Helicopter pilot weapons?

[Victim9l3 11]

One thing doesn't quite make sense to me. In the case of helicopters with pilot and gunner, shouldn't the pilot be the one to fire rockets? The rockets have a fixed direction just like the guns on a fighter plane. I don't know how it is in real life but in the game there is no sight for a gunner. They only have the Arma crosshair. The gunners have a camera sight that moves, with no way to tell where the rockets would land. Even if there was, all it takes is the pilot to move slightly and the sights would be off. If you don't use the camera sight, as a gunner, you can see forward but still it's more of a calculated guess as to where the rockets will hit. At least it is if you don't use Arma's artificial crosshair. And on the other hand, the pilot does have a HUD that shows a sight directly in front where the rockets will land.

So why not give the rockets to the pilot so the gunner can engage targets with his guns or missles?

[Thanath 1]

I'm not sure about the Mi-48, but at least in the case of the AH-99 the rockets are guided by a laser designator in the turret, so the rockets will go where ever the gunner is aiming at.

Edited August 16, 2013 by Thanath

[byku 13]

Yes, mi-48 pilot should have control over unguided rockets(Skyfires) - vote: http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=9758

[519Sanel519 19]

They need to allow the pilot to man the turret and other weapons like the gunner does, once the pilot is in auto hover.

That would be neat.

[nodunit 397]

Entering hover isn't going to help you if the nose keeps tilting around. As someone who has tried aiming the gun while a pilot in freelook, its not something you want tied to control while also controlling the aircraft, you're going to need another form of control for it.

[Victim9l3 11]

I guess I can see the Blackfoot having the gunner with the rockets. But maybe their can be a way to implement something for the gunner so he can easily find the extreme range of the rockets. I'm not finding the right way to say what I mean. If he uses the gun sights for rockets, maybe when he selects the rockets a new box comes up so that he isn't aiming at a point where the rockets will not reach. Maybe from wherever he is looking, when he selects rockets, the sight resets to direct front. then as he pans to one side, there is a boundry, or an alarm saying that he is aiming out of the rockets turning arc. Similar to a NLAW or something. When you look away far enough, the target stops locking on the tank, that's how you know you're aiming too far. You wouldn't want to lock the gunners free look because if he is pointing a laser he can find the target and wait until he is facing the right way.

519Sanel519 - Manual fire takes care of that.

[nodunit 397]

Except the NLAW interfaces with itself, not where the operator is looking, and for helicopters it is the same.

With rockets an I beam or some other cursor would appear in the center of the aircraft. Regardless of where the pilots look the I would remain in the same place because it is indicating the boreline of the aircraft rather than where THEY look..it doesn't matter where the pilot looks anyway because the pylons cannot move left and right so there are no azimuth limits.

Missiles on the other hand would have seeker limits (looking beyond where the seeker can see and thus out of its line of sight).

The only time you would see any messages pertaining limits based on where the pilots look would be on the gun reaching azimuth or elevation limits, and it does that not because the pilot is looking that far but because the gun has reached its movement limit.

The RAH isn't gimped so much in that the HDU responds based on selected weapon, but the Kajiman does not..for example board the Kajman as the gunner and swap to rockets, your cursor centers on impact point but if you get in as the pilot symbolody does not change regardless of what weapon you selected, and you have only a vague idea of where the weapon will impact because the HDU is always moving, add that with the moving pilot model and shifting camera you are going to have a lot of inaccuracy.

Edited August 20, 2013 by NodUnit

[Sgt.Rock 10]

They need to allow the pilot to man the turret and other weapons like the gunner does, once the pilot is in auto hover.

That would be neat.

That's a big negatory Ghostrider. We don't need no steenking Battlefield hotseating in this game.

[Boomotang 10]

http://www.armaholic.com/page.php?id=21428

I use this addon. It gives control of the rockets and missiles to the pilot, while the gunner controls the turret. I think manual fire switches it around.

[franze 196]

Depending on the aircraft, weapons aren't exclusive to one or the other crew member(s). In the Apache, both crew members can select any of the weapons; the only difference that comes into play is available sights for either crew member. Aiming the weapons is then accomplished by the on-board computers for a given sight; such that if the HMD is the selected sight, then the selected weapon will aim where the crew member looks. When it comes to 'ownership' of a weapon and a sight, whoever last selected the weapon and sight get ownership of it.

I don't know if it is the same for other aircraft but I don't imagine there to be huge differences since most gunships with two crew members allow certain tasks to be swapped. You could handle it similar to controls tradeoff where the gunner simply gives the weapons to the pilot for the time being, just like pilot gives flight controls to the gunner.

[odie0351 67]

Also copilots need to be able to take over weapon controls when they take over flight controls in certain aircraft like the AH-9 and ORCA. Not to mention the fact that the ai copilots need to start taking control of their aircraft when the pilot gets hit:j:

[MissionCreep 12]

As a single player for 2-man gunships, the pilot can take control over the weapons via scroll menu item "Manual Fire" or likewise be the co-pilot/gunner and use the "Take Control" option to take over the flying.

[odie0351 67]

Yes but in the ah-9 and orca the pilot has control of the weapons by default so what im saying is when the copilot takes over the controls he should have weapons control as well. Being as the controls should be exactly the same in both pilot stations on those aircraft anyway.

[MissionCreep 12]

Not sure about ah-9 and orca, but for the blackfoot the pilot only has access to the flight instrument panel while the co-pilot only has access to the weapons panel - so the two are not equivalent. Since this is "Arma flying" and not the real world, the co-pilot can fly pretty much fine with line-of-sight and HUD. The main advantage of the co-pilot is more precise control of the weapons system (esp the cannon) and full access to thermal imaging. The disadvantage is that the helo is probably less nimble and more prone to enemy fire while you are working the weapons and fixated on targets.

[odie0351 67]

I understand what your saying but whereas you can work around it with the blackfoot, with the ah-9 and orca the copilot(in game as is) is literally just there to take over flight controls. reasonable to assume this is because the armament on both aircraft are fixed forward(except the orca's guided rockets). currently there is no way for the copilot to use the weapon systems except to land and get in as the pilot which is very inconvenient...not to mention unrealistic.