Morrov

Seems to work fine in SP on my end, haven't tried in MP though

Mi-8 for sure, Mi-24 was kinda based on the Hip. Same engines, a lot of the same systems (not all of course), cockpits are much more similar between the HIp and the Hind too (at least compared to the BS). Neither will feel quite the same as the Hind, the Hip is quite "fat", the Shark doesn't have a tail rotor and has a ton of computers helping you (so does the Hind, but not to such a degree), but the Hip should be much closer. Weapon systems are quite unique in the Hind, mainly the Raduga-Sh, which is an optical system, like a proper periscope in the front that the operator has to point at the enemy until the missile hits. The commander in the back has the same sight that we have in the Su-25 (non T variant).

Would be awesome to have this once multicrew is added to the Hip

Manual will probably be available when EA starts, so still a bit of waiting. About it being a good starter, well, it depends. Much like the Hip, it has autopilot stabilisation systems that make it easier to fly. It's also designed in a way that makes it fly in a very steady manner (almost like a fixed wing in forward flight, according to some pilots). Hover is difficult in all helos, so you'll have to get used that no matter which one you pick. It is big, heavy and fast though, with old school Russian avionics and typical Soviet way of creating aircraft: jamming all the pre-existing systems into new airframes, instead of creating ones specific for the aircraft, so the cockpit can feel a bit chaotic (much less so than the mi8 though), and it is quite old so you don't get any fancy glass avionics. It's blind at night too. Up to you to decide if you're willing to start with that, but I do believe you should be fine, it's also the coolest helicopter ever made, so that's a bonus hehe I strongly recommend the 2 part series about the Mi-24 made by Virtual Flight Training, lots of good info in a short, consise format.

I just need the eyes

Hind will come with both English and Russian labels, just like the Hip. No idea about other modules, I'm yet to try them.

True, though I'd kinda like him to have an "official" name, it gives it more character, you know?

Yeah, it's possible that "Petrovich" is just the name of the AI, so whichever pilot is controlled by the AI, he becomes Petrovich. But I do think it would be cool to have Petrovich in the front, and someone else in the back, separate voice actors are already a great touch, might as well give the commander a name too

Or is Petrovich basically the other pilot besides you, no matter which seat? I think it would be kind of cool if both of them had a different name, since they're getting 2 separate voice actors.

Even better, 2 actors, with 2 different Russian accents! I wonder if the commander will have a name too, since he's getting his own VA.

Yeah, all we know is that it goes into early access sometime in this quarter. So either tomorrow or at the end of June. If you know for sure that you're gonna get it, it's best to pre-order it now-ish so you don't miss the 30% discount.

That's just a placeholder date as steam requires one, but they did say in one of the threads here here that it is their best estimate. Don't dwell on this date though, all subject to change.

Interesting! Probably some sort of way to control what the AI commander does from the operator seat. The KA50's 3D model renders are great too (check them out in the screenshots section). Very much looking forward to the newsletter.

Same, some people say it's true, others say it would just jam the whole thing. Would be nice to have some proper sources.

The Hind is still not there in the module manager, you probably just need to wait for the EA release

Same here. My hometown has a helicopter base that flies the Mi-24s (also mostly Ds as far as I know) amongst other things, so I always got to see them both on display and in the air for as long as I remember. The flight club I attend to today in my current city shares an airport with the military, they also fly Mi-24s (mostly V I think). Getting to know how the Hind works, getting to fly it and "experience" it for myself will be a dream come true, don't really care that it might not be super effective at this point, neither is the Mi-8 in combat scenarios and I still love it to bits.

As far as I'm aware, the fans (in the real choppers) are rubbery and squishy, not solid and plastic, would be hard to lose your fingers from that lol

It is the swashplate follower thing, you can see the how the sound correlates with it's movement very clearly in this video. It's the same mechanism in the Mi-24, except it spins faster so the sound is more frequent, as you can see here. I love hearing the Hinds fly over my head, the chirping/whistling makes it super easy to identify them.

It kinda fixed itself for me so I'm afraid I can't help you. All I did was restart the sim a few times and rebound the axis once or twice, which might or might not have helped, I don't know.

I doubt we'll see too much about it now that the pre-order has started and we got the really nice pre-order video. I'd expect some news once we're closer to release though, maybe.

Read shagrat's response just above:

Of course, but that's a limitation put on me, that I can change by immersing myself into the sim more (with VR for example). I can't do much about the AI side of things. But it is reassuring to hear that the dynamic campaigns will cover the morale part.

It would be great if ground units had some sort of a morale/fear mechanic, it would make flying choppers much more realistic. Suppression would be very welcome too. I know for sure I'd be hiding if there were 2 Hinds charging at me at full speed lol

I think the paint kit won't come until full release, according to this. I imagine there might be some slight 3d model changes along the way and they don't want to release the paint kit just for the modelling to be adjusted. Just a guess though.

They mentioned in a different thread that while the date there is a placeholder, it is their best estimate. Fingers crossed it's right!