I found this article that I think everyone who flies or guns in a chopper should read. I believe 70% of us already know theses tactics but there are a few that could learn from this. If you see someone that could use some tutoring refer them here:
A Gunners guide to being a good Chopper Pilot
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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.
Quote:
“Thanks for being my gunner….now shut up and listen….”
A Chopper Pilot’s Guide to being a good gunner.
By: Strega
1) Cockpit Familiarization:
Welcome to my gunship. Please keep your arms, hands, and feet inside the gunship at all times. When you enter the gunship, you should be in the gunner seat (F2), NOT the pilot’s seat. That seat is mine, and if you don’t get out of it, I’m gonna shoot you in the FACE with my AT Rocket (Yes it will go through the cockpit glass). I carry an AT so I can shoot you in the face if you don’t know what you’re doing. On the occasions where I have teammates or a competent gunner with me, I will fly as an Engineer, so that I can hover over friendly armor and repair them in the field.
2) What kit should you choose as a Helo Gunner???
I suggest you either pic Engineer, or Support as my gunner, so that we can repair/re-arm ourselves, and others. As double Engineers, we can repair armor very quickly (not ourselves, but other armor like Linebackers or Tanks owned by our team). It does neither of us any good for you to be a Sniper, Assault, or Anti-Tank. None of those 3 kits give us any advantage. If I see you walk up to my helo in a “Guille Suit”, I will shoot you in the face. Any of those 3 classes do us ZERO good.
If you want me to drop you off at their base, to blow up their commander sh*t, then sure, go Spec Ops, but PLEASE tell me that you are doing that. Keep in mind, that there are not many opportunities to do this on most maps, and that enemy chopper spawns 30 seconds after we kill it, so unless you’re on Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, TeamSound, etc., with me, this is not a wise choice. If you want to look like you know what you’re doing, walk up to my Chopper with your Ammo Bag or Wrench in hand, and I’ll know you’ve read my chopper guide and I can count on you.
There is a debate on using the Medic kit as a gunner. As my gunner, don’t do it. I think it is a bad idea, since I don’t plan on hovering over a big group of people to heal them. Let the commander drop supplies on their heads for that.
3) We’ve just lifted off, what do you do now???
Let’s just pray that you have a friend that can fly the helo, and the 2 of you have practiced on an empty server with the TV Missiles. You’re my gunner now and most likely, we’re on a full server. This IS NOT the place to learn how to shoot the TV missile. Host your own server and do that. If you don’t have any friends, load up Sharqui Peninsula, get in the MEC Chopper and go park it on the TV Station and practice shooting things. Hell, park it anywhere you want, just learn on your time, and not mine. Sure this sounds a little harsh, and I apologize. I’m here to play, and to kick some ass, I’m not here to try and teach you how to shoot. Let’s just hope a REALLY good gunner writes a tutorial of the same fashion for all the pilots out there that have no f’n clue what they are doing.
Remember to use the camera view while you’re flying so you can alert the pilot if you see a anything behind you, helo, armor, etc. Default key is C.
4) OMG, someone spotted an enemy HELO…what do you do???
A) He doesn’t see us, but we see him
If swear to god if you spool up that chain gun and start shooting at a full health helo that I’ve snuck up on, I’m going to shoot you in the face the first chance I get. This is something you don’t EVER want to do, and I’m going to explain why. The chain gun on the nose, is good for shooting at a smoking chopper that you want to “finish off”, or for infantry that you want to staple to the ground. If I’m lining up a rocket shot, and you start blazing away on the chain gun, the enemy helo is gonna feel it, see the big red mark on his screen indicating where we are, and he’s going to do whatever he can to out maneuver us. Thus, you’ve completely owned my chances at getting a solid rocket shot, and for that I will hate you and curse your mother.
If he doesn’t see us initially, I’m gonna put you in position for a TV Guided Missile shot. If you miss, and he doesn’t ‘jink’ after the missile goes by, I’m gonna stay lined up for a 2nd TV Guided Missile shot. I’m going to try to give you a rear quarter shot, so you have more surface area to aim for. After 2 tries with the TV and you miss, you’re f’n fired and I’m going in for a rocket run. Chances are, I’m going to at LEAST get that helo smoking, if not dead in that 1 run. Once he’s smoking, open up with that chaingun at any time, keeping in mind that I’m STILL going to try to line up a good Missile shot for you.
He see’s us, and we see him
I’m going to do my best to get as much altitude as possible, and get you a downward firing angle on him. It’s tough to shoot up as you know. Do me a favor, when you see the enemy helo, SPOT him for me (Default is Q then mouseclick). Spot him ANY chance you get, cuz that shows up on my radar and helps me maneuver for the kill shot.
For God’s sake, shoot him in the face with a TV Guided Missile. He’s no doubt coming straight at us and thinking the same thing. Initially, most don’t jink very much to try and get out of harm’s way. I love a gunner than can hit the long distance nose to nose shot. It sure ****es the enemy pilots off to no end.
Ok, let’s say you’ve missed your TV shots and I’m not choking you to death. We’re now tangled up in a maneuvering nightmare. Feel free to chain him any chance you get, but keep in mind that this entire time, I’m trying to line you up for another TV Guided Missile shot. That Missile is deadly, and 1 shot kills anything in the game. Airplanes, Helo’s, Armor, people, etc. Use it to OUR advantage. The better you gun, the better I fly, the more we help our team. I don’t plan on dying, so help me, help you. Don’t suck.
5) OMG, someone spotted enemy ARMOR…what do you do???
Please refer to section 4A regarding our initial sighting of the enemy. Do NOT, I repeat DO NOT open up on full strength Armor with the chain gun. You’re gonna do 2 things…#1, let him know we’re there, and #2, REALLY **** me off. So much of this game is based upon the element of surprise. That’s how I like to fly my chopper. I want them to have to look at the top left of their screen to see wtf happened. Chances are, if he see’s us, I’m gonna maneuver out of his line of sight, and circle back around, and catch him from the side he has his back too.
I’m gonna give you 1 chance to hit with the TV on a ground target. That thing is loud when it hits, and if you don’t suck, and you miss, you’re not gonna miss by much. He’s gonna hear it, and look for us. I am immediately going to haul a$$ in on a rocket run the INSTANT you fire that TV. If you hit, that’s awesome, if you miss, well, I won’t. =) Hitting a tank with Helo Rockets is like shooting a 12 gauge shotgun at the side of a barn. You’d have to be a complete tool to miss a stationary piece of armor (I’m exaggerating). Hitting moving armor is another story, lets not get into that here, lets just hope you’ve gotten some practice in..
If somehow, we both miss, after I’m done sticking pins in the Voodoo Doll in your likeness, I’m gonna leave him alone for a moment, and he’s gonna think we went back to re-arm (sometimes). Well, we’re not, I’m hiding behind a hill about to poke my chin over the top, so you can spank him with a TV Guided Missile (Don’t miss). This is generally how it works, not always….If you see me hovering for no apparent reason, chances are I’m setting you up for a shot. This is where being on voice coms really helps. Communication wins matches, if you don’t have it, you’re not gonna do very well, but we’re gonna do our best in any case.
6) We’ve taken some damage, and we don’t have a base to repair.
This is just unfortunate and I will most likely blame you. I suggest also shouting obscenities in team chat telling everyone how much they suck for not keeping your base up, hehe. Seriously tho, hopefully I’ve been smart enough at some point in time to request supplies in a remote location that we can go hover over. Or in the likely event that our Radar, UAV, or Artillery have supplies near them, that’s where I’m gonna go. If not, I’m gonna find a place for us to land. If you’re an Engineer, get out and help me repair so we get it fixed, FAST. If you’re in Support Kit, get out and toss some ammo on the ground below us. Then get in the Pilots Seat (F1), and keep the rotor turning. Once we are FULLY repaired, get BACK in the Gunner Seat (F2). This REALLY helps out a lot, if we get in trouble, we can get off the ground quicker if the rotor is up to speed.
7) Flag Capping
Sometimes it's important for a helo to swoop in and take an enemy flag. No i'm not talking about BlackHawk asshaterry...we all know how much that sucks (Unless you're one of the six guys in it). So I swoop into a flag area and I'm going to keep turning 360's around that flag, looking for enemies. Now, it is your job to do a few things. FIRST thing I'm going to do, is point you at a LineBacker, Tank, LAV, Tow Tripod, etc. Pretty much in that order. Work your threat order TOP DOWN. Unless you have friendlies there to jump in those vehicles, blow them the hell up. If I point you at a Tank, and I hold it there, I'm not doing it to show you my skills at hovering, I want you to kill it, NOW. You do that, and I'll buy you a cupcake at the Officers Club when the map is over. Good rule of thumb is this. If you can blow it up, DO IT, cuz most of that stuff down there could turn us into Swiss cheese in about 4 seconds if an enemy gets into it.
Conclusion
I make mistakes, and so will you. As long as you appear to know what you are doing, you can miss a lot of shots as long as you are trying, and you appear to be getting better. Thanks for reading Strega’s guide to being a better gunner in a helo.
Good luck, and see ya on the playing field!
-Strega
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A Pilot's guide on how to be a SMART gunner.
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Alright, I've seen my share of horrible gunners. Some are bad, and some are just unintelligent. This post will deal with the latter. Sorry if it seems like a rant at times. My goal as a pilot is to get the gunner as many kills as possible. I'd be ecstatic if I ended up with no kills by the end of the round, and you had 70. I don't ever want to have to kill someone. Most of my kills come from taking out the enemy chopper anyways.
First of all, I'd like to say NEVER open up on a target such as the cobra or a tank with the cannons if they don't see us. You might as well say "Hey I'm an idiot and I will be easy to shoot down"
1. Are we in the MEC Mi-28 Havoc?
This chopper deserves a section of it's own.
Armor: I will first set you up for a TV Guided missile, you just point and click, it's really not that tough. I don't know how people miss so often. If it's an APC I will let you just take it out with your cannon. If you fail on the I will do it myself.
Light armored vehicle: Your cannon is god.
Enemy cobra
He doesn't see us: Hellfire, point & click. If you miss and he's just hovering, I'll let you go again, if you miss again go after it with your cannon unless we're at a distance where my missiles would be more efficient.
He sees us and chances are he is dancing around: Blaze the cannon, if you get a shot where you have better than a 50% chance of hitting, take it, otherwise, do not let up on the cannon. I will likely finish him off.
Are we in the USMC Cobra or PLA POS errr V-10?
Armor: Hellfire
Light vehicle: Cannons, possibly a hellfire for the vodnik.
Chopper
He doesn't see us, and I swear to god if you shoot him with the cannon I will reach foreward and slap you. Use the hellfires, even if you miss, don't shoot him with the cannon. I will get the job done myself. Dogfighting any chopper when in the cobra is cake.
He see's us, I will try to get out of his gunner's cone while shooting missiles myself, I will hit 2 or 3, he will be smoking and you will finish the job with the cannons. Blaze the cannons as long as the chopper is in your cone, no reason not to.
Any chopper
AA emplacement: Blow that thing away, hell blow it away even if there is noone in it, I wish ALL gunners blew away the AA first. The best risk is no risk.
If we hear a random lock and we're around land, I will strafe around then point you at the nearest AA, I've played 300 hours and know where every damned AA post is on every map (I am such a nerd). You will shoot at it, if there is noone near it, I'll continue on assuming it was a jet.
I look back at my 6 every so often, but sometimes I'm too busy flying. I'd love it if you checked back there once and a while and quickly tell me.
If you don't like how I am flying, tell me, but not in a rude way, and NEVER blame me for your death. Even if I crash, it was a priveledge to fly with me. I'll give you a chance to fly if you would really like. Earlier in sharqi I got one gunner 19 kills, and accidently hit a tree. Somehow he got mad at me.
The only time I will ever hover is when I want you to do something such as blow away the UAV, or hell maybe there is a guy on the ground you don't see, look. If you see an APC, tank or a chopper, SPOT IT if you want it gone.
Never bail out of my chopper unless we're on fire. Even then I'm going down with it. I love when the enemies bail out of their choppers, they never live.
If I'm flying erractically, I'm probably a little frustraited with the rest of the gunners I've had that day.
I will probably invite you into my squad and communicate via VOIP.
No matter how this guide sounds, I'm generally a nice guy. I will offer criticism first. Feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong, that's how I learned to fly.
AMMO IS FREE!!!- You're called a gunner for a reason. Gun. The government pays for all the ammo we want. They pay to bring us home alive, not the ammo. I've heard "There is noone to shoot at, why would I" hundreds of times. Do it just to please me if we're at an enemy base chances are there are people in it.
Please don't get out to help advance the flag faster, it may result in both of us dying. It is very rare that I will try to cap a flag though, we're an attack chopper for a reason, hovering usually turns out bad.
Alright, so you're a bad gunner, I will try to make you better, try the Hellfires, thats the only way you'll get better.
A Gunners guide to being a good Chopper Pilot
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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.
Quote:
“Thanks for being my gunner….now shut up and listen….”
A Chopper Pilot’s Guide to being a good gunner.
By: Strega
1) Cockpit Familiarization:
Welcome to my gunship. Please keep your arms, hands, and feet inside the gunship at all times. When you enter the gunship, you should be in the gunner seat (F2), NOT the pilot’s seat. That seat is mine, and if you don’t get out of it, I’m gonna shoot you in the FACE with my AT Rocket (Yes it will go through the cockpit glass). I carry an AT so I can shoot you in the face if you don’t know what you’re doing. On the occasions where I have teammates or a competent gunner with me, I will fly as an Engineer, so that I can hover over friendly armor and repair them in the field.
2) What kit should you choose as a Helo Gunner???
I suggest you either pic Engineer, or Support as my gunner, so that we can repair/re-arm ourselves, and others. As double Engineers, we can repair armor very quickly (not ourselves, but other armor like Linebackers or Tanks owned by our team). It does neither of us any good for you to be a Sniper, Assault, or Anti-Tank. None of those 3 kits give us any advantage. If I see you walk up to my helo in a “Guille Suit”, I will shoot you in the face. Any of those 3 classes do us ZERO good.
If you want me to drop you off at their base, to blow up their commander sh*t, then sure, go Spec Ops, but PLEASE tell me that you are doing that. Keep in mind, that there are not many opportunities to do this on most maps, and that enemy chopper spawns 30 seconds after we kill it, so unless you’re on Ventrilo, TeamSpeak, TeamSound, etc., with me, this is not a wise choice. If you want to look like you know what you’re doing, walk up to my Chopper with your Ammo Bag or Wrench in hand, and I’ll know you’ve read my chopper guide and I can count on you.
There is a debate on using the Medic kit as a gunner. As my gunner, don’t do it. I think it is a bad idea, since I don’t plan on hovering over a big group of people to heal them. Let the commander drop supplies on their heads for that.
3) We’ve just lifted off, what do you do now???
Let’s just pray that you have a friend that can fly the helo, and the 2 of you have practiced on an empty server with the TV Missiles. You’re my gunner now and most likely, we’re on a full server. This IS NOT the place to learn how to shoot the TV missile. Host your own server and do that. If you don’t have any friends, load up Sharqui Peninsula, get in the MEC Chopper and go park it on the TV Station and practice shooting things. Hell, park it anywhere you want, just learn on your time, and not mine. Sure this sounds a little harsh, and I apologize. I’m here to play, and to kick some ass, I’m not here to try and teach you how to shoot. Let’s just hope a REALLY good gunner writes a tutorial of the same fashion for all the pilots out there that have no f’n clue what they are doing.
Remember to use the camera view while you’re flying so you can alert the pilot if you see a anything behind you, helo, armor, etc. Default key is C.
4) OMG, someone spotted an enemy HELO…what do you do???
A) He doesn’t see us, but we see him
If swear to god if you spool up that chain gun and start shooting at a full health helo that I’ve snuck up on, I’m going to shoot you in the face the first chance I get. This is something you don’t EVER want to do, and I’m going to explain why. The chain gun on the nose, is good for shooting at a smoking chopper that you want to “finish off”, or for infantry that you want to staple to the ground. If I’m lining up a rocket shot, and you start blazing away on the chain gun, the enemy helo is gonna feel it, see the big red mark on his screen indicating where we are, and he’s going to do whatever he can to out maneuver us. Thus, you’ve completely owned my chances at getting a solid rocket shot, and for that I will hate you and curse your mother.
If he doesn’t see us initially, I’m gonna put you in position for a TV Guided Missile shot. If you miss, and he doesn’t ‘jink’ after the missile goes by, I’m gonna stay lined up for a 2nd TV Guided Missile shot. I’m going to try to give you a rear quarter shot, so you have more surface area to aim for. After 2 tries with the TV and you miss, you’re f’n fired and I’m going in for a rocket run. Chances are, I’m going to at LEAST get that helo smoking, if not dead in that 1 run. Once he’s smoking, open up with that chaingun at any time, keeping in mind that I’m STILL going to try to line up a good Missile shot for you.
He see’s us, and we see him
I’m going to do my best to get as much altitude as possible, and get you a downward firing angle on him. It’s tough to shoot up as you know. Do me a favor, when you see the enemy helo, SPOT him for me (Default is Q then mouseclick). Spot him ANY chance you get, cuz that shows up on my radar and helps me maneuver for the kill shot.
For God’s sake, shoot him in the face with a TV Guided Missile. He’s no doubt coming straight at us and thinking the same thing. Initially, most don’t jink very much to try and get out of harm’s way. I love a gunner than can hit the long distance nose to nose shot. It sure ****es the enemy pilots off to no end.
Ok, let’s say you’ve missed your TV shots and I’m not choking you to death. We’re now tangled up in a maneuvering nightmare. Feel free to chain him any chance you get, but keep in mind that this entire time, I’m trying to line you up for another TV Guided Missile shot. That Missile is deadly, and 1 shot kills anything in the game. Airplanes, Helo’s, Armor, people, etc. Use it to OUR advantage. The better you gun, the better I fly, the more we help our team. I don’t plan on dying, so help me, help you. Don’t suck.
5) OMG, someone spotted enemy ARMOR…what do you do???
Please refer to section 4A regarding our initial sighting of the enemy. Do NOT, I repeat DO NOT open up on full strength Armor with the chain gun. You’re gonna do 2 things…#1, let him know we’re there, and #2, REALLY **** me off. So much of this game is based upon the element of surprise. That’s how I like to fly my chopper. I want them to have to look at the top left of their screen to see wtf happened. Chances are, if he see’s us, I’m gonna maneuver out of his line of sight, and circle back around, and catch him from the side he has his back too.
I’m gonna give you 1 chance to hit with the TV on a ground target. That thing is loud when it hits, and if you don’t suck, and you miss, you’re not gonna miss by much. He’s gonna hear it, and look for us. I am immediately going to haul a$$ in on a rocket run the INSTANT you fire that TV. If you hit, that’s awesome, if you miss, well, I won’t. =) Hitting a tank with Helo Rockets is like shooting a 12 gauge shotgun at the side of a barn. You’d have to be a complete tool to miss a stationary piece of armor (I’m exaggerating). Hitting moving armor is another story, lets not get into that here, lets just hope you’ve gotten some practice in..
If somehow, we both miss, after I’m done sticking pins in the Voodoo Doll in your likeness, I’m gonna leave him alone for a moment, and he’s gonna think we went back to re-arm (sometimes). Well, we’re not, I’m hiding behind a hill about to poke my chin over the top, so you can spank him with a TV Guided Missile (Don’t miss). This is generally how it works, not always….If you see me hovering for no apparent reason, chances are I’m setting you up for a shot. This is where being on voice coms really helps. Communication wins matches, if you don’t have it, you’re not gonna do very well, but we’re gonna do our best in any case.
6) We’ve taken some damage, and we don’t have a base to repair.
This is just unfortunate and I will most likely blame you. I suggest also shouting obscenities in team chat telling everyone how much they suck for not keeping your base up, hehe. Seriously tho, hopefully I’ve been smart enough at some point in time to request supplies in a remote location that we can go hover over. Or in the likely event that our Radar, UAV, or Artillery have supplies near them, that’s where I’m gonna go. If not, I’m gonna find a place for us to land. If you’re an Engineer, get out and help me repair so we get it fixed, FAST. If you’re in Support Kit, get out and toss some ammo on the ground below us. Then get in the Pilots Seat (F1), and keep the rotor turning. Once we are FULLY repaired, get BACK in the Gunner Seat (F2). This REALLY helps out a lot, if we get in trouble, we can get off the ground quicker if the rotor is up to speed.
7) Flag Capping
Sometimes it's important for a helo to swoop in and take an enemy flag. No i'm not talking about BlackHawk asshaterry...we all know how much that sucks (Unless you're one of the six guys in it). So I swoop into a flag area and I'm going to keep turning 360's around that flag, looking for enemies. Now, it is your job to do a few things. FIRST thing I'm going to do, is point you at a LineBacker, Tank, LAV, Tow Tripod, etc. Pretty much in that order. Work your threat order TOP DOWN. Unless you have friendlies there to jump in those vehicles, blow them the hell up. If I point you at a Tank, and I hold it there, I'm not doing it to show you my skills at hovering, I want you to kill it, NOW. You do that, and I'll buy you a cupcake at the Officers Club when the map is over. Good rule of thumb is this. If you can blow it up, DO IT, cuz most of that stuff down there could turn us into Swiss cheese in about 4 seconds if an enemy gets into it.
Conclusion
I make mistakes, and so will you. As long as you appear to know what you are doing, you can miss a lot of shots as long as you are trying, and you appear to be getting better. Thanks for reading Strega’s guide to being a better gunner in a helo.
Good luck, and see ya on the playing field!
-Strega
Quote:
A Pilot's guide on how to be a SMART gunner.
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Alright, I've seen my share of horrible gunners. Some are bad, and some are just unintelligent. This post will deal with the latter. Sorry if it seems like a rant at times. My goal as a pilot is to get the gunner as many kills as possible. I'd be ecstatic if I ended up with no kills by the end of the round, and you had 70. I don't ever want to have to kill someone. Most of my kills come from taking out the enemy chopper anyways.
First of all, I'd like to say NEVER open up on a target such as the cobra or a tank with the cannons if they don't see us. You might as well say "Hey I'm an idiot and I will be easy to shoot down"
1. Are we in the MEC Mi-28 Havoc?
This chopper deserves a section of it's own.
Armor: I will first set you up for a TV Guided missile, you just point and click, it's really not that tough. I don't know how people miss so often. If it's an APC I will let you just take it out with your cannon. If you fail on the I will do it myself.
Light armored vehicle: Your cannon is god.
Enemy cobra
He doesn't see us: Hellfire, point & click. If you miss and he's just hovering, I'll let you go again, if you miss again go after it with your cannon unless we're at a distance where my missiles would be more efficient.
He sees us and chances are he is dancing around: Blaze the cannon, if you get a shot where you have better than a 50% chance of hitting, take it, otherwise, do not let up on the cannon. I will likely finish him off.
Are we in the USMC Cobra or PLA POS errr V-10?
Armor: Hellfire
Light vehicle: Cannons, possibly a hellfire for the vodnik.
Chopper
He doesn't see us, and I swear to god if you shoot him with the cannon I will reach foreward and slap you. Use the hellfires, even if you miss, don't shoot him with the cannon. I will get the job done myself. Dogfighting any chopper when in the cobra is cake.
He see's us, I will try to get out of his gunner's cone while shooting missiles myself, I will hit 2 or 3, he will be smoking and you will finish the job with the cannons. Blaze the cannons as long as the chopper is in your cone, no reason not to.
Any chopper
AA emplacement: Blow that thing away, hell blow it away even if there is noone in it, I wish ALL gunners blew away the AA first. The best risk is no risk.
If we hear a random lock and we're around land, I will strafe around then point you at the nearest AA, I've played 300 hours and know where every damned AA post is on every map (I am such a nerd). You will shoot at it, if there is noone near it, I'll continue on assuming it was a jet.
I look back at my 6 every so often, but sometimes I'm too busy flying. I'd love it if you checked back there once and a while and quickly tell me.
If you don't like how I am flying, tell me, but not in a rude way, and NEVER blame me for your death. Even if I crash, it was a priveledge to fly with me. I'll give you a chance to fly if you would really like. Earlier in sharqi I got one gunner 19 kills, and accidently hit a tree. Somehow he got mad at me.
The only time I will ever hover is when I want you to do something such as blow away the UAV, or hell maybe there is a guy on the ground you don't see, look. If you see an APC, tank or a chopper, SPOT IT if you want it gone.
Never bail out of my chopper unless we're on fire. Even then I'm going down with it. I love when the enemies bail out of their choppers, they never live.
If I'm flying erractically, I'm probably a little frustraited with the rest of the gunners I've had that day.
I will probably invite you into my squad and communicate via VOIP.
No matter how this guide sounds, I'm generally a nice guy. I will offer criticism first. Feel free to tell me what I'm doing wrong, that's how I learned to fly.
AMMO IS FREE!!!- You're called a gunner for a reason. Gun. The government pays for all the ammo we want. They pay to bring us home alive, not the ammo. I've heard "There is noone to shoot at, why would I" hundreds of times. Do it just to please me if we're at an enemy base chances are there are people in it.
Please don't get out to help advance the flag faster, it may result in both of us dying. It is very rare that I will try to cap a flag though, we're an attack chopper for a reason, hovering usually turns out bad.
Alright, so you're a bad gunner, I will try to make you better, try the Hellfires, thats the only way you'll get better.
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