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becario

Learning to fly

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I am learning to fly the helicopters in the game. I used to fly using only the keyboard, and use the mouse to look around, and now I changed to a 360 gamepad to fly (only to fly). I managed to set the controls in a way that I find it quite comfortable to use, and I think I will stick to it.

Now I need tips on how to improve my flighting. Right now I am not that bad at taking off and controlling the helo (probably better than most players, even with only keyboard), but I have two things that I cant control that well: approaching to landing zones, and attaching with fixed guns (with the pawnee for example).

My problem with approaching is that I don't know how to lose speed without gaining too much altitude, so right now I jusst go to the place I want to land, auto-hover, and then descend in a straight line. What can I do to improve my landings?

Then is firing. I don't know how to position the chopper to attach more efficiently. Is it better to be low, so you don't need to much pitch to aim down and consequently you don't move that much, or is it better to attack with a descent and then just point the nose up and go away?

I already have a mission with all the helos in Kamino, and some mobile and fixed targets around the map, so I can test anything I want.

I already watched all the videos by Dslyecxi on how to fly, but I just can't do those things properly. Though I can make recoveries from tail rotor lose pretty well.

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I try to land like a plane kinda.

Flying straight and steady if you are moving at say 70 kph lift your nose above your horizon whilst holding collective down, practice a bit with that so you learn to know how much above the horizon you need to be to slow down enough without gaining altitude, once your speed drops to less than 20kph you are in a good position to land, just continue as before but when you are just about to touch down you should be tapping the collective down to not come down too hard.

It is best to practice on the runway, start at one end and take off a bit, fly forward, do as above then as soon as you land take off and try again, once you get the hang of knowing your descent rate you can start picking other landing zones.

Also I use Shift and Space bar for collective up/Down as they are easily accessible.

As for fighting I am sure better people can answer but a static heli in the air is a very easy target for the enemy, the best way is to strafe them.

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I love flying :D It's my favourite role.

HOLY... I just noticed, Avigrace, you're from Lincs too? :O

Anyhoo, back OT. To approach and drop your speed without going high again, you want to hold collective lower (z, normally) to descend, whilst keeping your nose level with your mouse. This then means the aircraft is attempting to keep level flight but is essentially losing thrust, which in the long run means it can only do one thing: descend.

Fighting - Height and far away is your best bet for AH-99 and Mi-48 Kajman, but you may need to get a bit closer for AH-9 and PO-30 Orcas and the like. I'll give you a video of my own in a bit.

Regards,

Harry

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If you have not seen them already, I'd recommend you check out Dslyecxi's "Art of Flight" series on YouTube.

They cover basic concepts such as maneuvering and landing, as well as more advanced things such as recovering from damage ("Rocking out" to recover from tailrotor loss, using autorotation to land after losing engine power etc..). He uses a different control system to you (Keyboard+mouse+foot pedals), but the basic principles still apply.

Many people (Dyslyecxi included) recommend headtracking peripherals (eg. TrackIR) for flying. I can't say from personal experience weather it's worth it yet (though I have ordered one, so it's coming to me soon!), but I have never heard anyone say that it's made flying worse :P

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to land easily,i will try to sum it by saying : land it like a plane but instead of going straight try to draw a spiral with a radius that gets smaller and smaller !

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thanks for the tips. I'm doing the "landing like a plane" thing, and it's not going bad. some rough landings still, but getting better.

WolfByte, peripherals are out of the question. I can't afford them. I am using what I got. I don't even have a gaming mouse or keyboard, just the KB that came with the computer and a regular office mouse. That's why I'm setting my gamepad up to play, cause it's easier to fly and drive with it.

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Upon the last few seconds prior to touchdown, don't forget to just gently keep tapping "Z" (or whatever it is) to descend very gently. If you go too fast, just add more Q and that'll slow you down (but not before you're literally just about to land!)

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Upon the last few seconds prior to touchdown, don't forget to just gently keep tapping "Z" (or whatever it is) to descend very gently. If you go too fast, just add more Q and that'll slow you down (but not before you're literally just about to land!)

since I'm using the gamepad, I'm using the triggers for collective, so I can apply the wanted preasure on them to not crash. it's quite good, but as I said, it's just that I need more practice.

I'm also trying to land on top of buildings so I can learn to control the exact point where I want to land. and I keep practising emergency landings, like trying to land in a forest with no tail rotor.

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