Avoiding epic fail in attack LB: Help!

[combatwombat]

So, I was just playing on Karbala. The round began and I noticed that nobody had taken either of the attack LB's, and I thought "what the hell." I've practiced offline for hours in maps by myself, and can wrack up kills in PRSP with both the chaingun and the hydras.

So I got in the attack LB thinking I'd play as conservatively as possible, and take off. I spot an enemy tek, plan out my approach vector, swoop in, and annihilate it with hydras. The infantry on the ground nearby thank me for my help. Cool, I think, I'm actually doing well with the LB! So I go back to base to rearm my hydras, land carefully, AND THEN FLIP OVER AND BOOM! My total time in the LB could not have been more than 5 or 6 minutes.

Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid epic fails with the attack LB? (aside from "just don't use it" ). Especially when it comes to landing and rearming - does anyone know how to do this well? Or does anyone have any general advice on how to use the attack LB? In all my time playing PR I have seen perhaps 2-3 good pilots who actually use the thing to benefit the team, rather than hemorrhage tickets like I did. Any advice would be appreciated.

FWIW I use keyboard, WASD & arrows to steer, space for chaingun, and kp_ins for hydra

[Zrix]

Just make sure the heli is level before you touch down. And land gently, the LB has a tendency to "bounce".

[Vege]

land it by moving forward like a plane.
If you wanna stand completely still while on the ground, open console.

[goguapsy]

... Practice landings XD

You said you practiced. You attacked pretty well. But have you practiced landing?

[Drunkenup]

... Practice landings XD

You said you practiced. You attacked pretty well. But have you practiced landing?

Aw don't be hypocritical. The base of which houses the LB is so damn small. Landings are pretty hard. Its his first time on the field, I was afraid when I piloted the Attack Huey for the first time, and you know what? I ignored the AA alarm and went down pretty quick and undignified. Like the others said, land it in both directions, Vertically and horizontally.

[rampo]

Best way on training whit heli's is to fly a helo, pick a place to land and do it again till youre good in it

[combatwombat]

Yes, in all my practice games I landed many times. But to be fair I always had trouble with it. Had to land veeeeeeeerrrrryyyyyyy sssslllllloooowwwwllllyyy to keep it from flipping - and even then I still flipped sometimes. I found that getting out of the vehicle when it just started to tip was the only way to keep from losing it (this did not work for me last time though)

Should I be learning to fly with the mouse? Doesn't seem like many people use keyboard-only. Should I also consider remapping my keys?

[Jafar Ironclad]

Joysticks are your friend

[rampo]

Yes, in all my practice games I landed many times. But to be fair I always had trouble with it. Had to land veeeeeeeerrrrryyyyyyy sssslllllloooowwwwllllyyy to keep it from flipping - and even then I still flipped sometimes. I found that getting out of the vehicle when it just started to tip was the only way to keep from losing it (this did not work for me last time though)

Should I be learning to fly with the mouse? Doesn't seem like many people use keyboard-only. Should I also consider remapping my keys?

I allways fly whit the mouse, its incredibly simple whit little training.

[Gosu-Rizzle]

A good tip is to bail out of the chopper if it starts to flip over on landing. That will most of the time save it. (for some odd reason) But generally, just land slowly and make sure you touch down with both right and left side at the same time.
Another thing you should always do as CAS is to stay safe. Dont go flying low around over the city at random. Wait for your team to lase targets for you, but dont go in if you dont feel its safe enough. (Its sound like you have this part covered though)
And yeah, if you dont have a joystick, the mouse is great too. (far better than keyboard IMO)
Good luck

[503]

Stay hovering to close to the helipad and gradually drop your elevation until you touch down.

Doing fast insertions/landings with the LB is a pain *** and usually involves having to jump out to make it flip back.

[gazzthompson]

Stay hovering to close to the helipad and gradually drop your elevation until you touch down.

Doing fast insertions/landings with the LB is a pain *** and usually involves having to jump out to make it flip back.

as long as surface is flat , the LB can be going full speed and just cain down onto a road and stop instantly, its got to be the best handling chopper in the game and extremely effective for fast insertions.

[combatwombat]

as long as surface is flat , the LB can be going full speed and just cain down onto a road and stop instantly, its got to be the best handling chopper in the game and extremely effective for fast insertions.

and it doesn't flip when you do this? is there anything you do to ensure it lands perfectly level, and not tilted to one side or the other?

[gazzthompson]

just make sure surface is flat.

[Acemantura]

Train on a TRAINING server, the best servers are the ones you make yourself. So create a Local Server and get crackin'.

FYI, when I ran a training server back in .75 using Bubba's trainer, I found that the best way to teach was in a Littlebird. So grab an LB, get up to 700 meters, and pull extremes. By that I mean, pick key combinations, i.e. forward and left with throttle, next would be forwards and right, and try out all of these combinations until you think you have a mastery of rotary, in-game, flight.

This will not only boost your confidence but also prepare your fingers for uneven terrain and other surfaces, as well as SERE training for games. (Survival, Extraction, Resistance, Escape). That type of mindset while training will always come in handy when transporting supplies and troops.

Next step is your issue with the Attack LB. When you reverse your throttle, your controls reverse as well. You just have to practice landing. Hint: tap your "S" key, don't hold it.

[TheLean]

Ignore the people who says that you should hover before landing. Forget that. Come in with speed and tap down on S to land it like a plane. Shouldnt work but its by far the easiest way to land. It is really hard to flip the LB forward so dont worry about that.

Tip: For practice, try going 300 kmh on kashan training and land it on the runway like a plane, works perfectly every time. Just to show yourself not to worry about forward airspeed.

[goguapsy]

Aw don't be hypocritical. The base of which houses the LB is so damn small. Landings are pretty hard. Its his first time on the field, I was afraid when I piloted the Attack Huey for the first time, and you know what? I ignored the AA alarm and went down pretty quick and undignified. Like the others said, land it in both directions, Vertically and horizontally.

Haha I wasn't criticizing I just thought "wow nnobody said that before so I'm gonna say that". What I mean is, try landing in small helipads!





ALSO A SUGGESTION: Make Karbala US Main a little bigger - I've seen lots of times a HMMVV backing up and destroying both LBs.

[combatwombat]

I flew the attack LB again today and found that you guys are totally right - quick landings are the way to go. I think my flipping over beforehand was from trying to land too slowly.

Another question: do you guys generally prefer to fly high so that you can barely see the ground, or low so that you are just above/below the tops of trees/buildings?

I had very little success flying high today, I did not get a single kill. I also found that I spent a lot of time dodging tech fire & AA locks. When the round was about to end, though, I flew low like I do in PRSP and managed to get quite a few kills. The fact that I did not take any technical fire until I had made my 3rd or 4th pass over the same area makes me wonder if flying low along random, unpredictable routes is the way to go?

Also, does anyone know why they switched the attack LB from being a 2-manned aircraft to a 1-manned? Seems like 2-man would discourage lone-wolf newbs from wasting tickets while also increasing survivability (since pilot could just concentrate on flying)

[rampo]

Another question: do you guys generally prefer to fly high so that you can barely see the ground, or low so that you are just above/below the tops of trees/buildings?

Depends a lot on the map, in city maps like ramiel and muttrah i just go as low as possible sometimes going through the streets. In kashan however theres not much cover and i go just below the clouds to awoid tanks and other threats.

[Psyrus]

Yeah as you said, quick landings are the way to go. Littlebirds thrive close to the ground due to their easy maneuverability, however the one problem with flying low is that if a technical or even PKM gets you in their sights for just 3 seconds, you're as good as dead because down low you can't dive to pick up speed at all...

I used to fly a lot but I'm more of an SL these days, but I tried to make a somewhat helpful video. It didn't turn out too helpful but I enjoyed flying again