acemantura wrote:It just wouldn't be realistic if the commander had Hellfires and was shooting them every ten minutes.
It doesn't have to be implemented that way. It could be implemented just like any other area attack, where it takes 30 minutes/1 hour to charge, is only active for a certain amount of time, could only be started when the area attack was requested by a SL, etc etc.
Instead of thinking it as an 'any time anywhere helicopter', think of it working just like any other area attack, and you may see it differently.
Just for information, the MQ-1 Predator UAV [United States UAV] can carry 2 hellfire missiles, whereas the MQ-9 Reaper UAV [United States UAV, predecessor of the predator] can carry up to 14 hellfire missiles. (Whether MQ-1 is still used or not, or if the MQ-9 is in service yet is beyond me, so could use someone who knows...)
If we went based on the MQ-1, it could function just like arty/jdam where it could be used every hour and carries 2 missiles per flight. (How much time it would take to charge, how long it could be in 'attack mode', etc could vary)
If we went based on the MQ-9, there are a few routes... Since there are 14 missiles, it could perhaps be a '30 minute' timer, then a set number of the Hellfires would be available, so that you couldn't fire 14 missiles all at once at something. Alternatively, it could function the same beside the fact that the number of hellfires that could be fired during one instance isn't limited; instead, the UAV could carry only 14 missiles during the entire game, meaning that once you use 14 then you can't use any more.
(I'll be gathering my thoughts and posting a new thread eventually to avoid the confusion that is going around, if that's alright... My idea is a bit more fleshed out than the original post, and people are kind of mixing ideas, unfortunately.)