Helicopter Abilities!

Hello Brave Pilots,

Thank you all for commenting on the helicopter abilities in the last devlog- everyone was really positive about the idea. All of these helicopter abilities will launch with our upcoming Chapter 2 update.

This was a perfect feature to get the community's feedback on, and you guys really came through with your ideas. Both on the Steam community post and Discord, there were a ton of good ideas that we built and some that we might try to include in the game later on.

Just want to say, this is the part of Early Access that's actually fun.

MH-53 Pave Low: Troop Assault

Your Pave Low troop insertion fantasy is now real

Our resident MH-53 advocate dropped by to suggest copy for the hangar...

Note, he hasn't shut up yet. ;D

Chinook: Vehicle Drop

Does a tank fit in the Chinook? Don't ask these silly questions.

And yes, you can carry it around with you

Also an option- dropping a humvee. Maybe by 1.0 we'll do upgrades for the abilities and you can start with lighter vehicles and upgrade to a tank. Not sure.

Apache: Longbow Salvo

You guys suggested this one and I liked it- a barrage of missiles that fire at anything near your crosshair. It will actually get you a bit more range, but it's most useful when there's a grouping of enemies or enemy buildings.

RAH-66 Comanche: Stealth Cloak

Probably the most common suggested feature since we added the Comanche. When you activate this, you disappear to any turret, missile or drone.

I wanted to show one in-game screenshot, you can see the UI at the bottom left that shows the ability in progress. The bar in that row counts down the time that it's active. I also added the key assignments there since we're adding 2 new functions.

How They Work

Each helicopter comes with the special ability. No separate purchase required. I'm considering having upgrades for these in the future.

You trigger them with one button, G on keyboard, D-pad right on controller. (you can switch the keybinds of course)

Once you trigger them, they run for some set amount of time and then disable themselves. You will need to pick up a special crate in the level to recharge them. Thanks to those of you who suggested this. I think it's better than a timer based recharge, and better than only giving you one use per level.

Abilities Chart

Here's the whole list of abilities, all of them have been implemented. We will be tweaking and adjusting them as we go.

AH-64 Apache: Longbow Salvo. Fire multiple missiles in one salvo at multiple targets near your crosshair.

AH-1 Cobra: Hot Guns. Main gun has a higher rate of fire, and doesn't overheat.

RAH-66 Comanche: Stealth Cloak. Hidden from enemy detection for some time. Turrets, missiles, and drones won't detect you.

Mi-24 Hind: Bomb Drop. Roll a bunch of dumb bombs out the back onto whatever is under you. Your idea :D

AH-6 Little Bird: Agility Window. Brief window of invulnerability (split second) plus faster agility for a longer amount of time.

Sky Wolf (Bell 222): Turbos. Speed boost plus a gun rate of fire boost.

UH-1 Huey: Door Guns. Door gunners open up on any enemy within range.

UH-60 Black Hawk: Squad Insert. Hover and deploy a spec ops team of 4.

ACH-47 Chinook: Vehicle Drop. A friendly tank rolls out the back and fights on its own. (You poop out a tank, in your words)

MH-53 Pave Low: Landed Troop Assault. Full squad of 10 disembarks and assaults any enemy nearby.

Ka-52 Alligator: Big Gun. The attached 30mm gun goes full auto, and won't overheat.

Ch2 Release Date Announcement Announcement

You know the drill. The next devlog will announce the release date. This is the announcement of the announcement. We are getting closer.

Thank You

All the feedback lately has been great to read. Once Chapter 2 releases we'll need your thoughts + feedback on how we implemented it, and we'll keep tuning / revising. It will be a pretty exciting time, I'm looking forward to it! So thanks again for all your support over the years.

-Colin "cfinger" and the Cleared Hot team