PSA : Don't play Heli PVE. Ground assault has 20-30% better rewards

Machinery of War Discussion Helicopter
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1

After I collated a huge set of data to show that Useful Actions in SIm EC were capped at 92% of the reward I decide to look at PVE.

Heli Spreadsheet

The result are even more dire. 70% only. Assuming you can find enough points by out competing the horde of premium player in the game. If you are a low BR helicopter that is unspaded, researching modules is a nightmare. I mainly fly in ground sim but occasionally dip my toe back into PVE to see if it improved… it only ever gets WORSE.

So yes, i recommend sim but if you find it a little too intimidating DO NOT PLAY PVE!

Instead, play ground assault!

At the bottom of my spreadsheet you can see the result from a dozen or so games. EVERY match gives more RP and SL than PVE. Enemies spawn constantly so there are plenty of targets. If you stay near the helipad the SPAA will be unable to hit you (unless you’re in Bastogne with the M247s). Planes can be a nuisance but locking atgms will kill them, or you can carry a couple of stingers.

Best of all, the score structure in Assault is based SOLELY ON ACTIVITY! You do not need dozens of kills, you just need to score points, which means tracking tanks and getting assists. You could hit nearly every tank that spawned, get ZERO kills and still get more RP/SL than playing PVE. Total rewards are higher if you can quickly clear every wave. An 18 minute game with a lower activity was better than 23 minutes with more activity.

It’s quite easy to live throughout the entire game with zero damage but you can also disable the majority of your modules since you will not need them. Now your spawn costs are lower by several thousand SL.

Lastly, and this is a BIG one, you can be nearly as effective with a rank 1 crew as someone else with an aced crew. There is only ONE crew skill that matters, reload rate. Aced will be 40 seconds in the air. However, any helicopter can fire their ATGMs and rockets, land on the helipad, LEAVE the helicopter, respawn and skip the reload. The respawn is FREE (make sure you’re not damaged!).

I’ve been using this to take off, fire 16 FnF atgms as quickly as possible, land and respawn in time for each 11 waves… you can get 100 kills a game. 3 co-ordinated helicopters each taking a spawn could potentially clear the game in under 15 minutes. All the tanks need to do is get a few hits in for full reward, and if you’re killing enemy tanks quickly they are less likely to kill allied tanks.

The results are clear :

AH-1Z in PVE was 262 RP and 1726 SL per minute.
In Assault you get 324 RP and 2179 SL per minute.

AH-64E in PVE was 263 RP and 1720 SL per minute.
In Assault you get 339 RP and 2275 SL per minute.

So about 20-30% MORE…

There is one issue… Premium helicopters do not get their reward bonus, so they actually perform better in PVE… but no one should have a premium helicopter now anyway, a premium tank is better for heli grinding.

7 Likes
2

Even GRB rocket/gun rushing has a better RP/Min ratio than Heli PVE

3

work irl labour job and pay mods with money instead of wasting hours with heli rush

2 Likes
4

Good job on collecting data. The only reason I find to play PVE is to drain huge boosters from GA for unlocking modifications there and to leave as soon as they run out.

1 Like
5

I only played with bo105 in heli pve to grind another bo105 and finally the tiger uht. I seen the face of madness and it smiled back

1 Like
6

Are these rewards based on if you win the match and lose?

7

what about lower br helis? and stuff like z-9 or lahatut

i imagine those would fare much better than in pve than in ground assault

8

I recommend the lahatut in sim battles

1 Like
9

if you like torturing yourself into a state where youre close to poke both your eyes out and smash your forehead against a wall, then heli pve is perfect for you. for everyone else i wouldnt recommend touching heli pve

2 Likes
10

As I said, I launch this mode only to waste 300-500% boosters on modules and leave the match as soon as they run out. I see no other reason to play it.

11

For the Z-9W you should play sim… 2 ty-90s mean you’re an excellent mobile SPAA and you have 2 ATGMs for ground targets.

Lahatut is good for flanking enemy tanks in sim. Sucks that it doesn’t have a gun.

Both are good for capping.

In PVE both have 4 ATGMs which means not many kills and not many points… but this is a problem for all the low tier helicopters. At least in assault you get a nearly instant reload on the pad.

12

well uhh…
image

13

this might be a wild idea for you but in that case equip a 12.7mm gun on one side and go hunt helicopters near their spawn… 90% of heli pilots take off, climb and fire their ATGMs… making them easy kills.

PSA you can crit them so they have to repair, and then keep shooting their tail off so they’re not only out of the match and impotent but giving you constant points.

1 Like
14

hmm… sounds like a wild idea
but i like wild ideas >:)

15

The real fun is when you meet an enemy helicopter on the way to YOUR spawn to do the same :p

The Chinese heli tree was a pleasure to complete and very easy to do in sim and very fun…

Hope to kill you in game soon! :)

16

Only play PVE when you have 300% and 500% boosters