Awhile back someone did a pilots guide to being a good gunner so I thought I'd do a guide from the gunner's perspective. I am by no means the best gunner in the world but here are some ideas of what I like to see in a pilot. Being in voice contact via voip either in a squad or through something like teamspeak is great but not absolutely necessary (I'd still recommend voice contact even if only one has a mic it can still be darn handy)
1. Your goals as a chopper pilot
You have 2 goals as a pilot.
1a. Keep us alive
This is your primary goal as a pilot. I can't do diddly squat to dodge the missles from that plane or AA vehicle. That's your job. If it's between lining up a shot on an AA vehicle that's shooting at us or dodging behind a hill where he can't shoot us go behind the hill and sneak up on him another way. If he's got us locked up then do any evasive action you can think of to keep us alive until we're behind that hill and he can't shoot at us. Don't worry about me I keep plenty of air sick bags stocked. I'll almost always ride a chopper down in a blaze of glory (doesn't say much for my inteligence does it?) rather than bail out so if you fail at this I'll see you back at the chopper spawn point.
1b. Getting me in position to kill stuff
This is your second goal. My TV Missiles can kill anything in the game with one shot so it's your job to get me in a position to use them. The chain gun works good against infantry or if I miss with the missile but don't count on me using it as a primary weapon against vehicles. To shoot a TV missile give me at least 2 seconds where we're not moving around violently to line up a shot (as long as it doesn't interfere with 1a). After you see the missile fly off then do all the acrobatics you want because I'm going to be watching the missile cam the whole way in.
2. Where can my gunner shoot?
I can use the chaingun in about a 180 degree arc towards the front of the chopper. That means if it's in front of us I can generally hit it unless it's too high or low. For height I can aim to just above your cross hair. The only chopper I did extensive testing on was the Cobra and I could aim the gun to approximately half way from the crosshair to the top of the bars on either side of the HUD. Aiming down is harder to determine but near as I can figure I can aim down approximately 60 degrees from the front of the chopper.
For TV Missiles I'm looking straight ahead in a narrow angle so aim the chopper at whatever you want me to destroy. Somewhere near your crosshairs seems to work good.
3. Attacking a base
3a. Base is empty
There's nobody at a base and we can cap it. Fine. Hover over the flag slowly rotating so I can keep an eye out for vehicles or infantry. Don't yell at me to hop out so we can capture the flag faster I'm not going to do it. We may capture the flag slightly faster but I won't be nearly as efficive at protecting the chopper on the ground. Not to mention if you have to do a quick get away from the squad that just showed up I get left behind and usually turned into a swiss cheese.
3b. Base is being fought over by ground forces
The best way to handle this is to orbit the base from a slight distance making sure I'm facing the bad guys at all times. This will give me the best chance to rack up the kills while minimizing our exposure to ground fire. If we start taking heavy fire see 1a above. This also works with the transport chopper you just have to keep the side I'm on
DO NOT try to hover over the flag to get capture points. All you're going to do is get us turned into swiss cheese and/or I'm going to reach back there and smack you silly!
4. You see a tank/APC/AA vehicle
4a. I'm looking straight at it but not firing the chaingun
I'm probably lining up a TV missile shot (or waiting for you to line me up). Give me a few seconds (see 1b) to get a missile off then you can do your strafing run. If I haven't fired in the 2 seconds then it means I probably don't see the same thing you do (see 4b). Tanks and APCs have a limit on how high they can aim their main guns, try to keep us above that, or come from a direction they aren't looking, and we'll own them. If you want to duck behind a hill and move us to a better firing position where he won't see us until it's too late that's fine with me, especially if it's an AA vehicle and he sees us.
4b. I'm looking the other way
Tell me about it. Use the spot command, call out on voice, something. If I'm looking off to one side it means I've seen something I think is worth shooting at and I probably don't know there's anything in front of us to shoot at.
5. There's another chopper
5a. He doesn't see us or sees us but is not bothering us in any way
Line me up for a TV missile shot (see 1b) and I'll do my best to knock him down the easy way. If I miss and he doesn't react then wait for me to take a second shot. If he does react, especially if he turns towards us to fight, or I miss a second time go ahead and do your strafing run and I'll plink away with the chain gun.
5b. He sees us and is shooting at us
If you get a chance to let me shoot at him by all means do so as long as it doesn't interfere with keeping us alive. Try to keep him in my firing arcs (see 1b above) and try to keep us out of his gunners firing arcs.
6. We're damaged and we need to fly back to base to repair
While we're hovering over the chopper pad/supply crate repairing and reloading aim me towards the enemy so I can fire off TV Missiles. Odds are I won't hit anything, but I do get hits often enough to make firing them off worth while. Besides, we'll get reloaded by the pad/crate so it's not like we've lost anything.
7. You want to fly with your friend but I've jumped in the gunners seat before him
Ask me nicely to hop out. If I'm in a good mood I'll let him have the seat. If I say negative don't just sit there yelling 'get out'. I got here first deal with it I'm not going to get out if you spend the rest of the round yelling at me. Also do not go fly into a hill or deliberately crash the chopper so your buddy can get another chance to get the gunners seat. If you do that the first thing I'm going to do is respawn and kick you in the ding ding. Then I'm going to switch teams and make it my goal for the rest of the round, and probably the next one, to kill any chopper I see that might possibly be you.
Hopefully this guide will help someone and give pilots an idea what your gunner expects.
Rip|Itar
1. Your goals as a chopper pilot
You have 2 goals as a pilot.
1a. Keep us alive
This is your primary goal as a pilot. I can't do diddly squat to dodge the missles from that plane or AA vehicle. That's your job. If it's between lining up a shot on an AA vehicle that's shooting at us or dodging behind a hill where he can't shoot us go behind the hill and sneak up on him another way. If he's got us locked up then do any evasive action you can think of to keep us alive until we're behind that hill and he can't shoot at us. Don't worry about me I keep plenty of air sick bags stocked. I'll almost always ride a chopper down in a blaze of glory (doesn't say much for my inteligence does it?) rather than bail out so if you fail at this I'll see you back at the chopper spawn point.
1b. Getting me in position to kill stuff
This is your second goal. My TV Missiles can kill anything in the game with one shot so it's your job to get me in a position to use them. The chain gun works good against infantry or if I miss with the missile but don't count on me using it as a primary weapon against vehicles. To shoot a TV missile give me at least 2 seconds where we're not moving around violently to line up a shot (as long as it doesn't interfere with 1a). After you see the missile fly off then do all the acrobatics you want because I'm going to be watching the missile cam the whole way in.
2. Where can my gunner shoot?
I can use the chaingun in about a 180 degree arc towards the front of the chopper. That means if it's in front of us I can generally hit it unless it's too high or low. For height I can aim to just above your cross hair. The only chopper I did extensive testing on was the Cobra and I could aim the gun to approximately half way from the crosshair to the top of the bars on either side of the HUD. Aiming down is harder to determine but near as I can figure I can aim down approximately 60 degrees from the front of the chopper.
For TV Missiles I'm looking straight ahead in a narrow angle so aim the chopper at whatever you want me to destroy. Somewhere near your crosshairs seems to work good.
3. Attacking a base
3a. Base is empty
There's nobody at a base and we can cap it. Fine. Hover over the flag slowly rotating so I can keep an eye out for vehicles or infantry. Don't yell at me to hop out so we can capture the flag faster I'm not going to do it. We may capture the flag slightly faster but I won't be nearly as efficive at protecting the chopper on the ground. Not to mention if you have to do a quick get away from the squad that just showed up I get left behind and usually turned into a swiss cheese.
3b. Base is being fought over by ground forces
The best way to handle this is to orbit the base from a slight distance making sure I'm facing the bad guys at all times. This will give me the best chance to rack up the kills while minimizing our exposure to ground fire. If we start taking heavy fire see 1a above. This also works with the transport chopper you just have to keep the side I'm on
DO NOT try to hover over the flag to get capture points. All you're going to do is get us turned into swiss cheese and/or I'm going to reach back there and smack you silly!
4. You see a tank/APC/AA vehicle
4a. I'm looking straight at it but not firing the chaingun
I'm probably lining up a TV missile shot (or waiting for you to line me up). Give me a few seconds (see 1b) to get a missile off then you can do your strafing run. If I haven't fired in the 2 seconds then it means I probably don't see the same thing you do (see 4b). Tanks and APCs have a limit on how high they can aim their main guns, try to keep us above that, or come from a direction they aren't looking, and we'll own them. If you want to duck behind a hill and move us to a better firing position where he won't see us until it's too late that's fine with me, especially if it's an AA vehicle and he sees us.
4b. I'm looking the other way
Tell me about it. Use the spot command, call out on voice, something. If I'm looking off to one side it means I've seen something I think is worth shooting at and I probably don't know there's anything in front of us to shoot at.
5. There's another chopper
5a. He doesn't see us or sees us but is not bothering us in any way
Line me up for a TV missile shot (see 1b) and I'll do my best to knock him down the easy way. If I miss and he doesn't react then wait for me to take a second shot. If he does react, especially if he turns towards us to fight, or I miss a second time go ahead and do your strafing run and I'll plink away with the chain gun.
5b. He sees us and is shooting at us
If you get a chance to let me shoot at him by all means do so as long as it doesn't interfere with keeping us alive. Try to keep him in my firing arcs (see 1b above) and try to keep us out of his gunners firing arcs.
6. We're damaged and we need to fly back to base to repair
While we're hovering over the chopper pad/supply crate repairing and reloading aim me towards the enemy so I can fire off TV Missiles. Odds are I won't hit anything, but I do get hits often enough to make firing them off worth while. Besides, we'll get reloaded by the pad/crate so it's not like we've lost anything.
7. You want to fly with your friend but I've jumped in the gunners seat before him
Ask me nicely to hop out. If I'm in a good mood I'll let him have the seat. If I say negative don't just sit there yelling 'get out'. I got here first deal with it I'm not going to get out if you spend the rest of the round yelling at me. Also do not go fly into a hill or deliberately crash the chopper so your buddy can get another chance to get the gunners seat. If you do that the first thing I'm going to do is respawn and kick you in the ding ding. Then I'm going to switch teams and make it my goal for the rest of the round, and probably the next one, to kill any chopper I see that might possibly be you.
Hopefully this guide will help someone and give pilots an idea what your gunner expects.
Rip|Itar
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