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Time for a hellstorm!
—A Vulture pilot before dropping something "hot"

The Vulture is a helicopter used by Latin Confederation that can act as a support unit by releasing napalm payloads upon unlucky enemies below it.

Official description[]

The Vulture is a uniquely versatile helicopter, combining a fast attack chopper to chase and mow down infantry and a light Kirov-like bomber unit when ordered to deploy. With the special napalm bomb, the chopper is capable of setting the ground below on fire, making it an effective barrier for enemy infantry and light vehicles. While its set of machine guns is quite a powerful weapon on its own, due to its thin armor, Vulture should be protected from even the feeblest of anti-aircraft forces.[1]

Overview[]

For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.

VultureDeploy

A Vulture deploying its napalm bomb.

Acting as both a great air-to-ground anti infantry helicopter and being also decently good against light aircrafts, the Vulture is a versatile unit that benefits from getting massed. Therefore it is a common strategy for Latin commanders to build squadrons of these notorious units. Vulture is more flexible than Wolfhound because it's faster although not as effective as Wolfhound for suppressing vehicles.

Although Vulture works well in terms of defense, its offensive ability is even stronger than Wolfhound: not only faster, but Vulture can also generate a lot of flames to harass the enemy by throwing napalm bomb directly below, particularly posing a great threat to infantry and buildings. However, the Latin commander should not let Vultures stay in single position for a long time when using them to attack, because their armor is very weak; on the contrary, it is a very suitable choice of using Vulture's move-attack ability as guerrilla tactics. In addition, Vulture has a lower cost, making it possible to build a larger number of them.

The Vulture is not viable against concentrated anti-air units and defenses, which means they should avoid heavy anti-air ordnance at all costs. Their firepower against heavily armored air units is also relatively lackluster unless they attack in large squadrons, which may force the Latin player to rely on inferior flak weaponry.

AI behavior[]

The AI uses an exclusive variant along with the regular variant. The AI-exclusive variant lacks machine guns, but instead attacks buildings with its napalm drop. The AI-exclusive variant is notably more effective than the regular Vulture at using the napalm drop, as it will always use it directly on top of buildings, where the regular Vulture often struggles at.

Vultures controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:

All difficulties[]

  • 2x targeting infantry
    • This task force may be accompanied by 2 additional Vultures
  • 2x guarding Tesla Coils or Flak Cannons

Medium/Hard[]

  • 4x targeting anything
  • 6x targeting infantry
    • 2 of these Vultures are the AI-exclusive variant

Hard[]

  • 2x targeting anything, accompanied by 2 Catastrophe Tanks
    • If available, Chronoboost and Shadow Ring may be applied on this task force
  • 2x targeting anything, accompanied by 2 Jaguar Tanks and 2 Catastrophe Tanks
    • If available, Chronoboost and Shadow Ring may be applied on this task force

Appearances[]

The Vulture can eliminate enemy infantry with its heavy guns and napalm drops alike.
—Soviet intel during Operation: Death From Above

Act One[]

  • Vulture debuts in Heaven and Hell as enemy unit (higher difficulties only)
  • The Vulture is introduced in Death From Above. Four of them are available during the first part of the mission, and more can be built once the base is handed to the player's control.

Act Two[]

  • In Huehuecoyotl, after enough time passes, Vultures will appear and start hunting for Rahn; the player is given a squad of Archers to fight against them.

Assessment[]

Pros Cons
  • Versatile unit which can engage air and ground targets.
  • Decent against infantry, light vehicles and air units.
  • Fast, mobile, and can fire on the move.
  • Decent armor.
  • Can drop flammable napalm payloads to create a firestorm, dealing fire damage to enemies directly below.
  • Napalm drop is also good against undefended, stationary structures.
  • Can self-repair.
  • Vulnerable to anti-air weapons.
  • Machine gun is not very effective against heavy armored vehicles and base defenses.
  • Napalm payloads can only be deployed under the aircraft.

Behind the scenes[]

  • In version 3.0, the Vulture didn't have the napalm drop but was able to deploy on the ground to fire smoke artillery which, unlike its Yuri's Revenge counterpart, the Siege Chopper (from which it is also based upon), reduces enemy unit firepower when hit by their smoke shells. This was reworked in 3.3 when the Smoke Turret was introduced.

Trivia[]

See also[]

External links[]

References[]

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