The PILOT role

[JanMz]

Let's get to know the PILOT role more in detail.
A couple initial questions from me regarding the PILOT role :

1. What is the pilot loadout ? Does he get any weapons, tools maybe ?

2. Can he land, exit, reenter and fly off again ?

3. Only the PILOT role can pilot helis, right ?

4. Is there a time limit for the use of helis ? A spawn limit ? A ''fly-over/attack limit'' ? Some other limitation or restriction ?

5. How long must one wait for the heli-respawn if the heli is destroyed ?

6. Is there any other way for the pilot to return to heli base other than suicide ? Can he get back on foot ?

7. How many PILOT roles are there available ?

8. What are the main duties expected from/intended for the pilot ? Transport, attack on objectives/coordinates...Anything else ?


I understand if you are not yet ready to answer all of this. Thanks for any additional info you can share.

 

[Jackett]

1. M3A1 and Sidearm (M1911) generally.
2. Yes! (Although, if you run off and abandon your chopper, it will respawn after a little while.)
3. Yes!
4. No, except maybe ammunition (which can be replenished by landing at a Helicopter base)
5. This is liable to change, but right now you're looking at ~30 seconds, give or take. May end up being more.
6. Depends on the map. Probably not easily as helicopter bases are far away, usually.
7. Depends on the map. No more than 6 at most I'd guess. Less most of the time. Bear in mind a Cobra needs two pilots to work best.
8. Depends on the role. A transport chopper pilot would fly the Huey, insert troops, and act as a mobile spawn. The Loach is for reconnaissance and light fire support. The cobra is for fire missions. The Cobra also has a dedicated gunner role who just shoots.

Boom! questions answered, that was easy

 

[JanMz]

Thanks, Jackett.

Let's continue, if you don't mind.

9. Is there a way to make it more realistic when your heli is destroyed and you want to go back to base ?
Not needing to suicide to get back to the heli base, i mean...
Aha, so i could just ask another pilot to take me back to base in that case, right ?

10. Why does the Cobra need 2 pilots to work best ? You mean 1 pilot and 1 gunner ? Is the gunner a pilot as well ?

11. So when there are no Huey transport request you either land and group up with a squad/help on the ground or
fly around, do some reconnaissance and wait for additional requests ?

12. Can all 3 types of heli be in the air at the same time ?

13. Can the helis all attack at the same time and do it over and over indefinitely/until the round ends ?

 

[[TW]Wilsonam]

9. Well, yes another pilot could give you a ride. But I'm guessing that most people will charge into combat, dying horribly so that they can respawn!

10. It needs a pilot and a gunner for max functionality. But we don't feel that creating a "gunner" role has a lot of point, so you need to spawn two Combat Pilots - one of who will actually pilot, the other will be the gunner.

11. Don't forget the "mobile spawn" element as well. Stooging around over the battlefield waiting for a squad to respawn works. You can park the chopper on an LZ and have people respawn there - if you want a face full of RPG-7

12. Yes. Although numbers of pilot roles available will depend on the number of people on the server - so there won't be one grunt, plus 4 chopper pilots!

13. Yes - until they expend all their munitions (doesn't take long for a Cobra), crash or get shot down. Right now, if you fly slow or high, you're most probably going to die. You may have seen a Loach taking a SAM to the face in one of the videos on Monday.

 

[gx007]

14) What is the duration time of the heli starting up to flying off?

15) You say the heli base is not easy for the pilot to walk back. What are the are size of these maps?

16) Does/will the huey have door (2) gunners as seen in promotional videos?

thank you

 

[StmRtn]

number) Do mappers have ability to set limit to the amount of spawns for choppers, like if they are set to 5 and 5 of them are destroyed, they dont spawn anyore ?.

alphabet) Or are they tied to the number of pilot roles ?.

 

[Brembo]

I am pretty sure I ve seen flechettes hanging on the sides of Cobra in Pax video. Can u use them or its just part of model?

 

[[TW]Wilsonam]

14) From memory, about 10-20 seconds. Doesn't feel like very long!

15) Big enough that flying helicopters around them makes sense.

16) Yes, 6 passengers, 2 of who can be on the door guns.

 

[PsYcH0_Ch!cKeN]

14) 20 Seconds give or take. However due to the rotor calculations, if you raise the collective (hold the up key) you will increase rotor drag and cause the engine wind up to slow down, so you can end up waiting 30 seconds or more. So, top tip; don't jump in and hold the up key in desperation to take off, it'll slow you down! Wait for the RPM needle to reach the marked operating range on the HUD

No flechettes on our cobra. Those are all standard rocket pods. However as a side note, that mesh is out of date anyway and will be replaced with one that accurately represents our final loadout, which is 2 x Mk40 rocket pods and a left-mounted 20mm auto-cannon.

 

[Brembo]

So the pilot has rockets and 20mm Cannon and gunner has turret with 40mm GL and 7.62 minigun?

 

[PsYcH0_Ch!cKeN]

Correct.

 

[gx007]

Thank you for the previous responses. Reviewed PAX video and have some questions.

17) Can the huey hover and the troops jump out over the LZ?

18) Is there a "flight school" aspect in game to orientate users to the heli controllers, firing range, etc, similar to R02 basic weapons training?

19) Will the pilots/gunners have bullet resistant vests?

20) Can friendly arty/napalm clear a mine infested LZ?

21) Will RS2 support VR?

 

[[TW]Wilsonam]

17) Yes.

18) No, but we might knock out a simple map for people to practise on!

19) No.

20) Yes.

21) Not anytime soon

 

[Mises]

Will bullets be affected by the helicopter's speed? It will be a very important factor since helis are fast and move high over the ground.

 

[Frostedfire]

Wilsonam;n2269439]
12. Yes. Although numbers of pilot roles available will depend on the number of people on the server - so there won't be one grunt, plus 4 chopper pilots!

Can we make a map like this where someone is rambo and has to kill everyone with the help of a couple choppers? it might need a mutator for rambo to be a bit tougher than 100 hp

18) No, but we might knock out a simple map for people to practise on!

this would be a great idea in advance of the beta, if only so I'm not being screamed at for being bad

 

[KomradeTuniska]

This is why RS2's devs are the best on the field.
​​​​​They really care about the players and give us the information we need when we ask, this is why I'm gonna buy this game.
And thanks JanMz for you post, I was really looking forward to some answers to them, maybe we should talk about tunnels the next time ?

 

[Mises]

This is why RS2's devs are the best on the field.
​​​​​They really care about the players and give us the information we need when we ask

But they didn't answer my question .

 

[Jackett]

But they didn't answer my question .

Sometimes, we don't know the answer yet.

 

[PsYcH0_Ch!cKeN]

To clarify further, it's something we tried to put in at one point, but ran into some unexpected problems and had to remove again, so whether it makes it to the final build is still an open question.

 

[Mises]

To clarify further, it's something we tried to put in at one point, but ran into some unexpected problems and had to remove again, so whether it makes it to the final build is still an open question.

Fingers crossed for you, guys!