Countermeasures need an overhaul.

[vani 1]

So after being shot down in my helicopter, (annoyingly) by the first missile fired after dumping as many flares as i could in the time i was locked on, i decided to find out if there was a a way to increase my chances of survival when getting locked on as this is very annoying.

I discovered that you can time when to dump flares by waiting for the radar to show the missile on the inner ring. However, since the helicopter DLC this is no longer possible in the transport choppers as their radar systems have been disabled.

http://feedback.arma3.com/view.php?id=21563

This is further made worse by the fact that locking and firing at an AI chopper or jet result in them ALWAYS dodging the first missile (choppers not so much but it depends on how close you are to the chopper.)

I have the basic idea of how countermeasures work in real life but not the details and would appreciate it if someone could explain how/when to drop flares and increase odds of survival.

To be honest this wouldn't even be a problem if they allowed for helicopters to crash land and have it be survivable. (Yes, i know they increased the survivability on crash landing but going 150kpm trying to drop safely is impossible and god help you if you tip over, hit a rock or land on a gradient.)

At the moment countermeasures feel pointless, a gimmick and totally random.

[derpymarine 10]

Flares work well. When you use CM, AA-missle still flying same course, to dodge it you should change direction of flight, while using CM. Sadly there's only one CM mode(burst).

[vani 1]

Flares work well. When you use CM, AA-missle still flying same course, to dodge it you should change direction of flight, while using CM. Sadly there's only one CM mode(burst).

LEFTCTRL+C should change the fire mode of the countermeasure. I've done it before but that seems even less effective.

But flares are supposed to attract the missile's are they not?

[maturin 12]

The flares are incredibly stupid. They have pretty much 99% success rate at close range. And they don't even attract the missile. They just make it shoot off in a random direction.

[vani 1]

So i just went into the editor, had 7 gunships hover above stratis airfield and had 12 AA specialists fire at them from around 800m.

There seems to be no pattern what so ever to the missiles path, why the missile refuses to hit the chopper or why the missile insists on hitting the chopper when flares are deployed. It seems totally random, this is just silly.

Sometimes the first missile will hit and sometimes it won't.

---------- Post added at 22:27 ---------- Previous post was at 22:03 ----------

1 Thing however was certain, the missiles do not stay on the same path if they're going to miss.

[vani 1]

Can no one shed any light on this?

[CaptainAzimuth 714]

They need to change certain missile systems to Radar Seeking. This way, when the missile misses target, as long as that person is still tracking the aircraft in the tracking circle, that missile will turn around and find the target again, unless of course that pilot evades again via more countermeasures, or terrain tactics. Also, they need to bring back Single fire flare mode. They say it was a design decision... Yet it was designed perfectly in Arma 2. AI used burst mode, worked fine. Players can use single fire mode, and burst, and it worked fine. What on earth is so different now? It's simply less options to deploy on the battlefield.

[the_demongod 31]

This way, when the missile misses target, as long as that person is still tracking the aircraft in the tracking circle, that missile will turn around and find the target again, unless of course that pilot evades again via more countermeasures, or terrain tactics.

This doesn't really make sense. Missiles can't turn very fast at all, and once evaded they won't be able to turn around. But I think maybe if the player stays locked onto the target the whole time, it should increase kill probability (cause the active-radar missiles to perform similarly to semi-active radar missiles). And I do also think that the missiles should actually require the pilot to use the real HUD symbology to put the target in the circle before shooting at it.

[jakerod 254]

Missiles can't turn very fast at all, and once evaded they won't be able to turn around.

Not in the ArmAverse. I was killed by my own missile the other day. I didn't realize that the Titan follows your cursor (haven't played much). I fired it at a house and then moved up causing my cursor to point at my feet. The missile came back around and killed me. So there you go; in the future missiles can do 180 degree turns like the rocket launcher in Halo 2.

[lugiahua 26]

I think anti-tank missiles are different than ground to air or air to air missiles.

anti-air missile burn out their fuel in the first few seconds after launch, and basically "glide" toward their targets. If they failed to kill the target, there is rarely enough energy to turn around for a second try.

Anti-tank missiles on the other hand, burn their fuel with a much slower rate.

[domingomontoya 10]

I've spent the last couple weeks playing with this in a Blackfoot and just when I think I have something figured out, it doesn't work any more. I think I've been trolled by random limited success, and I mean _random_.

I've used an auto repeat on countermeasures to spam them and had 40 AA infantry firing at me from the same location. I evaded ~25 missiles head on, straight and level, and the second I ran out of flares the missiles started slamming into me.

I've had success deploying counters as soon as the missile launched, while maintaining level flight. I've had success deploying counters, dropping collective, and pitching down at the last second.

By success I mean numerous consecutive misses, >5 in a row, flying over groups of AA infantry, or flying into a cluster of them.

By limited I mean that a method might work perfectly 5 times in a row, then not work worth a crap.

I have tried so many different methods and I can't say what _does_ work [because I think it's mostly random], but I can tell you that maneuvering doesn't seem to play into it at all. In fact, I think it slows you down and makes you easier for the missile to hit.

I've had much better reproducible results just flying straight and level while deploying as many flares as you can before the missile hits you. This includes during lock on. I've also had luck evading missiles by using counters only prior to firing.

As I fly with advanced flight, being straight and level with about 50% collective has the added benefit of being set up for auto-rotation in the event of a hit. With advanced on, in a Blackfoot, being at full collective and pitched forward when you lose engine power [at less than 300m] pretty much guarantees you're going to lose rotor RPM in a second.

So, currently, I pop CM's during lock on, then [depending on distance] pop immediately on launch, then again right before the missile strikes. I also drop to 0 collective for that last one, in case I get hit, I'm already in auto-rotation.

[kbbw123 115]

afaik CM's in reallife only give a chance of the missile going for them in stead of you. yet if the CM are sucesfull and the missile has lost his lock on you it will fly in a straight line. if you follow the same course as you where befor you will definetly get hit by the missle even whitout the lock. if you have a missile lock move sideways and drop CM's there is a higher chance opf the missle missing you then.