Advance Helicopter piloting

[Futile]

I'm looking for advice from expert helicopter pilots. Beginners should read this thread:

http://www.totalbf2.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8436

Here are my thoughts. I've clocked almost 100 hours on helicopters now, with more than 2000 kills. Haven't seen any of the following issues in any threads yet:

General tips: when dogfighting, always try to be above the other chopper. It is IMPOSSIBLE to aim a TV missile when the other guys is against the sky (above you). The crosshair on the TV is white, and the sky is white

You need 4-5 direct hits on a tank to kill it. I think 3 will kill an APC. Always use the whole clip of missiles on a blackhawk Depending where you hit, you'll need 5 missiles to kill another attack copter.

Always know exactly where the cranes and buildings are so you don't crash into them while maneuvering.

Differences between the 3 attack copters:

MEC's MI28: This beast is heavy, and it looks tougher, but it has similar amount of health as the other choppers. Takes 2 missiles from AA or anti-tank class to go down. One shot from a tank will bring it down to red. Vulnerable to the 50 cal on top of jeeps. However I think it is better armored against regular guns (AKs and rifles) and against grenades. Tips: it can be hard to stop when it's going too fast, so be careful swooping down. If you pitch down too much it will be much harder to pull up than the other choppers. Make SURE you have a gunner that doesn't suck: the gun on this chopper owns infantry. Let the gunner take out infantry: pilot should worry about enemy armor. It's huge size means that it's a large target for tanks and APCs.

DO NOT dogfight against Cobras: the missiles on a Cobra will easily hit you since the MI28 is so wide. Your missiles (and TV missile) will have a hard time hitting the Cobra's thin profile. If enemy chopper engages you, just run toward the nearest friendly AA site. Your chopper is actually just as fast as the Cobra so you can outrun him.

Best maps to use this is chopper is Cleansweep, where you get friendly AAs to help you, and Sharqi, where your gunner will melt away enemy infantry.

USA's Cobra: Opposite of the MI28. Very light, very narrow profile, extremely maneuverable. As pilot your main job will be to kill enemy tanks and APCs. Don't worry about infantry unless you don't have any other targets. It is really hard to hover these because they are so sensitive... But then why are you hovering? Don't bother with capping flags in these! It leaves you very vulnerable to ground infantry. The regular gun on the cobra is actually decent against infantry. Not as ridiculously good as the MEC, but it works.

Best map for this is Dalian plant and Daqing oilfields: both have LOTS of enemy armor to kill, and no cover at all for them Just swoop down and take them out. General tip for the Cobra: I always like to pretend that the gunner isn't there. That way if the gunner misses his shot on the tank, you'll be on the right approach to take it out your yourself.

Dogfighting: The Cobra is fantastic for this. It can turn (yaw) faster than the other choppers and has the narrowest profile. ALWAYS keep your nose toward the opponent. ALWAYS try to be above the other the other chopper. Lead your shots!

Chinese Z10:
Definitely a love hate with this chopper. It's thinner and more maneuverable than the MEC one. It's very stable and very easy to hover. When you are landing though, it seems to have a HUGE forward momentum and will slide forward quite a bit. So make sure you nose up before you land to slow down. The main draw back is that the gun on this chopper SUCKS. Make sure your gunner understands that, and tell him NEVER to use the gun. I've seen him shoot at a stationary sniper till it overheats, and not hitting jack. Make sure your gunner is good with the TV misssile. Why do I love this chopper then? on the maps that you can fly it, if you have a good gunner, you can sink US's blackhawks left and right! This is THE solution to blackhawks. Think of it as a moving platform for shooting TV missiles. It's ok to dogfight the Cobra and I've definitely lost in a cobra against the Z10. The Z10 is only so-so against enemy armor and ground targets, since it is heavier, bigger, and not as maneuverable. Smart tank players will be able to take cover against you.

Best maps: Dalian plant, Fushe pass, Dragon valley.

Carrier runs:
When attacking the US carrier, always approach from the side that does not have the AA gun on it. You can always stay low right next to the carrier. Watch out for enemy antitank soldiers.

Practice:
For a while I didn't have internet, so i practiced on the single player map Dalian plant. It has one attack chopper at the base near the water, and it can be US or Chinese depending on who holds the flag. Practice till you can win it on Expert (very hard if the enemy has the mobile AA).

So yea, that's what I got. Now let's hear from some experts

[dragon159753]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

Well, note of the mi-28, stay fairly clear of simple objects such as trees and that, i am a strong helo pilot but i always forget about the wideness of the mi-28 and get us both killed.

another thing, when doing runs on a tank etc.. chase it, never go forward into it, if u go head on into each other, u will pass over him in a matter of milli-seconds!

[CaptainPuffy]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

I can control the American Cobra alright, I'm still a novice at flying with a helicopter. I use a logitech Freedom 2.4 wireless joystick, but for the life of me I cant seem to control a blackhawk, it constantly wants to do barrel rolls and hardly wants to turn...do you have any advice for that.

[(-W3rD-)GotMilk]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

i'm about to 100 hours flying the chopper out of 140ish but the big difference is that i have close to 6 thousand kills... not 2 thousand! anyway i mainly fly the cobra, its fast, sleak and small which makes it my chopper of choice. i like how you said to always stay above another chopper while dog fighting, thats a good tip but leads to crashes when lowering the nose to fire off missles. instead i try to lure them into a position where they cant get many shots off on me (works when you fly the cobra and they are in a larger, less maneuverable copter) this is very advanced and drawn out but it works like a charm once you know what your doing.

let the other chopper above you, when he dips to fire missles slide yourself to one side or another but dont turn at that moment so you dont reveal a broader area for him to hit, dodge the missles and him in your slide. after he passes you hes going to need to turn to get another clear shot. by now you should have turned and are following him. since hes going to be turning fairly slowly, get in position to where he turns around you (so that you can hover, and just spin, seeing the side of his chopper instead of having to chase him and seeing a narrower tail end) spin/hover aiming at him while he turns and shoot away. you can do this maneuver many times and the pilot can never see you. hopefuly you understand this!!!

another thing to try is while both copters are trying to get above eachother your gaining alot of altitude which allows you to do a few riskier moves. after a bit of rising up its going to be expected to do so, the cobra is able to do anything at a drop of a hat so its very unpredictable. my finishing move (can take down a full health copter) is once your high enough and you think the other guy expects you to keep rising up, get in close, suddenly pitch back which exposes a very large belly section, fire as much as you can into this to do massive damage. the other pilot will never see it coming (literally as you are beneath him...) once your done firing dip your nose and gloat at out-witting the other guy. this doesnt work so well when the other copter has a gunner

i've figured out it takes 5 hits on a tank to kill it immedietally, 4 shots to make it burn to death. i fire 4 shots into any type of apc/anti air or larger transport. empty all 14 shots into transport helo's which you choose to take down. i dont go after them if they have less than 3 people inside, it takes to long and they usually end up bailing out once it gets to low on health. shoot at it from its 7-8 or 4-5 o'clock's alog its sides, this gives you a pretty broad area to shoot at, you can follow it easily, and you take out a full side of infentry before they get a chance to bail.

my favorite map with the cobra is actually kubra dam, with only the one stinger at the mec base to worry about (which is rarely occupied). 1 jet and a possibility of 2 anti air's (which are very easy to figure out where they are at) it makes flying a breeze. flying through the tunnel is always fun, going through where the flag actually is right above the tunnel is easier than most people think, just stay as high to the ceiling as possible, and the tunnel under construction on the MEC side of the dam is nice for cover against a pilot in a larger copter who isnt willing to enter it at full speed like the cobra can.

more tips with the cobra, when you want to take out a tank that you know has seen and is tracking you come in at him from a high angle, his gun wont be able to fire high enough to hit you and with the maneuverability of the cobra you can go into a very steep fall and pull out of it quickly. the cobra is small, with practice and a steady hand you can fly through alot of things that you wouldnt think possible. this is useful for excaping anti air and jets. practice flying it as fast as possible wherever possible, after some practice you will realize you can take out about every infentry guy in an area fairly quickly by keeping your nose pointed at them, spinning and trailing your targets. its alot of fun to do this at high speeds.

for your tip on learning to fly the blackhawk, if your pitching it into things alot, turn down your sensistivity (i use a keyboard and mouse so if your using a sensitivite joystick your probably screwing yourself)

i dont have much to say on the other 2 flying bricks...

thats long winded enough for now, maybe more to come later when i think of it...

[Reider]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

i think its not good to not use the gun on the Z10... jeah sometimes its worthless just as the gun on the Cobra, but a lot of times it works just fine

[Reider]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

when dogfighting i always try to get them from 7-8 o' clock... this way you will see when they turn en wich way they turn... you simply anticipate by trying to keep that 7-8

dont rush into battle! if you see a target, it doesnt mean the target can see you... i've seen too many pilots that are too exited when they head into battle

since i got a joystick i dont feel much of the difference between the choppers, i can kill a cobra easy enough with a havoc (mi28)

[j4k3]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

very awesome tips here!

[=PxR=TitanSound]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

My best advice I can pass on is start up a single player game and really throw the chopper about...I mean abuse it...see what its limitations are and how far you can push before you lose control, it will help you evade and confuse the enemy really well

[Pilioka]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

DO NOT dogfight against Cobras: the missiles on a Cobra will easily hit you since the MI28 is so wide. Your missiles (and TV missile) will have a hard time hitting the Cobra's thin profile. If enemy chopper engages you, just run toward the nearest friendly AA site. Your chopper is actually just as fast as the Cobra so you can outrun him.

MI28 with a co-pilot should beat a cobra 9/10 times.

Lesson 2 about MI28. The MI28 cannon is an automatic grenade launcher with 500 rounds. Or is it 450? Either way it can take down any infantry in one shot and blow up jeeps very quickly.

Good pilot + Good co-pilot = Ownage. MI28 is the best chopper when you add skill to it.

Nother thing when dogfighting another chopper. Do not ever stay floating straight or you will die. Try and move in a circle. Never shoot your entire load unless you know it will hit. Shoot 1-3 at a time.

[TacticalSkirmish]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

Your first tip is in my signature mate.

Coming from several years playing with WW2 fighters and bombers in IL-2 Forgotten Battles/AEP/Pacific Fighters, it has been a real treat to mess around the helicopters in BF2. Not much for jets, especially in this game as the maps are just too small. Why not allow jets the freedom of going outside of the play area?

Anyway, I find the best place to practice flying is to launch a LAN server. This gives you all the maps 16,32,64 and no one on either side. Practice, practice and practice. Once you can fly than jump into an offline map with AI as mentioned.

As one would expect, while the aircraft are fun in BF2, I tend to agree that they are not really well modelled for dogfighting. One's main focus ought to be the ground war.

I appreciate folks who are able to use the keyboard/mouse, but I find it much better to use the joystick.

"Good flying never killed anyone" so learning the aiming systems in these birds is paramount. Flying circles around buildings is cute but doesn't help the team. This is where I need to concentrate my practice time as my stats show. :cry:

I was trying to aim while too close to the target. Finding much better to be further away and on a much more gentle angle. This allows you to better aim and hover for that brief moment without losing altitude. Must stop trying to cap with an attack helicopter. Bad for my health. I pretty sure two rockets kills a tank. I aim for the back/top.

Regards,
TS!

[SuperScythe]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

Agreed. MI28 with good co-pilot owns cobra.

I quick question.....anyone just use the keys for piloting?
It's a really quick response but a bit difficult. Left thumb 4 missiles.....
You get some wicked manouvers going though...loop the loop into barrel roll(s)

I don't get enough time to fly, but alway try go for dogfights...more fun that shooting tanks, more skill required, and lets u push the limit of your chopper.

A tip if you want to do barrel rolls...it takes roughly 40 feet give or take to do one, so make sure you are above this. You can do it in less with a bit of practice The whole key to piloting is practice. In my opinion, u can always get better, I know for myself.

[Talus]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

I completely disagree with a couple of things here:

#1. Your co-pilot should be in charge of taking out armor. In fact, the pilot's rockets should come second ALWAYS and only if your gunner has missed a couple of times.

#2. You should NEVER fly as if you have no co-pilot...the co-pilot makes the attack chopopers what they are.

[Futile]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

i'm about to 100 hours flying the chopper out of 140ish but the big difference is that i have close to 6 thousand kills... not 2 thousand!

Awesome tips gotmilk. The cobra is getting to be my favorite, but i fly a lot of the other choppers too, and a lot of times the gunner steals my kills (not that i'm complaining -- a good gunner is RARE).

Confession: a lot of my helicopter time is spent in a blackhawk padding up my stats Piloting a blackhawk is sooo easy compared to attack helicopter. Funny that the crew always get amazed that I do these maneuvers in a blackhawk, things that I do all the time when in an attack copter.

[(-W3rD-)GotMilk]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

talus, you sound like one of those gunners whos completly unable to fly... or a pilot whos completly unable to fly. sure the gunner has a one shot one kill advantage to him but if you miss then thats wasting a whole lot of time. skill with the tv depends alot on your hardware, i think i have a pretty good system and i still cant controll a tv very well, i can do it but not with 100% accuracy. however i can say that when i spot a target and go in, rockets blazing i'm going to kill it. i dont attack it otherwise. i fly as if i dont have a gunner and when i can, i fly without a gunner. i havnt come across a gunner yet whos not a kill/point whore and brings something to the game that i cant already do without him. (other than more easily being able to take out individuals) yeah this sounds cocky but come fly with me sometime.

and what i mean by point whore is letting me go in for a kill on armor, be about 5 feet away from it and shoot off their missle. i've basically already got the thing dead, whats the point of using the tv then? none at all, its a waste of a tv, waste of missles, and ****es me off (this is like the 4th time i've said this on this board)

futile, i'm all about flying the hawk, that thing is a hovering tank. you better get your stats with that bad boy in as quickly as you can though because from what i've read once the patch comes out your going to cap a flag as if you were in the hawk by yourself, even when you have a full crew. they will have to jump out to capture it any quicker. i wonder if people will be able to choose to patch or not, and stay behind with this version still racking up the points with the hawk.

[Talus]

Re: Advance Helicopter piloting

I can fly extremely well

Since you're a chopper pilot who flys as if he has no gunner...and actually PREFERS to fly without a gunner...then I have no regard for anything you have to say on the matter