Attack Helicopter Tactics

[hrpuffnstuff02]

If any of you have ever watched footage of american appaches, cobras, or any other attack helicopters, they are generally utilized in support roles that entail strafing the outskirts of a hostile area. When I fly these attack helicopters, I approach a possible hostile area on a level trajectory whilst keeping the nose of the craft pointed slightly up to increase visual for the gunner. I then, if an enemy is spotted, hover from a safe distance and allow my gunner to take out tanks or apcs with the tv guided missile. Once all armor in the area is destroyed, i move in closer and let the gunner use his chaingun to destroy any infantry remaining. Generally I wouldn't be that concerned with other people's strategies whilst they pilot the helicopters and I gun, but on ranked servers I like to know that my pilot isn't going to just rush into a hostile area and risk getting shot down before we can at least take out a few enemies. I have yet to see a pilot that utilizes well known and proven tactics for the super cobra and other attack helicopters.
The fact that this game is supposed to be fun and a player should be able to do whatever he or she wishes while flying is irrelavent to my argument, for it pertains only to ranked servers where hopefully your teamates are being somewhat serious about their tactics and gameplay.
I don't claim to be an amazing pilot, nor is that the intention of my post. I simply would like to get an idea of other player's tactics used while flying the attack helicopters and perhaps learn some new one's that could prove useful.

[UnrealAlex]

When I fly, I let my gunner take care of the infantry and sometimes armor. I take care of heli's, armor and aa placements. I use the strafe technique a lot. Uh... Its really simple to fly a heli :P
Oh when chasing a helicopter I always find it to try and evade me by turning, so innstead of moving my copter, I hover in one place and follow him with my nose, when apropriate I measure about an inch from the enemy's location and fire missiles.

Fast way to evade a following chopper is just to stand still, start rotating right. It will gain you altitude like crazy and he won't have a shot.

For evading planes I just do a downward strafe.

[HABO3]

can someone tell me how you basically use the wire guided missile?

do you just move the mouse around to guide it or do you left click where the missile should hit?

[hrpuffnstuff02]

Once you left click to fire the missile, keep the left click depressed and then use your mouse to direct the missile into the target (ie move mouse forward and back for up and down and left and right for... you guessed it, left and right). Its kind of tricky because the missile is so fast but after some practice you'll get the hang of it. I wish I could control the missile with my arrow keys on the keyboard but it would be to hard to switch over so fast in heated situations.

[Leviathan]

I fly a lot like you do hrpuff. We (my gunner and I) try to take out tanks first (well after we take out any AA), then we move in to kill some infantry. I try to avoid rushing into a big crowd, unless they are all infantry and even then I say a pretty good distance away.

[Hostile Person]

The rare times I get to fly the chopper I usually fly the rest of the round with it since I rarely get dropped. I prefer pop-up tactics and use of terrain. I fly behind hills and listen to people pointing out enemy tanks and targets. When I've acquired a target still flying behind cover I pop up for a while and let the gunner fire his ATGM at tanks or whatever and then fly back to cover to reload or get into new position or find new targets. Its good to find out where u're mates are going, if they are attacking a heavily defended flag I spray a few pods of missiles there and often get kills too. I dont waste the chopper or risk it while capping a flag, unless its one far behind enemy. If I fly all over the map exposed I often get hit by SAM's so I prefer flying in friendly territory and when entering hostile areas I fly in the edges of maps or behind cover of trees and hills and use pop-up tactic.

[buglenutsman]

i love flying the chopper, that is what i spend most of my time doing...but im more of an offensive type flyer...i spend alot of time capturing flags by hovering over them....and if i start getting attacked, i zip off real quick and come back after i kill the attacker...very good strategy if you are good at flying...but took a couple of days to get used to, cus ive always been a ground pounder...

[Hugh G. Wrection]

Another mistake many people make is trying to take down enemy choppers w/their rockets / chain gun. That's really hard to do and takes forever. Instead, just line up the gunner view on the enemy chopper and, wham-o, it's 1 shot/1 kill w/the TV missile.

[hrpuffnstuff02]

Trying to lead your gunner's tv guided missile against another moving target is almost impossible. In order for this tactic to work you have to generally find a helo that is hovering over a flag, just taking off from their base, or refueling (amo/health). If you have mastered the tv guided missile against moving targets in the air, I will be most impressed.

[Hugh G. Wrection]

Well I wouldn't call myself a "master" w/the missiles, but with a good pilot who is aware that we have them and can use them (which seems to be a pretty rare find out there!), I can shoot enemy attack choppers and bh's no prob w/the missiles. Stationary is very helpful of course, but if the pilot can get behind and a little above them, then it's not too hard to shoot down moving choppers either.

[I Hate TKpunishers]

I disagree somewhat with hovering outside of the 'hot zone' and hitting armor, because everytime I hover, i get popped with AT or tank fire... I keep moving, and just keep my nose pointed towards armor so the gunner can hit em with the TV...

I also shoot off some rockets.. after that, it's slow circle strafing... flying sideways, and letting the gunner handle the rest.. then I move in and try to cap the flag slowly rotating to known spawn points so the gunner can pick off the stragglers... then voila.. flag cap... on to the next hot zone.

[hrpuffnstuff02]

Of course hovering on the battlefield depends on the location of the stinger sites and other aa hostiles in relation to your aircraft. However, I have found on such maps as Sharqi Peninsula, many many kills can be aquired by hovering around 100 yards or more away from a target building and letting your gunner open up on infantry. If your lucky enough to be the MEC on this map, the 30mm cannon onboard the attack helicopter can prove devastating if sprayed all over the top of the TV Station or any other hostile areas.

[MrChris_CJ]

If you are attacking i sometimes like to fly quite high then let my co pilot lob tv guided missiles at the enemy from great distances and it can work well.

I have come to notcie that this helps when fighting over helis as they have to pivot up to shoot at you. Now some inexperiencec pilots will pivot to shoot at you but not realise they are falling backwards and downwards at incredible speed...jus let em hit the floor or get ur co pilot to tv missiles em hehe

[Griff]

what strafing menouver were you guys talking about? how u do it. etc. thanks

[hrpuffnstuff02]

Strafing can be interpreted as a couple different maneuvers:
1. Hovering your helicopter at a fair distance from an aquired target or hostile area and using your yaw control (on keyboard the left and right arrow keys as default) to move side to side around the hostile area without entering sed area. Once a hover is achieved, slightly tap the left or right arrow key to orient the helicopter leaning left or right (ever so slightly!) and tap the throttle (W) to begin a sideways strafing movement around the target area. This is good for surveying an area and also allowing your gunner to take out infantry while keeping the chopper moving so that you don't become an easy target for at missiles.
2. Once a target is aquired and it is determined that a fly by is possible (ie. no aa to contend with), simply orient your helicopter to face the target and begin a slow and gradual approach in a semi-crescent movement down to the apex (where the target is located) and then up away from the target. Usually, depending on terrain, I will try to gain a couple hundred feet of altitude before attempting a pass, for you do need room to pull up and depending on distance to target from your starting position and altitude, your angle of approach will vary. To minimize the chances of crashing into the ground after the approach, make sure you are at a considerable distance away from the target if you are at a high altitude (at lower altitude, the angle of approach is lessened, due to the ability of a pilot to center a target in the crosshairs with less forward pitch). This will reduce the angle at which your helicopter needs to travel once the strafing pass is initiated. Remember, the closer you are to the target (at higher altitude), the more dramatic the dive will be to achieve missile hits on the pass over.
If any of this information seems inaccurate or unclear, please do not hesitate to ask questions or make comments.