Tips on not over-torquing?

[Mattressi 10]

I seem to be ok with the light helicopter, but I keep over-torquing the medium while flying. Normally I would just make slow control changes and have a lowish (50-80%) collective, but in the second South Asia mission (where you are meant to follow the lead helicopter), I'm finding that in order to keep up with the speed, changes in elevation and the tight turns of the lead helicopter, I spend a lot of time with the yellow torque light on and frequently get the red torque light on. I always end up with the helicopter shaking violently (due to the torque generated) by the time it get to the CSAR part.

I know that it's because I'm trying to fly fast and high and change elevation rapidly and turn really tightly, but I can't see any other way to follow the lead helicopter (since, that is what it does too).

So, how do I minimise torque? Is there any way to finish the mission without the helicopter shaking towards the end? The only thing I can think is that I could try quickly dropping the collective a lot whenever I try to do a tight turn and raise it back to 75% or so when I come out of the turn (although, that doesn't solve my problem of how to keep up with the lead helicopters speed and increase in elevation), but since I'm using a mouse and keyboard to fly, I find it really difficult to accurately and quickly control the collective (if I had a lever for the collective it would help, but with a key you have to hold it down, but not for too long or it quickly drops to zero). Is this my problem or is there something else I could do to help? Or is it just not possible to finish the mission without over-torquing the helicopter?

Any other tips for flying without over-torquing too much (especially on the mediums)? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks :)

Edit: Also, one more quick question; do doors (or no doors) affect the flight dynamics? I'm considering buying doors for the light, but the reason I want them is for their effect on flight dynamics. Doorless helicopters have a lower VNE, so I was wondering if this is modelled in the game.

Edited August 8, 2012 by Mattressi

[dwringer 45]

I guess it's late to dig this thread up but I had the exact same problem on that Mission. I actually restarted it 4 times to try and avoid it, and every single time I have to max the collective towards the end of the formation-flying part, and within a few moments at that point I get damage to the point of a 'clunky' sound from the engine/transmission and the violent shaking.

At one point I actually thought it was scripted, and I'm still not entirely convinced the reason the other chopper goes down isn't just because he's flying violently fast. ;)

[Mattressi 10]

From what I've read elsewhere, the mission actually works fine with the unpatched version of the game. Patches have changed the flight dynamics and damage model to the point that finishing that mission is extremely difficult (relative to the difficulty of other missions). Apparently this has also affected the time trials.

I really wonder how realistic the over-torquing of the medium helicopter is. It feels like you can push the light and heavy helicopter significantly more than the medium, without over-torquing. With the medium, it seems like the mere act of attempting to yaw while taking off with the collective raised to the bare minimum is enough to generate yellow-level torque. I try to avoid flying the medium whenever possible, because it seems to break if you don't fly it like a hot air balloon.

[[evo] dan 79]

The medium isn't too bad to fly, I like flying it regularly, you just have to have some sense when flying, I tend to lower the collective when I get up to speed as you simply do not need it too much. Same goes for littlebird, 50% collective max normally and the heli very rarely breaks for me (and I do combat manovoures and slingloading in it)