[W33T] JimmytehHand8
11-07-2005, 12:27 AM
I've decided to make a little guide to the vehicles to help new players out.
What I'm aiming at in this guide:
1) A quick runover of the basic controls and some vehicle properties that are overlooked (such as the tanks smoke grenade or a Attack Helicopter's TV missile)
2) Basic tactical uses for vehicular combat
3) How to use vehicles to support the team
Any feedback would be appreciated (drop me a PM or two).
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me via PM.
Contents:
I. Vehicle Boot Camp Introduction
II. The Controls
III. Driving the Jeep and Buggy
IV. Driving - Tanks/APC/AA
V. Boats
VI. Gunning
VII. The Choppers
VIII. Planes/Bombers
I. Vehicle Boot Camp Introduction
One of the tougher aspects of Battlefield 2 is how to properly use and operate vehicles. Anyone can just jump in a tank and go, but learning how to become a rolling menance isn't exactly easy. It takes practice, patience, and experience. But seriously, your probably reading this guide to skip past all that crap and laying the beatdown on your opponents. So just follow what I say in this guide, and you'll be grinding your opponents into the sand faster than R. Kelly after a schoolbus.
II. The Controls (For those who are too lazy to read through the manual or in case you missed something).
Land and Sea Vehicles -
Accelerate - W
Decelerate/Reverse - S
Steer left - A
Steer right - D
Move turret - Mouse
Primary Fire - Spacebar or left-click
Alternate Fire - Keypad 0 or right-click
Deploy Smoke (Tanks/APCs only) - X
Open/Close - Up arrow/Down Arrow
Free look - Left Ctrl + Mouse
Duck in turret - Left Crtl
Switch to vehicle position 1-6: F1 to F6
Air controls -
Accelerate - W
Decelerate - S
Steer Left - A
Steer Right - D
Pitch foward - Up arrow or mouse up
Pitch backward - Down arrow or mouse down
Afterburner - Left Shift or double-tap W
Hover (F35 only) - S
Primary fire - Spacebar or left-click
Alternate fire - Keypad 0 or right click
Missiles - 1
Bombs - 2
Toggle missiles/bombs - F
Flares - X
Free look - Left Control
Switch to vehicle position 1-6: F1 to F6
III. Driving the Jeep/Buggy (and living to tell the tale)
Most people pick up driving the jeep quickly. Others can barely avoid hitting everything along the roadside. Driving the jeep isn't too difficult.
Try not to hold down the turn key while taking corners or else you'll overturn. Turning is very sensative in this game, so only press it briefly and continue on your way. For extremely tight corners at high speeds break as you go into the turn (press reverse) so that you slow as your turning and accelerate out of the turn.
Avoid steep areas when your just starting out. It's very easy to flip your jeep over. Try not to take these hills at odd angles, that tends to flip you over quickly.
Avoid all vehicles heavier than the one that your driving. They will kill you if you hit them full speed.
Try not to drive so erratic that your turret man can't hit anything.
Be careful while driving over bridges. If your like me you could try to cross after coming out of a sharp turn and end up landing in the water.
Try to give your teammates a ride unless suicide attacking with C4. (Warning: Advanced Tactic)
IV. Driving - Tanks/APCs/AA
Now here is where it gets a little tricky. Many people try to drive the Tank and Anti-Air like they'd drive a jeep or buggy. Unfortionately, this usually doesn't work out to well. The APC drives similar to a car, but has difficulty with sharp corners and very steep hills, so you should be ok if you remember to break in/accel out of sharp corners. Tanks/APCs on the other hand drive completely different. One of the major differences is that you have difficulty turning and driving at the same time. This is because the tank has to slow down and rotate itself to turn. This can be a pain if you need to turn fast. The technique involved in turning is quickly learned after driving a tank for a short time.
A) The Anti-Air Vehicle.
The AA is highly effective against planes and infantry, with only moderate effect against Tanks/APCs and Anti-Tanks. The main AA rounds tear right through infantry and light vehicles. Notice however that that the turret is limited to a certain distance in front of it and that it can't aim straight down at the ground in front of you. Against other vehicles, try to strafe back and forth while shooting the main gun and rockets at the enemy vehicle. Sometimes you can catch APCs and other Tanks with this method and destroy them before they can kill you. Sometimes you might not even take much damage.
When going against choppers in an AA, allow yourself to get an AA lock. Don't fire yet, wait for the Chaft burst from the chopper and allow the AA to retarget. As soon as you get a new lock and an open shot, fire away. Most of the time you should hit the target and knock those bad boys right out of the sky. The primary gun also shreds air units like grated cheese so feel free to use that if you miss with the missiles or you don't get a kill with direct missile hits.
B) The APC
APCs are the most vesatile combat vehicles in BF2. Not only can they fight infantry and light stuff, they usually can dish out the damage to Tanks, AA vechs, and other APCs. They also enjoy limited success against choppers, just remember to keep moving or most of the time the chopper will blow you away with missiles. Most importantly, they are the only vehicles that can swim. Use this to your advantage.
ALWAYS KEEP MOVING . If you don't your a good target for a TV missile, TOWs, Anti-Tanks, and bombs. Especially bombs.
APCs are also the greatest vehicle for combat support. Remember, you can carry up to 5 passengers. While in the APC they repair/heal/resupply you and teammates around you as well. The transport function of the APC is the greatest feature. Whether it's moving a squad from flag to flag or crossing a river to drop off a unit behind enemy lines the APC is the ultimate squad vehicle. Use it as a mobile command station, or to cover advancing soldiers. The possibilites are endless.
C) Tanks
Tanks... what can I say? Very little can stop the tank on foot. Grenades and Grenade Launcher rounds do next to nothing against the thick armor of tanks. If there are no Anti-tanks or Spec Ops around, the enemy is screwed. However there are risks to fighting in the tank. Yes risks. Good AT soldiers can destroy tanks in 2 hits, 1 if it's a tow missile. You take damage based on where you get hit, you can find that guide in the main Battlefield 2 forum. It's stickied somewhere on the top. Eliminate AT troopers first.
Next you have to watch out for Spec Ops. Kill them before they can chuck their C4 on your tank and you get a free fifteen second break from the game.
Tanks are real vulnerable against any form of air unit. You'd be suprised how many people ram tanks with the transport chopper. Even when those choppers are full of teammates. Try to hit choppers with your main round because they cause some serious damage. Also fire machine guns, and try to let your gunner get shots in too. Keep moving or your worm food, those Chopper missiles crush tanks. Watch for bombs. Pilots love to target tanks.
D) Vehicles as support (what they are intended for).
Now when tanks and APCs and stuff were created they were intending to support infantry on the ground. Resist the urge to go Rambo and charge into enemy territory by yourself. This will get you killed fast. Instead, surround yourself with friendly ground troops. Let them use you as cover vs. machine guns, have them target AT and spot units for you. When your team is rushing a flag, follow them and assist with the capture.
E) Proper use of smoke
The X button while in a tank or APC covers the area surrounding your tank/APC with a thick smoke screen. Let this cover your retreats or have it hide you from enemies. It's also an effective way to lay a smoke screen for your allies. Experiment with the smoke and master it. You'll live longer.
V. Boats
So many uses for boats, too bad this is only a basic guide. First of all, boats are most useful for moving troops up and down waterways to capture back flags. Unfortunately boats are weak against everything, and die quickly.
Have your gunner take down enemy AT and suppress enemy soldiers.
Don't drive in straight lines if your close to the enemy. Zig-zag, loop around, drive crazy to avoid enemy fire.
That's about it for boats. Learn how to use them in conjuction with squad members.
VI. Gunning (Ground)
Gunning is an important part of vehicular combat. Becoming a good gunner is damn hard. Just remember to aim and try to stay on your target while whatever your gunning for is moving. It takes a short time to learn how to do this, but it's not impossible to kill things while gunning. The most important goal of gunning is to defend your vehicle.
A) Jeeps.
The Hummer, the light jeep, and the Vodnik are all useful for the reason that they have a rotatable 360 degree turret mounted on top. This makes the small vehicles useful for defending a position or raining down fire upon the enemy. Either gun down the enemy or keep them supressed under a hail of gunfire. Let your troops move in for the kill while they're distracted.
You can also gun down choppers, light vechs, and boats easily. Sit still and fire away.
B) APC gun slots
The APC gun slots are the most underused turrets in the game IMO. Think about it. While you might not be able to kill all enemies from one position in the slots, if you have a full team inside, you have 180-270 degrees of pain coming out of that APC to keep infantry away from the APC. A full APC with guns blazing would be truly a mighty threat.
C) Tank turret
The tank turret is like the jeep turret. Use it to defend the tank and attack choppers.
D) The Buggy
The buggy is odd. It has two foward mounted MGs and both only have a 120 degree rotation in front of them. The guns are powerful, but the driver will have to line up your shots. Not an ideal fighting vehicle, use the guns to clear the road in front of you and in last ditch efforts against attack choppers.
VII. The Choppers
A) The Three transport choppers:
I refer to the three transport choppers by the following names:
U.S. - Blackhawk
MEC - "Hippo"
PLA (Chinese) - "Guppy"
I call transport choppers t-choppers.
B) Flying the T-Choppers
It's relatively easy to fly these even with a keyboard, but you might find it easier to fly with a joystick. The blackhawk is the most difficult to fly, but I find it far more maneuverable than the other two choppers. You can do a lot more complex stuff in the blackhawk. For example, I can easily make sharp dives around corners in the blackhawk. I can do flips, turn quickly, and evade other air units. I also find the blackhawk faster than the other choppers. The hippo and the guppy are more easy to fly, but very difficult to maneuver. They are slower than the blackhawk, and they tend to ascend and descend slower than the blackhawk. You'll also be hard pressed to make dangerous turns or maneuvers.
To fly the t-choppers, hold down the ascend key (Default A). After a short period your chopper will lift into the air. To fly foward, tilt the nose of the chopper slightly downward (up arrow - pitch fowards). To fly backwards, tilt the nose backwards slightly (down arrow - pitch backwards). The sharper the tilt, the higher the pitch. If you keep holding the pitch fowards, you'll eventually go into a dive. Pitch backwards to make a sharp stop. A and D turn you left and right. You can also roll left or right with the left and right arrow keys. Experiment with flying for a while until you get a feel for it. You'll be able to learn the complex maneuvers by watching others or experimenting on your own.
C) Using the T-Choppers
Before 1.2, the blackhawk was like a flying tank. It was definitely the bane of light infantry. It didn't help that the gunner turrets used to fire explosive rounds either. Besides fighting and dropping grenades on the enemy (which is much tougher to do now), the t-chopper has other uses. First of all, it's the ideal way to transport groups of soldiers around. I've spent a few rounds only ferrying people around while in the chopper. It's useful thing to do. T is for transport.
It's also useful for dropping soldiers deep into enemy territory. Just drop a squad leader and his squad behind enemy lines or at their main base and let them cause some damage. Alternatively, if your squad leader you can just sit in the chopper and let your squad members drop.
D) Attack choppers
Attack choppers fly a great deal differently than T-choppers. They are more maneuverable, and I've seen some amazing things done by some pilots in regards to flying.
To fight in an attack chopper, you first need to practice flying it. A joystick is recommended for flying. Here are some basic tips:
- Try to take out AA first, it's very deadly to you in 1.2. Other Choppers and Armor are your next priorities, with infantry at the very bottom of the list. You get 8 missiles before you have to reload, so make your shots count.
- When going after armor, approach at a angle and try to "lead" your shots based on where your target is movie (ie. if the tank is moving away from you shot just above it; if it's moving at you shoot in front of it.)
- Chaft is important to your survival. When AA locks on to you drop chaft to evade the missiles by hitting x. Learn to time it right as it's easy to pop chaft to early or too late.
- Watch out for planes, as they can easily kill you and you can't really fight back.
- When fighting other attack choppers, try to sneak up on them and "lead" your target as usual. Let your gunner shot at it and try to keep the enemy chopper in a position where your gunner can hit him.
- When engaged in a fight with another chopper, try to stay above him. If you start out below, try to level with the enemy chopper.
- If your being chased, try to evade and lose your pursuer before trying to get him in your sights.
-Try to line your gunner up with TV rocket shots on enemy armor and commander assets.
-When using the TV missile, try to lead your target if it's moving. Otherwise, get it dead center and fire.
-You can repair/resupply at any friendly held heli-pads.
VII. Planes and Bombers
I recommend a joystick while flying the planes.
1) Taking off from the runway.
Hold down W to accelerate. Eventually, you'll get to about 80% thrust and this is the time you start lifting off by raising the nose of your plane (down key on keyboard.) If your on a short runway such as on the carrier, hold down the afterburner (Shift-W).
American Jets can hover and this is useful when taking off from the carrier. Hold down S to hover, then when in the air, hold down the after burner and raise your nose before you crash into the water. This is tricky so you'll probably need to practice it to get the hang of it.
2) Flying in the air.
Your priorities in the air are as followed:
Enemy Planes
Anti-Air (Turrets or Vehicles)
Enemy Choppers
Armor
Jeeps
Infantry
Always try to shoot down enemy planes first. When dogfighting, try to get behind the enemy plane and either gun him down with machine gun fire (space) or fire missiles at him. If the enemy is behind you, do every possible maneuver to evade him. Circle behind him and then proceed to gun him down.
Alternatively you can lure him to friendly AA or have a friendly pilot gun him down for you.
For missiles (1 on the keyboard), all you do is wait for a lock and fire. Bombs are freely released at targets (2 on the keyboard for bombs).
Try to kill choppers before they can threaten your ground forces. Many pilots ignore choppers and the such but it really is a huge help to your team to kill these guys.
Try to line up armor in your sights before releasing bombs. This also applies to AA emplacements.
Using chaft. Chaft is a critical aspect of flying as you will get shot down easily without it. The 1.2 AA system is insanely accurate, so chaft wisely. Sometimes the missiles will ignore chaft so watch out.
You can repair/rearm by flying over your airstrip.
While flying as gunner in the bomber, you can hit ground units with missiles. Wait for circles to appear on the scanner. These are enemy vehicles. When you get a lock on a target, fire.
End - The Conclusion
I hope this guide helps you become better at using armor and air vehicles. With time and practice, you'll learn your own tricks and maneuvers. Good luck out their soldiers.
Edit: Final Version Completed
What I'm aiming at in this guide:
1) A quick runover of the basic controls and some vehicle properties that are overlooked (such as the tanks smoke grenade or a Attack Helicopter's TV missile)
2) Basic tactical uses for vehicular combat
3) How to use vehicles to support the team
Any feedback would be appreciated (drop me a PM or two).
If you have any questions, feel free to ask me via PM.
Contents:
I. Vehicle Boot Camp Introduction
II. The Controls
III. Driving the Jeep and Buggy
IV. Driving - Tanks/APC/AA
V. Boats
VI. Gunning
VII. The Choppers
VIII. Planes/Bombers
I. Vehicle Boot Camp Introduction
One of the tougher aspects of Battlefield 2 is how to properly use and operate vehicles. Anyone can just jump in a tank and go, but learning how to become a rolling menance isn't exactly easy. It takes practice, patience, and experience. But seriously, your probably reading this guide to skip past all that crap and laying the beatdown on your opponents. So just follow what I say in this guide, and you'll be grinding your opponents into the sand faster than R. Kelly after a schoolbus.
II. The Controls (For those who are too lazy to read through the manual or in case you missed something).
Land and Sea Vehicles -
Accelerate - W
Decelerate/Reverse - S
Steer left - A
Steer right - D
Move turret - Mouse
Primary Fire - Spacebar or left-click
Alternate Fire - Keypad 0 or right-click
Deploy Smoke (Tanks/APCs only) - X
Open/Close - Up arrow/Down Arrow
Free look - Left Ctrl + Mouse
Duck in turret - Left Crtl
Switch to vehicle position 1-6: F1 to F6
Air controls -
Accelerate - W
Decelerate - S
Steer Left - A
Steer Right - D
Pitch foward - Up arrow or mouse up
Pitch backward - Down arrow or mouse down
Afterburner - Left Shift or double-tap W
Hover (F35 only) - S
Primary fire - Spacebar or left-click
Alternate fire - Keypad 0 or right click
Missiles - 1
Bombs - 2
Toggle missiles/bombs - F
Flares - X
Free look - Left Control
Switch to vehicle position 1-6: F1 to F6
III. Driving the Jeep/Buggy (and living to tell the tale)
Most people pick up driving the jeep quickly. Others can barely avoid hitting everything along the roadside. Driving the jeep isn't too difficult.
Try not to hold down the turn key while taking corners or else you'll overturn. Turning is very sensative in this game, so only press it briefly and continue on your way. For extremely tight corners at high speeds break as you go into the turn (press reverse) so that you slow as your turning and accelerate out of the turn.
Avoid steep areas when your just starting out. It's very easy to flip your jeep over. Try not to take these hills at odd angles, that tends to flip you over quickly.
Avoid all vehicles heavier than the one that your driving. They will kill you if you hit them full speed.
Try not to drive so erratic that your turret man can't hit anything.
Be careful while driving over bridges. If your like me you could try to cross after coming out of a sharp turn and end up landing in the water.
Try to give your teammates a ride unless suicide attacking with C4. (Warning: Advanced Tactic)
IV. Driving - Tanks/APCs/AA
Now here is where it gets a little tricky. Many people try to drive the Tank and Anti-Air like they'd drive a jeep or buggy. Unfortionately, this usually doesn't work out to well. The APC drives similar to a car, but has difficulty with sharp corners and very steep hills, so you should be ok if you remember to break in/accel out of sharp corners. Tanks/APCs on the other hand drive completely different. One of the major differences is that you have difficulty turning and driving at the same time. This is because the tank has to slow down and rotate itself to turn. This can be a pain if you need to turn fast. The technique involved in turning is quickly learned after driving a tank for a short time.
A) The Anti-Air Vehicle.
The AA is highly effective against planes and infantry, with only moderate effect against Tanks/APCs and Anti-Tanks. The main AA rounds tear right through infantry and light vehicles. Notice however that that the turret is limited to a certain distance in front of it and that it can't aim straight down at the ground in front of you. Against other vehicles, try to strafe back and forth while shooting the main gun and rockets at the enemy vehicle. Sometimes you can catch APCs and other Tanks with this method and destroy them before they can kill you. Sometimes you might not even take much damage.
When going against choppers in an AA, allow yourself to get an AA lock. Don't fire yet, wait for the Chaft burst from the chopper and allow the AA to retarget. As soon as you get a new lock and an open shot, fire away. Most of the time you should hit the target and knock those bad boys right out of the sky. The primary gun also shreds air units like grated cheese so feel free to use that if you miss with the missiles or you don't get a kill with direct missile hits.
B) The APC
APCs are the most vesatile combat vehicles in BF2. Not only can they fight infantry and light stuff, they usually can dish out the damage to Tanks, AA vechs, and other APCs. They also enjoy limited success against choppers, just remember to keep moving or most of the time the chopper will blow you away with missiles. Most importantly, they are the only vehicles that can swim. Use this to your advantage.
ALWAYS KEEP MOVING . If you don't your a good target for a TV missile, TOWs, Anti-Tanks, and bombs. Especially bombs.
APCs are also the greatest vehicle for combat support. Remember, you can carry up to 5 passengers. While in the APC they repair/heal/resupply you and teammates around you as well. The transport function of the APC is the greatest feature. Whether it's moving a squad from flag to flag or crossing a river to drop off a unit behind enemy lines the APC is the ultimate squad vehicle. Use it as a mobile command station, or to cover advancing soldiers. The possibilites are endless.
C) Tanks
Tanks... what can I say? Very little can stop the tank on foot. Grenades and Grenade Launcher rounds do next to nothing against the thick armor of tanks. If there are no Anti-tanks or Spec Ops around, the enemy is screwed. However there are risks to fighting in the tank. Yes risks. Good AT soldiers can destroy tanks in 2 hits, 1 if it's a tow missile. You take damage based on where you get hit, you can find that guide in the main Battlefield 2 forum. It's stickied somewhere on the top. Eliminate AT troopers first.
Next you have to watch out for Spec Ops. Kill them before they can chuck their C4 on your tank and you get a free fifteen second break from the game.
Tanks are real vulnerable against any form of air unit. You'd be suprised how many people ram tanks with the transport chopper. Even when those choppers are full of teammates. Try to hit choppers with your main round because they cause some serious damage. Also fire machine guns, and try to let your gunner get shots in too. Keep moving or your worm food, those Chopper missiles crush tanks. Watch for bombs. Pilots love to target tanks.
D) Vehicles as support (what they are intended for).
Now when tanks and APCs and stuff were created they were intending to support infantry on the ground. Resist the urge to go Rambo and charge into enemy territory by yourself. This will get you killed fast. Instead, surround yourself with friendly ground troops. Let them use you as cover vs. machine guns, have them target AT and spot units for you. When your team is rushing a flag, follow them and assist with the capture.
E) Proper use of smoke
The X button while in a tank or APC covers the area surrounding your tank/APC with a thick smoke screen. Let this cover your retreats or have it hide you from enemies. It's also an effective way to lay a smoke screen for your allies. Experiment with the smoke and master it. You'll live longer.
V. Boats
So many uses for boats, too bad this is only a basic guide. First of all, boats are most useful for moving troops up and down waterways to capture back flags. Unfortunately boats are weak against everything, and die quickly.
Have your gunner take down enemy AT and suppress enemy soldiers.
Don't drive in straight lines if your close to the enemy. Zig-zag, loop around, drive crazy to avoid enemy fire.
That's about it for boats. Learn how to use them in conjuction with squad members.
VI. Gunning (Ground)
Gunning is an important part of vehicular combat. Becoming a good gunner is damn hard. Just remember to aim and try to stay on your target while whatever your gunning for is moving. It takes a short time to learn how to do this, but it's not impossible to kill things while gunning. The most important goal of gunning is to defend your vehicle.
A) Jeeps.
The Hummer, the light jeep, and the Vodnik are all useful for the reason that they have a rotatable 360 degree turret mounted on top. This makes the small vehicles useful for defending a position or raining down fire upon the enemy. Either gun down the enemy or keep them supressed under a hail of gunfire. Let your troops move in for the kill while they're distracted.
You can also gun down choppers, light vechs, and boats easily. Sit still and fire away.
B) APC gun slots
The APC gun slots are the most underused turrets in the game IMO. Think about it. While you might not be able to kill all enemies from one position in the slots, if you have a full team inside, you have 180-270 degrees of pain coming out of that APC to keep infantry away from the APC. A full APC with guns blazing would be truly a mighty threat.
C) Tank turret
The tank turret is like the jeep turret. Use it to defend the tank and attack choppers.
D) The Buggy
The buggy is odd. It has two foward mounted MGs and both only have a 120 degree rotation in front of them. The guns are powerful, but the driver will have to line up your shots. Not an ideal fighting vehicle, use the guns to clear the road in front of you and in last ditch efforts against attack choppers.
VII. The Choppers
A) The Three transport choppers:
I refer to the three transport choppers by the following names:
U.S. - Blackhawk
MEC - "Hippo"
PLA (Chinese) - "Guppy"
I call transport choppers t-choppers.
B) Flying the T-Choppers
It's relatively easy to fly these even with a keyboard, but you might find it easier to fly with a joystick. The blackhawk is the most difficult to fly, but I find it far more maneuverable than the other two choppers. You can do a lot more complex stuff in the blackhawk. For example, I can easily make sharp dives around corners in the blackhawk. I can do flips, turn quickly, and evade other air units. I also find the blackhawk faster than the other choppers. The hippo and the guppy are more easy to fly, but very difficult to maneuver. They are slower than the blackhawk, and they tend to ascend and descend slower than the blackhawk. You'll also be hard pressed to make dangerous turns or maneuvers.
To fly the t-choppers, hold down the ascend key (Default A). After a short period your chopper will lift into the air. To fly foward, tilt the nose of the chopper slightly downward (up arrow - pitch fowards). To fly backwards, tilt the nose backwards slightly (down arrow - pitch backwards). The sharper the tilt, the higher the pitch. If you keep holding the pitch fowards, you'll eventually go into a dive. Pitch backwards to make a sharp stop. A and D turn you left and right. You can also roll left or right with the left and right arrow keys. Experiment with flying for a while until you get a feel for it. You'll be able to learn the complex maneuvers by watching others or experimenting on your own.
C) Using the T-Choppers
Before 1.2, the blackhawk was like a flying tank. It was definitely the bane of light infantry. It didn't help that the gunner turrets used to fire explosive rounds either. Besides fighting and dropping grenades on the enemy (which is much tougher to do now), the t-chopper has other uses. First of all, it's the ideal way to transport groups of soldiers around. I've spent a few rounds only ferrying people around while in the chopper. It's useful thing to do. T is for transport.
It's also useful for dropping soldiers deep into enemy territory. Just drop a squad leader and his squad behind enemy lines or at their main base and let them cause some damage. Alternatively, if your squad leader you can just sit in the chopper and let your squad members drop.
D) Attack choppers
Attack choppers fly a great deal differently than T-choppers. They are more maneuverable, and I've seen some amazing things done by some pilots in regards to flying.
To fight in an attack chopper, you first need to practice flying it. A joystick is recommended for flying. Here are some basic tips:
- Try to take out AA first, it's very deadly to you in 1.2. Other Choppers and Armor are your next priorities, with infantry at the very bottom of the list. You get 8 missiles before you have to reload, so make your shots count.
- When going after armor, approach at a angle and try to "lead" your shots based on where your target is movie (ie. if the tank is moving away from you shot just above it; if it's moving at you shoot in front of it.)
- Chaft is important to your survival. When AA locks on to you drop chaft to evade the missiles by hitting x. Learn to time it right as it's easy to pop chaft to early or too late.
- Watch out for planes, as they can easily kill you and you can't really fight back.
- When fighting other attack choppers, try to sneak up on them and "lead" your target as usual. Let your gunner shot at it and try to keep the enemy chopper in a position where your gunner can hit him.
- When engaged in a fight with another chopper, try to stay above him. If you start out below, try to level with the enemy chopper.
- If your being chased, try to evade and lose your pursuer before trying to get him in your sights.
-Try to line your gunner up with TV rocket shots on enemy armor and commander assets.
-When using the TV missile, try to lead your target if it's moving. Otherwise, get it dead center and fire.
-You can repair/resupply at any friendly held heli-pads.
VII. Planes and Bombers
I recommend a joystick while flying the planes.
1) Taking off from the runway.
Hold down W to accelerate. Eventually, you'll get to about 80% thrust and this is the time you start lifting off by raising the nose of your plane (down key on keyboard.) If your on a short runway such as on the carrier, hold down the afterburner (Shift-W).
American Jets can hover and this is useful when taking off from the carrier. Hold down S to hover, then when in the air, hold down the after burner and raise your nose before you crash into the water. This is tricky so you'll probably need to practice it to get the hang of it.
2) Flying in the air.
Your priorities in the air are as followed:
Enemy Planes
Anti-Air (Turrets or Vehicles)
Enemy Choppers
Armor
Jeeps
Infantry
Always try to shoot down enemy planes first. When dogfighting, try to get behind the enemy plane and either gun him down with machine gun fire (space) or fire missiles at him. If the enemy is behind you, do every possible maneuver to evade him. Circle behind him and then proceed to gun him down.
Alternatively you can lure him to friendly AA or have a friendly pilot gun him down for you.
For missiles (1 on the keyboard), all you do is wait for a lock and fire. Bombs are freely released at targets (2 on the keyboard for bombs).
Try to kill choppers before they can threaten your ground forces. Many pilots ignore choppers and the such but it really is a huge help to your team to kill these guys.
Try to line up armor in your sights before releasing bombs. This also applies to AA emplacements.
Using chaft. Chaft is a critical aspect of flying as you will get shot down easily without it. The 1.2 AA system is insanely accurate, so chaft wisely. Sometimes the missiles will ignore chaft so watch out.
You can repair/rearm by flying over your airstrip.
While flying as gunner in the bomber, you can hit ground units with missiles. Wait for circles to appear on the scanner. These are enemy vehicles. When you get a lock on a target, fire.
End - The Conclusion
I hope this guide helps you become better at using armor and air vehicles. With time and practice, you'll learn your own tricks and maneuvers. Good luck out their soldiers.
Edit: Final Version Completed