Helicopters : nap of the earth

[parish]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Yeah - use cover - but just staying that low over terrain is a death wish for your squad. If you get into some deep crap - and they cannot repair fast enough - you just donated 6 kills to the opposition. You are also bait for my tank round entering your back cabin, taking your whole crew with it in one shot.

Yes you tend to stay out of the aircraft's radar - but not my bombs in the bomber. I can't tell you how many low flying helos have fallen prey to my bomb runs. If I see them that low - I just turn around with bomb mode on so they never know I am coming. By the time they hear or see me - the bombs are just above the chopper and I just got 6 kills without you knowing wtf hit you.

You also give no vantage point for your gunners. Get up a bit in the air and your gunners can mow people down as they run for cover....it also keeps you out of eye level of the jeeps and APC's.

You are less likely to be taken out by a jet than you are by ground targets.

One tank shell in the cabin will NOT kill everyone riding in the chopper. Also, if a BH pilot is stupid enough to fly 5 off the ground in a straight line, then they deserve to be bombed, but since I have never seen bombs change direction in mid-flight, I doubt your bombing too many moving BH's. Flying low with a couple of AT guys and a wrench can take on almost everything including tanks if need be. Using the terrain to get across the map safely is not a bad thing. I have been known to follow roads up to a higher point to keep from getting taken out by AA.

[Grafisk]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Flying lo' and hi' has both their weaknesses (?) and strenghts. I'm a pilot and flying high is better than flying low, if the aircraft aren't always stalking you. I'm sure it has all been mentioned so I won't state my reasons.

[Aradiel]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Wow wow wow, hold on here partners...

Here it's all my fault... After reading all your posts I feel like I just kicked a wasps nest

Mea Maxima Culpa : I forgot to mention that I was speaking of Transport Helicopters in a fighter rich environment (Oman, Zatar, Fushee, Dragon etc). Sorry for not writing this earlier.

I did not believe my eyes when I just checked the forum and saw 3 pages of posts after such a short time :laugh:

I'm not an all-time-low flyer. It's just that I like to insert troops flying NOE then fly back to the spawn points and bring reinforcements as fast as I can. When I fly an attack baby, I usually tend to avoid the head-on helo vs helo duels like on Sharqi and prefer to hide away waiting for the other helo to come searching for me. And there I don't hesitate doing hi-lo-med or anything required to -1- stay alive / -2- give nice opportunities to my gunner / -3- support my ground pounder buddies.

Glaucauma, KillerUK, put out some pressure if need be. I respect both your point of view and wouldn't want you to get annoyed/upset just because of those posts.

Yours,

The looney french battle taxi pilot

"Flying straight is the shortest path to a fiery death"

[Automatic_Python]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

I find it easier to down chopper jocks when they try that low flying -as a pilot I specifically down them first actually 99;9% effective...

[Kattspya]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Shrug, I saw this thread as a discussion of techniques, not dicksize comparison.

That wasn't my intention. My intention was to show to you that I'm not talking solely out of my ass :).

When soloing I obviously stay higher.
Also when with strangers as gunners.
When with friends, I know that they need no visual contact with targets before firing and allow myself the luxury of buzzing around behind cover, raising my nose whenever they're reloaded.

I almost never fly with unknowns it isn't worth it. If I want solo fun I usually play another game. This is probably because my survivability drops by a couple hundred percent if I don't fly with my own gunner. I can't stand dying to someone elses mistakes.

Most enemy helicopters aren't a threat to you and me, the pilots. They are however a threat to the rest of the team, so I nip them in the bud before they do any damage to my teammates.

IMO most helo pairs aren't a significant threat to anything. I mean they can kill a tank or two and perhaps some infantry and then go down. In the mean time you can take out 3-4 times as many enemies. I'm not saying that I ignore helicopters it's just that they most often isn't worth most of our attention.

Shrug, I do that every now and then, but only if it absolutely needs be, or if I happen upon them, or if my team has trouble with a sniper. Otherwise, I leave the infantry to my team, because infantry is usually the smallest of all threats to my teammates.

You must play on better servers than I do. Even if you completely destroy all enemy armour your own team will somehow still manage to not cap the enemy flag. Let's also not forget that most public players go for the most populated bases in order to get more kills not win the match. You see two deserted enemy flags and one with half the team guarding it. Guess which one most players choose to assault.

Just a different philosophy I guess.

I would believe so. But it may come down to difference in perception. You do everything under some circumstances. Generally a modest height is better but sometimes flying low is preferable i.e. staying out of AA LOS. We just choose to put emphasis on different things.

[WarGimp]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Oi, I'd like to invite the thread starter to fly the Gimpy skys sometime.

I love flying low. I like wipping past windows... of the first floor. I like the sound of bushes and grass brushing the underside of my chopper. Just watch out for branches if yer in the back o me hawk.

Unfortunatly, I get static from some of my passangers because they figure I'm too low for 'em to jump out. Just try tellin 'em that they aren't going to need to jump (I'll ground my bird) or I'm gonna pull up when we get where we're going. Nah, they'd rather complain that "get it".
*shrug*
Then they don't fly with me anymore and I'm happy to make room in my squad for smart people.

Thing is, this is going to become very important skill for chopper pilots. With improved AA missile tracking, yer gonna get it up the tail unless you hug that ground like a 40 year old vigin's first hooker.

Are you *down* with that sickness?
(my god, that sucked)

[Aradiel]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Wargimp,

Anytime, anywhere.

I'll glady share the same airspace with you. You are surely a more able pilot.

I feel we would like playing alongside if a tenth of what I perceive about your gameplay style in your posts is true.

Any server you hang around often enough for us to get a chance to meet ingame? I'd like to fly with you both as passenger/gunner/pilot.

I have always thought that if one knows how to use machine guns and AA vehicles/missiles, life in the air can become dangerous. I don't want to think of what i'll be like in the near future with improved AA. We'd better start thinking about doing some tinkering with our choppers and afix some wheels or treads when we have to fly really low Not funny? Quite possible... frenchmen tend to be weird :laugh:

[WarGimp]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

The Ragin Rebles server is my usual stomping grounds.
You should get Ok pings to it.

Most of the people that play there are into teamwork 'n good action. Make sure you plug a mic in.

My French sucks, so I hope your english is good!

[Six.]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Ah yes! I love flying low like a lunatic! how I love to dodgem stingers, and usually- I pass by other would-be missilers who want to hit me, I practically weave about the map the way I know it... even if I do forget the odd tree sometimes... it's also hilarious scaring the pants off my mates when my helicopter whizzes by right next to them (thats if I don't accidentally clip them on the head).

I scare the pants off my gunner/passengers all the time- probably it looks as if I'm flying like a noob or whatever you call em, but I know what I'm doing- even if it looks like I'm going headlong into Kubra Dam or going to swing into some building.

I gots some of the greatest maneuvers to out-do helicopters, stingers, anti-tank missiles, mounted-guns, and even jet fighters! (provided I see them first :P) I AM GOOD!!! (jokes :P)

But seriously- I like flying low

[WarGimp]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

True story follows:

A friend was over one night. We were chillin and he wanted to see what BF2 was like. Insisted that I play. I joined the server that my roommate was already on. A short time later, I was flying an attack chopper while my roomies was gunning.

At one point I turned to the guy and said "Watch this, I'm gonna make him scream."
I pulled a hard bank and buzzed under a bridge on Oman with little room to spare. Sure enough, from the living room we here a distinct: "Whaaaaaaaa!! Jeezus f:censored:k!"
What made it sweeter was the sound of the fighter that had been chasing us slamming into the bridge.

[Moke]

Re: Helicopters : nap of the earth

Go low, go low.....

then prey, im not around in a tank to see you