Invisible helipad/ helicopters landing in open ground?

[SmokeyTheLung]

Is there a way to get an AI heli to land at a spot of the mission builders choosing? Perhaps by making a FARP invisible? Or some advanced actions options that I'm missing?

(trying to recreate a casevac situation)

Thanks

[Druid_]

AFAIK there is no way at the moment to get a Heli to land anywhere other than on a FARP or airfield. There is no way to make a FARP invisible.

 

The best i have been able to do is to get a Heli to hover over a waypoint. The easiest way to do this is to set a number of waypoints with decreasing altitude and speed approaching the area of intended hover to casevac. This is trial and error as the Heli must be able to descend and decelerate to meet the alt/speed set at the waypoint, if he cant then he will throw in a turn or two which looks horrible.

 

The last 2 waypoints should be at the minumum altitude possible in ME, close together and with a speed of 1. You can then despawn the casevac team in the rotor wash thrown up when the Heli is directly overhead.

 

p.s. Of course having done all this, no-one will see it and appreciate the work you've done apart from yourself. (they're too busy flying around at 300kts+). Still worth the trouble though imo.

Edited April 8, 2011 by Druid_

[Speed]

AFAIK there is no way at the moment to get a Heli to land anywhere other than on a FARP or airfield. There is no way to make a FARP invisible.

 

The best i have been able to do is to get a Heli to hover over a waypoint. The easiest way to do this is to set a number of waypoints with decreasing altitude and speed approaching the area of intended hover to casevac. This is trial and error as the Heli must be able to descend and decelerate to meet the alt/speed set at the waypoint, if he cant then he will throw in a turn or two which looks horrible.

 

The last 2 waypoints should be at the minumum altitude possible in ME, close together and with a speed of 1. You can then despawn the casevac team in the rotor wash thrown up when the Heli is directly overhead.

 

p.s. Of course having done all this, no-one will see it and appreciate the work you've done apart from yourself. (they're too busy flying around at 300kts+). Still worth the trouble though imo.

 

That's an awesome idea there Druid! Do you use the switch waypoint to get the helo to loop between the two "hover" waypoints? Or will that cause him to switch heading... hmm...

 

Make sure you play the proper Arnie sound clip "RUN! GO! GET TO THE CHOPPA!!!!" when it comes in overhead. That will get people's attention :)

 

There are some more observant pilots out there who would notice, especially if the choppa was on the net.

[SmokeyTheLung]

Thanks fellas,

Druid, your idea is about the best I think I can do.

The only issue is that the chinook won't go below roughly 50ft AGL

Maybe down the road we will see this worked out.

Guess I'll just have to spam it for now!

 

Thanks for the ideas

[Druid_]

Speed, 1 knot is hardly noticeable between waypoints especially if you only want him to appear to hover for a short time.

 

In BS I had a mission where the U.S. attacked the airfield followed by a special forces helicopter assault, the good thing is that if you get them to Hover over certain terrain they kick up a lot of Dust. If you time it right you can activate or deactivate units in that dust and no-one is the wiser.

 

I do remember something about ED looking at non-farp heli take-offs and landings though, probably low priority though.

[MBot]

I suggest to add a race-track orbit with speed and alt setting set to zero/minimum. The helo will descend and hover close over the ground.

[Speed]

I suggest to add a race-track orbit with speed and alt setting set to zero/minimum. The helo will descend and hover close over the ground.

 

WHOA! Great idea, I will definately try this out tonight!

[Phrenesis]

You can then despawn the casevac team in the rotor wash thrown up when the Heli is directly overhead.

Can anyone explain to me how to despawn a unit?

 

:helpsmilie:

[nomdeplume]

I do remember something about ED looking at non-farp heli take-offs and landings though, probably low priority though.

 

During the beta the docs for the new task system included a "land" task for helicopters that would've got them to land at any designated point. Seems to have quietly disappeared, so I guess it was harder than they expected. Bit of a shame, but probably one day it'll turn up.

 

Can anyone explain to me how to despawn a unit?

Use a deactivate group action in a trigger (I think it's probably listed as GROUP DEACTIVATE). When deactivated all members of the group will disappear.

[Phrenesis]

Use a deactivate group action in a trigger (I think it's probably listed as GROUP DEACTIVATE). When deactivated all members of the group will disappear.

Thanks! I'll try that.

[Dejjvid]

Rofl, too bad i noticed this thread too late....

 

I did the exact same thing as Mbot and Druid is proposing. And it works. It took a few hours before i got the whole path smooth. But once i figured it out it was easy.

 

I have 3 waypoints with approx 500m spacing that slows and descends the helo.

I set both alt and speed to zero in the orbit task. So my Chinook is holding absolutely still for 2 min (trigger) before it continues to the *hospital*.

 

The Chinook is hovering about 30feet above the ground, but from angels 5+, you won't notice that. Perhaps you'll see my missions soon. Just need to add some more chaos before i release it :)

 

It would be sooo much easier with a land task :)

[Grimes]

During the beta the docs for the new task system included a "land" task for helicopters that would've got them to land at any designated point. Seems to have quietly disappeared, so I guess it was harder than they expected. Bit of a shame, but probably one day it'll turn up.

 

Yeah, there are a few items that were either removed or still in a "non functioning state." I really hope they get around to implementing it.

[LostOblivion]

Indeed improvised landings for rotary wings would enable us mission makers to do a lot of fun things. Good idea with "invisible FARPs". Could place a landing zone in the mission editor, which is invisible in the sim, and have a helo assigned to it like if it was a FARP. The only problem I see here is angled terrain.

[nomdeplume]

Could place a landing zone in the mission editor, which is invisible in the sim, and have a helo assigned to it like if it was a FARP. The only problem I see here is angled terrain.

...and having the helo take off again. :) Actually I don't think angled terrain would be a problem if you they only landed at places that were pre-designated, the mission editor could just restrict you from placing the 'invisifarp' on angled terrain, like it does now with FARPs.

 

Personally, I want the ability to switch waypoints for ground units before the ability to have helos land/takeoff on command. But both would be nice!

[Jona33]

Could we have a hover waypoint for heli's. So you just select it and write the time to hover for. The heli automatically slows down at the right point and voila, quick and easy for simulated fastroping.