Matrix Games Forums

Playing tutorial #3 I had my Cobras flying a hex away from Hinds in open terrain and sharing the same admittedly wooded hex, but they do not engage. I assume that the Cobra's autocannon, at least, can fire on aerial targets.

Is this WAD? I saw nothing in unit SOP that suggested helicopters won't fire on each other, but perhaps I missed something. It may have been that my AH-1s had run out of ammunition or had extraordinarily poor luck spotting, so if it happens again, I will try to send a savegame.

Helos are supposed to be able to fire at each other. In fact, I have seen it. I'm not the expert but from my memory as to how it was explained to me, the helos must be flying towards one another (in other words pointing at one another) and in range in order to fire. It is possible that they will fly right by each other because they were never pointed in the right angle for attack. Remember also, these hexes are quite large. 1/2 a km in size. It is possible that they could be in the same hex and not see each other. However, if you see a situation where you feel the helos should be firing at each other, send us the save game. It is not impossible that something has gone off the rails.

To boost what Charles said above, we researched Helo vs. Helo combats, which are infrequent when they occur. To that end, it only happens in the aforementioned case of both closing head-to-head. We also have tweaked the AI in the upcoming January update to have unarmed scout helos avoid enemy attack-helos.

Thanks for the quick answer. To clarify, do both aircraft need to be closing to fire, or could one set up an attack run against a suspected stationary enemy helicopter? There are definitely times when I would have liked to do this, when no specialized AA assets were in position, but I recognize it might not be a realistic use of helicopters.

Only need one in motion heading at the target. Also need a weapon that can be used against a helicopter.

Thanks!