So...what exactly is the valkrie supposed to be?

Its appearance and function in some regards seems to take inspiration from a HIND attack helicopter.


Note, double cockpit, one for pilot and one for gunner. Normally with "chin" mounted gun and capacity for carrying a squad. Among helicopters it is pretty sturdy (Capable of taking small arms fire with ease) and returning fire with devastating results.

I don't think the top speed of the Valkrie is currently where it aught to be. Heck, the outer engines aren't even animating. But given that this seems to be their point of inspiration, the design, the degree of yaw, the control in hover mode, crew capacity and forward gun; We might see some other elements associated with it. Namely resistance to small arms (more than an ESF) and a more powerful cruise mode.

mhhh the hind, my favorite attack helicopter of all times! <3 combines massive firepower, heavy armor, and transport capability in one hell of a soviet machine


sadly, the valkyrie doesnt even come close to the hind's performance right now. it rather lacks in every category, that is:
firepower -> nosegun is weak at best and there are no wingmounted rockets or additional weaponry
armor -> it goes down like nothing, not even the passengers are really protected against enemy fire
transport capability -> pilot/gunner + only two passengers is not enough to deal damage in the skies, not enough to support troops on the ground and definitely not enough to drop behind enemy lines (what are two people gonna do, hack terminals?)

Doesn't really look or feel like an attack helicopter at all, more a clunky plane with passenger seats.

Which is rather dissapointing actually because an attack chopper would have been nice for this game.

think of it more as this:

A Planetside 2 LA-AT, without the lasers.

Littlebird.

And when does it get released?

Should be tomorrow, unless they run into more unexpected bugs/things take longer than expected.

And littlebirds are fast, right? So let's give the valkyrie a bit more speed .

Cruise speed of ~155mph / 250kmh. Fast but not lightning fast.

It's still faster than the valkyrie, so it still needs that speed buff.

I see it as a mine field deployment craft. It's the only feature it has that the liberator or galaxy can't do ten times better.

- A cert pinata
- A suicide vehicle for rumble seaters in flak areas
- An OP vehicle cuz rumble seats
- An OP vehicle cuz rumble seats with lock-ons/lashers/lancers/other things that go boom and come out of a boomstick
- An OP vehicle cuz C4-fairies and tank mine jihadists now have a vehicle to sit in when doing their job
- Something that will be very OP against other air vehicles
- Something that will be utterly useless against other air vehicles

Forumside has many names for this mighty beast. Which one is its real name? We will find out tomorrow.

So yeah, together with my outfit we did around 5 hours of valkyrie testing, looking for some good uses for it.

Valkyrie got announced as tool for a new players to get into the airgame easier, right now it is a pain in the *** to start flying (which you can see on my example - I cant, myself learn to fly efficiently enough to start certing my reaver - since beta) but now its evolving into a real, agile, transport chopper. As a person who is a big fan of helicopters (i've spend hours and hours in arma just pulling troops from one place to another) I can see where it goes. Unfortunately - Valkyrie in its current state isnt doing any of these things good - But it can be easily fixed.

My biggest issue with this vehicle is its speed. While it accelerates pretty fast, it raises to around 190 km/h with evasivness airframe. That is low for planetside standards - especially for such a fragile vehicle. Galaxy is just a little bit slower, but can sustain tons of damage, even while being a gigantic target. But even then, with the drop mechanic you dont really need to expose yourself for really long.
Another thing is the stopping power, which doesnt really exist without the second (hover-ish) chasis. As I said earlier - Its not the galaxy, you have to be able to stop, launch a couple of rounds or drop your crew from the rumble seats and quickly hide, all in the matter of seconds. This lack of stopping power not only makes it hard to land, (you have to put your nose up in order to make the full stop, like in real helicopter - which DOESNT WORK in a planetside due to its specific 3rd person vehicle camera and general lack of surrounding awareness inside vehicles) but also very difficult to manuever in certain situations - When you have to make sharp turns between rocks and such.

These two factors make this vehicle even more rough and less forgiving than an ESF, which certainly wont help new players. You're essentialy a prey for an average pilot in ESF or even liberator, which both can outrun you without any chasis upgrade. For a vehicle with such limited firepower, it is a real problem, atleast in my opinion.


My suggestion is - Either give the guns a power of ESF's mounted cannons which gunner can freely rotate (like it works now, maybe increase a degree at which you can shoot behind a little bit) to allow it counter vehicles more easily and deal more damage in a shorter time, or - my personal favourite - merge actual Hover and Evasivness airframes into ,,stock", and go from there with further customisation - I have no problems with Valkyrie flying around 240 with the (new) Evasivness/Racer Airframe, - still a bit slower than ESF, but better armored. I think that would be a great tradeoff for many players. The other chasis could make stopping even quicker and maybe, increase the "stabilization" effect for gunners in rumble seats, reducing ther cone of fire, or something like that.

For the whole cert piniata problem - indeed, things like composite armor could be a little more meaningful, right now theres not much to choose from, really.

I am really looking forward for this vehicle, thats the thing i missed in Planetside2 since closed beta - A real combat transport vehicle, dropping hot on the front lines, that kind of stuff. But unfortunately, in its current state, i dont see a bright future for the Valkyrie.

Hey I don't balance it, I'm just answering the question. The Littlebird is the real-world vehicle upon which the Valkyrie was based.

Yes yes, I'm aware of that. Just hinting that I wouldn't mind seeing a bit of a speed buff to the valkyrie, even though you've no say over those things (unless maybe making the suggestion).

Currently on PTS, the Valkyrie (fully certed evasiveness airframe) is slower than a stock ESF and stock Lib, and is barely faster than a Galaxy albeit more maneuverable.

The Valk is almost the slowest air vehicle
The Valk has the least fire-power of all air vehicles
The Valk is almost the weakest air vehicle (not far from ESF's health-wise)
The Valk has less carrying capacity than a Galaxy (and can't carry Maxes)

I don't understand how it's going to perform its role of troop transport if it's going to take forever to get to the destination, and it will probably get blown up by everything else in the air on the way to said destination.

Faster than a jet fighter oh wait.

Littlebirds are comparatively slow compared to other air vehicles. For example, other aircraft I'm sure this game takes inspiration from.

Littlebird - 280 mph
Osprey - 350 mph
AC 130 - 480 mph
Globemaster - 500 mph
Harrier - 700 mph
F35 - 1200 mph

It's supposed to be a cert pinata