Infantry vs Vehicle Balance: Little Bird & UH-60 TTK is Too Fast

I've been playing since BC2, and I don't feel the TTK is too fast.  I actually feel the rate and amount of vehicle kills is pretty balanced.  What makes it feel horrible is the abysmal netcode in the game that makes the 4th bullet that kills you land in the same second the first bullet that warns you.  This isn't the vehicles fault.

The recoil is also normal, but vehicles (well, everything) used to have more bullet drop and damage drop.  I would say the turrets for all vehicles feel like they're too inaccurate, but they are being balanced with all the controller advantages in mind.  Playing against a controller abuser in a vehicle certainly does make you feel they are too accurate, since the bullets are, and not just feels like they are, but ARE guided to your face.

Counters.  YES.  Man, every helo pilot out there cries that the RPG is too good, but really every other option just sucks.  Man, I remember the stinger in BF4 and that thing was a THREAT.  Helo pilots actually had to pay attention and engage threats, and avoid death zones.  Now, helo babies just spam flares and hide "below radar" and abuse the CoD cooldowns, then come screaming in because literally every mouse on the map has a dorito over their head saying "PLEASE KILL ME MR HELICOPTER MAN!"

So, in summary, I blame very little of the balance issues concerning helos on the helos being op themselves.  Poor netcode causes a large portion of the problem, and poor design choices that have never been used in a previous title (including BF3/4 which they were trying to emulate hint hint wink wink nudge nudge EA).  Counters need a buff, and in return maybe the engi doesn't need 15 million rockets to spam at every single piece of hardware on the map without visiting their friendly neighborhood ammo carrier.

I appreciate the BC2 veteran perspective, but we have to look at the actual damage values here. In BF2042, the Nightbird dealt roughly 18-20 damage per hit, requiring 5 to 6 shots to kill. This gave infantry a 'reaction window.'

In BF6, the Little Bird is currently doing 50 damage per bullet. That is a literal 2-tap. When you combine a 2-shot kill with a high-RPM minigun, the TTK (Time-to-Kill) becomes near-instant. Even with 'perfect' netcode, a human being cannot react to a 2-bullet burst arriving in milliseconds.

I’ve played high-level Nightbird in previous titles too, and while I love a powerful vehicle, this isn't a 'skill gap'—it’s a balance oversight. Vehicles should be terrifying, but they shouldn't be 'delete buttons' that ignore the tactical flow of the map. If the damage stays this high, the accuracy/recoil needs to be drastically increased, or the damage needs to be scaled back to the 4-5 hit range to allow for actual gameplay between vehicles and ground troops.

I completely agree with your reasoning 👍 They have no idea what they're talking about; some people talk about aircraft without having any clue. However, I place a lot of blame on certain streamers who actually are very good pilots but they also make those videos seem easy to get those kills. They try to give the impression that all games are like this when in reality it was maybe one game out of 50. This is extremely detrimental to the average player. This Battlefield is the worst of all when it comes to aerial vehicles, guys please stop whining, if you don't want to play against vehicles go play Call of Duty.

Not to mention map sizes imo. I'm a pilot and i feel both (ground and air) don't have breathe space. It's just weird when i focus on one objective, i get smacked with rpg from another objective, good example is new map contained. (Even tho i remember developers hinting about bigger maps -  well this isnt the one, meanwhile they introduced bird back... Logic behind it is absurd.)

Littlebird primarily deletes infantry because it is the easiest farm.  All choppers should have focused at first on other aerial vehicles and tanks/IFVs,.. it is not the case with Littlebird, in my experience. 

Miniguns have zero spinning/use delay... enemies are getting deleted without 300ms delay or anything... players cannot react or do anything if Littlebird kills infantry on 2 taps with zero delay, no miniguns aim sway. Rockets have a huge accuracy with enormous splash damage.

Plus, in BF4, the engineer class has some stationary and deployable autonomous anti-aircraft/chopper rockets to fend off choppers at low-altitude. 

On the positive note... .50 cal LMGs and LMGs actually do damage to the Littlebird. The new map has a trench system and underground tunnels. I would rage very hard on the new map without cover. It is not a good idea to combine Attack Chopper and Littlebird on each side... it ends up rather poorly for the Infantry first. Jets nicely eliminate or deter choppers and tanks. Safebase landing pad is too close to the actual Battlefield again.

Still, Littlebird is OP against Infantry, and in the open, Infantry is practically dead with zero chances. Littlebird should be more of a transport/recon/drop-off vehicle for the assault squad at the rear... not frontal attack, aka solo-Godlike-utility, but it is more dangerous than a tank or IFV for the Infantry... feels off tbh.

I feel like devs do not fully grasp the dynamics happening on the Battlefield with every introduction of a piece of equipment and treat everything as additional cannon. 

Exactly. The zero spin-up time on miniguns makes that 2-tap damage even more broken. Infantry has no warning and no time to react.

A scout heli shouldn't be more dangerous to ground troops than a Tank or IFV. It has lost its role and just become a solo farming machine. When you add in how fast they can repair at the nearby base pads, it creates a loop that infantry simply can’t break

they really need to fix the ground to air  launchers there  not even useable. i have fired 200 rounds now out of the new one and  only hit 5 times and it said relock oit dose not and  most helios fly so low no go  the new ones should have a lower celling and the relock fix   and faster reload  and boost damage rpgs need damage droped 20% and the anti air need the fix i said plus 30% more damage. and transport copter need dubble the hp  

I think the below radar feature should be removed or reduced for most levels with the helicopters and the wait time for flairs should be increased, I have seen people hover on liberation peak way above me but low enough to the mountains that you can't fire at them with anti air.  I think a dedicated low point on all maps for the below radar of that should be very small so they can't exploit the bad scaling of the maps for below reader currently set. And if they have to wait 120 seconds for fairs to reload they won't be as big a problem in my own opinion 

And this is where you use guided munitions or tow. LOCKON is lowtier weapon and killing with it should stay as it is. If pilot makes mistake, its free food. If you want to do something about it, learn to TOW or another vehicle. In your opinion 120 seconds is not much? Imagine you run around and you reload your weapon 45 seconds.

i agree  and i still feel the news launcher should not have a low ceiling  at all as  you have to maintain  lock  so your in the open longer.