ParaSwarm's Guide to Helicopter Gunnery
ParaSwarm's Guide to Helicopter Gunnery
Introduction
The attack helicopter. Arguably the most powerful weapon in Battlefield 2. Unarguably the most cooperation-demanding, team-based weapon in Battlefield 2. A weapon that, when mastered, can change the tide of any battle.
This guide is to help you, the helicopter gunner, the whizzo, do just that - master the art of helicopter gunnery. It is a compilation of tips and advice intended for both novices and battle-hardened veterans alike. The content is directed toward becoming a more lethal gunning killing machine; however, pilots should also become familiar with some of the advice, as you might be able to understand your gunner's position a bit more.
If you feel I left anything out, or screwed up on something, please let me know, and I'll make a correction.
The Lineup
USMC AH-1Z Cobra
The Cobra is the most agile of the attack choppers. The gunner's TV missile view is centered slightly below the pilot's view. The Cobra is armed with a minigun-like cannon, with little splash damage. The TV missiles on the Cobra are more manueverable than the MEC chopper.
MEC Mi-28 Havok
The Havok is not as agile as the Cobra. The gunner's TV missile view is centered significantly lower than the pilot's view. The Havok is armed with a 30mm "Blast Cannon", and has terrific splash damage. The TV missiles on the Havok are the least manueverable of any chopper.
PLA WZ-10
The Chinese helicopter is somewhat of a middleman between the Cobra and the Havok in terms of agility (and everything else). The gunner's TV missile view is centered slightly below the pilot's view. The WZ-10 is armed with a minigun-like cannon, with little splash damage. The TV missiles on the WZ-10 are about the same as the Cobra's, give or take.
Getting the Helicopter
One of the hardest (and most frustrating) parts of gunning is getting the helicopter in the first place!
Picture this in real life: You are a soldier stationed at a military base. You're just having a casual stroll down the street, humming an old diddy. All of a sudden, your base is under attack by the enemy! Without a moment's hesitation, to turn toward the nearby airstrip and take off sprinting! While you run, you look to your left and right and see your fellow soldiers sprinting just as hard as you, stone-hard determination on their face. Finally, you have your destination in sight - a lone attack helicopter, the sunlight glistening off it's smooth glass cockpit. YOU WANT IT! GOD, YOU WANT IT! You race toward it, chest heaving. You notice your fellow soldiers pushing each other out of their way, even throwing armed grenades near the helicopter to ward off other pilots. You're the best pilot, not them! They've no right to the helicopter! You dodge the grenade explosions and hop into the helicopter, along with a second lucky soldier! Luckily, the keys are already inside. The soldiers outside start banging their hands on your glass cockpit, wanting in. Some of them begin to strap C4 to your helicopter, some even climb up the chassis, attempting to decapitate themselves on your rotors. You flip everybody the bird, and take off. Victory is yours!
...all humor aside, this is basically what getting the helicopter boils down to - the sperm race for the egg. Getting the helicopter is our objective. That's all there is to it. So, how do we get it?
Don't TK.
You will get mad, even ****ed, but blowing up your teammate's helicopter will accomplish nothing but giving you a vastly negative score. Remember, this is a team game. You may even end up flying with the pilot you just TK'ed...and that won't be fun.
Strategic Spawning
Use squad leaders. It doesn't matter what squad leader. If the helicopter is spawning soon, use Caps Lock to check for the squad leader nearest to the helipad. Join the squad, spawn, and leave the squad (if you want). This may get you closer to the chopper than spawning at the standard base spawn area.
Hit F2
If you're the first to the chopper, jump in and hit F2 immediately to jump into the gunner's seat. This will force the next person into the pilot's seat. If they wanted to gun, too bad!
Check your map and memorize names
Does somebody else have the helicopter? Remember their name. When you see them die in the top-left kill list, chances are your ride is about to spawn. If you don't have their name, or haven't been paying attention to the kill list, use the Caps Lock map to search for a friendly attack helicopter. If there is none, chances may be that they just crashed, and the helicopter will be spawning soon.
Fly with a friend
This goes without saying. If you've a pilot friend, make sure you two have a locked squad together, and to strategically spawn off one another to get the helicopter.
Air-to-Ground Combat - TV Missile
USE THE TV-GUIDED MISSILE
You'd be surprised how many people do not. The whole point of being a helicopter gunner is to cause death and destruction across the enemy team. The TV missile is the best way to do this by far. Regardless of what anyone says, the whole point of the combat helicopter is to be a platform to rain TV missiles upon the enemy, first and foremost. Learn it, love it, treat it like your girlfriend.
Pre-load your missile HUD
Sometimes, when playing your first round after starting up Battlefield 2, or changing teams (I.E. USMC to MEC), when you right-click to enter the TV missile view, your computer may pause to load the graphic. I've seen this take up to two seconds on some computers - two seconds could be the difference between life or death (and it has been many times.) When you first jump in a helicopter gunner seat, always right-click to pre-load the HUD before you enter combat. A second wasted could mean a lost kill, or worse.
Don't overclick
Many people, especially those new to the TV missile, will click constantly while the TV missile is in flight, redirecting it's flight path fifteen thousand times before missing their target. DON'T OVERCLICK! Calm down. Relax. The missile will go wherever you click. If there is a stationary enemy APC nearby, just click on it and leave it alone. Have faith in your missiles. Practice this for a while before moving on to redirecting the missile's path in-flight.
Go through missiles like candy
Some people hoard their TV missiles like each one is made of solid gold. Well, they may cost our government 50 million dollars a pop, but who's counting during wartime? Don't be afraid to shoot them off like crazy. If you think you can kill something far away, give it a try! Remember, it only takes a few seconds to reload all of them. Which leads us to...
Kill infantry with missiles
You heard me. Do it. There's nothing wrong with it. It's a perfectly good way to kill infantry. This is especially useful during cooldowns of the machine gun. If your gun overheats, don't just sit there...pop off a TV missile into somebody's face. And don't be afraid to use a missile for Stinger/IGLA nests, either.
Lead your target
If your targetting a moving vehicle, lead it. This may sound obvious, but for many, this is harder than it seems. You need to re-direct the missile in flight many times to get it right on target. The faster the vehicle is moving, the harder. With practice, however, you'll be able to hit buggys going top speed. So, practice!
Watch that glitch
Sometimes, though rarely, switching to the TV missile HUD will cause the missile to start "reloading", even if it was previously loaded and you haven't shot a missile off since. When this happens, just tell your pilot you can't make the shot.
Air-to-Ground Combat - Machine Gun
Lead your target
This is the most important tip for the machine gun (in particular, the Chinese and USMC helicopters) - lead your target. If the infantry is running from right-to-left, put your cursor significantly left of the infantry. You will mow him down in seconds. The fire from the USMC and PLA machine guns takes too long to reach the target, and is not effective if you click exactly on your targets unless your helicopter is stationary and the infantry is not moving. You'll be surprised how quickly and easily it is to kill infantry if you just aim to the side of them, instead of directly on them. Lead, lead, lead. Leading up to....(no pun intended.....).....
Compensate for your helicoper motion
This is also primarily for the Chinese and USMC choppers, and ties in with leading. Basically, the motion of your helicopter affects where you have to aim your machine gun. Examples: If your pilot is moving your helicopter left, and you're aiming for infantry, aim to the right of the target, and vice versa. Try to get a feel for this method. Practice this enough and you'll start doing it unconciously (which is good).
Recalibrate your machine gun
When switching from the TV missile view back to the normal view, you may notice that your machine gun isn't hitting exactly where your cursor is. This is because in the process of switching views, the game kind of de-calibrates your machine gun (a bit of a glitch). To fix this problem and get the bullets back where they should be going, move your cursor to the very top-right, as far as it will let you. Then move it to the top-left. Then to the bottom-left. Then to the bottom-right, And fnally, back to the top-right. Your gun should be spot on now.
Hit F9/C
The physical cockpit layout makes it very hard to see infantry on the ground. Therefore, when shooting at the enemy with the machine gun, hit F9 or the letter "C" to remove the cockpit layout from your screen. This makes it MUCH easier to shoot enemy infantry. However, when you do this, make sure you...
Keep track of what direction you're facing
When removing the physical cockpit layout with F9, it's easy to become disoriented and lose track of what direction the helicopter is facing. In fact, if your focus is currently on killing infantry, your helicopter may have turned 50 degrees to the left without you knowing it, and now your pilot is waiting for you to shoot a missile at AA while you're still focused on a lone soldier to the right! Make sure to keep an eye on your minimap to see which direction your chopper is facing.
Shoot cars and boats
No need to use a TV missile on a buggy, truck, or boat when your machine gun will do just as nicely. Go ahead and pump em full of lead. (If they are far away, however, you may be better off firing a missile.)
Splash damage is your friend
If you can't see your enemy, that doesn't necessarily mean that you can't hit him. Go ahead and shoot in windows and at the corners of walls and boxes (ESPECIALLY with the MEC chopper.) You'll be surprised how many kills you get. This is especially useful on MEC maps, where a flag is being captured from a guy hiding inside a building.
Air-to-Air Combat
Use your TV Missile
Again, can't stress this enough. Leave the damn machine gun alone and get ready to fire some missiles. The TV missile is the best way to take down an enemy helicopter, bar none. Machine guns should only be used when 2 conditions are met during helicopter vs. helicopter fights: When your TV missile is reloading, and the enemy helicopter knows you are trying to kill them.
Aim for the front or the tail
You may have noticed that your missile passes directly through enemy helicopters. No, you haven't missed, it's just a small mechanics bug. As annoying as this is, just remember that it's also saved your life countless times. To compensate, aim for the very front or the tail of the helicopter. These areas seem to be very "hittable", compared to the midsection of the chopper.
Ambush them
Remember, just because you can see them, doesn't mean they can see you. Keep shooting off TV missiles, and don't use machine guns until you know for a fact they're shooting back at you.
Keep spotting
You have a much better range of vision than your pilot. Use this to spot the enemy helicopter constantly for the pilot. If the pilot knows where the enemy is, you'll get your chance to shoot at them.
Shoot at airplanes
You'd be surprised to see how easy it is to take down an airborne jet with a TV missile. If a jet passes by you, or is going on a bombing run, give it a try. Remember, the TV missile is faster than the jet, so you've got the speed advantage. Unfortunately, this was much easier before patch 1.2, when the missile had a longer range.
Not much feels better in Battlefield 2 than blowing up a jet with a TV missile (except killing an infantry unit on the ground from a mile away with a Stinger launcher
)Shoot UAVs
You've got plenty of machine gun ammo. Why not?
Communication
The attack helicopter is unique in BF2 because it requires more teamwork to successfully operate than any other vehicle in the game. The gunner can only be as good as his pilot allows him to be. Communication with your pilot is essential to any good pilot-gunner combo, and will drastically improve your performance.
Show personality
Tell them to "Hit it!" when they jump in the chopper. Thank them when they take off, or when they set you up for a good shot. Show that you're aware of your surroundings, and not an idiot. Show them that you love being a gunner. Even show some loyalty to them and only them as your pilot. If I've been flying with the same pilot for 30 minutes, and we've made the "pilot-gunner bond", and somebody else happens to get in the pilot seat when I've jumped in a newly-spawned chopper, I'll get out of the chopper and have some ground-based adventures with my pilot, knowing the helicopter will be available later. Strengthening the pilot-gunner relationship will not only make you a more lethal killing machine, but it's fun, and you'll make lots of friends. This, in turn, will also cause a pilot that you've made friends with to seek you out on the battlefield if they've got an empty gunner seat in their chopper.
Communicate in war
Talk on the microphone. Tell them where you see the bad guys. Spot them for the pilot. Don't be afraid to give them instructions or tell them what they can do better next time. If you see AA shooting at you, and you're confident you can make the shot, but the pilot turns tail and flees and you both get shot down, tell him that next time he should let you take the shot instead of fleeing.
Myself, I live in Japan, and not knowing Japanese on Japanese servers limits my microphone communication to simple things like how to ask girls for their telephone numbers. Thus, if you aren't able to use a microphone, or don't want to, use the radio commands. If you're out of ammo, tell him "You need ammo!" If your helicopter is damaged, he may not even notice! Tell him that "You need repairs!" For the most part, you can communicate just fine using the radio commands.
Fly as an Engineer
I would recommend flying as an engineer. If your helicopter is damaged and won't make it back to base, tell your pilot that you're an engineer and to land in some secret area so you can repair the chopper. Also, if your airbase has been captured, this also gives you another means to fix your chopper. You'll also repair nearby vehicles from your chopper as an added bonus. No sense in being assault inside a helicopter unless you plan on jumping out and going rambo.
Snipe
Remember, your TV missile has a pretty far range. You don't need to get close to the target. Let your pilot know that you can kill targets from a good distance, and to stay back from the fight. Take crap out from afar, my friend.
Show appreciation
Good pilots are ones who know that the helicopter is best used for shooting TV missiles, and will continually set you up for that perfect kill. They will do this partially for the assist points they get, but mainly because they know how much destruction a well-staffed helicopter can rain down, and how easily it can change the tide of war. Many pilots do it mainly for the team. The other kind of pilot is one that doesn't care for the gunner, and will swoop down and fire a thousand rockets at a tank, not giving you a single chance to show your stuff. If your pilot is the good pilot, reinforce it! We LOVE good pilots and we want them to keep at it! Thank them every time they set you up, or when they pick you up in their chopper. Let them know that you appreciate them being such great pilots. Remember, nobody is obligated to fly your lazy butt around!
Conclusion
Anybody can be a great gunner. The main ingredient is practice. Practice, practice, and then practice some more. Fly in the chopper every chance you get. Look at some photos of the real cockpits online, and use them to learn what every doo-hickey glowing light and button in the cockpit do (just kidding.)
Most of all, have fun. Don't get angry when your missile misses an enemy helicopter for the 6th time in a row. Remember - it's just a game, and the point of games is to have a good time. Enjoy it!
~ParaSwarm
In a perfect world, every gunner would act like this :P
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