Let’s talk attack helicopters

Helk shared this secret with me the other month and I must say, it’s been hard keeping my lips sealed. In that time, we’ve had several chances to discuss the specifics of this functionality, some of which, I’ll share with you now:

Players will not fly or control this helicopter, it is a new server event (like an airdrop but much more complex and cool).

After a certain interval of time, the helicopter will fly in and start patrolling the server for targets (starting at the beach, then going between monuments).

Targets are defined as geared players wandering the server (it will not be raining a hellfire of rockets and machine guns on every naked in sight).

Once a valid target is found (or if someone shoots at it), it’ll become interested and start orbiting / engaging said target.

If all targets are destroyed, it’ll continue patrol.

A fresh helicopter will only be susceptible to bullets on specific places (main rotor, tail rotor, and engine). This will force players to really line up their shots as opposed to just spraying all willy-nilly.

Once all 3 parts are sufficiently damaged, the entire helicopter will become susceptible to gunfire.

If downed, the crash site will have large fireballs / oil fires for several minutes (accompanied by a huge plume of smoke you can see far away). This means you can’t loot it immediately and it’ll give an opportunity for other players to contest the site.

Once the fires go out, you’ll be able to grab some top tier loot.

If not destroyed after 15 minutes of patrolling, the helicopter will fly away (and the event is over).

I am really freaking excited about this idea. Not only does it look fucking awesome, it’ll up the PvE element of the game big time; encouraging people to work together and providing a new adrenaline rush to gameplay. Keep in mind, none of this is set in stone, balance and tweaking will of course be needed. That said, Helk isn’t planning on releasing this half cocked; he wants it to be top quality from the get-go.

Stay tuned for more on this new event as it comes to light.

9/17 Update: Here are the admin commands. More on the update summary post.

Admin commands for the Attack Helicopter:

heli.call

heli.calltome

heli.strafe

heli.bulletAccuracy ( 2 default, higher is less accurate )

heli.bulletDamageScale (1 default, multiplier*)

* bullet damage is 10, meaning, 'damagescale 2' would be 20 damage