How to attack as pilot in helicopter? I'm lost

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Hey everyone. I'm trying to expand my knowledge with the ways I can attack enemies in this game, and I'm just now learning how to fly helicopters and I'm completely confused and overwhelmed.

 

Yesterday I figured a good practice scenario would be the Helicopters Showcase. At this point, I feel pretty good with boarding/taking off, flying, auto-hovering, blind-firing, switching my ammo types and landing. But I have absolutely NO idea how to shoot at directly at enemies. 

 

Would any of you mind gently walking me through this?

 

In the showcase I'm flying a PO-30 Orca. My first task is to shoot an enemy land vehicle that's moving. I simply can't figure out how to aim at my target, or what to do to lock on and take this sucker out.

 

When I auto-hover (which is an excellent tool for me as a new pilot), my chopper levels out, so my target box ends up being pointed directly in front of me and not towards the ground. When I dip my chopper's nose down, it automatically lifts itself back up. I can't shoot at something if my chopper is level so I really don't know what to do there.

 

If I disengage auto-hover, and put the square targeting box on something, I can't for the life of me figure out how to keep it there, and in the offchance I momentarily get my target in the square (which the best I can do is like a nano-second), T doesn't lock on with any of the ammo types I've used (I also tried to lock with R and ctrl R for the heck of it and no dice).

 

I also don't understand in first person, I have these icons in front of me that follow my face. What does this represent? It looks like targeting info but I don't see how it could be useful if it follows me where ever I look.

 

I'd love to get a quick crash course in how to fly a chopper as pilot and target and shoot if anyone has a sec to take me under their wing. 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Ok so I just watched a few vids of this mission on YouTube, and I noticed a couple of things.

 

For one, I now understand the onscreen icon that moves where my head moves changes when the ammo type changes. That helps explain that bit.

 

I also see I must be hovering too high to expect to be able to engage ground enemies so that's good. The guys in the videos were flying much lower. I'll try lowering my flying height.

 

I still don't quite get why in auto-hover my nose immediately pops back up after pointing it down, or why the heck I can't lock on to targets, but I guess I'll try again and see if I can beat this thing and actually (finally) destroy something for once.

[becubed 24]

1 hour ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

I still don't quite get why in auto-hover my nose immediately pops back up after pointing it down, or why the heck I can't lock on to targets, but I guess I'll try again and see if I can beat this thing and actually (finally) destroy something for once.

When you try and point the nose of the chopper down the whole chopper rotates, this means that the blades are no longer perpendicular to the ground and try and pull the chopper forward. Since you have auto-hover on it tries to keep you in the one spot, the only way it can do that is to level or tilt the chopper backwards so that the blades then drag you back to where you were.

 

Hope that is clear enough to help, if you haven't already, try switching to 3rd person and have a look at what happens when you move the controls.

[Gunter Severloh 4067]

Something you can try is to go into the editor and put down you as a player, and a chopper with weapons on it, and then setup a bunch of vehicles, or targets wherever

and see if you can take them out, good way to just mess around and see how things work.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

1 hour ago, Gunter Severloh said:

Something you can try is to go into the editor and put down you as a player, and a chopper with weapons on it, and then setup a bunch of vehicles, or targets wherever

and see if you can take them out, good way to just mess around and see how things work.

I actually did that a few days ago but I couldn't figure out how to target vehicles when I'm the pilot. That's why I tried the helicopters Showcase because I thought it would "teach me" but I think I was kinda wrong on that. 

 

The editor did help me with learning how to take off, and hover and stuff so that was pretty useful. And I also learned the hard way you need to land softly or BOOM lol. It's just I usually play alone with AI and would like to learn how to fly and also shoot at the same time.

 

I think once I do it a few times I'll get the hang of it. Just watching the YouTube vids of the showcase taught me a few things about the mistakes I was making. I'll keep on keeping on I guess. I got pretty confused last night so I'll go about it fresh here in a bit.

[Gunter Severloh 4067]

Cool, i'm sure theres missions on Armaholic you could play once you get a bit better.

Heres a vid i recorded during a coop session on Domination this was on Major Mayhem's server for Arma2oa, in this video i was using my famous ;) COWarMod:

 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@Gunter Severloh Cool video! You're a good pilot! Question: Are you in auto hover when you were engaging the infantry from behind the hill? It's the first contact in the video, you're low, and the chopper is hovering in place.

 

I'm having a hard time with keeping still when not in auto hover. I think I'm getting the hang of it a bit though, by pulling up on the throttle and dropping my speed to pretty much zero, and then leveling back out. But the chopper still likes to drift when I want to keep still.

 

Anyway, after about 10 more tries, I successfully beat the showcase from start to finish with no save scumming! One of my biggest mistakes the day before was I was going WAY too fast. Since I've learned to slow down, I'm having much more success.

 

I also successfully locked on too! But I don't know if it's me or if it's finicky, but sometimes locking on doesn't work, and other times it does. Are there any rules for target locking? Such as you need to be below a certain speed or having the target directly within your sights for x amount of seconds or something?

 

Getting it to even try to lock is hit or miss. A lot of times I hit T and nothing happens. Then I hover back around and T will suddenly work. It's weird.

[Gunter Severloh 4067]

57 minutes ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

Question: Are you in auto hover when you were engaging the infantry from behind the hill?

Thanks been flying on and off since OFP, but with arma2oa and my COWarMod which i was using in that video I normally play as the pilot and then call out targets for my AI gunner,

or use a feature from the mod that allows you to take control of the 30mm cannon, in Arma3 you can do the same thing, and call out targets if you are flying a attack chopper like the Apache.

To answer your question tho, yes i am in auto hover.

1 hour ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

Anyway, after about 10 more tries, I successfully beat the showcase from start to finish with no save scumming!

Nice!

 

1 hour ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

One of my biggest mistakes the day before was I was going WAY too fast. Since I've learned to slow down, I'm having much more success.

Yes from what i learned really the best times to be fast is when your traveling, but choppers are ideally meant at least imo to creep, and shoot and scoot at least attack choppers.

 

1 hour ago, HeroesandvillainsOS said:

Are there any rules for target locking? Such as you need to be below a certain speed or having the target directly within your sights for x amount of seconds or something?

Tbh i dont have enough flying time in Arma3 to answer that, i actually dont recall the last time i flew a chopper in the game, and forget what it takes, but overall what i do recall at least from flying

a fighter jet is that you want to make sure that your facing somewhat the target.

By default tab if i recall should be the button to change between targets, also as mentioned above, if you are flying with an AI gunner, you can call out targets for him by pressing 2 for target, when you

use this method you could go to manual gunner yourself.

i could record a vid for you on it and show you, although i'd have to familiarize myself with it real quick, most of what i play is infantry, and tank related play in IFA3 so theres no helicopters in that.

 

There was a game i used to play called Comanche 4 by Novalogic, i used to play this game incessantly, flying an attack chopper was awesome, so from this game i learned several

tactics which I applied to the OFP arma series over the years for when i flew.

This is Commanche 4

 

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Oh haha! Yeah they don't make games like they used to. I wish we had tons of options for realistic-ish military games these days but I guess there must not be much interest anymore (or money to make, anyway).

 

So you mentioned that I could target for an AI pilot? Wow, that would be super cool to know. I'd love to just focus on flying and only shooting when needed.

 

I mean yeah man, no hurry or pressure, but I'd love to know how to do it. A video would be sweet but I don't expect you to put yourself out or anything.

 

So in general, any idea how it would work? Let's take the Orca as an example, since it has in the cockpit a pilot and co-pilot seat. If I was in the right side (as pilot), I could hypothetically just command the AI co-pilot (in the left seat) to fire and stuff? That would be amazing because I never go out alone. It's always with AI.

 

Any idea offhand how to do that? Do I just press his Fkey and tell him to engage or something like that?

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

Ugh. Back off to YouTube I guess. I tried the Gunship Showcase and wow oh wow, about 20 times in a row I got shot down by the AA on the island, usually from between 2.5-2.8 KM away. So far away I can't see it, and I have no clue how to target it and take it out.

 

I tried using automatic fire, but apparently there's nothing automatic about it, because it sure as hell doesn't fire on its own, but it sure does prevent me from firing myself.

 

I'm so damn lost. I don't see why it has to be this complicated in a damn video game to fly, target and shoot.

[Corvinus 35]

In addition to already posted useful advises I would add that DAGR rockets that Orca is armed with are only ... well lets call it "semi-guided" - they can correct their fly-path only so (since in real life it's just an unguided rocket with a precision upgrade package). That means that in-game you have to point the helicopter nose pretty much on target when you shoot the rocket or you'd miss even if you have a lock-on.

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

14 minutes ago, Corvinus said:

In addition to already posted useful advises I would add that DAGR rockets that Orca is armed with are only ... well lets call it "semi-guided" - they can correct their fly-path only so (since in real life it's just an unguided rocket with a precision upgrade package). That means that in-game you have to point the helicopter nose pretty much on target when you shoot the rocket or you'd miss even if you have a lock-on.

Thank you. I wasn't aware of that. What helicopters would you recommend for a solo player that wants to shoot, laze and target as pilot?

[Corvinus 35]

Oh, I'm afraid I don't know. Not much of a pilot myself.

[Train111 8]

If i'm correct in all the dedicated attack and armed scout helis only the Hellcat and i think Blackfoot can laze targets. Both can be manually fired by the pilot but the blackfoot requires both the pilot and gunner to lock onto targets to fire locked on DAGR missiles, meaning you'd be stuck with unguided missiles and a gun in an awkward position if flying solo. Your best bet when flying solo is the Pawnee or the Hellcat(preffered). Both are fast, agile, and can be devastating to anything short of a tank. I would suggest the Hellcat because it has the ability to carry troops, and seems to have more armour (although both can be paper craft at times). As for your other questions, the Orca Pilot is the only one who fires the 2 miniguns and rocket pods. I don't know if the copilot can laser designate targets because i primarily fly transport aircraft, and when im doing CAS i only really fly NATO.

 

My tip for using the Blackfoot personally, is to have a AR-2 Darter lasing targets inside the AO you're engaging. It allows you to keep a safe distance while locking onto targets, because the biggest drawback of the Blackfoot is how it handles: Its closer to a flying fridge than an apache from arma 2, making the handling bad in sharp turns, and can also make auto-rotation horrid sometimes. This is also a handy tip when using Jets, UAVs and other attack helicopters, because it means you can setup good gun runs to hit targets and also makes killing infantry easier. When flying jets you need to fly fast if AA is present, because missiles fired at your nose will nearly always hit: your flares shoot out the back end of the aircraft. Lasing targets beforehand means you don't have to decrease speed to manually looking for the target, or even making additional runs.

 

A key piece of advice is to not use auto hover: I can understand if you want to stay in one place and gun down things in front of you, but you need to keep moving. Flares are not too reliable, and especially in an Orca, one missile and you're out. By constantly moving, you make it harder for AA infantry to lock onto you, AA tanks to swing their autocannon turrets, and players who know how to aim an RPG-42. 

 

As for youtube videos, practice makes perfect. Watching videos where the scenario is often perfect only helps in certain scenarios. The more experience you get, the better, because everyone has their own flying styles, and furthermore as a good pilot, you need to be able to adapt to any scenario. Making custom missions in zeus can be helpful, and playing with an experienced pilot can also help. Remember that by working with your team will get the best out of attack helicopters. By getting them to eliminate AA you get the fun experience of raining fire from the skies, and to be quite frank as an infantry man there is nothing better than watching good air support. 

Edited March 21, 2017 by Train111

[HeroesandvillainsOS 1504]

@Train111 Thanks! Useful stuff!

 

So you mentioned using the A2 Darter to laze targets in advance. Am I understanding you correctly, if that I take the Darter out on recon myself, laze a target, if I then get in a chopper those targets will still be lazed for me even if the Darter isn't active anymore? Or do I literally need a human using the Darter on the ground while I'm flying? I'm playing solo (without humans but with AI), so can the Darter still be useful to me?

 

I hear you on auto-hover. It simply will not even let me angle my nose downwards towards the ground anyway, because the choppers even out and correct themselves when tilting, which means unless I have a target directly in front of me far away on the horizon, it's pretty much useless, especially for ground infantry.

 

But my problem is, when I take auto hover off, my choppers start to pick up speed like nobody's business! Yesterday I was messing around, and within about 10 seconds from disengaging auto-hover, I'd be up to about 100KM per hr again which is too fast. Then it's a game for me, pulling the throttle up, then down, which slows my speed but the second I level out again, my speed picks up. So I'm constantly dancing this dance.

 

Is there anyway to "auto-hover," or rather, hover in place, without auto-hover on? I think once I can learn to control my speed manually, half of my problems will go away.

 

Also, do you know offhand what automatic fire means? I say auto fire, but what I mean is, the mode that isn't manual fire. What is it supposed to do exactly? When I'm not in manual fire, it seems to me the chopper simply can't shoot anything. Surely I'm missing something here.

 

[Train111 8]

To answer the first question, you do not need someone operating the UAV on the ground. You can easily do it before takeoff or while auto hovering in a safe position. If the UAV is set to autonomous, and you have it track the target(CTRL+T in a sweet spot makes the UAV turret track the target, ensuring the UAV is always lasing the correct target even when it is mobile). The laser will still be up provided the UAV is not shut down, or you accidentally turn it off. Having a JTAC or UAV Operator in the area makes life easier because their jobs are literally to lase targets and ensure shit is blown up. 

 

You can get the chopper to effectively auto-hover without turning the option on, but this is difficult and your helicopter does not automatically level out when you move the nose around, which can create a motion akin to a swing-set. The heli shoots forward, then you have to move it back to its original position. My only suggestion is maybe to try flying backward in your heli, because when you point your nose down, you can get a brief window of the chopper being stable and you can engage a target for maybe a solid 2 seconds before it starts moving forward. Its weird to explain, but otherwise you may have to deal with the swing-set method.

 

As for "automatic fire". When flying solo in helicopters that have a gunner seat, there is literally nobody to operate the gun systems that should normally be fired by the gunner. Manual fire refers to when the pilot takes manual control of these systems, allowing them to fire all weapons systems in the craft while flying around. You get this option when with an AI gunner or when flying solo. When flying with AI use manual fire for everything apart from the guns- AI are godly with turrets due to their aiming ability.