Adding helicopters to Air SB mode would be an awesome addition. Almost every player knows that grinding helicopter’s is an absolute pain whether in “heli pve”, Ground RB or Ground SB (if the rotation is there that day) because you dont get much RP. Also it would be cool to play peekaboo with ground units at ground battles on the map and possibly have to defend from other enemy aircraft trying to stop you from doing so. However there would have to be some BR changes to match up Vietnam rotary wing with Vietnam fixed wing and modern rotary wing with modern fixed wing as explained in the video. As well as airfield defense upgrades so heli’s wont be able to airfield camp. The Roland’s dont have the range needed to defend the airfield well anymore and alot of the time they don’t even activate when an enemy is nearby
15 Likes
This would be such a welcome addition to the sim scene and would give heli mains another place that isnt just PVE or GRB
3 Likes
I have some concerns
Helis camping an AFs for example. But I think those can be mitigated if done right.
But to be honest, 95% of the reason why I play GRB at all is because I want something to play a heli in. If we actually had a fun gamemode like ASB for helis, Id play them quite a lot
2 Likes
I do too. A way they could mitigate heli’s camping AF’s. Is to actually make the AF defenses do something. And have them be able to fire from farther away. Rolands can only track targets from like… 8 miles and they were added as airfield defense when F4’s/MiG21’s got added so with F16/F14/MiG 29/Yak 141 at top tier now. AF defense needs an upgrade anyway, so replace them with something that has farther tracking and firing range.
1 Like
Yeah, that certainly could, making AF guardians also actually… work, would help too, especially if they prioritised Helis
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Make Helicopters only lobbies,I agree.To bring them to airplanes EC is a no for me.They can’t get anywhere in time,they can take out ground battles hovering from a safe distance,they can’t take out minibases cause it takes a lifetime to get there,they can’t interact with bombers,spy planes .Like all I see them doing is ratting out airfield kills and if they do get to be in a A cap they just gonna hover near ground and just lob missiles at planes that are fighitng for positioning .None of that seems fun to me .
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Honestly, although it sounds very nice, I have doubts about implementing heli’s (also ground vehicles) to the Air-SIM (or just name it SIM Battles for everyone)
First of all, in a “good” SIM map (where the minimum size is 120x120), to go from one point to another will be just too painful for Heli’s.
Secondly, I remember the times, when Heli’s (NPC) are actually in the Air-SIM and they were just flying target practices for the aircrafts. So they don’t have much defense against a Top Tier jet.
So, although it will be really a great example for immersion, I believe heli’s will not work that great in a mixed SIM match.
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As that excruciating grind is almost certainly deliberate on Gaijin’s part, you can deduce one reason why they won’t add helicopters to Sim EC any time soon.
Unfortunately I don’t have any confidence that Gaijin would make those adjustments. BR, based on relative ability in a face-to-face one v one, is everything in Gaijin’s mind. Hence Cold War light tanks with HEAT face WW2 heavy tanks and in naval pre-WW1 dreadnaughts face late/post-WW2 cruisers… and jet bombers. Coz BR…
I think adding appropriate helicopters to EC is a great idea in principle, as it adds to the whole air environment and adds more variety (and see that original point re painful grind). I just don’t have any confidence in Gaijin and I suspect they would screw up what we have.
1 Like
My mates and I keep bringing this exact topic up in our “What should Gaijin add?” conversations.
Probably the most frequent observation of ours is how valuable Helis can be for SEAD and convoy attacks.
Another possibility and objective that could be implemented is pilot pickups.
I absolutely support this idea and think it would really open up the potential for more content within the Air SB gamemode. Gaijin pls
3 Likes
A good idea and something they kind of model in Heli PvE (land on helipad mission followed by the RTB mission). You can interpret those missions as commando/SF insertion and recovery, inc downed aircrew. Those missions are a welcome addition for some early helicopters which are more troop transport than attack helo.
Adding to the variety of mission types within each game mode would also allow Gaijin to add aircraft which currently have no purpose eg Lysander, Storch… and they’re going to be running out of other options for new stuff* sensible new stuff soon.
*edit
3 Likes
That’s a damn good idea. Would allow utility helicopter’s a job and they could add more of them as well as possibly cargo helicopter’s like the CH-47’s or CH-53’s
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I said it in the other thread.
In the meantime, can’t the heliport used in the Grand Battle be spawned in a suitable location near the front line to allow helicopters to join the SBEC?
Honestly when the AI helicopters were present in Air Sim EC it was pretty damn fun to hunt them as they flew from the main airfields to the nearest convoy or ground battles. There is zero reason why player helicopters (Which have a minimum load of 30+ minutes of fuel on average) can not fly from the main airbases and approach ground battles, convoys or just hunt the roving ground units that patrol within secured territory. I am all for player helicopters being in the high tier Sim Air EC.
5 Likes
Would love to see helos in Sim EC, i think they would be a fun little addition and allow a bit of diversity in gameplay.
1 Like
