[Updated] HELO WORLD 2.0 Public server by Black Shark Den is live!

[BaD CrC]

BECAUSE RUNWAYS ARE FOR BEAUTY QUEENS!

BLACKSHARKDEN squadron is proud to offer to the DCS community a new public server exclusively dedicated to rotary wings operations:

HELO WORLD

Our developers have been capitalizing on our 7 years of operations to build what we believe will be the best DCS helicopter experience that no other public servers we tested so far can meet (yes, that's bold but we really think we can do it).

The HELO WORLD public server is offering you the BLACKSHARKDEN experience less the milsim aspects or the need to become a member. It does stick though to its three founding principles: a FIXED WING FREE environment, NO Players Vs Players and encouraging COOPERATIVE missions. We value the roles of ALL the DCS helicopters and give them meaningful tasks that will influence the outcome of the battle.

Exclusive and improved scripts unlock all the potential for rotary wings operations in DCS. In this server, you will be able to perform the following tasks:

• Close air support (Troops in contact)
• Sector control (capture areas while fighting against vastly improved AI)
• FARP activation (Mi-8, UH-1H and UH-60L are heroes too. Provide the required logistics to support the ongoing battle)
• Oil Rig assault
• Maritime security and VBSS (Visit, Board, Search, Seizure)
• Anti submarine warfare (on selected helicopter types only)
• Counter Insurgency Operations (COIN) (work in progress)

At BLACKSHARKDEN, we also made sure to address some of the other servers pain points:

• a clear and responsive documentation about how to use the different server's functionalities,
• a dedicated space on our Discord server for support and meeting our pilots,
• a pretty solid pro hosted server in Canada giving great response times whether you are in US or EU,
• a real time heatmap access to see who is flying and where without the need to connect to the server.

 

The HELO WORLD Public server can be found on the DCS server list at "Helo World by [BSD] BlackSharkDen" and runs on the Syria Map.

 

Auto kick and auto ban are enabled for team killing (make sure you understand the server rules available on our Discord Server). All DCS helicopters are available plus the UH-60L Mod (not mandatory to join the server). Although we took away some of the milsim aspects we are applying to our missions at BLACKSHARKDEN, it doesn't mean that HELO WORLD is suitable for complete beginners in RW operations. There are some good challenges. As such, we cannot encourage you enough to join our BSD Discord Server and get all the info and links you will need to fully enjoy this public server.

MAKE SURE TO JOIN OUR DISCORD SERVER TO GET THE INFO AND SUPPORT TO FLY ON THIS SERVER!

 

 

Edited March 29 by BaD CrC

[BaD CrC]

Thanks to all the community for the amazing attendance and feedback. We are really happy to hear all the good things from you guys and to see Helo World busy all the time with new pilots everyday.

We are also making sure to take into account all the feedback to iron out as many bugs or bring requested improvements. If you are not yet on our Discord server, you are really missing out on news, updates and chat with our BlackSharkDen pilots.

For those of you who flew on Helo World today, you most likely saw the weather was not great. It happens on Helo World. Weather is scripted so, on some rare occasions, you'll end up with either rain or night time. This will for sure sharpen even more your RW pilot's skills.

Latest changelog:

HELO WORLD Update #1
Bugfixes and Improvements

With the feedback you guys have been providing, and spending some time creeping on everyone in the server, I have identified a few bugs and areas for improvement. Nothing major today, but the following changes will take effect on the next server restart:

-Activity messages posted to ⁠activity-ctaf had a lot of bugs related to player names, duplicate messages, and errors. It was disabled briefly while being worked on. These should all be resolved now and it should start posting again.
-ARMOR DEPOT REQUESTED marker and ring will now disappear if the FLOT moves back to the starting position
-AMMUNITION REQUIRED will change to REARMING... when an ammunition resupply has been completed, but the vehicle is still low on ammo
-Building FARP SUPPLIES in a FARP area will now relocate the vehicles to the center of the zone. Attempting to build a FARP SUPPLY crate outside of a valid FARP zone will result in the equipment being lost
-Fixed an issue that prevented the FARP ACTIVATED label to update
-Fixed an issue that prevented FARPs from loading their saved state on mission start KNOWN ISSUES Labels of sectors are disappearing for no apparent reason. This issue may be isolated to single-threaded users only.

HELO WORLD UPDATE #2
More fixes and improvements

Continuing to further refine the server, here's a few more fixes and improvements that have been done and will appear on the next restart:

-Fixed CSAR beacon sounds
-Fixed armor groups needing ammo not updating the label to "REARMING..." after receiving an ammo truck
-Changed "REARMING..." label to have white text instead of yellow
-Removed weapons.shells. from CTAF messages for KIA
-Added [ ] brackets back into CTAF messages for player names
-Added labels to mark pilot created FARP/CTLD FOBs on the map
-Updated kneeboard page 1 to include the KA-50 channel # adjustment
-Troops in Contact will now automatically clean itself up 10 seconds after completion

[20thBG_Blackwolf]

A few bugs here and there but nothing big. Nice to see pilots jumping in and working together on the task that's needed at the time.

 

[BaD CrC]

HELO WORLD UPDATE #3
Hello pilots! Here's a nice juicy update for you all. The highlights include a huge overhaul of Sector Control, more specialist CTLD groups, and ATIS.

Sector Control
-First and foremost, all sectors are now categorized into lanes EAST, WEST, or MID. Much of the AI activity and assignments are centered around these lanes, so you should see some more realistic and active frontlines now. 
-Enemy groups now use the same logic friendlies do, and behave in a more refined, but also more predictable way as a result. They also get convoys that drive out and rearm them.
-Friendly ground units are now named the same as their callsign, and will mention their local sector in messages. 
-Contact reports will now be marked on the F10 map using red triangles, following the same decay method as the circles
-Tons of other improvements to the AI behaviour to ensure a smooth and active experience no matter when you log in to fly.

CTLD
New specialist groups have been added to CTLD to be used in the battlefield:

JTAC
Will lase targets he can see using code 1688. This should allow Armed Blackhawk users to use their Hellfires with a JTAC.

FPV Recon Drone
This guy will deploy an FPV recon drone where you drop him. Over the course of 10 minutes, he will mark targets he finds on the F10 map. Pick him up and deploy him again to start a new recon.

Mortar Team
This team of 5 can be deployed and moved to an ideal firing position using the 'wpzone' marker. After you drop them, a spotter will be left in your helicopter. Drop him somewhere with good sightlines and he'll call in targets for the mortar team to hit.

ANGLICO
This is a semi-automated indirect fire control group. Deploy it somewhere with good sightlines, then ask it to build a package. If it sees targets, it will call on the nearby Ticonderoga to engage all targets with cruise missiles.

ATIS
Three aerodromes now have ATIS services enabled. Kiryat Shmona (135.00), Naqoura (136.00), and Gazipasa (127.00). It should give you accurate winds, temperature, and pressure. Cloud and precipitation may not be covered in the ATIS. This ATIS service is still being tested due to its dependency on the server, so please report any issues you notice with the it.

FULL CHANGELOG
Here's the complete changelog covering all the changes in this update:
[[[SECTOR CONTROL]]]
-NEW sector lanes that drive the behaviour and assignments of the AI within their own lane
-Red AI now use the same logic as Blue AI
-Red AI will be rearmed through rearming convoys
-Blue AI are named after their callsign
-Blue AI will state the sector they're in during reports
-Blue AI will attempt to bunch up when they need ammunition
-Blue AI contact reports are now marked on the map with triangles that fade out similarly to the circles
-Both AI will be encouraged to get into a fight if they have excessively long stalemates
-Both AI will avoid stopping on steep hills. They may however still drive up them
-Dismounted friendly infantry will move toward nearby enemies to attack them
-Added F10 labels for active Armor Depots in the sectors
-Removed the "ARMOR DEPOT REQUESTED" prompt marker as it is not needed or being used
-Armor depots built outside of the sector control will now be automatically dismantled

[[[CTLD]]]
-To combat confusion around ammunition, non-buildable cargo crates have been disabled for now until the sling loading area is set up
-Additional categories have been added for the crates
-Added new categories for troops
-Added JTAC Autolase Unit
-Added ANGLICO Controller Unit
-Added FPV Recon Drone
-Added Mortar Team

[[[GENERAL]]]
-Added ATIS for Kiryat Shmona, Naqoura, and Gazipasa
-Relocated some TICO cruisers closer to the VBSS zones as they were sometimes out of range for the 'greyhound' calls
-Added a function to respawn the C-130 before it runs out of fuel. It will only respawn when it reaches the start of its orbit. It will also alert any helos within 6km of the KC-130 so there are no surprises.
-Added some UI sounds to various messages that are displayed in Helo World
-After much deliberation and consultation, the IFF Detection modes for the AH-64D and Mi-24P are now set to Simple
-Aircraft radio channel presets have been adjusted to be uniform across all airframes that use channels. See the new Page 1 of the kneeboards for these channels
-Increased crate build time from 20 seconds to 40 seconds
-Updated MOOSE to latest dev branch which should fix an error that would sometimes return your player ID as nil
-Added a CSAR reminder that will notify pilots in the sector control area once every 30 minutes if there are downed pilots waiting for rescue
-Slowed down both carriers to ease deck instability
-Updated MOOSE to thew latest dev branch which should resolve nil Player IDs.

[elchacal]

Excellent! 

[BaD CrC]

HELO WORLD UPDATE #4

Smallish update coming up tonight. It's mostly some housekeeping and implementing small changes based on your feedback to improve your experience over on HELO WORLD.

First up is some tweaks made to the AI pools. For a few months at least, there was a bug that was only allowing a small selection of groups from the pool to spawn, consequently being the more difficult groups available. That bug has been resolved so you should see some units that haven't been around for awhile such as the BTRs, T-90s, and some mobile ADS platforms like the SA-9 and SA-13. The BMPs have also been nerfed, replacing all the BMP-3's and 2's with the BMP-1. The 30mm autocannon on those two vehicles, combined with the rapid deployment of the ATGM was frustrating and with DCS's AI superpowers, OP for the enemy. The BMP-1 is significantly less effective against aircraft than the 2 and 3, but is still a major problem for ground forces. The SA-8 has also been removed from the mobile ADS pool, and will now only be seen as SHORAD for the SAM sites. There is also the addition of the BTR-RD ATGM equipped light tracked vehicle that will be a major hazard to ground armor, and a good incentive to maintain your situational awareness when hovering.

We've also added a handful of new groups to the BLUEFOR, all NATO based. You will now see M1A2 Abrams and Leopard 2A4s from the tank pool, AAV7s, Bradleys, and LAV-25s from the Mech Infantry pool, and Stryker ATGMs for the ATGM pool.

Next up is a big change to the way cargo behaves in CTLD. When you request a crate from the pickup zone, you will now only get 1 crate for all options. This crate contains a land rover that is used as a 'part' for whatever you're building. Unpack the required amount of 'parts' within a 300m radius and it will assemble into whatever it is you're trying to build. You can still load multiple crates into a single helo if you request 2 crates. The only downside to this change is that you now need to build all crates individually so if you're working on a FOB, you'll need to hit "Build Crates" 6 times. I hope this change makes it less painful for you guys when the FARP gets saturated with crates, or things don't go according to plan in-flight resulting in incomplete builds all over the place.

Lastly we have some minor changes here and there. FARPs will now spawn 6 invisible pads which should make rearming from the middle aircraft possible in your start position. Easy Communication has been enabled so you don't need to worry about screwing around with the intercom switch to get them to respond anymore. The weather for DAY has been adjusted slightly to keep things fresh. And last but not least, my custom JTAC I created for BSD a few weeks ago has been implemented with the CTLD transportable JTAC. It comes with a special menu that allows more control over the JTAC including toggling the laser on/off and changing the code as needed. It also gives the JTACs a unique callsign to help you ID them better. They also wear "camo pants" now which is a subscript that makes them harder to spot from long ranges so you can drop them on a hill and not worry about some BMP 3km away nuking him with an ATGM.

Thank you all for flying here and remember to share your feedback in ⁠our Discord server at「」pilots-chat. Always open to suggestions and improvements to keep the server fresh and running well for our needs as rotary wing pilots.

WHAT'S COMING NEXT?

Base framework for COIN operations is being worked on slowly but surely....

 

[71st_Mastiff]

how's you'r cockpit?

[BaD CrC]

HELO WORLD UPDATE #5 (Major)

Dear DCS RW community. Our BlackSharkDen community has been really hard at work for the last few months developing and extensively testing new additions to our Helo World server. The result was impressive enough that we had no hesitation to name this new release as a major one. We are bringing to you guys probably the most advanced RW dedicated public server available to the DCS community that provides not just a target rich environment for attack choppers, but a real interactive and interdependent environment where utility helicopters have a central role in the fight too. From the experience gathered during those last 8 years of existence of the Black Shark Den squadron, Helo World 2.0 is offering pretty much everything we were always dreaming to get from DCS World when flying helicopters:

- A completely reworked SECTOR CONTROL module with new AI logic for ground forces to include capabilities such as supporting, retreating, abandoning vehicles, disembarking troops to attack, and changing speed/formation when attacking based on circumstances, more persistence to the AO, expanded radio messages for ground commander and ground forces, now fully integrated and played through SRS, changes from large sectors to smaller objectives and a significant optimization of the code.

- NEW COUNTER INSURGENCY MODULE! All new dynamic tasking system for solo and group flights centered around low-threat COIN style ops that includes strike, armed recon, security, air assault, medevac, and combat logistics!

- Reworked FARP SUPPLIES system: We changed FARP supply to a dynamic supply management method *FARPs store up to 4 supplies and consume one supply per day.

- WEATHER: New logic for selecting the mission. Each weather option has a weight in a random selection. The weather now changes daily. Note that NIGHT has been removed as this mission significantly deterred player counts. But if you want to fly with this level of skills required, you should definitively consider joining BlackSharkDen!

- PLAYER STATS: Added tracking and storing of tons of stats for players as well as a new leaderboard that shows the top 3 players for each stats.

- GENERAL CHANGES: AI helicopter IFF settings set to realistic to use the improved detection modelling and balance a/c capabilities. Added ADF beacons to all FARPS, Added KA-50 v2 slots and SA342 minigun ones. Restored ATIS capabilities. Cleaned up other modules (Maritime Security, Anti Submarine Warfare and Visit, Board, Search, Seizure) that should hopefully be operational without bugs now.

 

As usual, complete and updated documentation can be found on heloworld.blacksharkden.com. You can join our discord server to get all the latest and greatest updates, ask your questions and discuss with our devs and pilots (and why not fly together!). No mods are required on Helo World but make sure you are connecting on SRS with the frequencies given in the comm plan of the online documentation.

All the BlackSharkDen community is wishing you hours of fun on Helo World! 

Edited March 29 by BaD CrC

[hannibal]

i stil have to get through a checkflight with you guys and join the heli fun.

thanks for all the efforts to build a better heli community!

[Miro]

Where i can find player stats?

[BaD CrC]

Hi Miro. Join our Discord Server so you can get in touch with the devs and support. https://discord.gg/blacksharkden/