Helicopter Guide

This guide covers the helicopters in the vehicle vendor: the MH-6, the AH-6M [Miniguns], the AH-6R [Rockets], the Havoc, the Z20 Lakota and the Z20 Lakota [Miniguns]. Each section gives the numbers a pilot needs and links to the article that explains them. Where a figure was worked out from the damage rules and not tested in play, the guide says so.

The helicopters

Helicopter Main health (HP) Seats Price (cash) Unlock level Weapons
MH-6 400 6 6,250 1 None
AH-6M [Miniguns] 400 2 12,000 1 M134D Minigun (two)
AH-6R [Rockets] 400 2 18,800 1 B-13 Rocket Pods (two, 122 mm)
Havoc 800 2 (pilot and gunner) 28,000 0 2A42 Autocannon (30 mm), B-13 Rocket Pods (122 mm)
Z20 Lakota 600 13 7,400 0 None
Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] 600 13 15,000 0 M134D Minigun (two)

Source: Vehicle Comparison. The Z20 Lakota article notes that the shop text says 11 passengers, one fewer than the 13 seats on the stats sheet.

The MH-6 family (MH-6, AH-6M and AH-6R) shares one airframe and 400 HP. The Z20 Lakota family shares 600 HP. The Havoc has the most health at 800 HP and the most expensive price.

Who fires what

  • AH-6M [Miniguns]. The pilot fires both miniguns. The second seat is a passenger seat with no gun. The mount aims from 30 degrees down to 22 degrees up. Source: AH-6M [Miniguns].
  • Z20 Lakota [Miniguns]. Two gunner seats fire the guns, one gunner per gun. Each gunner takes the gun automatically on entering the seat. The pilot and the other passengers do not fire them. The other eleven seats are pilot and passenger seats. Source: Z20 Lakota [Miniguns].

The Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] fires 1,500 rounds/min out to 1,500 m, with 150 starting rounds. The AH-6M [Miniguns] fires 1,500 rounds/min out to 800 m, with 300 starting rounds. Source: Vehicle weapons.

Threats from the ground

Lock-on weapons. A lock-on weapon must lock on before it can fire. The game lists these ones that can hit helicopters:

Weapon Lock time Delay after lock Targets Notes
9K333 Verba 2 s 0.25 s Helicopters and the airplane only A launcher a player carries. Fires only while locked on. Costs 800, unlock level 1.
Talon 9K-SAM 2.0 s 0.5 s Air vehicles: the Little Bird family, the Havoc, the Huey, the Z20 Lakota family and the airplane An emplacement. Fires only while locked on.
Stingray 2.0 s 0.5 s Air vehicles only, including the Little Bird family and the Havoc An emplacement that fires a drone.
MG Nest 2.0 s 0.5 s Air vehicles: the Little Bird family, the Havoc, the Huey and the airplane An emplacement. Its weapon stats have this lock-on block, but how a player-manned gun uses it is not shown.
Vanguard CIWS Not stated Not stated The building guide says its target list is air vehicles only The Vanguard page gives no lock-on timings.

Sources: the articles in the table, and Building a Base. The Huey is on the Talon and MG Nest lists. See the Huey article.

Hits to destroy with explosives. These counts are blasts inside the inner radius, worked out from the damage rules. They are not timed in play, and they assume full health with no repair. Source: Anti-Vehicle Guide.

Helicopter Main health (HP) RPG-7 MAAWS 9K333 Verba M67 frag IED C4 Stingray drone B-13 rocket
MH-6, AH-6M, AH-6R 400 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 5 (2 through the tail rotor)
Z20 Lakota, Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] 600 3 2 2 2 2 4 1 11
Havoc 800 3 2 2 2 2 4 2 11

Source: Vehicle Comparison.

Bullets and cannon rounds. Rifle rounds do 7.5% of their damage to the MH-6 family and 5% to the Havoc and the Z20 Lakota family. These counts are derived from the damage rules, not timed in play:

Helicopter 5.56 mm rifle .50 cal 20x102 mm cannon 30 mm cannon
MH-6 family 191 60 71 7
Z20 Lakota family 858 267 167 24
Havoc 1,143 356 182 42

Source: each helicopter article, and Vehicle Comparison.

Weak points.

  • MH-6 family: bullets that hit the fuel tank take an extra 200%. Rockets that hit the tail or tail rotor take an extra 200%.
  • Z20 Lakota family: the tail rotor is the weak point. Rifle fire through it destroys the helicopter after 429 hits, against 858 hits to the body (5.56 mm).
  • Havoc: a round that hits the fuel tank gets an extra 300% on top of the hull rate, so it does about a fifth of its full damage.

Seats. Seated players take less small and medium arms damage. In Season 2 a Little Bird seat takes 75% of that damage, a Z20 Lakota seat takes 75%, and a Havoc seat takes 10%. Source: Seats and passengers.

Flares

Flares are the only countermeasure a helicopter carries. Every helicopter starts with 2 flares. Smoke is not listed on any helicopter.

What flares do, according to the countermeasures page:

  • They do not clear a lock. A lock only decides whether the launcher may fire.
  • They pull guided missiles already in flight. While the flares are active, a guided missile inside the flare band steers toward one of two flare points beside the helicopter. It picks whichever point is closer to it.
  • They last 3.5 s. Each press uses one flare, and the next press must wait 5 s.
  • Only some missiles are pulled. Only guided missiles steer at all, and only while their rocket motor burns. A missile outside the band keeps aiming at the helicopter. A missile within about 100 m of the flare point it is chasing gives up and flies on without steering.

The flare bands per helicopter:

Helicopter Flares at start Flare band (m)
Havoc 2 5 to 300
MH-6, AH-6M, AH-6R 2 10 to 300
Z20 Lakota, Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] 2 15 to 300

Source: Countermeasures and flares.

Things flares do not do, as the game shows:

  • Smoke does nothing to lock-on. The smoke screen has no link to lock-on or to missile steering, as far as the game shows.
  • The Stingray drone is not pulled. The drone is player-flown and is not a guided missile. Flares do not change its course.
  • A lock is not dropped. The flares do not stop a new lock or drop one that exists. This is inferred from the game’s code and not tested in play.
  • The Talon’s missiles. The Talon fires the same guided 72 mm rocket as the 9K333 Verba, so the flare rules should apply to it too. This is inferred.

Pilot helmet

The Pilot Helmet is a vehicle-use helmet that is not sold in the shop. The shop lists it at 6,400 cash but hides it.

  • Protection. It reduces head damage by 30%. It covers the head only, and it has 180 durability.
  • In a helicopter pilot or gunner seat. Vehicle sound drops to about half volume, a setting of 0.50 (about 6 dB quieter). A low-pass filter set to 0.4 dulls the high tones. Both changes fade in and out over 0.1 s.
  • Anywhere else. The helmet muffles sound a little. It uses a low-pass setting of 0.45 on other players’ gunfire, bullet whiz-by, impacts, vehicles, footsteps, ambience, dialogue and rain, and 0.5 on your own weapon. The volume does not change.
  • Target highlight. The highlight of target vehicles is on or off, with no strength setting. It only works in the helicopter state (inferred from the game’s code).

Fuel and repair

Fuel.

  • The Havoc holds 130, the MH-6 family 105 and the Z20 Lakota family 120 (as stored). All helicopters have a fuel economy of 4.4 (as stored). The vendor labels that number litres per kilometre, so a higher number uses more fuel.
  • When the tank reaches zero, the engine stops. The engine cannot restart until the tank holds fuel again (static reading, not checked in play).
  • The MH-6 family leaks 0.1 per second below 10% fuel tank health, and 0.75 per second when the tank is destroyed. The Little Bird fuel tank triggers at 10% and 0%.
  • A 40 L Fuel Canister costs 150 cash. It adds 2.0 fuel every 0.75 s.
  • A Refuel Station’s Fast restock gives 5% of the tank in 3 s for 75 cash. Its Max restock fills up to a full tank in 9 s. A full tank costs 1,500 cash on Max.

Sources: Fuel and refueling and Repair and vehicle parts.

Repair.

  • Each part has its own health. The MH-6 family has an engine of 200 HP, a fuel tank of 200 HP, a main rotor of 400 HP and a tail rotor of 300 HP. The Havoc has the same parts plus two front landing wheels of 100 HP each.
  • A Wrench repairs 10 HP per use, in 0.68 s, for 180 cash. A light drill repairs 14.5 HP per use, in 0.75 s, for 600 cash. A heavy drill repairs 14.5 HP per use, in 0.5 s, for 1,300 cash.
  • Repairing a 400 HP helicopter from zero takes 40 Wrench uses (derived), about 27 s at 0.68 s each.
  • A Repair Station’s Fast restock gives 5% in 3 s for 100 cash. Its Max restock gives up to 100% in 9 s for 2,000 cash.
  • The Havoc’s rotors have damage triggers at 55% and 0%. The game sets rotor triggers only for the Havoc.
  • The in-game tip says a rotor blade breaks if it hits an object. Flying close to terrain or other aircraft puts the rotors at risk.

Earning as a pilot

Unlocks. The Pilot role has its own unlock tree. These are the helicopter rows:

Pilot level Item Cash
8 AH-6M [Miniguns] 125,000
10 Z20 Lakota 35,000
20 AH-6R [Rockets] 250,000
25 Z20 Lakota [Miniguns] 85,000
35 Havoc 650,000

The MH-6 has no row in the Pilot tree. The vehicle vendor lists different unlock levels, for example level 0 for the Havoc and level 1 for the MH-6. The source pages do not say how the two combine. Sources: Pilot and Vehicle Comparison.

Destroy payouts. Base cash for a destroyed vehicle:

Destroyed Base cash
MH-6 (Little Bird) 800
Huey (in the reward table, not sold in any shop) 1,200
Havoc attack helicopter 6,000

The reward table lists no destroy payout for the Z20 Lakota. Source: Cash and Rewards. The Pilot page says most events give role XP equal to their base value.

Pilot skills. Six skills apply to air vehicles. Fuel use and impact damage apply to the air vehicle you fly. The mounted machine gun skills cover aim time and recoil on air vehicles, but the page does not name which guns those are. The supply crate skill applies to crates you drop. Fuel use, impact damage and the gun skills fall to 0.6 at the top level. The supply crate skill rises to 1.4.

Vehicle upkeep. Repairs pay 20 cash with a Wrench or light drill, and 25 with a heavy drill. Refuelling pays 10 cash.

See also

Sources

Categories: Guides