I have to say that I mainly refer to my experiences with the Tiger UHT and EF2000. Now that I’m slowly getting used to the (not yet fully equipped) EF2000 and using it in the GRB, I have a question about the usefulness of an attack helicopter like the Tiger.
The fact is: The SP cost of a fully equipped (AA and ATGMS) Tiger UHT are almost the same to the SP of the equally equipped EF2000. Especially if you reduce costs through spotting.
While the EF2000 pilot (me) enjoys almost fool’s freedom thanks to its considerable maneuverability, an excess of flares and chaffs and excellent AA rockets, the Tiger UHT has to work hard for every kill with PARS, which no longer cause any damage and has a maximum range of 7 km requires a lot of time for this. At the same time, he is a target for every jet that decides to hunt the tiger or has to deal with extremely dangerous pantsirs who manage to shoot down the tiger below the tree line on the helipad with their radar-supported missiles.
This shouldn’t be taken as a crying thread. I really enjoy flying the Tiger, have a good KD (counting planes and tanks together), using it to hunt inexperienced jet and helicopter pilots, and every now and then I win the PARS game of chance and don’t need 5 rockets for a tank.
But I simply realize that I am not doing my team any favors by choosing the Tiger instead of the EF2000. You fly around forever, hide for 9.5 out of 10 minutes and then feel like you don’t manage to do anything presentable.
By the way, this is very noticeable when you spawn the helicopter towards the end of a fight. You simply no longer have the opportunity to see an enemy jet, helicopter or tank. While this can still be achieved with the jet.
Am I alone with my impression? Are things really different for the other gaming nations?