Need Chopper dogfighting tips

[Pace]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

"When thou loseth airspeed, the ground shalt rise up, and smite thee."

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[aib73412]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

i have shot jets out of the sky with the choppers, i have also shot them out of the sky with the tvm thats even more embarrasing if you ask me. lol jets can become a prey if your a good chopper pilot. just turn and shoot. at his level.


"Try and ram me, and you will end up loosing in the end"

[HABO3]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

And of course, fly by friendly AA and 50 cals, occassionally it is of more merit to sacrifice altitude to be by a friendly/neutral helopad to repair while they waste hellfires on ya.

yeah, last ditch worst case scenario...fly high then head for the ground gaining speed towards a friendly mobile AA/Mounted MG while yelling "NEED BACKUP!" over and over

[TheDR]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

I need some tips on Chopper dogfighting!!!!

if anybody knows any good tricks or techniques on shooting and such please let me know

Coderedpl:
I've read the posts so far. Some of them are decent and some are ace pilot wannabe's giving rookie advice. One thing to keep in mind...EVERYONE thinks they are money in the helo! Most think they are king of the air so filter the comments you get back from people. Some of the advice sucks. When I ask a question like you did I wanna know from someone who has authority on the topic, someone who can kick my tail not a big mouth kid.

I know some think the leaderboard is crap and it's true some have exploited it by cheating as much as possible to get pts. Then there are others who have fought tooth and nail to rise through the ranks. I am somewhere between 25 and 35 on the helo. leaderboard (and climbing). I didn't get there overnight nor do I think everyone in the top 100 are the "best of the best". I say all this just to give you some background. My spot of around #30 is out of 4-500,000 and I can probably kick any helo pilots ass on totalbf2's website. ALL of my points come from dogfighting and NONE of the pts are from padding or cheating in any way. Here is my advice (by the way, I am still learning and getting better every day. I still ask the same question you did):

To fight better...

1. no one mentioned this and I doubt they will is your ability to turn. The faster and tighter your turns are the better your chance of winning. The guy who turns slower is usually gonna end up with a helo BEHIND him and you'll never reverse that if you are the slower turner. I sometimes pivot around; I just spin on an axis while I watch my opponent bob, weave, duck, roll, dive and then THROW their helo backwards hoping to hit me (?). Meanwhile I am just eating my popcorn watching the theatrics. When he is all done (and has no clue where I am usually) and if the timing is right I will move in for a quick 16 rockets to his side and it's over. So that is advice #1...practice turning very very fast and in a very small, tight circle. None of these large, lazy turns that take up 3 football fields.

2. Patience: don't try to make an opportunity happen too much. Of course you are trying to out maneuver him but don't push it. More important than forcing yourself into a position advantage is your defense. Protect your sides!! (and tail) When you start trying to make something happen it doesn't take much to expose your sides just for a second or two. If he is at all good then that's all it will take. The battle often comes down to that one mistake and the first who makes it will lose.

3. Height is overrated. True you do not want to let him get above you if he has a gunner because it's easy to put yourself RIGHT in the site of his missle. I nearly always let me opponent get above me. All it takes is me tipping up for 2-4 seconds, letting loose 16 rockets and (if they hit) it's over. I can't sustain the whole fight with my nose up and it is easier being higher but it's overrated. I almost never lose a dogfight and I am nearly always the lower helo. Your flying and accuracy are WAY more valuable than height. I can always tell the rookies because they are sooo worried about maintaining the height advantage. Sometimes they will get impatient and dive bomb me, I swivel (the quick turning again) as they go by me and now they are way under me.

4. Accuracy: my biggest weakness. If you can lead well, if you can line up the enemy well then, wow, what a difference. I have bad days when I launch rockets until I am empty and LITERALLY I hit the guy 1-2 times. Days when I am just off my game and my accuracy stinks are days when I get killed a lot. Most pilots (even good ones) will make enough mistakes to give you maybe 2-3 good opportunities to drop them. If you fire and miss then forget it. When you give him the chance (and you will) he probably won't miss. You have to be accurate. Some guys sit REAL still while they wait for their gunner to line up the tv missle. HA! I love that. If I can line up quickly, then I can release 16 rockets dead on. If those rockets are accurate then he can even be 100 or more yards away! It's a great feeling when you shoot all 16 at a spec in the sky and then you see a small ball of helo parts fly everywhere. I am usually mumbling "I can't believe I just got away with that one" as I fly bck to reload.

5. Don't act like a jr high punk. Some of these guys like to showboat around skimming the ground, flying under things, bla bla. Just let them. Don't feel like you have to match their flight path. Stalk your prey. Wait until he is all done flexing his ability and then pummel him. This is not an airshow. It's not uncommon for those idiots to hit something before you even have a chance to kill them. I include stuff like rolling. One post in this thread, the guy was saying "yea just roll..." No... that's dumb. You should be good enough that you can make your helo roll, loop, split-s, whatever but dogfight doesn't come down to the best roller. I have done a lot of damage to the underbelly of the enemies helo as he "rolls". You mostly just see rookies doing stuff like that.

6. If you have a gunner use him. I am good enough to take down 2 helos with gunners all by myself. You should be able to beat a 2-man team by yourself. Then if you do have a gunner it is a luxury instead of a crutch. When I have a gunner I fly differently. I have to fly slower, more fluidly and less jerky. I have to make SURE I have the nose in the right place otherwise he is staring at dirt the whole time. If you have a decent gunner and you get the nose pointed correctly then the opponent has NO chance. When I face a team like that I lose every time. No matter how irratic my flight is, before I get close enough to fight his gunner has popped me with a missle. I hate facing guys with super accurate missle gunners. It's impossible to beat them. I may get a few lucky kills but they will win the majority.

7. Try to sneak up on enemy if possible.

8. Repair constantly

9. Make SURE you dont go into fight half loaded. I cannot tell you how many times I've done this. I fire 2x and have to reload. Don't proceed until you are fully loaded. Shoot off extra rockets into the ground if you need to but don't proceed until you have 16. You just don't know what might be around the next building. I make this mistake allll the time.
10. Practice your agility. Get to a point where flying any model helo feels "light". Learn to shift it's weight around so that you are able to turn on a dime, flip, roll, whatever. That agility will save your butt from hitting an obstacle or getting into the enemies line of sight.


That's the big stuff that I can think of off the top of my head. Here are my stats today. I have tons of deaths. I have jumped on the "bastard" team soooo many times. You know, that side that is 4 players down and getting abused by the other team. The helo is often untouched and there is plenty of competition. The downside is that I die a lot. When I am in even battle then I sometimes only need about 3-5 lives to play a whole round in the helo and I very rarely crash:

Rank: #34
Name: TheDR [Sergeant Major]
Total helo kills: 18493
Total Deaths: 10691
Hours: 452.32

Hope this helps,

TheDR

[filamentsnow]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

Coderedpl:
I've read the posts so far. Some of them are decent and some are ace pilot wannabe's giving rookie advice. One thing to keep in mind...EVERYONE thinks they are money in the helo! Most think they are king of the air so filter the comments you get back from people. Some of the advice sucks. When I ask a question like you did I wanna know from someone who has authority on the topic, someone who can kick my tail not a big mouth kid.

I know some think the leaderboard is crap and it's true some have exploited it by cheating as much as possible to get pts. Then there are others who have fought tooth and nail to rise through the ranks. I am somewhere between 25 and 35 on the helo. leaderboard (and climbing). I didn't get there overnight nor do I think everyone in the top 100 are the "best of the best". I say all this just to give you some background. My spot of around #30 is out of 4-500,000 and I can probably kick any helo pilots ass on totalbf2's website. ALL of my points come from dogfighting and NONE of the pts are from padding or cheating in any way. Here is my advice (by the way, I am still learning and getting better every day. I still ask the same question you did):

To fight better...

1. no one mentioned this and I doubt they will is your ability to turn. The faster and tighter your turns are the better your chance of winning. The guy who turns slower is usually gonna end up with a helo BEHIND him and you'll never reverse that if you are the slower turner. I sometimes pivot around; I just spin on an axis while I watch my opponent bob, weave, duck, roll, dive and then THROW their helo backwards hoping to hit me (?). Meanwhile I am just eating my popcorn watching the theatrics. When he is all done (and has no clue where I am usually) and if the timing is right I will move in for a quick 16 rockets to his side and it's over. So that is advice #1...practice turning very very fast and in a very small, tight circle. None of these large, lazy turns that take up 3 football fields.

2. Patience: don't try to make an opportunity happen too much. Of course you are trying to out maneuver him but don't push it. More important than forcing yourself into a position advantage is your defense. Protect your sides!! (and tail) When you start trying to make something happen it doesn't take much to expose your sides just for a second or two. If he is at all good then that's all it will take. The battle often comes down to that one mistake and the first who makes it will lose.

3. Height is overrated. True you do not want to let him get above you if he has a gunner because it's easy to put yourself RIGHT in the site of his missle. I nearly always let me opponent get above me. All it takes is me tipping up for 2-4 seconds, letting loose 16 rockets and (if they hit) it's over. I can't sustain the whole fight with my nose up and it is easier being higher but it's overrated. I almost never lose a dogfight and I am nearly always the lower helo. Your flying and accuracy are WAY more valuable than height. I can always tell the rookies because they are sooo worried about maintaining the height advantage. Sometimes they will get impatient and dive bomb me, I swivel (the quick turning again) as they go by me and now they are way under me.

4. Accuracy: my biggest weakness. If you can lead well, if you can line up the enemy well then, wow, what a difference. I have bad days when I launch rockets until I am empty and LITERALLY I hit the guy 1-2 times. Days when I am just off my game and my accuracy stinks are days when I get killed a lot. Most pilots (even good ones) will make enough mistakes to give you maybe 2-3 good opportunities to drop them. If you fire and miss then forget it. When you give him the chance (and you will) he probably won't miss. You have to be accurate. Some guys sit REAL still while they wait for their gunner to line up the tv missle. HA! I love that. If I can line up quickly, then I can release 16 rockets dead on. If those rockets are accurate then he can even be 100 or more yards away! It's a great feeling when you shoot all 16 at a spec in the sky and then you see a small ball of helo parts fly everywhere. I am usually mumbling "I can't believe I just got away with that one" as I fly bck to reload.

5. Don't act like a jr high punk. Some of these guys like to showboat around skimming the ground, flying under things, bla bla. Just let them. Don't feel like you have to match their flight path. Stalk your prey. Wait until he is all done flexing his ability and then pummel him. This is not an airshow. It's not uncommon for those idiots to hit something before you even have a chance to kill them. I include stuff like rolling. One post in this thread, the guy was saying "yea just roll..." No... that's dumb. You should be good enough that you can make your helo roll, loop, split-s, whatever but dogfight doesn't come down to the best roller. I have done a lot of damage to the underbelly of the enemies helo as he "rolls". You mostly just see rookies doing stuff like that.

6. If you have a gunner use him. I am good enough to take down 2 helos with gunners all by myself. You should be able to beat a 2-man team by yourself. Then if you do have a gunner it is a luxury instead of a crutch. When I have a gunner I fly differently. I have to fly slower, more fluidly and less jerky. I have to make SURE I have the nose in the right place otherwise he is staring at dirt the whole time. If you have a decent gunner and you get the nose pointed correctly then the opponent has NO chance. When I face a team like that I lose every time. No matter how irratic my flight is, before I get close enough to fight his gunner has popped me with a missle. I hate facing guys with super accurate missle gunners. It's impossible to beat them. I may get a few lucky kills but they will win the majority.

7. Try to sneak up on enemy if possible.

8. Repair constantly

9. Make SURE you dont go into fight half loaded. I cannot tell you how many times I've done this. I fire 2x and have to reload. Don't proceed until you are fully loaded. Shoot off extra rockets into the ground if you need to but don't proceed until you have 16. You just don't know what might be around the next building. I make this mistake allll the time.
10. Practice your agility. Get to a point where flying any model helo feels "light". Learn to shift it's weight around so that you are able to turn on a dime, flip, roll, whatever. That agility will save your butt from hitting an obstacle or getting into the enemies line of sight.


That's the big stuff that I can think of off the top of my head. Here are my stats today. I have tons of deaths. I have jumped on the "bastard" team soooo many times. You know, that side that is 4 players down and getting abused by the other team. The helo is often untouched and there is plenty of competition. The downside is that I die a lot. When I am in even battle then I sometimes only need about 3-5 lives to play a whole round in the helo and I very rarely crash:

Rank: #34
Name: TheDR [Sergeant Major]
Total helo kills: 18493
Total Deaths: 10691
Hours: 452.32

Hope this helps,

TheDR

yours a better guide . or should i say... suggestions

[Pace]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

tis some good tips... ive found the best tactic with an attack chopper is to use your speed to your advantage and literally hug the ground, only rising to let your gunner get a hellfire off to some distant tank...

[AlphaNut]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

Thanks TheDR, I know there is some really useful tips in your post.
I feel like I have to go practice chopper maneuvering right now :)

[TheDR]

Re: Need Chopper dogfighting tips

tis some good tips... ive found the best tactic with an attack chopper is to use your speed to your advantage and literally hug the ground, only rising to let your gunner get a hellfire off to some distant tank...

I don't know. Speed is a big help when avoiding AA from the ground but otherwise it doesn't really make or break you. If you are doing a quick dive and then leaving then you need to go fast. But speed as a "best tactic"? Maybe for you but it doesn't do much for me. Good control over your helo is by far more valuable to me.

TheDR

(I've dropped a few spots, I am #35 today on helo leaderboard. I'd like to make it into the 20's by next week.)