Hi everyone!
I know there are a lot of chopper guides alredy, but I think there are some important points, which aren’t mentioned in the existing guides. I don’t want to repeat these guides so this guide is not a complete one. Actually this is not even a guide, it’s just a collection of a few points which I think are essential for effective chopper flying.
1. Never fly with a gunner, except if you have a good, well-known gunner, with whom you can communicate orally. It’s all about communication: if you cannot communicate with your gunner, you (and your chopper) will be less effective, even if the gunner is a better one than you are.
2. After taking off your first task should be to look for the enemy chopper and shoot it down first! Don’t shoot anything else, untill you shoot down the enemy chopper! Nothing else can shoot you down with a single shot except attacking choppers. So take them seriously!
3. Flying high or flying low? Flying high! Definately flying high, it’s no question! There aren’t ’IF’-s, there aren’t ’WHEN’-s, there is no ’The other guy said that…’ He is wrong. Sure, if you fly low you can use buildings as cover. But that’s all, that is the only advantage of flying low over flying high. In fact if you fly high you will get rid of more potential threats than the number of threats you obtain by flying high.
4. Shoot mostly with the TV-missile! If you fly high you are hundreds of metres away from targets, thus usually you aren’t able to hit them with the hellfire rockets. Instead of flying closer to the targets use the TV-missiles. I think it’s just fine if your TV-misille kills/hellfire rocket kills ratio is at least 5.
5. Fly on the edge of the map! Especially if you have just joined the server, just taken off and started to look for the enemy chopper.
6. If you are looking for the enemy chopper
a) fly at least 200 m high and at least 100-150 m far from the ground.
b) In chopper vs. chopper battles it’s very important who can spot the enemy chopper first, and who can shoot first. In order to be the first fly on the left/right edge of the map and use your mouse look to frequently look to the other direction(where the combat area is). In this way you only have to look to forwards and to the left/right(not to both sides). After shooting down the enemy chopper you can decrease your altitude a bit.
7. After you have shot down the enemy chopper you have 30 seconds (for targeting other enemies) till it respawns(in practice that means two shots with the TV-missile). After the second shot, always prepare for the next chopper vs. chopper battle. What does it mean preparing for a battle against an enemy chopper?
a) Increase your altitude!
b) Fly towards the edge of the map: in this way you can minimize the number of other enemies(mainly AA-turrets), which can reach you and disturb you while fighting against the enemy chopper.
c) Fly towards the enemy helipad!
If the enemy chopper respawns on a capable base, destroy it before it takes off! Destroy it even if it's empty or try to steal it!
8. Role of attacking choppers: many people say, that the role of a chopper is to support friendly ground troops and help them to cap flags. I say that this only a high-flown slogan. Sure, it sounds fine, but life is more complicate. There are a lot of threats out there, and if you don’t eliminate these threats, they will kill you, and if you die, you won’t support anything/anybody. So first: destroy vehicles, that can shoot you down(choppers, mobile-AA-s), THEN -if you have remaining time- support your ground troops and destroy vehicles that mean a threat only for your ground troops(tanks, APC-s). But remember: you only have 30 seconds for supporting ground troops/for destroying vehicles that cannot kill you, after that you have to pay attention to vehicles, that can kill you(choppers etc.).
9. Don’t shoot at enemy infantry(or only very rarely)! If you fly high infantries cannot damage you, so they don’t mean a threat for you, therefore you don’t need to shoot at them. There are a lot of choppers, mobile-AA-s, AA-turrets out there. And these vehicles/guns can damage you. So shoot them instead of infantry! I prefer to destroy an empty vehicle rather than kill infantry. In the long run it’s a better choice: infantry cannot kill you, vehicles can.
(Of course, it’s depending on the map: e.g. on Sharqi you have only one mortal enemy(the enemy chopper) so you have more time to kill infantry, but on maps such as Kubra Dam, you cannot afford to waste your time shooting at infantry.)
10. Chopper vs. jets: the best maneuvers against jets are those, that minimize the time of the jet while it is able to shoot at you. Jets can shoot you down only if you are in front of them, so you have to fly towards the jet (and strafing to the left/right at the same time) to reduce its time. There are a lot of maneuvers: some of them are good, some aren’t. One thing is sure: never fly into the same direction as the jet!
Jets usually come from behind, using bombing mode. So they don’t give you a lock-on tone, so you have to change camera views often to be able to spot them. The best maneuver against jets coming from behind: as soon as you spot them(thanks to change to rear view) raise the nose of the heli a bit and start to fly backwards and strafe to the right/left as well. (I found that most of the jet pilots are right-handed and if they spot you and turn back, they will usually turn to the left and therefore they will come from your right side(from 4 or 5 o’clock), so if you strafe to the right you will cross sooner his path than by strafing to the left. Use strafing to the right if you cannot see what direction the jet is coming from.) This maneuver is quite simple but its missile dodging ability is better than that of everything else(including barrel rolls and other fancy maneuvers). Moreover the best feature of this maneuver is that after dodging the missiles you will look at the direction where the jet is heading for, so you can kick its ass with a TV-missile.
11. Chopper vs. chopper:
a) Always look for the enemy chopper! Never let it happen that the enemy chopper can see you while you can’t see it.(See point 2!)
b) Fly high!(See points 3 and 6!)
c) Fly on the edge of the map!(See points 5, 6 and 7!)
d) What to do if you spot an enemy heli: When you spot an enemy heli your first task should be to decide whether it can see you or not. The most important thing in heli vs. heli battle is to ask yourself the question: Can he see me or not?
d1) If the answer is: No, he can’t.(You can see the enemy chopper, but it cannot see you): Just switch seat and shoot it down with a TV-missile. That’s simple.
d2) If the answer is: Yes, he can. (You can see the enemy chopper, and it can see you too.): Don’t shoot! Instead of switching seat and shooting immediately do a barrel roll (or a different TV-missile dodging maneuver) just right after you have spotted it! Most of the attacking choppers shoot with their TV-missile at the enemy chopper right after they have spotted it. If you know that, you know when to start doing dodging maneuvers. (If the soloer/gunner of the enemy chopper doesn’t shoot right after he spotted you, he is either an amateur and he won’t even shoot later at all, or a pro-gamer… ) So most of the time you don’t have to wait him to shoot with the TV-missile, he will shoot, and you will dodge it(well, if you are lucky enough...)
d2.1) Then -if he missed with his TV-missile- calm down, and shoot your TV-missile! You have ca. 9 seconds untill his TV-missile relods, and does its distance between the two choppers. He won’t be able to shoot again in the next 8 seconds so there is no reason for doing fancy maneuvers, just concentrate on the enemy chopper, analyze its movement and spend your time aiming accurately. Try to count the seconds, and start to do dodging maneuvers only after 7-8 seconds. If there is a long distance between you and the enemy chopper the best thing is to start doing barrel rolls(or a different maneuver) just in the moment when he shot his missile.
d2.2) It’s a bit more complicate if he don’t shoot right after he spotted you. You cannot just simple switch seat to shoot, because you don’t know when he shoot at you. If doing so you will be an easy target(while guiding your TV-missile). So you have to continue your barrel rolls and shoot while barrel rolling. If you fly high enough (at least 150 m far from the ground) you won’t crash your chopper by switching seat during barrel rolls.
12. Chopper vs. mobile-AA: The best thing you can do against mobile-AA-s is to destroy them before anybody gets in. They can shoot 4 missiles in quick succession, one of them will probably hit you. I advise you to drop flares before you switch seat to destroy them with a TV-missile.
In the end I would like to stress the most important things:
a) Never fly with a gunner with whom you cannot communicate orally!
b) Fly high!
c) Always look for the enemy chopper first, and shoot it down before shooting at anything else!
d) First destroy vehicles that can kill you (even if they are empty), THEN support your team!
Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, unfortunately my English is not perfect. Anyway I really hope you can understand most of the things I wrote about.
Good luck and a lot of frags!
I know there are a lot of chopper guides alredy, but I think there are some important points, which aren’t mentioned in the existing guides. I don’t want to repeat these guides so this guide is not a complete one. Actually this is not even a guide, it’s just a collection of a few points which I think are essential for effective chopper flying.
1. Never fly with a gunner, except if you have a good, well-known gunner, with whom you can communicate orally. It’s all about communication: if you cannot communicate with your gunner, you (and your chopper) will be less effective, even if the gunner is a better one than you are.
2. After taking off your first task should be to look for the enemy chopper and shoot it down first! Don’t shoot anything else, untill you shoot down the enemy chopper! Nothing else can shoot you down with a single shot except attacking choppers. So take them seriously!
3. Flying high or flying low? Flying high! Definately flying high, it’s no question! There aren’t ’IF’-s, there aren’t ’WHEN’-s, there is no ’The other guy said that…’ He is wrong. Sure, if you fly low you can use buildings as cover. But that’s all, that is the only advantage of flying low over flying high. In fact if you fly high you will get rid of more potential threats than the number of threats you obtain by flying high.
4. Shoot mostly with the TV-missile! If you fly high you are hundreds of metres away from targets, thus usually you aren’t able to hit them with the hellfire rockets. Instead of flying closer to the targets use the TV-missiles. I think it’s just fine if your TV-misille kills/hellfire rocket kills ratio is at least 5.
5. Fly on the edge of the map! Especially if you have just joined the server, just taken off and started to look for the enemy chopper.
6. If you are looking for the enemy chopper
a) fly at least 200 m high and at least 100-150 m far from the ground.
b) In chopper vs. chopper battles it’s very important who can spot the enemy chopper first, and who can shoot first. In order to be the first fly on the left/right edge of the map and use your mouse look to frequently look to the other direction(where the combat area is). In this way you only have to look to forwards and to the left/right(not to both sides). After shooting down the enemy chopper you can decrease your altitude a bit.
7. After you have shot down the enemy chopper you have 30 seconds (for targeting other enemies) till it respawns(in practice that means two shots with the TV-missile). After the second shot, always prepare for the next chopper vs. chopper battle. What does it mean preparing for a battle against an enemy chopper?
a) Increase your altitude!
b) Fly towards the edge of the map: in this way you can minimize the number of other enemies(mainly AA-turrets), which can reach you and disturb you while fighting against the enemy chopper.
c) Fly towards the enemy helipad!
If the enemy chopper respawns on a capable base, destroy it before it takes off! Destroy it even if it's empty or try to steal it!
8. Role of attacking choppers: many people say, that the role of a chopper is to support friendly ground troops and help them to cap flags. I say that this only a high-flown slogan. Sure, it sounds fine, but life is more complicate. There are a lot of threats out there, and if you don’t eliminate these threats, they will kill you, and if you die, you won’t support anything/anybody. So first: destroy vehicles, that can shoot you down(choppers, mobile-AA-s), THEN -if you have remaining time- support your ground troops and destroy vehicles that mean a threat only for your ground troops(tanks, APC-s). But remember: you only have 30 seconds for supporting ground troops/for destroying vehicles that cannot kill you, after that you have to pay attention to vehicles, that can kill you(choppers etc.).
9. Don’t shoot at enemy infantry(or only very rarely)! If you fly high infantries cannot damage you, so they don’t mean a threat for you, therefore you don’t need to shoot at them. There are a lot of choppers, mobile-AA-s, AA-turrets out there. And these vehicles/guns can damage you. So shoot them instead of infantry! I prefer to destroy an empty vehicle rather than kill infantry. In the long run it’s a better choice: infantry cannot kill you, vehicles can.
(Of course, it’s depending on the map: e.g. on Sharqi you have only one mortal enemy(the enemy chopper) so you have more time to kill infantry, but on maps such as Kubra Dam, you cannot afford to waste your time shooting at infantry.)
10. Chopper vs. jets: the best maneuvers against jets are those, that minimize the time of the jet while it is able to shoot at you. Jets can shoot you down only if you are in front of them, so you have to fly towards the jet (and strafing to the left/right at the same time) to reduce its time. There are a lot of maneuvers: some of them are good, some aren’t. One thing is sure: never fly into the same direction as the jet!
Jets usually come from behind, using bombing mode. So they don’t give you a lock-on tone, so you have to change camera views often to be able to spot them. The best maneuver against jets coming from behind: as soon as you spot them(thanks to change to rear view) raise the nose of the heli a bit and start to fly backwards and strafe to the right/left as well. (I found that most of the jet pilots are right-handed and if they spot you and turn back, they will usually turn to the left and therefore they will come from your right side(from 4 or 5 o’clock), so if you strafe to the right you will cross sooner his path than by strafing to the left. Use strafing to the right if you cannot see what direction the jet is coming from.) This maneuver is quite simple but its missile dodging ability is better than that of everything else(including barrel rolls and other fancy maneuvers). Moreover the best feature of this maneuver is that after dodging the missiles you will look at the direction where the jet is heading for, so you can kick its ass with a TV-missile.
11. Chopper vs. chopper:
a) Always look for the enemy chopper! Never let it happen that the enemy chopper can see you while you can’t see it.(See point 2!)
b) Fly high!(See points 3 and 6!)
c) Fly on the edge of the map!(See points 5, 6 and 7!)
d) What to do if you spot an enemy heli: When you spot an enemy heli your first task should be to decide whether it can see you or not. The most important thing in heli vs. heli battle is to ask yourself the question: Can he see me or not?
d1) If the answer is: No, he can’t.(You can see the enemy chopper, but it cannot see you): Just switch seat and shoot it down with a TV-missile. That’s simple.
d2) If the answer is: Yes, he can. (You can see the enemy chopper, and it can see you too.): Don’t shoot! Instead of switching seat and shooting immediately do a barrel roll (or a different TV-missile dodging maneuver) just right after you have spotted it! Most of the attacking choppers shoot with their TV-missile at the enemy chopper right after they have spotted it. If you know that, you know when to start doing dodging maneuvers. (If the soloer/gunner of the enemy chopper doesn’t shoot right after he spotted you, he is either an amateur and he won’t even shoot later at all, or a pro-gamer… ) So most of the time you don’t have to wait him to shoot with the TV-missile, he will shoot, and you will dodge it(well, if you are lucky enough...)
d2.1) Then -if he missed with his TV-missile- calm down, and shoot your TV-missile! You have ca. 9 seconds untill his TV-missile relods, and does its distance between the two choppers. He won’t be able to shoot again in the next 8 seconds so there is no reason for doing fancy maneuvers, just concentrate on the enemy chopper, analyze its movement and spend your time aiming accurately. Try to count the seconds, and start to do dodging maneuvers only after 7-8 seconds. If there is a long distance between you and the enemy chopper the best thing is to start doing barrel rolls(or a different maneuver) just in the moment when he shot his missile.
d2.2) It’s a bit more complicate if he don’t shoot right after he spotted you. You cannot just simple switch seat to shoot, because you don’t know when he shoot at you. If doing so you will be an easy target(while guiding your TV-missile). So you have to continue your barrel rolls and shoot while barrel rolling. If you fly high enough (at least 150 m far from the ground) you won’t crash your chopper by switching seat during barrel rolls.
12. Chopper vs. mobile-AA: The best thing you can do against mobile-AA-s is to destroy them before anybody gets in. They can shoot 4 missiles in quick succession, one of them will probably hit you. I advise you to drop flares before you switch seat to destroy them with a TV-missile.
In the end I would like to stress the most important things:
a) Never fly with a gunner with whom you cannot communicate orally!
b) Fly high!
c) Always look for the enemy chopper first, and shoot it down before shooting at anything else!
d) First destroy vehicles that can kill you (even if they are empty), THEN support your team!
Sorry for any grammatical mistakes, unfortunately my English is not perfect. Anyway I really hope you can understand most of the things I wrote about.
Good luck and a lot of frags!
Last edited by GameOver (2007-03-14 22:53:13)
