How to stop police helicopters coming

[TheBloke]

I wanted to survive a high wanted level for a long time, but suck too much on the ground to last long enough. So looking for the cowardly way out, I took to the rooftops in a sniping and bombing spree, with only the helicopters circling above being any real threat.

 

I find that the best way to take out choppers is not with the rocket launcher. The RPG is slow and inaccurate, has very poor zoom and costs a fortune to use. A much better bet is the sniper rifle.

 

So perched atop the government building on the east side of Middle Park, armed with 50 rounds of combat sniper, a full M4 carbine, and armour, I set about merrily sniping down helicopters working my way from 3 stars to 6.

 

There's two ways to take down a chopper this way - either kill both the machine gunners, forcing him to return to base; or, much more fun, headshot the pilot to bring the copter down instantly in a fiery ball of death.

 

Except.. sometimes it isn't a ball of death. You will sometimes find that the helicopter manages to crash land, and doesn't explode. As long as it doesn't crash from too high, and doesn't hit any buildings on the way down, there's a chance that it will settle down onto its base with no explosion:

 

 

So far, fair enough - but now for the glitch. If this happens, the game thinks it's still in the action, even though its pilot and gunners are dead. This means it won't send any more helicopters, because it thinks you're still dealing with the ones it sent. This continues to work even if your star rating increases - so if you crash land a chopper on 3 stars, then work your way up to 6, you still won't get any more helicopters at any point. You might be able to blow up the half-dead heli if you have a RPG, but otherwise it only resets if you move far enough away from the area.

 

So having spent some 20 minutes on wanted level 6, getting bored with shooting cops from the roof, I took off in my own helicopter in search of some action. This reset the half-dead heli, and new copters followed me to Happiness Island. I went back to sniping them from the ground, but before I'd had a chance to shoot even a single guy, they decided to give up and collide in a spectacular fireball, which somehow failed to completely destroy either of them:

 

 

So if you want to go on a rampage, but hate dealing with helicopters: get yourself on a tall building with a sniper rifle, and keep popping those pilots until one comes down safe. As soon as you get one down, you can continue your rampage in that area, chopper free. (The building on the east edge of Middle Park is great for this, as it is surrounded on three sides by the park, which have lots of open space to increase the chances of a safe landing.)

[MercuryAndy]

Genious. Good show old chap.

[Rebel]

That's a good idea. I personally just shoot down the gunners because its less hassle for me. But still a good idea.

[KarbzKartel]

Do the helicopters legally land anywhere if they can't get you from the air?