Part 18: Hainan Again w/Robot Randy

Hainan Again
Guest: Robot Randy

This was initially supposed to be a video about the Little Bird, but I forgot to really talk about it or tell Randy to talk about that overly much. Randy and I know a lot of the same goons from a previous Battlefield game, so we spent a couple minutes name dropping them, but this more or less became an update to a number of things that at the start of the LP were true about vehicles and weapons.

I guess the fact that this is very much a living game makes it hard to come out and say "This is X and it features Y and Z." with complete knowledge that it will be the same the next week. The AWS, the gun I use a ton in this video had a week and a half of availability on the PC before it was nerfed...and it wasn't technically available. Because of that I get to talk about guns and mechanics that have shifted since Randy last played, which also makes this sound a bit like a podcast rather than the other videos I've done in the series. I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing, but if you were expecting an ultra informative video this isn't going to be one. I do get to look at different areas of Hainan like the canals and the E and D flag areas which weren't really explored in the last video. There is a bit of talk about chopper adjustments in the video as well which people may find interesting. Basically, DICE decided to make countermeasures in choppers take five seconds less to recharge and five seconds more for tank countermeasures to regenerate. Scout Choppers, which can be repaired by engineers who are in them have had a repair rate reduction so they are no longer technically invincible with two people repairing them, but are still plenty durable. 25mm cannons on the scout choppers also have less explosive radius than before, making it a little harder to mow down infantry (only a little).

Despite the nerfs to anti air (lock on weapons do less damage per shot) flying a helicopter is still tricky and dangerous. Smart players will generally wait until they have a full scout chopper before taking off and retreat at the first sound of a lock on tone. With the advent of AA mines that is a bit more difficult than you would think, as people will place them just outside your spawn if they can and just keep you locked there for most of the round. It's actually pretty entertaining when you can do this to the other team because no matter how many times it doesn't work, someone is always trying to fly a helicopter.

I really liked how the video turned out so long as you ignore the fact I'm uncontrollably yawning throughout and had to cut about a minute an a half where I had to replace Randy's rant about a specific person