Do you prefer the Annihilator or the Buzzard?

[HailStorm]

I'm sold on the buzzard. I hate the rockets on it however - if there was a version without the rocket pods I wouldn't have a problem taking it into a fight whatsoever. The high ROF guns are what make it special - accurate enough to do some decent aiming with it, and the amount of lead it can dish out avoids that chance the target simply slips between the rounds like the vanilla annihilator's guns could.

 

I also like the fact it's size means it's a smaller target to hit, meaning you often survive longer, and can often to 180 degree turns in the streets without risking snapping the tail off on a building.

 

Maybe it's just the lag, but the annihilators' guns are almost useless when I play - there is a half-second delay between round impact and the explosion of the round, meaning that unless the target is stationary, the only damage it'll receive is standard bullet damage.

 

The only problem with the buzzard is that it's just a pity that almost every noob and their seeing-eye dog takes one up and thinks they're pro by spamming rockets everywhere.

 

All in all though, I think BOTH the new helicopters are crazily overpowered when equipped with explosive ordinance, having standard guns would have been a much more multi-player friendly option.

[SammiiDoogles]

Lol so many people are so elitist, hating on the Buzzard because it's easier to use - thinking that being able to pilot the Annihilator makes them more 'pro' or whatever.

 

I don't particularly care, I'm not much of a chopper guy - I'll just use whatevers there if I need it, but a lot of the time I just go on foot or with a car.

[bat66wat6]

I am aware that the last reply to this thread was in April and for that I apologize.

Having played TBOGT for months now and witnessed the degradation of Free Mode I have to answer the thread title with: Annihilator.

 

"Lol so many people are so elitist, hating on the Buzzard because it's easier to use - thinking that being able to pilot the Annihilator makes them more 'pro' or whatever." Sorry but I am one them. I mean I don't consider myself to be 'pro', you have to be a real douche to think your better than someone else because the moment you get killed, and you will get killed, you look and feel like a total tw*t.

 

I mean the whole Buzzard Annihilator thing is it's just...okay, look at the buzzard attributes and consider the effects in actual game play.

 

Agile and responsive.

The buzzard corners like a house wasp compared to the other helicopters in the game. This agility means: it can easily twist and turn round the skyscrapers in pursuit of a ground target, in a car or on foot. It is so agile many if not all of the maneuvers taken by both air and ground targets to shake it. I mean this helicopter is so agile it can practically turn on the spot.

 

Small size.

The buzzard has the smallest rotor span of any helicopter in the game, meaning it can fly at street level (just above height of lamp posts) on most of the streets in Liberty City. Additionally the tail and tail rotor is tiny. This means it can turn in streets with little fear of ripping of it's tail and being more versatile in dogfights. (You try to chop the tail off of a buzzard in a dogfight, it's damn near impossible.)

 

Miniguns.

Little to say here. With a range equal to that of the vanilla annihilator guns but a much greater fire rate (at least 3x) and much narrower spread. The results of this are that when trained on a person it can kill within five seconds and sets any unarmored vehicle on fire within an equal amount of time.

 

Rockets/Missiles.

The buzzard has two side mounted rocket pods with unlimited ammunition. Each rocket is capable of destroying/killing any vehicle/person in the game instantaneously (except APC). The range of these rockets is greater than any other weapon in the game except the sniper rifle. When fired each rocket drops down from one of the two rocket pods before flying forwards. The kill and blast zone is, at best guess, half that of a grenade explosion. Despite the small kill radius every explosion makes the players screen shake wildly when one explodes anywhere near them.

 

This means the buzzard can send an endless barrage at ground or air targets hovering safely out of range or perform carpet bomb style assaults from a safe altitude.

 

Slow top speed.

The buzzard, although faster than any ground vehicle, is slow compared to the annihilator at it's top speed which is roughly equal to that of other civilian helicopters; such as the maverick. The effects of this ingame are that an annihilator can escape confrontation simply by flying in a straight line. This also means the annihilator can perform "hit & run" attacks easily on any buzzard that isn't prepared. It's low top speed however plays to a great advantage when assaulting ground targets as even at top speed the buzzard can come to a steady hover much quicker than an annihilator. It's lower top speed also makes it easier to pursue vehicles as it doesn't have to be as conservative on the throttle to remain behind the target.

 

Exposed pilot.

The pilots entire body is on display in a cockpit comprised of a metal floor and a glass bubble. This allows the pilot to be shot from any angle other than directly beneath or directly behind the helicopter. Such is the exposure of the pilot that even players armed with a mere pistol can easily kill a pilot that strays within auto-aim range. Players with ranged weapons such as assault rifles and even worse the machine gun must be regarded with extreme caution.

 

 

My point with all of this is that the buzzard offers huge advantages with very few disadvantages. Even the most experienced players on the ground have little chance against relatively noob pilots.

 

Just think, your racing along as fast as your sports car can go with a noob buzzard on your tail (square + x all the way), you know your toast if you don't do something to shake the pilot. There's little if anything that can be done though.

#1: Brake hard, in theory you can stop much fast than he can meaning he has to kill his speed, and turn round in order to continue pursuit, buying you time.

#2: Make a sharp turn, in theory with skyscrapers either side of the street he can't cut the corner and will take longer to make the turn than you at street level, giving you time and disrupting his aim.

#3: Weave side to side on the same street in a zig zag fashion, this should keep his aim of you and prevent a simple carpet bomb style takeout with a rocket barrage.

#4: Shoot out the window at him, in theory he will have to either address the threat by pulling back out of range or turning side to side to avoid being shot through the glass.

#5: Hit triangle! As your car rolls on you come to an erratic and painful stop, bouncing all over the place. The idea here is that the pilot will still be targeting the car as you are bouncing to a stop, giving you time.

 

#1: Buzzard will brake the second the pilot realizes you are breaking, with such agility when given the buzzard will be behind your car, the attacker will end up behind you or directly above you ready to turn and start firing again.

#2: Only works if the buildings have all manner of signs and objects sticking out of the side that blocks the attackers flight path, forcing him to either pull up or negotiate the objects.

#3: It will prevent an accurate aim only if you have plenty of room to maneuver and aren't in areas of heavy traffic.

#4: Leaves you driving blind at high speed trying to hit a target that is moving on the X, Y and Z axis. Any maneuvers made by you also throws of your aim.

#5: The pilot can see your colored blip and is highly unlikely to be fooled. He will kill you before you can get up, if you had enough health to survive.

 

Playing vanilla IV I used to curse the Annihilator (even after I learned 1st person view shooting) because I found myself, more often than not, firing these 4 huge mini-guns directly at someone on the ground only to find despite the 1000+ bullets flying at them they could somehow last long enough to get down an alley, climb in a car or even stand around to shoot back with an assault rifle. I mean there I was in this huge chopper with buildings, posts and all manner of static objects to worry about, will it fit there, how much clearence either side will my tail rotor hit walls, when is it safe to switch between navigating and aiming , am I in auto-aim range, what weapon has he got etc etc; and all he has to do is go down an alley, drive down a narrow street or pull an AK47 to fend me off. Then I have to change everything.

 

It seemed like everything was against you when you were in that huge annihilator trying to work around skyscrapers.

 

But for all my frustrations even I could remember that players on the ground at least should have a chance. Okay you can take them down if they stray into auto-aim range but honestly, how much skill is required to hover, point the chopper at something and hold square until it's dead? Or if you really want to show off your skill, how much harder is it to fly over the target holding square?

 

It's ridiculous, how do you have a chance against this thing? You stand and fight it on the ground and you find yourself blinded as your screen shakes wildly, throwing of your aim (if the guy is even in range, which they rarely are). Then if you run, which most do, you have very few places to hide. Literally you have to go underground or inside a building to escape this thing. Provided you even make it as all those little nifty maneuvers that drove Annihilator pilots up the wall don't work, on car, on foot and even in the air. Then you take the fight to the skies only to find that this "fight" consists of throwing your chopper round like a madman to avoid the endless barrage of missiles flying your way and to try and get within range of your guns.

 

All the pilot has to learn is:

#1: Basic controls (hovering, rudder etc)

#2: Firing rockets when landed kills you

#3: Getting to close gives them a chance

 

 

You go up against players who kill you by pointing the chopper in your direction and holding a button, or maybe two buttons if they want the extra star for the minigun/rocket duo. You've died like 20 times and finally get to cover. You either send them a message of pitty (because they think they are awesome) or hate telling them ram that rocket spamming machine up their arse. Or they send you a nasty message saying something like "coward". Either way you have to spend the rest of the game in cover or wait till they move on to a different target. Although once they see your out of cover on the radar they will probably return to noob you all over again.

 

Sorry for the rant and the thread bump but it was one of those things that you just had to say.

 

I realize that I just put the Buzzard out as a noob friendly weapon and left out the Annihilator new noob shells. But even with insta-kill shells mounted on it, the Annihilator is at a great disadvantage when you look at the Buzzard.

It is slow to maneuver with a huge body and a massive rotor span, with a tail hanging so far out it is asking to be chopped off or rammed into a concrete wall as you try to maneuver between skyscrapers. The rotor span alone says "fire rockets at me".

Also I have to add that the only weapons on the Annihilator are susceptable to lag in a game that is rarely, if ever lag free. It's uber death weapon depends on the delayed explosion that follows the bullets when they hit an object. And when your shooting at a tiny ass buzzard that's moving all over the place and cant see your bullets it's damn hard to get a kill unless the other guy is practically hovering.

Not to mention the greatly reduced range of the insta-kill guns, the Buzzard guns have a much greater range and light up the Annihilator in seconds. With assault rifles and the machine gun you must be within range of their weapon to have a chance of hitting them with the shells.

 

 

 

To summarize TBOGT Free Mode has been ruined because R* created a noob friendly helicopter in response to the call of players who wanted easy kills in 3rd person view

[SmC12]

@ Above. ^^

 

I pretty much agree with everything you say and feel the same way about these people in online freemode thinking that just because they can kill a target (by spamming rockets to make it almost impossible for the person on the ground to do anything because of the ridiculous shaking) means they are good, pro pilots. Online is seriously f*cked up in BOGT. When I have a n00b in a chopper killing me over and over I just simply take it, because then they get what they want, - they think I am pissed off and that they are pro. Which is okay because they can think what they want about themselves but the truth is they are not skilled at all and never will be if thy keep using the Buzzard like that. And it annoys me how they think that unlimited rockets and machine guns. pointing them at a player is being a skilled pilot. It's hilarious actually, how some people act on freemode. I think some people just need to grow up and realise that it's a game, and just because they can hit a target and kill people over and over does not mean they know anything about helicopters or how to fly one. And it certainly does not make them a skilled player. I never use rockets when i'm in the Buzzard. That isn't being skillfull at all. And it just makes me feel like one of those rocket-spamming n00bs. And plus it's unfair to the people on the ground who have their screen shake around like a f*cking nuke just hit them.

 

So yea I agree with your last point. TBOGT is ruined because of these people, and the modders also don't help, but that's a different matter.

[ugotsmoked]

neither I am a ground player

[bat66wat6]

@SmC12

 

I don't understand how you can put up with being endlessly noobed as your gameplay experience is ruined? Either way you see it the game ends up failing to fulfill it's purpose - to entertain.

 

I mean I join Free Mode to enjoy the...well, freedom! You can go anywhere in the game environment with other people and do anything. Kill cops together, jump of buildings etc etc. Just do whatever you want. Then when someone starts killing you endlessly in such a noob way it just becomes a waste of time.

 

Whats fun about being killed over and over with little, if any chance of returning the favor?

 

It never fails to majorly p*ss me off because endless killing in that game mode is so utterly pointless. Sure killing people endlessly with an overpowered rocket spammer can be emotionally satisfying to the noob but it's not TDM, there's no reward for it. All they get is a text string saying 'Player killed Player' with the 'bling' sound in the top left screen. They cant even keep score of their noobery

 

 

Personally if I feel this guy is gettin a major thrill out of it I will taunt the b**tard when I get to cover. Like wait till he isn't pointing your way then get his attention, he turns to noob someone else then you shoot at him.

 

That really gets a noob going...like he will be red in the face shouting at the TV as the only tactic he knows doesn't seem to work anymore.

And if they give up after trying to fire into underground garages and indoor environments through doors send them a taunting message.

 

The way I look at it, if this guy is trying to ruin my game, i'm gonna ruin his. Never forgive, never forget. A noob get's what he deserves

Edited October 28, 2010 by bat66wat6

[SmC12]

 

@SmC12

 

I don't understand how you can put up with being endlessly noobed as your gameplay experience is ruined? Either way you see it the game ends up failing to fulfill it's purpose - to entertain.

 

LOL I don't mean I sit through the enitre game getting killed by them . I let them kill me a couple of times and I act like a complete n00b to make them feel good about themselves. Then I grab a chopper, or even some sticky bombs and an AK-47 will do fine, and I watch their chopper come crashing down .. every time!

 

And I always get into a game with some good players, some of them have been in pilot clans and are really good but they don't just kill random people they have their own matches so that it's even. But as expected there is always some idiot in the game, usually with others as well with him. And I watch almost every player who was in it from the start leave because of their game being ruined, all because of this idiot in a chopper, because nobody can be bothered dealing with him since they know that an idiot player will be in every single game they join. Somehow I am always one of the last to leave the game though, like after everyone has gone I'm still there LOL. So now I always make sure that no matter how many times he tries to kick me cause I killed him, and no matter how many times he kills me, I don't quit early unless I have to turn off my xbox (either because I have to go somewhere because I have a life or because some stupid modder froze my game). I don't just sit there and let my game be ruined by some player who probably doesn't even understand GTA. And what is it about people and freemode? There is a big difference between team deathmatch and freemode. But for some reason all of the spammers and annoying players choose freemode, if they want a dogfight or gun battle that badly I will happily set a TDM up for them.

 

Anyway you just have to face it, these people are in online BOGT, and they will always be there. I am not going to let some n00b ruin my gameplay experience, or any player for that matter; 'pro pilot' or not.

Edited October 28, 2010 by SmC12

[Vercetti27]

the annihilator with the explosive bullets. so fast and powerful. I fancy myself to win a dogfight when I'm in an EFLC annihilator against a buzzard

[bat66wat6]

Understandably there will always be noobs roaming from session to session seeking out the next rocket spam session. I use the PSN for online play so don't have to put up with "God Mod" players like you do on Xbox LIVE, crashing consoles is just plain wierd. I'd think someone as big as Microsoft could address that problem but that's off topic anyhow.

 

And about the free mode player haters. They clearly choose Free Mode because every vehicle is available...particularly a certain rocket spammer with rotor blades. Can you imagine a multiplayer system that permitted helicopters in all game modes on TBOGT? Like the servers would be cleared out within a week; maybe a month at best. I often only do other game modes on TBOGT to escape the rocket spammers. Hell, I even load up vanilla IV to experience a Buzzard free skyline where players on the ground have a chance.

 

Anyways....yeah, I vote Annihilator as my preferred chopper and that ends my whole view on the two helicopters in this game.

[CryptReaperDorian]

When I play TBOGT Free Mode I usually go grab a Buzzard. However, I usually fly off away from everybody else. Then I usually wait to see if anybody else will approach me with a Buzzard or Annihilator to try to kill me. If I win the dogfight, then I will just wait for that person to try to approach me again with a helicopter. It's very rarely that I actually kill people on the ground. If I want to warm up my pilot skills (I'm good, but not the best), I will circle around vehicles in the airport parking lot while shooting them with the miniguns. When I do use missiles, I only shoot one at a time (meaning to wait for the previous missile to blow up or taking a short pause between shots). It still takes some skill to kill a person with only one missile.

 

I'm just upset that R* left out a dogfight mode for people that like to fight other pilots.

[AlexGTAGamer]

I voted for the Annihilator because I am sick and tired of f***ing noobs thinking that they are the kings of the game because they can constantly kill me or other players in their fancy Buzzards. I always hide inside buildings away from their rocket fire and from time to time I may go out and try to shoot them down or just wait for them to get bored and go away.

[JasonAW]

Annihilator. With the buzzard, the cockpit is more open so it is easier to get kill. Plus I hate buzzards on multiplayer.

[Brown Streak]

Gonna have to go with the annihilator. It gets the job done quick and easy. That's all I need from a helicopter.

 

But the Buzzard isn't a joke and sometimes it takes one to destroy one.

[Synaesthesia]

Would have to be the annihilator helicopter for me.

It was nice to have that bit of freedom when you were on the ground, which is something you do not get with the buzzards as people seem content on vapourising everything that moves.

[VercettiCrimeFamily]

Sorry but im in love the buzzard easy to use IMO , because i am a nooby XD they should make a Fighter Jet w/e you call it would be sick dropping a nuke over the city XD

[BuzzBeerCompany]

Learned to fly, and fly away. Get chased, only to have chaser hit building that i practiced to manuver around in the original GTA4 Annihilator AKA the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk. The addition of the exploding bullets, is ammo from the Gods, way better at taking out a moving car or stationary, I could really do without the hesitation its guns gets, like they need cooling off time. I have had 100's of shots lined up only to have the guns wanting a time out at that moment. Its also faster than the Buzzard. On the other hand the Buzzard AKA Hughes 500MD OH-6 Cayuse has guns that don't quit, and unguided rockets. That i have gotten better at, either after making my own Free Mode with heavy traffic I will take it out and put veiw on 2nd away from setting and try to tip aircraft and look down the rocket rail and aim for something. I have been lucky with my shots as well. I hit a player on a buoy, while moving with only one rocket shot fired. Practice on normal traffic, take a few machine gun shots at almost any car and that car will take off running, chase it down and destroy it without pissing anyone off. The 500MD is more manuverable, it is its only chance at getting away from a pissed off Blackhawk looking to flame your tail. All i try to do is be sporting enough to wait until my prey is in a vehicle before i take my shots. I have found that if being chased by a Buzzard keep driving balls to the wall and u have less of a chance at getting hit by a rocket, which is worse that a couple of bullets.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UH-60_Black_Hawk

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hughes_500MD

[XTREME0235]

To be honest with you, i am not one for the Buzzard (500MD) and for one reason, it's handling is overall ridiculous. I know it's a game but it's handling is nothing like it's real life counterpart in my opinion. Where as the Uh-60 Blackhawk has a smooth paced handling line, that contributes to such things like pitch movement and acceleration.

 

If you are flying at full speed in the 500MD and you want to turn around and back the other way, that's what it can be good for and that would have to be it's advantage. On the other hand, when i get myself into a dogfight with someone using the Buzzard, it's accuracy is pretty much 100% but turning the nose of the helicopter is to quick and therefore makes the helicopter move all over the place if you don't know what you are doing (not implying i can't fly)

 

As oppose to the Blackhawk, it's movements are smooth but takes more time to make a sharp turn in a hurry, but it does give you the odd opportunity to tail whip someone if your lucky.

 

All in all i have said this before, but i prefer the Annihilator (UH-60L Blackhawk)

 

I also favor the following helicopters in the GTA IV saga.

 

(AW) AugustaWestland 139 - Swift (Introduced in TBoGT)

http://www.agustawestland.com/news/weststa...its-first-aw139

 

This beauty has a very similar handling feel to it like that of the Annihilator, it's smooth movements with the 6-axis control makes for a very smooth fly in the sky in Liberty City.

 

Sikorsky S-64F Skycrane - Liberty Skylift (Introduced in TBoGT)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-64_Skycrane

 

This beauty and also some what of a mammoth of a helicopter is also a very pleasant aircraft to fly in Liberty City, despite not being able to obtain it easily without going through a few methods, size and sluggish speed, it is a good helicopter that i would recommend flying some time for the fun of it.

 

XTREME0235.

Edited December 4, 2010 by XTREME0235

[toni cinpriani]

I'm for annihilator just because it's faster, takes more skill with shooting (vanilla) and it looks cooler.

[GTAspotter]

I've taken to guarding the helicopter pads in my annihilator to stop anyone from getting into the air, this way it erases the problem of buzzard spammers, and if someone wants a helicopter for flying around in or something else they can go get a maverick, if someone is sad enough to want to spam rockets but i'm stopping them they can go to fishmarket and get one, but even then they will be dealt with swiftly, hopefully making FM and more player friendly place to be once again

[Drujba_Dreptatii]

Buzzard in black. 2 gatling guns and thows sweet rockets, are you kiding me, love it.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Drujba_Dreptatii

[TommyMufc-Champs]

Buzzard for me. I love the gold one.

[Ferddy987]

The Buzzard is over-rated for me. I can't even kill one officer let alone on trying to destroy an Police Helicopter.

 

The Annihilator is the way to go. I only like the DLC version since the vanilla Annihilator is too weak.

 

 

[CryptReaperDorian]

@BuzzBeerCompany: I know the tail on the Buzzard is that of an OH-6 Cayuse, but I think the Buzzard is mostly based off the AH-6 Little Bird (which is the attack variant of the MH-6 Little Bird).

[BGModder]

Buzzard all the way, its got 2 miniguns and missiles on it, and if you hold "x" and "a" it shoots both at same time which equals ownage

 

Annihilator is cool an all, but doesn't stand a chance against a buzzard.

Pretty much this.

 

Swift is gangsta though

[Racerboymorgan]

I really don't see how people find buzzards fun, I mean what's fun about spawn killing while rocket spamming in the airport car park. But it is funny when they blow themselves up

[The_Anti-tragedy]

I prefer the Anihilator with the explosive bullets as the bullets are way more accurate as when you're in the Buzzard, the actual effectiveness of the missiles is 1/5 of its size.

[hugh750]

So, yeah, forgive me if this has already been done... while the Buzzard does have nice rockets and (from what I noticed) better durability, I think the Annihilator is better. Its explosive bullets are very helpful for taking out cars (like an explosive SMG, instead of a faster rocket launcher like the Buzzard), and I think it also looks a lot better (and its faster).

 

Apparently the only way to get an Annihilator is to get to 100% and look around police helipads, so I have to use the cheat whenever I want one...

i prefer the annihilator because it's easier to control on pc keyboard, but the buzzard does do more damage though.

[RockStarNiko]

I prefer Buzzard.

In GTA IV the Annihilator is underpowered and should have had the weapons arsenal the Buzzard from TBOGT had.

I have no clue why we went from Hunter to Annihilator?

[hugh750]

I prefer Buzzard.

In GTA IV the Annihilator is underpowered and should have had the weapons arsenal the Buzzard from TBOGT had.

I have no clue why we went from Hunter to Annihilator?

the Annihilator has plenty of firepower

[FranticFatality]

Annihilator is more fun to use, in my opinion.