Anaconda

The Anaconda is a Venezuela Army heavy attack helicopter featured in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Overview
"This VZ beast carries an incredible amount of firepower, and is build tough to boot. Rapid fire cannons, rockets, and anti-tank missiles will let you tackle any job."

- Stockpile caption

The Anaconda is one of the best armed and armored helicopters and vehicle in the game; trading maneuverability for enormous firepower.

With the Anaconda's armament of one chin-mounted chain gun, eighty 57mm rockets and four anti-tank rockets or eight anti-aircraft missiles and significant armor plating, the Anaconda is a powerful force to be reckoned with. In terms of firepower, it outclasses helicopters from Universal Petroleum in armament and the PLAV both in armament and speed. It has the most destructive potential out of all vehicles for the first half of the game, making it a nightmare against players early on in the game.

It is out-classed by the PLA Warsong Attack Helicopter and the AN Ambassador Gunship, and is slower and less maneuverable than Rogues. It is also more expensive than the other helicopters until the arrival of the AN and China.

The Anaconda can only be purchased in its anti-tank configuration from the Pirates for a relatively high price of $250,000 after capturing the Mainland Outpost for the Pirates. The anti-air configuration is not sold. Anacondas can also be found near Angel Falls/ Solano's Bunker in both configurations. A few VZ HVTs and outposts later on in the game can sometimes have an anti-tank Anaconda either landed or patrolling the airspace.

It can be bought for a whopping $250,000, making it one of the most expensive helicopters in the game, just below the Warsong ($350,000), and above the Ambassador ($200,000) in terms of unit price.

Tactics
The Anaconda is very effective at destroying anything using its insane amount of 57mm rockets. Its chin-mounted minigun is very effective against armor less than type 3 and infantry. Tanks need two to seven rockets to destroy them (getting direct hits in the rear inflicts additional damage but this is very challenging). The anti-air variant is probably the best suited for acquiring air superiority because it has eight anti-air missiles, more than any other helicopter in the game. The anti-tank configuration cannot be considered much better since it only has four anti-tank missiles.

If the Anaconda is faced with several SAMs, it will not survive long. It can take in three hits but the helicopter is too heavy to evade effectively, meaning that it will most likely take a lot more than three hits. It is also quite easy to hit it with tank shells.

The cockpit is bullet proof; it will take damage, but the pilot and crew are safe from bullets and shrapnel.

When fighting this helicopter, the player should use a heavy anti-air type of vehicle or a tank. The helicopter moves slowly, making it easy to hit. If the player does not take this helicopter down fast, things will get very messy. Hijacking them is usually a good idea since it pretty much means taking a free $250k.

Real Life
The Anaconda is based on the Soviet-designed Mil Mi-35 gunship (the export version that the Venezuelan Air Force has is the Mi-35; the original Russian version is Mi-24). As of October, 2010, the Venezuelan military only owns ten.

In reality Mil Mi-24/35 gunship miniguns have a caliber of 12.7mm, not the in-game 7.62mm equivalent. There are also Mi-24/35 variants with 23mm and 30mm auto-cannons.

Trivia

 * The Anaconda was originally called the Montano Gunship.
 * It is one of the only two vehicles in Mercenaries 2 that comes in two variants but are still given the same name. The other one is the anti-tank version of the Raven.
 * The Anaconda has the largest rocket capacity of any other in-game drivable vehicle.
 * This is one of the two helicopters in-game to have folding landing gear, the other being the Liberator. (It is that loud buzzing sound you hear when you fly close to the ground).
 * If you get inside the gunners seat and try to aim all the way down with its minigun it will just bounce back up to its starting position making it ineffective for players to use well.
 * If an Allied soldier is to get inside the gunners seat and you pull the fire trigger with the minigun selected, it will make a normal tat tat tat tat MG sound instead of the buzzing sound of a mini gun. Also, it appears to be less effective than usual.
 * All Anacondas are equipped with anti-air missiles in the "Get Solano" PMC contract, possibly to attempt to stop the player from making their way back with a helicopter. However, this is not a real issue, since it is reasonably easy to drive back (especially if the player calls in a high performance vehicle.)
 * The Anaconda has a passenger seat (or seats) which is inaccessible to players and most NPCs, this can be noticed when picking up a non-combatant NPC from an escort contract such as the Into The Green Zone contract.
 * It is possible to pick up armed units, although this is only tested on the AN and Chinese units.

Related Pages

 * Mi-35 Gunship
 * Ambassador Gunship
 * Warsong Attack Helicopter