u/Similar-Profile9467

9th at Bristol and 11th at Darlington. He has more wins than non-top 5 finishes at traditional ovals this year. Unreal consistency.

Looking back, Sterling Marlin looked phenomenal in 2001 and 2002 before his two crashes at Richmond and Kansas. I think most people point to those as being the reason why Sterling Marlin took such a steep drop-off in performance. And then obviously Jamie McMurray won in the 40 car at Charlotte while subbing for Marlin.

From 2003-2005, the 42 was by far the best team at Ganassi. It's clear there was a lot of hype around Jamie McMurray at the time and he showed a lot of potential with the team, but how much of the discrepancy between the Ganassi teams in those years can be boiled down to Jamie's talent vs how much was it the team investing in Jamie and the 42 over Casey Mears and Sterling Marlin?

Obviously these posts have become an absolute meme, but I do legitimately think light helicopters will and should have a place in Nuclear Option.

I also think it should be a sooner rather than later addition, because in a lot of ways it is the one type of aircraft we really don't have a great equivalent for, either in modding or vanilla. The Ternion and the Chimera fill some gaps that are currently in vanilla​. We don't have a refueling aircraft either, but I don't think many are truly clamoring for that. We have 4th and 5th Gen fighter equivalents. We have cargo/gunship equivalents. We have an AWACS/EW equivalent. We have a medium utility helicopter equivalent. We have bombers and CAS aircraft.... we don't have a light utility/scout helicopter equivalent.

Now, there are a few legitimate reasons people push back on adding them. They wouldn't be useful in the most popular PVP game modes, other options would fill it's role better, they'd just be low rank fodder, they wouldn't be as fun as they are in games like BF or Arma because of the lack of infantry, etc... I think there are some merits to these arguments, but they aren't enough to convince me they don't belong for several reasons:

1. I HIGHLY disagree that additions to the game should only be geared towards just Escalation and Terminal Control. Obviously PVP balance should be considered, but I think Nuclear Option should be a platform for combat flight sim in general. The game should have a variety of options and playstyles, and not all of those playstyles are going to be topping the charts in PVP Escalation.

2. New gameplay features and aircraft capabilities can be added that make a light/scout heli relevant, useful, or at least niche.

3. Their use is niche irl, but again, there is nothing wrong with having niche aircraft in the game. Just because the Chicane gets overshadowed by other aircraft, doesn't mean it shouldn't be in the game. And their niche role can be reflected in game with nice benefits. Maybe their can mini, deployable FOVs where the scout helicopter can spawn from, or they can spawn from Shards.​

4. Of course BF6 and Arma have infantry mechanics that make Little Birds/other scout helis fun, but Nuclear Option does have some limited infantry mechanics. And the helicopter could have some other features that make it compelling. Better sensors, ability to call in artillery supports, and advanced laser targeting systems. Maybe they could even be ideal escorts for convoys.

Overall, despite the meme, I do think light helicopters have a place in Nuclear Option and I think they should be added soon. I know there are some other gaps and factions need counterparts, but those will all be filled out. In the meantime, why not add a fun little scout helicopter for us to larp Blackhawk Down in?