I feel like I should apologize to the other team for that come-from-behind ass whipping we laid on them.
On my lunch I had posted on Ars some of my tips on flying. Others here may find these useful. I was relishing our flight and someone had asked about flying tips so I explained some of my strategies and how they can keep you up longer:
* Flares. The gunner has flares (left trigger) and the pilot has them as well (right bumper). Coordinate who will fire the flares when. You often will have enough time to constantly pop flares if you coordinate well and don't waste them. Minimally you can dodge 1 stinger/missile and continue your attack until you have to pop the next flares at which point you can begin your retreat.
* Terrain. A great way to lose a lock is to take cover. A number of times on an attack run through the heart of the map I would do a high speed bank and loop low around large structures. Be careful not to fly level too long (e.g. swoop low, speed forward and then elevate) as a tank may get his revenge. The big one is diving behind mountains and, in a pinch, a hill. Left Trigger will make you drop down, which a number of times we did behind hills long enough to get out of intense fire.
* Retreat so you can re-engage. When I would take a lot of small arms fire and get down to ~ 80% health we would circle back to our base and use terrain for cover. By the time we turned arround our health would have regened to 100% and we could come back at full health. This is VITAL because a stinger/missle will knock you down to 50% health and once below 50% you slowly lose health. Remember, the higher/further away you are from stingers the less likely they will be to get a lock. When you get out of range they have to re-start engagement. And if they are all going to sit there waiting for you to return then you just allowed your ground troops an opportunity to move in on distracted opponents.
* Repair. 4 different times we landed at our base with 20% or so of health and repaired. A lot of people will ditch the aircraft but if you repair it does a couple things. First is you don't lose the vehicle for 2 or 3 minutes. The other is you probably have a good idea who hit you so you can re-engage and take them out--or go elsewhere and help the team. And third, well, I am sure the other team gets mad that after they coordinate enough missiles/stingers to hit you and when they see you dive down behind a mount they are expecting a kill. Instead, when they see you 15 seconds later rise from the ashes with 100% health and missiles blazing, they must feel frustrated.
* Missiles. I am sure better pilots would have taken us down sooner (heh, as it was we died when some jet rammed our rear side--this after dancing around quite a few kamakazi runs). Remember that you can shoot 2 missiles in quick succession. A common scenario: Shoot a missile, jet pops flares, re-lock and fire second missile, hit. Wash, Rinse, Repeat. Better yet if you have a pilot of similar skill he can go guns live and take him out with a few stray bullets or get another missile lock and finish him (although 1 missile will often lead to a disabled vehicle). (Note to self: check to see if missiles will lock onto ground targets). As an aside, if a jet is flying right at you rockets + gunner cannons blazing do some nasty damage (just jink hard to the side about 2 seconds before he gets to you). Be careful with good pilots who may be using their guns though.
* Communicate with your gunner. Telling your gunner where enemies are and where you plan to go is important. You can communicate position either with the compass (iirc) or more simply by the rectangular box that shows where your gunner is looking. If he is looking to the left and you want him to hit on the right let him know. Another thing is *together* you can really soften up armor much quicker. e.g. While hovering high call out the armor you want to hit. Let your gunner empty a couple "clips" and if you can do it dip down gently, fire your rockets from afar, and then level back out so you are still at a long distance. When you feel the armor may be weakened you can do a high speed straifing run. For your gunner try to take a smooth line so you can stay centered--this will also help you left your own rockets in. Don't wait until you are close!! Once you find that smooth line where the tank is centered let them all go (hold down the left bumper). If you were really far away and taking a slow approach you may be able to spam some more as you come in closer or, more likely you can do a high speed run and then surprise them: after passing over bank hard and do a quick 180 (I tend to turn and 'stop') and then let your next salvo go. If you didn't take the tank out on your first pass when you turn and fire the tank is totally toast.
* Spot. Ok, so you are on a team that cannot figure out the spot button. Your best chance is to do it yourself. It is best if the gunner does it (as the pilot has to dip to see) but up high the key is looking at the tracers and dead skulls. You see tracers and no blue? Follow where it looks like it is coming from and clicks 'Back' and you almost always will get a "Dorito." See a skull? About 1 out of 3 times if you back-click on a skull a "Dorito" or two will pop up. See a flag being contested or turning? Same thing.
* Infantry. The gunner is far more effective against soft targets, but do remember that this is Battlefield 3 and some buildings can be destroyed. We had a nice little sequence where we dropped an entire building on an enemy turning a flag. Sure, we couldn't see him after he ran into the building, but that didn't stop the rockets from doing him in.
* Provide Support. It is fun gallivanting across the map randomly but the point is to capture control points. A smart tank driver will ALWAYS have a gunner and ideally 1 or 2 ground pounders protecting/healing. Even better is a helo in close cover spotting, suppressing soft targets and softening up tanks--an enemy tank or two are going to be toasted by a tank+helo combo. Likewise if you see someone light up a flag contesting it or telling you they are assaulting it GO THERE. Likewise cut off armor before they get to your flags. You don't always need to be on offense, protect what you have.
* Know where enemy AA Vehicles are. And then go elsewhere! On the above map the Op base has a stationary AA which at the northern most flag you can be hit. This allows you to formulate a basic strategy: let them have that flag and cover the other 3. And this, in general, is a good strategy: as a helo you shouldn't be rushing into a cloud of red flags. Stay around the natural battlefront and preferrably behind it. With a helo you have the advantage of being up high and far back so you can provide cover without getting close into enemy territory meaning far fewer missile locks.
* Practice flying. None of these tips are going to help if you cannot fly well. The coop mission gives you a good opportunity to practice flying and coordinating your team work.
* (Almost) Never fly without a gunner. The gunner gives you extra flares, an extra set (or more) of guns, possibly extra unlocks, an extra set of eyes, and can help soften armor and keep soft targets honest. And if you must take off without a gunner (e.g. you died at a flag where your squad was under attack and want to bring the helo forward) make sure your squad knows you need a gunner and either spawn on you or pick them up when the flag is completely secure (tip: look around before landing! I have RPG'd & tank cannon fired a number of helos that thought they were safe landing and repairing!) Flying without a gunner in chat is a recipe for some short fly times.
* Know when NOT to fly. If the enemy has a couple ace jet pilots who have taken down your jets (i.e. they can aim their guns and know how to pop flares effectively) it is best to stay grounded. If they are "fly boys only" the game can turn to 12-10 on the ground. Sure, jets are good against armor but also are scared away with stingers and can only do fly bys. But if your team insists you will need some help. First is you will want some ground with stingers so they are "outnumbers." The next thing is a lot of pilots, even good ones, struggle flying low. If you are flying around objects like towers, tall buildings, in between hills, etc they will have a tougher time. That said when you fly low and slow you risk RPGs, tank cannons, and mounted machine guns. As much fun as it is to fly there are a LOT of times you are a lot more effective on the ground and have the upper hand because the other team may be down a couple players because they are "stuck" in the air.
And for everyone else, if you ever see a friendly helo raining down dominance do yourself a favor:
*** SPOT SPOT SPOT ***
If the ground folks are spotting enemy targets the helo can provide proper support. If they have to traverse the map looking for targets this usually means they may have to do a fly by to line up. This means you may be waiting 20-30 seconds for air support when, instead, you could have cut down the time for support as well as not had to wait for them to get a good support position (if they can even get there as a jet, helo, stinger, AA etc may take them down/distract them). Likewise enemy troops distracted by a support helo are easy pickings.
Also, don't forget to spot JETS and HELOs. A good helo pilot/gunner will tear apart an enemy helo. Likewise just KNOWING where the enmy jets are is HUGE for a helo pilot.
