The community's definite suggestion for better heli immersion and guided weapon FCS

[twistking 204]

Hello,
this thread is my most ambitious effort in trying to find a possible solution for improved heli combat, that is supported by all of you. This is a democratic process: Use this thread for discussion, while i update the front post with your suggestions. If this works well, i will copy the outcome to the appropriate ticket over at the feedback tracker.
I will start with a detailed concept, of how things should or could work in arma 3 based on the many discussions on the forum and the feedback tracker. If you provide feedback, please always refer to the front post. Provide your proposal for change and give a reason. Please don't just post technical details about real life aviation and weapon systems, but feel free to use this sort of information as argument for your suggestions.
I will either rewrite parts of the front post, or post user feedback under "alternative suggestions" in the corresponding chapter, if the opinions on a certain issue are to contradicting. This is a work-in-progress so please be patient and constructive.
Please feel free to pm me for grammatical or spelling errors.

Please note: The idea behind this effort is not to make aircrafts and advanced fcs the main focus of development for arma. We all love arma for its diversity and we don't want other important aspect of the game to be neglected. This is about drafting possible and wanted improvments. In the end, the devs alone will decide how to allocate their resources. They know what they are doing. They are the devs!

This post is about helicopters with a pilot / gunner crew, but should be generally applicable to single seater aircrafts or -with limitations- to ground based guided weapon systems. I will refer to the crew roles as pilot and gunner, even though workload between the crew can be freely distributed in some aircrafts like the commanche; a feature that is partly implemented at this stage of development and hopefully sees some more refinement in future builds.

Foreword

To the devs
Please see this effort as an expression of appreciation for the great work you are doing, which is arma 3. The game is coming along splendidly and it's obvious that arma 3 is going to be the most polished arma title to date. However, as some aspects have been greatly improved, it's getting more obvious that some aspects haven't received any love regarding gameplay depth and fidelity of simulation since the original flashpoint. This topic is about one of theese...

Gameplay and realism and the AI
When i was drafting this little review, i was planning to conclude every paragraph with an evaluation about realism, gameplay depth and accessibility. However while writing, it appeared to me that this would not be necessary: All suggestion that are listed here root from the initial desire for more realism and more authenticity, but each of them would be directly beneficial for gameplay depth experienced by novice and expert players alike. Furthermore none of the suggestion would seriously hinder accessibility, as the underlying mechanics are already used by other mainstream shooters and simulators. However the fine line between realistic simulation and authentic game experience could always be tuned through config work by the devs themselves or modders.
Please also note, that the following suggestions would only need minor tweaks for AI-crew behavior (see points 2.3 and 2.4).

Shortcomings of the current implementation

    Helis are no challenge to fight with and the lack of even a basic form of FCS makes spamming ATGMs unsatisfying easy and highly unrealistic ("tab-lock issue").
    The UI for helicopters is un-coherent and un-immersive ("dull white diamond").
    There is absolutely no need for the crew to interpret sensor data, or make decisions, due to absurdly accurate combat awareness of the aircraft ("magical radar issue") .
    For the same reason, there is absolutely no need for JTACs or some other form of FAC.
    Completely ignoring the mechanics of semi-active guidance, the implementation is once again unrealistic and prevents accessible, yet challenging gameplay mechanics.

 

The community's definite suggestion for better heli immersion and guided weapon fire control systems

1. Basic flight and Navigation

1.1 Flight Model
A proper flight model which is on par with the FM of arma 2 or even better preferably is a top requirement for realistic, immersive and fun flying.
The helicopters are too forgiving and are basically impossible to crash even with extreme control input. Wheeled helis lack the ability to taxi.
It would be desirable to achieve a FM, which is at least comparable to TOH.

Update: Flight Model is already much improved, so i decided not to cover FM in detail.

1.2 HUD/GUI
At the moment Helicopters have two conflicting GUI elements. There is the nice looking HUD/HMD (head-up-display / helmet-mounted-display) which is native to the aircraft (or the pilot's helmet in case of HMD) and there is the generic, white arma interface used for targeting (dull white diamond). The proper HUD/HMD is still bugged (in free-look HUD-elements like crosshair and target-boxes move with the view) and not usable.
The proper HUD (or HMD) should be improved, so that it can replace the generic white game UI for navigation and FCS (fire control system) related tasks.
It could also be considered to tie HMD to the pilot's helmet as a game mechanic, so that the crew without proper headgear would be limited to the instrument panel, and MFD.
Furthermore all the cockpit MFD (multi function displays) should become functional. They can be used for GPS/map-view, sophisticated FCS-tasks (FLIR-pod) or displaying info that is currently communicated by the game via the generic arma GUI or not communicated at all (Weapon/Ammo status, subsystem condition, condition of landing gear, navigation light / flood light status). Prominent, but non working MFD are a good example of "simulation fever".

Additional thoughts: Some player have render-to-texture disabled due to performance, so MFD with high relevance should also be accessible in full screen via optics-key for gunner and pilot alike. Please note: MFD with working radar, GPS, status display etc. are technically not render-to-texture and should not have impact on performance.

1.3 Navigation
The HUD/HMD could be used for navigation. Both crew member could generate waypoints via mapclick that would appear on the HUD and possibly on a working GPS/map MFD. This navigation aids would also work on high difficulty settings, but were dependent on working HUD-subsystem, and/or would require the crew to wear HMD-capable helmets.

2. Combat awareness and designating targets

2.1 Radar / Datalink / IFF
We can assume, that in 2035 all helicopters carrying sophisticated ATGMs would be equipped with some sort of millimeter wave radar and / or a datalink system for advanced battlefield awareness, as well as IFF (Identification Friend Foe) systems.
That said, having some sort of "radar view" is realistic and important for calling targets for AI or human gunner.
However the "radar" needs extensive changes:
Enemy vehicles, deserted enemy vehicles, civilian vehicles, primitive friendly vehicles, wrecks etc. should all show up as neutral. (Unless revealed by other means. See 2.4)
Laser designation by JTAC or FAC always appear as "laser" (read: hostile) target.
Friendly forces with appropriate equipment should appear with IFF designation (don't shoot).
Group / squadron members could have special designation.
Radar refresh could be limited, radar range could be affected by unit type (ground / air, conventional / stealth-capable).
The visualization of the radar should be changed back to the old pre-arrowhead version. Most people find it to look better and more authentic.

2.2 Calling targets
With calling targets i refer to the process of calling out a target for your gunner. This is not to be confused with locking a target with the onboard FCS.
The pilot or the crew member not in command of FCS can toggle all available targets with tab. This is nothing more than communicating which target to "talk about". This is especially important for AI gunner to know what to do.

Additional thoughts: Calling a target does not reveal type or IFF. The crew only knows direction of a potential thread. After the target is "called" identification can begin.

2.3 Target identification
Remember that enemy would not automatically appear as "hostile" on the radar. The only info you would get from the radar is "friendly", "laser target", or "something" as well as differentiation between "ground" and "air". To identify a presumably hostile target there would be different possibilities.
Manual identification with naked eye: Pretty obvious.
Manual identification with FLIR/TV pod: The FCS of the aircrafts zooms in on the target: A FLIR image of the selected target is shown on the cockpit MFD (pip). Alternatively Gunner and Pilot can use optics-mode to see automatically zoomed-in FLIR/TV of target.
Automatic identification on high-tech helis: The pilot keeps the aiming roughly on the target. The helicopter now automatically deploys forward looking advanced sensors (FLIR, millimeter imaging radar). Automatic identification needs several seconds and only gives rough estimations like type (sedan, pick-up, apc, tank, fixed wing, rotary wing) and status (stationary, moving, firing), but no explicit IFF (a "firing" "tank" without "friendly" IFF-tag could quite easily be considered hostile though).

2.4 Data-link
If the target is identified as "hostile" the crew could have the possibility to mark the target. Utilizing a data-link like real world "link16", the target would then show as "hostile" on the radar of other friendly units with datalink capabilities. The target remains marked as "hostile" as long as any data-link enabled friendly unit's radar has LOS (line of sight) with it.

This marking of a target as hostile could also be the AI gunner's way of telling a human pilot, that he evaluated the target as "hostile".

3. Engaging targets

3.4 ATGM Active radar homing
Firing a F&F (fire&forget) active homing missile would be relatively easy. The gunner locks the helicopter's FCS on the target with tab. For the missile's seeker to lock, the pilot would be required to point the craft towards the target. The margin is displayed on the HUD with a bigger box in the center of the crafts aiming direction. If the target is inside the box, the FCS starts locking. The locking would take about a second. If the FCS archives a lock, there is visual and acoustic feedback. Now the gunner could fire the missile or he could change the attack profile for a higher or lower trajectory.
As soon as the missile is launched, it would not need further input.
This attack pattern would require LOS (line of sight) for the locking and launching.

Additional thoughts: More complex firing solutions involving dumbfiring the missile over a hilltop, with the missile seeker targeting a pre-programmed radar designated target as soon as LOS is established would be thinkable (comparable to longbow).

3.5 ATGM SALH
Semi actice laser homing missiles like the DAGR would need to lock on a laser-designated target. If SALH is selected the gunner can either activate the helicopter's laser and lock the missile on it with tab, or he could use tab to "program" the missile on a target, which is laser-designated by another friendly unit. In the first case, the pilot would have to maneuver his craft in a way that the gunner can always keep the laser on target. If the missile is programmed onto external laser designation it would basically becoming F&F, with the pilot only needing to keep aim and LOS during locking.
SALH missiles are very flexible and could easily be used to engage infantry or structures.

Additional thoughts: More complex firing solutions involving dumbfiring the missile over a hilltop, with the missile seeker targeting a pre-programmed laser designated target as soon as LOS is established would be thinkable.

3.6 ATGM SACLOS
Semi-Automatic Command to Line-Of-Sight missiles, could be fired without any form of locking, but would require the gunner to track the target manually until impact. Comparable with SALH (laser homing) but without the versatility of locking onto a laser designated target. SACLOS is the most common type of guidance for ATGM.

3.7 SRAAM
Heatseeking anti-air missiles are pretty straight forward: A front facing circle or box on the HUD is the margin in which the seeker on the missile detects heat signatures. The pilot has to keep the target within the margin, until the missile signals a lock through the FCS. If the target deploys flares, the seeking process is interrupted and has to start again. Crew-member in command over the missile now just has to pull the trigger. Heatseeker are F&F and require no further input.

3.8 Remote controlled gun
Gun view should have laser rangefinder.
Consider improving the way the player interacts with AI gunner for engaging infantry.

4. Various improvments

Unguided weaponry should be controlled by the pilot and / or the possibilities of sharing workload between pilot and gunner should be further improved, so that control over individual weapons systems can be shared.
More sophisticated counter-measure simulation should be implemented (chaff/flare). Audio feedback for missile warning is still missing.
Cockpit doors should be animated
Working ejection seats for appropriate aircrafts

5. Conclusion

    Make the GUI for helis and jets coherent and realistic. Kill the dull, white diamond. It is a really bad substitute for proper HUD/HMD.
    Incorperate audio-feedback.
    Make use of render-to-texture as a gameplay mechanic, it could be so much more than just eye-candy.
    Have IFF only for friendly units. This would be realistic and would make target identification a gameplay mechanic and make JTAC and generally FAC (forward air controller) meaningful!
    Seperate "calling" a target and locking the FCS on it. "Calling" a target could still be instant, but locking would require the aircraft to be aimed at the target and would need a short amount of time.
    Implement different mechanics for different types of missile guidance.
    Consider making most ATGMs semi-active. This is realistic and would add great gameplay mechanics.

 

 

*edit* reformatted after forum software update

Edited April 11, 2016 by twistking

[Tonci87 163]

About the FM:

Helicopters are agile and fragile machines. The current FM doesn´t represent this. At the release of the Alpha we had extremely agile helicopters, You could do all kinds of impossible stuff with them without crashing. It was agility without consequences.

Now the helicopters feel very heavy and hard to control but it is still impossible to crash if you don´t do a major fuckup. So we lack both agility and consequences for bad flying. ToH did it really well. The helicopter were easy to control and because of that very predictable in their behaviour. But you could crash easily if you were flying too extreme.

[rye1 21]

(Have only played a bit of beta so...) Is it still made so you have to get the chopper all the way on the ground before you can scroll and get-out? If so, I hope that changes. So you can hover insert, helocast, helicopter parachute etc instead of physically landing all the time.

[Mattar_Tharkari 10]

Why is it so difficult to climb above 500m? Helicopters really struggle to gain altitude, why is that? This isn't Takistan, it's sea level?

Why no ground-taxi for helicopters with wheels? Simply add a parking brake in the scroll menu, if the pilot forgets to set it, they roll down the slope when they land?

[twistking 204]

keep the feedback coming. also feel free to make different suggestions concerning the "radar" and fire control system.

i will update the front post accordingly later today.

[twistking 204]

(Have only played a bit of beta so...) Is it still made so you have to get the chopper all the way on the ground before you can scroll and get-out? If so, I hope that changes. So you can hover insert, helocast, helicopter parachute etc instead of physically landing all the time.

this should always be possible with "eject" action. if it is not in action menu, there should be a key for it.

[chortles 263]

Eject actions aren't completely added yet, though helicopters in dev build have them -- but usually only for passengers (i.e. the helicopter pilot can't bail out and leave all of his passengers and gunners screwed :p).

[MadocComadrin 12]

I still need to give the rest of the post a bit of a comb-through, but this got my attention:

It could also be considered to tie the HUD to the pilot's helmet, so that the Helmet would be required to effectively fly the vehicle.

I agree with all of that except the bolded part.

If I have the skills to pilot a helicopter, why should I not be able to fly/fight effectively without a special helmet? As much as I love having an artificial horizon and target markers displayed in a hud, the "hud-helmet" should only increase effectiveness. Don't have the HUD helmet? All you get on your screen is a crosshair--the rest you need to get from the instruments. You should absolutely be able to fly any helicopter effectively and ideally fight with satisfactory effectiveness from the instruments alone. The HUD-helmet should increase this to high effectiveness, especially when it comes to targeting, locking, etc.

Also, we're talking a lot about helis where the set-up is Pilot/Gunner, but there's little mention of Pilot-Gunner/Co-pilot set-up. I'd love to have my AH-9 copilot scan for targets--especially infantry--and actually point them out for me with a bit more information than "man 1-click north." If you had a human co-pilot, he would be telling you specifically where the target is, eg. "Man, about 010, by the rocks next to that dense bunch of trees." Obviously, this would be hard for the AI to figure out. One workaround is to make the AI co-pilot group-leader. This will make him assign you targets, but this is often too narrow minded (as you can't direct your leader where to scan), can only call one target at a time, and might be too accurate for a helicopter.

[Most 1]

I definitely agree that ToH is a good starting point for how the helicopters should handle and I hope that the helicopters in Arma 3 will include some of the details that made ToH helicopters challenging but fun to fly. One thing I really thought would be a good implementation into Arma from ToH was the fact that a helicopter's rotor could only withstand a certain amount of torque and would then take damage. You were given the agility that you needed but if you overstepped your bounds there were consequences. Now in ToH the consequences weren't too bad but with some tweaking adding this into Arma would in my opinion greatly enhance flying so that the pilot had to be a little more careful in how they reacted to fire, or how quickly they could accelerate/decelerate. This feature also means that at higher speeds you had less mobility as more extreme maneuvers would cause too much stress so you had to think about speed versus mobility. Right now it seems to me that at higher speeds especially with some of the newer larger helicopters you have very little ability to turn due to extremely slow cyclic response. I'm no expert and maybe with large choppers that's how it's supposed to be but I think rather than something like such a slow response from the flight model, giving players the ability to preform quick violent maneuvers but with the soft limits of over torquing is a much more pleasing feel when flying. I think the agility of choppers from their current state should be increased quite a bit even before stress based damage because as it is now they don't feel as responsive as they should. I would also like to see the amount of difficulty represented in the expert mode of ToH to come back at least at some difficulty level (difficulty options in game) because in my opinion that was where flying really got interesting when the player had to have many slight inputs to keep the helicopter flying correctly. Another thing I think would be really cool is working engine gauges that showed the RPM of your engine(s). Imagine taking engine damage and seeing the needles dip and having the helicopter lose some partial power when shot instead of the all or nothing system now. Autorotation right now is currently broken and is a very important part of flight for a military simulator where you're probably going to get shot down a lot. As of now as far as I remember the blades don't pick up a lot of speed when the collective is pushed all the way down as you fall, meaning you have no way of slowing yourself down as you approach the ground. The rotational torque on the helicopter by the engine is still simulated while falling. When your engine is blown or when you turn it off there should be no torque generated so even if your tail rotor is out you shouldn't have to fight against the spin of the helicopter when you're preforming an autorotation.

While ToH was great there were still a lot of things that were either incorrectly simulated or were not yet added to the game. A few of these things include retreating blade stall, vortex ring state, and in some ways how the helicopters handled. Retreating blade stall as I remembered had some pretty serious problems in ToH. I could never seem to have it occur with the medium or heavy models of helicopters under normal conditions even past the do not exceed speed, and with the light helicopters this would only occur if you went well past the DNE speed and was only triggered when you pulled up slightly instead of when the helicopter reached the proper speed for this to happen. Vortex ring state was never fully introduced in ToH and I think it would be another great addition to immersion and increasing the challenge while flying helicopters. Each of these things would add additional difficulty to flying in combat situations and make pilots a little more wary of the maneuvers they preformed. I'm not sure if ground effect is modeled in arma3 right now and I can't seem to tell if it is but I think that's something that should definitely be added as it effects quick insertions quite a bit. The light helicopters in ToH were great, but the medium and heavy classes still needed work. The medium helicopters had a tendency to become very very unstable when you applied rudder for some reason and were overall very unpredictable from what I remember. The heavy helicopters couldn't be over torqued no matter what you did and were generally far too forgiving compared to the light and medium. I'm not saying ToH was terrible I think it laid a lot of good groundwork that can be worked from but I think it does still need tweaking for use in arma3.

Seeing that Arma 3 is not a helicopter sim as ToH was I think that with all the work already still needing to be done to the helis in arma3 there are some things I think just don't need to be focused on for a military sim and I think that we should recognize that we probably won't have every feature available in ToH that really made it immersive. Features like complex start sequences, trimming, helicopter performance based on fuel consumption and the advanced inspection/repair features. I don't think features like this are really necessary in a military simulator where advanced technology is being used some of these features may not need to be modeled. Those are just a few examples I can think of right now but I'm sure there are more.

So in conclusion, More available agility but limited by soft limits imposed by better simulated helicopter physics and the possibilities of doing damage to the helicopter by getting too aggressive. Now obviously the player shouldn't be given unlimited agility with damage but I think the agility of the helicopters should be partially limited by stress based damage meaning that if the helicopter was in really good shape and you desperately needed to stop right now you could, but with consequences. I don't exactly know how some of my opinions fit in with how helicopters actually work and these are just my opinions from flying helicopters in ToH and Arma3. I know that all of what I proposed in addition to all the wonderful ideas that have been proposed about locking, hud, and radar is a tall order for the remaining time before release but these are some of the things I would really like to see added to make the helicopters more fun and challenging to fly. At this point I'm starting to worry that maybe a lot of what was promised for helis isn't going to be added before release as far as flight models go so I'm really hoping a lot of this is already known by the devs and is slated for upcoming patches.

[izaiak 1]

Helicopters have extreme difficulties gaining altitude.

all helicopter in the game have a Vertical Speed ( VZ ) of 680m/minute, it is close to the reality even if some new model can go to 850m/minute.

So i think it is realistic but maybe some helicopter should have a better power to gain altitude.

The Vx acceleration is not realistic, you can go over the VNE ( for exemple UH80 you can see the VNE at 140 knots ) and you can fly with at 0.3 or 0.5 time above the VNE easily, but you have problem to gain altitude. I think this is the only point to improve about power of helicopter.

But for all the rest of your idea, it is very good ! hope part of your idea will be implement in the game ( by gamer vote ) and it is good idea for fighter helicopter and transport helicopter.

[max power 21]

The community has been suggesting this kind of stuff for 10 years. I do not think that a vote is going to be very effective. BI changes what they want to change.

[twistking 204]

BI changes what they want to change.

well, of course in the end the devs decide. and i know the devs won't implement a feature they don't like simply because of user feedback. what i'm trying to archive here, is a collection of feedback, that most user agree on. this is to end all the debates in the forum about little technical details. or perhaps not to end the discussion, but to make them constructive.

i always thought it was frustrating that there wasn't a good ticket with many votes on the issue tracker, simply because everyone had slightly different opinions on it. hopefully this thread could be used as a base for feedback not only for arma 3, but also future addons or mods. this thread is a suggestion and a wishlist - it is not a development roadmap;)

also in the past, the devs have reacted to user feedback on many issues, so my hopes are still high:)

*edit* thanks for the many suggestions on FM, guys. i will edit the front post accordingly later today.

please also give feedback on the fcs aspects and feel free to post your personal wishes and ideas, even if they are only little features. also feel free to criticize each and everything, but be polite please!

Edited July 4, 2013 by twistking

[max power 21]

well, of course in the end the devs decide. and i know the devs won't implement a feature they don't like simply because of user feedback. what i'm trying to archive here, is a collection of feedback, that most user agree on. this is to end all the debates in the forum about little technical details. or perhaps not to end the discussion, but to make them constructive.

i always thought it was frustrating that there wasn't a good ticket with many votes on the issue tracker, simply because everyone had slightly different opinions on it. hopefully this thread could be used as a base for feedback not only for arma 3, but also future addons or mods. this thread is a suggestion and a wishlist - it is not a development roadmap;)

also in the past, the devs have reacted to user feedback on many issues, so my hopes are still high:)

It's a nice initiative and I wish it the best of luck, but in my experience, the devs don't make sweeping changes to stuff until they're good and ready (for good reason!) and then many of them have their own ideas, I'm sure. In order for this thread to have an impact on the game, I think it would coincidentally have to be happening at the same time that the developers are considering changing the helicopter experience. Some thread is better than no thread, though.

Just a word from a moderator's standpoint: This thread is duplicating many other threads and the reason it is still open is because you're putting a lot of obvious effort into it. That said, the rule for spamming still applies so please stop advertizing your thread in other threads.

[twistking 204]

It's a nice initiative and I wish it the best of luck

Thanks and sorry for spamming advertising.

I made some updates to the front post. The Flight Model part is quite scarce, but i personally don't feel capable of giving that precise feedback (i play mostly with keyboard only and use mouse for free look). and since some of your feedback was already a bit contradicting, i thought it was best to just point to the TOH flight modell.

hope that is ok for all of you.

*edit* further edited the front post!

Edited July 5, 2013 by twistking

[twistking 204]

You should absolutely be able to fly any helicopter effectively and ideally fight with satisfactory effectiveness from the instruments alone. The HUD-helmet should increase this to high effectiveness, especially when it comes to targeting, locking, etc.

Also, we're talking a lot about helis where the set-up is Pilot/Gunner, but there's little mention of Pilot-Gunner/Co-pilot set-up. I'd love to have my AH-9 copilot scan for targets--especially infantry--and actually point them out for me with a bit more information than "man 1-click north." If you had a human co-pilot, he would be telling you specifically where the target is, eg. "Man, about 010, by the rocks next to that dense bunch of trees." Obviously, this would be hard for the AI to figure out. One workaround is to make the AI co-pilot group-leader. This will make him assign you targets, but this is often too narrow minded (as you can't direct your leader where to scan), can only call one target at a time, and might be too accurate for a helicopter.

you are right, i changed the paragraph about the helmet-HUD.

concerning the AI-co-pilot, i think this is less of an heli/heli-fcs problem, but more of a general AI problem, of only giving relative target information, instead of precise absolute information. that would require some serious AI-scripting magic. i fear, we'll have to wait till arma 5 for something like this to happen.

Edited July 6, 2013 by twistking

[rye1 21]

BI changes what they want to change.

This deserves a meme. Scumbag Steve hat I'm thinking. ;)

[twistking 204]

:p

front page updated!

and please don't forget to vote!

Edited July 7, 2013 by twistking

[Darkhorse 1-6 16]

(Have only played a bit of beta so...) Is it still made so you have to get the chopper all the way on the ground before you can scroll and get-out? If so, I hope that changes. So you can hover insert, helocast, helicopter parachute etc instead of physically landing all the time.

I spent several hours last night doing helocasting on the Task Force Blackjack server. It requires all members of the dive group to be in passenger seats (not on the guns), pretty much coming to a stop over the water, as close to the water as possible, and then all divers simply double tap their V key to eject. Also did para inserts. However, only the passengers (and possibly gunners, but dunno) can eject using double tap-V, not the pilot.

[rye1 21]

Awesome thanks for the update.

[twistking 204]

i updated the front post and the ticket over at the issue tracker.

[twistking 204]

guys, what do you think about the flight model with he latest updates.

the smaller helicopters seem to be more agile. i like them. what do you think?

[pharoah 65]

One thing they definitely need is an audible missle lock warning system or something....something to tell you that a missle has locked onto you so you are able to drop flares. At the moment theres nothing.

[twistking 204]

you are right. i will incorporate counter-measure-behaviour in the next front-page update.

i would also like to see different countermeasures for different threads (flares for heat-seeking, chaff for radar-seeking). but this might be a bit too sophisticated for vanilla arma, i guess...

[twistking 204]

updated the front page with suggestions about counter-measures and cargo weight simulation (feedback from the issue tracker).

[pharoah 65]

Nice post. I hate the ability not to be able to aim with the seasprite lookalike heli (dunno what its called) which doesn't have a fixed pipper on the HUD.