Notice!! These pages contain information of an opinionated nature. This info is intended for entertainment purposes only. If after reading this, you go out and get waxed while exploring the possibilities described herein... don't come crying to me!
Happy Hunting & practice, practice, practice...

Maneuvers

How to make the best turns.

To consistently make the best turns takes a bit of practice. It helps if your joystick is always in the same place so you can get used to "feeling" your flight path.

It takes 100% torque and the perfect apex to keep your speed up and achieve the sharpest turn possible. Only use a slight bit of tail to keep the nose level and Practice, practice, practice...

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The Crash Stop

Click to see

The crash stop is not as painful as it sounds. It can be performed in most any condition that requires a quick stop. Performing this maneuver successfully means that you will rapidly shed speed while gaining no altitude. If you perform this maneuver incorrectly, you can end up much higher than desired or with tail damage or even crash.

To perform this maneuver
As you are flying forward at any speed 60kt. or above, pull back on the cyclic to a full reverse tilt. At the same time, zero out your collective. This will act as a breaking mechanism & you will start to slow down. As your speed falls to about 20kt., level off & use about 50% collective.

The POGO

Click to see

When the first pogo flyer bounded out of the sky at their first unsuspecting victim, the victim had no idea what to do, the first 15 times you encountered this thing from the heavens, it blasted you into bits. Why was it so tough to beat this attack?
The ‘why’ is because of something called angle of attack. If you have the angle of attack in your favor, your chances are good if your piloting skills can close the deal. If not, it’s time to learn how to dance!

Perform the pogo by first climbing to 100ft. or more. Next, nose down & use zero collective. That’s right, No Throttle! Keeping your nose pointed at the ground. As you plummet to the ground, you should pick up speed. You can max out your speed on descent at around 170kt. but Be Careful NOT to fall into blade stall here. As you get to around 40ft. Or so, pull back on the cyclic & give it 100% collective. You can also add fan tail at this point and change your heading. As your power burst bites, you will be launched into the stratosphere near escape velocity. From here, you are all set to perform the same trick again, and again, and again, and again... you get the picture!

The Slide

Click to see

Perhaps the most widely used tactic in Comanche Gold today is known as the slide. If you were to ask people where it originated, most would probably not know. They just know that when they started flying in the skies of gold, the slide was a tremendous adversary that required immediate mastery.

The Snap Turn

Click to see

The snap turn is performed when you pass an opponent and you need to turn 180 degrees in a hurry. To perform this maneuver, While you are flying forward at around 90 knots, pull the cyclic back. As the nose passes through the horizon, apply full fan tail to one side or the other and roll into it with the cyclic. As the helicopter starts to roll, apply forward pressure on the cyclic. Practice this until it is fast & smooth every time.

The Sweep

Click to see

This graphic represents a move I call the Sweep.
I started performing this move after I realized that everyone was doing the snap turn after making that first pass. With two opposing forces doing the same snap turn at the same time, the quicker of the two might survive the engagement. That's when I decided to change the pace a little and do something different. I thought I was the first to use this tactic because I never saw anyone else do it until I used it a few times, but I have heard that there were others before me.

To perform this maneuver successfully, follow these steps.

1. As you see the bandit coming at you, start a slide away from him & get a lock. Maybe fire off a stinger or two trying to get the kill on the first pass.
(It happens sometimes)
2. After you pass the bandit, level off & bank the opposite direction, turning toward the bandit. Be sure not to exert any forward or rear pressure on the cyclic, you want a true bank without diving into or pulling out of it. At this point, you need max collective.
3. At about 270 degrees in your circle, launch a hellfire missile and drop out of the collective. (Zero collective) Now you need to use your tail rotor to continue your rotation so you can face the bandit as the hellfire closes in.
4. Make sure to watch your altitude as you drop. At about 40 ft. you need to add collective again & reverse your bank. Your momentum should take you into a slide. You will need to use your tail rotor to sustain the slide & should launch a stinger or two just in case the hellfire missile didn't impact the target.

This maneuver may require a lot of practice to perfect. The first step in learning the maneuver (after learning the slide) is to get the high speed turns perfected. The next step is to be able to handle the altitude drop without hitting the ground.
** Note that an altitude gain usually happens performing this move due to the max collective use during the banking. That is why you zero out the collective and "drop" while continuing your rotation towards the bandit.

Strategy

When to Slide

The slide can be performed in both modes of combat against all adversaries. Sliding is done to improve your angle of attack, lessen your visible surface area and change your bearing without changing your heading. The Comanche can slide in ‘any’ direction if you know how to control it.

When to Hide

Yet another style you may find in the Gold arena is what we affectionately call “campers”. People who sit & wait for someone to fly by. This annoys many fliers simply because the game switches from a boxing match to a game of hide & seek. This is especially the case with low fliers. Low fliers can fly within 50 feet of another in some places on the map & neither pilot knows the other is anywhere near. This means that a low flyer could end up searching for a long time before finding a camper. The speed at which most low flyers overtake a camper is usually why a camper is toasted over his own fire pit flames along side the marshmallows.

High flyers end up facing campers a lot because if you are in a good location, the hi guy may never see you. If you use the quick lock technique with your weapons system, you can get off a couple of carefully timed shots without giving your position away. (Unless they see the vapor trail from the Stingers.) This gives the camper some additional survivability against high flyers but as I said above, you are now playing hide & seek. High flyers for the most part know the best camp sites, and can react quickly They are very hard to hit when they are bouncing around like the energizer bunny, so it is usually suicide to “camp” against them or anyone else.

About Low Flyers

Flying against high speed, low altitude opponents is common & some of the most fun you can have as a low altitude high speed flyer. If your opponent is experienced, you could very well have your hands full. When you first see your opponent, if you are approaching head on, you may want to perform the slide demonstrated on the offense page of this site. Make sure to slide away from the opponent, otherwise you will be flying into their line of fire. After you make the "first pass", you may want to perform the sweep demonstrated on the tricks page of this site, or the snap turn. Many of the flyers in Comanche today use the sweep tactic and it has proven to be very effective. Even I have trouble combating this maneuver when someone pulls it on me. Usually in that case though, we are circling around each other until some else kills us both so you can see why it is a good idea to keep your altitude low at all times. Staying fast increases your chances when it comes to eluding missiles & cannon fire. Sharp turns & ground hugging can be your best defense. Good luck & happy hunting.

About High Flyers

So you have been flying Comanche for a while & you just can't seem to get away from those guys that like to fly above 200 ft. and bounce around like their on a pogo stick. High flyers are one of the toughest flight profiles to defend against. Force of habit makes you lock on your target as soon as one appears on your HUD, with a high flyer, this is usually the beginning of the end for you. There is a way to kill them. The best defense against the "high flyers" that I have found is what is know as "camping". Camping is very dangerous to do, but done the right way, it can be very affective. I will discuss this tactic more later on this page.

High flyers tend to make their accent from the farp, as soon as they regenerate after being waxed or rearming. Then they fly towards wp1 and wait for someone to acquire them on target lock. (At that altitude, the view is pretty good and they can usually see the bandit that has them locked, even if they can't get a radar lock.) In most cases, you will lock on the target while moving toward the high flyer at a high rate of speed. This puts the YOU, in a very bad position. (Giving the high flyer the better angle of attack) If at all possible, you want to avoid this situation at all costs. A couple of things that may help you survive a high flyer...

Single Player

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Multiplayer Head to Head

FLIGHT PROFILE

Yes, the basics. "How" you fly has everything to do with how well you fare against other pilots. In Comanche Gold flying Multiplayer head to head mode, the faster you fly, the better the chance you have of out maneuvering and evading incoming projectiles, guided or not. The lower you fly, the harder it is for opposing forces to get a target lock on you. One of the problems with flying fast at low altitude is that your cannon & your tail rotor tend to take allot of abuse. Fly as low & as fast as you can. Be mindful of the bumps.

There are basically 3 Flight Profile types

1) NOE or Nap-Of-the-Earth

Instead of flying low over obstacles like trees or buildings, you fly around them. Because your primary concern is safety, NOE is the slowest of all three profiles. When flying NOE, remember the 30-30 rule. Stay below 30 feet and under 30 knots.

2) CONTOUR FLIGHT

You are still flying relatively close to the ground but not so low that you have to weave in and around obstacles. When flying Contour, you want to stay between 30-100 feet above the ground. Your risk of detection is raised slightly. Hopefully it’s offset by your increased speed.

3) ALTITUDE DASH

Basically, you are flying high enough off the ground to cause commercial airliners to swerve. Maybe that's a slight exaggeration but you’re high enough that anyone for miles around can light up your threat indicator like a Christmas tree. This is the fastest of all three profiles. With nothing standing in your way, you can put the “pedal to the metal”.

My Comments

Most pilots flying in Comanche Gold kinda borrow from all three of these flight profiles. Typically, everyone flies at or around 20 feet off of the deck. (kinda between profiles 1 & 2) Everyone typically flies at or around blade stall (definitely the 3rd profile) Staying as close to the deck as possible is crucial. If you let your altitude climb & you top even only at 50 feet, you become visible on radar much sooner to nearby prowlers. I see it, & do it, all the time, two pilots engage & start that “dance”. One or both almost always start to gain altitude. Why? Because in typical flight, your altitude lock is engaged & you’re just clocking along. The “alt lock” will automatically disengage when you move the collective. When you break from your flight path to engage a target, you may add collective to gain or maintain speed thorough a turn. This will cause your “alt lock” to break. This is when you start to climb. This is where you become a target to others.

Multiplayer Teams Strategy

Formations
			Line - Wedge - Vee - Column - Echelon
			Line
Teams play is allot of fun. It gives you the chance to build technique in areas that normally don’t get the time of day.
			Wedge
Obviously flying as a team means communication. Comanche Gold doesn’t have a vocal communication package integrated but all is not lost. Roger Wilco is a 3rd party software package that allows users to communicate over the Internet in real time. If you modify the Comanche Gold Wsetup.exe file you can use “RW” & fly at the same time. This opens a whole new world of combat in Comanche.
			Vee
One area that is good to develop is formation flying. As you can see to the right, there are several different modes & each one has it’s purpose. I haven’t a clue as to what they are, but they have a purpose. :)
			Column
Most often used in Comanche is the column. One flyer is in the lead & the other is watching his six. Cruising over the landscape looking for something or someone to gang up on. Just hope you’re not alone when they find you. And they will find you.
			Echelon

 

 

Multiplayer Coop

More to come..
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Weapons

Cannon Considerations

Don’t fire before the gun is pointed at the target (conserve ammo)
Get as close as you can before you fire
Fire short bursts when possible

That's what the book says. Actually, the cannon can score a kill in many situations. If you are firing long distance or unlocked, try to lead the target. It can really make a difference.

Rocketry Rules

Aim carefully
Try to fire at least 10 rockets
Open the bay before firing to minimize the time you must to stay lined up
lead the targets

Stinger Suggestions

Make sure it’s an air target (stingers don’t work well against most ground targets)
Make sure the missile can get off properly without hitting the ground
Don’t fire before you get a lock

Hellfire Hints

Choose your targets carefully - don’t waste Hellfire’s
Remember to keep the target locked until impact
Leave enough time between missiles when ripple firing to ensure secondary target acquisition and course correction

The Art of Artillery

Choose your targets for maximum secondary effect (multiple kills with one barrage)
Try to go for lead vehicles when using artillery on moving targets
Keep out of the kill zone!