Cobra Attack Helicopter

The Cobra Attack Helicopter hovers over any terrain and fires guided anti-tank missiles. It is built at the Advanced Airbase and is a hard counter to enemy armor.

How to use

Cobras fly over cliffs, forests and water that tanks must drive around, so they arrive first and strike from an angle the enemy did not fortify. Hunt Battle Tanks, Mammoths and artillery from the full reach of its missiles. It flies low, so more than anti-air shoots back: machine guns and autocannons reach it (a Recon Buggy, a Wolf, a Gator, an MG Turret), and so do the roof guns of Bisons and Mammoths out to 4.5 tiles. Stand off at 5.5 tiles and those roof guns cannot answer; close in and they do. Light vehicles are poor targets that shoot back, so leave them alone. Retreat the instant a Flak Track or SAM appears: a Flak Track outranges your missiles by a tile, and helicopters die fast to dedicated anti-air. Against ships its missiles do three quarters of their damage, and a fleet shoots back: Frigates fire on helicopters, a Sovereign carries secondaries, and patrol boats in numbers sting.

It carries eight missiles. When they are spent it flies back to the nearest available Airbase or Aircraft Carrier by itself, rearms and returns to the fight, so keep an airbase within reach of where it works.

Anecdotes

The first purpose-built attack helicopter, the AH-1 Cobra, was rushed to Vietnam in 1967 by bolting a narrow two-seat gunship body onto the engine and rotor of the Huey everyone already had. Contract to combat took under a year.