Pmsl

yes rockets are not my favourite weapon. i will (where circumstances allow) take fuel pods over rockets. I never do use flight director on rocket runs, but i find you need to be close to snipe with them and being that close usually means i am in kill range of the bloody enemy i failed to spot in my ingress...

Damned those hidden mongrels. Maybe i am a coward ? but i like to stand off rather than get too close with rockets. with the range of the cannon i can stand off further than rockets and be effective. But if those pesky buggers are hiding in trees.... then the old rocket spam is better.

Apart from the basics of having the correct number set on the rear right wall for the warhead type and lasing just before release and being closer than you'd like..... i have nothing to offer to help with rocket runs.

You CAN evade a Hellfire incoming, but it's one of the hardest things you can attempt. The best way is to be close enough to launch a Vikhr that will hit him before the Hellfire hits you...if you make him break off to try and evade your missile, his loses lock! The other thing is terrain masking. The thing can't go over the hill and drop down on you.

Does anyone know if the Apache have a laser warning system modeled? If you have your laser off until you're in range, and you're coming up from the side, can you delay his warning of your approach? As I said, I usually avoid them, so I've never tried flipping the laser off to try and be stealthy.

As for rockets, I usually use them when I'm out of bullets!! Unless it's a big cluster of units, where the rocket dispersal helps out, I prefer the gun...it works at farther distances anyway! I think my record is 4 kills with rockets with the standard pods, and that was infantry in a group IIRC. For like 20 rounds of ammo I can get the same result.



The Jedi Master

I think the biggest advantage the Apache has over the Black Shark is that awesome IHADSS system. The speed and range of motion that you can engage an enemy is just so much faster than the limited capability of the Ka-50s gun. To literally be able to look and spray some return fire (even just to keep the enemies head down) is great. And the ability to do that WHILE your pilot is simultaneously either working to get you in a better engagement position OR working hard to get you out of a sticky situation is doubly good.

I'm not sure why the Russians decided to go with the limited azimuth gun on the Shark as opposed to a bottom or bottom/nose mounted one with more range of motion.

BeachAV8R

They didn't, they fitted a 30mm cannon.

Nate

I didn't know we were getting ultra technical here. Cough..excuse me - cannon.

According to Wikipedia anyway on the Ka-50 cannon:

"The semi-rigid mounting improves the cannon's accuracy, giving the 30 mm a longer practical range and better hit ratio at medium ranges than with a free-turning turret mount."

Which makes sense..but I think I'd rather have the inaccuracy and quick response of the Apache's chain gun..

Right, so under a mile the Apache's is superior, but outside that range its effectiveness drops off with greater round dispersal.

The solution might be to mount the gun just like it is on the Ka-50 now...but on the belly instead of the right cheek. That would mean it would have limited-to-no ability to fire upwards, but I don't know how much that would hamper it. Increased ability to shoot left vs decreased azimuth...

Gun is a generic term. It is used to refer to things as small as a pistol to as large as the Yamato's 18-inch guns. Saying machine gun would be inaccurate, but while every machine gun is a gun, not every gun is a machine gun.



The Jedi Master

I like to think the designers considered this trade off when they drew up the Ka-50: it's primary mission was air-to-ground so sacrificing effective cannon range for further improved targeting capability was a non-starter. Sure, being able to quickly put rounds on an enemy helo in a dogifght is a nice feature, but one that falls outside the Ka-50's design envelope.

I know, nobody likes that answer, but that's why it was designed the way it was.

I witnessed an MP fight where a player in a Ka-50 took on FOUR Cobras in a dogfight and nailed them all with the guncannon. He even threw in a rolling scissors, just to demonstrate his bad assery-ness. Best dogfight ever.

Well which is the best way to gun down an enemy helo? Because trying to lock the shval ( or however it's spelled lol ) onto the chopper is a right bugger but the only other method would be to fix the cannon/gun but without any type of leading sight that is damn hard especially if your up against a moving target.