Battlefield 2 Chopper Guide by Budzilla v1.3 29/05/2006
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violation of copyright.
Introduction:
Battlefield 2 has been out for a while, yet there are many people new to the
game who are mearly getting their feet wet. Unfortunately that means they are
inexperinced with flying helicopters. Helicopters are easily the make or break
unit of any game(in publc servers at least). This guide is intended to help
get new players up to speed on the basics of flying and fighting, despite the
complete lack of documentation that came with Battlefield 2. Please take time
to read this guide if you are new to BF2 AND don't say, "No Duh!" There are
plenty of players who make mind boggling stupid decisions while flying.
Dont't forget to enjoy yourself!
**Important**This guide has been updated for the game mechanics in the 1.3
patch. I don't know what little surprises EA and Dice have for us in the near
future. So this will be my last update becasuse I'm too lazy and not getting
paid for this. I can't see myself re-writing this thing after every patch that
comes out.
CONTENTS
1. FLYING
a)Getting Started
i-Control Set Up
ii-Other Stuff Which Is Helpful
iii-Creating A Game
b)Flying Around
i-Takeoff
ii-Level Flight
iii-Turning
iv-Landing
v-Strafe
vi- Challenges
c)Special Forces Helicopter Movement
2. FIGHTING
a)Take Off
b)Evading Income Fire
c)Gunning
d)Attack Helicopter Weapons
i-TV Missile
ii-20mm Cannon
iii-Unguided Rockets
e)Transport Helicopter Weapons
i-Minigun
ii-.50 Cal
3. REVISE THESE IMPORTANT NOTES
4. OTHER TACTICS
a)Character Classes for attack choppers
b)Flag Whoring aka Flag Skipping, Stat Farming
i- Character Classes
ii- Tactics
c)Kamakazi!!!
5. THREATS
6. THE HELICOPTERS
a)Attack
b)Transport
7. Special Thanks
8. Mistakes, corrections and adding other information
9. About the Author
10. Version History
1. FLYING
a)Getting Started
i-Control Setup
W - Increase Motor Speed
S - Decrease Motor Speed
A - Turn Left
D - Turn Right
X - Drop Flares
/ \
|
| Mouse Foward - Tilt Nose Down
|
|
______________
Left Mouse Button- Fire / \ Right Mouse Button -
/ \ Change Weapon
| |
| | Mouse Right -
Mouse Left - | | _______________________>
Slide Chopper Left | |
<______________ | |Slide Chopper Right
| |
| |
| |
|_________________|
|
|
| Mouse Backwards - Tilt Nose Up
|
|
\ /
**Note** If you inverse the Mouse in Settings then pushing the mouse foward
will tilt the nose foward and visa versa.
ii-Other Stuff Which Is Helpful
RAM: Get 2gigs of the stuff! I noticed a huge improvement in loading times
when I upgraded from 1 gig. With less disk swapping going on, you will
have a smoother flight
Video Settings: Crank up that draw distance to the maximum!
Headset: VOIP rocks and you know it! It easier to say to your pilot, "AA
GUNS TO OUR LEFT!!" than to type it out. Spend some cash on a headset and
you will get alot more out of Battlefield 2
Patience: Take your time and be prepared to die alot. You won't be a good
pilot overnight or in a week but keep at it and you will get loads of Gold
stars to impress people of the opposite sex
iii-Creating A Game
OK. First of all we need a practice arena. Don't practice online because
this will make you very unpopular. Click on Multiplayer tab at the top of
the screen and select "Create Local". Find a large map(64 players) like
Dragon Valley.
b)FLYING AROUND
i-Takeoff
Okay press and hold the "W" key to spin up your motor. After sometime the
chopper will begin to liftoff, for the moment gain height.
ii-Level Flight
OK, to go straight ahead, tilt the nose of the chopper downwards slightly,
notice that you are going foward. The same principle applies to flying
backwards. Maintain motor speed and tilt backwards. DON'T be aggresive
with how much you tilt the chopper otherwise you will be a smoking hole
in the ground. Treat the chopper like a baby for the time being.
**NOTE**When flying you will have to be giving constant adjustments with the
mouse even in level flight
iii-Turning
Once you master flying straight ahead it's time to turn. Press and hold
either the "A" or "D" keys to turn in whatever direction you wish to head
to. You will notice that you will start to lose height in most cases. Use
the mouse to keep the nose from dipping too much.
iv-Landing
Decrease motor speed, slow the chopper down to 40Km/h or less. Keep the
helicopter level with ground (and make sure the ground is level!). When
you are a metre or so above tilt your nose back slightly and I mean only
a fraction! At all times you should be holding down the "S" key so your
landing can be as smooth as possible.
v-Strafe
To strafe move the mouse to the left or right SLIGHTLY! If you continue to
move the mouse it will roll over and crash. Make sure you are holding the
increase motor speed button
With flying the best way to get better is to practice and practice and
practice. Did I say practice? I'm not joking either. Fly through streets,
next to buildings along roads in a forest.
vi- Challenges
If you think you are good, try the following obstacles (64 Player maps).
All are possible and if you can't do them, you will not make much of a
pilot online:
-The large circular tunnel under Kubra Dam
-Most warehouses can be entered where there is one
large door on one side
-The TV station at Sharqi Peninsula. Take off with
the Cobra and fly under the construction site bar that's
connecting the two buildings
-Hover under a carrier!
These are pretty easy themsevles.
c)Special Forces Helicopter Movement
The helicopters in SF are HUGE. They handle differently too. Think about
sliding acrosswet ice, let's say you turn right. While you maybe facing
your new direction, you will drift towards the way you were originally
going. So flying these choppers requires more input then the other choppers.
Just give yourself more lateral room to work with when you are fighting.
2.FIGHTING
a)Take-off
If you are unfortunate to be a victim of spawn camping, take-off is very
difficult. You have two options jump in and spin like crazy(hold "A" or "D")
if a sniper with an M95 is in the area or a Special Op guy is trying to plant
C4 on you. Just pray no team mates are on the helipad OR find and kill the
SOB who is making life difficult.
b)Evading Incoming Fire
This is the second most important part of this guide(behind flying
naturally). Make no mistake about it, helicopters are fragile and can
easily be shot down with a .50 calibre weapon. What to do?:
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
-When attacking a vehicle that sees you and fires back, try to fly in a
random approach pattern while descending, and slow down so you can land 4-6
rockets in a pass
-Fly low! Fly so low try and not fly above tree top level. If they can't see
you then they can't hit you therefore can't hurt you! A stinger might be
looking up in the air for you while you are skulking near the ground. You
might point out that flying high gives you visibilty of the action and you
can hit you targets from afar. That's true but everyone can see you also
hitting targets from afar is difficult. Also multiple ground AA guns will
engage you. It is easy to escape one hostile AA gun. But more difficult to
escape 3. Jets are a different story but they can fly so fast and escape the
threat so quickly it doesn't matter for them. Tree top level at highest!!!
-Use as much cover as possible. Trees, hills, large buildings. Not only this
can break lock of the missiles but guns won't be able to hit you either
-Make a firing run on your target and when you return come from another
direction which is unexpected
-Circle Strafe! This is where you are flying in circles around a target and
you ALWAYS have your nose (therefore your guns) pointed at the target. To do
this move hold the "W" key and either "A" or "D" Then slide the chooper in
the opposite direction you are turning. It is easier than it sounds. When
firing rockets in attack choppers always aim the rockets slightly to the
left of the target if your are circling right and visa versa
-If you have a lock on warning in your cockpit and you are certain the enemy
is a hostile jet. Find cover or even better beam the enemy. What is
beaming? Where the enemy is flying towards you at your 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock
position. So think of a side on collision with a car and you pretty much
have it. The advantages of this move is that the aircraft will have a hard
time getting a lock on you because you are crossing their HUD too quickly for
them and their missiles will have to turn really hard to get you.
-As you get better try to fly faster
-When flying transport choppers when you see multiple APCs and tanks - RUN!!
-NEVER EVER SOLELY RELY ON YOUR FLARES to escape threats. A machine gun or
cannon can still shoot you down and a skilled air defence solider can fire
his missiles after the flares you dropped are no longer effective
c)Gunning
Good aim, fire power and alignment of the planets might help when shooting
down foes whether you are in the pilot or gunner seat.
OBSERVATION SKILLS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT WHEN SHOOTING DOWN
ENEMIES!!!!
You might think that's BS. I've flown in Blackhawks where the
players on the minigun failed to fire a single round at a TOW missile or
Stinger site. I've yelled at them over VOIP, "!$#@ HELL. YOU #!@#($#@ shoot
the Stinger it is right infront of you. Less than 10 metres away!" To
replies of, "I didn't see it! Not my fault." Yes its your fault if the pilot
is giving you targets to hit but you fail to even fire your gun.
This is differnet from missing your target because the opposition of course
does not want to be killed. When you are a gunner you have a much better
visibilty then your pilot. ALWAYS BE LOOKING FOR TARGETS. This is especially
true at enemy spawn points.
Keep your pilot informed of any threats that can shoot you down.
Lead Targets! If a target is moving aim slightly ahead of it of where its
travelling. If you never lead a moving target you will miss most of the time.
How much leading depends on the weapon(guns need some while rockets need
lots).
Make sure that cannon doesn't overheat.
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
If the pilot comes to an almost complete stop and flies low when not at a
helipad, he probably sees something he wants you to shoot.
d)ATTACK HELICOPTER WEAPONS
i- TV Missile
The TV missile is tricky to use but instant death against anyone who it
hits. The gunner of any attack chopper has access to 8 of these babies.
When in the gunner position right click to switch to TV mode. A black and
white screen will appear. When you have a target click on it and the
missile will at that excact point. Don't fire at a target that's near the
edge of the screen when the taget is less than 70 metres away or the
missile will miss the target because it cannot turn in time. Also you can
update the missile's impact point by double clicking in the TV view.
Which makes it handy when shooting down other choppers!
**Note** The TV missile is very dodgy at times. While its automically supposed
to load another after you launched one, sometimes it won't(I'm not sure if this
is a bug or a design decision). So after the missile you have fired is
destroyed enter TV mode again and make sure the loading sequence is taking
place.
**Note** The centre of the TV view for the gunner on the PILOTS HUD is not the
centre of the screen. In regular BF2 all TV missile cameras are centred
between the centre of the screen and the gunners view info display. With SF
helicopters the centre of the TV view for the gunner in the PILOTS HUD is
about a centimetre(half an inch) below the gunner view display. If you are a
gunner in the SF helicopter DON'T SPEND TOO MUCH TIME AIMING FOR THE SHOT.
The SF helicopters are very difficult to line up with long range TV shots,
they also handle differently so it is easy to flip them if they are tilted
back too far.
**Update** The 1.03 patch seems to make the TV missile more responsive to the
gunners commands.
ii- 20mm Cannon
The front of each attack chopper has a variant of these. The Chinese and
American cannons are pretty much equal in terms of fire power. However the
MEC chopper cannon seems extremely powerful and has lots of splash damage.
This makes it very desireable especially against infantry and light
vechicles. The gunner gets this weapon and mearly fires away. Be careful
that you don't hold down the trigger for too long or the gun will overheat
check your heat status every few seconds.
**Note** Press "C" once to change view to HUD only for greater visibilty.
**Update**
The patch makes the cannon more effective on the China and Cobra against
infantry.
iii- Unguided Rockets
Remember how I said fly low?? This is why. You have to point your nose at
the target to hit it. Also notice how the crosshair is slighly lower than
the point of impact? The rockets are not parellel but are actually aimed
slightly up. Practice makes perfect. UNLOAD ALL ROCKETS in one attack run.
When you get better, aim for the rear of tanks where the armour is weaker.
A full 8 rocket barrage against confined enemy is very devestating.
**Note** Remember to pull up when your rockets run out!
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
Moving slower and lower will make your rockets hit closer to the reticles
e)TRANSPORT HELICOPTER WEAPONS
i- Minigun
Nothing too mini about this beast. Fires an insane number of hard hitting
rounds and tears up infantry like no other weapon in the game. Of course
a due to its power to deter enemies it usually leads to flag whoring.
Something that I love doing. Naturally the gun is mounted on the side of
the blackhawk so keep giving directions to your pilot of where targets are
and watch your score go up and up! However once this gun overheats it takes
ages to cool down. Short bursts please.
**Note**Since 1.2 patch this thing was completely nerfed then improved up and
only God knows now. The minigun is weaker that I've seen plenty of infantry
dance around the bullets and survive. It's now not much better than the .50cal
guns on the other transport choppers. Thanks EA and Dice good work on removing
the America's ONLY firepower advantage in the skies or anywhere for that
matter. *Steps off soapbox.*
ii- .50 Cal
This weapon is really only effective on stationary vechicles, since the
helicopter is always moving. You can guess that this weapon is almost
useless when mounted on a chopper.
3. REVISE THE IMPORTANT NOTES:
-GOOD OBSERVATION SKILLS ARE A MUST
-LEAD TARGETS
-TRY TO FIRE IN SHORT BIRSTS when you are using
cannons or side guns
-USE COVER
-FLY LOW
-IMPROVISE no guide can cover every situation
-PRACTICE AND BE PREPARED TO DIE ALOT
*Submitted by SplinterRomp*
4. OTHER TACTICS
a)Character Classes for attack choppers
The best classes to use would be the Medic and Engineer. Chances are bullets
will penetrate the cockpit glass and will seriously injure you. A medic will
automatically heal you and himself. An engineer won't be able to fix their
own vechicle however if there are 2 choppers around fighting together they
can quickly hide and repair themselves without going back to base.
Support isn't too much of a help because it takes forever to be resupplied.
b)Flag Whoring aka Flag Skipping, Stat Farming
This is a frowned upon practice however if you are detractor I dare you to
fly a chopper around for 10 minutes without getting shot down or dying. This
practice is only effective in a blackhawk, less so on a shoebox and ever
worse in an attack chopper
**Update** The 1.03 patch has very much put an end to this practice. Only the
pilot can capture the spawn point, passengers have to hop out to speed up the
capture. Not really effective in heavy combat. Of course you can make a few
firing runs at the flag and thin out the oppostion then have your passengers
jump out. The choice is yours. Make sure the players manning the guns DON'T
leave their position otherwise you are a clay pigeon.
i- Character Classes
Pilot: Medic
Gunners: Support and Medic
Back seats: All Engineers or 2 engineers and a Special Ops
Naturally the engineers are in the back repairing like crazy. THEY MUST
ALWAYS BE IN THE BACK SEAT. There are 2 Medics onboard this will heal
the people in the back seats very quickly and increase their life
expectancy alot. While the support keeps resupplying people in the
back seats with ammo. You will have noticed that instead of 3 engineers
you can have 2 engineers and a Special Op. Anti-Tank classes are
hopeless because it is too difficult to aim and anti tank round when
flying. When you come across armour or an APC the Specail OP can drop
loads of C4 on the victim(tanks and APCs cannot aim directly up) and
blow them to hell!
ii- Tactics
Not much in the way of tactics. Except when your are taking flag, spin the
helicopter slowly so the side guns can engage all targets. Also try to
stay far away from the flags as possible because sneaky people usually
lay loads of C4 for unsuspecting flag skippers. Also never ever land!
c)Kamakazi!!!
Some Blackhawk causing your team alot of grief?? Get a shoebox and place C4
on the nose. Now fly into the blackhawk. The C4 will make sure you are
awarded with the kills. Can be very funny plus the other team might think
twice about flying. Make sure you passengers know about this one-way flight.
d)Mobile Spawn Point
A transpot helicopter can fly high enough so that it is out of range heat
seeking air defense on the ground. Two or three squad leaders stay in the
chopper while everyone jumps out. Boring for the squad leaders but very
annoying to the opposition.
5. THREATS
-.50 Cal Guns. Whether mounted on a DPV or tank these guns to be utterly
respected. They can shoot down a chopper in no time. Run away or destroy
them as quickly as possible
-IGLA/Stinger. Can shoot you down easily enough. The good news is that they
are stationary and take along time to reload. The best approach to take
them out when they are on a hill is to attack the site from below where the
sandbags surrounding the site give it a blind spot. Then unleash your flares
and rockets when you see the target.
-APC or AA gun. These 2 are just as bad as eachother. Take them out or avoid
altogether. TV missle works best.
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
-APCS take ~4 rockets to destroy
-Tanks. Some lucky player might shoot you down with the main cannon, which is
not very likely. However watch out for that .50 Cal on the roof....
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
-Tanks take 5-6 rockets to destroy
-Infantry. Rarely shoot down choppers. Anti tank soldiers have trouble
shooting down most choppers. Don't fly low when there are Specail Ops because
they have C4 to stick to the belly of your chopper. As for M95 snipers don't
worry about them when you are flying. My accuracy is 57% with rifles and I've
only shot a pilot out of a chopper twice whilst in flight and it was just
hovering there. The rifle grenade that comes with Assault kits are a threat.
3 hits from these can shoot you down.
-Aircraft. Jets are your biggest foe. Since you can fly slower, use that to
your advantage. Don't bother trying to shoot down this foe.
**Submitted By SplinterRomp** - Shooting down a jet can be done. Fly behind a
jet that's flying straight and level and unload all your rockets. Only 2 hits
are need to take down a full health jet. Make sure the jet is close.
-Helicopters. An attack chopper battle will boil down to who is the better
gunner. The MEC chopper has the advantage of a very powerful cannon. The best
outcome would be to take out the opposing chopper with a TV missile. Try to
get in close and unleash that missile!
**Submission by L1b3rat0r**
-IF you are engaged against a helicopter where it is behind you, tilt your
nose up and fly backwards in an attempt to get behind it and straighten
yourself out but;
-make sure you have room
-the more you tilt, the more dangerous but more effective the
manuever becomes
Thanks L1b3rat0r this manoeuvre is commonly called a "Cobra"
6. THE HELICOPTERS
a)Attack
US- AH-1 "Cobra"
MEC- Mi-28 "Havoc"
China- Z-10
Pilot Weapon: Rockets (8x5)
Gunner Weapons: TV Missile (1x8)
20mm Cannon (China and US helicopters contain 900 rounds)
30mm Cannon (MEC chopper contains 450 rounds)
Differences: The MEC chopper has a much more powerful cannon. Also it is
considerably wider than the AH-1 and Z-10. So wide that if you aim perfectly
with the rectile on the Mi-28 from in front or behind a Z-10 or Cobra, all
the unguided rockets will miss!
**Note**The 1.2 patch reduced the armour on these choppers. You can still take
a tank round to the body and survive. Since a tank round removes around 75% of
your health you better head to a friendly helipad.
b)Transport
US- UH-60 "Blackhawk"
MEC- Mi-17 "Hip" aka shoebox
China- Z-8 aka shoebox
Gunner Weapons: Minigun(Blackhawk only. Infinite rounds)
.50Cal(Shoebox only. Infinite rounds)
Differences: There is a slight seating difference between the MEC and
Chinese helicopters. The US gets the uber powerful minigun. Note that the
name Shoebox is not an offical name. It is just the name me an my friends
use online.
c)Special Forces
US & UK AH-64 "Apache"
Everyone Else MI-35 "Hind"
Pilot Weapon: Rockets (8x5)
Gunner Weapons: TV Missile (1x8)
30mm Cannon 900 Rounds
Differences: These attack choppers are almost the same. Except the Apache
feels more responsive to the controls of the pilot and can turn tighter.
7.Thanks to these people (these are their Battlefield 2 names):
adoublepa
SplinterRomp -For teaching me extra stuff about flying and laying down insane
challenges
Dogmanslayer
Some_Random_Chicken
Dogtank
wazzawazere
-=Cpt.Killj0y=- -Shooting me down so often when I was flying and he was in a
jet. Self destruction is the ultimate form of self improvement
and Everybody else in 4104!
L1b3rat0r thanks for sending in your suggestions!
UnrealDiesel
8.Mistakes, corrections and adding other information
If there are mistakes in this guide or have me write in more advice, please
contact me at the email below.
If you would like to add your own advice to this guide I may allow it. I
WILL CREDIT YOU with what you contribute.
9. About the Author
Contact email:
[email protected]
BF2 Name: Budzilla
Clan: None
CPU: AMD 4200+ X2
RAM: 2GB 3500LL
HDD: 400Gb
VID: ATI 512Mb 1900XTX
CRT: 19inch LCD VX922
Sound: X-Fi Elite Pro with Logitech Z-5500 speakers and Headset
Mouse/Keyboard: Microsoft basic keyboard and a G5 Logitech mouse
Games I like: Little big Adventure 2
Falcon 4.0 and Allied Force (F4 readers would notice that;)
Deus Ex 1&2
Call of Duty
Rainbow 6 series
Splinter Cell Series
Hidden & Dangerous Series
C&C Generals
Enemy Territory
Vampire Bloodlines: The Masquerade
Commandos Series
Half-Life 2
Civilization 2
10. Version History
1.0 (28/09/2005) First Release
1.03 (24/10/2005) Update for 1.03 patch
Updated Intro
New tactics and pointers by me
Tactics Submitted by e-mail
Copyright 2005 Daniel Kinna
