That means do not customize your soldier, pick whoever you want and spawn immediately at the spawn point containing the gunship. If you are shot down you can then take the time to customize your soldier as the gunship take approximately 45-60 seconds to respawn.
In Titan mode, the gunship always spawns on your titan.
On all Conquest maps containing gunships except Sidi Power Plant, the gunship is found in your back and/or uncap base. The Conquest maps containing gunships are Suez Canal, Minsk, Verdun, Shuhia Taiba, and Sidi Power Plant.
In Sidi Power Plant (64 player) the gunship is not initially available. There is only one gunship for the whole map. You must capture the center flag to make the gunship spawn on the helipad just south of the flag. If you are good at flying the transport ship get in one fast and fly directly to the center flag. If not, hop in a FAV and drive as fast as you can to the middle flag. Don't forget to exhaust the turbo boost on the straightaways or out of corners.
The Gunship's Damage Stats
Note: Damage stats have been updated to reflect the changes to the tv missile and chaingun in patch 1.25
Gunship vs. Walker:
Pilot’s Missile: 5 hp of damage per missile. 17 missiles will bring the walker down to 15hp at which point the walker will eventually tip over even if you try to repair it, and 20 will kill it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: One tv missile will set the walker on fire and it will explode a few seconds later.
Gunship vs. Tank
Pilot’s Missile: 10 hp of damage per missile, so one full load of 10 missiles will kill a tank, and 9 will set it on fire. Contrary to popular belief, the pilot’s missiles do not do extra damage if they hit the back of the tank, like other weapons in the game, so feel free to engage the tank from whatever direction you like. Obviously attacking from the rear is still the wisest decision as it gives you the element of surprise.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: One tv missile will set the tank on fire and it will explode a few seconds later.
Gunship vs. APC
Pilot’s Missile: As far as I can tell, the pilot’s missiles do anywhere from 7-10 hp of damage per missile, depending on where you hit the APC. More damage appears to be done when you hit the side of the APC. However, in my experience, one full load (10 missiles) of direct hits on an APC will kill it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: No damage whatsoever
Gunner’s TV Missile: 75 hp per tv missile, regardless of where you hit it.
Gunship vs. Gunship
Pilot’s Missile: 15 hp of damage per missile, so 6 of them will leave the enemy gunship with 10 hp and it will catch fire, and 7 will destroy it instantly.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: One bullet does 3 hp of damage. 4-5 seconds of continuous chaingun fire will destroy an enemy gunship.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy gunship.
Gunship vs. FAV (car)
Pilot’s Missile: 33 hp of damage per missile, so 3 of them will destroy an enemy FAV.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: One bullet does approximately 7 hp of damage. One second of continuous chain gun fire causes approximately 70 hp of damage, so less than 2 seconds of chaingun fire will destroy a FAV.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy FAV.
Gunship vs. Air Transport
Pilot’s Missile: 10 hp of damage per missile, so 9 of them will set an enemy transport on fire and 10 will make it explode. It seems there is a weak spot on the transports. If you get a direct hit inside the cargo hold, a missile seems to cause 55 hp of damage but I cannot confirm this.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Firing until the gun overheats and hitting every shot will take off approximately 95 hp and the transport will explode a second later. However, the cargo hold is a weak spot on the transport and if you can hit every shot inside the cargo hold the transport will explode before the chaingun overheats.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile.
Gunship vs. Fixed AA Turret
Pilot’s Missile: 23 hp of damage per missile, so 5 of them will destroy an enemy AA turret.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Causes very little damage to the turret but can easily kill the guy inside. Firing until the gun overheats only causes 45 hp of damage.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy AA turret.
Gunship vs. Titan Gun
Pilot’s Missile: 15 hp of damage per missile, so 7 of them will destroy an enemy titan gun.
Gunner’s Chain Gun: Causes only slight damage.
Gunner’s TV Missile: 100 hp per tv missile. A direct hit is an instant kill against an enemy titan gun.
Damage Stats To the Gunship
Fixed AA turret: Each round from these fixed AA emplacements causes anywhere from 17-20 hp of damage. Stay away from these things they will chew right through you. Curiously, as far as I can tell a direct hit to the cockpit glass only causes 2-3 hp of damage so if you must attack these, divebomb them from high up and you have the greatest chance of surviving.
Walker AA gun: 1 AA bullet from a walker deals 5 hp of damage. Since the AA gun fires so quickly, expect to be dead in 2-3 seconds if every bullet hits.
Engineer’s SAAW 86: One missile causes 50 hp damage to the gunship.
Air Transport Chainguns: Each bullet from these cause 3-5 hp in damage, so keep your distance if these guns are manned in the transport ship you are chasing. Less than four seconds exposure to hits from this gun will cause your gunship to explode.
Walker Main Gun: Though it is difficult for the main gun to hit you since it can’t look up very high, if you are hovering low to the ground it is possible for you to be in its sights. Beware, the walker has a very powerful main gun. Each bullet gives you 3.3 hp in damage, so three bullets equals 10 hp of damage. If every bullet hits, when the gun overheats you will have taken 67 points of damage, leaving you with only 33 left.
Walker Rocket: Again, the chances of one of these hitting you are slim. Unless you are hovering in place very low to the ground and close to a walker, which you should never do, you will not be hit by these. Nonetheless, one rocket causes 33 hp of damage, so after three rockets you will explode.
Engineer’s Guided Rocket: One hit will set the gunship on fire and will explode shortly thereafter.
Engineer’s Pilum H-AVR: One hit will set the gunship on fire and will explode shortly thereafter.
APC’s Main Gun: Does no damage whatsoever.
APC’s Second Seat Mortar: One mortar round causes 5 hp damage. Since 3 rounds are fired per volley, a maximum of 15 hp damage is possible per volley.
FAV Mounted Machine Gun: Unlike in Battlefield 2, where the Humvees and FAVs dealt significant damage to the air vehicles, the FAV guns in Battlefield 2142 do no damage whatsoever to the gunships.
Tank round: One tank round is an almost instantaneous kill against a gunship.
Tank machine gun: One bullet causes 1 hp of damage. Firing the tank’s machine gun until it overheats and hitting every time will cause the gunship to explode.
Railgun: Each railgun round causes 45 hp of damage, so after two hits you will be on fire and will explode a few seconds later.
Main Role
The main role of the gunship is air support and air suppression. You are the best defense against enemy gunships that will decimate your armor and infantry. Eliminate the other gunship, and your team can move about the map more easily, capping flags or silos, until the gunship respawns. Once you have taken the enemy gunship out, you should focus on eliminating air transports that are flying around capping flags or silos. If there are no air transports to eliminate, you should focus on APCs and tanks, but leave walkers alone unless you see they are very low on health. If one of your teammates is attacking a walker, you can strafe the walker quickly with your missiles or if you have a gunner, line him up for a tv missile shot, or both. The walker should be distracted by your teammate, but do it quickly. Once done, quickly get out of there before the AA guns on the walker find you.
Supporting Roles
Capturing Flags: Some may disagree with this, but in my opinion you should never attempt to capture a flag in a gunship. You are too valuable to the team, and too easy to destroy sitting next to the silo or hovering over it. Only cap a silo if it is vital to your team winning, there is no one else to do it, and you have UAV overhead. If there are other teammates on the ground capturing a flag or silo, you can be of enormous assistance to them. You can hover above, and from your high vantage point you can spot enemy armor or infantry moving in to defend the flag. If you have a gunner you can easily eliminate the infantry and even without a gunner any advancing armor should be no match for you (except walkers, which put up quite a fight and should be avoided if there are two men inside.)
Defending flags: Again, the same principle applies as capturing flags. From high up you can see all the enemies who are approaching your flag, and you can quickly kill them all, or in the case of ones you can’t kill, you can at least spot them for your team.
Scouting: At the speed you can fly you can cross any map very quickly. While flying above the battlefield you can spot any and all enemies you see on the ground. This can help your team and your commander enormously.
Titan gun eliminator: Enemy titan well positioned? Those enemy titan guns decimating your team? You are one of the best weapons in the game for eliminating those titan guns underneath the titan. Just don’t hover in one spot for too long. Those guns will make short work of you if they manage to hit you, so keep moving.
FAV destroyer: Those little things move too fast for any ground armor or infantry to follow, but they are not too fast for you. If one manages to break through your defenses you are your teams only hope for destroying it before it reaches one of your flags or silos. If you’re lucky it will be three easy kills for you. Try to remember to fire ahead of the FAV if it is moving.
Titan defense: One of the best ways to board a titan is to land an air transport on the back and use it as a spawnpoint. If your titan shields are down, make it a habit to check the back of your titan routinely for transports and destroy any that you see. If you’re lucky an enemy will spawn in one just as you blow it up, giving you a kill point and a titan defense point.
Tactics and Strategies
Flying
Ever seen Terminator 2? Remember the HK Hunter/Killers and how low to the ground they could fly? You can do the same thing. The gunships in Battlefield 2142 are incredibly stable 3 feet off the ground. Use this to your advantage by flying low behind small hills where AA fire can’t lock onto you. Or whiz along the road at 600 km/h just for thrills. Watch out for trees and lampposts though.
Conversely, you can also fly incredibly high in a gunship, and you should. Up high you are very difficult to spot and AA guns have a harder time locking on to you and hitting you.
In general I prefer to fly high and only descend to make a kill or help my team capture or defend an outpost. Try to stay towards the edges of the map unless you have a specific target to go after. Never fly aimlessly through the middle of the map, especially low to the ground.
Entering a Battle Zone
When entering a battle zone, be aware that you do not know everything that is going on. Be cautious. Where is that enemy gunship? Are the AA turrets manned? If you get a lock-on tone, hit “X,” and fly up and get out of there. Re-assess the situation and if needed move to a new position or re-enter the battle zone with a new strategy for dealing with the source of that lock-on tone. Don’t “be a man” and ignore that lock-on tone. You will just die and cost your team the use of the valuable gunship for 90 seconds. Even Superman has his kryptonite.
Check Your Six
What separates the great pilots from the dead pilots is how often they check their six (rear.) Even if you have the PDS-1 slapped on your gunship, you should make it a habit to check your six every five to ten seconds. No matter what your setup, mouse and keyboard, just keyboard, or joystick, you should have the button for cockpit view (F9) and rearview (F11) binded somewhere easy to reach so that you can be constantly checking your six.
Be Stealthy
The element of surprise is the biggest advantage you can have on the battlefield. Use stealth to sneak around behind your enemy, line yourself up for a sure shot, and unload as quickly but as accurately as possible before the enemy can put up their shields. If you are gunner do not shoot your chaingun at your enemy as your pilot is positioning himself. You will simply alert the enemy to your presence. This is especially true against armor, where your chaingun does nothing. Against other air assets, where your chaingun deals extensive damage, be patient, and only fire your chaingun when your pilot is in position and ready to fire. Otherwise you will let the enemy pilot know you are there early and ruin the element of surprise.
Gunship vs. Gunship
In air combat there are three possible positions for you to be in, defensive, neutral, and offensive. Defensive is when the enemy has a shot at you and you must take evasive maneuvers to avoid being hit. Neutral is when neither aircraft has a viable shot. Offensive is when you are in a position to shoot down your enemy. Obviously the offensive position is the most desirable. When in a defensive position your primary objective is to take evasive maneuvers in order to move into a neutral position, or if possible an offensive position, though this is not usually possible and you should just be glad to move into a neutral position. When in a neutral position you should then try to lose your enemy if you have just come out of a defensive position or move into an offensive position.
Dogfighting
DOES NOT EXIST ANYMORE!!! This cannot be over-emphasized. If you are a veteran jet pilot from Battlefield 2 you have a whole new set of skills to learn. The gunships’ unwillingness to do a barrel roll in 2142 ruins any chances of dogfighting, and the addition of the hover capability gives a huge advantage to the pilot who best utilizes it. Hovering means that you no longer have to follow your enemy aircraft through all those loops and turns they do to try and lose you. Hover, watch them as they twist and turn uselessly, and follow them through all their maneuvers. Be warned though, don’t hover for too long, as a hovering gunship is an easy target for all kinds of ground vehicles. Even the machine gun on the FAVs will make short work of you hovering there.
Circumference Turns
Imagine a flag or combat zone. Now imagine a rough circle drawn around it. If you can hover following that imaginary circle while maintaining your front facing the battle zone, you have 100% dominance over that area, meaning there are very few places your enemy can hide. To do a circumference turn, or circumference hover, which by the way is sometimes called maintaining a diameter among many other terms, hold “S” to hover and either “A” or “D” depending on which way you want to circle, clockwise or counter-clockwise. Hold the mouse the opposite direction of the direction you are turning. In other words, if you hit “A” push the mouse right, and if you hit “D” push the mouse left. Also pull down a bit on the mouse. You will lose altitude but you will turn the circumference of the circle a bit faster, making you a harder target to hit. Practice this and in no time you will be racking up the kills and everyone will want to be your gunner. When flying and you want to quickly face in the opposite direction, slam “S” to cut your airspeed and use this trick to quickly face the opposite direction. This can be very useful when an enemy is behind you or when you swept in for a kill but didn’t quite get it and want to turn around quickly to finish them off.
Evasive Maneuvers
Evasive maneuvers are much more difficult to achieve in Battlefield 2142 due to the lack of barrel rolls and immelman turns. A standard loop with some twisting can work, but veteran pilots will most likely be able to stay on you. Watch your tail, wait until they are lined up for a shot, and hit your shields to maximize their usage. When the shields are up, hit “S” and do a quick 180? using the circumference turn technique described above to turn and face your enemy. With some luck and a lot of practice the hunter will now become the hunted, and you will now be in the offensive position. If you are low on health and can't risk an encounter, a good evasive maneuver is a reverse immelman (thx JohnLeavitt.) Get up high, flip the gunship over, and start a reverse loop back down to earth. Normally gunships cannot right themselves and you will crash into the ground, but if you are high enough you can manage to pull a reverse immelman loop out of it, and you will be headed in the opposite direction you were originally flying in. If you are lucky your enemy will not be able to replicate what you just did and you will lose them, or they may crash themselves. But beware, they may also have spotted you using the Comma Rose and may be watching you on the minimap for the next few seconds until your icon disappears.
In the Offensive Position
When attempting to shoot down an enemy aircraft remember that your missiles are semi-heatseeking. Get behind them or underneath them, near the hot jet exhaust, aim and unload. If you are close enough all of the missiles will find their way into the hot jet exhaust and give you a quick kill. Remember to try and use stealth whenever possible to move into position and quickly unload all of your rockets before they realize what is happening and put up their shields.
Gunship vs. Armor
This is the meat and potatoes of gunship piloting. Fully loaded tanks will give you two kills and fully loaded APCs will give you six incredibly satisfying kills. Don’t get too close to the APC or the tank though, or you will get EMP’d or worse, killed by a tank shell. You have the advantage here, because unless the driver has a PDS-1 slapped on his armor or a teammate has spotted you, you can easily close in on their six and quickly unload and kill them before they even know what is happening. The closer you are, the easier it will be for all of your missiles to hit. As you get better you will be able to aim from further away, increasing your lethality greatly. If you miss some shots and need to swoop in a second time, be cautious, as they now know you are there and will do everything they can to kill you before you kill them. Be wary as one of them may be an Engineer with a SAAW 86 who will be more than happy to hop out and unload two AA missiles into your freshly smoldering heap. In that case activate shields and get the hell out of there, or at least let them think you have left and come back when they least suspect it. Remember that armor are slow moving. Fly by, assess the situation, hit your rearview to watch them as you fly past, fly for at least five seconds, and then turn around. Don’t worry, they can’t have gone far. Check to see what approach you should make as you come back. Is the target behind some trees or a building which will make swooping down on it impossible from a certain angle? Fly around and make your approach count.
Start of a round
At the start of a round, be it Conquest or Titan, your number one priority is killing the enemy gunship so that your armor has a better chance of making it to flags/silos. Fly high, but not so high that you can’t see underneath you, and head for the spawnpoint of the enemy gunship. If you are lucky you will see it pass underneath you, in which case you should spot it with the “Q” button, immediately turn around, descend, get on its six, and destroy it. If it is flying at roughly the same altitude as you, it will see you and probably head straight for you. If so, activate your shields as it gets in range, and pray that you don’t collide. It is then up to your air-to-air combat skills to decide who will emerge victorious. Try to be aggressive and not get in the defensive position. Whatever you do, don’t run, as the enemy will simply follow you, get on your six and kill you. If you are having trouble finding the enemy gunship, do a quick fly-by over the enemy gunship spawn point to see if it is there. If no one on the team has taken it, and you are not playing Titan mode where the gunship is protected by the forcefield, destroy the gunship to put the enemy team at a significant disadvantage. Try to pass by every 90 seconds to keep denying your enemy the use of the gunship. If the gunship is not there and you still can’t find it, continuously check your six to make sure it is not tailing you, and wait. Eventually someone on your team will spot it for you. Try and stay towards the edges of the map, and fly high, so that AA guns will not be able to get you.
Once the gunship is destroyed, your two priorities are enemy transport ships and enemy armor capping flags/silos. If you have a gunner you can also quickly eliminate any infantry in the area, though these are not your highest priority at the start of a round. Don’t forget about the gunship that will respawn soon and the enemy pilot who will be out for vengeance. Check your six often, even when the enemy gunship has been destroyed.
Midway through a round
Your top three priorities are always gunships, air transports and armor, in that order, but later in a round, especially if you have a gunner, you can be of great help to your team in defending or capturing an outpost.
Titan Shields Are Down
When your team’s titan shields are down you should do routine passes over the back of your titan to check for enemy transports parked there. Also, once the shields are down your team tends to stay on the titan more to defend it. This allows the enemy armor easier access to silos. Don’t let them take those silos! Destroy the armor before it caps the silos or else you may face all five silos being in the hands of your enemy. If you are doing your job well, your team should hold an advantage of at least three silos to the enemy’s two.
AA Lock-On Tone Sounds
FLY UP!!! And don’t forget to activate your shield. It does nothing to counter the EMP of AA turrets and walkers but that is what flying high is for. The higher you fly, the further away from the source of the lock-on tone you get, and if the lock-on is coming from EMP, the higher you are the better chance you have of not crashing into the ground and not getting torn to shreds by AA fire.
Countering the SAAW 86
A persistent SAAW (shoulder-mounted AA missile) user is perhaps the most dangerous thing you can face on the battlefield. If you do not deal with the SAAW wielder they will continually cut your time in the gunship short. Find them and kill them with extreme prejudice. The best way to find them is to remember the approximate location of where they keep shooting you down. If they are continuously moving throughout the map you are in for a tough time, as this is possibly the hardest scenario a gunship pilot can face. If you notice that you keep getting shot down in the same area, take the gunship out for a flight over that area. Make sure there are no fixed AA emplacements manned by an enemy. If it is clear, turn around as if you are flying away from the area but hit your rearview camera (F11) so that you can see the area behind you. When you get the lock on tone, activate your shields and look to see where the SAAW missiles come from. When you see where they are, immediately turn the gunship around and dive straight for them. Time is of the essence here because the SAAW takes about 5 seconds to recharge but your shields take awhile longer. You must turn around and kill the person as fast as you can. Hopefully you will have a gunner. If so, the chaingun will make short work of them. If not, fret not. The missiles can still kill them. Get as close as you can to them and unload all ten missiles directly at them. Hopefully you will teach them a lesson not to mess with you, but always activate your shields when you hear that lock on tone and hit F11 as you are flying up and out of there to see if the lock on tone was AA EMP or a SAAW. If it was a SAAW, plan your approach back to that spot when your shields are recharged and eliminate the threat.
Gunning
The number one rule is: don’t ruin the element of surprise. Don’t just fire that chaingun because you have A.D.D and you’re bored. Jump out if you don’t want to be of any help. Beyond that you are at the mercy of the pilot. Hopefully he will line you up for some shots and do circumference turns to let you rack up the kills. Remember that your chaingun has a wide field of vision so look around and spot targets for your pilot.
Here is a pic that should help pilots line up the gunner for better tv missile shots.
Thanks to Jepzilla from TacticalGamer for the pic.
Helpful Hints
-Always spawn as Engineer and slap a PDS-1 on your gunship before you take off. This way the other gunship can’t sneak up on your tail and you can spot enemy vehicles on the ground from higher up.
-If it is late in a titan mode game, the two titans are close to each other, you can see the enemy titan’s hangar bay, and your team’s shields are down, while you are waiting for the gunship to respawn you can do two things that will greatly help your team.
1) Hang off the edge of your titan just through the forcefield protecting your hangar bay and spawn with the SAAW 86 and shoot the enemy’s aircraft as they leave the titan.
2) If the enemy titan’s AA guns are making mince meat out of your transports (or worse, you in your gunship) as they take off, spawn with the default wire-guided rocket, hang off the edge of the titan and take out that pesky AA gun. If you’re lucky the guy using it will be a noob engineer who will repair it to 2 hp and get back in. You can then destroy it again with just one rocket. If you are really lucky you can do this two more times before you run out of rockets and get the Titan Destructor Pin, an extra 20 points for you my friend, before the gunship respawns.
-Don’t bother practicing flying in single player. You will just pick up a bunch of bad habits which will do nothing for you online and that you will have to unlearn anyway. Be cautious when you start out, stay towards the edges of the map until one of your teammates spots a target for you, and you should learn quickly with minimal pain. If you have a new idea you want to try out, try it in an empty server before you take it to the battlefield.
-If stuck for repairs and/or ammo, you can always ask your commander to drop you a supply crate to act as a repair/refuelling station anywhere on the map.
That’s it. If you have any helpful additions to make please add them below and I will give you credit. Happy hunting!
View this guide as a wiki at BF2142Wiki.com
Last edited by JimmyBotswana (2007-07-26 16:03:43)
