Raptor Helicopter

The **Raptor Helicopter** is a vehicle in Ravenfield.

## Characteristics

The Attack Helicopter is a lightweight two-seater helicopter with decent agility and high speed. It serves as a lethal airborne weapons platform that can hug mountains for cover and equally-well turn on a dime to respond to a wide range of emerging threats. Pressing E will toggle auto-hover mode, which locks the chopper into a flat hover that can still be mildly controlled by the pilot.

The pilot has control over 2 armaments: Rocket pods and Laser-guided Missiles. The rockets each deal 500 damage per round versus vehicles, but have a low splash radius and must impact very close to infantry to score kills. The rockets also boast very high velocity and minimal dropoff, and thus retain their lethality at long range.

The missiles each deal 1250 damage, and have extremely low splash damage. They serve an alternate function, and can be fired in one of two ways. The default firing mode has the missile home in on the laser reticle pointed straight forwards. essentially, this is the equivalent of using a TOW launcher that is duct-taped to the helicopter's body. This method is fast and easy, but unreliable against distant or evasive targets.

The second mode activates automatically when the player uses right-click to look around in the cockpit, wherein the the laser reticle follows the direction that the pilot is looking. The missile can only be fired when the reticule is within a fairly narrow lock-cone, but can potentially track a target no matter where it is relative to the helicopter's front, provided the reticule stays on it. This allows for the targeting of moving and stationary targets independent of the helicopter's bearing. By releasing right-mouse-button, the pilot can also set a point on the ground for missiles to strike, and the chopper's sensors will keep a lock on that co-ordinate until the pilot either retargets, or resets the reticule to mode 1 by tapping right-mouse-button.

The co-pilot has access to the Raptor's nose turret, which fires explosive caliber machine gun rounds. Each round deals 20 direct damage and an additional 35 splash damage. It has a full 180˚ sweep under the chopper, and a short reload time.

## Advantages

The vehicle's first claim to power lies in its rockets, which allow it to easily decimate nearby soft targets from the air. They are highly effective versus unprotected vehicles and infantry, as even near misses will damage or destabilize them enough to guarantee a kill. 8 direct hits is all it takes to topple the heaviest vehicle on the field, and the raptor carries 3 times that amount of ammunition per reload.

The laser-guided missile is a formidable asset, offering an unrivaled combination of long range, accuracy, and firepower. It can strike vehicles well in excess of 1km away, and will never require more than 4 hits to kill the heaviest one, the Rhino. The missile's sheer range allows the Raptor to stay well out of the gun range of all threats, while permitting the pilot to pick and snipe ground targets at their leisure. In a pinch, the missile can be turned against aircraft with near equal success, blasting away Cassowaries and offending Buzzards in a single hit, and totaling helicopters in 2-3. It can also be used to target a vehicle or turret spawn and – in utilizing the reticules target setting mode – repeatedly blast the same spot with minimal effort on the pilot's part, essentially spawncamping the enemy with little risk.

Compared to the previous two, the MG turret takes a back-seat in fighting enemies, nearly becoming redundant to the Rockets. But rest assured, it maintains its usefulness as a second pair of eyes in the chopper, and can act as a sidearm-ish device to be employed against awkwardly nearby targets, such as other aircraft that primary weapons struggle to hit.

In total, a skillfully-piloted Raptor is a formidable threat that, if played to its strengths, can be very difficult to counter. Its capacity for close air support rides in tandem with its long-range capabilities, creating a supremely versatile aircraft that can dominate the ground with ease. A true Tank-killer in every sense of the term.

## Weaknesses

The Raptor's Medium health may protect it from most machine gun fire, but it is no airborne tank. While it is immune to small arms fire, its lower airspeed means that the TOW, Slam-R and AA Gun are able to easily damage it as it steadies itself for a shot. Scalpel missiles can also harass it frequently if its pilot does not utilize cover properly. Operating at long range or low to the ground will minimize the risk of counterattack, but will increase the chances of being spotted or colliding with terrain.

Against fighter aircraft such as Buzzards, the Raptor's options are limited. If the plane is visibly aggressive, and is turning towards the chopper for an attack run, it may indeed be possible to land a missile or rocket strike on them. But the Raptor will struggle greatly to affect moving airplanes in any other scenario.

The Missile is also fairly worthless versus infantry, due to its absolutely minimal splash damage. Often, it will even fail to kill the occupants of open vehicles after destroying said vehicle.

Ironically (and almost fittingly), the raptor's greatest adversaries are simply each other. Enemy Raptors posses the very same all-seeing laser-guided missile that cannot be deceived by flares, and can easily infiltrate another Raptor's airspace or shoot it from afar. The Gatling on Blackbirds also poses a significant threat at all times.

Some large-caliber weapons such as the SL-Defender and 357 Condor can penetrate the canopy and damage the occupants directly, often killing them and therefore eliminating the helicopter. This is generally a rare case, as aiming at the pilot is no easy work and sniping is not viable most of the time due to the helicopter's general distance (Unless one were to practice shooting the canopy and trying to get the pilot itself). Generally, the Buzzard's auto cannons can also accomplish this, and with a greater occurrence than commonly perceived.

## Gallery

Two Raptors flying in formationTwo enemy Raptors in close proximityThe new Raptor modelThe Eurocopter Tiger, the Raptor's influence.Attack Helicopter in one of the game's oldest marketing imagesTurret viewEagle Attack HelicopterHUDRaven Attack Helicopter
## Trivia

* The Raptor Helicopter is based on the Eurocopter Tiger.
* Along with the Razorback jeep, the Raptor is among the original cast of vehicles that came with the first public version of Ravenfield. Then simply called "Attack Helicopter", it has seen a host of changes, tweaks and system overhauls throughout development.
	+ The Beta 1 helicopter was notoriously difficult to control, offering a scheme that can't be reconfigured and an extremely sensitive mouse control. Although bots can use it properly, it was rare for any human player to even get airborne, instead scraping and rolling along the ground until the inevitable "boom".
	+ The Raptor helicopter was the first air vehicle added in the game and currently the latest one to relieve a model rehaul.
* It is possible to disable a Raptor by standing on top of the body in the middle of the propeller, and either crouching or being prone.

### Changes in Updates

#### EA25

* New model, new flight model, overhauled armaments, updated rockets, new missiles, updated gun, health increased, new auto hover function.