Make a (large?) percentage of all Helos shot down repairable.

This would encourage: players to keep their expensive Apaches/Havocs safely behind their own lines, so if they were shot down, they at least have a second chance to get back into the action.

Also, it would be beneficial to keep them hidden behind decent cover, so they couldn't be sniped by ATGM's etc while being repaired on the ground

Helos killed over woods would be lost, again, discouraging that kind of recklessness from the player.

Imagine you have a Helo hot down behind enemy lines (on those occasions that warrant it), but undetected by the enemy. Sending out units on a rescue mission to guard/repair it would be nerve wracking fun no?

Please, try and shoot holes in the idea (or link to somewhere it's already been mentioned ). I can't see any obvious flaws, but I'm sure there are some.

Ps. AA would still be as efficient at shooting down Helos thus taking them out of the action for a period of time, and would gain experience in doing so, they just wouldn't accumulate so many points.

Sure as long as it costs 165 points worth of supplies to repair a chopper.

I'm sure there are flaws with this (such as making helo spams more powerful when there is a supply helo flying behind them), but lets focus on the fun side of this proposition.

If a helo is shot down and survives the crash, how about allowing it to be captured by enemy units (it still needs to be repaired though)

It would make sense, considering that you don't get any points from shooting it down.

It could also create an interesting scenario where a valuable Apache or Havoc got shot down and both sides are scrambling to capture the downed helicopter.

This is made of win. i like it!

But I guess "destroyed" helicopters should still be wrecks, but some of the critical effecys should make helos crash-land with the proposed changes.

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But then, shouldnt this be done for heavy tanks and other vehicles too?

Like, when the panic level/damage gets too high, crew bail out and abandon the vehicle/chopper, allowing other team to be able to capture/repair and reuse them.

I personally think that this will disbalance gameplay to some extent (into the negative), but it could indeed create some interesting "zones" of conflict on the map, where players are scrambling to capture the downed apache or the abandoned t-80.

However, as for me, I would just prefer the 165 destruction points in the bank Chi-Ching!

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If a helicopter is damaged beyond repair it is shot down and destroyed. If it sustained light enough damage to be repaired on the battlefield then those clever guys on the supply trucks will get it working again. To those non-believers who think that its implausible that the supply trucks can carry spares to repair every ground and flying vehicle they obviously have not heard of 'black and nasty tape'. Faithful friend to the military mechanic through the ages and fixer of anything that moves.
That said, even with magic black tape there comes a point where things just require too many rolls to be fixed on the battlefield. These need to be modelled as shot down for good and you need splash some cash to call in a fresh shiny one. Don't worry though, after the shooting has stopped the really big roll of black and nasty tape they keep back at the workshop will get them going again.

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Hmm, I never thought about it like that - which without convoluted repair conditions would indeed seem to make the idea pretty flawed.
Really, I'm just trying to think of ways that would make Helos have a little bit more survivability, without making them overpowered - at the moment, they often come to an all too abrupt end at the hands of AA, while most other units in the game feel a little more robust (apart from Command Jeeps hit by corrected Smerch fire ).

Units that are killed... are... dead.

A SAM/bullets hitting a helo in the face would kinda kill it and thats how it should be.

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Ok, how does this sound?

At the moment (in my experience), the Helo gets hit with a SAM and is damaged - tries to escape, but is too slow at turning or whatever, is hit by another(s), and that's it, the end.

What about if, after taking damage, the Helo crash lands quicker than the AA can line up a lethal shot, and is vulnerable on the ground, but repairable? That way, it would have more survivability (if used conservatively, the way my original post suggested), simply due to the fact that it isn't lamely hovering and trying to turn as more missiles come flying.

Of course, any chopper that flies recklessly into a network of AA units will get hit multiple times and drop like a fly (but be more robust against that sniping AA that always seems to come into view and fire when it's already too late).

R e c o n.........