Fess up! Who else here is having a hard time?

[Ramstein]

Well, I will fess up. I am having a hard time with several features. Hovering, locking targets, selecting weapons.. finding and see the enemy. And the list goes on. I am reading all the documents and watching the videos, and taking copious notes. Out of all the Flight sims, this one has the most procedures for flying and fighting successfully.

:joystick:

[JHepburn]

I am as well. I've got a good feel for the systems, flying around, hovering, employing weapons from a hover. If you make me fly and fight though, it's a whole different story. I'd love to hear how people are able to manage to aviation, manage the shkval, identify targets, and deliver weapons at the same time!

[GGTharos]

Realize that each maneuver as well is a procedure which you must perform in a particular way. :)

 

Seeing your list above, I reccomend that you forget combat, and focus on hovering, getting into hover from cruising, making turns while maintaining bank,speed and (baro) altitude, and once you're comfortable in all those, you'll suddenly find you have the time to be looking for those hooligans hiding in the trees ;)

[haigotron]

hard time = fun time for me :D

 

I agree , I jumped the gun a few times (no pun intended) when I started firing and using the weaponry, but my basic flying/navigation is still very poor, so now that I had a bit of taste of the weaponry, I can go back to basic flight, which in itself is a lot of fun :D

[Dropbear]

I feel like Im starting to get a handle on just about everything, except for some nuances with the schval targeting - and not being able to lock up targets which I think I should be.

 

When you get the hang of things and are able to lock up, and launch a vikhr whilst moving in (not just on a hover), it's a pretty special thing ;)

[GGTharos]

Have a plan. If it so happens that you're not told exactly where or what your targets are, don't make the mistake of just flying in and shooting them up randomly, flying over (ie. getting your tail shot off ... ) them etc etc.

 

Have plan about where you will approach from, have a reason (just 'cause works, but you'll find trying a little harder helps you learn better ;) ) , what the minimum break-off distance for an attack is, when in the whole attack you will release flares, which weapons you will employ and why, if you are on CAS, how will you conduct your attack to avoid hurting friendlies, etc etc.

 

Once you start thinking about all this you will find yourself programming your mind (and hands!) to simply follow a schedule of actions.

A flying rocket-strafe is easy as SOON as you realize that you actually run it in from 4km distance IN A STRAIGHT LINE, lining those enemies up so they sit nicely in your pipper, launch at max range or between 2 and 3km, and break off and go back for a re-attack back to the 4km line before you reach 2km distance from your target.

 

Don't worry if the rockets missed - if you want to get the feel of how the real guys do it, simply pretend you really DO NOT WANT TO DIE. :)

Then such uh, long-ranged and time intensive procedures will seem less boring ;)

 

I am as well. I've got a good feel for the systems, flying around, hovering, employing weapons from a hover. If you make me fly and fight though, it's a whole different story. I'd love to hear how people are able to manage to aviation, manage the shkval, identify targets, and deliver weapons at the same time!

[Scif]

well i have mastered the start up procedure, and to some degree the nav, also i have the targeting un caging and switching on various options like turn to target and moving target.

 

But i am far from being happy at the moment, i have alot of problems slowing to a stop very quickly for the hover, it seems to take me forever to get the thing steady before going into hover mode and in that time i am normally dead to fire or end up in the ground :)

 

Wont put me off flying it though, it is all slowly coming together piece by piece.

 

after all rome was not built in a day ...:lol:

[159th_Viper]

Practice :)

 

That and a useful bit of advice gotten from a Squad-Mate who is currently also an active member of an U.K. Attack Helicopter Unit:

 

"Stop thinking like pilots. The Shark, or any AH, is a weapons platform. For all purposes the AH is simply a vehicle that has 100% cross country capability. If anything you should be thinking like soldiers, thinking of things in terms of cover, dead ground, concealment, how to get from A to B tactically etc..."

 

Once you ponder the advice as above you tend to slow things down, approach things in a structured, co-ordinated manner rather than attempting all at once as I was prone to do in the Toad.....Trust me - after a while it all falls into place ;)

 

 

And when it does - Oh Hell the Kamov Rocks! Personally I still have a helluva lot to learn, but luvin' every minute :D

 

:pilotfly:

[4c Hajduk Veljko]

Hard time? Not at all! First moth or so, I am only learning to fly, navigate, emergency procedures, ABRIS .... Weapons usage comes sometime in the spring, and summer or fall I will start joining servers on line. Next Christmas, I will say I know this game!

[Francous]

I'm ok now, now trying to do some Bomb runs..

[GGTharos]

But your friend has already been trained to fly the thing confidently, he already does some of this pilot stuff without thinking about it at all. This is why he can begin his sentence that way, and personally I find that if you say this to someone who isn't able to make a level altitude and speed sustaining coordinated turn or enters VRS every second time he tries to hover after cruising (200m above cruise altitude no less), you're doing them a disservice.

[GGTharos]

Yup, see ... Hajduk is doing it right - this obviously isn't for everyone, but the idea is to be able to confidently pilot the sucker first ... after that you can get busy trying to figure out how to lob a rocket propelled eviction notice towards unwelcome guests in the best manner possible while avoiding being pro-actively evicted yourself :D

 

Hard time? Not at all! First moth or so, I am only learning to fly, navigate, emergency procedures, ABRIS .... Weapons usage comes sometime in the spring, and summer or fall I will start joining servers on line. Next Christmas, I will say I know this game!

[Tango]

Hi,

 

My advice? Forget everything else until you can think this thing right where you want it and it goes there. ;) Don't think I'm kidding, either.

 

O/T slightly: I started flying Falcon back in 1997 and for two years couldn't figure out how to fly and fight at the same time, until I just started busting up the airfield and knowing where I was, where I wanted to be, and became One with the aircraft. Now I'll kick anyones arse any day of the week.

 

That's how I'm approaching BS. Sure, I know enough to fire off weapons, but the radios, ABRIS, data link, failures (sort of), and tactics aren't there yet. I'm just getting to the point where I can start thinking about the battle and not about where I want the aircraft. This after nearly 30 hours of flying the Black Shark.

 

This is most certainly the most fun I've had in a long time! :joystick:

 

Best regards,

Tango.

Edited December 29, 2008 by Tango

[viper3two]

well I have flying around down, hovering is getting there, and haven't figured out guns/weapons yet, still working on hovering

[Tango]

well I have flying around down, hovering is getting there, and haven't figured out guns/weapons yet, still working on hovering

It'll happen. I couldn't hover for **** last week. Now I can just about hover where I feel like it and still be in control of the aircraft afterwards. Quite a feeling of accomplishment when that happens. :thumbup:

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[Mxyzpylk]

Why do most people start off in Real Flight mode. This heli is way too much to fly and fight in with only a few weeks in the cockpit. I'll admit it right now, "I FLY IN EASY FLIGHT MODE". There, I said it. I do use real avionics though. It's so much easier to fight the enemy when you don't have to fight the controls also. I have no trouble employing weapons and getting from point A to point B. I've tried to fly in real mode and haven't had much luck. Perhaps someday I'll learn, but I'm having too much fun in Easy Flight mode.

 

I do own a RC helicopter. A T-rex 450se V2. Which I can barely hover. But then I don't have as much time to devote to it as I would like.

[Tango]

I'll admit it right now, "I FLY IN EASY FLIGHT MODE".

The reason I fly in realistic mode for the flight model is simple: I'd only have it to learn again after learning the simple flight model, so might as well get used to it now. ;)

 

I do own a RC helicopter. A T-rex 450se V2.

Nice! I cut my teeth on a Caliber 30. Looking for something a bit bigger now.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[GGTharos]

^^^^

 

In the end it absolutely about what gives you the most fun time. It is after all your entertainment product.

 

But to answer your question; because they want to do it like real pilots do, or because it's a challenge, or just 'cause they feel they should do it the hard-core way. Pick whatever you like, for me, it's all three.

It puts the FLIGHT part into Combat Flight Simulation :)

 

Also for practical reasons, if you do intend to learn to fly with the realistic FM, then easy flight is a crutch that will teach you many bad habits and confuse you when you are trying to transition.

 

I will stress again though, that despite anything that I say that may sound like elitist hard core simmer BS, it is all about YOU having fun :)

[SunDown]

I'm having a harder time hovering that I thought I would. Its just going to take time, I know that.

 

So far the hardest thing for me to learn was catching a 3 wire on Janes F18, but this is starting to get close to that. Thats the beauty of it though. I mean if it was easy then what good would it be.

 

Great job ED

[Frederf]

I definitely tried to learn how to fly the thing like I was carrying postal mail before I even thought about touching the weapons systems. Crawl, walk, run, gun.

[uhoh7]

Great hovering is a must, since all those main guns and man pads just need a little glimpse.

 

"you are under attack...." boom, hehe

 

If all i had to do was hover, it would be ok--even with trim funky I can hover, land on the frigate, etc.

 

But then you got to get into the TV and start scanning locking etc---one little bump and the hover is cock eyed.

 

My CH stick seems to allow great auto-hover, but my ffb2 is far better in evasive manuvers---so I'm using that now---but it's very touchy in auto hover.

 

Then i get all lined up and my cat jumps in my lap.

 

all in all it's a lot of fun.

 

Once I get my data link and abris skills down I hope to get online.

[Ramstein]

I am thinking it might help if I flew multiplayer with a group and be on Team Speak. Then we could exchange what we have learned and practice in a group. I do know a few people with Black Shark but have been unable to get together with them. We could meet on HyperLobby (pick a room, maybe LockOk:FC room) where we could base our practice from and even though HyperLobby will not let us play, we could still use it for chat.. if not than at least Team Speak. We could use maybe SimHQ room...Then we could practice together and learn together. Just a couple ideas...

 

What do you guys think?

:joystick:

[Tango]

Great idea! I'm around after 2100 UTC most nights.

 

TS works best for me for comms.

 

Best regards,

Tango.

[viper3two]

I would like that for sure, I think that would be great.......:thumbup: I for one need the help....this is a pretty tough beast to tame, and learn.......

Thanks

[Bulletstop]

I find that I am using the American way during the cold war era. I look at my flight plan and decide where I will hover and look for targets, this is usually 8-6 k from my preplanned target area. I find if I take my time I shoot more bad guys and die less, I am not saying I do not die because I do,lol.

I hope this helps some one as I cna not so to say run and gun way,lol

Bullet