Hunter-Chopper

Fast and powerful, the Combine Hunter-Chopper is a support aircraft used to provide heavy fire support for Combine forces and, as the name implies, is used for hunting down and destroying resistance fighters and other targets. Like the Combine APC, this vehicle is a conventional human design (resembling certain modern-day designs like Russian Mi-28 Havok or American RAH-66 Comanche), but reimagined by the Combine, using their technology. The most notable change is a large, jet engine-like turbine below the Hunter-Chopper's body, much like that of the Combine Gunship's. Another change is the fact that the rotor tail of the Hunter-Chopper wags back and forth, like a dolphin's tail. This might be a reference to the Eurocopter Dauphin.

Overview


The Hunter-Chopper is crewed by two Overwatch Soldiers, a pilot and a gunner.

The Hunter-Chopper is a fast and maneuverable aircraft armed with a powerful pulse turret which, while imprecise, allows the chopper to attack and damage multiple targets at once. The pulse turret fires in approximately 3 second bursts, and requires the gun to charge up before firing, which can be heard and used as a warning signal.

The Hunter-Chopper can also drop spherical contact mines which detonate after a set timer or on contact with the target. The chopper is also seen firing guided rockets for more accurate and powerful strikes on stationary targets, this is only seen once. Although these rockets are never used against the player, another Hunter-Chopper can be seen firing these rockets into a ventilation tunnel opening near the end of the "Black Mesa East" chapter for unknown reasons.

Hunter-Choppers use the explosive mines as an offensive attack by dropping them directly in front of moving targets and on top of weak structures. The mines are also buoyant, making them quite effective against water-craft. Although it is unclear where or if they are stored in the vehicle, Hunter-Choppers seem to have a large supply of mines and they can be dropped either one at a time or very rapidly, effectively carpet-bombing an entire area.

The Hunter-Chopper is capable of releasing an enormous number of mines without having to resupply. Far more, it would seem, than a vehicle of its size would be capable of physically storing. One theory is that the mines are collapsible, and take up much less space in their 'folded-up' state, and that they inflate/assemble as they leave the vehicle. Another theory, is that there is some sort of teleportation device stored inside the chopper to constantly provide a steady stream of mines, although this is unlikely bearing in mind the Combine do not have the technology for local teleportation (unlike the Resistance).

The theory that they're 'inflatable' is consistent with the mines' other characteristics. Namely, that they have a fairly small explosive charge for their size (which suggests the charge is around the rim of the mine, not in the center), and that they float. Both of these facts indicate they're hollow. This technology could be used in the Hunter Chopper to store a number of mines and then release them when needed.

Use
The Hunter-Choppers are most often seen in and around City 17 and the Canals searching for refugees attempting to escape the city. On the coast, however, Hunter-Choppers are rare, where they have been supplanted by Gunships.

In Episode Two, Hunter-Choppers are seen near White Forest. It is unknown whether they originally patrolled these areas or if they were called in from elsewhere after the Citadel's destruction.

Tactics

 * The Hunter-Chopper is a powerful and tough enemy to defeat. Keep firing at it. Pieces of the chopper will continue to break off until it crashes.


 * After being severely damaged, the Hunter-Chopper will attempt to kill its attacker by releasing its entire payload of mines as a last-ditch effort.


 * Much of the time, items with which to take the Chopper down will be incidental: for instance, the Hunter-Chopper bombs in Episode 2.

Behind the scenes



 * As the Combine were originally to recycle existing human technology, the original helicopter model was a human one, based on the Soviet military helicopter Ka-27. Another Russian helicopter, the Mil Mi-8, is featured at the end of Episode Two, in White Forest.


 * If one is to go to the Half-Life 2 beta canals, the chopper is flying and will shoot at the player, but it will not give chase.


 * The game-play mechanic of the Hunter-Chopper dropping more bombs than it can seemingly hold came from a bug during development. Programmer Brian Jacobson accidentally set the unit to drop so many bombs, system instability occurred. However during play testing, he liked it so much that he decided to make that a feature in game. (Albeit altered to run under realistic processing parameters.)

Trivia

 * Beside the Lost Coast, no Hunter-Choppers are fought with the RPG in the series.
 * In the Half-Life 2 chapter Water Hazard, two manned pulse turrets are mounted in the windows of a control tower near a Civil Protection outpost. These weapons appear to be of the same type as the pulse turret on the chopper, but do not need to 'charge up' before firing. Gordon uses these to drive off a Hunter-Chopper. Oddly enough, the Civil Protection officers guarding that tower do not use these turrets, most likely because they cannot see Freeman down in the canals.
 * In order to destroy the Hunter-Chopper in Episode Two, the player must use its balloon mines via the Gravity Gun and punt them at the Chopper itself.
 * When the Hunter-Chopper's mines - even inactive ones underneath structures - are taken by the Gravity Gun, they beep much louder and flash. Closed Captions mark it as "Mine captured."
 * In Lost Coast, the Chopper acts like (and sounds like) a gunship, and has a gunship's capabilities, such as the ability to shoot down incoming rockets with the gunship-style pulse turret.
 * The Chopper gun mounted on the Airboat looks identical but sounds completely different.
 * During the final fight with the chopper at the end of Water Hazard and Riding Shotgun, it is possible to see the corpse of a crewmember fall out of the chopper after it has taken enough damage. However, this is entirely cosmetic. It has no effect on the actions of the chopper itself - the gun does not stop firing nor does the aircraft fall to the ground.

List of appearances

 * Half-Life 2
 * Half-Life 2: Raising the Bar
 * Half-Life 2: Lost Coast
 * Source Particle Benchmark
 * Half-Life 2: Episode Two