Combat Rogue

The Combat Rogue is a Universal Petroleum light attack helicopter featured in Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.

Overview
The Combat Rogue is a lightly armed version of the Rogue Transport found mainly in Maracaibo, the Combat Rogue is armed with two rocket pods and .50 caliber HMG pods that block the rear passenger compartment. It is a five bladed, lightweight attack helicopter that trades armament for mobility. Like all Rogues, it use a NOTAR system instead of a tail rotor. It is very nimble but has a low lift capacity and weak armor. It struggles to lift and transport objects heavier than jeeps but it works well at transporting supply drops.

The mobility puts the Rogues in an arguably advantageous position over heavier helicopters in terms of survivability since Anti-Air fire, Surface-to Air-Missiles and Air-to-Air Missiles are much easier to dodge. The downside of the mobility is the lack of armor. The front window will not offer much protection and leaves AI occupants very vulnerable to any type of bullets or shrapnel.

The Combat Rogue is lightly armed relative to other helicopters, limiting it for fighting infantry, soft and lightly armored vehicles. A significant issue with this helicopter is the scarce amount of rockets available when fighting heavy armor and especially buildings.

It cannot be found anywhere but is one of the reinforcements that Universal Petroleum Mercenaries will receive after calling for backup.

Hijacking the Combat Rogue is the same as hijacking any other helicopter of the Rogue Series.

The Combat Rogue's gun pods have a faster fire rate than the Anti-Tank Rogue, they deal damage faster but can run out of ammunition easier.

It is available for purchase in UP shops for $75,000, same price as the Anti-Tank Rogue but it has a higher damage dealing potential but less accuracy (14 rockets = 210% damage vs. Diplomat Heavy Tank while 4 ATGMs = 120% damage vs. Diplomat Heavy Tank).

In terms of armament and overall performance, it is a better idea to use the Rogue Assassin sold at $100,000. It offers 5 more rockets, 2 Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and 2 miniguns with 6000 rounds of weaker but abundant 7.62mm rounds.

This helicopter is similar in armament to the VZ Kestrel.

Tactics
The fact that the Combat Rogue is armed with rockets and HMGs means that it has to hover at a low altitude to have best effect, therefore it is more likely to be hit by fast explosive projectiles (grenade MGs, recoiless rifles, RPGs and tank shells) that would often be avoidable at longer ranges. While its agility makes it very difficult to hit with unguided munitions as well as guided missiles, succesful hits will hit this helicopter very hard. Avoid approaching or prioritize taking out Anti-Air weapons first and keep an eye out for Anti-Air Missile infantry.

Its .50 caliber guns and rockets make it a formidable foe, albeit against small enemy ground forces. It might struggle against attack helicopters since the rockets may often miss and the HMG pods cannot inflict damage fast enough. A good tactic against lighter helicopters is to shoot the pilot through the cockpit to save time and ammunition.

Stronger vehicles (armor type 3 or greater), such as armored personnel carriers or light tanks, are impervious to bullets and have better resistance to explosives, requiring more rockets to destroy than weaker vehicles, like trucks and jeeps. Most of the Combat Rogue's rockets would be used to destroy these vehicles. Fighting heavier vehicles, like IFVs and Heavy Tanks with the Combat Rogue is a significantly tougher challenge but still possible. Technically, if all rockets directly hit the intended target, it can take a minimum amount of 6 rockets to disable the heaviest tanks (with non-rear hits at 15% damage each) in the game, so it has the potential to destroy 2 heavy tanks and have 2 spare rockets.

It is a bad idea to call in a Combat Rogue to destroy multiple large buildings since it does not have many rockets, it could be more cost efficient to call in a more heavily armed helicopter, such as the Anaconda which has 80 rockets.

Real life
The Combat Rogue, and every other Rouge variant of helicopters, is based on the MH-6 Little Bird. A light scout and attack gunship introduced in 1980 and used by the United States Army.

Trivia

 * If an AI occupant dies as he is exiting, the door has a chance of remaining open until it is either destroyed or 'reset' by entering a faction outpost.

Related pages

 * Universal Petroleum's Vehicles
 * Rogue series
 * Rogue Assassin
 * Rogue Transport
 * Anti-Tank Rogue
 * Kestrel