mi8 vs. huey - Tactics

[Slazi]

I'm interested in how people are flying the two.

 

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Mi-8

When in the Mi-8, it seems better to attack from range. Keep a distance of at least 500m from infantry targets. Ideally over a km for anything with any real firepower. The large size, higher speeds, and slower turning seems to get it killed way to quickly up close. Any hits to the cockpit are extremely dangerous as they tend to kill all onboard.

 

Rocket attacks work well from a range of 1-2km. Launch a ton of them and go back to get more. Sure, a lot are wasted. But returning for more in an undamaged aircraft is worth it.

 

The 30mm grenade launcher seems basically useless. You are much better off with rockets against infantry. The grenades just seem to act like slow bullets with no real area effect.

 

So basically, its good for range combat. It is obviously also a much better transport helo.

 

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Huey

 

The huey on the other hand, seems able to fly right in the middle of everything. Its smaller size means it gets hit far less. It carries a ton of ammo for its miniguns. Perfect for killing infantry.

 

It has trouble with larger targets due to the lack of heavier weapons.

 

Can transport small small teams.

 

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What other differences am I missing between the two?

[Fifi]

What other differences am I missing between the two?

 

Well, manoeuvrability...obviously useful in combat situations.

Huey is more agile in every aspects ;)

[T0x1s]

I just fly in Low with huey and as fast as i can and hope for the best. The mi-8 i am more carefull with.

[Grim_Smiles]

Like Fifi said, Huey has agility and I try to use it. What T0x1s does is the same tactics I use. I'll move as fast and low as I can and take out as many as possible as I pass, then on the run out I start jinking left and right as rapidly as I can while avoiding mast bump. Once I'm clear I check what damage I have and evaluate how I want to proceed if I need to do another run. I don't even bother with the copilot flex sight right now, it goes out if someone so much as farts in my direction.

 

The Mi-8 is quite a bit different for me not only due to the size but some of the issues it has right now in beta.

 

Biggest issue is that a shot through the windshield takes out everyone in the Mi-8, something I don't have to worry about in the Huey. But that is a beta issue and should not be a problem down the road. Granted I'm sure that taking one through the windshield will still happen since you have the huge bubble with little protection. But at least then it'll switch over to the copilot, instead of losing the entire chopper because one guy took a round.

 

One of the other differences I've noticed is how quick you can lose an engine in the Mi-8. The position of the engine in the Huey seems to be an advantage since you have a lot of the fuselage in the way depending on where the shots are coming from. In the Mi-8 I'll lose an engine from enemy fire far more than I ever do with the Huey.

 

Whether this is a beta damage model issue (like the pilot death issue) I'm not sure, I would think the Mi-8 would have a bit more in the way for a round to travel through before it hits something vital. Getting hit with a round from something like an M242 is going to ruin your engine's day no matter what, but I've lost an engine to infantry far quicker than I expected. Again, that might be a beta issue, I don't know for sure.

 

My tactic with the Mi-8 is same as yours, I keep as much distance as possible and empty the pods. I really have no choice it seems at the moment. I can't really do that in the Huey since the rockets are much more limited in number and I'm definitely not the most accurate with them at the moment, but with the Mi-8 and four rocket pods you can afford to spray rockets.

 

I really hope Belsimtec gives an option for bringing along spare rockets to reload in the field, as I've heard of Russian crews doing this in real life. I have no idea if Huey crews have ever done it, but that may be due to problems with finding a safe spot to set down in Vietnam. It would certainly be great if I could land somewhere and just wait for my crew to reload more rockets, rather than have to RTB every time. Since it would be a field reload and more potential for being attacked while you are on the ground, hopefully you wouldn't be required to shut down your engine like you are with the ground crews back at base. Put a timer for it and if you take off before it finishes (because of enemy incoming) then you don't get any rockets replaced - or a certain number replaced depending on how much time you gave the reload.

 

I agree as well that the grenade pods are a little underwhelming. I really loved the idea of an automatic grenade launcher on an aircraft, but at the moment more needs to be done for the damage model on them. My understanding is that fragmentation is not modeled in the game, so this would definitely decrease the effectiveness of a grenade on infantry.

 

At the moment I only do practice flights with the Mi-8, I haven't bothered with any combat for awhile until some things get fixed and added in. Not bashing Belsimtek at all, I know this is beta and I know they will get these things taken care of down the road.

[esb77]

The Mi-8 really does favor rocket attacks. Takes a lot of practice to start hitting consistently though. I usually set for volleys of four and launch 1-3 ranging shots on each pass be for I seriously try to hit something. It nice that the Hip can carry 120 rockets when you do that.

 

In terms of the guns I really prefer the 12.7 mm and 23mm. Given how low hit probability is, it's nice to have some chance of actually doing damage when you do hit.

 

I also tend not to want to bother with any target smaller than a vehicle.

 

Even if you miss, dumping a full load of rockets in one go can be sort of fun.

[Avimimus]

It would be nice if the activated the S-24 (you can load it but not fire it). They were used from 3-4 km as area bombardment weapons.