A Guide For Flying In 2142
By- The_Red_Hunter (alias: Captain_Pain)
Version: 0.1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.    Why fly?
2.    The roles of the aircraft (The Transport and the Gunship)
3.    Flying etiquette
4.    The differences between the aircraft
5.    How to fly
6.    How to fly- Landing
7.    Transport flying tips
8.    Gunship flying tips
9.    Combat
10.    Techniques and the pros and cons of said techniques
11.    The Secondary positions
12.     Community Input
13.    Things to try
14.    Contact Information
15.    Credits
-Why Fly?-
The flying mechanic of the battlefield series, as a whole, offers an efficient*
way to transport troops and destroy targets across the battlefield. (* with
the pod changes of 1.40, the efficiency of the transport has been called into
question.**) (**Thankfully, 1.50 fixed that problem.) When flying, the pilot
and his passengers are significantly more protected than they would be it they
were hoofing it or using one of the various ground vehicles. With proper use,
air vehicles can turn the tide of battle.
-The roles of the aircraft (The Transport and the Gunship)-
In the "vanilla" (unmodded) version of BF2142 there are actually three flying
vehicles: The titan, the Transports, and the Gunships. (We’ll be omitting the
titan from the since it cannot be actively controlled by the player in the
same way that the other two can) Each has its own purpose and way that it
should be used.
The Transport is essentially a flying school bus and handles as such.
The objective of the transport is to ferry troops from point A to point B,
act as CAS (close air support), and sometimes as a flying weapons platform
(see: Things to try). It is also worth noting that the transport can be used
in anti vehicle kamikaze attacks but should only be used at the pilot’s own
risk (See: Flying etiquette).
The Gunship is the jet fighter/bomber of the game and handles like a
cross between a fighter jet and a helicopter. The Gunship serves two very
important roles in the game: Anti air and Anti vehicle ops, as well as a few
less obvious ones (see: Things to try). The first order of business when
piloting the Gunship is to eliminate all airborne opposition and establish
air superiority; then and only then should a pilot turn his attention to
attacking Transports and vehicles.
-Flying etiquette-
When flying, there are some guidelines that pilots need to follow.
First and foremost, follow the server’s rules.
The first guideline that you should observe is the line. The air
vehicles, the Gunship in particular, are popular on most servers. If there are
other players waiting in the Titan hanger or at the spawning helipad, let them
have the airship simply wait for the next one. (Note: A gunship will not spawn
until one of the two friendly ones is destroyed. So if it’s taking some time
for a gunship to spawn, at least the existing ones are being used properly)
Next, on most servers, Ramming = Bad. Even if it is allowed, excess
Transport ramming is frowned upon and is widely considered a noobish tactic.
Use it your own discretion.
While on the subject of what not to do with Transports, when piloting
never never never never never never never never never never never never never
never never never never never never never never never never never never never
never never never never never never never NEVER bail out of a Transport in
midair so you can pod down to your intended destination. Every time you do,
God kills a kitten. If the Transport lands on you think of it as karma. One of
the only good things about the 1.40 pod alterations is that stuff like this
has been cut back significantly. NOTE- If your motive for bailing out is to
avoid dieing in an explosion or a crash, then that is understandable. When
bailing out with a passenger in tow is unavoidable, spam "Bail Out!" (Q commo
rose + down) before ditching.
The Gunship should not be used as a transport medium for the pilot
unless there is a backup pilot ready and waiting. Under no circumstances
should the Gunship be intentionally used to ram vehicles or other targets,
EVER.
Lastly, if there is a friendly pilot who is significantly better at
piloting the Gunship, let him have it. The gunship is only helpful when it is
being used properly.
-Differences between the aircraft-
The only real differences that haven’t already been noted or
aren’t
painfully obvious between the airships are as follows. When pressing "S", the
Transport will start to descend while the Gunship will slow down and go into a
hover.
The Transport can climb to around the 300 mark before becoming
resistant to more climbing; the Gunship, on the other hand, will climb
indefinitely, but becomes increasingly more unwieldy the higher it goes.
The Transport relies on diving for speed while the Gunship can go over
1,300 in a climb.
-How to fly-
(Before reading, head over to Wikipedia and look up "Flight Dynamics"
)
In the default configuration, the aircraft use the WASD (and spacebar)
mouse combo. "W" acts as the throttle for the aircraft, let go and you’ll
start to slow down and descend. "A" and "D" adjust the aircraft’s yaw left
and
right respectively. "S" will either cause the airship to descend or to go into
a hover depending on what you are flying. The mouse serves several functions,
moving the mouse on the X axis (left and right) will cause the aircraft to
roll either counter clockwise (mouse to the left) or clockwise (mouse to the
right). Moving the mouse on the Y axis (up and down) will adjust the
airship’s
pitch accordingly; this will be used to climb as well as to land. The left
mouse button (as well as the spacebar) fires missiles when piloting the
Gunship and activates the horn when in the Transport. The right mouse button
serves no purpose when piloting (for usage of the right mouse button, see: The
Secondary positions).
When learning to fly, remember these two things: Hitting other stuff
and the ground = BAD. Have fun.
-How to fly: Landing-
Landing/rearming and refueling takes a bit of practice. This is what
gives most new pilots the most trouble. To practice landing (or any flying
elements) head over to an empty Titan server (Suez and Highway Tampa are
recommended) or create a LAN map so as not to be interrupted. When learning to
land, I recommend using the Transport as it is slower and can take more of a
beating than the Gunship.
(This may look a bit familiar)
Landing is a common problem. First of all, you want to kill your
airspeed, so let go of the throttle then flare (angle the nose up) a bit to
slow down. There is a technique to flaring, find that "happy medium" between
no slowdown and going backward. Now that you have slowed down to a manageable
speed there are two options for landing the transport (more on the gunship
later): 1. Start tapping, not holding down, S to descend. I say tapping
because you can more easily manage your aircraft and adjust your heading by
repeatedly tapping the button rather than holding it down and over doing it.
Once you get close to the ground, flare back just a bit and hold down S to
land. 2. If your airship is already descending, tap W to slow the descent so
as to not crash. Once again, tap so that you don't go flying off instead.
Now for the Gunship. The key difference for landing the gunship is
that holding down S will cause you to hover. Thus, option 1 is ill advised.
The best way I have found so far is to follow option 2 and go easy (especially
if landing on the titan) or to release the throttle and then tap it
intermittently to slow your descent.
-Transport flying tips-
The Transport relies on a clever pilot to remain flying. The pilot that
chooses to fly over the main battlefield stands a good chance of being shot
down by AA and a very good chance of being raped by a Gunship. Instead, try
taking to the outskirts of the map and approaching your intended target from
the rear. If you must fly in the open, there are a few ways to increase your
chances of living.
The best way to remain in the air when flying the Transport is not to
be seen. One "Enemy Transport spotted" by the other team will more than likely
bring a Gunship upon yourself. To avoid this I’ve found that flying
Nape-of-the-Earth (that is, flying along the contours of the ground,
preferably in a very low area like a canyon) will often get you to your
destination and your flight path is often below the reach of the Various AA
guns. The biggest problem with this is that it leaves you more or less
helpless if some problem arises.
The other way to remain undetected is to fly high. The draw line of
most ground units starts to peter out at around 200 or so. Be flying in the
"fog" of the upper battlefield you remain unseen by everything but  other high
flying air units, vigilant AA gunners, and the various vehicle scans. The
other big advantage of flying high is that something does go wrong you can
dive out of the area and build up a pretty impressive head of steam (for a
transport).
-Gunship flying tips-
Flying the Gunship can be boiled down to one sentence: Speed equals
life. Here’s something that Mack Maloney wrote in one of his Wingman books
that pretty much applies to the Gunship: 1) Never stop moving 2) Never lose
sight of your target 3) If you aren’t cheating, you aren’t
trying hard enough.
Basically only hover when landing and maunvering, and check your six
often. The F11 key is your best friend.
The most important part of staying alive in the Gunship it to stay
aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye on your minimap, listen for the various
"Enemy ______ Sighted!" calls, and keep your eyes peeled. The air units'
silhouettes can be seen for quite a distance, so acquiring and maintaining a
target are a bit easier than they would be otherwise.
One other useful thing to do is to be aware of which side's Gunship
you are flying. The EU's gunship (the Talon) is black and has a sleek look
to it. Whereas, the PAC's Gunship (the Doragon) is Brown and sort of blocky.
By learning these profiles, you can quickly and more efficiently identify
targets in battle. Just remember, the enemy can steal your side's Gunships
(and you theirs See: "Techniques and the pros and cons of said techniques")
so remain ever vigilant.
-Combat-
-FOR GUNSHIPS-
When flying there are two (three if you have a gunner) types of
combat: Air to Air, Air to Ground, and (if you have a gunner) Air to Foot.
-AIR TO GROUND-
(Cookie if you know where this comes from)
Attacking ground targets is a mixed bag seeing that the missiles are
"dumb". Remember to lead your shots and adjust if necessary.
- For tanks you will either want to attack from a
steep angle or approach them from the behind, flying close to the ground.
The only problem with attacking in any old way is that a single round from
the tank can and will rape a gunship. So when attacking from the front be
sure to approach from an angle that's steeper than turret's maximum lift is.
As for attacking tanks from the rear, if they can't see you, they can't shoot
you. Also, the tank’s second position chain gun can damage air units so stay
aware of you damage levels.