Cobra in MP

[HamishUK 0]

It may be me but when I play the Cobra in MP mode with a 'live' Gunner as a pilot I cannot fire or use any of the weapon systems?

The 'manual fire' selection mode does no appear once you have a live Gunner. This makes firing the FFAR's near on impossible.

[Mandrake 9]

I never fly with an AI gunner because of problems like this... much easier (and quicker) to fire weps yourself.

[HamishUK 0]

I never fly with an AI gunner because of problems like this... much easier (and quicker) to fire weps yourself.

No it's not an AI Gunner it's when you have a 'live player' in the Gunners seat.

He is great for firing the Guns and Hellfires. I have no problem with that. It's when you want to fire FFAR's he cannot judge where the impact point is therefore you have to shout fire on comms when your impact point is over the target.

Makes the FFAR's pretty useless in MP.

[Mandrake 9]

oh sorry just woken up, caffeine not hit bloodstream yet...

havent played with live gunner so cant comment. I'll go away now.

[walker 0]

Hi All

It is all down to communication.

If you play with good players it is part of the fun!

A typical TS or other VOIP conversation in a private vehicle channel.

Gunner on coms:

"There is a juicy target, a line of soldiers/tanks/vehicles/trees {at Grid Ref HF24} (or) {over by the vilage/forrest/hill to our west} you see them?"

Pilot on coms:

"Yes I have them on eyball/radar"

Gunner on coms:

"They are our next target"

"We should attack north to south"

Pilot on coms:

"Roger that"

"There is a lot of them"

"We are going to straff them"

"Select Rockets"

Gunner on coms:

"Rockets ON"

"FUP..." Form Up Point "...is the hill/forrest/village NNWof the target"

Pilot on coms:

"Agreed but will move to the East side of the FUP to get a better attack run"

Gunner on coms:

"Roger"

Pilot on coms:

"Moving to FUP"

"At FUP"

"Are you ready?"

Gunner on coms:

"GREEN"

Pilot on coms:

"Lining up for Attack run"

"Straight line"

"Commencing Attack Run"

"Comming up on target"

"3, 2, 1"

"FIRE!"

"CEASE FIRE!"

"Weapons Free"

Gunner on coms:

"Weapons Free"

Kind Regards walker

[Dallas 9]

The Cobra (excuse me) rocks in MP. That is if you got a pilot and a gunner who knows just a bit about teamplay. I really love these new coop maps, where Cobras rely on both a pilot and gunner. Without a pilot you can't fly and without a gunner you can't shoot. Stops most rambo pilots from hoggin' the cobras and waste the team's crucial rescources.

The pilot needs to do three things:

Keep the Cobra alive

Keep the targets aligned

<span style='font-size:7pt;line-height:100%'>and most importantly</span>

Keep reminging the gunner not to go winchester on the hellfires.

The gunner needs to locate the shilkas and destroy them,

Then the T-72,

Then the BMPs,

Them hose the soft targets.

[HamishUK 0]

Bizarre how you have placed comms and teamwork into an issue that is more to do with accuracy and speed of weapons deployment?

Regardless of how fun teamwork is with the Cobra (and I love it) having the Gunner fire the rockets is far less effective than the pilot. Voice communication is delayed whilst making a rocket pass and the split second between laying down fire and ceasing fire is longer than pulling the trigger yourself once the pre-aiming mark is over the target.

You are missing the point and mixing fun with being combat effective. No matter how good comms is (and we work very well in MP being all former members of the Armed Forces) the rockets on Helo's are fired by the pilot.

[HamishUK 0]

"Weapons Free"

Gunner on coms:

"Weapons Free"

Kind Regards walker

Being a former RAF pilot I would use Weapons Tight in a CAS situation. Weapons Free is seldom if ever used due to blue-on-blue possibilities.  

[Dallas 9]

I still think it's swell that the gunner overrides maunal fire. From a distance in hover, the gunner have enough time to fire the rockets with some precision and when not at a distant hover, you just splash the target area with as many rockets possible anyway.

You can always order the pilot to eject if you want to do the shooting yourself.

[HamishUK 0]

I still think it's swell that the gunner overrides maunal fire. From a distance in hover, the gunner have enough time to fire the rockets with some precision and when not at a distant hover, you just splash the target area with as many rockets possible anyway.

You can always order the pilot to eject if you want to do the shooting yourself.

I find it strange that you say it's 'swell' a Gunner can override the pilot when there is no evidence to suggest it has any positive benefit apart from operating the Gun and Hellfire?

You can but when even a single mm of screen movement  is magnified exponentially over a long distance the innacuracy becomes more apparent. Regardless of saturating attacks rockets still need to be aimed at a centre of mass to ensure some degree of effectivness.

I can understand what you guys are saying but would it not be better for the pilot to be able to switchand / or the Gunner could fire the 20mm / Hellfires seperately from the pilot as in the real aicraft?

'Making do' as you chaps seem to is all well and good but having the correct option would be far better IMO!

[Mandrake 9]

ok have just played online with a live gunner so am qualified to post here --

-- it seems to me the solution is for the FFARs to be fired by the pilot using the fixed aimpoint, and the gunner is left in charge of the cannon and Hellfires...

On second thoughts i can foresee some frustration when the pilot orders the gunner to switch to Rockets but he don't wanna cos he's having so much fun with the cannon...

[walker 0]

"Weapons Free"

Gunner on coms:

"Weapons Free"

Kind Regards walker

Being a former RAF pilot I would use Weapons Tight in a CAS situation. Weapons Free is seldom if ever used due to blue-on-blue possibilities.  

Hi HamishUK

I bow to your superior knowlede and experience "Weapons Tight" it is.

I am after all a mere civilian.

I was using it for the pilot to let the gunner know he was free to choose his weapons.

Kind Regards walker

[max power 20]

It's all down to teamwork, I think. I fly with a friend on guns, and I would rather have him than any AI. It's a little different not being able to assign him targets, especially if you're sighting a lone soldier running around in front of the helicopter but the gunner is not seeing him no matter what you tell him, but I love the reduced workload.

I can focus on plotting a good flightpath and finding a good area to mask. While I'm unmasking and he's firing weapons (our rule is one lock and one shot per unmask in missile attacks), I can think about where I want to put the helicopter if I need to move to a different point, if we get shot at while unmasked. I would like control over the fixed armament only, but we rarely use rockets anyways. I would use them on soft targets driving around that don't have weapons capable of shooting down the helicopter... in the mp environment there is rarely a convoy to destroy, and you have to expose the helicopter to use them. With the guns and hellfire, you rarely have to get within a kilometer of threats.

Also remember, gunners, save the last shot on all weapons! You can't rearm if your ammo is depleted!