[General Battuta]

It's ironic you'd ask for fastmovers because one of the earlier Eugen RTS games, while far less realistic overall, had the best air unit system I've seen in an RTS.

[StarSlayer]

Yeah got the control groups working, for some screwy reason I didn't think Ctrl+Number worked the first time I tried it and assumed it was something esoteric.  In addition to Arty, Mortars are pretty boss and very accurate.  Make sure you keep your logistics routes clear of sneaky bastards though, last night I had secured a few important CPs with dug in infantry called in some vet Leo 1A4s to start putting together an offensive push and they got smoked entering the map by some Czech infantry PACT had snuck around.

[NGTM-1R]

Never lead with armored vehicles in the woods. It will end badly. (You'd think I would learn.) The early versions of the MBT-70 project are pretty cool, but extremely expensive.

And my god, how did I ever survive without supply helos?

[StarSlayer]

I'm really hoping they start introducing more game modes in the future, it's a bit of a odd idea that in reality seizing or holding ground is the secondary objective to murderating OpFor's pricey units in a race to the destruction limit.  I wish you could retire transports as well.  Once I drop off some Rangers or Chaussers Famas being able to send those Hueys or VABs back off the map for some point reclamation would be great. 

[NGTM-1R]

My Hind-A pilots apparently do a few bars of Ride of the Valkyries when on an attack run now.

wtf

[StarSlayer]

My Hind-A pilots apparently do a few bars of Ride of the Valkyries when on an attack run now.

wtf

So don't my Mi-24Vs.  I accidently deployed to multi utilizing the Pact Air Mobile Deck I was experimenting with.  Mix of Spetz in Hinds, Konkurs and Strellas in Mi8s plus a mix of support and BMP 685s.  After going oh **** I'm running a trick deck it actually worked pretty well, I swooped round to the back of their side dropped my troops. The troops pushed forward on the ground and the helis backed them up.  Seized their FOBs out from under them.  They tried to Gazzell Hot rush my initial position but I had some AA that ate them.

[NGTM-1R]

Well, multi is fun, though I keep getting stuck 2v1 because I'm so low-level and and a sucker, and I'm saddened at the poor accuracy of rocket artillery from long range.

And my scout copter pilots probably hate me for sending them into the enemy deployment zone and calling a barrage on their position. But hey. It works.

[NGTM-1R]

Starslayer's more or less right about the infantry transports thing; once I have them in position, I don't want to use the APCs again very often in single, and pretty much never in multi. They end up getting used as artillery spotters or charging attack helicopters to machinegun them, or other equally suicidal things.

[NGTM-1R]

An interesting lesson: infantry can beat up attack helicopters that don't know any better. Forty German Jagers on foot, having lost their transports to a swarm of various types of Hind, set about marching to an enemy-controlled area. Because the other player didn't realize they were there and apparently assumed they died in their M113s, they hijacked six supply trucks and nuked an enemy command vehicle, then hid in some woods.

The other player sent over the Hinds again, many of them slightly damaged from having tangled with a company of Gepards. Misjudging which set of woods my guys were in, they flew over the first to reach the second. Big mistake.

Forty guys on foot with assault rifles bushwhacked six attack helicopters, killed three, and sent the other three scurrying off to the enemy deployment zone for repairs, for the loss of six men. They did comparatively better than my Gepards and Chaparrals.

[Thaeris]

Small arms fire is scarier than you think.

What kind of Hinds was your adversary sporting? The Hind is a tough cookie, and I'm thinking that even with lots of concentrated small arms fire, bringing one down by that alone wouls take a lot of ammunition, not to mention accurate placement thereof.

[NGTM-1R]

It was a weird mix; some of the high-end VP or V, and at least 3 Hind-As. It's hard to tell the non-A variants apart at a glance. At least one of them died turning to run after the sheer amount of 7.62mm flying around scared the crew into backing off, but yeah, I've seen Hinds soak assault rifle fire to the front a lot in the single-player. The mistake was in the fact they were flying almost overhead before they realized they were getting shot at, so there were a lot of side and rear shots before they got their crap together.

People like to use mobs of attack helicopters a lot in multi to push forward early and then as a mobile reserve. They're actually quite hard to counter as a defensive force, since they usually outrange you by a good bit and most AA vehicles and IFVs will get killed by folding-fin rockets, while your tanks will usually break and be driven back from the sheer amount of incoming fire well before they can fire their coax or AA machineguns. (And my god are Chapparals bad SAMs; I really need to invest in Rolands and maybe OH-58s with Stingers soon.)

[StarSlayer]

Rollies are pretty good, plus they're tough enough to stick close to your forward lines and not go boom if sneezed at.   I'm interested in the Stinger Kiowa as well, right now I'm using Gazelle as recce helos but I wonder if a Hellfire and Stinger Kiowa pair might be good for both scouting/taking out enemy recce helos.

[Thaeris]

The Cobra should be a pretty good AA chopper, and the Apache is also fully aerobatic. It would be fun if they threw in the Sikorsky Blackhawk just as a "what if" helo for the NATO forces. We were this close to having an equivalent counter to the Hind back in the day...

[StarSlayer]

Ah-1s and 64s would need to get into shooty range and I tend to keep my gunships over friendly ground forces and away from AA nastiness.  It'd be just my luck to go chase some Mi-2 into Mr. Buk & Co.  While it might be rather specialist and points heavy being able to quickly and safely dispatch any snoopers is attractive.  When I get the points I'll add it to the deck and see if it pays dividends.

[NGTM-1R]

The Cobra should be a pretty good AA chopper, and the Apache is also fully aerobatic. It would be fun if they threw in the Sikorsky Blackhawk just as a "what if" helo for the NATO forces. We were this close to having an equivalent counter to the Hind back in the day...

tbh there are a number of other whatifs, including the MBT-70 and the M8 AGS.

Although Thaeris has a point; it should be possible to fire reasonably advanced ATGMs at a helo with some chance of success. Even a tank main gun from an Abrams/Challenger/Leopard 2 should be able to get a hit.

[Dragon]

Unless the chopper isn't moving, than hitting it with the main gun is very, very unlikely. I've hit immobile helos on occasion in ArmA II, but it's very difficult. You're better off using commander's MG for it.

[NGTM-1R]

I don't mind missing so much as not having the chance to offer some kind, any kind, of defensive fire.

[Scotty]

That and some kind, any kind, of defensive fire is going to decrease the effectiveness of any offensive capability from the helos themselves, considering it's a lot harder to hit things ifi you're trying very hard to not be hit by something that will leave you a strip of scattered, smoking wreckage across the battlefield.

[NGTM-1R]

And, really, if the Iraqis could bushwhack SeaCobras during the Iran-Iraq War and shoot them down with Falanga/Spiral ATGMs (helicopter to helicopter, no less; literally the only recorded instances of helo dogfighting took place during the Iran-Iraq War), then I should goddamn well be able to pop off an I-TOW and hit a Hind that's hovering.

[Thaeris]

At what dates does the game take place in? Surely your attack helos can carry heat-seekers?