Attack Helicopter Advice

[Bakkerbaard]

I could use some advice on flying offensive machinery. I'm not really in a position to testdrive a new helicopter or one of those nutty rocket propelled things.

Currently I'm just arsing about with the Buzzard, which is working fine, especially with the CEO call ability, but I might be looking for something to change it up, for sh*ts & giggles.

 

I would use it for:

- cheesing my way through bunker resupply missions and everywhere else I could deploy it, like Cleaning The Cathouse, for example.

- Headhunter, Sightseer, the one where you get the briefcase from the Altruists.

- reasonably quick travel.

 

It has to:

- be able to take off and land vertically, for squeezing in the tighter landing spots.

- be a lone wolf vehicle. Valkyrie looks cool, for example, but is useless to me.

- be able to take a little bit of a beating from NPCs.

- have offensive capabilities, obviously.

 

Miscellaneous:

- Doesn't neccesarily have to be a helicopter, but I'm guessing the above limits me to that.

- Will not be used against players. I stick to empty publics, so it's purely NPC badgering I will be doing.

- I would like it to be available through the Request Aircraft option, but I think that should be settled anyway when I park it in the hangar.

- I will also accept "Stick to Buzzard" as an answer. Possibly followed by "And leave us alone, nerd."

[Mach1bud]

@Happy Hunter This guy needs you.

[Rumblebud]

Hunter is your best bet. Agility, Barrage & Homing missiles, Countermeasures, co-pilot cannon (identical to Valkyrie's) and excellent durability.

 

Having a CEO/Pegasus Buzzard is very helpful as a backup and to retrieve the latter mentioned aircraft at it's closest spawn point.

 

It's worth the massive price tag.

[TheLordMarvel]

54 minutes ago, Bakkerbaard said:

Doesn't neccesarily have to be a helicopter, but I'm guessing the above limits me to that.

 

 

Not necessarily, the Hydra can do the aforementioned, due to it being VTOL.

 

But all things considered, I'll go with the Hunter. By far my best purchase, missiles are powerful and it's pretty speedy. Plus you have great manoeuvrability. You can't go wrong with that beast.

 

[Pedinhuh]

Frankly, for all you ask for the Buzzard should suffice.

 

Only real problem of it is the lack of countermeasures which makes you a sitting duck against almost everything nowadays.

 

EDIT: You might wanna take a look at the Thruster too, but you will need a facility to store it so I guess the Buzzard is the best cost/benefit here.

 

EDIT 2: I see you're sticking to solo public sessions, in this case you won't need countermeasures, stick with the Buzzard and save your money.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Pedinhuh

[Rumblebud]

If you're grinding cargo, and quite paranoid of hostile players - Akula works like a charm. Second most versatile heli i've had to date.

[SummerFreeze]

The laser beam on the Savage is still OP. It makes something like Headhunter fast and easy. But it lacks in top speed.

[Standard Deluxe 59]

I would go with the Savage. It's a little bulky but fully useable solo. The Hunter needs a co pilot to operate the explosive gun, you'll also need a Hangar to store it in. Both are good helicopters to have though.  

[Happy Hunter]

If you're not going to be in public/hunted by other players, I'd say that kind of excludes the Akula then, since its main thing is not being seen by other players.

 

Obviously I'm biased, but I would say if you're going to buy anything buy the Hunter. Savage cannon is great for cutting through stuff like headhunter targets - though you're really only going to save a minute or so if that, since missile spam will take care of targets quickly enough.

 

In return for not having the cannon (if solo), you get a tougher helicopter, more resistant to bullets as well as explosives. It's also faster, and can drop gas bombs if you have to kill people around sensitive objectives or vehicles that you don't want to destroy.

[CrysisAverted]

8 hours ago, Bakkerbaard said:

 

- be able to take off and land vertically, for squeezing in the tighter landing spots.

 

Have I got the vehicle for you

Spoiler

 

 

if not that then the best equipped helo in the game is the Hunter, its basically become my go to for wreaking havoc ever since it came out, replacing my long used Hydra.They're the only vehicles I can do whatever I want with without worry and if people catch on to me I welcome the fight, even easier to stomp anyone who comes at you in the Hunter if you got a copilot too.

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by CrysisAverted

[Bakkerbaard]

21 hours ago, Pedinhuh said:

Frankly, for all you ask for the Buzzard should suffice

This is correct, which is why I'm not looking to replace the Buzzard. It's just that I spend so much time in the air, I really just wanna look at the ass end of another vehicle every now and then.

20 hours ago, SummerFreeze said:

The laser beam on the Savage is still OP.

There's been a laser on the Savage all this time?

Granted, I've not spent much time in it outside of situations where it was mandatory, but I never picked up on that.

15 hours ago, Happy Hunter said:

Obviously I'm biased, but I would say if you're going to buy anything buy the Hunter. Savage cannon is great for cutting through stuff like headhunter targets - though you're really only going to save a minute or so if that, since missile spam will take care of targets quickly enough.

Yeah, like I stated above, it's just for variety of spice.

I've read more people being enthousiastic about the Hunter and I like the whole Apache-look, but whenever I got the dish-killing mission for the hangar supplies I found the Hunter sluggish and heavy. I assume it handles better outside of that horrible mission?

14 hours ago, CrysisAverted said:

Have I got the vehicle for you

I actually already own the Hydra, which I maybe should've mentioned earlier. I've used it for errands in the past, but while it is awesome, I've the problem of overshooting my target when going from jet to hover. 

[dc16a2]

Deluxo? 

Not a chopper but different, good looking, and great missiles.

Edited August 6, 2019 by dc16a2

[CaptainMarvel]

On 8/4/2019 at 8:14 PM, CanadianMuscle said:

If you're grinding cargo, and quite paranoid of hostile players - Akula works like a charm. Second most versatile heli i've had to date.

 

This and the Buzzard are all you’ll need OP.

[CrysisAverted]

5 hours ago, Bakkerbaard said:

 

There's been a laser on the Savage all this time?

 

I've read more people being enthousiastic about the Hunter and I like the whole Apache-look, but whenever I got the dish-killing mission for the hangar supplies I found the Hunter sluggish and heavy. I assume it handles better outside of that horrible mission?

 

The Savage does not have a laser, it just has exlposive cannons that fire really really fast

Spoiler

 

Can't remember how the Hunter feels during that mission, but you can change the handling in a hangar after its bought and make it quite the nimble, it can nearly barrel roll and fly vertically, its crazy. It also really fast, fast enough to keep up with jets even. Honestly the only downside to the Hunter is that in some situations, landing it and maneuvering through tight locations is challenging due to its size.

[Happy Hunter]

I think what most people don't like with Hunter handling is that it can take a long time to switch directions and kill momentum. Especially if you take it out of the hangar. Then it can go really fast, and getting it to stop takes a while.

[TR186]

Just out of curiosity, what handling setting do you guys prefer on the Hunter?

[Fish_head]

Personally, I find the stealth of the akula far more beneficial than the extra firepower of the hunter. In lobbies full of oppressors, deluxos hydras etc, all itching for a kill.  I get far more achieved by remaining cloaked than by having barrage missiles but an icon that beckons griefers to take me on.  Even the microlight with the carbon prop is an awesome and underrated tool in free mode.

Edited August 6, 2019 by Fish_head
Typo

[SummerFreeze]

If OP isn't interested in PvP, then I'd go Savage for mostly solo use.

 

Its cannon is the single most destructive weapon on any helicopter, but it is weak defensively in PvP since the hitbox nerf.

 

The Akula is the fastest out of the three big attack helicopters. (The unarmed Volatus is still faster though and can be called via CEO.)

 

The Hunter isn't that great in PvP unless you've got a gunner. I think a lot of people just have a soft spot for it. I sometimes find myself hyping the Nokota in discussions about aircraft because it's my favorite lookwise.

 

So again, I'd go Savage for solo PvE. I'd pick Akula for PvP because of its stealth ability.

 

If the Hunter had an autopilot like the Avenger and allowed you to switch to the explosive gun, then that would probably my favorite.

Edited August 6, 2019 by SummerFreeze

[Bakkerbaard]

19 hours ago, dc16a2 said:

Deluxo? 

Not a chopper but different, good looking, and great missiles.

How could I forget about the Deluxo. I've loved that car since Doc Brown first hurled Einstein two minutes ahead. I'll go and check in a few minutes why I didn't get it in the first place. Thanks.
 

18 hours ago, CaptainMarvel said:

This and the Buzzard are all you’ll need OP.

Actually, the way I play, which would probably seem tedious and slow to most humanoids and four cats, I've come to the conclusion that the only two things one would really need are the Armoured Kuruma and the Buzzard. But as I'll gleefully keep stating, this isn't about "need", but "want". ;o)

 

17 hours ago, CrysisAverted said:

The Savage does not have a laser, it just has exlposive cannons that fire really really fast

Yup, that rings more bells. I've always loved the esthetics of the Savage, ever since I saw one in Rambo III. All kids of my generation needed back then was a gunship with a minigun on it and the movie was approved.

 

18 hours ago, CrysisAverted said:

Can't remember how the Hunter feels during that mission, but you can change the handling in a hangar

So, what I'm picking up from this and @Happy Hunter's post below it is that it requires after market modifications?
This question is more out of curiosity, as I do all my I/E work with the Cargobob. Maybe it's just a misguided expectation that's putting me off the standard handling of the Hunter. It looks like it means business and it means business fast, you know?
Either way, I've gotten pretty good at squeezing a big thing in-... No, I'm not gonna do that; I've gotten pretty good with the Cargobob and it's handling, so I can't really grasp how the Hunter would bother me.

 

6 hours ago, SummerFreeze said:

So again, I'd go Savage for solo PvE. I'd pick Akula for PvP because of its stealth ability.

Yup. Purely PvE. But I'm gonna have a look into my Deluxo situation first, then I'll start considering more tradiational airborne destruction.

[flybar]

When I'm in empty or friendly session I mostly use Sea Sparrow. It's small and it can land on the water which is helpful for supply missions when you have to pick supplies from the sea.

Savage was my favorite for everything else, but R* recently patched it and now it's cannot easily avoid homing missiles. Still very good for missions when you need to destroy  everything and have some space to land. Savage still have the most firepower of all helicopters.

Hunter is my to go helicopter now in populated sessions - it's strongest and fastest helicopter and have flares. Savage is better in destroying ground and air targets which cannot be locked with missiles, but Hunter comes close second.

Akula is very nice to fly, probably nicest of all of them, I don't like to use it for most supply missions because Akula is the only vehicle which always causes wanted level when it shots a couple of missiles. Even in supply missions.

Another underrated aircraft is Thruster. It's as fast as a Buzzard, has same missiles as Buzzard, but  can be landed in very tight spots and takes off way faster than any helicopter. It has flares and it's currently cannot be hit by any ground vehicles missiles  (including MKII and Ruiner) from behind when heading forward full speed. Very useful small aircraft. And another advantage that Thruster is delivered by mechanic similar as a car - you don't have to be in specific aircraft spawn places. But in challenges Thruster is considered to be aircraft - best aircraft actually to do fly under bridges challenge (best to be in first person view though). 

 

My first helicopter was Savage and after I learned how much space I need to land it - it's probably best for most of the missions if you play alone. Sea Sparrow is close second, maybe even better than Savage because it easier to land.  If you are with friend - Hunter is the best. Thruster is very good when you need to land on a big boat, small roof, in a spot in the forest etc. Or deliver supplies when MKII griefers are around.