Thread: Comprehensive TACTICS

Here are some additional ideas/tips I my self have learned and have adapted to. One thing I have to say is I am no expert at flying or any thing near that. But as a beginner I believe I might offer a different prospective. Some of the tricks you have seen while flying the attack chopper from other pilots can some times leave you puzzled as how they did it. I started to fly the chopper with the mouse and “WASD�. I can now use both that and my joy stick. I say both because the stick is how I do most of my flying but say I need to and hover over the pad for repairs or a team member for ammo. I have found the soft movements from the mouse are easer not to over compensate. Also if you have a gamming mouse like I do you can adjust the settings up and down for sensitivity so more or less motion is necessary if you so choose. (Note you can also change the sensitivity in the game controls) I am a firm believer that you need a stick but it is possible to fly with out it. The best benefit to the stick is not just the control you have but the throttle. Yes the throttle, ya know what makes you go up and down all that. If you have a stick and you still wish to use your mouse you can stick the throttle at hover and use “WASD� for acceleration and deceleration but if you let go you will go back to idle or hover. But you don’t have to keep tapping the throttle for hover and all that. One other note is you can also fly with out the mouse, if you use WASD and the arrows. I’ve seen one pilot that is very good fly this way and it enables you to do some more maneuvers that you cant with just the mouse.

How to maneuver, and avoid some of that incoming rounds looking for blood!
First thing is to get your mind right. It sounds very funny I know but I have seen most of the best pilots after they jump in the bird say hold on let me warm up. They will get away from the carrier and do a few flips or some thing and then say ok, let’s go. As you fly up, down all that is easy but when you start to take fire or fly between things is where you get in a bind. This is because you aren’t worried about hitting any thing. This is where being in the correct mind set comes in.

The Roll-over. Yes you can do back flips and every one has seen the side roll-overs. If you are using your stick or arrow keys it is possible but the other thing is to stop it with out killing your self and still be able to hit the target. One of the largest problems I had was after I did a roll-over I would wobble for some time before gaining a steady flight. I’ve found this is due to improper control input. The chopper does not turn, stop, jump, or flip on the snap of your command. You have to plan it. Say you are planning on making a left roll-over. It just doesn’t happen immediately, I hold the stick neutral and full throttle, I might be pushing down to go forward some. I spot that bird out there and notice that smoke trail from the TV headed my way. Best way to avoid it I decide is to do a roll over. I slam to hard left and hold it. Probably after ¾ of a second or more it will start to respond. It gains momentum and soon I’m up-side-down. I keep swinging till I’m almost back right again. This is when you counter it. I flip my stick to the right side to counter the motion. There will and always will be some soft corrections for some misalignments but should be minor. If done correctly (which I am still working on my self) you should do a roll-over and come back in to line and be able to get a shot off and hit your target very quickly. One other not is every chopper handles differently. The MEC attack chopper handles like the Blackhawk compared to the US version etc.


The Pivot. This is VERY use full and is some thing I think every pilot should know how to do well. I am still working on it and still currently suck at it LOL but I can explain it and this could help you too. Say you have a flag that is captured by the other side. You have incoming ground troops and you (as you should be) are being a good pilot and supporting those ground ponders. You see some people on foot or in a stationary jeep/hummer. You keep the nose of the aircraft at them while doing a sweeping motion left or right. It is like spinning. This keeps your rockets and your gunner able to hit all those nasty bad men from getting there grubby hands on your flag. As far as the control input here is an explanation. For the joystick if you don’t have one that can twist for rudder control I believe it is(to spin left right not role) then go get one. But you keep the throttle to just above hover and push right and twist left or vise-versa. Done correctly you will spin around the flag in a circle you determine. One of the main issues I’ve had while doing this is keeping your eyes on trees and such so you don’t hit them. If you are doing it correctly you should be able to dominate and capture that flag quickly and then move on to the next one. I highly suggest you learn this one.

The Back Flip. The second and one of the most fun things to do. Not as effective as far as keeping your eye on the target and keeping situational awareness but like I said its fun. Yet simple it could enable you to increase your ground speed very quickly. All you do is pull back. But again you have to watch your control input and push out of it and you can be going over 400Mph very quickly. If you pull out to late then you got the wobbles and are a sitting wobbling target till you stable out and regain your situational awareness. If you push out of it correctly you are not flying 350-400Mph in the same direction you were originally headed and now have the speed to sneak up on some one and hit them. I don’t care how good you are, it is hard to his a bird going that quick. It is still possible but it will enable you to help escape a situation and or gain the upper hand.

Lining up your gunner. This is also a very important thing to do. As it will not only get you a kill assist but at times will be the difference between life and death. I have found after flying as the gunner with some of the best pilots not only is communication very important but you can be the worst gunner on the TV and still hit ¾ of your target if the pilot lines you up correctly. The other thing is to be steady and slow while you are lining them up for a shot. Hold it there until either you can’t any more or your gunner fires. Once fired you can do what you need to it is not like the TOW or the bomb where if you jerk the stick it will mess up the path of flight. Also remember that the TV has a good range to it. It’s not as long as I would like but that’s a different topic. Line up your gunner and let him/her take the shot from a distance where it will be harder for you to be spotted and shot down. Also a good rule of thumb is if you’re close or at half strength on you aircraft get repairs. Also keep in good coms with your gunner as to how many missiles he has left, It sucks when you run out and you have a big fat boy with an entire squad just begging to be hit and you don’t have any to help them out with.

Combine. Also besides practice try to combine some of the maneuvers and stuff to see what you can come up with. Try to combine the roll with the back flip. Or try to do a half roll then pull out in to a half back flip to change your direction. Remember keep the enemy guessing on what your going to do next.

Some of the movements can be done with other choppers besides attack just make sure you know how they react and feel. Check your altitude prior to engaging in any flip movements as you could find your self eating dirt or needing a snorkel!!! I’ve found 60+ feet depending on the bird is ok but the more the better chance if you wobble you have more time to pull out of it. Hope this helps.

Wild

Again here are some of the things I have learned while being in the air that I don’t recall seeing or reading. One of the things I notice are it says nothing about what weapons the gunner and pilot has in the bomber. The pilot has the guns (chain gun) and then some dumb bombs. You have the money maker with the LGM (laser guided missiles). The pilot should be doing either a dive bomb idea or method or doing straight across. This way when you are in the LGM view to acquire your targets you have the chance to get a lock, fire, and hit the target. I have been in the air lots of times where the pilot forgot that it’s a bomber and would fire his guns and bombs and not get the kill, pull out so he doesn’t get hit and you get nothing. Where if they had held it for 2 more seconds you would have a lock and killed the target and both of ya’ll would have got points. Its not to hard to fire the missile, any moron can click the left mouse button with the cross hairs on a target. But if you hold the cross hairs on the target for a few seconds you will hear a tone and see the box around it change. You have now got a lock. Hopefully you are able to fire in time for the missile to hit the target. If you’re flying to fast then it will pass the target. Also with the LGM you can direct it if you don’t have a lock. I think it’s a good rule to keep your cross hairs just bellow the nose of the air craft while you are trying to acquire targets. You can look around some and spot targets witch, intern could enable you and your pilot to rack up more kills just don’t forget to fire at the targets that are already being lined up for ya.

Hey anyone have any suggestions on sensitivity settings for a joystick? I just got a Logitech WingMan (used) and I am constantly overcontrolling ... at least that's what I think I am doing. I honsetly do better with a mouse right now ... at least I can get my team over target with a blackhawk so we can halo ....

Good Stuff. I especially like the lure enemy into the open with supply drop tip.

i remember a clip of U.S. navy seals training where they lay down a huge amount of cover fire, as the move to another position etc

I think a tactic like this could work well.......in the Mash city setting, or possibly karkand, however, the use of armor severly limits the amount this could be effective, but if done correctly, and through the use of mics it could work, if i find the link on youtube i will post it...but cover/retreat fire, does work nicely...especially with one or 2 persons as support/automatic gun fire, and even using the assault option with popping smoke.